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Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Just not enough Despite a fourth-quarter comeback that gave Michigan its first lead of the game, the Wolverines lost to Florida State in the Orange Bowl. » Page 1B
ANN ARBOR
Local retailors express their concerns on business effects of new tobacco ordinance
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor speaks at the City Council meeting on Tuesday.
City Council proposes captioning on TVs in businesses, restaurants If passed, ordinance would provide funds for captioned programming in public spaces ISHI MORI
Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor residents who are hearing-impaired may soon be able to enjoy closed captioning in television sets in public areas. During their first meeting of the year, City Council discussed a new city ordinance mandating
that any television set compatible with closed captioning in “places of public accommodation” – such as businesses, schools, and restaurants – must activate the feature to accommodate those residents with hearing loss problems. Television sets unable to provide closed captioning are exempt from the requirement.
SPORTS
Michigan falls 32-33 in Orange Bowl game Wolverines’ fourthquarter effort not enough to defeat Seminoles JAKE LOURIM
Daily Sports Writer
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — On a night when Jourdan Lewis became Michigan’s all-time record holder for career pass breakups, further cementing his status as one of the best cornerbacks in program history, the senior All-American lined up to make a play he makes all the time. He has haunted opposing receivers on those plays for most of his career. He gets his hands on the ball almost as often as they do, and opponents have simply stopped throwing at him. Entering Friday’s Orange Bowl, receivers had just 10 catches against him, while Lewis had eight pass breakups and two interceptions. With 42 seconds left in the game Friday, Lewis lined up in the slot against Florida State receiver Nyqwan Murray. On 3rd-and-9 from the Michigan 12-yard line — with the Wolverines up by a field goal — if Lewis could just break up one more pass, he could at least force overtime. But the Seminoles had one more highlight in them. “He snatched the ball out of the air,” Lewis said after the game. “I turned my head around a tad bit See ORANGE BOWL, Page 3
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The council did not vote on the ordinance this meeting. Councilmember Kirk Westphal (D-Ward 2) said because he is waiting for responses from members of the business community in an A2 Open City Hall survey, he is postponing the vote until the first meeting in February.
Westphal, who sponsored the ordinance, said similar measures in Portland, Oregon were implemented last December with only one compliant. Westphal reasoned the process in Ann Arbor should not be complicated to implement if similiar to Portland. Currently, only meetings of the See CITY COUNCIL, Page 3
Tobacco purchasing age raised from 18 to 21 leads to community disagreement JENNIFER MEER Daily Staff Reporter
As the minimum age to purchase tobacco products and e-cigarettes in Ann Arbor changes from 18 to 21 with the turn of the new year, the community reacts with mixed opinions. The resolution, introduced by Ann Arbor Councilmember Julie Grand (D–Ward 3), passed its initial read July 18, before being officially approved Aug. 4 by a City Council vote of 9-2. Ann Arbor is the first city in Michigan to implement the measure as part of the Tobacco 21 national movement. This proactive effort, led by the Preventing Tobacco Addiction
Foundation when aims to reduce smoking and tobaccorelated health problems. The Saint Joseph Mercy Health System in Canton, Michigan— working in collaboration with community members and local officials — funded signs for retailers to post in their stores with the new legal tobacco purchase age as well as the city press release explaining the measure. As of right now, there is no developed plan to educate local tobacco retailers. However, Grand said there may be further action if the ordinance poses complications. “If we feel like something else needs to be done, we’ll See TOBACCO, Page 2
New bill banning plastic bag regulation Ford plans supercedes county’s previous fee local plant BUSINESS
Lt. Gov. Brian Calley signs legislation preventing local shopping bag ordinances CARLY RYAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley signed a bill on last week banning local governments from regulating plastic shopping bags in the state. The legislation supersedes Washtenaw County’s fee on plastic bags, the first regulation of its kind in the state. Senate Bill 853 prohibits municipalities from banning or placing fees on “auxiliary containers,” which include plastic single-use bags and other disposable packaging. The bill will go into effect on March 6. The 10-cent fee adopted by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners in June was scheduled to take effect this April. The Republican-sponsored bill passed on almost completely partisan lines in both houses of state legislature, 62-46 in the House of Representatives and 25-12 in the Senate. State Rep. Adam Zemke (D– Ann Arbor) criticized the bill for attacking local governments’ autonomy. “This is largely a local issue and I thought it was a really big infringement on what the local government had decided for itself,” Zemke said. “The state already has a really nasty precedent set of limiting local control. It’s overreach.” Supporters of the bill argue that the implementation of “patchwork legislation”
hinders the ability of national businesses to adhere to all county regulations and adds unnecessary complexities and costs. Robert O’Meara, the Michigan Restaurant Association’s vice president of government affairs, said in a statement business will be hindered with “patchwork legislation” in place, and supported the bill as it
reduced restrictions for chain restaurants. “With many of our members owning and operating locations across the state, preventing a patchwork approach of additional regulations is imperative to avoid added complexities as it related to dayto-day business operations,” O’Meara said. State Sen. Jim Stamas (R–Midland) also called
for consistency in business regulations when he introduced the bill in April, according to MLive. “This simply provides that you’re not putting different regulations across the state on the containers,” he said. Zemke pushed back against claims of inconsistency. “You’re talking about one community that charges for a See PLASTIC BAG, Page 3
A C T I N G A G A I N S T B U L LY I N G
MAX KUANG/Daily
Estabrook Learning Community students Christian Benitez-Reyes and Shanese Saines perform in PUNCH: A Bully Play at the Walgreen Drama Center on December 9th, 2016.
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Vol. CXXVII, No. 1 ©2016 The Michigan Daily
investment of $700M
CEO Mark Fields also announced cancellation of planned Mexico facility LYDIA MURRAY Daily News Editor
Ford CEO Mark Fields announced plans to invest $700 million into Michigan while cancelling a $1.6 billion plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico in a press conference Tuesday morning. According to Fields, the new Michigan investment will involve a transformation of a facility in Flat Rock into a new manufacturing and innovation center, which will in turn create 700 jobs. “We are today announcing that we are investing $700 million to transform Flat Rock into a new manufacturing and innovation center,” Fields said. Ford does still plan to build the next generation of its Focus in Hermosillo, Mexico in order to maintain profitability. The announcement also included information about a new initiative towards electric vehicles. Fields said Ford will launch 13 new hybrid and electric vehicles including the F-150 and Mustang, some of the company’s best selling vehicles, over the next five years as part of a $4.5 billion investment. See FORD, Page 3
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS...............6
SUDOKU.....................2 ARTS...................5 SPORTS....................7
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ON THE DAILY: ‘U’ PROF AUTOPSIES FIVE-YEAR-OLD MUMMY An unnamed University of Michigan anthropologist examined the five-year-old mummified remains of an unidentified body Tuesday evening. The body, found in a garage behind a Detroit house, was in the backseat of a ’90s Plymouth Acclaim, the Detroit Free Press reported. The skeleton was decayed to the point it became necessary for a specialist was asked to perform the autopsy. Authorities said the remains consisted of brown, leathery bones fully clothed in pants, a shirt and a sweater. “They don’t know the sex or approximate age, so that’s why they need an anthropologist,” said Lloyd Jackson, Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office spokesman, in a statement Monday. A prospective buyer of the residential property found the body
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when he looked in the detached found mummified in his home in Neither the University nor the garage behind the house. The 2016, and a repairman in Pontiac Wayne County Medical Examiner’s current tenants of the house told discovered a mummy of a 44-year- Office were available to comment police of the property owner’s ban old woman when he was hired to on the autopsy findings at the time on using the garage and insisted repair her foreclosed home in 2014. of publication. they never went into it. A spokesman for the Detroit Police Department told the Detroit Free Press the remains had likely been there for “quite some time” and the body has been inspected, though no specific information can yet be determined about the cause of death or identity of the person. The discovery emerges after two recent similar cases in Michigan. According to the Free Press, a 78-year old AMANDA ALLEN/Daily Hazel Park resident was DNCE performs during half time at the Orange Bowl on December 30, 2016.
Ima make this PSA for all you media outlets stop lying saying people on our team have talked about Pepp leaving. That’s his decision!!!!
CAKE BY THE OCE AN
Kellie @KingKelliee When @UMich calls me in a few years asking for donations I’m saying remember when you gave me a week long Christmas break *click*
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Avant Garden: Weaving Fashion and Nature Together
kc baby @kcchanel_
Comedy Jamm
Undergraduate Concerto Final Competition
Ann Arbor Scrabble Club
WHAT: The winner of this annual competition will feature their winning piece in a performance with one of the school’s orchestras. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 4 p.m. WHERE: Hill Auditorium
WHAT: Word lovers of all abilities invited to drop in to join in on board game competition, using an updated word list. Players are welcome to bring their own sets. WHO: Ann Arbor Scrabble Club WHEN: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. WHERE: Ann Arbor Brewing Company, 114 E. Washington St.
WHAT: 12 local aspiring stand-up comics will take part in the comedy club’s weekly performance showcase. Tickets are $5 at the door. WHO: Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase WHEN: 8 p.m. WHERE: 212 S. 4th Street
Algebraic Geometry workshop
MSwing Open Swing Class
Study Abroad First Step Session
cece @CeeWorlds
WHAT: Harvard math Prof. Akhil Mathew will provide a framework for polynomial factor operations. WHO: Department of Mathematics WHEN: 4:10 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: East Hall, Room 4096
WHAT: Learn to swing dance in a casual and fun environment. No experience is necessary. WHO: Student Organizations: MSwing WHEN: 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Henderson Room
WHAT: Take your first step toward a study abroad experience with this mandatory information session on scholarships, programs and financial aid. WHO: Center for Global and Intercultural Study WHEN: 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Angel Hall, Room G155
Developing Personal Leadership WHAT: Participants will define, and strengthen their personal leadership style. Attendees must register online. WHO: Learning and Professional Development WHEN: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. WHERE: Administrative Services Building, LPD
Michigan football and academics has taught me to chill tf out when you think you have a magical chance to succeed.
WHAT: This display shows how plants and nature are weaved into textile for dresses and design. WHO: Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum WHEN: 10 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. WHERE: Matthaei Botanical Gardens
Former State Senator Gretchen Whitmer files to run for governor
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The previous Democratic minority leader is the first to enter 2018 race MAYA GOLDMAN Daily Staff Reporter
Gretchen Whitmer, former Democratic minority leader
“I remember when Michigan was bold. When we didn’t just face challenges — we beat them” in the Michigan state senate and lecturer at the Ford School of Public Policy, announced Tuesday that she has officially filed the paperwork to run for governor of Michigan in 2018.
Although a formal announcement has not yet been made — it is expected later this month — Whitmer published a statement on Medium and sent an email to her supporters regarding her intent to run. “I remember when Michigan was bold,” Whitmer wrote in her email. “When we didn’t just face challenges — we beat them.” Whitmer also discussed her desire to foster business growth, fight for children and families, and create “opportunities … to enjoy our land and drink pure, clean water.” In the email, she also stressed the importance of actively working toward solutions to the issues the state faces. Her rhetoric follows themes seen in the 2016 presidential election where President-elect Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) focused on messages
of change within the political system. “For too long, our leaders have been content to manage our decline. We went from leading the nation to lagging,” Whitmer wrote. “We can do better. We deserve better.” Filing the paperwork is the first step in Whitmer’s process to run, and with it she is now able to begin accepting financial contributions to her campaign. Whitmer, who served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2000 to 2006 and the Michigan Senate from 2006 to 2015, most recently served as the Ingham County prosecutor. Her term expired on Dec. 31, 2016. She is the first person to put their name in the 2018 gubernatorial race. LSA junior Collin Kelly, the chair of College Democrats chapter at the University of
Issa Rae is the first bicentennial blessing.
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Michigan, said while it is still the beginning stages of the race, he is optimistic about her strengths. “It’s still super early; we don’t know who else is going to run,” Kelly said. “But we know she’s a strong candidate who can rally the party … We’re proud of all the work she’s done (in her past positions).”
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ORANGE BOWL From Page 1 late, and they made a great throw and catch. It was great execution. I just wish I turned my head around.” Murray caught the gamewinning 12-yard touchdown pass from Deondre Francois to end Michigan’s season with yet
“Just knowing you could help someway, somehow, and just watching, that sucks even more” another classic, as Florida State pulled out a 33-32 victory. In a year with so much promise, the Wolverines will finish with the same 10-3 record they had in 2015. In the end, that was the story of the Orange Bowl — the Seminoles made more plays than Michigan did, in part because the Wolverines’ best playmaker never took the field. In Thursday’s practice, do-everything redshirt sophomore Jabrill Peppers jumped for a ball and felt his hamstring pull. A hour before kickoff Friday, Peppers came out of the tunnel and began warming up, trying to reach a point where he could play. “They wrapped it, icy hot, pain relievers, you name it,” he said. He couldn’t run or cut without feeling a sharp sensation. The Heisman Trophy finalist missed
PLASTIC BAG From Page 1 bag,” he said. “I don’t see how the restaurant association could argue that restaurants in Washtenaw would go through a much larger hurdle in doing business. It’s way overstated.” State Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D– Ann Arbor) said the Michigan Restaurant Association’s argument was not relevant to the bill, especially considering Washtenaw County’s proposed fee applied only to grocery stores. “I think that if (the Michigan Restaurant Association)
TOBACCO From Page 1 certainly watch it carefully,” she said. “If there are a whole bunch of questions or if we just feel like retailers are not getting the message, we’ll look to see if we need to do anything else.” Grand said one cited advantage of the policy is that under the new regulation the tobacco purchase age is now the same as the alcohol purchase age. She said she hopes this regulation will simplify business for retailers. In support of the ordinance, Grand also pointed to highschool-age students, explaining that it is common for people 15 to 17 years old to experiment with tobacco, and that most people in this age range acquire their tobacco products from 18- to 20-year-olds. In this regard, she said the ordinance’s benefits are twofold. “You help curtail initiation by cutting off that very important social source of tobacco products, which typically is an 18-year-old that still goes to school or is in some sort of social network of a 15- to 17-year-old,” she said. Additionally, the measure could stop 18- to 20-year-olds who are transitioning from experimental to regular tobacco users by making it more difficult for them to purchase products and become addicted. Specifically in a college town, with many residents in the 18-to20 age range, Grand said the
his second straight bowl game with an injury. “Just knowing you could help someway, somehow, and just watching, that sucks even more,” an emotional Peppers said after the game. “You could help the seniors go out the way they deserve to go out.” Meanwhile, Florida State unleashed its full arsenal of weapons. With the Wolverines within five points early in the fourth quarter, All-American running back Dalvin Cook scampered 71 yards to set up what appeared to be a game-clinching touchdown. After Michigan made a dramatic comeback to take the lead with 1:57 to go, the Seminoles’ Keith Gavin returned the ensuing kickoff 66 yards, and Cook hurried into the red zone again, setting up the true gamewinning touchdown. Then, of course, came Murray’s grab. Michigan blocked the extra point, and freshman safety Josh Metellus returned it for two points, cutting the deficit to 33-32 with just 36 seconds left. But Michigan’s magic ran out, as redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight was intercepted on 4th-and-10 with 16 seconds to go. After the Wolverines spent most of the game digging themselves into a hole, Speight and the offense dug out of it in a matter of minutes. They caught a break with 7:58 to go when a short punt and a targeting penalty gave them the ball at Florida State’s 37-yard line. Michigan scored twice in the next six minutes, once on an eight-yard pass from Speight to redshirt junior fullback Khalid Hill, and then on a 30-yard rush by freshman running back Chris Evans. Those two drives represented almost half of the Wolverines’ total yards, and Evans’ run comprised a third of their rushing total. Suddenly, Michigan had the lead. But Florida State’s touchdown was the final blow, dealing
actually meant that they wanted more consistency they
“Michigan’s approach will have a negative environmental impact” would be pushing for a way to address this statewide,” he said. “They just pushed for local units to do it locally. They’re making convenient arguments.”
the Wolverines another heartbreaking defeat. Their three losses this season came by a total of five points, and they led in the final minute of all of them. “Sometimes the other team executes a little bit more than other teams,” Lewis said. “That’s what it really was. We didn’t perform as well as we should have, but I’m glad the way that everybody fought, and I’m extremely proud of it.” In Peppers, Michigan missed its strong-side linebacker, return man and wildcat quarterback, and his absence showed in all three phases. Then, in the second quarter, the Wolverines suffered perhaps their most crushing blow of the game when senior tight end Jake Butt went down holding his right knee and wincing. He walked off to the locker room under his own power with a towel covering his face and did not return. Michigan missed him, too, particularly on third downs and in the red zone. Florida State, on the other hand, received dazzling
“We didn’t perform as well as we should have”
performances from its key contributors. Francois threw for 222 yards and a 92-yard touchdown. Defensive end DeMarcus Walker made four tackles for loss and a sack. And Cook finished with 20 carries for 145 yards, setting up three of the Seminoles’ four touchdown drives with long runs. “If we would have stopped maybe those three, four, five big plays,” said Michigan fifthyear senior defensive end Chris Wormley, “it would have been a little different.”
Across the nation, states such as Hawaii and California implemented statewide bans on plastic bags in response to environmental concerns. Large cities including Austin, Seattle and Chicago also have similar restrictions in place. Zemke cited these examples to emphasize the local fee was put in place to decrease the prevalence of plastic in landfills. “Michigan’s approach will have a negative environmental impact,” he said. With the new bill, Michigan joins states such as Idaho, Arizona and Florida in banning plastic bag restrictions in an effort to defend businesses.
ordinance may be particularly helpful. Though she recognized that someone who is truly addicted can acquire tobacco through other means, she said she hopes the ordinance will be able to positively influence students. Though University of Michigan buildings have been designated smoke-free since 2011, there is still uncertainty as to whether the policy is effective. Resources such as the Tobacco Consultation Service and Wolverine Wellness offer treatment and counseling opportunities for students. Additionally, Grand said the ordinance specifically does not punish 18- to 20-year-olds who use tobacco, it just prevents them from purchasing it. “We removed any penalties for youth possession, because it is never the intent to penalize use for either normal experimentation or addiction to tobacco products,” she said. “The penalties are on the retailer and even then we allow a lot of discretion with the new ordinance so that we can leave time for education.” Retailers’ Opposition From a different perspective, local retailers are not happy with the ordinance, as it will directly hurt business. Chris Rosenthal, owner of Tobacco Rose Cigars, spoke against the ordinance at the Aug. 4 meeting, and to the Daily shortly thereafter. In a recent interview with Rosenthal, he said the ordinance will undoubtedly hurt business because it knocks out three years of potential legal purchasing of
tobacco. However, he said, the biggest problem was how the act was conceived. When the resolution was presented to the council, Rosenthal said Grand emphasized
“You help curtail initiation by cutting off that very important social source of tobacco products”
the importance of eliminating the early run-ins with the law by people who are 18 to 20 years old, but did so only by preventing retailers from selling it to them “It’s not illegal for them to attempt to purchase it, and it’s not illegal for them to use it,” he said. “All she really did in her attempt to keep the younger generation out of early legal trouble is force business straight out of town.” Rosenthal added that there are nearby towns like Ypsilanti where people can easily go to get tobacco. People can make big lifetime decisions at 18, such as whether to join the military, get married, sign contracts and take out student loans, Rosenthal argued and it
Wednesday, January 4, 2017 — 3
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight threw and interception with 16 seconds left on the clock.
CITY COUNCIL From Page 1 Commission on Disability Issues are close captioned, according to Westphal. Mayor Christopher Taylor (D) further clarified the ordinance does not require businesses to fund closed captioning, but rather that it utilizes city funds for closed captioning of city events. “We have of course here the very important and critical commitment internally to find closed captioning city events,” Taylor said. “(But) we are not by this ordinance requiring
FORD From Page 1 Fields also announced a new electric SUV with a 300 mile range and two new electric police vehicles within the next five years. “The era of the electric vehicle is dawning and we at Ford plan to be a leader,” Fields said. Keeping manufacturing in the United States was a key component of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign. In November, Trump announced a deal he forged so a Carrier plant would remain in the country. During the press conference, Fields stated the support from Trump and Congress is in part what has allowed this major announcement. “We are also encouraged by the pro-growth policies that President-elect Trump and the
should be the same with choosing whether to purchase and use tobacco products. City Council Opposition The resolution’s two opponents, Jack Eaton (D–Ward 4) and Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2), voted against the ordinance because it violates state law. The Michigan Tobacco Products Tax Act states city municipalities shall not create new ordinances regarding the sale of tobacco products. In an interview with the Daily, Eaton said, though he agrees with the spirit of the measure, he could not vote for it as it goes against his duty as a council member to uphold state law. “I think it is pretty clear that state law preempts our efforts to regulate tobacco sales,” he said. “Although I would like to regulate tobacco in this fashion, I think it needs to be done by the state, or the state needs to let us make these decisions. We can’t simply decide to do this in contravention of state law.” According to Eaton, a vendor could challenge the ordinance in anticipation of being written up under the law, or if enforcement action should be taken by the city, a vendor could fight against it. Eaton added though he believes it is necessary to regulate tobacco for health reasons and educate people on its side effects, he does not feel this is the best way to address the problem. “I completely understand the desire to dissuade young people from smoking,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a criminal problem, I
that businesses fund closed captioning.” Although all councilmembers approved of the substance of the ordinance itself, some had questions about its actual implementation. Councilmember Jack Eaton (D-Ward 5) pointed out that not every city meeting can be close captioned because funds are limited. “What we’re really gonna run into is a budget constraint,” Eaton said. “We probably won’t have any difficulty close captioning council meetings... But thereafter we really have to identify which meetings are most important to close
caption.” Engineering graduate student Michael Benson, who spoke at the public hearing about the ordinance, expressed hope that this new initiative would set a standard of disability accommodation for not only the city but also the University of Michigan. “Hopefully once this goes through at the city level, the regents at the University will adopt a similar policy for events,” Benson said in an interview. “What the city does here doesn’t command the University to do anything, but hopefully it’ll set an example for them to do the same.”
new Congress have indicated that they will pursue,” he said. “We believe that these tax and regulatory reforms are critically important to boost U.S.
announcement and the progress made since 2009 when the Flat Rock facility was slated to be closed. “I’m a very, very happy and proud person,” he said. “I remember back in 2009 when this location was on the closing list.” Fields said he looks forward to working towards similar goals with the UAW. “I have to tell you, we are so proud to work together with the UAW to support good paying jobs and a profitable business,” he said. Fields concluded the press conference by expressing his company’s commitment to both the United States and work towards innovative vehicle technology. “Ford is a global automaker, but our home is here in the United States,” Fields said. “We could not be more excited about leading an electrification going forward.”
“The era of the electric vehicle is dawning”
competitiveness.” Following the announcement, Trump retweeted an article giving himself credit for Ford’s move to remain in the U.S. for Flat Rock’s innovations. United Auto Workers vice president Jimmy Settles spoke after Fields, saying he was incredibly pleased at the
think it’s a health problem. I’m not sure how you address it in a meaningful way. I do believe that the sponsors of this ordinance had the best of intentions, and I don’t take them to task for what they want to do.” In response to potential conflict, Grand said no one is sure what to expect, as the state government can be unpredictable. However, she said she hopes the state will recognize the advantages of the ordinance. “I would hope that they would recognize that this is really in the interest of public health and where tobacco prevention and control policy is going nationally, and let us try to have some local
“It reduces prevalence — the number of people who smoke. It’s not perfect, but it’s an effective public health policy”
control and work it out and see if it actually makes a difference,” she said. Grand pointed to the regulatory environment in California, which is very similar
to that in Michigan. Several municipalities there passed Tobacco 21 ordinances, before it became state law. Expert Response University facilities are excited about the ordinance, in hope that it will reduce tobacco use by college students and future health problems. Cliff Douglas, adjunct lecturer of public health and the American Cancer Society’s vice president for Tobacco Control, compared the situation to raising the tax on cigarettes in one state. He said though someone can easily go to another state to purchase, measures like these are still effective. “We find that, in fact, it reduces consumption,” he said. “It reduces prevalence — the number of people who smoke. It’s not perfect, but it’s an effective public health policy. Regarding the legal repercussions of the ordinance, Douglas, also an attorney, said it is very possible the ordinance does not defy state law. He said the language used in the state law is not clear and it does not limit a local municipality from adjusting the minimum age of tobacco purchases. “The reality is that legal experts have determined that there probably is not a preemptive effect from this law,” he said. “Opponents are welcome if they choose to challenge it in court, but first of all, it will be defended vigorously if they do that. Mayor (Christopher) Taylor and others have made that clear.”
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Wednesday, January 4, 2017
SARAH LEESON | COLUMN
Americana from the outside
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CHRIS CROWDER | COLUMN
A
2016’s forgotten tragedies
ll over our social passed away. There may be a media feeds, everyone lack of personal connection, is dubbing 2016 the but there should be equal acts worst year. But was it really? of empathy for those who have Frankly, I think the lost their lives in reasoning for why Aleppo, for example, it was the worst as well as individuals is hyperbolic. The like Fisher. statement is mainly As of right now, if tongue-in-cheek, an alien came to our citing the deaths of planet, they would famous celebrities probably observe such as Prince, that the masses David Bowie and deem celebrities Carrie Fisher as the as more important CHRIS reason why the year than others. There was so horrible. far more CROWDER are The reactions to the stories online deaths of some of our favorite and topics of discussion stars are relatively harmless, surrounding celebrity deaths but reveal something about and calamities than those of the country’s favoritism regular people. It’s just odd toward the famous and that tons of attention goes those immediately in our toward one person for a while consciousness. when there are many other At the end of December, groups of people that need Fisher, of “Star Wars” Princess support as well. Leia fame, passed away at the I own up that I haven’t age of 60 from a heart attack. shown equal amounts of The outpouring of support and concern and grief in these well-wishes has been extended situations, either. I text my to her family, co-stars and even girlfriend something sad her dog. There’s nothing wrong about Fisher because we both with this. It may seem trivial love “Star Wars,” but show no to some, but I couldn’t imagine sign of sadness or support for how I would feel if one of my those oppressed and in danger favorite entertainers passed overseas. Doing that made me away. What may seem strange question why others and I do or unimportant to some means this and what these actions something dear to another. Some say about our Western society. of these people had a personal Examples like these of relationship with Fisher, and favoritism and apathy toward it is appropriate to grieve others could be from a result immediately after her death. of lack of coverage, personal The problem lies within the connection or care toward discrepancy many have when the affected. It’s important grieving over loss of life. This that we continue to realize isn’t a critique of political that all lives matter (not in correctness, but rather an the way that opposes Black observation. 2016 was a year Lives Matter, but in a fashion of multiple tragedies across that doesn’t dismiss the the globe, which made it oppression of any group of incredibly saddening from people). I had friends point many standpoints. The year out this discrepancy in news can’t be deemed as bad solely coverage to me, citing how because beloved celebrities there was constant coverage
and changing of Facebook profile pictures when the terrorist attack happened at the Batalan Concert Hall in France, but not as many cameras or grieving statuses in response to violence in the Middle East. The United States as a government — and even its citizens — can be prone to show more care toward its allies and its own than those it isn’t closely connected to. We must not forget about the disadvantaged and endangered both on U.S. soil and abroad. We can show our support and share our grief for those people on social media, by volunteering, donating or reminding others of what is going on outside of our immediate worlds. Again, there’s nothing wrong with being sad over the death of our favorite celebrities, and while they may have touched our lives more than an average citizen thousands of miles away, every life is equally important and should be treated as such. It’s just that many lives aren’t given the same amount of limelight or recognition. We can still show our love for the beautiful lyricism of Bowie that we’ll never hear live again, the spunk of Fisher, and post memes of how Betty White and other elderly celebrities should be protected from death for the whole year. But at the same rate, the people of Flint who still don’t have clean water, the citizens of Aleppo who have seen their homes crumble, and tragedies that affect our friends and family should be recognized with at least the same amount of effort. Chris Crowder can be reached at ccrowd@umich.edu.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
“
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
It’s been the privilege of my life to serve as your President. I look forward to standing with you as a citizen. Happy New Year everybody.
”
— President Barack Obama tweeted a New Years Day greeting on January 1st.
T
his past year was a bizarre ride. The Cubs won the World Series, “killer” clowns allegedly roamed the land and the man who invented the Kinder Egg Surprise passed away, just to name a few. I could go on. For me, however, the strangest part of 2016 might have been getting by on my Franglish for 10 weeks to work in Tours, France, at an event management company. And, more specifically, the most surreal part had to be working at the Tours American Festival. Imagine Elvis impersonators and trucks, country music and Twinkies — everything that apparently spells American culture to a foreign nation. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I showed up at work on the first day, but it wasn’t really that. When I think of the United States, I think of a lot of things, but not necessarily swing dancing and rodeos. It was strange to walk through the booths and find small, eccentric elements of a larger picture of my home, like stumbling on a baffling puzzle that was partially put together with none of the missing pieces present. When these pieces came together, they didn’t make a map of the states, but rather an odd caricature of the old West with some of the aesthetics of the 1950s (which, now that I’ve written that sentence, I feel needs to be the basis of a horror film). The main upsides for me were that A) I got to enjoy some cupcakes there, which was great because they’re not the most common dessert to find in France, and B) my conspicuous American accent became an attractive oddity to the people I spoke with rather than a reason to walk away quickly. However, there was a strange discomfort in existing in that
space and seeing my own culture through another country’s lens. There was no context for anything that was on display, including the cringier parts of our history and cultural artifacts that had been included. There were women walking around in attire that recalled 1950s housewives, complete with aprons (hmm...), teepees next to parked covered wagons (yikes) and T-shirts with the Confederate flag on them (yikes again).
American culture in particular isn’t one that can solely be behind glass. Not for the first time, I considered the incredibly complex concept of cultural appropriation, or, to grossly oversimplify it, the use or adoption of one culture’s elements (fashion, slang, customs, etc.) by another culture. Was this that? Was American culture being appropriated? I couldn’t help but think that were this a Syrian Festival or a Chinese Fair put on by French natives in the way that this American festival was being produced, picking and choosing bits and pieces of their aesthetic and music and history to partake in, there might have been issues (to put it lightly). In this case though, I couldn’t see any kind of backlash coming from it, and perhaps rightly so. To be completely honest, I was slightly uncomfortable with the incongruous portrayal of America that I was seeing. It left out some of the best and the worst aspects of the country, from our weird school systems to our ability to make a club or
organization for almost anything to our worrisome race relations. However, I didn’t feel particularly upset with what I was experiencing. The fact of the matter, since it was the United States in question, is that American culture is already one of, if not the most, dominant cultures in the world. Our media is spread worldwide, and American tastes are often catered to or treated as the default. While there are plentiful issues with imposing American culture and ideals on a global scale, it’s already happened. It’s out there and if others want to respectfully play in the sandbox that is our culture, I would say, “Here’s a shovel — I’m making a sandcastle.” In short, while I would have liked to have been sure that the people around me understood the context and history of what they were engaging with, I really didn’t mind others participating in it. American culture in particular isn’t one that can solely be behind glass; at this point in globalization, it’s in its nature to be shared as others see fit. We can’t own what we’ve given away. That said, I do have some suggestions for the next American Festival. There needs to be a rule that everyone smile uncomfortably or give a nod of acknowledgement to everyone they pass — bonus points if you show teeth when you smile. When the vendors sell something, they have to ask how the customer is doing, even if they don’t care or don’t know them. Every kiosk needs a drivethru lane. All drinks need to have free refills and ice cubes. (Even coffee. It is law.) Including these small changes might add up to something closer to what America really looks like. That’s my America, at least. Sarah Leeson can be reached at sleeson@umich.edu.
ANU ROY-CHAUDHURY | COLUMN
E
A new kind of resolution
ight percent. That’s the and insular. They are about percentage of people improving our own lives and who actually achieve are derived from sayings like their New Year’s “New year, new me.” resolutions. Every With this type of year, millions thinking, New Year’s vow to change or resolutions take on a improve something sense of selfishness, in their lives for a selfishness we are the coming year. all prone to. And It’s a tradition that maybe, just maybe, endures even with that’s why they fail. its low success rate As the 8 percent and surrounding shows, these types of ANU skepticism. But, personal resolutions it makes sense. A ROY-CHAUDHURY aren’t typically new year is a new followed through start, a clean slate and a hopeful on, which means the packed beginning. It’s a new year that gym eventually dwindles has the potential to be better down to its normal crowd. So, than the year before, so we if resolutions are supposed make resolutions to ensure the to be about improving the potential. If you are one of the coming year, maybe we few who can stick with it, shouldn’t focus simply on even better. ourselves. Perhaps a new kind This year feels different. of resolution is needed. In hindsight, 2016 seems like A few years back, my high a terrible year. The past few school English teacher showed months have seen shocking our class Chimamanda Ngozi change after change around Adichie’s TED Talk “The the world: the enduring crises Danger of a Single Story.” This in the Middle East, fatal TED Talk eventually became shootings and violence in the one of the most watched of its United States and changing kind. Over break, I decided to political landscapes around re-watch it and was reminded the world. Simply, change has of just how powerful words are. been frequent and unnerving And just as most TED Talks in 2016. Social media has do, the speech made me really been filled with statuses, think. Originally given in 2009, tweets and, of course, memes its message of assumption commenting on just how and acceptance is one that, bad 2016 was and a seeming in light of recent events, felt readiness to enter 2017. Yet, more fitting than ever. Adichie, this type of commentary, who was born in Nigeria, talks which many have likely about her experience with seen on Twitter feeds and in stereotypes throughout her Instagram posts, is blaming life and how the single story 2016’s problems on 2016. But or stereotype is a mark and aren’t we actually to blame? perpetuation of a power which More often than not, New disregards so much. Year’s resolutions are based Adichie explains how more on our personal lives and important and prominent less on what’s going on in the storytelling is in our lives, world. This is most evident whether we realize it or not. in the popular resolution to We learn from talking to each exercise more, a resolution other, from hearing about that results in a massive gym different experiences, which rush in the weeks following ultimately add to our own. New Year’s. Resolutions A “single story,” however, always seem to be individual is detrimental. Instead of
creating human connections, a single story dissolves them. With the recent election and crises around the world, division seems more apparent than ever. On our own campus, our own microcosm of the world, we have felt the divisiveness. Posters, petitions and protests, along with a rise in hate crimes post-election, have formed from stereotyping those who don’t agree with us. It then creates a division that at its root comes from assumption, stereotyping and ultimately the “single story.” After watching the TED Talk last week, I got rid of my original and admittedly selfish resolution and instead decided on a new one: Work to prevent the single story and stray from accepting it. After all, stereotypes are almost like a heuristic — it’s a short cut and a defense mechanism for many. Yet, its dangers were exemplified by many events in 2016 and as Adichie so eloquently said, “When we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.” Talk about how horrible 2016 was is warranted. But blaming it on something as intangible as four numbers is not. It was a rough year, it was a divisive year, but if we make resolutions on improving ourselves for the next year, then why not gear them toward improving things around us? New Year’s resolutions seem to be about the individual, and they often fail. So maybe, just maybe, a resolution that is for more than just ourselves can have a better success rate. I know my resolution is ambitious, but maybe it will be easier and more worthwhile than going to the g ym every day. Anu Roy-Chaudhury can be reached at anuroy@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
Wednesday, January 4, 2017 — 5A
FILM REVIEW
Warner Brothers
Go back Bel Air
“Collateral” is the worst twists would push the movie into the realm of unintentional Daily Arts Writer comedy, and director David Frankel (“The Devil Wears If someone were to see a trailer Prada”) wisely decided to save for the movie “Collateral Beauty,” that for the third act, presumably they would probably assume that to minimize audience walkouts. it’s a realistic fantasy film about a The lazy and/or nonsensical man coping with his daughter’s plotting might have been death by having conversations forgivable or at least overlooked if with Death, Time and Love. This there were likeable characters to is not true. To disclose the real latch on to, but as was mentioned plot would almost be a spoiler in before, there’s none of that and of itself, so it has to be left either. Contrary to what the at this: “Collateral Beauty” is a trailers and posters may have movie about awful implied, the movie people doing awful doesn’t center things to a man around Howard for awful reasons. (Will Smith, That somehow “Men in Black”) “Collateral Beauty” only manages to as much as it does scratch the surface his friends, Whit Rave, Quality of what is wrong (Edward Norton, Warner Bros. with this film. “Birdman”), Simon Pictures Even if one were (Michael Peña, able to get past “The Martian”) this facade for the and Claire (Kate sake of getting Winslet, “Steve an audience it Jobs”). “Collateral wouldn’t get Beauty” desperately otherwise, the rest of “Collateral wants its audience to believe that Beauty” hardly does itself these people are Howard’s best any favors. The last act of this friends and that they care about film packs in two of the most his wellbeing, but every action spectacularly ill-advised twists they make says otherwise. What in recent memory. A good twist arcs they have are cliché, bland, is hinted at throughout the movie and unfocused, so even when but still hard to see coming. they aren’t unlikeable, they’re It contributes added depth to simply boring. additional viewings. There is None of the blame for this can none of this in “Collateral Beauty” be said to rest on the all-star cast, because to even hint at these though. Will Smith absolutely JEREMIAH VANDERHELM
Every other picture on their Facebook was just cookies.
BBC ONE
“Great British Bake Off” serves up holiday cheer rounds early in each challenge and prod each contestant to Daily Arts Writer explain their plans of action. Mel and Sue even spur them on with good-natured words There are few things of encouragement — though that manifest holiday at times contestants find them spirit as much as baking, distracting (for instance when especially homebaking. Part One competitor MaryFrom gingerbread cookies Anne attempted to repel Sue’s to Christmas puddings and insistent hug). everything in between, there’s The special hits a sweet no lack of sweet treats to spot between sentimental satisfy our holiday cravings. and spectacle, showcasing What could be as good as the fusion of personality indulging in the miscellany and passion in culinary of baked goods that emerge achievement. While the during this festive season? homebakers stumble at times Watching an assorted crop under the strain of competition, of talented amateur bakers they push forward with their demonstrate their holiday past experience and cheerful spirit in “The Great British sportsmanship to carry them Bake-Off” tent. through. For those unfamiliar with What the show lacks in “GBBO,” the suspense and UK competition excitement it show pits makes up for in various sheer geniality homebakers and insight into “Great British Bakeagainst one the minds of Off” another to homebakers — determine with a delightful Parts 1 & 2 the best representation among them. of various UK BBC Hosted by the sweets and charming Mel pastries to keep Giedroyc and us glued to the Sue Perkins, action on screen. both English With the comedians, and judged by variety of contestants, there is cookbook author Mary Berry a great diversity in the talent (come on, it doesn’t get more showcased. Some contestants festive than a name like that) call back to their roots using and professional baker Paul flavors to embolden otherwise Hollywood, the series serves traditional recipes. Veering up great fun. towards the Paul and Mary don more “exotic” Christmas sweaters in is typically preparation to judge rewarded by competitors from previous the judges seasons who return for who like to see another shot at culinary glory personality in the series finale which aired shine through in two parts, “Christmas Day” in the fare they and “Boxing Day.” In a series of sample. three challenges — signature, The judges — technical and showstopper — who are more the bakers must impress the than willing judges with their creativity to dole out praise to the eager and skill. competitors, especially given While aided by the judges’ their histories on the show instructions in the technical — don’t hesitate to criticize challenges and their own where some more constructive recipes in the others, there’s feedback is due. no shortage of setbacks for And the judges certainly the aspiring bakers who fight know what they’re talking against the clock and their about — clarifying some of own inexperience in the the more daunting methods kitchen. But both the judges involved in the technical and hosts reassure the uneasy challenges to audiences at contestants as they make their home prior to the challenges SHIR AVINADAV
B+
commencing. To those unfamiliar with baking technique, explanation of the precise methods required of the contestants can be illuminating, or it can be a slightly dulling exposition taking up airtime. Regardless, we’re made to feel a little more like experts watching from home. The competition is handled with as much care and delicacy as the the challenges themselves. As the bakers strive to knead the perfect dough and achieve the right balance of flavors, they interact freely with the judges and hosts who encourage them with animated commentary. Each contestant’s competing items are introduced with mouth-watering illustrations accompanied by the hosts’ descriptions of them. Though the contestants are expected to execute each challenge with precision and deftness given time they have to prepare beforehand, some are overly ambitious. One contestant’s gingerbread tiers collapse on themselves during the showstopper in Part Two, while another mistakes flour for powdered sugar, making for unconventionally disgusting icing. Though we follow the contestants through success and disappointment, the nature of watching amateurs trying to impress a panel of kind, yet imposing judges carries strength in its hint of emotional suspense — one that is rather different from the excitement we’re used to on professional cooking competitions. Only one contestant can take home the winning title, however everyone leaves the tent in good spirits, exuding contagious positivity. While the pros make it look easy, watching “GBBO” veterans attempt three tier masterpieces and inventive cookie decorations simply for the fun of it is the most rewarding of all.
The special hits a sweet spot between sentimentality and spectacle
DO YOU NEED TO JUMPSTART YOUR CAR? WE’LL SAY WE CAN HELP, BUT ACTUALLY FAIL MISERABLY.
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D+
Classifieds
shines as Howard in a movie that doesn’t deserve him. The scenestealer here, though, is without a doubt Helen Mirren (“Eye in the Sky”), who was cast as the physical manifestation of Death in a stroke of casting genius. Her scenes are never as touching and poignant as the movie thinks they are, but they’re at least something approaching funny, and Mirren manages to add wit and likability to her part which is more than can be said for the rest of the characters. Everyone on screen is doing their best, but they can’t save this script. Ultimately, the biggest problem that “Collateral Beauty” faces is that it truly thinks it is saying something different. It thinks it is a work of genius that will be used for years to come to help grieving parents. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whether the fault lies with Frankel or screenwriter Allan Loeb (“The Switch”), the movie they have created together mostly peddles the same overly sentimental messages that movies like this usually do. The difference here is that the combination of repellent characters and laughter-inducing twists are borderline offensive to those who have lost a child. Based on its cast, “Collateral Beauty” could have and should have been the exemplification of the “touching holiday movie.” Instead, it settles for being some of the worst the genre has to offer.
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RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
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Arts
6 — Wednesday,January 4, 2016
ALBUM REVIEW
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
Run for Cover Records
Eenie-meenie-minnie-white boy
Don’t Sleep on Pinegrove DOMINIC POLSINELLI Daily Arts Writer
There’s an acute heartbreak when something you love doesn’t receive the recognition you know it deserves. It’s a dagger in your overflowing heart. This year, that album was Pinegrove’s debut Cardinal, a refreshing blend of folky indie-rock that failed to reach the radar of most of Daily Music’s staff. As Pinegrove sing themselves: “How come every outcome’s such a comedown?” Cardinal is a collection of eight songs which embody the art of emotional construction in music. It explores self-doubt, uncertainty and the search for a voice. It achieves tenderness in baring these emotions, and over the 30-minute journey it fleshes them out through the dynamism in each individual track. Pinegrove’s music is pure magic because it creates a sense of understanding, while feeling fresh and unfamiliar at the same time. The band and its music is a like brooding, misunderstood kid who you feel like you, and only you, completely understand — a poem personally written for your unraveling. Pinegrove also knows exactly when to switch gears, uplifting with resounding bridges and coming down with tender
melodies. The band is able to create imagery that’s vivid, but never fully tangible to the listener. It’s beauty comes from that feeling of unattainability, found in the music’s ambiguity. Cardinal is full of these magical moments, where I was often completely consumed by the emotion the music translated. It’s shocking how perfectly their individual instruments and voices blend into harmony. Take “Aphasia,” for example: it climaxes with the pure gang vocals of “One day I won’t need your love / one day I won’t define myself by the one I’m thinking of,” delivering a stunning desire for self-worth in the form of an emotional sucker punch that is entirely relatable, but sonically unfamiliar. The band’s true charm comes from their ability to use their indie vibe to make the insecurities of emo music accessible. You would expect lyrics like “I saw your boyfriend at the Port Authority / it’s a sort of fucked up place” in a poppunk song, not on a countryesque indie rock album. Cardinal is transcendent in that it’s bred from punk sensibilities and within the punk scene, but is still well received by pretty much anyone with functional hearing. Examined with a critical ear, Cardinal becomes a wonderful bouquet of sounds.
Cardinal Pinegrove Run for Cover
Twinkly guitars dance amongst underpinning rhythm chords, tempos falter and hasten on quick whims, all underneath lyricism that is sometimes cryptic, and sometimes blunt to the point of surprise. “Cadmium,” a song inspired by “I Send You this Cadmium Red, ” a book of correspondence between artists John Berger and John Christie, discusses non-verbal expression and it’s inner turmoil, along with the difficulty of self-expression and its subsequent vulnerability. The album cover is also inspired by the book, and Pinegrove borrows heavily from its theme of communication through art. Evan Stephens Hall cries out on the chorus, “Say what it is / it’s so impossible / but if I just say what it is / it tends to sublimate away.” At once poetic and straightforward, Hall’s lyrics are relatable at the most personal level. Hall wants to better express himself in his art, a daunting task until accomplished. On Cardinal, Pinegrove achieves some of the highest level of emotional expression in music today. Through expertly crafted composition, reverberating vocals and starkly human lyrics, Pinegrove finds their niche and makes their voices heard. Most impressively, the album transforms what might be surprising and meticulous music into some of the most approachable tunes of 2016. It’s an album that should’ve had everyone’s radar going haywire.
I’m crying again just looking at this
Summit Entertainment
“La La Land” presents a dazzling musical for the new millennium Jazz in a city of stars brings Damien Chazelle’s masterpiece to life meanders through Mia and Sebastian’s romance as their relationship starts to strain. Damien Chazelle loves jazz. The music dies out as Sebastian It would seem, after writing and goes on the road with a band directing three films dedicated started by an old friend, Keith, to the music, it’s his entire life’s played by distinguished R&B purpose to renew interest in artist John Legend, and the the genre. First there was “Guy film begins to feel a bit slow. But and Madeline on a Park Bench,” on second viewing, the middle a grainy black-and-white segment plays more as an musical, then his breakout eloquent rubato, hastening and film, “Whiplash,” a tale of slowing to fit the narrative’s an aspiring jazz drummer’s needs. The film doesn’t drag; stunning descent it’s deliberate. into madness Nothing is at the hands particularly of a psychotic unnecessary (in instructor. And fact, if anything “La La Land” now, there’s “La I wanted to see La Land,” a jazz more of Mia’s Michigan musical and lovely struggles to Theater/Quality/ launch her onethrowback to the Rave ’40s and ’50s films woman show), of Gene Kelly, as and with acting Summit well as the ’60s as sublime as Entertainment wave of French that by Stone musicals. It’s a and Gosling, it’s film so delightful pretty hard to — and with an ending sequence so spectacular — that it’s feel bored. impossible to resist its grasp. Chazelle’s “La La Land” is set in writing is Hollywood over the course excellent, taking of one year as two struggling the film from artists — Mia Dolan (Emma tenderness to Stone, “Birdman”), an actress, the heights and Sebastian Wilder (Ryan of comedy in Gosling, “The Nice Guys”), a mere minutes, jazz pianist — repeatedly cross if not seconds. paths and fall in love. Chazelle’s The characters, Hollywood is a bottleneck especially the of talent. The opening of the secondary film is a technically audacious and tertiary dance number on the jammed characters, are Los Angeles Freeway, with fully developed aspiring singers, actors, within a line writers and everyone in or two, but all between literally jumping are endlessly out of their cars at rapidly complex. As changing opportunities. Mia for Mia and and Sebastian are consumed by Sebastian, their own troubles; Mia never there’s a bit of an finds success in auditions, imbalance; the while Sebastian wants to revive film may begin his beloved genre by opening with Mia, and we may see the a jazz club, but doesn’t have a world through her eyes, but steady job. The duo’s mutual Sebastian is given more of an commiseration over their craft opportunity to share his craft. blossoms into love. We see him play constantly, The middle third of the film even an entire performance (of DANIEL HENSEL Daily Film Editor
A
a phenomenal song written and performed by Legend) with The Messengers, Keith’s band, while Mia’s one-woman show is omitted. Chazelle shot the film in Cinemascope, a grand widescreen technology predominant in the 1950s, when Hollywood churned out large-scale epics one after the other. It’s a great idea in “La La Land,” a film that has a fair amount of spectacle, but even more intimacy. These characters dream in Cinemascope. Mia sleeps under a giant poster of Ingrid Bergman. Sebastian plans to name his jazz club “Chicken on a Stick” after Charlie Parker’s favorite meal, and he collects the overlooked artifacts that dotted his idols’ lives. Like the film’s rose-colored vision of jazz, the film industry is in great jeopardy. The midrange budget film is dying and streaming and television are both supplanting the theater. But “La La Land” may be its saving grace, or at least a herald of things to come. “La La Land” is a film that demands to be seen, and reseen and reseen, in the theater, with bright primary reds and blues highlighted by Linus Sandgren’s (“Joy”) soaring cinematography, and an exquisite soundtrack by Chazelle’s college friend Justin Hurwitz (“Whiplash”). Hurwitz’s music, like the couple dancing around a Foucault pendulum twirling in a wonderful sequence in Griffith Observatory, swings between two poles, or two souls, endlessly in love.
The middle segment plays more as an eloquent rubato, hastening and slowing to fit the narrative’s needs.
Walt Disney Studios
It’s like war, but in SPACE
“One” is satisfyingly safe WILL STEWART Daily Arts Writer
The “Star Wars” revival is in full-force, but for many, the Force never died. Last year, fans were bestowed with “The Force Awakens,” one of the best films in the series since “Return of the Jedi.” With Episodes VIII and IX still to come, along with Han Solo and Boba Fett spinoff movies, fans can anticipate lots of entertaining content. Although some feel anxious about the new movies mostly due to the lackluster prequel trilogy, it seems the world is in for a future filled with intergalactic bliss. “Rogue One” is the beginning of what could be a supply of satisfying Star Wars anthology movies. “Rogue One” is essentially Episode 3.5; it takes place after the Jedi-genocide, but before the introduction of Luke Skywalker. Although
most characters are new, there are some familiar faces. Darth Vader (voiced again by James Earl Jones ) and a realistic CGI version of Grand Moff Tarkin (Guy Henry “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”) play minor roles in the story, though both have enough screen time to satisfy longtime fans. New protagonists Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”) and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna, “Y Tu Mamá También”) act as multidimensional and convincing heroes to root for in their fight against the Empire. Alan Tudyk (“Zootopia”) voices
K-2SO, an Imperial droid reprogrammed to fight for the rebels, who is one of the best additions to the “Star Wars” series. Like C-3PO, he balances intellect and cynicism perfectly, and his cheesy jokes and sassy remarks make K-2SO one of the funniest “Star Wars” characters to date. Unlike other “Star Wars” movies, there is an overarching sense of doom and imminent failure. “Rogue One” shows a struggling Rebel Force that does not have the means to defend itself against enemy forces. Other movies in the series tend to have a sense
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“Rogue One”
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Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures
of hope, even in situations least deserving of it. “Rogue One” shows glimpses of it, but remains the gloomiest in the series. The story of “Rogue One” is complex while remaining coherent. Someone who has never seen a “Star Wars” movie could pick up the plot just as easily as a diehard fanatic, though the latter may find the minor nuances more enjoyable. Among the intense battle scenes and stunning settings, “Rogue One” challenges the idea that in the cosmic fight between good and evil,
the line between right and wrong, is clear. The “good guys” in the movie are a group varying from Imperial pilots to reprogrammed Imperial droids and disobedient Rebel soldiers. “Rogue One” is the first “Star Wars” movie to show a twosided Rebel Force that is not strictly a representation of good. “Rogue One” diverts enough from the typical “Star Wars” formula while remaining faithful to the tropes that make them so fun. Fans will be relieved that no Jar Jar Binks replicas or cringe-
It seems the world is in for a future filled with intergalactic bliss.
worthy romantic subplots are introduced. Every addition is justified and fits into the “Star Wars” timeline perfectly. Still, since the movie is not a part of the main series, more could have been done to distinguish it from the others. This was a golden opportunity for director Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla”) to incorporate some unique cinematography and experimentation that would have made it clearer that “Rogue One” is just an addition to the series. In many ways, “Rogue One” plays it too safe. Nonetheless, the special effects provide a thrill. “Rogue One” is certainly not the best “Star Wars” movie, but it’s a welcomed addition to the franchise. Diehard fans now have some material to keep them happy until the eighth installment is released in 2017. Until then, expectations are high for what’s to come.
statement T H E M I CH I G A N DAI LY | N OV E M B E R 3 0, 20 16
the personal and painful of the opioid epidemic
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Wednesday, Janurary 4th, 2017 / The Statement
the tangent
t h e s t at e m e n t Magazine Editor: Lara Moehlman Deputy Editors: Matt Gallatin Yoshiko Iwai Design Editor: Katie Spak
Photo Editor: Claire Abdo Editor in Chief: Emma Kinery Managing Editor: Rebecca Lerner
Copy Editors: Danielle Jackson Taylor Grandinetti
Personal Statement: Thank You, But BY TE SS GARCIA , SENIOR ARTS EDITOR
H
ey, you.
How’s it hanging back there? Is the weather all right? Have you fallen victim to any wandering eyes recently? Who am I kidding, of course you have. I have felt many a strange glance searing in your direction as of late (read: cuffing season, and the like). I am not here to mock your unusual width, nor your circumference. I have no desire to poke fun at your stretch marks, hard-earned by a body that I am still learning to love. No, my dear friend and favored appendage, I am writing to you today to say thank you. You have granted me the gift of resilience, both physical and mental. I have always given you the respect and care you deserve and have subsequently become known as the squat queen at my local CrossFit gym. Not even the longest of wall sits can conquer your prowess. On the emotional side of the spectrum, your has taught me to turn the other cheek (this was not intended to become a pun, but now that it is one, I’m running with it) in uncomfortable situations. For better or worse, you have given me no choice but to learn to walk calmly past every catcaller, to hop through whatever means of public transit in order to shield you from a drunken stranger’s grip. No one should have to face such encounters, let alone dodge them on a regular basis, but this world’s inhabitants are far from perfect. While I have trained you to endure temporary bodily pain, you have trained me to use the faults of those around me as a means of growing stronger. Thank you for assisting me in my
romantic ventures. I know that sounds crazy — well, it would if you had ears — but hear me out. Silly as it may sound, you have served as an excellent means of experimentation in the world of teenage love affairs. Thanks to you, separating the good boys from the bad has become mere child’s play. If my date still calls me beautiful when I cover you with a loosely fitted skirt, I will likely hold him in better standing than someone who only gives me
the time of day when I’m on my way back from yoga. You have forced me to search for a significant other who sees in me all that I see in myself, as opposed to just the back of me. In turn, your prominence has provoked months of self-searching, during which time I have realized you are not the only part of me worth appreciating. To that end, you have shown me that the best things in life are not consequences of my outward appearance, and for that I am
eternally grateful. Your ever-present volume has granted me only a slew of shortlived football-player flings, none of which will ever compare to the joys brought about by my own abilities. I am more proud of my writing, my athletic feats, and my academic achievements than I am of your chance appearance in my life. You have convinced me that no amount of hollow compliments will guarantee me a sense of self-worth; rather, confidence is a trait I must fight to acquire on my own. It has taken all of my adolescence to come to terms with you. You have made every pair of skinny jeans a conquest, every bar stool an unreliable failure. Yet you have taught me not to sell myself short, that Tess Garcia is more than just “the girl with the big situation back there.” She is bold, she is smart and she is powerful in both body and mind. No derogatory slur will tarnish my confidence, nor will any shallow compliment inf late it.Your full-figured being is a consistent reminder of all that I need to push myself through everyday life. The best part? You are literally just a butt. I don’t know when my backside took a front seat in my life, but I sure am glad it did. With love, gratitude, and absolutely no shame, Tess P.S. — About the football player who told you you were small … let’s forget about him.
ILLUSTRATION BY KATIE SPAK
Wednesday, Janurary 4th, 2017 / The Statement
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on the record: the New Year “After a tumultous last year, my hope for this challenge is to get out and talk to more people about how they’re living, working and thinking about the future.”
“The feathers — yes! That was... amazing.” — Singer Mariah Carey, closing out a flawless New Years Eve perfromance in New York’s Times Sqaure.
“Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don’t know what to do. Love!” —Presiden-elect Donald Trump, in a tweet on New Years Eve
— Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, in a Facebook post on approaching the New Year.
Personal Statement: It’s Football, Not Soccer BY S Y E D FA H D A H S A N
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et’s set the record straight: The term “soccer” didn’t originate in the America. Rather, it first appeared in England, and by some records it predates the word “football” by about 18 years. So why does the rest of the world hate Americans for calling football “soccer?” Well, I, for one, was born and raised in Pakistan. Where — like most places around the world — football referred to the sport where only goalkeepers were allowed to use their hands. I mean, it makes sense to me and it makes sense to everyone else in the world. I’m sure it makes sense to most Americans, too. In fact, the more I think about it, I realize the word “soccer” by itself doesn’t annoy me as much. It’s the fact that the word “football” is reserved for another sport where barely anyone uses his feet to touch the ball, and my — and the world’s — beloved football has to settle with being called “soccer.” Growing up, I never had much against the major sports in the United States. Hockey was always cool; I skipped classes at school to play basketball. It wasn’t cricket, but even when I didn’t know what was happening, I always appreciated baseball. Heck, I’ve probably been to more pro-baseball games than any other sport now. But I had always harbored an unreasonable dislike for American football. I made fun of it, the Internet made fun of it too and thousands of memes were made over it. Couldn’t they have picked a different name? (Just Google “handegg” for me.) I remember applying to University of Michigan for the sole reason that it was a top-20 school on the various university rankings I checked senior year of high school. I came in knowing close to nothing about the University, Ann Arbor or its culture. When I got here I found out it was an American football school, and apparently a great one at that. Three seasons worth of sitting in the Big House later I can proudly say American football has grown on me. Somewhere between all the tailgates, chanting “The Victors” with a sore throat, a fumbled punt, the man with the khaki pants, watching it snow in the Big House and JT Barrett’s first down (he was short!), this sport found its way into my heart. I never thought it would happen. Seventeen-year-old-me would probably be “bitterly disappointed” in me right now, but truth be told, I couldn’t help it. American football is actually pretty neat. One jam-packed with the star names, the fan following, the heartbreaks and all the ecstasy one can expect from a major sport. In retrospect, I never really hated it for not making much sense to me, or for it not being as rough and physical as
rugby. My only quarrel was with the name. I guess that’s what my relationship with America has always been like though — a gripe with the smaller things and indifference for the more mundane. Like, why can’t price tags just include tax value like they’re supposed to? Why does everything have to be sponsored by something? Why is everything so commercialized? Why do I always have to wear a seat belt? Why are speeding fines more than $2? OK, wait. The last two make a lot more sense than I want them too. Why do Americans pronounce France like ranch, and not like flan? Why do they say Porsche, and not Porsche-uh? And oh yeah, and let’s not forget the big one. Why can’t they just call football “football?” But there are certain aspects of American life I’ve come to grudgingly accept. I’ll drive on the right side of the road now, for example, or occasionally hit the wipers when I want to hit the indicator. It’s kind of convenient that I can spell “color” without the U now, and I guess it’s cool if everyone else shows up to class in sweatpants and a hoodie when I wear chinos and a cardigan. I’ve been told I’m pretty stubborn, too. I still call football “football” — except when I have to change it to “soccer” when I cover the Michigan men and women’s soccer teams — and refer to the other one as American football. My phone gives me the temperature in Celsius; the wind speeds are in km/h. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Full disclaimer: I really don’t hate America. Truth be told, other than the things I’m just too stubborn to change — and the foreign policy — I’ve really fallen in love with the country, and even more so the people in it. But I fear if Donald Trump ever read this far he’d deport me. Here are some things I like about America: My closest friends are American. They taught me how to throw an eggshaped ball, how to get around Ann Arbor, how baseball works, and of course, how to play Euchre. They’ve made sure I’ve never felt too homesick, that I have something to do for Spring Break, and they’ve always offered to have me over for the holidays — even though I have grandparents who live about an hour away. In America, I’ve learned I have the luxury to skip classes without consequence and still do well in school. That when I order something at a restaurant I’ll get more than I could hope for. That Wi-Fi and LTE are better here than at home. That I’ll find people from Russia, Norway, Poland and everywhere else around the world living here. And above all, American Netflix is better than Netflix anywhere else. I can’t be anything less than grateful to have been able to
live somewhere new. Not that I dislike Pakistan or anything — I love Pakistan, and you should all take a trip given the chance. But I did things I could never have at home: I’ve gone kayaking, played American football, received an education from one of the best universities in the world, and met some really cool people along the way. But at the end of the day, I’ll still always prefer football to American football. I’ve skipped quite a few Michigan games to watch Barcelona play a La Liga match. As much as I love Michigan football, I would trade a win against Ohio State if it meant Barcelona would win the next El Clasico. I still find it amusing how the United States stops for the Super Bowl, when a Manchester United vs. Chelsea game in the Premier League would get almost five times the viewership. Or how it’s called the World Series, when no team outside North America really plays. Even though I enjoy going to watch the Tigers and the Red Wings (but Little Caesars Arena, really?), I’m still a lot more likely to go to Yankee Stadium for the New York City Football Club than the Yankees — for the record David Villa, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo are more popular across the world than any baseball player can hope to be. Football has been a big part of my life ever since I can remember. I would sneak into the TV room at 12:45 at night to watch Champions League games on a school night, praying to God my mom wouldn’t catch me. I hated the fact that there was another sport with the same name as this one, but never thought I would enjoy it too. In the same way Islamabad, Pakistan, will always be my home, and will forever be a part of me. I go back about once a year to catch up on what I’ve missed. My parents, siblings, childhood friends; the food, the environment, the culture;
ILLUSTRATION BY CLAIRE ABDO COVER DESIGN BY CLAIRE ABDO
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Wednesday, January 4, 201 / The Statement
Wednesday, January 4, 2017 / The Statement
What Pains Me:
The personal and painful of the opioid epidemic
b y Yo s h i k o I w a i Deputy Magazine Editor
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onths ago, when I was assigned a story on the opioid epidemic, I was confronted with an entirely foreign concept: I didn’t even know if opioids were injected or ingested. And this was an epidemic? I couldn’t begin to understand how overdose deaths could be happening in my community. On November 23, I attended a community-wide event at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor that addressed the opioid epidemic and how to fight it, hosted by the Ypsilanti based addiction non-profit Dawn Farm. From my aisle seat, I watched the auditorium fill with Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti residents, college students and a few families with younger kids. I watched intently, ready to scribble notes on trends in age groups, gender, appearance, or race. To my surprise, none of the categories followed a specific trend — there were no similarities among the people I saw whatsoever. I was struck. There were people from all walks of life who were dealing with an issue in my community I hardly knew existed. What I found was that in 2014, within Washtenaw County alone, there were 65 reported opioid deaths according to the Washtenaw Health Initiative Opioid Project. Across the US, there are 78 deaths from opioid overdoses a day, putting the country at an all time high for opioid overdose deaths. This wasn’t another story which could be shoved aside for a later read, but something happening right now. Opiates are a family of drugs for treating pain and affecting emotions. Common types include morphine, heroin, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, all of which are addictive. Opiates are commonly prescribed for suppressing pain after surgery, trauma, and various injuries. At the event, I learned of the dramatic rise in opioid-related deaths in 2014, which spiked nationwide efforts to reduce this number, creating with initiatives such as the WHI Opioid Project and other public health models specific to overdose prevention and resuscitation after overdose. In some ways, it’s working. In 2015, there was a 25 percent decrease in opioid overdose deaths in Washtenaw County. The numbers may have decreased, but forty-nine deaths is still an all too significant number. The forum, and conversations I would later have with a number of its speakers, informed me of how Washtenaw County is currently responding to the problem. WHI’s new public health-based model has raised local awareness for a national crisis, sparking community action among the police force, healthcare administrators, and overdose subject bystanders, who often play a critical role as first responders, saving lives. Saving lives is the goal: since August of 2015, more than 96 Washtenaw County police officers have been trained in the administration of naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug. And there
have also been community classes on naloxone use, and the medication can now be co-prescribed to family and friends who are concerned of loved ones overdosing, so 911 isn’t the only way to keep victims alive. What was most surprising to me as a pre-health student was how little I knew about this prevalent problem, often rooted in the health industry, which was not only affecting the country as a whole but rampant in the community I lived in. Emotionally, the issue is comparably devastating to alcohol overdose or suicide. A death is a death. But I never encountered any information — no pamphlets, no emails — about the issue beforehand. For such a crisis, I was totally unprepared. One of the speakers, Ashton Marr, is an Ann Arbor resident who has been in recovery for 12 years. When she was 19, she was prescribed Vicodin after an emergency appendectomy and from this introduction, her life began to spiral around opiates. She sat in front of the auditorium with her purple Mohawk and matching color parka, among a panel of physicians, nurses, police officers, and other recoverers. When one of the audience members asked if the availability of an overdose counteractive drug would make opiate users likely to overdose just to be resuscitated, creating a false sense of security, Ashton shook her head. The row of silver hoops on her earlobes ref lected against the spotlight, sending shards of light through the auditorium. When she spoke her voice was deep, but melodic. “From my own experience in going through addiction, that thought never crossed my mind once and that certainly wasn’t the goal either. If naloxone knocks the opioids off of opioid receptors, then you eventually become dope-sick and that certainly wasn’t the goal,” she said. Opioid and heroin withdrawal symptoms are often referred to as “dope sick,” which urges the abuser to continue drug administration to combat discomfort. The symptoms include depression, anxiety, intense cramping, bone and muscle pain, involuntary leg movements, cold f lashes, among others. “I was trying to tread the line between life and death, I wouldn’t want naloxone administered.” Since her introduction to opiates after surgery, Ashton said the intense craving for more frequent and larger doses, a bigger and better high, began to consume her. As she entered community college, she isolated herself from her family and friends, mostly living from her car, miserable and ashamed: “It was like it just took over my life and my mind, and I really was up and running with opioids. I truly believed I was the only heroin addict in Ann Arbor.” The chase for the ultimate high, the brink between the conscious and unconscious seems to be a mutual driver for continued users, and often the direct reason for overdose. And more surprisingly, the other common intersection between users and overdose survivors is the beginning
of their addictive trends. The majority of opioid addiction start from a sports injury or general surgery where opiates are prescribed to alleviate immediate pain. The patient never gets weaned off the medication properly, instead developing a dependence on pain suppressors. Another speaker at the panel, Stephen Strobbe, is a practicing nurse and founder of the WHI Opioid Project. Throughout the talk, he suspected a fundamental issue in the prescription system to be a leading cause for excess prescription and eventual drug misuse. According to Strobbe, there are enough written opioid prescriptions for each adult in the United States to have a bottle for themselves. When I mentioned I was a pre-health student at the University during our phone interview the morning of the panel, Strobbe said he would stay after the event to answer all questions – going above and beyond from personal to research to data-based inquiries – to spread awareness on the opioid epidemic. During our conversation, he reaffirmed the absence of stereotypes in the epidemic. There is no “type” for opioid users who experience addiction and overdose, besides being prescribed a medication, failing to be weaned off and then suddenly being in the middle a downwards spiral, often with no knowledge of who to go to for help. Marr raised similar concerns on the prescribing behavior of physicians. After the forum, we sat in two corner seats of the empty auditorium. Like Strobbe, she offered to give any information to increase the public knowledge on the epidemic and its severity. “I’ve heard time and time again that it’s easier to write the prescription, as opposed to getting into conf lict with somebody or fighting about it,” she said. “But the fact of the matter is they have the hand in the individual’s death if they let the addiction spiral. Doctors are in a position where they need to do no harm and give care to people, so it’s important that they understand how to treat addiction, recovery-related resources, how to safely prescribe to people, and how to treat pain.” The physician-patient relationship plays a vital role in continuation or discontinuation of medication following a painful event, and the doctor’s choices can be the rate-limiting step to the addiction narrative. A majority, if not all, practicing physicians will at some point prescribe pain medications to their patients. One of the seeds to the epidemic could be immediately addressed in the hospital, but also the medical schools and undergraduate populations who will be the next prescribers within five to ten years. However, it may also be worth opening a discussion how much responsibility the doctor has over the patient. It cannot entirely be the doctor’s fault if the patient decides to misuse their prescribed dose, and the doctor cannot always neglect the patient of pain medication to alleviate their symptoms. These ethical questions do not have a simple answer to solve the problem. So clearly I never pictured a reality where
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opioid addiction and overdose death was something real and proximal, something that could affect my relatives, family or friends. A majority, if not all practicing physicians will at some point prescribe pain medications to their patients. One of the roots of the epidemic could be immediately addressed in the hospital, certainly, but also in the medical schools and even undergraduate programs, whose students will be the next prescribers within five to ten years. But it may also be worth opening a discussion of how much responsibility the doctor has over the patient. It cannot entirely be the doctor’s fault if the patient decides to misuse their prescribed dose, and the doctor cannot always refuse the patient pain medication to alleviate their symptoms — in many cases it is necessary. These ethical questions do not have a simple solutions. Strobbe said another common intersection between users and overdose survivors is the beginning of their addiction. The majority of opioid addictions start from a sports injury or general surgery, when opiates are prescribed to alleviate immediate pain and the patient never gets weaned off the medication properly, instead developing a dependence on pain suppressors. In light of all of this, I picture my best friend. I picture her brown ringlets of effortless curls falling down her shoulders and the black-rimmed glasses she wears that rest on her cheeks. The studious one of all of us, who has (maybe) gotten one B in college, organizes all of our volunteer events for the fraternity, and laughs five times more often than she frowns. I never realized that she dealt with this crisis first hand. Again, an epidemic so widespread was lost to me. This makes me sift through my entire memory since the day I met her, the things we talked about, the secrets we shared. It never occurred to me that her own sister was a victim of this crisis. That she was a part of this silenced group, when she was so present in my life. I told my best friend about this article, and I asked her about the issue at hand: the pain which leads people across the country, across the world, to opioid addiction. “I’ve really never thought about it before. I guess it’s different for everyone, like the origin of it,” she said. “But it’s the twisting torment, that’s builds up in your stomach and leaks into your heart and head and eyes until it’s all you feel, see and think about. It lays dormant until you think it’s gone, or at least a little less, and then a tidal wave of emotions hit and it’s like, you’re there again, at the very first moment you felt it. It’s always with you. I think we just learn how to control it, regardless of its love or loss or whatever else it stems from.” You can’t tell me Tylenol will take that away.
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Wednesday, January 4, 2017 // The Statement
Hillbilly Elegy, on Campus and in a Trump America T he common explanation post11/8/2016 includes some kind of combination of the terms “white,” “angry,” “xenophobic” and “racist” — the list is familiar, and not entirely unfair. White Americans did, quite factually, vote for Donald Trump in resounding numbers in the general election. According to an exit poll conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, 58 percent of white non-hispanic voters cast ballots for Trump, in comparison to 37 percent for his opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. This is a reality. But there are many faces to that reality, even if they’re not always distinguished clearly in coverage. That’s a mistake easy to see on social media outlets like Twitter, where 62 percent of adults get their news, according to a recent survey by Pew Research millenials. When manyfaceted political issues like the Trump election are simplified into 140 characters or highlighted videos, the result is rarely nuanced. Match that with an ever-growing atmosphere of partisanship, and what we get is a this-or-that-side anger. There is no room for a middle; there is no conversation to be had. Right after the election, feeds were filled with variations of “fuck white people,” or some kind of derogatory meme of a poor white hillbilly or redneck. This anger is understandable given the rhetoric of the election. Many in our country feel explicitly targeted, and racism, xenophobia and white anger are all relevant contributing factors to this. The problem is when our explanations refuse to accept another. On one side, there’s childish, haughty “I told you so” rhetoric from Trump’s supporters, which refuses to acknowledge those very real concerns of minorities in this country, equating it all to “whining,” a privileged term to use for many who have never felt targeted in the same way as minorities in this country do, especially now. The other, though, has created monolithic categories for where to direct its own anger: white Americans, the poor, the uneducated. When terms like “working-class” and “inequality” are introduced into the conversation, accusations of normalizing are thrown easily. Acknowledging one
reality does not take away from another. We can understand that important social progress in our country — gay rights, racial equality, immigrant rights, etc. — is at risk, while still recognizing that there are issues beyond social discomfort at this progress that drove poor white Americans to the polls. J.D. Vance’s memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” released in June, tackles these forgotten (or simply eschewed) realities. His story is a painful and relevant one. Raised partly in Rust Belt Middletown, Ohio, and partly in Appalachian Jackson, Kentucky, Vance’s family is by nature a kind of representation for problems of those regions. He describes his family as “Hillbilly Royalty” — that is not on account of their wealth, which is hardly existent, but because of how Vance’s ancestors were known as some of the hardest, most loyal people in the area. These words require clarification: Loyalty, to this group, means attacking a man with an electric saw who insults his mother, or forcing another to eat a pair of underpants for making a lewd comment about his sister. This is what Vance calls “Hillbilly Justice,” and it’s just the first introduction to a world whose regularities are miles different than many Americans’, especially the collegeeducated. His people are not part of some mythically comfortable “middle class.” Vance understands that the romanticizing of this kind of violence is indicative of deeper problems in the community. It creates a culture that its children nearly inevitably fall into. While Vance himself has by most measures largely escaped the fate of so many of his peers, he discusses how this kind of internalized violence remains: Driving down the road with his wife, he nearly exited his car after someone honked their horn at him, ready to fight. This isn’t what might first come to mind as Yale Law School graduate behavior. But it’s normal for the people of his upbringing, and emphasizes how this kind of behavior doesn’t just immediately disappear when financial problems are less apparent. Context here is everything, and Vance does not put forth these kinds of “cultural” problems without giving at least some background for their existence. For one, there is the overwhelming sense in these
by Matt Gallatin, Deputy Magazine Editor
pages that these are a stuck people. His grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw, grew up in rural Kentucky, where poor white families would feud and fight for survival. When they left for the Rust Belt for a better future, their assumption was that things would be different. Vance makes it clear from the start that they would not be. Those problems, which plagued rural Kentucky, were just as present, if not more so, in rural Ohio. As the companies that were once the beaming hope for these towns — Armco Steel, Champion Paper and Fiber, Procter and Gamble, and National Cash Register — began to size down, outsource and lose money, their manufacturing jobs began to leave. The work that was there for parents would not be there for their kids. That dream of upward mobility for those who left one impoverished, rural area for
another was just that: a dream. The rut these families find themselves in leads to explicit expressions of anger, like violence, but also more inward ones, such as drug use and addiction. The latter has been a growing epidemic in towns like the one Vance grew up in, as heroin and other kinds of opioids in particular have taken hold. This past summer 27 West Virginians overdosed in the city of Huntington within a four-hour span. When Vance’s own mother succumbed to this addiction, though after much other previous drug use and alcoholism, Vance recognizes this drug differently: “‘Heroin’ just has a certain ring to it; it’s like the Kentucky Derby of drugs,” he writes. Its specter is very real over these communities, and elicits a justifiable fear and anguish. A combination of fear, frustration
Wednesday, January 4 2016 // The Statement
and lack of mobility is at play in these communities, and it is not getting better. The cycle of poverty and devastation that many white Americans have been caught in is so large that it is affecting trends at a macro level. The New York Times, reporting on a study from 2015, found “The mortality rate for whites 45 to 54 years old with no more than a high school education increased by 134 deaths per 100,000 people from 1999 to 2014.” That is astonishing, given that “every other age group … every other racial and ethnic group” saw an increase in life expectancy. That fear and anguish may come, as some have termed, from a fear in the decline of their social standing, but that cannot encompass the entire span of this crisis. Poor white people are dying, quite literally. Elections are won and lost almost always on economic lines. Though certainly not a perfect indicator of economic position, college education or lack thereof can be used as a rough outline of economic trends. Economic discrepancies between college graduates and those who did not attend college are obvious. And so was their voting in the 2016 election. The Pew Research Center found “Trump’s margin among whites without a college degree is the largest among any candidate in exit polls since 1980. Twothirds (67%) of non-college whites backed Trump, compared with just 28% who supported Clinton, resulting in a 39-point advantage for Trump among this group.” The New York Times’ breakdown of exit polls makes the economic distinction even clearer. Among those making less than $30,000 annually, there was a 16-percent increase in voting for the Republican Party candidate from 2012 — for Donald Trump. Among those making $30,000 to $49,999 a year, that shift was 6 percent. And though the shift was greatest among white Americans, there was actually a shift from 2012 among all minorities toward Donald Trump, rather than away from him. So while it’s certainly true that affluent white Americans helped to elect Trump in this election, as they have for most Republican candidates in recent history, that is not the entirety of the story. The specter, the fear, that has led poor Americans in general to a totally inexperienced, once-reality-television-star candidate isn’t limited to just the Rust Belt and Appalachian regions. Driving home down Aris T Allen Boulevard in Annapolis, Md., with a friend about two years ago, a woman appeared in the middle of the highway on her hands and knees. We pulled over, called the police and waited as the woman pulled herself together and hobbled to our car. When she came knocking on our window, telling us everything was fine (her face showed that it was not) and that all she needed was a ride to the Kmart, the police
showed up and took her in. While we were in shock, the police officer was not. This was a common occurrence, he told us, as drug addicts would commonly use behind the nearby Safeway and occasionally find themselves standing in the middle of the highway. The drug, of course, was heroin. Just a month after that incident, five heroin overdose victims were found in Annapolis on a single day. Though Annapolis proper is a relatively affluent — with a median household annual income of $75,320 dollars — the suburban areas around it are not necessarily, and Edgewater, where my high school is located, was known for intense drug use among the “white trash,” as they were often called. As kids, we loved to tell stories about how our neighboring middle school, Central Middle School — which I also attended — had frequent visits from the police, armed with dogs to sniff lockers for drugs. I didn’t think of the broader implications at the time, but as teachers became increasingly worried about the state of the school, my parents decided to send my younger brother to a private middle school far from our home. They had that luxury, but most did not. Later in my high-school years, I went back to my middle school to tutor, and I got a glimpse at some of the realities J.D. Vance mentions. Kids were frequently distracted by what was going on in their home life, just as Vance described. He couldn’t study trigonometry knowing his mom was drugged out on the couch, or screaming at a new boyfriend. I worry the same was happening with these kids. To be clear, my county, Anne Arundel County, voted for Hillary Clinton in this election, though by a thin margin of 116,074 votes to 114,509 votes. But through a highly unscientific survey of the town’s many Trump-Pence signs, and knowing the ideology of most of my friends from Edgewater, I’d be willing to bet Edgewater and the other poorer, largely white neighborhoods of Anne Arundel County went for Donald Trump. And these problems, which push the poor into protest votes, as with Donald Trump, are not getting better. According to The Baltimore Sun, in 2016 “The number of drug- and alcoholrelated overdose deaths in Maryland in the first half of the year jumped more than 50 percent from the same period last year.” In Michigan, the problem is the same. Heroin and opioid deaths have multiplied 10 times since 1999. Drug use is not the only problem that Vance highlights with broader implications. Vance expresses childhood anger at his mother’s various boyfriends, coming and going through a revolving door. “I loathed living with these strangers,” he writes, and it affects him more than just emotionally. His grades suffer without a stable home,
and years later he would come across the psychological term “adverse childhood events” to describe his upbringing. The issue of fatherhood, which Vance speaks to in his own life, reveals another bias. The crisis of “Black fatherhood” is often written about and discussed, but the same is not always said about white fatherhood. The prevalence of bad, or simply non-existent fathers in Vance’s poor white community shows us that the issue is not limited to Black communities. Subverting and affirming stereotypes is one of Vance’s strongest achievements in this memoir. While he only implies this about Black fatherhood, he tackles others with both bluntness and reserve. Though his grandmother Mamaw is by no means the pinnacle of gay activism, she is clear on the subject when speaking to Vance: “even if you did want to suck dicks, that would be okay. God would still love you.” This is not what we might typically expect from a poor, rural, Christian, white woman. It betrays a political complexity that defeats simple narrative. It also leads into another stereotype complication — their relationship with God. The general understanding is that poor white Americans love God just as much as they do processed foods. But while his family and others might always talk about Jesus, he cites studies showing that “active church attendance (in the Bible Belt) is actually quite low.” What that relationship to God means is also highly malleable. Mamaw uses Christianity as a reason for why Christians should love the LGBTQ community. Vance’s experience with his father’s church was far different, and he explains that at those services, he “heard more about the gay lobby and the war on Christmas than about any particular character trait a Christian should aspire to have.” These are hugely different relationships with God, and reveal poor white Christians are not a monolithic group with singular views. To be sure, Vance does gloss over some of the ugliest faces of his community, and feels hypocritical about others. According to Vance, white voters in his region did not detest Barack Obama solely for his race, but because of what he represented as a rich, highly educated citizen in our society. While that might be true, and while that might be a reason Hillary Clinton failed to reach this group of people, he touches on evidence that makes that shoulder brush seem less credible. When his cousin Gail announced she was pregnant by a Black man as a teen, the family shunned her. Nearly everyone in this family had children in their teens. But none of them, it seems, were Black. Vance approaches this with just a half paragraph, and it feels like he could have given this a bit more weight, particularly in light of how briefly he
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touched on the racism toward Obama. Further, when he focuses his lens to others in his own community and beyond his own personal experiences, he fails to give them the context that he gives his own family. We understand why he struggled and was distracted in school, and we know why those in his family might be inclined to violence or drug use. He even addresses why his family would go out of their way to get the most expensive Christmas gifts possible, simply putting on the guise of comfortableness to be happy. When those around him, though, use welfare for treats such as cigarettes or liquor, he is harsh, and likens it to a community-wide crisis of laziness. Still, his observations are largely moving and eye-opening. One that feels especially relevant here on campus lies in the hypocrisy of wealthy liberals talking about equality, yet still looking down on those in a different class from them. When he goes out with a group of friends to a late-night chicken restaurant and they leave a huge mess for the workers, only one other student stays back to help him clean up, and that student also came from a poorer background. I’ve seen the same at restaurants all around Ann Arbor. There is the sense here that it is easy to talk about economic equality on a macro level, but equally easy to ignore it when it’s right in front of you, on a micro level. An investigation by the Daily in 2014 found that “In Fall 2011, 63 percent of incoming freshmen reported family incomes over $100,000,” nearly twice the median family income in the United States. Taking that further, what does this mean for something like post-Trump vigils on campus? Though there were plenty of wealthy white men who voted for the morals of a misogynist, it’s also clear that many who voted for Trump will never experience a level of economic comfort that many of the most openly anti-Trump students on our own campus might. What does it mean, then, if a white student on campus with a family income of more than $250,000 attends such a vigil, and then tweets something derogatory about the poorer ones (coming back to those hillbilly memes) of their own race? Are these not in themselves expressions of privilege? These are hard questions which, as with all hard questions, do not have simple answers. There is without a doubt a reason for these kinds of protests. We on campus must remain allies for those who feel voiceless; we must protect our immigrant populations, be watchful for racism and homophobia, and condemn sexism. But we must also be cautious about criticizing entire demographics, and especially cautious that we do not fall into the mistake of unintentional classism. We can, for a start, read “Hillbilly Elegy.”
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Wednesday, January 4 2017 // The Statement
V I S U A L S TAT E M E N T: B L A C K L I V E S M AT T E R PHOTOS BY HALEY MCLAUGHLIN
The student organization Students4Justice organized a campus walkout to protest racism on Ann Arbor’s campus. This walkout occurred during the weeks following the election of president-elect Donald Trump, and similar walkouts were held on campuses across the country. The walkout began with a speech from Reverend Jesse Jackson, before students began walking across campus and through school buildings. The walkout ended on the steps of Mason hall, with various students of color speaking on behalf of the movement.
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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | January 4, 2017
TWO LITTLE,
TOO LATE.
KELLY HALL
Daily Sports Writer
When Mike McCray dove over the pylon in the final minute of the third quarter, the Michigan sideline erupted in cheers. It was the first time a Wolverine found the end zone at Hard Rock Stadium, and it breathed life into the Michigan football team that was now within a score of the Seminoles. It didn’t matter that it came from a defensive player, or that it took nearly 45 minutes of game time to score a touchdown. It only mattered that the momentum was starting to shift in the Wolverines’ favor. Michigan rode that wave throughout the fourth quarter — its most impressive quarter of football at the Orange Bowl, and not by a small margin. At the end of the third quarter, the Wolverines had just 135 total offensive yards — exactly half the number the Seminoles racked up in that time frame. But in the fourth, Michigan picked up 107 yards and gained the lead for the first time all game, only to lose by one point, 33-32, after Florida State wide receiver Keith Gavin returned the ball 66 yards to put the Seminoles within striking distance. After the first half the Wolverines put together, it was almost surprising that it took the Seminoles until the end of the game to lock down the win. Michigan sputtered to a 20-6 first-half score that included just six first downs and two field goals, and its early woes might be placed on a combination of poor quarterback protection and timing. “I’ve never played quarterback, but I couldn’t imagine being back there, just sitting, and then having the pocket just collapse or having blitzers coming in,” said senior wide receiver Amara Darboh. “And then I slipped on a couple routes that I shouldn’t have, couldn’t get my foot in, so a little bit of both.” Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight said after the game that his internal clock in the pocket was a little too quick in the first half. But in the second frame, he had a better read after getting much-needed protection. “Yeah, we turned things
An ugly start for Michigan Despite DJ Wilson’s 28 point-outing, the Wolverines lost their conference opener in Iowa.
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around,” Speight said. “The defense made a lot of key stops in the second half, which gave the momentum to the offense. We just had to get a couple of first downs, a couple completions, and then eventually pound it in the end zone.” Even after Nyqwan Murray pulled in a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Deondre Francois with just 1:21 left in the game, the Wolverines never felt like it was over. On Michigan’s touchdown drive just over a minute earlier, freshman running back Chris Evans showed a glimpse of what the future might look like after cracking open the game with a 30-yard touchdown run. “Well, like a run game sometimes does, it can get stopped and you keep pounding away at it and keep chipping away at it and then you start making the four-yard gains and then the six-yard gains and then the 10-yard gains, and then finally, we popped one there with Chris Evans,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. “The way I feel about it is it was a heck of a game.” That energy carried over, and despite Florida State’s final touchdown, Michigan was still in the game for the long haul. On the extra point attempt, freshman safety Josh Metellus scooped up a blocked kick and ran it back for two points to put the Wolverines within one point. It was finally too little too late for Michigan, though, when redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilton Speight’s pass was intercepted with just 16 seconds left in the game on fourth down. “I felt like we all believed,” Darboh said. “We came in the locker room, we made adjustments, and we said the second half was going to be our half. Unfortunately, we didn’t
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start the game the way we should have and the way we planned to. That’s big in football. You have to jump on your opponent. We didn’t do that. But I thought we came back in the second half and fought hard.” Darboh wasn’t the only Wolverine that thought Michigan had recovered. Speight also believed that the Wolverines “bounced back,” but it evidently wasn’t enough when the Seminoles pulled on their freshly-printed Orange Bowl championship T-shirts and hats. Even though Michigan f lipped the script on its regularseason losses, in which the Wolverines failed to contribute in the fourth quarter, they still hadn’t adjusted enough to close out the final frame.
Michigan 32 Florida State 33 A new kind of disappointment Michigan fans expected much more after such a promising start to the 2016 season.
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SportsWednesday
2C — January 4, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
10-3 season delivers odd blend of emotions
I
t doesn’t mean the system is perfect, but this time it worked out perfectly. Clemson and Alabama will meet in college football’s national championship game next week, MAX and after a BULTMAN long bowl season, there’s little doubt that is the just outcome. Both Michigan and Penn State, the two fan bases with the loudest — if not most convincing — gripes over being left out of the playoff, lost late in two of the most thrilling games this season. Ohio State and Washington, losers of the two semifinals, were little match for the Crimson Tide and Tigers, who will play in the title game for the second straight year. After all the animated arguments over which Big Ten teams were most deserving of a playoff shot, the short answer was: it didn’t really matter. That’s not to say the committee didn’t get it right. Their job was to pick the four best teams, and, given the information at the time, they probably did. What it really means is that fans can rest at ease when they watch this year’s title game, their reasons to shout now muted. Instead, the natural end-of-season feelings can take hold early. And at Michigan, the predominant feeling is disappointment. Before the Wolverines lost to Iowa nearly two months ago, they sat at 9-0, with every indication that a playoff berth would be in their future. When they lost on a last-second field goal, it was fair to wonder
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Michigan’s fans are left in a tough position, as their team didn’t perform well enough to earn a berth in the College Football Playoff, but Alabama and Clemson seem to be the best teams in the nation.
whether that loss might hold an epic team back from its destiny. Those fears were magnified, and ultimately realized, when Michigan came up on the wrong end of a double-overtime classic at Ohio State two weeks later. And then came the Orange Bowl. The Wolverines started flat, finished flashy and ultimately came up short once more in a 33-32 loss to Florida State. In the end, they finished
It has been a long time since a 10-win season was a disappointment.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Michigan in search of first conference win KEVIN SANTO
Managing Sports Editor
Michigan coach John Beilein is on the brink of a benchmark. After dropping its Big Ten opener to Iowa in overtime, 86-83, the Michigan men’s basketball team has returned home with an opportunity to give Beilein his 200th career win in its matchup against Penn State (1-1 Big Ten, 9-6 overall) on Wednesday night. The loss to the Hawkeyes wasn’t an easy pill to swallow, as the Wolverines (0-1, 10-4) came a non-foul call and four points shy of notching their first win in CarverHawkeye Arena since 2011. “We got through yesterday,” Beilein said. “Rough day after watching that Iowa game and knowing that there were moments (when) it was ours for the taking. We couldn’t finish it. “… The same thing happened to (No. 14) North Carolina, to (No. 8) Duke, to Syracuse, to Ohio State, to Purdue. The same thing happened when you go into a game and you believe you can go in there and win a game, and you don’t. That’s exactly the message to the team yesterday, that there are 17 games left in the league and we gotta grow from it.” The first of those 17 comes against the Nittany Lions, who have experienced an up-anddown season through their first 15 games. While Penn State has lost at the hands of teams like George Mason and Albany, it still boasts impressive wins against St. John’s and Georgia Tech — which defeated then-No. 13 Butler and then-No. 9 North Carolina in the last week, respectively. Guard Shep Garner leads the Nittany Lions with 13.2 points per game, and forward Mike Watkins averages the most rebounds with 8.3 per game. Still, Penn State doesn’t boast a true marquee scorer, with each member of its starting five averaging doubledigits. “They have a great mixture of
two talented kids (Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens) from the same Roman Catholic high school in (Philadelphia) that really have infused them with some young talent,” Beilein said. “And then they got some holdovers that have gained a lot of experience through wins and losses over the last two or three years. So it’s going to be a very difficult game for us.” Michigan, though, seems to have enough pieces in place to notch its first conference win, especially with the emergence of DJ Wilson. The redshirt sophomore forward scored a career-high 28 points and cleaned up the glass to the tune of 14 rebounds against Iowa. Wilson is averaging 7.1 rebounds on the year, and could prove to be stiff competition for Watkins in the paint. “The coaches kind of just told me that it was going to happen in due time and I was kind of due for a game like that,” Wilson said. “But, I don’t know, I just try to stay consistent and as confident as possible and just let things work out for themselves.” Though senior wing Zak Irvin struggled against Iowa, finishing with 12 points on 5-for15 shooting, he still leads the Wolverines with 13.9 points per game and will look to return to form against a Penn State team allowing 70.3 points per contest. With Beilein’s milestone in reach, Michigan has a chance to make its first conference win a little more special. But the Nittany Lions certainly won’t roll over, and Beilein is fully aware of that. “I’m only aware of (the milestones) when you guys say them,” he said. “…I don’t read (anything) other than the other team’s game notes. I’ll find out after the fact what happens. “It’s just never been a thing with me in any way. I never considered it. (If) you’re in this a long time, you’re going to have some milestones, but it doesn’t mean it’s anything different the next day.”
the season 10-3, their three losses determined by a total of just five points. But for those inclined to look back and wonder, “What if?” the loss to the Seminoles came with an odd blend of regret and relief. On one hand, the season that once looked special ended with the same record as last year, an apparent underachievement given all the NFL talent on the roster. On the other, at least now fans can put some distance between themselves and the nagging sensation that their team would have won it all had they just made the playoff. Clemson, which beat Florida State earlier this year, trounced the Buckeyes, 31-0. And Alabama still looked like Alabama.
The Wolverines may have been good enough to compete with those powerhouses, but they didn’t deliver a convincing enough performance to exacerbate those earlier losses. The process of healing will still be arduous, though. In a year Michigan played eight home games and won on the road at Michigan State, the Wolverines didn’t improve in the win column. A team that started 10 seniors on defense and was among the best in the nation in nearly every
category missed the playoff. Unless a better team comes along soon, those facts will sting in five years. But for now, fans can take some solace in closing the door on the 2016 season. The Wolverines found a defensive coordinator who could keep the unit close to the nation’s best for the foreseeable future. They found a capable redshirt sophomore quarterback with two more years of eligibility and a penchant for bouncing back from struggles. More than
And at Michigan, the predominant feeling is disappointment.
anything, they found out that a 10-win season isn’t satisfying anymore. It has been a long time since a 10-win season was a disappointment in Ann Arbor. This season, as promising as it started, ends looking and feeling like that. And as odd as it may be for Michigan and its fans, that’s reason for relief. Max Bultman can be reached at bultmanm@ umich.edu and on Twitter @m_bultman. Please @ him.
Behind Enemy Lines: Nittany Lion coach Patrick Chambers BETELHEM ASHAME Managing Sports Editor
Coming off an overtime loss to Iowa to open conference play, the Michigan men’s basketball team will attempt to secure its first Big Ten win when it hosts Penn State on Wednesday. The Nittany Lions boast a consensus Top 15 freshman class, and two of them — forward Lamar Stevens and guard Tony Carr — have made an immediate impact, averaging 12.1 and 11.8 points per game, respectively. Junior guard Shep Garner leads the team in scoring with an average of 13.8 and is second in total assists with 44 to Carr’s 59. The Michigan Daily sat down with Penn State coach Patrick Chambers at Big Ten Media Day in October to talk about the strength of his current recruiting class and how their unique connection to Garner could serve them well throughout the season. The Michigan Daily: Three of the freshmen on the team (Stevens, Carr and guard Nazeer Bostick) are from the same high school, Roman Catholic. How will
that help the team’s chemistry given that they all have playing experience together? Patrick Chambers: It will help our chemistry, but sometimes there’s cliques and those three are always together, so we want to break that up and make sure they understand, ‘You’re part of a team now, a bigger team.’ This is bigger than just the three Roman Catholic guys. We also have Shep Garner who’s from Roman Catholic as well, so I think he’s bridged everything very well to bring these guys in and create the chemistry and connectivity that we’re looking for to make this team even better. TMD: How do you think (Garner) will respond to playing with some of those young guys again? PC: There’s going to be a comfort level, and I think they’re going to be comfortable with him. They’re very mature beyond their years — all four of the guys — because Shep’s a junior who’s played so many minutes that you’d think he’s a senior. And these younger guys have been in a ton of
big games, so they’re conducting themselves in a very mature manner, which is good and bodes well for our future. But right now, the connectivity of this team is going well, and they’re starting to really respect and listen to Shep a lot, so I think that’s gonna help them.” TMD: How will it aid their transition to have someone like him, who they already have a relationship with, to serve as a mentor for them? PC: I think that Shep can pass down to them some of the pitfalls, some of the challenges and adversity that he went through his freshman year and sophomore year. He can kind of give them a Cliffnotes version, a little bit of a guide to show them, ‘Steer clear of this, be careful of this, this is how coach likes this,’ so they’re a little bit further ahead. TMD: How will it help them to see that someone who came from the same place as them has been able to perform at a high level on the college stage? PC: I think it gives them great confidence that they can follow
suit, that they can do it too, that they can come in and make an impact as a freshman as Shep did. And then they see the player development, they see how much they’ve gotten better or how much Shep has gotten better, and they’re gonna believe in the process just as Shep has done. TMD: How strong do you think the leadership on the team will be despite an absence of seniors on the roster? PC: (Former forward) Brandon Taylor did a wonderful job of really preparing these guys for their time to be leaders, and what I’ve done is I’ve put together a leadership council to help in that process. We have five guys that I meet with regularly that we talk about issues, talk about locker room, talk about practice, talk about academics, talk about social stuff, and it’s been really good. We’re gonna obviously vote for captains here real soon, but I think as a whole, there’s been three or four guys that have really stepped up to take the reins to help one another out to lead this group.
RYAN MCLAUGHLIN/Daily
Michigan coach John Beilein will lead the Wolverines as they face Penn State in pursuit of their first conference win Wednesday at Crisler Center.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsWednesday
January 4, 2017 — 3C
Michigan finishes third at Great Lakes Invitational After falling to Michigan Tech on Thursday, the Wolverines recovered to defeat Michigan State in overtime on Friday. LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Editor
DETROIT — With the score knotted up at 4-4 at the end of regulation, the Michigan hockey team found itself in a five-minute overtime period in its first battle of the season against in-state rival Michigan State on Friday. It would take only one goal to determine the winner of the first of five meetings between the two foes this season. That determining goal came from junior forward Tony Calderone. Assisted by junior forward Dexter Dancs, Calderone was able to clean up a loose puck and put it in the back of the net with 2:02 remaining in the overtime period. With his tenth goal of the season, Calderone helped Michigan stun the Spartans, 5-4. The Wolverines (1-3-0 Big Ten, 8-9-1 overall) took home a third-place finish in the 52nd annual Great Lakes Invitational with their victory over Michign State (0-2-0, 4-11-1), after a 2-0 loss to Michigan Tech on Thursday. “This was a learning experience,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “Sometimes we leave here with a lot of confidence, and I think we’re going to leave (the Great Lakes Invitational) with some resolve and some awareness. We can look at this and say, ‘These were the areas we’ve got to fix.’ If you’ve got a car with a flat tire and you won’t admit it, you’re not going to get very far. We’re going to stop and fix the flat. “It’s not as easy as that, but that’s what we’re going to take from this tournament.” Four of the game’s nine goals were scored in the first period, three of which came
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Junior forward Tony Calderone scored the game-winning goal to defeat the Spartans and lead Michigan to a third-place finish at the Great Lakes Invitational.
from the Wolverines. The first came 3:57 into the game, when sophomore forward Cooper Marody attempted a shot that landed behind Michigan State goaltender John Lethemon. Calderone was there to clean it up, though, opening the scoring. Michigan’s second goal came from freshman forward Will Lockwood, who managed to score a clean, unassisted wrister just two minutes later. The goal marked his seventh of the season and was his first since November 11th, when he tallied a goal against Boston University. It also put Lockwood at second for most goals scored, only behind Calderone, who has 10.
For a few minutes afterward, the Wolverines were able to keep the Spartans contained without allowing any quality chances. That was until Michigan State defenseman Carson Gatt corralled the puck on the Spartans’ end and sent it down the ice to forward Logan Lamdin. Lambdin shot the puck into the net from the left faceoff dot and whittled Michigan’s two-goal lead down to one. Senior forward Alex Kile tacked on the final goal of the period on an assist from Marody and freshman forward James Sanchez. Kile pushed the puck through a crowd of players in front of Lethemon for the
Wolverines’ third goal. The second period started with 4-on-4 play, as senior defenseman Kevin Lohan and Michigan State’s Jerad Rosburg both earned a trip to the penalty box for roughing after the whistle at the end of the first. This play decreased to 3-on3 when junior forward Cutler Martin and Spartan forward Patrick Khodorenko were both called for tripping. Despite the calls, though, both teams killed off the penalties without allowing any goals. Senior goaltender Zach Nagelvoort made critical saves throughout the period, one
of which was when Spartan forward Connor Wood brought the puck into a dangerously close position in Michigan’s zone. Nagelvoort deterred the shot, and managed another quick save soon thereafter to maintain the Wolverines’ twogoal wlead. Kile was the only player on either team to find the net in the second period, with 6:41 left on the clock. While standing near Michigan State’s net, junior defenseman Sam Piazza generated a shot, and Kile tipped the puck into the net while it was still in the air. This gave Michigan a threegoal lead heading into the third
period, but it took Spartan forward Mason Appleton just seven seconds to decrease the lead to two. After corralling the puck off the initial faceoff, Appleton scored on a breakaway to push the score to 4-2. At the 14:50 mark, Gatt left the Wolverines clinging to a one-goal lead after scoring from a wrister. “There’s a sense of confidence when you’re up 4-1, but Michigan State is a team that loves playing against us and they’re obviously not going to give up, especially in an enviroment like this, you can never count them out,” Kile said. “It was a good start for us, getting to 4-1, but it was a really bad third period for us, letting them get three straight. Moving forward, that can’t happen.” In an attempt to strengthen his team’s lead, Calderone took the puck down to Michigan State’s net and passed it to freshman forward Jake Slaker at the last moment in a desperate attempt to get the puck past Lethemon, but it was no good. In the final seconds of the period, Michigan State forward JT Stenglein skated through a crowded Michigan defense in front of the net to finish off a loose puck and score the tying goal. But Calderone took advantage of the overtime period to put the Wolverines on top in this matchup of in-state and conference rivals. “Even though they took it to overtime, it’s a good learning lesson for our team,” Marody said. “There’s going to be times in the future when we’re going to have leads going into the third period, and we learned our lesson that the other team is going to come hard and they might score a couple of goals, but we finished hard at the end of the game. It was a good lesson.”
Thome shines in victory against the Badgers Marody makes return ICE HOCKEY
MAGGIE KOLCON Daily Sports Writer
While the Michigan women’s basketball team is known for its depth and ability to spread the ball around to a variety of contributors, one individual performance stood out for the Wolverines (2-0 Big Ten, 13-3 overall) in their 73-56 road win over the Badgers (0-1, 5-9) to start the new year on a high note. Sophomore forward Hallie Thome scored more than half of Michigan’s points — 37 to be exact. That feat lands Thome at No. 2 on the list of most points during a single game in Wolverine history, a fact she knew nothing about over the course of her dominant showing. “I had no idea,” Thome said. “(Junior guard Maria Backman) tried to tell me at one of the timeouts, and I was like, ‘Maria, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.’ I don’t like knowing the points, I just like playing the game and doing my own thing.” Though Thome pushed the statistics to the back of her mind during game time, she was pleased to learn the final tally once the contest had come to a close. While Thome averages 14.6 points per game so far this season, her accuracy took her to the next level Sunday, as she shot 13-for-15 from the floor. “She hasn’t really had a breakout game in a while,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “So hopefully this really elevates her confidence, because she was sensational.” At 6-foot-5 — the tallest of the Wolverines — Thome used her height and length to her advantage in controlling the paint and making layups look effortless. She found her way to the free-throw line often and made the most of it, going 11-for13 on the afternoon. Thome not only led the team in points, but achieved a double-double by tacking on 14 rebounds. “Being aggressive and wanting to go get them (made the difference),” Thome said. “It was a close game, but we just
had the will to want to go and get it. I think that’s what our whole team had.” Junior guard Jillian Dunston played a major role on the glass as well, contributing nine defensive boards and preventing Wisconsin from gaining secondchance attempts. “That was our number one goal today, to just rebound the basketball,” Barnes Arico said. “We knew we were going to be undersized against them, and Jillian Dunston did a great job.” Freshman guard Kysre Gondrezick was another bright spot on the court for Michigan on Sunday, tallying 16 points and five rebounds of her own. As a newcomer to the Wolverines, Gondrezick has quickly made a name for herself in the conference, earning recognition as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice already this season. She has also recently broken into the starting
lineup, as this was just her second time on the court from the opening tip. She joined the starting five for the first time on Dec. 28 against Rutgers. Against the Badgers, Gondrezick’s three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter solidified Michigan’s win over Wisconsin, proving that she might stay in the starting lineup for good. The Wolverines’ leading scorer, junior guard Katelynn Flaherty, became Michigan’s fifth-highest scorer in program history with her eight-point performance. Yet it wasn’t the level of play that can usually be expected from Flaherty, who averages 17.9 points. Flaherty’s eight points make this her fourth straight game with fewer points than her season average, following her totals of eight against Vermont, 17 against American and 13 against Rutgers. “As a player, you have a
couple games like that, you start questioning everything you do,” Barnes Arico said. “You start pressing, you’re questioning when your shot is released, pretty much everything. “But she’s a tremendous player. … She’s going to play herself out of this.” While Flaherty has still managed to be productive, Michigan is expecting much more from its consensus All-Big Ten first-team player. She went 0-for-7 on 3-pointers against the Badgers, which leaves plenty of room for improvement. But while the Wolverines wait for Flaherty to regain the shooting stroke and confident approach that have characterized her career, they have capable players who can make up for the deficit. With her performance Sunday, Thome proved that she can take control and lead Michigan to victory on her own.
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Sophomore forward Hallie Thome scored more than half of Michigan’s points in the Wolverines’ win against Wisconsin.
to the ice for Wolverines MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor
Coming into the 2016-17 season, the Michigan hockey team expected sophomore forward Cooper Marody to be a main contributor on a team losing much of its scoring from the previous year. But after having academic issues last season, Marody was deemed ineligible for the first semester of this year, which meant that he would be unable to play in the Wolverines’ first 16 games. Marody finally returned to the ice Thursday in the Great Lakes Invitational. But while he had been practicing with the team all season, in his first game — against Michigan Tech in the semifinal of the tournament — the sophomore showed some signs of rust. Marody wasn’t alone. Michigan’s entire offense was stymied by the Huskies, producing just 23 shots on goal with zero goals. Marody led the Wolverines with five shots on goal, but that effort wasn’t nearly good enough, as Michigan Tech won, 2-0. “It’s hard to show up and play his first game in probably nine months and make an impact,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson after Thursday’s game. “He’s worked hard all semester in practice. I think he’ll help our team, but it wasn’t to be tonight. He had a lot of chances, a lot of guys had chances — what if — but it never happened.” Friday against Michigan State, Marody and Michigan’s offense flipped the script. The Wolverines notched five goals in all, with Marody earning three assists. One of the beneficiaries of Marody’s playmaking was senior
forward Alex Kile, who was on the same line as Marody in both games. Kile scored two goals against the Spartans, both off assists from Marody. And though the GLI served as the first time the two have played together this season, their improvement from one game to the next was noticeable. “The first game back, it’s going to be a lot different than just practicing,” Marody said. “It’s been a while since I played a game and really got up to that speed. And I think after a day of playing together, me and Alex have gained great chemistry. And I think as a team we just played better, which helped us play better.” Added Kile: “I think time will tell with our chemistry. But we’re two players that want to play with each other, and any time you have that, I think chemistry will form right off the bat. So, I mean, we’ve still got 20-plus games left, and I think as the season goes on we’re just going to get better.” Michigan can only hope that the two will be able to develop that relationship, and that Marody will continue to improve as the season goes on. Not only did Marody provide another scoring threat on offense, but he also provides experience on defense. The sophomore wasn’t on the ice for any of the six goals scored against the Wolverines this weekend, and though plus-minus can be a flawed statistic, Marody’s presence was surely felt. And on a team looking for answers after the first half of its season, Michigan will hope to ride some momentum from Marody’s return. With a majority of the Big Ten season left to play, coupled with the Wolverines’ inconsistency thus far, they need a boost from somewhere.
“I think he’ll help our team, but it wasn’t to be tonight.”
SportsWednesday
4C — January 4, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan falls short against Hawkeyes in overtime, 86-83 The Wolverines haven’t notched a win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since 2011 and dropped their conference opener Sunday. BRANDON CARNEY Daily Sports Writer
IOWA CITY — The Michigan men’s basketball team hadn’t won a game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena since 2011. Even then, the Wolverines needed five extra minutes to get the job done. On the first day of 2017, Michigan (0-1 Big Ten, 10-4 overall) found out overtime would not be in the formula to break that streak, as the Wolverines dropped their Big Ten opener to Iowa, 86-83. Hawkeye guard Peter Jok, who entered Sunday’s contest leading the conference averaging 21.9 points per game, hit a three with the game knotted at 81 and 1:18 to go that ultimately gave Iowa (1-1, 9-6) the breathing room it needed to pull out the win. The Wolverines had a couple of opportunities to catch up to the Hawkeyes to force another overtime period or even leave with the win. Down three, senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. stole an inbound pass and took it all the way to the rim to trim the deficit to one. After a pair of Jok free throws brought Iowa’s lead back up to three with 19.7 seconds left, redshirt sophomore forward DJ Wilson missed a three with seven seconds to go. Wilson’s attempt was rebounded by senior guard Zak Irvin, who, after a couple passes, had the ball in his hands again. But he failed to get a shot off from behind the arc with Hawkeye defenders swarming him as the final seconds ticked away. “It wasn’t really for me, it was more for (Walton) and (redshirt junior guard Duncan Robinson) rolling up,” Wilson said of his final shot. “I got the skip pass and I think I got a look and just shot it wrong.” The Wolverines had a chance
to prevent the game from going into overtime in the first place, when Michigan had the ball with the game tied at 74 and 15 seconds remaining. Walton let the clock wind down before driving toward the hoop and absorbing contact in the process. No foul was called and the ball went out of bounds, inevitably sending the game into overtime. “I hated that,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “We ran something that I (thought) would get (sophomore forward Moritz Wagner) open on a ball screen or to do something and we didn’t get rid of it quick enough. “But that was my fault. We should have run something, we
had just put it in the other day and I thought it would work. We should have run something we have run more.” The Wolverines’ inability to put the game away against Iowa cost them an important conference road victory and a chance to find momentum early in the Big Ten season. But there are some silver linings Michigan can leave Iowa City with. Both Wilson and Wagner each had games to remember in their first career Big Ten starts. Even in the opening minutes of Sunday’s matchup, it was clear Wilson was going to have a career day. With over four minutes
Daily Sports Writer
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A half-hour after the Michigan football team’s season ended in a 33-32 loss, Chris Evans walked around the Wolverines’ locker room with an Orange Bowl program and a marker. Looking like a young sports fan getting the chance to meet his heroes, the freshman running back went from locker to locker, asking for signatures on the program’s front cover. Evans walked up to quarterback Shane Morris, a redshirt junior who is rumored to be playing elsewhere next year as a graduate transfer. He made his way to wide receiver Amara Darboh, a fifth-year senior who had just caught a 2-point conversion to give Michigan a three-point lead before Florida State ultimately snatched it away. And finally, Evans found the leader of his position group, senior running back De’Veon Smith, waiting for him in the middle of the room, happy to inscribe his name on the blue-and-white cover. Those were just three of many
1-for-11 in the opening half but found some rhythm in the final 25 minutes, finishing with a combined 25 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. “Those guys are expected to do a lot of things,” Beilein said. “They’re guarding their two best players, then they have to turn around and score on offense. That’s the mindset a senior has got to have and I like the way they rebounded out of that.” Robinson was also essential
“We should have run something we have run more.”
in Michigan’s effort down the stretch, scoring 15 points on 6-for-12 shooting. But even that wasn’t enough, as the Wolverines will once again leave Iowa City without a win, heartbroken they couldn’t finish in crunch time. Even when they had multiple opportunities to clinch a victory, Michigan fell short in the critical moments. “The balls didn’t bounce our way sometimes, but that’s Big Ten play and we have to learn from it,” Beilein said. “Our guys are really disappointed, but we have 17 more games in this league. Hopefully there are a lot of things we will learn and take forward to Penn State on Wednesday.”
ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily
Redshirt sophomore DJ Wilson scored a career-high 28 points and added 14 rebounds to notch a double-double in the Wolverines’ overtime loss.
Evans, freshmen disappointed to send seniors out with a loss JACOB GASE
left in the first half, the forward surpassed his previous career high of 16 points on his way to finishing with a double-double of 28 points and 14 rebounds. Wagner also had his own moments navigating the Hawkeyes’ defense in the post. He finished with 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Walton and Irvin, on the other hand, had a difficult return from their holiday break. The pair shot
players who were facing the end of their careers as Wolverines after the loss, and Evans wanted to make sure he remembered them all. “I came into this game saying, ‘I’m just gonna play for the seniors,’ so I feel like we let them down,” he said. “So I just wanted to get that. … (They were) really impactful on me. I came in to really nobody being there for me, to the seniors like De’Veon coming to me (all the time). So (if) I just keep riding with them, good things happen.” Evans himself didn’t let anyone down with his play — his 49 yards on the ground and 6.1 yards per play both were team highs, and his 30-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter nearly stood as the gamewinning score with under two minutes to play. (“I thought we had it in the bag,” he said.) But the Seminoles answered with a go-ahead touchdown, and though another freshman — safety/linebacker Josh Metellus — contributed to Michigan by returning a blocked extra point for two points, the Wolverines couldn’t retake the lead. Thinking about the heartbreaking ending for Smith
GRANT HARDY/Daily
Freshman running back Chris Evans scored a touchdown late in the game.
and the rest of the seniors, Evans couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “It was all for the seniors,” he said. “All the hard work that we put in — especially for the young guys. The coaches were saying, ‘Do it for the seniors, this game is for them.’” It was especially personal for the running backs, who blossomed under senior leadership in 2016. Evans praised Smith’s openness, saying that he felt like he could go to him for anything, from “girl problems” to football questions. Fellow freshman running back Kareem Walker — who redshirted and had to take some time away from football to catch up on his academics earlier this season — echoed the importance of having a role model to look up to during his tumultuous first year on campus. “I love it,” he said. “It’s a very humbling experience. You’ve got guys like (Smith) who’ve really done a lot. … I could feel like I’m doing bad, and he’ll tell me, ‘No, you’re not doing bad at all.’ Our relationship really got a lot stronger as the year went on, and things starting going well for me.” Evans and Walker are part of what could be the first of many talented recruiting classes to come to Ann Arbor in the coming years, and the class has already shown plenty of promise. But when the Wolverines resume practice in the spring, Smith and the rest of this year’s senior leaders won’t be around to guide them anymore. “I feel like next year I’ve gotta come back and be able to be a whole different player,” Evans said. “To fill the role of De’Veon, it’s gonna be hard. He’s so experienced in all the little things, and it’s just gonna be hard filling that hole.” In the meantime, though, Evans will have his Orange Bowl program, a collection of all the names that helped carve the path for his class to follow. And with big shoes to fill and a season-ending loss hanging over the team’s heads, Evans says they already feel like it’s time to get back to work.
Jake Butt suffers tragic injury in final game of his Michigan career MAX BULTMAN Daily Sports Writer
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Wednesday night, Jake Butt stood in front of a Brazilian steakhouse in Miami Beach and defended the decisions of two of his peers to sit out their bowl games for fear of injury. He was visibly ill and had given bland answers to most of the questions, but when the topic came up, he defended Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette with gusto. “Here we are, we’re living off rent checks, a guy sees an opportunity for a lifelong dream in the NFL, they make a business decision. I can’t judge anybody,” he said. “I don’t know what all went into that decision, and I’m not going to pretend to know. So I’m not going to judge or act on that. I support those guys, and best of luck to them.” How cruel is fate? Some 50-odd hours later, Butt was writhing in pain on the 6-yard line at Hard Rock Stadium. The very risk McCaffrey and Fournette sought to avoid by sitting out their respective bowl games had struck Butt. Fighting for extra yards after he had already picked up a first down, Butt absorbed a hit on his right knee. His plant leg bent sideways. Later, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh revealed it was either an MCL or an ACL injury, though he did not know the severity. The injury could prove devastating. “Irony, I guess,” said fifthyear senior Ryan Glasgow. “Some twisted joke.” Butt eventually walked off the field, giving the crowd a thumbsup on his way to the tunnel, but it was clear he wasn’t right. He did not return. “Cruel fate is probably a good way to put it,” Glasgow said. “I mean, we are to the gods as flies are to wanton boys.” There’s plenty of room to debate whether players ought to sit out bowl games, whether they owe it more to the school to play or to themselves to be safe, but
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Senior tight end Jake Butt injured his ACL in the second quarter Saturday.
this much is hardly up for debate: What happened to Jake Butt on Friday is tragic. It didn’t take Glasgow’s “King Lear” reference to see that. Here was a player unwilling to judge his peers for their own decisions but still himself committed to playing. He somehow did right by both sides of the argument, and in the end, he paid the price. We won’t know just how steep a price until later on, perhaps after an MRI, but Glasgow said, from what he’s heard, it “doesn’t look too good.” ESPN’s Darren Rovell tweeted Friday that Butt took out a $4 million disability insurance policy and a $2 million loss of value policy that he can start collecting if he falls beyond the second round of the NFL Draft. That, at least, is a small consolation. But that was far from the minds of Butt’s teammates in the locker room. “It’s horrible,” said senior cornerback Jourdan Lewis. “Especially when you have the desire to go out and play with your teammates, and when you have future endeavors that you’re thinking about that a lot of people wouldn’t understand if you didn’t play. It’s a horrible misfortune of events that it happened to Jake,
and I’m just praying that he has a big bounce back, and I know the guy has great things in store for him.” Added fifth-year senior defensive end Chris Wormley: “When you’ve put in as much work as he has, came back from an ACL injury a couple years ago, team captain, put his heart and soul into this team each and every day, sometimes you ask ‘Why?’ Sometimes you don’t understand why things happen to a good person like Jake.” It seems beside the point that Michigan sorely missed its captain and Mackey Award winner in its 33-32 loss in the Orange Bowl, but it’s a safe bet that wasn’t far from Butt’s mind as the calendar turned to Saturday. “Never once crossed my mind to sit this game out,” he tweeted afterward. Maybe, you could argue, it should have. Or maybe fate is fate, and, as Butt also tweeted, “God has a plan.” Maybe the guy just got sinisterly unlucky. Wherever he was in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Butt was still taking the high road. But perhaps some part of him was more like his teammates — shocked, devastated and left to wonder, “Why?”