ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, November 12, 2015
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STANDING IN SOLIDARITY
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LEFT: School of Social Work second year Rebecca Ahmad-Robinson demonstrates her solidarity with the students at the University of Missouri. CENTER: School of Social Work first year Khalid Bowens speaks about his experiences of being Black at the University. RIGHT: School of Social Work first year Fatmeh Baidoun holds a sign at the event was organized by the School of Social Work People of Color Collective on the Diag on Wednesday.
Anger, hope on Diag after History class events on Mizzou campus hosts teach-in Hundreds of students gather to share stories, call for campus reforms By ALYSSA BRANDON Daily Staff Reporter
A candid conversation about race and diversity at the University of Missouri — largely led by students — spilled onto the University of Michigan’s
campus Wednesday as hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the Diag in solidarity with Missouri’s Black community. “Voices are being silenced not only in Missouri, but right here at the University of Michigan,” said Social Work student Wendy Cortes, one of the event’s organizers. “And it is our goal for you to know that you are able to exist without second thought, without hesitation and without genuine fear.” Hosted by School of Social Work People Of Color Collective,
the demonstration began at the School of Social Work Building, where participants created signs and banners using #Umich4Mizzou. From there, chanting “UMich for Mizzou, we support you,” demonstrators marched to the Diag, where some shared personal experiences about being Black at the University. Following a string of racial incidents targeting Black students and other students of color at the University of Missouri, Missouri students
held demonstrations around their campus, demanding the Missouri system’s president, Timothy Wolfe, resign from his position. Wolfe as well as R. Bowen Loftin, the school’s chancellor, announced Tuesday they would resign from their positions. And for some Missouri students, the call for change resulted in drastic measures. A Missouri graduate student underwent a seven-day-long hunger strike to demand See MIZZOU, Page 3A
Graduate student opens classroom for discussion on race, student activism By RIYAH BASHA Daily Staff Reporter
Nearly 40 students attended a teach-in at Mason Hall on Wednesday morning to discuss nationwide issues related to student activism in light of
CAMPUS LIFE
MEDICINE
Students talk transition from combat to class Panel considers available resources, recruitment for veterans on campus By JACKIE CHARNIGA Daily Staff Reporter
In honor of Veterans Day on Wednesday, student veterans joined a group of 50 students and community members to highlight their transitions from combat to classroom. Held at the Michigan Union, the forum was one of many hosted by the University’s Veteran and Military Services this week. Other events included panel discussions on the wars in Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq and the Cold War. Engineering junior Kenneth Greene, who served from 2008 until 2013 at the Marine Corps
Airspace in New River, N.C., said he was pleasantly surprised by how generously the University community treats its veteran students. “There’s so many resources for veterans on campus it’s insane,” Greene said. “I don’t think we’ve been left out at all, as far as that goes.” These resources include scholarships offered specifically to veterans, as well as the University’s policy of extending in-state tuition to all veterans regardless of their residency. LSA junior Joshua Strup served in the U.S. Army from 2001 to 2010 and was stationed in Germany, Oklahoma and Michigan. Though Strup said the University community’s recognition of veterans is great, he added that the University could improve the way it targets veterans in the recruitment process. He said while veterans See VETERANS, Page 2A
After ACA, many still lack health insurance DAVID SONG/Daily
Rackham student Sandhya Narayanan performs a traditional dance in celebration of Diwali at North Quad on Wednesday.
Over 100 gather for Diwali festival of lights celebration Indian holiday marked with food, traditional festivities By TANYA MADHANI Daily Staff Reporter
For those who celebrate Diwali, the festival marks a time when the darkness of the world
the b-side Daily Arts writers immerse themselves in unexpected activities. WEATHER TOMORROW
HI: 47 LO: 30
recent events at the University of Missouri and Yale University. Rackham student Austin McCoy, a graduate student instructor for the History Department, hosted the teachin during his class on justice in Black America. The class, which was open to all students Wednesday, nearly doubled in attendance over the usual 18 students. McCoy split the class time into two parts, giving a brief history of Black student activism before facilitating a dialogue See TEACH-IN, Page 3A
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was vanquished by the return of the prince and deity Lord Rama. “That’s why it’s generally known as the festival of lights,” said Nita Shah, an administrative assistant with the Global Scholars Program. More than 100 students gathered in North Quad Residence Hall on Wednesday to celebrate the holiday, an Indian festival celebrated by people of the Hindu, Sikh and Jain religions.
The Michigan Sahana and Maya Dance Team performed at an event LSA senior Sindhu Kadhiresan called a sort of equivalent to Christmas. She said there was a shortage of Diwali celebrations on campus this year, which she said was may have been due to the busy time of year the festival fell on. “It’s important for us to show people on campus how it holds the same value,” Kadhiresan See DIWALI, Page 2A
Ready for tip-off » INSIDE NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM VIDEO: Students march in solidarity with Mizzou MICHIGANDAILY.COM/SECTIONS/MULTIMEDIA
INDEX
Vol. CXXV, No. 28 ©2015 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
Medical Students launch program to guide patients through signup By KATIE PENROD Daily Staff Reporter
Many previously uninsured Americans gained coverage following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. However, many people still remain uninsured and University Medical School students wanted to learn why. Brent Williams, an associate professor of internal medicine, and a team of medical students run a free clinic in Pinckney, Mich. Williams said they continue to encounter a large number of uninsured patients every week. In a recent paper, See ACA, Page 3A
» INSIDE Michigan women’s basketball is ready for year 4 under coach Kim Barnes Arico NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A SPORTS......................5A
SUDOKU.....................2A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A B-SIDE ....................1B
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2A — Thursday, November 12, 2015
MONDAY: This Week in History
TUESDAY: Campus Voices
WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers
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THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
FRIDAY: Photos of the Week
HENNA HANDS The president of Northern New Mexico College discussed what diversity in higher education means to her.
“If @UMich doesn’t graduate diverse students, I can’t get diverse faculty. We are interdependent. - president Nancy Barcelo #UmichTalks” —@UMDiversity
“ DAVID SONG/Daily
LSA sophomore Nazmun Nahar draws Henna in celebration of Diwali at North Quad on Wednesday.
U-M professor Martha Jones tweeted about Wednesday night’s U. of Missouri protest.
“Thanks to everyone who brought us together tonight at @UMich. #Umich4Mizzou #ConcernedStudent1950” — @marthajonesUM
“
WHAT: A public town hall lecture and luncheon will be hosted in honor of Louise Taylor, a former U.S. diplomat of more than 30 years. WHEN: Today from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union, Ballroom
Diversity workshop
Veterans of Justin Torres color reception Q&A
WHAT: An interactive diversity, equity and inclusion workshop aimed to raise awareness about diversity in the workplace. WHO: Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion WHEN: Today from 9 a.m to 11:30 a.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Ballroom
WHAT: A discussion and reflection on diversity in the military featuring reflections from veterans of color. WHO: Veteran and Military Services WHEN: Today from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: Michigan Union, Anderson Room
WHAT: The Helen Zell Visitng Writers Series is sponsoring a discussion with author Justin Torres. Torres is the author of acclaimed novel “We The Animals.” WHEN: Today from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. WHERE: Angell Hall, Hopwood Room
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“‘The team. That’s 1 thing I learned when I was in Vietnam. We were only as strong as our weakest link.’ #VeteransDay” - @UMich
Jewish name Violin concert Detroit lecture Town hall with diplomat changing WHAT: A talk by Prof. WHAT: Sponsored by the June Manning Thomas about what city leaders and urban planners have wished to redevelop in Detroit since the 1950s. WHO: Osher Lifelong Learning Institute WHEN: Today from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. WHERE: Rave Theater, 4100 Carpenter Road
FOLLOW US!
Before he became U-M Men’s Track and Field coach, Ron Warhurst served in the Marine Corps.
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Gifts of Art, the Baroque & Romantic Violin Favorites, will featue School of Music, Theatre & Dance students. WHEN: Today from 12:10 p.m. to 1 p.m. WHERE: University Hospitals, Main Lobby, Floor 1
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.
WHAT: A disproportionate number of name changes approved in New York City in the 1940s and 1950s were submitted by Jews. This talk explores why. WHO: Frankel Institute for Judaic Studies WHEN: Today from 12:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. WHERE: 202 S. Thayer
Immigration film screening WHAT: A showing of “Essential Arrival,” a film about Indian immigrants and how they are contributing to today’s technology and science fields. Director Arifa Javed will answer questions after. WHEN: Today from 4 p.m to 6 p.m. WHERE: 3512 Haven Hall
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY
1
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.
2
Michigan Daily arts writers try new things in this week’s “immersion” issue of the B-Side, such as eating baby food for a week or trying a new dating app daily. >>SEE B-SIDE, PAGE 1B
3
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.
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College presidents host panel on diversity in higher education As part of weeklong symposium, leaders consider issues of access, inclusion By RIYAH BASHA Daily Staff Reporter
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion hosted a panel on the future of diversity in higher education Wednesday as a part of the University’s week-long campus Diversity Summit. More than 150 people attended the event in Rackham Ampitheatre, which was sponsored by the National Center for Institutional Diversity. During the event, 10 officials from a variety of colleges and universities around the country discussed the state of minority relations on campuses. John Burkhardt, NCID director and School of Education professor, introduced the panel by emphasizing the importance of the discussion.
“Institutions like Michigan get a lot of attention for the stances they take on these issues,” Burckhardt said. “Our purpose today is to give a forceful message that higher education is fiercely committed to these ideals. How can we work together … to advance diversity?” Earl Lewis, former dean of Rackham Graduate School, moderated the discussion. His opening question, which asked the panelists to define diversity at their schools, took up the bulk of the session. Panel members represented an array of institutions, including tribal, religious, historically Black and predominantly Hispanic colleges. Panelists opened by explaining the importance of diversity in higher education institutions. Steven Simpson, the president of Baker College, asserted that a variety of students facilitates intellectual growth, particularly when non-minority students are not otherwise exposed to other experiences.
“We need to help students understand how to work with one another and how to understand each other,” Simpson said. “I think we get bogged down thinking about career so much. How do we bring diversity to an area that’s not very diverse? How do we instill in our students a global perspective?” Much of the discussion focused on how the current state of diversity efforts on college campuses — which often focuses on recruiting — is problematic. “I think terms like equity and diversity … can often become a euphemisms for assimilation,” said Nancy Barcelo, president of Northern New Mexico College. “Enrollment is important, but we need to make structural changes so that we don’t come back in another 40 years to have the same conversation.” The speakers were often critical of the University’s diversity policies, in particular. As most of the panelists visited from smaller schools, several went on the offensive against large research institutions. James Anderson, the chancellor of Fayetteville State University, questioned the long-term efficacy of the University’s diversity for nonminority students. “Where is the University of Michigan’s white paper that shows all the resources invested in diversity in the last five to 10 years?” Anderson asked. “Are you producing white students who can go out and participate in the conversation? People think diversity is to aid diverse students, but really, it’s about changing the majority culture.” Christine Wiseman, president of St. Xavier University, also spoke to the advantage of smaller colleges in implementing diversity reform. “The large institutions get all the research dollars to tell us how to do what we’re already doing,” Wiseman said. “Our kinds of institutions have the possibility to be on the cutting edge.” Read more online at michigandaily.com
DAVID SONG/Daily
LSA junior Joshua Strup talks about his experiences on campus as an Army veteran at the Michigan Union on Wednesday.
VETERANS From Page 1A make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, they only make up 1.5 percent of the University’s student population. “We are a very underrepresented demographic,” Strup said. “What the University might want to consider is trying to recruit more military personnel to pursue a life here at Michigan after they get out.” Robert Kraynak is a firstyear graduate student pursuing both an MBA from the School of Business and an M.S. in the School of Natural Resources. Kraynak served in the Navy from 2007 to 2015. He was deployed to Afghanistan twice. Kraynak said he had a positive experience with Veterans Affairs in the Ann Arbor area. “The VA in Ann Arbor is fantastic,” Krayter said. “I’ve been very impressed.” The panelists stressed that misconceptions regarding veterans are harmful and inaccurate. Strup said one of the most damaging notion
ascribed to veterans is that they are warmongers, and having that reputation — which he said is skewed from the reality — is detrimental to both the troops and their cause. “The majority of the veterans I know abhor war,” Strup said. “We hate violence. We just understand that sometimes it’s a unfortunate unnecessary evil in the world.” Strup said more often than not veterans are pacifists, particularly after returning from war. “I think there are a lot of false stereotypes about the military,” Strup said. Greene echoed Strup’s points, also noting that veterans tend to be more laid back than their traditional characterization. “Civilians think that we’re all crazy hard-asses,” Greene said. “ I think most of us are pretty open and generally laid back. You never want to label someone an angry person.” Social Work student Monica Flores served in San Diego as an air traffic controller from 2001 to 2010. As a woman, Flores said she is rarely recognized as being a veteran,
and said she is often asked if she was inquiring for services for a brother or father. Kraynak said the oversexualization of war in the media acts as a machine for these misconceptions, citing the 2008 film “The Hurt Locker,” a drama based on the Iraq war. He added that the unglamorous areas of military service, which account for a majority of deployed service are underrepresented in the media. “ ‘The Hurt Locker’ is supposed to be a representation of my community,” Kraynak said. “They really gloss over all the times you’re sitting around playing euchre.” Kraynak said though negative stereotypes are common, excessive glorification of veterans is another form of misconception. “There are so many different ways to serve — not just your country but the people around you,” Kraynak said. “Don’t put us on a pedestal, there’s no need to. We volunteered for something, we served, did great things — maybe sometimes we didn’t do great things — we’re human.”
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MIZZOU From Page 1A the president’s resignation. Members of the Missouri football team said they would not engage in any football-related activities until the president stepped down. On the Diag on Wednesday evening, organizers read various posts on social media that followed Wolfe and Loftin’s announcement, including one from a Yik Yak user who posted they would shoot any Black students on the Missouri campus. There were also reports of unlicensed vehicles circling Black students in parking lots at Mizzou. Cortes said she was outraged at the University of Missouri’s lack of response to threats toward Black students on the campus. “Black students at the University of Missouri have continuously experienced racism and discrimination on campus, as many other institutions of higher education have, ” she said. “As stated by a Missouri student, the University of Missouri administration has continued to overshadow the racism and violence toward students of color with well written PR statements and movements and initiatives that never tackle the issue.” She added that she was disappointed that professors at the University’s School of Social Work weren’t providing a platform for students to discuss issues brought to light by demonstrations in Missouri. The University is currently in the midst of aweek-long diversity summit intended to garner input from the community as administrators craft a campuswide strategic plan to improve equity and inclusion on campus. Social Work student Khalid Bowens echoed Cortes’ remarks, saying he has noticed a lack of response from some University
ACA From Page 1A the students expanded on the reasons that might be. “With the Affordable Care Act and the Healthy Michigan Plan, the number of uninsured patients in Michigan dropped significantly, but they found that they were still left with a steady flow of patients into the clinic for the uninsured,” Williams said. “They had a suspicion that there were reasons why some of those patients could be insured but were not and thought it was just time to ask them.” Williams helped the Medical School students with their research. He said the students found many of their patients were unaware of how exactly the ACA could make health insurance an affordable option for them. “Some patients weren’t aware of how the tax credits worked,” he said. “You can sign up if your income is above a certain level and still be eligible for tax credits and those come back at tax time. But calculating the actual effect on your annual budget is difficult.” Based on this finding,
TEACH-IN From Page 1A between students during the latter portion. “Many of us have watched and wondered at the situation in Missouri … and I was sure people would want to talk about this,” McCoy said. “The question is how can we replicate some of these events?” McCoy noted that the resignations of the Missouri system’s president and the chancellor of the flagship campus were caused by deep-seated tension between students and the administration. Student protest, which came to a head after the university’s football team refused to play until the president stepped down, stemmed from what many saw as the school’s failure to address several racist incidents on campus. “Consider institutional failure,” McCoy said. “Administrations are often either oblivious or flat-out resistant to what students are demanding.”
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faculty members. “I’m tired of teachers sitting in my classrooms telling me that things that are going on within Black America does not matter in this classroom because yes the fuck it does.” he said. “Because I’m in this classroom, this is my life and this is what I have to go through.” Engineering and LSA senior Will Royster, a Central Student Government presidential candidate for the 2015-2016 academic year, said both the Black Student Union and members of By Any Means Necessary have coordinated similar efforts in past years, but demonstrations at the University of Missouri show more effective ways to get University officials to respond to concerns raised by Black students. In Missouri, the threat of football players striking could have impacted revenue from cancelled games. If the team missed its Saturday game against Brigham Young University, Missouri would have lost $1 million due to an agreement signed by both schools last year. “With this Missouri incident, we saw the solution,” he said. “We talk Black politics, but everybody talks money; everybody talks green dollars.” He also said that Blacks students should build coalitions with other multiethnic students. “Multiethnic people, y’all go through some of the same shit we go through,” he said. “We need to build coalitions. We need to support each other. This shit is intersectional all day.” Several other demonstrators offered remarks during the event, drawing on personal experiences of racism and navigating a predominately white campus as a student of color. One student quoted Martin Luther King Jr., and called on those in the community to remain active in times of moral crisis. Another attendee on the Diag said users replied to a
video of the demonstration she posted on Twitter comparing demonstrators to “chimpanzee’s mating” and something they “saw on Discovery Channel.” “This is what people look at us today as: animals,” she said. “They don’t see the injustice in this world, they don’t open their eyes to see what’s really going on.” LSA freshman Jason Young said in his remarks that he felt devalued and unappreciated at the University. “My presence is not desired here,” he said. “But what does this ‘M’ mean? If this a symbol of hatred and it’s saying that I’m not welcome here, what does it mean? It hurts me to think that I came to this college to be accepted and to just learn and instead, I’m seen as this oddity.” Bowens echoed Young’s remarks, and said he’s tired of being treated as the token Black student in his classes. “I’m tired of sitting in a classroom with Black students who look at me like I’m supposed to educate them,” he said. “Don’t look at me as your token Black student to tell you about the Black experience because we all have Black experiences. Look at all these Black faces here tonight and I can tell you we all live different lives.” Some students connected events at the University of Missouri to the 2014 killings of unarmed Black men in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y. In his remarks, LSA sophomore Theo Nobles, recounted his experience his freshman year and feelings of shock when these events broke. “I was in my dorm room at Mary Markley Hall with my roommate, and we just sat and looked at each other and thought, this is the world we live in,” he said. “A man can get killed in cold blood and his murderer can just walk away.” Nobles said being a Black man at a predominantly white institution has caused him to
be looked down upon by peers. It was understood, Nobles said, that as a Black man, he would be treated differently. “From the get-go, you are looked at as beneath,” he said. “From the get-go, you are looked at as a future criminal, a future statistic. I get asked why I decided to go to a predominantly white institution, not a historically Black college, every day. I’m sure people at Missouri that look like me get asked the same thing.” Upon request for interview, some white demonstrators declined to comment for the purpose of elevating the Black perspective on the issue. White demonstrators also allowed Black community members to stand at the front the group during the march to the Diag. In an interview with The Michigan Daily after the event, LSA junior Julia Wang, who attended the demonstration, said she believes giving minorities a platform to express themselves is an integral part of the process toward change. “It’s a really important event to come to as someone who falls into the minority category but may not always feel the effects of it as an Asian woman,” she said. “I think really important that that platform is available and we let those people speak and hear the other side.” She also said she was shocked that issues affecting the Black community on campus are often not discussed. “Every time I come, hearing people’s voices and hearing their stories about how they’re treated makes me shocked,” she said. “It makes me feel very lucky, but in the worst way possible. No one deserves to feel that way, no one deserves to be treated that way, and it’s horrifying that this is the only way I hear about it.” A community prayer for the University of Missouri is scheduled to take place Thursday night on the Diag.
Williams said students realized there are opportunities to help patients by providing guidance for calculating the impact of the ACA on their budgets. Second-year Medical School student Brian Desmond is one of the students who works in the clinic and conducted the research. He said another reason people are not insured is that they don’t always know how to sign up for the insurance they qualify for. “Most people know the Affordable Care Act happened and changed insurance coverage,” Desmond said. “Not as many people seem to know the details of how that affects them individually.” As a result of these findings, the students thought it was necessary to provide insurance counseling as a feature of their free clinic. The government provides some of this training under the ACA. Desmond said a group of six students completed the training to provide counseling to patients. “Essentially, our findings were strong enough that we thought our patients could benefit from one-on-one counseling about their insurance options,” he said.
Desmond said the students will mostly help patients with navigating theHealthCare.gov marketplace, as well as sign up for Medicaid. Though the task of educating and providing all patients with insurance may seem easy for some people, Williams said, the prospect of a monthly payment and large deductibles can be daunting when coupled with an unstable income. Many patients, he said, have only intermittent work. “So even though in a given year they might technically make enough to qualify for a tax subsidy, they’re less certain that the next year they’re going to make the same amount,” Williams said. “The unpredictability of it makes them hesitant to commit to something that has a monthly payment and a big copay.” However, Williams said having insurance under the ACA could allow patients to save money in the long term. Under the ACA, insurance companies are required to cover preventative tests such as mammograms, which could prevent health issues down the road. Williams listed three main
problems that come from lack of insurance. The first is that if patients need to go to the emergency room, they have to pay the bill themselves. The second implication is that it’s harder to get care for chronic illnesses, including hypertension and diabetes, that, if untreated, can have more devastating impacts in the long run. The third issue is the lack of preventative care. “We see patients all the time who just need the basic preventative care but can’t get it because they don’t have insurance,” he said. Desmond agreed that health insurance is key for providing the best patient care and said though the free clinic will probably always be necessary, he hopes their research and current counseling services can help people achieve optimal insurance coverage. “If you look at studies about health insurance, really it’s in people’s best interest to get health insurance and be a part of the formal healthcare network,” he said. “Our goal is to get as many people affordable health insurance so that they can see someone else and not rely on us.”
The lecture also sought to place current events in the context of local campaigns — particularly, last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold Michigan’s affirmative action ban and the #BBUM movement, which organized on campus in 2013 to provide a voice to the experience on campus for Black students. The demands of Black student groups at the University, McCoy said, have remained largely the same since their founding in the civil rights movement. “Both external forces … and local grievances sparked #BBUM,” McCoy said. “But there have been consistent demands, (like) increasing the Black enrollment to 10 percent of the student body.” The following discussion on diversity and treatment of minority students was especially relevant following Tuesday’s campuswide diversity summit, a week-long effort to encourage campus diversity and inclusion hosted by Univesity President Mark Schlissel. Many chafed at the portrayal of diversity
on campus, and commented specifically on the summit. LSA sophomore Stephen Wallace expressed disappointment with administration’s response to student demands. “Some people really think Michigan is diverse,” he said. “Like, ‘Two Black people in my class is so diverse.’ And numbers are important, but so is experience. It felt like Schlissel didn’t understand that.” “The percentage of Black students on (recruiting) flyers is so much higher than the percentage actually at the University.” Engineering sophomore Raymond SmithByrd added. “It makes me feel like I don’t want your flyers.” Students also discussed the relationship between free speech and racial sensitivity on campus. LSA junior Vesal Stoakley commented on the recent controversy at Yale University regarding free speech and culturally considerate costumes. In advance of Halloween, the university released guidance
encouraging students to avoid wearing “culturally unaware or insensitive costumes.” A response letter from a Yale faculty member saying students should be able to wear whatever they want later sparked outrage from many students. “We have to keep a campus climate that is welcoming,” Stoakley said. “But there has to be a balance, where we’re not infringing on free speech, but we’re also considering the other side.” LSA freshman Schaefer Thelen said creating safe spaces on campus takes precedence over potentially offensive free speech. “Arguing for free speech for the sake of offending others doesn’t make much sense,” Thelen said. McCoy concluded the teachin by emphasizing that dialogue is the first step to any effective change on campus. “I think if students pay attention to Missouri and the shortcomings at this University, I think something will come out of it,” he said. “It has to.”
Thursday, November 12, 2015 — 3A
DIWALI From Page 1A said. “The University doesn’t really encourage giving us time off to celebrate it, so people are busy or it gets overshadowed, amongst other things.” The holiday is often celebrated by lighting lamps around the house and receiving blessings from elders. Like many holidays, food is also a key part of the celebration. Shah said hosting a celebration like Diwali at the University is an important way of reflecting the campus’ diverse community. “It is often found that we are not well represented in many ways, and in order to show how are lives are more similar than different it’s important that we share our celebrations with a community that may not necessarily know what Diwali is all about,” she said. “It’s important to allay any fears or misrepresentations of the festival as well.” Kadhiresan said this is the first Diwali she is spending without connecting with her family in some way. “I was actually talking to my mom this morning and she was really missing us,” she said. “It’s the first year we’re not completely together. I really wish I could be with my family
at this time because it’s the same thing as other people being with their families for Christmas or for Ramadan. It would be nice to be able to go home and see them.” While she understands that the University cannot accommodate every religious holiday with time off, Kadhiresan said the University should acknowledge the large Indian Hindu population on campus. “It’s actually kind of disappointing,” she said. “But I think it’s kind of the tradition in American school systems to not really give days off for Diwali. It would probably be possible to coordinate one long weekend off for Diwali.” LSA freshman Ayla Ahmed and Engineering freshman Arthi Nadhan said while they enjoyed the event at North Quad, they did not feel it accurately represented the festival. “I thought there could have been more light, personally,” Ahmed said. Nadhan, who had performed at the event as a part of Michigan Sahana, said she also was looking forward to seeing more lights at the event, since Diwali is considered the festival of lights. “I actually knew a lot about the holiday, since I celebrate it at home,” Nadhan said. “But it was nice seeing that people came and celebrated it here.”
TMD STORY SLAM FRIDAY, NOV. 20 7-9 P.M. 420 MAYNARD ST.
Opinion
4A — Thursday, November 12, 2015
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com JENNIFER CALFAS EDITOR IN CHIEF
AARICA MARSH and DEREK WOLFE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS
LEV FACHER MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
FROM THE DAILY
No help for the highways The state legislature should be more specific in its road plans
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ear after year, Michigan’s roads deteriorate at a rate that ongoing repairs cannot keep up with. In an attempt to finally address this issue, the state legislature recently passed a comprehensive bill that promises to provide an additional $1.2 billion to the Michigan Department of Transportation and local governments over the next six years. Despite the nearunanimous agreement that our roads are in need of repair, the spending package — backed largely by Republicans — has proven to be quite controversial. While apparent improvements to roads are needed now, the proposed solution delays action for years and isn’t transparent about its spending re-prioritization. Though highly unlikely, Gov. Rick Snyder should consider vetoing the proposed bill in the hope of passing a more specific road infrastructure plan. Currently, the Michigan public road system is the ninth-largest in the nation. Though the road system is extensive, just 19 percent of Michigan’s local government leaders rate their county’s roadways as being in good condition. Similarly, the average Detroit-area motorist pays $536 on car repairs due to poor road conditions, and the annual statewide cost of crashes resulting from road conditions totals $2.3 billion. The bill currently on its way to Snyder’s desk is hardly the state’s first attempt to improve our roadways. In early May, voters were presented with Proposal 1, a referendum that aimed at increasing funding for highways through a 1-percent sales-tax increase, alongside other measures. The proposal was voted down during the state’s spring election with a record-shattering vote of roughly 1.4 million to 351,000. Many of those who voted against the proposal felt it placed an unfair burden on households, which is a similar sentiment to the opposition the current bill faces. However, the public will not have a say on the recent roads package since it isn’t a ballot initiative. The proposed legislation stipulates that a portion of its funding will come from cuts to the state’s general fund. The fund — which is responsible for financing state initiatives, such as education, healthcare and other public services — totaled approximately $10 billion at the close of the last fiscal year. Over the past few years, the Snyder administration has slashed the general fund, including a $103 million cut that shifted money away from the State Police, the Department of Education and Department of Environmental Quality to decrease the budget deficit. It’s difficult to find an area in the general fund that hasn’t been
diminished by deficit-reduction measures and even harder to find an area that is able to endure further decreases in funding. The Michigan Legislature should have specified within the bill currently before Snyder exactly what funds will be cut from the general fund. This would make Michigan residents more aware of potential harmful effects of the bill. Currently, the bill offers no such specificity, so few assumptions can be made other than the fact that critical state services could suffer from lower funding. With a $600 million cut to the general fund accounting for half of the bill’s costs, the remaining half must come from other sources. If Snyder signs the bill into law, Michigan citizens would pay more out of pocket for vehicle-related costs through a 20-percent increase in vehicle registration fees and an additional fuel tax of 7.3 cents per gallon. Though this new tax is presented as an equitable solution, the bill’s sponsors do not recognize its potential negative impacts on certain segments of the population. The new policy is effectively a regressive tax — one that disproportionately affects citizens of lower socioeconomic status. For a better infrastructure, the state legislature must work toward a bipartisan solution that spreads the costs in a fairer distribution. Additionally, our lawmakers must recognize that further cuts to the state’s general fund will have significant consequences for citizens throughout Michigan. The state legislature cannot continue diminishing crucial programs like public education and health care; our government must consider alternative ways to raise revenue to improve the road system.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Send letters to: tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Asking the hard questions TO THE DAILY: The Diversity Summit is underway. Between Nov. 3 and Nov. 14, we have been, and will be, coming together for talks, panels, cafe discussions, a community assembly with University President Mark Schlissel and more, all to mark a collective re-commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion on campus. Many of us are hard at work, developing a strategic plan that will map the future. Our summit coincides with a week during which, on campuses across the country, students walked out, rose up, went on strike and banded together in response to racist acts and a climate that harbors them. In Berkeley, Calif., high school students protested the discovery of a computer message that included a racial epithet, references to the Ku Klux Klan and lynching. In New Haven, Conn., Yale University students gathered to demand a response to the exclusion of Black female students from a fraternity party. In Columbia, Mo., a student hunger striker has been joined by members of the football team in a protest against the use of racial slurs and the posting of swastikas. We are not strangers to racist acts and exclusion at the University. The #BBUM campaign grew out of this atmosphere. Students responded to a theme party, “World Star
Hip Hop Presents: Hood Ratchet Thursday,” which drew upon negative stereotypes of African American culture. #BBUM, the “1,000 Speak Out for Racial Justice” and the discussions that followed reveal how our campus is not yet the equitable and inclusive community to which we aspire. The Diversity Summit is an opportunity to talk about hard questions. What can we learn from the examples in Berkeley, New Haven, Missouri and elsewhere? How does our University address incidents on campus? Can we prevent them in the future? Will the diversity initiative tackle issues like policing and racial profiling? How might the University’s strategic plan foster a safe, inclusive and equitable climate? How will the University address racial tensions in classrooms, residence halls, elsewhere on campus and in the Ann Arbor community? Be there, be heard. Amanda Alexander Assistant Professor and Post-doctoral scholar in Afroamerican studies Matthew Countryman Professor, Dept. History and American Culture Martha S. Jones Professor, Dept. History and Dept. Afroamerican and African studies Austin McCoy Rackham student
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Me and Ali
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few years ago, my older sister spoke words to me that I will never forget. In the middle of a conversation about diet (which, as two physically active health enthusiasts, we have often), she remarked, “Oh, I definitely was this close” making a pinching motion with her fingers, GRACE “to having an eat- CAREY ing disorder.” She said this casually, as mundane as if she was telling me about the weather. I barely reacted; the comment registered in the back of my mind, but it was probably more out of annoyance than any real recognition of the problem with the words she had just spoken. Let me stop to clarify that my sister never formally had an eating disorder. For years, while I was still an active gymnast, I was annoyed at her dietary habits. In my naïve, 20-hours-of-practice-per-week, racing-metabolism mindset, I couldn’t begin to understand why, for example, on her birthday she would deny a perfectly delicious piece of chocolate cake. If we were on vacation in Maine for the summer she wouldn’t eat a single lobster roll, her favorite food, because “she couldn’t afford it.” Of course, it was my responsibility as the annoying younger sister to mock her by eating two of them and have ice cream for dessert. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school, when I had to quit gymnastics after repeat ankle injuries, that I thought critically about food for the first time. I became self-conscious, over-
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analytical and overly strict on what I ate. I still ate enough — for me, that has never been a problem — but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that the struggle was always there. I was where my sister had been, struggling to adjust to a drastically changed lifestyle that, food-wise, essentially came down to “calories in, calories out” reasoning. However, my sister and I are lucky. She found and then introduced me to a gym with a community of people I now count as some of my closest friends. Not only did the coaches and members of the gym provide physical activity, but also they provided an image of “healthy” that I now aspire to. Never, for as long as I have been a part of this community, has the emphasis been on appearance. Together, we have performance-based goals, which include both nutrition and activity. Though it took some adjustment, I can say today that my definition of beauty has changed from the physical shape of an individual’s body or the number on a scale to the capacity of that person to move and function. People tell me, “You’re not the ‘typical’ kind of skinny,” and I respond with, “I don’t want or need to be.” I also know people who appear thinner than me, but who lift twice as much weight, and that, to me, is also beautiful. At the risk of being cliché, I’ll go as far as saying that definitions of beauty and strength are not one-size-fits-all. Though the comment my sister made that day was in passing, I expect her words are true for a lot, if not the majority, of women today. If things had not gone the way they had for my sister and me, if our gym community had not guided me toward a new direction of health, I may have become one of the 30 million people in the United States currently suffering from an
eating disorder. Inside of the gym there may be one, communal understanding of beauty and strength, but outside is a different world completely. I could drone on about the “Barbie culture” that’s portrayed in the media; how by praising the “thigh gap” and the “spring-break bod” society imposes an expectation on young women that is, simply put, a fantasy. I’m no expert on eating disorders, and I’m fortunate enough to never have been the victim of one. For this reason, I was hesitant to write this article. Who am I to talk about these things when the only perspective I have is of someone who can understand the temptation, but has never actually been there herself. Out of self-doubt, I asked a few friends to read this article, and subsequently each of them echoed feeling “borderline eating disorder” in the past. The position I’m in is not uncommon, so what’s to keep the scales from tipping? There’s more encouragement to succumb to these pressures than to go against popular images of attractiveness to create your own vision of health. It’s easy to become desensitized to this topic, which is why my original reaction to my sister’s comment was so understated. Perhaps it’s because there are countless articles, just like mine, calling for attention to the fact that jokes about body image mask very real turmoil within. At the time, while I listened to my sister’s words, I was one of those desensitized people. It’s only after experiencing it in a tiny way, and being exposed to it through friends and family, that I understand the gravity of this issue is fundamentally overlooked. — Grace Carey can be reached at gecarey@umich.edu.
The curse of knowledge and barhopping
et’s establish something right off the bat: Knowing things is the worst. I’m not referring to some sort of “ignorance is bliss” ideology, or the distress of comprehending the world’s problems, or even the annoyance of being unable to SARAH recall something LEESON you are positive you know when you suddenly need it. Rather, knowledge is the worst because of the frustration I get from trying to remember what it was like not to know something. It’s something that educators and people in communications positions understand deeply and must deal with constantly: the challenge of communicating or teaching something you understand to someone who is uninitiated to the topic. It’s terrible. This problem, called the “Curse of Knowledge,” is something I run into primarily in two very specific situations: when writing essays about topics I’m entirely familiar with, and when I’m talking to kids and trying to remember what I knew at their age. Had I already learned about the planets in this grade? Would it be strange for me to ask this student what they might want to study after high school? When was it that I realized that the only thing I really need to know is that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The things we don’t like hearing TO THE DAILY: I’m a proud liberal. I was raised in an intellectual household by two politically active parents who taught me to stand up for those less fortunate than me, those who are bullied and oppressed, and to fight for the rights of all humans. What happened at Yale University and the University of Missouri this week frightens me. I watched the videos. I saw an assistant professor, a woman whose job it is to teach and stand up for the rights of all students, harass and threaten a student photographer for taking pictures on public property because he was encroaching on a “safe space.” I saw students lose their minds that
Thus, I’m taking a very special opportunity here to lay out some of my current knowledge and assumptions on a very specific topic before I have the chance to ruin it with actual experiences. This weekend, I’m turning 21 (insert party horn noises here), and I will be permitted by federal law to partake in the consumption of ethanol. Along with this rite of passage, there will come some opportunities to try certain activities I’ve never had the (legal) opportunity to try out — namely, bar-hopping. Currently, I have a variety of sources and media that I can draw on to paint a picture of what I think bar life is like, but I really can’t be sure just yet what is and isn’t true. So, to date, the mental picture I have of bar-going is this: My night will start with either an encounter with a meaty bouncer outside a bar whom I must battle for entrance, or I will kick my way through double doors to stand in some dusty, sepia-colored light while the saloon goes quiet. Considering my plans for my birthday outing, both seem equally possible. Then, I will hang out for hours in the same booth with my friends and our rotating cast of significant others (or did I just get that from “How I Met Your Mother?”). At some point, there will be a bar fight. Guaranteed. It will also possibly be over me, but that isn’t guaranteed. It might just be over misplaced testosterone. I realize that some bars are different, so some elements of any of these possibilities are circumstantial. For instance, I’m aware that it’s only in particular lounge-like bars that I will
need to drape myself over a piano and sing seductively. Other venues might require some seductive dancing instead. The bottom line is that I will at least be seducing someone (some people?) somehow. Later in the night, I will find myself sitting across the bar from a worldly and wise bartender who will listen to my stories and give me sage advice like “That’s rough, buddy” and “Please stop opening those sugar packets and dumping them on the counter. Where did you even find those?” Before the night is over, we will partake in a piece of classic banter: They try to cut me off and I claim that I know when I’ve had enough. They will then nod with approval and I will know that I have finished the last stage of initiation into bar life. I’ve made it. Basically, what I’m getting out of this exercise is that, even without the “Curse of Knowledge,” I have no idea what I’m doing, and I’m glad I have some older friends to take care of me. So, there’s my baseline of my 20-year-old thinking concerning my bar expectations: ignorant but probably not too far off. I plan to use this article in the future as a resource to support a larger argument about how stupid past me was — something that far-distantfuture me is probably also thinking about not-so-far-distant me as well. This is the beauty and the progression of the “Curse of Knowledge,” to always look back on your past self and cringe. Nature is amazing. — Sarah Leeson can be reached at sleeson@umich.edu.
Send letters to: tothedaily@michigandaily.com a professor would encourage the exchange of varying ideas because they feel “threatened.” I saw people standing up for what they mistakenly believe is their right to stamp out voices they don’t agree with. But the most disheartening thing I saw was a young Yale student screaming the words, “(College) is not about creating an intellectual space … It’s about creating a home here.” I don’t know about anyone else, but I chose to spend tens of thousands of dollars to go to school so that I could surround myself with ideas and philosophies and to learn. If I wanted a “home” or a “safe space” that shelters me from things that might offend me, I could have just stayed home with my parents. We must ask ourselves: is this the mentality that will inherit the world? It’s one I want no part of, and
it’s one that scares me. What about an idea makes a person feel “unsafe,” anyway? There’s no threat of physical violence from an idea, certainly. The way I see it, what it comes down to is basically students saying, “I don’t like that people are allowed to disagree with me. Change it or I will leave the college.” If that’s the case for you, maybe you should leave. Education is too important to bend to your every need. I hope you don’t leave. I hope you find the strength to hear other people say things that you may not like. I hope you learn that disagreeing is not the same thing as not listening. I hope you learn to learn. I’m a proud liberal. This is not the liberalism I know Michael Shapiro LSA sophomore
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘D’ plays big in big spots Wolverines’ stats solid in red zone, in second half, on third down Daily Sports Editor
Red zone Michigan has done a nice job keeping teams out of the red zone, leading the nation with just 16 trips allowed. Three of the team’s opponents didn’t even reach the red zone. But once teams do get close to the Wolverines’ end zone, the defense really starts to shine. Fans will remember Michigan’s goal-line stand as time expired to beat Minnesota on Oct. 31, but they can also the credit the defense for its effort a week later. Rutgers found holes in the unit and made it to the red zone four times, coming away with just nine points. “Our red zone defense was outstanding again today,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh after Saturday’s win. “It’s been something that’s really been good for us. Our defensive coaching staff is doing a tremendous job. I don’t know if anybody’s doing
By MAX COHEN Managing Sports Editor
When John O’Korn made the decision to transfer to Michigan last winter, he was viewed as one of a glut of quarterbacks Jim Harbaugh had to work with during his first few months on the job. The junior quarterback from Houston, however, has had a different role than the rest of them. Unlike Jake Rudock, Shane Morris, Wilton Speight, Zach Gentry and Alex Malzone, the other scholarship quarterbacks on Michigan’s roster, O’Korn is unable to play this season because of NCAA transfer rules. Other than Rudock, O’Korn has had more playing experience than the rest of the Wolverines’ quarterbacks. He started 11 out of 13 games for the Cougars as a freshman in 2013, throwing for 3,117 yards, 28 touchdowns and 10
No. 11 Wisconsin sweeps Michigan By ETHAN WOLFE For the Daily
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin’s unit has been its strongest in the most important situations this year.
a better job of playing defense in the red zone. A couple times they had the ball in the scoring area inside the 20 and we only allowed field goals. The only touchdown came on the kickoff return, so that’s very impressive to me.” On the season, the Wolverines are allowing just 3.56 points per red-zone trip — fifth in the country. Additionally, Michigan’s six touchdowns allowed in 16 trips is the fourth-lowest touchdown rate in the country. “You never want to allow a team in the red zone,” said senior linebacker Joe Bolden. “But when you get backed up, it finally hits you and you can’t break. Ultimately, when they’re in the red zone, you want to hold them to three points. I think our mindset, our defensive mindset, is we don’t want them to have even three points.” Third downs Before the red zone — where the vast majority of possessions
against Michigan end — the Wolverines are the nation’s second-best third-down team. Even when offenses get creative, desperate and aggressive, Michigan stands tall. Just 21.8 percent of opponents’ thirddown attempts are successful, down 17 percent from last season. “Our mentality is just to get off the field,” said junior defensive end Taco Charlton. “From the first play of the drive, our goal is to get off the field. And when it’s third down, every guy is thinking of how they can be aggressive or help. “I feel like we do a good job overall, but when we know we have a chance to end the drive and give the momentum back to the offense, all 11 guys see that.” The Wolverines have been the best in the country at getting off the field this season. They lead the nation in punts per play, with 12.2 percent of opponent’s plays resulting in a punt — an average of seven plays per drive.
Second half Perhaps the scariest part of Michigan’s defense is that it doesn’t slow down. The Wolverines allow 6.2 points per game in the first half, but that pace improves to 5.22 in the second half. While the rest of the players get tired, the defense gets stronger. That endurance was on display Saturday. After allowing 69 points in the previous five halves combined, Michigan buckled down, holding Rutgers to 105 yards and zero points. After having its shutout streak snapped against Michigan State and Minnesota, Michigan’s defense looked back to its normal self. “We don’t want to give up anything,” Charlton said. “We don’t like giving up yards, we don’t like giving up first downs. We want to be a stingy defense.” They are, especially when it counts.
O’Korn makes impact on scout team Houston transfer impresses coaches with intensity, ability to prepare
VOLLEYBALL
Wolverines lose fourth straight match, drop to 6-9 in Big Ten play
By ZACH SHAW
By now, just about everyone who follows Michigan football knows about the team’s stout defense. The 14th-ranked Wolverines are first in the nation in scoring defense, second in yards allowed and are one of just four teams in the country to hold every opponent under 30 points this year. But unlike other top defenses, Michigan’s key to success isn’t turnovers, sacks or defensive touchdowns, it’s the ability to make stops in any situation.
Thursday, November 12, 2015 — 5A
interceptions. He was named the American Athletic Conference’s Rookie of the Year after the season. O’Korn, though, struggled as a sophomore, and was relegated to the bench after starting the first five games of the season under a new offensive coordinator. He made the decision to transfer to Michigan after the 2014 season. While he won’t see the field for the Wolverines this year, O’Korn plays a key role for the team in practice, leading the scout-team offense. He mimics the looks of Michigan’s opponents, preparing the defense for what will come its way Saturday. He doesn’t take the task lightly. “He’s a competitor, a great quarterback,” said Michigan defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin. “He doesn’t take any B.S. from the defense at all. That’s why I like him. He’s got a little feistiness to him. I think
he’s got a really bright future at quarterback.” He will have his chance. The starting quarterback spot for next season will be very much up for grabs once Rudock departs, and O’Korn is expected to be in the mix. O’Korn and Rudock are currently roommates. They attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. together, though Rudock is two years older than O’Korn. The experience of living with Rudock, according to Michigan passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch, has helped O’Korn. “They study with each other, they test one another,” Fisch said. “You know, you can’t play this game if you only look at it within the confines of these walls. It’s an opportunity for them to go out, and John’s growth occurs because of the fact that he’s constantly testing Jake. It’s like a teacher-student
“He doesn’t take any B.S. from the defense at all.”
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Michigan passing game coordinator Jedd Fisch has been impressed by Houston transfer John O’Korn so far.
type deal. He’s learning from it, and they’re continuing to switch responsibilities there.” Because Fisch generally works with the first-team offense, he doesn’t see much of O’Korn in practice when he plays with the scout team. He has been impressed, though, by what he has seen from O’Korn in the meeting room. The quarterback doesn’t have the demeanor of someone who knows he isn’t going to play this season. Fisch has studied O’Korn’s game in the past, both from when the quarterback was in high school and Fisch was the offensive coordinator at Miami, and from when O’Korn was at Houston. In Fisch’s eyes, little has changed. “He’s got a gifted arm, he’s a good athlete, and it means a lot to him,” Fisch said. Whether that translates into a starting job next season has yet to be determined.
While Michigan hoped to get itself back on track in the Big Ten, No. 11 Wisconsin had other plans. Highlighted by a powerful offense, the Badgers 0 MICHIGAN WISCONSIN 3 (11-4 Big Ten, 19-6 overall) beat the Wolverines (6-9, 16-10) handily in three sets, giving Michigan its fourth loss in a row. Wisconsin has caused many problems for the Wolverines, who have not beaten the Badgers since October 2013. Sophomore outside hitter Caroline Knop believes the team’s recent misfortunes have begun to snowball. “We’ve just gotta step back and play our game and relax and have fun out there,” said Knop. “We need to go back to the basics: why we started the game, why we love the game.” In a game that featured many errors for Michigan, it was never able to find any rhythm. The Wolverines’ strongest set was the first set, when they managed to tie the game, 14-14, which led to a Wisconsin timeout. The Badgers finished the
set on an 11-6 run, winning the set, 25-20. Michigan could only muster a .147 attack percentage to Wisconsin’s .267 attack percentage. The Wolverines dropped their final two sets, 25-19. The third set showcased Michigan’s weakest set performance of the season with a .000 attack percentage. “We’re not executing at a high enough level,” Knop said. “We’re not playing consistent volleyball, and that needs to change in practice.” Knop, who has led the team the past five games in kills, led the way again with a team-high eight kills and 10 digs. Despite Knop’s stellar performance lately, she has kept her focus on the team. “It’s not about me at all,” Knop said. “If I hit negative for these past five games and we won five, I would trade for that in a heartbeat. That means everyone is playing at a high level and being consistent night in and night out.” Michigan coach Mark Rosen believes mistakes and inconsistent play led to the loss. “We’re not getting enough kills. We’re making too many errors,” Rosen said. “We had 22 errors, and that is too many. You could see us getting frustrated. “We make two less errors and turn them into kills and then we have the same attack percentage as them. There’s lots of periods where we’re doing good stuff, but we’re not executing consistently.”
“We need to go back to the basics.”
Sports
6A — Thursday, November 12, 2015
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL By BRANDON CARNEY Daily Sports Writer
Kim Barnes Arico knows replacing the productive trio of Cyesha Goree, Shannon Smith and Nicole Elmblad will be one of the most difficult challenges she’s faced thus far in her coaching career. After graduating the three seniors who finished their senior years with a 20-15 record and a trip to the WNIT semifinal, the Michigan women’s basketball coach retained a squad of just four scholarship juniors and seniors. A group of five sophomores and four freshmen make up the core of the Wolverines’ 2015-16 roster. As in years past, the guard position is stacked and will give Barnes Arico plenty of options off the bench. Michigan will likely have to use its range of shooters to make up for its greatest weakness — a lack of proven depth in the low post. The Daily breaks down the Wolverines’ 2015-16 roster below: Guards The collection of guards Barnes Arico has assembled may be as deep and talented as any other unit she’s had in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines return two starters at the position — juniors Siera Thompson and Danielle Williams — while freshmen Lauren ‘Boogie’ Brozoski and Nicole Munger add to the already impressive group. As a result of the depth at the position, Barnes Arico has decided
2015 PREVIEW
she’ll be playing with three guards on the court in most situations. Thompson is expected to be the leader at the point of Michigan’s three-guard lineup. The junior is the Wolverines’ most experienced player at the ‘1,’ starting 65 of 69 games she has appeared in. Thompson has proven not only to be a shooter, scoring 12.1 points per game, but also a hard worker in other areas. Despite her proven abilities, Thompson’s starting spot isn’t 100-percent secure with Brozoski pushing her from behind every day. With great hustle and quick hands, the freshman’s raw defensive skill has gotten the attention of Barnes Arico. In Sunday’s exhibition against Ferris State, Brozoski entered the game at the head of Michigan’s press, and wreaked havoc for Bulldog ball handlers throughout her first collegiate contest. With no traditional small forward on the roster, the Wolverines plan on using two shooting guards to play on the wings. Michigan’s star scorer off the bench last season, sophomore Katelynn Flaherty, will occupy one of the starting wing positions. Flaherty is primed to have a breakout season, not only as a spot-up shooter who shot 42 percent from the field last year, but also in other areas. The sophomore worked hard on her physicality over the summer, and will look to drive to the basket and become more of an inside presence as the season rolls on. Flaherty is expected to face tough defensive assignments in most games, and will need
help from the Wolverines’ other shooters to overcome the challenge. Senior Madison Ristovski started alongside Flaherty against Ferris State, and will likely be opposite the sophomore a majority of the time. Ristovski has been a consistent scorer for Michigan throughout her career, shooting 41 percent overall and 39 percent from behind the arc. Right behind Ristovski, Williams and Munger are fighting to earn important roles in Barnes Arico’s lineup as well. Williams started 20 games last season, but wasn’t an offensive threat, as she scored just 35 points. The junior will most likely be a defensive specialist and will look to build upon the 11 multi-steal games she recorded in 2014-15. Munger will look to fill a role similar to Flaherty’s last year — Michigan’s lights-out shooter coming off the bench. Her defensive skills may not be at a point where Barnes Arico feels comfortable handing her a larger role, but Munger will be present in situations when the Wolverines need points in a hurry. Forwards The Wolverines graduated 59 percent of their rebounding from last season, and figuring out how that number will be replaced has been one of Barnes Arico’s biggest challenges over the offseason. Sophomore Jillian Dunston is the retuning forward who grabbed the most boards for Michigan in 2014-15, at 2.6 per game.
Classifieds
RELEASE DATE– Thursday, November 12, 2015
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Thin locks, as of hair 6 League fraction 10 Long-armed beasts 14 Tin Pan Alley org. 15 “... but I play one __” 16 Lead-in for sci 17 Diamond heist? 19 Tiger Woods’ ex 20 Fresh from the oven 21 One may be tossed after a wish 22 Rub the wrong away 23 Bare-bones staff 26 Painter who was a leader of the Fauvist movement 29 “__ Ben Adhem” 30 Shooting star, to some 31 1928 Oscar winner Jannings 32 Early Beatle Sutcliffe 35 Dinner side, and what can literally be found in this puzzle’s circles 40 Firm 41 Reason for a tow job 42 Literary governess 43 Controversial video game feature 44 Does a security job 47 Divides, as lovers 51 Squirrel away 52 Fruit discard 53 __ bath 56 Cost of living? 57 Stereotypical bachelors’ toys 60 Eye rakishly 61 Place to see crawls 62 Rock’s __ Boingo 63 He’s fifth on the career home run list 64 Kennel sounds 65 Graph lines DOWN 1 Break-even transaction
2 Comparative words 3 Nae sayer 4 Frequent companion 5 Dust motes 6 Calder piece 7 Featherbrained 8 SFPD ranks 9 Memorable temptation victim 10 Brief outline 11 __ cap 12 Beethoven’s “Für __” 13 Resilient strength 18 Anti votes 22 Name on a historic B-29 23 Cosecant’s reciprocal 24 Teach, in a way 25 Final notice? 26 Kids’ drivers, often 27 Valéry’s valentine 28 Printed words 31 It may need a boost 32 Roy Rogers’ birth name 33 Fork-tailed flier 34 Exploits 36 Smeltery waste 37 Hit or miss
38 Three-sided blade 39 “ ... I’ve __ to the mountaintop”: King 43 Beaux __: noble deeds 44 Ice cream designs 45 Copper 46 Three-time 21stcentury World Series champs
47 Billiards shot 48 Greek finale 49 Virile 50 Military unit 53 Tailless cat 54 Goad 55 British mil. decorations 57 Tom Clancy figure 58 Hawaiian dish 59 Org. in Tom Clancy novels
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
At 6-foot-5, freshman Hallie Thome was a giant recruiting win for Barnes Arico. The Wolverines need a special frontcourt talent if they plan on contending in the Big Ten, and Thome has the potential to be just that. Thome scored 19.5 points, grabbed 9.1 rebounds and blocked 4.6 shots per game in her senior high school season. The Gatorade State Player of the Year in Ohio brings the combination of height and finesse the Wolverines have not seen in recent years. Sophomore Terra Stapleton is the only other true center on the roster, and she logged just 33 minutes in her freshman season. When Thome’s not on the court, the center position will most likely be occupied by Mitchell, but if the two get in foul trouble late in games, or are out due to injury, Michigan could be in real trouble if it needs experienced options to play at the post.
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Dunston’s primary role, however, will be coming off the bench behind senior Kelsey Mitchell. After injuries have hampered a majority of her career, Mitchell was finally healthy this preseason, and has impressed Barnes Arico both on and off the court. The forward position thins out after Mitchell and Dunston. Freshman Sam Trammel may see playing time if the others in front of her get into foul or injury trouble. Otherwise, Barnes Arico may have to turn to guardheavy lineups to make up for a lack of depth at the post.
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Kim Barnes Arico’s team has missed the NCAA Tournament in two straight years.
Michigan’s next step is an NCAA Tournament bid
Y
es, the Michigan women’s basketball team made it to the WNIT semifinals last season. Yes, it was great for the Wolverines to have an extra month to practice, compete and extend BRAD the seniors’ WHIPPLE careers. And yes, Michigan was closer than ever before to hanging its first banner. But the important part of that postseason run in April is that it pumped life back into the program itself. For a team that dropped too many one- or two-possession games during the regular season and suffered through some major inconsistencies, the WNIT gave the Wolverines a chance to prove they had the tenacity to beat quality opponents. Though the WNIT was a second chance for Michigan, it’s no longer the goal. During the team’s media day in October, players made it clear that their focus was on the NCAA Tournament. Junior guard Siera Thompson has had enough of the alternative. “The last two years, I’ve been in the WNIT,” Thompson said. “It’s cool to still be playing in March or whatever, but we all obviously want to be in the NCAA Tournament. We weren’t satisfied with being in the WNIT. That’s our goal this year: not to let games slip away, like we did last year in conference. “We don’t want the minimum. We want everything we can get.” According to junior guard Danielle Williams, that is exactly the theme of the season: carpe omnia, which translates from Latin to “take everything” or “take it all.” There is an even larger emphasis on becoming “the hardest-working team in America,” but carpe omnia is sparking a higher level of motivation and competition within the team. Considering that the Wolverines had all but won the WNIT Semifinal against UCLA before a few critical errors gave the Bruins a path into the championship, it makes sense that Michigan is focused on taking it all. Instead, the Wolverines learned what it was like to lose it all. “Last year, we were so close (to making the NCAA Tournament), so that also drives us,” said sophomore guard Katelynn Flaherty. “I mean, we played against some great teams in the WNIT, and we should’ve beat UCLA. I believe that we had the game. That shows not only to me, but to the rest of the team, that we can compete with the best out there.” The Wolverines did just that in their 109-39 win over Ferris
State in Sunday’s exhibition game. Under fourth-year head coach Kim Barnes Arico, Michigan is loaded with underclassmen who are ripe to make huge leaps in their career. Barnes Arico certainly doesn’t lack options to choose from. As for the returners, they’re still carrying a jolt of energy left behind by the WNIT run. Maybe they still hold a bit of anger, which has fueled their drive toward reaching carpe omnia. “We were so angry and so upset the way that we had gone out of the Big Ten Tournament,” said senior guard Madison Ristovski. “We carried over that anger and put it into practice and put it into those games, and try to make the end of the year better.” If that mentality holds firm, the team can be successful by the time the Big Ten schedule rolls around. Sure, the Wolverines are at an enormous disadvantage without Cyesha Goree, Nicole Elmblad and Shannon Smith. The team is going to have to go the extra mile even to come close to making up for the production the senior class left behind on the court, but Ristovski said she doesn’t see why freshmen can’t do it, adding that the returners may even have to inhibit new roles. For Barnes Arico, now is the time to make some important changes, the time to take her best returning players and evolve them into new type of players that they couldn’t have been last season, all while nurturing the development of key players like freshman center Hallie Thome. It’s a unique time for the program, and Barnes Arico is the right person to be at the head of it — the program recently extended her contract through the 2020-21 season. This time around, the WNIT isn’t going to cut it. Only an appearance in the NCAA Tournament will, which is exactly what the team talked about during its fall break retreat. “What rose up is, ‘Why not us, why not now?’ ” Ristovski said. “The possibility of a championship is in our grasp. It’s just what we do every day in practice that’s going to decipher whether we win or lose (crucial games).” Why not now? Now is a better time than ever before. Michigan is well-equipped with a variety of talented returners, a nearly undefeated freshmen class and a veteran coaching staff. The Wolverines are in the midst of a revival, one that could make their program feared by non-conference and conference opponents, alike. It may not happen this year, but it also might. Though one thing is for certain: Michigan is going to try its best to take it all. Carpe omnia. Whipple can be reached at bmwhip@umich.edu and on Twitter @brad_whipple.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, November 12, 2015 — 7A
Ready for the challenge By TED JANES Daily Sports Writer
An icy chill filled the ocean air as shredded wooden boards lay broken on the streets of Point Pleasant, N.J. Winds ripped houses from their roots, and sand and water covered the ruined beach town. Hurricane Sandy’s victims tucked into a nearby school gym. The evacuees inside stayed warm, avoiding the cold, treacherous weather. Those who lived in sight of the coast were forced out of their homes, leaving belongings behind, engulfed by the storm. One girl, who lived just outside the flood’s reach, always used to run outside, but her usual route on the shore’s boardwalk was destroyed, flipped and swallowed in the deluge. She ran wherever she could, away from the scattered debris and past the empty remains of one former house followed by another. Or when she wasn’t outside, she was down in the basement, dribbling in the dark for hours in a house without electricity. The now-splintered, desolate borough had taken the punch. The girl had to be tough. She needed to run because she had to stay fit. Basketball season was coming, and soon, everybody was going to be impressed with Katelynn Flaherty.
and playing in northern New Jersey, a populous hotbed of athletic talent. To put it into perspective, according to ESPN’s HoopGurlz, which ranks the top 100 women’s college basketball prospects, 10 players in Flaherty’s recruiting class came out of New Jersey — the vast majority from northern New Jersey — the third-highest among all states, trailing just California and Ohio. “People love to compete up there,” Flaherty said. “I don’t know what it is, but everyone’s tough. You look at the people going places, and it’s all New York/New Jersey. It’s a pride thing. You want to represent where you’re from and show that you’re the best. Every time you step out on that floor, it’s a battle.” Flaherty rose out of this bunch after throwing down uncanny numbers her junior year of high school, averaging over 30 points per game to lead her team to
*** Katelynn Christine Flaherty played her first organized basketball game as a kindergartner in a first-grade league, began playing against the best high-schoolers when she was 13 and, at that age, drew attention from then-St. John’s and current Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. A younger Flaherty used to watch the best guards in the NBA on television — she’s a big Kobe Bryant fan — and dream of the opportunity to be like Connecticut’s Maya Moore on the national championship stage. With two parents who played college basketball, her father at Seton Hall and mother at The College of New Jersey, sports were always Flaherty’s first love. She and her father would go out in the backyard and hit softballs or shoot around during the summers. Flaherty’s father Tom, a guard in his time, taught her from the beginning, and he was her AAU coach for all four of her high school years. “You’re gonna be great at something,” Flaherty’s dad used to tell her. Whether she succeeded in academics, with basketball or both, making a name for herself was just a matter of time. If anyone was equipped for a career in basketball, it was Flaherty, with all the resources and knowledge about the sport at her fingertips. But even that couldn’t differentiate her from the abundant talent base where she grew up. To stand out from the crowd, Flaherty had to do it all from within. She had a “refuse-to-lose” attitude, as Barnes Arico put it. She was occasionally caught up in the finesse of scoring, but at a young age, Flaherty pushed to be a pinch tougher than the opponent. Since Flaherty was an eighth grader, Barnes Arico watched her keep her game above the curve. She’d see Flaherty playing basketball on the playground, playing against boys, diving out on the concrete after loose balls. “You’re from Jersey!” Barnes Arico still reminds Flaherty in practice, edging her star player to bring out the old-school, East Coast work engine that powers her. She is one of those spot-up, lights-out, ‘get-herthe-ball-as-soon-as-she’s-open’ kind of shooters. Opponents prepare for her so much that she was on their radar before she even showed up for classes her freshman year. Michigan’s now-sophomore guard is now readying for another five-month-long grind after reeling in hype, highlights and accolades throughout her freshman campaign. En route to being named the Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year, Flaherty appeared in every game of her debut season, knocking down 37.5 percent of her 3-pointers. She set a new freshman record with 78 3s to contribute to her 499 points, a team high that landed her in the top 20 for scoring in the Big Ten, one of just three freshmen on that list. Her numbers attest to the praise, though while her teammates note she’s “a little shy” and “very humble,” it’s not just her pinpoint splash and Tim Duncan-esque modesty that make her such a great competitor. This season, Flaherty won’t be able to rely on simply spotting up. She will be the focal point of a team that boasts just four scholarship upperclassmen, compared to nine underclassmen. Flaherty returns as the team’s leading scorer from 2014-15, and she wasn’t even a regular starter. “People will be all over me,” Flaherty said of the upcoming season. Last year, the team’s ‘big three’ was comprised of former seniors Nicole Elmblad, Cyesha Goree and Shannon Smith, a trio that made up for over 50 percent of the team’s total scoring, rebounding and assists. After the Wolverines fell in the 2015 WNIT semifinal, the main focus for Barnes Arico became finding a way to refuel a program that was losing its core. If the Wolverines were going to be successful when the 2015-16 Big Ten season began, they would have to find new talent. Flaherty knows Michigan needs someone to step up, and that now is her chance. She’s the face of the program as a sophomore, and every opponent knows who she is. They’ll put two defenders on her, trap her wherever she goes and force her to give up the ball. But Flaherty has never been one to take adversity lying down. It all boils back down to her roots, growing up
the top of New Jersey’s state rankings. She worked day in and day out on her ballhandling skills, endless dribbling, perfecting the art that her father instilled in her since birth. Point Pleasant is a small town on the coast that fills with tourists and beachgoers during the summer months. Around the Ocean County borough, a younger Flaherty could be found jogging on the boardwalk, playing ball out on the blacktops or riding her bike to the shore, and since the local high school enrolled just a couple hundred kids, it was easy for some to get trapped in the “bubble of Point Pleasant Beach,” as she described it. But nestled away on the Eastern tip of the country, Flaherty always had aspirations to make her way out in whatever way she could. So Flaherty spent endless hours on the court, and even when she was off it, basketball was always on her mind. *** The first wind came in October. It was 2012, and President Barack Obama had declared a state of emergency as Hurricane Sandy began flexing its muscle all across the Eastern seaboard. Eyeing coastal New Jersey, Sandy’s hostile power was heading straight for Flaherty’s hometown. Flaherty, luckily, lived about two miles in from the shore, but nearly everything in between was ruined. Point Pleasant was hit hard, and the super storm that caused over $70 billion in damages across the United States left homes filled with sand, demolished the boardwalks and yanked apart countless buildings. “(Hurricane) Irene was a year before, and no one thought it was gonna be that bad,” Flaherty said. “People didn’t listen and stayed in their homes, and they had to be rescued. Even after it happened, the National Guard was there, and you couldn’t get past a certain point without ID because people were stealing from homes.” One of Flaherty’s teammates completely lost her house as water reached the second floor. For the residents who did evacuate in time, Manasquan High School was the emergency destination. The school Flaherty attended her freshman and sophomore years was able to provide a few cots and drinkable water, but evacuees still had to bring everything they could. “People were displaced,” Flaherty remembered. “Everything a mile in was gone.” Without electricity or power for the following few weeks, Flaherty’s home remained intact, but still not in ideal shape. Somehow, Flaherty didn’t miss a day of practice. Gyms were filled with stranded townspeople, and the basketball courts near the beach were lost under blankets of sand, but Flaherty couldn’t wait. If she wanted to be the best — and she so badly did — not even Sandy would bring her down. The grounds outside were covered with litter, but she ran anyway. Her basement was dark and cold, but she dribbled anyway. Flaherty just kept running, avoiding the wreckage and refusing to give up the basketball touch she had perfected since day one. When the weather was too much, Flaherty withdrew to the rug of her basement, ball in hand, and she’d sit and dribble for
“People were displaced. Everything a mile in was gone.”
hours. Many residents of Point Pleasant had to sleep and shower at the school for months afterward, and even now, three years removed, Flaherty still knows of people who haven’t been able to go back to their homes. Looting and crime were abundant, and the setbacks of Sandy, both direct and indirect, were evident. Still, there was Flaherty running outside, routinely dodging everything beneath her feet, sidestepping the storm to earn every ounce of respect she could muster up. She takes pride in her hard-nosed, view-frombelow mentality. It’s where she comes from, and how she envisions success. She wants that challenge, to build a team from the ground up, to be an underdog who nobody expects to come out on top. In the world of women’s basketball, it’s all about the Tennessees and the Connecticuts, but Flaherty wanted to create something new. She craved what Michigan had: the sense that it was almost there. It was, and is, a time when just a few right moves could push the program over the edge. When Barnes Arico came to Michigan, the same year that Sandy hit, she told Flaherty that she would turn the program around, which enticed the thenjunior point guard. She wanted to lift the unproven team higher, something she had always done.
Back at Manasquan, Flaherty remembers when her sophomore year team didn’t just set a goal, but they made a claim: They were going to win the Tournament of Champions, a tournnament between the winners of each high school division in New Jersey. It’s the highest competition that a high school team can reach, and they were going to do it. No one really believed in them, and after a loss for the Shore Conference title, the preseason statement seemed distant. Dejected and angered by the loss, the team turned it around. The Manasquan Warriors made it all the way to the TOC finals, and in a game that strung close all through the fourth quarter, Flaherty rallied for over 20 points, and the team broke away for the championship. Flaherty was be named the final’s MVP. It was the highlight of her high school career, an inconsistent four-year era. Things didn’t work out for Flaherty at Manasquan, so she left for the nearby Point Pleasant Beach High School, just a short drive down the highway from her previous stomping grounds. Midway through her senior year, after just two games at Point Pleasant, Flaherty had to switch high schools again, this time moving an hour north to Metuchen. Further away from her hometown, Flaherty lived with her grandparents for the second half of her senior year. But soon, her basketball devotion was tested again, just three quarters into her first game at her new school. Flaherty leaped for a rebound and fell down awkwardly, crushing her foot. “I strained all the ligaments in my foot,” Flaherty said. “I was out for the whole season. In my first game there, I jumped for a rebound and that was it.” Flaherty had played fewer than three games in her senior year. With a few months remaining before she left for Ann Arbor, Flaherty rehabbed as she finished out school, but she couldn’t play the game she loved. She was committed to Michigan, but grounded on the bench. Few minds are as tough as Flaherty’s, though. If a hurricane couldn’t stop her, the injury couldn’t either. On a broken foot, she went back down to the basement. She took a seat on her chair, with a basketball on her side and four years at Michigan straight ahead, and she started to dribble.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
8A — Thursday, November 12, 2015
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Big Ten breakdown: Terps in front again By CHRIS CROWDER Daily Sports Writer
Since the additions of Maryland and Rutgers to the Big Ten, the state of collegiate women’s basketball in the Midwest has been elevated. The Big Ten is now one of the most competitive leagues in the nation, and will be well-represented in the NCAA Tournament at the season’s end. The Michigan women’s basketball team lost in the WNIT semifinals last season and will face another uphill battle to make it to the NCAA Tournament this year. With the Big Ten only getting stronger, the Daily breaks down Michigan’s top conference competition. No. 6 Maryland Entering their second season in the Big Ten, the Terrapins are the strongest team in the conference. Led by juniors Shatori WalkerKimbrough (13.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season) and Brionna Jones — both firstteam All-Big Ten selections last season — Maryland is coming off of two straight Final Four appearances. Led by Big Ten Coach of the Year Brenda Frese, the Terrapins went 18-0 in the conference last season and show no signs of slowing down. Maryland could be knocked off in conference play this year, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it ran the table once again. No. 10 Ohio State The Buckeyes return all five starters from last season, including four double-figure scorers. Coach Kevin McGuff said he wants his team to play even faster, which will give teams trouble since the starting lineup has all of last season’s chemistry to build on.
Sophomore guard Kelsey Mitchell, the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year, averaged 24.9 points last season and will only further develop after a stellar freshman year. Ohio State advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season and has its sights set on a possible Final Four appearance this year. No. 24 Northwestern At Big Ten Media Day in October, Wildcat coach Joe McKeown said, “You know, when I took the job, we were voted 12th, and there was 11 teams in the league.” Now he has turned Northwestern into a conference contender, with its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1997 last season. Junior forward Nia Coffey, who averaged 15.5 points and 8.5 rebounds last season, will give teams fits on defense. Senior Maggie Lyon will provide leadership at the point guard position and averaged 14.2 points in her junior year. No. 23 Iowa The Hawkeyes made it to the Sweet 16 last year but also lost the Big Ten’s highest scoring trio of all time from that team. Those shoes will be tough to fill, but the other two starters from last season’s squad, Whitney Jennings and Ally Disterhoft, will lead the way. Replacing 42.3 points per game from three starters will be a challenge, but coach Lisa Bluder knows how to replace talent through recruiting. She brought 5-foot-4 guard Tania Davis — a former Michigan Miss Basketball selection — to complement Jennings at the guard positions. Michigan State The Spartans were on the
outside looking in at the USA Today Poll but drew a No. 24 ranking in the AP Poll. Injuries plagued them last season, at one point only being able to field seven players. The bulk of Michigan State’s scoring comes from junior forward Aerial Powers and junior guard Tori Jankoska. Powers was 10th in the nation in scoring last season, averaging 21.9 points, while Jankoska racked up 17.5 per game. The Spartans only finished one game above .500 last season but will finish well above that mark this year if they stay healthy. Rutgers Led by the third-winningest women’s college basketball coach of all time, C. Vivian Stringer, the Scarlet Knights can never be counted out as competitors. Stringer speaks very highly of freshman guard KK Sanders, who could become a special player over the duration of her career in Piscataway. Rutgers loses one of its two top scorers from last season, but the one returning, Kahleah Copper (16.3 PPG) will likely lead the team in scoring again. Nebraska The Cornhuskers started four seniors in 2014, and will miss their collective 350 career starts this season. Although Nebraska has drastically switched from a veteran team to a young one, coach Connie Yori will make sure the program stays on track in this transition. To reload, Nebraska recruited Jess Shepard, a Lincoln native who was the top-ranked forward in the country out of high school. She scored 42 points in the Huskers’ exhibition, proof that she’s making an impact and will make headlines right away.
ICE HOCKEY
Connor acclimating from USHL to college hockey Highly touted freshman jumps in on fastest line with Selman, Nieves By JASON RUBINSTEIN Daily Sports Editor
Senior forward Justin Selman says his line is as fast as the snap of a finger. That was evident during line rushes on Tuesday at the Michigan hockey team’s practice. Selman, senior Boo Nieves and freshman Kyle Connor brought the puck through the neutral zone with just two passes before Connor found twine. “When we get the puck, next thing you know we’re in the other end,” Selman said. “Today we were talking at practice, and we’re like, ‘Wow, we’re fast — like two passes and we’re in the other end, and we scored.’ ” None of that would be possible if it weren’t for the line’s youngest player: Connor. The freshman joined the Wolverines as their most heralded recruit. It was much deserved, though, after he notched 195 points in three seasons in the United States Hockey League. But Michigan coach Red Berenson said players of Connor’s talent level often don’t realize the challenge college hockey presents. “We recruit gifted players,” Berenson said, “and some of them are more receptive (to) learning how to play without the puck, and some of them don’t because they’ve been babied all the way up because they are a good player. ... We’re not babying Kyle Connor.” Connor knows that, and he has been extremely coachable, according to Berenson. Moreover, Nieves said his
linemate is always listening to him and Selman on the ice, which is refreshing from a senior’s vantage point. However, if there’s one blemish to the freshman’s game through six contests, it’s his play without the puck and in the defensive zone. That’s not to say his play has been porous, but it’s something Connor — who has tallied three goals and four assists — needs to work on. “He’s been able to freelance all the way up, and now all of the sudden he needs to play better in his own zone because he’s not going to have the puck all the time,” Berenson said. “He’s not going to be as dominant a player as he was in the U.S. Hockey League. He still will be able to freelance to a certain extent, but he will have to be more responsible.” As a comparison, Berenson praised former forward Dylan Larkin, who is now a rookie for the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. “You score your way into the NHL by being a talented player without the puck,” Berenson said. “Dylan Larkin wouldn’t be there right now if he weren’t one of the top plus-minuses in the NHL, so good for him for taking care of business without the puck. “And that’s what Kyle Connor has to learn.” The message has been made loud and clear to Connor, who has already taken the initiative to find ways to improve his 100-foot game. This past week during the bye, Connor sat down one-on-one with assistant coach Brian Wiseman to watch each of his shifts against Robert Morris. Wiseman helped Connor learn where he should be
without the puck and how to make the correct defensive play. “It was good to get a different perspective to see what the coaches have to say,” Connor said. “I think you can always work on it and fine-tune your defensive game. I think I’ve taken a lot of strides in my defensive game since my last year in Youngstown.” Those strides were much needed. Despite notching 195 points in three years with Youngstown, his plus-minus was minus-29. In other words, for as many goals he was on the ice — and that’s a ton — he was on the ice for more goals against. So far at Michigan, though, he is already plusthree through six games, and his offensive game has been invaluable to the Wolverines. A large of chunk of that success stems from his ability to deceive goaltenders and defensemen. So while he may not overwhelm you with his slim and fragile 175-pound frame, before a defenseman can lay a hit on him, the puck is usually on its way to the net. “He’s got a real exceptional release on the puck,” Berenson said. “He shoots it before the goalie is even ready for it. Other players will get it and stick handle it. I call that telegraphing the shot.” Added Connor: “It’s something growing up through all the ranks I tried to work on, being indecisive and sneaky with my shot. At this level, all goalies are good, so you got to try new ways to beat them.” And he has beaten them with the puck so far. Now, he’s working to beat opponents without it.
“We recruit gifted players. ... We’re not babying Kyle Connor.”
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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, November 12, 2015
by Kathleen Davis, Senior Arts Editor I was born in 1995. I only know of Richard Simmons through parodies, self-parodies and commercials, so when I decided to try out a new exercise routine and write about it in the name of journalism, the little I knew about this character was a driving factor in my decision to choose his tapes. Thanks to the Internet, there are a couple full-length Simmons videos on YouTube, not in the HD quality we’re used to but in the nostalgic look of tapes from the ’80s. I was originally going to follow this routine for a week, but I figured I should focus my analysis on the full-length tapes available for free (hey, I’m a college student), instead of stumbling See RICHARD SIMMONS, Page 2B through disjointed clips.
by Caroline Filips, Daily Arts Editor *Disclaimer: I don’t endorse diets and I don’t particularly enjoy them, especially this one. I merely wanted to share my frivolous fable of immersion (trying to relate to celebrities and failing). If you’re an infant prodigy reading this right now, please, continue eating your baby food! It was made for you and your underdeveloped masticators! I’m not cautiously restrictive with my food intake. I don’t follow any specific dietary regulations. Sometimes I caustically limit my gluten consumption to be ironic. Sometimes I swap skim for soy in my morning lattes simply because I prefer the taste. Sometimes I eat too much cheesy bread (who doesn’t?). Sometimes the next day I eat a giant bowl of kale for lunch because #balance. My normal diet is somewhere between eating what I want with sporadic, albeit valiant efforts to maximize longevity — namely, my four weekly guidelines: sipping a latte each morning (self-pampering and espresso are crucial), eating two to three servings of salmon per week, brewing at least two cups of green or herbal tea each day and guzzling water around the clock. The remaining comestibles and libations are an amalgam of overpriced brunches, sugar-fix pilgrimages to Blank Slate Creamery, Espresso Royale dirty chais and the occasional revisit to South Quad Dining Hall with my “I’m an impoverished law student” brother. That’s my sustenance story. See BABY FOOD, Page 3B
by Karen Hua, Daily TV/New Media Editor *Disclaimer: All names have been changed to protect the identities of the individuals. The author did not identify herself as a reporter for The Daily, and no conversations have been recorded without consent. Seven days, seven dates: Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel, Match.com and my real life best friends vying to make the perfect match. For context, I have never been on a date with anyone I met online. As a 20-year-old college senior, I in no way claim to be an expert in anything love, sex or relationship-related. The intent of this social exercise was to explore firsthand some disparities between dating in real life to dating on new media. I simply posed as the subject of my own experiment, and I’m here to relay my personal observations. Since its release as a $750 million start-up in 2012, Tinder has boasted over 9 billion matches. Match, the parent company that owns Tinder, OkCupid, Match.com and other dating apps, touted a $49.3 million profit in the first half of this year. The company just filed to go public three weeks ago. See DATING APPS, Page 2B
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DATING APPS From Page 1B As freshmen, my friends and I giggled abashedly as we downloaded the app – only to swipe sarcastically, we affirmed. Though we stood proudly as anti-slut shamers, we turned a side-eye to those who prowled for casual sex, and even more for long-term relationships. Especially with aggressive pick-up lines like, “Your cute wanna fuck?” — there has stemmed a sense of stigma with its use. News sources have criticized the app for “ruining romance” and inciting the “dawn of the dating apocalypse” — pinning culprit on the millennials who use it. Contrarily, in New York City this past summer, with a much larger swiping vicinity, my coworkers’ solution to all my dating woes was always, “Have you ever tried Tinder?” In the Big Apple, dating apps aren’t taboo; they’re simply ways to make an isolating city intimate, a way to meet like-minded individuals you typically wouldn’t. In Ann Arbor, with less opportunity for mobility, stumbling across friends (or GSIs) on the app always feels too close for comfort. However, John Cacioppo, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, found that more than one third of marriages between 2005 and 2012 started on the Internet. In his 2013 study, he ascertained that couples who have met online have 1.6% fewer marriage breakups, and also higher marriage satisfaction ratings. Currently, the average age for first marriage is 27 for women and 29 for women – a wedlock rate down 10% from just the previous generation. Though Cacioppo’s study proved positive long-term effects, how does online dating fare with casual relationships among millennials at a time when they aren’t necessarily looking for The One? So, with mixed responses, I delved further into the world of cyber-romance — warily, but with an open mind. For the purposes of my study, I limited my age range from 22 to 30, a pool representative of “millennials” — mostly upperclassmen and recent postgrads. On the first night, Tinder’s new “super-like” feature landed me at Marnee Thai for dinner with Matt*, a 24-year-old University graduate student whom I found physically attractive enough and his profile intriguing enough to reciprocate his super-like. However, like many stories go, his unkempt facial hair didn’t quite mirror the carefully vetted photos on his profile — and his bio’s claim that he had studied across Asia didn’t actually materialize itself into a cultured personality. On “paper” (online), we had common interests in travel, literature, and art museums — but when discussing in depth and in person, we realized how vague “commonalities” were really just dissimilarities. After our two hour dinner, Matt still had no idea where I was originally from, what my college major was, what my career aspirations were — no details about my family, friends or hobbies. While I attempted
to reciprocate genuine curiosity about his life in response to his online “super-like,” I never felt his real-life interest reciprocated back. Had Matt and I initially met each other in person, it would have been evident within the first five minutes that we couldn’t be well-suited romantic partners. We wouldn’t have wasted time over a superficial dinner or poured effort into online impression management. However, offline — in person — we probably wouldn’t have had the chance to meet each other in the first place. My Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid and Coffee Meets Bagel dates all ensued in a similar fashion — with men where there was fleeting cyber infatuation, but little chemistry in real life. Our lack of connection wasn’t necessarily due to a deficiency on my or their part. Rather, it was simply a lack of social and dispositional compatibility that a mobile app couldn’t possibly discern with six photos and a three-line bio. On day two, I tried Hinge. While all the apps paired by proximity, Hinge took similarity-pairing to another level – matching based on mutual Facebook friends — forming connections that could very well be made in person in real life. My coffee date with Patrick*, a 23-year-old recent University grad who shared few acquaintances, didn’t incite any romantic sparks, but we found a platonic affability from which we could keep in touch as friends. After OkCupid and Coffee Meets Bagel, I had swiped through many of the same men across the different apps. I felt like I had small-talked all of Ann Arbor to the point where I copied and pasted the same responses to the same stale questions: What was I for Halloween? Did I have a favorite travel destination? Did I want to come over that night at 11 p.m.? On day five, I explored Bumble, an app founded by Whitney Wolfe, the sole female cofounder of Tinder, one year after she sued her original company for sexual harassment. Inspired by Wolfe’s experiences with sexism, Bumble contests traditional gender conventions by giving females 24 hours to initiate conversation before their match disappears. Though the men on the app should presumably be comfortable with women making the first move, I received comments calling out my “confidence,” “assertive” nature and “forward” personality. After lunch with Logan*, a 25-yearold model from London, he “teased” that I should pick up the bill — because that’s what a “feminist Bumble-user like (my) self would do, right?” Though I generally have no issue paying on dates, I want my generosity to stem from pleasure instead of obligation. The criticisms that dating apps favored men more evidently peaked through. By day six, I reached my final app: the dreaded Match.com. Notoriously a serious platform geared toward a middle-aged demographic, I worried about finding men in my 22-30 range. Unlike the five free mobile apps I tried, Match thoroughly vetted potential candidates — down to the minutest of preferences in both appearance and personality. First and foremost, I real-
the b-side ized how appearance profiles weren’t based on reality — but rather on the confidence (or cockiness) with one chose to convey oneself. Some response options to the “body type” question included: “slender,” “athletic and toned,” “heavyset” and “a few extra pounds.” Not only did I have to classify myself, but I also had to preference the physique of my ideal date — as well as the option to make body type a “deal-breaker” quality. However, even if I demanded an “athletic and toned” man, I would only end up with someone who deemed himself worthy of that title. I knew I reached a red flag zone when inquired about my marriage history, potential children and current salary – queries rarely of careful contemplation to a millennial audience. Perhaps more disturbingly, the site forced me to preference his relationship status and salary range (in case I wanted to date a married father or a Sugar Daddy). Ultimately, though I value Match’s careful selection process, the site certainly revealed the discriminatory side of dating apps. Match.com forced me to be picky — but in superficial terms of appearance and financial worth. By the end, both parties would have quite comprehensive outlines of their personalities and lifestyles – the good, the bad, and the ugly up for interpretation. After navigating through the “winks,” “likes” and “faves” the site offers, I deemed one message worthy of pursuing: Connor* was 29, but his photos coddled puppies and his four paragraph biography detailed his adventures around 38 countries in the past year. His hobbies included tea, yoga, and simply, “massage.” I never would have imagined I’d be on a Match.com date, but there we sat at Mani Osteria with our napkins in our laps and pizza fresh on our plates. Compared to the previous five dates, it was actually the most pleasant, perhaps because our similarities were so carefully vetted. However, while all five of the apps I tried are free, Match puts a $16.99 per month price tag on the elusive concept of love — which consequently heightens the desperation to find romance when attached to a financial investment. For its target demographic, Match may be worth the pretty penny — but for a generation that isn’t looking for Mr. or Mrs. Right, it seems silly to make a monetary transaction for a relationship. Another observation: dating apps bred a desperation I never knew I had. As a college senior planning to move across the country soon, I rarely yearn for romantic commitment or even companionship at this point. However, after just one week perusing six different online sites, I developed a vicious addiction to checking and rechecking for matches — a guilty pleasure in selectively replying to messages as it gave me a sense of ownership over my dating life. Ultimately, these are all my singular experiences with the apps — neither representative of all experiences, nor my future luck on the same apps. A week before my experiment, I had given my friends the task of finding me a blind date — a match made the “old fashioned” way. After seven
Thursday, November 12, 2015 — 2B
Day One: Aerobics with Richard Simmons and the Silver Foxes When I started this video, I wasn’t really sure what I expected the Silver Foxes to be. Some svelte figures in metallic jumpsuits were about what I had in mind. But alas, the Silver Foxes were not blondes in high ponytails, but instead the 70-oddyear-old parents of famous figures from the ’80s: the mothers of Farrah Fawcett, Sylvester Stallone and Simmons himself, as well as the father of Al Pacino. Immediately, I knew I made a huge mistake, but I had made a commitment, so I proceeded on my journey with the Silver Foxes. First thing’s first — Richard Simmons doesn’t mess around. Maybe there was something in the water in the ’80s, but I could barely keep up the movement of my feet when paired with enthusiastic clapping and hip shaking. Mrs. Stallone had this thing down pat, looking like a goddess in a peach sweat ensemble. It hadn’t even been 20 minutes of the 50-minute video (read: 17 minutes) when I realized I desperately needed a water break. This is coming from a girl who does hot Bikram yoga twice a week. I’m telling myself this has more to do with the large plate of sushi I had eaten a couple hours earlier that stripped me of the moisture in my body than with the vivacity of the Silver Foxes. It was also around this time that I realized Sal Pacino looked too much like the father of an ex-boyfriend for my comfort. My concentration was in a shaky place, I needed the wisdom of Simmons’s perm to bring me back. 25 minutes in. Another water break. But I was starting to get why these videos were so popular. So soothing. So visually pleasing. I’d love to find a way to have Richard Simmons’s voice and positive energy inherent in my daily life. I don’t know if it was the jazzy music, the matching velour jumpsuits or the ever-smiling faces of the Silver Foxes, but I had a great time doing this video. I’ve never taken a formal aerobics class, so I can’t say how this video compares to a class for those born in the later half of the 20th century, but I definitely worked a bit of a sweat. Some of the exercises were incredibly goofy, like the “rump bends” that looked undeniably like humping the back of a chair. But honestly, the Silver Foxes were everything to this video. Immediately after it ended, I had to look up what happened to Jackie Stallone, hoping she was still doing high knees somewhere. However, I wish I hadn’t. It looks like old Jacks filled up too much of her
later years with bad plastic surgery and a role on “Celebrity Big Brother.” RIP to the image of that goddess in the peach sweat suit I briefly knew and loved. Day Two: Sweat and Shout I have a confession to make: I took a three-day break between the first workout and this one. My workload was insane, and my sleep levels were subpar, so exercise fell to the wayside, per usual. But after things settled down, I settled back into Simmons. This second tape starts with a much more flamboyant Simmons backed up by a gospel choir singing, “Shout!” Before I could gain my composure, the dancing starts. Already, this tape is 100 percent more intense than anything the Silver Foxes could keep up with. The new cast of supporting dancers is brightly clad but definitely secondary characters to Simmons’s fabulousness. I’m not sure if it’s a year difference (I couldn’t actually find the year this video was made) or the absence of septuagenarians, but Simmons definitely expressed his famous personality in this video more than the last. After some research, I learned that Simmons has never actually confirmed his sexuality, squashing my uninformed belief that he was some sort of gay icon. Again, I kept messing up the quick movement changes while the backup dancers kept up perfectly, which led me to question how many times they had to practice this one-hour routine without cameras. What if someone in the back messes up? Do they have to film the whole thing over again? This tape has literally no breaks, Simmons powers through one hour of intense dancing without slowing down at all. This tape is also significantly more difficult than the Silver Foxes — I’m sorry I doubted you, Richard. The oldies soundtrack naturally made me want to dance, and I’m sure I could have reached euphoria if I weren’t concentrating so hard on keeping up with the moves. Like the Silver Foxes video, there were some weird humping maneuvers, this time done with less stable eye contact with the camera and more vivacity, echoing the younger cast of the background dancers. Other moves had names like “sweating ponies” and “sham shammies.” Your guess to what those are as good as anyone’s. The video’s name did not lie. I did sweat, but I did not shout because my roommates were home and would have been concerned if I had. However, I was very out of breath by the time the cool down period started. Doing weird stretches with my arms while the gospel choir sang (they came back just for the end) was oddly satisfying, and I felt a spiritual connection to the higher being which is
Richard Simmons. My potential soreness the next day was left to be determined. Day Three: Disco Sweat— How to lose 15 pounds in two weeks When I stepped out of bed this morning, there was an unmistakable soreness in my quads from my sweating and not-shouting the day before. Now with a definite sign that these workouts actually do something, I culminated my three-day experiment with what sounded like the hardest Simmons workout YouTube has to offer — one that guaranteed I would lose 15 pounds in two weeks, though never actually specified how often these workouts had to be to accomplish this. Once a day? Twice a day? I’m unsure. This time, instead of being a recluse in my bedroom vigorously dancing alone, I set up the HDMI cord in the living room and did the workout with my roommate, an actual dancer. Though the tapes were fun alone, they were definitely more exhilarating in a group setting; I was no longer afraid to sing along to the music or “whoop” when Simmons did. This was the most difficult of the Simmons videos, and my keeping up with it was more than debatable. We made it a little more than halfway through the video, slightly after the dance routine to “I Will Survive,” when my roommate had an epiphany: “I HAVE to show you this workout video I used to do with my mom in our living room.” And with that, Richard was hijacked and replaced with Billy Blanks’s TaeBo workout. Richard, I’m so, so sorry. But if your videos intentionally had a twinge of humor, TaeBo was unintentionally the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. The background music, clearly made for this specific workout, made me feel like I was in a video game. And though I’m sure I would have gotten a fantastic cardio workout with the mix of martial arts and aerobics, I genuinely could not stop laughing when Blanks would yell, “DOUBLE TIME,” and the room would go inexplicitly dark and the movements were twice as fast, looking like a fever dream. We only made it about halfway through TaeBo when we both called it quits, and I left with an unmistakable guilt toward the spirit of Richard Simmons. While I can’t say if I’d voluntarily elect to do Simmons dance tapes on a regular basis again, I understand why people do. They’re fun, positive and make you feel good about yourself. While I’m not sure if you’d actually lose 15 pounds in two weeks, you probably could over a greater length of time, because holy smokes, if you put all your energy in it you can sweat bullets doing these. I’m glad I did my little experiment, but I think I’ll stick to hot yoga after all.
entire days, they returned with text messages from their male friends: “Lol a blind date? That’s so weird.” “#tbt to the 19th century.” “How would I know she’s not a monster or a serial killer?” All these messages came before even seeing my photo or learning any personal details. Though I expected real-life match-making to occur much more organically than any app encounter, the guys in real life seemed to make the situation far more awkward (and frus-
trating) than any initial message on Tinder or Match.com. They may often be labeled as for the “desperate” or the “thirsty,” but apps have become more popular for dating, regardless of how stigmatized. In real life, initial face-toface conversations with crushes are (and always have been) clunky and terse. Perhaps the issue with “the millennial generation” is not that we’re “flighting from conversation,” but that we’ve reconstructed methods of communication to make us feel more comfortable
– and in turn, make us more approachable. In real life, there’s no way 35 “matches” could (or want) to pine after me. Online, it’s easy to feel wanted — lusted after in the moment. However, the fallacy of reality is that the initial desire often dissipates when online chemistry doesn’t translate outside of cyberspace. Ultimately, the goal of any relationship is to build a connection. Does it matter whether that’s done through a mutual friend or through an online venue?
RICHARD SIMMONS From Page 1B
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW “I just got here and I think I’m losing signal already.... sorry,” says a sepia-toned Adele, windswept upon her arrival to an old, B+ abandoned house at Hello the end of Adele a secluded country drive. And so we enter with her the microcosm of a tender, long-hidden memory in the balladeer’s latest video for “Hello.” This abandoned house is a time capsule where we relive with Adele the narrative of a love long lost. Much of the video is filmed from the first-person: her old boyfriend speaks
directly to the camera, and we see Adele’s hands reaching out to him as if they’re the viewer’s own. When her ex isn’t talking to us, Adele stands next to a rusting, ivy-wrapped, vintage London telephone booth in a sun sprinkled forest clearing pouring her heart out, a perfect millennial queen. Though the narrative force behind the video isn’t incredibly novel, I call Adele a millennial queen for a reason. The video is heartbreaking but soothing to watch at the same time, managing to assuage several anxieties of the millennial generation. The entire thing is saturated in nostalgia: the whole video is filmed in sepia, Adele is
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visiting an old abandoned house, and although there are phones in the video, not one of them is a Smartphone. Instead both Adele and her former lover use flip phones — an elegy to the 2000s — or corded phones in the mysteriously placed phone booth or inside the house. Not only is she letting viewers enter a vintage fantasy; she’s also overcoming other social problems prominent in contemporary popular media. Adele looks absolutely stunning without conforming to the standard body type of the female celebrity, and her ex is Black while it’s unfortunate that a biracial couple in a
mainstream music video is worth noting, like everything else in the video it definitely seemed purposeful. All in one video, Adele manages to answer the millennial obsession with nostalgia, overcomes unjust expectations on women’s bodies, and takes a step toward racial equality. Though the video doesn’t necessarily push artistic boundaries, that’s not really what Adele is about. She’s about the vintage, she’s about the nostalgia, and she’s about being a champion of capturing our emotions. All this she does in the video of her latest single, “Hello.” - REGAN DETWILER
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
HEALTH AND FITNESS COLUMN
Running the risk of too much exercise
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ast week, The Wall Street Journal published an article with the headline “The Potential Cardiac Dangers of Extreme Exercise,” which stopped the hearts of every athlete reading the page. The HAILEY article MIDDLEBROOK describes findings from a British study presented to the European Society of Cardiology last August, which tested 169 veteran competitive endurance athletes against a control group of 171 relatively sedentary adults, both free from cardiovascular risk factors, to highlight how exercise benefits (or harms) our hearts. Indeed, their results supported our “Let’s Move!” mentality: Compared to sedentary adults, committed athletes who ran a maximum of 35 miles a week had lower levels of coronary artery calcium — the plaque that blocks arteries — and were less likely to suffer from heart attacks and strokes. But when athletes ran over 35 miles per week, something weird happened. “Athletes who ran or cycled beyond that threshold were found to harbor higher levels of coronary artery calcium than did the control group,” the article said. Basically, a dedicated runner who logged 50 miles a week had the same — or worse — heart health than a couch potato. Not so fast. There was another factor tested in the study: the intensity of exercise. Results found that the slowest men and women had significantly lower levels of plaque than the sedentary group, which is consistent with the American Heart Association’s statement: “Walking briskly can lower your risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes as much as running.” Subjects who regular-
ly walked or jogged had healthier hearts than those who didn’t. Athletes who trained at higher intensities, however, had more ominous results. As women’s training speed increased, their plaque levels rose; still, they remained healthier than the sedentary group. But the men who exercised the most at the highest intensities — think marathon studs like 2014 Boston Marathon Champion Meb Keflezighi — lit up with red flags. Their levels of plaque, results showed, were significantly higher than sedentary men. Why? Doctors cite “inflammation, changes in the structure of the heart or an excess secretion of certain proteins or hormones,” as potential causes. The findings are unsettling, especially as a committed distance runner with a family history of heart problems. It makes me question my own father’s cardiac incident, almost 30 years ago. A former varsity cross country runner at Albion College, my father had a sudden heart attack at 26 years old. He was young and physically fit, fresh out of law school, filling up his gas tank when it happened. He drove himself to the closest hospital, hand clamped to his chest — he said the pain was excruciating, but he’d run enough painful races to not be too alarmed. His doctors blamed genetics and diet: his mother had cardiovascular problems; he’d eaten too many Big Macs. It was the early ’90s, the era of Jane Fonda fitness tapes and jogging, athletes buoyed by the running boom of the ’70s. Getting too much exercise was never a concern. Should they have worried then? Maybe now, instead of warning against over-exercising, researchers should consider: What makes endurance athletes go the distances they do, if not for health reasons? School of Nursing Junior Alex Fauer, President of the U-M Triathlon Club, has completed the holy grail of endurance competitions — an Ironman Triathlon, which begins with a 2.4-mile
swim, a 112-mile bike and finishes with 26.2-mile run (i.e. marathon). The races typically start at 7 a.m. and pack up at midnight, leaving participants 17 hours to finish 140.6 miles. It’s one of the longest, most grueling physical tests on the planet — one that even seasoned marathoners are wary of, for its brutal toll on the body. I asked Fauer his opinion on potential health risks of too much exercise. “The risk of fatigue from overtraining and overuse injuries are already on athletes’ radars. So where do we go from this?” Fauer said. “Are these athletes safe? I think before athletes are scared and stop training, they should consider their current health and talk with physicians about monitoring the possibility of illness.” He continued, “Personally, I think if an athlete has a passion for long distance training, he should embark on whatever journey that he feels he can achieve. I used this philosophy to motivate my training for my first Ironman last August.” What the study doesn’t show: the cost of restricting passion. On principle, I ignore people who tell me what I love is unhealthy. In the words of Jonathan Beverly, editor in chief of Running Times Magazine, “Whether or not running extends your life is irrelevant. We run not because it might make life longer, but because it makes life better — because we love how it makes us feel. And because we love it, we do it as much as our bodies allow. Forget moderation.” Do I think running a steady 50 miles per week makes me healthier than someone who jogs an easy 20? No. Am I a better person because I run? Yes, absolutely. I feel more alive, accomplished, sound in my mind and body when I go far and fast. And if something must take a toll on my health, I want my vice to be miles. Middlebrook is a better person than you. To find how you’re trash, email hailharp@umich.edu.
EVENT PREVIEW
RC faculty to read original work at EQ By NATALIE ZAK For The Daily
“Those who cannot do, teach.” Whoever is guilty of construing this inaccurate condescension evidently Friday never encountered Night’s a faculty Alright for member of the Reading University’s Residential Nov. 13 at College. 5:30 p.m. The talent Benzinger and experience offered by Library, East members of Quad the Residential Free Admission College faculty often goes unnoticed by the large student body that rests outside of its doors. Authors, poets and artists all lie within the college, and to small classes of lucky students, they impart their talent and wisdom. Among these maestros of art are author Robert James Russell, author and poet Laura Kasischke and Ken Mikolowski, a poet and retired professor of 38 years — all of whom will be performing in the RC’s second annual “Friday Night’s Alright for Reading” this Friday. Offering selections from their past and present work, these writers and other members of the star-studded faculty will perform their award-winning poems and short stories. Russell and faculty member Laura Thomas devised the event last winter during Russell’s first year working at the University
to display the talent and dedication overflowing from the RC. Russell, author of two novellas and a collection of short stories, is an avid traveler who addresses multifarious places and ideas. From settings of eerie Japanese forests to the 19th century West, Russell’s repertoire reflects his craftful ability to explore subjects he is not directly familiar with, but can construct nonetheless. “I like relationships; I like space; I like landscape and I really like writing about how those things intersect; how our relationships are formed based on the space around us, how it informs who we are … how every place has its unique stories and mythologies to tell and how that makes us who we are based on where we grew up.”
The talent and experience of RC faculty often goes unnoticed. Poetry for Kasischke, on the other hand, reflects her personal experiences. Though she incorporates tales of treachery, mystery and murder into her novels, Kasischke focuses on roots of a more intimate nature in her poetry. Gifted with the ability to
write both fiction and poetry, she elaborated on the inverse processes for writing both. “I write poetry and I write fiction and it’s two totally different processes. When I write fiction, it’s pretty much discipline … When I write poetry, it’s because I’ve had an idea for a while and finally found time to just be alone. I can work on a novel for about a half hour and then put it away; it could take years but I can handle that. With a poem, nothing is going to interrupt it or I’m not even going to try.” However, after 38 years at the University and a lifetime of writing poetry, Mikolowski has the most experience to impart on young aspiring poets. Though he kept his writing and teaching separate during his time at the University, his abstract process for finding ideas and meditating on them before expressing them is reflected in his previous student Kasischke’s process. “I walk around and I try to not ignore things. I try to pay attention. When something speaks to me, I listen. When something sounds right, I listen, and I go home and write it down. I try to convey thoughts about my own life and my own impending death. Everybody hates talking about that, but that’s what I try to connect in my poetry, and I find them pretty funny.” A witness and partaker in the artistic revolution that occurred in Detroit in the ’60s and ’70s, Mikolowski is aligned with contemporary
BABY FOOD From Page 1B Joan Didion once said, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” I believe that, I repeat it to myself often and I even reduced the quote to an alternative version that I find applicable to my shortcomings — “Caro tells herself lies in order to make up for her missteps.” Last Monday, I did just that as I promised myself I’d embark on a weeklong diet: the baby food diet. Inspired by Rebecca Harrington, New York Magazine’s designated celebrity dieter, and drawn to the possibility of having something in common with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston — two unconfirmed advocates and survivors of the unbranded program — I decided to give the baby food diet a whirl. After perusing Harrington’s canon of past experiments, I struggled to find one that struck a balance between downright obscure — I was particularly horrified by Elizabeth Taylor’s peanut butter and steak diet — and seemingly doable. So, I retreated to the never-ending remainder of the worldwide web and somehow came across the most bizarre plan of them all. Admittedly, I’ve replaced baby food for applesauce in countless recipes and have shamelessly licked the lid of the pull-top containers to sample it untainted by additional flavors. Prior to this attempted diet, I genuinely found the fruity flavors to exceed expectations, but steered clear of the vegetable varieties. According to celebrity diet blogs, the unorthodox regimen allots those absurd enough to attempt adhering to the plan (me) a maximum of 14 containers of baby food interspersed throughout the day with one normal, ideally well-balanced meal. I knew it’d be a challenge, but I told myself I could do it! Preparation: Monday Mid-Monday afternoon, I realized the essentiality of prep for this thing. Seeing as my barren cupboards house only teabags and Keurig cups, I needed to rush-order a week’s supply of baby food. I opted for three bulk variety packs promising an assortment of fruit and vegetable purees. I chose next-day delivery (spoiler alert: packages didn’t arrive the next day). That night, I was fraught with anxiety over the application of this extreme regimen. I couldn’t rationalize why I’d ordered baby food earlier that day. Sure, babies for the most part inhabit ideal lifestyles — their cuteness is constantly validated and their to-do list only seldom extends performing basic bodily functions and cooing — but did I really want to eat like them? Tuesday Upon waking up, I tracked my package of infant staples. According to Amazon, it wasn’t scheduled to arrive until Wednesday. Excellent! I intended to devote the next two days to a slight-DIY baby food diet, meaning I’d physically shop for the food. Alas, both Walgreens AND Victor’s did
poets of that age including Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman and Alice Notley. As a reaction to the insurgencies and riots that occurred in the urban center, the Artist’s Workshop, a run down apartment space dedicated to presenting art from individuals around the city, and Mikolowski’s Alternative Press were formed.
“I taught them to want to write poetry.” Run out of their basement, Mikolowski and his wife Ann published contemporary poetry from artists around Detroit on a printing press run and kept by the couple. To this day, Mikolowski finds himself channeling the innovative spirit that existed in
Thursday, November 12, 2015 — 3B not have baby food in stock, so I surrendered to my adult-food cravings and ordered sushi. I later dubbed this Tuesday my “prep day,” essentially meaning my version of a nightcap was a copious amount of fro-yo. Wednesday As soon as my iPhone lit up with the automated text message my apartment building sends whenever a package arrives in your name, I was uncharacteristically excited to begin my dabble in dieting. Directly after my morning class, I headed to my building’s leasing office to pick up the dietary delivery. “It’s kind of heavy!” said the leasing office lady. “I wonder what it is!” I sheepishly exclaimed. I very well knew what it was, I just didn’t see “ingester of baby food” an accurate first impression to leave this woman with.
As soon as I ascended to the fourth floor, I tore the box open, but all I found was disappointment. Online, the extensive product description promised a variety of sweet potato, corn, pea, apple and banana flavors, yet these “variety packs” merely contained banana, apple and sweet potato flavors. Since the plan allotted me 14 containers a day, I immediately tried all three, only to find my taste aversion to the sweet potato puree. I was pretty opposite-of-stoked about this since it was approximately one-third of my food intake for the next week. However, the banana and apple flavors were unexpectedly delicious. After my two delicious and sole containers, I met up with a friend to study. I pretended to read, but actually watched said friend eat noodles as he scoffed at my mention of my new diet. For the remainder of the day, I was uncharacteristically un-hungry, likely due to the combination of conceptualizing a baby food-centric eating plan and my impending evening exam. Following the brutal exam, I limped home and simply passed out. Thursday Thursdays are my early class day with an 8 a.m. lab, but not even this rudeawakening hour could deter my commitment to the diet. After all, each container decorated with photos of smiling babies radiated positivity. Side note: after further examining the packaging, aside from the cherubic infants, the words “made with the help of our tiny taste testers” were printed. Really? Do babies even have taste buds? If so, was I stupid for not knowing this? (I Googled it, and yeah, they do). My breakfast consisted of three banana containers, but afterwards I made a mental note to chill with my banana
intake. I knew I’d really hate myself in two days when I’d be forced to consider ingesting a sweet potato. Post-lab hunger led me to my one “normal meal,” for that day, a monstrous breakfast burrito. For the following meals, I consumed my remaining 11 containers of baby food. I even had an adventurous moment and decided to resolve woes with the sweet potato. After heavily salting, it wasn’t half bad. I was proud for having a successful diet day, yet irked with my bedtime hunger. Friday After my morning class, two friends and I decided to brunch at Afternoon Delight. Unable to resist my acclaimed brunching spot, I decided to maximize the diet and stretch the concept of “baby food” for more nourishment and less selfhatred for subjecting myself to diet purgatory. I allowed myself a daily intake of mushy foods in tandem with baby food. I justified my oatmeal order by its identifiable mushiness. I ate a few containers of baby food later in the day, but Friday eventually resulted in a diet flop. (I came to The Michigan Daily’s Editor in Chief election night. I saw the pizza. I ate the pizza.) Saturday Successful Saturday! After two meals of baby food, I was feeling good (but hungry) and ready for a healthy finale. My parents were in town for the game and treated me to a dinner of French onion soup, seared tuna and seaweed salad at Weber’s hotel. The hotel was even hosting a bar mitzvah just begging to be crashed. Seeing as approximately half my food intake had probably knocked me down a few years, I felt juvenile and ready to jump up and down on the dance floor. I didn’t, solely out of mother’s disdain. Sunday Surrender Sunday! I fully realized my stupidity for attempting to swap two daily meals for baby food and vowed to focus on my health. Even on successful days, I was ravenously hungry. I silently praised Witherspoon and Aniston for their strong-willed dieting habits as I scraped a banana container. That night, I ate seaweed and sushi and felt alive for the first time in a while — from the food and the sweet freedom of releasing myself from the shackles and unsophisticated palate fare of baby food. Conclusion: Though I couldn’t withstand a week of ingesting baby food, by spotlighting my diet and questioning my food choices more than usual, I actually learned a fucking lot about myself! In most respects, babies do indeed appear to live the dream, but their food is only tasty in small doses and simply trash when overkilled. After alternating between mush and puree, I would only willingly return to the infant stage if I had both the sophisticated palate and mastication mechanisms I do now, paired with the cognitive abilities to appreciate it all. I’ll surely never be a diet-endorsing celebrity, but after removing myself from the day-to-day, I’m content with my brunching, Blank Slate visits and brother lunch dates.
reactionary Detroit by writing unconventional poetry. In his new collection “That That,” for instance, the longest poem is a mere three lines long. One common theme remains between these acclaimed writers: Michigan. Although it may not have been the driving influence for most of their works, and could even exist entirely separately of what they write, these writers have had the University as the backdrop to their lives for as long as they have been in Ann Arbor. Though Russell, Kasischke and Maslowski all admit the themes invoked into their writing were kept separate from their teaching, they are still inspired by the trial and errors their fledgling writers endure in class. Being exposed to the work of young hopefuls admittedly pushes Russell to strive to be a better writer, and Kasischke, who participates in free writes with her students, immerses herself in the experience. It was in this
classroom setting, in fact, that she began her first full-length novel. Perhaps Mikolowski presents the most curious intersection of teaching and writing. Rather than let the lines between his University and writing life overlap, he kept them distinctly separate, and never let his poetic success define what writing meant for his students. “I did not teach people how to write. How to write poetry is something I don’t even know, how do you write poetry? I taught them to want to write poetry.” To have acclaimed writers and poets as teachers is humanizing, especially in a community of liberal arts students all striving to one day be recognized for a creative work. Dreams do not appear presumptuous or implausible or even irrational when encouraged by individuals who were once in the same exact position of hoping, wishing and wanting as a young adult.
“Caro tells herself lies to make up for her missteps.”
4B — Thursday, November 12, 2015
the b-side
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Mac Demarco is our holy lord and savior Cigarette-smoking, long-haired youth love this Canadian By CARLY SNIDER Daily Arts Writer
I am standing. I am sweating. Surrounded by cigarettesmoking, long-haired youth, the crowd sloshes around me closer and closer. The opening acts, The Courtneys and Alex Calder, prompt appreciative head bobbing and shivers of excitement throughout the
audience. With each strum of the guitar or beat of the drum the crowd seems to inch forward, aiming for the closest possible point in space to the night’s main attraction — Mac DeMarco. As the lights finally dim and Mac makes his way onto the small stage, the energy of the crowd erupts. Hands, drinks and cheers are thrust into the air, unreservedly welcoming the goofy Canadian artist. He begins to play. I am standing, I am sweating and I am happy. *** Mac DeMarco’s sound is
jangly and unconventional and funny — just like his performance at The Crofoot in Pontiac, Mich. on Sunday night. Opening with “The Way You’d Love Her,” DeMarco had the crowd hooked from the first wavy vibration of his guitar. He touched on fan favorites like “Salad Days,” “Chamber of Reflection” and “Let Her Go” all while maintaining an off-thecuff performance style. True to form, DeMarco would scream, use funny voices and improvise with his band throughout the set. The band members found themselves in various states of
composition during the 17-song performance. Members of The Courtneys and Alex Calder backed DeMarco on different instruments; a few even flung themselves, per DeMarco’s nudging instruction, into the outstretched hands of the crowd to surf over the fans for an entire song. DeMarco also stepped out of his generally swirling realm of musicality, covering “Reelin’ In The Years” by Steely Dan and “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. The latter, which constituted the encore, spanned ten-plus minutes and consisted of absolute insanity. “Enter Sandman” in and of itself is intense — heavily bass and percussion driven instrumentation coated in angry vocals. By this point in the show DeMarco, some of his bandmates and many members of the crowd were shirtless, sweaty visions of the people they were pre-gig.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com DeMarco was drinking on stage and screaming to the music. A new crowd-surfing fan was popping up every minute or so. There was a quasi-mosh pit going strong and band members were eagerly playing off of each other. Fans may have initially been drawn in by DeMarco’s laidback jangle sound, but what really makes him a great artist is his sense of self. As proven on Sunday night, DeMarco knows exactly who he is and what his art means to himself and to others. On the surface level, his performance was relaxed and spontaneous and fun. But in looking a little closer, it is clear that DeMarco lives and breathes his profession, that his performances are an extension of himself rather than a meticulously calculated production. He was on fire. The peak of his inferno occurred when he threw himself into the audience and crowd surfed his
way to the edge of the crowd, climbed a support pole to the upper balcony and shuffled along the railing to meet the fans on the upper level. He then cheekily motioned to the mass below then jumped back into their waiting hands and hitched a ride to the stage. DeMarco and his band’s performance was one of the most authentic and welcoming shows I have ever experienced. He never made the audience feel inferior, like he was the almighty artist and we were the unworthy fans. He was a young person hanging out with his friends and making music — a sentiment most youth can relate to in some shape or form. He did not concern himself with his procured image as an artist or his perfection in performance. He was a real person. And from what I saw on Sunday night, Mac DeMarco is exactly the kind of person I look forward to seeing again in the future.