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Art & Design Prof. Joe Trumpy speaks about sustainable farming in his speech titled “Homesteading as Creative Practice” at the Fast Food for Thought discussion in the Dana Building on Tuesday.
Faculty discuss foodways, agriculture in 10 mini talks Nutrition, food security and fair trade featured in short lectures
night on topics related to food and agriculture. The second annual “Fast Food for Thought” talk brought together nine faculty members from several University departments, with the 10th “talk” formatted as a Q&A session. Each of the speakers was given five minutes to address a broad range of global and local food topics, including sustainability, potential connections between food and politics and the grow-
By ANNA HARITOS Daily Staff Reporter
The University’s Sustainable Food Systems Initiative hosted 10 bite-sized talks Tuesday
ing problem of herbicide resistance. The USFSI encourages University students and faculty members to learn about and promote food systems that are beneficial to both the environment and economy. More than 100 attendees filled the lecture hall in the Dana Building. Thomas Princen, associate professor of natural resource and environmental policy, started off the event by asking, “Why food,
why now?” In his talk, he briefly explained his six hypotheses for why American interest in food has skyrocketed in the past few years. Among them: the “brains and hands” hypothesis. What distinguishes humans from other animals, Princen said, is the ability to combine experiences both tactile and intellectual. He said because food engages humans both with their brains See FOOD, Page 3A
Two former Congressmen address increased legislative gridlock By SAMANTHA WINTNER Daily Staff Reporter
Frustration with the sometimes sluggish legislative process isn’t unique to voters — a point that two former legislators hammered home in a lecture Tuesday night. Former Congressmen Tom Davis (R–Va.) and Martin Frost (D–Texas) spoke at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library about legislative gridlock and how bipartisanship can remedy it, an issue they address in a new book they co-authored with journalist Richard Cohen. Davis and Frost have a combined 40 years of congressional experience, and both served two terms as the chair of their respective party’s
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LITERATURE
Visiting prof. talks Islam, activism in Middle East
Former poet laureate hosts 2 reading in A Louise Glück featured in Helen Zell Visiting Writers Series By CAMY METWALLY Daily Staff Reporter
In a gallery inside the University’s Museum of Art, Louise Glück stood between two white sculptures, and read poetry that conjured images of the night sky, rain and the changing seasons. Tuesday night, the Pulitzer Prize-winner and former United States Poet Laureate read a collection of her poetry for the Zell Visiting Writers Series, presented by the Helen Zell Writers’ Program. A reception and book signing followed the event. Between poems, Glück shared some of the struggles she has faced in her professional career. She said during one low point in her writing, she sat at home reading plant catalogues
to pass the time. Even so, she said this period was ultimately productive because later on it inspired a number of poems in her Pulitzer-winning book, “The Wild Iris.” “It’s ... poems spoken by flowers, poems spoken by humans who are in conflict with each other, and poems spoken by some third celestial principle,” Glück said. Glück advised poets to do what they want, even if it’s reading plant catalogues because, ultimately, this is how they will write poems of their own. “You have to do what you want to do,” Glück said. “If you don’t do what you want to do, you will ever write poems that are yours alone to write.” Glück read a number of poems from “The Wild Iris,” including “The Red Poppy.” During the Q&A portion, an attendee sought advice for aspiring writers. Glück encouraged those interested in poetry and writing to read what they love and build a life they See POET, Page 3A
House campaign committees. “(Because we’ve both had these roles), we tend to see things structurally the same way,” Frost said. According to a 2008 interview with The New York Times, Davis decided not to run for re-election because he was dissatisfied with the partisan nature of Congress. At the time, he said party divides were increasingly making the process of lawmaking dysfunctional, especially as a new wave of social conservatives were becoming a dominant contingency in the GOP. “I’m a partisan Republican and Martin is a partisan Democrat,” Davis said. “But we were dealmakers, we know how to work with the other side, we felt when the election was over, it was time for everyone to act like grown ups again and try to get things done.” In their book, Davis and Frost elaborate on the growing political polarization they See CONGRESS, Page 2A
Guest lecture focuses on political influence of scholar Al-Qaradawi By ALEXA ST. JOHN
EMILIE FARRUGIA/Daily
LSA senior David Schafer discusses the proposal to include language mental health resources in course syllabi at the Central Student Government meeting in the East Room of Pierpont Commons on Tuesday.
CSG remains committed to course evaluation release Assembly also hears resolution to add mental health resources to syllabi By JACKIE CHARNIGA Daily Staff Reporter
The Central Student Government Assembly deviated from its usual meeting spot in the Michigan Union on
Tuesday night, convening in Pierpont Commons on North Campus to discuss course evaluations and increasing awareness of on-campus mental health services by including information on syllabi. Course evaluations A chunk of Tuesday’s meeting was dedicated to discussing the Faculty Senate’s decision Monday to vote against the immediate release of student
course evaluation data. The CSG Assembly has previously pushed to make these course evaluations available to the public, and introduced a resolution last year to do so. Public Policy junior Jacob Pearlman, CSG general counsel, noted that the course evaluation results, which provide a mechanism for the University to gauge professor proficiency, were originally made available See CSG, Page 3A
Daily Staff Reporter
Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, a professor in the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, lectured in the School of Social Work on Tuesday about the life and significance of Egyptian Islamic activist and author Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Hosted by the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Skovgaard-Petersen evaluated al-Qaradawi’s public and political role in Egypt, particularly after the Egyptian revolution in 2011. Al-Qaradawi is a widely known figure in the Islamic world, with a television program, books and a website that reach millions of people. According to SkovgaardPetersen, the “apex” of alSee SCHOLAR, Page 3A
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Ole Miss removes state flag The Mississippi state flag has been removed from the Ole Miss campus, The Daily Mississippian reported Monday. The removal of the flag came out of a student-led initiative in opposition to the display of Confederate symbols. On Oct. 20, the Associated Student Body Senate passed Resolution 15-13, encouraging the flag’s removal. The Faculty Senate then voted to approve the joint passage of this resolution Oct. 22. The final Mississippi state flag was removed from campus ceremoniously early Monday morning.
Morris Stocks, University of Mississippi interim chancellor, wrote in a statement that respectful discussion around the issue drove the administration to take prompt action. However, the results of a Daily Mississippian campus poll also showed that Ole Miss students overwhelmingly do not support the removal of the flag. Oklahoma State parade marred by deadly crash The annual Oklahoma State University homecoming parade made national headlines this weekend after
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a vehicle drove through police barricades and into the crowd. Forty-four people were injured and four were killed, including a two-year-old boy, The O’Colly reported Saturday. Adacia Avery Chambers, 25, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence. She remains in custody on four additional counts of seconddegree murder. OSU spokesman Gary Shutt said Chambers is not an OSU student. “I can’t recall an incident of this magnitude,” Stillwater Police Captain Kyle Gibbs said. —MEGAN DOYLE
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Horn studio recital
WHAT: Kentaro Toyama, a professor in the School of Information, will discus his new book “Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology”. WHO: School of Information WHEN: Today from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. WHERE: Rackham
WHAT: MDining chef Randy Osann will demonstrate soup recipes, such as Michigan Bean Soup, and basic knife skills. Food samples will be provided. WHO: MHealthy WHEN: Today from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union, Rogel Ballroom
WHAT: The Center for Global and Intercultural Study will host a formal launch for a website devoted to presenting the works of artists from Oaxaca, Mexico. WHO: Center for Global and Intercultural Study WHEN: Today at 7 p.m. WHERE: East Quadrangle, Room 1405
WHAT: Sophomore horn students, under the guidance of Profs. Adam Unsworth and Bryan Kennedy, will perform on horn and piano. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: Today at 8 p.m. WHERE: Earl V. Moore Building - Britton Recital Hall
Bonsai design Resume principals writing tips
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WHAT: Regional bonsai artist Todd Renshaw will discuss bonsai design principles, along with display stand options. WHO: Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum WHEN: Today from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Matthaei Botanical Gardens
WHAT: Presenter Joanna Sabo will discuss integral customer service skills and “service opportunity.” WHO: Learning & Professional Development WHEN: Today from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. WHERE: Administrative Services Building - Room 2030
observed while in office. During Tuesday night’s talk, Davis noted that congressional redistricting, media business models that focus on elevating partisan viewpoints and the increasing amount of influence monied interests wield in politics have all contributed to the demise of the moderate politician. “The Republican Conference has never been as conservative as it is now, and the Democratic Conference never as left as it is now,” Davis said. Both congressmen noted that gerrymandering — a practice by which state legislatures manipulate electoral districts to favor one political party (likely the one most represented in the legislature) over another — and the consequent creation of politically homogeneous districts, has severely restricted split-ticket elections and encouraged people to vote based on party rather than specific
candidates with whom they share values. “If Picasso were alive today, he would not have to go through his ‘blue period’ for artistic fulfillment. He could be a drawer of congressional districts, get the same level of artistic fulfillment and probably a lot more money,” Davis said. Frost added that, as a result of gerrymandering, voters are incentivized to elect more extreme candidates instead of moderate candidates. “Divided government is kind of the new normal,” Frost said. “Since 1980, 80 percent of the time we’ve had divided government. One party has controlled the presidency and the other party has controlled at least one house of Congress.” Davis and Frost added that much of the polarization and resulting policy deadlock that exists in Congress today is due to the increasing importance of primary elections on the makeup of government. “Very few people lose in a primary, but they wake up See CONGRESS, Page 3A
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Walmart is now utilizing drones to deliver their products, Reuters reported Tuesday. The company applied for permission with U.S. regulators to begin testing them and has been doing so for the past several months.
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LSA junior Steven Halperin, vice president of Central Student Government, and LSA senior Cooper Charlton, CSG president, during the CSG meeting on Tuesday.
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WHAT: Presenter Deborah Orlowski will provide tips on how to write an impactful, attentiongrabbing resume. WHO: Learning & Professional Development WHEN: Today from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: Administrative Services Building, Room 2030
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WHAT: Jon Snyder, professor of Spanish literary and cultural studies in Madrid, will be discussing what neoliberal policies in Spain demand of its population. WHO: Romance Languages & Literature WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. WHERE: Modern Languages Building - RLL Commons, fourth floor
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A U.S. Navy ship crossed into Chinese shores and came near its manmade islands in the South China Sea, CNN reported Tuesday. China said the ship had entered its waters illegally into the Spratly Islands, however the U.S. does not recognize it as territory.
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FOOD From Page 1A
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Louise Glück, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet, reads her poetry at the University of Michigan Museum of Art on Tuesday.
POET From Page 1A love. “Read what you love,” she said. “You’re not going to be nourished by what you don’t love. Live the life that seems natural to you. That’s the hardest thing to learn.” These words inspired strong emotion in LSA senior Maddy Rombes, who said she was nearly brought to tears by Glück’s words. “She talked about doing what you love and not stressing too much about it,” Rombes said. “That’s been a recurring thought in my head, and that advice really resonated with me.” Though the reading was open to the public, many of the attendees were faculty and students from the English Department and the Zell Program with previous exposure to her work. LSA senior Marie Michels read a number of Glück’s pieces at the University’s New England Literature Program. Michels said she looked forward to hearing the poems in the author’s voice.
“I’m excited to see the person behind this work that I admire so much — to hear her voice and to be in the company of people who also really respect what she’s doing,” Michels said. Hanna Poston, a Rackham student who is in her second year in the Zell Program and introduced Glück, talked about how Glück’s work inspires other writers. “Fellow poets, through this work, I understand better what you are trying to do,” Poston said. “I understand better what I am trying to do.” Poston added that Glück’s words bring hidden things to life. “The brilliance of her vision and the brutal cadences of her lines are alive inside of us,” Poston said. “We’ve brought them into this room with us. Most of you know why you are here tonight.” David Ward, Zell Program graduate and a lecturer in the English Department, said he admires Glück for her honesty and realism. “The way she structured the reading in terms of giving us the arc of her life as a writer stuck out,” Ward said. “The way she came back to the idea of having
down times where you’re not writing or working at all was a refreshing take on the creative process.” Before the event, Marlin Jenkins, a Rackham student in the Zell Program, said he was looking forward to hearing Glück speak freely, outside of reading her poetry. “I hope that she does interject to talk about the poems and her process as well as reading her poetry,” Jenkins said. “I hope to hear a little bit about who she is as an artist in a way you can’t get from the page.” Catering to fans like Jenkins, on Thursday, Glück and Linda Gregerson, director of the Zell Program, will hold an hourlong conversation about poetry and contemporary literature in UMMA’s Helmut Stern Auditorium. Airea Matthews, assistant director of the Zell Program, described Glück as a foundational voice in poetry. She said she hopes the reading inspired attendees and evoked emotion in each and every one. “I hope that … they’re spoken to in some way, so the reading feels more like a conversation rather than anything else,” Matthews said.
and with their hands, people connect with food. “Just think about what you have to know to grow a crop, the land, the weather, the markets,” he said. “A lot of that knowledge is not from food study or data it is from the very feel of the land. Maybe the increased interest in food that we feel more human when we engage with food.” University Lecturer Margot Finn discussed the connection between fast food and social class. During the talk, she cited statistics to debunk the association between poverty and fast food. “The 2013 Gallup Poll that found that American households with annual income of over $50,000 a year were more likely to say they eat fast food on a weekly basis than lowerincome groups,” Finn said. “Fast food consumption increases along with income, peaking in the $60- to $70-thousand-dollar bracket.” She went on to discuss how families with lower incomes are more likely to make meals from scratch, as prepared and restaurant meals are often out of their budgets. “One reason for the association between the poor and fast food is because people believe that eating fast food makes you fat, and poor people are strongly associated with fatness, and the other stigmatized characteristics that go along with it like ignorance, laziness, apathy and lack of willpower,” Finn said. After the event, LSA junior Lia Parks said she didn’t realize how important food was in American culture. “I never realized how food and sustainability were so intermeshed in culture, and that we need to rethink the way we do and think about things,” Parks said.
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UM-Dearborn launches general education program University of MichiganDearborn officials launched the school’s first general education program last week in an effort to better prepare students to succeed throughout college and life. The program, Dearborn Discovery Core, requires students to take upper and lower- level courses in one of three categories: Foundational Studies, Areas of Inquiry or Capstone Experiences. Foundational Studies consists of courses that strengthen students’ communication, critical and quantitative thinking and problem solving skills. Areas of Inquiry covers classes in natural resources, social and behavioral analysis, arts and humanities. Capstone Experiences are courses providing students with the chance to reflect on previous learning experiences.
Ilitch family gifts $40 million to Wayne State The Ilitch family will donate land and funds totalling $40 million for a new business school to be located near downtown Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported. This gift marks the largest gift in Wayne State’s history. Mike Ilitch, an American entrepreneur famous for founding Little Caesar’s Pizza, is also owner of the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers. The donation includes $35 million to build the school, located near the new Red Wings arena on Woodward Avenue, in addition to a $5 million endowment. Construction is expected to be complete in 2018. The school will be named the Mike Illitch School of Business.
Two Detroit police officers charged with misconduct Two Detroit police officers, Charles Lynem, age 32, and Chancellor Searcy, age 29, pleaded not guilty Tuesday before the 36th District Magistrate Laura Echartea to charges including confiscating money from a 33-year-old man they arrested in March 2013. They were additionally charged for fabricating “circumstances and documentation” associated with the arrest of a 41-year-old man in September 2014. Lynem and Searcy are both seven-year veterans of the Detroit Police Department. They are both currently suspended without pay and face several counts, including misconduct in office, embezzlement of less than $20,000 and false report of felony. Attorney John Goldpaugh is representing the two men in court and said he expects they will be exonerated. “They’re both hard-working people that have been out there serving Detroit,” he said. “And serving Detroit well.”
University to host TSA PreCheck enrollment event The University’s Procurement Services Department will bring the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program to the Michigan League from Nov. 16 to 20 for a special enrollment opportunity. Carolynn Blankenship, an audit and compliance supervisor for Procurement Services, said the TSA PreCheck program offers participants a faster security check process in which they may be exempt from removing their shoes, belts, light jackets, laptops from cases and and small liquids from carry-on luggage. —LARA MOEHLMAN
SCHOLAR From Page 1A Qaradawi’s power followed 2011 revolution — a time that both accentuated the activist’s advocacy of democracy. However, many of his views are controversial in the west, and he has been banned from entering the U.S. since 1999. “To him, what matters is politics,” Skovgaard-Petersen said, adding that al-Qaradawi is a personal proponent of authoritarian government despite his push for democracy. Skovgaard-Petersen split alQaradawi’s life into three different stages of activism: movement activism, institutional activism and solutionist activism. Al-Qaradawi, who was born in the Nile Delta in 1926, became involved in activism in the late 1940s, joining the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist religious, political and social movement. Skovgaard-Petersen said alQaradawi became a prominent youth activist leader after graduating from college in 1953. 1961, Skovgaard-Petersen said, was the year al-Qaradawi embarked into an era of movement activism, travelling with the Muslim Brotherhood, speaking and proselytizing the organization’s mission. Skovgaard-Petersen added that one of al-Qaradawi’s main teachings invoked Islam as a “simple” concept not meant to be overcomplicated and erroneously applied. Skovgaard-Petersen further noted that al-Qaradawi was known for his style of frank speech.
CSG From Page 1A to students in print form before the transition to electronic feedback. LSA junior Sean Pitt, CSG chief of staff, said releasing course evaluation data will allow students to form expectations of courses without resorting to third-party sources like the website RateMyProfessors.com. “We have all this data collected about previous students’ experiences,” Pitt said, “Our goal is to make it easier for them to make decisions based on their peers.” CSG President Cooper Charlton, an LSA senior, said the immediate release of course evaluations is not the only ongoing conversation between CSG and faculty governance. “The second conversation is about a continued shared collaboration with faculty to make sure the instrument of gathering course evaluations is not only accurate, but it’s efficient to give us some substantial feedback,” Charlton said. In this case, “instrument” refers to how the evaluations are designed. Comparative Literature Prof. Silke-Maria Weineck, who chairs the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, has said the current instrument negatively affects the quality of data yielded. “In my 17 years at the University of Michigan, I have not heard from a single person that thinks this is a good instrument providing good data,” she said at an Oct. 12 SACUA meeting. “In sum, nobody thinks that these are good data. And whatever they are, they were not designed to assist students in choosing classes; it is the wrong instrument for that. So what we’ve been saying at the Senate Assembly, it’s not that we don’t think students don’t have a legitimate interest in having more and better information on how to choose classes, but we think at a world-class University it behooves us to design an instrument that can actually deliver the data needed for that purpose.” Charlton said ideally, CSG wants to course evaluations to be released by Winter 2016. Resolution updates CSG Assembly also considered a new resolution Tuesday to support featuring information about University mental health services in course syllabi distributed at the beginning of each semester. LSA junior David Schafer, who
News “That idea of making Islam simple … is something that he specializes in,” SkovgaardPetersen said. “He speaks not a very convoluted Arabic, generally. He knows how to communicate.” During the 1960s, SkovgaardPetersen said, al-Qaradawi moved into a period of “institutional activism” when he strayed away from his involvement in Muslim Brotherhood after the organization was banned in Egypt. During this period, alQaradawi also did not take severe public stances on political issues. During this era, according to Skovgaard-Petersen, alQaradawi declined to become the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood when offered the role — instead taking on a paternal role in influencing Muslim youth to steer them on the right path. “We have new generations of Muslims who are much more devout than we have seen before, but they are also much more prone to error, and they need the guidance of men like him,” he said. Skovgaard-Petersen said alQaradawi, moving into the 1970s, became involved with issues of Islamic finance and medicine through “solutionist activism,” wherein Islam could be viewed as a “solution” to political issues. This period of time is also known as the Islamic revival of the 1970s. Skovgaard-Petersen said alQaradawi was a well-known figure by 1990, and had acquired a large global following. Despite a language barrier, al-Qaradawi joined the European Council for Fatwah and Research and began to develop an interest in
co-authored the resolution, said inspiration for the resolution came from the recent emphasis raising awareness about sexual assault prevention on campus. The University’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center added language about Title IX and sexual assault awareness to course syllabi this semester. “I thought that was a fantastic idea,” Schafer said. Schafer said the resolution will aim to spread the message that there is a direct correlation between mental health and academic results — as well as inform incoming students who may be unaware of the services available to them. “No student should come to the University of Michigan and be shut off to these resources because they don’t know these resources exist,” Schafer said. Public Policy junior Gabe Dell, who co-authored the resolution, said these resources are not currently being utilized to their full capacity. Schafer said to approach the resolution as professionally as possible, CSG went through key departments on campus devoted to mental health assistance. He added that the resolution has garnered support from Robert Winfield, the director of University Health Services and the University’s chief health officer, and Todd Sevig, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services. LSA junior Sierra Stone, a representative on the Assembly, said the resolution is the culmination of many meetings with both Sevig and Winfield. “This isn’t something that we just threw together; this is something we’re all really passionate about,” Stone said. Schafer said the policy recommended by this resolution is not groundbreaking, adding that the inclusion of campus resources and the advocacy of proper language, particularly in the case of sexual assault by example, has already been implemented at schools like Columbia University, Rutgers University and the University of Minnesota. Schafer said the potential mental health resources outlined on syllabi would not necessarily be exhaustive. He added that the resources listed would prominently include but not be limited to UHS and CAPS, among others. Should the resolution be approved by the Assembly, Schafer, Stone and Dell would approach University Provost Martha Pollack with their recommendation for its adoption.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 — 3A
RITA MORRIS /Daily
Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen, a professor in the University of Copenhagen’s department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, discusses Yusuf al-Qaradawi and the establishment of the Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt in the School of Social Work on Tuesday.
how Muslims should survive in Europe and the West. Though seemingly quite sudden, al-Qaradawi became a “national mediator of some significance,” Skovgaard-Petersen said. Eventually, al-Qaradawi defended parliamentary democracy as an Islamically correct form of governance. Al-Qaradawi is still concerned with Jihadism today, and addressed his rebuttal of Jihadist thinkers in one of his books. “He is becoming inspiring and sometimes pushing Islamic movements to move in a more democratic direction,” Skovgaard-Petersen said. Skovgaard-Petersen argued that the Arab revolutions, the formation of the Freedom and Jus-
CONGRESS From Page 1A every morning in mortal fear that some well-funded, crazy extreme candidate in their own party is going to run against them in the primary, so they alter their voting patterns and they are less likely to cooperate with the other side,” Frost said. The duo suggested that a law requiring states to appoint nonpartisan district commissions would mitigate the current polarization in Congress. “That would help, and you wouldn’t have these crazylooking districts,” Frost said. “You’d have more competitive districts and the two parties would have to talk to each other — and that’s what’s missing right now.” Due to contribution limits to national political parties, Frost said partisan-fueled interests have assumed a greater role in funding candidates, granting extreme factions enormous
STORY SLAM
tice Party in Egypt and the party’s 2012 electoral victory marked the climax of al-Qaradawi’s influence over the Islamist movement. That said, Skovgaard-Petersen noted that al-Qaradawi remains a controversial figure in contemporary politics. “Many of his statements are probably more controversial in Western context than they are in a Middle Eastern context,” Skovgaard-Petersen said. “In the Middle East, he would hardly be considered an extremist.” Now 89 years old, al-Qaradawi considers himself an activist and is not yet a “spent force,” according to Skovgaard-Petersen. “It is very difficult to see who will fill his shoes the day when he dies.” Skovgaard-Petersen said he did not lecture to pass a moral
judgment of al-Qaradawi, but rather to make an assessment of his political significance. Skovgaard-Petersen said he uses al-Qaradawi’s unfinished memoirs, as well as numerous books written by al-Qaradawi’s own students and colleagues, to collect information on the Muslim activist. Al-Qaradawi was sentenced to death in June of this year in Egypt, but continues to update social media, tweeting about events as current as the Egyptian elections earlier this month. Nevertheless, SkovgaardPetersen said, al-Qaradawi continues to make lasting contributions to contemporary Islamic and political thinking.
influence over politicians and particularly presidential candidates. He said super PACs and other well-funded groups and politicians often coordinate to manage campaigns. Frost said either the Federal Election Commission or Congress should pass laws that address this issue of coordination, making it clear that it could be bad for the state of politics since there are no effective limits on the activities of these outside groups. They also advocate for more specific and comprehensive campaign finance and contribution reports. “We have to do something about this amount of money in politics today because it has totally distorted the system, and again when you combine that with (gerrymandering), then there’s an incentive for people to never cooperate with the other side because they’re afraid some some far-right or far-left group will come in (support a more extreme
candidate),” Frost said. Davis and Frost also called for efforts to increase voter turnout. They emphasized this point in the case of primary elections, in which turnout has been historically low. As an example, according to Michigan’s Department of State, only 19.7 percent of registered state voters participated in 2012’s presidential primary. Presidential election years typically see a higher voter turnout. Ann Arbor resident Sven Hahr said he felt the former congressmen’s presentation was balanced and effective. In particular, he said he thought Davis and Frost’s theory on polarization was sensible. “It’s always good to have people from both sides of the aisle. Otherwise you have no diversity of thought and one of the criticisms of collegiate America is not enough diversity of thought … so I thought what they presented was good,” he said.
poetry, short stories, essays email Sam Gringlas at gringlas@umich.edu
Friday, November 20 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 420 Maynard St.
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com JENNIFER CALFAS EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH and DEREK WOLFE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
LAUREN SCHANDEVEL | VIEWPOINT
Normalizing racism
Monday night, #AssaultatSpringValleyHigh began trending on Twitter when a video surfaced that depicted Deputy Ben Fields of Richland County, S.C., dragging a Black female student from her desk, throwing her to the gournd and subsequently arresting her. This sequence of shocking events prompted the usual rhetoric from both sides: Many people were outraged by the officer’s aggression, while others questioned his motives, as if something this student had done or said could somehow justify the excessive use of force. I’m outraged by the video. I’m horrified and saddened and speechless — but what sickens me most is how used to it I have become. In the last few years in particular, I have watched so many similar incidents draw national attention before gradually subsiding in the face of a newer, more gripping tragedy. Names, faces and stories have grown increasingly muddled and vague over time. A man, woman, child, student, veteran, disabled person, homeless man was shot, stabbed, assaulted, ambushed, belittled by a police officer, store owner, teacher, neighbor, sociopath. National headlines have become a disturbing game of fill in the blank. We have become accustomed to the tearful speeches delivered by the victims’ families, the old photographs, the funeral scenes. Our reality has become a segment on the evening news, a Facebook post, a hashtag, a brief and ardent discussion at the dinner table. People
are suffering and we are so accustomed to it now. The spectacle of adversity is the New American Normal. But how many times can we go through the motions — astonishment, rage, sadness, hopelessness — before it becomes clear to us that stories like this one are not just another mundane cycle of news? That they are not trends? That they are people who were here one day and gone the next because someone in a position of power refused to deem them worthy of respect, or because a prejudiced murderer carried out a twisted plan of racial vengeance or because we took no preventative measures whatsoever to ensure their safety? Our outrage should be consistent. We should remember the names of those we have lost and take active steps to obstruct the emergence of future victims. We shouldn’t treat this national predicament like we treat other publicized disasters, only becoming invested when the story is relevant and allowing ourselves to forget after the conversation is over. We need to keep the dialogue going; we cannot let ourselves become desensitized to blatant injustice, to prejudice, to murder. This is my call to action: Do not allow yourself to forget, because even as the relevance of the story wanes in the media, its impact is still very real and profound. These are people we are talking about, after all. Lauren Schandevel is an LSA freshman.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. Letters should be fewer than 300 words, while viewpoints should be 550-850 words. Send the article, writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
The stupidity of sports
“S
ports are stupid.” Michigan’s loss that day to Michigan State was already enough, but as I sat in that bar watching the Mets score another run against my beloved Cubs in the first game of the National League Championship Series, “sports are stupid” was the only logical conclusion and the only set of words I could conjure. DAVID In retrospect, trying to get over that crazy loss by HARRIS watching the most pitiful professional sports team in the past century was probably a poor decision. I was with a Spartan friend of mine from childhood who was visiting and is also a Cubs fan, so we figured going out to watch the Cubs would hopefully be a more enjoyable end to the day for both of us. “Remember a couple years ago where you came to East Lansing for the game with me and just walked out after Gardner threw a pick at the end?” he asked me. Of course I remembered. I had snuck into MSU’s student section with him, and in the wind and freezing rain, watched as the Spartans absolutely demolished the Wolverines. At some point in the fourth quarter, with Michigan’s computer-calculated chance of winning the game probably somewhere in the negatives, the interception happened, and I just got up and left. I had no idea where I was going. “I thought I’d never see you more dejected at a sports game then you were then. Guess I was wrong.” Yeah, guess you were wrong, I told him. I’d rather watch that game in East Lansing a thousand times than what we had just witnessed. At this point, Matt Harvey was dominating the Cubs and sports were only getting more stupid. “At least I’ve got the Lions to look forward to tomorrow,” I said. It’s a joke. It’s the Lions — of course it’s a joke. My dad texted me that night, “I was at the Kordell game when we lost,” he said, referring to when quarterback Kordell Stewart threw a 64-yard Hail Mary as time expired to lift Colorado to a win in the Big House. “This game was way worse.”
It’s a common thing, sports heartbreak. I guess when you’re a fan of the Lions and your dad raises you to be a Cubs fan like he was growing up, you’ve kind of signed up for the anguish. When my dad was at the University in 1984, the Cubs, who had a phenomenal team that year, choked against the Padres in the National League Championship Series. So to poke fun at his sports grief, his friends in Mary Markley Hall decided to take all of his Cubs gear and dress up as a ghost. “The Ghost of the Cubs,” they called it. Sports were stupid then, too. No matter how many times it happens, no matter how many different times and different ways the team loses, you still come back for some reason. The year after that time I walked out of Spartan Stadium I showed up there again. One hundred thousand-plus will still show up in a couple weeks at the Big House. It’s not Stockholm Syndrome or that we haven’t learned the pitfalls of being emotionally invested in a game. It’s not just the inevitable hope of winning that may or may not come that draws fans back. People show up to sports games not just to feel the happiness or sadness but instead just to feel anything at all. There was a commercial a few years back, in which the Cubs win the World Series and fans celebrate in the streets. It’s the dream of every Cubs fan. And then slowly the camera zooms out from the TV screen, and a guy holding his PlayStation 3 controller, a tear rolling down his cheek as he witnesses the video game World Series champions. Sports aren’t real; from the perspective of a fan, they’re nothing more than entertainment. Yet in every form, real or not, there’s something enthralling that has made sports the integral part of society it is. There’s something hauntingly beautiful about that football game on Saturday. In the same place, there were one hundred thousand fans standing in stunned silence, and thousands more erupting in cheers. There were tears of all kinds, smiles, hugs and dejected exits. It’s not the image of the game that will stick with me forever, but the image of the reactions of 110,000 fans each feeling something. Something in response to nothing more than a stupid game of sports.
There’s something enthralling that has made sports the integral part of society it is.
— David Harris can be reached at daharr@umich.edu.
I
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
O’Slim chance
t’s never fun being the third wheel, as Democratic candidate Martin O’Malley will soon learn. Democratic presidential candidates have been dropping like flies in the month of October, as former senators Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee bowed out with- BRETT in days of one GRAHAM another. Vice President Joe Biden has ruled out the possibility of running and so the field is set: a huge group that is ready for Hillary, a sizable contingent feeling the Bern, and a guitar-playing former governor with relatively low name recognition. This past Friday, I had the pleasure of attending an event sponsored by the Arab American Institute at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, which provided a platform for discussion about the Syrian refugee crisis and culminated with a speech by O’Malley. About halfway through his speech, a familiar iPhone ringtone rang out on one side of the auditorium. As its owner hurried quickly out the door, the governor joked, “I told Hillary never to call me here!” Laughter filled the room, but all I could think of was how sadly unrealistic the premise was. Why would Clinton pay any attention at all to a candidate who is polling at nearly one-fiftieth her support? On paper, O’Malley should be a dream candidate for liberal primary voters: As governor, he led a campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland. On immigration, he implemented the DREAM Act before it was even passed on the federal level. During his tenure, Maryland repealed the death penalty, passed one of the toughest firearm laws in the nation, raised the minimum wage to $10.10 and decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. As he spoke about foreign policy, welcoming the promised 65,000 refugees and the current situation in the Middle East, I — as a liberal — did not dis-
agree with him at any point. So why can I not get excited about O’Malley? Based on the attendance in Dearborn, I know that I’m not alone in this respect. The auditorium was not that large to start with, and there were plenty of empty seats — not exactly the attendance numbers you want if you’re running for president. As his speech progressed, the silences were littered with awkward applause and there never seemed to be a crescendo. Having heard Clinton speak in person, I could feel the electricity and the magnitude of her words, her name and her office. Listening to Sanders call for a political revolution in his thick Brooklyn accent and watching his upper body gesticulate wildly, it’s difficult not to be the least bit enthused at the prospect of an independent senator as president. Yet, with O’Malley, no one seems to be on the other end of that enthusiasm. His situation looks even less favorable when you consider how many opportunities have come and gone for him to stand out. In the first Democratic debate, his performance was the least memorable, paling in comparison to Chafee’s bungled answer on Glass-Steagall, Webb whining for more speaking time and the now-famous Sanders quote about Clinton’s “damn e-mails.” Reports from the all-important Jefferson Jackson dinner in Iowa — a huge gathering of Democratic supporters and fundraisers — have O’Malley garnering mild support but lacking the roaring ovations that welcomed the two frontrunners. What begins now for O’Malley is a long test for his staff and his wallet. There’s an old saying in politics that there are only three tickets out of the Iowa primary. Based on how the Democratic field looks now, one of those belongs to O’Malley — if his fundraising efforts stay steady (or at least afloat, unlike the Perry
campaign). Why, though, would he carry on like this? Many pundits have posited that the goal is to be Clinton’s vice presidential nominee, and not without reason. Another explanation may be that if Clinton’s troubling numbers in terms of trust, warmth and overall favorability or Sanders’ uncompromising defense of democratic socialism are enough to sink them, O’Malley will be the logical life vest of the Democrats’ hopes for 2016. The true nature of this campaign will be clarified, and potentially decided, next Friday night at the second Democratic debate. Presidential campaigns have had late starts in the past. Bill Clinton did not announce his candidacy until October 1991, and at this point in 1976, Jimmy Carter was one of 13 candidates in a Democratic field without a frontrunner. But this would be about as late a rise into relevance as historical precedent would allow. One quote stood out during the governor’s speech at Dearborn: “The difference between a dream and a goal is a deadline.” On behalf of the liberal base, going into 2016, I would like to put forth a deadline to the O’Malley campaign: Nov. 6, the day of the second debate. There needs to be a moment, like Clinton on Arsenio Hall or the introduction of “Yes We Can” in 2008. Voters need to see the X-factor, the liberal qualifications, the demographic that can be reached that separates O’Malley from the pack. Show me why I should look past Bernie and Hillary. Look for that moment (because I think the O’Malley campaign knows this to be true), or look for the Democratic race to be a one-onone footrace in Iowa starting in the new year.
Why would Clinton pay any attention to a candidate who is polling at nearly onefiftieth her support?
— Brett Graham can be reached at btgraham@umich.edu.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Adam Morton, Victoria Noble, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe
W
Fats or fiction?
hen I was in elementary school, I would get the most terrible nosebleeds. Not the kind that went away quickly, but the kind that would put me in the nurse’s office with my head tipped back, pinching my nose for an hour. While I would sit there, my neck GRACE getting sore from CAREY looking up for so long, I would look at the food pyramid poster that was just above and to the right of her desk across the room. It had a black background with the classic cartoon images of bread, rice and grains on the bottom and ice cream and snack food on the top. To the left of her desk was a door with another poster on it; bottles of soda were lined up with mounds of refined sugar in front of them, designed to scare viewers away from the beverages. I was in second grade, and a mound of sugar didn’t look half bad. These images are just two of the many pieces of propaganda that detail the government-approved answer to an impossible question: “What should we eat?” Every five years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture publish the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are based on the latest and greatest scientific research. These guidelines not only promote specific dietary habits for individuals, but also serve as the foundations of nutrition programs ranging from national policies to the posters in a small nurse’s office in Shelburne, Vt. The problem is that nutritional guidelines tend to act a little more like the game of “telephone” than an instruction manual. Every once in a while, a guideline is blown
out of proportion and causes unintended outcomes. One example is cholesterol. People nearly stopped eating eggs and red meat due to the impression that consuming dietary cholesterol directly caused an increase in blood cholesterol levels. Cholesterol in the body is infinitely more complicated than such a linear pathway, and this myth has been (thankfully) debunked, so put an egg on your burger and dig in. More problematic is how the concept of a “low-fat diet” continues to be lost in translation. For years, the guidelines have instructed Americans to choose lean meats and reduce consumption of fats. But just as the game of telephone goes, this innocent advice has turned into a different beast all together. The concept of “low-fat” has become nearly synonymous with “all-carb,” and people can’t seem to let it go. It seems to be common sense that eating fat will make you fat. Even Regina George says, “I can’t go to Taco Bell. I’m on an allcarb diet,” and when has “Mean Girls” ever steered us wrong? The words “fat free” are everywhere, plastered on billboards and menus alike. What isn’t spelled out as clearly, however, is what is taking the place of these fats. By avoiding fats, people instead turn to what Jane Brody of The New York Times calls “two kinds of carbohydrates, refined starches and sugars.” Brody goes on to claim that these carbohydrates “have helped to spawn the current epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.” In her article, Brody identifies that like cholesterol,
not all fats and carbohydrates are created equal. The saturated animalbased fats can be harmful if eaten in great quantity, but unsaturated fats such as olive oil actually benefit cardiovascular health. As Frank B. Hu, a professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, said in Brody’s article, “We have to get out of the fat phobia mind-set.” Similarly, simple and complex carbs can be good for you, with the main exception being refined carbohydrates. Refined carbs are “rapidly digested and absorbed” due to the absence of fiber. According to Brody, excess consumption of these carbs “can result in insulin resistance and contribute to fatty liver disease.” The importance of reducing rates of cardiovascular disease in the United States cannot be overstated. In 2006, the estimated health care cost of cardiovascular disease amounted to $403 billion and 26.6 million adults are currently diagnosed with heart disease, making it the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. Dietary choices are one factor, but when other factors such as sedentary lifestyle are considered, the effects become much more prominent. In regard to the fat versus carbohydrate discussion, as Brody puts it, past guidelines “have caused the pendulum to swing too far in the wrong direction.” All-carb diets are a bust. Not that I’m advocating for Taco Bell as a healthy option, but maybe Regina George wasn’t right after all.
The importance of reducing rates of cardiovascular disease in the United States cannot be overstated.
— Grace Carey can be reached at gecarey@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 — 5A
EVENT PREVIEW
FILM REVIEW
Breaking gender roles in ‘Caesar’ Shakespeare classic comes to Ann Arbor Civic Theatre By BAILEY KADIAN Daily Arts Writer
A conspiracy to kill the leader of Rome by stabbing him 33 times involves deceit, violence and a power- A ful pursuit towards Ann Arbor reforming the state. Civic Theatre It involves Presents bloodJulius Caesar shed by the hands Arthur Miller of those Theater who crave Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. political change. Oct. 30-31 at 8 p.m. Next week, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. the Ann Arbor Civic $11 (students) Theatre $17-22 (adults) presents Dress up on Halloween Julius Caesar, a writ- for half off tickets ten account of Roman history and one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. “Is there ever any reason that justifies murder? That’s what we’re asking and it’s exciting to see everyone take that so seriously,” said director Kate Walsh in an interview with The Michigan Daily. Julius Caesar marks Walsh’s sixth show with the organization. “The actors, designers, production staff — everyone wants to do service to this story,” Walsh said. “I’m really excited about the commitment of the people in this process and the level of expertise that we are able to access.” A2CT has been able to use
expertise from numerous sources for this production. Professionals such as set designer Nathan Doud and music designer Katie Van Dusen, a School of Music, Theatre & Dance alum. The team has brought in Prof. Rob Najarian from SMTD to teach combat. These designers continue to enhance the production through loaning their time and expertise to the development of the story. “Julius Caesar” requires a cast able to address the difficulty of Shakespearean language as well as the thematic complexity beneath. They must focus on making the language understandable to an audience. “When you hear it done by people who love the language and know it really well, it comes to life, and you’re like, ‘This is amazing,’” Walsh said. The play opens with Caesar, returning home from the Following. Caesar is warned to “Beware the Ides of March,” or March 15, which he disregards. Cassius, a leading conspirator of the assassination of Caesar, convinces Brutus to join the cause. Bloodshed and defeat follow, as battle for “the sake of Rome” is balanced with an equally strong pursuit for power. The technical design for this show draws inspiration from the language of the text, rather than from the violence and darkness that the plot provides. Most actors are onstage for the entirety of the show, playing multiple roles with simple costume changes, which allows the plot to speak for itself. “It’s very violent, but the language doesn’t match what they’re doing,” Walsh said. “I wanted something that was going to be a sharp contrast, a brutal, violent contrast to the logic that comes with the language.” But the contrast goes beyond
language and violence. “One of the challenges, being a female director, and being a female in theatre, is that there aren’t a lot of opportunities available, especially for actors,” Walsh said. “We have an opportunity to do something different.” Walsh has created something new: A reversal with women playing some of the leading male roles in the show. In one instance, Kaela Parnicky, a veteran of A2CT, plays Antony. “It’s a really different role for me personally. I think it’s very against type,” Parnicky said. “Not only because I’m female, but also because I’m very small and a soprano.” Through describing changes in her mindset, and getting used to the challenges that this role calls for, Parnicky credits Walsh for creating an environment that allows her to thrive, despite the challenge. “This is my third show with Kat, and I do it because it’s an ensemble experience,” Parnicky said. “I love the emphasis on everyone working together.” The subversion of gender roles and type changes expectations and according to Walsh, is very positive toward each actor’s growth. “It’s not going to be what’s expected but that’s exciting,” Walsh said. “Sometimes we can learn something new from that character because these people are approaching it in that way.” Through a difficult text, a violent story and a talented cast and crew, A2CT will try to do justice to this Shakespearean classic. “My hope is that no one even notices, that it’s not even something that is thought of, because they go so much into the characters, you are so enwrapped in the story. That’s hard to do. The actors just want to push the story forward.”
FILM NOTEBOOK
MILESTONE FILMS
You can tell why this movie is so famous.
‘Killer of Sheep’ a little known classic By REBECCA LERNER Daily Arts Writer
You probably haven’t heard of the film “Killer of Sheep.” Contrary to first impressions of its horror-esque title, the film is about an AfricanAmerican family in the 1970s in Watts, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. It’s regarded as one of the best movies in film history, selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and chosen by the National Society of Film Critics as one of the 100 Essential Films. Despite the high praise garnered from almost all of its critics, “Killer of Sheep” lies dead in its obscurity. Directed by Charles Burnett in 1977 as his senior thesis from UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television, “Killer of
Sheep” soon became a classic among the academic elite. Burnett made “Killer of Sheep” on a minuscule budget of about $10,000 and used his friends and family for actors. The film’s academic reputation, despite its humble beginning, was due to the somewhat reticent nature of the release — Burnett only showed his film in colleges, museums and churches during the first release. “Killer of Sheep” wasn’t always a classic. Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave the film its first review and criticized the very aspects later exalted by critics. She called it uneventful and chastised Burnett’s use of non-professional actors who mumble or overact some of their lines. Upon first viewing “Killer of Sheep,” I would have agreed with Maslin. The film is about
two hours long but without any extensive or complex storyline. The plot follows Stan, a black man trying to take care of his family and fit into the mold of masculinity forced upon him by the culture of Watts. The black and white episodic takes of Stan and his family can be boring as we watch them walk around the neighborhood, cook and struggle through daily life. Stan’s day job provides the origin of the title, as his work is the methodical butchering of strung-up sheep in a slaughterhouse. However, when I further researched Burnett and his motivations behind “Killer of Sheep,” I realized the full value of the film. Burnett was part of a cohort of filmmakers responding to the Blaxploitation film movement of the ’70s, where Black actors were used as a crutch to promote Black
NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILMS
“Ukraine is game to you?”
‘Winter’ a successful Netflix original doc By KARL WILLIAMS Online Arts Editor
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” opens with a young man surrounded by the sounds of bullets and shouts Aof civilians: “This is the Winter Ukrainian on Fire: Revolution … I was just Ukraine’s dragging a Fight for dead body. I stepped in Freedom blood. You Netflix Original can’t surprise Films me with anything,” he Available exclusively says. It’s win- on Netflix ter 2013. We’re in Kiev, Ukraine under the regime of Pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, a man whose previous run for the presidency in 2004 was fraught with allegations of corruption and embattled by protests known as the Orange Revolution. The country, once again, became enmeshed in a geopolitical tug-of-war between Western Europe and Russia. Yanukovych promises alignment with the European Union publicly, but privately, he organizes a deal with Russia.
stereotypes. “Killer of Sheep” exists as a reverberation of that misrepresentation, because Stan and his family are not as riveting as the Black stereotypes perpetuated by other films of the time — they’re fully realized characters with flaws and dreams that cannot be achieved because of their circumstances. Burnett did not create his characters to entertain, but to inform in a time period where emotional material like this was lacking. Burnett was entirely disinterested in Hollywood and the mainstream media, as they were the perpetrators of Black stereotypes against which he fought. As he stated in an interview with The Boston Globe in 1979, “I can’t see my films being produced by Hollywood … My films are not entertaining. They don’t appeal to a wide audience. They’re limited to an audience that has serious concerns.”
Anonymously on lists of the greatest films in the world. So maybe Burnett never wanted recognition for “Killer of Sheep.” People have tried to raise awareness for it with accolades and a rerelease of the film in 2007 after legal issues with its soundtrack were worked out, but maybe that isn’t what Burnett wanted. He’s described as the lone wolf of cinema, doing his own thing. Maybe “Killer of Sheep” is exactly where it was always supposed to be — anonymously on lists of the greatest films in the world.
Outraged by Yanukovych’s secret political dealings, citizens organize a protest at Maidan Square in Kiev. Like the Arab Spring and similar public protests, many of the thousands at Maidan became involved through social media. Many of them, moreover, are apolitical — they’re ordinary citizens. They chant, “Ukraine is part of Europe!” For the first time since the invasion of the Tatars in the 12th Century, every single bell of St. Michael’s Monastery rang. What’s most remarkable about “Winter on Fire” is how it was shot. The film consists mostly of footage from inside the protests, putting you right inside the action. We see men and women beaten with shocking immediacy. At one point, a man, bending down to put one of the scores of wounded onto a stretcher, is shot on camera. The film attests to the courage of the citizens fighting for freedom and, also, to the filmmakers who risked their lives shooting it. After the protests began, Kiev became a warzone. Protesters created barricades to defend themselves against the Berkut. They used makeshift munitions: they made shields from the material at hand, used rocks and bricks as weapons and wore kitchen pots for helmets. Over the 93 days of protest,
spanning from early November through Feb. 22, the police force used against Ukrainian citizens — accompanied by hired mercenaries —escalated from full-scale beatings to murder: 125 people were killed; 65 remain missing; 1,890 were treated for injuries. “Winter on Fire” locates its drama in the plight of these ordinary citizens turned protesters. It’s less concerned with the nuances of geopolitics than the abuse of power and fight for human dignity. It’s not a documentary that merely exposes — it advocates. It’s wholly and explicitly one-sided, an unofficial, oral history of the citizens who fought and survived the battles in Kiev. The singularity of its political viewpoint is its triumph, but it falters in failing to establish the political conditions in which the citizens fought. The film calls for humanitarian democracy, for civil rights and for freedom in the face of totalitarianism, but it fails to really carve out the face of this particular totalitarianism. While “Winter on Fire” suffers slightly from its failure to adequately provide its political context, the film remains an exceptional and compelling documentary. It’s a visual and oral history of the Ukrainian citizens’ incredible bravery, and it’s a well-crafted reminder that the unity of citizens can result in political change.
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Arts
6A — Wednesday, October 28, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
TV NOTEBOOK
Why Chris Brown is still the worst Five reasons why Chris Brown is bad for pop culture By CARLY SNIDER Daily Arts Writer
1. He beat a woman. Who the fuck does that? How is one so incapable of using words to solve problems that there is no other option but to resort to barbaric violence? I would like to think that most decent people could recognize domestic violence as the heinous, inexcusable crime that it is. But Chris Brown has failed do that, and neither can the portion of the American public who continue to support his career. 2. He promotes misogyny and objectification in his music. Brown’s story would be entirely different had he changed his image post-domestic-violence incident and used his fame to help women who have fallen victim to the kind of crime that he had committed. But, he didn’t do that. He continues to depict women as nothing more than sexual objects for consumption, further promoting the sexist culture in which male pop artists thrive. For example, one of Brown’s most popular tracks, “Loyal,” includes some fun lyrics like “I don’t fuck with broke bitches” and “Got a white girl with some fake titties.” So indicative of equality and respect, right? Not to mention the song’s irony-soaked hook, “These hoes ain’t loyal.” Women are considered unfaithful whores just for talking to other guys, but Brown is still praised as an important pop culture figure despite his history of assault. 3. He has a tattoo of a battered woman on his neck. After comparisons were made between Brown’s neck tattoo and the pictures taken of Rihanna at the hospital after her assault,
E! NEWS
Kris Jenner is obviously plotting something.
RCA RECORDS
The coat doubles as a trash bag.
Brown quickly tried to play the image off as a candy skull à la Dia de los Muertos. Either Brown has no idea what the Mexican skulls are supposed to look like or he went to the worst tattoo artist on the planet — the image looks nothing like the traditional geometric, floral figures. If the image really is supposed to be that of an abused woman, Brown’s misanthropic and violent identity is unquestionable. And if it really was supposed to be a candy skull, he should ask for his money back. 4. He beat a woman. This needs to be mentioned again — there is no excuse for violence against women. This should be a career-ending act. 5. His continued success shows the patriarchal, misogynistic tendencies that are deeply rooted in American culture. There are many things that can end an artist’s career — substance abuse, sexual assault, money problems — but apparently a history of domestic violence is not one of them. If anything, Brown’s fame has grown since his infamous acts of 2009. It is not necessarily Brown’s success that peeves me so deeply, but its implications. Chris Brown is nothing unique; there are plenty of other up-and-coming artists
who could take his place as the smooth hip-hop artist that he is — artists who have never physically assaulted another person. The fact that his act of unwarranted violence against Rihanna did not bring his career to a close shows that sexism and patriarchal ideals are still alive and well in American culture. Record companies, radio stations and fellow artists (most surprisingly female artists, who perhaps need his co-sign to break into the mainstream) continue to work with Brown and promote his work. Established artists like Rihanna and Nicki Minaj have worked with him on multiple occasions. Pia Mia and Jordin Sparks both collaborated with him in the early stages of their career, helping to launch them into the mainstream. Obviously Brown is not the only artist to demean women through his music, but his violent past makes his doing so into a much stronger statement — he has actually committed a wrong against women that his music suggests is acceptable. I know it’s improbable to think that sexism will be succinctly wiped out from pop culture, but cutting out an artist who is blatantly misogynistic would be a step in the right direction.
Watching America through our TV set By DANIELLE YACOBSON Daily Arts Writer
“When I say ‘America,’ what’s the first word that comes to mind?” It’s a loaded question, and one that inevitably invites stereotypes. Maybe the political buzzwords pop into mind first: democracy, freedom, opportunity – “the American Dream” in all its infamous glory. But when Cut Video, a Seattlebased YouTube channel, sent their producer around the world to ask this question, he received much more honest answers. Forget democracy – it’s the land of Hollywood, Britney Spears and Jersey Shore. In a video titled “America Around the World,” Cut Video illuminates the overwhelming impact that the TV and film industry has on perceptions of American life and culture. For better or for worse, the industry’s perpetuated stereotypes have influenced how the world views American families, careers and relationships, surfacing truths that may be hard to hear. Cut Video, a channel that features individuals of all ages, genders, sizes and races, produces videos that
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Political statistician Silver 5 Sell for 9 Learn 13 Lacking company 15 “__ way!” 16 Indian mausoleum city 17 Dodge Chargers, e.g. 19 Doesn’t keep 20 Rescue squad pro 21 Gerald of Tara 22 Vision-related 23 Take __ the waist 25 Hyundai’s home 27 House of Henry VIII 29 Camera named for a Greek goddess 30 One of the Canaries: Abbr. 31 Cyber Monday events 33 Previously 34 Backs (out) 35 Warm underwear 38 Edges 41 Notre Dame’s Parseghian 42 Had a bug 45 Dashboard Confessional rock genre 46 Painter’s deg. 47 Root beer brand 49 Easter season feast 54 1492 caravel 55 “Peace out, Pablo!” 56 Like ham in some omelets 58 Little one 59 Future flower 60 Shindig by the shore, and a hint to the starts of 17-, 25-, 35- and 49-Across 62 Run out of steam 63 Smallest of the litter 64 Derisive look 65 Rose support 66 Rich rocks 67 Root beer brand DOWN 1 “Whatever you want”
2 Fund-raising target 3 Food truck order 4 Wedding RSVP card, e.g. 5 Chocoholic’s favorite tree? 6 Hokkaido seaport 7 Battlefield board game 8 Prof’s aides 9 Marx playing with strings 10 Narcissistic indulgence 11 Most pretentious 12 Imps 14 Gp. with the album “Secret Messages” 18 Uncertain responses 22 Signs off on 24 Trucker’s expense 26 To-do 28 Stutz contemporary 32 Huge mess 33 1977 Steely Dan album 34 Country singer K.T. 36 Awesome quality, as of mountains
37 Bethesda-based medical research org. 38 Lunches and brunches 39 Cry of success 40 “Tartuffe” playwright 43 Horn of Africa nation 44 Signified 46 Submissions to eds.
48 Nymph chasers 50 Data transmitter 51 “Cheers” waitress 52 Savings and checking: Abbr. 53 Slangy affirmative 57 Around-the-horn MLB plays 60 Good bud 61 “Wait, there’s more”
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
xwordeditor@aol.com
By Al Hollmer and C.C. Burnikel ©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/28/15
10/28/15
predominantly explore hotbutton issues and cultural stigmas, such as transgender rights. Accumulating close to 200 million views, the miniseries has provided a platform for discussion as stereotyped groups are offered a voice to share their thoughts and experiences. For the “Around the World” mini-series, the producer traveled across the globe to see what people think of America, collecting cliché descriptors that have engrained themselves into the U.S.’s cultural identity. Of the 11 individuals featured in the video, four think of food and obesity while nine circle around the American dream. “Is it a stereotype if it’s true?” a woman in Adelaide, Australia asked, as she called the American people “eternally optimistic.” Assigning a stereotype can make an abstract or complicated idea become more tangible, and when it comes to generalizing an entire country, the few labels that stick out are usually ones most prominently circulated. Not surprisingly, many of the video’s subjects point to the widespread influence of America’s television and entertainment industry. The
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chance of fame and success is not only gloriously portrayed in dramas and reality TV, but also off camera, as actors and actresses appear in advertisements and media campaigns all over the world. The pop-culture phenomena in the United States has transcended all borders, enhancing a specific and often misleading aspect of American life to those who haven’t experienced it themselves. Global surveys have corroborated the impact of American TV culture, as the majority of European and Asian countries are reported to have positive perceptions of American music, TV and film. According to a 2012 survey collected by the PEW Research Center, ratings for American popular culture have continuously scored highly, with over 70 percent approval in Spain, Italy and France. Furthermore, results from a study conducted by GfK, a market-research firm that surveyed over 18,000 people across 18 countries, identified that 30 percent thought of American TV and film as the best aspect of American culture. By far the most popular answer, European countries alone attributed even higher marks, hovering around 40 percent. Surprisingly, Americans had drastically different attitudes toward the effects of their television and popular culture than the rest of the world. The GfK survey identified a whopping 32 percent of Americans attribute film and television as the worst contribution to world culture, higher than any other country, and by far the most popular response among all individuals surveyed. This is alarming: why are Americans so out of sync with the rest of the world’s perceptions? Perhaps, the discrepancies within these statistics come from knowing the difference between real life and a glamorized distortion. From “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” to “Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo,” these wildly popular reality TV shows document a narrow truth that is not applicable for most American citizens. Nevertheless, these multimillion dollar franchises are most widely distributed and, therefore, the source of the most prevalent stereotypes. What America needs are genuine people on camera, like those featured in Cut Video’s projects. In a recent word association video, the YouTube channel gathered AfricanAmerican men ages 5 through 50 to respond to “America” with a single word. Some of their responses were not so optimistic: “Free with an asterisk,” a 31-yearold subject said. This represents the real America, and the very real people that are affected by its everyday policies. Life in the States isn’t an endless summer at the Jersey Shore or a bottomless pit of McDonald’s. So, instead of looking to “reality” TV and pop sensations for a taste of American culture, let’s turn the attention to outlets like Cut Video that bring to screen a more accurate vision of America today.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 — 7A
The anatomy of a goalie fight Wolverines fall in MEN’S TENNIS
By JUSTIN MEYER Daily Sports Writer
The No. 10 Michigan hockey team brought in a permanent goalie coach for the 2015-16 season after struggling with consistency at the position for the past few years. Steve Shields, an ex-Wolverine netminder and a 10-year NHL veteran, is also notorious for being a bit of a brawler. One of Shields’ altercations from the 1990s will stand out to old-time fans everywhere. The Michigan Daily talked with Shields to break down the fight. The following transcript has been edited for continuity. *** It was May 3, 1997 in Buffalo, New York. Shields was hot as the Sabres’ backup goalie, filling in competently for the injured Dominik Hasek in the NHL playoffs. Buffalo won a first-round series against the Ottawa Senators before running into the Philadelphia Flyers and goaltender Garth Snow. The Michigan Daily: Buffalo has pretty colorful jerseys back then. Steve Shields: Oh yeah. TMD: What was it like for you playing in the playoffs? SS: It was really nervewracking at the — a lot of pressure. Because we have the best goalie in the world — Hasek. He gets hurt, and I’m not going to be as good. So can we win without having our best goalie in there? I played well enough for us to win. It was a great experience playing playoff hockey as a goalie. With 2:55 to go in the second period, a scrum breaks out in front of the Flyers’ net. SS: I’m in the other end — it’s a five-on-five brawl. Garth Snow has been egging our team on all year, picking on Hasek. Now he’s involved, so he
would outnumber our guys. I start skating down because now he’s in it and I gotta go even it up. We’re jonesing to go at each other because we’ve been at it all year, and this is the playoffs. TMD: What’s your attitude when you’re skating toward center ice? SS: Like, I hope I don’t fall. Now it’s loud and our crowd’s cheering and it’s the playoffs. I can’t fall, and I can’t go down when I get punched. Shields meets Snow in the corner and the two start jawing at each other before a teammate breaks up the escalating situation. SS: Bob Boughner is right here — he reminds me that we have no other goalies. We have a thirdstring goalie but nobody else. So I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll back off.’ But I know he wants to get a piece of me. Shields skates off to the side, but stays just close enough to continue the action. Before long, the two are back at each other, toppling a linesman in the process. SS: I’m standing at the blue line giving him the head nod, and now he sees me right here. He comes up to me and pulls my mask off real easy. TMD: Now it’s on. SS: Your eyes just kind of roll back into your head and it’s on. TMD: That poor linesman. SS: So if I get (Snow’s) mask off right here, I might have the best knockout in history. And I break the top of my knuckle on his mask. TMD: And you played after that with a broken knuckle? SS: Yeah, oh yeah. There’s my roommate right there, Wayne Primeau, yelling at him.
ITA quarterfinals Michigan finishes on Sunday with no semifinal berths By RILEY NELSON For the Daily
The Michigan men’s tennis team made its way to South Bend, Ind., on Thursday to compete in the ITA Midwest Regional Championships. And while the Wolverines ended their run on Sunday, failing to make it past the quarterfinals, Michigan coach Adam Steinberg saw his team play some of its best tennis since he took over the program in June 2014. It was the first full team event of the fall, with six Michigan players in the singles main draw. “There were some good moments,” Steinberg said, “and then some moments in singles that I feel we really have to work on. I was really happy with the freshmen — I thought they competed great.” Sophomore Carter Lin fell to No. 2 seed Chris Diaz of Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the singles main draw after playing very competitive matches in the earlier rounds. He was the highlight of the Wolverines’ singles competition, but it was the doubles efforts that really stood out in Steinberg’s mind. “The best moment I’ve had in coaching here at Michigan was the other night … when (the) doubles teams were playing
on the courts at Notre Dame,” Steinberg said. “It was awesome. They were pushing each other, playing with amazing energy. That’s what we do in practice every day, and we took it to the tournament, so I was really pleased with the doubles overall.” The two teams — redshirt sophomore Alex Knight with sophomore Runhao Hua and junior Kevin Wong with freshman Gabe Tishman — each made it to the quarterfinals before falling to the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. Despite not making it to the final day of competition, Steinberg was happy with his doubles teams’ level of competition. “I thought it was the best I’ve ever seen us play doubles since I’ve been here,” Steinberg said. “We competed really well. Even the matches we lost, we played great — it didn’t feel like we even lost them because of how well we played, competed, and our attitude.” In the fall tennis season there are no team results, because all athletes compete as individuals or in pairs. It’s an opportune time for players to fine-tune their skills and perfect their game. “Our doubles has really improved, but as singles players I think everyone needs to really commit to their game styles, so by the end of the fall that’s set in stone,” Steinberg said. “It’s not there yet, but it’s definitely getting better. Way better.”
“It’s not there yet, but it’s definitely getting better.”
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Steve Shields recalled Tuesday a legendary hockey fight he had in 1997.
TMD: What’s he yelling? SS: Every bad thing you can imagine. It lasted about a minute, the whole scene, and I was just gassed. TMD: Did you get a fiveminute (major penalty) for that? SS: I thought I was done, that’s why I kind of sold out in the fight. But now I have to go back. That was a whole season in the making. Dom (Hasek) was in a scrap earlier on. And I’m friends with (Snow), but when it happens you gotta go. I’m not going to say I wasn’t excited about it.
“There’s a couple I haven’t won, but everyone knows about that one.”
TMD: When the refs separate you at the end, what’s going through your head? Is it like, ‘Thank God this is over?’ SS: No — I was so tired. I felt my hand was hurting, and I immediately was thinking, ‘God, if his helmet had popped off earlier, it would have been an all-time great knockout.’ And I was happy I didn’t get punched really good. TMD: Who won that fight? SS: Come on, I don’t need to answer that one. There’s a couple I haven’t won, but everyone knows about that one. Shields’ Sabres lost the series in five games. Even though Shields didn’t get his knockout, the Game 1 goalie fight went down in history as an all-time great playoff moment. Michigan is 3-0-1 this season and plays its second home series against Robert Morris this weekend.
Michigan battles to draw Murphy makes return Rather than take with Western Michigan medical redshirt, By BETELHEM ASHAME Daily Sports Writer
Tempers flared throughout the Michigan men’s soccer team’s hotly contested affair against Western Michigan on Tuesday, adding W. MICHIGAN 0 even more 0 MICHIGAN tension to an alreadytough encounter between two evenly matched teams. Through physical possession battles in the midfield and hard tackles to break up the other team’s attack, the two sides fought to a scoreless draw in double overtime. While the Wolverines (2-2-2 Big Ten, 7-4-4 overall) — second in the Big Ten in goals per game — initially struggled to find their feet offensively, their defense stepped up to neutralize the Broncos’ effort to start fast and draw blood in the early stages. “How organized we were (at the back) took them out of the game,” said Michigan junior defender Rylee Woods. “Our confidence rose after we broke the first 20 minutes, and we did well the rest of the game.” The Broncos (1-1-1 MAC, 8-3-4 overall) kept the ball in their attacking third for much of the first half, dominating the run of play and creating the majority of the chances. An endless foray of crosses into the box and shots on goal forced a response from Michigan’s defensive unit, which put together a strong defensive stand to keep the offense at bay. Aware that Western Michigan would prove to be a handful, Michigan coach Chaka Daley stuck to his game plan, believing his players would be able to handle the onslaught. The Wolverines’ defense had allowed only one goal over the previous three matches and continued its run of recent success by producing another shutout against the Broncos. “We knew they had some good pieces to the puzzle,” Daley said. “They have a lot of busy, active attacking players, and we thought
those guys were definitely factors in the game. They were kind of neutralized tonight and didn’t really show their faces too much, which is good for us. Our guys on defense gave everything and did outstanding.” The dynamic of the game changed dramatically in the 60th minute. After two previous breakaway runs down the pitch came up empty, Michigan freshman forward Francis Atuahene sprinted toward a long ball played forward by the defense. Western Michigan’s goalkeeper charged toward the top of the box in the hope of catching the ball before Atuahene could reach it. The goalie jumped in the air and clutched the ball in his grasp, but Atuahene crashed into him with questionable intent, sending them both to the turf. With the goalie writhing on the ground, the referee had no
choice but to issue Atuahene a red card, disqualifying him from the match. With just 10 men, Michigan played stifling defense despite several dangerous near-misses by the Broncos, managing to hold out for the rest of the half and all of overtime to earn a hard-fought tie. “From the standpoint of going down to 10 players in a tough game against a Western Michigan side that is a very senior-laden team whereas a lot of our guys are freshmen and sophomores, it’s really outstanding to see the commitment and physicality of our guys to grind it out,” Daley said. Considering the circumstances, Michigan’s resiliency and determination to still come away with a point will prove to be a real asset for the team with the biggest games of the season coming up next.
senior returns for final games By KATIE CONKLIN Daily Sports Writer
It was Sept. 6, the second game of the Michigan men’s soccer season against Niagara, and the crowd was tense. Entering overtime, the score was tied at one. Stepping toward a rebounded ball in the 99th minute, senior midfielder James Murphy buried the ball in the back of the net. The Wolverine faithful erupted in celebration, only to be silenced by the blow of the referee’s offside whistle. The game went to double overtime. Just two minutes into the second period, a foul on top of the 18-yard box led to a perfectly placed set-piece opportunity.
Murphy, as he did a few minutes prior, found twine with a powerful header to capture a sudden victory. The following game against Maryland, Murphy went down with a torn medial collateral ligament. He has not seen the field since. Making his return seven weeks later against in-state rival Western Michigan on Tuesday evening, Murphy entered the game with four minutes remaining in the first half, and played a large chunk of the second half and overtime period in the Wolverines’ scoreless double-overtime tie. “It’s been really tough, obviously, my senior year, and to sit out most of the season,”
Murphy said. “It’s great to get back in it and just do whatever I can do to help this team out and help to finish the season strong.” Though he had the chance to take a medical redshirt this season, Murphy declined, instead opting to join his teammates for the final and most crucial part of the campaign. Murphy has made an impact on the Michigan squad ever since he crossed the pond from England and stepped on the field his freshman year, earning a spot on the 2012 Big Ten AllFreshman team. “Whatever he’s got to give this team, he wants to offer it,” said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. “He’s a selfless young man.” Three years later, Murphy has a captain band wrapped around his arm, and he plays as selflessly on the pitch as he behaves off of it. After playing for just three short stints in his comeback game, Murphy’s goal is to play and enjoy every minute he gets on and off of the field with his teammates. “This team means a lot to me, and I want to give everything I’ve got to help these boys out,” Murphy said. “And hopefully we’ll win something this year.” And with two important Big Ten games in their future, the Wolverines still have a shot to do just that. To the excitement of both Daley and Murphy, he will be back and ready to make an impact — as he has in the past with 37 career goals. “He gives everything for the team and he’s all about the team first,” Daley said. And Murphy hopes to give what he has, whether there are two games left in the season or 10. Every game after Nov. 4 could be his last. “We’ve missed him,” Daley said. “Big time.”
“Whatever he’s got to give this team, he wants to offer it.”
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Junior defender Rylee Woods helped lead a Michigan back line that withstood Western Michigan’s attack, even while playing with 10 men for almost half the game.
8A — Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Harbaugh’s manners pay off Choi, Peters help WOMEN’S GOLF
By MAX COHEN
Managing Sports Editor
Jim Harbaugh does not always give the appearance of someone who asks for things nicely. During his final year with the San Francisco 49ers, rumors circulated that Harbaugh wore his players down with his high demands and dogged work ethic. Even now, on the sidelines of Michigan Stadium, it is not an uncommon sight to see Harbaugh yelling a referee’s ear into oblivion. But sometimes, when it comes to asking things of his players, Harbaugh minds his manners. He brought up the subject during his weekly press conference Monday, when a reporter questioned the coach about the emergence of senior tight end A.J. Williams. The natural inclination is that Williams’ success is the result of Harbaugh’s tight end-centric offense and that Williams has improved in the same manner many of Michigan’s other players have. Monday, Harbaugh said there was more to it. He realized Williams needed to run faster, so Williams did what was natural: He lost some weight. But that wasn’t all that has fueled Williams’ increased role in the offense. It came down to an innocuous question — a very polite one at that — that Harbaugh asked Williams: “Please, will you run faster, A.J.?” And so far, Williams has. He has had two receptions of more than 20 yards this season. His previous career long was 12 yards. Through seven games this season, Williams has more catches (nine) than he did in his first three years at Michigan combined (five). He ranks fourth among Wolverines in receptions and receiving yards (99). Harbaugh’s methodology
of asking politely has paid dividends so far. “Sometimes that works,” Harbaugh said. “I’ve seen it work before. ‘Will you please run faster?’ And then they do, so hope (Williams keeps) going in that direction, because he’s got it in him.” Even the other part of Williams’ success, the one that didn’t have to do with Harbaugh minding his p’s and q’s, was the result of another soft-spoken comment from the fiery coach. It came during spring practice, one of Harbaugh’s first, after Williams ran what he remembers as a stick rout. Harbaugh then commented on what he thought caused Williams’ lack of speed. “He was just like, ‘A.J., I think you need to lose some weight,’ ” Williams said. Williams, even as a senior who had established himself in the program, did not question the rhetoric of his new coach. He responded immediately.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, I probably do,’ ” Williams replied. So Williams did. He currently weighs 10 pounds less than his listed weight of 285 pounds. Harbaugh arrived at Michigan with a great deal of success in developing tight ends, from Zach Ertz and Coby Fleener at Stanford to Vernon Davis in San Francisco. Well aware of this, Williams was willing to do whatever his coach asked. In the past, Williams had been almost exclusively a blocking tight end, even in high school. He played offensive tackle his senior year and did not catch a single pass. But now, in his senior year of college, Williams has caught the ball more than he ever has. Not just in college or his senior year of high school, but in his entire life. Having the ball in his hands did not feel natural at first, particularly after his 22-yard reception in the home opener against Oregon State. “I was like, ‘This is weird,’ ”
Williams said. “I was like, ‘Oh man, I can’t believe I just did that.’ ” Four weeks later, when the Wolverines played Northwestern, Williams was Michigan’s leading receiver, with four receptions for 48 yards. Williams, because of Harbaugh’s requests and the team’s success, says he is having more fun playing football than he has in his entire life. But while Williams enjoys increased success, other players are still working on fulfilling the things Harbaugh requests of them. The coach’s request of redshirt junior offensive lineman Kyle Kalis is lofty: “Get all your blocks, don’t miss any blocks,” Kalis said Harbaugh tells him. With just a slight hint of sarcasm, Kalis said he believes he has fulfilled Harbaugh’s wishes. “Never miss any (blocks),” Kalis said. “Never. I’m always perfect.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Senior tight end A.J. Williams has broken out as a receiving threat this season, catching nine passes for 99 yards.
‘M’ finish fourth By BILLY STAMPFL For the Daily
It was a record-setting performance for the Michigan women’s golf team, which finished tied for fourth place at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown on Tuesday. The Wolverines shot a schoolrecord 275 (-13) in the first round, and junior Grace Choi soared in the second round — tying Ashley Bauer’s school-record mark of 65, set in 2010. Though significant in retrospect, Choi was hardly thinking about her individual triumphs during tournament play. “I wasn’t thinking about that at all,” Choi said. “I was so in the moment, it was such a high. I wasn’t worried about breaking school records. … It was an incredible experience.” Michigan played with a mental edge throughout the tournament, notching scores of 275, 279 and 281 in the three days, ultimately finishing nine strokes behind the champion, UNLV. The tournament, the conclusion to the Wolverines’ successful fall season, followed a third-place finish at the Yale Intercollegiate two weeks ago. “The team’s been gaining confidence throughout the fall,” said Michigan coach Jan Dowling. Some of the improvement can likely be attributed to Choi and senior Catherine Peters, the team’s only upperclassmen. Peters put up scores of 68, 68 and 69 en route to tying Choi for fifth
in the individual standings this weekend. Yet beyond their golf skills, the two lead in ways that can’t be recorded on a scorecard. “(Choi and Peters) both lead by example in so many ways,” Dowling said. “You couldn’t ask for better upperclassmen. They’re encouraging and positive, and really want to leave their mark on this program.” In addition to influencing underclassmen, Choi and Peters have a great impact on each other on the golf course. After spending three years playing together and two years living with each other, the two friends have built a unique bond. “She’s one of the most positive people I have ever met,” Choi said of Peters. “That’s something that I’m not as good at, so she just radiates all this really good energy.” Teamwork and cooperation have long been building blocks of Dowling’s model for winning tournaments and improving as a unit. After a strong fall season, Michigan will look to continue getting better before returning to tournament play in February. The Wolverines expect to work primarily on strength and conditioning, while also studying individual tendencies to identify strengths and weaknesses. “We stay pretty busy (during the winter),” Dowling said. “We really take advantage of those months to (review) the season a little bit better.” Michigan plans to remember the record-setting weekend for the time being, but knows it still has plenty to prepare for.
“I was so in the moment, it was such a high.”
WOMEN’S TENNIS
Minor shines at ITA Regionals By NATHANIEL CLARK Daily Sports Writer
The legendary Brazilian soccer player Pelé once said, “The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.” Freshman Brienne Minor of the Michigan women’s tennis team discovered that wisdom firsthand, as she rallied from a 5-1 hole in her final set to win a singles title over Northwestern’s Maddie Lipp at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships. This was the third consecutive year — and the fourth time in the last five years — that a Wolverine has come away with a singles victory in the tournament. After Minor erased her deficit and took a 6-5 edge, Lipp won the next game to tie the set at six, which set up a tiebreaker. Minor rose to the occasion, going on a 3-1 run en route to a 7-3 victory to capture the title. “It was amazing to see (Minor) compete like that,” said Michigan coach Ronnie Bernstein. “I think she just believes in herself and has such a big game where she can win a whole bunch of points in a row.” Minor dropped the first game of the final set to Lipp, 6-3, but quickly took a 4-0 lead in the second. Lipp found her groove, however, and evened the score at 5-5. The pair split the next two sets before Minor won the tiebreaker, 7-5. “It was really good tennis for both of them,” Bernstein said. “Both wanted (the match) a lot. (Minor) really hung in there and that was the difference.” Minor also had a strong doubles performance. She teamed up with sophomore
Mira Ruder-Hook to top Ani Gogvadze and Maria Paula Ribero of Eastern Michigan, 8-2. They also defeated Michigan State’s duo of Erin Faulkner and Lexi Baylis, 8-3, before losing, 8-5, in the quarterfinals to Ohio State’s pair of Sandy Niehaus and Ferny Angelez Paz. “(Minor and Ruder-Hook) complement each other pretty well,” Bernstein said. “I thought they communicated well.” But Minor was not the only freshman to have an impressive showing. Kate Fahey defeated Michigan State’s Lexi Baylis and Ohio State’s Anna Sanford in two and three sets, respectively. Fahey faltered in the singles play quarterfinals to Lipp. Ruder-Hook, too, came up with a solid singles performance. She notched wins over Western Michigan’s Melina Lyubomirova, 6-4, 7-5, and Illinois’s Louise Kwong, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 before succumbing to DePaul’s Yuliya Shupenia. “She’s starting to understand what she needs to do on the court,” Bernstein said. “I was really happy with her performance and how she competed.” Building on an impressive outing, Michigan still has more tennis to play this fall. The Wolverines will travel to the UNC Invitational Nov. 6-8, before moving onto the ITA National Indoor Championships and the ASU Thunderbird Nov. 13-15. “I just want (the players) to compete,” Bernstein said. “I feel like come January, with the kids we’ve added and our returners, that we’ll be ready and hopefully we can have another great season.”
“It was amazing to see (Minor) compete like that.”
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Senior linebacker Joe Bolden was confined to the locker room after being ejected for targeting in Michigan’s game against Michigan State on Oct. 17.
Joe Bolden’s loneliest view By MAX BULTMAN Daily Sports Editor
It wasn’t the day’s most jarring moment, and it didn’t happen in front of 111,000 people, but the moment Joe Bolden walked into the locker room was surreal nonetheless. The senior linebacker had just been ejected for targeting from the Michigan football team’s game against Michigan State on Oct. 17, and after taking a halflap around the edge of the field, slapping hands and trying to get the crowd fired up, he arrived at the locker room to find the only person in the entire stadium who could relate to him in that moment. Senior linebacker James Ross III was already standing at the door waiting for him, serving his punishment for the same penalty the prior game. “I told him, ‘Hey, it’s your turn,’ ” Bolden recalled Tuesday. “So we kind of (traded) spots. Not sure that’s the ideal situation where you want to trade spots, but we watched the end of the
second (quarter) together, and you could tell that he was ready to go, he was ready to come out and play as well.” In the second quarter, Bolden appeared to be pushed into Spartans’ quarterback Connor Cook. And while his helmet-tohelmet contact with Cook looked unintentional, he was ejected, and thus relegated to watch the second half from the locker room. In his senior year, it was his last shot at the Spartans. A year ago, Bolden found himself at the center of a minor controversy surrounding the rivalry game after he planted a stake in the Spartan Stadium turf. Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio later termed the act disrespectful and cited it as his reason for adding a late touchdown after the game was already decided.
But his shot at redemption this season was cut short by the ejection. So as he went off the field, he implored the crowd to stay invested in the game, as if they needed any further incentive to cheer. “I think it was important (for the crowd) to know that life goes on,” Bolden said. “Even though you’re gonna lose a guy, the No. 1 defense is still out on the field, and you guys need to stay behind them.” As Bolden paraded the perimeter of the stadium, he jumped up and down, waving his arms, especially in front of the student section. “(Michigan recruiting coordinator Chris Partridge) was pulling me off the field,” Bolden said. “I probably would have made it a couple of laps if it wasn’t for him.”
“I think it was important to know that life goes on.”
Ross, of course, returned to the field for the second half, since his carry-over suspension only lasted the first. That left Bolden to either watch the game in the locker room, or seek another option. “I actually went ahead and got on my phone and read every rule in the rulebook as soon as it happened, just to make sure there wasn’t any loopholes that could get anywhere else, other than a 10-by-5-foot room to watch the game,” he said. Bolden was referring to finding another way to watch the game, preferably on the field. But he didn’t find one. So when Blake O’Neill’s fumble landed in the arms of Jalen Watts-Jackson, who returned it for a touchdown in an ending that shocked the nation, Bolden experienced it differently from the rest of his teammates. The TV was on a delay, and he couldn’t share his shock with any of them. “Crickets,” he said. “I couldn’t hear anything. Just crickets. And then I walked out of the room.”
statement THE MICHIGAN DAILY
OCTOB E R 28 , 2015
2B
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 // The Statement
My newfound tolerance of country music by Luna Archey, Magazine Photo Editor
Let’s get personal. Every writer I’ve spoken to has said the same thing: writing about yourself seems easy, until you sit down to do it. How can you possibly consolidate your deepest emotions and regrets into several hundred words? How can you reveal your intimate self to a faceless audience? Writing a Personal Statement takes courage and self-awareness. In these pages you will find seven stories of love, of loss, of heartbreak, of anger. Seven stories from those who dared to pour their hearts out onto the page; who took the leap and wrote about themselves. But as you can imagine, when people sit down to write about themselves, it rarely becomes about them. We peer into their lives and find our own beloved mothers, conflicted hometowns, favorite movies and formative teachers. These stories matter to all of us. — Natalie Gadbois Deputy Magazine Editor
THE
statement
Magazine Editor: Ian DIllingham Deputy Editor: Natalie Gadbois Design Editor: Jake Wellins
Photo Editor: Luna Anna Archey Illustrator:
Managing Editor: Lev Facher Copy Editors:
Megan Mulholland
Hannah Bates
Maggie Miller
Laura Schinagle
Editor in Chief: Jennifer Calfas
COVER BY LUNA ANNA ARCHEY
Emma Sutherland
ILLUSTRATION BY LUNA ANNA ARCHEY
“
All you need is a blonde, beer, and a love story or a broken heart.” He explained country songs as we perched on bar stools. He revealed the meaning of a Yeti 110 iced down and silver bullets. When I took a 6-week internship in the middle of the country, I had no idea that my summer would include all these things. I was more terrified to make the journey to Topeka, Kansas than the adventure I made to India my first half of the summer. When imagining India, I was apprehensive, but assured that I would be occupied with work, cultural experiences, and the company of two other University students. An internship at The Capital-Journal was a looming shadow of what might possibly be my life for the next few years: working at a dying publication in a city where I didn’t know a soul. *** With an uncharacteristic confidence, he asked the girl in cheap boots and a purple backless dress swirling around the dance floor of the country saloon to dance. With a confidence uncharacteristic of myself I told his friend to invite me to Denny’s with them after closing time. Afterward, with a forgetfulness completely characteristic of myself, I locked my keys in my car at 4 a.m., and with the kindness and chivalry completely characteristic of him, he walked me the three and a half miles to his truck and drove me to my doorstep. Fast forward two weeks. A night in the bed of his truck stargazing; the warm concrete of the Kansas City Chiefs arena parking lot; attempting to teach him the two-step I myself still hadn’t perfected; a blues concert. I found myself curled up next to him as we drove home from Kansas City. The light of his radio displayed the Ed Sheeran CD playing, and I hopelessly attempted to convince him I was a bad
idea. I had failed at three long distance relationships before they had barely even started, and one of them was only a fifteen-minute drive away. I didn’t know how to tell him that with three states between us, these summer nights would remain a distant — if warm — memory. Commitment was a pleasant thought, especially as our conversations stretched hours, but my better judgment and selfdoubt crippled the audacity I typically jump at life with. This proposition was a completely different kind of adventure, a long, treacherous, and at times almost certainly a lonely one. Even though I grew up in a farm town of 5,000, I was never a part of country culture. I lived in the country but my adventures included books and sports, not guns and trucks. I have fought so hard to escape it. Despite most of me making it out of my hick hometown, of all places, I now find at least a portion of my heart-claiming stake in another small town in eastern Kansas. When I first made the fourteen-hour drive, I never could have expected I would be sitting here in late September, spending hours playing with the presets of cheap travel sites. Fighting to find a ticket. Frustrated that during my afternoon run everyone doesn’t cheerily greet me, that not every cashier engages me in conversation. Frustrated that new people don’t ask where my “exotic” accent is from. Frustrated that the crowded dance floor of Rick’s has replaced the polished hardwood and rhythmic clockwise rotation of bejeweled cowboy boots of Wild Horse. Frustrated that of all the places I could be missing, it’s Topeka, Kansas. And most of all, frustrated that I can’t jump in my car with the windows rolled down, pick Brett Eldredge from any of the multitude of stations playing country, and drive down the road to the fraternity parking lot where his 1982 Ford pick-up truck is parked.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 // The Statement 3B
The weight of bubbles and boxes by Anisha Nandi, Daily Staff Reporter
ILLUSTRATION BY JAKE WELLINS
I
sat beneath the weight of a three-letter acronym and I felt unknown. For all the countless hours spent to mold and mend my mind into standardized testing, I had no answer for the very first question in the crisp, white booklet in front of me. I fidgeted as the clock ticked deafeningly. I see the physical boxes on the paper in front of me and it’s sharp edges cut sharp corners in my round mind. They simply do not fit. “Race/Ethnicity.” A few identities swirl and surface before I shove them away. “I’m half Trinidadian, half Indian; I was born in England but I grew up in New York.” There is no box to check off there, no bubble teems to the surface. At the very best I am “other.” My identity, with its colorful exuberance and undiscovered parts, with its proud history and fierce defiance, is crammed and shoved impersonally into that small box. Those boxes become most dangerous when we find the need to fit into them. Before I turned seven, I moved around half a dozen times within the tri-state area. I counted rosary beads in a Catholic school but silent Hindu prayers ran through my mind as each rough, red bead slipped through small fingers. I ate rose-colored candies and homemade soda bread with our fair, Irish neighbors and their beloved beagle, Mickey, with his watery, all-knowing eyes and ears that swept the floors. My big brown eyes lit up my small face in preschool when my mother agreed to “plait” my hair in two long braids just like my Jamaican friend did her wild locks. I climbed on countertops with knocked knees and a wicked smile to find “that thing,” my favorite Indian spice, before my grandmother pulled me down and sat me on her lap — the folds of her saari taking me to visit all the rich smells of her country, my country. As I entered middle school, I learned torah verses as I attended more bar and bat mitvahs (and a few b’nai mitzvahs) than I can count on my hands and feet. In my high school years, I filled in many bubbles. From that sea of multiple-choice questions, I dove and somehow swam ashore in the Midwest — a place I, at the time, associated with cornfields and windmills, yet one that has brought me more cultural clarity than I ever could have thought. In
a single day, I cross paths with hundreds of students, their story traced across campus as they run to class or schlep begrudgingly through the snow across the Diag. I learn from and about them, whether it’s laughing through my tears with my best friend in her room at 2 a.m. or making brief eye contact with a student in the first floor of the Ugli. Each day as I brush elbows, my cultural index grows. As I arrive home, the promise of New York City with its jagged buildings across the eternally lit backdrop stirs awake all the cultural magnificence there is to see. Traveling between the multicultural dichotomies of the University of Michigan and New York City provides me with endless opportunities to open my mind to the backgrounds of others. I always compare them to two different “worlds” intersecting that I hardly believe exist outside of myself. *** I now trace my way through my heritage. My mother is fair skinned with light eyes and naturally wavy black hair made for the summer heat of an eternally sunny island. It puffs and swells in the humidity as if trying to capture the salty sea air. Her high cheekbones sit beneath the shadows of long eyelashes, catching the low light as she laughs, one of the most reserved of her boisterous family. My father is frozen at a permanent state of youth. His eyes glint a perpetual glee, one never subdued by the weight of the world. His trademark salt and pepper moustache sits atop an eternally lit smile refusing to bow to the bulky world. My mother grew up the second youngest of seven, in a well-respected, well-off family in Chaguanas, Trinidad. Her medical school experience was filled with homesickness as she travelled across seas away from her family. My mother is from a ferociously proud breed of polouri-loving, cricket-watching “Trinis.” Trinis underline their lives with the emboldened red and black of their flag, never failing to showcase their pride in their country — one with less than the population of Manhattan that still manages to boast Nobel Prize laureates, multiple Miss World Titles, World Cup qualifiers and Olympic gold medalists. My father, halfway across the world, grew up in New Delhi. At age six he saw a blind man in a rural suburb of India and, in the endearing hopeful charm of a young child, he
swore to himself he would become a doctor to help him. He sewed his own repairs on his primary school uniform, hemming to the hums of the crickets in the high grass and beehives in the trees and studying to maintain his scholarship. He read voraciously to quench an undying thirst for knowledge of all kinds, tucking away information like gemstones in an encyclopedia of jewels. His hands helped his mother around the house, feeding cows dalpuri and creating jars of pickled spices, while his mind wandered over fields, across seas, through amazons, to the depths of oceans and heights of fighter planes. In Pondicherry, India that Trindadian challenged that New Delhi native with her quiet strength. Something about their meeting spurred three decades of marriage. They moved to England for their residencies and eventually to New York. My mother retains her strong sense of pride in Trinidad and often chance takes us to warm beaches or to the smell of doubles and polouri in Queens. Nothing quite compares to the lackadaisical days of hammocks drifting between tall coconut trees. From plastic surgery to cardiology to published research to wound healing, my father invested that six-year-old’s promise in his passion for medicine. His upbringing in India, surrounded by immense medical resources in contrast to some of the most earth-shattering illnesses, was a major factor in his success today. He often dreams aloud of his desire to reground his roots upon the rocky hills of Rishikesh or the busy, rickshaw-filled streets of New Delhi with all the color and culture that flutters beneath his eyelids. He tells me time and again that all that man needed was a few pills of vitamin A and he would be able to see those same colors. If I were to sit there with my pencil now on that ACT exam, I would not want to fill out “other.” All of our backgrounds are to be embraced, to be celebrated. Not just the complex ones or the misunderstood ones, but each individual’s heritage. The conclusions and boxes we jump into, we often create for ourselves. To take a moment and consider that somebody may have an interesting story is to recognize your own. Standardized tests are just that — standard. Yet we can decide to set no limits on the vibrancy of our cultured, colorful realities.
4B
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 // The Statement
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 // The Statement
I
Let me count the ways
Being is strange
by Rachael Lacey, Daily Opinion Columnist
by Carly Snider, Daily Arts Writer
dreaded my twelfth birthday. I was panicked — I wasn’t ready for this. I tried to skew the details to my advantage: really, I’d been six and a half when she died. So double that would be … thirteen. Whew. One more year until I had lived half of my life without her. I did a quick mental check, listing off the facts. I always wanted to know more facts. I made lists, scratching tiny numbers down the side of lined paper (or a sticky note, or diary page), thinking that if I knew more facts, it somehow made me know her. 1. She worked at the airport. 2. She studied math at UCLA. 3. She had a great smile. 4. She liked to remind people to not take life too seriously (this one was my favorite). I listed them, the facts, as if it all could be mastered like a test, and by knowing the answers I achieved a mastery of her entire being. I would list off the memories, too. Going to Blockbuster, anticipating the plunk of the hard and dusty gumball as it rattled from the machine into my hand. Me, soaking wet and laughing with glee as she greeted me at the exit of a water ride at SeaWorld. Riding my Razor Scooter on the hardwood floor when she pretended not to know. Her smile as I handed her a homemade Mother’s Day card crusted with pink glitter glue. And then I would get sad, thinking that the first three years of life don’t really count, because who really remembers them? Maybe bits and flashes, but nothing to put on the list. But it didn’t matter, I needed those years to count. So they did. WhEn my thirteenth birthday loomed, I was terrified. It wasn’t fair, it felt like such betrayal. She meant so much more than just half of my life. Really, I’d been older than six and a half when it happened. In fact, I’d been six years, seven months, and eleven days old. Which is practically seven, right? So if I was
seven, double that would be fourteen. Whew. One more year. I reveled in anything that was once hers. Her thin blue crew socks became my lucky socks. Photos of her friends and of her life — before I was her life — filled my photo albums. There she was, on a cable car in San Francisco (I wondered if maybe I’d ridden the same one); now she was in Mexico, her head dipped to her chest because she had fallen asleep while reading on the beach. She made goofy faces. Blew out birthday candles. It was strange to think that she existed before those seven years of my life. But it was even stranger to think that so many of her things still existed without her. Her driver’s license, her day planner, her receipts. Her humble penny collection in a dusty jar. They had touched her hands, occupied her thoughts. She was so close. My fourteenth birthday passed, and with it, the struggle was over. I couldn’t argue with myself anymore. I felt a tiny fraction of my heart, this enormous tiny fraction, chip away. I watched a home video that had been taped when I was five, on Christmas morning. I leapt up and showed her the new Pokémon toy Santa had brought me, squeaking, “Look!” And she smiled as if she was just as amazed as I was. “What is it, Rachael?” she asked. Everything inside me froze when I heard her voice. A feeling of dread snaked its way through my veins and my heart jumped and squirmed in my chest, forgetting all sense of rhythm. I realized I couldn’t even remember that voice. It sounded so foreign, I wanted to cry. How much did I even remember? I couldn’t even recall the fact that I unwrapped the next gift, a garish Barbie, with such joy. Now the silent memories came creeping in, the memories I never wrote on the lists because I knew
they could not be forgotten: the powdery, choking fragrance of white lilies; the impossibly frigid touch of her skin; the love letters I’d written to her in fat colorful markers on pristinely folded printer paper, tucked under her hand — all lost under the earth with her beauty. In that dreadful moment of betrayal, in the moment when her voice rumbled out and didn’t reassure me, I knew that it wasn’t the numbers that mattered. The feelings I had felt when she was wrenched away from me, and still sometimes felt in waves, dull and sharp and overwhelming in my gut, the feelings I felt burning in the creases of my eyes and pooling on my pillow, slamming out of my mouth in sharp gasps at night — those were proof of what actually mattered. The facts (oh, to hell with the facts) could be stuffed into crumbling wallets along with her receipts. The knowledge that she would have brought those warm arms around me even when I wrote childish disjointed letters of “You are meen” and slipped them under her bedroom door, even when she barely had the strength to lift her arms at all — that was what mattered. There was no way to quantify the silent “I love you, too,” that I knew she wanted to say when she could barely breathe, even with her oxygen machine, when I whispered those words to her and they floated down to softly rest on her cheeks like the sticky tears that rested on mine. She would be with me even when I was eighteen, or twenty-one, or whatever form of six or seven times three or four or five I chose. Even when I was a hundred years old, she wouldn’t be reduced to just a fraction of my existence. On my fifteenth birthday, I felt just fine. This manuscript was granted a prize in the Avery Hopwood and Jule Hopwood Contest for the year 2014 at the University of Michigan.
B
eing is strange. The relationship between yourself and your mind is equally as odd. Your mind can play tricks on you or nurture you — it can convince you that you really do pull off those flare jeans or it can gently bring you the conclusion that you actually look like a sad, denim-clad John Travolta á la “Saturday Night Fever.” Everyone has dealt with periods of mental distress at one time or another — anxiety, overwhelming stress, depression, etc. If you haven’t, you’re probably some kind of deity reincarnate who has managed to surpass the mental abilities of us mere mortals. Mental illness is much more pervasive than many of us know. This is something I didn’t realize until I came to the University as a freshman last year. The openness with which the University addresses student mental health issues blew me away. You mean you can, like, say the word “depression” in public and people don’t immediately become uncomfortably silent? Astonishing. This transition provided such a stark contrast to my high school experience. Growing up in mindnumbing suburbia gifted me little to no exposure to mental health knowledge or resources. Mental illness was something so quickly swept under the rug that even the smallest remnants of its shameful dust were nowhere to be found. If someone was thought to be struggling, whispers would float around suggesting that they had “problems” or that they (gasp) were in therapy. Depression was a dirty word. It was during these years of zero-tolerance that my depression and anxiety disorder began to creep up on me — though, at the time, I didn’t know what was really happening. I knew the symptoms of these conditions, but, of course, I didn’t learn them from school — much too taboo — and I couldn’t fathom the thought that it was me who was suffering. I was
ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHERYLL VICTUELLES
in a constant state of unrest, had no interest in old passions and couldn’t sleep, but I was fine! I mean, when someone asks you how you are doing, is there really any other option but to answer with an upbeat “OK”? This charade continued up until the second semester of my freshman year of college, when my squirming, scratching psyche reached the point of implosion. The combination of my alien environment, increased level of academic rigor and absence of close friends and family became too much for me. I started taking Prozac. What then followed was one of the strangest evolutions of my life. Placed in my hand by my oh-so-willing doctor was a pill — a pill that would apparently shake me from my hopeless, zombie-like stupor. Admittedly, I was skeptical. I was scared. I had heard too many complaints that privileged American youth like myself are over-medicated, that anti-depressants are used as a cure-all for any mental trepidation. How could these innocent, unimposing capsules conquer the demons that I had been silently attempting to vanquish for years? And if they did work, who would I be without the illness that I had carried with me for so long? But I trusted my parents and I trusted my doctor and, for the first time in quite some time, I trusted myself. So I started popping those little white pills every day. After a while, I noticed that some warmth seemed to have seeped back into my being. I was sleeping better, was no longer shaken to the core by unfamiliar social interactions and found that I was actually able to enjoy being a college student. I have since continued on my medication, and have come to think fondly of those small pills I once held with such uncertainty. My biggest problem with being on antidepressants was just that — being medicated. There
is such a strong stigma against mental illness in the United States that I didn’t know how to handle my newfound identifier. I figured I had two options: hide it or don’t give a shit. I chose the latter. Everyone has his or her Goliath — that aspect of themselves that needs a little push, a little outside influence to nudge them in the right direction. Something I have heard recently, probably in some completely unrelatable black and white PSA, is the phrase, “It’s OK to not be OK.” This is true, but it needs to be taken one step further. In facing my depression, I realized it’s OK for other people to know you’re not OK. Admitting you are having trouble with life shouldn’t be followed by a pregnant silence, but rather by an upwelling of connectivity with those persons around you. (Read: Everyone is human, blah, blah, blah, don’t be a jerk.) But really, grappling with your personal sense of being is something we all must face at one point or another. It is that looming confrontation you need to have with your roommate about how she really needs to stop eating all of your Cheez-Its — it’s going to be uncomfortable but you’ll feel so much better once you do it. I think we can all agree that life is odd and that the mind is even stranger. Sometimes it can feel as though your brain is purposefully working against you, like when you accidentally call your GSI “mom,” or something. It might take some time, as was the case with myself, to be on good terms with your mind, but it will happen. The most important thing I have learned through my weird, cringingly cliché-indieteen-movie-esque transition is that everything is temporary. Like that old Greek guy said, “Change is the only constant.” When you are feeling stuck in a stagnant state, know that you are allowed to seek out a tether to grasp, and that needing an anchor is anything but abnormal.
5B
6B
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 // The Statement
Guilt of getting out by Amanda Allen, Assistant Photo Editor
ILLUSTRATION BY JAKE WELLINS
A
s a senior in high school deciding on which university to attend, I only had one non-negotiable criteria: must not be near home. I’m from Flint, Michigan, and as I say to people who may not know about the reputation of Flint, it’s like a smaller version of Detroit. As Wikipedia describes it, “Flint has been ranked among the ‘Most Dangerous Cities in the United States,’ with a per capita violent crime rate seven times higher than the national average. The city was under a state of financial emergency from 2011 to 2015, the second in a decade.” Despite living on the outskirts of the city in the suburbs (let’s face it, in the white-flight areas), the effects of living in a low socioeconomic and potentially dangerous area infiltrated my life. My high school had the classic “the gym teacher is also the art teacher” kind of conundrum. My family had to drive out of the way to the next town for groceries because slowly but surely the stores around us closed. It was either that or go to the store in the “bad” part of town. In high school, I had the feeling that I had to get out now, or I thought that I never would. I knew I could save money by going to one of the local colleges or universities, but I would still be in the same disadvantaged area. I saw no future for myself in Flint. I saw living in fear of walking out of a grocery store at night, as my grandmother was when she was thrown to the ground and robbed. I saw laughing off another homicide in the news with uneasy apprehension. But, like Detroit, that is not the whole story of the city. I don’t want to paint Flint as a city devoid of anything positive — that wouldn’t be fair. There is definitely good, as all of my friends at University of Michigan-Flint, Kettering University, Baker College
and Mott Community College (all in Flint!) can attest to. There is the Flint Cultural Center, which provides great art, music and theatre community events and education. There is the Flint Public Library with all of its glorious books. Downtown Flint is beautiful, with its iconic iron archways and brick lanes lined by historic buildings. Flint just wasn’t for me, though. Despite the good, I felt the negatives overshadowed it. It didn’t help that there is a strange complacency, at least in my commu-
Even though Ann Arbor may physically be only an hour drive away, it feels like another world. nity, that “this is how it is and this is how it will always be.” People shake their heads at the violence yet just turn the channel when they’re tired of hearing about this week’s shootings rather than doing something to combat it. I didn’t want to be OK with simply shrugging these things off and tailoring my life to avoid them. Even though Ann Arbor may physically be only an hour drive away, it feels like another world. Like other first generation students and those from lower socioeconomic areas might feel, university life was strangely foreign. Supported by a single mother, I struggle with having less capital than the general U of M population (sorry friends, $50 is nowhere near “cheap” for me) and
feeling generally unprepared. I remember in the first few weeks of college being so impressed and intimidated at the way that people articulated in speech, even in everyday conversations, that I was afraid to speak at all. One friend, who attended the same high school as me and now also attends the University, once expressed that she felt guilty for leaving so many friends behind to deal with Flint and its hardships. This sentiment surprised me, as it was something I had honestly never thought of. It stuck with me, and I realized it was a great way to articulate a feeling I couldn’t pin down. A feeling that had me caught between never really wanting to go back but anxious to reach out to friends in Flint dealing with broken families. A feeling that made me wonder why I chose to study international issues at the University rather than focus on serious issues right in my backyard. It was guilt for not doing more with the resources I have now. It was guilt for complaining about all of this when I wasn’t from the “real Flint” and subjected to gang violence and serious blight, which are very real things for a lot of residents. It was guilt for getting out when others couldn’t. However, I can’t feel guilty for the privileges I’ve been afforded. I should not feel guilty for doing what’s best for me. With luck and a whole lot of scholarships, I am very happy to have been provided the opportunity to attend this amazing university in Ann Arbor. I feel so confident and safe and I’ve made the best of friends. I commend all who stay in Flint, doing good works and trying to move the city forward. I commend all of the hard workers in Flint, just trying to make a living and make a good life for themselves and their children. But for me, I think leaving was one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 // The Statement
7B
Lessons in uncertainty by Ian Dillingham, Magazine Editor
I
am going to Hell, they tell me. Jokingly, with a twinge of superiority, friends and neighbors chuckle at the thought of my eternal demise. But their words never bother me. If there be a Hell, I doubt they decide who passes through the fiery gates. Oh God, if there be a God, save my soul if I have a soul. *** Growing up, my community was predominantly Roman Catholic. My grandparents on my mom’s side, who lived with us for most of my early childhood, were devout observers of the faith, and that devotion was passed down to my mom. My dad, an atheist, lost the popular vote in our household, so I attended private Catholic schools from kindergarten to the end of high school. Because I feared social repercussions for disobeying teachers and parents, I partook in the various religious rites of passage prescribed to children in this school system: Baptism, First Reconciliation, and First Communion. But religion was never something I believed in; it was just something I did. I considered the practice on a similar level with doing homework — annoying, yet unavoidable. My grade school — kindergarten through eighth grade — was small. Each grade level was composed of about twenty students who, for the most part, stayed together for the first nine years of their education. Religion was prominently featured in the curriculum, with at least one class per day devoted to studying the Catholic Church, at least one religious ceremony or tradition marking the schedule each week, and at least one (torturous) hour spent in Mass each Sunday. Otherwise, religion was a non-factor in my life. My friends and I played violent video games like all the other kids. We went to the beach and the movies. We played sports (albeit only against other Catholic schools) and competed in academic competitions. And, other than those couple hours per week in class, religion was never part of the discussion. Things changed when I got to high school. I moved from a class of twenty to a class of almost 500. (It was, in fact, the largest co-ed Catholic high school in the western United States.) And religion changed from something you did to something that defined you. My friends were no longer shy in discussing religion or the Church — a product of the groupthink mentality that emerges in large, homogenous populations. More often than not, I found myself on the wrong side of arguments about matters of biblical teaching: Did God really flood the entire planet and only save Noah? Did Abraham really die at the age of 175? Did Jesus literally rise from the dead after three days? But the debate stemmed from something more than logical fallacies. I also found myself on the “wrong” side of arguments about matters of faith and spirituality. I came to realize that many of my friends — the ones who had rarely mentioned faith in the years I had known them — were much further down their path of spiritual development than they had led me to believe. No longer was I one of the crowd; rather, I was the one standing against the crowd. The pain of being treated like an outsider in my own community wore on me until it no longer felt like my community. One Sunday afternoon, after a particularly grueling sermon on the importance of all-encompassing devotion to the Church and its teachings, I finally told my mom that I wasn’t interested in going to Mass anymore. I officially removed myself from the Church, unsure if I might ever find my way back.
PHOTO COURTESY OF IAN DILLINGHAM
*** My high school, like my grade school, required students to attend regular religious classes. The mandated ninthgrade curriculum was “Catholic Life Choices.” Our teacher — a 30-something, unmarried layperson — was tasked with teaching a roomful of walking hormones not to have sex or think about sex or even say the word “sex.” She stood 5 feet tall, wore floor-length dresses and black-framed glasses, and alternated between quiet murmuring and bouts of screaming. On the best days, the class consisted of chitchat and busywork; on the worst days, it involved forced proclamations of faith and allegiance to the Church. During a discussion about spirits one day during the middle of the semester, a member of our class asks the teacher about Ouija boards, mystical playtoys marketed as a means to contact the dead. (Despite such ominous claims, they are primarily used by preteens to entertain their friends at sleepovers.) “Are they really possessed by the devil?” the young boy asks. His tone suggests he really just intends to rile the teacher and to create a classroom ruckus. The teacher, however,
calmly addresses the class and says that, in fact, the spirit of the Devil can possess such toys. As a preventative measure, she suggests that anyone who owns one should bring it to a priest to have it exorcised, and she insists that students not throw such an item away (lest some residual demons be left behind in the garbage can, I suppose). My ninth-grade self feels nauseated that a paid educator can suggest to a classroom full of students that a $13.16 piece of cardboard and plastic manufactured by Hasbro is a threat to their safety. Can the makers of Jenga really bring Satan into my home? The next day, I visit the room at lunch to probe the issue further. “Do you really believe a toy could be possessed by the devil?” I ask, hoping to reveal some major miscommunication from class the day prior. Despite my disagreement with large portions of the Church’s doctrine, I feel compelled to at least attempt to understand how such beliefs arise. Typically, I find the resulting conversations illuminating, and, even though they rarely change opinions, such open dialogue is helping me establish my personal creed. “Well, let me put it this way,” she replies. “Do you believe in angels?” “No,” I reply. I don’t mean for the answer to come out so bluntly, but I can immediately tell she is taken aback. I’m momentarily embarrassed, but hardly surprised. Teachers at my school are rarely prepared to deal with students who openly question the Catholic doctrine, which I have now done by eliminating angels from my worldview. “Oh, you couldn’t possibly understand what I’m talking about then,” she says. “It’s a matter of faith.” *** For many years now, I have considered myself a religious agnostic. I acknowledge that humans have a limited capacity to understand certain aspects of their universe and that, try as they might, they cannot obtain absolute or ultimate knowledge in any given subject. Back when my mother still dragged my brother and me out of bed for Sunday morning Mass, I was told what to wear, what to say, and what to do. The process was repetitive and often brainless. Never was I allowed, as I had wished on so many occasions, to raise my hand during a homily and to ask the priest to explain further. At first, the lack of independent thought was a nuisance. But as I grew older, unanswered questions burned inside me. Every time I got close enough to someone with “sacred” knowledge, the questions only became more intense and troubling. Since coming to college, I have felt more at ease about my lack of religious affiliation. Studies have shown that about one-third of college students consider themselves secular, compared with about 6 percent among the general population. Very few of my friends identify with a religion, and those who do often discuss questions of faith openly with me if asked. I’ve felt that college promotes a certain amount of agnosticism in everyone. Classes in biology and chemistry don’t just teach students the nature of science but, rather, how to ask the right questions. I may find faith again one day — faith either in the Catholic Church or in one of the other major or minor religions practiced. If agnosticism asks individuals to acknowledge uncertainty in life, then I must recognize the possibility that religion can be the right path for me. But I will never give up my ability to question. To question is to learn, to grow and to believe.
8B
Wednesday, October 28, 2015 // The Statement
Adulting by Karen Hua, Daily TV/New Media Editor
T
he first thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was “success.” I was three. Before I wanted to be a princess, ballerina, fashion designer, writer, “happy,” I wanted to be “success.” Perhaps I’d heard my parents studying ESL vocabulary at night. Perhaps it convinced them that I should skip pre-K. I was always the youngest in my class, but I didn’t care because I knew what the word “pre-co-shus” meant. Every day after school, my friends and I would play Pretend on the Thompson Elementary playground. As per usual, Mikayla would shout, “I’m the mom!” Erin would ask, “Can I be the oldest sister?” Casey would call: “Best friend who’s a modelartist-actress!” And I would declare, “I’m 20!” *** I’m 20. It’s my third year in college and I break the news to my friends: I’ll be graduating this May. I tell them that it’s the most “fiscally responsible” decision for an out-of-state student. I tell them that I have no regrets — I’ve taken all the classes I wanted, and really, the biggest disappointment is that I can’t get into Rick’s legally before I leave. They say they’re impressed — impressed that I can be financially independent, impressed that I can double major in three-quarters the time. I revel in “impressed.” I feel like “success.” I become a self-fulfilling prophecy — I complain that I’m getting tired of the same 40,000 faces, the same bars and small stadium. I’m outgrowing Ann Arbor, impatient to start a career in New York where I “belong.” *** “How old are you, sweetie?” A perky woman knelt down to my level in the backstage dressing room. “Eight,” I chirped. I was five, but I angled the bronzer brush deftly on my cheekbones, and I held the eyeliner pen without stabbing myself, so she didn’t question me twice. At age three, I cried before my first dance recital when Mommy was nowhere to be found and some random lady did my eyeshadow instead. I cried after, when Daddy carried me to the car, hissing in my ear, “Big girls don’t cry in public.” I learned to do my own eyeshadow like a big girl after that. At 12, I started wearing makeup to school and couldn’t
wait to be associated with the word “teen.” So for my 13th birthday, I sent for a Seventeen magazine subscription. When the first issue came, my parents were appalled — an early Taylor Swift graced the cover, pouting in bubblegum pink: “The new hookup rules you need to know!” At my first week of college, I blew out 18 candles of innocence on a cake that read, “You’re an adult, Karen!” My mom texted me the morning after: “What’d you for your birthday? Where’d you go?” I remembered how mature I felt the night before, red solo cup in hand, leading my new friends down the street — my legs half everyone’s height but my pace five-steps ahead. The “Boston-walk,” they called it, a product of my East Coast upbringing. Annoyed, I texted my mom back: “Stop worrying, I’m an adult now.” *** “You talk so fast,” he laughed. “Is that a Boston thing or is that just a Millennial thing?” He sat 16 years my senior and I sat in my Forever 21 dress at the five-star seaport restaurant he chose. As he excused himself for the bathroom, I rushed to stalk his Instagram, scrolling until I hit a #throwback to his high school formal circa 1995 — about five months before I was born. My friend Caroline’s jabbing voice echoed in my head: “I would save the 35-year-old until you’re at least 30.” So I confessed to him: “My friends don’t think I should date older men.” He chuckled and shrugged, “Do what you want.” That sure sounded simpler than Caroline’s advice: “You aren’t living life at the age you are.” At his place later, he asked, “How old are you again?” At 19, I had survived by first summer internship in New York; I was paying for a “cultured” apartment all by myself; I ate $1 pizza only four times a week. But in that moment, 19 never held so much shame. I rolled over, catching glimpse of a shiny gold band on his nightstand. “Are you … married?” my voice raised in alarm. He sighed. “Yeah, my wife and three kids are gonna be home soon … So actually you need to leave.” His voice stood stone cold, his stare serious — before he broke into laughter, explaining how the ring was just a prop from work. I laughed along, but Caroline’s voice rang again: “You don’t have to grow up this fast. Later you’re going to feel like you missed out.” *** After four months of summer apart, Hannah and I have finally caught up with everything we’ve missed. By 3 p.m., we still haven’t moved from her bed, our to-do lists neglected in the moment. “We need to get up and be productive,” I declare. “OK, you’re right,” she says. “The theme of this year will be adulting – to setting limits on partying, to grocery
shopping instead of eating out, to applying for real jobs.” “To adulting!” we cheer. Then we cuddle closer, watch another rom-com and talk about our celebrity crushes. Later, we dance on a balcony to Taylor Swift songs; we jump around in a bounce house then blow regrettable amounts of money on pizza. The next morning, I stare at the U.S. map above her bed, decorated with photos of us and our friends. Google says the distance from New York to Michigan is a 10 hour drive, or a $400 flight. I think about “financial responsibility.” Even now, when she’s only a 15-minute walk away, I tell her, “I can’t tonight, I have this article due.” She can’t tonight either, she’s curled up with her boy in the same spot I just slept. When we both grow up, will we ever pay $400 to “can”? I realize I sound like a 50-year-old at mid-life crisis — and I have nowhere near the agency to make the lamentations that I do. My life has thus far afforded me privileges — and the privilege of making mistakes. But, only now do I wish I had listened to Caroline at least a little — learned to wear makeup a little later, blown out the birthday candles a little less prematurely, relished my remaining time as an immature college student a little longer. As I hurry across the Diag, a student shoves a flier into my hand: “Meet your fellow freshmen — party at the rock tonight!” More self-conscious than offended, I refrain from my usual snarky, “Sorry, I’m a senior.” Instead, I take the paper, smile and say, “Thanks.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF KAREN HUA