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ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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ELECTION DAY 2015

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

LSA senior Zachary Ackerman at the Ann Arbor Brewing Company on Tuesday after he was elected to Ward 3 City Council.

ANDREW COHEN/Daily

LSA freshman Alina Haque registers to vote during the CSG Voice Your Vote commission’s campaign on the Diag on Tuesday.

Incumbent Jane Lumm Student wins 2 retains post on A Council Ward 3 seat Democratic challenger Sally Hart Petersen loses by 29-point margin

garnering 64.46 percent of the vote over Petersen’s 35.34 percent, with 100 percent of precincts reporting. The turnout rate in Ward 2 was 7.7 percent. On Tuesday, 1,283 votes were cast. The ward has 16,650 registered voters. The result will prevent Petersen from returning to elected office in Ann Arbor, after serving on the council from 2012 to 2014 until she forgoed her re-election campaign to conduct an unsuccessful mayoral run. Petersen and Lumm

By BRIAN KUANG Daily Staff Reporter

In Ann Arbor’s only contested City Council race, incumbent Jane Lumm (I) defeated Sally Petersen (D) for the open seat in Ward 2,

were not available for comment by telephone Tuesday evening. Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor and Councilmember Kirk Westphal (D–Ward 2) endorsed Petersen. Councilmembers Mike Anglin (D–Ward 5), Jack Eaton (D–Ward 4), Sumi Kailasapathy (D–Ward 1) and Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3) endorsed Lumm. The endorsements illustrates a split between members of the council aligned with Taylor and those who more frequently

LSA senior is first ‘U’ student to secure council seat in two decades

disagreed with his policy agenda. The city’s forthcoming deer cull featured prominently in the Ward 2 race, and has generated debate in council over the last few months. The City Council voted in August to move forward with plans to manage the city’s deer population with a cull. Lumm campaigned as a proponent for a deer cull while Petersen has voiced opposition to the plans. Other key issues included See LUMM, Page 3A

By EMMA KERR and CAMY METWALLY Daily News Editor and Daily Staff Reporter

LSA senior Zachary Ackerman secured a seat on Ann Arbor’s City

CAMPUS LIFE

STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Writer, activist talks Russian totalitarianism Masha Gessen presented with 24th annual Wallenberg Medal By LYDIA MURRAY Daily Staff Reporter

Russian journalist and activist Masha Gessen was awarded the 24th Wallenberg Medal on Tuesday night before a 250-person crowd in Rackham Auditorium. Gessen has written 11 books and is known for taking a strong stance on the deteriorating human rights condition in Syria as well as her open criticism of Russian president Vladimir Putin. She is also an activist for gay rights in Russia. According to a press release, Gessen received the award for “her willingness to write and speak truth to power whatever the personal cost.”

The Wallenberg Medal is given annually to an outstanding humanitarian. The award was named for University alum Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews in Nazioccupied Hungary during World War II. After accepting the medal, Gessen presented a lecture on the current state of affairs in Russia. Gessen focused on the ways totalitarian systems are formed and how she sees this playing out in Russia. She said it’s difficult for Western countries to accept the existence of totalitarian societies. “It was very difficult for the West to talk about totalitarian regimes because they seem preposterous,” Gessen said. “Who could really believe that you could use these simple ideas like the idea that certain races were fated to do better would lead to the extermination of millions of people.” See GESSEN, Page 2A

Council in an uncontested race Tuesday night, with 90.68 percent of the vote. With all precincts reporting, Ackerman garnered 730 votes from the 3rd Ward. It has been more than two decades since someone in Ackerman’s age range has been elected to City Council. Ackerman is 22 and spending an extra semester at the University as a fifth-year senior due to taking time off to work on campaigns. The low frequency of students See STUDENT, Page 3A

CSG plans student statement additions Assembly also approves inclusion of mental health resources in syllabi RUBY WALLAU/Daily

LSA juniors Nicole Khamis and Gabrielle Borg honor lives lost during the Vigil for the Victims of Recent Violence in Palestine and Israel on the Diag on Tuesday.

Vigil focuses on impacts of violence in Palestine, Israel Students gather to discuss recent conflict in region By ALYSSA BRANDON Daily Staff Reporter

Lights illuminated the Diag on Tuesday evening as students gathered at the steps of Hatcher Graduate Library to honor

victims of violence in Israel and Palestine. The vigil was organized by LSA junior Nicole Khamis and LSA senior Devin Jones, who are both Palestinian-Americans with extended family members who have been affected by the area’s history of conflict. Most recently, tensions have been high in the area following a spate of terrorist attacks in the region largely aimed at Israelis,

with four attacks occurring Oct. 13. Khamis began the event by sharing statistics on the number of Palestinians killed and injured due to violence in either Palestine or Israel from live gun fire — 921 in the past 30 days, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. She said it’s important to recognize statistics on the recent attacks in context of those deaths, See VIGIL, Page 3A

By JACKIE CHARNIGA Daily Staff Reporter

Central Student Government on Tuesday discussed seven proposed changes to the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities and passed a resolution to include mental health services in course syllabi. The statement governs nonacademic behavioral conduct at the University. Amended every three years, the statement features expectations for student conduct, and suggests sanctions and disciplinary procedures for violations such as illegal drug and alcohol use, hazing and sexual misconduct. CSG proposed seven amendments this cycle: establish formal See CSG, Page 3A

THE STATEMENT First-generation student experiences

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2A — Wednesday, November 4, 2015

TUESDAY: Campus Voices

MONDAY: This Week in History

WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers

THURSDAY: Twitter Talk

AT NYU, IMAGE RAISES CONTROVERSY

Halloween party draws criticism After a video projection of what some claim to have been a silhouetted man dying by suicide was projected at the New York University School of Law’s annual Fall Ball, a student organization within the law school wrote an open letter to its deans in protest, the Washington Square News reported Monday. The organization, called the Mental Health Law and Justice Association, wrote in its letter that other projected images included displays of interpersonal violence and violence against women. The Fall Ball party was Halloweenthemed, and because of that, some students said the images were more “Halloween fun” than they were inappropriate. “For members of our commu-

nity who have lost someone to suicide or who have had personal experiences, this topic is not a Halloween gimmick,” the letter states. “We believe that this unfortunate situation is the result of the stigma surrounding mental health and widespread misunderstanding of suicide.” As a result of the letter, the MHLJA will meet with the law school administration to discuss the topic. UCLA switches meal plan options In response to low participation rates, the University of California, Los Angeles switched from providing a supplemental meal plan for students adhering to kosher and halal diets to incorporating

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those meal options into regular university dining, the Daily Bruin reported Tuesday. Originally, students could buy the supplemental plans in addition to their regular meal plans, which cost about $2,600 for lunch and dinner meal options. Kosher and halal foods are those which are prepared according to the Jewish and Islamic faiths, respectively. The dietary laws include restrictions on types of meat and food preparation, for example. UCLA Dining Services officials stated that they will refund students who purchased the supplemental meal plan, but will continue to offer the same halal and kosher options for lunch and dinner until the end of the quarter. —EMILY ROBERTS

V O I C E YO U R V O T E

ANDREW COHEN /Daily

LSA sophomore Sara Lebow, chair of the Voice Your Vote Commission, hands out pamphlets on the current City Elections on the Diag on Tuesday.

WHAT: Landlords from Ann Arbor properties will participate in an off-campus housing fair, where they will discuss pricing and location for 2016 to 2017 leases. WHO: Dean of Students Office WHEN: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. WHERE: Michigan

WHAT: As part of the Brown Bag Organ Recital Series, students will perform solo organ music. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 12:15 p.m. WHERE: School of Public Health, Community Room

WHAT: As part of Diwali, a five-day Hindu festival, Theatre & Drama Prof. Christianne Myerswill be hold a workshop on shadow puppet design. WHO: North Quad Programming WHEN: 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: North Quad, Space 2435

WHAT: Architect JeanLouis Cohen will be discussing Soviet and American architecture. WHO: College of Architecture and Urban Planning WHEN: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. WHERE: Art and Archtecture Building, Room 2104

WHAT: Associate Nursing Prof. Denise Saint Arnault, will discuss her research on gender, cultural and social influences and their connection to mental health. WHO: School of Nursing WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: School of Nursing, Room 1330

ZOEY HOLMSTROM /Daily

University President Mark Schlissel presents the Wallenberg Medal to Masha Gessen, Russian and American journalist, author and activist, at Rackham Auditorium on Tuesday.

GESSEN From Page 1A Gessen argued that people need to take the repercussions of totalitarian regimes seriously, no matter how preposterous they

seem, rather than risk the great tragedy that can occur if Western countries ignore them. “We’re so rational we don’t like to believe in things that are preposterous, and it gives us a lot of satisfaction to feel more intelligent and just sort of sniff at things,” she

Swing dancing WHAT: Swing Ann Arbor, a student organization dedicated to high-quality swing dance instruction, will offer a free drop-in lesson. WHO: Swing Ann Arbor WHEN: 8 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Vandenberg Room •Please submit corrections to corrections@ michigandaily.com

said. “But it is so much better to have unjustified fear, to have let your imagination run wild, than to have let down your fellow human beings because you didn’t believe.” Gessen spoke about how an entire country could be swayed by a single ideology. She said Russia’s past harsh rule has ruined the people’s ability to hold core values, and they are therefore susceptible to the shifting of ideologies. Totalitarianism, she said, not only sways public opinion, but renders people unable to form opinions in the first place. Talking about Russia specifically, Gessen said Putin gained power by appealing to traditional values. “The most important thing he did was back into an ideology,” she said. “He was trying to paint the protesters as others and when he started queerbaiting them, that’s when it worked. This idea of this traditional civilization presented itself, and the idea of the traditional civilization is a perfectly primitive and preposterous idea.” Discussing what the West can do in response to Russia’s shift back toward a totalitarian state, Gessen said leaders should emphasize a system of politics based on morals rather than reason. Specifically with Russia’s position in the Ukraine, Gessen said it is important to take action from a moral standpoint, not a strategic one. She said the sanctions placed on Russia by the United States and Western Europe were logical, but predictably unsuccessful. “It goes along with the idea that we have to be realistic and strategic and the only reason to do something is because it’s going to work,” she said. “What I’m suggesting is the reason to do something is not that it’s going to work, but that it’s the right thing to do.” LSA senior Marion Berger said she found the talk very encouraging as a member of the LGBTQ community. “As a queer person, it’s really inspiring to see another queer woman on the stage at a big event like this,” Berger said. “It’s really remarkable to have role models like Masha Gessen in the world and to see them be rewarded for the incredible work that they do, especially since this kind of work often goes unnoticed.”

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Architecture lecture

WHAT: University President Mark Schlissel will deliver an address on ethics in the field of medicine as part of the 20th annual Waggoner Lecture. WHO: Depression Center WHEN: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: University Hospitals, Ford Auditorium

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WHAT: Virág Molnár, an associate professor of sociology at The New School for Social Research, will present on Hungary’s increasingly right-wing political sphere and its effect on industry. WHO: Department of Sociology WHEN: 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: School of Social Work Building, Room 1636

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THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY

Amazon will be opening its first bookstore in Seattle’s University Village, the Seattle Times reported. The company will be stocking books based on data collected from customer ratings, sales totals and Goodreads popularity.

First-generation students face unique challenges transitioning to college life. But they also bring different perspectives from a majority of the campus community. >> FOR MORE, SEE THE STATEMENT

Jon Stewart (of Daily Show fame) has signed a four-year contract with HBO to produce short-form digital content for its HBO NOW and HBO GO platforms, according to an official post on the blog site Medium by the HBO Public Relations team.

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BUSINESS STAFF Hussein Hakim Finance and Operations Manager Claire Ulak Production Manager Jordan Yob Marketing Manager Matt Pfenning UAccounts Manager Asja Kepes Local Accounts Manager Colin Cheesman National Accounts Manager Anna He Special Guides and Online Manager Claire Butz Layout Manager The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. Subscriptions for fall term, starting in September, via U.S. mail are $110. Winter term (January through April) is $115, yearlong (September through April) is $195. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and The Associated Collegiate Press.

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Shraddha Bhatawadekar, Nehru-Fulbright Academic and Professional Excellence fellow, discusses the importance of preserving cultural heritage sites in India at the Museum of Art on Tuesday.

Lecture highlights culture preservation in Mumbai Fulbright fellow talks impact of development on heritage sites By ALEXA ST. JOHN Daily Staff Reporter

Shraddha Bhatawadekar, a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellow, began her presentation on India with a joke — that the first thing people often want to know is how she survives the Michigan winter. However, the ultimate goal of Bhatawadekar’s discussion Tuesday night at the University was not talking about Michigan’s climate, but rather presenting the challenges of maintaining and preserving India’s cultural heritage in archaeological sites. The event was sponsored by the Museum Studies Program and the Center for South Asian Studies. Bhatawadekar, who earned her bachelor’s degree in history at Mumbai University, has worked in archaeology,

research and museum development throughout her career. She is currently in residence at the University and working on a research project about communicating the significance of India’s archeological heritage. Bhatawadekar told attendees that preserving heritage is crucial, despite the many challenges that arise while doing so. Her sentiment was echoed by Anthropology Prof. Carla Sinopoli, director of the Museum Studies Program, who said the program wanted to explore issues of preserving heritage from an international perspective as part of an ongoing series of talks. “(We’re) looking at the range of both threats to heritages and museums and the responses to them in the Middle East, South Asia, Greece, and . . . in our own backyard,” Sinopoli said. Speaking specifically to Mumbai, Bhatawadekar emphasized the importance of heritage preservation because of its cultural impact. “Imagine India without the Taj Mahal or the world without one of its wonders,” she said. Bhatawadekar described her native city, Mumbai, as a heritage

city, which is defined as a city that is has particular cultural importance to a country. Important heritage sites in Mumbai include Sopara Stupa, an ancient port city for international trade, the Kanheri Caves, a center for Buddhist learning, the Ambreshwar Shiva Temple and most well known, the Taj Mahal. Many of these landmarks are considered World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and are significant drivers of India’s tourism industry. However, Bhatawadekar said Mumbai is also characterized by another phenomenon — industrial growth. Today the most populous city in India, the population of Greater Mumbai has grown to approximately 12.4 million people as of 2011, averaging a density of about 54,000 people per square mile. In cities like Mumbai, the pressures of urbanization constantly influence the distinction between the old and the new and threaten the balance between conservation and development, Bhatawadekar said. Read more of this story online at michigandaily.com.

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Wu donates $10 million to ‘U’ China partnership University alumnus and investor John Wu, and his wife, Jane Sun, donated $10 million to the University of MichiganShanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute. The Joint Institute was founded in 2006 and is located on the campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The Joint Institute consists of 1,280 students studying mechanical, electrical and computer engineering. The donation will set up the John Wu and Jane Sun Endowment Fund, which will support professorships, scholarships, faculty awards and student entrepreneurship funds, among other programs. Wu graduated from the University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in computer science. He then worked senior positions at Yahoo! and Alibaba, a Chinese e-retailer. “The University of Michigan and Shanghai Jiaotong University provided me with deeply meaningful educational opportunities. Jane and I are delighted to support the Joint Institute, and we look forward to the continued success of students and faculty,” Wu said.

6,000 Detroit casino workers authorize strike According to the Detorit Free Press, roughly 6,000 casino workers authorized union leaders to call a strike amid contract disputes between the Detroit Casino Council and three gambling halls: Greektown Casino, MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity Casino., The Detroit Free Press reported. The Detroit Casino Council is a consortium of four unions. The DCC asked its members for permission to authorize a strike just three days after state and federal mediators called for a “cooling off” break between the two sides in the negotiations, which have been ongoing since August 24th. Dave DeLong, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 372, a union, and a member of the bargaining committee said healthcare is an issue of contention among workers. “I can tell you that healthcare has been the major stumble block here,” DeLong said. “Our members would like to keep the current coverage that they have without any increased cost.”

Michigan Senate passes road funding bills If fee and tax increases passed in the Michigan senate become law, Michigan drivers should expect an increase in $20 in registration fees and $1.17 more for a 15 -gallon fill-up, The Detroit Free Press reports. These increases are part of a $1.2-billion road funding plan. Republicans in the Senate passed the bill, which aims to raise $400 million from increased fuel taxes, $200 million from higher registration fees while taking $600 million from the state’s general fund. The plan also calls for an income tax rollback for Michigan residents that would start in 2023 if the bill passes through the state House and is signed by Gov. Rick Snyder. Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof (R-West Olive) expects the package of bills to recieve the support of both the House and Gov. Snyder. “It’s going to help our economy,” Meekhof said. “Not everything that we send out is perfect.” Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich (D-Flint) said he would encourage Gov. Snyder to veto the bill because he feels its delayed tax and fee increases signify a delay in improvement on the roads. —LARA MOEHLMAN

VIGIL From Page 1A adding that Palestinians are not inherently violent people. “I think it’s really important, once we look at the statistics, not to label Palestinians as people who are inherently violent and people who are violent without reason,” she said. Following the statistics, Jones read the names of 66 Palestinians and eight Israelis who died over the past 30 days, after which students paid homage with a moment of silence. Organizers indicated that the event, which spanned both a reading of names as well as discussion about the broader issues in the region, was set to honor both Palestinian and Israeli victims, though Ann Arbor resident Joel Reinstein offered remarks condemning the Israeli occupation of Palestine and encouraging vigil attendees to boycott Israel during the second part of the event. His sentiment was echoed by most speakers.

News “This situation is unspeakable, but it’s not complicated,” he said. “This is a violence between oppressor and oppressed, between occupying soldiers and people whose lives are made worse than death.” Khamis also cited the Israeli occupation during the event, calling it the root cause of the violence in Israel and Palestine. “Something that’s really important to contextualize is the fact that when we look at the media, everything is novel ... everything is new,” she said. “But this isn’t a new problem. This has been going on because of the occupation that has been going on for Palestinians in the West Bank and in the Gaza since 1967.” In 1967, Israel launched a series of preemptive air attacks against Egypt, which had been amassing troops along Israel’s border in the Sinai Peninsula. The resulting conflict — the Six Day War — ended with Israel gaining control of several new territories, including the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza and the West Bank. In 1977, Israel withdrew from the Sinai

Peninsula. There is still an Israeli presence in the West Bank. Khamis, who also spoke during the vigil, cited her personal experiences as a Palestinian living in small town in the West Bank, which she said is now surrounded by a 25-foot wall. She also said Palestinians in some areas aren’t allowed to visit other parts of the region and cannot marry others from different towns. “All of these are against international human rights, and to subject a population to these racists policies is wrong,” she said. “To sit here and allow these injustices to keep going, a part of us dies. I hope as a Michigan community we can come together to condemn this violence and demand for peace, but furthermore that this occupation needs to end.” Jones echoed Khamis’ remarks, and said he thinks Palestinian citizens of Israel are persecuted. “This isn’t just a Palestinian thing, for Palestinians who live in the West Bank or Gaza,” he said. “This is for the Palestinians that make up 20 percent of Israel’s population. Palestinian citizens

simply their own.” Honor pledge After the January ski trip at a Northern Michigan ski trip resulted in thousands of dollars of damage last year, a CSG task force commissioned a proposal to add an additional honor code as a supplement to the statement. The code stipulates it is symbolic rather than binding, and is meant to remind students to conduct themselves in a way that reflects the University’s ideals and values. “Since the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities is a lengthy document, this short honor pledge would be more tangible to students to familiarize themselves with or even RITA MORRIS /Daily memorize,” the code states. Public Policy sophomore Jacob Pearlman proposes amendments to the Pearlman said the code is Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities during the Central Student meant to help students rather Government meeting Tuesday in the Michigan Union. than make them susceptible to serves as a liaison between the punishment by the administraCSG Faculty Senate and CSG. tion. From Page 1A Recommended amendments “When you guys go out and are will then be filtered through E. making decisions, no one’s asking venues for students to weigh in Royster Harper, vice president you to memorize this document,” on several amendments, includ- for student life, and Timothy he said. Education ing the addition of an honor Lynch, University vice president pledge, include statement edu- and general counsel. This amendment proposes cation during new student Once the proposals have been that students be educated on the orientation, specification of a reviewed, the Office of the Vice statement during orientation. consistent 3-year amendment President and General Counsel Pearlman said doing so during cycle, specify the scope of viola- will forward its recommenda- orientation would allow the Unitions and formalize the Univer- tions to the Office of the Presi- versity to reach students when sity president’s need to chose dent by March 2016. they are most receptive to new amendments before the end of University President Mark information. Frequency of cycle the school year. Schlissel would make final deciCSG president Cooper Charl- sions on which revisions will go Though in recent years the ton, an LSA senior, said CSG into effect by July 1 of next year. statement has been amended Transparency General Counsel Jacob Pearlevery three years, specific cycle man, a Public Policy sophomore, Pearlman said CSG should length is not currently included in was largely responsible for the play a role not just in adding the statement. This amendment creation and submission of the amendments to the statement, would cement the three-year amendments. but approving amendments amendment cycle. Scope “This amendment process was put forth by other governing truly gruesome,” Charlton said. branches. He said all amendThis proposal basically ensures Pearlman addressed the ments should be filtered through that students are held to the verassembly about the seven CSG, which is largely overlooked sion of the code that was in place amendments, which were sub- through the current process. when they committed a violation. Communication mitted Monday to the Student “Skipping student input here, Relations Advisory Committee. I don’t like that,” Pearlman said. This amendment addresses the CSG’s proposals — as well as “An executive officer or the University president’s role and proposed amendments submit- Faculty Senate could propose obligations with the Statement. ted by the Executive Officers amendments to SRAC that CSG Currently, Pearlman said the and the Faculty Senate — will would never see … Giving CSG University president reserves the be sent to the Student Relations the power to recommend or not right to alter the Statement at any Advisory Committee, which reccomend all proposals and not point in time. However, Univer-

STUDENT From Page 1A holding elected office in Ann Arbor isn’t due to a lack of trying. University alum Peter Nicolas was elected to City Council in 1992 at the age of 21, and since then, a number of students have attempted to run for the position. Ackerman was the first in a while to succeed. Ackerman was chosen as the Democratic candidate in the city’s August primary, in which he unseated longtime Councilmember Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3). At a watch party Tuesday evening attended by both Ackerman and fellow newly elected councilmember Chip Smith, attendees expressed support for both candidates. In an interview during the watch party, Ackerman discussed the disadvantage faced by many University students in the community who would like to voice their opinions. In particular, he cited the fact that with primary elections in August, few students are on campus to participate in elections. “Most of the deciding votes of

the city happen in August when only one-tenth of the student body is enrolled in classes,” Ackerman said. “That’s not to say that I think the city should be run by representatives of the student body. I think there has to be a critical balance because no temporary resident should dictate policy for the next 20 years.” LSA junior Samuel McMullen, who ran for City Council as a freshman but was defeated, said it is refreshing to see younger members elected. He said though the city is largely composed of students, the demographic is underrepresented in local government. “We have a pretty big imbalance in terms of policy, where the source of the policy doesn’t match up with the people that it’s affecting,” McMullen said. Ackerman said he focused on running an active and personal campaign in connecting to residents across the city, knocking on more than 4,000 doors. After campaign season, Ackerman said he plans to hold two coffee hours per week, providing Ann Arbor residents with the opportunity to share concerns. He also aims to attend a variety of community events to foster collaboration with citizens

and continue to strengthen connections with them. “I think we often times have high level conversations that ignore what people want,” Ackerman said. “I ran to be a responsive leader, and I am committed fully to that.” Along with limited student representation on City Council, student turnout in city elections has also typically been low, though student organizations this year cited Ackerman’s candidacy as a potential path to higher turnout. LSA sophomore Sara Lebow, chair of the Central Student Government commission Voice Your Vote, was out on the Diag on Tuesday encouraging students to vote. Though student turnout is usually highest in years when presidential or state elections are on the ballot, Lebow said council elections are important for students, too. “I guess young people a lot of times have pretty low turnouts, which means the elections tend to represent the votes of the older populations,” Lebow said. “But, in a city like Ann Arbor, where so much of the population is people between 18 and 30, you need people voting in the local

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 — 3A of Israel have been arrested for Facebook posts and for merely existing and for showing up in support of things that are done for other Palestinians.” In an interview with the Daily, Jones said he believes Palestinians are suffering the most in the ongoing conflict in the area. “This isn’t mutually affecting both sides,” he said. “There are people from both sides that are injured, but the toll suffered by Palestinian is so much higher than any other side.” In an interview with the Daily after the event, LSA senior Daniel Pearlman, who attended the vigil, said he was disappointed that the event was heavily politicized. Pearlman is a member of WolvPac, a political group on campus that promotes a strong relationship between the United States and Israel. WolvPac joined with several other Israel-related groups on campus last month to host a vigil for victims of terror in Israel. “It seemed like a good cause and it seemed like it would be beneficial to everybody who has family and friends affected, Israeli

sity President Emerita Mary Sue Coleman always decided which amendments would be chosen before the end of Winter semester, while students were still on campus. The amendment proposes that Coleman’s precedent of approving amendments at a specified time become a requirement. Executive communications Charlton also spoke about the progress CSG has made with the Faculty Senate’s decision regarding the release of course evaluations for student consideration. Last Monday, the body voted to support a delay in releasing course evaluation data to students. “We’ve progressed actually quite positively,” Charlton said. Charlton said the two ongoing conversations between the Faculty Senate and CSG regarding course evaluations are their release to students and the creation of a committee to re-evaluate the instrument of gathering course evaluations. Charlton said CSG asking for the release of the data by Winter 2016 is still on the table. “CSG still wants to see course evaluations be public,” Charlton said, “However that conversation has progressed into an ask of giving course evaluations to advisers with the contextualization they requested initially.” Charlton said the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs is in support of at least releasing the course evaluation to advisors, so that they can talk to their students about it. “Some people are calling this a compromise,” Charlton said, “I’m calling it common sense.” A forum on the topic will be held Nov. 16 in CSG chambers at the Michigan Union. Mental health in syllabi CSG voted on a resolution to add mental health services in syllabus language, which passed unanimously. LSA junior Sierra Stone, one of the authors of the resolution, said, in addition to faculty members, Graduate Student Instructors will be trained about how to address mental health in their syllabi.

elections, which is going to affect them directly.” Turnout this year remained significantly low in studentdominated precincts, though it’s difficult to fully discern the impact of the student vote because voting wards are drawn from the center of downtown — meaning students are divided among the wards. Turnout was also low across the city, since the majority of council races were uncontested. The Michigan Union reported a voter turnout of 0.81 percent of those registered in Ward 1’s first and second precinct and a voter turnout of 1.15 percent for Ward 4’s first precinct. The Michigan League, which was assigned Ward 3 precincts 1 and 2, had a voter turnout of 1.20 percent. Seven ballots were cast at Palmer Commons, five for Sally Petersen and two for Jane Lumm. At Pierpont Commons, six ballots were cast with a voter turnout of 0.45 percent. Lebow cited Ackerman’s campaign as an opportunity to mitigate the underrepresentation of students in Ann Arbor city government because his candidacy represents an increase in student involvement. That involvement, she said, begins with getting more

and Palestinians,” he said. “It was very, very one-sided, and I was really disappointed to see that. There are people that are dying on both sides, and I thought that they were being sacrificed for the promotion of a political cause. I’m still happy I went, I just really wish it wasn’t for this purpose.” Speaking near the end of the vigil, Khamis said the goal of the event was to demonstrate that the violence in the region impacts a range of individuals in the University community. “Just know that people are on this campus, not just Palestinian, both sides are being affected by this issue,” she said. “Just keep that in your hearts. If you pray, pray for peace. I hope that at the end of the day we can all come together as a Michigan community and put an end to this violence.” “This situation is a lot closer to home than people think and that it’s affecting everyone,” she said. “I think it’s walking away with more context on the issue than just names, and knowing that it’s an issue that’s impacting students here.”

LUMM From Page 1A previous experience on the council, transparency and attitudes toward new development within the city. This election also drew large amounts of fundraising by both campaigns. Petersen raised $33,640 and spent $27,556. Lumm raised $25,035 and spent $12,418. Both also posted small amounts of late contributions filed after Oct. 23. Lumm served as an independent on council since 2011, and previously held a council seat as a Republican in the 1990s. In April, she said the 2015 race would be her last. Before assuming a council seat in 2012, Petersen held positions in marketing at several firms in the Ann Arbor area and currently serves on the board of the Neutral Zone. The University’s chapter of the College Democrats endorsed Petersen and actively canvassed door-to-door and made phone calls on her behalf. “While City Council doesn’t seem like it has much of an influence on you directly, that’s where a lot of the day-to-day things of your life are decided,” said LSA junior Stephen Culbertson, the College Democrats communications chair, Tuesday afternoon. “In a local municipal elections students don’t really see it as relevant to them as national politics, so we definitely want to encourage students to be involved at the local level.” Tuesday’s overall voter turnout in Ann Arbor was 12.29 percent. Incumbent Sabra Briere, LSA senior Zachary Ackerman and incumbent Jack Eaton, all Democrats, won unopposed races in Wards 1, 3 and 4 respectively. Democrat Chip Smith easily defeated a write-in campaign for a seat in Ward 5.

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students to vote. The University’s Chapter of College Democrats also encouraged students to vote throughout the week, holding a forum last week and going door to door for candidates running as Democrats in the city election. They also encouraged a competition between students living on campus in East Quad Residence Hall, West Quad Residence Hall, on the Hill and on North Campus who vote at the Michigan League, the Michigan Union, Palmer Commons and Pierpont Commons respectively. In campaigning, Ackerman said he sought to hear the voices of a broad range of residents, adding that his agenda and outreach focused on all residents, including but not limited to students. He said thought hearing from a diverse array of citizens in all forms of civic engagement was important for elected officials. “I think too often, especially at the local level, we only get to hear from one segment of the population,” Ackerman said. “We’re a diverse city of age, socioeconomic class and race, and I think hearing every side of the story is critical to making policy decisions.”

Opinion

4A — Wednesday, November 4, 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

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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.

#Selfie

illennials have been cited as one of the most narcissistic generations in comparison to Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. In an age of selfies, instant gratification and self-assurance in their ability to manipulate technology, it’s no surprise millennials would be perceived as vain. Yet is there a moment when this obsession with the self directs an inward focus on self-awareness and ALEXIS self-consciousness in a way FARMER that’s actually productive? Self-consciousness is typically seen with a negative connotation under the premise that one is unsure of oneself. I would challenge that premise. I view self-consciousness as being deliberate and fully aware of one’s own existence. In the midst of a generation of self-photographers who capture images of our most beautiful, most adventurous, strongest and accomplished moments, it can be challenging to critically selfevaluate our internal feelings with our relationship with ourselves. College is a transformational stage — a pivotal marker in defining what makes each of us unique. The years spent in college are often encouraged to be used as a period of self-discovery. By the end of one’s college career, a student should be able to answer the question, “Who are you?” Students are often befuddled by this question. Their responses are usually a composition of one-dimensional characteristics such as their major, their year in school, activities they are involved in, how they self-identify and the beauty pageant answer of wanting to make the world a better place. These obvious adjectives only graze the surface of who we are. “Who are you?” is not an easy question to answer; it requires thoughtful understanding of oneself. Few times in life do people set aside time to freely and intentionally think about their priorities in life, how their background influences those priorities, identify their weaknesses, and strengthen and create a realistic plan for themselves to make those priorities tangible. As I recall hearing my freshman year during a Black Student Union meeting, college is the best time to be selfish. With an infinite amount of responsibilities, it can be difficult to strategically use college to prioritize your experiences around getting to know oneself holistically, and to know how one’s personality is enriched by academics, extracurriculars and professional opportunities. In college, there is an innumerable amount of chances for students to heighten their personal development. Such opportunities can make students feel overwhelmed with options, adding to the daily stresses many undergo. Through the duration of my time in college, Rihanna’s “Question Existing” chorus constantly reminds me of three questions I can use to check my self-awareness: Who am I living for? Is this my limit? Can I endure some more? Chances are given, question existing Rihanna’s lyrics force me to reflect on what I elect to involve myself in. Why am I doing this? What benefit does this give to me? What do I have to contribute? Am I really giving the most of myself that I can to make the most out of my experience and to feel utilized?

These questions serve dual purposes, both as an exercise of checking one’s self-consciousness and boosting self-confidence. How confident am I in my own abilities, talents and endurance to create and become the best version I perceive myself to be? How will I hold myself accountable for making sure I meet my goals and expectations? Distinguishing expectations I set for myself and the expectations others have for me is a process in itself. It can be difficult to detach one from the other; often times, others’ expectations can determine how we project ourselves to the world. Yet, our passions and talents best display themselves when we set our own expectations. As David Brooks, political and cultural commentator, brilliantly points out in his article about passion, “People who live with passion start out with an especially intense desire to complete themselves. We are the only animals who are naturally unfinished. We have to bring ourselves to fulfillment, to integration and to coherence ... (People with passion) construct themselves inwardly by expressing themselves outwardly.” Self-fulfillment is a lifelong journey. The desire to complete oneself can be powerful, so much so that it can be destructive to developing intimacy with ourselves. There’s a fine line between self-consciousness being productive and being harmful. When the process becomes antagonizing or isolating, we become vulnerable to doubt and fear, and can begin to mistrust our abilities. If we give into these misgivings, we stunt our own personal growth and fail to challenge ourselves to adjust to our current stage in the self-learning process. In our reflections, we must know ourselves well enough to identify these boundaries, and recognize when our discomfort comes from true pain rather than from the fear of understanding a level of ourselves we never had encountered before. In one of James Baldwin’s best works, “No Name in the Street,” he wrote, “I have always been struck, in America, by an emotional poverty so bottomless, and a terror of human life, of human touch, so deep that virtually no American appears able to achieve any viable, organic connection between his public stance and his private life.” In a global society that seems emotionally bankrupt — reminding its inhabitants constantly that Black lives don’t matter, where our schools are still segregated by race and income, where civil liberties are contractual, where laws sustain cycles of poverty and second-class citizenry for ex-offenders from our iniquitous criminal justice system, where structures of power can commit heinous crimes against human rights while powerful nations act as bystanders and where historical injustices still need to be absolved — it’s imperative that we are rooted in fundamental understanding of ourselves and our role in this society. To be our most authentic selves, our public stances and private thoughts must conjoin at a comfortable level of dissonance. Self-interrogation can be draining, but it’s necessary for growth. If we do not know ourselves intimately, how do we know our place in the world? How can we relate to one another? How can we become agents of change and progress if we do not challenge ourselves to evolve? But before you answer those questions, take a selfie. — Alexis Farmer can be reached at akfarmer@umich.edu.

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The ghost of fear

don’t believe in ghosts and probably never will, despite my father’s best efforts. He grew up off a little wooded lane called Cuba Road. It’s supposedly one of the most haunted places in Illinois, and had the stories to boot: “There’s a ghost of an old man TOM who walks the WEST road back and forth looking for his family,” he’d say. “Never pick him up, Tommy, when you’re old enough to drive.” And then, of course, there was the ghost of the tricycle-riding 5-year-old. The peddling spectre would appear if you drove past the old asylum. “I’m not lying to you, son. You best stay away from that old asylum, now, you hear?” I never did confirm if there’s an old asylum out by Cuba Road, but not for lack of looking. In middle school, we’d hike through the marsh that’s just north of Cuba Road, never finding anything but a rusty saw we assumed, naturally, the asylum used for lobotomies. It wasn’t ghosts or death we were afraid of, but boredom, as most children are. But it’s possible, growing up, to learn to be afraid of the dark. With good reason. When I was 16 years old, I spent a week on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. I was doing charity work, and that sort of thing was expected of a young person from a good Christian background and a well-to-do town. And who, one day, would need something to write about in college application essays. We worked most days fixing up houses. Sometimes we built fences, protecting the Lakota’s pastures from coyotes and wild dogs in the reservation’s interior. Much of the reservation is 400 square miles of prairie, empty except for predators and wild horses. It was also the site of the notorious pre-Columbian Crow Creek Massacre. Somewhere out there is a mass grave, a remnant of a conflict in which the invaders scalped most villagers and the oth-

ers were decapitated, though I suppose that’s not mutually exclusive. Kids of the reservation know not to wander into the interior, mostly. Sometimes a young one will get lost. I heard a story once about a 5-year-old who followed a stray dog out of camp and never came back. They looked for a few days without any sign of him, though no one knew how he got that far. The last night of the trip, after the sweat lodge, we were given time to reflect. I was never one for reflection, especially at 16, and managed to convince a few other volunteers to hike into the interior. “My wallet,” I lied. “I must have left it by the sage fields.” I just wanted to see the stars from out there. They were the best on the reservation since there was no light. “I hike at home all the time,” I said. “And I want to pick some sage as a souvenir.” I didn’t pick sage while the Lakota were around, since their custom is to pick ritual sage in a particular fashion while making offerings of tobacco as payment. We lost the trail within an hour. A mile into our hike, we saw a black dog staring at us, eyes glowing in the flashlight beam. We ran until we realized we’d lost the path. Now, the flashlight was blinking out, and we were hopelessly lost. What’s more, our luck had turned sour. I tripped and landed on a cactus. Another hiker tripped and fell into a shallow ravine. It had been about three hours by now. We wondered if they would start looking for us soon. We wondered if they even noticed we were gone. And lastly, we thought about the missing little boy who followed the stray dog, and the black dog that had stared at us and scared us off the trail, and how diseased it looked, and how we could all smell it, still, an oppressive stench that conflated with the darkness to terrify us. I had a bundle of sage in my fist, which I’d taken without offering any tobacco. When the group turned on each other, a la “The Blair Witch Project,” my stolen sage and I were the target. “Just put it back,” some of them said. “You don’t know. I know you don’t believe but you don’t know,”

they begged. But I did know. Taking a plant didn’t have anything to do with getting lost. “OK,” I said, pretending to drop the bundle. But I kept it. I tucked it into my back pocket. It was fine until someone pointed the flashlight at a bush, and I thought it was the black dog. I sprinted away, off into the darkness, leaving the group behind. Here’s what I learned wandering around a haunted Indian reservation at night by myself: It doesn’t matter if the ghosts are real if the fear is. Fear got me lost, not ghosts, but the result was the same. I might never be found. I dropped the sage. No one was there to see it, so I didn’t do it for them. But it was my way of admitting to myself that I was afraid. Sometimes that’s all you can do in the face of ghosts: admit that you are afraid, and that you don’t know what’s next, and that you’re sorry, and scared, and that you are afraid, you are afraid. When they found me, I was walking deeper into the interior. I’d heard a howling; I was hoping it was the dogs around camp. Ten Lakota kids went looking for us in an off-roader and found the rest of the group. They spent the better part of an hour following me in. The Lakota had a black dog with them, covered in swollen ticks and with hardly any hair. His name was Caleb, and he helped them find us. “We’ve got to go,” the kid driving said. “Haven’t you noticed? A storm is coming in from the west.” That was why it had been so dark. A cloud moved toward camp, blinking out the stars as it came. By the time we got back to camp, wind was ripping our tents from the ground. We slept in the chief’s basement, all of us curled up like a mass of voles, and in the morning we collected what was left of our belongings. We found our things 100 yards from where they were. Almost all of our things, anyways. I lost a pair of jeans, the one with my wallet in the back pocket. I wonder sometimes, if I went back to the sage field where I lied and said it was, if I’d find it there. — Tom West can be reached at tkwest@umich.edu.

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That time we went viral

or years, we’ve all felt it. Life seems to be getting more and more expensive. And for years — for most of us — complaining about low pay, car payments and rising housing costs seemed to be the solution. Then boom. Earlier this ZACHARY year, Ann Arbor ACKERMAN was ranked the eighth-most economically segregated city in the nation. We’re definitely a culture and a generation that loves our news in rankings and list form. And sure enough, this news went viral. Now I appreciate any wake-up call, Buzzfeed-style or otherwise. But simply being ranked eighthworst doesn’t tell the full story. What does economic segregation really mean in Ann Arbor? A desirable city attracts people who can choose to live anywhere. And people who can choose to live anywhere make a city even more desirable. At first glance, it’s a nice problem to have. But it’s also a cycle that has a lot of unintended consequences — consequences disproportionately felt by those who don’t have the luxury of choice. In any city, there’s always visible poverty. We’re quite aware of the fact that there are residents who live on our streets. Unfortunately, it’s usually an awareness measured only in spare change. But it’s the economic hardship that we don’t see, the hardship faced by neighbors and coworkers, that’s the most pervasive and toxic to a healthy community. Since 1979, the top 10 percent of Ann Arbor incomes have jumped almost 19 percent. That’s mean-

ingful economic growth that you can be proud of. But that growth is matched by a staggering drop in income for the bottom 10 percent of our community — a drop of more than 14 percent. I have a hard time being proud of growth if it isn’t felt by my neighbor. And neighbors aren’t feeling that growth. In fact, they’re feeling the opposite. There’s a timeless maxim that says work is the greatest form of welfare. But not all work is created equal, and that inequality is felt by many people. Prior to taxes, a couple both working minimumwage jobs, with two kids, would need to spend about 44 percent of their annual combined income on a one-bedroom apartment in Ann Arbor. If they wanted to give their kids a separate room to share, that number jumps to about 58 percent, nearly double what the federal government defines as remotely affordable. That doesn’t really leave room in the budget for a car, let alone food. For the wage-earner — the person who waits our tables, serves our coffee or cleans our classrooms — life in Ann Arbor seems increasingly impossible. But while those numbers are alarming, the story is more complicated than the richest and the poorest. As the gap between the top and bottom of income grows, so too does the size of its middle. In Ann Arbor, the starting salary of a public school teacher before taxes is just over $38,000 — still only half the median income of the city. To live in that same one-bedroom apartment, a new teacher would need to spend nearly 40 percent of his or her annual salary on rent alone. Professionals who once lived comfortably in communities are being pushed out. Clearly, there is a “Missing Middle” in the housing market. As of now, Ann Arbor’s solution to

rising costs and increasing inequality is to export people to Ypsilanti. Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti may only be 10 miles apart, but our neighbor can feel a world away. With average rental rates hanging about $200 per month lower than equivalent units in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti has become our affordable housing option. As of now, Ann Arbor’s solution to the 10 miles separating our two communities has been expanded public transit. I believe public transit to be a public good — one worthy of investment. But this isn’t a sustainable solution. It’s a bandage on a wound that’s bleeding human capital, draining our community of economic opportunity and dismantling our inclusive character. The solution has to be holistic. It has to take wage and transit and housing into account. It has to be thoughtful in design and decisive in implementation. This is a crisis affecting every city across the country. As we graduate, look for work and decide where we settle, it’s a crisis that will affect each of us. Ann Arbor City Council has pledged to do its part by creating 2,800 new units of affordable housing in the next 20 years. This can’t be lip service. This goal has to be matched with clear resolve and opportunities taken. It’s a complex issue that has to be approached very intentionally. But we can tackle that in my next column. For now, simply put, if you work in a community or serve a community, you deserve the opportunity to live in that community. Unfortunately for many, that opportunity is fading. — Zachary Ackerman is an LSA senior and member-elect of the Ann Arbor City Council. He will take office Nov. 16, representing Ward 3. He can be reached at zdack@umich.edu.

5A — Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Arts

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TV REVIEW

FILM REVIEW

ABC

“You used to call me on my cell phone.”

No redemption for ‘Wicked City’ ‘Experimenter’ can’t

MAGNOLIA PICTURES

“Prepare to be shocked by my science thing.”

New ABC drama negates feminist progress on TV By SHIR AVINADAV For The Daily

Ed Westwick broke “Gossip Girl” ’s fans hearts as Upper East Side playboy, Chuck, and does it again in ABC’s D new thriller, “Wicked Wicked City City” as suave serial Series Premiere killer Kent. Tuesdays at Like Chuck, 10 p.m. Kent has a ABC troubled past and takes it out on women. However, Kent’s vendetta against women is a little more extreme. Set in 1980s Los Angeles, “Wicked City” follows the troubled young killer who uses his charm (a familiar character trait of Westwick’s) to lure unsuspecting victims into his twisted killing routine. Within the first few minutes, he sways two women into handing over their phone numbers. One, a young naïve journalist (not cliché at all) who was lucky to elude Kent’s plans for her, becomes essential in identifying the unknown serial killer relentlessly pursued by investigator Jack Roth (Jeremy Sisto, “Law and Order”). The less fortunate young woman gets her 15 seconds of fame as Kent’s first victim of the season. After being led back to his car under the guise of an innocent hookup (this is the ‘80s after all), she is brutally stabbed to death. Though the premise of the show was obvious prior to watching the pilot, seeing this unnamed girl repeatedly stabbed, her blood splattered on the car’s dashboard, while engaged in a

sexual act, was appalling. Perhaps what was truly shocking was the fact that it’s 2015, and such a horrifying act of violence committed against a woman was shown on network television as entertainment. And victim number one was just one of many girls whose roles on the pilot equated to that of a tissue – used and disposed of quickly and without a second thought. Aside from the tired plotlines and melodramatic tone recycled from every other crime series on television, the show is just plain offensive. Competing investigators Jack and Paco (Gabriel Luna, “Bernie”), who are (big surprise) forced to work on Kent’s case together, conclude that Kent’s targeting of women is the product of “mommy issues” and call it a day. Top notch investigative work! With Kent’s inner psyche thoroughly analyzed we can continue watching him justifiably victimize the female population of Los Angeles with a newfound sympathy for his actions. How could this have been the angle “Wicked City” ’s writers chose to take? Humanizing a psychotic murderer is one thing, but profiling him in a way intended to shift the blame onto women is wrong and completely absurd. The show isn’t the first to explore the mind of a serial killer to drive the narrative down a twisted and dark path that satisfies audiences’ bizarre obsession with glamorizing crime. But, it does so by exploiting some questionable subjects – the least of which include sex and drugs. The attempt to humanize Kent takes an even more bizarre turn when he lets his guard down for almost-victim, Betty (Erika Christensen, “Parenthood”), a single mom (like Kent’s own mother) who also has a tendency towards sadism. Her coldblooded proclivity is revealed

in a less graphic manner than Kent’s when she plays with a spider and then crushes it with her bare hands. Their relationship escalates quickly, and strangely at that. Kent makes her pretend like she’s dead when they have sex for the first time, and then almost completely dismisses her when she has to cancel on their date because of work. Of course she makes the logical decision and blows off her demanding job as a nurse to salvage her budding relationship with Kent. She goes to meet him at the predetermined location of their date only to find him leaving with another girl. He then whispers something in Betty’s ear, and we are left guessing at what could have possibly convinced her to go along with him and the unsuspecting girl, with wickedly grin on her face. And just like that, the killer necrophilic couple is formed. Kent doesn’t seem to be the only character exempt of society’s moral standards. The supposed hero of the pilot’s awkwardly strung together plotline, Jack Roth, is sleeping with his coworker Dianne (Karolina Wydra, “True Blood”), whom he appears to be using for a onesided trade of information to help solve his cases. Of course Paco has to deprecatingly comment on the fact that she’s a stripper, only to find out that she’s actually working undercover at the strip club to take down a cocaine dealer. This revelation isn’t surprising compared to the discovery that Jack is married with kids. Soon after, we see Jack using his work as a guise for his affair with Dianne. This is yet another banal plotline – which doesn’t exactly elevate the show’s already exhaustive use of the plotlines and dialogue typical of the endless crime shows already congesting network programming. So, do we really need another one?

decide on genre, style By BEN ROSENSTOCK Daily Arts Writer

In some respects, a movie about a famous psychological study writes itself. Experiments like the Stan- C+ ford Prison Experiment Experimenter (the basis of a film Magnolia Pictures that was State Theater released earlier this year) are inherently cinematic, with thrilling sequences of tension and violence rooted in real human psychology. In dramatizing these studies, filmmakers can do a better job of explaining their implications, beyond just reading their Wikipedia summaries. With deeper research, the films can create a more visceral reaction in the viewer. A movie based on true events needs to do more than just recount what happened. That’s where “Experimenter” falls apart. Directed and written by Michael Almereyda (“Hamlet”), “Experimenter” is the latest film to attempt the dramatization of a psychological study. Stanley Milgram, played here by Peter Sarsgaard (“Shattered Glass”), conducts an experiment in which the participants believe they’re delivering increasingly painful electric shocks to other participants. The study intended to examine the effects of punishment on learning. In reality, the designated “learner” (Jim Gaffigan, “The Jim Gaffigan Show”) is an actor in on the experiment, not actually being shocked; the study is meant to observe how far the

subjects are willing to comply to continue delivering shocks. Viewers who know anything about the study won’t be surprised to learn that the subjects are disturbingly willing to shock the learner. The actors playing the subjects, like John Leguizamo (“Chef”), Taryn Manning (“Orange is the New Black”) and Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”), portray their characters in a way that presents the full spectrum of human reactions to Milgram’s seemingly sadistic commands. Most subjects begin to wince or clench their fists as the shocks become more and more painful, but they continue to obey the experimenter even when the learner begs them to stop. The first half of the film plays out like a History Channel special, with Sarsgaard often breaking the fourth wall to explain the psychological concepts at play. “Experimenter” would be a decent movie if it was willing to stay focused on the study and keep the scenes at Yale. But to reach greatness, an experimentbased film needs to have a purpose beyond reenactment. There needs to be an emotional core — something that justifies the film’s existence. Unfortunately, after a kinetic first half exploring the shock experiment’s significance, the second half of “Experimenter” devolves into disconnected scenes devoid of narrative drive. “Experimenter” makes the mistake of attempting to portray new dimensions by slowly transforming into a biopic of Stanley Milgram. Sarsgaard, as always, is great in the role, and Winona Ryder (“Beetlejuice”) lends a warm, curious presence as his wife. Still, the film struggles to

justify Sasha Milgram’s necessity as a character in the film. After they get married, she mostly sits back and watches Stanley work, at most helping him sort papers or cheering him on. Ultimately, this story doesn’t belong to Sasha Milgram, or sociologist Paul Hollander (Edoardo Ballerini, “The Sopranos”), or the numerous other minor characters who either challenge or support Stanley Milgram along the way. “Experimenter” passes these supporting characters off as important in Stanley Milgram’s life, but the first act of the film presents the study as the protagonist, not Milgram himself. As a result, once the experiment is over, the film feels inconsequential. There’s no particular grounded story left to tell besides a slightly comic, meta subplot in which Milgram’s study is made into a television film starring William Shatner (Kellan Lutz, “Twilight”). The last two acts do explore the controversy around the study and Milgram’s subsequent rise to infamy, but these stories proceed exactly how you’d imagine: with detractors criticizing Milgram’s ethics and Milgram defiantly dismissing them. The most compelling scenes in the second half are simple episodes explaining related psychological studies, like the small-world experiment that spawned “six degrees of separation.” Even these brief interludes though are barely connected to any overarching plot or purpose. The film is worth watching for its profound depictions of Milgram’s experiments, but as a biopic about Milgram himself, it barely leaves an impression.

FILM REVIEW

One-sided ‘Truth’ feels too superficial By REBECCA LERNER Daily Arts Writer

The film “Truth” revisits a time in America’s history when politics ensnared media in its corruption and lies. “Truth” C has its saving graces — an Truth all-star cast of Hollywood Sony Pictures pros and an Classics ultimately Michigan Theater, fascinating Rave & Quality 16 story. Unfortunately, it sags under the pressure of its disputed storyline. “Truth” is about the controversial 2004 news story that “60 Minutes” producer Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett, “Carol”) broke about George Bush’s service in the National Guard. With the story, Mapes asserts that Bush was able to avoid service in Vietnam through favoritism. She has

help from her research team, played by Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”), Dennis Quaid (“Footloose”) and Topher Grace (“American Ultra”). Considering the potential for greatness in these supporting actors, particularly Moss as a journalism professor, they are underused in roles that could have added to the character relationships had they been deeper. The face of the scandal is veteran news anchor Dan Rathers, skillfully portrayed by Robert Redford (“A Walk in the Woods”). Skepticism is raised when Bush’s commanding officer doubts his service, so the entire blogosphere, still in its youth in 2004, begins a witch-hunt. Mapes stands as the main target of the bloggers’ wrath, but everyone involved is implicated. Firstly, as a director and screenwriter, James Vanderbilt uses a strange angle to explain Mapes’s fierce journalism. While she sleeps on a plane

back to New York, her team discusses her past. They justify her tenacity with her abusive father, who would beat her and her siblings for asking questions. Unfortunately, the shocked response over her journalism career feels manufactured and awkward. When Mapes discusses the abuse with her husband, she equates the media’s persecution of herself to her father’s abuse. It’s an odd association, and she is already portrayed as the victim in this story, so it feels like too much to put another degree of victimhood onto her character.

Vanderbilt uses a strange angle. Despite this, Blanchett and Redford do an admirable job of creating compelling characters.

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“Truth” accomplishes what it does because of their acting finesse, as Blanchett’s every movement and facial expression is perfect for her role. Redford, at 79 years old, is still a force to be reckoned with onscreen, as he sincerely portrays Rathers’s nuanced character.

Ironically, the screenplay — based on Mapes’s memoir detailing the events leading up to her end in TV journalism in 2004 — has been charged with not telling the whole truth. The network for “60 Minutes,” CBS, refuses to run ads for the show, and “Truth”

has received criticism for its conspiracy theories about the media’s influence on the Bush administration’s public policy. “Truth” seems to want to answer the questions America still has, but when we walk out of the theater, we’re still left in the dark.

Arts

6A — Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

TV REVIEW

TV NOTEBOOK

‘Ash vs. Evil’ is a It’s not you, it’s your ‘problematic fave’ groovy TV sequel By SOPHIA KAUFMAN

By DREW MARON

Daily Arts Writer

In 1979, a group of college students from Michigan State University visited a cabin in the woods. What B+ happened next Ash vs. Evil changed the horror Dead genre Series Premiere forever Saturdays at 9 p.m. with the 1981 Starz classic, “The Evil Dead.” Made on a shoe-string budget, “Evil Dead” catapulted star Bruce Campbell (“Burn Notice”) and director Sam Raimi (“Spiderman”) into the spotlight and has since been cited by no less than Stephen King as one of the defining horror films of all time. Over 30 years later, series hero Ash Williams and the creative team that brought him to life return in “Ash vs. Evil Dead.” The Starz original series continues the story of the franchise, ignoring the well-meaning but unfulfilling 2013 remake directed by Fede Alvarez (“From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series”). It’s difficult to express the sheer joy in seeing Raimi come back to the franchise, bringing with him the gleefully cartoonish sensibility for which he is known. The key to the show’s success, however, lies with Bruce Campbell, who combines old-school coolness with slapstick humor, but keeping just enough madness to make the whole thing scary. The story picks up three decades after “Army of Darkness,” with Ash reading from the “Necronomicon Ex Mortis” after a night of smoking pot and fooling around. Ash’s carefree attitude with the series’ iconic Book of the Dead is one of the few weak points of the pilot. As funny as it is to imagine Ash doing something so thickheaded as use the Book of the Dead to impress a woman, it’s

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surprising that he wouldn’t be a little more careful after the tome murdered all of his friends and ruined his life. The series doesn’t do much to fill in newcomers to the franchise — then again, if you haven’t seen the “Evil Dead” films, maybe you deserve to be confused.

So unabashedly old-school, yet so interesting in its potential. As much as the series has to do with the franchise’s past, Raimi and team still find a way to tell a fresh story with some new faces. Ray Santiago (“Dexter”) co-stars as Pablo, Ash’s friend at the electronics store where he works, while newcomer Dana DeLorenzo stars as fellow store employee Kelly Maxwell who can more

than hold her own against Ash’s old-fashioned bravado. Also starring is Jill Marie Jones (“Sleepy Hollow”) as a disgraced Michigan State Trooper whose early scene involving the death of her partner at the hands of Deadites provides the episode with one of its more frightening sequences. “Ash vs. Evil Dead” feels like an anomaly — a show so unabashedly old-school in its sensibilities, yet so interesting in its potential. To have the same creative team behind the original films in charge is an undeniable asset to the series, making sure its content transcends simple fan service. Those who are unfamiliar with the world of “Dead” might be turned off by its idiosyncratic style and old-school tastes. That being said, these qualities are precisely what makes the show feel so different from the rest of the pack. “Ash vs. Evil Dead” is delightful; a gory, unfiltered awesomeness that brings fans back to the wonderfully twisted world of Deadites, boom-sticks and never tiring of hearing Bruce Campbell say, “groovy.”

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ACROSS 1 See-through kitchen supply 6 Mythical king of the Huns 10 Kitchen spray 13 Flared dress 14 Ancient Greek theater 15 Land in l’océan 16 *Sneaky blow 18 Some kitchen appliances 19 Did a slow burn 20 Passengers in flight, often 22 Cyberspace marketplace 23 Snobbish 24 Chopper 27 Mount Hood’s state 29 Prominent periods 30 Keep the censor busy 31 The NBA’s Kevin Love, e.g. 34 Alternative to dis? 35 Easy mark ... and a hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues 37 Dressing ingredient 38 High rails 39 Bassoon cousins 40 Vending machine buy 41 “Absolutely!” 43 Kicked off the flight 45 Well-protected 47 Sweater outlet? 48 Island nation near Sicily 49 Get in the game 54 Form 1040 calc. 55 *Peanuts 57 Nickelodeon pooch 58 Spine-tingling 59 Hawaii or Alaska, on many a map 60 Number before quattro 61 Editor’s “Let it stand” 62 Hoopster Archibald and rapper Dogg

DOWN 1 Back talk 2 Homecoming guest 3 Affluent, in Andalusia 4 Low socks 5 (If) required 6 Together, musically 7 Watch over 8 Director Jean-__ Godard 9 “Can’t wait to eat!” 10 *Place for brooding 11 Watchful 12 Embarrassing, as a situation 14 Nashville attraction 17 Bring up 21 Great Lakes’ __ Canals 23 10-time All-Pro linebacker Junior 24 Hand over 25 Taken by mouth 26 *“Walkin’ After Midnight” singer 27 Young hooter 28 Rules, briefly

30 __ gin fizz 32 Trusted underling 33 Prince who inspired Dracula 35 Loser only to a straight flush 36 Calais cleric 40 “The Bartered Bride” composer 42 Away 43 Former U.K. carrier

44 Mischievous boy 45 Snazzy-looking 46 Ready and willing 47 Love-crazy Le Pew 49 “Absolutely!” 50 Give out 51 Scientific acad. 52 Architectural S-curve 53 Fishing gear 56 Riled (up)

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11/04/15

Falling in love with T-Swift’s ‘Fearless’ By SELENA AGUILERA Daily Arts Writer

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fans or not, they still rely on the public for their continued success, as we rely on them for entertainment. It’s a symbiotic relationship; their constituencies have given them a responsibility, whether they want or are equipped for it or not. I’m not saying it isn’t complicated — it is. I’m still unsure of the best way to deal with these past difficulties. For example, Trevor Noah has been painted with the problematic brush for tweets that he posted from 2011 and 2012. While some of them are gross, are we supposed to assume he can’t change? Despite having similar definitions for problematic fav, everyone seems to have a different opinion on how far back we are allowed to pull for evidence that someone is problematic when analyzing their place in society. To be more optimistic, maybe the use of problematic indicates a positive trend in society. If people who are uncomfortable calling someone out as racist or sexist or homophobic — or legitimately can’t see an action or remark as indicative as being one of those things — then their use of the term problematic could be an introduction to opening up conversation. At least they recognize that something is wrong. And this is especially useful when we’re talking about our own personal problematic faves: grandparents, neighbors, parents of the kids we babysit, professors, university presidents, roommates, etc. I think that the widespread use of “problematic fave” signals that yes, we accept that people can’t be perfect and they can produce interesting or quality art while not being paragons of intersectional social justice. But at the same time, calling someone a problematic fave is acknowledging that we have given them a platform — and we’re holding them to certain standards when they’re speaking from it.

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Honestly, we were all fine with Jennifer Lawrence until she made a rape joke. OK, maybe not all of us. But that was the first time I had seen such an uproar on the Internet about this infamously GIF-ready, cool-girl-epitome celebrity. BuzzFeed reported in May that a “Vulture” reporter at the Cannes Film Festival party overheard Jennifer Lawrence say “I broke out my rape scream for you!” to Alfonso Cuarón to describe how excited she was to see him. When this story blew up on the Internet, some defended her, citing past feminist remarks as proof that she was OK or characterizing the comment as dumb but not offensive, but some were outraged that she felt comfortable making that joke. But despite those black-andwhite gut responses, I’d say the vast majority of the reactions that I saw on the web consisted of people just chalking it up to JLaw joining an ever growing list of “problematic faves,” and this is what intrigued me — especially now, only a few weeks after she has been commended for speaking out against pay inequality in Hollywood. The term “problematic fave” (sometimes spelled “fav”) feels like it has been ubiquitous for a couple years now, and it seems like everyone is using it in more or less the same way: to describe a person in the public eye who, despite being lovable in some ways (“fave”) also holds or expresses controversial opinions or behaviors — “problematic.” Some of the first examples of popular problematic faves that come to mind (other than Jennifer Lawrence) are Lena Dunham, Azealia Banks and John Green. Dunham gets credit for bringing women’s stories to TV in a big way — but loses points for whitewashing New York City and not being inclusive (and also for some of the more questionable things she writes about in

her book). Banks calls out guys on their misogynistic music, but at the same time has used and not apologized for her using a very derogatory gay slur on more than one occasion. Green is interesting because people who care about Young Adult literature usually have very strong opinions about him — he’s either adored or abhorred. He’s one of the most popular and prolific writers of our generation, but he has been accused of being problematic for writing female characters who fall into the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. These are just a few, but the list goes on — Amy Poehler, Trevor Noah, Taylor Swift, Jerry Louis, Iggy Azalea, etc. And sometimes, people who start off as faves become problematic faves and then just problematic. Take Miley Cyrus. A few years ago she was a champion for women owning their sexuality and breaking out of the mold. But now, it seems that every time the camera is back on her, she’s saying something inappropriate — like calling Snoop Dogg her “real Mammy” during a VMA sketch. Even the term “problematic” itself bears scrutinizing. Sometimes it’s used to signify something as insensitive, uncomfortable, non-inclusive or obviously biased. But it has also become an occasional stand-in for more condemnatory words, like racist, sexist or homophobic. This discrepancy invites the question: Does using the term problematic fave mean we’re accepting that people can’t be perfect? Or does it mean that we’re excusing inappropriate, insensitive or even unacceptable behavior? And who gets to decide? It’s worth noting that all of the people I listed as problematic faves are entertainers in some form or another. These are all individuals who have an open relationship with the American public — fans and haters, alike. Whether they think of themselves as role models for their

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Contrary to popular belief, I wasn’t always this cool – I mean, at least if you think someone who listens to music older than they are and wears “hipster” glasses with band shirts everyday is cool. You would never be able to guess that my first favorite album ever was … Fearless by Taylor Swift. That’s right, I was totally down with the T-Swizzle when I was 10 years old. She was my savior and for some unknown reason, my dumb 10-year-old feelings – whatever those were – would be nurtured whenever I popped that CD into my purple radio. I wish I could tell you that my actual first favorite was something from Green Day or Led Zeppelin or The Temptations – anything other than an album by the sweetheart of country pop – but I can’t. Fearless was the first album I spent my own money on, it was the first album art I taped on my wall and it was the first album I knew every word to. Oh, the nostalgia. For some reason, I grew up around girls who matured faster than I did. They all started to look 13 early, and I just started looking 13 when I turned 16. The curse of a young face is awful until you’re 30, probably. But, anyway, my friends got the attention from every boy I had a crush on and I would go unnoticed. My little pre-mature heart couldn’t handle it, and Taylor Swift was the only

one I could empathize with. I remember specifically when I had a crush on my friend Avery. He was the heartthrob of fifth grade. We were the best of friends, but he liked Andriana because she was the first girl in my class to wear a bra. Every boy loved her. She wore bows in her hair and her mom even let her wear mascara. Then there was me, with my dinosaur shirts and ugly glasses. I had never personally identified with a song more than when I listened to “You Belong with Me,” because Andie wore “high heels” and I wore “T-shirts.” I thought I was the only girl to know Avery – like really know him – and Andie just wanted him because she wanted to make everyone else jealous. How rude. Like, didn’t she know me and Avery were in love? Avery and I were in the prime of our relationship. We had just confessed that we “like liked” each other when Andie decided she absolutely had to have him, so “Forever and Always” became my favorite song. My heart exploded when I heard Swift sing, “This thing is breaking down we almost never speak / I don’t feel welcome anymore.” It was like Swift understood what a 10-year-old heartbreak felt like. Every song on Fearless like “Hey Stephen,” “Breathe” and “White Horse” spoke in volumes about childish unrequited love, and I couldn’t get enough of it. So, now you know my secret. Let’s keep it between you and me, OK?

7A — Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Arts & Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

TV NOTEBOOK

Shared universe takes over at CW The CW’s superhero series show pros and cons of crossovers By BEN ROSENSTOCK Daily Arts Writer

Next January, the CW will launch “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” a spinoff series taking place in the same narrative universe as the channel’s other popular superhero shows, “Arrow” and “The Flash.” The show will feature an Avengers-style teamup with Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh, “Chuck”) and Sara Lance (Caity Lotz, “Mad Men”), two major supporting characters in earlier seasons of “Arrow.” There will also be characters from “The Flash,” including Martin Stein (Victor Garber, “Godspell”), Captain Cold and Heat Wave (Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell, “Prison Break”). The problem is this: at the start of each existing show’s current airing seasons, none of these characters were in a position where the new show’s premise would make sense. As a result, the past few episodes have slowly been moving the pieces around to set up “Legends of Tomorrow.” Setting up future stories has increasingly become a part of superhero narratives. “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” began integrating mythology about the “Inhumans” last season, and this will eventually plant the seed for a future “Inhumans” movie (possibly in 2019, if a new writer is found). The movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,

too, have included little threads to set up future installments, like Thor’s disjointed subplot in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” In fact, some viewers criticize the M.C.U.’s overreliance on serialization in general, devoting most of its films to tracking Infinity Stones that won’t really pay off until the third and fourth films are released. The CW’s franchisebuilding has gained some criticism, too, and though their cultural reach is admittedly smaller than that of “The Avengers,” “The Flash” and “Arrow” can be helpful tools in understanding when expositional setup works and when it feels like nothing more than table-setting.

CW’s franchisebuilding has gained some criticism, too. Using the A.V. Club’s episodic grades and corresponding comments as a rough indicator of critical quality, “The Flash” reached its nadir last week with “The Fury of Firestorm.” The episode’s main plot is devoted exclusively to replacing the departed Ronnie Raymond with a new character to take up the Firestorm mantle. Part of this feels like a waste of time because the cast was announced for “Legends of Tomorrow” months ago, so viewers already know

Franz Drameh (“Some Girls”) will appear as Jefferson Jackson, the new character who will team up with Martin Stein and turn into a Human Torch-esque hero.

The greater problem, though, is the balance of plots. The greater problem, though, is the balance of plots. By devoting a main plot entirely to finding Jefferson Jackson, it’s much more obvious that this is meant to set up something down the road. Meanwhile, the far more interesting stories are relegated to the background, like Iris West’s (Candice Patton, “The Game”) confrontation with the mother she had always thought was dead. Most notably, though, this episode almost completely ignores the momentous return of Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh, “Ed”), last season’s amazing villain. At the end of last week, a Wells from a parallel universe appeared in S.T.A.R. Labs, but this week’s episode delays his inevitable confrontation with Barry Allen (Grant Gustin, “Glee”) until the very last moment. Essentially, the problem with the procedural isn’t necessarily that the case-of-the-week is wholly uninteresting; the problem is that the case-ofthe-week is foregrounded instead of the thrilling new plot

Seniors savor first Big Ten championship since 1998 By SYLVANNA GROSS Daily Sports Writer

Senior year is typically full of lasts. The last time you’ll pull an all-nighter to study. The last time you’ll take a walk in the Nichols Arboretum. The last time you’ll attend a lecture at Rackham Auditorium. But for some members of the Michigan men’s cross country team, senior year brought a first. It was the first time the Wolverines were able to call themselves Big Ten champions. “A lot of the runners are seniors and fifth-year seniors, and they’ve never gotten to the top of the podium,” said Michigan coach Kevin Sullivan. “It’s been such a long time since (this program) won. This team wanted to win and wanted to leave their mark, and that’s what they did.” The last time the fifth-ranked Wolverines ran their way to first place was in 1998 — Sullivan’s final year as a Michigan track athlete. Previously, Sullivan won the individual title at the Big Ten Championship for three consecutive years from 1993 to 1995 and again in 1997. After this season, fifth-year seniors Mason Ferlic, August Pappas and Nick Posada will no longer be NCAA eligible. Seniors Alex Moran and Tony Smoragiewiecz will also be leaving the team, although Smoragiewiez will have one more year of track and field eligibility. The most notable absence on the team will be that of Ferlic’s, who became a prominent force for Michigan after he redshirted his sophomore season due to an injury. He has led the Wolverines for 17 consecutive races and seven postseason meets. He’s been named a two-time All-American and has been awarded Big Ten Athlete of the Week six times. Not surprisingly, Ferlic has also captained the men’s cross country team for three years. Despite his achievements, Ferlic still harbors some dissapointment that he didn’t

meet his personal goal of an individual title. He fell seven seconds short of frontrunner Matt McClintock from Purdue. “I’m sad this is my last championship season,” Ferlic said. “I’ve dreamed about winning a conference title for my team since I was a freshman. Even though I didn’t win an individual title, as a team we finally won. We wanted nothing more than to end as Big Ten champions. I think all the seniors are satisfied. We can close that chapter of our running careers.” Added Smoragiewiecz: “We went into this race with a different mindset today. We went in knowing we could win. It was ours to win. We could do it. It was this confidence that allowed us to be champions.” Winning the 2015 Big Ten title ended the longest drought without a conference title since cross country regained varsity status in 1972. A lot of what the runners chalk their confidence up to is experience and knowing that a

pre-determined race plan will never work. Both Ferlic and junior Ben Flanagan, co-captains, preach flexibility to their team. “I don’t think there’s been much of a difference in my mindset about running from year to year,” Ferlic said. “You obviously always get stronger, faster and more mature in your race tactics, but I’ve stayed consistent in how I approach these races. I come in with this confidence that I know I’m coming in with the miles and experience to do well.” This level of dedication has extended beyond the seniors to the underclassmen, who are waiting to become the new senior class. “We’re thankful the seniors got this experience,” Flanagan said. “Us younger guys are excited to send them out on this note. Everybody knew what it was going to take. Everybody focused on our individual goals. And then we filled our individual roles. Next year we’ll have new roles.” And together, they filled the role of champions.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Mason Ferlic earned a second-place finish in the Big Ten Championships.

THE CW

“No I can’t hear anything, but at least I look flashy. Get it?”

Future stories have become a part of superhero narratives. developments. “Arrow,” meanwhile, has done a much stronger job setting up the return of Ray Palmer and Sara Lance, both of whom were supposedly dead at the end of last season. In the past few episodes’ subplots, Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards, “Brooklyn”) has been receiving strange coded messages. Ray Palmer, the only one who has the ability to send

these messages, has seemingly been communicating from beyond the grave. By confining this table-setting to small chunks of time, it feels like a slow-burning add-on — not a superf luous bit of setup. Meanwhile, each episode’s B-plot has been dedicated to Sara’s resurrection. There are a few reasons this story doesn’t feel rote. To begin with, the desire to bring Sara back to life is grounded in character motivations; Laurel (Katie Cassidy, “Supernatural”) understandably wishes her sister was still alive, so when she finds out that there’s a “Lazarus pit” that can bring her back, she pursues the possibility. “Arrow” also makes the smart choice to destroy the Lazarus pit once Sara is back, so that’s one avenue that can no longer be used for cheap

resurrection on the part of the writers. Lastly, Sara’s symptoms upon resurrection — she’s an incoherent, animalistic beast, no longer really herself — prevent her return from feeling contrived. Really bringing Sara back to life isn’t as easy as it sounds, and “Arrow” continues to wring thrills and emotional tension from her situation. Table-setting doesn’t have to feel so mechanical, though “The Flash” has occasionally descended into that territory. This season, though, “Arrow” has shown that smart writing and a tight focus on characterization can make any plot movement feel true to the story, not just lame setup for the next new franchise. Making sure each episode succeeds on its own is key to introducing new stories in an organic way.

ICE HOCKEY

Marody enjoying fast start for ‘M’ The lifelong Michigan fan has fit right in for the Wolverines By KEVIN SANTO Daily Sports Writer

Cooper Marody didn’t blow out the candles on his 10th birthday cake in a Chuck E. Cheese’s, or even in his own home. Instead, he elected to have his birthday party at Yost Ice Arena — a choice that, in retrospect, seems to have foreshadowed the path his hockey career would follow. Now a freshman forward for the Michigan hockey team, Marody has played every game for the Wolverines, tallying three goals and four assists. His early-season performance has catapulted him to first on the team in scoring, along with fellow freshman forward Kyle Connor. The duo is also tied ninth nationally among freshmen in points per game. And Marody has shown that regardless of class ranking, he has ice in his veins and the determination of a veteran. As the Wolverines found themselves tied against thenNo. 18 Union on away ice, Marody was the one to give Michigan its first lead of the game by simply hustling to the puck off a deflection faster than his defender. He finished the chance cooly. “He’s brought it, I give him credit,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “He showed up to the first practice like he was ready for this. You only get one chance to make a good first impression, and he’s done that.” Though Marody is excelling

for the Wolverines, his path to Yost was unconventional and riddled with adversity. The freshman was never a highly touted recruit. He was cut from his high school varsity team as a freshman. And just a year ago, he struggled in the United States Hockey League as a member of the Muskegon Lumberjacks. But when Marody was traded to the Sioux Falls Stampede, Berenson watched the kid who committed to him as a 17-year-old transform into a different player. Marody finished 11th overall in USHL scoring with 58 points, 49 of which came in the 38 games he played with the Stampede. As if that wasn’t enough, he put an exclamation point on his breakout season by leading Sioux Falls to the Western Conference regular-season title and the 2015 Clark Cup championship. And while Marody is headlining Michigan’s highestscoring line (which has tallied 17 points), his prior trials and tribulations have kept him humbled. “I don’t mind being the underdog, and it (has) been like that my whole career,” Marody said. “I’m just looking to prove the people right that always believed in me, and Michigan always believed in me. That’s why I’ve had good success so far, because they all believed in me and gave me a shot, and I’m working hard to earn that.” Earning this opportunity has been a lifelong dream for

Marody, who is a Brighton, Mich., native. His father, Patrick, raised his son as a Wolverine fan. His childhood fandom is one of the reasons Marody chose Yost for a birthday celebration over more conventional options as a third grader. Being exposed to the Michigan hockey culture for such an extended period of time fostered an appreciation for the position he’s in. “You don’t really know what to expect exactly, how your game is going to acclimate to the college level,” Marody said. “But I think I just try to do the little things and work hard. … I grew up a diehard Michigan fan. I think it takes my passion to a whole (new) level when I put on that jersey, and I think that’s propelled me to have such a confident start.” Now, with that confidence, Marody is blowing his coaches’ and teammates’ expectations away — just like those candles nine years ago. Berenson and his staff never anticipated the immediate impact Marody is having. They recognized the talent was there, but they also anticipated that the freshman would experience some collegiate-level growing pains — a prediction that Marody ensured wouldn’t come true. “He was in shape, he was confident,” Berenson said. “He has competed hard and he has listened. He’s doing all of the things that we’re telling our team to do. And it’s working.”

“You only get once chance to make a good first impression.”

Sports

8A — Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FOOTBALL

Michigan defense reflects on errors Wolverines seek improvement after recent lapses in performance By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor

For weeks, the Michigan football team’s defense picked out the smallest mistakes to fix. After back-to-back victories in which the Wolverines gave up seven points in each, they vowed to prevent their opponent from scoring at all. After three straight shutouts, they insisted they should not give up even a first down. The last two games have brought the inevitable fall from that high, as Michigan has allowed 53 points after surrendering just 14 in its previous five wins. Where the Wolverines previously tried to make small tweaks, they now have big plays to avoid. That has been the emphasis in the film room this week. “We just gotta finish,” said redshirt freshman safety Jabrill Peppers. “We gotta make plays. We had too many almost plays. I almost had a pick-six. Dymonte almost had a pick. I almost took the punt to the house. I’m just tired of almost. We just have to do it. That’s all it comes down to.” But Michigan had perspective during its dominant weeks, and it has perspective now. In keeping with the adage of never getting too high or too low, the Wolverines know their miscues Saturday were outliers. Correct them Saturday against Rutgers,

and they could return to their old form. In a broader scope, mistakes notwithstanding, Michigan’s performance Saturday was not a disaster. While 26 points was the defense’s highest total allowed this season — excluding 27 against Michigan State, when the Spartans scored on special teams during the final play — they dug in when it counted and gave themselves a chance to win. “We’re not worried about it,” said fifth-year senior linebacker Desmond Morgan. “We’re still confident in who we have, what we’re capable of.” To get back to that level, the Wolverines will return to the film to correct issues that seem more obvious now than in a 30-point shutout. Their start Saturday was not ideal, as seven of Minnesota’s first eight drives moved into Michigan territory and five ended with points. Those numbers won’t be lost on Michigan’s coaches this week. “I don’t know why we didn’t come out how we were supposed to come out, but I can say it will not happen again,” Peppers said. “We got (criticism) in the film room, a lot of guys in particular. “One thing about these coaches, they’re going to coach you hard and they’re going to be honest with you. They let everyone else tell you how good you are. They’re going to give you the real.”

Another problem, in senior linebacker James Ross’ eyes, was missed assignments. The Wolverines gave up eight plays of 20 or more yards. On the last series, Minnesota tight end Drew Wolitarsky snuck past the secondary for a 22-yard completion to just inside the one-yard line. Earlier in the second half, Golden Gophers running back Shannon Brooks leaked out on a wheel route and picked up 40 yards. “It’s been us giving up plays and not teams earning them,” Ross said. “It’s one thing if they earned it, but we gave up a lot of plays.” Added Morgan: “It’s hard to say exactly what it was. In terms of motivation, I don’t think that was lacking. In terms of energy, I would say we were fresh. I don’t know if the focus wasn’t there. I know we were ready to play. It’s just that we didn’t come out and play the way we all expected us to play.” For Michigan, that has become a difficult standard to follow. After all, the Wolverines could only get worse after three straight shutouts. Now they have room for improvement again, and they intend to use it. They have the blueprint from earlier in the season, and they know just how to get back there. “You just gotta make plays, man,” Peppers said. “That’s it. That’s what it comes down to. Make plays.”

“It’s been us giving up plays and not teams earning them.”

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Drake Johnson gained 55 yards on 10 carries in Michigan’s game against Minnesota on Saturday night.

Carry fairy helps Johnson during recent resurgence By ZACH SHAW Daily Sports Editor

With four experienced running backs who have started games on its roster and far less experience in the passing game, the Michigan football team was expected to lean heavily on its rushing attack this season. For much of the season, that strategy has worked. After struggling against Utah to begin the season, the Wolverines’ rushing outputs have been as consistent as they have been helpful: 225 yards against Oregon State, 254 yards against UNLV, 254 yards against Brigham Young, 198 against Maryland and 201 against Northwestern. Michigan averaged a cool 5.05 yards per carry in that stretch. But against Michigan State and Minnesota, the Wolverines showed flashes of the ineptitude they had displayed in previous seasons, missing holes, failing to break runs into the secondary and, most importantly, combining for just 189 yards in the two games and just 3.5 yards per carry. “When we do our stuff right, it works,” said redshirt junior running back Drake Johnson. “When we do things that we’re not coached to do, we don’t block who we’re supposed to block, we taper off.” The tapering off is a problem, but suddenly, depth has become a larger one for the backs. Junior Ty Isaac is no longer on the depth chart due to what Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh called an “internal matter,” and junior De’Veon Smith is still getting evaluated after leaving the game against Minnesota on Saturday. With freshman Karan Higdon receiving single-digit carries and Derrick Green struggling to the tune of just 3.4 yards per rushing attempt, that leaves only Johnson

to carry the load. Yes, Johnson, the same player who has torn his anterior cruciate ligament twice and has yet to carry a heavy load since. Despite limited action against Nortwhestern and missing the Michigan State game due to an unspecified injury, Johnson showed capabilities of leading the backs at Minneapolis, gaining 55 yards on 10 carries. “Sometimes, I would say the carry fairy allows people to run well, and it just happened to sprinkle a little dust on me that day,” Johnson said. Due to a successful back-bycommittee start, Johnson has yet to carry the ball more than 13 times in a game but said Tuesday that he’s recovered and ready if the team needs him. “That’s not for me to determine, that’s up to the coaches, and they’ve been doing well so far,” Johnson said. “They’ve been game-planning incredibly well, and however I fit into the gameplan, wherever they say I

should be is what I’m going to do. “If that’s five carries, if that’s 35 carries and I’m decrepit the next day, that’s what needs to be done that game to win the game.” With a thin backfield, odds are high that the carry fairy will sprinkle dust on Johnson against Rutgers, but Michigan continues to push for a back-by-committee. In practice, Johnson said carries are split relatively evenly, with no one receiving preferential treatment. Even if he had become the feature back, Johnson wouldn’t know. “Do I have an issue with it? No. Are there challenges to it? No. Does everyone want to be the feature back? Of course,” he said. “Idealistically, everyone wants to be the person who gets 30 carries a game but in a real situation that’s not probably what’s going to happen. “It’s not the University of Drake Johnson or the University of De’Veon or Ty. The University of Michigan is the entire team, so it’s doing what helps the team.”

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Drake Johnson has yet to carry the ball more than 13 times in a game.

statement THE MICHIGAN DAILY

NOVEM B E R 4 , 2015

Wednesday November 4, 2015 // The Statement

Another Thing: I blew up like Alderaan BY ALEX BERNARD

h, and another thing: There’s a pile, and it’s made up of all the bad. And the pile grows and infects like cancer, which is, according to scientists, also bad news bears. (Are you on my side yet?) And the pile comes from anywhere: She sighed. I did too, hoping, half-expecting to hear, “Sorry things have been weird this past week. Wanna swap saliva?” But no saliva swap, not even a wet nipple fondle. Just “Have a nice break,” and away she drove. That night, we split up. Into the pile. Later, I stood in front of my mirror and winked both eyes at the same time. One was red. Was I getting pinkeye again? I’d had it three times that week. (Into the pile.) I was depressed. I knew I was depressed because my shirt was untucked. I watched The Simpsons and tried to remember to laugh. When Homer did something, I went like, “Heh-heh.” Two days later, we played Michigan State. And I know everything’s already been said about everything about everything, but dammit this is my column and I’m gonna talk about it! Weeeeeee! Here’s what I remember: From those moments before, when, for once, the Earth revolved at our own pace; to those moments after, we felt something slip through our fingers, felt the parties and the stomach pumps and those inevitable, hellish orgies evaporate into what-nows, into sad bagel dinners at home with your unopened Swiffer Sweeper and a red solo cup of recently expired milk. (Just me?) We were Alderaan, were 100,000 voices crying out in terror and suddenly going silent. (The Pile. The Pile. The Pile.) And I cared too much — about this game, about that week-long quasi-relationship, about the size of my Adam’s Apple (my neck looks like a snake swallowing a foot). Why can’t I care about something important? Like Sudan! Or even South Sudan! But the pile isn’t polite. It doesn’t knock first. It bursts in, dropkicks

your crotch and forgets to call your Mom. Loves, losses, suspiciously small ears? Depression doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t take orders. It’s a real prick. (Just like Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir. Asshat.) Twenty minutes later, still frozen in the stands, my friend Catherine turned to me. Catherine: “What now?” Me: “Now ... we rebuild.” So we did. We walked to Fleetwood Diner where we stared at our reflections and examined our consciences. Catherine asked, “Do you feel anything yet?” “Not since Thursday, no.” I ate my ham in one bite and pretended not to choke a little. At 9 p.m., we went to our friend Clare’s apartment, where we vented to Finnegan, her pet pig. “Oh, Finnegan,” I said. “Sometimes, I feel like you: Small. Pink. Constantly peeing. Never sure if I’m allowed in the bedroom.” Finnegan nodded and bid me rub his tum-tum. Feeling nihilistic, I downloaded Tinder and matched with a lady named Cleotilde who asked me to text her my “favorite position, cutie.” I answered: “Shortstop.” Finnegan snorted and burrowed his snout in my crotch. “Oh, Finnegan! You naughty pig you! You make me feel wanted.” At 10:52 p.m., we laughed about something. I can’t remember what, but it was probably something I said. Yeah. At 11:30 p.m., we called an Uber (Can you relate now, heathens!) to take us to the State for a midnight showing of “They Live” (which, I know, makes me sound “refined” and “nifty.” To that, I say: Thanks, dude. I also have a picture of Tom Hanks on my fridge. Change your bermudas, ladies). Never seen “They Live”? Know this: it’s the greatest 80s movie about a drifter finding a pair of sunglasses that show him the world is taken over and run by undercover aliens since “Flashdance.” (Disclaimer: Never seen “Flashdance,” but I have seen that one part where the water goes

Woooosh-sploooosh-splash on Jennifer Beals’s boobies.) I watched, laughed, forgot history, and walked Catherine home. Then walked myself home. In Kerrytown, a girl in pajamas stood outside and yelled at an imaginary man ... or maybe I just couldn’t see him behind the tree? Nah. Imaginary. I missed the lock with my key, decided to put that in this column and, once inside, parted my hair the other way because life is too short not to know. (I sort of looked like Jennifer Beals. Or Lincoln Chafee.) I sat on my sweet-ass, fucking awesome red couch and remembered all that’d happened, all I’d forgotten: My pile. My hair, humor, body, jaw. My thoughts, motives, malice, fears, farts, dreams, doubts, posters, penis, writing, wrists, sweaters, saliva, nose, knees, voice, and the way I say, “Chic(aw)go.” That split, that loss, this baby raccoon – Wait, what are you doing! Get out of here, you! Varmint! Shoo! Shoo! We cope with our pile, with our nuggets of pain. And it is painful. And there’s no reason for it, no secret to being so, so not there. But in our best moments, we behold our own pile and say, “This is my badness and my rot and I am proud. So suck it.” At 3 a.m., I cocooned myself in my ex-girlfriend’s blanket and, nearly smiling, fell asleep. It’s my pile.

THOUGHT BUBBLE

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/DAILY

“(When choosing universities) I was talking to someone and they said you can make a big school small but you can’t make a small school big. My other college option was a really small school, and when looking at it that way, Michigan has so many cool things that I thought it would be good to come and get involved in a community instead of getting lost in a big school.” –LSA junior RICHARD WU

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 // The Statement 3B

ON THE RECORD

C A P I TA L I S M ?

“It’s not just enough that we have a green economy ... we need a fair economy. That means we need principles.” –AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST NAOMI KLEIN, in a talk at Rackham on Monday. ***

“Companies run by women are nicer to visit and the board meetings are better to go to — discussions are more patient; there’s less drama. I’m starting to overindex that way — it’s not affirmative action, it’s a good life.” –CHRIS SACCA, head of Lowercase Capital, a major investor in Twitter, at a conference on Tuesday.

T H E L I S T B U Z Z F E E D, B U T B E T T E R FIRST AND FOREMOST This week’s Statement Magazine looks into the lives, struggles, and triumphs of first-generation college students at the University. Here are a few other inspiring first-gens.

S O N I A S OTO M AYO R

H OWA R D S C H U LT Z

“I was going to college and I was going to become an attorney, and I knew that when I was ten. Ten. That’s no jest.” The lauded CEO of Starbucks attended Northern Michigan University, the first in his Brooklyn-based family to do so.

3 V I O L A DAV I S

The Tony and Emmy-winning actress came from smalltown Rhode Island before ending up in Hollywood.

4 MICHELLE OBAMA

Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Michelle and her brother both attended Princeton University.

B I L L C L I N TO N

Growing up in poverty in Arkansas, Clinton says he knew from a young age he wanted to go into public service.

My Cultural Currency: Hair B Y TA N YA M A D H A N I

y hair is high maintenance. Despite what my previous columns might imply — ahem, weddings — it’s the only thing, really, that’s high maintenance about me. It started when I was born on Oct. 18, 1996, and I’m not saying this for dramatic effect. As soon as my mom saw me, she had my dad rush out to get hair clips so that she could see my face clearly instead of just a giant black mop on a tiny human body. In every picture I have from the day I was born, my scalp is adorned in tiny butterfly clips. So I guess you could say my hair has been a huge, divisive issue for my family and me since day one. I have a lot of hair. My mom has a lot of hair. All of my aunts, grandmothers, female cousins, and my sister have a thick mane of jet black, shiny hair. It’s both an advantage and disadvantage of being Indian. I never have to tease my hair to “volumize” a damn ponytail, but, on the other hand, it requires industrial strength hair clips and ties to keep it in place. When I was younger, my mom would slather every strand of my hair in coconut oil religiously every two days. The cobalt blue Parachute bottle was an institution in the Madhani household for most of my formative years. “It keeps your hair neat,” she said as she massaged my scalp with a force so vigorous that my neck would start to cramp. “You’ll thank me later when you’re 30 years old and your hair still looks the same.” But a 6-year-old doesn’t understand the concept of turning 30 and neither does a 13-year-old, which is the age I decided to stop allowing my mother to oil my hair. She had cycled the five stages of grief over

THE

the course of a week before excommunicating me for another. Like I said, hair is a Big Deal for my family and me. Monday/Denial: “What are you talking about you’re not letting me put Parachute in your hair? Go get the bottle right now.” Tuesday/Anger: “There’s no way you’re not oiling your hair today. I’ll drag you by your ponytail if I have to.” Wednesday/Bargaining: “OK look, you can oil your hair only once a week from now on.” Thursday/Depression: “Oh my god, Tanya your hair is not going to look good when you’re older. Why would you do this to me?” Friday/Acceptance: Unfortunately, this particular step does not exist for Indian parents. Or, at least, definitely not mine. My dad is still low-key hoping I do a 180 and switch to pre-med. (I know you’re

statement

Editor in Chief: Jennifer Calfas Managing Editor: Lev Facher

Copy Editors: Hannah Bates Laura Schinagle Emma Sutherland

reading this, Papa, and you know it’s true.) My decision to forgo coconut oil was misguided teenage rebellion — I was a good girl, so that was the extent of my “acting out”— and I quickly saw my hair deplete in both its mass and quality. But, as all teenagers are wont to do, I refused to accept my mistake and continued to avoid putting coconut oil in my hair, like an idiot, which is another way teenagers are inclined to behave. I just turned 19 a few weeks ago and the prospect of turning 30 isn’t so impossible or abstract anymore. Ever since I’ve started college, the stress has managed to make my hair fall out in clumps continuously. My roommates and I frequently find hair stuck on every imaginable surface of our apartment. We’re all hair oil defectors and we’re all paying the price.

Magazine Editor: Ian DIllingham Deputy Editor: Natalie Gadbois Creative Director: Cheryll Victuelles

Design Editor: Jake Wellins Photo Editor: Luna Anna Archey

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 // The Statement

Faces of an invisible identity: First-generation student experiences by Carolyn Gearig, Special Projects Manager

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Kinesiology senior Katie Thomas practices with her dance team, Dalliance Dance Crew.

rowing up on the west side of Detroit, most of Katie Thomas’ high school classmates didn’t go to college. But the Kinesiology senior was a stellar student: she consistently earned As in her classes, and she enjoyed going to school. So when she applied to college, the University of Michigan seemed like a natural choice. But Thomas didn’t expect to feel so out of place at the University. “I knew that coming here was going to be hard,” she said. “But it was really hard. I didn’t make any friends until sophomore year. I was here by myself and didn’t have any friends.” Thomas is a first-generation college student. Neither of her parents went to college, and Thomas says this identity has had a huge impact on her experience at the University. “If you have parents who went to college, you have some idea of what to expect,” she said. “I wasn’t aware. Everything I came to here was new to me.” According to the 2015 enrollment report, about 8.6 percent of current freshman are first-generation college students. This represents a decline of freshman from about 13 percent in 2010 and about 11 percent in 2014. These are the children of food service workers, farmers, mailmen, and electricians. Many are from Michigan, but some travel from distant corners of the country. Many are workingclass and low-income, according to experts interviewed for this article, but first-generation students can also come from higher income families. First-generation students cross boundaries of race, class, sexuality, and economics. These are their stories. *** Thomas went to a charter high school in Dearborn, Mich., near her neighborhood in Detroit. Only one-third of her classmates went to college, she said — but she estimated that half of them have since dropped out. In high school, she studied hard, but good grades came easily to her. In college, it was different. “I didn’t understand what hard meant,” she said. “Hard to me was an exam that was tough, not that you have an exam, a

Sociology lecturer Dwight Lang and Greg Merritt, senior associate director of housing, advise the First Generation College Students at Michigan group. They were both first-generation college students.

paper and a project all due within 24 hours. It was physically hard, having to keep up on all of the work, but also mentally hard. I was here all by myself, no friends, no family, and I had to try and do it on my own.” Most of her friends growing up didn’t even see college as an option, Thomas said . “A lot of people I went to school with thought more about the quickest way to get money,” she said. “They thought that college was just a distraction, and they could make money by working at one of the plants, or somewhere else. They’d rather get their six-week license to be a CNA (certified nursing assistant) instead of actually going to school to get a degree and be a nurse.” Public Policy graduate student Cortney Sanders shares many of the same experiences as Thomas. A Black woman from a working-class, low-income neighborhood in Houston, Texas, Sanders was valedictorian of her high school class and went on to the UT Austin for her bachelor’s degree. “I think that’s the journey for most first-gens,” she said. “They come from a neighborhood that’s poverty-stricken, and the high school is filled with people who come from low income or disadvantaged backgrounds, and they are valedictorian, salutatorian, top five percent because of the neighborhood they came from.” Sanders says she grew up in a safe and friendly neighborhood, but she doesn’t remember any of her friends growing up actually attending college. Attending a university even a few hours away was something unprecedented for her family. She received a full-ride scholarship to attend the UT Austin through a program that offers scholarships to low-income and underrepresented students. Otherwise, attending college might have been unaffordable. “Some people have different ideas about college,” she said. “They think it’s a rip-off, or you’re going to be spending your entire life paying it off. It really depends on what people’s parents told them.” Though only one of Sanders’ sisters attended a four-year

college, her parents were adamant that she and her siblings pursue at least some form of higher education. Thomas said her parents are huge proponents of education, too — they wanted their kids to have better lives. Her parents emphasized academics above everything else. “They didn’t require us to do a lot of chores and stuff at home because they wanted to make sure that we stayed focused on the main goals: school and academics as well as extracurriculars,” Thomas said. “As long as we did well in school, that was the main focus.” Sanders said her identities as a Black woman and a first-generation student are very intertwined. “In my family, I’m three generations away from slavery,” she said. “Generations of my family did not have the option to go to college. Someone else who could be literally sitting next to me in class never had that experience. It’s not just about the choice that was made, but the system that was created for me and my personal identities.” Thomas is biracial. She’s from an area that’s predominantly Black, so being in a place with so many white people was very different for her. “Coming here, where the percentage of African-American people is fairly small, was different to me,” she said. “I wasn’t used to being around so many white people, which is kind of crazy.” Thomas is president of First Generation College Students at Michigan — a group she says has helped her feel welcome at the University. The group began with a few students in 2008 and has since grown to include a variety of social activities, resources, and events. They host weekly meetings, dinners every semester, and a special graduation ceremony in May. Sociology lecturer Dwight Lang is one of two advisers of the group. The other is Greg Merrit, a senior associate director for housing. Both were first-generation college students, too. Lang said these students face a certain set of challenges, but they often share common strengths.

“They were the cream of the crop at their high school,” he said. “I think one of their biggest struggles is learning how to ask for help, because they have been self-sustaining for most of high school.” Lang said being first-gen at the University, especially if a student is also low-income, can be a challenge because students are generally put in an environment completely different from their hometown. “They are changing, while the rest of their families are oftentimes staying in the lower class,” he said. “You’re going back and forth for the rest of my life. I’ve experienced that, because I was also the first in my family to go to college. I felt like I was always going back and forth between my old world and my new world.” Lang added that because the first-generation identity is often closely tied to being low-income, this makes the identity different than, say, racial identities. “If you’re working class, you’re going to become middle class when you come here and you graduate,” he said. “If you’re Black, you’re going to be Black until the day you die.” Students of color have access to resources like the Trotter Multicultural Center and the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs. But before the First Generation Students at Michigan group was founded in 2008, there wasn’t a place on campus for white first-gens. “Based on the research I read, many first-gen students end up being loners because they feel so detached on campuses like this,” he said. “I’ve talked to so many first-gens who’ve seriously thought about leaving even into their sophomore year, because they felt so out of place.” Lang also emphasized that the first-generation identity can transcend boundaries of race, class and more. Some highincome students are the first in their families to go to college, and some low-income students are continuing-generation students, a term describing students whose parents graduated from college. Take Logan Meyer, a School of Information junior and vice president of First Generation College Students at Michigan. Though he’s a first-generation student, he comes from a welloff family, which has complicated this identity. “When people are talking about stressors I would never experience, it’s hard to consider the issues I’m having,” he said. “I almost shouldn’t be in this space. Do my problems even compare to those who don’t have the privileges I have?” Meyer’s mother works for their rural Illinois county, and his father is an electrician. They also partially own a family farming business, and while they aren’t wealthy, they have never struggled with money. Meyer said his first-gen identity

is often overlooked. “I struggled a lot my first year, especially academically,” he said. “I hated it. I felt alone. I came here with no one. No one reached out to me, because I looked like every other continuing-gen student.” Meyer’s parents pay for his college tuition, but he said doesn’t mean they understood what he was going through. He said there was a huge disconnect between him and his parents, and between him and his friends from home, too. No one understood why he was going to an out-of-state school. Most of his high school classmates thought it was a waste of money. Thomas and Meyer both said being a part of the student group has helped them realize that there are other people going through similar experiences. “I realized, I’m not the only one here who feels this way,” Thomas said. “Going to the meetings and realizing that there are other people who are also struggling and have the same issues and concerns as me was also an eye opener. And that’s why I started to feel like I had a place and I belonged.” Thomas is proud to be a first-generation college student. It’s something with which she identifies very strongly. “We set trends,” she said. “We are trailblazers. I am a leader and I will be a leader of my family for generations to come, and I don’t think that’s anything that should be looked down upon or seen as a barrier.” *** Statistics on first-generation students at the University come from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program entering student survey. It’s a national survey of new full-time undergraduate students that’s administered by the University’s office of student life. Generally, 75 to 80 percent of new students take the survey. Numbers of first generation freshmen have shifted over the past few years but generally hover around 10 percent. At other top schools, numbers are similar, or higher. At Princeton, 12 percent of students are first-generation college students. At Yale, it’s 14 percent, and 17 percent at Brown. Among the lowest is Washington University at St. Louis, with only 8 percent first-generation students. Sandra Levitsky, an assistant professor of sociology, is currently leading an effort to aggregate results of several different research studies on first-generation students. Levitsky said first-gen students at the University face particular challenges because there are so few of them. “If you go to a community college the numbers will be 60, 70, 80 percent first generation students, you don’t have that sense of isolation because there are a huge number of people going through the same experience as you are,” she said. “But

when you arrive at an elite university like Michigan, most people aren’t experiencing this sort of trauma of upward mobility. You feel like you are the only one. That sense of isolation makes the experience of college much more difficult.” For example, the percentage of first-generation students at the University pales in comparison to nearby Eastern Michigan University: in fall 2011, 33 percent of new first year students were the first in their families to attend college. Levitsky became interested in studying first-gens because her dad was one. Growing up, he talked about his college experience a lot. As a professor, she mentors many first-gen students. She said the challenges that these students encounter are unique. “All of these challenges make the experience of being here very isolating, very challenging, and very demoralizing,” she said. “And so you see a higher dropout rate, or a just sort of a really hard experience for four years, sometimes five years, where other students are, you know, this is the best time of their life.” Levitsky emphasized that first-generation students have a lot of unique qualities. They might not have the cultural capital of a continuing generation student, but, she said, they tend to be hard-working and persistent, and they oftentimes have overcome a lot to be where they are. “If a student arrives at a top research university such as the University of Michigan, coming as the first in their family to go to a four-year college, they have a certain level of grit, skills, persistence usually equated with future leaders,” she said. “These are great students.” In September 2015, University President Mark Schlissel announced a new initiative to increase diversity on campus. He described ongoing programs to address inclusion and diversity, and programs that will be put in place over the next year to reach out to students with incomplete applications and do more outreach to students who are admitted but not yet enrolled. These initiatives also target students from lowsocioeconomic backgrounds. Levitsky hopes to use results of the project to propose programs for first-generation students that may be piloted in the sociology department. As the University becomes increasingly diverse, she says, these programs will become more and more necessary. “One of the things I find so striking is that in a University like Michigan, even though we know this about the obstacles that first gen students face, we still throw everyone together in the classroom and into the program as if they were starting at an equal starting line,” she said.

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

Public Policy master’s student Cortney Sanders is pictured here at Munger Graduate Residences, where she is a Coleman Munger Fellow.

LUNA ANNA ARCHEY/Daily

School of Information junior Logan Meyer spends most of his time in North Quad.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 // The Statement

“We know that students who are first-gen students enter college less prepared,” she added. “We know that students are often unfamiliar with the culture and the mechanics of college life and they don’t have family members who they can call and ask questions. And we know that they tend to have more complex family structures and that pulls their attention and their time away from their work.” *** Sanders didn’t begin identifying as a first-generation student until she arrived at the University in September, but she knows that it has always affected her. Sanders said being at the University has been different than undergrad because her cohort for her Master’s in Public Policy program is so much smaller — about 100 students per class. She knows her classmates more than she did at the UT Austin. But she said overall, the experience has been less welcoming. For example, when she made an announcement in class one day about an upcoming first-gen meeting, no one seemed to care. “People would have side conversations with me about it, and some people would ‘come out’ about them being first-gen, but at the moment, it felt like dead silence,” she said. “It was more like, ‘Oh, poor Cortney.’ ” Similarly, Rackham student Aubrey Schiavone also didn’t identify as first-generation until she got to the University. She’s a student in the joint program between English and education. Schiavone got her bachelor’s from Mount Saint Mary’s University, a Catholic school in Maryland of just under 2,500 students, and her master’s degree at Salisbury University, a public school also near her hometown of Lanham, Maryland. At both schools, coming from a working class background was pretty normal. Then, she moved to Ann Arbor. “It was really hard when I moved here,” she said. “I hated Ann Arbor when I first got here. In my eyes, everyone here was rich and wealthy and I didn’t trust them. Mostly, I had interacted with working class people and middle class people.” Schiavone got more in touch with her first-generation identity when she found herself unable to afford basic necessities like rent and required books — she had never felt so out of place before. She found the first-generation undergraduate student group during her second year, as well as the Rackham first-generation group. “It was helpful to know that there are students like me here,” she said. “I was still hard for me to say, I’m first-gen and I’m not fitting in here and I’m not experiencing it well.” Similarly, Sanders was the first one in her family to leave Houston to attend college and the first one to go out of state, too. Since Sanders began college, two of her cousins and her niece have all enrolled, too — and her niece is out of state, at a school in Ohio. She thinks that she has played a role in making this happen. “I am a trailblazer,” she said. “I am making lives better because, for the first time, I can give tangible evidence to say, I graduated from here, given my circumstances.” *** Schiavone’s dissertation is focused on how being a working class and first-generation student affects how students read, write, and communicate. She remembers one lecture distinctly that made her think a lot about the subject. “One day in class, we read this article called Kitchen Tables and Rented Rooms,” she said. “It was all about how people do reading and writing, literacy that matters, outside of schools, and a lot of it was about working class people who were writing at their kitchen tables, for the jobs or for fun or because they were going back to school.” Schiavone said this was strikingly familiar to her — her mother is a secretary, and her father is a mailman. Both of them love to read and write in their spare time, but she says that their literacy skills aren’t valued because they didn’t go to college.

“I was so uncomfortable that we were talking about people like me, people like my family,” she said. “There is the assumption that the kind of people we study, the kind of people who are working class and poor, aren’t in the room.” Schiavone is interviewing fifteen first-generation, working-class undergraduates for her study. She focuses a lot of her interviews on their writing and speaking practices. “How we communicate with other people has a lot to do with how we are perceived,” she said. “I have this inkling that people who are first-gen and working class write and speak a little bit differently than people who aren’t, and they write and speak in ways that are very much informed by their backgrounds and their upbringings.” However, Schiavone was quick to emphasize that first-generation students have unique strengths. “A lot of research done on first-generation students is about the difficulties they face,” she said. “But I also want to ask students about what their strengths are, and what they are doing differently and are celebrating about their experience.” For example, most of Schiavone’s research participants have one or more jobs on and off campus, something often seen as a weakness because it takes time away from academics. But these students are also gaining from such experiences. “They are having this professional development while they are in college that other students aren’t getting,” she said. “They’ll say that ‘I work in a cafe, or in an office, and I have to learn how to talk to customers and clients.’ This is an important skill that your career is going to demand of you after college.” *** Social Work masters student Christina Castillo has a bit of a different story. Castillo transferred to the University in 2013, when she was 28. At the time, her daughter, Miranda, was five. Castillo is a single mom. Castillo is from an impoverished neighborhood in San Diego. Her grandparents immigrated from Mexico, and never went to school. Her mom didn’t go to college, either. Castillo went to community college on and off for several years and also struggled with domestic violence and mental illness. Her daughter was born in 2007; later on, Castillo graduated with her associates degree as a Phi Beta Kappa and with highest honors. As her daughter was nearing kindergarten, Castillo found herself on public assistance, and she knew that she wanted to give her a better life. “I was applying to jobs that I hated and didn’t want, and I knew there was not going to be a future,” she said. “Mainly, the decision was for my kid. I knew I wanted a better life for her, and I knew whatever she saw, she would repeat in her life. College is important and I wanted her to have that value.” So in August 2013, Castillo and her daughter got on a train that took them from San Diego to Los Angeles, and from Los Angeles to Chicago. From Chicago, they took a bus to Ann Arbor. It was her first time setting foot in Michigan. “We came here with two suitcases and that was it,” she said. “(We) moved into the apartment and slept in the clothes we had. We had no blankets, no nothing.” Now, she says, Miranda is in second grade and constantly tells her that she’s going to go to the University one day, too. “She was, many times, on campus with me going to classes,” Castillo said. “She just got into kindergarten when I started. It was the hardest thing of my life. I had to take her to my classes sometimes because there wasn’t a babysitter. Sometimes teachers, I think, forget that there are students that are not young and not single and have other obligations.” Castillo said the experience has been positive for her daughter, too, because the Ann Arbor Public Schools are among the best in the state. Although Castillo’s experience as a single mom affected her experience at the University, being a first-generation college student has, too. “When I first came here, I honestly felt like the stupidest person in the world,” she said. “They would be talking about concepts I never heard of. People will say things like, for

spring break, I went to Brazil, and I’m like, as a first generation, I’m barely cutting it, eating ramen noodles. You feel like you’re getting same education but starting off on a different playing level.” *** Schiavone said the biggest message she wants to send to people at the University is that these students need mentors. “They need mentors who are empathetic, and that can advocate for them, and who they can identify with,” she said. Schiavone said because being a first-generation student is an often invisible identity, students and faculty should not be afraid to speak up about it. When she finally did, she found three mentors who were also first-gen. “If you’re a professor on campus here, if you’re a grad student or undergraduate who is first-gen, start saying it,” Schiavone said. “Say it out loud, and celebrate it.”

INFOGRAPHIC BY JAKE WELLINS

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 // The Statement

Personal Statement: Just a shirt? by Michael Schramm, Daily Contributor

notice the red holes in my sneakers as I walk into an outlet mall’s T.J. Maxx. Wearing a $10 graphic tee purchased on clearance, I wade through aisles of affordable clothing. I’m looking for a particular shirt. I move around the men’s section until I lay eyes on my intended purchase: a blue polo shirt with a yellow Ralph Lauren logo embroidered in the top right corner. I quickly grab the polo, pace toward the fitting room and throw it on. It fits me well. A few seconds later, I'm hit with concern. “You shouldn’t purchase this,” I think. “It’s such an expensive brand. It’s not your style.” “But it’s $35 here — over 50 percent off,” I respond. “You’ll get a lot of wear out of it at the bars. It’s nice quality.” I override my concerns, head to the cash register and buy the shirt. While purchasing a Ralph Lauren polo may sound frivolous and trivial, it’s emblematic of the difficulties I navigate in transitioning out of being from a lower socioeconomic class. It’s a constant war, shaded with difficult emotions to articulate that feel silly to discuss. If you asked me about purchasing a Ralph Lauren shirt three years ago, I would have laughed at you. I grew up in Ypsilanti, a town with a reputation for being low-income. I lived in a lowincome household. As a child I cringed when handing money over to see a movie with friends. When I showered, I looked up and saw clear-looking tarp covering the hole in our roof that we couldn’t afford to fix. I became accustomed to poverty — its patterns and rhythms that would strike fear and confusion into others if they lived like me. But that all changed when I came to Michigan. I attend this school on an incredibly large need-based scholarship, one that lends itself to covering my rent. Not only is my rent paid, but through making financially smart choices like sharing a room with my best friend, I pocket some of my student refund each semester. This money provides me a source of disposable income, and it’s more than I’ve ever had in my life. It’s not, say, enough money to buy a car, but coupled with my jobs, I can afford to eat out with friends, buy drinks at a bar and make occasional $30 to $50 purchases on clothes I’ll wear two to three times a month. While this feels very American-Dream-Come-True-esque, each step out of poverty leaves me feeling weighted, shameful, and guilty. Take, for example, the blue polo shirt. Even though it was reasonably priced, I felt guilty because I purchased it to blend in with other people that wear those shirts — people who are financially stable. It’s tough, because when I’m wearing it at a party or bar I look like everyone else. But that blending feels like I’m lying to myself, to the world around me. Not only that, but it’s a stark contrast to the core values I held. I remember during high school when I’d wear whatever I wanted and feel proud of myself.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHERYLL VICTUELLES

One day, I wore a polo shirt that looked like it belonged to a safari guide. I got it for a few bucks at Plato’s Closet. As I interacted with my friends that day, I got a wide range of responses to the shirt. Some friends thought it looked amazing while others teased me in good spirit. Regardless of the response, I liked that shirt and didn’t care what others thought. I compare that to myself now. Looking around at Rick’s one night, I realized how many people wore Ralph Lauren polo shirts and I immediately felt self-conscious wearing my plain shirt. Instead of reassuring myself that I don’t need to wear what others do, I realized I could just go out and buy a polo shirt. It’s as if the more money I’m given, the more things I can purchase, the more I feel my self-confidence slipping through my hands like sand. But I can’t tell if that’s actually what’s happening, or if I’m simply developing a rational and logical solution to a problem. Throughout my life, I’ve gotten the impression that low-socioeconomic status is an identity I should escape. I need to work hard, attend a good school, graduate, get a high-paying job and proceed to live happily ever after. And I’d have to agree that escaping poverty is important and beneficial. But, then, why do I feel like I’m losing more than just a set of poor circumstances? Even the mundane, day-today activities like wearing a shirt make me feel as if part of my identity, beliefs and lifestyle are being ripped from the very core of who I am. *** I’ve been thinking of how to end this story for the past few weeks. I wanted to leave with some sense that I’m meshing the two identities. But it’s just not happening. I hoped this story would inspire me to wear other shirts, but I still love the Ralph Lauren Polo. Some nights I feel that same sense of guilt tugging at my stomach, but other nights I look at myself in the mirror and ask why I’m making such a big deal out of a T-shirt. “Seriously, you’ve had enough of this. It’s a shirt. You like it. You look good in it, you didn’t pay much for it. It’s not that big of a deal. You have money now, and you can buy stuff like this. It makes you feel confident. Just stop making a big deal out of this,” I constantly tell myself. But sometimes when I’m walking away from the mirror I see my reflection not as who I am in that moment, but as every image that I’ve ever seen myself as in a mirror. They’re smashed together into one being while also being individual and fragmented, like every past version of myself is present in that glass. In that moment I’m whole yet unbelievably disjointed. And I hear in my head — as if one of the old fragments is coming into focus — a whisper. “I miss who you used to be.” That whisper is fierce and chilling. It shocks me to my core. I can’t tell whether it’s a voice of sincerity and truth, or the voice of a jaded, wildly irrational 16 year old. But as I walk away, I hear my most current fragment respond. “I miss you, too.”

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 // The Statement

Personal Statement: Why I love Drake by Allana Akhtar, Daily Staff Reporter

t won’t take long into getting to know me to know how much I love the rapper Drake. He’s in my Twitter bio. He’s the background on my phone. I once changed the all computer screens at The Michigan Daily news desk to mirroring images of his face. When friends describe me to people they know, they often bring up my obsession with Drizzy. It’s become my “niche.” Interestingly, however, no one has ever asked me why I’m obsessed with him. On the surface, it’s easy to understand my infatuation. In music videos when he points his chocolate brown eyes at you, framed with long eyelashes and thick, sculpted eyebrows, and puckers his full, pink lips … one can’t help getting carried away. Aside from his godlike beauty, Champagne Papi has earned his top spot among today’s most famous pop stars. He’s sold 10 million albums worldwide and has had more singles on Billboard than any other rapper. Drake’s got one Grammy, six BET awards, four platinum albums, and a thriving record label, OVO Sound. However, Champagne Papi is far from flawless (barring aesthetics). Following the release of Hotline Bling, Drake’s been called out for slut-shaming and being too quick to judge a girl as “bad” or “good.” To be clear, these are critiques I wholeheartedly agree with. Drake does not “own” women — if they want stop talking to him and go out with their friends, that is none of his business. Yet I still have love for The Boy — not for the women he doesn’t like, but for the women he does. Whether it is Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, or Serena Williams, Drake loves his independent women — women who make their own money, who have their own names, and do not rely on a man for their fame.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHERYLL VICTUELLES

In the song “Fancy,” Drizzy praises his girlfriend for her independence. He says though she spends hours getting ready and looking good, she doesn’t “do it for the man, men never notice; you just do it for yourself, you the f*cking coldest.” And not only does the girl not care about what men have to say about her, she’s got a degree, a house and she’s making her own money: “Shout out to the homeowners / the girls that got diplomas and enough money to loan us / a little something extra should we ever need it.” I have always looked up to independent women. During my childhood, I saw many girls, the daughters of Pakistani immigrants, with little ambition in their schoolwork or hobbies. Though much different now, traditional Pakistani culture had dictated women take on lessintense career aspirations and focus all their energy into getting married and raising their children. And this general lack of ambition in women isn’t singular to children of immigrants — when I came to college, I saw women all around me have little drive for success. Though many would say this is OK, that sometimes pursuing a passion is not for everyone, I disagree. For women especially — who face the constant pressure of being overlooked for jobs and promotions by men in the workplace and still manage to get paid less — I have always felt there’s something to prove. Whether it be through getting good grades and finding a job, or being the best athlete, singer, artist, chef, or journalist you can be, I feel women have a responsibility to being their best selves. I am not working hard just because Drake notices, but when I play him on Spotify and he croons about loving a “student working weekends in the city” or a girl “tryna study by the pool,” I know he notices when a girl’s working hard. It’s not as if I do these things for Drake — it’s just nice that he notices.