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ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, November 5, 2015

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Grant to offer bars bystander training State allocates funding for offcampus sexual assault prevention By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily Staff Reporter

MARINA ROSS/Daily

LEFT: Michigan alum Dani Vignos, the owner of University Flower Shop, arranges a bouquet on Wednesday. CENTER: Ali A. Amiri carries on daily tasks at the Persian House of Imports, which he owns. RIGHT: Washtenaw Community College student Miles Larson browses through vinyl at Encore Records.

Bill to expand Mich. promise zones Five additional school districts could offer tuition scholarships By EMMA KINERY Daily Staff Reporter

Michigan state legislators are pushing to expand a program that currently provides free under-

graduate college tuition to certain students in 10 of the state’s school districts. Senate Bill 0539, which passed the state Senate last week, would allow for the establishment of more “promise zones” in the state of Michigan. The zones are modeled after the Kalamazoo Promise, which guarantees scholarships at in-state public colleges to students in Kalamazoo who have been enrolled in the school district for a set number of years.

Established in 2005, the program was the first of its kind in the United States. Current legislation only allows for 10 promise zones in the state of Michigan. The bill proposes increasing the maximum number to 15. There are 10 current promise zone districts in the state, which include Baldwin Community Schools, Battle Creek Public Schools, Detroit Public Schools, Jackson Public Schools, the Lansing School District, the School Dis-

trict of the City of Pontiac and the Saginaw School District. Promise scholarships cover tuition costs beyond federal financial aid awards. Those scholarships are funded through private contributions and a mechanism called tax capture — in which the promise zone captures some of the growth in the State Education Tax. The amount of tuition coverage students receive through the Kalamazoo Promise var-

MEDICINE

MEETING PREVIEW

A2 Council to consider frat investigation

Study finds cancer cells beat T-cells for glucose Research could pave way for developing immunotherapy treatments DAVID SONG/Daily

By ALEXA ST. JOHN

ies based on how long they have been enrolled in school in the district. For example, students who attended kindergarten through senior year in Kalamazoo Public Schools receive 100 percent tuition coverage, while students who attended from only sophomore year on are not eligible for any coverage. On top of the enrollment requirements, students must maintain a 2.0 average GPA while in college. See PROMISE, Page 3A

Thursday’s session will also focus on deer cull plan, sustainability

At Ford Auditorium on Wednesday, University President Mark Schlissel discussed University actions and policies on sexual assault and outlined plans to decrease overall incidences.

Daily Staff Reporter

When cancer cells and immune T-cells compete for glucose, more commonly known as sugar, cancer cells will win, according to new University research. According to the study, which was released Tuesday, the competition results in unhealthy immune system T-cells that are unable to fight the cancer. Conducted by researchers from the University’s Medical School, the study focused on the human cancer microenvironment, which holds the key to understanding the immune system’s response to cancerous tumors and the patient’s response to therapy. See CANCER, Page 2A

Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration awarded $500,000 on Thursday to fund sexual assault prevention initiatives at universities across the state. The University will receive $20,000 to fund “Raise the Bar,” a new program to train staff at Ann Arbor bars to intervene in situations that may result in sexual assault. The University is working alongside Wolverine Wellness and the Ann Arbor Campus Community Coalition, a local group dedicated to reducing alcohol-related harm, to train local business owners to recognize and successfully intervene in harmful situations. “We are really excited about this project because we are taking our bystander intervention efforts off of campus and into the community where often the trajectory of harm begins,” said Holly Rider-Milkovich, director of the University’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness See GRANTS, Page 3A

By LEA GIOTTO Daily Staff Reporter

Schlissel highlights sexual assault in lecture on ethics At 20th annual Waggoner lecture, president talks campus misconduct By NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT Daily Staff Reporter

University President Mark Schlissel delivered the 20th

Annual Raymond W. Waggoner Lectureship on Ethics and Values in Medicine on Thursday. The topic he chose to discuss: sexual misconduct. An audience of medical professionals and a handful of students crowded the University Hospital’s Ford Auditorium for the lecture, named for the late Raymond Waggoner, professor emeritus and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry.

Schlissel’s lecture, titled “Making U-M Safer for Students: Confronting the Challenge of Sexual Misconduct,” mainly focused on the obstacles facing the investigation of sexual assault on campus. “Although there are ethics in all aspects of science, I’ve decided to speak about a topic that I’ve been dealing with a lot as a University president,” he said. “It See ETHICS, Page 2A

The Ann Arbor City Council will meet Thursday to consider resolutions on several topics, including a complaint related to the University fraternity Alpha Sigma Phi, a deer cull, the city’s energy and sustainability and the purchase of vehicles for the Ann Arbor Fire Department. Possible investigation of fraternity nuisance complaints Council will vote on whether to approve a resolution that would permit City Attorney Stephen Postema to investigate nuisance complaints at Alpha Sigma Phi’s fraternity house on 920 Baldwin Ave. The resolution is sponsored by

Councilmember Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3). On Wednesday, Kunselman told the Daily he wouldn’t comment on the issue until Thursday’s meeting. Resolution to allow the possession and discharge of weapons in public places for deer cull The council will also address the city’s deer management program Thursday night, as the representatives will vote on a resolution to allow a temporary moratorium on Chapter 115 of the city code. The chapter prohibits the possession and discharge of weapons in public places, and a temporary moratorium would allow a deer cull in Wards 1 and 2 of Ann Arbor this winter. The cull would be carried out “at night with noise-suppressed firearms using trained personnel with experience in conducting a cull in an urban setting,” according to Thursday’s meeting agenda. On Aug. 17, the City Council adopted a deer management proSee COUNCIL, Page 3A

the b-side A look at the Blind Pig’s annual Halloween Band Masquerade

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News

2A — Thursday, November 5, 2015

MONDAY: This Week in History

TUESDAY: Campus Voices

WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

THURSDAY: Twitter Talk

FRIDAY: Photos of the Week

FEEL THE BERN After a 2016 Ohio State football commit backed out and Michigan fans rejoiced, Harbaugh asked for fans to be kind.

“I respectfully ask that fans conduct themselves in a 1st-class manner on social media when commenting on players, opponents & prospects.” —@CoachJim4UM

“ DAVID SONG/Daily

Community High School student Liam Knight chalks for the Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign on the Diag.

The University tweeted a “Humans of New York”inspired post.

“What’s something you think people need to hear more often? ‘That each person is a miracle.’ #WolverinesOfAnnArbor” — @Umich

“

WHAT: Wellness Advocacy Keen-ness and Engagement in Undergraduate Programs lecture where faculty of color discuss navigating predominantly white campus. WHO: Office of AcademicMulticultural Initiatives WHEN: Today from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: Student Activities

Space policy WHAT: For the 2015 Nelson W. Spencer Lecture, Genene Fisher, the executive officer at National Centers for Environmental Prediction will speak on space weather services and science policy. WHEN: Today from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. WHERE: Space Research Building, Room 2246

WHAT: A seminar discussing the risks associated with receiving a mammogram. WHO: Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine WHEN: Today at 3 p.m.

what forces are driving the refugee and migration crisis. WHO: International Institute WHEN: Today from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. WHERE: School of Social Work Building, 1840

Hedy Habra reading

Concentration Redistricting town hall camps talk

WHAT: Arab-American author Hedy Habra will read from “Under Brushstrokes,” her new collection of poetry. There will be a book signing afterward. WHO: Hedy Habra WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Harlan Hacher Graduate Library, Gallery, Room 100

WHAT: Prof. Dan Stone, of the University of London, will analyze how concentration camps have spread across the world and become an “institution of the modern age.” WHO: Judaic Studies WHEN: Today from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: Tisch Hall, Room 1014

ETHICS From Page 1A does to speak to our ethics and our system of values, but it has to do with how to create campus environment that is ideal for learning.” During the address, Schlissel pointed out the importance of students feeling safe in their learning environment. “If you feel threatened by sexual misconduct, you’re not going to be able to learn,” he said. “We won’t have an adequate learning environment for our children.” Schlissel spent a large portion of the talk relaying the key points of the University’s process for investigating sexual assault and describing how the process creates challenges for all parties involved. The University’s approach is defined as a student disciplinary process instead of a criminal one, and in 2011, it was changed from complaint-driven to investigationdriven, meaning the University must investigate a known episode of sexual misconduct. In addition, Schlissel noted the standard of proof for Universitybased investigations is based on a “preponderance of evidence.” “If it is more likely than not,

then the person is found guilty,” Schlissel said. “If a ruling is 51 to 49, the person is found guilty. You only need a slight degree of certainty to adjudicate.” Phillip Margolis, professor emeritus of psychiatry, introduced Schlissel, and noted the President’s how his background in medicine lends a unique perspective on the subject of sexual assault. Schlissel holds a Bachelor of Arts in biochemical sciences from Princeton University, and both a medical degree and a doctorate in physiological chemistry from Johns Hopkins University. “We need to learn how to control, adjudicate and prevent aspects of sexual misconduct,” Margolis said. “You can’t escape this discussion in modern society.” Throughout the talk, Schlissel repeatedly referenced two recent campus-wide surveys: one administered by the University and another national survey conductedby the Association of American Universities. The University’s survey revealed 11.4 percent of students and 22.5 percent of undergraduate females at the University reported having experienced some sort of nonconsensual sexual behavior at the University. Women were reported to be

WHAT: The presentation will address whether it is fair that Michigan’s elected officials draw their own district’s boundaries. WHO: The League of Women Voters of the Ann Abror Area WHEN: Today from 4 p.m to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Weill Hall, O’Neill Classroom, 1230

eight times more likely to be sexually assaulted. Undergraduate students three times more likely, lesbian, gay or bisexual students two and a half times, Greek students two and a half times, and underrepresented minorities two times more likely to be sexually assaulted then the general population. Out of the students who responded ‘yes’ to an incident of sexual misconduct, 46 percent told another person. However, only 3.6 percent told an official University resource. LSA freshman Kyla Klein had a mixed response to the lecture overall, saying she felt Schlissel relied too heavily on statistics. “I enjoyed learning about the statistics, but I didn’t really see anything to go forward from,” she said. “I think we have the bodies to deal with these issues, but we just need more support and resources in those bodies.” Some of the challenges Schlissel pointed out included the stigma associated with coming forward and revealing one’s sexual history, the lack of direct witnesses and the prevalence of alcohol and binge drinking. The talk touched on the University’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center and its history of sexual misconduct prevention. “This isn’t a Michigan problem, but a university-aged student problem,” he said. “The University has really been on the leading edge of concern for students over sexual assault.” At the end of his lecture, Schlissel outlined how, going forward, the University needs to improve the investigation, adjudication and support processes for sexual assault. Specifically, he said he wanted to increase the number of students coming forward, as well as support for survivors on campus. The University is currently garnering input to inform a revision of the University’s Student Sexual Misconduct Policy. “All this is happening in a culture that I think is very different from the one most of us grew up in,” he said. “What I am very proud of is the University, with its eyes wide open, has taken a very honest look at itself, and it’s identified its problems within itself.”

#TMD

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“Thanksgiving celebration is on Weds, 11/18 in all dining halls. And Thanksgiving Day dinner is 11/26 at Hill.” - @MichiganDining

Drum and Breast cancer Refugee crisis round table Dance Society diagnosis WHAT: A panel of WHAT: The Tree of seminar professors will talk about Life Drum and Dance Society performs folkoloric music from Africa, Cuba, Brazil and more. WHO: Gifts of Art WHEN: Today from 12:10 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: University Hospitals, First Floor

Michigan Dining announced when it is serving Thanksgiving meals.

CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES

Wake Up seminar

Each week, “Twitter Talk” is a forum to print tweets that are fun, informative, breaking or newsworthy, with an angle on the University, Ann Arbor and the state. All tweets have been edited for accurate spelling and grammar.

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY

The cause of death for Lieutenant “GI Joe” Gliniewicz of Fox Lake, Illinois was determined a suicide, The Chicago Tribune reported. The officer faked his death to cover evidence of corruption. The manhunt for his killers reached $300,000.

In her column, Anne Katz reflects on her grandmother’s life one year after her passing and the lesson she learned to never stop moving. >>SEE OPINION, PAGE 4A

Jackie Biskupski was elected Utah’s first openly gay mayor, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Tuesday’s vote tallies showed Biskupski defeated Salt Lake’s twoterm Mayor Ralph Becker 52 to 47.8 percent, respectively.

CANCER From Page 1A Immunotherapy, a type of therapy that has been researched extensively in recent years and aims to employ the body’s immune system to fight off some cancers, was a focus of the research led by Weiping Zou, the University’s Charles B. de Nancrede professor of surgery, immunology and biology and the director of translational research. Zou said the fields in which the study was based — tumor biology and immunotherapy — are difficult to work in because only a fraction of patients respond to the treatment and the likelihood of response varies based on a patient’s existing T-cell count. “T-cells are the soldiers in the immune system,” Zou said. “The T-cells kill the tumors, so the T-cells are important. But the T-cells must be in the tumor microenvironment, and the T-cells must be also functional in the tumor microenvironment. That’s the problem we have been working on for many years.” Zou said the tumor microenvironment and the tumor itself may affect the T-cells because they all share the same microenvironment. “What we saw is that it turns out the T-cells and the tumor cells are actually competing for glucose in the microenvironment,” Zou said. “The T-cells are not able to compete efficiently with the tumor cells because the tumor cells … could be resistant to the harsh environment. Therefore, this hurts the T-cells. The T-cells are not able to be fully functional, and they are not able to kill the tumor in an efficient manner.” According to Zou, the study ultimately concluded that current immunotherapy clinical trials with PD-L1 and PD-1

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blockade, which are immunotherapy-based inhibitors, indicate that tumors with a high number of T-cells were more responsive to these immunotherapy-based inhibitors than tumors with a lower number of T-cells. Though tumor cells are killed during chemotherapy and radiation therapy, a number of healthy cells are also killed, Zou said. However, in the case of immunotherapy, the tumor cells are selectively killed, rather than employing a treatment that could also potentially damage cells in the rest of the body, as is common in chemotherapy. Additionally, the side effects of immunotherapy are more manageable and quite minimal. Some patients could be cured of cancer, and others will have a long-term positive response. “If the patient is not responsive, it means they have very few T-cells in the tumor,” Zou said. “And even if they have T-cells, the T-cells may not be functional. One reason may be they don’t have sufficient sugar because of the competition between tumor and T-cells. So in that case, we have two ways to reprogram it.” The first is to reprogram the T-cells to ensure they move into the tumor. Once they’re inside, the second aim is to make sure they are resistant to the harsh tumor environment. According to Zou, while researchers might not be able to fix the problem immediately, they hope the new knowledge may help drive the search for a solution. Educational institutions and many pharmaceutical companies are now working on finding methods to reprogram the T-cells, and the research continues to evolve. “The strategy right now is combination,” Zou said. “That means you use different ways, you combine them together. For example, we know now

that the PD-1 blockade could work. But for some patients, we don’t see T-cells … So before we do this therapy, we can do something else, to increase the T-cells in the tumor.” Zou said much of what he and his colleagues discuss is why some patients are responsive and some other are not. Pavan Reddy, professor of translational oncology and internal medicine, works as a tumor immunologist and physician scientist at the University familiar with this type of research. “The ability to manipulate the immune system to get rid of cancer is now one of the most exciting methods of therapy available,” Reddy said. T-cells are probably among the most critical immune cells in the body, specifically for eliminating tumor cells, Reddy said. However, because not all T-cells survive and not all are very functional in the tumor environment, the paper published by Zou and his coauthors provides fundamental insight into potential methods to allow the T-cells to become functional to kill the cancer cells. “Tumor cells use glucose in a unique manner compared to normal tissues,” Reddy said. Reddy said the research shows a surprising but important connection between the T-cells and their competition with cancer cells for glucose. He also agreed with Zou, saying the use of immunotherapy could present a much more precise treatment compared to other approaches like chemotherapy. Because it would be difficult and impractical to collect data on all types of cancers, Reddy said, the recent research was done specifically with human melanoma and ovarian cancer samples. However, he said the research is likely applicable to many other kinds of cancers as well.

News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

NEWS BRIEFS

PROMISE From Page 1A

Bentley Historical Library acquires papers of former Sen. Carl Levin

Students’ eligibility and the amount of tuition they receive varies depending on the promise zone. Like in Kalamazoo, the number of years a student has attended school in the district, as well as whether or not they have achieved a certain GPA, are among the factors employed as determinants. Michigan communities with a poverty level for families with children under the age of 18 that meets or exceeds the state average, can hold a public hearing and submit a request to the state government for promise zone consideration. The new legislation would not change the way promise zones are chosen in the state of Michigan, but simply increase their number. State Sen. Goeff Hansen (R– Hart), who sponsored the legislation, hopes it will increase

The University’s Bentley Historical Library announced Wednesday that papers from the 36-year career of former U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D– Mich.) will be permanently housed in its archives. Levin, who has served six terms in the Senate, donated the materials, which will include legislation, letters, photos and memos dating to 1952, the year he graduated from Detroit Central High School. Levin did not seek reelection in 2014 and was succeeded by Gary Peters, a Democrat from Bloomfield Twp. The historical library currently preserves records and documents from the terms of more than a dozen U.S. senators, 17 members of the U.S. House and 31 Michigan governors. Earlier this year, former U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D– Mich.) donated his papers to the University. Dingell, whose wife Debbie Dingell (D–Mich.) now represents his former district, was the longest serving House Representative until his retirement in 2015.

University receives $5 million in funds for brain research The University will receive $5 million from the National Science Foundation for brain research, the University announced Tuesday. Experts in sensor technology, data analysis, electronics and neuroscience will use the funds to research discoveries about brain activity at a the singleneuron level and train international neuroscientists and engineers. The grant was awarded under the Partnerships for International Research and Education program, and will support the participation of 55 students and researchers in an international exchange program. After completing neuroscience and neurotechnology “boot camps” hosted at the Universitorty, 40 undergraduate students will attend collaborating institutions to participate in summer research projects. The grant also allows 15 graduate students or postdoctoral researchers from U.S. labs to work in a collaborating lab. Questions about brain function will be answered by optoelectrodes, technology capable of measuring signals from nerves that influence brain activity. Collaborators in the five-year project will include scientists and researchers from Singapore, South Korea, New York, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom and Germany. The project aims to stimulate and measure neurons with new technology purchased by the funding with the hope of improving the quality of data.

Munger Residence Hall achieves gold The newly-opened Munger Graduate Residence Hall has earned a LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The program honors buildings for achievements in sustainability building construction and stands for Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design. Several campus buildings are already certified gold LEED structures, including the Dana Building and the Law School South Academic Building. The residence hall opened in the fall.

—JACKIE CHARNIGA

COUNCIL From Page 1A gram to “reduce human health and safety risks and property damage” caused by deer within city limits. If the moratorium is approved, the cull will be carried out largely by Wildlife Services, a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. A resolution authorizing the city’s involvement with Wildlife Services will also be presented at Thursday’s meeting. Amendment to Clean Energy Coalition contract City Council will also consider an amendment to the city’s contract with the Clean Energy Coalition to plan for the city’s approach

college enrollment in the state of Michigan. “Passage of this legislation will increase access to higher education opportunities for eligible students across the state,” Hansen said in an e-mail to The Michigan Daily. “This will be another tool for our students to be part of a more educated workforce and be able to compete in a global economy.” For context, Washtenaw County had a poverty rate of 15.4 percent in 2013 — slightlybelow the state average of 16.8 percent, meaning it’s likely districts in the county would likely qualify for promise zone consideration. When the state program was created in 2009, they received 14 requests to fill 10 slots. Many of the promise zones created through the state bill after the Kalamazoo Promise — such as the Baldwin Promise Zone — focus on funding two-year degrees versus four-year programs. Studies on the effects of prom-

to sustainability. The amendment would further many of the goals set forth in the council’s sustainability framework — which was adopted as part of the city’s master plan in February 2013. Out of the 16 goals the framework presents, the amendment seeks to further six of them: energy conservation, sustainable buildings, diverse housing, economic vitality, sustainable energy and engaged community. Implementing the provisions of the amendment would cost the city $85,000, a sum that was allocated to the operations and maintenance budget when the city’s budget for 2016 was approved. Resolution for purchase of vehicles for Fire Department The council will also a resolution to approve the purchase of three sport utility vehicles.

ise zones show the program had positive impacts on communities in regard to the economy and district enrollment. A 2007 Center for Local, State and Urban Policy study through the University was performed too early to say definitively that the Kalamazoo Promise has had a positive impact on the local and state economy, but positive indicators — such as the likelihood for students who go to college in-state to remain there post-graduation — are noted in the report. The study found an overall increase in enrollment in Kalamazoo Public Schools. Further, minority enrollment increased at a greater rate. The CLOSUP study also indicated students who participated in the Kalamazoo Promise were more likely to have college aspirations. “The researchers concluded that the Promise (a) increased the likelihood of students applying to college, (b) increased the likelihood of students applying to Michigan colleges and uni-

The city would by the cars from the Grand Rapids Berger Chevrolet for a total of $63,129. All three of the vehicles would be assigned to the Ann Arbor Fire Department. More specifically, two of the cars will be assigned to the assistant fire chiefs so they can “respond to emergency scenes when necessary,” and “travel to and from business meetings and work related events,” according to the agenda item. The third car will be used by the department’s field operations unit for “transportation of administrative staff … to investigate and respond to issues that arise in the field.” The city would gift the vehicles to their fire department recipients in lieu of automobile stipends. For that reason, the fire department’s budget will fund the purchases.

Thursday, November 5, 2015 — 3A versities, (c) permitted students to choose higher-quality postsecondary institutions and (d) increased the likelihood of lowincome students applying to a 4-year college and decreased the likelihood of these students applying to a 2-year college,” the study says. Meredith Billings, a doctoral candidate in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, is working to evaluate promise zones for her dissertation. She said her research so far coincides with many of the findings in the CLOSUP study. “I think the idea of the MI promise zones are definitely innovative given that they are targeted at communities that have a higher percentage of families living in poverty and tend to have lower college-going rates than other communities in Michigan,” Billings wrote in an e-mail to the Daily. “The hope is these promise zones will be able to foster a college-going culture

GRANTS From Page 1A Center. The grant stems from the governor’s Campus Sexual Assault Grant Program, an initiative designed to help Michigan colleges and universities fund additional sexual assault prevention resources. Of the 33 colleges and universities that applied for funding in October, 23 received a portion of the $500,000. According to a press release, the grant aims to change the culture of sexual assault among college students. Universities and colleges submitted proposals for specific projects which fostered collaboration, innovative ideas and encouraged student involvement.

within the local schools and be able to revitalize the community through increasing the education levels of its residents and attracting new businesses to the area.” After Michigan voters banned the use of affirmative action, colleges like the University have struggled to enroll underrepresented minority students. According to Fall 2015 data from the Office of the Registrar, Black enrollment at the University is 4.1 percent. The University has recently launched several new scholarship programsof their own with the aim of enrolling a more diverse class of students. “Passage of this legislation will increase access to higher education opportunities for eligible students across the state,” Hansen wrote. “This will be another tool for our students to be part of a more educated workforce and be able to compete in a global economy.”

“In Michigan we have a proven track record of working together to tackle the tough issues and solve problems,” Snyder said in the press release. “This funding is an important step in working to ensure the long-term safety and success of our state’s students.” The University is the second school to employ a bar bystander intervention program, after the University of Iowa. “It’s a promising new approach and it represents significant new efforts in the area,” Rider-Milkovich said. “We are extremely excited that the selection committee chose this project to be funded.” The University’s satellite campuses in Flint and Dearborn also received funding through the program — the Dearborn campus received $38,016 and the Flint campus received $29,363.

The Daily aims to tell the story of campus, Ann Arbor, the state, and our society at large. But the Daily also wants to hear from you. What do you want to tell? The Michigan Daily invites storytellers of all kinds to join us for a our first community story slam. We want to hear your poetry, short stories, essays -anything you can read or perform aloud.

STORY SLAM

Friday, November 20 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 420 Maynard St.

Send entries to Sam Gringlas at gringlas@umich.edu by Nov. 13. Pieces should be limited to three minutes in length.

Opinion

4A — Thursday, November 5, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

REBECCA TARNOPOL | VIEWPOINT

Remembering, not rationalizing, the Holocaust 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.

Meatless Mondays of indoctrination

he World Health Organization released a jarring report Oct. 26 that identifies processed meat as a group one carcinogen — meaning that it has a firm link to cancer. This finding adds traction to the Meatless Monday movement, which encourages individuals to not eat meat on Mondays in order to improve their health and to promote environmental conservation. On a weekly basis, University Dining ASHLEY hosts Meatless Mondays AUSTIN at East Quad. University Dining presents Meatless Mondays at East Quad as a public health and environmental conservation initiative; although altruistic, the fact that students attending this dining hall on Mondays do not have the freedom to choose whether to eat meat or not brings about questions of the role of the University in limiting food options. Meatless Mondays are an example of the extension of the University’s public health and environmental initiatives in the food realm. Other initiatives include choosing Michigan farmers for vegetables, fruits, honey and milk served in all of the dining halls, with East Quad additionally serving meats less than 250 miles away from campus. This allows for fresh and local ingredients to be served in the dining halls, while also reducing the carbon footprint that would be created with large transportation distances. This initiative does not controversially inflict a limitation of choice upon students: Yes, students are less likely to have honey in their tea from across the Atlantic, but having locally grown honey has few drawbacks for students if the University can negotiate ingredients at a competitive rate that does not alter meal plan costs. Furthermore, University Dining has paired with a company known as Sea to Table that helps the University find sustainable fishery suppliers. Yet again, having fish that comes from sustainable and eco-friendly suppliers does little to have cause for students to object if costs are not significantly increased. However, Meatless Mondays go much further than these other initiatives because meat consumption is such an intrinsic and natural act for a human to engage in. We are omnivores, and although some choose to become vegetarians (5 percent of Americans according to a 2012

Gallup poll), the vast majority of University students and Americans consume meat on a daily basis. In fact, the Wall Street Journal calculates that the average American adult who consumes meat eats about 0.36 pounds of meat a day. Meat provides humans with essential proteins and fats that facilitate survival, so the tendency to consume meat is functional and healthy, but of course damaging if overdone. The World Health Organization highlights in their Oct. 26 report that consumption of 50 grams (0.11 pounds) of processed meat is linked with an 18 percent increased risk of colorectal cancer. Yet, this increased risk is a relative risk increase, meaning that it does not include personal risk factors such as pre-existing conditions and age in its calculations. The National Cancer Institute’s colorectal calculator does not even include risks for those under the age of 50. University Dining mentions the association between meat and cancer on their webpage explaining Meatless Mondays, a notable concern, but not a sweeping public health concern considering that the association is only proven for people consuming meat at ages far exceeding the mean age of a Michigan student. Furthermore, the notion in itself that students’ access to meat should be limited oversteps a previously established boundary. The University of Michigan Dining website includes pages that provide explanations of accommodations for students with special nutritional needs or dietary constraints from religious observations. This ideology is compromised when East Quad only serves vegetarian options on Mondays, not accommodating the majority of students who eat meat on a daily basis. Considering that the association between colorectal cancer and processed meat consumption for those under the age of 50 is not proven, the public health justifications do not seem to outweigh the University’s own aim to accommodate all students. After all, during various religious holidays with dietary restrictions, University Dining strives to accommodate religious students but does not universally eliminate access to meat and other foods to all students. Meatless Mondays at East Quad exemplify a doctrine of public health and environmental sustainability being pushed onto students at the expense of student agency in food choice. — Ashley Austin can be reached at agracea@umich.edu.

A column about ducks

“S

i fueras un animal, que animal serías?”

“If you were an animal, what animal would you be?” my GSI in Spanish 232 asked the class. Because I take questions like this seriously, I thought it was a bit unfair that he was expecting us to answer with such PAYTON a limited vocabulary. On LUOKKALA an average day, I would struggle with this question in English. On a good day, I could name only a handful of animals in Spanish. As we went around the room, cats and dogs had already been picked a few times apiece, and while I liked dogs more, I could relate better emotionally to cats. I could not make myself pick either. “Un pato,” I answered. A duck. In the middle of Spanish class, I had quacked (bad puns make the world a little better). My teacher arched his brow, questioning my answer, my sanity. “Si,” I replied. I breathed. I needed the oxygen. Who had I become in my life if I was now best compared to a duck? What were the redeeming qualities of a duck, anyway? They have waterproof feathers and walk in a pseudo-graceful dance. Their babies are cute, but most babies are rather ordinary that way. Ducks are not exactly fierce and beautiful dwellers of wild habitats. They are also, I quote from a friend, “rather messy and did not make a good house pet.” I spent my weekend thinking about ducks. I carved one into a pumpkin Friday night, drew cartoons of them into the margins of my anthropology notes. Ducks trailed behind me as I wove through the tables in the dining hall, and their webbed toes stepped into puddles after my rain boots did. Though I did not yet know the reason, I had to believe there were more worthwhile attributes of ducks. According to the unreliable Internet, ducks seem to represent everything from freedom

to upcoming life transitions. As diverse as the results were, adaptability was a common theme. Through my irritation at the inconclusive symbolism, I realized this searching for an answer was more than glossy green birds or plastic yellow bath toys. This was about why my feeling of self-worth now depended on the worthiness of ducks to be at the forefront of my mind. Lately, I have been incessantly evaluating myself. Needless to say, I did not pass my own judgment in the “uses time effectively” category. Time, now that I admit it, was at the root of all of my self-appointed problems. I spend too much time reading. I call my mom way too often. I sleep later than I should. I did not fully take advantage of a beautiful October. Time is not to be wasted. As these thoughts began to invade my everyday, my skepticism of larger life choices also became more prevalent. Why am I studying English and anthropology? As of now, I have no clue where that will get me in life. Am I wasting four years? What makes what I am doing worthwhile? Once one questions the very decisions that make them who they are, one finds themself stumbling further — what makes any attribute or activity more worthwhile than another? Worthwhile (adjective): such as to repay one’s time, attention, interest, work, trouble, etc. (Thanks, dictionary.com.) Lately I have been so afraid of time, I have been trying to use the dictionary in an effort to achieve precision of language. (I have read Lois Lowry’s “The Giver,” where they refrain from using words like love, yet still I continue.) However, this activity is extremely harmful to me because I do not spend enough time talking as it is. I do not need to focus on clipping the hedges around what I say. In fact, I think I need to water them. (I do not garden.) Which brings me back to the definition of worthwhile — when does what I say become or cease to be worthwhile? There is neither specific measurement nor unit to measure in. The broadness of the definition allows nearly all possibilities, seemingly forcing me to create my own definition. After discussing my semi-crisis with a friend— from ducks to being worthwhile — she

Earlier this year, I spent a morning at the senior residence center a block away from the high school I attended. There, I met Ben, who sat alone in the residence’s dining hall. Ben had lost much of his memory with age, unable to recall such simple things as what his sons do for a living or where his grandchildren attend school. But one thing came up again and again in conversation. Ben would lift his left wrist, point to the faded numbers and recite from memory: “I was in Auschwitz. My number was 138…” The Holocaust has been a focal point of recent politics, between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that Haj Amin al-Husseini — one of the first major Palestinian leaders — was responsible for the “final solution,” to Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s remarks that the effects of the Holocaust would have been relieved if the Jewish people were allowed to have guns. In light of these comments, it’s more important that we remember the devastation of the Holocaust than try to assign the blame to any ethnic or national group. Worse yet is when people downplay the significance of the genocide by suggesting how theoretical situations could have alleviated at least some of the suffering faced by the millions of victims, Jewish or not. My family was lucky: Three of my four grandparents were born and raised in the United States, and my maternal grandfather and his family fled Poland before the Nazi regime took over the country. Only my Jewish heritage ties me to the genocide. But my ties were strengthened last May, when I had the opportunity to visit the very camps that forged experiences so

horrible that they remain vibrant in even the most fractured memories. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the first camp I visited. My arrival at the camp evoked more of a cognitive dissonance than any overwhelming emotion. It wasn’t until I was physically there that I realized nothing I experience now will allow me to truly understand the circumstances people were disposed to in the camps. Even the tangible items — the rooms filled with an endless sea of kitchenware, shoes without owners, human hair collected from victims — could not and still cannot make up for the time that separates me from the harrowing reality of the camp. Time has claimed the barracks and gas chambers that populated the massive complex, leaving Birkenau mostly in remains. Time has removed me from the clatter of arriving trains, the shouts of German guards, the confusion of tongues, the booming of gunshots and replaced such wretched noises with silence. Time has turned the site of war crimes and mass murder into a sort of tourist attraction, complete with shops that line the way up to the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign in Auschwitz I (and not to mention, free Wi-Fi therein). The next day I visited Chelmno. Chelmno, though established for the same purpose as Auschwitz, was a different world. The entire camp consisted of two buildings, an establishment especially tiny when compared to Auschwitz, yet it claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews by way of gas trucks. This is the reason Chelmno has no visitors: Few people have heard of it, since so few people survived its wrath. Chelmno’s burial site is a clearing in a forest located a couple miles

outside of the camp. It too was silent, the only visitors being myself and my classmates. The scene was especially haunting since evidence of the Nazis’ crimes pervades the area. But the stages of natural succession have already begun to swallow the memorial grounds, weeds and grasses growing irreverently around the graves. I realized there that while the evidence of the Holocaust glares at us today, it may not be there forever, and the prospect of a world without survivors began to scare me. If I, as a Jew, felt a disconnect between the history of the camps and the way that history is memorialized, I could only wonder what impression the camps make on someone who has no connections to the atrocity of the Holocaust. Soon there will no longer be people like Ben, whose faded numbers imply stories unspeakable yet invaluable to the preservation of history, of memory. It’s very possible that in 20 years, Auschwitz will merely be another museum, Chelmno, another forest. And with the number of misguided comments made about the genocide in the last few weeks, it’s all the more important to realize the Holocaust may become no more than a rhetorical device used to vilify another party. I, therefore, feel a responsibility not only for myself, but for my entire generation — perhaps the last generation to have the privilege to interact with survivors — to continue the memory of those who died for remaining loyal to the values we have freedom to practice today. It’s on us to continue this memory so the world may never forget the devastation caused by the Holocaust. Rebecca Tarnopol is an LSA freshman.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe

Remember, then keep moving

y grandmother was always moving. It was in this way, and in others, that she wasn’t (and never pretended to be) a “sweet old lady.” At her wake almost a year ago, someone I didn’t know very well came up to me, patted me on the shoulder ANNE and told me that KATZ my grandmother was “such a sweet old lady.” As I maintained the same sad smile I had worn for the past three hours or so, I knew that this depiction, though well intentioned, simply wasn’t accurate. Yes, she played bridge regularly, didn’t really know how to work e-mail and always had candy out in Waterford crystal bowls in her condo’s living room. But once you got to know her, she was far from demure, meek and unassuming — nothing like the “sweet old lady” some people remembered her to be. My grandmother was surely kindhearted and sensitive to her core. However, she was also bold, unapologetic and infectiously enthusiastic about practically everything she devoted time to. To her, one of the worst things in life was to be stagnant. She regularly volunteered as a docent at the Nation American Museum of History, which is a Smithsonian institution, and on weekend visits with my mother and sisters, she nurtured my love for history by telling me stories of how she felt when JFK was shot and what it was like to live during the Cold War, all while briskly strolling through exhibits. We had a lunch reservation to catch, of course. She also worked relentlessly to continue broadening her horizons through books, magazines, news-

papers and movies. Although she’d sometimes call me and my cousins for help on a particularly “millennial” New York Times crossword puzzle clue, she always seemed to know more about current events and pop culture than I did. I vividly remember when she broke the news to me that Justin Bieber was arrested for drunk driving. She was always moving, whether it was voraciously through books or quite literally across the globe. All while over the age of 60, she careened through Old Delhi in the back of a rickshaw, climbed nearly 500 feet above ground across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, tossed water off a hotel balcony onto unsuspecting tourists in Florence, observed lions while on safari in Botswana, attempted to push the Leaning Tower of Pisa back in place for a goofy photo and, while sitting firmly next to me, sped through Denali National Park in the back of an off-road Jeep driven by my uncle. She was both excited and exciting, and being close to her meant having the privilege to listen to her adventures, stories and advice, all of which I eagerly consumed over regular lunch and dinner dates. On top of all this, my grandmother was one of the most beautiful, elegant and glamorous women I knew. She lived and breathed “look good, feel good” and refused to succumb to most, if not all, old-lady expectations. She favored her Stuart Weitzmans and Ferragamos over more practical orthotics, and always smelled subtly of Chanel No. 5. Going grey was simply not an option, and so she visited Andre Chreky, once the hairdresser to First Lady Laura Bush, for a regular cut and dye. Anyone other than her grandchildren simply could not, and did not, call her “Grandma,” and rest assured, she’d kindly (but curtly) correct you if you did. And even when she eventually became so sick to the point where she couldn’t walk more than five feet without feeling weak,

she refused to be seen in public in a wheelchair. End of story. But this glamorous and unapologetic outer shell did not signal a self-centered and cold core. My grandmother was, in fact, endlessly warm and passionate — about her family, her friends and generally life itself. And this was despite the sudden and utterly unexpected loss of her husband, my grandfather, at 54. Although I hadn’t been born yet, I knew that she’d never even fathomed being widow in her 50s, and that this cruel reality turned her world upside-down. By the time I was old enough to fully grasp what had happened, my grandmother seemed to once again possess the world’s most positive outlook on life, even when hers had been so abruptly interrupted by tragedy. She constantly reminded me to keep everything in perspective and to remember that this too shall pass; her personal story stood as a testament to this. She was genuinely and truly invested in my pursuits, my happiness, my health, and when she held my hand and asked, “How are you doing, dolly?” I knew she wanted the real answer — even when it wasn’t the easiest thing to hear. She seemed to be enthusiastic and engaged in nearly everything my cousins and I did, and her affinity for white wine and board games was only rivaled by her love of smiling, laughing and rejoicing in the warmth of family. Although this past year without my grandmother hasn’t been the easiest, I take solace in the fact that every day she stays with me, deeply embedded in my own sense of self. As I pause to remember her one year later, I can almost feel her tapping on my shoulder, reminding me not to dwell too long. She wants me to keep moving through life, just like she did, and to never, ever sit still.

told me that to her, “worthwhile” means it helps you to better understand the world. Mathematicians have numbers, scientists have theories, and writers have words. Whatever gets us through the day, it seems, is worthwhile. By this I mean that we (though there are exceptions) feel happier when we think we understand what is going on around us,

even if this understanding does not have a direct transition into any tangible “worth.” “Worthwhile” is a dark pond we feel brave just for dipping our toes into. That said, how do we decide when we are deep enough into the water? We must just go with our gut feeling, I suppose. Through all of the doubts, I have

concluded only this: If we are doing something, somewhere along the way we must have already decided it to be worthwhile. We might ask ourselves then: What is worthwhile about reading a column about ducks?

— Anne Katz can be reached at amkatz@umich.edu.

— Payton Luokkala can be reached at payluokk@umich.edu.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Experience drives Ristovski as senior By BRANDON CARNEY Daily Sports Writer

Through the first three years of her career, Madison Ristovski learned from her older teammates, but now she fills the veteran role. The guard is one of just two scholarship seniors on the Michigan women’s basketball roster. In previous seasons, Ristovski found herself adapting to roles wherever the team needed her. From appearing off the bench as the Wolverines’ sixth player in her sophomore season to being an outside shooting threat in certain situations last year, Ristovski has collected an assortment of experiences. Ristovski has been able to contribute wherever she has played, averaging five points and two assists per game through her career as well as proving herself to be a 3-point threat. But the senior’s consistency has been the strongest asset of her game, and Michigan will need it now more than ever. With a lack of proven upperclassmen, Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico has been working hard at grooming Ristovski into her new role as the Wolverines’ go-to leader. “I think being a senior and having a lot of experience, I’ve been able to talk to the younger girls about the games I’ve played in and the way we practice,” Ristovski said. “Having that experience, I can help them. With my help, the freshmen and others can become better players.” Whether showing the freshmen the ropes on the court or confidently answering questions at Big Ten Media Day in Rosemont, Ill., three weeks ago, Ristovski is proving herself as a vocal force in all areas. In the weeks preceding the Wolverines’ opening set of games, Ristovski has stressed to her young teammates the importance of staying focused. The 5-foot-10 guard has been

a part of several talented rosters in the past few years but admits this year’s squad could have the highest ceiling of them all. With a lot of excitement surrounding a top-20 freshman class and a rising star, sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty, Ristovski has managed to keep Michigan’s best intentions within Crisler Center and not let the hype get to the team. “One of the biggest things this team is focused on is that we’re not going to worry about what others are saying about us,” Ristovski said. “The only people who we care about what they think are in this gym right now. We have expectations for ourselves, and remembering that, we’re not going to get rattled by what anyone else says.” Working with the group of nine underclassmen has been challenging, but the senior is enjoying it. She doesn’t feel as much pressure on Michigan than in years past, and it’s been Ristovski’s job to remind the underclassmen not to take anything for granted. “This year, I think because we are so young, we bring a lot of energy,” Ristovski said. “But we need to also bring the understanding that we can’t take any possessions off. Everyone here is talented, but we’ll have to see when the games start if we’re mature.” While the guard brings a lot of expertise to the table, she lacks the experience of playing in several consecutive high-minute contests. Ristovski has appeared in 102 games in her career but has landed in the starting five just 19 times. Even for a veteran like herself, educating others could very well be a unique opportunity even for Ristovski. Not only can Ristovski help the Wolverines reach the high bar they’ve set for themselves, but she can also begin to instill the championship mindset that Barnes Arico desires to establish in order to sustain a rising Michigan program.

MEN’S SOCCER

Slow start dooms ‘M’ at Ohio State By ORION SANG For the Daily

The Michigan men’s soccer team came into Wednesday night’s matchup looking to avenge last 1 MICHIGAN year’s OHIO STATE 3 seasonending loss to Ohio State. But the 15th-ranked Buckeyes scored off two Wolverine miscues in the first half, and Michigan was unable to respond, falling 3-1. The regular-season finale leaves the Wolverines (3-32 Big Ten, 8-5-4 overall) without home-field advantage in the conference tournament. “It’s a difficult one,” said senior forward James Murphy. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t catch a few breaks tonight.” Michigan had a chance to earn a share of the regular-season conference title, but it was Ohio State (5-2-1, 11-5-2) that was celebrating its championshipclinching win at the end of the game. Both teams had chances to score early on, with possession fairly even between the two rivals. However, the Buckeyes started to control the ball on the Wolverines’ side of the field, and their efforts soon paid off. Ohio State was able to capitalize off a key Michigan mistake to score its first goal. Junior defender Andre Morris misplayed a ball, and Buckeye midfielder Kyle Culbertson pounced on it and launched it past sophomore goalkeeper Evan Louro. Less than 10 minutes later, another crucial mistake allowed Ohio State to extend its lead. Louro blocked a corner from

Ohio State’s Liam Doyle, but the deflection bounced off the backside of Buckeye midfielder Zach Mason into the goal. “There weren’t any defensive breakdowns,” said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. “There were just mistakes. They were very fortunate. We made mistakes, and they didn’t.” Following Mason’s goal, Michigan headed into the second half down two goals despite its good start. The deficit proved to be insurmountable. However, the Wolverines began to up their play in a game that became increasingly chippy — the second half alone included five yellow cards. “I think there was a little bit of frustration,” Murphy said. “We were desperate to win the game.” In the 54th minute, Ohio State scored to extend its lead when Culbertson received a pass from forward Yaw Amankwa and slipped the ball past Louro once again for his second goal of the night. The Wolverines finally got on the scoreboard in the 84th minute when Murphy scored his second goal in two games off an assist from freshman defender Peter Brown. But it was too little, too late. With the loss, and other conference-wide results from other games Wednesday factored in, the Wolverines will enter this weekend’s Big Ten Tournament as the No. 6 seed in a road game at Maryland. “We said afterwards that we’ve got some more soccer to play,” Murphy said, “and we’re going to go into this Big Ten Tournament and continue to battle.”

Thursday, November 5, 2015 — 5A

Michigan secondary looks to re-establish continuity By JAKE LOURIM Managing Sports Editor

Other than the offensive line, perhaps no unit has had more continuity for the Michigan football team this year than the secondary. After rotating bodies in and out constantly in recent years, the Wolverines have stuck to four players for most of the year. But on the offensive line, the goal is to establish cohesiveness and operate as a unit. In the secondary, each player is different, and each brings something different to the table. There is Jarrod Wilson, a senior safety who will make his 27th career start — second on the defense to fifth-year senior linebacker Desmond Morgan — Saturday against Rutgers. Wilson has earned high praise for being the leader of the unit. As a veteran, he has the task of coordinating assignments in the back end. Against Michigan State on Oct. 17, Wilson warned junior defensive backs Channing Stribling and Dymonte Thomas that the Spartans would look for Macgarrett Kings down the left sideline on 4th-and-18 late in the game. Sure enough, they did, and Stribling and Thomas broke it up to force the turnover. Secondary coach Greg Jackson said last week that was normal for Wilson, and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh also expressed appreciation for Wilson’s efforts. “People listen to Jarrod when he talks,” Harbaugh said last week. “He’s a do-stuff-right guy all the time and really enjoyable to coach, and talented. … It’s something that the public doesn’t see, his leadership qualities, because he does it in such a steady, non-show type of way, but I can assure you, he’s one of the top leaders on the team.” Then there is junior Jourdan Lewis, the lock-down cornerback of the group. Lewis defends taller receivers well

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Senior safety Jarrod Wilson will look to lead Michigan’s secondary back to its dominant ways this weekend.

considering his 5-foot-10 height. On the season, he has 15 pass breakups and two interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown. “The kid’s a competitor,” said secondary coach Mike Zordich. “I enjoy coaching him, enjoy watching him play. We match him up against the best receiver every week, and he embraces it. He really does. He’s just fun to watch and fun to coach.” Lewis’ toughest test of the year came against Michigan State’s Aaron Burbridge, but he could have another battle this weekend against Rutgers’ Leonte Carroo, who is questionable for Saturday’s matchup. In just five games this season, Carroo has caught 24 passes for 527 yards and nine touchdowns. The spot opposite Lewis has been the only one with much fluctuation. Stribling started the year at cornerback, but

redshirt junior Jeremy Clark, who leads the team with three interceptions, has started three of the past four games. Zordich said Wednesday that the two are competing for time along with other players. Behind them in the defensive backfield, redshirt freshman safety Jabrill Peppers garners the most attention in the secondary. While most of it has been for his offensive and special teams play lately, he spends most of his time on defense, starting all eight games there so far. Peppers ranks fifth on the team with 26 tackles and sixth with 4.5 tackles for loss. He often makes plays coming off the edge in blitz packages. Unless something changes, those four or five — with contributions from players such as Thomas and junior safety Delano Hill — will see the bulk of the time in the secondary again Saturday. They will try to

“As a group, they’re great. ... Everybody in our room is different.”

Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Thursday, November 5, 2015

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

regroup after giving up 26 points to the Big Ten’s worst scoring offense. “Last week, not taking anything away from Minnesota, we just laid an egg defensively,” Zordich said. “Especially in the secondary, we just played poorly.” Having two coaches in the secondary helps to shore up those issues before they escalate. Zordich and Jackson’s primary emphasis with the defensive backs is eye control. Most of opponents’ big plays have come when their receivers sneak behind the secondary. When the Wolverines watch film, they watch the wings on players’ helmets, making sure they’re focused forward toward the receiver and not toward the ball. Consistency with personnel has enabled the Wolverines to work tirelessly on that. While their unit has been dominant for most of the season, each individual brings something different to the table. “As a group, they’re great. But just as all of you here are different, everybody in our room is different,” Zordich said. “Everybody has their own personalities, which is beautiful.”

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Sports

6A — Thursday, November 5, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ICE HOCKEY

‘M’ regroups; Defense coming together Four of six freshmen making transition from USHL to college By MINH DOAN Daily Sports Editor

With four top defensemen returning from last season — juniors Michael Downing and Nolan De Jong and NOTEBOOK sophomores Zach Werenski and Cutler Martin — plus the addition of a highly touted freshman class, there was no doubt that Michigan hockey team’s

defensive corps would be much improved in 2015-16. Downing, though, is convinced the unit could be better than just good. It could be great. “We talk about it all the time,” Downing said. “This is a good year for the defense, probably one of the best defensive classes since Jon Merrill, Travis Lynch, Luke Moffatt and Mac Bennett were all here.” But after giving up 20 goals in six games to start the season, the defense is off to a slow start. The blueliners, though, aren’t the only ones shouldering blame. “It’s team defense,” Downing said. “It’s not just (the defense). There’s certain plays that we need to fix. Maybe (a forward) needs to come back, or (a goaltender)

needs to make a save.” And with a tough trip to Boston University looming in two weeks, the Wolverines will need to shore up their defense if they want to leave the East Coast with two wins. BYE WEEK: With 12 days between games, Michigan has a chance to regroup this week and work on specific areas to help shore up its game. The defensemen want to improve puck movement and

schemes in the defensive zone. “The coaches told us we need to work on some things after practice,” Downing said. “For me, a lot of the stuff that I want to work on, especially with (Werenski), is in the D-zone. We’re going to be out there against teams’ top lines, and last game, we went minus3, which is unacceptable for both of us.” As for the forwards, Michigan coach Red Berenson wanted to see an improvement in the faceoff circle. Berenson said

“We have it pretty good here compared to the USHL.”

he wanted to see the centers practice 150 faceoffs during the bye week. “It’s kind of a thing to stress to all of the centers, to tell everyone to collectively work on our faceoffs,” said freshman forward Cooper Marody. “It’s very important to our game, and we want to be better.” USHL VS. MICHIGAN: For many players, college hockey is a tough transition. Many players choose to play in the United States Hockey League beforehand, and many think college hockey is the next natural stepping stone toward the professional leagues. Of the six freshmen, four players — Marody, forward Kyle Connor, defenseman Joseph

Cecconi and goaltender Chad Catt — played in the USHL, and there is a clear distinction in play. “Players think at a higher level,” Marody said. “But on the other hand, guys are bigger and faster. It’s the same kind of game as you move up in levels. It just gets a little big stronger, a little bit quicker. So you just have to adapt to the speed and the strength.” But that doesn’t mean playing college hockey lacks perks. “When you get the opportunity to play (college hockey), it’s definitely a lot different flying on planes than being on a bus to get to places,” Marody said. “We have it pretty good here compared to the USHL.”

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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, November 5, 2015

NAILED IT:

the Blind Pigâ€™s Halloween Band Masquerade by Melina Glusac, Daily Arts Writer

Photo by Virginia Lozano | Design by Mariah Gardziola

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2B — Thursday, November 5, 2015 My whiskers are melting off my face from sweat. I am a last minute, Rite Aid-eared cat, and any bit of feline allure I once had has flown out the window by this point. As I’m squeezing my way past Alex from “A Clockwork Orange,” Tom Cruise from “Top Gun” and a disarmingly good Edward Scissorhands, I can’t stifle the thought that I look a little basic. This is, after all, the Blind Pig’s Halloween Band Masquerade — an event built on the power of the costume. But all great concerts bring salvation. This one is the perfect amount of dark: the stage, or whoever’s being resurrected on it, is the solely lit star of the show on this chilly Devil’s Night. I can hear the next band setting up while I stumble downstairs to the 8 Ball Saloon to use the little-kitties room. Rage Against the Machine is coming. *** The bar looked a lot calmer in broad daylight some two days earlier, when I sat down — sans whiskers — with manager Jef Porkins to chat about all things spooky and musical. In the 15 years he has been working at the Blind Pig and adjacent 8 Ball Saloon, the Halloween Band Masquerade has been around for eight. The concert’s structure is pretty typical: gussied-up people saunter in around 9:20 p.m., grab a drink and listen to diverse sets brought about by some great local bands. What’s so spooky about that? Well, there’s the fact that all the bands are in full costume, boasting their best impersonations of musical icons and replicating those pioneers’ most adored songs. “There was a band called Shellac in Chicago,” Porkins said, beginning the origin story. “They’re fronted by Steve Albini, who’s probably the most famous of the three of them. And they did a set as the Sex Pistols for Halloween once. I’ve heard it; it sounded terrible, but it was really funny. I thought it’d be funny to do shows like that, and just dress up as a band that nobody could see anymore and not be able to repeat it. To put that thought into motion, Porkins formed a band co-op called Arboco, in which roughly 12 local bands started to book shows together, pool the money earned from those shows and set it toward making each other’s records. The Halloween Band Masquerade is Arboco’s most successful (and now only) spawn. “We did more shows, just like regular shows throughout the year. But this one became such a big show, and we were able to get so much money from it, that we were like, ‘Let’s just do that,’ ” Porkins said. “We have three more records to put out, but we only have money for two, so this year would be the last year we would have to do (the money pool). Then after that, if we keep doing it then we’d just split the money like a normal show.” Porkins’s band, Scissor Now!, is a member of Arboco and one of the five performers set to jam at the event this year — as Led Zeppelin. The bands get to pick

FOOD COLUMN

Behind the best tacos in Ann Arbor VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Melissa Coppola of the band JUNGLEFLOW, performing as Bjork.

the other parts and we played it, and then I was like, ‘Do you guys want to be Led Zeppelin?’ I had no idea they were gonna say yes.” Since Porkins is a bass player, I cheekily asked him how he’s going to pull off the non-descript charm of Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. “We don’t have a guitar player, so I’m splitting the signal from my bass and making it sound like a guitar, as well. And I’m gonna wear a Jimmy John’s uniform,” Porkins paused to laugh, “because it’s Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.” Porkins values the way the Halloween Band Masquerade has challenged him over the years, pushing his musical boundaries by forcing his band to emulate artists to a T. “To listen to all of those, and learn all these songs that I’ve always wanted to play and understand them more intimately, I think I’ve grown as a bass player — playing like Black Flag. I was in a band called Suicide by Cop and we did Black Flag the second year. And I just decided I wasn’t gonna be a slouch and I’d actually learn how to play like these very technical bass lines — for a punk band, at least. And it went really well.” One of the unifying characteristics of the concert series is that bands are never replicated: once Led Zeppelin has played the Blind Pig, it can’t play again, so long as the masquerade continues. Why is this an impenetrable rule? Porkins laughed again. “I think everybody would do The Misfits every year,” he said. “The other rule was that you can’t do a band that somebody could just go see right now anyway. But that’s kind of fallen by the wayside, as well, because Motorhead is still around — somebody did Motorhead. Daft Punk’s still around, and we did that. But I mean, if you’re gonna present it well and be good at it, why not?” This year’s lineup is completed with Counter Crosby as Pink Floyd, Volcano Worshippers Hour as Rage Against the Machine, Cyrano Jones as The Kinks and JUNGLEFOWL as Björk. Porkins mused on the plight of artists who perform covers. “That’s the one thing about this band (Led Zeppelin). The

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Jessica Bratus from the band Scissor Now! performing as Led Zeppelin.

who they want to be, which is always a lengthy, deliberative process. “Every single year, we’re loading up (after the show), and we’re like, ‘Next year, I want to be this.’ We came up with Zeppelin really early, I think in like February. I was screwing around, playing ‘Dazed and Confused’ on the bass, and the drummer just started playing it, and she (lead singer Jessica Bratus) started singing it,” Porkins said. “And then we listened to it, and we learned

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other bands, we try to do it straight, like they did on the record, things like that. For this one, we pretty much just have to make it our own. That’s what we do when we do covers, anyway. We change them a lot. Either you change them and make them your own, or you nail it.” *** When Friday night approached, I began to realize how badly everyone wanted to nail it as I waltzed into the historic venue, cat ears just shy of “on fleek.” I stopped a woman

wearing skin-tight bellbottoms — with a faux protrusion in the groin area — in the lobby. It turned out to be Jessica Bratus, the lead singer of Scissor Now! I complimented her on the accuracy of her below-the-belt Robert Plant simulation, and she smiled and pulled out the empty water bottle responsible for it. A local small business owner, Bratus relishes the ability to mimic the looks and moves of legends on stage every year. “At this show, I have so much respect for the levels that the bands take it to. People are really professional about the band that they’re covering, so I think that the best part of this is watching other people,” Bratus said. “Also, for me personally, it’s taking on the role of who I’m performing as. I watch videos — I watch dance videos, like lots of performances, so I can emulate the moves that they do on stage. Robert Plant, he does a lot of nifty little moves and a lot of wrist-flicking, chest-out, hips out, shoulders back.” We snickered at the position she had wiggled herself into. “It’s really funny,” she said. Then Björk walked past me, in swan dress and all. Melissa Coppola, second-year graduate student in the School of Music and lead singer of JUNGLEFOWL, was Björk.

Finding the best tacos in Ann Arbor can be hard. Not because there aren’t great tacos around, but the place where they’re sold is so easy to miss. In an especially nondescript strip mall on an especially nondescript section of Packard road, four GIANCARLO miles from BUONOMO central campus, sandwiched in between a barbershop and a Middle Eastern market, is Tmaz Taqueria. A white cockatoo perches outside, preening himself in the hopes that a customer will toss him a scrap of tortilla or a nugget of chicharrón. Judging by the serene silence of those eating, punctuated only by an occasional moan or scrape of fork against plate, it’s not looking likely. I have been to Tmaz many times, for their defiantly spartan tacos — just two corn tortillas, filled with meat, chopped onion, a sprinkle of cilantro, with some lime wedges and hot sauce on the side. But today, I arrive hungry for answers. Most pressing: how did this amazing little place end up in Ann Arbor, Michigan? The interior of Tmaz is expansive and brightly lit. It used to occupy just the narrow space next door, which now contains the open kitchen and a few tables. In May, it expanded to include the former grocery store next door, where a long curving counter and ice cream cooler share space with more tables and banks of shelves containing Mexican sweets and dry goods. A faint echo of Latin pop drifts out of the kitchen.

My whiskers are melting off my face from Our ‘Mexican sweat. food’ is Tex-Mex. “It’s nice to, like, get in character — you know — pretend I’m from Iceland,” Coppola said. She had already begun to adopt Björk’s staccato mannerisms at that point — and it only got better when she took the stage. JUNGLEFOWL opened with “Earth Intruders,” which was eerily on point. Coppola, or Björk, would lower her body to the floor in throws of passion, shout out Icelandic-accented sentiments to the audience. Neon lights were rife as she sang “Birthday,” a Sugarcubes (Björk’s first band) song, which was one of the night’s highlights. The Kinks came out next with their blue velvet jackets and white doily collars. “Lola” was the closer and the crowd favorite, of course — the whole audience was screaming to “Now I’m not the world’s most passionate guy … ” by the end. Cyrano Jones/The Kinks finished, and I realized my whiskers were melting off. *** When I assumed my place after the bathroom, among vampires this time, Rage Against the Machine was mulling about the tiny stage. The lead singer of Volcano Worshippers Hour had put on a grandiose Zack de la Rocha wig, crisp white shirt and black armband. He was traipsing around, aggression brewing and building, until finally his band dropped the opening chords to “Bulls on Parade.” The crowd erupted: moshing started in the front, and we couldn’t keep our bodies from thrashing to the screams of who we thought was the actual de la Rocha for the majority of the set. As far as we (the Tom Cruises and the cats alike) believed, Rage Against the Machine was in Ann Arbor — and for one night only.

Cesar Hervert, chef and owner, emerges from the kitchen to greet me. We can’t shake hands just yet, because he was just elbow-deep in a mixture of flour and shortening, kneading dough for pastries. He excuses himself to wash his hands, and we then sit together at a spare table. Hervert, a short man with a three-day stubble and an easy smile, recounts the long, sometimes arduous journey he and his family have taken to achieve their present success. Hervert was born in Veracruz, Mexico, on the Gulf Coast. His father, who owned and managed restaurants, made his son mop the floors and wash dishes after school.

“I hated it,” he chuckles. “At that age, I was like ‘I don’t want to do this.’ So when I grew up, I decided to teach.” After high school, he found work as a middle-school math teacher and started a family. By age 24, he had a wife, Anna, and two sons, Josue and Kevin. But economic prospects in Mexico were limited. “Raising two kids, at a young age, I decided to find a better way to raise them,” he says. He heard that the increasing Latino population around Detroit needed Spanishspeaking teachers. He moved his family over 1,500 miles north, to Ann Arbor, only to find that getting certified as a teacher required thousands of dollars and endless struggles with bureaucracy. To make ends meet, he did what he knew how to do. “Having a family, raising two little kids, getting into college … it’s impossible without a lot of money and support,” he says. “That’s why I decided to stay in kitchens.” For years, Hervert worked in restaurants all around Ann Arbor, starting as a dishwasher, then prep cook, then line cook. His former animosity towards the restaurant industry evolved into a genuine passion. His family was settled, his kids were in school. But he wanted his own restaurant, and he knew a niche that could be filled. “I was looking for real Mexican food,” he says. “And that’s why we opened this place.” A small space in a small strip mall was available. Hervert and his wife signed the lease. They christened the restaurant Tmaz, after Anna’s hometown of Temascalcingo, near Mexico City. They drew up a simple menu. They had no idea what to expect. “We thought, ‘Let’s just open something and see if it works,’” he said. “In the beginning, it was just friends, and we had two tables. And it kept growing and growing.” That was four years ago. Now, they’re a local institution, beloved by everyone from fellow Mexicans to University students to workers on lunchbreak. “I have Muslim customers who don’t eat pork, Indian customers who don’t eat meat, Latinos, Asians, everyone comes here,” Hervert said, beaming with pride. In addition to the food tasting good, Hervert wants Tmaz to be an educational experience. In the United States, where more salsa is sold than ketchup, and where Chipotle is becoming more popular than McDonalds, many Americans still have no idea that what we think of as “Mexican” food is really TexMex. “People come looking for hard shells,” he says. “We don’t

have hard shells. People come looking for nachos or burritos — I don’t have anything against them, but I grew up in Mexico, and I had no idea what a burrito was. I saw Speedy Gonzales grabbing a burrito, and had no idea what he was doing.” At Tmaz, what you’ll find instead are those simple, splendid tacos, bowls of menudo (tripe soup), tortas and hibiscus-flavored agua fresca. When an order for guacamole enters the kitchen, the cook starts by peeling an avocado.

Herbert wants Tmaz to be an educational experience. A few non-Mexican items, like pupusas and churrasco, dot the menu — nods to the local Latino community, many of whom hail from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and for whom Tmaz has become more than a restaurant. The ice cream and fruit pops are made by a Mexican family in Kalamazoo who are trying to start their own business. An office in the former grocery store allows many immigrant workers to send their paychecks back home. And Hervert is slowly filling in the shelves with ingredients that can’t be found in most grocery chains: tomatillos, cactus paddles, guava and over a dozen types of chiles. In addition to all of this, the Hervert family still work together at the restaurant. I ask Hervert if he wants his kids, now 20 and 16, to take over the business. “I don’t see why not,” he says. “But of course, as a parent, you want something better, you know?” Josue is an unlikely candidate — he wants to be a lawyer. But Kevin loves working in the kitchen, and is applying to local culinary schools. His father wants him to go beyond the family restaurant. “I tell him to go to different places — California, New York, Miami — and learn different cuisines,” he says, radiant. “Then, maybe he can go off to Europe.” Before I leave, I tuck into a bowl of menudo. The nubbins of tripe are tender, the sauce is spicy but not too much. The menudo has taken a long journey to get here, but isn’t tired at all. Buonomo is preening himself in the hopes that a customer will toss him a scrap of a tortilla. To help him out, e-mail gbuonomo@umich.edu.

SINGLE REVIEW A meaty guitar riff, a breathy clearing of the throat, a repetition of that sultry melody, A and so begins Scream Grimes’ Grimes newest single. 4AD Immediately setting itself apart from much of the artist’s previous work,

“Scream” is an aggressive conglomeration of sound. Featuring Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes on main vocals, the tone of the track is arresting and confusing. In comparison to Grimes’ generally angelic, falsetto tone of voice, Aristophanes’ playfully taunting delivery gives the track a more alternative hip-hop feel. The only thing that interrupts Aristophanes surging flow is the chorus, com-

prised of Grimes’ drawn out screams and hissing, animalistic panting by Aristophanes. For those listeners whose tongue differs from that of the Taipei-based rapper, the lack of concrete lyrics leaves the message entirely up to the tone of the music. And it is obviously one of power, intrigue and great things to come from Grimes. - CARLY SNIDER

DO YOU GET ‘HAMILTON’ REFERENCES? Join Daily Arts!

TO REQUEST AN APPLICATION, E-MAIL CHLOELIZ@UMICH.EDU.

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Thursday, November 5, 2015 — 3B

Sleepless comedy Silenced ‘Tribes’ from Red Eye EVENT PREVIEW

By MARIA ROBINS -SOMERVILLE For The Daily

By MATT BARNAUSKAS Daily Arts Writer

“It’s pretty crazy, we don’t know much, but there’s a gourd, there’s definitely a dildo, Barbara Streisand and there’s a shark,” said LSA sophomore Emily Smith. A producer for this semester’s Red Eye Theater, Smith sat down for an interview with The Michigan Daily on the morning of Oct. 31 with co-producer and LSA sophomore Molly Leonard, both of whom are in the Residential College. “The shark and the dildo go together, Barbara Streisand and the gourd go together. But I don’t know what happens in either of (the skits),” Leonard said, elaborating on her co-producer’s statement. At the time of the interview, both were about halfway through the 24-hour gauntlet of theatrical creativity that is Red Eye. Formerly known as Kamikaze, Red Eye is run by the RC Players, a student-run theatre group at the University based in the RC but open to all students. For Red Eye, the group of students writes, practices, produces and performs two one-act plays, all in a 24-hour period. The long-standing tradition has a well-developed format. “For the most part, the general structure pretty much stays the same,” Smith said. “It’s a pretty specific schedule that you need to stay on track to get two original scripts written and locked and produced in 24 hours. But I’d say this year we included a lot of new members, so that was different. In the past, it’s been a lot of board members who would participate, and this year it’s a lot of new faces and freshman that we’re really excited about.” Smith and Leonard chose two teams of writers, who are comprised of eight writers in total. They come from a pool of applicants and are chosen based on their writing samples and compatibility with the other candidates, according to Leonard. Smith and Leonard continuously lead into each other, elaborating on eachother’s responses as they describe the creative processes that take place over the course of Red Eye, emphasizing the collaborative aspects. “So we do ‘Minute of Me,’ where each actor goes on stage and talks about things that they have never done on stage before that they would like to do, or characters they would like to portray. Then the writers take notes on that, and after that they break off into rooms. Then the writers just start making an outline and start writing,” Smith said. As the writers develop their plays, the actors take part in games and exercises to prepare for the fast-approaching performances. “We usually do a lot of improv, and then this year we also did a lot of character building exercises

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

LSA sophomore Annie Cohen performing at Red Eye Theater.

with different scenarios, different movements and working with a specific movement and what emotion that evokes,” Smith said, describing the actors’ activities for the night. “It’s not uncommon for writers to run into the auditorium, the Keene Theater, at like two in the morning, go up to an actor and be like ‘Are you cool with this? What do you think of this?’ and then run back out,” Leonard said. While participants aren’t forced to remain awake for the whole period, both Smith and Leonard acknowledged the strange allure of Red Eye, which kept them up well into the earliest hours of the morning and would continue to drive them through the rest of the day. “You’re just so excited and so exhausted at the same time and it’s such a weird mix,” Leonard said. This unique energy manifested itself throughout the night as indicated by the stories Smith and Leonard recalled. “So all the actors bring in a prop to use during the show and one girl says, ‘I brought a unicorn horn’ and pulled out a strap-on and just put it on her head,” Smith said. “This was a violently purple strap-on,” Leonard said, adding to the image. “I was honestly expecting a unicorn horn,” Smith said. “I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t a unicorn horn, after the initial shock of like, ‘Oh, that’s a penis.’” Leonard said in agreement. “That probably defined the night,” said Smith, finishing the story. That night the performances began at 8 p.m. Amid a small theatre packed with a festively costumed and eager-to-participate crowd, Smith and Leonard introduced the product of their 24-hour endeavor. Beginning with a play that follows the behind-the-scenes escapades of a celebrity charity ice skating competition, “The Rinkonvenient Truth,” the distinctive enthusiasm that Smith and Leon-

ard discussed earlier in the day becomes apparent. Flubbed lines are entertaining additions instead of frustrating mistakes as the audience watches senator and presidential candidate Duncan Deez Nuts square off against the ego of Barbara Streisand and the universally beloved Al Gourd, pun completely intended. The madcap plotting and absurd humor is something that can only be dreamed up during the long, sleepless hours that Red Eye enforces on its writers and casts. But enthusiasm never wanes as actors emphatically react to the unspoken speech of a gourd. This continues with “I Know What You Did Last Shark Week,” where a group of actors bringing “Jaws” to the stage find themselves beset by the vengeful spirit of a murdered cast member. Playing out like a Red Eye from hell, egotistical actors clash with an obsessive director as forces from beyond the grave pick them off one-by-one. The only calming force is that of “the third best medium in Long Island,” Donnatella D’Guido, who uses a strap-on to communicate with the dead. Consistently crazy and surprisingly clever at points, the plays are bolstered by their casts’ energy and commitment to the inherent ridiculousness of their roles. It’s a collaborative performance that can’t be seen every day, as Smith and Leonard indicated in the interview. “There’s nothing else like it, honestly,” Leonard said. “People are like, ‘Yeah, it’s like pulling an all-nighter,’ and it is but A) you’re not doing your homework and B) you’re pulling an all-nighter, but with 25 other people.” Looking back on the event that had kept her up for more than 24-hours, Smith had this to say about her time as a co-producer: “It’s really kind of just surreal and absurd, but just so much fun. I mean, you really can’t describe it. It’s just such a unique experience.”

EPISODE REVIEW Throughout its past season, “Black-ish” has established itself as a show that isn’t afraid to address some of the B more difficult quesBlack-ish tions about race. While Season 2, its Hallowepisode 6 een episode isn’t as sharp ABC Wednesdays or pointed at 9:30 p.m. in its social commentary as the season premiere (which tackled the use of the n-word), it does use the holiday to discuss heavier family relationships. The episode’s two primary sources of conflict arise when Dre’s (Anthony Anderson, “Guys with Kids”) cousin June Bug (Michael Strahan, “Brothers”), who used to beat him up as a kid, visits at the same time as the kids’ cousins, who steal their candy on a yearly basis. It’s in the discussion of the relationship between the cousins and their Johnson counter-

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parts where this episode falters. While the questions it brings up involving the class differences between Dre’s family (who “got out of the hood”) and their poorer cousins are worthwhile — and it should get credit for discussing them — the show’s answers felt rushed and underdeveloped. June Bug’s reasoning behind his actions (protecting Dre’s future) only comes out in a discussion between Dre and his mother. What could actually be a powerful moment gets lost in a 30-second scene where the only meaningful aspect is a smile from Strahan. Maybe the writers were worried about Strahan’s acting ability, but they should have done more to help

build the sequence’s significance. On a positive note, the comedy does get mileage from Halloween. Having the Johnson family dress up as the Obamas (complete with a Secret Service agent and the dog Bo) led to hilarious moments involving Junior (newcomer Marcus Scribner) “protecting” Dre, and Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross, “Girlfriends”) questioning which Michelle Obama outfit to wear. (Plus, it let Anderson break out his Obama impersonation.) Ultimately, this is what grounded an episode that tried to make a larger point, but didn’t quite give it the necessary time. — ALEX INTNER

Five family members gather around a makeshift dining room table, angrily snapping open pistachios and hurling scowls Tribes and swear Lydia Mendelswords sohn Theatre across the tabletop. Friday, Nov. 6 and DirecSaturday, Nov. 7 tor Greg at 7:30 p.m. Strasser, a School Sunday, Nov. 8 of Music at 2:00 p.m. Theatre & Dance Students/Seniors $7 senior, Adults $9 pauses his actors to ask: “Have you guys ever watched an episode of Spongebob?” The cast evolves into cartoon mode immediately. The scene swells and the scowls deepen. The pistachios begin to fly across the table and dramatic calamity ensues. No, they’re not rehearsing a sitcom, or an angry cooking show. The University’s student-run theatre group Rude Mechanicals is preparing to bring Nina Raine’s “Tribes” to the Mendelssohn Theatre. The contemporary play centers on the experience of Billy, a deaf man who has grown up integrated into a chatty British-Jewish family. When he meets Sylvia, a woman who grew up in a deaf family and is slowly going deaf herself, he must grapple with

the complexity of his identity and the tribes to which he belongs. Alongside the quick-witted and crude family banter, “Tribes” illuminates the harsh realities of a group divide between the deaf and hearing communities. “What is my motivation for being in this tribe if I’m in it?” Strasser asked the cast members. “Almost every single time it comes down to survivability — what increases my chances to survive … it comes down to, is my tribe going to help me survive?” SMTD senior Blair Prince, an acting major who plays Sylvia, spoke on the diverse nature of preparation. “Every day is a new surprise,” Prince said. “What I love about this process is that we have different ways to approach each scene, each moment … sometimes we do really physical exploration, like we might take out the text and walk through it and expand it, making it as big as possible or we might do something where we sit down and talk about the text and really get in depth.” Throughout the process, Prince and the cast members’ exercises have ranged from the intense to the absurd, but they have never stopped being helpful. “There was one time where we did a scene as a soap opera. It’s a very dramatic moment in the show, so to do it as a soap opera was just out of this world, but it’s just one of those things where you’re not watching yourself anymore, you’re just in it,” Prince said. During rehearsal, the actors engage in a physical warm-up,

where they recite tongue twisters at various speeds to work on diction as they move through the space. The exercise evolves into an impromptu game of tag, where the cast is unafraid to jump over each other, shriek, laugh or slide to the ground. The cast has also been working with American Sign Language Coach Erica Watson in preparation. “(Learning sign) has been really fun. It feels empowering. It’s another form of communication that is so visual,” Prince said. “It opens up those faculties — like how do I use my face to ask a question or to say that I’m angry?” Of her character Sylvia, Prince said “she’s kind of having this surreal, very awakening experience where she is losing part of her identity, so it can be scary … she’s experiencing the question of what’s next.” Sylvia is not the only character who experiences an awakening in “Tribes.” “I wrote in my director’s note that I believe that Billy was dead until he met Sylvia,” Strasses said, “because she was his access to the group of people that helped him flourish.” Amid themes of loss and pain that characterize those who live in limbo between communities, the Rude Mechanicals illuminate the identities of characters who have lived lives in the dark and, in finding each other, open the clear channels of communication that both human beings and quality theater require. “Tribes” will play at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre on Friday, Nov. 6 at 6:00 p.m.

TRAILER REVIEW This time, it’s personal. At least it seems that way, based on the trailer for “Spectre,” in which Daniel Craig Aportrays the iconic Spectre super-spy, MGM and James Columbia Bond, for Pictures what might be the last Nov. 6 time. The “Spectre” trailer gives brief glimpses into the intrigue Bond will pursue in Mexico City — a man masked in the style of a Día de los Muertos skeleton, a sniper on a roof, a potential local love interest. Most enticing, we get glimpses and snippets of Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds”) as Oberhauser, who claims to be “the author of all (Bond’s)

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pain.” The trailer gives previews of the plot without giving too much away, hints at the villain’s motives without revealing them, and even gives us some classic Bond humor, when he japes that he visited Mexico

City for a “long overdue holiday.” Expectations are high for “Spectre,” especially given the critical success of “Skyfall.” But if the film is as good as the trailer, there should be no problem living up to those expectations. — CONRAD FOREMAN

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW Days before the release of the infamous “Hotline Bling” video, an underappreciated L.A.-based producer A and rapper named Bus- Piss on driver sent Your Grave out a tweet saying that (feat. “hip hop is Kanye the driving business West) innovator in popular Travis Scott culture.” Less than two weeks removed from his speculation, I’m afraid Drake and Travis Scott have proved him right. We all saw Drake’s out-of-place self-promotion last week, but what makes it any different from Kanye and Travis stumbling around the woods draped in Yeezy Season 1 (the day after the release, no less)? Well, a lot of things. It’s no secret that rap is becoming increasingly corporate, but there’s a difference between advertising and using multiple avenues for artistic expression. While “Hotline Bling” was effectively a “now in-stores”

GRAND HUSTLE

service announcement for OVO clothing, the beige suede that covers ‘Ye and Scott here serves as an extension of that Orwellian/post-apocalyptic world they communicate with their music. It even takes place in the woods; they’re running from something. The “separate but equal” doctrine need not apply to fashion, music and video when they can work in tandem as channels for expression. For example, Yasiin Bey’s appearance is completely unwarranted, but his masked prancing adds to the hellish

nature of a video titled “Piss On Your Grave.” Kanye literally raps his soul out. Though Travis spends most of the video hiding behind ‘Ye, at least his generally pissed-off demeanor doesn’t contradict the song. Instead of inciting me to open a new tab and cop some basic-ass sweater, they held my attention and gave me a glimpse into a world I had previously only visited through music. The video isn’t so much a “visual aid” as it is piece strong enough to stand on its own. — SHAYAN SHAFII

the b-side

4B — Thursday, November 5, 2015

CONCERT REVIEW

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FILM REVIEW

It’s not too late ‘Our Brand’ is a for Norah Jones flaming car wreck Jones disappoints at Michigan Theater show

By RACHEL RICHARDSON For The Daily

By ADAM DEPOLLO Managing Arts Editor

I wrote my last full-blown concert review almost exactly one year before the one that you’re currently reading, shortly after I saw L.A. producer/musical savant Flying Lotus play in front of a full house at the Royal Oak Music Theater. That show came about a month after he dropped his atom bomb of a jazz/hip-hop/electronica-fusion album You’re Dead! to near universal critical acclaim, and his performance that night was — and continues to be — the only live musical event that has compelled me to start openly weeping (while sober, no less) from pure audiovisual stupefaction. In fact, my aesthetic sensibilities were so hyper-stimulated that I felt the need to put things in my review like “Flying Lotus is one of those artists … who seems to have reached as nearly as one can, however fleetingly, to perfection,” or that “I experienced something uncanny, something that I’m not sure I have the literary wherewithal to articulate.” The fact that I finished the review shows, I think, that I had a bit more writerly panache than I was willing to own up to (so much so that I actually used the phrase “literary wherewithal” non-ironically), but I definitely wasn’t just stringing together a series of artistically-embellished critical exaggerations, either. Yes, I committed the mortal sin of referring to a piece of art as “perfect,” but, toward the end of the review, I made a very important qualification of that term which, I think, excuses the transgression: “perfection is a very different thing from being flawless.” Flying Lotus was perfect, in other words, because he possessed that irrational, quasimagical ability “to reconfigure flaws and mistakes into a workable whole, shoring up the gaps with his own innovations,” to effortlessly weave what would be errors in any other context into a new musical logic of his own invention Now, the reason I’m bringing up Flying Lotus and my review from last year is that, believe it or not, I learned that definition of “perfect” from listening to Norah Jones. Yes, that Norah Jones — the one whose name you can’t hear without having a venti Pumpkin Spice Latte™ violently erupt through the walls of your subconscious. Back in 2002 — before a decade of aggressive Starbucksification made it impossible to publicly enjoy anything warm, mid-tempo or acoustic without

AMANDA ALLEN/ Daily

Norah Jones performs at the Michigan Theater on Monday.

being considered an agent of the counter-revolution — Norah Jones was occupying a niche which bore certain striking similarities to the one Flying Lotus is inhabiting right now in 2015. Her debut album Come Away With Me was a firm and entirely unexpected wake-up nudge for the genres it straddled, picked apart and stitched back together into an expertly knitted, toasty quilt of American popular music. It reminded jazz that people under the age of 60 would still pay money to hear a diminished chord if you dusted it off and bought it a new coat, and it reminded pop, folk and bluegrass that you could jam more than one feeling into a song when you actually used all twelve of the notes in the octave. Admittedly, the subdued piano, jazz brushes and husky singing that serve as Jones’s calling cards don’t compel you to get off your ass in the same way Flying Lotus’s synthesizers and chunky-smooth drum samples do, but you can’t help but walk away from You’re Dead! or Come Away With Me with the feeling that all is not lost in the world. They’re musical reminders that dead ends are man-made, and whether you tear down a wall or build yourself a staircase, with enough vision and technical skill you can always find a way to keep going forward. They might not be flawless, but they’re new, and that’s as close as music can get to perfect. The problem with Norah Jones, though, is that somewhere in the post-Come Away With Me hype, she got lost in the maze. It’s hard to say why that is — maybe it was her old-fashioned humility and common decency (after sweeping the Grammies in 2003, she told Katie Couric “I felt like I went to somebody else’s birthday party and I ate all their cake. Without anybody else getting a piece”), maybe it was the Starbucksification (when your Blue Note record sells 26 million copies in the 21st century, it’s pretty hard to justify switching things up), or maybe the creative juju wasn’t really there in the first

place (Jones only had two-and-ahalf writing credits on that first album, after all, and her later discography is almost all original tunes) — but with the exception of a couple of brief bright spots like “Chasing Pirates” from The Fall, Jones has been banging her head against the same jazz-popfill-in-the-blank-fusion wall that she and her cowriters built back in 2002. Now, depending on how we want to think about Norah Jones, that might not necessarily be a problem. If she’s just a chanteuse to you, just an incredibly talented lounge singer whose skills far exceed the confines of the genre she’s working in, then she can rest on her laurels and spend the rest of her days giving performances like the one she did at The Michigan Theater on Monday night. That is, of course, if you prefer your music to be of the anesthetic art object variety, and your idea of a good night involves going slackjawed in front of a beautiful voice with no emotion behind it. But the fact that an audience member shushed me for humming along to a Puss N Boots song that included the lyrics “Hey, you, don’t tell me what to do” suggests where that idea of fun is headed. (It’s fascism). I won’t talk too much more about Norah Jones’s performance on Monday because, again, you can’t argue with the anesthetic art object. It’s a dead-end that doesn’t even want to be a way out, and I’d rather spend my time looking for the artists who are swinging sledgehammers around. The thing is, though, that Norah Jones could be one of those artists. She was back in 2002 — that’s why she won all those Grammies and sold 26 million records. That’s why people love her, and that’s why seeing her fade into the background behind her own band is a damn shame. You can do perfect Norah Jones, and I just hope that on your next album and your next tour, you can start doing it again.

“No one watches a car race to see who wins, only who crashes and goes up in f lames.” Sandra Bullock’s (“GravD+ ity”) character, Jane Our Brand Bodine, is Crisis fittingly known as Warner Bros. “Calamity,” relates Rave and Quality 16 this quote to politics, and how most people just enjoy seeing who crashes and burns, not who wins. Ironically, this quote also describes most of “Our Brand Is Crisis:” a series of crashes and burns. Hopelessly struggling in the Bolivian polls, Pedro Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida, “Fast Five”) — the fictionalized version of 2002 presidential candidate Sánchez de Lozada — hires an American campaign management team. Bodine leads the team as their strategist. She reluctantly decides to join the team when she learns that her old political rival, Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton, “Entourage”), is working for the opposing candidate, Victor Rivera (Louis Arcella, “The Family”). The politics quickly turn dirty, and Bodine doesn’t hesitate to carry out illegal action to ensure Castillo wins. The first noticeable sign of the film’s poor quality is its horrendous cinematography, which is best indicated by the cringe -inducing use of slow motion. Instead of enhancing scenes by increasing the emotion or tension, it’s used during bland moments, like when Bodine is simply walking out of her office — suddenly her walking is slowed, but she resumes her normal pace the second she steps outside. This would have made more

WARNER BROS.

Miss Disagreeability.

sense thematically had it been preceded by an inspirational speech or dramatic breakthrough with Castillo. Along with the excessive visual effects, the movie is cluttered with scenes that add zero relevant substance. For some absurd reason, the director felt it necessary to yet again highlight Bodine’s irrational decision making. Watching Bullock moon Rivera and his team after overtaking them in a race through the jungle could have possibly been comical, but it completely misses the mark as far as humorous moments go. The one positive aspect, though far from a saving grace, is the character dynamic between Bodine and Ben (Anthony Mackie, “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”). This adds a sense of realism to the otherwise far-fetched movie. They push each other to be the best and eventually come to understand each other on a deeper level than typical coworkers. When Bodine jumps out of the car during the last riot, which indicates her choosing to stay and combat corruption running rampant throughout Bolivia,

Ben understands her choice without having to exchange any words — he simply nods and says, “OK.” The other members of Castillo’s hired campaign crew only add to the clutter. While private investigator LeBlanc (Zoe Kazan, “The Walker”) and former State Department member Nell (Ann Dowd, “The Leftovers”) fall to the background, TV ad director Buckley (Scott McNairy, “Halt and Catch Fire”) sorely sticks out as the obnoxious, condescending asshole. After the first few surprisingly comical comments, the viewer might reasonably want to punch him in the face. Buckley spends so much time criticizing others that he is utterly useless in forwarding Castillo’s campaign. The puerile image of Bullock falling down the stairs in this ill-conceived dramedy perfectly displays how this film is a major downfall in her acting career. So, if you’re looking for entertainment this weekend, you might have a better time reading about the 2002 Bolivian election on Wikipedia than watching “Our Brand Is Crisis.”

MY FIRST FAVORITE ALBUM

The West Coast sorcery of Dr. Dre By SHAYAN SHAFII Daily Arts Writer

This week, Daily Music Writers are looking back on the first albums they ever loved. Today, Shayan Shafii remembers Dr. Dre’s Chronic 2001. When I was in the ninth grade, my parents took me and my sister on a trip to Los Angeles (affectionately referred to as “Tehrangeles” within the Persian community) to kick it with some distant family-friends. I neither knew who they were nor cared, as I was only interested in getting the hell out of West Virginia. My hometown, Charleston, is a small working class “city” of about 50,000. One of those places where the best place to eat is a greasy breakfast joint called “Tudor’s Biscuit World.” I was 13 years old at the time, and my computer was basically the only portal I had into the developed world. Right at the cusp of those rebellious teenage years, the trip proved to be pivotal in putting me on to urban youth culture. No memory captures this more than when a family friend took me on a car ride with his CD of choice: Dr. Dre’s seminal Chronic 2001. I’ll be honest, I understood little to nothing of what Kurupt and Hittman were rapping about on “Xxplosive,” but my friend didn’t stop laughing for three minutes. Whatever this sorcery of “West Coast rap” was, I couldn’t wait to bring its fuckery back to the tranquil suburbs of West Virginia. Upon my return, I developed

AFTERMATH

He has a symmetrical face. And a sharp haircut. Have a great day, Dr. Dre!

an interest in digging up the grimiest, filthiest music that South Central L.A. had to offer. Chronic 2001 was first on my list, and what followed were several years of rap-inspired shenanigans from hilariously out-ofplace white kids in a largely Black high school. I couldn’t quite pinpoint why the music was so appealing to me, but I continued to listen despite missing every reference and innuendo. I remember speculating that Xzibit’s line on “What’s The Difference,” “My style is like a reaction from too much acid,” might have actually been a chemistry joke. Almost every other lyric was a reference to NWA, whom I had only recognized from shirts worn by local mall rats. I never cuffed my khakis until Dr. Dre gave me the idea on the hook of “Still D.R.E.” Point being, this album turned me into the classic suburban rap fan but set me up to

learn more about the culture if I was willing to put in the time. Sentimental value aside, 2001 was an ideal starting point, boasting features from legends like Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Nate Dogg and Six-Two. I went on to consume entire discographies at a time, starting from the featured artists and eventually spreading out to whatever popped up in YouTube comments sections. Ensuing weekends were wasted away playing FIFA in my friend’s basement while running through old Snopp Dogg records. Where the suburbs deprived us of any real culture, the Internet and West Coast rap gave us something to look into, to almost stand behind. Obviously none of us were from Crenshaw, but feeling the need to clear up the misconceptions surrounding the culture was more than enough reason to keep listening.