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Wednesday, March 22, 2017
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SpringFest to ft. 2 Chainz, Lil Yachty, Desiigner DESIGN BY: KATIE BEUKEMA
Higher education funding takes hit in proposed Trump budget cuts
Programs aimed at helping lower income student, such as Pell Grants, to decrease CARLY RYAN
Daily Staff Reporter
President Donald Trump’s budget proposal suggests downsizing the Department of Education by 13 percent, or $9 billion, and eliminates multiple grants, including Pell Grants and other programs aimed
at helping low-income students. The proposed budget reduces or eliminates funding for more than 20 departmental programs, including removing $2.4 billion in grants for teacher training and $1.2 billion in funding for after-school programs. At a rally in Tennessee, Trump said this budget will be more efficient, cutting programs on the basis of
redundancy. “(The budget will lower) costs to the taxpayer by reducing or eliminating funding for programs that are not effective, that duplicate other efforts or that do not serve national needs,” Trump said at the rally. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos agreed, promising the most
“vulnerable” students will be protected despite the large cuts being made. “This budget maintains our department’s focus on supporting states and school districts with the goal of providing an equal opportunity for a quality education to all students,” DeVos said at a See TRUMP, Page 3A
Annual show to be held at Crisler, will feature three headliners instead of one ANAY KATYAL
Managing Arts Editor
After bringing the likes of Migos, J. Cole and Common to campus, MUSIC Matters’ SpringFest will be hosting headliners 2 Chainz, Lil Yachty and Desiigner at the Crisler Center for the organization’s largest planned concert to date. MUSIC Matter’s sixth annual charity festival will take place on Friday, April 14 and will consist of a day-long festival with live performances from local and emerging talent, a pitch competition, food trucks and a closing performance at the Crisler Center from a headlining trio of 2 Chainz, Lil Yachty and
Desiigner, with proceeds going toward a summer camp for Detroit youth to be hosted at the University of Michigan this coming summer. Grammy-winner 2 Chainz will be making his second appearance on campus, last performing at Hill Auditorium for SpringFest in 2014. Additionally, in a change from SpringFest’s usual singleheadliner concerts, 2 Chainz will also be joined by hip-hop artists Lil Yachty and Desiigner. The two artists both boast meteoric rises to fame, immediately finding themselves in the public eye after breakout projects released early last year. “Broccoli,” Lil Yachty’s See SPRINGFEST, Page 3A
New version of ART to be less biased, Housing ‘U’ orgs to crisis talk more informative than other ratings collaborate
CAMPUS LIFE
ADMINISTRATION
highlights race issues
Academic Reporting Tools 2.0 will make course evaluation data available
Notable authors Matthew Desmond and Alex Kotlowitz addressed 200
The University of Michigan Digital Innovation Greenhouse, housed within the Office of Academic Innovation, released a new version of Academic Reporting Tools earlier this week, which will make course evaluation data more readily available to students. Mike Wojan, a DIG userexperience designer who worked with students and other team members to design ART 2.0, said the major difference between the newest version of ART and previous iterations is the inclusion of the courseevaluation data, a decision based largely on student feedback. He said the ultimate goal of ART is summed up in the slogan: “explore, discover and decide.” “Those are the three things we’re trying to help facilitate right now: students exploring their options when it’s time to register courses, discovering things they might not have known about, courses or instructors or topics that the might not have known about, and then making more informed decisions when it comes time to register,” he said. Wojan explained the data will be represented in terms of a bar graph showing the percentage of students who
ALON SAMUEL
Daily Staff Reporter
Hosted by the Ford School of Public Policy and the National Poverty Center, a research center within the school, an event surrounding issues of race, poverty and housing in American cities was held Tuesday night in Rackham Ampitheatre and consisted of a discussion between Matthew Desmond and Alex Kotlowitz about their work within the context of the nationwide affordable-housing crisis. More than 200 University of Michigan students, faculty and Ann Arbor community members packed the auditorium to hear from Desmond, a Harvard sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient who recently published the awardwinning book, “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” an ethnographic account of lowincome residents in northern Milwaukee facing the loss of their homes. Kotlowitz is also an award-winning author and prominent journalist covering issues of urban poverty for See CRISIS, Page 3A
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EMILY MIILLER Daily Staff Reporter
responded to course evaluations questions in a certain way, like the percentage that “strongly agree.” These feature will include icons representing the sentiment behind each question, like a crystal ball to indicate many students agreed that they knew what was expected of them in the course. “We had to decide how are we going to give this information back to the user,” Wojan said. “What is going to be the easiest way for students to look at these evals, and right away understand what the data’s actually saying about the course or about the instructor?” Amy Homkes-Hayes, lead innovation advocate of DIG, said student feedback has been instrumental to the
improvement of ART, and will be necessary for its continued success. “We also have a lot of student support,” she said. “That’s one of the major ways that we’re spreading the word is by going through our student representatives to say this is a tool we want students to use while they’re engaging the backpacking process and for course selection.” She said the decisions of what information from course evaluations to include in ART were based on criteria established by the Office of the Provost, the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs and Central Student Government. The groups agreed on including standards
set for data shown based on class size, number of evaluation responses and number of semesters taught. In addition to the use of aggregate data and displaying the number of student responses compared to the number enrolled in the class, these parameters, HomkesHayes explained, heighten the validity of the data shown. “One of the benefits of using ART 2.0 is that this is official University data,” she said. “We have the blessing of all of the relevant parties in order to show it, and we also believe that we’re showing it in a really sophisticated way … that makes it easy to understand.” In an email interview, August Evrard, professor of physics See ACADEMICS, Page 3A
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 50 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
on space capsule
The first ever launch aims to commemorate the University bicentennial KEVIN BIGLIN
Daily Staff Reporter
To celebrate and reflect on the University of Michigan’s bicentennial, M-BARC, the Michigan Bicentennial Archive, is designing, creating and launching the first-ever space time capsule into space, which will orbit the Earth for 100 years. As the University continues to push toward space research, the launch of the capsule marks a new era of discovery. Business senior Saanya Sethi, the M-BARC interview team leader, said the bicentennial is about celebrating the past and embracing the future — themes the time capsule will be able to represent in a tangible way. With an anticipated launch date in 2018 or 2019, there will be a test launch by the end of 2017, for which M-BARC was given an award to have a free rideshare test launch with three other winners. Part of the time capsule will include interviews with students, faculty, staff and alumni talking about their experiences at the University, which will be recorded and stored on a data chip in the See CAPSULE, Page 3A
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7
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ON THE DAILY: COACH JIM HARBAUGH GOES NUTS FOR NUTS Jim Harbaugh, head coach of the University of Michigan football team, recently played himself in a Planters commercial, where he embraces his persona on the football field in its “Shout for Nuts” promotion. The 15-second commercial premiered Tuesday and features Harbaugh standing at a Planters vending machine in the middle of a mall. Harbaugh yells, “I love peanuts,” at the vending machine, and, after not receiving any, throws his hat on the ground. Harbaugh took to Twitter after formally meeting Mr. Peanut, calling him a “heck of a good Peanut” and a fan of the University of Michigan. To get peanuts from the
machine, Harbaugh said you need to reach a high enough decibel of noise to trigger their release. “It was shouting into a machine and you had to get the decibel level high enough to get the can of peanuts to come out,” Harbaugh told Sporting News. Harbaugh said he was incentivized during the commercial. “I was highly motivated,” Harbaugh also told Sporting News. “I like to eat peanuts as I said. I told my dad I was coming out here to do this, and he was expecting a year-long supply of peanuts, so I had to do good.” - KEVIN BIGLIN
Michigan Football
MAJOR/MINOR EXPO
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One day closer... Spring Ball is coming #GoBlue
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Did I come to the union to study or to eat chicken nuggets? Only time will tell.
KELLY YU/Daily Anna Fedder visits the table where Kayla Dombrowski and Nita Kedharnath represent the Physics Department at the Major/Minor Expo in the Union on Tuesday.
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Massage the Stress Away
Author’s Forum: “A Perfect Life”
22nd Annual Exhibition of Art by Prisoners
WHAT: Students can get a free 10-minute massage and eat desserts at this event aimed toward relieving stress. WHO: Center for Campus Involvement WHEN: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Kalamazoo Room
WHAT: English Prof. Eileen Pollack will present and read from her new book, “A Perfect Life.” A discussion with Prof. Tim McKay will follow. WHO: Author’s Forum WHEN: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Hatcher Graduate Library, Gallery 100
WHAT: One of the largest exhibitions of art by incarcerated artists in Michigan will be on display. WHO: The Prisoner Creative Arts Project WHEN: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. WHERE: Duderstadt Center, Media Union
Visualizing the Occult: Spirit Photography
Plantacular Succulent Party
WHAT: Prof. Deirdre de la Cruz presents her research on early 20th-century spirit photographs in the Philippines. WHO: University Library WHEN: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. WHERE: Hatcher Graduate Library, Clark Library
WHAT: To celebrate the coming of spring, come get a succulent plant to decorate your room and help relieve stress during the remainder of the school year. WHO: Center for Campus Involvement WHEN: Noon to 2 p.m. WHERE: The Diag
Medieval Lunch WHAT: Megan Behrend will lead a talk looking at the significance of the book “Gg,” known for collecting Chaucer’s work in a single codex, as a multilingual archive. WHO: Medieval and Early Modern Studies WHEN: Noon to 1 p.m. WHERE: Tisch Hall, Room 1014
UMich North Books Social Area Brown Bag
@UMichNorthBooks
WHAT: Iris Wang, a University of Michigan graduate student, will present her research that looks at how vulnerability to infectious disease predicts interoceptive awareness. WHO: Department of Psychology WHEN: Noon to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: East Hall, Room 4464
University of Michigan ‘zombie apocalypse’ drill set for Saturday
Jamie Edmonds
University Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras
@Jamie_Edmonds
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The Leadership Engagement Scholarship faced backlash over $5 payment Daily Staff Reporter
A new resolution aiming to expand access of Medicaid benefits to the University Health System services took the Central Student Government floor at Tuesday night’s meeting. The resolution asks UHS to absorb the fees currently being charged to students and their dependents who receive standard Medicaid benefits. This would be during the period of time the University of Michigan applies for a waiver to the state of Michigan to service just University students who receive Medicaid and not the greater Washtenaw area, which current provision of Medicaid enforces. Social Work senior Brittney Williams, the author of the resolution and an assembly member who currently receives
HUGABLE.
Medicaid benefits, shared with the committee the extensive duration of time the University has taken to obtain the waiver to service just University students. “They know what’s going on, they just refuse to do this efficient work to get it done,” Williams said, visibly becoming emotional at the meeting. “You can go to UHS if your leg is broken, but you can’t get crutches if you have Medicaid.” Rep. Sheema Rehman, an LSA senior, agreed, stating students needed to have their needs addressed. “This is a concern that has been going on for a very long time at the University,” Rehman said. “UHS has done its best in the time being, but at the same time, the fact of the matter is students at this university pay part of their tuition to go to UHS and so, by virtue, being a student, fundamentally, we should have access to the University’s health
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service.” Rehman also iterated the significant amount of funds allocated through tuition that go toward paying for the services by UHS. She stressed the relevance of the University’s recent diversity initiatives to be more inclusive, stating this resolution directly relates to its purpose and goals. “If we’re really going to an inclusive university and go beyond just talking about DEI the way that you are inclusive to all students is recognizing this concern by a small number and even if it’s one person it shouldn’t matter,” Rehman said. Under the health-service fee included in student’s tuition, services such as contraceptive devices and standard medical equipment are not covered and require medical insurance for coverage. Currently, UHS services a variety of health-care providers such as expansive Medicaid and Medicare but does not service the standard Medicaid insurance. Funding for waivers will aim to be provided in part by the DEI initiative as well as Student Life funds. The resolution to support the plan was passed 35-1, with one abstaining. Another resolution was tabled regarding current student concerns about the funding of the Leadership Engagement Scholarship. The scholarship aims to reduce the costs and barriers students with “demonstrated need” currently face and that prevent them from being involved in extracurricular activities. The scholarship would allow them to lead and join their respective student organizations.
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It’s good to still be playing on March 21 #MarchMadness #Michigan
WHAT: Both University Orchestras will perform music from Beethoven, “2001: A Space Odyssey” and more. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: Hill Auditorium
Central Student Government talks Medicaid in UHS, scholarship fee DYLAN LACROIX
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CAPSULE From Page 1A capsule. Forty students are working on M-BARC, while about 100 are coordinating and conducting interviews. “(The time capsule will) showcase how far the University has come in the past 200 years,” Sethi said. “(It will) leave a lasting legacy of who we, members of the University of Michigan community, are now for 100 years down the road.” M-BARC project lead Hashmita Koka, a Rackham student in aerospace engineering, said the time capsule will store 1,000 interviews from students, faculty and alumni etched onto silicon wafers. Koka was also one of the first students to work on the project when it began. Koka said she believes once all the interviews are completed, many different people with ties to the University from around the world will be interconnected through the time capsule. “I think one of the big things is bringing so many people, like alumni from all over the world,” Koka said. “In a hundred years, we’ll have people from all over the world that might have some kind of connection to it.” Sethi said her favorite part about collecting interviews is listening to people’s stories and their memories from the University. “It is so interesting to go
SPRINGFEST From Page 1A collaboration with R&B artist D.R.A.M., thrust the 19-year-old artist into hiphop’s limelight after achieving quadruple-platinum status, while Desiigner’s surprise feature on Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo resulted in Def Jam signing the previously unknown rapper to a record deal. His hit single “Panda” also achieved quadruple-platinum status in the United States. SpringFest’s announced headliners come on the heels of a hallmark partnership between MUSIC Matters and record label Universal Music Group. All three artists are signed to an imprint of UMG: Both 2 Chainz and Desiigner are signed to Def Jam and Lil Yachty is a recent addition to Capitol Records’ roster. UMG’s partnership with MUSIC Matters also marks the label’s
ACADEMICS From Page 1A and astronomy and the faculty lead of ART 2.0, acknowledged concerns about the validity of data, specifically noting the possibility of biased student evaluations. However, he feels University data will be more objective than other sources online. “There are always concerns when dealing with quantitative data,” he wrote. “Some faculty are concerned about potential biases in the student evaluations of teaching that could put certain faculty members at risk. Previous research has indicated that such biases are moderate at Michigan, and the common alternative, RateMyProfessor, is likely to be more biased than our own data, so the previous Provost decided that, on balance, the benefits of sharing (student evaluations) broadly outweigh this particular risk. But this is a concern that we need to study more closely and have more conversations around as we go forward.” Evrard wrote he believes the expansion of ART will ultimately be beneficial for faculty members in that it may eventually allow professors the opportunity to include teaching statements and accomplishments in profiles on these pages. “Instructors now know that there is a page for each of them that describes their teaching history at the university,” he wrote. “Making this information public is
through life thinking one thing but have that be completely changed when I am hearing these interviews,” she said. “I have had Michigan alumni — the oldest being 97 — email me to ask to be interviewed. They have told me stories about being the first female in the marching band to the panty raids that used to occur back in the day.” In addition to M-BARC, the Department of American Culture offered a class this semester designed to generate material for the time capsule. LSA senior Julia Smith, who is enrolled in the class, said her project aims to create a narrative of collective identity from narratives of individual student experience. “The best way to describe my particular project for the time capsule is to call it a collective diary,” Smith said. “The project depends on student submissions, in which each student writes about their typical day at Michigan and then splits this day into sections based on the progression of a regular day.” Smith said her final project will be a book putting all of the days together in a format that allows a “typical” day at Michigan to be read in multiple ways, or to piece together parts of different students’ days to make a complete day. “The end goal is to represent as many student voices as possible, and to get the campus community thinking
about individual identity and the ways in which it is both recognized and dismissed by our collective identity as University of Michigan students,” she said. Koka said the time capsule will have a tracking system installed on it to monitor its location. After 100 years, Koka said, there is no formal plan yet in place to send it back to Earth. “We’re going to have electronics to be able to communicate with it and maneuver it to get to the right orbit,” Koka said. “The tracking system is really important because we want to track it for a hundred years. The hope is that if we keep tracking it, a team of students a hundred years from now will design a mission to retrieve it.” In addition to the interviews and humanities project, the capsule will host a DNA experiment testing the effects of radiation in space. “We’re basically encoding the University of Michigan’s admission statement into synthetic DNA,” Koka said. “We want to test the viability of DNA as a storage method in space, because we want to study the effects of radiation in space.” Sethi said this is unprecedented work and will push the limits of science.
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first foray into newfound campus-centric initiatives, according to a statement released by MUSIC Matters. Per the release, starting this year, UMG plans on hosting campus festivals nationwide, modeling them after SpringFest’s format. In the statement, LSA senior Austin Dixon, talent and concert chair of MUSIC Matters, notes the partnership has made it possible for the Crisler Center to host its first concert since 2002. “I think 2 Chainz, Lil Yachty, and Desiigner all bring an energy that will really excite the student body, so to be able to give that experience to our fellow classmates and peers is truly incredible,” Dixon said. Unlike past events, MUSIC Matter’s latest SpringFest concert also marks a notable shift from its usual venue of choice. Unlike Hill Auditorium, which has a seating capacity of 3,500, the Crisler Center boasts an ability to host up to 12,707
people; additionally, this year’s SpringFest concert will be the Crisler Center’s first studentproduced concert since 1994. In the statement, MUSIC Matters’ president Max Fisher, an LSA senior, said the audacious acts and change in scale illustrates the organization’s intent to build on its long-standing ambition. “SpringFest is an incredible vehicle that unites campus through one event, combining the passion and energy of Michigan students with the academic and entrepreneurial spirit of the University,” the statement reads. “We are all ecstatic about the growth and magnitude of our festival year after year.” Tickets to the performance will start at $19.99 for students with valid UM IDs and $29.99 for the public. Tickets will be available both online on the official MUSIC Matters website and at the Michigan Union Ticket Office beginning Thursday at 12 p.m. and 10 a.m., respectively.
consistent with the open nature of our public institution, and I do hope that these pages will grow to contain more information about faculty’s teaching philosophies and accomplishments. … Also, some faculty are very innovative in their teaching - perhaps by inventing new courses to fill an emerging need - and these pages offer a potential means to highlight such innovations.” Evrard hopes, in addition to other benefits for students registering for classes, ART will encourage students to fill out course evaluations more thoughtfully. “An additional area of impact is the Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) themselves,” he wrote. “As students realize that their collective feedback on teaching will be shared with other students, we anticipate higher response rates and increasingly thoughtful responses to SET survey questions. This is where coordination with student government is essential.” Wojan emphasized the importance of student feedback concerning ART to optimize its usefulness to students, not only in surveys, but also throughout the design process. “It’s important for me to remember that I have to design things not just in my own head but something that’s representative of what the end users are asking for,” he said. “So (student input) is a good way of keeping us honest making sure that we have the right ideas about what people are asking for.” LSA senior Noah Betman,
CSG chief of staff, acted as a liaison between CSG and DIG throughout the development of ART, which he said was a productive experience. “I felt like my voice has been heard in the room, so it’s not just a token student voice kind of situation,” he said. “I’ve been able to provide a lot of good input, and the product that is being released … is something that students will appreciate and that will find beneficial.” Betman said he feels ART will be a useful tool for students in the future, in terms of giving them information about workload and past students’ experiences. “Having that out there when creating your own schedule and making sure that the balance in the best way for you understanding that you know if a course has a heavier workload than another course matters a lot to students,” he said. Wojan said DIG will continue improving and adding features, and mentioned the possibility of allowing students to craft personal profiles on ART or see grade distributions. “Moving forward we’re trying to do even more with ART, we’re trying to get students even more personalized and engaging experience on the platform,” he said. “Our goal for ART is to have some new really useful functionality each term. And so you know we’re excited about that and it keeps us on our toes because you know we’re always designing something new and exciting that’s going to be going out you can see right away.”
TRUMP From Page 1A conference in Washington D.C. on Feb. 14. Still, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D– Mich.), the former chair of the Wayne State University Board of Governors, said in a statement that despite claims some education programs are duplicative, many students still rely on them. “President Trump’s proposed budget would put education even further out of reach for families by cutting or eliminating vital programs students rely on to help fund their college education, including cutting federal work-study programs and ending Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants, which more than 52,000 students in Michigan received last year.” Low-income students are expected to be most affected. The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program, which provides need-based aid to 1.6 million undergraduates a year, is slated to be eliminated. LSA junior Enrique Zalamea, president of the University’s chapter of the College Republicans, said he does not see this as a loss, however, considering the criticism the program has received for being inefficient. “A large portion of this budget cut comes from the reduction of the Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant; an outdated program that gives money directly to colleges as opposed to lowincome students.” Additionally, the Trump
CRISIS From Page 1A several publications including The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker. Kotlowitz described the importance of studying U.S. cities in order to understand American society as a whole, discussing specifically his study of Chicago and the growing inequalities within it. “If you’re willing to look for the fissures in the American landscape, you’re going to find them within the confines of that city,” Kotlowitz said. “For me, what’s notable about Chicago, and now very many other cities, is that it’s very much a tale of two cities.” In Chicago, certain neighborhoods have grown “miraculously” according to Kotlowitz, while the south and west sides have not grown at all, and instead have gotten worse. Desmond agreed inequality in U.S. cities and around the world was striking. “What concerns me (about cities) is how unlivable they’re becoming,” Desmond said. “So
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 — 3A administration plans to reduce the work-study program “significantly,” though it doesn’t detail how much it would be reduced. Currently, the program spends about $1 billion to provide more than 600,000 college students with jobs pertinent to their studies, according to the National Association for Financial Aid Administrators. Though the work-study program has received bipartisan support for providing a job rather than a handout, it has been criticized for providing too much for the affluent and not enough for low-income families. The structure of the workstudy program allocates money toward colleges and universities that have been in the program for a longer time; historically, those colleges and universities are more expensive and have wealthier students. Additionally, Zalamea said the work-study is not effective at creating opportunities for those who would not have otherwise had them. “Another large portion of the cuts come from reducing the federal work-study program, which actually demonstrates a high participation rate from people who would have worked regardless of the program, or from wealthy students,” he said. TRIO programs, which are geared toward low-income, firstgeneration and disabled students, and GEAR UP face nearly $200 million in funding cuts. The University has been criticized for its lack of socioeconomic diversity and Public Policy junior Rowan Conybeare, chair of the University’s chapter of College Democrats, said the University’s diversity will be
further hindered without these programs. “Low-income, first-generation and disabled students are unfortunately few and far between at UM,” Conybeare said. “Cuts to TRIO programs will only augment this issue.” These cuts allow for the $1.4 billion expansion in voucher and private school programs, a favorite cause of DeVos. The $1.4 billion acts as a down payment to the eventual allocation of $20 billion toward voucher programs. If enacted, the $20 billion would represent one-third of federal education spending. Despite DeVos’s claims that school of choice will give students more academic opportunities, Conybeare argued draining money from the public-school system is counterintuitive to that goal. “Many students use school of choice as a means to seek out better academic opportunities,” Conybeare said. “If the Department of Education focused instead on funding and fixing our publicschool system, there would be less of a need for the School of Choice program in the first place.” However, Zalamea said school of choice will keep socioeconomic status from correlating with poor education. “It’s sad to think that in the land of the free, your ZIP code determines your quality of education,” Zalamea said. “Undoubtedly, low-income families will benefit more from school choice than they will under our current, incredibly flawed public education system.”
in New York and San Francisco and Boston, for example, rent costs more than the average household income. So the cities where the best jobs are, and the most opportunities are, are out of reach even for the middle class now.” Esi Hutchful, a Public Policy graduate student, later echoed Desmond’s concern for the affordability of cities, as well as his call for an increase in existing policies that address these problems. When asked which policies she believed required more attention, she brought up the need to address racial residential segregation in the United States. “We’ve seen in the literature and from decades of advocacy that residential racial segregation is a persistent problem that has never been truly dismantled; as we talk about better housing policy, we should not adopt a supposedly race-blind lens or only talk about race-blind economic integration,” Hutchful wrote in an email. Afton Branche, a Public Policy graduate student, said she felt it was important to seriously consider more policies of rent control and rent ceilings in the private market.
However, in the transition from identifying a problem to calling for a solution, Desmond and Kotlowitz both emphasized the need to humanize the marginalized communities portrayed in their works, thus showing their readers perspectives with which they may be unfamiliar. “One of the things you have to be careful about, especially writing about people who are really at the bottom, who are really marginalized, is not just writing about them because you want to teach a lesson, but rather to write about them with a sense of discovery,” Kotlowitz said, praising Desmond’s book for telling the stories of people in dire situations while capturing the complexities and nuances of their lives. Desmond agreed humanizing the people portrayed in their works was essential. He stressed that portraying real people was an enormous responsibility. He mentioned how he was often concerned the stories he told would be interpreted as moral failings on the part of their subjects,
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Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ANU ROY-CHAUDHURY | COLUMN
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and REBECCA TARNOPOL Editorial Page Editors
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IBRAHIM IJAZ | COLUMN
I
The wrong Movement
f you didn’t catch the featured in Movement’s entrancing Movement party’s debut music video fawned over the video, you need to watch wannabe CSG president. As if it to make an informed vote in the lack of women representation the Central Student among the candidates Government elections. — especially women Facebook users of color — wasn’t bad have been all over enough, Movement’s Movement’s video, video objectifies which amassed 44,000 women in a way that views and more than is eerily nostalgic of 200 shares as of President Trump. This March 21. Naturally, kind of objectification polarization quickly does not belong in ensued between IBRAHIM office and does not Movement’s fandom deserve the vote IJAZ and those calling of fair-minded the party out for its problematic students. Instead, we should be campaign. Though polarization championing underrepresented can be harmful, it’s important to leaders on campus to work toward recognize the need for hard-line positive change. stances when issues like populism Shortly after the recent CSG are on the come-up. To be clear, debate, hosted by The Michigan the issues with Movement’s Daily, candidate Rosen answered campaign aren’t about political a few questions that the Editorial leanings and policies, but with Board had about the party’s lack of the sheer implementation of the diversity. He responded by saying same practices that we saw in that although he tried to reach out to President Donald Trump’s 2016 as many people as possible to recruit campaign. for his party, those who responded If you need one singular were largely homogeneous. Despite piece of evidence showing the this homogeneity, he vowed to similarities between Movement’s increase diversity through the presidential nominee Evan Rosen assembly and cabinet. Rosen and President Trump, here it is: hypocritically thinks that his “I don’t think they’re hearing inability to form a diverse party this, I can rock the mike with no before the elections will magically be CSG experience.” Rosen thinks reversed once in office. it’s cool or appealing to run for Don’t get me wrong. I would office without being experienced, never argue that someone’s but the crucial lesson to learn demographics demonstrate their from the first few months of capabilities. Nor do I think anyone President Trump’s presidency in Movement has anything but is that being unqualified isn’t the best of intentions. However, the best kind of qualification. when attempting to represent Being cool doesn’t mean you’re students, many of whom feel good at understanding policy unsafe, it’s necessary to have a mix and representation. Just ask the of diversity and allyship. When “Trump Regretters” who wish students called out Movement’s they hadn’t elected the star of “The music video for female Apprentice” to the highest office. objectification and Black culture Glancing through Movement’s appropriation, Rosen’s initial Facebook album, “Meet the responses were dismissive and Squad,” anyone can see the next deplorable. “We just made a rap,” problem with the party. Out of he said, completely ignoring the 22 featured squad members, concerns raised by a University which I guess are candidates, 14 alum. When challenged for are white males. Out of the eight obnoxiously claiming to be the non-white males in the Squad, “white George Washington five are white females, three are Carver,” his response was, men of color and zero are women “I’m an innovator.” Even when of color. The lack of diversity opportunities to be an ally are among the party members, handed to Rosen, he dismisses the some of whom have titles such very real concerns of those whom as “Official DJ” and “Illuminati he wants to represent, and fails Relations Chair,” is a strong to be an effective ally. Although indicator that Movement cannot Rosen issued an official apology represent the student body. on March 21, Facebook users felt What’s worse is that the party’s the display of regret was too little, platform, which identifies that too late. we need to “Ensure our campus is If you don’t think the lack of a welcoming community for all,” representation and dismissive is hypocritical when compared to attitudes toward marginalized their candidates. students are crippling enough to Further damaging to the party’s the party’s race to the Michigan claims of diversity and inclusion Union, how about Movement’s is the fact that the only women blatant populism? As the refrain
of Rosen’s music video, the line “Give the campus back to the kids, they could use it,” deserves some attention. Language is a funny thing in that you can refer to something without explicitly saying so. When President Trump’s campaign promised to “Make America Great Again,” it evoked a reference to a previous time when the nation was great. Similarly, when Rosen preaches about giving the campus back to the kids, he is implicitly saying that students don’t have the campus in the first place. This appeal to the masses of ordinary “kids” who are supposedly unrepresented and voiceless should be a classic, unproblematic campaign move if the party were representative. But when said “kids” exclude marginalized and truly underrepresented students, it reminds me less of a campaign move and more of a populist strategy appealing to only one population: non-marginalized students. The Economist recently defined populism as a non-ideological framework that pits the population against the corrupt establishment. This call by Movement is subtle, but once examined, is reminiscent of President Trump’s calls for swampdraining and great-making. But when it comes down to the ballot, there’s one singular reason why Rosen’s Movement party shouldn’t be elected: It appears that he thinks he alone can help the University. In his op-ed for The Michigan Daily, Rosen wrote, “I created the Movement because I want to go to a university that lives up to its name, and because I see a potential for this school that I don’t think anyone else does.” Most readers should be pausing at this point, thinking about where they’ve heard this exact same rhetoric. If they need a clue, visit whitehouse.gov. Two years ago, then-officeless Donald Trump said at the onset of his campaign, “I am the only one who can make America truly great again!” Even in his Republican National Convention speech, President Trump exclaimed with full hubris, “I alone can fix it.” The go-it-alone mentality is not endearing or appealing. It has the potential to perpetuate campus issues. Clearly the complications with Movement’s campaign are problematic in many different regards. On March 22 and 23, remember the problematic nature of Movement’s campaign, which has the potential to do more harm than good, when electing your next CSG president. Be sure to vote eMerge at http://vote.umich.edu. Ibrahim Ijaz can be reached at iijaz@umich.edu.
ERIN WAKELAND | CONTACT ERIN AT ERINRAY@UMICH.EDU
Indie movie x chain sit-down restaurant
C
New and unimproved
an you put a value on a the Obama administration, but human life? You probably their efforts to produce a good don’t know the answer replacement are thoroughly lacking. to that, and neither do I. Yet, our Further, the new AHCA breaks a policies and our politics promise Mr. Trump continue to reflect an made just two months unintentional answer ago, “We’re going to that question: Yes, to have insurance we can. The latest effort for everybody.” of conservatives in Unfortunately, that Washington has been doesn’t seem like the to dismantle former case. President Barack The politics Obama’s health-care surrounding ANU ROYlaw, the Affordable Care the health-care CHAUDHURY Act — legislation that debate seem to be aimed to promote good overshadowing what’s health for all Americans, not only truly at risk: the well-being of some. Conservatives’ long-awaited Americans. House Republicans, replacement to one of Obama’s unsurprisingly, are jumping at the trademark pieces of legislation has, chance to get rid of the dreaded finally, come to fruition. Kind of. ACA, but their efforts to re-align Two weeks ago, House political power has the potential Republicans announced their to take a devastating toll on proposed plans to replace the ACA Americans across the country. with the American Health Care Act. It begs the question: Is the new Yet, unsurprisingly, the plan was law being driven by pure politics, met with disdain from Democrats or by the millions of Americans as well as hesitation from moderate who depend on government aid Republicans. Keeping up with their for a healthy life in mind? The historical opposition to Obamacare entrenched political polarization and now, with the new president’s when it comes to health care has concerted effort to take two steps effects that go beyond the walls backward from the progress of the of Congress; it is affecting real past eight years, the GOP is taking Americans who need real insurance. U.S. health care in a new direction. This isn’t to say that all A direction where subjective Republicans are backing the politics is outweighing objective new replacement. In fact, four health equity. Republican governors recently Under the AHCA, the budget spoke out against the proposal, office predicts a rise in premiums in highlighting the flaws of the AHCA the coming years and estimates that when it comes to taking care of 52 million Americans will become lower-income Americans. But, even uninsured by 2026. While saving more telling is the opposition by $337 million, and subsequently the American Medical Association. going along with conservative aims Last week, members of the group to limit big government, the new sent letters to the House about plan, if passed, would be a blow to their concerns when it came to improving health equity across the providing affordable coverage to country. In contrast, its predecessor low- and middle-income Americans. reduced the number of uninsured Maybe, instead of leaving it up to Americans and was the beginning officials in Washington and the effort to close the health gap. divisive politics of it all, health Further, the proposed plan, policy should take into account approved by the House Budget the medical professionals and Committee, takes a toll on poorer experts whose daily lives revolve Americans, as the expansion of around the health of Americans. Medicaid in states is predicted to There is no question that health decrease. At the same time, older care contributes to a healthy Americans will be at risk. New population and, even more, a provisions of the replacement productive population. The ACA would allow insurers to “charge was a measure that, as its name older adults five times more than states, accounted for those who the young.” Without a doubt, the could not afford health insurance, proposed GOP replacement works and thus could not afford to take care against the ideal of making health a of themselves and their families right, not a privilege, an ideal much when sickness or injury arose. of Washington has yet to embrace. However, while the ACA targeted Republicans got really good at those who needed coverage the preaching “repeal” throughout most, the new health-care act is
backtracking. Instead, the AHCA has the potential to make insurance unaffordable for millions. Unlike Obamacare, the replacement no longer requires every American to become insured. Instead, it approaches health care with an age-rating structure. This ultimately takes a toll on the poor, sick and elderly, as The Atlantic explains. But, younger and therefore typically healthier Americans will be paying lower premiums while the elderly will be paying more. That doesn’t sound too bad for a post-grad who will no longer be covered under their parents’ insurance plan at 26. However, when it boils down, the irrefutable problem in the AHCA remains: Those who need health care the most are those who will be facing the most obstacles to get it. While the ACA was a step forward in altering the way we think about health in America, it still did not fully embrace the concept of health as a basic right. Now, the proposed replacement has thrown this idea out the window. By making health care more expensive and thus available to only those with the economic resources to afford it, we are valuing the health and well-being of some Americans over others. What’s more, we’re not supporting the well-being of those who need it the most. Lowincome and impoverished areas are more susceptible to lower life-expectancy than the rich, and without affordable measures to prevent disease and injury, the disparity between health outcomes will continue to increase. By letting economic circumstances be the dividing barrier between those who have health services and those who do not, we are placing more value on some lives than others. The way we talk about health care right now is ridden with politics. Yes, politics play a key role in developing effective policy and law. But issues of basic rights, like the opportunity for a healthy life, go beyond the liberal-conservative debate. More importantly, these rights are something that everyone, regardless of party and age, must fight to ensure and preserve. The idea of taking care of our own seems lost these days and the AHCA seems like yet another step away from a more empathetic America. Anu Roy-Chaudhury can be reached at anuroy@umich.edu.
COREY DULIN | COLUMN
I
Strengthening the resistance
nternational Women’s Day grassroots movements within our this year was arguably the communities. most notable since the day’s We also need to make sure founding. As many people take that everyone has a voice in this the time this month movement. It needs to reflect on the work to encompass all women have done to backgrounds. This improve society and is where I think the their place in it, it is recent strike, “A Day impossible to ignore Without a Woman,” how much is left for fell short. There were women to accomplish. three main points to The protests on March this protest: Women 8 are a reminder that were encouraged women will not rest to take the day off COREY until they are heard. work (“from paid and DULIN But watching “Full unpaid labor”), avoid Frontal With Samantha Bee” forced shopping (unless it was to purchase me to take a critical look at what something from a small women- or Bee and many others refer to as minority-owned business) and wear “the resistance” — the people who red to show solidarity. demonstrate and speak out against Mobilizing people is great, Donald Trump and his policies. The but for many low-income people, fact that millions of people marched taking part in this strike was not during the Women’s March and possible. Taking off a day of work many women participated in “A literally costs these women. The Day Without a Woman” is great. It organizers of the strike noted is important that those against the this and stated they “strike for Trump administration, especially them.” But instead of striking or those belonging to marginalized protesting for them, organizers groups like women, come together of all modes of resistance need and speak out. But showing solidarity to bring people who are most and marching are not the only things marginalized into the discussion. that need to be done. In addition to the protests and What do these strikes and strikes, we need to simultaneously marches mean if we don’t vote? My speak with our representatives, hope is that following these there vote in local elections and work to will be an increase in voter turnout ensure that every woman’s voice for local elections, but unfortunately is heard, not just those who can this has not been the case so far. It afford to take off of work. doesn’t make sense that roughly The answer to what happens half a million to three-quarters of next rests on the shoulders of a million people marched during every woman and supporter of the Women’s March but there was the resistance. It is not enough only about 12-percent turnout for to march once or post a status on the Los Angeles mayoral election. Facebook to show support. To keep The lesson we all should have taken the momentum going, supporters away from the presidential election need to be more engaged in what’s is that for change to happen, we going on in their communities need to use all of the tools that are and how they can effect change available to us. So if we’re going to where it affects the most. Each strike and march, we also need to community is different and while vote, write to our representatives and many women across communities take it upon ourselves to organize face issues that are similar, it is
important to address issues unique to different communities. Protesting is pivotal, but it is not just in the form of marches or wearing red to show solidarity. And when you think about it, what becomes of all of the marches and strikes if those same people do not show up to vote or do nothing to support their community? Nothing. So in addition to striking or marching, people who support the movement need to go a few steps further. Thankfully, there are many ways to do this: If you can, go to a concert that will donate profits to Planned Parenthood or donate yourself to organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union. Learn about ballot proposals and local elections in your area. If you’re staying in Ann Arbor this summer, make sure you’re registered to vote for the upcoming City Council primary. Also, stay informed about all facets of the political system. Don’t just focus on the latest crazy thing that Trump has said, like the “wiretapping.” Pay attention to the real stuff — like the fact that Trump plans to reduce funds for the Pell Grant program and eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. These proposed cuts, and many others, will affect every community, and the University of Michigan is no exception. To effectively resist, we need to stay informed and use our energy to vote and organize within our communities. By doing this, hopefully Trump and other lawmakers will think twice before proposing legislation. They’ll learn that resistance is not just a word that follows a hashtag but something not to be messed with. Corey Dulin can be reached at cydulin@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 — 5A
BOOK REVIEW
FILM INTERVIEW
Hamid’s ‘Exit West’ an emotive refugee romance Author’s latest work is an exercise in empathy and humanity reminding oneself of what one was, and so it mattered, and if Senior Arts Editor necessary was worth a fight.” “Humanizing refugees” — I hate it when we talk about it’s a disappointing concept, “humanizing” people. The word not in its implications but itself isn’t so bad, but in the in the mere necessity of its context of politically-charged existence. Human beings don’t rhetoric — of people needing need to be humanized. Hamid to read a touching magazine understands this, and he also profile or a depressing personal understands the massive, narrative to simply be, well, global scale of the current not racist — I despise it. It’s refugee crisis, and all the the reason there’s still a sour complications that portends. taste left in my mouth from the “Exit West” toys with infamous Khizr Khan episode ideas like universality and at the Democratic accessibility. National It’s a romance “Exit West” Convention in — a love story July. Here was a — between two Mohsin Hamid Muslim family on migrants as Feb. 27, 2017 national television, they leave their finally accepted dying country to Penguin Random and beloved and try and secure House recognized by a stable life, the majority of but it begins in the media, but I an unspecified couldn’t help but think about country, and our protagonists how off-putting this scene was. practice an unnamed religion, Is this what it takes, I thought? speak an unidentified Do I need to fight a war in some language. The only characters Middle Eastern country, be with names in the novel are the buried in an American Flag at two that comprise our central Arlington, posthumously earn a couple, Nadia and Saeed, Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, because when the world is have my father frantically shrinking and your continued wave the Constitution on a survival depends solely on your stage in Philadelphia, home ability to make it out alive, the of the Liberty Bell, for Fox only ones who really matter are News to finally consider the the ones you love, and the ones possibility that we may, in fact, who love you, in the present. be Americans — humans, even? Not even, Hamid writes, the I have nothing but respect for people from your past: “For the Khans, but the rest of us, when we migrate, we murder those Muslims who might not from our lives those we leave be so militarily inclined, have behind.” no choice but to wonder if our It’s difficult to ascribe a own brand of patriotism can more expansive message to live up. a story so specifically about Midway through Mohsin two people, but it’s equally Hamid’s fantastic new novel, difficult to read “Exit West” as “Exit West,” one of our some sort of intimate character protagonists, Nadia, a refugee study when its prose is so fleeing a war-torn country, expansive. Hamid writes the finally has the opportunity to story like it’s a fairytale, his wash her clothes. It has been balletic sentences long and weeks since she migrated, and run-on, unfurling gracefully her robes smell atrocious, so over the course of countless she takes the time to dunk them commas and half-pages and in a steaming hot bathtub and full-pages until, eventually, clean them. It’s an ostensibly they land with a resounding trivial scene, even more so thud, packaging sharp in such a broad and operatic social critiques in beautiful, narrative, but Hamid is quick mesmerizing phrasing. to underscore its significance: The novel is, of course, “What she was doing, what she politically relevant; refugees had just done, was for her not and immigration are a hotabout frivolity, it was about the button issue, but Hamid is essential, about being human, more concerned with the living as a human being, conditions that force someone NABEEL CHOLLAMPAT
WARNER BROS.
Conversing with ‘CHiPS’ stars Peña and Shepard FALLON GATES Daily Arts Writer
“Party” is the one word Dax Shepard (“The Judge”) used to describe his upcoming movie “CHiPS,” which he wrote, directed and acts in. The film is an action-packed comedy filled with motorcycle races and police investigations in the heart of Los Angeles. Jon Baker (Shepard) and Frank “Ponch” Poncherello (Michael Peña, “Collateral Beauty”) are two California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers who must join forces in order to figure out who within CHP is behind the million-dollar heist. Ponch is a workaholic as an undercover FBI agent and he takes a pragmatic approach to his job. Baker, on the other hand, is inexperienced and immature, focused on keeping his marriage and life together. “Both guys could easily foil the other one’s dream,” Shepard said. Baker and Ponch may not see eye to eye, but in real life, Shepard and Peña interacted as close friends, with constant friendly banter. Both wearing plaid, this dynamic duo looked like real-life best friends. “The whole thing felt like we stole a case of beer and we kept getting closer and closer to the door,” Shepard said. At any moment, they both felt as if someone would stop them in their quest to create this fun film. “There’s been a stunning lack of motorcycle chase movies … [because] they are really hard to film,” Shepard said. “CHiPS” used drones, helicopters and new
technology specifically for the movie. Shepard did a lot of his own motorcycle stunts, including wheelies, riding on the beach and going up and down stairs. Peña had never ridden a motorcycle before, but learned to say lines while moving at over 75 miles per hour. “I can die. This is real … [Shepard] was proud of me like a dad” Peña said about his motorcycle experience on set. He remarked that he was more of a golf guy. College students may find this movie more relatable than it seems. The plot includes typical millennial follies, like sexting and FaceTiming the wrong person. “That’s going on hourly I think on your campus,” Shepard said. “I think this generation is definitely the generation of who wears the most yoga pants,” Peña, whose character has a penchant for tight clothing, said. Both actors also had advice for students who may be wishing to pursue a career in acting, music or art. “Just do, do, do,” Peña said. No matter what artistic field you are seeking, “you gotta find your voice.” “You don’t get better at anything by thinking about it,” Shepard said on the subject. Action is key. “My biggest passion is cars and motorcycles. Second to that is comedy. I’m praying that I can marry those two things together [in the movie],” Shepard said. “CHiPS”, though based on the late 1970’s TV show of the same name, surely holds its
own. “I wanted it to be its own thing,” Shepard said. “[I was] aiming towards “Bad Boys” or “Lethal Weapon.”” Though it takes place in the present, “CHiPS” refrains from using any contemporary music. “I can’t stand when you see a movie that you love from a time period but it’s so time stamped by those pop 40 songs that they put in the movie that I find distracting, because they don’t age well. Every song in this movie has really stood the test of time,” said Shepherd, highlighting the song choice of “Rosanna” by Toto, used in the film. Shepard seems to add his own special mark to all his movies. In Hollywood, he is known for his ability to create high-grossing action movies out of a fairly low budget. The film “Hit and Run,” for example, made $14 million off a $1 million budget. “The action looks way, way bigger than the budget would suggest. That weirdly is now my sort of niche calling card,” Shepard said. After this movie, Peña is on to other works such as a movie that shoots in Serbia for 2 months, as well as “Ant-Man 2.” As for Shepard, one can only guess where he is headed. “Retirement,” Shepard said, with somewhat of a knowing smirk on his face. “CHiPS” will open this Friday in theaters.
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to leave their home. Indeed, the novel is split down the middle, one half chronicling the downward spiral of Nadia and Saeed’s home country as their love blossoms, the other half detailing their hop from country to country in search of refuge. Into this backdrop of political realism Hamid injects a substantial dose of Rushdielike magical realism; the couple’s travels are predicated on deceptively elementary premise, a network of doors that one simply steps through to end up in another country across the world. The author is interested in distance, it seems — distance between countries, distance between cultures, distance between people, all of it shrinking. Nadia and Saeed are plugged into their mobile phones, connecting to people from across the world, and the doors are simply a clever thematic device through which Hamid explores the ironies and nuances of the entire concept of immigration. He prods at thorny ideas of nations and multiculturalism and what it means to have a “home.” But it’s never once didactic or dull; rather, Hamid examines his interests through the prism of his two broadly drawn yet undeniably captivating leads. It’s entirely possible some will read “Exit West” as a tender romance and nothing more. But it’s virtually impossible to not feel, at the very least, a sense of empathy. As Hamid implies throughout, Nadia and Saeed’s story is but one of many. They are the focal point of this narrative, but their experience is not uncommon. As much as it hurts to reckon with, this world — its leaders and its citizens — is lacking in empathy. “Exit West,” of course, is not a corrective to all the ills we have committed in the name of “border security,” but perhaps it will serve as a useful reminder of the unique power fiction often holds over the stark realities of everyday life. The need to “humanize” is characteristic only of the morally deficient, but if that’s what it takes for migrants to be considered deserving of a home, for refugees to be deemed the humans they are, then so be it.
ALBUM REVIEW
New Spoon is adventurous Latest release is a colorful exploration into the electronic unknown However, instead of continuing the same melody, it shifts in Daily Arts Writer an entirely new direction. Vibrating tempos and Daniel’s Hot Thoughts is Spoon’s echoing whisper building to an ninth studio album, continuing electric shriek of guitar chords a legacy started in the late ’90s, cloaks the song in a darker, and the fact more cynical, layer. Hot Thoughts that the band The rapid tempo hasn’t faded of Hot Thoughts’ Spoon into repetitious second track comes irrelevancy is screeching to a Matador Records a feat in and of halt as the mellow itself. Instead, tempo of “Do I Have their newest release takes a to Talk You Into It” crawls finely honed sound and infuses into the spotlight. Swinging it with harmonies that burst harmonies and breezy beats with vibrancy. Hot Thoughts is diffuses the condensed energy a Picasso painting of an album: built up by the previous song An enthusiastic collection of and allows a more relaxed air songs that each strive to stand to surround the album. out from the rest. The rest of Hot Thoughts The opening track, “Hot continues in a similar way; Thoughts” introduces the songs expand on elements rest of the album with a bang; introduced by their jangling rhythms paired with predecessors and ultimately lead singer Britt Daniel’s aim to transport the album in pointed vocals immediately a distinctive direction. “Pink grab attention and add a Up” takes the succession of sweeping new dimension to spiraling piano chords and the standard chorus of “hot harshly dramatic beats of thoughts all in my mind all of “First Caress” and softens the time.” them, turning the album from “WhisperI’lllistentohearit” energetic exclamations to quiet directly follows “Hot murmurs without losing its Thoughts” and smoothly picks overall f low. “Shotgun” takes up where the first song left off. the sprawling “Tear It Down” SHIMA SADAGHIYANI
and condenses its sound, speeding up the tempo and adding a newfound stability. Hot Thoughts is a continuous cycle of construction and destruction; no one track sounds the same. However, even though Hot Thoughts is thrilling to listen to, it still follows the Spoon blueprint. The band has made sure every new album released added a slight alteration to their original sound: A refined blend of punk, pop and rock that was well-established with the creation of “A Series of Sneaks” in 1998. While the colorful electronic components and funky instrumentals found in Hot Thoughts might be a novel experiment for Spoon, the underlying elements of minimalist vocals and brash rhythms is nothing new. But, as the liveliness of Hot Thoughts displays, this band is not tired in the least, despite doggedly sticking to mostly analogous album structures. Utterly refusing to step away from the spotlight, Spoon still remains full of ideas for future exploration.
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COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
In spite of the great idea NITYA GUPTA For the Daily
One of the largest obstacles to creation is the development of the idea behind it. Often one may sit and wait, wondering what to make, what to write about or where to draw inspiration from. Often, I find myself waiting for inspiration to hit. As a former dancer and choreographer, I would stand in the studio in complete stillness, with no ideas and no movement. The idea would never come, and I would choreograph in desperation, aching for a breakthrough. Eventually, choreography would be created, usually due to an impending deadline. Some people argue that inspiration is unnecessary, that waiting for inspiration is a mechanism for artists to hide their fear. I have had art teachers dismiss the notion of “inspiration,” saying it has nothing to do with creation. Creation, they would say, comes from doing and not waiting. One could wait for years and have nothing to show for it. These art teachers would also say that waiting for inspiration is a tactic used to let your fears fester inside of you, convincing you to never pick
up the pen, marker or paintbrush. This is partially true. Fear is often what holds you back from reaching greater potentials. However, the work done without inspiration can be more significant than the work done with the great big idea. This work contains the true grit of an artist, who pushes past the fear and insecurities and has the courage to create something, without the framework of an idea. It contains the true essence of the artist who lost his way in the process of creation but still himself along the way, just enough to make something. The pieces I have created in desperation are the most accurate representations of my work, because they reflected the dedication it took for me to keep going. I have had other art teachers tell me that a great idea is very much needed, but not at the beginning. I understand parts of this argument, whether or not art needs inspiration, because inspiration does serve a purpose. It fuels artists with a drive to continue doing what they do, bringing forth an energy and appreciation for art. Instead of stopping you in the beginning, it feeds you a little bit at a time, getting you through the exhaustive process of creation. I have started out with nothing, only
to find inspiration at the smallest moments in a dance, giving me enough to remember why I love it and continue to do what I do. This does not mean that the great idea does not exist. While it is not a myth, it is rare, which is why it is important to keep creating despite the great idea. Pushing through without a huge surge of inspiration gives artists the backbone of their practices. It creates discipline, training artists in preparation for their masterpiece. It gives the technique, willpower and artistry needed to really polish their work. In this way, artists and intellectuals are similar. We all go through days of frustration, wishing we had a spark of inspiration to keep us going. We all push through, forcing ourselves to continue on the work that we have already spent so much time on. But we will not always have this spark at the beginning. We may not even have this spark in the middle of the process or at the end — despite this, we must keep creating. Because one day, we will get that great idea, and we will be more than ready for it. In the meantime, we must find the significance behind the work we do without inspiration, because this work is a part of us too, containing our true artistic grit and determination.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ALBUM REVIEW
OVO
‘More Life’ — A playlist review by The Daily Arts Firm SALVATORE DIGIOIA Daily Arts Writer
“Baby, it never gets old and that’s just how it goes.” This line is rapped with subtlety on “Do Not Disturb,” the final track of Drake’s new “playlist” / official-studio-project More Life, which was released on Saturday. It acts as a simple bridge between other epic bars that are clearly more intended to turn into viral “tweet-ables,” but it’s Drake’s most honest lyric on the project, vividly capturing his signature charm in one snippy, circular expression. Why is Aubrey Graham — now almost a full decade into his construction of the Drake caricature — still trying to coin trends (“playlist,” “blem”), fend off non-threatening rappers (Meek Mill, Tory Lanez) and establish pre-meditated hype for his next release (“I’ll be back 2018 to to give you the summary”)? Because it never gets old. That’s just how it goes. At least, it has been so far for Drake. More Life doesn’t bring anything particularly new to Drake’s discography: Though his lingo has (controversially) expanded to include some exotic
slang, the project’s soundscape assessment for a Drake project, is still defined (across 22 whole especially after all of his lofty tracks) by big trap drums, predictions have come to blossom. “chipmunk” soul samples and For a singsongy rapper whose island-inspired pop dives. It plays main shtick is a sharp smile something like a walk-through coupled with slick, boastful of his greatest hits, re-creating wordplay, things truly could within their well-tested spaces not have worked out any better: in a way that’s Mixtape Drake More Life guaranteed turned into a to produce superstar. Now Drake in-character his braggadocio is anthems. at least warranted, OVO “Madiba Riddim” his shots that inherits rhythms much louder and from “Controlla” much like “Get more chilling. It Together” takes its concept Alas, still trapped in the same from “Take Care.” “Gyalchester” self-indulgent role that he’s shares unique similarities with inhabited since we met him, the “The Language.” “Free Aubrey Graham performs all over Smoke” would fit in fine on If the world on More Life, boasting You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, the even-more glamorous just as “Jorja Interlude” would on luxuries of his most recent Nothing Was The Same. “Nothings commercial success (Views), and Into Somethings” could be an taking another expectable turn at interlude on So Far Gone. The curating the future tastes of hipproject’s grand finale, “Do Not hop fans. He brings out friends, Disturb,” is the most obviously some of whom now stem from sequential of them all, its proper different continents, and tiptoes title (“7AM In Germany”) on tracks that inherently feel arriving as a lyrical anecdote to like their creations, branding the ensure that it’s attached, at least songs as October’s Very Own’s in spiritually, to Drake’s ongoing an expectable tradition that their series of “freestyles.” artists still seem to be weirdly For this reason, many will appreciative of. dismiss More Life as a stagnant Yet, More Life will be release, but that’s too easy of an remembered as the beginning of
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 “That’s enough out of you” 6 Addams family nickname 10 Festoons with Charmin, for short 13 Chicago airport 14 Barak of Israel 15 __ butter 16 Monkey cage discard 18 Phone using a tower 19 Govt. agency that supports startups 20 Kettle output 21 Ride in the desert 22 Reason for totaling, as an insured car 24 Social ranking 27 Many mobile downloads 28 Coral component 29 Cause of some tan lines 34 “All Things Considered” co-host Shapiro 35 Day of song 36 Fleece source 37 Ornate 18thcentury genre 40 Thyme piece 42 Pre-hurricane emergency op 43 Runs after 44 Fluffy sun blocker 49 “No one can beat me” 50 Poker game concern 51 Unit of resistance 54 Poker at the table? 55 Baseball rarity, and a hint to the vowels in the first words of 16-, 22-, 29-, 37- and 44Across 57 Where buds may go 58 Right hand 59 Meditation teachers 60 “The Affair” network, briefly 61 Flow with force 62 Place on a pedestal
DOWN 1 Corny leftovers 2 Starbuck’s boss 3 Child tender 4 Tax-deferred plan, briefly 5 Stiffen in fear 6 Prairie home 7 The Supremes’ “__ a Symphony” 8 “See if I care!” 9 Cholesterol letters 10 Annual Augusta National event 11 “Pequod” co-owner 12 Room in a maison 15 Shrimp dish 17 Off-roaders, for short 21 2-Down’s title, informally 22 Dirty digs 23 Place of honor 24 Prep for a bout 25 Big name in riding mowers 26 Canadian short story writer awarded a Nobel Prize in 2013 29 Lavish wrap 30 Discount rack abbr.
31 First-aid gear 32 Boo-boo 33 Cribbage markers 35 Prefix with drama 38 Small eggs 39 NASCAR’s Yarborough 40 Z’s 41 Elbow protector 43 Mine extraction 44 Names as a reference
45 Hater of David, in Dickens 46 Rx 47 Reprimand 48 Aggressive cat lover of cartoons 51 Gymnast Korbut 52 Flag down 53 Classic PC adventure game 55 Some univ. proctors 56 Curse
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a comedown, the visible, tangible, downloadable conclusion to a past chapter of hip-hop wherein “Drake-featuring-Drake” was a sure-fire recipe for a rap hit, and during which every other artist’s feature felt somehow less relevant. On already-massive hits “Portland” and “Ice Melts,” Quavo and Young Thug outshine him immensely, each adding some extra excitement to the project’s release (which, for the first time in a long time, Drake might have actually needed). “Sacrifices” sounds like something we would normally expect to hear on a 2 Chainz album, and Drake feels similarly transplanted onto his tracks with Giggs (“No Long Talk,” “KMT”), both of which seem like somewhat forced collaborations (despite their abilities to rattle speakers on command). Songs from Sampha (“4422”) and Skepta (“Skepta Interlude”) are also included, neither of which feature Drake, but both of which shine on their own terms. No guest, however, manages to outshine Kanye West. His co-produced experiment, “Glow,” is an odd electro-duet on which he and Drake go back-and-forth in a desperate attempt to be iconic,
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the perfect pair, and it will surely have its credibility debated by rap fans for a while. The solo Drake cuts on More
‘More Life’ will be remembered as the beginning of a comedown, the visible, tangible, downloadable conclusion to a past chapter of hip-hop
Life, as usual, have their own ways of making themselves relevant. “Passionfruit” became a guaranteed dance floor sensation the moment that it landed on Beats Radio1 airwaves, and though it may sound strikingly similar to some former Drake hits, just re-packaged and finer tuned for his now multi-faceted fanbase, no one has seemed too hung up on this fact in the days since its release. More Life offers brief, mostly disconnected tastes of Jamaican
dancehall grooviness, British grime aggression, moody Toronto bedroom crooning (which Drake helped coin aside his formerlyunderground friend The Weeknd) and, of course, classically American pop formatting. The meager glue binding its 22 tracks together is their overtly-defensive Drake tone, one that we’re all so familiar with by now, defined by its half-witty broadcasting of bank figures and hyper-personal reflecting on the past via trendy singsong features. The only thing new is his (amazingly) everincreasing clout. Still bragging about the radio play that he and his friends receive, Drake raps, “If we not on the charts, my XO n*ggas eatin’ / 52 consecutive weekends, shout out The Weeknd,” on “Lose You,” the project’s on-cue inward reflection. The act might get old soon, especially if Drake returns from his now-well-teased hiatus to Toronto, another year older, only to hand in yet another highlymarketed, loosely-organized collection of snarky flexes and seemingly uninspired R&B efforts. (I am not sure anyone can handle another Drake track on which he wonders: “How come we can never hook up and stay friends?”). But in the meantime, while he still has the world’s attention, Drake offers us a playlist — not exactly an original project, but a collection of styles and ideas that he expects to catch and keep his brand afloat. Like he said: “That’s just how it goes.”
HOW CULTURED ARE YOU? NOT AT ALL? THEN DON’T JOIN ARTS. PLEASE. DON’T. Offended? We’d love to hear from you. Want to prove yourself wrong? Email arts@michigandaily.com for an application in return!
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Sports
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 — 7A
Blanco leads ‘M’ past Bowling Green Barnes Arico to face WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
former team in NIT
MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Writer
The Wolverines may have had to wait six days longer than they wished, but they were ready out of the gate Tuesday. BOWLING GREEN 1 The 7 MICHIGAN Michigan softball team (18-7-1) proved themselves unfazed by two weather postponements last week that pushed back a matchup with Bowling Green (14-17) originally scheduled for March 15. The Wolverines jumped on the Falcons’ right-hander Brooke Parker early and never looked back, outlasting Bowling Green, 7-1. A Falcon error in the first inning allowed junior right-hander Tera Blanco to reach first base to load the bases. The gaffe immediately proved costly for the Falcons, as a hit-by-pitch and a sharp RBI single from senior third baseman Lindsay Montemerano brought in the first two runs of the game. Junior infielder Amanda Vargas followed that up with a two-run single to break the game open and give Michigan an early four-run lead. Michigan would grab two more runs on another Vargas single in the bottom of the third inning to extend the lead to 6-0 and chase Parker from the game. “The goal is to outscore the other team,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “It’s always nice to jump ahead — it puts the other team on their heels — but right now I’ll take runs any way we can get them.” For a team that has struggled with runners in scoring position this season, Vargas’ calm approach in those situations was a welcome sign. The key for her, she says, is maintaining the same mental approach. “Pretty much the mindset is, ‘You need to just be calm, relaxed,
SYLVANNA GROSS Daily Sports Editor
MARINA ROSS/Daily
Junior right-hander Tera Blanco led the Michigan softball team to a 7-1 win over Bowling Green on Tuesday.
and do everything you we do in practice’ … taking our normal cuts and not overthinking it,” Vargas said. “We just need to calm down.” With the six-run cushion, Blanco took care of the rest in the circle. Against a patient, but overmatched lineup, Blanco allowed one run on five hits in her complete-game outing. Blanco was also able to keep the ball in the zone against a Bowling Green lineup that has walked over 80 times this season, surrendering only one walk on the day while also adding eight strikeouts. Continuing to show improvement in that category, Blanco allowed just two freepasses in her last 21 innings, in sharp contrast to the 25 walks she
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Coughlan lifts monkey off Wolverines’ backs KARL FINKBEINER For the Daily
In an exciting back-and-forth battle, the Michigan women’s lacrosse team claimed its first Big Ten victory in program history by taking down Ohio State (0-1 Big Ten, 5-5 overall) in overtime, 12-11. It marks the Wolverines’ first win over the Buckeyes in their last five meetings. Michigan (1-0, 3-7) rolled into Columbus on Saturday riding the momentum it gained from a blowout win over Detroit on Wednesday night. That energy was zapped early in the game, however, as the Buckeyes jumped out to a 5-1 lead. The Wolverines rallied in the final seven minutes of the first half, led by senior attacker Lauren Oberlander, who scored four goals in the game. Sophomore goalie Mira Shane stopped a free-position attempt in the waning moments of the frame, allowing the Wolverines to enter halftime down just two goals with momentum on their side. “We had about 20 shots in the first half, we just weren’t placing them the way we needed to,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Ulehla. “So, we talked about it at halftime, and I knew we were going to get just as many opportunities, it’s just a matter of really being able to finish it.” As Ulehla expected, Michigan’s opportunities eventually translated into goals in the second half. During a stretch in which they scored five straight times, the Wolverines took their first lead of the game, 8-7 with 14:10 remaining. Just over three minutes later, senior midfielder Anna Schueler scored her 100th career goal to extend the lead to 9-7. With less than five minutes to play, Michigan held an 11-8 lead. But, similar to the rest of the team’s wins since the
program’s inception, it would not come easily. Ohio State scored two quick goals to cut the Wolverines’ lead to one. Stunned, the Wolverines struggled to maintain the energy that had carried them on that 5-0 run early in the second half. With just 43.3 seconds left in regulation, the Buckeyes scored a third consecutive goal to tie the game at 11 apiece. The game would come down to sudden-death overtime. “I (told the team) that every single one of you has to be thinking that we’re coming up with this draw and we’re going down on the offensive end and that we’re going to shoot and score. Period. There is no way that we are leaving this stadium without a ‘W’,” Ulehla said. Inspired by Ulehla’s message, the Wolverines put the final five minutes of the second half behind them and returned to the field with a renewed intensity in overtime. After winning the draw, they set up their offense and prepared to strike. The ball got tossed around the perimeter for nearly a minute before it finally ended up in the netting of senior attacker Kim Coughlan’s stick in front of the goal. Like she has so many times during her illustrious Michigan career, Coughlan delivered with a game-winning shot and gave the Wolverines the thrilling 12-11 victory. “It was unbelievable. All the seniors after that goal just looked at each other and broke down,” Coughlan said. “We’ve been working for this for four years now.” Michigan will look to extend its winning streak to three games when it hosts Northwestern on Thursday. And with the burden of winning their first Big Ten game finally lifted, the Wolverines look forward to the rest of their conference schedule with increased confidence.
allowed in her first 52.2 innings of the year. She was tested, though, in the top of the fifth inning, when Bowling Green managed an RBI single to put runners on first and second with only one out. But Blanco snuffed out the potential rally, striking out outfielder Kendyl Wheeler and fielding a grounder cleanly to get the runner at first to end the threat. “I think she’s just getting more comfortable in her role as our other pitcher,” Hutchins said. “Like, she’s pitching every other game, I think she’s gotten comfortable in that role for us. She’s owning it, she knows we count on her, I think she’s accepting it and embracing it.” Sophomore catcher Katie Alexander immediately grabbed
the run back, putting an exclamation point on the win with a no-doubt, solo home run to leftcenter field to extend the lead back to six. The home run was her first of the season, another positive sign for Alexander, who seems to be heating up in the batters box and seizing the regular starting job behind the plate. And as the team moves forward, it may be contributions from the likes of Alexander, Vargas and others that give Michigan the necessary boost to move past its prolongued slump. With the pitching rotation starting to stabilize — and if that slump is indeed over — more offensive consistency could be the final piece to the puzzle as the team heads towards conference play.
Fifteen years ago, Kim Barnes Arico accepted the position of head coach at St. John’s in Queens, N.Y., after helming Adelphi’s program for three seasons. She was moving, for the first time, into Division I women’s basketball. Fast forward 10 years, and Barnes Arico exited that program as the winningest coach in school history with a total of 176 victories. In her final season with the Red Storm, her team went 24-10 and advanced — for the first time — to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. At the end of the season, though, Barnes Arico left a program that she had built almost from the ground up – before her arrival the team had never won a game in the Big East – to become a Wolverine. And, for the first time in her fiveyear tenure as the head coach of the Michigan women’s basketball team, Barnes Arico is set to face her previous school. “It’s definitely a little emotional for me,” Barnes Arico said. “But, at the end of the day, I bleed blue. “(I’m going to show) no mercy, for sure,” Barnes Arico said. “St. John’s will always hold this special place in my heart.” Since Barnes Arico’s departure, Joe Tartamella serves as the head of St. John’s program. Previous to that position, he had been on staff for nine seasons under Barnes Arico and had served four of them as associate head coach. Tartamella is known for his recruitment. Tartamella isn’t the only familiar face that Barnes Arico will see on the opposing bench Thursday. Assistant coach Da’Shena Stevens played for Barnes Arico, assistant coach Jonath Nicholas also assisted Barnes Arico, and the director of basketball operations, Veronica
Mullen, was a player for Barnes Arico at Adelphi. Predictably, Barnes Arico holds a place for them all. “My former graduate assistant — who married one of my assistants who had played for me — is the head coach now and they have three little kids,” Barnes Arico said. “They’re going to bring the whole family out and a bunch of my players are on the bench there as well as former players.” Notably, St. John’s has infiltrated Crisler Center not just through Barnes Arico, but also through Michigan assistant coaches Joy McCorvey and Megan Duffy who played and sidelined, respectively, under Barnes Arico as a Red Storm. The large, albeit unconventional, community that Ann Arbor and Queens share will be put to the test in the upcoming fourth-round game of the WNIT. Barnes Arico has been able to dodge the bullet of competing against her former team before, but was unsuccessful this year. While a Wolverine, Barnes Arico has managed to bring Michigan to an NCAA Tournament appearance her first year here in 2012, as well as appear in four WNITs — though the snubs by the NCAA selection committee mar the latter accomplishment. At the end of the day, Barnes Arico is ready to bring her team past Thursday’s battle. Her players have been reiterating they want to do this to prove a point that they deserved a bid to the NCAA Tournament, they want to do this for their seniors and they want to do this to unfurl a WNIT championship banner for the first time at Crisler. “I am thrilled this game is going to be at Crisler,” Barnes Arico said. “And in front of our home fans to give our team an opportunity, once again, to play on our home court.”
Michigan prepping for high-powered WMU HUNTER SHARF Daily Sports Writer
On Tuesday, Michigan coach Erik Bakich was asked about his No. 18 Michigan baseball team’s upcoming Big Ten debut against Maryland this weekend on WTKA. Bakich quickly pointed out that the Wolverines “can’t look ahead” past their Wednesday showdown against Western Michigan at Ray Fisher Stadium. Wisely, Bakich isn’t overlooking the Broncos (9-7), who have won eight of their last 10 games, including a victory this past Sunday at Evansville, 4-3. The Wolverines are equally hot, winning eight of nine and sweeping their Sunday doubleheader against Northern Illinois. While coming out on top is always the goal, state supremacy is also on the line. The last time the two state foes played – March 26, 2014 – Michigan won 12-4. The Wolverines (15-4) will look to continue their winning ways against Western Michigan and garner the upper hand in the
matchup. Nevertheless, Michigan and junior pitcher Jayce Vancena have a daunting task ahead of them, facing a fierce Broncos lineup. Western Michigan ranks 10th in the NCAA with a .327 team batting average and boasts an impressive .418 on-base percentage. The Broncos’ offense is led by junior Tanner Allison, who earned a MidAmerican West Conference player of the week nod last month. Allison, an outfielder who also pitches, leads Western Michigan in hits, slugging percentage, runs scored, home runs, runs batted in and batting average at .435. In order to overcome the efficient Broncos offense, Bakich will implement the same unassuming game plan the team has used all season. “The recipe for us has been
very simple,” Bakich said. “Quality starts, good defense, timely hits. That’s really been our key to finding ways to win.” While reliable play in all phases of the game will be necessary to defeat Western Michigan, the Wolverines will have to continue their impressive play on defense. Michigan currently ranks 14th in the NCAA with a .982 fielding percentage. “One thing we’ve done consistently is played a high level of defense with some really good playmakers on the field,” Bakich said. Throughout the early part of the season, Bakich repeatedly complimented his team’s defense. He is not only impressed with their ability to make the routine plays, but also the web-gem plays that give momentum to the squad and can often save runs.
“The recipe for us has been very simple.”
For Michigan to come out victorious, it must continue its strong play on defense, as only one error may prove the difference against the talented bats of the Broncos. Given any extra outs, Western Michigan possesses the offense to capitalize with additional runs. The Wolverines will also look to separate themselves on the basepaths. Michigan currently ranks fourth in the NCAA with 2.26 steals per game and ranks fifth with 43 stolen bases. The Wolverines’ aggressive approach on the bases should allow them to put runners in scoring position and could potentially lead to the gamedefining run. However, Michigan may see limited success on the bases against the Broncos, as Western Michigan catcher Jesse Forestell has allowed just four stolen bases on the season. While Michigan possesses the personnel to come out victorious, Western Michigan’s offense and catcher will be lofty obstacles to overcome.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich will have to have his team ready to square off against a potent offense when it takes on Western Michigan.
Sports
8A — Wednesday, March 22, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wagner ready to introduce himself to nation BRANDON CARNEY Daily Sports Editor
For Moe Wagner, it’s show time every time he steps on the basketball court. The sophomore’s play has been eye-popping recently. What other 6-foot-11 forward can euro step to the hoop on a fast break, fool opponents with a patented behind-the-back dribble and nail a fade-away three with relative ease? As Wagner’s play grabs more and more attention over Michigan’s postseason, his personality and emotions make him one of the Sweet 16’s mustwatch players. Over the past few weeks, Wagner has been seen laughing on the bench, roaring after putting down a huge dunk and looking appalled after getting hit with a surprise foul call. Now in the Sweet 16, Wagner finally has a stage big enough to fit his bursting personality in America. “One of my youth coaches used to say that I was someone who sees the basketball court as a stage and really enjoys it,” Wagner said. “Last year I really started to understand what that really means and embraced that this year. That’s just me. I really love it and I really enjoy it. I try to use it as my advantage.” In the Wolverines’ win over Louisville on Sunday, Wagner put on one of his most signature performances of the season. The forward scored a career-high 26 points while shooting 75 percent from the field. He showed scalpellike precision cutting through the Cardinals’ long, lengthy and deep frontcourt and helped Michigan overcome an eight-point halftime deficit to stay alive and advance in the tournament. Also on display Sunday was Wagner’s unique personality. No one rode the emotional roller coaster of that game to higherhighs and lower-lows than
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Sophomore forward Moritz Wagner has made a name for himself throughout the postseason, and that should only continue when the Wolverines play Oregon in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night.
Wagner. The sophomore was relishing every moment, yelling whenever he got inside and finished a dunk or layup at the hoop. He was seen embracing his partner in the frontcourt — redshirt sophomore forward DJ Wilson — when the pair combined for a big play. And when it was all over, Wagner stopped and kneeled down on the court where he stood, and shed a couple tears as his teammates ran over to celebrate. But that’s all the good stuff. Wagner has struggled to contain his negative emotions at times, and he showed his
emotional cracks against Louisville. After scoring baskets, senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. had to remind Wagner multiple times to get back and play defense. “You can see (Walton),” Wagner said. “He always hits me in the chest like I’m a tree. I’m like ‘Dude, chill, relax.’ I guess you can do that with me because I’m so emotional. I think that’s how it is supposed to be. We’re so close with each other, we give (each other) a lot of crap and we all love each other after the game when we win.” And then there are Wagner’s
reactions when he’s called for controversial fouls. Coming from Europe, Wagner wasn’t accustomed to hearing so many whistles when he first began to adjust to the college game. While he’s gotten better about it, the sophomore still has moments when he’ll freak out or put on a very surprised face that stands out to everyone. One of those reactions happened against the Cardinals toward the end of the first half. Wagner was called for a reach-in foul on a play that looked like a clean steal upon replay. Shocked by the call — which was his
second foul of the half — Wagner kept running down the court displaying a face of disbelief. “I saw in the (Louisville) film I got called for a foul before halftime,” Wagner said. “I just ran and kept running. In the NBA two years ago, that’s a technical foul. So I’ve got to stop. I guess that’s a lot to experience, just keep working on it.” Wagner realizes he needs to limit moments like that, especially as the stage gets bigger and bigger for the Wolverines. “I’m still in the process of learning how to control my emotions,” Wagner said. “It’s
really good at sometimes having good emotions, just being positive, and helping the team with that. At the same time, negative emotions can take energy and can be dangerous to a team’s chemistry during a game. I’m still trying to figure out the right balance.” But if there’s anyone who’s ready to star for Michigan when it takes the court for the Sweet 16 on Thursday, it’s Wagner. The German is ready to let America get to know him, especially if it’s in the context of the Wolverines continuing their postseason hot streak in Kansas City.
Hockey season in review: Offense takes steep dive MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Editor
With the Michigan hockey team’s 2016-17 season in the books, the
Daily looks back at the performance of each unit this year and looks ahead to the 2017-18 season. Offense: (No. 5 Big Ten, No. 42 NCAA)
Entering the season, the main question surrounding the Michigan hockey team was how it would replace all the offensive firepower it had lost from the
2015-16 season. The Wolverines were returning only one of their top seven scorers — senior forward Alex Kile — and the rest of their offense was made up of largely unknown commodities. Michigan never really found an answer to that question, either. Freshmen forwards Jake Slaker and Will Lockwood led the Wolverines in scoring with 21 and 20 points, respectively. But that mark wasn’t nearly good enough to fuel the offense to success, as they didn’t even break the top 30 in the Big Ten in points. The returning Michigan players that were expected to contribute fell short, too. Junior forward Tony Calderone led the team with 15 goals, but Kile finished with just 14 points total, and though sophomore forward Cooper Marody showed flashes of brilliance, he missed the entire first half of the season due to academic ineligibility. He also finished with 14 points. The one place where the Wolverines had success offensively was on the power play — they finished the year with the 17th-ranked unit nationally. But that wasn’t enough to salvage Michigan’s offense overall, as it
struggled to maintain consistency in terms of putting the puck in its opponent’s net all season. Defense: (No. 4 Big Ten, No. 44 NCAA) With the offense in a rebuilding process from the start of the season, it seemed that the Wolverines would rely on their slightly more experienced defense and its highly-touted freshmen goaltenders to keep them in games. But right from the beginning of the season, Michigan struggled with shot suppression, and it ended up giving up the eighthmost shots against in the country, putting a lot of pressure on its goaltenders. At times, the netminders were up to the challenge. Freshman Hayden Lavigne earned a shutout in his first career win against Union and followed it up with a shutout win against then-No. 4 Boston University. Freshman Jack LaFontaine helped his team to a win against Ferris State with a stellar effort, too. Then, at the end of the season, senior Zach Nagelvoort finished with two shutouts of his own in his final four starts. But it turned out that the trio’s flashes of brilliance were
unsustainable for the entire season. They were ultimately unable to keep up with the enormous amounts of shots they faced on a night-to-night basis, accruing a 3.12 goals-against average. The Wolverines struggled on the penalty kill, too, as that unit ended the year No. 37 in the nation. Overall: (No. 5 Big Ten, No. 37 Pairwise) Even with all the question marks coming into the season, Michigan entered the season ranked No. 11. But it was quickly evident that the Wolverines weren’t going to be able to live up to that ranking, and, other than goaltending, they didn’t answer any of their preseason questions. After finishing fifth in the Big Ten standings and No. 37 in the country, Michigan still doesn’t know if it will be able to keep up offensively or defensively next season, and, in addition, it may have a coaching vacancy to fill this offseason, as rumors persist that coach Red Berenson may retire. All in all, the 2016-17 season was a disappointment for the Wolverines, and it is unclear if things will be getting better for them soon.
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson has been rumored to be mulling retirement following the 2016-17 season.
statement
ART MATTERS T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | M A RCH 2 2 , 2017
proposed NEA elimination threatens performing arts
2B
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 // The Statement
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | M A RCH 2 2 , 2017
Managaing Statement Editor: Lara Moehlman
Editor in Chief: Emma Kinery
Managing Editor: Rebecca Lerner
Deputy Editors: Yoshiko Iwai Brian Kuang
Design Staff: Michelle Phillips Emily Hardie Erin Tolar Nicole Doctoroff
Copy Editors: Danielle Jackson Taylor Grandinetti
Photo Editor: Alexis Rankin
How To: Make a Reservation for Graduation Weekend BY SYLVANNA GROSS, DAILY SPORTS EDITOR
M
y best friend from the University of Washington messaged me the other day: “Last class of my undergraduate degree!” I responded positively, albeit less animated than usual as I was waking up from a nap. When I got up from my bed, I walked to the bathroom and stared at my reflection. I was panicking. In five weeks I’ll be sending that same text message. (To be fair, I’m distracting myself by mentally planning exactly what alumni apparel I get to drop $300 on at the M Den.) (As if. I’ll be buying the $20 gray hooded sweatshirt with “Michigan Alumni” emblazoned on the breast that you find in that bonus room on the second floor that smells slightly like library books.) I tend to think that something is much, much harder (grandiose, or easier or happier) than it really is. I hype something up to the point that I’m creating an entirely different situation than what is presented before me.
I propose that graduation is not like this. Our hype, our panic, our worry, our oh-my-god-whatis-happening vibe is completely validated. I also propose that this transition manifests itself in our manic dinner reservations. Bear with me, I swear I have a point out of this ludicrous statement. Over Thanksgiving Break, I remember talking with my mom about making dinner reservations for graduation weekend. I explained that the reason I was doing a less-than-stellar job at saving my minimum-wage paycheck was because I was “researching” restaurants for graduation weekend. We agreed that as soon as the restaurants would take reservations, I would make three, one for every night my family is coming out to Ann Arbor. Winter Break, I couldn’t make the reservations. Spring Break, I couldn’t make the reservations. In all honesty, I came back from Spring Break, spent three days not checking to see if I could make reservations, and
then decided to wait a more couple days before checking again. Two days later, I couldn’t make a single reservation (hyperbolic, I managed one on Friday night). Like there was just one zebra carcass in the middle of the Serengeti, the vultures swooped in and devoured the innards and licked the black-and-white skin off their lips (in this metaphor, the reservation is the zebra and the seniors are the vultures). Our hyped-up sense of nervousness about graduation transitioned into hyper-awareness about over planning. Planning for the one thing that we can, because we can’t plan for the feeling of throwing our hats up in the air and letting go of this place we call home. I’m only slightly bitter that everything was booked. My mom prefers cooking at home anyway (healthier, cheaper, easier), and considering I have a kitchen in my apartment, it all works out for the better. Instead of rushing to make a reservation, everyone is
welcome at my house for some baked salmon and roasted asparagus over a bed of quinoa. Or just some roasted chicken and frozen peas. Either way, it’s going to be with my family. And either way, I’m going to graduate. How to: Listen to your mom and make a reservation for graduation the first time she asks you. 1. You know you will feel better if you can check that off your mental to-do list 2. She’s usually always right. 3. That restaurant you really want to eat at will be booked within the next week anyway, right? 4. Ask them in the
sweetest, sugar-coated tone you can if you can make a reservation. 5. If they say yes, smile and say you need a table for 16 in the middle of their dinner rush. 6. Congratulations, you won the game of life. 7. Re: your mom is always right. 8. If they say no, don’t lose faith. 9. Clear your throat, and call the next place on your list. 10. Repeat step nine as many times as necessary. 11. Your patio really isn’t a bad option, either. 12. Congratulations and have a good graduation weekend!
ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS COVER PHOTO BY ARNOLD ZHOU
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 // The Statement
3B
Golden State Worrier: Next Saturday BY HARRISON KRINSKY, DAILY ARTS WRITER
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y dad used to read me Helen Palmer’s “Do You Know What I’m Going to Do Next Saturday” before bed. I remember falling asleep planning my own next Saturday. I guess I still do that today. Do you know what I’m going to do next Saturday? Well sir … let me tell you. I’m gonna dive some dives no one ever dived before. I’m going to walk up to a party and I’m gonna see a dude sitting on the porch smoking a Newport menthol cigarette. He will be tan and have a strong jaw line and an even stronger social media presence. In fact, right as I walk up, he will be checking the last of his available Snap stories. I will march past him because confident people enter any party like they’re walking into their own living room. He’ll stop me. Dude: “Who do you know here and what’s your favorite mid-2000s band?” Me (with conviction): “Lagunitas Sucks, their Brown Sugga’ Substitute ale is so smooth.” Dude: “What?” Me: “It’s a craft beer brewed in California mainly. They have a distribution deal with Heineken, though, so they’re low-key selling out. I still fuck with the taste palate though.” Dude: “That’s not what I as—” Me: “Do you have a Juulpod I can borrow?” The dude will be confused. He will politely brandish a Virginia Tobacco Juulpod. I will deny the juulpod with an exaggerated hand gesture. Me: “I only rip coconut pods, sorry. Plus, I’m quitting. I shouldn’t.” Dude: “Do you know anyone at this party?” Me (suddenly flustered): “Umm, uhh, ummm.” Me (no longer flustered, quoting Rust Cohle): “Look, man, this is a world where nothing is solved. You know, someone once told me time is a flat circle. Everything we’ve ever done or will do, we’re gonna do over and over and over again. So, yes, I know, and have known everyone in this party. Multiple times. Forever. Also, in this specific iteration of life, I know Steve. We were in psych discussion together, and my favorite band is Kanye. I don’t believe art is collaborative so you could say I’m morally opposed to bands. I like art though. Let me in the fucking party.” Before he can say anything else I will use the lid of my PBR tall boy to push my glasses up the bridge of my nose and walk past him. I’m so disarming. I’ll see him later. Then I’m going to ski on water
if I want to. And I want to. To my surprise, when I will walk past the dude I will come to a dusty red door, and when I walk past the dusty red door, with paint peeling off the bottom third of the frame, I will see a beautiful mural of an artistic interpretation of the cover of Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” but with apples replaced with Redd’s Apple Ale. Also, to my surprise, when I open the red peeling door, I will realize that I have somehow traveled through a wormhole, and the wormhole has spit me out at Skeeps, on the third floor, and I am drinking a Corona and worrying about norovirus. I will look down and see someone has spilled cranberry vodka on my mock turtleneck. It will likely have been that dude from before. I will not entirely understand who this guy is, but I still will make a mental note to punch him in the face the next time I see him. Then I will make a digital copy of that mental note. I’ll whip out my iPhone, which unfortunately sustained a pretty badly cracked screen somewhere in the wormhole, and will begin to type out “remember to punch handsome gatekeeper/arch nemesis/manifestation of selfconsciousness in the face.” Coincidentally, in the exact moment, I finish
FILE PHOTO/MICHIGAN DAILY
typing my mental note into the notes section of my app titled “Thoughts to keep.” (A section that was stupidly placed right next to “Thoughts not to keep,” but that’s a problem for another time.) The same dude from the alternative dimension on the other side of the peeling red door will confront me. I didn’t know they made Henley’s that tight. Dude: “What are you doing here?” Did you ever box a United States Marine? Well sir, I’m going to box a Marine next Saturday. I won’t want to admit it, but part of me will know it’s time. You can’t run from yourself forever. I will do a flying windmill kick and hit him in the face and as I do it the ninth song on More Life will come on, and we will both know I have won and the rest of my time at Skeeps will be pretty fun, and I’ll grab a slice of pizza on my way home. A few hours later, I will wake up from a sleep so dark, it will feel like I was dead. My Twitter app will still be open and a dryness will run from the tip of my tongue to the back of my throat. Right before I fall back asleep I notice a slight tightness in my right thigh. I should stretch next time before I flying kick anyone. Yes sir, that is what I’m going to do next Saturday.
4B
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 // The Statement
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 // The Statement
Art Matters
proposed NEA elimination threatens performing arts community
b y Yo s h i k o I w a i , Deputy Statement Editor
I
t’s a Saturday night and the audience at the Power Center for the Performing Arts is stunned. Silence f loods the walls of the theater. I can almost hear the person next to me holding their breath. The stage I’ve performed on eight times since I started my dance training at the University of Michigan is tense and torn, like I’ve never experienced before. “Betroffenheit” by Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre has the full house of 1,200 people in a standing ovation. Tears, shock and wonder fill the audience. “Betroffenheit,” a theater-dance performance, is a visual and physical representation of grief, addiction and trauma. Based on writer and performer Jonathan Young’s experience of losing his daughter and cousins to a fire, the combination of movement, sound and space is both arresting and thought-provoking. It’s the kind of physical, psychological and emotional effect we as performing artists strive to achieve in our years of training — something that crosses the proscenium stage and permeates the lives of the viewers — something that makes them question the world they inhabit. Award-winning performances like “Betroffenheit” are hard to come by. During middle school and high school, I saw some artists of this caliber during trips to New York City, but these world-class performances came with expensive tickets that made seeing everything I wanted unrealistic. My orchestra ticket to see “Betroffenheit” in Ann Arbor though, was
$20. *** This year alone, the University Musical Society — an Ann Arbor-based performing arts presenter affiliated with the University — brought multiple internationally recognized artists to campus. The night before “Betroffenheit,” three-time Grammy award-winning jazz quasi-collective Snarky Puppy took Hill Auditorium. In early February, Ping Chong + Company, recipient of National Medal of Arts, did a theatrical performance on Muslim identity. Just a month before, Bessie Award-winning Ohad Naharin’s Israeli dance company, Batsheva, performed at the Power Center. In January, UMS announced that current New York Philharmonic president, Matthew VanBesien, will be the next UMS president beginning this summer. Last November, the Grammy award-winning Berlin Philharmonic did an orchestral residency with University students. Since its establishment in 1880, UMS presents approximately 75 performances a year and hosts more than 100 educational events per season. In 2015, UMS was the first university-related arts presenter to receive the National Medal of Arts from then-President Barack Obama. Looking back on these 138 years, the UMS line-up of performances is even more impressive. Before his retirement, Leonard Bernstein conducted four performances in the country with the Vienna Philharmonic; Hill Audito-
FILE PHOTO/MICHIGAN DAILY
rium was one of them. In 2001, UMS president Ken Fischer started a multi-year partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company. And let us not forget that Yo-Yo Ma will be performing on campus this April. What’s most surprising is that students can see his performance for less than the cost of a dinner at any Main Street restaurant. As a senior in high school applying to colleges, I researched the cities and local performance venues of each of the schools I considered attending. Ann Arbor stood out to me. Not only was I drawn to the quality of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance’s curriculum, but also the Ann Arbor arts environment itself. I considered conservatories in New York City and Los Angeles until I realized Ann Arbor offered the same opportunities — except here, I can go to a football game at noon and then an opera at night. Since I started my dance training at the University three years ago, I have seen and taken classes from artists I could maybe meet in New York City or Chicago or Montreal or Israel. Maybe. Needless to say, the School of Music, Theatre & Dance School is nationally ranked along with the performing arts conservatories on the coasts. This performing arts bubble — Ann Arbor — from education to exposure, is a Midwestern gem for aspiring performers and the public, according to Aaron Dworkin, dean of the Music, Theatre & Dance School. “We’re a very unique place, as it relates to the arts,” Dworkin said. “We are solidly in the
COURTESY OF WENDY D PHOTOGRAPHY Midwest, yet we have arts experiences, training and institutions that rival anything on the coasts,” Dworkin said. “We are in many ways in that center — whether it’s a presenter like UMS, whether it’s our school and the fact that we lead the nation in so many of our departments.” ***** Last Thursday, the Trump administration released a proposed federal budget calling for the complete defunding of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Public funding for the arts had long been a low-hanging fruit for fiscal hawks — even though the annual cost of $741 million composes less than onetenth of a percent of federal spending. But this announcement marks the first time in history that a sitting administration proposed to discontinue either the NEA or NEH. The NEA is an independent federal agency founded by Congress in 1965. The organization provides financial support to arts organizations and projects across the country. Over the years, the organization has expanded its aid from performances and educational experiences to even health-care projects, like the NEA Healing Arts Partnership. Founded in 2011, the partnership works to promote arts therapy, placing art therapists in veteran hospitals across the nation. Every year, the NEA funds various Music, Theatre & Dance School research projects and performances. The George and Ira Gershwin
Critical Edition — an ongoing scholarly analysis of Gershwin’s music — and Youth & Adult Community Programs — an educational program that exposes local Ann Arbor residents to different performances — to name a few who receive funds. In 2016, the NEA awarded UMS with $30,000 to bring performances, residencies and other educational programs to Ann Arbor. “Betroffenheit” was one of them — in addition to the American Ballet Theatre, Camille A. Brown, Taylor Mac and others. The proposed cuts were announced mere minutes before I was to interview the dean and assistant dean of the Music, Theatre & Dance School. When we sat down, it was clear they were still digesting the potential loss of the NEA. Dean Aaron Dworkin, a member of the National Council for the Arts, which makes recommendations for individuals and organizations to be awarded the National Medal of Arts — the presidential award for outstanding artists — said he is unsure of the effects of the proposed budget, as it awaits a lengthy congressional revision process. He emphasized, however, the proposed budget suggests a lack of value placed on the arts in American society. “Budgets are moral documents,” Dworkin said. “Budgets ref lect the values of an institution or the values of a nation.” That same day, I interviewed UMS President Ken Fischer, who was visibly disturbed when we met. He argued the proposed budget is motivated by ideology and not a genuine desire to balance the budget. “There seems to be no understanding of the role the NEA has been playing,” he said. “It gives grants that could maybe total the wing of a defense jet, but look at what it does to bring a quality of life to this country. UMS has received funding each year from the NEA. It is an important part of our budget, but what it is more than anything, is a statement that our country cares that the arts are important.” However, he stresses to look at the opportunity the crisis brings, that “artists will rise to fill the vacuum that is created by the potential loss of the NEA.”
Dworkin and Melody Racine, SMTD senior associate dean for academic affairs, also struck a defiant tone, emphasizing that with lost federal funding, it would be their responsibility to further provide platforms for artists to continue their craft. “We must be artist citizens now,” Racine said. “We need to be very good at what we do in the arts, but we need to also be very aware of what’s happening in the political world. We need to be very aware of what’s happening with our planet. We need to be very aware with issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. The more we know about outside our own field, the better ours becomes.” The educational, administrative and entrepreneurial drive of the administration reassures me as an Music, Theatre & Dance student. Even if the discontinuation of public arts funding doesn’t survive the budget review process, it’s hard not to interpret the proposal as saying “the arts don’t matter.” My attitude is not alone among Music, Theatre & Dance students. Spencer Schaefer, a Music, Theatre & Dance junior studying French horn performance and ethnomusicology, emphasized that he pursues his craft not for future potential wealth but for the sake of art. “I think a lot of people are unaware of what it means to be an artist because they see dance, they see installations, they see artwork, they hear music, but don’t understand the time it takes, and what it means to someone,” he said. “These people aren’t cashing out and making tons of money off of this, no. This is putting a roof over their heads so they can continue to create their project — and maybe, they can come back and eat something.” ***** In a country where the performing arts are implicitly underappreciated, the role of the performing artist becomes more complex. There is no option to stop — if this is the language I’ve used for 18 years, there’s no forgetting it or learning a new one now. When I look back on “Betroffenheit” and wonder why it affected me the way it did, I can’t come up with words to accurately describe the movement, or search for some-
COURTESY OF THE SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE AND DANCE
thing in a thesaurus to find one that’ll fit. I tried. When a performance does its job, it gives you the unutterable. It describes the space between your mind and your hands that desperately try to explain the sensation of an experience whether it is good or bad. Schaefer agreed when we spoke about the role of the emerging performing artist. “Even if I’m not going to make a dime off my art, that doesn’t mean it can’t impact someone and it still means something to me,” Schaefer said. “I’ll find a way to put a roof over my head, it’s never about that. I think that’s why the art is going to keep going. It’s so crushing to see that it could get more and more distant with the lack of funding from it, within the pop culture and main culture of society.” This argument is reinforced by faculty. The word “quit” simply does not exist in the artist’s vocabulary. “The best thing that we can do is to learn, prepare, train, become great artists,” Dworkin said. “The best thing you can do when the arts, or whatever field you’re working in is potentially diminished or under threat, is to become more excellent — to make a better argument for it. I’ve learned to not to predict the future, but project and prepare. Because luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” But I don’t know how I could have prepared for this. The proposed budget’s complete dismissal of the arts has made me question my craft and therefore identity. How do I tell my graduating friends that everything will be OK when the already minimal support for the starving artists is completely gone? It’s less of a question of whether the arts matter — of course, they do. The question is how the aspiring, still unknown artist enters a world where their existence is undervalued. The dialogue starts sounding a lot like other conversations that have surfaced in the recent political climate. ***** As a violinist, multi-media artist and now an educator, Dworkin’s resilience is something I admire. “From my perspective, there is no doubt,”
5B
ARNOLD ZHOU/DAILY
Dworkin said, his voice unwavering. “It’s just that we have to make the case and make the argument, because the arts pervade so much of what we do — it’s just not recognized amongst many people how pervasive the arts are, and that the arts require training and facility. It’s not like you can magically play an instrument or sing or dance, it requires years of training, development, craft, ingenuity and creativity.” Over the course of the last few days, this pervasiveness of the arts has been a recurring theme. Even as a performing artist in school with other performing artists, I sometimes lose sight of the breadth of this field. Fischer doesn’t. “This will be one where I hope anyone who has been to a theater, dance or music performance, who owns an iPad, or an iPhone, and looks at the design, who drives a car, thinks: Who are the people designing these things that have made America great?” Fischer said. “They are people who have been artists and designers. For anyone to think it’s just a bunch of rich people going to see the Metropolitan Opera benefitting from this, they need to get their facts straight.” The potential demise of the NEA and with it, the national support system for the arts, not only affects current artists, but future generations of artists as well. Whether they are in training like me, or haven’t yet picked up the violin or paintbrush, the lack of access to the arts has foreseeable consequences. I know for a fact that I would not have pursued a college degree in this craft if I weren’t exposed to choreographers and dancers who made my jaw drop and entire body tingle when I was younger — I simply wouldn’t have pursued it if I didn’t experience the full-blown, unadulterated power of the artist myself. I wanted to communicate the unutterable. The experience of the arts is irreplaceable. If I’ve learned anything from 18 years of training, it’s that live art is f leeting, but maybe for the same reason, most resonating. It seems most lively in the sense that it requires your fullest attention in the moment, to be stored in your memory, as more of a sensation than artifact. After all, it is an experience.
6B
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 // The Statement
Personal Statement: A Place to Call Home
I
never expected to go to the University of Michigan. I grew up in a small town in the middle of a cornfield (also known as southwest Michigan) and graduated in a class of 59 students. There, college isn’t “expected” by any means. The town I grew up in has a population of roughly 1,500 people and is primarily dominated by agriculture and factory work. It’s the kind of place that doesn’t offer AP classes, but does offer a consumer’s math course (basically we learned how to finance a house and do our taxes — “real-life” math, if that’s what you want to call it). We didn’t have any college-prep classes like calculus. The kids who did want to go to college — the few that there were — were not exposed to the rigorous curriculum that prepares students for schools like the University. Many of my peers entered the workforce straight out of high school, per usual. It’s more uncommon for kids in my town to go to four-year universities than it is to get a job and buy a house. Because of this, I tried to keep most of my college endeavors under wraps. Friends and family members knew I wanted to go to college, but they didn’t really know where I was thinking of applying. The general consensus for most education-oriented students was community college. For a long time, that’s where I thought I would end up. At some point during my senior year, though, I started applying everywhere, including schools with out-of-state, private price tags. I didn’t apply because I thought I would go to the schools I was applying to, but just because I wanted to see where I would get in. I had the grades, the ACT scores and extracurriculars, but I came from a little Midwest town in the middle of nowhere. I wasn’t getting into the University. So you can imagine the conflict of emotions I had when I received a big envelope in the mail with the word “Congratulations” sprawled across the top. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be accepted to the University of Michigan, mostly because a part of me hoped I wouldn’t get in. It sounds stupid, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to attend a school with a price tag like the University’s. It almost hurt to be accepted and know that I couldn’t go. I had tossed the idea of going to school here out the window at the same time I submitted the application. I hadn’t considered attending the University as a legitimate option, so now that the opportunity was open to me, I didn’t really know what to think. Kids like me who come from towns like mine generally don’t even apply to schools like the University, let alone
by Laney Byler, Daily Sports Editor get in. I hadn’t been on a visit, I didn’t know how I would major in nursing at a school that people call “a public Ivy,” and I was lacking in the math and science background that I would need. Ultimately, though, I decided to go. I can’t really explain how it happened — one second, I had given up any shred of an idea that I would go to school here, and the next (which was conveniently the last day to register), I was enrolled at the University. I had received financial aid and scholarships that covered all of the costs, which I think was a driving factor in the decision. But there was something about unanswered potential that really made me want to branch out and go somewhere I had never even been before. So I enrolled. I didn’t tell my family about my decision for a while, in particular because they weren’t thrilled about the idea of me going to college in the first place. My parents have always been a little disengaged in the process, especially after my brother graduated high school. It’s hard to explain, but basically I was verified as an “unaccompanied homeless youth” in high school. I moved in with my brother during my sophomore year. I worked two jobs and paid for my own clothes, car, groceries and bills. Neither one of my parents had been there for me through the application process, so I did it by myself. Needless to say, it was pretty clear from the beginning that if I decided to go to school, I’d be responsible for footing the bill. What I didn’t expect was the support that the University gave me with my finances. Once I realized I would have the funds to go, it seemed like a prime opportunity to be a firstgeneration college student. Looking back on it now, it wasn’t easy being self-sufficient in high school. But in the long run, I appreciate the lack of support I had at such a crucial point in my life. It taught me to be independent and responsible in times where I shouldn’t have to have been, and nothing has prepared me more for my time at the University. What I wasn’t ready for was how difficult it would be to go through college without a traditional support system. It’s frustrating — so unbelievably frustrating — to not have the support that I felt other students had. As a first-generation student who was alienated at the start of my college career, I
consistently felt I was lacking support. My family doesn’t really know the norms of college, and I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot because of that. Care packages haven’t ever been a thing, nor will they ever be. I don’t get phone calls from my parents asking about my exams because they don’t remember when they are. There’s never been an interest in my writing for the Daily, or for attending a football game with me or seeing campus. At risk of sounding like an angsty 20-yearold, I want to clarify that it’s not that my parents want me to fail in life — they’re my parents, they obviously don’t. But they don’t see college for what it is, and that’s an opportunity for me to build on my potential. And it seems that no matter how much time I spend here, or how much work I put in, it’ll just be considered a waste of time. So despite the lack of background knowledge in math or Spanish or whatever academic challenges I may have faced that first semester freshman year (and continue to face), those weren’t my biggest obstacles coming into college. I didn’t have a support system to fall back on. That hurt most when my roommates were calling their moms for medical advice, or when they needed a shoulder to cry on after a hard exam or when their families would come to visit. It’s why I feel uncomfortable around my friends’ families — not because I’m envious or bitter, but because I don’t know how those things are supposed to work. If you’re like me, and your family
doesn’t back you up as often as you wish they would, the best thing you can do is find a place that provides you with a makeshift family. I got a taste of that with my two roommates freshman year (lucky, I know). But really, the place where I found the most comfort was the Daily. It sounds like such a plug and so cheesy, but it’s true. I don’t know if it’s because we never stop covering events or publishing stories so it seems like a constant presence, but the Daily is my home. It’s like being a part of a sports team. The older students have mentored me, and picked me up when I’ve been down. The people I’ve met have done so much for me on an unbelievable scale, and I’m not sure they know it. But even with the support I’ve learned in college, I still face challenges when I go home. As a second-semester sophomore, my dad still asks me if I am planning to graduate. It’s like a surprise that I’ve stuck it out this long, and even more surprising that I plan on staying. If I had a dollar for every time someone implied that I couldn’t graduate from college, I’d probably have enough money to pay the University’s tuition without any financial aid. Long story short, everyone has a different path to Ann Arbor. For some, it might be as simple as counting to 10. But for me, it changed my life. It taught me to go beyond expectations and to try things I never thought I would ever be able to try, and I feel like that’s kind of what college is all about.
ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY HARDIE
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 // The Statement
7B
Personal Statement: Three Days in Carabao by Ted Janes, Daily Sports Writer
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s I sat in the small boat at about 8 in the morning, paddling the dingy forward, my “guide,” Carabao Island-native Willy Mendoza, signaled to pull on my swimming goggles. The skinny canoe was not much longer than a ping-pong table and thinner than a kayak but balanced with two beams that extended out like wings. About 40 meters offshore, Willy and I had just cast a lengthy fishing net across the ocean floor in a massive semicircular path. Our first fishing attempt of the day — my first ever in this manner — would be wildly successful. One of Willy’s sons dove off the boat first, and I watched him as he flapped his arms and legs, smacking the water. Willy instructed that Parker (another American boy I was traveling with) and I do the same. I pulled down my goggles and slid down off the boat. After a deep breath, I sank under, and understood the simple, yet effective, fishing tactic that the Mendoza family had mastered for years. Beneath the surface, I watched through the clear water as Willy and his oldest son, Christian, frightened fish in every direction. The sounds of kicking legs and arms splashing scared fish, and by working together, the father and son maneuvered a handful of fish toward the net, which would eventually catch their gills. That was only the first attempt. For the next 20 minutes, Parker and I joined in, kicking, splashing, breathing and repeating. The sea floor was lined with starfish, coral and sea grass, and above it swam fish of all sizes and colors. We caught them all until we had enough stuck in the net to come back to the boat. Back in the canoe, we pulled in the net, untangling each fish and throwing it in a bucket. “When net gets heavy, stop,” Willy told me. Willy’s English was limited, but I understood. Whenever the net began to feel heavy, it was usually caught on the coral on the ocean floor. This happened often, and when it did, one of the Filipinos put on wooden flippers and swam down to the floor to untangle it. I watched from just below the surface as they dove down, sometimes holding their breath for 45 seconds at a time, fiddling away at the thin wires to release the net from the coral. We continued pulling the net in until we finally hauled up the rock attached to one end that anchored it in place. About 20 fish in total. In my whole life of rodand-bait fishing, I had never caught half that number. Twice more we cast the net, scared fish into it and pulled it in to find our method was equally successful. After getting back to shore, we brought in the bucket full of fish, and for the remainder of the day that comprised our lunch and dinner. Fish,
PHOTO COURTESY OF TED JANES chicken and rice were the most common. Willy’s wife prepared a type of fresh sashimi, taking bits of the raw fish and sticking them in lime juice to kill bacteria. We also ate octopus, pork, clams and squid with black ink still on it. Our catch, along with other chicken and pork they raised near their home, would feed Willy, his wife, and their seven kids for two days, and then they would untangle the net and fish again. Such is life on Carabao, a remote island far away on its own in the Philippines. With a population of just more than 10,000, “isolated” is an understatement of its location. Parker and I made up two of about seven tourists on the island that week. During the summer it gets a little busier, but there are few traces of Western influence. There is one hospital, but it has no doctors. Electricity shuts off at 8:00 p.m. every night, and for most of the island’s population, the sunset means the day is over. We had met Willy the day before. After kayaking for about 30 minutes, Parker and I came across a beach where kids were playing. As we paddled to shore, the kids waved and we said hello and we saw Willy laying out the net on his front lawn. We introduced ourselves, and he graciously offered us coconuts, which he chopped open right before us, and invited us to sit down. “Are you going fishing?” we asked. “8 a.m. tomorrow,” Willy replied.
He welcomed us to come along, and we returned promptly the next morning. While net-fishing far away in the Philippines felt like a day activity for me, it was just part of the routine for the Mendozas, and many others that live in Carabao. After lunch, we motorbiked over to the chicken fights for the afternoon. At least 100 people, all men, were watching and betting. Along with cliff jumping, snorkeling and exploring bat caves, three days in Carabao were filled with incredible memories. But what has stuck with me the most was our last meal with Willy later than night. As we sat with Willy for dinner, just as the electricity went out, we asked him about his home. He told us he had built it himself, 23 years ago, when he was in his early 20s. In front of the house, a lawn led to the water. Out back, a paddy was filled with chickens, cats and a dog. To the side, a canopy covered the dinner table. The static of an old box television could be heard from outside, and walking up the concrete steps to the door, we briefly looked inside his four-room home. About the size of an average high-school classroom, the floors were made of concrete and stone. I remember only four bamboo beds — no mattresses, pillows, sheets or anything. Just flat bamboo beds. I’d met so many people that day. From Willy’s family and friends to strangers in the town and
at the chicken fight, and they all had greeted me so kindly. Willy’s family, all nine of them, fed me and showed me a day in their lives. My entire day was filled with a spontaneous agenda I couldn’t have anywhere else in the world, but for Willy, it was a regular Thursday, and he was so happy the whole time. From morning to evening, he smiled, and we laughed at dinner. And in his home, this small home, on these four bamboo beds, lived nine people. The oldest, Willy, was 46, and the youngest child, a daughter, was not yet 2 years old. It was so different. Four bamboo beds rested on concrete floors, and the only light came from a battery flashlight they used to show me and Parker around. It was uncomfortable, and odd, to be honest. Spending a whole day with someone, seeing them as so happy and joyful and then learning the conditions they live in are so drastically different. So I just looked, because I didn’t know what else to do. I don’t think I’ll ever see Willy again, and I don’t know if I’ll ever go to Philippines again, but I’ll always be grateful to the Mendoza family for the incredible, and different, experience they gave to me. The next morning, I woke up on my bed — mattress, sheets and a pillow — and Parker and I boated back to meet the rest of our group that hadn’t followed us to Carabao.
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Wednesday, March 22, 2017 // The Statement
V I S UA L STAT E M E NT:
AN ODE PHOTOS BY EMMA RICHTER For my entire life, my mother has been a church organist. This gave me unique access as a child to rows of pews to lounge in and sanctuaries to explore while she practiced on the organ. I have always appreciated this uninhibited access to sacred spaces, but I was only able to fully appreciate my mother’s talent as a musician when I got older. These pictures are an ode to her music and the stunning space it inhabits at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids.