CELEBRATING OUR ONE-HUNDRED TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Wednesday, November 19, 2014
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Panel talks Report shows mixed feminism on results on alcohol use the Internet, in new media
CAMPUS LIFE
Women in Technology event examines gender roles online By EMMA KINERY Daily Staff Reporter
The School of Information’s entrepreneurship program and the University’s chapter of the American Library Association hosted a panel Thursday highlighting women in technology. The event, held in North Quad, featured two prominent feminist technologists, Stefanie Wuschitz, founder of a feminist hackerspace in Vienna, and Lisa Nakamura, co-facilitator of FemTechNet and the University’s coordinator of digital studies. Both discussed the growing role of women in the digital realm, the issue of gender over the Internet and feminist approaches to combatting discrimination in these areas. Though the panel was femalecentric, the audience was comprised of both males and females, which the coordinators said they
were pleased to see. “We had no idea what to expect,” said Emily Puckett Rodgers, entrepreneurship program manager for the School of Information. “We just shared this as broadly as we could, and I think this shows that this is a conversation that’s happening on campus and this is a conversation that we can continue. As we move from learners into professionals, I think that we can take these experiences, this critical thinking and these skills with us.” During the panel, Wuschitz discussed why she chose to create her own feminist hackerspace — spaces where people with interests in technology, computing and science can collaborate and socialize. She said hackerspaces are often almost all male and not always comforting, alluding to a time when one of the best programmers in Austria and a cofounder of the all-female hackerspace was sexually harassed in a hackerspace. “So that was a moment for me when I thought, we need our own space.” Wuschitz said. See WOMEN, Page 3A
ON CAMPUS
On campus emergency calls decrease while off campus sees higher enforcement By MAX RADWIN Daily Staff Reporter
Like many freshmen during the 2014 Welcome Week, the first home game against Appa-
lachian State University was not only University President Mark Schlissel’s first exposure to Michigan football, but also to the University’s culture of alcohol consumption on campus. And after seeing students drinking on rooftops and struggling to stand up, Schlissel said he was terrified. Though Schlissel called increasing alcohol safety a longterm project, the University has already taken steps to limit the kind of unsafe alcohol activity he
witnessed first-hand that takes place during Welcome Week, which is known for promoting an excessively unsafe drinking environment. However, the University’s efforts to quell drinking this year had mixed results. According to data compiled by the University’s Division of Public Safety and Security, this year’s Welcome Week saw a general decline in on-campus alcoholrelated activity, but an uptick
in off-campus neighborhoods. The discrepancy may not reflect a shift in drinking culture, but rather increased enforcement of underage drinking violations by the University police compounded with a shorter move-in period for on-campus residents. During an October SACUA meeting, SACUA Chair Scott Masten, a professor of business economics and public policy in the Ross School of Business, See WELCOMEWEEK, Page 3A
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
BUSINESS
‘U’ based startup works in Ghana
Technology company director discusses global businesses
Sisu Global Health provides medical equipment to needy communities By LINDSEY SCULLEN Daily Staff Reporter
The word “sisu” is a Finnish word used colloquially around Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It means, “resilience,” “determination” or “perseverance in the face of adversity.” Appropriately, Sisu Global Health lives up to its tough name. Sisu Global Health is a Michigan-based, social venture and medical device company that provides medical equipment in areas where technology is scarce. Currently, the company’s focus is in Ghana. See GHANA, Page 3A
iXperience founder pitches international internship program BY ANASTASSIOS ADAMOPOULOS Daily Staff Reporter
ZACH MOORE/Daily
CSG President Bobby Dishell, a Public Policy senior, speaks at the CSG meeting at Pierpont Commons Tuesday.
CSG introduces resolution to sponsor annual award Assembly gives updates on WSN, meetings with new AD Hackett By TANAZ AHMED Daily Staff Reporter
In a change of pace, Central Student Government held its meeting at Pierpont Commons
instead of the CSG chambers at the Union Tuesday night. The change was in accordance with a resolution passed by CSG earlier this year, which required some CSG meetings to be held at other University Unions in an effort to increase its presence around campus. The Golden Apple Award, the Wolverine Support Network and relations with interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett were discussed during the meeting.
A resolution to sponsor the 2015 Golden Apple Award and lecture was proposed by CSG President Bobby Dishell, a Public Policy senior, along with finance committee chair Jacob Ruby, an LSA junior, and finance committee vice-chair Chris McCurry, a Business sophomore. The Golden Apple Award is the only campus-wide, studentnominated teaching honor. ProSee CSG, Page 3A
Students from the Ross School of Business, StartUM Entrepreneurship and TAMID Israel Investment Group at Michigan continued their missions to encourage innovation on a global scale, all while learning about tech startups Tuesday. Aaron Fuchs, founder and CEO of the South African technology startup iXperience, discussed his experiences starting a technology firm with about 40 students at the Business school. “The whole concept around iXperience is to help people get the skills that they need to succeed in the digital world,” Fuchs said. The event was also intended to promote the company’s summer internship program. iXperinece hosts an eight-week summer internship program in Cape Town, South Africa. During the
first four weeks, students focus on coding before working on technology projects with existing South African companies. Fuchs said the program was created to meet the increasing demand for technological information in emerging markets, where there are fewer opportunities for a technical education. Fuchs, who grew up in southern South Africa and said he didn’t come in contact with technology until he was 10 years old, asked students to think about their goals, assess their inspirations and determine their life’s purpose. “What do you love doing?” he said. “What does the world need to be a better place? What can you be paid for and what are you good at? And where all these things intersect, is where your find your purpose exists and you can actually add so much more value to whatever it is that you are doing.” He also encouraged students to interact with people who inspire and motivate them, as well as find mentors who can share their own experiences. Fuchs noted that the most important assets one could have See STARTUP, Page 3A
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Students of The Arts Chorale perform at Hill Auditorium Tuesday.
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A$AP Ferg By LEJLA BAJGORIC Rapper A$AP Ferg’s new single “Perfume” is just a taste of what’s to come for his upcoming mixtape, “Ferg Forever.” Ferg isn’t deviating from his usual sound and current fans should be pleased.
PODIUM
Satisfied? By MARIS HARMON Opinion writer Harmon asks whether students should be satisfied with their undergraduate education as she approaches graduation. She encorporates the ideas of Paulo Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.”
A report released Monday by Northwestern’s Native American Outreach and Inclusion Task Force outlined a series of recommendations for Northwestern University, the Daily Northwestern reported. The report offers more than 50 ways that the University can improve their relationship with Native American communities on campus, including creating an Indigenous Research Center and renaming programs and buildings after University founder John Evans. It also calls for hiring a staff member within Multicultural Student Affairs to support Native American students. Northwestern Psychology Prof. Doug Medin, who served on the
task force, was confident in the ways that the report will help increase Native American inclusion on campus. “The recommendations are both concrete and quite extensive,” he said. “I think that indicates the seriousness with which Northwestern is beginning to address its relationship with Native nations and Native American people.” USC closes fraternity following sexual assault allegations The University of Southern California will withdraw its recognition of the fraternity Alpha Tau Omega for five years, the
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Daily Trojan reported Monday. A press release stated that the members of the fraternity had two accounts of sexual assault charged against them over the span of two years. There was not enough evidence to fully support the case that occurred in 2013. The case that took place in 2014, however, was found to have violated the USC Code of Student Conduct. Ainsley Carry, vice provost for student affairs, released a press statement Monday that criticized the fraternity for their behavior. She also expressed disappointment in the entire fraternity through actions set forth by the members involved the case. — CARLY NOAH
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
Birding presentation
Law School workshop
Friendship seminar
WHAT: Sarah Toner will discuss how to utilize weather data to maximize birding success. WHO: Sarah Toner WHEN: Tonight from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Matthaei Botanical Gardens
WHAT: Lindsey Stetson, the University Law School’s director of financial aid, will provide information on how to pay for law school. WHO: Lindsey Stetson WHEN: Today from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: South Hall, Room 1020
WHAT: This workshop will cover how to make friends from different cultures without cultural misunderstandings. WHO: International Center WHEN: Today from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Pierpont Commons, East Room
Science Cafe lecture
UMS Global Music fair
Cover letter convention
WHAT: School of Public Health professors Arnold Monto and Joseph Eisenberg will lecture on Ebola, popular fears and health policies that could contain the outbreak. WHO: Arnold Monto and Joseph Eisenberg WHEN: Today from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. WHERE: 318 S Main Street
WHAT: Hawaiian ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro will perform. Shimabukuro has been named a musical “hero” by Rolling Stone and has drawn comparisns to Jimi Hendrix. Shimabukuro plays traditional ukulele music, along with combining other musical elements. WHO: Jake Shimabukuro WHEN: Today at 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Hill Auditorium
WHAT: This workshop will teach students how to create and write a cover letter that presents a story. WHO: The Career Center WHEN: Tonight from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: The Career Center CORRECTIONS l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.
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Facebook will launch a new free mobile app for its Groups feature, which allows users to interact based on culture or hobbies, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Users will be able to access Groups through the Facebook app or its website.
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Senate narrowly defeats Israel plans response to Keystone XL Pipeline recent synagogue attack In 59-41 vote, legislation was rejected, preventing project completion WASHINGTON (AP) — In a combustible blend of oil and politics, the Democratic-controlled Senate rejected legislation Tuesday night to force completion of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Republicans vowed to resurrect the controversial issue soon after taking two-house control of Congress in January. The 59-41 Senate vote was one short of the 60 needed to clear the House-passed measure, and marked a severe blow to embattled Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. While President Barack Obama and much of her party oppose the bill, the third-term Democrat had commandeered control of the chamber’s agenda
in hopes of securing approval of the project and boosting her chances in an uphill Dec. 6 runoff election. All 45 Senate Republicans supported the legislation to build the Canada-to-Texas pipeline. Only 14 of 55 Democrats and allied independents joined them, a total that didn’t budge despite an appeal by the Louisiana Democrat behind closed doors a few hours before the vote. The vote was one of the last acts of this Senate controlled by the Democrats. It is expected to complete its work by midDecember. But Republicans said a pipeline replay with the potential to spark a veto confrontation with Obama would be coming — and soon. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the incoming majority leader, said within minutes of the vote, “I look forward to the new
Republican majority taking up and passing the Keystone jobs bill early in the new year.” Her political career in jeopardy, Landrieu told reporters, “I’m going to fight for the people of my state until the day that I leave, and I hope that will not be soon.” Rep. Bill Cassidy, Landrieu’s Republican opponent, said that Louisiana families “need better jobs, better wages and better benefits,” and the pipeline would provide them. Democratic divisions were on vivid display in a bill that pitted environmentalists against energy advocates. While Obama opposes the measure, likely 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has repeatedly refused to take a position. Most recently, her spokesman did not respond to two requests over the weekend to do so. Among Senate Democrats, 14 had publicly announced their support for the bill in the hours before the vote, but several whom Landrieu had hoped would provide the critical 60th vote needed for passage failed to step forward. Among retiring lawmakers. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Tom Harkin of Iowa all said in advance they would oppose the bill. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who opened the door on Monday to becoming the 60th vote, slammed it shut a few hours later.
Following violence and five deaths, tensions run high amid conflict JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel vowed harsh retaliation Tuesday for a Palestinian attack that killed five people and left blood-smeared prayer books and shawls on the f loor of a synagogue in Jerusalem — an assault that sharply escalated already-high tensions after weeks of religious violence. The attack during morning prayers in the west Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof was carried out by two Palestinian cousins wielding meat cleavers, knives and a handgun. They were shot to death by police after the deadliest assault in the holy city since 2008. Four of the dead were rabbis and one was a police officer who died of his wounds hours after the attack. Three of the rabbis were born in the United States and the fourth was born in England, although all held dual Israeli citizenship. Five others were wounded. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, the first time he has done so in the wave of deadly violence against Israelis. But he also called for an end to Israeli “provocations” sur-
rounding Jerusalem’s shrines that are sacred to both Muslims and Jews. President Barack Obama called the attack “horrific” and without justification, urging cooperation from both sides to ease tensions and adding that too many Israelis and Palestinians have died in recent months, Tuesday’s attack, however, appeared to mark a turning point, with the gruesome scene in a house of worship shocking a nation long accustomed to violence. The government released a photo of a meat cleaver it said came from the crime scene. Government video showed blood-soaked prayer books and prayer shawls in the synagogue. A pair of glasses lay under a table, and thick streaks of blood smeared the f loor. “I saw people lying on the f loor, blood everywhere,” said Yosef Posternak, who was at the synagogue in the quiet neighborhood that has a large community of Englishspeaking immigrants. “People were trying to fight with (the attackers) but they didn’t have much of a chance,” Posternak told Israel Radio. In one of Israel’s first acts of retaliation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the demolitions of the homes of the attackers. But halting further violence could prove
to be a tough challenge as police confront a new threat: Lightly armed assailants from annexed east Jerusalem who hold residency rights that allow them to move freely throughout the country. Netanyahu condemned the deaths of the “innocent and pure Jews.” In a nationally televised address, he accused Abbas of inciting the recent violence and said the Palestinian leader’s condemnation of the attack was insufficient. Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, praised the attack. In Gaza, dozens celebrated in the streets, with some offering trays full of candy. The U.S.-born victims were identified as Moshe Twersky, 59, Aryeh Kupinsky, 43, and Kalman Levine, 55. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the British man was Avraham Goldberg, 68, who immigrated to Israel in 1993. It described the four as “rabbis,” an honorific title in the ultra-Orthodox world given to men who are considered pious and learned. Twersky, a native of Boston, was the head of the Toras Moshe Yeshiva, a seminary for English-speaking students. He was the son of Rabbi Isador Twersky, founder of Harvard University’s Center for Jewish Studies, and a grandson Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, a luminary in the world of modern Orthodox Jewry.
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WELCOMEWEEK From Page 1A
BUFFALO, N.Y.
Major snowstorm blamed for four New York deaths Four people died during a storm that dumped more than 4 feet of snow around Buffalo and forced motorists in 150 vehicles, including a women’s basketball team, to ride it out on a day when temperatures dropped to freezing or below in all 50 states. One person was killed in an automobile accident and three others had heart attacks, including two believed to be shoveling snow at the time, Erie County officials said.
LOS ANGELES
Sister of slain actress crusades against Manson Debra Tate, whose pregnant sister Sharon was slain in 1969 by the murderous followers of Charles Manson, has spent much of her life trying to divert attention from the cult leader and keep him in prison. Her job got tougher with the news that Manson, now 80, plans to marry a 26-year-old woman who moved from the Midwest years ago to be near him. Debra Tate calls the development “ludicrous” and “insane,” but says she is not surprised. “It’s always something with him,” she said. Tate said Manson’s bride-tobe, Afton Elaine Burton, known as “Star,” seems to believe that Manson is leading a movement to save the environment.
echoed Schlissel’s sentiments regarding the experience many students have during Welcome Week. “We want to make sure (new students’) first impressions are not football and alcohol,” he said. “It’s something more academic — a more positive side of the University.” Masten’s sentiment is reflected in a variety of alcohol-related statistics compiled in a DPSS report regarding Welcome Week: the number of ambulance requests to University Housing facilities dropped from 46 in 2013 to 31. Calls to the DPSS Communications Center related to drinking, noise complaints, urinating in public and incapacitation declined from 106 to 85. Visits to University Emergency Departments, which the report deemed “the leading indicator” of alcohol activity, dropped from 100 to 76. The report, dated Sept. 4 and titled “Student Move-in Alcohol Activities,” presents “preliminary” and “advisory” figures only. It was written for informational purposes for University officials and was not originally intended for public release. A spokesperson for the Ann Arbor Police said they were unaware of how the information regarding Ann Arbor Police activity was compiled. The data encompasses all alcohol-related incidents between Aug. 25 and Sept. 2 of this year in comparison to Aug. 26 and Sept. 3 of 2013 — each spanning nine days. However, the movein period for University housing residents was shortened this year from four days to two, and so the
News decline in alcohol activity is may partly be a result of students not being on campus to drink. University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald confirmed the shortened Welcome Week was partly intended to cut down on the amount of unstructured time students had in dorms that was often filled by alcohol consumption. While he said this year’s Welcome Week went well, Fitzgerald added that the University hasn’t yet decided on the Welcome Week timeline for next year. E. Royster Harper, vice president of student life, said the University is also going to be rethinking its law enforcement strategies. “There are just going to be more consequences for walking around with open containers, with loud music and everybody on the lawn obviously drinking,” she said. The number of citations for a minor in possession by University Police during welcome week increased from 27 to 40 between this year and last, despite the shortened move-in period. According to the DPSS report, this was the result of a “grantfunded patrol (unit) targeting the enforcement of underage drinking violations,” performed by University Police and the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office. Throughout the year, Washtenaw County receives funding from the state for targeted enforcement, which has previously included directed patrols toward the Click It or Ticket campaign and drunk-driving enforcement efforts. A DPSS spokesperson said grants are often deployed during times of higher risk behavior, such as holidays or in this case, Welcome Week. The report’s numbers include one night of
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 — 3A
a two-night grant coordinated through the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department that provided additional officers to patrol nearby campus streets. Extra officers were not deployed in 2013. The DPSS spokesperson said University police officers do not have quotas for giving out MIPs. “Their primary focus is to ensure our community members are safe and then enforce laws as deemed appropriate.” In light of the decline of oncampus alcohol activity, emergency calls to the Ann Arbor police from neighborhoods with student rental housing or properties adjacent to campus increased by 48 percent — from 241 calls to 358 — according to the University’s report. In addition, calls for assistance for an incapacitated person to Ann Arbor Police approximately doubled. The spokesperson said the Ann Arbor Police have not received a grant for increased enforcement in the last two years at least, but they did have extra patrol during this Welcome Week. “We work with Ann Arbor Police and the Washtenaw County Police and we are all equally concerned with the alcohol issues on campus,” an Ann Arbor Police spokesperson said. “We want students to be safe. We are aware that people drink, but we want them to do it responsibly.” Similarly, Schlissel said the University will continue to emphasize safety as it develops strategies for combatting alcohol. “I think it’s impractical to have as a goal that students won’t drink on campus,” Schlissel said. “Even though most of students are drinking illegally, I don’t think that’s an enforceable law, but looking at it from the safety perspective is what I want to do.”
—Compiled from Daily wire reports
CSG From Page 1A fessors who win the award are also asked to give a “last lecture” usually held at Rackham Auditorium. Past recipients of the award include History Prof. Victor Lieberman and Psychology Lecturer Shelly Schreier. The proposal asked for $300 from the CSG sponsored activities account to be used to fund the Golden Apple Award and the lecture, which will be held March 31. “It seems to be something that is pretty fitting with what we (CSG) do,” Dishell said. The resolution was referred to the finance committee and will be voted on during the next CSG meeting. Dishell also spoke about the progress of the Wolverine Support Network, a University-wide peer mental health program, which launched its awareness campaign in September. Last weekend, there was a retreat for WSN leaders where they were trained in different facilitation techniques and received training from Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, Diversity Peer Educators and Counseling and Psychological Services. Lastly, Dishell also discussed his meeting with interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett. Dishell said initiatives passed in collaboration with former Athletic Director Dave Brandon will carry over during Hackett’s term, including lowering student season ticket package prices to $175. “He seems to be very receptive,” Dishell said. As the Athletic Department experiences a shift in leadership, so will CSG. LSA, the Ross School of Business, School of Information, School of Public Health, the Law School and Rackham will hold elections starting Nov. 19 to elect representatives to CSG. Voting will close Nov. 20 at 11:59 p.m. Additionally, the students will also vote to elect a student representative to serve on the Department of Public Safety Oversight Commission.
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Stefanie Wuschitz (left), founder of a feminist hackerspace in Vienna, and Lisa Nakamura (right), coordinator of Digital Studies, discuss their work at the Women in Technology panel hosted by the School of Information at North Quad Monday.
WOMEN From Page 1A “Usually such hackerspaces are wonderful environments, but they are really male dominated so at some point we felt just very uncozy there.” While Wuschitz said she appreciates the growing inclusion of women in technology, she said pink or purple hardware produced over the past year perpetuates gendered stereotypes. She noted that when she would teach workshops on microcontroller programming with pink and blue controllers, people would often assume that the pink controller was easier, though it was actually the harder of the two. The first feminist hackerspace Wuschitz was involved in was created out of these experiences. All the women involved split the rent, tempering the level of hierarchy that bothered women in the original hackerspace. Though most of the males have
STARTUP From Page 1A in a startup are coding skills and the ability to market a product, create user-friendly designs and develop the business. “I accomplished X, measured by Y, by doing Z. You should go through every single line on your resume and apply this formula and see if you can actually see the results,” he said. Fuchs also warned students about the challenges of launching a technology startup, saying they should prepare to work harder than ever before, face difficulties executing their idea, make decisions of great importance to the
welcomed the all-female hackerspace, Wuschitz said she received the most criticism for the space’s use of the feminized versions of technical terms. In the German language, words are associated with a gender and all of the words dealing with technology are in the masculine form. In protest, the technological feminists created female versions of these words. Despite some criticism, many men, specifically in Wuschitz’s classes, have adopted the terms. Nakamura, on the other hand, became involved in the relationship between feminism and technology during the Internet’s earlier days. She said since people online were not aware of her gender, they often assumed she was male. Later, she helped to create FemTechNet, which offers free online classes on feminism and technology. “There’s really robust evidence that women in technology succeed because they have a mentor who is also one,” she said. “It’s hard to find female mentors
in technology.” Both panelists stressed the necessity of having feminist technology resources available for free and the importance of promoting a culture that values sharing knowledge and skills, as well as increasing diversity in the field. “The more diverse it is, the easier it is for others to identify with them,” Wuschitz said. Wuschitz said many women canceled their workshops because they did not have the confidence to teach them. She said increased inclusion of women in technology fields will help to resolve this issue. “As a woman in technology, I was interested in hearing perspectives from people who are working in the fields,” said Denise Foley, a secondyear graduate student School of Information, who attended the panel. “I am newly working in the field of technology in the library so I wanted to learn more about what’s going on in the field of female technologists.”
future of the company and multitask jobs that aren’t necessarily in their job description. Fuchs also talked about his own experience at a Wall Street firm after graduating from Yale University. While he said he gained a lot of valuable experience, after two years he decided he needed to do something new, which lead him to joining Prodigy Finance, a company that gives loans to international postgraduate business school students in Cape Town. There, Fuchs learning computer coding, a skill he said is valuable to everyone. “Once I had done that, it was one of the most empowering things I actually had done in my life, because now I had the power to build things that could be dis-
tributed around the world in a matter of seconds,” he said. LSA freshman Rebecca Leeman said she attended the event because she is interested in going to South Africa and noted friends who study computer science have showed her coding is a valuable skill. “I learned about the summer program but I also learned life skills that I wasn’t expecting to learn,” she said. Fuchs said he hopes iXperience will expand to 10 cities around the world, with 150 students in each summer program within three years. They company is also considering adding new courses, such as consulting, and building a venture capital fund finance the ideas of student interns.
GHANA From Page 1A According to University alum Carolyn Yarina, chief executive officer of Sisu Global Health, 80 percent of the world’s medical technology is designed for 10 percent of the world’s population, leaving 90 percent without access to adequate medical equipment. “Over the past couple of years, the amount of times we’ve heard doctors say, essentially, if they just had simple technology — a microscope here, or access to blood, or an ultrasound, or a lot of simple things— they could save lives,” Yarina said. “But they don’t have access to a lot of these technologies.” Sisu Global Health is working to prepare the Ghanaian market for its new product, the Hemafuse — a device that retransfuses a patient’s blood. While in Ghana, the Sisu Global Health team members observed that blood transfusions in the area were hindered by high costs and inadequate infrastructure. Transfusions are most needed in cases involving complicated pregnancies or traffic accidents resulting in severe blood loss. The cost for testing and then processing one pint of blood is about $50 in Ghana, Yarina said. The price for patients usually falls between $50 and $150 for one to three pints of donor blood. If patients are unable to pay for donor blood, doctors can attempt to collect the lost blood and return it to that same person’s body. According to Yarina, some do so using a soup ladle and gauze. However, the Hemafuse technology provides a safer, more efficient and sanitary blood collection method. The device then returns the blood directly to the patient. According to Sisu Global Health’s website, Hemafuse requires one-third of the time it takes a soup ladle to do the same job, and one-ninth the staff. Hospitals would purchase a device while patients would only need to purchase a $10 filter piece. Sisu Global Health began last spring when two University-based companies, CentriCycle and Design Innovations for Infants and Mothers Everywhere, Inc., joined forces. Yarina was the founder of CentriCycle, while University alum Gillian Henker, chief technology officer of Sisu Global Health, founded DIIME. “We were in the same social venture practicum,” Yarina said. “We had the same overarching vision, but initially we had different paths we wanted to take to get to that same point.” Different as they may have been at first, both paths lead to the health care facet of social entrepreneurship. The field of social entrepreneurship recognizes critical gaps in social issues and systems, said University alum Grace Hsia, CEO and co-founder of Warmilu, a forprofit company that provides heating technologies for therapy and at-risk infants. “The solution that the social entrepreneur is trying to present helps to change systems, not just address symptoms of a problem,” Hsia said. Hsia met Yarina and Genker in TechArb, a program encouraging University students to explore their ideas through applied entrepreneurial education and experience. For Yarina, her path began before TechArb in her freshman year Engineering 100 class, taught by Dr. Susan Montgomery, the Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Program adviser. In this class, Yarina and her group members worked on an earlier version of Sisu Global Health’s (r)Evolve, a bloodseparating centrifuge that allows for easier diagnosis with a rapid diagnostic test. Though not currently on the market, (r)Evolve technology could more effectively diagnose cases of HIV, malaria, hepatitis, syphilis and typhoid fever.
Montgomery recalled Yarina and her Engineering 100 group using a bicycle tire to make a centrifuge. They used the spoke of the bicycle as a test tube holder and were able to move the pedal and turn the wheel to get “centrifugal action,” Montgomery said. “I’ve seen many people start projects and think about taking it to the next level, but none of the groups have done it to the extent that this team has,” Montgomery said. “They could have been done and moved to other things but that they would hold onto it and grow it to this extent, and with the leadership that Carolyn has had in making this possible, it’s energizing.” Four years down the road, in 2013, Albion College alum Katie Kirsch, chief marketing officer of Sisu Global Health, joined Yarina’s CentriCycle team. She joined shortly after returning home from Rwanda where she had a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship at the National University of Rwanda. It was her experience in Rwanda that influenced Kirsch to join the cause of her current partners Yarina and Genker. “I had a lot of students who were unable to come to class because either they had health complications themselves or their family members did,” Kirsch said. “I felt like I couldn’t influence my student’s lives in the way that I wanted to.” Kirsch said the inefficiency and inaccessibility of the hospitals prevented many Rwandans from receiving proper care, which hospitals should be able to administer with ease. Determined to solve that problem, Kirsch, Yarina, and Genker joined forces a year later through Sisu Global Health. The group decided to build their company around what they call “human-centered design.” Their first step was to observe, Yarina said. Instead of searching for an adequate market for an existing product, the trio studied the medical system in Ghana, pinpointed the issues and designed their product accordingly. Throughout the project, they have spoken to doctors, administrators, maintenance staff and patients to gauge the needs of the area. “We’re partnering directly with these doctors who wouldn’t usually have their opinion asked of them, which is silly,” Kirsch said. Yarina noted that the company has a “double bottom line” — success to them means not only financial gain, but also the impact they cause. Financially, the group decided that the best way to make an impact was through DIIME’s for-profit route rather than CentriCycle’s nonprofit one. “If you give something away, you can probably only access maybe a village, or a couple hundred people,” Yarina said. “But if you actually sell something in scale, there’s the potential to impact the whole world.” Currently, Sisu is in the testing phase of their Hemafuse product and hopes to run clinical trials on patients within the next year. They’ve built relationships with Ghanaian hospitals, created a subsidiary legal business entity in Ghana and hope to hire someone on the ground in Ghana soon. While Sisu Global Health aims to implement the Hemafuse product in Ghana, they also hope to commercially manufacture (r)Evolve in the future and extend their products to India, which was CentriCycle’s original market. Hsia said Sisu Global Health is in a unique situation due to the “diverse skillsets” brought together in the union of the CentriCycle and DIIME teams. “By putting these two groups together and all of their collective knowledge and customer base, I think they’re going to do great things,” Hsia said. “I’m really excited and proud of them.”
Opinion
Page 4A — Wednesday, November 19, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ELIZA CADOUX | VIEWPOINT
Institutional trauma 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
MEGAN MCDONALD and DANIEL WANG EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
KATIE BURKE MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
This column is not about football
I
nstead this article is about the voices that have been silenced, because football has taken the forefront of concerns. Even though this institution will first listen to #firedavebrandon before #expelrapists, I will not. Even though the Board of Regents and University President sit in their cushioned lives so far removed from reality, I will not. Even though football MAJA wins are the dearest things to privileged white boys’ TOSIC hearts, I will not write to please them more. I will not create yet another space through which they can dominate. Now that I have turned away the very white men that will not be the subject of my article. Now that they have turned the page and closed the Internet tab. Now that they have stopped listening because this article doesn’t glorify them, let’s talk for real. The reality is that so many of us are in pain. The silencing of our pain adds even more pain. It is assumed that we have an entered a college utopia where race, class, gender, sexual orientation and other identities don’t matter because everyone is simply human. But we are not all just human. We live in a realm where our identities shape our existence. They may warrant oppression, but they so also give color to our lives. They teach how us to love and bring us closer to one another. So don’t wash away our nuances by labeling us all as just human — a classless homogeneity. Doing so denies the many different ways people have connection to humanity. The reality is that the pain that class causes is not discussed. We swim in the notion that the American Dream is real. We enter our university community believing it is an isolated bubble, and within it we become classless. There’s a belief stirring amongst us that as University students, we all have joined a melting pot where class differences do not exist — that being a University student is its own class category.
I
The reality is that there is a belief that class is invisible. A belief that class cannot be identified because it doesn’t mark us. But who is it actually invisible to? Working-class identity scars working hands. It creates wrinkles of worry. It causes rumbling stomachs. On the other end, class privilege creates smoothness, ease, comfort and fullness. Class is invisible only to those who have never had to look into their own reflection and see working-class bruises. The reality is that some are consumed with worries while others will never have to experience them. A worry of how to pay tuition each semester. A worry of which to pick — paying rent or buying food. A worry of how to stay warm as winter worsens. A worry of how to stay on top of homework after working each day. A worry that being cash-poor will translate into laziness. A worry that “working class” will be soon be connected to lacking wealth of knowledge. A worry of having worry show in one’s eyes. The reality is that this is not my reality. I do not have to worry about how to pay rent or tuition. I can pay each in full the day it is due. I do not work jobs alongside school to ensure that I can survive. As my mother says, I work part-time to save money for something nice. I do not worry what others will think when they correctly read my class identity. I do not worry. The reality is that one can become aware of reality. Even though I do not have to worry, I bear the responsibility to discontinue the silencing of working-class individuals. The first step is for privileged folks to examine their own lives and the comfort they can afford. One does not have to seek painful narratives from others in order to understand class divisions. Each class category shapes individuals, so start by learning how you are shaped by your own identity. Let your heart expand with understanding and compassion. Then move through this world with an awareness and a ploy to listen instead of perpetuating silence. — Maja Tosic can be reached at tosimaj@umich.edu.
Unhealthy election habits
don’t think I’m cut out to be a politician. Not that anyone was asking, but I should probably expound. Over the past several weeks, I had been working on running for co-editorial page editor of this newspaper. The preparation for the election included meeting with nearly all the top-level editors of the paper, potential editors for next year and other members involved at the paper in order to formulate future ideas DEREK and receive feedback. All of WOLFE this culminated in a twohour question-and-answer session, which occurred last Friday evening. During this process, I met more fellow colleagues — trying to sound professional, here — than I had in the past two years. And by all means, it was highly productive and fun. I also got to know some of the younger members of the opinion section who are working to join the editorial board and possibly become editors. That is particularly exciting. My counterpart, Aarica Marsh, and I were able to develop our vision for the opinion section by incorporating aspects of what makes the other sections successful and work on talking points for the election. And for those wondering at home, we won — yes, the election was uncontested, but still, a victory is a victory. I couldn’t be more enthused to lead this section. There is nothing inherently wrong with what I described. We took all the right and necessary steps to prepare for a successful year. However, while it’s hard to precisely define it, there is something slightly disingenuous about the election process. What I mean by this is that whenever I would introduce myself to someone new on staff I worried about it coming off to the person like, “I’m introducing myself to you only because I’m running and want your support.” The reality is I enjoy meeting new people, but there was always the concern that the looming election blurred my intentions — that I was being fake. There is no denying that this process accelerated, even encouraged, a social process, which in the long term is beneficial for when we hire an edit staff and familiarity with one another has been established. But, I guess what I’m saying is that I’m uncomfortable engaging in a relationship where only I have something to gain in the
short term — in this case, winning an election. I can’t even imagine how it would be if Aarica and I ran against someone else. While elections are necessary for our great democracy, the dynamics that accompany them are incredibly complicated and overall unhealthy. Through my anecdotal evidence alone, it’s clear that it’s difficult to gauge one’s true motivations. And this isn’t just a Daily problem. It’s a societal problem. And it affects everything and everyone from high school youth groups — something I also have experience with — to the presidential election. Who can you trust? Which candidate cared more about me? Both questions, in a society where 99.9 percent of people aren’t trained in psychoanalysis, are tough to answer. Take the 2014 midterm elections as another example where the answers of those questions are risked. We gambled on who “meant it” more. Across the country, hundreds of candidates, most notably for the U.S. House of Representatives and gubernatorial races, were enthusiastically making bold claims and promises on how they could improve my life as an American citizen. Nov. 1, I attended a Democratic rally at Wayne State University where President Barack Obama spoke to endorse thencandidates Gary Peters and Mark Schauer. During his speech, Obama said, “You have the chance to choose leaders that don’t put political ideology first, that don’t put just winning an election first — they put you first.” That is classic election rhetoric. Of course, I want to believe that Gary Peters does put me first. But, especially with national and statewide elections, he was also fighting for his career. He’s trying to get paid. That’s his number one goal. The Daily is a bit different. If you saw how much a writer gets paid per article you’d know money isn’t a motivator. I’m sure this is also the case for other student groups across campus. But for me, especially when I don’t know the candidate very well, elections automatically generate a sense of skepticism because it’s all talk and no walk — sorry for the cliché. I’m excited that election season is over. It’s time to get to work. I want to prove I’m a man of my word. Hopefully our representatives will do the same. — Derek Wolfe can be reached at dwolfe@umich.edu.
Trigger warning: sexual assault, mental health turmoil and institutional betrayal. Names have been changed to respect the privacy and bravery of those who spoke with me. It takes an incredible amount of strength to ask for help. It takes even more strength to do so if you have been defiled, disrespected or violated. Survivors on this campus are pushed to come out of the woodwork, only to find themselves naked in front of a spotlight, facing an indifferent audience and a chorus of “I’m so sorry.” Amid the It’s On Us policy advising roundtables, a potent display of students demands on the Diag and the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center Survivor Speak Out, I have to ask: what do we talk about when we talk about reform surrounding sexual assault? We talk about accountability. We talk about prevention and bystander awareness. We talk about survivor support services, in which survivors can find a healing community, such as SAPAC. We talk about statistics and studies. We talk about the narratives of those who spoke up, such as Emma Sulkowicz of Columbia University, heroine of the Carry That Weight campaign. And all of this is vital, pulsing and critical to the daily life of the one in four. Yet I want to say, no, shout, that we are missing something. We are missing the conversations that take place in quiet. Let’s talk about the individual mental struggle. Let’s talk about trauma. When I expressed my anxiety toward the end of last year, the most common response I heard was: “Why don’t you try CAPS?” Counseling and Psychological Services is free (once you’ve paid the University’s crippling annual tuition) and accessible in the Michigan Union. As many of my peers know, the first thing one does at CAPS is sit in front of a screen and take an
intake survey. I supplied information about my relationship with my mother and my father, my sisters, my sexual history, my sleeping habits, my academic stress level. I provided an honest account of being raped. I clicked a small box, to indicate that I needed to be seen, that I needed to be heard. When I approached the desk to make an appointment, a woman looked up at me and said that the next opening was in more than three weeks. Three weeks. I spilled my guts to a boxy computer screen. I asked for help. Three weeks. I am not at all alone in this experience. The rehashing of trauma only to be neglected in the lobby of CAPS is, unfortunately, a seemingly common experience. Alexa, an LSA sophomore, told me her story. “When I was first seen, my initial visit lasted about two minutes ... I walked into a woman’s office and after asking me my name, the first thing the woman said was something along the lines of ‘I read your form but I would like for you to tell me in your own words and in detail why you are here.’ This struck me because if she read my form and knew I was there because I had been raped, I didn’t understand why she needed me to tell her that again.” Alexa then had to describe her trauma, which was clearly notated: “It was very triggering to write and then even worse to weepily explain what happened to me to a stranger who was not even going to be the person working with me.” The counselor concluded after two minutes that Alexa needed to see a trauma counselor, to make a new appointment and to wait another three weeks. To make matters worse, the counselor shifted the fear and blame farther onto Alexa: “She also said, ‘People like you tend to develop some paranoia after their trauma such as constantly looking behind you when you
walk and being afraid of being alone, especially at night.’ ... she made me aware that maybe I should be scared and now I find myself uncomfortable when people are walking close behind me and when I am alone at night.” Jane, a senior, had to wait two weeks, only to be given a list of private therapists. Sarah, a sophomore suffering from anxiety, had to wait three. I would like to be clear: I am glad CAPS exists — but it is not enough. Sexual assault doesn’t end with a rape kit, a court date or an assailant’s one-year suspension from the University. It doesn’t end when you’re in a loving relationship, when you’re safe and looked after. It lives in people, travels with them and becomes a part of their human experience. By listing CAPS as an institution prepared to deal with the psychological pain that comes from such experience, the University is disrespecting the very women it claims to foster. By refusing to allocate adequate resources to the mental health of its students, while the furnishings of East Quad alone cost $3.3 million dollars, the University states its priorities through its actions. CAPS announced a change in policy at the beginning of the semester, stating that wait times for an initial visit will be one to three days. Yet Alexa’s and Sarah’s waits both occurred within this semester. If this policy does indeed get enacted properly, when we arrive, will we be treated like Alexa was, with a cold, efficient demeanor, or like damaged goods, which the University must sulkingly deal with? Or rather, surprisingly, like humans grappling with being dehumanized? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is real. Chronic pain is real. Anxiety is real. Depression is real. Take our minds seriously. Take us seriously. Stop telling us you care and show us you do. Eliza Cadoux is an LSA sophomore.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Edvinas Berzanskis, Devin Eggert, David Harris, Rachel John, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe MICAH NELSON | VIEWPOINT
Taking action on a two state solution Recently, University of Michigan Hillel — the largest pluralistic Jewish communal organization on this campus — denied sponsorship for a Palestinian Solidarity Shabbat. The stated reason, according to the students who tried to organize it, was that Hillel felt that the term “Palestinian solidarity” was exclusive. The suggested event, organized by individuals associated with Jewish Voice for Peace, but not sponsored by JVP explicitly, was suggested as a moment in which to bring a conversation about Palestinian lives into Hillel as part of the ShabUM program. However, Hillel International, the umbrella organization for all Hillels globally, has guidelines about what kinds of Israel programming they will host or sponsor. According to the guidelines, Hillel-affiliated institutions will not partner with or host anyone that, among other things, supports the movement to boycott, divest from or sanction Israel, companies that operate in Israel or companies that operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. JVP supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and so the organization falls outside those guidelines. Yet, regardless of how we feel about BDS, JVP or Hillel and its guidelines, the conversation here has been about the title of the program, Palestinian Solidarity Shabbat. But our Hillel says they support a two-state solution, and that must mean standing in solidarity with Palestinians. We at J Street UMich want to see our institutions better grapple with what it means to care for and about Palestinians. Supporting Palestinian sovereignty is not antiIsrael. Because the University of Michigan Hillel has publicly declared support for a two-state solution, supporting Palestinian sovereignty is well within our Hillel’s values. We have seen Hillel demonstrate its commitment to two states in the past — including when they hosted Americans for Peace Now last year. We value our Hillel for this, and for its willingness to take a stand on one of the most vital
issues facing the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Yet, if we believe in a two-state solution, we cannot care only for the Jewish state and disregard our future Palestinian neighbor. A two-state solution means what it says: a Jewish and democratic Israel alongside a viable Palestine. We cannot support one without supporting the other. To do so only pays lip service to our common cause. As pro-Israel students, we are deeply concerned about the security of Israel and the risks the occupation poses to it. We too think deeply about our values of Zionism and the safety of the Jewish homeland, and we applaud Michigan Hillel for its public support for a two-state solution. But we have also grown up in communities that claim support for a two-state solution and then devalue or disregard the people who will live in that second state. This is a challenge facing the entire Jewish community — and one that inhibits public support for two states into action. To ensure that this public support leads to a sustainable future for Israelis and Palestinians, we must have more conversations about what it means to support Palestinian futures. We understand that having a deep conversation about Palestinians and Palestinian sovereignty will be a challenge for the Jewish community, and for this campus at large, because many of us have been taught that to be active in this conversation, you must pick one side or the other. But we at J Street UMich think there is a better path. As a dedicated pro-Israel student group, J Street UMich is a proud member of Hillel’s Israel Cohort — a body of self-identifying pro-Israel student organizations on campus. Our support for Palestinian statehood does not preclude our membership. On the contrary, it makes us the best pro-Israel advocates we can be — ones who are willing to wrestle with what it means to support two states, and what it means to care for the long-term sustainability of both peoples. Michigan Hillel will fully act on its values when it opens spaces that include deep dis-
cussion about Palestinian sovereignty — and they can, and should, create space for this conversation. In fact, they must, because being pro-Israel and pro-Palestine are mutually interdependent. Michigan Hillel can lead the charge for a two-state solution — in many ways, it has already taken decisive steps by supporting the twostate solution publicly. This is why we are excited that today, J Street UMich is hosting Rabbi Arik Ascherman, an outspoken Jewish advocate for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, and the president and senior rabbi of Rabbis for Human Rights, at Hillel. By welcoming Rabbi Ascherman into its building, Hillel has taken this moment to demonstrate its values. But he is not Palestinian, and we must have Palestinian voices within Hillel. Given the events of the last few weeks and months, it is even more important for us to understand each other’s narratives. We at J Street UMich are proud to be part of a Hillel that has afforded us the ability to have such programming in the face of a Jewish community that often does not, and even more proud to be part of a Hillel that understands the necessity of a two-state solution to ensure Israel’s future. And, we want our visible support for Palestinian sovereignty to be as unequivocal as we say it is. “Palestinian self-determination” is not an exclusive term that shuts out Israeli self-determination, and breaking down such stereotypes is necessary for promoting two states. We know our Hillel is dedicated to the twostate solution, so we would like to see our Hillel invite Palestinian speakers in the future. If we support the autonomy of both Israelis and Palestinians, advocating for Palestinian self-determination is essential. It can start here at the University. We are eager for Hillel to join us. J Street UMich will be hosting Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights today Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. at Hillel. Micah Nelson is an Public Policy junior and an executive board member at J Street UMich.
Arts & Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
EVENT PREVIEW
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 — 5A
EVENT PREVIEW
Françoise Mouly Thanksgroovin’ to talks art, comics be high-energy show Famed Art Editor of The New Yorker to give lecture at Penny Stamps By GILLIAN JAKAB Daily Community & Culture Editor
Comics, like computers, began in America as the weird playthings of those on the nerdy end of the social spectrum. Today, they are a bastion for print publishing, holding fast against the ever-rising digital tide. Penny Stamps Perhaps no Lecture one is more Nov. 20 at responsible for the 5:10 p.m. ascendency of Michigan Theater comics than Free Françoise Mouly, Art Editor of The New Yorker. Along with her husband, comic book luminary Art Spiegelman, author of best-selling “Maus,” Mouly brought comics from the fringe underground of basement bookstores to the hautecouture of The New Yorker covers and museum retrospectives. Thursday, Mouly will give a Penny Stamps lecture in which her love of print publishing and the comics medium will serve as focal points to encourage future generations to push boundaries and recognize opportunities to keep print publishing thriving. Like many French kids, Mouly grew up with children’s comics, so when she moved to New York at age 19, she thought there would be no better way to learn English than through captioned illustrations. Yet there were no comics in the mainstream bookstores or on the newsstands. A friend introduced her to the underground cartoonist Art Speigelman, and she fell in love with the artist’s advocacy for his medium — and later with the artist himself. Through the 1980s, the two co-edited RAW magazine, an annual anthology of the year’s best and most progressive work in the comics genre. “I wanted to make an object that showed all of the possibilities of how comics could function to tell stories, to illustrate articles, to show very different styles,” Mouly said in an interview with The Michigan Daily. “That this wasn’t just science fiction or superheroes, but it could be literature; it could be art. The desire there was again to demonstrate a museum quality gathering of comics and a bit in reaction to the underground comics that Art came from which thought of comics like this is lowbrow culture to be read on the toilet. But I’d seen work, including that of my husband, that I thought was worthy of not being trash and being kept and being read again and again and had a lot of qualities that made it on par with art and literature. So that was the impulse at the time … to present things the way I saw that.” RAW was quite a DIY operation: Mouly was its publisher, designer, production manager and printer, using her own printing press located in their Soho loft. Mouly and Spiegelman chose the comic strips together, resulting in editorial diversity. “We had a common vision and we wanted to bring very different artists,” Mouly said. “I was
Françoise Mouly: In Love with Art … and Comics
probably more the advocate for the conceptual work — I did most of the illustrated text pieces. I wrote a couple and I did layouts for those; I wanted graphics that weren’t pure comics in the magazine. We both were of a common accord that we wanted a range of artists … we put our tastes together and that’s a good way to do it.” “Half the people or more were our friends,” Mouly said. “You know we had met them, we had spent time with them, we shared many evenings talking about how great comics could be, so it was a gathering of a lot of different ideas and different people that were in different countries, and it was very exciting because everybody we published we loved.” The same is true of Mouly’s work as the Art Editor of the New Yorker. “All of the artists that I publish, I pretty much brought to (The New Yorker) — such as Robert (Crumb) and Chris Ware and Charles Burns and Adrian Tomine and Peter de Sève. There’s pretty much no artist that’s being published that isn’t somebody I brought either from my old connections or (from) discovering their work as I went along, because I’ve been doing this for a while now.” Mouly sees The New Yorker as a publication that values not only the aesthetic merit of comics and cartoons, but also the medium’s power to make a statement, political or otherwise. “The New Yorker has of course a long tradition of cartoons and of artists being integrated as part of the contributors,” Mouly said. “One thing that is terrific with The New Yorker, besides all of the other wonderful things that we do, is that we publish the work of artists as full-fledged contributors, not just to illustrate somebody else’s work, but the cover is a signed work by a cartoonist. And that seldom happens in this day and age: that cartoonists have their voice and their ideas.” Mouly’s process of choosing a New Yorker cover takes the form of an ongoing conversation with the artist to come up with the right image at the right time. As a weekly general interest magazine, The New Yorker has a quick response time to current events, but isn’t expected to cover everything that happens. Mouly’s New Yorker cover can either stand on it’s own as a stylized illustration of seasonal/ cultural themes or can serve as a timely commentary on a breaking issue of the day. “I’m in a dialogue with the artists so what I try to do is to encourage them to use this cover of a magazine as a forum to address the concerns that they might have … I actually believe that those cartoonists and those graphic storytellers should be telling the story of our times,” Mouly said. She famously edited the controversial cover in 2008 depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as closet militant revolutionaries in Arab garb fistbumping their election to the White House — a caricature of those who really believe it. The controversy was that the targets of the caricature — and there was no shortage of them in our nation — didn’t get it, seeing instead a magazine cover that perfectly captured their views. “The thing that’s great with New Yorker readers is that they’re all very sophisticated,” Mouly said. “We can publish images that are ironic, that are funny, that are
provocative, and they don’t have captions and they don’t tell you what to think, but they presume that the reader is able to formulate his or her own opinion, and that’s a great privilege. It’s totally the best thing we have from being The New Yorker is that we don’t have to caption and explain ourselves or take it back and we can trust our readers trust their intelligence.” In 2012, Mouly published a collection of the covers that didn’t make the magazine entitled “Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See.” The selectivity is the product of a high volume of sketch submissions, yet sometimes the message is not quite right for the magazine. The collection stands as a testament to Mouly by showcasing the breadth and depth of the art that her editorship generates, revealing Mouly’s taste for the provocative and her discerning eye among it. Mouly also publishes TOON Books, a series of comics for kids. As a mother, Mouly recognized the special place hard copy comics can occupy for kids the way they did for her. Mouly views comics as a transformative keyhole for kids to see through to power of art and literature in their lives. “It’s great medium for kids and it is how you map out a future for kids to love books and to love reading and to get into holding a story. It has some magical component because when you read a book by a cartoonist whether it be Dr. Seuss or Maurice Sendak or William Steig, you see the hand of the artist who actually made those marks and told that story,” Mouly said. Mouly doesn’t ignore digital technology at The New Yorker. She edited a cover drawn on an iPad, by David Hockney, for the first iPad edition of the magazine and has edited animated covers for the online edition. “(The first animated New Yorker Cover was a) poetic image by Christopher Neiman of rain falling, just rain drops seen through the window of a cab. So that was our first moving cover, it was moving everywhere except of course on the print issue … It was such a perfect New Yorker cover because it was very abstract, it was like a dozen raindrops basically. Nobody else could get away with being so conceptual and minimalist and so tongue-and cheek, but when you’re The New Yorker you can do that. Everybody else would have to be doing some kind of production number with some kind of like big deal moving parts, and we can do the simple thing.” Comics, more so than typeset books, convey the physical act of creation. Maybe that’s the reason their fans tend to demand them in print rather than digital form. Mouly includes the genre among her pantheon of saviors of the print publishing industry. “I want to share my own enthusiasm for where we’re at in publishing. Because I am in the midst of New York City publishing where a lot of people are in despair because book publishers are experiencing a lot of hardship. And (with) magazines it’s difficult — this is true of various magazines (and) newspapers — we are in the midst of a tectonic plate shift in terms of publishing and things that I like such as books, but because I am at The New Yorker per se, and involved with publishing children’s books, and involved with publishing comics, I feel that we are at a very optimistic point, that the future is bright.”
BLACK STUDENT UNION | VIEWPOINT
#BBUM one year anniversary Today marks the one year anniversary of #BBUM, Being Black at the University of Michigan. The Black Student Union created this Twitter campaign in hopes of giving a voice to the Black experience at the University. This campaign quickly garnered national attention, and inspired similar movements on other college campuses across the nation. Although a year has passed, the Black Student Union’s work continues. After releasing the hashtag last year, it, along with members of the Black community issued seven demands to University officials on Martin Luther King Day. Students demanded full restoration of the BSU’s
budget, affordable housing on Central Campus, a new centrally located multicultural center, revision to the Race and Ethnicity requirement, emergency scholarships for Black students, increased disclosure of documents within the Bentley Library and an increase in Black representation on campus equal to 10 percent. Though the hashtag campaign remains a revered instance of student activism on campus, the BSU and members of the Black community will continue striving to make more than a symbolic impact. This article was written by members of the Black Student Union.
Groove to bring performance groups to State Theater By CAROLINE FILIPS For The Daily
The all-too-familiar thud of last week’s “I forgot about this and it somehow ended up in the back of the fridge” Thanksgroovin’ takeout Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. container after its State Theater descent to the Students $5, Adults $8 bottom of the trashcan is something we don’t think twice about. Yet to those as musically minded as the University’s percussion performance group, Groove, that nuance becomes a source of inspiration for one’s work. “It’s mostly just the creative spark, when you hear something,” said LSA senior and Groove president Vincent Sheu. “For us it’s just everyday life, we’re constantly hearing sounds and interpreting that as ‘oh, that could be something we do in Groove.’ ” Throughout its 11-year presence on campus, Groove has been the University’s premier high-energy percussion and performance group, known for transforming ordinary objects into musical devices. Writing all their own music, and building their own instruments, the group incorporates an unmatched creativity into each performance. “What we do is we play a lot of music and we drum on things that you normally wouldn’t consider instruments,” Sheu said. “Most
people see us on the Diag playing trashcans, and we do that in the week leading up to our big show.” Groove has certainly grown since its founding in 2003 and has continued to maintain an extensive following. “It used to be a small group that was performing in Angell Hall auditoriums which only seat a few hundred people,” Sheu noted. “Two years ago we actually sold out the Michigan Theatre which was like 1500 people … a really big turnout and we were all really happy with that.” Consisting of approximately 30 members and selectively adding only about eight out of 60 auditioning each year, Groove stands as a selective and competitive student organization. In order to make the cut, one must be well versed in the various aspects of the musical creative process — playing, writing and performing original music is key. Though the group is focused primarily on percussion instruments, many members are guitar and keyboard musicians as well. “We really try to branch out in terms of all the different types of music that we play, but we always try to keep it with that unique sound and that unique instrument feel,” Sheu said. “We compare very heavily to Stomp and Blue Man Group. In our show we actually write a lot of really diverse music ranging from heavy drum line sort of songs to unique songs you would see at a Stomp show or Blue Man Group and also covers of popular music like indie songs or something that’s on the radio.” This impressive range is sure to be showcased both in the Diag this week and at their
upcoming annual winter show, Thanksgroovin’. “It’s going to be a lot of fun, we’re getting in a lot of new sounds that we haven’t been able to in the past just with new technology and new keyboards and synthesizers, things like that,” Sheu said. “Our newbie class this semester has blown all of our expectations out of the water and some of the songs they’re writing are just amazing.” This year’s show will also feature a few University a cappella groups, opening with Compulsive Liars and collaborating with The Dicks & Jane’s for the cover of Animal Collective’s “My Girls.” Groove will also be covering “High For This” by Ellie Goulding with Michigan’s Pop Orchestra. “It’s a really crazy blend of songs this semester, and there’s going to be a lot of really cool covers,” Sheu said. Also featured is the group’s new exclusive mason jar instrumental, filled with water to create differing pitches. A song stylized after a traditional Filipino dance of coconut shell body percussion is also included in the lineup, along with a song of kitchen cutlery instruments. “We’re doing a song with all those sort of things, just hitting tumblers and glasses and forks and knives and things like that and that’s also made into a skit … in another piece, we play on ladders, we play on trash cans and bass cans and like Home Depot buckets as well,” Sheu said. Though a four-year Groove performer, Sheu admits his favorite moment of each show is the audience’s own rhythm of applause.
EVENT REVIEW
‘Dead Man Walking’ brings opera to students SMT&D puts on a powerful, emotional performance By REBECCA GODWIN Daily Arts Writer
For many college students, opera isn’t the most appealing art form. Images of Viking helmets, sad Italian clowns and women in red dresses are what come to mind most often. However, “Dead Man Walking,” created by Jake Heggie and Tony-Awardwinning playwright Terrence McNally, is not your typical opera. Put on by the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, the show was powerful, moving and far beyond a skeptical college student’s expectations. The opera, which is based on a true story, revolves around Sister Helen Prejean as she works as the spiritual advisor to Joseph De Rocher, a death row convict who was convicted, along with his brother, of murdering a teenage couple. The two form a relationship through the duration of the opera, which starts just before the pair’s first face-to-face meeting and concludes shortly after De Rocher’s execution. Sarah Coit, a graduate student studying vocal performance, played Sister Helen. Her voice was rich and beautiful, and it rarely seemed as though she was struggling to reach any of the notes. Her acting sometimes felt a little disconnected from what she was singing, as though she was focusing on remembering the words or notes and wasn’t acting them. In some scenes her reactions felt a little weak and she would often look out into the audience or over a fellow actor’s shoulder instead of in their eyes. This was especially noticeable in the more intense scenes when there needed to be
a strong connection between characters. But Coit navigated the intense emotional content with a poise that made the majority of her scenes touching and poignant — delivering a stunning performance overall. James Schmid, a senior studying vocal performance, played Joseph De Rocher and stole the show. His singing and acting were both spot on, playing the emotional turmoil his character was going through beautifully. The character of De Rocher is a subtle balance of bravado and genuine emotion, and Schmid excelled in portraying the emotional journey De Rocher goes on as he realizes he is going to be executed. There were a few scenes that really stuck out to me with Schmid’s performance, such as the childlike qualities Schmid gave De Rocher as he tried to apologize to his mother in a truly heartbreaking scene. The second scene was De Rocher’s execution; Schmid played the scene so realistically that it was actually upsetting and painful to watch as he was killed. There were a few other performances that really stuck out as well. Graduate student Angela Nieman, senior Nora Burgard, graduate student Lonnie Reed and junior Michael Miller played the parents of the two teenagers De Rocher killed with heart wrenching accuracy. Miller, in particular, played the devastated father of the young girl so well that it was impossible not to tear up at his grief. Graduate student Natasha Drake, who portrayed De Rocher’s mother, also gave a powerful peformance as the loyal mother who refused, even at the very end, to believe her son was capable of such a horrendous crime. The staging was well done and realistic, but at times could be a little disturbing and hard to watch. For instance,
the opening scene shows De Rocher and his brother attacking the young teenage couple. The audience not only saw the pair beat the couple, but you also saw De Rocher rape the girl and then stab her repeatedly while his brother shot the boy. Later, during De Rocher’s execution, they actually strapped Schmid to an execution table and then hooked him up to an incredibly realistic looking lethal injection machine, which lit up and made noises. The attention to detail for these scenes was impressive, but at the same time seeing such realistic and accurate depictions left the audience reaching for tissues to wipe away tears, which meant people missed some of the things that happened after as they were trying to calm themselves down. The set was simple and directed the audience’s focus onto the actors. There were supertitles above the stage that displayed exactly what the actors were singing, which proved quite helpful during some parts. The only thing that proved to be a little annoying was the imbalance between speaking and singing. The majority of the show was sung, but there were moments where it felt like the actors were just singing to sing, and they could have just as easily spoken their lines. But this has less to do with the production itself and more to do with the creators of the opera, as well the genre, in general. “Dead Man Walking” was not simply a sad story with no message. Every character, including De Rocher, was so incredibly human down to each and every fault, that it made choosing a side difficult; regardless of your own beliefs, there was a legitimate argument for both sides. It left you questioning and thinking, and any show that can do that is a show worth seeing.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, November 19, 2014
STYLE NOTEBOOK
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
The style of ‘AHS’ ‘Who’ a depressing end By KAREN HUA
Fashion propels Jessica Lange’s femme fatale
Daily Arts Writer
By CATHERINE SULPIZIO Daily Arts Writer
There is a reason Jessica Lange is one of the most popular characters on “American Horror Story” every season. She plays the femme fatale in a sea of forgettable female TV personas, the unapologetic villainess who makes being bad look damn good. Of course, Lange’s brand of fashion has always had a tenuous history with female politics. In the June 9, 1909 edition of the New York Times, a headline blared “NEW WOMAN A FREAK, SAYS BISHOP DOANE.” In the byline, it continued “One Who Strives for Man’s Work a Horrible, Misshapen Monster.” The titillating headline referred to a Bishop’s ill-advised graduation speech at an all girls school in New York, where he railed against the growing suffragette movement. The New Woman of his speech was an entirely new cut of female; in an 1895 edition of Home Chat, a women’s magazine, a satirical poem wrote: “Who rides a cycle round the town, in costume making all men frown, and otherwise acts like a clown? New Woman.” The Bishop didn’t subscribe to Home Chat (he probably inherited his institutional sexism from his employer), but what both narratives have in common is their alignment of the New Woman as a “freak,” or “a clown.” In their complete forms, both yoke the New Woman’s fashion to their indictment; after all, she cut her hair short, wore bloomers to bike ride and abandoned the fussy volume of Victorian silhouettes. Fashion continues to carry this gendered baggage. Damned if you have an interest in it and damned if you don’t — just look at how critics treat Hillary Clinton’s unfussy style. The label of deformity applied to genderless fashion signals that to be a strong female is to be estranged from society. Which is exactly why the mutable femme fatale embraces
FX
She’s going to break your heart in two ... it’s true.
this label. After all, it is harder to police the outsider than the member of society who has swallowed the status quo. The femme fatale wears strangeness on her sleeve: she is sexual then asexual, wearing prickly tweed or silk that glistens like liquid on her skin. If Lange’s past characters paid whispered tributes to the femme fatale, Elsa uproots the lady of noir from her restrained Hays Code heyday and thoroughly modernizes her. Elsa is a former dominatrix, sexual assault victim turned abuser, aspiring singer, circus ringleader — Elsa accepts with relish the “complicated” label TV critics love. And all of it is reflected in her style, which uses strange fabrics and colors, and doubles back on earlier eras. Take the powder blue suit Elsa wears when she performs David Bowie’s “Life on Mars.” As costume designer Lou Eyrich noted, “We fashioned it after a ’40s suit, but a take off of the blue suit that David Bowie wore. So, it’s a ’40s version of a ’70s suit.” But the suit isn’t just anachronistic, it’s distinctly androgynous with its large lapels and boxy shape. In fact, much of Elsa’s costuming tugs back and forth between two opposites, which comes to characterize Elsa who is both cruel and compassionate. In her first appearance, Elsa strides in the hospital with a voluminous
black and white fur coat. The fur makes a statement, but so does the coat’s ultra-accentuated shoulder pads. Elsa takes up physical space in these shots. The black toque cap she wears has spiky feathers, sensuous yet intrusive. Even in a pink suit she wears later that’s coded more feminine, Elsa wears that spiny hat. Elsa’s penchant for fur and feathers is crucial. Both are consumerist status symbols, denoting access to money. Which is interesting, because despite the freak show’s physical remoteness, it hints that Elsa and her clan aren’t totally estranged from the marketplace economy. Of course, it also denotes power. After all, to wear a dead thing signals a fearlessness of death. There is domination over the dead thing: the accessorizing of death. Indeed, Elsa is unfazed by death; in the third episode, she’d rather sing Lana Del Rey even though she knows it will invoke the wrath of the dead Edward Mordrake. In a promo picture for “American Horror Story,” Lange wears a tent-like gown with wide carnival-esque stripes. It would swallow most people, but Lange owns it. She was involuntarily made a “freak,” so she finds her autonomy by wearing the strange and attention-catching. Like the New Woman and the femme fatale’s style, Elsa’s fashion isn’t mere conceit, it’s her armor.
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
PARKING
SERVICES
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Amin portrayed in “The Last King of Scotland” 4 Arabic “son of” 7 Took out 13 __ race 14 Lingerie tops 16 Turkey feature 17 Leave in a huff 19 Necessitate 20 “Evil Woman” rock gp. 21 Lode loads 23 Jalapeño topper 24 Chignon, e.g. 25 Book keeper? 27 Ultimate authorities 29 “Have some!” 30 Seattle-to-Reno dir. 31 Stains on a record 32 One who woke up on the wrong side of the bed, say 34 Steak topper 40 Neighborhood sale caveat 41 Dishonorable fellow 43 Blissful sounds 46 Cherry core 47 Damaged 48 Deep-fried carnival treat 52 One, to Goethe 53 Deceit 54 “Are we __ not?”: “Is it a date?” 55 Puerto Rico hrs. 56 TaylorMade parent 58 Virtual storage area, and a hint to words that start 17-, 25-, 34and 48-Across 61 “Fighting” college team 62 “Born Free” lioness 63 Word after common or case 64 Starts over 65 Pink Floyd guitarist Barrett 66 New Haven student
DOWN 1 Govt. org. that may freeze assets 2 Desert fruit tree 3 “See?!” 4 “Big Blue” 5 Coop groups 6 Tiny Pacific republic 7 Ma that baas 8 Go off on 9 Place to stick rarely used stuff 10 Celery pieces 11 Fails to pronounce 12 Knock out, as a character 15 Fr. holy women 18 Dove bars? 22 Cooks, as dim sum dumplings 24 iPad-to-PC port 26 Ring punches 28 __Kosh B’Gosh 32 Store with a Kirkland Signature brand 33 Many a Louis 35 One way to travel 36 Letters in an APB
37 Beyond belief 38 Lingerie top 39 Ultimate 42 Vogue VIPs 43 Intense romance 44 Steeplechase feature 45 Escargots 46 One fussy about minor details
47 Charge against Galileo 49 Film with a minimal costume budget? 50 Put in a chip 51 JCPenney rival 57 Paris, to Nicky 59 Dishonorable fellow 60 MADD focus
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dis, flawless” in a graveyard after being spun through time and space. She often seems to lack the power and grit that should characterize her as a strong heroine. As annoying as Clara may be sometimes, she makes an incredibly noble decision to sacrifice her own happiness for Danny’s. She makes the decisive choice to kill her boyfriend to alleviate his misery of living as a Cyber-human hybrid — ultimately, a decision that earns her more respect. The finale concludes with a series of let-downs, as expected developments are shot-down one at a time. In an anti-climactic peak, the Doctor himself does not actually “save the day,” but Kate Stewart’s (Jemma Redgrave, “Frankie”) father shoots the Master from behind before he is able to get to him himself — the epitome of a spotlight-steal. After Clara heartwrenchingly kills her boyfriend, the show raises a glimmer of hope that Danny could return. Unfortunately, the mysterious orb of light reveals only Danny’s spirit in the form of the child he killed — again, more disappointment. In a pseudo-happy ending, both Clara and the Doctor end their adventures by lying to pacify the other’s qualms. Whereas Clara falsely claims Danny has returned to her, the Doctor says he has found Gallifrey when it really has disappeared. What does that say about the trusting relationship they have worked so hard to develop through the entire season? The tragic reality is that their lies leaves both of them alone — the Doctor without a companion and a nonexistent mission to embark on, and Clara without Danny and a greater life purpose of saving the world. And the human race is not even completely saved because there is a possibility the Master may return, as well. Essentially, it seems like viewers stay tuned not because the show becomes more original or thrilling. Rather, they watch because they are fanatically invested in the characters and relationships the series has spent eight seasons developing. This dedication will be what tides them over until the Christmas special. For now, the “Doctor Who” finale proves unable to give them any kind of resolution in the meantime.
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, November 19, 2014
This review contains spoilers on the season finale of “Doctor Who.” Last weekend, the eighth season of “Doctor Who” ended C on one of the most Doctor Who depressing Season 8 Finale notes in BBC America history, leaving “Whovians” everywhere screaming “MOFFAT!” in fits of exasperation across the Twitterverse and Tumblr-sphere. Writer Steven Moffat (“Sherlock”) has proven that he may well be the George R. R. Martin of television. The first part of the finale, already dismal enough, was only a gentle premonition to the gloom that shrouded this one. Moffat’s merciless pen kills off audience favorites, as geeky sidekick Osgood (Ingrid Oliver, “Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging”), and Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson, “The History Boys”) both meet their finite demises. While the season started with skepticism that Peter Capaldi (“The Thick of It”) would be too old to play a vivacious, adventurous timetraveler, the Oscar-winning actor ultimately brought dynamism to the role that won over many of even the most skeptical fans. The penultimate episode of the season left audiences with a slew of cliffhangers — perhaps too many for the finale to feasibly address. It’s clear that Moffat has bitten off more than he can chew, so the finale is purely referential, attempting to resolve only a fraction of the questions and loose ends from previous episodes. After the shocking revelation of Missy as the Master (Michelle Gomez, “Bad Education”) in female form, she continues her pursuit to eradicate the human race through extermination by Cybermen. However, something about Gomez’s personality does not nearly exude “heartless and heinous” to the extent it should. The finale begins when UNIT crowns the begrudging Doctor as President of the Universe. The episode plays out the struggle between the Doctor and the
Master and their conflicting desires to destroy and save humanity. However, even after developing such a strong protagonistantagonist relationship, the writers run out of creativity as they revert to the stock template for feature adventures. The show’s dialogue, best used to convey the Doctor’s stoicism and moments of sentimentality, is instead used to explain situations instead of showing them. If anything, the writers need to trust that viewers, largely a devoted fan-base, understand the premise. Moffat can’t write dialogue primarily worrying about new viewers who need a recap. The redundant storytelling makes the revered Doctor seem more clueless, as others must fill him — or the “ignorant” audience — in on information he could’ve gleaned himself. Though the series is partially propelled by plot, the other half of the driving force relies on the relationship between the Doctor and his companion. Unfortunately, even through a whole season of development, the chemistry between Clara (Jenna Coleman, “Captain America: The First Avenger”) and the Doctor is lackluster compared to previous Doctor-companion connections. They weren’t best friends like Matt Smith’s Doctor and Amy were; they didn’t have the romance of David Tennant’s Doctor and Rose — and most disappointingly, they don’t even trust each other enough to reveal their true fates in the end. Nevertheless, it’s refreshing that the season works with a Doctorcompanion dynamic unburned by sexual tension or romantic undertones. On television, where it is usually expected of any opposite sex pairing to end up together, season eight of “Doctor Who” is a necessary break up from “shipping” culture. The distinction allows the show to focus on individual character and plot development instead of contrived relationship teasing. However, this focus on the individual characters puts pressure on each actor, so Clara often pales in comparison to previous companions. An unrealistic part of her character is her consistent ability to appear “perfect” — especially when she “wakes up like
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Drake’s ‘Take Care’ celebrates third year By RACHEL KERR For The Daily
Drake’s Take Care debuted in 2011, during my junior year of high school. At that time, I knew Drake only as the artist who sang that one song that kept saying “you the fuckin’ best” over and over again, and I was like I get it, your girl is the fucking best. And while both So Far Gone and Thank Me Later, his previous efforts released in 2009 and 2010 respectively, had been successful, it wasn’t until Take Care that I realized Drake actually had some soul. This month, three years later after its release on Nov. 15, Take Care celebrated its third birthday, which got me wondering: what made the album so special? After its release, it was a go-to for all my high school’s awkward party bus escapades, which included trying to grind on each other and take swigs from water bottles full of alcohol all the while in a moving vehicle. And today, it still continues to pop up on party playlists wherever I go. Maybe it’s because we saw a more experienced Drake bare his heart for his fans with songs like “Marvin’s Room,” where he pleaded over a drunk phone call with his ex, “Talk to me now / don’t have much to believe in / I need you right now / are you down to listen to me?” But, of course he has to remind us he’s not that sensitive and still smokes weed, gets pussy, and makes money. So, he attempts to cover up his vulnerability in tracks like “Headlines,” where he claims he’s “too strung out on compliments / over-dosed on confidence.”
Maybe it’s because this album introduced Drake’s “I’m actually a really sensitive guy who sometimes acts like an asshole because I’ll always be apprehensive about fame” persona that has been present in his work since. He highlighted this character in songs like “Underground Kings,” explaining, “Sometimes I need that romance / sometimes I need that pole dance.” Maybe it’s because the album birthed the monumental and generation-defining term “YOLO” — You Only Live Once — as well as the less significant but, in my opinion, equally as important, “HYFR” — Hell Yeah Fuckin’ Right. Maybe it’s because Drake broke genre barriers, exploring both R&B and hip hop. Take Care featured grand piano solos, sample tracks from R&B legends like Gil Scott-Heron and freestyles from heavy hitters like Rick Ross. Drake recruited other big names like Lil Wayne, André 3000, the Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. The final product was an album soaked in emotion and a multitude of different sounds. “I change rap forever” Drake sings on “Lord Knows.” And in truth, with this album, he did. He helped usher in a new era of hip hop, one that prided itself on laying all feelings and fuck ups out on the table for fans to examine. He presented listeners with a funky and sensuous compilation of tracks that undoubtedly featured some of the best rapping and singing we’d seen from him up to that point. And, just last weekend, I heard “Crew Love” at a party. So, obviously people aren’t done with Take Care just yet.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 — 7A
Help defense difference in Game 2 Taylor relishes in Early start to FOOTBALL
birth, fatherhood By MAX COHEN Daily Sports Editor
The Michigan football team’s win over Northwestern on Nov. 1 marked the first time the Wolverines had won consecutive games in more than a year and the defense’s best performance of the season, and it brought the team closer to bowl eligibility. But for one player, something that happened off the field that day trumped it all. Senior cornerback Raymon Taylor found out his girlfriend was going into labor at 5 a.m., 10 hours before Michigan played the Wildcats in Evanston. Taylor held out hope that his daughter wouldn’t be born until he was back in Michigan, but nature couldn’t wait. Skylar Taylor was born in the fourth quarter of the game, before the Wolverines sealed the victory. After the game, Michigan immediately flew back to Ann Arbor, and Taylor went straight to the hospital to meet his daughter for the first time. Tuesday, he beamed when he spoke about the milestone and how its significance minimized the importance of football. “I dropped an interception,” Taylor said with a laugh. “When I got to the hospital ... I just really forgot about the game. I knew we won, so that was the biggest thing. I could’ve told her, ‘When you (were) born, I caught an interception, I dropped it.’ ” Taylor spent a great deal of his time during the bye week with his girlfriend and daughter. They live in Royal Oak, but have made frequent trips to Ann Arbor since Skylar’s birth. Taylor said he has been with his girlfriend more than five
years, and that having a child is “something we always wanted.” But having a child has also brought its challenges. Like all parents of newborns, Taylor doesn’t sleep much when Skylar comes to visit. Michigan’s coaches, many of them fathers, check in with Taylor daily to make sure he’s getting sleep. It’s no secret the Wolverines have faced their share of challenges this season, on and off the field. But for Taylor, changing diapers may be the most difficult of them all. “I had never changed a poopoo diaper before, so it was kind of tough, but I’m going to get used to it,” Taylor said. Taylor’s mindset has also changed with the birth of his child. He has someone he must care for above himself. “As a dad, you want to be there for your child, that’s my biggest goal,” Taylor said. “I’m going to make sure I’ll be there for my daughter in all circumstances.” Taylor said he must also focus on chasing his goals so that he’s able to provide for his daughter. He considers succeeding in football and school the best way to achieve that goal. If Taylor doesn’t latch on to an NFL roster after he graduates, he hopes to return to his hometown of Highland Park and teach English in the high school. “Most people in Highland Park don’t make it out,” Taylor said. “A lot of young kids look up to me, and I’d love to go back and help them out any way I could.” For now, he’s focused on Saturday, his final game at Michigan Stadium. If all ends well, he hopes to be able to go home and tell his daughter he caught an interception.
Monday’s game gave Michigan needed edge By JAKE LOURIM Daily Sports Editor
Just before tip-off Monday night, Big Ten Network aired Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein’s last-minute pregame notes to his team. He had written four keys to success on offense and defense, but the fourth on defense stood out. “KNOW AND BELIEVE THAT DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!” it said. To an outsider, there were no championships to be won when the Wolverines hosted Bucknell. But the game was in the regional round of the Legends Classic, and Michigan treated it as such. “We’re in a championship right now — we’re trying to win the Legends Classic,” Beilein said. “Champions don’t come out slow. Champions come out from the get-go, and we did.” On the very first possession, Bucknell guard Chris Hass dribbled past Michigan junior guard Caris LeVert toward the baseline. There, he was surrounded by freshman forward Kam Chatman and sophomore guard Derrick Walton Jr., and he had to kick it out. So it was for most of the night. Things didn’t get much easier for the Bison. Though Michigan’s shooting heated up quickly and the Wolverines had plenty of offense to survive a mediocre defensive effort, Monday’s 77-53 rout began on the defensive end. After Michigan gave up three early 3-pointers Saturday against Hillsdale and trailed 10-2 after
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Sophomore guard Derrick Walton Jr’s standout defense was overshadowed by his team-high eight rebounds.
just 3:22, the Wolverines started Monday’s game with more energy, consistently rushing to help on defense. “Getting to the mid-line when the ball is on is a thing that seems so simple, and it’s hard to do,” Beilein said. “You’ve got action on the weak side, and you’ve got to get a guy to the mid-line. A couple weeks ago, that wouldn’t have happened, but we’ve really been emphasizing getting a guy in that circle. (Hass) was threatening to use a ball screen, but he went the other way, and Caris had some help.” On the second possession, Hass — a native of Pellston, Michigan — dished to forward Dom Hoffman on a pick-and-roll. But Michigan redshirt freshman forward Mark Donnal stepped out in the paint and forced a traveling violation. Then, Donnal and sophomore forward Zak
Irvin stepped out on a 3-pointer, forcing a bad miss. And before Bucknell could catch its breath, the Wolverines led 10-0. They were ahead by at least seven for the rest of the night, expanding the gap to 29 by halftime. “Just knowing our last game, we kind of lost the first fourminute war, and after that was kind of fighting back,” Walton said. “We wanted to be the guys to make the first initial punch, so tonight was all about setting the tone from the jump.” Michigan has ranked higher in points per possession than points allowed per possession for each of the past four seasons. Its offense, with quick passing and a high volume of 3-point shots, is better known than its defense. Yet on Monday, the defense set the tone for the Wolverines’ win. Michigan held Bucknell
to 39.6-percent shooting from the floor, including 31.8 percent in the first half. Perhaps more importantly, it forced 17 turnovers. Help defense was at the heart of that statistic. The guards were able to jump into passing lanes and create steals, and the forwards rotated over to fill in the gaps. In each game, Beilein has subbed in at least 12 players, creating several different lineup combinations. Despite all of the changes, the Wolverines held firm on Monday, trapping Bucknell all over the court. It started on the first possession, and it didn’t let up much from there.
Go online and read more Check MichiganDaily.com. You can’t beat the price.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Wolverines overcoming early runs to begin season By BRAD WHIPPLE Daily Sports Writer
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
The Michigan women’s soccer team exceeded expectations this season, but still finished short of the NCAA Tournament.
Youth dooms ‘M’ in 2014 By ISAIAH ZEAVIN-MOSS Daily Sports Writer
On Nov. 5, the Michigan women’s soccer team played its final game of the season, falling to Minnesota, 1-0, in double overtime in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. How the Wolverines got to that point, though, is much more complicated than a simple statistic can tell. Michigan had plenty of work to do before the season started. Last season’s squad made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, but graduating eight seniors made the offseason transition difficult. And Michigan coach Greg Ryan wasn’t optimistic about his young team’s potential for success this fall. “We knew that this was going to be a very challenging year,” Ryan said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I thought, ‘We’ll do the best we can, we’ll grow a lot — hopefully we’ll build for the future.’ ” The beginning of the season was unkind to the young Wolverines. A trip to California — where Michigan was handily defeated by San Diego and San Diego State 5-0 and 3-0, respectively — left the team searching for answers. Would those hapless performances be signs of what was to come? Those two results alone forced the Wolverines to prepare for a rocky season.
“When we were in California, the captains had a meeting with the coaches, and we were all kind of bummed out by the way we had started the season,” said senior midfielder Jen Pace. “We thought it was going to be a rebuilding year.” But the Wolverines went on to win nine of their next 10 games and shot up to the top of the Big Ten standings. “We just got better every week,” Ryan said. “These kids kept finding ways to win.” Sophomore forward Nicky Waldeck and redshirt freshman Ani Sarkisian combined for 13 goals in that 10-game span. The young players were having substantial impacts on games, and there was hope that Michigan could perhaps accomplish something special. “We fought for all 90 minutes, doing what we could in each moment and each opportunity,” Pace said. “We still took it one game at a time, but we had more confidence in ourselves. We were able to play against these good Big Ten teams and gain some momentum from those games.” However, the Wolverines’ success proved to be unsustainable. A disappointing home loss to Penn State — Michigan’s first of the season — proved to be the beginning of the end. The Wolverines notched only one win the rest of the season. Michigan’s fate was sealed with the final loss to Minnesota. The NCAA selection committee didn’t
give the inconsistent Wolverines a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. A season of excitement and hope that included several close games and a few last-minute victories ended with the Wolverines waiting for their name to be announced for the postseason tournament. “At the end of the season, we didn’t get the breaks we were getting earlier in the season. If we had been, we would’ve won four or five of our last six games,” Ryan said. “We were on the road for the last three weeks of our season. We were at home for the stretch that we did so well. If you look at most teams, they have a better home record than away record. It’s not easy on the road.” But Ryan was thrilled about his team’s season, despite the lack of invitation from the selection committee. “What we achieved this year is so far beyond anything we could’ve asked for,” he said. “I told the team, ‘Be proud of yourselves. You represented Michigan incredibly well.’ ” And while Pace won’t be a part of the 2015 squad, she promised there are exciting things coming to the U-M Soccer Stadium in coming years. “Going from having eight starters leave and basically forming a new team, it was really cool to see how much the young players developed,” she said. “It’s going to be really fun to watch them next season.”
This past weekend for the Michigan women’s basketball team was best characterized by periods of stagnation and great runs, and coach Kim Barnes Arico wants to eliminate the former. Sunday against Bucknell, the Wolverines (2-0) began the game with a performance headand-shoulders above Friday, when they faced an 11-point deficit at halftime. Against the Bison, Michigan made more defensive stops early on to allow its offense to jump out to a 14-point lead midway through the first half. But when both teams went to the locker room for halftime, the Wolverines held only a onepoint advantage. They were beginning to look more like Friday’s first-half team, which had been scoreless for six minutes going into halftime. With Michigan about to potentially fall behind for the first time that game, Barnes Arico sat her players down and explained why they had lost their 13-point cushion. She was blunt about it, too. “This is a game of runs,” Barnes Arico recalled telling her team. “So let’s not look at the scoreboard right now. Let’s just go out and be the best that we can be four minutes a time.
They just went on their run, and we’re gonna go on our run.” And the Wolverines did just that. Though there were two lead changes in the first three minutes, Michigan went on another strong run, as Barnes Arico had predicted, and took back the lead with 3-point shooting and a noticeably stronger defense — similar to the Wolverines’ second half in Friday’s win. Without these offensive runs, they could have started the season with two losses instead of two wins. Even though several bursts of scoring allowed Michigan to be successful in its first homestand, it can’t get by that way for long. According to Barnes Arico, the inability to create a sustainable lead is a combination of two things: fatigue hitting the starters and a young bench that is still developing. “I think a lot of people think we have a tremendous amount of experience returning because those four guys started last year,” Barnes Arico said. “But things are way different for them.” Senior forward Cyesha Goree and senior guard Shannon Smith have become the centerpieces of every scouting report, making their jobs more difficult. Over the weekend,
“This is a game of runs.”
Smith struggled to be on top of her game when handling the ball or driving to the net, and Goree was consistently doubleteamed inside the paint. With a bench full of underclassmen, the veteran players are being asked to contribute more time on the court. Goree and Smith averaged 32.5 and 31 minutes this weekend, respectively. As a result, fatigue is setting in earlier for the starters — perhaps the cause of the team’s stagnant scoring. Barnes Arico said the first five need to focus on improving conditioning, because playing two or three games per week means they can’t allow themselves to be stretched beyond their limits. “You have to be smart as a coach,” Barnes Arico said. “When you have a bunch of games coming up in a row, you have to make sure you’re resting the legs.” The Wolverines are going to have their fair share of tight games. With just over a month and a half until the start of Big Ten play, the star players have time to train for all 40 minutes and not just four-minute spurts. Resting is necessary, but it becomes difficult with such a young and inexperienced bench. “When we sub (freshman forward Jillian Dunston) in for (senior forward Nicole Elmblad), we’re not getting Nicole,” Barnes Arico said. “Jillian is going to be a heck of a player someday, but she’s not Nicole right now.”
TODAY MARKS 10 YEARS SINCE THE BRAWL IN AUBURN HILLS. MAY WE NEVER FORGET RON ARTEST.
8A — Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Faith, fortitude and Abby Cole Just a sophomore, Abby Cole makes a difference for Michigan By JACOB GASE Daily Sports Writer
The 6-foot-5 middle blocker floats toward the net as if she were on a string, her powerful right arm striking the ball at the perfect height. The ball comes crashing down from a seemingly impossible angle, landing with a thunderous smack between six Illinois players, just a few feet from the net. It’s not clear whether any of them actually saw it come down. In fact, as the ball bounces into the stands, the Fighting Illini might be thankful the floor absorbed the impact and not them. Abby Cole doesn’t thump her chest, throw her hands up in triumph or taunt her opponents on the other side of the net. She turns straight to her teammates, offering each one of them a high-five before indulging in a celebratory cheer together. The sophomore middle blocker is currently playing the best volleyball of her life. But she won’t revel in her success. She ranks among the Big Ten’s best in hitting percentage and kills and won back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Week honors in October. But Cole simply wasn’t raised to be proud. She has the potential to be one of the greatest Wolverines to ever step on the court. But she doesn’t care about that, nor is she likely aware. She turns to her teammates first because she doesn’t want her story to be defined by personal success. Her story isn’t one of pure athletic dominance — it’s defined by hard work, strong principles and unrelenting faith. *** Cole grew up in the small beach town of Grand Haven, Michigan, right on the shores of Lake Michigan. She was born into a Christian home, where her parents molded her core beliefs from a young age. From her childhood to her present life at Michigan, Cole’s faith has been the driving force of her journey. “If I could have someone describe me, I’d want them to say, ‘She’s someone who lives by what she believes,’” Cole said. When she left home for college on the other side of the state, Cole initially struggled with the transition. In addition to the typical college pressures of academics and living away from home for the first time, Cole began her collegiate volleyball career playing out of position on the right side after playing middle blocker her entire life. And to cope with the demands of life as a student-athlete, Cole turned to the same place she always has: her faith. Shortly after arriving on
RITA MORRIS/Daily
RITA MORRIS/Daily
Sophomore middle blocker Abby Cole spends her days on both the court and at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital
As Michigan looks for consistency this year, Cole has been there through it all.
campus, Cole found a home easiest way to build trust — a good is a game and the perspective to But an uncoordinated with the organization known teammate will conduct herself in keep it in,” Rosen said. “I think basketball-player-turnedas Athletes in Action. The the same manner no matter the she’s just somebody who has a middle-blocker couldn’t group aims to bring together situation. And as Cole works to tremendous amount of character, have been discovered by the Christian student-athletes, maintain this consistency, she’s and that’s a core value for us that University of Michigan based on helping them grow in their faith starting to embrace her purpose we look for in all of our players.” height alone. and apply it both within and on the court. Now in her second year, Cole “Her work ethic is without the confines of their “I believe that everything has more than settled into her phenomenal,” Rosen said. “Every sports. According to Cole, the happens for a reason and I’m starting role. Part of it is a result day she’s working her butt off to organization has completely here for a reason and a purpose,” of moving back to her natural get better. I think with her, the transformed her college Cole said. “I’m not playing for position, but her heightened ceiling has no limit because of experience. myself — I’m playing for my perspective is just as important. how hard she’s willing to work Since becoming a member of teammates, I’m playing for my and how selfless she’s willing to AIA, Cole has worked to ensure coaches, I’m playing for my *** be with the talent that she has.” her actions on and off the court family, I’m playing for the block Beginning with a breakout align with her strong moral ‘M.’ ... I’m just so blessed and so The heart of Cole’s philosophy sophomore season of high school convictions. thankful to be where I am.” is her humility, but its foundation — especially during the spring Off the court, she visits C.S. Cole’s faith-driven humility is is based on an extraordinary period of travel volleyball crucial Mott Children’s to recruiting — Hospital every Cole transformed Thursday, herself from a developing close gawky adolescent bonds with into a powerful, families and precise attacker working hard to with impeccable brighten days. It’s hand-eye not uncommon coordination. for Michigan But even as she student-athletes to puts her crafted do humanitarian talent on display, work, but Cole it’s Cole’s selfless has embraced the play and steady moral obligations temperament that of being a has Rosen raving Wolverine. about her. “I remember “There’s a lot of when I was a people out there little kid and that have great I thought that gifts,” Rosen said. college athletes “But they don’t were the coolest necessarily have thing in the world the character to — doesn’t matter maximize those if you’re D-III or gifts.” D-I, you’re just RITA MORRIS/Daily amazing,” Cole *** Abby Cole leads the Michigan volleyball team in kills, blocks and attacking percentage as a sophomore. said. Now, it’s not uncommon for evident even on social media. Her work ethic. In the middle of a breakout Cole to run into children only to Twitter bio is adorned with the Of course, it helps to be taller sophomore season for the second have them gleefully exclaim, “Oh hashtags #AO1 (audience of one) than everyone else. time in her life, Cole’s focus my gosh, that’s Abby Cole!” and #IAmSecond — two brief During routine childhood remains not on herself, but on “I love that kind of stuff,” statements with the same general doctor’s visits, Cole was her team. Cole said. “I love just getting religious message. At a university measured against charts that Cole hasn’t just helped her around to see everyone. Mott where student-athletes are put displayed the spectrum of team by taking on a heavier is the coolest thing. It’s the one on a platform and play in front heights for her age. Since birth, offensive workload — she’s night a week my priorities are of thousands of people, Cole Cole has never even been on the revitalized a very young team refocused.” relies on these phrases to “dumb chart — her height has always struggling with a number of things down” and put everything been above even the chart’s injuries. More than anything, it’s *** in perspective. “above average” range. the passion and selflessness she “Volleyball’s very important Cole remembers going out has shown on the floor that has Rosen often preaches the idea to her, but she understands the to restaurants with her family motivated her teammates. that character consistency is the bigger picture of life, that this when she was seven years old. “In the past, she’s held back, Occasionally, hosts or hostesses but this year she’s just let her would refuse to give Cole a kids’ passion show,” said senior setter menu. “Sorry, it’s for 12 and Lexi Dannemiller. “That’s really under only,” they would say. helpful because it lets other It wasn’t long before Cole players show their passion too turned to sports to exploit her ... You can let loose and really go height advantage. Basketball after it.” was her first love — from playing As a freshman playing out of with her dad in her driveway to position last year, Cole was timid playing on her middle and high and reserved. school teams. Her height didn’t Playing on just make the game easy — it the right side, affected others’ opinions of her she wasn’t before they even saw her play. required to And if it weren’t for her height, be as vocal or Cole may never have gotten the involved as the chance to evolve into the volleyball upperclassmen player she is today. When she in the middle started playing volleyball in the who were sixth grade, she struggled with running the a lack of coordination — an issue blocking game. she wouldn’t work out until well Instead of throwing the punches, into high school. she was content to roll with Cole wasn’t necessarily them. talented yet, but in a Midwest But after spending a year beach town and volleyball absorbing knowledge of the hotspot, it was her height game — especially from former that literally put her head and Michigan middle blocker Jen shoulders above the rest. To this Cross, whose consistency and day, she remains convinced that experience forced Cole to the she only made her high school right side — Cole was more than varsity team as a freshman happy to accept an expanded role because she was 6-foot-3 and this season. lanky — “I was literally a Back in the middle, Cole creature,” she joked. has brought back the visible
energy that used to come out only when she was playing basketball. Instead of letting her teammates do the work, she makes her presence known on the court, verbally directing traffic and putting herself and her teammates in positions to succeed. Her expanded role also requires her to frequently call for sets from Dannemiller, the team’s unquestioned leader. But even then, Cole finds a way to make a seemingly selfish act mutually beneficial — she offered Dannemiller chocolate on the team bus on the way to a match at Rutgers. “She knows that chocolate is my weakness,” Dannemiller said. “But it helps that she’s actually getting kills, so I want to set her.” With her increased offensive opportunities, the personal accolades are mounting for Cole. But her humble personality and the general team-centric nature of volleyball have allowed her teammates to thrive as well. Rosen cites Cole as the perfect example of someone who understands that no one player can do it alone. He applauds her willingness to reach out to her setters, passers and defenders, allowing them to share in the success. “It’s great to have great stats and get these great accolades, but I don’t really want to be remembered by that,” Cole said. “I want to make a positive difference in the culture of Michigan. A good teammate, God-driven, always puts the team before herself ... I want to be remembered for my character.” Added Rosen: “As a coach, that’s awesome. I just think she’s really kind of an ideal player when it comes to keeping the team first and the team mentality a priority.” *** Even as he watches her practice every day, Rosen has no idea where Cole’s ceiling might be. “She has unlimited potential, because again, her gifts are amazing,” Rosen said. “I know she still has a lot of room to get better, because technically she’s still figuring stuff out on a dayto-day basis. She’s tireless in how hard she’ll work at it.” Cole has plenty of time left to establish her dominance on the court. But she’s proving time and again that she wants her legacy to be grander than her sport. That’s why, when she was subbed out near the end of the crushing five-set loss to Illinois, she became the most animated player on the bench, shouting words of encouragement until the final point. That’s why she was visibly unhappy walking off the court, even though she finished the match with a team-high 20 kills. That’s why Cole let her forlorn face illustrate the same idea she has preached since she first crushed a volleyball into the stands: she is always second.
“I want to make a difference in the culture of Michigan.”
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 // The Statement
T H E L I S T B U Z Z F E E D, B U T B E T T E R FIVE SITES TO DISCOVER NEW MUSIC QUICKLY Is the semester hitting a lull? Trust us, we know. When things get tough, the solution is always a good playlist.
1. MYSPOONFUL
While reading about music may not be the same as hearing it, this site will nudge you toward what’s worth checking out on and off the charts.
2 . P O PJ U S T I C E
We’re not here to hate on pop music. Pop, in fact, is ever changing, and we believe that Popjustice never fails to show us exactly what we want to hear.
3 . G O L D F L A K E PA I N T
Diverse and consistent, Gold Flake Paint has music to satisfy any number of different tastes in music. We’re convinced you’ll find some of your new favorites.
4. TWIT TER
In a digital age, music lovers make music news. Twitter let’s you get your music reviews from people that think just like you.
5 . G R OW T H A N D M AT U R AT I O N
It’s snobby, yes, but it still has its value. Whether you’re looking for new music recommendations or looking to get a complicated take on one of your favorite records, Pitchfork is there.
THE WEEKLY REEL Theory and praxis based learning
THE
statement
Magazine Editor: Carlina Duan Deputy Editors: Max Radwin Amrutha Sivakumar Design Editor:
Photo Editor: Ruby Wallau Illustrator: Megan Mulholland Editor in Chief: Peter Shahin
Amy Mackens
COVER BY AMY MACKENS
Managing Editor: Katie Burke Copy Editors: Mark Ossolinski Meaghan Thompson
my first time: my leg-up on pheidippides BY IAN DILLINGHAM
I
t’s like running a marathon. This fall, I found out what that phrase really means when I signed up to compete in my first real marathon. On a brisk morning, just before 7 a.m., with Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” blasted over the loudspeakers, I crossed the starting line and headed out onto the streets of Detroit in my 26.2-mile quest. The story of the marathon’s origins is widely circulated among the running community. As legend has it, the Greek messenger Pheidippides ran the 26.2-mile road to Athens after the Greeks defeated the invading Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.E. After proclaiming the good news to the city’s assembly, Pheidippides collapsed and died. Today, more than half a million people per year complete marathons in the U.S., competing in well over 1,000 events nationwide. Everyone knows that marathons are long, but it’s hard to understand just how long until you complete one. Median finishing times are about 4:16 for men and 4:41 for women. That’s over four hours of moderate to severely strenuous physical activity — enough to inflict serious damage on the bodies of even the most seasoned athletes. In no uncertain terms, let me say that I am not a seasoned ath-
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND
2B
lete. I am, however, a neuroscience major currently enrolled in courses covering animal physiology and cell biology, and this is my leg-up on Pheidippides. Modern marathoners begin training programs months in advance of race-day, slowly building up miles and allowing their bodies to adjust to the strain of high-mileage running. For my October race, my first training run — a two-mile jog around my neighborhood — took place in May. It takes approximately four to six weeks for bone and muscle to adjust to the load of running
impacts. While this makes for an unpleasant start to marathon training — indeed, the reason many individuals fail before they start — the gains made in early months pay massive dividends later on. But the body is just a vehicle for runners. In order to successfully run a marathon, you need energy — namely glycogen derived from carbohydrates consumed before the race. The problem for runners is that the average human only stores enough glycogen to run half the distance of a marathon. This results in the lengthy process of “carb-loading” during training and in the days leading up to the race, essentially tricking your body into taking on more fuel than it would need for any normal activity. Such understanding of human physiology is the result of decades of research by doctors, athletic trainers, nutritionists and athletes. In my preparations, I benefited from their work and successfully completed my first marathon while avoiding the Pheidippides’ ultimate fate. Clocking a time of about 4:30, I was nowhere near the top of the standings, but having never run a competitive race in my life, knowing that I had the ability to even finish was reward enough. All it required was planning and determination (and a little bit of science).
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 // The Statement 3B
ON THE RECORD
HOKE AND “ THE HAR SH RE ALIT Y”
famous by association: we’ll (never) be royals?
“Honestly, our focus and, you may think I’m nuts, it’s on those 115 kids. That’s where I focus on. And if I don’t do that, I’m going to get distracted. … Look, I do know we’re doing the right thing for these kids in this program. The harsh reality of it is I did the right thing today.” —Michigan coach BRADY HOKE on dismissing defense end FRANK CLARK from the team
THE THOUGHT BUBBLE RUBY WALLAU/Daily
ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE MILLER
I
“Well, (education) is a powerful tool … People have been fighting for education since forever and, you know, I think it’s the one tool that sort of can propagate you from an underdeveloped person — or, if you look wider — a country itself, to a developed nation. It’s the only tool that I think is the most powerful in helping you expand your horizons, and expand yourself.” –AMIRAH AMER, LSA FRESHMAN
n light of the news that HRH Kate Middleton and Prince William will be visiting New York City next month, it is only fitting to discuss the enigma that is the royal family. It’s so puzzling to me that I, as a proud citizen of this glorious democracy, am just one of the millions of Americans who are oh so very emotionally invested in everything regarding the royals. Come on, don’t act like you didn’t wake up at 4 a.m. to see the former commoner Kate Middleton walk into Westminster Abbey (followed closely by Pippa’s infamous derrière) only to exit as the future queen of England. We all know it happened, so don’t deny it. There is no question that the royal family became the trending topic after Kate Middleton quite literally lived out every girl’s dream and became a princess — from (upper middle class) rags to riches, they say. But can you blame us? She is perfection. Her hair is always on point and she is basically
Sarah Burton’s personal Barbie to dress. And last year, she added the most in-demand accessory to her person: Prince George (take that North). It’s not like the royal family does much. Kate has some charities she’s involved in, William is very “militaristic,” Harry likes to play a game of pool while naked in Las Vegas and the Queen is a sweet, old grandma who likes to shower her family with money and presents — how is this different from any typical American family, really? I don’t have a problem with my royal obsession, in fact, I embrace it. So should you; don’t be ashamed to be emotionally invested in the lives of the (filthy) rich and fabulous. And yes, while American “royalty” does also exist, it is just not the same, which is why I am currently plotting on how to join Kate across the pond in Buckingham Palace since Prince Harry has a full head of hair and is single.
P R I N T S : A TOA S T
BY ANDREW FULLER
4B
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 // The Statement
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 // The Statement
5B
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
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s experiential learning becomes more popular, the University continues to adapt. When educators plug theory and praxis based learning, they are referring to a traditional pedagogy of concepts, facts, laws or equations — “theory” — paired with real-world applications and application of theoretical practices — loosely defined as “praxis.” It may seem easy to think about theory and praxis-based learning in the sciences — you learn about Newton’s laws in lecture and then apply them in lab (OK, maybe science majors here are a bit more advanced than that…). Another intuitive example where theory meets praxis in curriculum is in pre-professional programs — Economics majors, for example, run investment portfolio strategies against the market, School of Social Work students intern in the surrounding communities. Less obvious, however, are the pockets throughout the University where this bi-level coursework resides, not to test a hypothesis or learn skills for a career, but to engage students more deeply with liberal arts material. In LSA, opportunities for theory and praxis-based learning exist within the sociology department’s Project Community, the psychology department’s Project Outreach, various courses in Women’s Studies, History of Art (in one course, HISTART 393, “Words about Images: Western Ekphrasis as Critical Model,” taught by Prof. Jennifer Nelson, students interpret visual images in their own words), among others. The Center for Academic Engaged Learning offers support, resources and grants throughout LSA for this type of pedagogy. In The Residential College, this type of learning is everywhere. The RC was founded in 1967 with the pairing of theory and praxis central to its curriculum. The RC’s Creative Writing and Literature major requires students to study literature and literary theory, and then to generate their own literature within — or without — it. The Drama major has students study theater as through literature, and then practice it as a performing art — the minor is “drama:
text to performance.” In the Arts and Ideas in the Humanities major, students study art forms and humanities disciplines through their social, historical and theoretical contexts, and are required to pair their study with studio-type practice of an art form. The RC foreign language courses supplement classroom and book learning with conversational lunches where students are forbidden to speak any English to one another. Furthermore, students can opt for service learning in communities, near and far, where their studied language is dominant. The Social Theory and Practice major couples coursework in social scientific methods and theory with internships and practical work out in various communities. “(Theory and praxis is) across the curriculum I think in the RC — that’s been a kind of benchmark or leitmotif that runs through the curriculum,” said Charles Bright, a history and social theory and practice professor. “It reflects the fact that the RC does not have a thematic whole — what it has is moving between academic learning and practice of some kind and combining those in ways that (inform) the education, but also … are of use to people in the world.” Just as the students have diverse interests within the RC, and even within the same major, so do the professors. Yet the thread of theory and praxis runs throughout. Sociology Prof. Ian Robinson is a lecturer in the RC’s Social Theory & Practice major, and some of his most transformative experiences have been working with students in his course, “Mexican Labor in North America: Nogales Field Study and Seminar.” The course looks at migrant workers — many of whom are undocumented — and their challenges in the U.S. As a pairing with the academic seminar, Robinson developed an in-field component where the class travels to Nogales, Mexico during spring break. Students live with families, enter factories, meet with workers and engineers there, and interview migrants before they crossed the desert. “One of the things I really learned from
(the Nogales trips) was just how much more powerful that was for the students in the class,” Robinson said. “What they would tell me (were) things like: ‘Well I understood the readings,’ … but they said, ‘I didn’t really see how the different pieces fit together until I was able to see them through the lens of lives that are actually lived there where it’s all a continuous.’” Robinson described how students become more passionate about the injustices they studied during the Nogales trip, and, as a result, become more motivated in their academic work. One year, students returned from the trip and decided to extend their term project to create a permanent student organization: Migrant and Immigrant Rights Advocacy, otherwise known as MIRA. The group, which still exists, organized two conferences inviting migrants in the community to speak on campus. RC Prof. Jeffrey Evans, who has a background in clinical psychology and just recently retired from the University Hospital where he had been director of training for the adult post-doctoral fellowship program. He teaches a service learning course at the hospital as well as courses such as “Art, Mind and Medicine and Topics in the Science of Creativity,” where students examine creative expression through a person’s sense of wellbeing, especially in a clinical setting. In the RC’s hospital service-learning course, “Hospital Volunteers’ Service Learning,” Evans assigns an academic paper to his students, asking them to reflect on their experiences through the lens of their own respective interests, whether it be a certain disease, the healthcare system as they’ve observed it or interpersonal relations in the hospital. “People bring their interests — they might be more macro or they might be more micro, and then the resulting papers at the end are just fascinating,” Evans said. “I emphasize that to students that they should keep a journal of what strikes them day to day as they’re in there volunteering, and then create a paper that shows us how they are filtering this through their own interests. It’s not
just a good thing — but it’s something that helps students develop where they’re going — where they want to go.” History Prof. Charlie Bright, who also teaches in the RC, became interested in the study of Detroit in the 1980s. Bright teaches an RC Social Science seminar for juniors, titled “20th Century Detroit History.” He taught the class frequently in the ’90s and won a grant to execute an oral history project of the experience of growing up in the lower-class of Detroit in the 1940s. The students in the class did archival research, interviews with neighborhood elders, and paired up with the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit to put on a play with high school students inspired by the stories of senior members of the community. From this project arose the Urban Studies minor in the RC. “That kind of production of history in front of students who are helping make it, who aren’t just sitting in a class reading, they’re actually doing it and seeing this kind of world come alive again was one of the better experiences I’ve ever had,” Bright said. The student experience of theory/praxis learning parallels that of the professors. LSA
senior Aleah Douglas, a member of the RC, will complete a degree in English through LSA and a degree in Drama within the RC, which she describes as the ultimate theory/ praxis experience: “The major is so unusual because typically you either study literary theory or you study performance, (but here, you) study the two intertwined,” she said. Douglas has worked with the Prison Creative Arts Project, where students conduct creative arts workshops in juvenile detention and adult correction facilities, both through the English department with English Literature Prof. Buzz Alexander, and through the RC with Ashley Lucas, theatre and drama associate professor and director of the PCAP. “Honestly, having the workshop was so important for what we were learning,” Douglas said. “When you read a book, a textbook or even a memoir … it’s still a removed concept. It doesn’t feel up close and personal. But then going to the workshop and getting to see in action the different concepts we were learning about — it was mind blowing.” LSA sophomore Alex Kime, a member of the RC, learns through a theory and praxis model in the humanities with his Literature and Creative Writing major in the RC, and in the social sciences with his Community Action and Social Change (CASC) minor in the School of Social Work. There is a lot of flexibility within the CASC minor: Students
“GOING TO THE WORKSHOP AND GETTING TO SEE IN ACTION THE DIFFERENT CONCEPTS WE WERE LEARNING ABOUT — IT WAS MIND BLOWING.” —LSA SENIOR ALEAH DOUGLAS, RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE AND PCAP MEMBER
take the introductory course, Theories and Practices for Community Action and Social Change and complete a capstone project. In between, there are not many requirements that enforce practice components, but students who are self-motivated can seek them out. However, Kime said he is wary of University programs that facilitate experiential learning within outside communities, and prefers when courses partner with pre-existing organizations. “I like it when things are kind of close to the ground … A less academic vibe and more down to earth and (where we are) doing the work that needs to be done,” he said. Like any bold initiative, theory and praxislearning at the University is not all moonlight and roses. One issue arises when some students select courses based on praxis, rather than theory. LSA Prof. Nesha Haniff teaches courses in the Women’s Studies and African and Afroamerican Studies departments, such as Pedagogy of Empowerment: Activism in Race, Gender and Health, where students teach an HIV education program to people with low literacy skills that she developed to various communities. “My courses are very difficult,” she said. “The practice component does not happen without the academic component.” Another issue is keeping the theory tethered to the praxis. Out in the field or the community, the professor has limited control and there can be a tendency for events to drift from the curriculum’s intent. “The problem is when the material being taught, or the reflection being conducted, doesn’t relate to the action being carried out,” Douglas said. “Then sometimes it just becomes too much effort to make wide connections, and that’s where it’s the professor’s responsibility — you know, to make sure that the action really ties in with what we’re learning and that the reflection really helps solidify it to move forward. Haniff noted that while service learning opportunities provide outlets for experimen-
tal education, but when the necessary support and preparation isn’t there, the work becomes symbolic rather than meaningful. “Praxis is becoming less and less relevant and it’s becoming more and more sort of symbolic,” Haniff said. “So students are delegated out to be in communities and places we’re supposed to do work, but the work is not necessarily transformative. It’s work that the communities have to take responsibility for.” Haniff emphasized that students should pay attention to the motivation behind taking their theory/praxis courses, focusing on the implications their studies will have on the real-world communities they are entering: “We have to find out for whom is our education? Is it for yourself, or is it for the community? And how prepared are you to serve the community?” Haniff said. After all, experiential learning — within the specific context of community work — can still be quantifying rather than quantitative and nuanced, as Haniff described. “Even if you do work out in the field, the purpose of it is to study and test and count and measure. Not necessarily to intervene. And so those issues become kind of marginal,” Haniff said. “A lot of students are yearning for application and yearning for experiential education, but experiential education is very tough and very rigorous. And we don’t have a curriculum that’s very tough and rigorous that’s experiential.” The theory and praxis model is used largely within The Residential College, which, having developed the model of a small, quality liberal arts college against the backdrop of the larger research University of which it is a part of, pioneered this type of learning at the University in the 1970s and remains at its vanguard today. “If you’re an RC student you have a larger possibility of getting involved in some meaningful practice. But I don’t think that’s true as a general rule for the rest of the University,” Haniff said. Douglas’ favorite courses with practice components have been within the RC or at least cross-listed with it, such as On the
Margins of the Art World: Self Taught Artists in the U.S., in the RC’s Humanities, Art History and American Culture departments. The PCAP program and courses have recently moved under the RC from the English department. “Honestly, it should have been moved a long time ago,” Douglas said. “It’s just because PCAP fits with the mission of the Residential College — part of it is the learning in action and the other part is I think the emphasis on social justice.” “I think in the RC, the professors genuinely want to see us take what we’re learning and put it into action,” Douglas added. “They’re not content to let us just sit and write and essay; they want to see us engaging creatively and intellectually with the material and they want to see tangible results of that.” Douglas noted that the RC provides a different kind of community space, where practice and theory are integrated. Other departments have replicated the RC’s theory and praxis model and the focus on engaged learning has been spreading over the past decade, but in no way is pervasive throughout the University. “There’s now a lot of research that show that direct engagement (and) community engagement increase the outcomes both of academic performance and sense of satisfaction with the University experience,” Bright said. “(But) it’s not universal in the University, there’s still plenty of faculty who don’t give a happy damn about anything that’s outside of their office.” Though theory and praxis based learning in the University is becoming more common, the RC continues to be a leader in this type of learning through its model of execution. Evans jokes that the RC likes to keep its alternative persona and have a leg up. “There is definitely spreading this kind of teaching and this kind of engagement across a number of departments,” Professor Evans said. “We still aspire to be cutting edge though. We’ll probably come up with something new next year.”
6B
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 // The Statement
On North Campus, a city of driverless vehicles by Paula Friedrich
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ust under the cloudflecked Ann Arbor water tower, a tiny city is being built. Curving asphalt streets are the only hint of the project, but once the asphalt hardens, buildings will be raised, stoplights strung up and simulated pedestrians will be programmed. These 32 acres at the edge of North Campus will be home to the Mobility Transformation Center’s Test Facility, a complex built to develop automated, driverless vehicles. Scheduled to officially open in Spring 2015, the center’s test facility is one of the first of its kind. “In actuality, there’s probably nothing else quite like it in the world,” said Jim Sayer, the MTC’s deployment director in an interview with The Michigan Daily. The University has quietly been moving itself to the forefront of the study and development of automated and connected vehicle technologies. The two terms are similar, but distinct: Connected vehicles will warn the driver if traffic is slowing down up ahead, while automated vehicles take that information one step further and actually decrease the car’s speed. Cars are “connected” to other cars and to infrastructure through wireless signals. Traffic lights, for example, might constantly be broadcasting whether they’re at green, yellow or red. The connected car would then let the driver know that it’s not worth slowing down because the light is about to change. The automated car would hit the brakes. A fleet of nearly 3,000 connected cars, trucks and buses were deployed for use on Ann Arbor streets in 2012 but testing the full potential of this technology has proved tricky. Sayer said that first deployment made it clear that there was “a lot of movement working toward automated vehicles,” but that there was no good way to test them without raising safety concerns. Automated cars not only react to other connected vehicles and infrastructure, but also sense their surroundings with the help
explained. The challenges are compounded by the fact that traffic signals are sometimes written right onto the road or whipping around on a particularly windy day. Sayer said that putting this facility in Michigan meant that vehicles would also have to deal with all kinds of inclement weather. The MTC worked closely with the Michigan Department of Transportation to ensure the model city would be representative of common traffic situations and ensure all elements of the facility would be built to roadway standards. This meant following MDOT’s construction codes, though not necessarily the most up to date ones. “We had to kind of convince the architects that we did not want to do that,” Eustice said. “We actually wanted to build things that were not actually code anymore in some cases.” Real roads have infrastructure built to all kinds of different codes. This historical layering is what gives a city its character. The MTC’s PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHIGAN TRANSFORMATION FACILITY city, however, will be able to switch characters. Researchers will have of cameras, lasers, radars and other image ibility that’s really going to be able to be their choice of multiple sets of signs — Amerisensing technologies. These are constantly afforded.” can or international, pristine or weathered. surveying and calculating so that a vehicle Sayer said the Mobility Transformation “I got to spend time digging through a can react in unexpected situations, like Center worked closely with a committee recycle bin at a local municipality salvagsomeone suddenly crossing the street. But that included researchers from the College ing signs that were no longer good enough testing to see if the car will do that reliably of Engineering, like Eustice, as well as rep- for them to have on the street,” said Sayer. isn’t something that can be done at the inter- resentatives from the Michigan Department “Either because they had faded or they had section of State Street and South University of Transportation, like Matt Smith, program graffiti all over them or they had been hit and Avenue. manager for the DOT’s Intelligent Trans- were bent.” Two years ago, when Sayer and col- portation Systems program. The group Like a giant lego set, the only thing that leagues were sketching bare-bone plans for came together to create a “wish list” of won’t move are the streets — even the buildthe facility, researchers in the field were roundabouts and traffic signals, which was ings can be adjusted. They aren’t up yet, but closing down parking lots on campus to test then handed off to a design firm that worked Sayer explained that they will essentially their technologies. through the details. be giant theater facades. They might be Engineering Associate Prof. Ryan Eustice “It was a very iterative process because crammed right up next to the street to simusaid his work on autonomous vehicles for we started off with just kind of a white board late an old European city or placed 15 feet the Ford Motor Company allowed him to so to speak,” said Smith. “An open slate with away from the curb like homes in suburbia. use their test track. He said the industry test whatever you want and heck, by the third “These are all things that automated vehitrack looks like an “asphalt lake”— flat, with- or fourth iteration of the process — lo and cles are going to have to be able to detect in out anything for an automated car to recog- behold you had a pretty detailed design of the future,” said Sayer. “Currently there is a nize and react to. Eustice said cars need to what the facility is going to look like.” lot of variation in the way this information is be tested to their limit, so the testing space Sayer said that design combines common conveyed to the driver. The driver can differshould be one where a car can safely spin driving scenarios with anything that would entiate it, the question is how well the autoout when they reach it. Researchers lacked a be “particularly challenging” for connected mated vehicles are going to be able to detect way to test automated vehicles in real world and automated vehicles to deal with: round- and make sense of the variety of traffic consituations, without actually putting them in abouts, unpredictable pedestrian crossings trol signal configurations and signs that are the real world. and railroad grate crossings. Traffic signage out there.” So Sayer and his team started planning, is one of the most difficult things for the That’s the question the facility hopes trying to figure out how to pack as many technology to contend with simply because to help answer come 2015. For individual variations of traffic landscapes, signals and of the amount and variety of postings. researchers, however, they’re just itching to scenarios into 32 acres as possible. “Is it mounted on a pole that’s on the get in. “When folks come out and see it, they’re opposite side of the road that you’re trying to “I’m one of the guys that’s been in these really surprised by how much we really did cross? Is it strung across the roadway diag- coned-off parking lots for the last couple think about,” Sayer said. “How much we onally? Is it mounted on a pole right at the years testing their stuff,” said Eustice. “I’m were able to cram in and the level of flex- stop-bar where you’re told to stop?” Sayer ready to be user number one.”
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 // The Statement
7B
Personal Statement: Knowing my nose
ILLUSTRATION BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND
by Erika Harwood
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y nose has always been a very literal standout physical feature on me. It really isn’t that spectacular or much of an anomaly — yet it’s been the cause of conversation for as long as I can remember. To be fair, it’s sizable. And I can thank genetics for that. There’s that little bump beneath the bridge — thanks to my mom — and it balloons out a tad above my nostrils (credit: Dave Harwood). Growing up, I never thought of it as anything but an average nose — everyone has one and they all look a little different. I was a fairly awkward and weird child, with lots of potential for ridicule. I was tall — very tall — as a kid, prompting my curious seven-year-old peers to frequently ask me if I was held back (I wasn’t, I was just a 5’5” grade school kid who also happened to be smart). I was lanky, too, with a particularly boney backside. In addition, I wore glasses and was debilitatingly shy. Oh, and my last name is Harwood, which if you haven’t noticed is one letter away from sounding like a not-so-subtle euphemism for a boner. I rarely got made fun of though, and never for any of the aforementioned reasons (OK, people still make fun of my last name). When I did get made fun of though, it was for my nose. I’ve been called Pinocchio more times than I could ever imagine count-
ing, and my obtrusive schnoz became my calling card when I moved to Michigan in the second grade. One of my best friends since then still tells the story of talking to one of the other kids during recess about “the new girl with the big nose.” She’s also the friend who advised me, 13 years later, not to get a nose ring (I got one anyway). I was never really insecure about anything in elementary school aside from constantly wondering if my patchwork jeans looked good with my bubble shirt (note to past-self: be wary of anything that is “one size fits all”). And I certainly never thought of any part of my body as being out-of-the-ordinary. But as that certain facial appendage garnered attention, I started to see its flaws; the bump, that ballooning. Plus the fact that it was on my face, impossible to conceal, didn’t help. Confused, I started to inquire. “Is my nose really that big?” I would go on to ask friends and family more than once. My mom would always reassure me with “everyone in this family has a big nose” and friends would attempt to do the same by telling me I would grow into it, as if they were talking to a pubescent boy about church slacks. Growing up as a very single but very eager teenager, I wondered if my nose would ever cause
problems with potential suitors. Not necessarily that the size of my nose would drive boys away, but rather, that it would physically get in the way of any romantic prospects. I concluded that guys with noses equal to or greater in size to my own were probably off limits, as I imagined that making out takes on a new level of difficulty if your lips can never meet. Fortunately, my assumption has been proven incorrect (and a little melodramatic) — but that doesn’t mean the relationship between me, boys and my nose has been smooth sailing. Recently, to the sheer delight of a teenage me, I was making out with my boyfriend, nose as out of the way as it could be. I’d been getting over a sinus infection and noticed that things were ... damper than usual. But being the noble and dignified woman I am, I marched on. I could feel the snot increase at a concerning pace. My boyfriend started to pull away, and I went on the defensive. “I’m snotty, OK! Sorry!” I admitted. “No, Erika, you’re bleeding!” This actually made more sense. Another joy my nose has brought to me over the course of my life has been frequent and occasionally violent nosebleeds. With a big nose comes big responsibility — and big amounts of tissues and blood loss. Credit for
this one goes, once again, to Dave Harwood. I can essentially track my life’s milestones through the times my nose has encountered bloodshed: middle school play practice, my first day of high school, one of my first college lectures and most recently, macking on my boyfriend. I shot up, grabbed a tissue and bolted toward the mirror. In short, blood was everywhere; my cheek, my forehead, my chest, my hands (literally and figuratively) were all covered. My boyfriend suffered a similar fate as my gross nose-blood was all over his face as well. “You bled in my mouth!” he told me. A modern-day blood oath, united in romance. I checked the pillowcases and sheets to make sure they were stain-free and as luck would have it, they were. I sat on a chair and “tweaked the beak” as my mom always urged me to do in these situations, pinching the bridge of my nose to slow down the flow of blood. And sure enough, my nose was back to normal in a short while — as normal as my nose can be anyway. I’ve heard people talk about their noses a lot during my 21 years on this planet — maybe because they’re the cause of a universal insecurity or maybe mine is just a good conversation
starter. During these discussion I’ve listened to an unsettling amount of people talk about how much they wish they could just get a nose job — a simple solution to fix a little bump, or shave it down a bit. I’ve never been able to join in on the conversation. Because for as much trouble as one very small (but slightly larger than normal) part of my body has caused me, it’s been pretty crucial to my development as a human being. Thanks to my nose, I’ve learned to have a sense of humor about things, and to admire some of my physical quirks (aside from that weird bump on my head that I’m pretty sure is harboring some shit). I now have a million stories to fall back on at parties when I’m feeling too shy to just hop in on the conversation; from the time I gushed blood on my boyfriend, to that time when my old college friends made a video for me before I transferred to Michigan, titled “Behind The Nose,” featuring more than enough embarrassing pictures and videos of my time at Illinois. Everyone has the right to change what they want about themselves, and I’m definitely not here to tell people otherwise. But I’ll take an extra large protrusion on my face (and probably an iron deficiency) if it means I can have a little bit of character and some outrageous memories.
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Wednesday, November 19, 2014 // The Statement
V I S U A L S TAT E M E N T:
M I C H I G A N AV I AT O R S
BY JA M E S COLLER
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oaring high above Ann Arbor, members of the Michigan Aviators look down and view the Big House from the best vantage point in town. This is why they fly — the simple calm that exists in a plane, rising above all of the problems that lie at ground level. Engineering senior Sandro Salgueiro formed Michigan Aviators this year to provide a new club for aviation enthusiasts. The club regularly takes flight trips across the region. On Nov. 15, they ventured to Kalamazoo to enjoy lunch at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport’s Air Zoo, a museum dedicated to showcasing the history of aviation through full planes that reside in its massive hangars. I was given the privilege of riding along with the clubs assistant flight ops director,
alumni advisor and recent engineering graduate, Mike Stengel. Stengel, who has logged over 375 flight hours in his flying career since the age of 12, took us to new heights in a Piper PA-28R Arrow. The plane itself was cozy on the inside, with elbows frequently bumping. However, the experience of being able to sit in front of the controls of a plane and look out and see Ann Arbor in such a unique way was well worth waking up early on a Saturday morning. There is a certain peace that exists when flying 5,000 feet above the ground at a quick 160 knots, crossing Michigan and looking out over the clouds and landscape below. The Michigan Aviators are open to anyone, with flight trips multiple times per semester as well as events back on the ground.