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President Barack Obama speaks alongside Jill Biden, Second Lady of the United States, at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan on Wednesday. Obama spoke about his plan to increase education in America by creating free and public acess to two years of community college.
Obama plugs community college during Mich. trip President also announces $175 million grant for apprenticeships
Wednesday, President Barack Obama returned to Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. to champion increased access to affordable education and vocational training. Traveling with Dr. Jill Biden, a community college professor and the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, the president discussed his administration’s efforts to expand funding for apprenticeships and promote initiatives to make community college free.
By EMILIE PLESSET Daily News Editor
WARREN, Mich. — At the first stop of his administration’s nationwide Back-to-School tour
“I want two years of community college to be as free and universal as high school is today,” Obama said. Before Obama began his 26-minute speech, Biden — who has taught at a community college for more than 20 years — touted the Obama administration’s focus on education, citing investment in early childhood education and efforts to increase the number of students graduating high school and attending college.
State legislature returns from summer hiatus By EMMA KINERY Daily Staff Reporter
The Michigan State Legislature reconvenes today after months away on hiatus for summer break. After key proposals — such as Proposal 1 to fix Michigan’s roads — failed to pass in the last session, here is a recap of issues to watch as the year unfolds. Roads While many Michigan residents agree the state’s roads are in poor condition, legislators have yet to agree on how to fix them. The last session ended with 78 percent of voters defeating Proposal 1. The proposed bill would have increased the Earned Income Tax Credit, removed the fuel tax and increased the sales tax from 6 to 7 percent. Several road improvement proposals are already on the
docket for introduction in both Michigan’s House of Representatives and Senate. Over the summer, legislators held several closed-door meetings to discuss potential plans to increase road funding. House Bill 4440 aims to create a distinct transportation fund in the state treasury where money will be allocated for road repairs. The proposed bill provides $2.5 million to go specifically toward annual road improvement with the percentage of funds to be divided based on the area’s population — 40 percent would go to communities with 1,000,000 to 1,749,999 residents, for example. HB 4611 similarly creates a transportation fund within the state treasury, but in this version, would be funded through special vehicle and fuel taxes. Rep. Jeff Irwin (D–Ann Arbor) said while he would like to see a roads bill pass, he doesn’t currently see one he supports. “I don’t think a good bill to fix the roads will pass, but I hope it does,” Irwin said. “I would vote for a balanced plan to fix our roads, coupled with rolling back the Republican tax increases on the working poor. But, I don’t see See STATE, Page 3A
Administrators say departments, units will guide strategic planning process By LARA MOEHLMAN Daily Staff Reporter
University President Mark Schlissel hosted a second diversity summit Wednesday afternoon in which he further outlined the University’s plans to improve equity and inclusion on campus. During the summit, the president emphasized the drive behind the planning process: “Dedication to academic excellence for the public good is inseparable from our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” he said. “We cannot be excellent without being diverse in the broadest sense of that word.” The meeting was closed to the press, but was live streamed on the University’s website. Though a complete strate-
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Roads, marjiana, higher ed. funding and LGBTQ rights to receive attention
During her speech, Biden announced she would serve as chair of the College Promise Advisory Board, a new independent commission composed of community college leaders, policymakers, businesses and foundations that will explore ways to expand existing programs that provide free two-year college degrees. During his State of the Union address in January, Obama proposed a $60 billion program that See OBAMA, Page 3A
Schlissel: Diversity plan slated for 2016 gic plan has yet to be released, Schlissel detailed goals during Wednesday’s event to direct about 60 appointed facilitators within each college and campus unit to collaborate with faculty, staff and students to design their own programs for enhancing diversity within their units. These planning leaders will be responsible for overseeing the planning process within their specific areas as well as participating in coordination with the overall campus diversity efforts. Schlissel emphasized that success in enhancing diversity largely depends on the collective efforts of each individual department rather than simply the central administration. “At this stage, we’re not seeking to define where we will end up or what success will necessarily look like,” he said. “We want to have a structure in place that will allow us to engage the great minds and passionate individuals on our campus and to move forward in a collaborative manner. See DIVERSITY, Page 2A
ACADEMICS
U.S. News ranks ‘U’ 29th best in nation University retains No. 4 spot among public universities By TANAZ AHMED Daily Staff Reporter IRENE KIM/Daily
LSA freshman Michelle Shumonov takes a free Group X yoga class at the Central Campus Recreation Building on Wednesday.
POLITICS
Iran Deal generates debate on campus ahead of vote Students talk foreign affairs, negotiations as review period nears conclusion By ISOBEL FUTTER Daily Staff Reporter
The Iran Deal has dominated conversation in Washington since it was negotiated this summer, and many University students are joining in.
Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Iran Deal was announced in late July by the Obama administration. The JCPOA is a proposal designed to significantly decrease Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for reduced sanctions by the P5+1 countries — the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France, Russia and Germany. If the deal goes into effect, Iran would be allowed to have a small amount of enriched uranium and materials. The permit-
ted amount would not be large enough to create a nuclear bomb, according to experts. In return for reducing their nuclear supply, Iran would receive sanctions relief. The deal has been lauded as a historic agreement by supporters. But for some University students, the deal hits close to home. Maryam Arbabzadeh, a Ph.D. candidate in Natural Resources and Environment, is an Iranian student and a member of See IRAN, Page 2A
The University ranked 29th in this year’s U.S. News and World Report survey of the country’s best colleges released Wednesday, maintaining its spot from the 2015 rankings. The University also retained its public university ranking from the previous year, holding on to the fourth-place spot. The University of California, Berkeley, ranked as the number-one public institution, with University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Virginia ranked second and third, respectively. The Ross School of Business was rated the nation’s fourthbest undergraduate business school, maintaining its ranking from last year. The College of Engineering came in at sixth place for best undergraduate engineering programs, moving up from last year’s seventh place.
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News
2A — Thursday, September 10, 2015
MONDAY: This Week in History
TUESDAY: Campus Voices
WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers
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THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
FRIDAY: Photos of the Week
President Obama promoted his community college affordability plan during a speech in Warren, Mich. Wednesday. “I want two years of community college to be as free and universal as high school is today.” —@POTUS -@White House
“ RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Macauley Rybar, executive director of Dance Marathon, participates in a flash mob on the Diag organized by Dance Marathon on Wednesday.
Visiting professor discussed alternatives to violence with Ford students.
“Nonviolent campaigns are more successful than violent campaigns @EricaChenoweth #policytalks — @fordschool
“
WHAT: President Sclissel will deliver the keynote speech on diversity for the OLLI kick-off event. WHO: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute WHEN: Today from 10 a.m to 12 p.m. WHERE: Kensington court hotel
different student organizations on campus such as Michigan Paintball Club, M-agination, Pure Dance and Michigan Polo Club. WHO: Student organizations WHEN: Today from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. WHERE: The Diag
Global and Intercultural Study advisers and other program coordiantors will be available to discuss study abroads WHO: Center for Global and Intercultural Study WHEN: Today from 12:00 p.m to 1 p.m. WHERE: Rogel Ballroom at the Michigan Union
World Jazz WHAT: University alum Dave Sharp, an Ann Arbor resident, will perform jazz standards with his jazz band, Worlds Trio. WHO: Gifts of Art WHEN: Today from 12:10 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: University Hospital Main Lobby, Floor 1
Community gathering
Poetry slam kickoff
Research colloquim
WHAT: Learn about the 32-acre artificial city being built on campus to test selfdriving cars where even pedestrians are automated. WHO: University of Michigan Retirees Association WHEN: Today from 3 p.m to 5 p.m. WHERE: Banquet room in Wyndham Gardens Hotel
WHAT: Trotter Multicultural Center staff will give a presentation on work the center has done in the past and preview future programming. WHO: Trotter Multicultural Center WHEN: Today from 4 p.m to 6 p.m. WHERE: Trotter Multicultural Center
WHAT: Join the University Slam group for their first event of the year. Learn how to read, perform and listen to poetry. WHO: Center for Campus Involvement WHEN: Today from 5:30 p.m to 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League
WHAT: The director of African Studies Center will give a presentation as a part of the UMAPS research colloquim series WHO: African Studies Center WHEN: Today at 3:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@ michigandaily.com.
This is a process that’s about your voices and your ideas.” Schlissel added that the individual plans are due by the end of this academic year, and will be compounded into a comprehensive University plan to improve diversity, which will be set in place for September 2016. “We know the process itself will be neither easy nor quick,” he said. “We will disagree at times, but the structure we’ve built is designed to encourage discussion, the sharing of successful programs and the development of new ideas. We want to encourage innovation to set broad parameters; not prescribed boxes.” The president outlined programs already in place at the University to improve diversity and inclusion, including a program to package admission offers and financial aid awards. He also said the University plans to reach out earlier to students with incomplete applica-
tions and to improve outreach to admitted students before they decide to enroll. Kedra Ishop, the University’s associate vice president for enrollment management, led these efforts. Schlissel told The Michigan Daily last week that these ongoing efforts would result in visible impacts to this year’s freshman enrollment numbers — a sentiment he echoed during Wednesday’s luncheon. In recent years, Black enrollment at the University has hovered around 4 percent — a reality that has in part driven calls for new diversity efforts on campus. During the tail end of President Emerita Mary Sue Coleman’s tenure, members of the University’s Black Student Union called on the University to address several issues related to inclusion, equity and diversity. The University will also launch a pilot program this year to improve the recruitment of students from economically disadvantaged families throughout Michigan. The program was developed with the
help of Susan Dynarski, a University professor of education, economics and public policy. Known as the Hail Scholars Program, the effort is designed to increase applications to the University from high-achieving low-income students. University Provost Martha Pollack and Doug Strong, theninterim chief financial officer, previously set up a staff committee on diversity, equity and inclusion, chaired by Laurita Thomas, associate vice president for human resources. They submitted their recommendations to enhance staff diversity and inclusiveness last month, and the report was posted online today. So far, new faculty orientation this year included a session on leveraging student diversity in classroom discussions. Plans are in the process to extend this training to all faculty. After remarks from the president, Robert Sellers, University vice provost for equity, inclusion and academic affairs, and Regent Shauna Ryder Diggs (D), tables of attendees discussed ideas for the improvement of diversity on campus. Facilitators at each table recorded the attendants’ ideas to contribute to the University’s plan. The University is planning a University-wide diversity summit scheduled for November.
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CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Special remarks Festifall Global fair by Schlissel WHAT: Learn about all the WHAT: Center for
Each week, “Twitter Talk” is a forum to print tweets that are fun, informative, breaking or newsworthy, with an angle on the University, Ann Arbor and the state. All tweets have been edited for accurate spelling and grammar.
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
Apple announced that its upcoming iPhone 6S will include a new feature called 3D Touch that will allow users to pull up different menus and shortcuts easier, The Verge reported Wednesday.
2
In the first B-Side of the semester, Managing Arts Editor Adam DePollo takes a look at Detroit’s hip-hop scene. >> SEE B-SIDE, PG. 1B
3
Intel will no longer sponsor the Intel science competition. The tech company has supported the science and math competition since 1998, giving $1.6 million in scholarship money every year, NBC News reported Wednesday.
IRAN From Page 1A the Iranian Graduate Students Association. As an Iranian student studying in the United States, disagreements between the two countries have been challenging to witness. Arbabzadeh came to the United States several years ago to pursue a master’s degree in electrical engineering. Due to tensions between the United States and Iran, there is no U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran — Arbabzadeh’s home city. According to Arbabzadeh further cooperation between the United States and Iran could help foster better accommodation for students. “Iranians in the U.S. started the movement to show that they support the deal,” Arbabzadeh said. “There is a hashtag, #SupportIranDeal, because we want to show it all around the world and say that we support it.” When details of the JCPOA were released in July, Arbabzadeh was home in Iran. She remembers people filling the streets and cheering, in hopes that the reduced sanctions would help bring lower prices for goods, such as food and medicine. “My aunt had breast cancer last year, but the medicine she needed couldn’t be found, and was super expensive because of the sanctions,” Arbabzadeh said. “I got it here for her and I went back home to give it to her.”
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Politically affiliated pro-Israel groups on campus have voiced varied stances on the JCPOA. J Street, a national pro-Israel organization, announced their support for the deal in early September. Though members of the campus chapter declined to comment, they said they agree with the statement posted on the organization’s website. “Having studied the text of the agreement, J Street intends to back it and work hard for its implementation, making the case to Congress that this agreement serves the vital security interests of both the United States and Israel,” the organization wrote in their official release. However, not all pro-Israel organizations on campus are for the deal. LSA senior Daniel Pearlman is part of an organization called WolvPAC, a political on campus that advocates for a stronger Israel-U.S. relationship. Pearlman said he has read the agreement himself, and does not feel that it is a good deal. “I am for diplomacy and I am in favor of negotiation, even with a theocratic regime like Iran,” Pearlman said. “However, I am against this current deal because it fails to address numerous critical issues that are important — not just in my opinion, but also in the opinion of many other Americans and people who are living in the region.” One problem that Pearlman has with the deal is that it does not include “anytime, anywhere” inspections on nuclear facilities and military facilities in Iran. Pearlman said WolvPAC is working on campus to educate others and encourage conversation about the deal. “We want people to understand more about this deal, and why it isn’t necessarily the best option that we have,” Pearlman said. The deal, which is under a 60-day congressional review, is expected to considered by Congress this month. Due to the nature of the deal as an international executive agreement, and not a treaty, Congress cannot vote to approve the bill. Instead, they will vote on whether or not to disapprove the deal. Many members of the Senate and House of
Representatives are attempting to win a vote of disapproval, a ruling that would need to be subsequently vetoed by President Obama if the deal were to pass. Many opponents of the deal say Iran cannot be trusted. Some also believe relieving sanctions from Iran would allow the country to use its unfrozen assets to funnel money toward terrorist groups. It would take a two-thirds vote from Congress to overrule the president’s veto of a disapproval resolution, a number that is now unlikely. The necessary 34 Democratic senators have announced support for the deal — meaning they would not vote for a disapproval resolution. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D–Mich.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D– Mich.) have both released statements in support of the deal. Sen. Gary Peters (D–Mich.) announced his support on Tuesday morning. “The United States and our allies seek peace in the Middle East,” Dingell wrote in her statement. “We have two goals: promoting peace and keeping the confidence of our allies who need American leadership. The JCPOA helps support both of these goals, which is why I will support it.” Most Michigan Republicans have released statements of disapproval. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, alongside Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, released a www. michigandaily.com/section/news/ schuette-urges-states-imposesanctions-iran letter to all 50 state governors encouraging them to impose state-regulated sanctions. Schuette argued that though the nation wants to lower sanctions in return for Iran’s cooperation, states could still impose their own sanctions. John Ciorciari, assistant professor of public policy, said University students should stay away from distorted stories in the media. “I think it’s very important for anyone interested in this deal to get beyond the nightly news, and especially beyond the often polemical stories on the evening cable news shows,” Ciorciari said. “Students should read the terms on the deal and read expert commentaries of a variety of perspectives.”
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OBAMA From Page 1A would guarantee qualified students two free years of community college. The plan has yet to gain traction in Congress. Biden said students face decades of debt and that it’s hard to get ahead in the workforce
STATE From Page 1A such a bill coming forward.” Higher Education Despite receiving a 1.4 percent increase in state funding from 2014, tuition still increased at the University, with officials noting that the small increase could not make up for a nearly decade-long trend of declining state funds. But the 2.7 percent tuition increase for in-state students and the 3.7 percent increase for out-
when Americans are struggling to keep up. “If we want all Americans to succeed in the 21st century we need to make sure that all students at all ages have the best education possible,” she said. Obama also announced the board’s plans to launch Heads Up America, a public campaign designed to garner support for the
nation’s community colleges. Obama also discussed his support for apprenticeships and training opportunities as a means of making America more competitive within the world economy. He argued Americans must be able to adapt and improve their skills. “Everything is moving too fast and if you don’t have the skills to get the new jobs and you don’t
have the knowledge to adapt and be creative, you’re going to fall behind,” Obama said, noting a study that found workers who completed an apprenticeship made $300,000 more than their peers over a lifetime. “Upgrading your skills pays off,” he added. The Obama administration is pledging $200 million to promote
apprenticeships and training opportunities, with the Department of Labor awarding $175 million in grants to 46 public-private partnerships that have committed to expanding high-quality apprenticeships. “This is a concrete way to reduce the cost of higher education for young people, to improve the skills of workers so they
get higher paying jobs, to grow our economy,” Obama said. “It shouldn’t be controversial.” The president will continue to speak about affordable education over the next week and a half, with First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joining him at later tour stops.
of-state students is still smaller compared to the 8 percent tuition increase students at Oakland University, and the 7.8 percent increase students at Eastern University enacted this year in response to funding challenges. Irwin said his fundamental higher education initiative this year is to increase state financial support. “Mainly, the goal is to get more state support for our universities,” Irwin said. LGBTQ rights Over the summer the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex
marriage legal in the United States. The historic decision featued the Michigan plaintiffs, who spoke at oral arguements for the case in April. However, LGBTQ residents in Michigan are still facing other hurdles. In June, Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed a bill that would allow adoption agencies to deny applications from same-sex couples on religious grounds. In Michigan, there is no provision outlawing discrimination in housing or employment based on sexual orientation or gender iden-
tity. Last year, amendments to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act — which would have granted these protections — failed to pass the legislature. “We need to get the bigoted language out of our law books,” Irwin said. “More importantly, we should amend our state civil rights law to include protections for LGBT citizens. Nobody should be fired from their job or denied housing because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.” Marijuana
Irwin, who attended Hash Bash last year in April 2015, is a vocal proponent of marijuana legalization in the state of Michigan. During the last legislative session Irwin introduced a bill to decriminalize the drug, but this session he said he hopes to go a step further and introduce a bill to legalize it. Irwin, calling it time “to end this long and failed experiment with prohibition,” said he intends to introduce a bill in the coming weeks that would be similar to Colorado’s, which allows adult use. He asks voters to sign his www.
milegalize.com petition to land marijuana legalization on the state ballot in 2016; however, the chances of it passing are slim. A recent Michigan Radio poll showed 40.2 percent of Michigan voters oppose legalization of marijuana for recreational use, 4.2 percent of voters are unsure, and the remaining 55.7 percent are in favor of legalization but divided on the logistics. In the meantime, Michigan legislators are working on bills to crack down on the current law which allows medical use of marijuana.
Opinion
4A — Thursday, September 10, 2015
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A long, winding journey
T
his past summer, while most Michigan students interned, worked, traveled or took classes, I climbed out of a deep pit of emotional turmoil. A NNIE My inner equilibrium HUMPHREY initially faltered at the end of last fall. As I struggled through my pre-med classes and extracurricular obligations, the anticipation of returning home for Winter Break stood as my only beacon of hope. Home life, though, came with its own stressors: a strained relationship with my brother, a lack of upkeep with my high school friendships and the dread of returning to Ann Arbor for another soul-crushing semester. While at home, my heart and soul began to spiral downward. I kept asking myself, if I didn’t like being at school and I didn’t like being at home, where did I like to be? As winter semester began, I noticed a heavy feeling in my chest. I woke up each morning dreading going through my day. I spent hours lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, my mind blank and my heart heavy. I lost interest in the few enjoyable activities for which I had made time in my otherwise-tedious schedule. In the midst of feebly attempting to pull myself together, my support system disintegrated, due to an irreparable rift in my group of close friends. Whatever small hope I had held for a speedy recovery vanished. As humans, we are evolutionarily programmed to adapt. I do not believe feeling permanently sad is possible; instead we eventually become numb to our pain so that we can go about our daily lives. By February, I had fallen into a routine that kept my feelings in check. Each day I would wake up, go to class, nap, go to meetings, finish homework, go to bed and repeat. The less thought required in completing my day, the better. Knowing that I needed help, I signed up for a Counseling and Psychological Services appointment, but felt wary of attending weekly meetings devoted to discussing my sadness. As my appointments continued and the ground beneath me thawed, my heart and mind followed suit. By the time my parents came to pick me up in April, my full range of emotions had returned and my mother and father witnessed me collapse into a puddle of tears. Unlike Riley’s situation in “Inside Out,” though, my breakdown did not lead to an immediate, happy Pixar ending. Instead, that moment was the initial step down a long, winding road of eventual recovery. The first half of my summer seemed to worsen my mental state. Rather than properly studying for the MCAT as I had intended, I would go to the library and my mind would start to race. Each day I became increasingly aware of my disinterest in pre-med life, my disengagement from the University
community and my disconnection from the social circles all around me. Unable to ignore these thoughts, I postponed my MCAT to a later date and opted to work the rest of the summer as a camp counselor. For the first time in months I rediscovered something that I loved, and from that moment forward the true recovery process began. Being a camp counselor did what months of therapy could not — it shifted my perspective through firsthand experience. Instead of waking up each day focusing on my own problems, I woke up thinking about how to best serve the needs of my campers. Instead of celebrating my own moments of success, I celebrated all the times my campers learned something new or made a new friend. The best part about camp was that all the usual pressures from life did not exist. I was free to be myself without worrying about doing well. Instead of trying to outshine one another, the entire camp community worked to shine brightly together. The moment everything clicked was when my campers and I went on an evening motorboat ride together on the lake. I’ll never forget our shrieks and squeals as the driver accelerated full speed across the water. We clung to each other over every sharp turn while wind whipped our hair and faces. I drank in the perfect evening air and a thought popped into my head: this was what it meant to be alive. Life was not about comparing myself to others or aiming for success purely for the sake of appearing successful. Life was about doing what I loved with people I loved. For the rest of the summer, I turned this epiphany over in my mind. Were the concepts of enjoying life and achieving greatness mutually exclusive? Did the road to happiness necessitate giving up my dreams of becoming a doctor? After much thought, I became convinced that happiness and achievement are both possible, as long as I push myself for the right reasons. Medical school will be difficult, but I just need to remember that I’m going on this journey to help others, not to boost my own image. As I begin my senior year, I worry that I will relapse into my previous stage of emptiness and depression. However, I strongly believe that if I surround myself with the right people and do things that make me truly happy, I will be able to push through the tough times and achieve my dreams without sacrificing my mental health. The University is a challenging environment that puts many students through tough mental roadblocks. This place has knocked me down numerous times, but I am determined to stand up once more and walk across the finish line with a smile on my face. — Annie Humphrey can be reached at annieah@umich.edu.
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You gave him your number
ymbols of privilege: Canada Goose, Sperrys, J. Crew and Grey Goose. As a white male from an uppermiddle-class sub- DANIEL urb attending an DIXON elite academic institution, I am living proof. Though we often associate privilege with a specific race, gender and socioeconomic status, there are some forms of privilege that aren’t as obvious as a silk shirt or, quite frankly, a penis. Superficially, I represent the advantaged, but I also represent the disadvantaged 1.6 percent of the population that is openly gay or lesbian. Yes, I, a member of the “elite,” encounter abuse due to my homosexuality even in Ann Arbor. The University is ranked as one of the nation’s most liberal college institutions, yet I would argue that the student culture subconsciously remains homophobic, causing the persecution of gays on campus to appear somewhat invisible to the naked eye. My first encounter with homosexual persecution at the University occurred before I was even a student here, during the winter of my senior year of high school when I was admitted to Michigan. To celebrate the acceptance into my dream school, I asked a longtime family friend, Adam — then a sophomore at the University — if I could come for the weekend and (sorry, Mom) party. Friday night I was ushered into an (unchaperoned!) apartment, given access to all the alcohol I wanted and thrown into a social scene unlike any lame high school party I had been to. Adam’s girlfriend and her friends came over, and after pre-gaming and getting acquainted with everybody, we left for a house party. At the house, I was again ushered into a sweaty basement with a DJ, beer
pong and party lights. I partied as any hot-shot senior in high school would, standing quietly by the beer pong table, pretending to be super focused on the game to avoid talking to people. The guy I was standing next to at the table turned out to be an exchange student from China. I was interested in his experience as an exchange student, so we talked for a while. Not once did thoughts regarding his sexuality cross my mind; I was simply focused on the conversation we were having. I gave him my number for a reason I can’t remember, maybe due to my innocence, maybe due to the impairment from the alcohol. Again, I didn’t think anything of it. After the conversation ended, Adam replaced the exchange student at the beer pong table. “Thank God, I was getting worried there,” he said in my ear. Confused, I questioned what he meant. “You guys were talking for a while,” he accused. I immediately understood. Adam had caught me completely off guard. I’d had conversations with guys before, but had never experienced this kind of judgment. After explaining to him that the guy was an exchange student, Adam then uttered, “You gave him your number,” in an attempt to prove my guilt. We did not speak about the incident for the rest of the night, but as a result, I became nervous and avoided other conversations with guys, feeling my every move dissected by Adam’s gaze. The next time I visited Adam, I didn’t dare speak to other guys — only to groups with at least one female present. That night I was introduced to a type of discrimination I had never experienced before. I was expecting some kind of eventual abuse for my homosexuality at college, but not this soon and not by such
a close friend. An action that I had found so innocent — a conversation about Asia and its culture with a sophomore student from China — was taboo just because that conversation was with another man. Throughout my freshman year at the University, I have been subjected to other subtle forms of hate and discrimination due to my sexuality. At my first frat party, I was told the more girls I hooked up with that night, the better chance I would have in being admitted to that fraternity. My roommate continually questioned why I never brought a girl back to spend the night and pressured me to do so. A night out was never complete unless you heard the casual insult “homo” or “faggot” at some party. Many of these offenders fail to realize that they are oppressing an entire community when they make these “meaningless” comments they forget to have said less than five minutes later. Homophobia has been internalized by a large part of the University’s culture, and students subconsciously reveal it in ways that are still hurtful. The conversation between Adam and me was so quick, so discreet, but it was one of the most meaningful to me. Acts of discrimination, such as Adam’s, are acts of microaggression, and they are less visible (and even perceived as nonexistent) to the student body. The oppression of the homosexual community often seems like an invisible one; prevalent, but conducted so accidentally or thoughtlessly that it becomes naked to the human eye. I am an upper middle-class white male, and therefore I am part of the advantaged. But I am also gay. Just because oppression is not visible to the majority of the population does not mean it is less significant. — Daniel Dixon can be reached at djdix@umich.edu.
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I
Do whatever you want
will never sit in a cubicle. I will never have to worry about the finances of running a small business, owning a company car or MEGAN creating a presen- MITCHELL tation for a board meeting. And I will never have to worry about these things and more if I continue on my path toward medical school. Those things make me happy. But does my major? When we were in third grade, our teachers asked us the most important question of our lives, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” At the time, I’m sure most of us answered “astronaut” or something else that sounded acceptable in the mind of an eight-year-old. We didn’t realize just how important that question actually was or how long it might take to find an answer. In middle school, our perceptive changed slightly to more realistic careers such as becoming musicians, authors and doctors, while high school finely tuned our answers even further to journalists, athletes and surgeons once things became more serious. Until senior year rolled around and it was time to start filling out college applications, I never once looked back on my decision to attend medical school. And yet there I was, freezing on the “concentration/major” box filling out the Common Application, unable to move the mouse. Through all the confusion, a question formed at the forefront of my mind: Why was I hesitating? Two years later, I’d chalk it up to my subconscious trying to tell my heart something it didn’t want to accept: Maybe I didn’t want to do biology. In that moment, I felt like a child putting their hands over their ears, repeating a mantra of lalalala to keep the truth away. I was good at biology, right? You needed a biology degree to get into medical school, right? I didn’t just need to take biology; I needed to major in biology and love biology if I wanted a shot at becom-
ing the doctor that I always envisioned in my future. At least that’s what I told myself when I hesitantly typed “biology” into that little box. “Do What You Want” is a chapter in Amy Poehler’s novel “Yes Please.” She essentially argues that to be happy, we need to follow what we want to do in life. As she goes on to detail her early struggles as a rising comedian in an unforgiving industry, you can’t help but notice the great success that came with her hard work. Of course, all fans of “Saturday Night Live” and the ever-popular series “Parks and Recreation” know the name Amy Poehler, whether by her sparkling identity or constant enthusiasm as herself or her persona, Leslie Knope. But only readers of her novel can truly see the depths of her love for work — not once in the novel did I remember reading that she was unhappy. Even as a comedy nobody in a small Chicago improv theatre, Poehler remarked that she was incredibly happy with her new “family.” Reading “Yes Please” was not only a small piece of happiness to feed the “Parks and Recreation” fan inside of me, but also an educational experience about life itself, especially college life. Do what you want, whatever makes you happy, is an essential piece of advice all students entering college should carry with them. I had entered freshman year carrying the uncertainty of my concentration on my shoulders, and I didn’t even know it. Biology was something that I felt was necessary to my success, not something that was bringing me happiness. Acceptance is the hardest part of any failed relationship, and this relationship was slowly but surely becoming a one-way street. To become happy in your work, sometimes you need to make the hard decision to let go of things that have become detrimental to your happiness. Unfortunately, that might mean breaking up with your major if it just isn’t working for you. When first-year requirements
dictated that foreign language was required to graduate from LSA, I became excited to once again immerse myself in a topic I had adored in high school. This was especially so when Lorena, my fabulous instructor, added an equal mix of passion and fun to the language that spurred me to participate actively in class once more. I found myself excited to do homework and to attend class each day again. I adored Spanish and came to the simple and quick decision that I would pursue a dual degree with the language as my other major, which ultimately led to the rethinking of my entire concentration choices thus far. Eventually, I gave myself an ultimatum: If biology and Spanish were hanging off a cliff, which would I jump for? The answer was too simple, too quick. I jumped for Spanish. And immediately after I jumped, I called my parents to let them know that, although I was still pursuing medical school, I was going to double major in BCN and Spanish and quit biology. They understood almost immediately, sensing my unhappiness in biology in a way only parents can while giving me various reassurances. Directly after, I unashamedly cried for an hour straight. But they were happy tears, as I had finally found an equal medium where I could still envision myself as a pediatrician, yet be happy as an undergraduate studying exactly what I wanted. I cannot wait to begin my journey as a sophomore in my new concentration, happy and interested for the first time in a long time. My point is, follow Amy Poehler’s advice and do whatever you want and what makes you ultimately happy in life. Whether you’re a rising undergraduate or a new freshman, never be afraid to pursue the important things in life. Enjoy your work, and you’ll create your own happy future. — Megan Mitchell can be reached at umeg@umich.edu.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, September 10, 2015 — 5A
Harbaugh downplaying homecoming, wants win By ZACH SHAW Daily Sports Editor
To those who have experienced it, there can be something truly magical about Michigan Stadium on a fall Saturday. The band, food, cheering and 110,000 football fans create an event experience few can match. But just days before the Michigan football team’s home opener against Oregon State, the Wolverines’ coaching staff has something else on its mind: winning. “There’s a time and a place for nostalgia,” said Michigan tight ends coach Jay Harbaugh. “When you’re in the thick of it week to week, and you have meetings, practice, you don’t think about that kind of stuff. I don’t know if that’s hard to believe, but it really is true. … You just really want to play well, and the other stuff takes care of itself.” As much as fans want to build up and romanticize the idea of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh — who quarterbacked the team from 1984 to 1986 — making his way down the tunnel for his first game back at Michigan Stadium, the coach refused to let nostalgia take priority when discussing his thoughts on the moment. “(It’s the) same as the thoughts were last week — to win our next game,” the elder Harbaugh said Monday. Though plenty of coverage has surrounded the head coach’s return to Michigan Stadium (SportsCenter will even broacast
live from Ann Arbor to cover the homecoming), the coach downplayed the emotions and excitement of his return again in a teleconference Tuesday. “It will be the thrill of preparing for a ballgame and watching the players compete,” Harbaugh said. “I know exactly what (I want) the emotions to be — the thrill of competition.” Michigan running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley — a star running back himself for the team from 1991 to 1994 — can empathize with Harbaugh’s sentiments about returning to the Big House. He hasn’t forgotten his time at Michigan Stadium, but knows his experience is different from those in the stands. “You have to understand, when
I was a player, I was running those stadium stairs,” Wheatley said in August. “So most of my memories (of Michigan Stadium) are of running those stairs thinking, ‘Oh god.’ “My focus (since I got here) has always been, ‘I’m here for a reason, let’s get to work.’ ” Since the new coaching staff has arrived, much of that work has surrounded recruiting. Michigan has a top-10 recruiting class by most rankings, and will show at least a half-dozen recruits around Ann Arbor this weekend. But as much fun as Michigan Stadium can be, the coaches know the best way to make a lasting impression. “It’s exciting for the young
guys to see 110,000 people fill the stadium, but I tell the guys that no matter how many fans are in the stadium, the dimensions of a football field never change,” said defensive backs coach Greg Jackson. “So when our guys go out on the field, we’re all excited to play, but we can’t get caught up in the fans in the stands. The dimensions of the football field stay the same, and when that whistle blows, we’ll be ready to play.” Added Jim Harbaugh: “There’s a bad taste in our mouth when you lose a football game, and there’s only one mouthwash for that, and that is winning a football game, so that’s what we’re going to make darn sure on what we’re going to focus on.”
WOMEN’S SOCCER
‘M’ hosts CMU Thursday night By KATIE CONKLIN Daily Sports Writer
After dropping the back end of the Husky Nike Invitational in Seattle this past weekend, the Michigan women’s soccer team is looking to revive its winning ways. The CMU at Wolverines (4-2) will Michigan face their Matchup: first ranked CMU 1-2-1; opponent on Michigan 4-2 Sunday in When: ThursNo. 13 Notre day 7:30 P.M. Dame, but Where: before heading U-M Soccer to South Bend, Stadium they have one team in their way. Michigan will host in-state competitor Central Michigan this Thursday night. The Chippewas (1-2-1) are coming off a 2-0 win against Youngstown State, their first victory of the season. Central Michigan goalie Zoie Reed posted her first career shutout in the match. “She had a really good confidence-building performance,” Central Michigan coach Peter McGahey
told Central Michigan’s athletic website. To fully take control of the match, the Wolverines must handle the ball with finesse near the goal and exploit any free space given by Reed. Sophomore forward Taylor Timko continues to be an influential force up top, recording five goals already this year. But Timko is not the only contributing factor — 13 other players have tallied points in just six games. Leading the Big Ten in shots per game with an average of 21.5, Michigan will look to continue its offensive dominance and exploit its opponent’s defense as it continues into the rest of its schedule. The Wolverines completed a triumphant 3-0 victory at their last meeting with Central Michigan in 2014. To repeat this outcome, though, they’ll have to convert on their plethora of scoring opportunities. “The main thing is just that we’ve got to finish our chances,” said Michigan coach Greg Ryan after Sunday’s loss against Washington. “This has been the thing that we’ve been trying to develop so far, because we’re getting enough chances to win games.”
“We’ve got to finish our chances.”
RUBY WALLAU/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh cares only about winning his home opener, despite all of the hype surrounding the game.
FIELD HOCKEY
Chromik back in action Classifieds after year lost to injury The redshirt junior learned a great deal during her time off the field By LELAND MITCHINSON Daily Sports Writer
To say that the 2014 Michigan field hockey season was a disappointment for Caroline Chromik would be an understatement. After appearing in all 20 of the Wolverines’ games her sophomore season, the redshirt junior defensive midfielder missed her entire junior year with a knee injury. Now that she has a clean bill of health and has been awarded a redshirt year, she is ready to start helping her team on the field again. “Being off for a year and then coming back, my first game I remember the pregame jitters were incredible,” Chromik said. “It made me realize that my opportunity to play here is something very valuable, and not everyone gets the chance, so it made me feel very fortunate and it put things in perspective.” Though she started her career as an outright defender, Chromik will see more time at midfield this year. She wants to be able to anticipate plays and
be a more aggressive player this season, though her role on the team is still mainly a defensive one. “Sitting out for an entire year makes me realize my skills are rusty,” Chromik said. “But there are things I can control regardless of how good a field hockey player I am, like work ethic, so intercepting balls and being a really aggressive player is something I think I’ve become even more (since) sitting out.” Chromik’s position on the field is not the only change in her contributions to the team. Voted captain by her teammates for the 2014 season, she matured into a more vocal leader on the team because her injury kept her from helping her teammates on the field. “I think it’s always hard for anyone as a competitor in college to have such a serious injury and have to sit on the sidelines,” said Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz. “Their role abruptly changes from being an important player on the field to their role being someone who is now in a support role on the sideline and that’s really
hard. … It gives you a different perspective and has made her a better player and a better leader.” Added Chromik: “I had to be vocal even when I didn’t want to. I didn’t know that role, but I had to break out of my shell in that way. It’s good, because it has translated over onto the field now and I’m not afraid to speak what I think, and I think the team respects a lot of what I say now that I have experience both on and off the field.” Chromik’s return adds one more key piece to an already strong defense. The unit — with senior Lauren Thomas and redshirt senior Mackenzie Ellis starting on the back line — looks to be one of the foundations of the team this season. However, Pankratz admits the season is still young and the team is in the process of finding its identity after five games. As the season progresses, Chromik will be looking to take the lessons she learned from her time on the sidelines and make an impact on the field once again.
“I remember the pregame jitters were incredible.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Irvin out 6 to 8 weeks By LEV FACHER Managing Editor
Junior guard Zak Irvin is set to undergo a back procedure at the University of Michigan Hospital and will miss six to eight weeks, the Michigan men’s basketball program announced Wednesday. “We expect a 100 percent recovery for Zak after this procedure,” said Michigan
basketball coach John Beilein in a statement. “We will not rush his return, but given Zak’s work habits and determined attitude we anticipate he will be back on the court and at full speed sometime near the beginning of our season.” Irvin was a key piece in Michigan’s offense throughout the 2014-15 season, averaging 14.3 points per game. He shared team MVP honors with senior
guard Spike Albrecht. The Wolverines return a dearth of experience this year after losing only senior forward Max Bielfeldt following the 201415 campaign. Irvin, with two years of consistent play under his belt, again figures prominently into Michigan’s offensive outlook after leading the team in 3-pointers last year and posting double-digit scoring figures 27 times.
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RELEASE DATE– Thursday, September 10, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Oz. sextet 5 Hamlet’s foppish courtier 10 Abba not known for singing 14 Other, in Orizaba 15 __ Park: Knott’s Berry Farm city 16 Connecticut town for which a disease is named 17 Sinn __ 18 100-eyed guardian of Io 19 Weizman of Israel 20 Bean used in falafel 21 Half a comedy duo 22 Two-time MLB all-star Ron 23 Three-handed game 24 Wrench handle? 25 Stats for QBs 26 “Clueless” co-star __ Dash 28 Johannesburg section 30 Salad option 31 Social calls 33 “__ Wiedersehen” 34 It often says “Hello” 38 FDR loan org. 39 “Pardon me, Giuseppe” 41 CPR provider 42 Something in your eye 44 Wires, e.g. 45 Mr. Rogers 46 Dairy prefix 47 Brown shade 49 “He that __ down with dogs shall rise up with fleas”: Franklin 51 Bar made by Hershey’s 53 Enterprise bridge regular 56 “Vous êtes __”: Paris map words 57 Dog days mo. 59 Kitchy-__ 60 Cartoonist Chast 61 Disney’s Bob Iger, e.g.
62 Dash prefix 63 Frequent coproducer of U2 albums 64 “__: Miami” 65 54-year-old doll 66 VCR button 67 Sweet tuber 68 Bulls and bucks
30 Mama known for singing 32 Scandinavian native 35 Jazzman Saunders 36 Expressive music genre 37 Texter’s sign-off 40 Home to Pierre: Abbr. 43 Back muscles, briefly
48 Czerny piano piece 50 “__ roll!” 51 Bit of excitement 52 Frozen treat 54 Shed 55 Strong arms? 58 With 59-Down, subdued, and a hint to the answers to starred clues 59 See 58-Down
DOWN 1 Farnham fops 2 Outback condiment 3 *Event for AANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: listers, say 4 Piano pieces 5 Period since 2009 6 Without a doubt 7 Courtly 8 Hardens 9 18th-century Italian adventurer 10 Poetic laments 11 *The Hagia Sophia, for nearly a millennium 12 “I’ll say!” 13 “Darn it!” 27 *Sirius’ constellation 29 *Space to maneuver 09/10/15 xwordeditor@aol.com
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HAPPY THURSDAY! By Mary Lou Guizzo ©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/10/15
Enjoy the Sudoku on page 2
Sports
6A — Thursday, September 10, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FOOTBALL
Despite mistakes, Smith enjoys role as lead RB By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor
From the time junior running back De’Veon Smith played in his first career game in 2013 to the beginning of fall camp for the Michigan football team this year, there always seemed to be someone in front of him. Smith was a contender in the running back competition as soon as he set foot on campus as a freshman, but he carried seven times for just 12 yards, while thenfifth-year senior Fitz Touissant rushed 14 times for 57 yards and two touchdowns. Touissant beat out Smith and then-freshman Derrick Green for the job, and Smith didn’t touch the ball again until November.
Then Touissant graduated, and Smith had another chance. This time, he made more of an impression, scoring twice on eight carries in the season opener. But Green rushed 15 times for 170 yards, earning more touches in five of the first six games. Then Green broke his collarbone Oct. 4, ending his season. Smith had three games in the spotlight before Drake Johnson entered the fold, and Smith had to split time again. “I really didn’t pay attention to any of that,” Smith said. “I was just
trying my hardest to be No. 1.” Still, three times, he had his chance. Three times, someone else took it. This past spring, he came back under a new head coach, new offensive coordinator and new running backs coach, and the competition was tighter than ever before. Green was healthy, Johnson was on his way back and junior Ty Isaac became eligible after transferring from Southern California in 2014. This time, Smith emerged as the victor.
“I missed a hole that a bus could drive through.”
Thursday brought his reward: In the season opener at Utah, Smith earned 17 carries to Isaac’s four and Green’s two. He again appeared as the No. 1 back on this week’s depth chart. Asked if he considers himself the No. 1 back, he finally got to simply say yes. “I always go into the game expecting and hoping that I get a lot of carries,” Smith said. “Any running back in our room right now expects to get a lot of carries if they’re in the game. So it really wasn’t that big of a surprise for me. It was more of a humbling experience. First game, first time I’ve really started at Michigan, so I learned from my mistakes and just try to get better every week.” Smith’s performance wasn’t his best, with just 2.8 yards per
carry with a long run of seven yards. He broke a number of tackles, more than Green or Isaac, but struggled to find open space. “Just reading the holes, I try to improve my vision,” Smith said. “The vision that I watched on film, that wasn’t really how I play from the point of seeing stuff. That’s something I’m trying to improve on this week.” Smith only has one game in his career with more than the 17 carries he had Thursday. In fact, Michigan’s running backs had just two such games all of last season. If Smith can improve along with the rest of the team, he may be establishing himself as a workhorse going forward. He already has items on his list to improve upon.
“One of those plays (against Utah), I missed a hole that a bus could drive through,” Smith said. “That’s probably one of the bigger ones that stuck out to me, kind of got under my skin. And also the dropped pass that I had, that’s not characteristic of me at all. Just making sure I keep my eyes on the ball, tuck the ball in before I catch it.” Smith said at one point in reviewing film, he asked running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley what the offense could change to have more success. Wheatley told him to stick with the game plan and eventually it would work. Results came slowly in the opener, but in his third year, Smith may finally have a chance to make some improvements.
the b-side B
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, September 10, 2015
Cultural Cannibalism: Detroit’s New Underground Music
By Adam DePollo Managing Arts Editor
Photo by Virginia Lozano / Design by Francesca Kielb and Shane Achenbach
D
ETROIT — In the last room of a gallery at the Cranbrook Art Museum, a video of artist Nick Cave dancing in his signature soundsuits at various locations across Metro Detroit played on a loop out of a TV nestled in a far corner. I sat, transfixed, for a half hour on a bench in front of the TV, watching the flamboyant giants gyrate and hop into the air in front of abandoned houses adorned with paintings of unabandoned houses, under the crumbling domed ceiling of an art deco theater, in front of the anesthetic machinery of the Ford Assembly Plant in Wayne. There was something uncanny in the footage — in the way the faux fur shimmered against the gleaming white epoxy floor of the Ford plant, in the way the sound of thousands of rattling twigs swelled and then disappeared amid the chatter of market day on the city’s east side — something uncannily right. I felt that the suits had to have been made for Detroit: for its industrial ruins, urban blight and violently persistent vibrancy. I was reminded of a description of Detroit from the novel “Middlesex” by author Jeffrey Eugenides, himself a native of the city: “Planning is for the world’s great cities, for Paris, London, and Rome, for cities dedicated, at some level, to culture. Detroit, on the other hand, was an American city and therefore dedicated to money, and so design had given way to expediency.” What Eugenides captures so masterfully here is the way in which the culture of a European world capital like Paris or London — a culture that drags in its wake a sense of historical continuity, of progress, of the linear progression of time; a culture meant to last — seems so violently out of place in a city like Detroit, which, money and industry having left it, simply can’t afford the luxury of making a museum of itself. In the Dark Ages, after the fall of the Roman Empire, medieval Italians built houses out of marble salvaged from Roman palaces and filled bathhouses in with dirt to make foundations for Christian churches. This same practice of salvage and reuse, which you might consider a type of recycling, is very much at play in Detroit today. But in the Motor City — where the auto industry and the exuberant culture it helped fund are still fresh corpses — “recycling” doesn’t really capture the feel of what’s going on. It feels more like cannibalism. But cannibalism has its culture, too. It has painting, sculpture, photography, theater, religion, sports — and it has music. The New Guys In mid-August, I went to one of the newest sites of the city’s architectural autophagy: Tires. Situated on a grassy corner about two blocks away from Martin Luther King High School on East Lafayette Street, Tires is a music venue and creative space whose name alludes to the old Lafayette Tires building, which now serves as the venue’s walls and roof. It has no signage and its massive garage doors are surrounded by a chain link fence. The venue has no website, but the performance schedule can be found on owner Mike Lapp’s Instagram account, scrawled in black ballpoint pen on a series of napkins and yellow legal pads. I was there to watch a music video shoot for “K9” by Gosh Pith, a duo comprised of University alums Josh Smith and Josh Freed. The Joshes moved to Detroit in 2013 and quickly became mainstays of the city’s underground arts scene, fitting seamlessly into a musical culture characterized by extensive cross-pollination of genres, warehouse and loft parties, heavy bass, industrial and electronic elements and a generally bohemian outlook. Josh Smith sings and plays guitar, regularly uses “fuck” and “shit” with an infectious exuberance in the course of conversation, and has a large mane of blonde-dyed hair. Josh Freed is a producer, has shoulder-length brown hair and glasses and comes across as the more restrained half of the duo. Both refer to their music as “tunes.” While I watched the Joshes direct their music video from the stage at Tires, I looked around the sizable crowd assembled for the shoot and saw a number of faces that unfalteringly appear at parties and concerts around the city. There was an editor from Daily Detroit, there was a DJ I saw almost get into a fist fight over performance time at the Russell Industrial Center and there were a number of photographers, directors, graphic designers, promoters and singers whom I hadn’t met but whose Soundcloud pages and personal websites invariably make their way across my Facebook and Twitter feeds. I found that this was the way things usually go in Detroit as, in a phone interview a week later, Josh Smith explained how he and Freed became a part of the city’s music scene. “Before we moved down (to the city), everybody went to the same parties and you just started to recognize familiar faces,” he said. “We kind of just started going to shows as much as we could, and we were making tunes simultaneously, and so it was just a natural progression, I suppose. If you go to every party for like two months, you can book a show just because you know everybody at the show that you just met.” And Gosh Pith’s reach and success as a band does, in fact, seem to have grown as quickly as Smith described. Since forming two years ago, they have released one six-track EP called “Windows,” have another project slated for release later this fall, and are already capable of booking shows across the country and in Canada. Our phone interview was conducted on the Kalamazoo leg of a tour that included stops in Toronto, Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, all arranged by the Joshes themselves, who have no PR rep or management team. Their sound, however, is very much grounded in and supported by the Detroit music scene. “We want to make shit that’ll sound good on the sound systems that are around the city,” Smith said. “We want it to bang, we want the bass to hit hard, and everybody in Detroit is real as fuck so we make songs that are well-written, that are tangible and have some real emotion about them … (Detroit) informs our music because we go out and get fucked up every weekend, whether we’re playing or not we go support our friends, and it just informs our psyche.” Even Gosh Pith’s cross-genre experimentation is made possible by the city’s unique musical landscape and tight-knit artist community. “So many of the shows that go down in Detroit are the most broad-genre shows you would ever find, I think, because it’s kind of a small music community,” Freed said. “If you need someone to fill out a bill, it doesn’t matter if they fit that tightly with your band … It’s cool that our band could have any sound and fit in and do well in that space, but I think that we have done a pretty OK job of being able to play within the genre and kind of shift around.” Creativity abounds in the city, and it feeds off of itself, producing an increasingly refined, professional sound with each new addition to the scene. But as large as its pool of cultural history and creative material might be, Detroit and its culture industry are still suffering from fallout left behind by the collapse of the auto industry and the socioeconomic structure built on top of it. Traditional economic logic holds that growth requires capital, and, as Smith made very plain in our interview, “There’s not much money in Detroit.” The Old Guys While Gosh Pith’s hustle and talent is clearly a major component of their success, they’re also operating in an artistic community that is still essentially in its infancy, particularly in comparison with the music industries of larger cities like New York, Nashville, Atlanta or Los Angeles. Since Motown Records relocated to the west coast in the early ‘70s, leaving a massive dent in the city’s profile as a culture industry, maybe a dozen Detroit artists — including J Dilla, Eminem, Jack and Meg White, Dej Loaf, Kid Rock, Big Sean and Danny Brown — have managed to achieve national recognition while maintaining their identification with the city as an essential part of their artistic personae. On the one hand, the diversity of those artists’ styles and portrayals of what it means to be a Detroiter reflects, on the one hand, the real diversity of a city whose popular image became, thanks to the ascendancy of the Big Three and Motown, a flattened caricature of something akin to an assembly line spitting out Model Ts full of Stevie Wonder records. At the same time, however, the vast range of artists and styles operating in the city over the last 20 or 30 years also belies a fragmented cultural consciousness, a city riven by population decline and competition for scant resources. Visiting Detroit’s underground music venues this past summer, however, “fragmented” would have been the last word on my mind. During our interview, the Joshes pointed me in the direction of a number of artists and bands that supported them when they first arrived in the city — the weirdest of which was, perhaps, Lord Scrummage. Alex Lauer and Conor Edwards, two members of this loosely organized experimental act, moved to Detroit and began making music in 2006, the beginning of Kwame Kilpatrick’s second term as mayor of the city and just a year after Ford and GM stocks were downgraded to junk status. It was also the year Detroit hosted both Super Bowl XL and a significant portion of the World Series. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Orchestra Hall and Fox Theatre were all undergoing major restorations. Detroit was making a bid to rebrand itself as a tourist destination at the same time as lifelong residents of the city decried the funneling of resources toward the Midtown and Downtown areas and away from communities suffering from crumbling infrastructure, crime and urban blight. See DETROIT, Page 2B
2B — Thursday, September 10, 2015
And, while Ka$h can understand why the city’s hip-hop scene has the history it does, he sees the younger generation of rappers — But, talking with Edwards and rappers who feel as home in the Lauer about the music scene in the city’s hip-hop community as they city, I couldn’t pick up on any of do in the generic melting pot that that drama. characterizes the rest of its under“It was a lot smaller then, I felt ground music — are doing the like,” Edwards said. work necessary to move toward a “In the beginning we were just unified community of artists. like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a big loft here, “Me, personally, I’m trying to let’s just have shows here.’ It was kill that, because like, that was what we were doing in our parents’ then, that was 10 years ago. We’re basements and stuff before, so we all pretty much in the same posijust kept it going on a different tion now, we need to get together.” level,” Lauer added. The (Business)man They painted a picture of a After the Joshes told me there group of friends and creative was no money in Detroit, they acquaintances, making music and backpedaled a bit and said that I art, essentially to entertain themshould look into Assemble Sound. selves, with little to no interest in I googled Assemble and found expanding into an industry. an article in Crain’s Detroit about “It was never like a business Garret Koehler, a 28-year-old thing. It was more just friends entrepreneur from Chicago who getting together and organizing moved to Detroit to work on an events; it was never really a big unsuccessful bid to bring the X moneymaker Games to the or anything. city. After It was just the bid fell doing things, through, and things he decided started to to stay in come together Detroit and naturally,” start AssemEdwards said. ble, what he And that describes as model of artis“an organiztic production ing body for seems to have musicians,” held sway in which proDetroit for the motes colbetter part laboration of the last 10 between the years, encourcity’s underaging the ground artdevelopment ists and helps of talented connect them semi-profeswith monsional artists eymaking and quality, opportunities artist-run venlike licensues dedicated ing contracts VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily to good times Gosh Pith’s Josh Freed and Tires owner Mike Lapp direct a music video shoot. and instituand communitional grants. ty engagement. That ethos largely ing been up all night tripping on I e-mailed him and we set up a continues today — in nearly every acid. He was eating a muffin. meeting at Assemble’s headquarinterview I conducted for this Detroit’s hip-hop scene has ters — a repurposed German Protpiece, the “Detroit ethos” came up always been underground, essen- estant church located a block away either explicitly or implicitly — but tially, and would continue to be from the Detroit Central Station. at some point over the last couple so were it not for J Dilla, Danny I arrived early, and Koehler, of years, things began to change. Brown and, to a lesser extent, who looks and sounds like an “I’d say a couple of years ago is Eminem. As Ka$h describes it, enlightened frat bro, was making when I really noticed it,” Lauer that scene is just now beginning himself a chicken salad sandwich. said, “and that was when I met to move past a schism created by He took me on a tour of the buildKash and Martez (Claybren) and Brown’s unconventional style and ing, which is currently in the midst Takayla (Patterson), and they eventual rise to fame. of massive renovations which were putting these shows together “I just know, back when Danny, is being funded by the artists that were like the Teklife people when he was early starting, his involved in the project. He’s also from Chicago, all of that footwork voice is so weird that a lot of the seeking private investment and music and a bunch of local hip hop. cats in the city were like ‘We don’t has entered the project into conAnd then the shows, it was all the really fuck with it. We don’t like it,’ sideration for a number of institugenres in one show, and then those ” Ka$h said. “And later in the years tional grants. The redesign plans guys all started making music when it evolved into the Bruiser call for three studios and a shared together.” Brigade, we separated ourselves live room on the church’s second The KushMan because those people were trying floor, with more studio space and In the interest of full disclosure, to kick it with us all of the sudden.” a performance area on the ground I will say that Martez Claybren But Detroit’s rappers clearly floor. is a friend of mine. But he’s also a have ambition — Brown, Dej Loaf, Koehler’s office is coated with friend of just about every artist in Big Sean and Eminem are all proof posters of Chance the Rapper, an Detroit, it would seem, including that the city has the ability to pro- artist who, he explained, serves as Ka$h Tha KushMan, the youngest duce national stars. And as I talked an inspiration for the entire projmember and most recent addition to Ka$h, it became clear that he ect. to the Bruiser Brigade — a Detroit sees the city’s underground hip“Inspired by what I saw in Chirap collective directed by and sty- hop scene shooting to the forefront cago with Chance and the Savelistically organized around the of its national counterpart. Money crew, I got interested in the music of Danny Brown. Brown “The artists start to realize industry trends and sort of, I guess is, I would argue, the best rapper that doing it by they self, they’re the change in power, if you will. Detroit has ever produced (with not gonna make it as far,” he said. The democratization of music and apologies to Eminem), and with- “That’s why the city of Detroit distribution, and what that meant out question the most innova- doesn’t have as many big stars as for music,” he said. tive, blending EDM, hip-hop and Atlanta or California — it’s because And Koehler’s vision for how its British iteration, grime, into a there, even through their beefs, democratized music could look in menacingly surrealist product that they still unify when it comes to Detroit is, indeed, inspiring. fits the landscape of Detroit like the music. So I think Detroit is “Artists move to Nashville or a glove. And unlike other Detroit finally just seeing that and saying L.A. because they want to be in rappers like Big Sean or Eminem, that they need to set aside all the proximity to industry, it incentivBrown seems legitimately interest- B.S. and just make it work.” izes artist development and gives
DETROIT From Page 1B
ed in producing a school of Detroit hip-hop that is both stylistically distinct and large enough and to assert itself as a legitimate challenge to the West Coast, Atlanta and East Coast varieties. With rap wunderkind chops, Martez’s connections with the Chicago footwork scene and official support from the elder Bruisers, who started sneaking him into clubs around the city when he was 14 years old, Ka$h seems poised to create a body of work as technically strong and stylistically innovative as Danny Brown’s. I met him for an interview with his manager, Takayla Patterson, at a coffee shop on Grand River in Downtown Detroit. Ka$h arrived late with a tattoo-covered blonde girl who I was not introduced to and sat at a separate table, eating Chobani, for the entirety of the interview. He kissed Takayla on the forehead before sitting down and then explained that he was tired, hav-
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ARTIST
IN
PROFILE
By DANIELLE RAY Daily Arts Writer
Three years ago, Matt Cloutier, then a Music, Theatre & Dance freshman, stood in his dorm room in South Quad twirling a shoe horn, trying to imitate then drum major Jeffrey McMahon’s baton twirling techniques. Today, Cloutier, a senior, stands in front of the entire band and, soon, the entire Big House, having graduated from his self-described “really long shoe horn” to a baton. He takes off his hat and begins to bend backward, initiating himself into the Michigan drum major position (pun intended), all eyes on him. He has arrived. *** Cloutier began his musical journey in fifth-grade band, playing the trumpet. He continued playing throughout middle school and his time at Grosse Ile High School, where he joined the marching band, but never had a desire to be drum major. “The drum major role here is a tad different than it was in my high school,” he said. “By a tad different, I mean a lot different. Here, it’s more of a performance role as opposed to a conducting role. I saw what the drum major did my freshman year, and I was like, ‘Oh wow that’s pretty awesome.’” At the University, the drum major’s responsibilities have much more to do with what happens off the field than on it. During Band Week, which is actually between two and three weeks during the summer depending on one’s position, the drum major teaches the fundamentals of marching to the band for six to eight hours a day, first teaching all the new staff, then the new members, then returning members. “I really enjoyed getting to learn about the teaching component,” he said. “It was really interesting over the summer; it’s so much more in-depth than I thought it would be. There’s so much more of a science to it.” While Cloutier worked full time at AdAdapted, a technology platform, this summer, he went to Revelli Hall almost every day after work to practice his twirling and his teaching techniques. Former drum major Jeff Okala joined Cloutier to help with the transition, and past drum majors
them access to the people that you feel like you need to have access to to develop,” he said. “But what’s weird is that the whole industry is changing right now; it’s more about artist direct to consumer, direct to their audience, building that relationship, figuring out ways to monetize your work to the extent that you want to. So we were less interested in, like, importing industry, because I don’t even know what that industry looks like anymore. More so, this is just a group of artists that are just like ‘Let’s not be so siloed and fragmented, let’s try to be really intentional about building a more collaborative and cooperative ethos in Detroit underground music.’” He plans on developing educational programming for musicians — like bringing copyright
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Matt Cloutier will take the field for his first game as Drum Major Saturday.
McMahon, David Hines Jr., Matt Cavanaugh and Gregg Whitmore all reached out to Cloutier with advice, too. One of Cloutier’s favorite aspects of teaching is acting as a mediator between the staff and the band. As drum major, band members can approach him with any concerns they have, and Cloutier will work to find a solution. “The staff’s not intimidating; they’re very nice, but it’s nice to have another student that’s a bit more approachable that they can come up to with any concerns or anything they have,” he said. “They can talk to me.” The second part of Cloutier’s job is what he does on the field — the backbend, the twirling and the halftime performances. “The twirling is fun because it’s the most creative,” he said. “You literally just make up whatever you want, and, as I’ve learned more twirling, it’s fun now because I can make stuff up more on the fly and just improvise my own little routine. That’s what I’ll end up doing during the halftime performances. There’s really not drill written out for me. Myself and the twirlers make up our own routines. “During the twirling, I want to put some of my own personal flair into it and do some funny little dance moves and facial expressions,” Cloutier added. “It’s funny; a lot of the past drum majors have been really big, big guys, so that comes across. A lot of the stuff they were doing was really intense, but I’m a little
smaller of a guy — a little bit more goofy of a personality — just being able to show that in the halftime shows.” But, let’s talk backbend. According to Cloutier, the first drum major to do the backbend without his hat on was Matthew Pickus back in 1993. Since then, it was off and on (again, pun intended) with which drum majors would keep their hats on or take them off until the early 2000s, when taking off the hat became more standard. “Within the last 10 years it’s kind of become an unwritten rule for the student section,” said Cloutier. “They want to see the hat off. Before that, most people did it with the hat on; that gives you an extra two and a half feet.” And Cloutier is a people-pleaser — he’s going to do the backbend without the hat, because he knows you want to see it. “I want to bring an insane amount of enthusiasm for the band, for Michigan and for everybody out there in the Big House, too,” he said. *** Approximately three years ago, a freshman Matt Cloutier stood on a volleyball court in the IM building trying to imitate thendrum major Jeffrey McMahon’s backbending skills. And for the first time, he succeeded. Today, the senior Cloutier stands in front of the entire band and, on Saturday, The Big House. He takes off his hat and begins to bend backwards, all eyes on him as the top of his head reaches the ground. He has arrived.
lawyers in to discuss the way royalties function — and a residency program where artists exchange unlimited access to studio space for working as collaborators on other residents’ projects. A number of artists are already making use of Assemble Sound’s facilities — when I visited, one of the members of Passalacqua, a hip-hop duo, was in the studio working with members of rock group Flint Eastwood on a track that was going to be licensed to ABC — and others, like Ka$h and Gosh Pith, certainly seemed interested in the arrangement. But it’s hard to say what effect groups like Assemble might have on the city’s underground scene, and whether this cooperative arrangement, inspired by the city’s cooperative ethos, could hold its own against traditional music industry model, as Koehler explained. “Our idea was to have a crossgenre, cross-generational space that’s all about championing creative cooperation and economic cooperation as a foundation for success. Not only for local musicians, but also for the broader scene to represent,” he said. “So, we don’t know if, like, that actually is a true thing — if being collaborative and cooperative actually leads to success. It’s just a belief we have.” Tires I came back to Tires at the start of September to talk with its owner, Mike Lapp. In the two weeks after Gosh Pith’s music video shoot, the warehouse had been transformed into a film set, and a small tech crew was working on preparing for a scene from an adaptation of Ovid’s “Art of Love.” A few plaster busts were spread around the concrete floor, which was separated by 20-foottall walls that had not been there at the time of the shoot. Lapp, a native New Yorker, moved to Detroit from Brooklyn five years ago and opened Tires seven months ago, after purchasing the building from his
mechanic. He has since, with the help of his team, turned it into a professional venue that hosts concerts in a range of genres, serves as the set for film and music video shoots and, more generally, serves as a place where the city’s underground art community and business and political classes can meet and interact, on the artists’ terms. Tires is, like much of Detroit, on the cusp between legitimacy and disaster, suspended in the tense middle ground created when a city survives off of the remnants of its own recent past. It’s an infinitely interesting moment — perhaps Ka$h’s ambition, blended with Assemble Sound’s collaborative business model and the cooperative ethos created by long-time artist/residents like Lord Scrummage could catapult Detroit’s art scene to the forefront of the nation’s producers of cultural capital. Or, maybe not. The ruins are standing all around — the price of failure is literally tangible, even in the paint peeling off the side of Tires’ walls. But it’s an infinitely beautiful moment as well, and with pressure put in the right places, Detroit’s underground culture might become one of those cultures built to last. For Lapp, though, the city has to come to terms with itself and let its culture come out of its own shadow. “Everywhere across the world there are these beautiful late night cultures that the cities can make money and tax and have a good time, and everyone respects it, so why do we have to hide in the shadows and be afraid?” he said. “There’s funding out there for artists, there’s funding out there for film, there’s funding out there for all of these things that are from 9 to 5 p.m. and my question is, ‘What about everyone else? What about all of the others?’”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
the b-side
Thursday, September 10, 2015 — 3B
Artscapade leads AACT revives classic arts engagement Addams characters By BAILEY KADIAN Daily Arts Writer
Arts at Michigan brings art offerings to students By GRACE HAMILTON Daily Arts Writer
“Our product is the student,” said Joe Levickas, interim director of Arts at Michigan. For almost 16 years now, Arts at Michigan programs have worked on shaping, guiding and improving their product. An ideal product — each version different in appearance and mechanics — is the well-rounded student who is engaged and inspired by things outside of his or herself. If you’re reading this, you may very well be one of these special models. “Art presents the opportunity for alternative perspectives. It gives people the power to connect things around them,” Levickas said. Artscapade, an event hosted by Arts at Michigan each September, carefully engulfs students with such opportunities. Aside from Saturdays at the Big House, graduation or events like 2 Chainz and the New York Philharmonic at Hill Auditorium, there are few events on campus that draw in students and other Ann Arbor residents by the thousands. Artscapade has and continues to comfortably fit more than 3,000 students in the University of Michigan Museum of Modern Art every year since 1999. Inspired by Escapade, a similar event for student organizations held at the Michigan Union, the goal of the program is to introduce new freshman and other students to artistic groups on campus, and give them an opportunity to explore the ways other Michigan students are participating in the arts. This year’s Artscapade, which took place Friday, Sept. 4, kicked off with a performance by percussion group Groove, as well as WBCN DJs outside of the museum, where a picnic feeding thousands took place in front of Angell Hall. I stopped by this year to check it out, the second time since I attended the event two years ago as a freshman. It was clear from the wandering and offensively bright blobs of yellow T-shirted friends that many of these students, if not most of them, were also freshman. The event is a sensory explosion and tactile adventure. In addition to having the chance to view the impressive — and arguably underexplored — exhi-
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Groove performs at Artscapade.
bitions on display, there is live music, dance, film screenings, games and opportunities to win prizes from nearby businesses. “Having thousands of people who are all suddenly saying, ‘Oh let’s go to the museum,’ and for other students to be able to showcase their own work just creates a totally different atmosphere,” Levickas said. “The museum is packed and still everyone here is so involved, either watching the performers or doing the activities set up,” said Art & Design junior Elise Haadsma, a member of the dance group Cadence, said. “It’s so fun because to perform in this environment because the audience is so enthusiastic.” Ann Arbor has long been recognized for its vibrant artistic culture, one that is largely fostered by the presence of the University and its students. With K-12 arts education slipping over the course of the last three decades — due to budget cuts and an increased focus on testing, among other things — the high level of engagement between student organizations and the arts is a big thumbs-up. That being said, the number of students who haven’t made it to UMMA by their senior year (or any arts event on campus for that matter) is probably higher than it should be. I asked Levickas about what the major barriers to high engagement were. “One of the big things that seems to be insurmountable is time — people talk about not having any time. But another major thing people say is that they can’t afford it or ‘I don’t know anything about it,’ so a number of the things that we do are meant to try and get around those barriers,” Levickas said. One of the finest examples of this mission in practice is the Passport to the Arts initiative. Students can pick up a Passport
voucher every two weeks and attend one of the events listed with a free or discounted ticket. Levickas, who has been with Arts at Michigan for six years and has a background in painting and arts education, emphasized that Artscapade is also an important part of solving these problems and the program’s greater mission. “We want to connect undergraduate students to the arts; music, theater, film dance, literary arts, whatever it may be,” Levickas said. “Our goal is to try and be that connective tissue, finding ways for them to build their identities or to learn something new about what’s happening on campus.” Measuring the effectiveness of this connection can be difficult. One of the things that Arts at Michigan does is survey everyone who uses a voucher. Questions are intentionally open-ended, giving way to some interesting results. “We ask questions like, ‘Have you ever been to an event like this?’ And that can lead to many answers. But whatever it is, a third are saying they’ve never been to an event like that one, and literally 99.5 percent follow that by saying they would go to an event like that again,” Levickas said. With that idea in mind, the most important thing to know is that participation, or just observation, does not mean expertise. You need not understand the art of film, contemporary painting, or be writing a dissertation on modern dance in order to criticize it, enjoy it, laugh at it or cry. Not only are these valid responses, they’re good ones. And someone wants to hear about it. Don’t deprive them of your voice, and certainly don’t deprive yourself of realizing you have one.
The Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, an organization dripping in history and opportunity since 1929, will open its next feature: The The Addams Family, the musical Addams comedy based Family on the wellknown Charles September Addams car- 10-13 toons. Lydia Written Mendelssohn by Marshall Theater Brickman and Rick Elice, Tickets: $19with music $25 (Adult) and lyrics by $13 (Student) Andrew Lippa, “The Addams Family” depicts the story created from Addams’s original cartoons, rather than from the numerous adaptations of TV series and film. The simplicity of his work leaves room for creativity while adapting these iconic figures to the stage. “We stay true to the original cartoon characters, but I really think people will forget halfway through the show that these characters are supposed to be weird.,” director Trish Fountain said. Fountain described the story as relatable and she stressed that the characters should “come off as accessible, while also being fun.” The original directors and designers of the Broadway musical, Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, described Addams’s reality as different and inverted. While bringing these cartoons to the stage, they hoped to properly represent the macabre world of the Addams
cartoons, while bringing new elements to the Addams’s work. There is a challenge with a work so well known to stay loyal to an audience’s expectations, but designers must also focus on taking risks in how the humor of the piece is represented, as well as the characters within it. This production should honor the simplicity of the Addams cartoons, without
“I want audiences to know how much fun we’ve had.” falling into the clichéd versions of these familiar characters. “Because this is a modern version of cartoons that were created decades ago, we wanted to freshen up the look a bit,” Fountain said, while explaining the approach to designing the show. These modern elements are incorporated into the stage design, as well as the costume, hair and make-up design. The original Broadway production of “The Addams Family” opened in April 2010 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City, and closed in December of 2011 after 35 previews and 722 performances. The production won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design and won multiple audiences awards including Broadway.com’s Favorite New Broadway Musical. The musical tells the story of Wednesday Addams, who has fallen in love with Lucas Beinek. Lucas and his “normal” family are
invited to a dinner at the Addams’s mansion in Central Park. Wednesday’s father, Gomez, is put into further turmoil towards this visit when his daughter chooses to share the news of her recent love with him, begging him not to tell her mother. Gomez finds himself in a conflict between honoring his daughter’s request and keeping secrets from his wife Morticia, which is something he’s never done. The ensuing chaos is comical and wild, calling for actors that can portray distinct personalities and sell an audience on the story of a family of misfits as they attempt to interact with those considered “normal.” “When casting a musical, vocal range and the color of the voice are just as important as the look and characterization of an actor,” Fountain said. “We were incredibly lucky to find people that fit each character really well, and complimented the other actors in the show.” University of Michigan students and recent alumni are involved in both the cast and
Comical and wild production of this show, as A2CT aims to include as much of the Ann Arbor community as possible in their productions. And the humor and enjoyment of Addams’s original cartoons has no doubt rubbed off on A2CT’s team. “I want audiences to know how much fun we’ve had creating this production, and I think that will show in each performance,” Fountain said.
4B — Thursday, September 10, 2015
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com