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CAMPUS LIFE
Founder’s Day lecture emphasizes ‘U’ history JULIA LAWSON/Daily
LSA freshman Ayah Kutmah speaks about her experience wearing a hijab at the Muslim Monologues in Palmer Commons on Tuesday.
Muslim Monologues focus on experiences with Islamophobia
The event aimed to provide a voice to under-represented students on campus KATHERINA SOURINE Daily Staff Reporter
Amid the success of the recent events “The Vagina Monologues” and “Hijabi Monologues,” LSA junior Heba Al-Saghir found she wanted to organize a similar, more
inclusive event that would still provide a place for often underrepresented voices on the University of Michigan campus. This inspiration produced the “Muslim Monologues” event, which was hosted by the Muslim Students’ Association and took place Thursday night at Palmer Commons.
“(The event) provides a forum for Muslim students to express their thoughts and ideas in an open and accepting environment,” she said. “It’s also important because it encourages people of all religions and cultures to hear Muslim voices that may paint a very different picture than
what they are used to hearing in the media. By humanizing Muslims, we are promoting tolerance, coexistence and a brighter future.” More than 40 students attended the event, and more than 10 performers shared their experiences through the See MONOLOGUES, Page 3A
Clements Library curator of maps Brian Dunnigan delivered the talk JORDYN BAKER Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan, though established in Ann Arbor in 1837, opened its first building in Detroit in 1817. Before this, the Michigan Territory had no organized schools, and very few students were prepared to attend a university. The year 1817 itself was crucial in the development of Michigan, and on Tuesday evening, Brian Dunnigan, William Clements Library associate director and curator of maps, addressed members of the public in this year’s Founders Day Lecture highlighting Michigan in 1817. Through the use of photographs
and maps, Dunnigan explained the original University building was commonly referred to as the “academy” until construction began in October 1837 to create Ann Arbor’s campus, a project lasting until 1858. Detroit, which included the first University building and published the first successful local newspaper in Michigan in 1817, began blossoming in the early 1820s with the beginnings of the transportation industry. Dunnigan said many Americans who first saw the city situated on the Detroit River often compared it to Philadelphia. “Detroit was the prime town of the old northwest,” Dunnigan said. See HISTORY, Page 3A
Author discusses relationship between GEO panel Toyota gifts looks to the U.S. and China both past and present funding for
ADMINISTRATION
RESEARCH
origins of the group
John Pomfret talked about the future of relations under the Trump presidency
Graduate students and faculty gathered to discuss the organization’s roots
Award-winning author John Pomfret discussed the effects of the Trump presidency on relations between the United States and China to a packed room in the School of Social Work Tuesday afternoon. Pomfret, who spent 20 years living in China, likened President Donald Trump’s rhetoric toward the country to that of Denis Kearney — a prominent U.S. politician in the 1870s and 1880s — in an event as part of the University of Michigan Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies Noon Lecture Series. Kearney was the head of the Workingmen’s Party in California, and was known for his often racist and antiChinese views. “Kearney took this populist anger or fear of Chinese industriousness and turned it into a political movement,” Pomfret said. Pomfret also compared Trump to Chairman Mao Zedong, a comparison that drew laughs from the crowd. He said Trump’s tendency to call for a “government for the people” is just one similarity to Mao’s leadership. “In Trump’s maddening unpredictability, (Maoists) saw Chairman Mao’s most favorite aphorism, which is ‘there is chaos under heaven, the
ANNA HARITOS Daily Staff Reporter
Graduate students and faculty gathered Tuesday to listen to speakers discuss the Graduate Employees’ Organization’s roots and current presence on campus as part of LSA’s bicentennialthemed semester. The event — under the title, “U-M Works Because We Do,” which was borrowed from an old GEO slogan from the 1970s — featured two former GEO organizers, Sandra Silbertstein and Scott Schneider, as well as a member of the union’s current bargaining team, Nora Krinitsky. The speakers discussed in detail the founding years of the GEO, and how it is important to have these discussions during the bicentennial. “The name of the event really says it all,” Krinitsky said. “GSIs proved 23 percent of student contact hours at the University of Michigan, which is a significant portion of the teaching labor that happens here, so if you want to understand how we got here over the last 200 years, GEO is a critical part of that story.” See GEO, Page 3A
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MOLLY NORRIS Daily Staff Reporter
situation is excellent,’ ” Pomfret said. Pomfret said he believes under the Trump presidency, the United States is back on the track of facilitating China’s rise, explaining how U.S. wallets have funded China in their wars and education. “Over the course of the last decade, perhaps longer, the Chinese system has been better at enabling China to benefit
from the United States than the American system has been at allowing America to benefit from China,” Pomfret said. He also expressed concern for the upcoming summit between current Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump, fearing Trump has no strategy for the meeting. Debunking many of the problems Trump has with China, such as currency manipulation and the Chinese
cheating the United States on trade, he reasoned these are not the real problems the United States should be focusing on. At the end of his talk, Pomfret characterized the current Chinese government as one of the future, and Trump’s United States as one of the past. “If you look at China right now, it’s a country that is clearly focused on creating the See CHINA, Page 3A
HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily
Washington Post journalist John Pomfret discusses U.S.-China relations in the era of Donald Trump in the School of Social Work on Tuesday.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 60 ©2017 The Michigan Daily
University research
The money will go to studies aimed at improved capabilities of batteries ERIN DOHERTY Daily Staff Reporter
The Toyota Research Institute invested $2.4 million in a research team at the University of Michigan, which will combine machine learning and data simulation to improve the production capability of batteries. Krishna Garikipati, professor of mechanical engineering and mathematics, is the lead investigator for the team, alongside Vikram Gavini, associate professor of mechanical and materials science engineering. According to Gavini, the investment will take effect on May 1, with a chosen group of University students, scientists and scholars set to join the team. One of the goals of the project is to develop a new type of battery that will be able to power vehicles that produce zero emissions, which aligns with one of the TRI’s main goals of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 90 percent by 2050. “Accelerating the pace of materials discovery will help lay the groundwork for the future of clean energy and bring us even closer to achieving Toyota’s vision See TOYOTA, Page 3A
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7
News
2A — Wednesday, April 5, 2017
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ON THE DAILY: FAKE NEWS TRAVELS FAST, TWITTER STUDY FINDS A study by researchers at Oxford University in London found Twitter feeds in the state of Michigan were filled with fake or untrustworthy news accounts before and after the 2016 presidential election. The researchers stated that between Nov. 1 and Nov. 11, fake news was as common as professional news content shared on Twitter feeds. A total of 46.5 percent of the content appearing in Michigan as political news was “of an untrustworthy provenance or falls under the definition of propaganda based on its use of language and emotional appeals,” according to the study. “The proportion of professional news content being shared hit its lowest point the day before the election,” the paper reads. President Donald Trump won Michigan’s electoral votes by a margin of 10,704 votes
over Democrat Hillary Clinton. According to the study, the “junk news” also appeared in several battleground states, including Wisconsin. Whether they had any influence on the results in unknown. The study included 138,686 tweets from accounts claiming to be “Michigan users,” with more than twice as many tweets featuring pro-Trump hashtags as pro-Clinton ones. Researchers admitted one limitation of the study was its inability to use tweets without pro-Trump or Clinton hashtags. Though U.S. intelligence officials state election results were not hacked by Russian Intelligence, the ranking members of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Russia might have used “internet trolls” to put out alleged fake news in Michigan and other swing states. “It’s been reported to me
— and we’ve got to find this out — whether they were able to in effect (target) specific areas in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania,” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D–Va.) told The Detroit News. Schools like the University of Michigan are taking measures to spread awareness of fake news in the media. In fall 2017, a one-
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credit class titled “Fake News, Lies, and Propaganda: How to Sort Fact from Fiction” will be offered to undergraduate students, aiming to dispel biases about the news and teaching students how to look at media with a more critical eye.
Jenise @__jbw__ Sometimes I can really rock with UMICH. I was practicing for my Spanish oral with my partner & our table of strangers helped us so much
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REAL NEWS
tiny house viv @VivTrutz I didn’t sleep until 3 last night from stress which stresses me out more AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily Journalist Jon Cohen talks about his investigation into the AIDS epidemic in the United States and Africa at the League on Tuesday.
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Michigan Track&Field
Tunde Olaniran
Buromoscow
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Social Area Brown Bag
WHAT: New Beat Happening presents Tunde Olaniran and Asante, performing their R&B hits. Cost is $5 for students with Mcards. WHO: Center for Campus Involvement WHEN: 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Ballroom
WHAT: Two lectures on Russian Architecture, Design and Urbanism will explore vast changes in Russian urban planning. WHO: School of Art & Design WHEN: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. WHERE: Art & Amp Architecture Building, Room 2104
WHAT: Songwriter Tift Merritt performs a concert featuring her new music, which is known as distaff country soul. WHO: The Ark WHEN: 8 p.m. WHERE: 316 S. Main St.
WHAT: Graduate Students Yuyan Han and Zachary Reese present on the influence of guessing and the social comparison in romantic relationships. WHO: Social Psychology WHEN: Noon to 1 p.m. WHERE: East Hall, Room 4464
Women, Entrepreneurship Conference
Party for the Planet
Entrepreneurial Oscars
Kate Anderson Brower
WHAT: The dining halls will serve a selection of earth-friendly foods as they celebrate Earth Day. WHO: Michigan Dining WHEN: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: All University dining halls
WHAT: The 3rd annual entrepreneurial Oscars will showcase and recognize innovative efforts in the community and host performances. WHO: MPowered Entrepreneurship WHEN: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Rackham Auditorium
WHAT: Author of the book “The Residence,” Kate Anderson Brower will talk about modern power brokers of the White House staff from the past. WHO: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library WHEN: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Gerald Ford Library
WHAT: A conference with female innovators showcasing the potential of women as enforcers of social change. WHO: Center for Entrepreneurship WHEN: 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. WHERE: Michigan League, Ballroom
NISA KHAN
Daily News Editor
Central Student Government’s new president and vice president, LSA junior Anushka Sarkar and Public Policy junior Nadine Jawad, were sworn in Tuesday night for their first meeting. “I couldn’t believe the overwhelming victory, to see all of our (representatives) elected, to be the first woman of color ever elected to this position, and just the overwhelming amount of support we got from the community,” Jawad said on the night of their win. “We just made history.” eMerge ran on a platform of raising student voices on campus with a campaign standing on three pillars
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Big #BattleoftheBlues win = Big jump in the @ tandfn National Dual Meet Rankings. The men check in at #4!
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Representatives make plans to connect with student body for the next semester overwhelming,” she said. She hopes to explain the more complicated aspects of CSG to new representatives like LSA freshman Marianne Drysdale. “It is very overwhelming at first and I kind of have my footing coming off being a fresh new rep, I hope that I can bring some new insight to kind of hit the ground running,” Drysdale said. LSA sophomore Seth Schostak is also an experienced CSG member who is now serving as the chair of the communications committee. “I am definitely excited,” he said. “One of my goals for next year is to really increase the transparency between CSG and the student body. I think we have already been working on that a lot this past year and I think given past experience and having (first-time CSG representatives like) Marianne on board able to reach that goal.” One resolution was discussed at the meeting. While it has not yet been passed, it aimed to approve the funds to provide phone-charging stations in the Shapiro Undergraduate Library on Central Campus and the Duderstadt Center on North Campus. This resolution is left over from former CSG President David Shafer’s old funds for chargers in the Fishbowl and Duderstadt Center. One of the reasons to provide the chargers is to protect students from walking home alone at night with a dead phone. The assembly hopes to allocate $150 for 15 chargers. The resolution was sent to the Resolutions Committee for further reads.
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Sowmya Krishnamurthy
Central Student Government’s new assembly officially takes office of voice, opportunity and momentum. Such plans include advocating the reduction of the number of exams a student can take on a day from four to three as well as the expansion of in-state tuition from undocumented undergraduates to include undocumented graduate and nontraditional students. The committee, also sworn in, mostly comprises eMerge candidates. Representatives such as LSA sophomore Ali Rosenblatt believe they were a split between experienced representatives and CSG firsttimers. “I think there is a good amount of new reps — that is ultimately why I wanted to run as speaker, to help with the transition because (when) I was a new rep, it was
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HISTORY From Page 1A Dunnigan also highlighted the presence of Native American tribes on Michigan land, and their resistance of the encroachment of settlers beginning in the 1750s. This resistance, along with struggles obtaining previously owned British territory, were factors influencing the United States’s endeavors in procuring Michigan land. University alum Lejla Bajgoric, who attended the event, explained she was interested in hearing how the presentation would highlight this aspect of U.S. history, specifically with euphemisms regarding acquisition of territory from Native American tribes. “At the founding of Michigan there’s still this huge Native American population, so I was
MONOLOGUES From Page 1A media of spoken word, singing, storytelling and even a piece played on the piano. LSA freshman Ayah Kutmah kicked off the event with a short personal essay, stressing the role of her hijab in defining her identity and her constant battle with the common perception that it oppresses her. Kutmah outlined the ways in which she learned to conform to society in her earlier years, but also recognized how she has grown as confident hijabwearing woman, especially at the University. “I define my journey with my hijab as a personal rebellion against society, one that is on me to define my own identity on my own terms,” she said. “The point I want to make is this: I do not allow the hijab to limit me, so why do you?” LSA senior Maham Shaikh performed her poem “Personifying Islamophobia,” illustrating the varying experiences of Muslims. She highlighted that even though she does not wear the
interested in how that would be spoken about,” she said. “When you want to talk about developments and progress, how do you reconcile that with the fact that you are displacing and forcibly removing people from the land?” One of the most prominent topics in the presentation was Mackinac Island, presently a popular tourist destination in the Straits of Mackinac. Dunnigan explained Mackinac, originally purchased by the British in 1781 and garnered by U.S. control several years later, was known for its natural wonders from the beginning. In its early days of settlement, the island went from holding 300 people in the winters to accommodating 3,000 in the summers. “The place had a very early reputation for being scenic,” he said. “A visitor in 1816 says, ‘The first view of this interesting island justified the experience and the expectation it had
incited.’ ” Information fifth-year senior Monica Chen attended the lecture and said she felt the presentation’s coverage of the different methods by which the United States collected territory was very interesting. “I’m not actually from Michigan, so I think it was really cool to get a look into a town that is not on the coast, but it actually kind of is on the northern coast and it borders Canada, and just how important and influential waterways are in development of places,” she said. At the conclusion of the presentation, Dunnigan spoke of the Reading Room, one of the most historic locations within Clements Library, where most of the information and photographs from the presentation came from. “I think our readers and our visitors find the place friendly, interesting and worth reading about,” he said.
headscarf, she experiences Islamophobia as a presence she deals with daily. In a symbolic gesture, she ripped a paper with the word “Islamophobia,” displaying her triumph over this battle. Following Shaikh, University alum Amir Kamouneh gave a personal statement to the audience
side to support. “I’m proud that you came out to say no to hate, whether you’re Muslim or non-Muslim, it takes character in today’s world to say no to easy scapegoating, to easy blame,” he said. LSA freshman Arwa Gayar followed with a spoken word poem expressing her frustration at the lack of ethnicity checkbox for Arabs in the University application. “I don’t think you can limit my culture to the color of my skin,” she said. “I don’t think the option of ‘other’ is representative of my kin. Am I not important enough for my very own box? Tell me to write in whatever because ‘we don’t see color’ — I will not act as another diversity buffer. I will take up space.” Following the event, University alum Misha Shaikh said it made her feel strengthened and supported in her Muslim identity. “It brings back a lot of emotions of my experiences with Islamophobia, and the hatred that Muslims experience,” she said. “However, it was also very fun and relaxing, so it was kind of a mix.”
I define my journey with my hijab as a personal rebellion against society
about the importance of events like these in strengthening people in this world, amid current political turmoil and war. He experiencing things in his home country of Iran, such as the Iranian revolution, to the 9/11 terrorist attack and current politics. He said he has found there is always a good
Journalist Jon Cohen talks methods to curb HIV/AIDS stigma, prevalence The presentation focused on the need to redirect attention to the issue RACHEL LEUNG Daily Staff Reporter
Journalist Jon Cohen spoke about methods to curb the stigma behind HIV/AIDS Tuesday evening in an event that was part of the Pulitzer Center’s collaboration with the Communication Studies Department. About 20 University of Michigan students and faculty attended the event, where Cohen especially covered efforts to end AIDS in Africa and the United States. With funding from the Pulitzer Center, Cohen created a project of several stories that examine attempts across the United States and parts of Africa to reduce the spread of and eradicate HIV/AIDS. The talk is part of the initiative of the Pulitzer Center’s initiative to support journalists and bring them to the University to present their work. In his presentation, Cohen, who works for Science, expressed his belief that mainstream media have largely forgotten about HIV. Cohen explained that this is because a fear of infectious disease largely drives the public, and media outlets serve the interests of the public. However, Cohen reminded the audience that there are 37 million people infected globally, with approximately 2 million people newly infected each year. While Cohen supports the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’s goal of reaching 90-90-90 — 90 percent of people who have the disease know they are
infected, 90 percent of people seek health care, 90 percent of people are on antiretroviral drugs — he emphasized this goal has not been met. According to Cohen, just 11 million out of the 37 million people infected have all three goals achieved. From Cohen’s travels around the world and observations of attempts to reduce the transmission of HIV, he noted there are some critical post-infection efforts that can be done to reduce the transmission. Cohen cited having an advocate for individual patients to encourage them or count their pills are two of the ways Cohen believes can help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “Every place that has remarkable success has one individual who takes charge and says, ‘This is on me,’ ” Cohen said. “The other thing is self-criticism, is being able to look others squarely in the eye and say, ‘We’re failing here.’ ” Cohen believes preventative measures are just as important as treating those living with the infection. Cohen emphasized what he believes to be the importance of at-risk men and women to receive and take pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs, which are used to prevent the contraction of disease in people who have not yet been exposed. Business graduate student Julian Smyth echoed Cohen’s belief that more at-risk people should be taking PrEP drugs and shared his reasons for taking the drugs himself. “I’m a single, gay man; I don’t think that I’m particularly at risk, but I think
that’s one of the issues people have with PrEP,” Smyth said. “I think one of the other issues is that people who can afford to take it are people who are insured; it tends to be people who are more educated, who know about it. So we’re not the ones who are necessarily at the most risk.” While Smyth may be correct about the types of people who have access to PrEP drugs, Cohen emphasized that HIV does not only affect those living in poverty. “Yes, it is a disease of poverty, but it’s also a disease of wealth,” Cohen said. Cohen explained while there are people infected from many different socioeconomic backgrounds, those who are marginalized in society — be it from race, gender, sexuality or social class — are the ones who face the most stigma. Cohen mentioned a town in Zimbabwe where there is a monthly “drug day,” or a day where everyone in the village gets tested for HIV. In this system, community members know of one another’s HIV status, and there is a stigma for those who do not get tested. According to Cohen, there should be more discussion surrounding HIV/AIDS and he hopes his research will contribute to an increased focus around the disease and those infected by it. “I love giving voices to people,” Cohen said. “The scientific term for these groups of people is ‘marginalized’ — the real word is ‘hated.’ They’re hated in many parts of the world, and I like to show their humanity.”
Wednesday, April 5, 2017 — 2A
MAPPING MICHIGAN
HALEY MCLAUGHLIN/Daily Brian Dunnigan, Curator of Maps at the William L. Clements Library, uses images of original maps to describe the Universtiy of Michigan in the 1800’s in Hatcher Gallery on Tuesday.
CHINA From Page 1A industries of the future,” Pomfret said. “You look at biopharma, aerospace, industrial advanced engineering. They’re devoting huge amounts of money to these areas, whereas Trump is trying to reopen coal mines, pushing back EPA regulations, changing mile per gallon statistics so we’ll be able to help out factories in the heartland. So his priorities, in a way, are priorities that basically focus on the economy that the United States had in the 1950s, whereas China wants to create a 21st-century economy.” An hour at the end of the lecture was reserved for questions, and many audience
TOYOTA From Page 1A of reducing global average newvehicle CO2 emissions by 90 percent by 2050,” Eric Krotkov, chief science officer at TRI, stated in a University Record article about the research. To create a more effective battery, the team will work to combine artificial intelligence with the physics of materials, which will eventually enable them to predict material properties, Gavini said. “We are solving equations at smaller scales and then we are collecting a lot of data on a small scale and then we are using artificial intelligence to figure out how is the materials of physics at that particular scale and then passing it on to the next scale,” Gavini said. “The hope is that eventually, if we do this the right way, then we will be able to predict material properties.” Duraisamy noted the significance of simulations in determining material properties, noting the use of the laws of physics and data can make the simulations more effective. “The goal is to run more accurate
GEO From Page 1A In 1970, the GEO was established at the University of Michigan, though it was not certifieduntil 1974, and was among the first graduate student unions in the United States. Silbertstein discussed how the era’s political climate fueled the formation of the union. “We could demonstrate because anything we got could be taken away, so we organized,” Silbertstein said. “I think it’s always true that there’s the question of ‘Are people moving?’ In order to get what you want, actions must be taken and you have to win hearts and minds.” The GEO, as an organizing group, sought to make its voices and demands heard. According to Silbertstein, many TAs and GSIs who were organizing at the time had their roots in the civil rights movement and Vietnam War protests. Their tactics were grounded in leaflets with satirical tones and picketing. It was not until 1975 that the GEO movement held a monthlong strike and secured its first contract. The GEO was
members were curious about the upcoming elections in South Korea and the effect the current animosity toward immigrants could have on the education of Chinese immigrants in America. This last point follows the Detroit News op-ed from the presidents of three Michigan Universities, including University President Mark Schlissel. The letter emphasized the importance of standing by our international students. “Students from different places also help our campuses better reflect the global diversity our graduates are expected to understand, and they enhance the quality of our teaching and research,” they wrote. Pomfret shared a similar sentiment, and found the
potential of growing animosity toward immigrants to be detrimental to the United States. “As the anti-immigration policy builds up, if that is successful, obviously it’s going to smack all foreigners in the United States who are getting their education here,” Pomfret said. Pomfret said with Trump as president, the United States is moving toward a dangerous position of isolation. “By becoming America first, we turn around and we’ve got nobody behind us,” Pomfret said. “The United States became a superpower because we had friends, but now we’re actually increasingly like China. China doesn’t have many friends either.”
simulations, and to run more accurate simulations you combine physical laws with data,” he said. The simulations used in the research will include the ConFlux cluster, a computing platform that combines simulations with data sets to increase the speed of material development. Duraisamy believes the simulations will complement the experimentation, allowing the research to be more effective. “If you run the simulation, you can get any property you want, anywhere you want,” he said. Duraisamy also said the simulations will make the experimentation more expansive. “If you can use physical laws along with data, then we can make these simulations much more affordable and realistic,” he said. Gavini said he appreciated the investment, specifically acknowledging the TRI’s emphasis on fundamental research that can expand across multiple disciplines. “The Toyota Research Institute is actually funding fundamental science problems, which is very unlike what may happen to other industrial investments in the University,” Gavini said. “They are
not hesitant to take from high-risk problems and I think that’s very good for the University, because at the University we work on such problems.” Duraisamy echoed the importance of emphasizing fundamental research, stating it enables more widespread results. “There are many different aspects to this, and since we are doing basic or fundamental research, the implications can be across the board,” he said. The TRI also invested in research projects at Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University at Buffalo, the University of Connecticut and Ilika, a United Kingdom-based material science company. Gavini recognizes the importance of the project, acknowledging the benefits to the University. “This is a significant investment that Toyota is making in the University of Michigan and in our group, and this will continue going forward,” he said. “Hopefully it will be a successful project and we will have a very fruitful collaboration with these guys down the line.”
demanding fair wages, improved working conditions and nondiscrimination. The strike had a lasting implication and, according to Schneider, carried both symbolic and instrumental victories. “We talk about the strike and the importance of the solidarity,” Schneider said. “To me, one of the main reasons we won that one is because we have picket lines up and other unions refused to cross those lines. In particular, the Teamster Union stopped the Biology Department from picking up its trash, (and it) lost a lot of federal money too. This teamwork with the Teamsters Union was a critical element in winning the strike.” Krinitsky brought the conversation to the present by placing the current situation of the GEO in the broader labor movement and discussed the future of campus labor organizing. “When graduate students are mounting a contract campaign, they’re not just asking for wages,” Krinitsky said. “Often that’s an argument that we get at the bargaining table. Our members are really motivated by questions of equity. They care about the marginalized population among
our membership and care about ensuring their protections.” This year, the GEO aims to secure another contract, the first of which to be under the right-towork laws, laws which prohibit people from being compelled to join a labor union. Krinitsky said during the event that the current platform is ambitious and focuses heavily on diversity, equity and inclusion, paralleling the University’s initiative. “We are focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, words that are really affiliated with U of M, you can’t really go anywhere without hearing them,” he said. “Well, when we were forming our campaign we wanted to have the University put its money where its mouth is when it comes to these topics.” School of Information student Vidhya Aravind said in an earlier interview that she currently works part time on the University Library’s implementation team for the DEI initiative. Aravind said these positions are demanding, justifying demands for compensation on par with other graduate positions. “I think it’s important to recognize that diversity labor is labor,” she said.” It takes a lot of effort, a lot of time, a lot of energy and a lot of expertise.”
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, April 5, 2017
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ANU ROY-CHAUDHURY | COLUMN
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MARY KATE WINN | COLUMN
What democracy is all about
“T
his is what democracy deeply personal, and emotions are is all about,” remarked often unavoidable during political my representative, discussions. This can be amplified Dave Trott (R–Mich.), to a room when your representative doesn’t crowded full of constituents, many represent your views and is of whom had just unwilling to engage repeatedly chanted you. “shame” in response to Trott guaranteed one of his statements. In this response when many ways, this town he avoided having a hall was a microcosm of town hall for so long; a larger conflict between he let his frustrated Republican congressmen constituents brew in and their alienated their own rage for constituents that has weeks before they been happening across got a chance to air MARY KATE their concerns. the United States since WINN Trump’s inauguration. Prior to the town Trott was elected to hall, Trott stated, represent the Republican-leaning “If the purpose of the ‘new’ and probably gerrymandered town hall is to be disruptive District 11 in 2014, and this recent and draw attention to people’s town hall was his first since 2015. concerns over the replacement Since Trump has taken office, for the Affordable Care Act or this perceived lack of community President Trump’s immigration engagement has angered many of policies, I don’t know that a town Trott’s constituents, particularly hall is going to be particularly liberals. Some were even turned productive.” away from his office by police, This gives away Trott’s leaving them unable to confront mindset: He thinks he knows Trott with their concerns and fears that his opinions are right, and no about his support for Trump. matter what his constituents say, Soon, the negative coverage he will not change his opinions. revolving around his absence, Furthermore, he fails to recognize including “Trott-less town halls” the importance of conveying where protesters brought a live his message to his constituents. chicken to the podium in Trott’s Trott’s insistence on treating absence, were too much to bear. their demands for a town hall as Trott finally held a town hall, a chore, rather than his absolutely at 8 a.m. the Saturday after St. essential civic duty, doomed the Patrick’s Day. town hall from the beginning. The timing of the town hall Representatives and their seemed designed to bring the constituents who have different smallest number of people possible, opinions shouldn’t just “agree to but not even the snowy weather disagree” when it comes to policy was an effective deterrent. About — the stakes are too high to avoid 1,000 people came to the town hall, considering opposing views. Trott some to voice support, but most to needs to listen to his constituents share their rage. The room was too of all political leanings, and he small to fit most of the protesters must answer their questions who came to attend, leaving earnestly and honestly. This is hard hundreds outside in the cold. to do, though, when the only reason The town hall itself was full you’re having a town hall is because of anger and frustration. Many you’ve been publicly shamed into people screamed, chanted and having one. It doesn’t come across raised red cards whenever Trott as particularly genuine. said something they disagreed All of this isn’t to say, though, with. Unsurprisingly, this was that the behavior of the town hall not conducive to a productive attendees was acceptable. Trott conversation. has real legislative power, and the It’s easy to understand the protesters dashed any chance they rage these people felt. Politics had of influencing how he wields can make the average citizen that power when they chose to feel impotent and incapable of angrily yell over his words. This making a difference, which can be pattern, unfortunately, has been particularly scary when policies playing out across the country as have the power to deprive them more and more liberal activists of their health care and ruin their take to town halls. environment. Politics can be Is the point of attending these
JOE IOVINO | CONTACT JOE AT JIOVINO@UMICH.EDU
town halls to make your legislator think critically about their political beliefs and about how their votes will affect their constituents? Or is it to shame them? If the goal is to be constructive and make a difference, people need to attend these town halls and make a genuine effort to engage, not just yell. This, of course, still won’t make a difference in the world if the legislator in question isn’t willing to listen with an open mind and answer questions earnestly and honestly. Legislators can’t just go through the motions of a town hall to avoid being publicly ridiculed. Democracy requires an open exchange of ideas and representatives who actually care about all of their constituents, not just the ones who voted for them. Sen. Tom Cotton (R–Ark.) is an example of how effective this exchange of ideas can be. Cotton, after much public pressure, hosted a town hall that was similarly raucous. His constituents were equally angry, but they were able to ultimately achieve a dialogue. Cotton was confronted with the realities of how health care reform would affect some of his constituents, and he listened carefully to their concerns. Instead of treating the town hall as a chore to get over with, Cotton extended the event by 30 minutes. Although the direct effect of the town hall is difficult to gauge, Cotton did end up opposing the American Health Care Act. Cotton’s statement on the bill said it did “little to address the core problem of Obamacare: rising premiums and deductibles, which are making insurance unaffordable for too many Arkansans.” To me, this language suggests that Cotton really did listen to his constituents and take their concerns to heart. I hope that Trott learns from Cotton and other legislators who are making an effort to engage with their constituents. If Trott really cares about the people he represents, he needs to hold another town hall, and actually make an effort this time. I also hope that those attending the town hall work to contain their anger and articulately register their concerns with him. That is, after all, how minds get changed and “what democracy is all about.”
Mary Kate Winn can be reached at winnm@umich.edu.
M
Talking to strangers
y dad loves to talk to of the kind have inadvertently taxi drivers. When created: a new environment, ripe family trips would for human connection. take us to big cities, sitting in On a campus like the University the back of a taxi was more like of Michigan’s, Uber is a life saver sitting in a living when the journey is room, where small too cold, too late, too talk easily turned to far or, more often, all real talk. My parents of the above. I imagine have long taught me all of you have, at the importance of some point, sat in talking to people, the back of an Uber, showing them respect both alone and with by being curious friends. Yet, while about their lives, being an innovative rather than being and efficient ANU ROYsilent. With every taxi CHAUDHURY business to make our driver, my dad would lives easier, it has ask them where they’re from, simultaneously and unknowingly and that simple question would given us the opportunity to explode into a conversation about become more connected. their journey, a journey parallel Last year, before I had the to our own, yet one which had luxury of my 2003 Acura on now suddenly and spectacularly campus, Uber-ing to the Detroit intersected with ours. Metro Airport was frequent. While my dad would be During one of the many 35-minute beaming and thoroughly trips to the airport, I had a invested in these conversations, conversation I’d never forget. He I would feel the opposite. was a young, middle-aged Iraqi My cheeks would become immigrant from Baghdad. What hot, my hands clammy as I began with the usual “where sat, embarrassed of my dad’s are you from” question turned eagerness to talk to the people into him sharing his experience who were driving us around. living in Baghdad in 2003 amid a I would sink lower and lower tumultuous war. in my seat or stare intently out Ironically, earlier that week I the window in an effort to avoid had been learning about post-9/11 the conversation. Conversations America and the Iraq invasion of would include personal stories 2003 in my “20th Century Wars” about their family and their lecture. Our conversation about aspirations, and delve into his experience living and leaving their opinions on everything a war-torn state was unnerving. happening in the world outside Needless to say, 35 minutes was the yellow cab. Yet, as I grew not a long time, but it was enough older, the embarrassment of time. Enough to make me think, these situations faded. In its truly think, in a way I couldn’t by place was curiosity. I began to sitting in a lecture hall. listen. And now, like father like I have learned more in these daughter, I talk to my driver. short minutes, these brief journeys And as technology progressed with strangers, than you would and markets was changed, the believe. It has made me opentaxi driver is replaced with an minded and empathetic and altered Uber driver. my perspective on issues. Now, this Despite recent controversies, isn’t to say every experience has Uber is still alive and well. I would been like this, no. But this type of like to point out now that this is dialogue between two people who not a praise for Uber, but rather, a lead completely different lives is praise for what ride-hailing apps important. Now I make an effort to
have a conversation with my Uber drivers. Some don’t go anywhere, and some go everywhere. The notes section on my iPhone is filled with leftovers from my Uber conversations — from song recommendations to column ideas, each a tid-bit of an exchange with a stranger. Sometimes the conversations are funny, sometimes they are non-existent and sometimes they change you. You may think I’m glorifying Uber, which, at its core, is a business venture aiming to make money. But it’s not the Uber aspect that’s important; rather, it’s the idea of talking to people outside of our bubbles, outside of our networks, who are different and who are similar. Everyone has a story. But understanding someone else’s experience, listening and reaching out to their stories can create empathy and change perspectives. Starting conversations, especially the unlikely ones, can be the pins that burst the comfortable Michigan bubbles we live in. And that is more important now than ever. Certain words have been used more and more these days, not just nationally, but on our own campus as well — xenophobia, diversity, racism, inclusion, etc. Today’s political climate has been doused in assumptions, judgement and a basic lack of understanding of those around us. News headlines and rhetoric from certain politicians and groups show a polarizing atmosphere where being different is no longer met with acceptance but wariness and fear. But, much of this polarization is in our hands. Understanding someone’s point of view, listening to an experience that is not your own and having unlikely conversations in unlikely places (like the back of an Uber) is what can start to bridge gaps. Talk to people, listen to people — it makes all the difference. Anu Roy-Chaudhury can be reached at anuroy@umich.edu.
APPLY TO BE A COLUMNIST OR CARTOONIST Have opinions? Love to write? Draw? Apply as a cartoonists or columnist for the Spring/Summer! Visit http://bit.ly/2o0oVGV to find out more about where you might fit in this summer. COREY DULIN | COLUMN
I
More than appearances
n my elementary computer let’s have conversations that are programming class, I meaningful, conversations that watched a lecture led by a focus on the achievements of female undergraduate computer these women and how to give science student about implicit underrepresented groups a seat at gender bias. Looking back on it, I the table. think it is a real shame But no one can be that Bill O’Reilly and surprised by O’Reilly’s Vice President Mike comments — they just Pence didn’t get to see verbalize what many it too. I’m not a fan of already know: Racism either one of them, but and discrimination I could put my feelings come in many aside if it meant that different forms, from they could finally obvious signs like learn something the Confederate flag about women. to snide comments COREY Good old Bill passed off as a “jest” DULIN O’Reilly! Back at it in O’Reilly’s case. again, saying something he will Despite the work these women later regret. During an episode do, they are still often evaluated of “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday, in terms of their looks. These instead of going on a tirade about comments may not seem like a big U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters’s (D– deal to many, but our language Calif.) known disapproval of when referring to women reflects Trump, or liberals in general, he the values of our society. If we shifted his focus to an unexpected only focus on how women look, topic: Waters’s hair. Poor O’Reilly then we aren’t placing value on couldn’t focus on what she said their ideas, intelligence and other because he “was looking at the important characteristics. There’s James Brown wig.” no way we can effectively solve Politics can be a heavy subject the problems around us if, instead and every once in a while we need of being invited to contribute to some comic relief, but O’Reilly’s discussions of politics, business comments weren’t funny, and they and science, half of the population weren’t even original. He’s just is being rated on their looks. putting his own spin on the “ape O’Reilly “just couldn’t get by in heels” insult lobbed at Michelle it.” Well you better “get by it,” Obama, copying what trolls did Mr. O’Reilly. Maybe you forgot in 2012 to Gabby Douglas, and but you’re not the host of a what Giuliana Rancic did in beauty pageant. Rep. Waters is 2015 when she said Zendaya’s not walking down a runway in dreadlocks made it likely the a sparkly dress so that you can pop star smelled like weed. On judge her — she has more pressing the few occasions we see Black concerns than how her hair looks women in positions of power and what your opinion about it is. and influence, let’s not follow She’s “going to stay on the issues” the example set by people like and her hair isn’t one of them. O’Reilly and Rancic of reducing Pence has a similar problem. these women to stereotypes. According to The Washington Instead of making comments Post, Pence states that he, “never that blend racism and sexism eats alone with a woman other into one awful little package, than his wife and that he won’t
attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.” This may seem like a sweet gesture, but he didn’t sit and stop to think how unprofessional it is and what the implications of this patronizing practice can be. I’m sure many of his employees are dying to get any chance to speak with him one-on-one, and his acts clearly favor men. His male employees have the opportunity to communicate with him and work with him during a meal, but this is not extended to his female employees. Also, this practice gives me the sense that he thinks meeting a woman — besides his wife — in these settings is scandalous because women are dangerous seductresses. Both of these situations are attempts to shut women out of positions of power. Through childish insults, avoiding their presence in Pence’s case and other strategies, women are being silenced in the workplace and in society as a whole. In case O’Reilly and Pence didn’t get the hint from Rep. Waters, this will not fly. Like Waters, women “cannot be intimidated” and “cannot be undermined.” They are also more than their appearance and not something to be pushed aside to make room for men. I know O’Reilly and Pence probably have a hard time accepting this and retiring their archaic ideas, but they’re going to need to get over it. These attitudes won’t go away overnight, but if O’Reilly, Pence and all of us make a conscious effort to question why we think the way we do, we won’t have to hear or deal with so much stereotypical nonsense.
Corey Dulin can be reached at cydulin@umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
CONCERT REVIEW
Wednesday, April 5, 2017 — 5A
FILM COLUMN
‘Boyhood’ and learning to love my hometown LOMA VISTA
Local Natives’s Royal Oak show nostalgic, energetic SEAN LANG
Daily Arts Writer
Almost four years ago, I listened to Local Natives for the first time. After having spent the entire day lounging at my family’s timeshare on Lake Michigan, Spotify’s radio feature led me to “Airplanes,” “Who Knows Who Cares” and “Wide Eyes,” songs to which I would watch the sun set many times that summer. After chronicling the most relaxing summer in my personal history, they returned two years later as the soundtrack to long drives to and from club soccer practice. The perfect soundtrack for springtime, intricately woven harmonies always high in either energy or emotion — oftentimes both. I remember one drive in particular after an especially difficult practice, which culminated in diving into Reeds Lake with a teammate and stillclose friend in a moment that was complemented perfectly by the youthful exuberance of Local Natives. Years after having cemented a firm love for Gorilla Manor, the band’s debut, and Hummingbird, their more emotionally reflective second album, listening to lead single “Past Lives” in a friend’s screened-in porch during a humid July night was cathartic in more ways than one. On Friday, March 31, at Royal Oak Music Theater, the opening notes of “Past Lives” brought all of those memories back to life as guitarist-vocalist Taylor Rice’s voice cuts through the gleeful anticipation of the room, almost as visible as the over-the-top fog pouring from the stage. The audience visibly loosens up over the course of the song, and after its close, the band launches into Gorilla Manor classic “Wide Eyes,” delivering on all of the vigor of the studio-recorded version and then some. Although Rice announces that the band will be playing a lot of new material, four of the first six songs are from their first
two albums — thankfully for anyone who found Sunlit Youth an unnecessary turn toward the indie-pop mainstream. “Villainy” follows “Wide Eyes,” and after is the devastating “You & I,” a cornerstone of Hummingbird with its soaring-yet-sorrowful nature. The band plays the heavily percussive “Wooly Mammoth” and “Airplanes,” a homage to multi-instrumentalist-vocalist Kelcey Ayer’s grandfather, before stopping to offer some betweensongs banter. Rice takes a moment to ask, once again, how everyone is doing, and then asks whether the audience is familiar with the feeling of instantaneously falling in love with a stranger, someone seen just for a moment on the subway and then gone forever. By the time he has finished the sentiment feels overwrought, but its core is still relatable. This is what the next song, “Jellyfish,” is based on, says Rice. Here, the musical performance gains another dimension, the screen behind the band pulsating in different hues of blue and green, almost emulating an actual jellyfish, rendering into hyperactive silhouettes the five men of local natives. Next are “Heavy Feet” and Sunlit Youth highlight “Coins,” followed by the band’s most recent track, “I Saw You Close Your Eyes” — the song was originally made available only to those who were willing to literally close their eyes. Laurel, frontwoman of opener Little Scream, then joins the band for duet “Dark Days,” an unremarkable track which has for some reason or another been chosen as perhaps the best off of Sunlit Youth by fans, according to Spotify streaming and iTunes purchasing data. Here, Rice stops to thank everyone for coming and reminds us that, thanks to their partnership with Plus 1, $1 from every ticket purchase will go toward organizations that work to prevent sexual assault. After “Ceilings,” the band plays — for the first time live — their cover of “Ultralight Beam,” which is overwhelmingly
more impressive in person than via Spotify, with harmonies seemingly designed solely to coax out goosebumps. Now, all but Rice and Ayer walk offstage. Ayer announces that this next one is particularly special to him, and that he wants to make it special for us, before beginning “Columbia,” a song written in the memory of his mother. Unfortunately, a large part of the audience doesn’t seem to care — “this is the cost of breaking into the popular mainstream,” I tell myself — but the song builds, and about two minutes in, the other three walk on. The sound becomes larger; it swells and breaks and there is no better way to capture nostalgia, longing, loving, and the sorrow of leaving in four minutes. The band then turns its mourning outward, acknowledging the dire state of national affairs — “a lot of people have been fucked over in the past six months,” says Rice — before playing “Fountain of Youth,” a cheesy, overly indulgent ode to the power of youth. The song itself feels too performative to hold weight, but one line in particular — “I have waited so long, Mrs. President” — sits funny. The originally inspirational message of the feels soured considerably since September. Perhaps intentionally, the band then turns back the clock to 2009. The first show they played in Detroit, and the first time they played this next song live, they played in a room below freezing “to five people.” “If you know any of the words, please sing along,” says Rice. “Who Knows Who Cares” follows, fittingly, and the band walks off for an unconvincing couple of minutes before returning for “Masters” and “Sun Hands,” during which Rice floats himself out over the crowd, surfing for a couple of minutes before breaking it down onstage. In semi-classic fashion, Ayer, after noticing that his guitar’s neck had broken during the song, throws it down onto the stage, its pieces littering as the band exits.
IFC
I just finished devouring “S-Town,” a new podcast from Serial and This American Life. I expected the story to follow in the true-crime footsteps of its predecessors and, for the first few installments at least, that appeared to be the direction it was heading. Lured by the promise of a small town whodunit, journalist Brian Reed falls instead into the life of John B. McLemore, a contradictorily misanthropic and charismatic horologist. The product is, without spoiling anything, much more compelling that any small town / true crime / anything I’ve consumed in a long time. It made me think about where I come from. If you had asked me in high school, I would have told you I was living in an S-town (short for Shit Town, the name McLemore gives his hometown of Woodstock, Alabama). But now I love it. In a very un-pop punk (or maybe very pop punk, I’m no expert, ask Dom Polsinelli) turn of fate that my mom has only been predicting since the hatred began, I feel deeply nostalgic for my hometown. At first I wasn’t exactly sure how I got here, to this weird state of pseudoheartsickness for a place I’d hated with all the angst of my adolescence. I grew up in Austin, Texas, the very blue capital of a very red state that I loved to hate. And, while Austin has grown up quite a bit in the years since I left it, the LA-expats gentrifying the East Side or the 10 new buildings on the skyline aren’t why I’ve grown nostalgic for it. I’ve fallen in love with my hometown by watching movies in, around and about it. The first time I registered my hometown on screen was in “Whip It!” the Drew Barrymore / Ellen Page movie about roller derby girls. I rented it on iTunes to watch on my tiny iPod Nano screen on
an airplane because it was in my Genius recommendations (that sentence really captures a moment in technological time). And, despite watching on a screen the size of a thumbnail, I was struck when Ellen Page got off the bus in front of Lucy in Disguise. Not only was it Austin, it was my Austin, a part of my hometown that I could recognize in a moment. But the real king of Austin movies is, of course, Linklater. In Austin, “Dazed &
MADELEINE GAUDIN Confused” has this odd sort of cultural currency whereby it’s everyone’s favorite movie and still impossibly cool. Maybe because of my age or maybe because of the type of quiet, artistic kid I was growing up, I’ve always been partial to “Boyhood.” And in the years since it came out — right around the same time I put my hometown in my rearview — I’ve come back to it again and again. And that has to mean something. “Boyhood” isn’t anyone’s bingey Netflix go-to. The facts of my life and Mason’s in “Boyhood” are more dissimilar than they are alike. Cosmically, I had it much easier: consistent father figure, no abusive stepparents. But emotionally, I see a lot of myself in him. I can recognize the sort of detachment that comes with growing into shyness and introspection. Little things overlap — we’re almost the same age, we both discovered a love of art in high school, we both went to the “Harry Potter” midnight releases (at the same bookstore nonetheless), camped in Big
Bend. But what really gets me, what gets me every single time, is that scene in “Boyhood” in the bowling alley. Because that’s my bowling alley. That’s Dart Bowl. It’s a space I inhabited long before I saw it on the screen. I’ve eaten the enchiladas and rolled my eyes over not being allowed to get bumpers in that same physical space. I went there with my middle school gym class and for my brother’s birthday parties. Each time I see it I get this pang in my heart, a little gasp of recognition. And I’ve not completely figured out why, even now, I get emotional thinking about a bowling alley in North Austin. It’s the space and the recognition of space that makes me feel the most nostalgic, even when the facts of our lives line up — like when I went to an Astros game for my birthday — seeing a physical space I’ve spent time in is more powerful. When Mason and his father go camping in Perdernales State Park, the shrubby cedar trees and clay creek beds look like home. The natural space makes me feel heartsick for the creek behind my own house. And I feel proud in an odd way when I see the landscape of my childhood on screen. Movies like “Boyhood” give me the strange opportunity to see the details of my own life through someone else’s eyes. In that way, “Boyhood” feels like my memories, but it doesn’t exactly look like them. That level of detachment gives me the distance, which, in addition of my current physical distance, to learn to love the place I’d dedicated my teen years to hating. And so, I wonder how the people of Woodstock, Alabama that listened to “S-Town” feel about their hometown after having someone else — an outsider — tell them a version of its story.
TV REVIEW
Don’t consider tuning into TV Land’s new ‘Nobodies’ CONNOR GRADY Daily Arts Writer
Want to know the worst type of television? Not bad television, although that’s a solid guess. No, forgettable television is the worst. Forgettable television is similar to boring television, but it’s more than that — it’s those series that so utterly fail to distinguish themselves that, once an episode ends, it retreats to the back of our consciousness. This is precisely the sort of show that “Nobodies,” TV Land’s newest comedic foray, proves to be, leaving nothing in the way of a lasting impression due to its poor writing and easily replaceable cast of actual nobodies. Immediately upon watching “Nobodies,” the show’s deficiencies are evident with its anonymous cast. As the series’ title indicates, the stars of “Nobodies” are, in fact, nobodies — they’re mainly
screenwriters whose little acting experience has come through minor roles or parts as voice actors. The cast’s inexperience is apparent as they struggle to develop any chemistry. Playing fictionalized versions of themselves, Larry Dorf (“The Looney Tunes Show”), Hugh Davidson (“Mike Tyson Mysteries”) and Rachel Ramras (“Frank TV”) all fail to bring much of anything to their characters or consistently generate laughs. While its core characters do not deliver, “Nobodies” benefits from an excellent cameo by Jason Bateman (“Arrested Development”), who is hilarious in his all-too-brief appearance as himself. Although strong in his role, Bateman ultimately receives too little screentime to make up for the rest of the cast’s weaknesses. Although the cast of “Nobodies” doesn’t do the series any favors, the actors aren’t given much to work with due to the show’s weak
premise and lack of a strong focus. In “Nobodies,” Davidson, Dorf and Ramras meet with Paramount Pictures about picking up their script, “Mr. First Lady,” as a feature film. Since they aren’t known in Hollywood, they are forced to try and convince Bateman and comedic icon Melissa McCarthy (“Spy”) to star in the movie. It’s not a terrible concept in theory, but it’s a niche type of story that leaves “Nobodies” with limited room for growth. The series also seems to lose sight of this basic plotline, as scenes throughout the pilot frequently focusing more on Davidson, Dorf and Ramras’s personal lives rather than their efforts to make “Mr. First Lady” come to the big screen. While these scenes do offer an interesting perspective into their lives, they often meander and run a few minutes too long. “Nobodies” is further dragged down by its writing, which often spoon-feeds viewers pieces of the
TV LAND
plot. The series appears resigned to telling audiences much of its plot points rather than showing them, detracting from the show’s overall quality. In an especially obvious example of this, one scene features Dorf, Ramras and Davidson debating the future of “Mr. First Lady,” with Ramras stating, “I can’t quit because I’m a single mom with a child.” Such a bland line just dumps plot details on viewers, leading them to question why “Nobodies” doesn’t attempt to
depict Ramras’s child or otherwise convey that Ramras is a single mother using less direct phrasing. While “Nobodies” fails to consistently produce laughs, the show does succeed when relying on raunchier humor. When Davidson, Dorf and Ramras allow their less family-friendly styles of humor to emerge, the result is actually pretty funny. For example, in one no-holds-barred scene, Ramras argues with Dorf and Davidson about how to talk to McCarthy’s
husband about their film, and Ramras loudly declares, “He’ll feel gangbanged… gangbanged, like he’s ganged up on.” Scenes like these should become the norm for “Nobodies” if it aspires to prove itself something other than a complete flop. Overall, “Nobodies” is a dud that doesn’t offer any memorable bits of humor or semblance of a succinct, engaging storyline, making it utterly forgettable television at its finest.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, April 5, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BOOK REVIEW
‘The Barrowfields’ is a deeply heartfelt debut FILM REVIEW FOX SEARCHLIGHT
‘Wilson’ ultimately adds up to a whole lot of nothing wishing it were over. Ninety minutes too long, “Wilson” Daily Arts Writer never manages to rise above it’s schlocky writing and one-note There are movies so bad they characters. If the graphic novel are good, then there has anything “Wilson” are movies that are going for it, just bad. “Wilson,” none of it can Fox Searchlight directed by Craig be found in the Pictures Johnson (“The translation to Skeleton Twins”) the big screen. Michigan Theater and written by Movies like Daniel Clowes “Wilson” are (“Art School Confidential”) movies that need to stop being based off his own graphic made. Today, there’s a whole novel, “Wilson” is almost genre of film that follows this unwatchable. idea that “weird realism” is Woody Harrelson (“The a good way to connect with Edge of Seventeen”) stars as audiences. It’s characters are Wilson, a socially awkward supposed to be more “real” man with a heart of gold. because they are so unlikeable Harrelson gives it his all, and it’s situations portray that much must be said. It’s people who only make the just a shame the character wrong decisions because that’s he portrays is so incredibly what “real” life is like. No, it’s unlikeable that it’s hard to care not. A particularly disturbing about him or root for him at any element of “Wilson” is the step along the way. The plot way the film treats adoption. follows Wilson as he attempts The Wilson character never to reconnect with his drug- seems to understand that in using ex-wife and the daughter all relevant and emotional said wife gave up for adoption ways, the daughter his wife 17 years ago. It’s weird. It’s also gave up is not his daughter. just not entertaining. The movie treats the girl’s The film moves at a glacial adoptive parents as villains, pace. It takes forever for when all they do is ask that a the story to get moving, and creepy man stop stalking and the overall plot is just so kidnapping their daughter. hackneyed and ridiculous that Wilson eventually gets thrown I spent almost the entire movie in jail and then gets together IAN HARRIS
with his dog-sitter, who is at least twenty years his younger. All this random nonsense adds up to a whole lot of nothing. No amount of wacky shenanigans can make up for
No amount of wacky shenanigans can make up for uninteresting characters and cringeworthy dialogue
uninteresting characters and cringeworthy dialogue. These strange exploits might’ve worked well as a comic strip, but there’s no indication of that here, nor is there any indication of what it was about the comic that made anyone on earth think it would make a good movie.
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Through a new and shocking journey in the real ELI RALLO world, Henry falls deeply Daily Arts Writer and perplexingly in love. The woman, ironically named Story, A heartbreaking love brings her own baggage to letter to literature, loss and their relationship. Eventually, life changing choices, “The after graduate school, Henry Barrowfields” by Philip Lewis finds himself traveling back is an absolutely gorgeous debut to his childhood home, which novel. Opening its pages is like stands unoccupied on the hill, looking directly and in attempts into the mind to resolve his “The Barrowfields” of the novel’s inner demons, Philip Lewis protagonist, grapples with his Henry Asther, feelings for Story Penguin Random and it reads as an and find himself. House intimate tale of Through inspired sorrow, addiction and shrewd March 7th, 2017 and growing up. prose, Lewis “The tells the story of Barrowfields” is set in the challenging and thought fictional Old Buckram, North provoking life of Henry Aster. Carolina — a place filled with Although this is Lewis’s first crippling poverty that is slow novel, one would never guess to modernize. It is there, in a that he is new to the world of ghostly skeleton of a mansion authorship. He has close ties high on a hill, that Henry Aster to the narrative and setting of is raised by an aloof father, his fictional tale, as he is from who has a massive literary a mountainous North Carolina ambitions and a worsening town. He also practices drinking habit, and a quiet, yet law, collects rare books and supportive, mother. Henry is in studies language much like awe of his father’s ambitions; the fictional Henry Aster and his father works as a lawyer his father. It is obvious he has many personal ties to his first novel — the passion and realism radiating off the pages is unparalleled to any recent realistic fiction piece. “The Barrowfields” is clever, with a hint of nostalgia and plenty of intellect. It contains a great deal of literary references, ranging from Poe to Wolfe, which provide lovely metaphors and layers during the day, but writes and of additional meaning to the plays piano in his gigantic story. The narrative prose library all night. In his young is precise and calculated, adulthood, Henry begins to creating a beautiful tone for take after his father. When the reader that makes the piece tragedy strikes, leaving Henry, captivating and impossible to his mother and young sister put down. alone, he departs for college The most striking part of the and resolves to never return novel is its deep authenticity. home. He leaves the house It’s rare to pick up a piece of on the hill and his mother modern realist literature that and young sister to fend for feels like it is surrounding themselves. you. It was nearly impossible
The most striking part of the novel is its deep authenticity
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ACROSS 1 Chickens (out) 6 Lay eyes on 10 Judge’s setting 14 Like kindling when lit 15 Advil target 16 Insulate, as a jacket 17 *Process of electron gain or loss 19 Killer whale 20 Cereal with lemony lemon and orangey orange flavors 21 Falling-out 22 Bryn Mawr undergrads 23 Have a bawl 24 *Beneficial substance in berries 26 Lacking the skill 28 Not as much 29 Katy who voiced Smurfette in “The Smurfs” 30 “Jeopardy!” creator Griffin 33 Takes off the shelf 34 *Eating 37 At the center of 40 Compete in a sack 41 Lets up 45 Asian rice porridge 47 Show up 48 *London subway system, with “the” 52 Bus. card info 53 Highly recommends 54 “Monday Night Countdown” airer 55 Cruciverbalist Reagle of “Wordplay” 56 Danish shoe company 57 Each answer to a starred clue begins and ends with identical ones 59 Big bunch 60 Golf game spoiler 61 Sailor’s “Halt!” 62 Gull relative 63 Start of a preschool song 64 __-Bismol
DOWN 1 Watches late TV until a teen comes home, say 2 “From my perspective ... ” 3 Hotel room amenity 4 Amount to pay in Calais 5 “__ who?” 6 Absorb the loss 7 “The Martian” genre 8 Snapchat upload 9 Nikkei index currency 10 Diabetic’s concern 11 High behind a front, e.g. 12 Holy smoke 13 Campsite shelters 18 Former Education secretary Duncan 22 Golfer Michelle 24 Kirk __, first movie Superman 25 Last Super Bowl won by the Giants 27 Capital of Barbados
30 “Tell __ story” 31 PC key 32 MapQuest output: Abbr. 35 Oldest Brady boy 36 Geeky sort 37 Most severe 38 Accessory for Mr. Peanut 39 Ambien, vis-à-vis sleep 42 Webpage index
43 “Into Thin Air” peak 44 Does business with 46 Workplaces for LPNs 47 Green Gables girl 49 Post-op therapy 50 “Hamlet” courtier 51 Flip over 55 Bit of chess action 57 __-la-la 58 Con man’s target
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to separate my reality from the reality of the book, and that is important in regards to its themes and messages. The portrayal of the hope and courage we are forced to adopt in the face of grief and sorrow is incredibly genuine. It’s
A heartbreaking love letter to literature, loss and life changing choices, ‘The Barrowfields’ by Philip Lewis is an absolutely gorgeous debut novel
refreshing to read something that has such a strong sense of truth. The world that Philip Lewis creates in the “The Barrowfields” is vivid and honest. I urge any lover of literature and flowing prose who needs a story of hope and courage to read it. I look forward to whatever Lewis has in store for readers next; I predict a great deal of success with his debut piece. It is the type of novel that just thinking about makes me wish I could unread it’s every page just so I could read them all again.
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Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, April 5, 2011 — 7A
Wolverines claw back to beat Notre Dame Brdar extends current BASEBALL
ROBERT HEFTER Daily Sports Writer
It didn’t take long for the No. 18 Michigan baseball team to fall back into comeback mode in Tuesday night’s game against Notre Dame. In the first inning, Fighting Irish centerfielder Matt Vierling skyrocketed a ball over the left-field wall at Ray Fisher Stadium NOTRE DAME 3 4 MICHIGAN to give Notre Dame a three-run lead. Still, the Wolverines (4-2 Big Ten, 23-6 overall) managed to stave off Notre Dame (4-8 ACC, 10-17 overall) in the showdown thanks to four runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings that led to a 4-3 victory. “They know they’re going to come back, I know they’re going to come back,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “It’s just part of our deal, we just come back.” After the scorching start by the Fighting Irish, Notre Dame kept the pressure on junior right-hander Alec Rennard, who was on the mound for the Wolverines. While the Fighting Irish’s bats were hot in the first inning, they cooled off just as quickly. Notre Dame failed to score for the remaining of the game. While the Wolverines were hitless going into the third inning, they kept getting contact and looked poised to break out of their scoreless drought. Sophomore designated hitter Nick Poirier started the hitting barrage for Michigan in the third inning with a single to right field. Following him up was Engelmann, who immediately singled to left. “I think offensive baseball is contagious,” said sophomore right fielder Jonathan Engelmann. “Guys start to get hits, other guys feel more
obliged to do so.” With two walks from sophomore second baseman Ako Thomas and senior centerfielder Johnny Slater and a sacrifice bunt from senior catcher Harrison Wenson, the Wolverines cut their deficit to two. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Fighting Irish pulled their starting lefthander Scott Tully, who had clearly been inhibiting Michigan’s offense. “He did a good job mixing in off-speed,” Engelmann said. “He was a guy you have to set your rhythm later for.”
Notre Dame’s Charlie Vorsheck relieved Tully, and Engelmann immediately jumped on him, lofting a ball into shallow right field for an RBI triple, cutting Notre Dame’s lead to only one. The Wolverines faced another scare in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Notre Dame managed to load the bases with one out. Freshman southpaw Tommy Henry entered in the middle of the inning, though, and forced a groundout and a strikeout to end the inning. Michigan finally got the
“It’s just part of our deal, we just come back.”
equalizer it had been looking for in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Slater hit a sacrifice f lyout to left field that brought in Thomas — who had reached third base after an overthrown ball sailed over the second baseman. The core of the Wolverines’ offense came from Poirier and Engelmann, who, in the bottom of the sixth inning, carried the team to its first lead of the game. Engelmann lined a double past the diving first baseman to send a sprinting Poirier home from first, giving Michigan a 4-3 lead. Despite Notre Dame multiple chances to regain the lead n the eighth and ninth innings, the Fighting Irish couldn’t execute. “It’s pivotal,” Engelmann said. “Coming out with a ‘W’ after this and getting a win over a great ACC team.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Sophomore right fielder Jonathan Engelmann lined a double past the first baseman to score the game-winning run.
In search of validation Daily Sports Writer
T
On Softball
he Michigan softball team left the John Cropp Classic in Lexington, Ky. teetering on the brink of disaster. Following a swift 5-1 defeat to No. 19 Kentucky on March 12, its record dropped to 14-71 — the worst 22-game start since 2006. “We’re not playing the game of softball,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins after that game. “Just play the game of softball, not who do you play, not who’s ranked, not who’s supposed to win. You’re just supposed to play the game, and we are very inconsistent in that category.” Its 2-6-1 record against ranked opponents — averaging just two runs per game in those nine matchups — raised serious concerns about an unproven lineup, and whether it would ever find its form against the type of quality it would face. The Wolverines were reeling, in search of answers to major questions on both sides of the ball. Since then, Michigan has won 12 in a row, and done so in a fashion that hints at some semblance of sustainability. Since allowing five runs to Kentucky, senior righthander Megan Betsa has not allowed a run and thrown two no-hitters. With a changed approach aimed at attacking hitters, Betsa has blossomed into the dominant ace who had been missing at the beginning of the year. In the 48-inning span, she walked just 11 batters after walking 31 in her first 77.1 innings this season. In turn, Betsa became the senior leader — in performance and demeanor — that Hutchins believes has been coming for awhile now. “I really think her mental
game is consistent. It’s been really consistent during this period,” Hutchins said. “She’s just trusting what she’s doing is good enough. She really sets a great example and she sets a good tone for us, and this is sometimes when we’re not offensive. “She’s really been the best I’ve seen her in her career.” The Wolverines’ lineup has seemingly turned a corner, as well. Since the Kentucky game, Michigan has averaged 6.75 runs per game, with contributions coming from a plethora of sources. Junior infielder Amanda Vargas has thrived in her newfound role in the three spot in the order. Second baseman Faith Canfield has continued her breakout sophomore campaign, boasting a .356 average, and tied for the team lead with five home runs. And the two slap hitters — senior shortstop Abby Ramirez and sophomore outfielder Natalie Peters — have combined for 70 hits on the season, adding necessary depth to a lineup that had become all-too reliant on senior centerfielder Kelly Christner. With the rotation becoming a dominant force and the lineup starting to solidify, the 12-game win streak seems a tell-tale sign of a team that has found its groove. But this weekend we find out if that change is real. The six opponents the Wolverines have faced since that tournament in Kentucky have an average RPI of 127, and five of the six sport records below .500. They did what they were supposed to do at Alumni Field — beat up on inferior teams during its long homestretch. This weekend in Columbus, Michigan runs into an offensive buzzsaw, an unfamiliar contender that is quietly putting the Big Ten on notice. Coming off
its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2010, No. 25 Ohio State is emerging as a serious contender in the uncharacteristically competitive Big Ten. The Buckeyes come into the series surging — their only loss in their last 16 games coming at the hands of No. 5 Auburn. Its offense has posted 84 runs in its last seven games, with its top-three home run hitters — Lilli Piper, Alex Bayne and Emily Clark — totaling more home runs (25) than the entire Michigan team (24). And they will be motivated. In a matchup that signifies a rivalry in many other sports, Ohio State has dropped 18-straight matchups to the Wolverines, dating back to 2010. It’s time to find out whether Betsa can mow through a topcaliber lineup the way she did the Big Ten bottom-dwellers. It’s time to find out whether junior right-hander Tera Blanco’s “pitch-to-contact” style will hold against a team with 37 home runs on the season. And, most importantly, it’s time to see whether Michigan’s offense — which has shown a pulse against the likes of Eastern Michigan, Penn State and Northwestern — can replicate its production when faced with adversity on the road, against an array of quality pitching. Without No. 7 Minnesota on the schedule until, presumably, the Big Ten Tournament, the Wolverines will use road visits to Ohio State and Wisconsin as their major measuring sticks. On Friday, the Wolverines will head to Columbus to find out who they are. On Sunday, they will come home a different team, for better or worse. Marcovitch can be reached at maxmarco@umich.edu or on Twitter @MMarcovitch10.
HUNTER SHARF Daily Sports Writer
Through the first 29 games of the season, a strong case can be made that shortstop Michael Brdar has been the most valuable player for the No. 18 Michigan baseball team (4-2 Big Ten, 23-6 overall). The senior ranks third on the team in home runs with three, second in batting average at .325, runs with 24, doubles with six and slugging percentage at .478. He is also first in hits with 38 – which ranks fourth in the Big Ten. Additionally, Brdar has played stellar defense with a .982 fielding percentage, making a handful of web gem plays in the field. Heading into Tuesday night’s game against Notre Dame (4-8 ACC, 10-17 overall), Brdar was riding a 14-game hit streak. In the bottom of the fifth, Brdar stepped up to the plate for the third time. After fouling off several pitches and working a 3-2 count, Brdar blasted a line drive up the middle for a single, extending his hit streak to 15 games. During the streak, he has recorded 25 hits, helping the Wolverines to a 12-3 record. When asked what has propelled his hit streak, Brdar unselfishly credited his teammates for getting on base and giving him motivation to follow suit. Brdar finished the night 1-for-4 in Michigan’s 4-3 victory. Despite his merits as a batter, Brdar’s biggest contributions were with his glove. In the fourth inning, Brdar backhanded a one-hopper to
prevent a hit from Fighting Irish leadoff batter Nick Podkul. Michigan coach Erik Bakich credits the play for stopping a Notre Dame rally. Four innings later, with the Wolverines up 4-3, Brdar cut off a throw by redshirt sophomore left fielder Miles Lewis and threw out the game-tying run at the plate. “It was a tough play because it was a short hop and he had to make an accurate throw in traffic,” Bakich said. “But if there’s anyone who you want to have the ball (in a pressure situation) it’s (Brdar). It was a huge play, it really saved the game” Brdar currently bats third for Michigan – a spot typically designated for a team’s best allaround hitter – however, he didn’t start the season near the top of the order. Throughout the first few weeks of the season, he was generally penciled in at the sixth or seventh spot. However, consistent play at the plate moved him all the way to the third spot on March 19 against Northern Illinois – and he has been there ever since. In his first year as a Wolverine last season, Brdar batted .250 with 44 hits, one home run and 16 runs batted-in. Brdar has already surpassed that RBI total with 21, and is just six hits shy of tying his previous total hit mark. Despite his boost in the lineup and his improved play at the plate, Brdar’s approach remains the same. “I try to stick to what I do up there,” Brdar said. “We try and keep the lineup moving with quality at-bats the whole game. Just trying to do my job each time I get to bat.”
“Just trying to do my job each time I get to bat.”
Defensive line in search of depth KEVIN SANTO
MAX MARCOVITCH
hit streak to 15 games
Managing Sports Editor
To say the bar is high would be an understatement. For the Michigan football team’s new defensive line, that bar might as well be scratching the surface of the moon. In 2016, there weren’t many questions to be answered. Defensive line coach Greg Mattison had three fifth-year seniors and one true senior at his disposal in Chris Wormley, Ryan Glasgow, Matthew Godin and Taco Charlton, with a plethora of talent surrounding them. Now, after their departures, things aren’t that simple. But even though the personnel has changed, Mattison’s philosophy, as always, has remained the same. The seventh-year coach, and the Wolverines’ staff as a whole, has always been steadfast in the belief that rotations on the defensive front are necessary. “We always talk about (how) you earn the right to rotate,” Mattison said. “Two things can happen — if you don’t earn the right to rotate, now you’ve got four guys playing the whole time and they’re never gonna play as good as if you have guys to rotate for them. “That’s a big thing for us, that some of the guys behind them have got to close that gap fast.” It’s easy to see why — injuries are part of the territory that come with playing in the trenches. In 2015, Bryan Mone missed his entire sophomore season after sustaining a leg injury in fall camp. Last season, Charlton missed two games against Central Florida and Colorado, while Maurice Hurst missed Michigan’s opener against Hawaii. As the focus shifts to the Wolverines’ next season opener, establishing that rotation has become an even more pressing issue. Mattison is already optimistic about the first unit, one that will likely feature Hurst, Mone, sophomore Rashan Gary and senior Chase Winovich. Last season, those four were staples in the second unit, accumulating valuable snaps and racking up a
combined 27 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks. “(They’re) very important, because unlike them last year — when they were right there behind that first group — now they’re there as a group of guys that have played,” Mattison said. “There’s a little bigger gap, so they have to always show the right way to do it. It can’t be, ‘Now that’s OK.’ “It’s gotta be right, it’s gotta be championship-type effort, it’s gotta be championship technique. … The spotlight is on them a little bit more because there’s a real young group behind them.” In that same young group, Michigan finds the bulk of its unknowns heading into the 2017 season. Mattison praised sophomore defensive end Carlo Kemp and freshman defensive end Donovan Jeter for their work in spring practices thus far, while also giving credit to Lawrence Marshall, Ron Johnson, Carl Myers and Michael Dwumfour at tackle. Still, none among them have tallied significant minutes, and while — according to Mattison — the talent has been on display, he has yet to see it on a consistent basis. “I think the biggest thing in the
depth is that these guys behind them have to move faster toward that level than the last group did,” Mattison said. “The last group had been right on that verge, and they were that. “This group hasn’t been in the playing time — they’ve been out redshirted or they’ve been freshmen — so they haven’t really been on that field, so they’ve got to take a bigger step to get up to that level, to be able to rotate.” Regardless, the fact remains that the days of Wormley, Glasgow, Godin and Charlton are growing farther in the rearview mirror by the day. Fortunately, for a team searching to establish depth in the coming months, their impact may last a little longer. “I don’t know if they’ll ever appreciate as much as they should of what they had when they had Glasgow, Godin, Wormley and Charlton, in that room, leading that room,” Mattison said. “That was a special group. For them to be part of that kind of gives them that thing that, ‘We wanna be that way too.’ “OK, well now you’ve got to work to be that way. That’s kind of the bar now, that you want to be like they were and play like they did, and that’s what we’re shooting for.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan defensive line coach Greg Mattison has to replace much of his unit.
Sports
8A — Wednesday, April 5, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
LACROSSE 2016-17 Season in Review: Women’s Basketball WOMEN’S With full team effort, Michigan tops Niagara ETHAN WOLFE Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women’s basketball team overcame many hardships this season, despite having the most successful year in the program’s history. The Wolverines totaled 28 wins, smashing their record for victories in a season by six. They also finished in third place in the Big Ten — their best finish since the 2010-11 season. Regardless of Michigan’s success, the selection committee opted to leave the Wolverines out of the NCAA Tournament, much to the team’s surprise. Michigan (11-5 Big Ten, 28-9 overall), however, responded in the best way possible by finishing its season with six straight wins to claim its first-ever tournament championship. The Daily recaps the highlights and lowlights of the 2016-17 season. Best game: WNIT Championship — Michigan 89, Georgia Tech 79 The most important game also happened to be the best game of the year. Down six points in the final 1:23 of regulation of the WNIT championship against the Yellow Jackets, the Wolverines clawed their way back to an improbable victory. Michigan can thank junior guard Katelynn Flaherty for that, as she hit two triples in those final 83 seconds to tie the game. It can also thank divine intervention, as Georgia Tech missed two free throws with 0.6 seconds left to send the game to overtime. The Wolverines and Yellow Jackets battled back and forth in the extra periods, until Michigan finally broke away in the third overtime to give the Wolverines their first banner to hang in Crisler Center. Worst game: Michigan State 86, Michigan 68 All signs pointed toward a Wolverine victory headed into their in-state rivalry game with
the Spartans on Feb. 19. Michigan was 21-6 entering the contest — 13-0 at home — and prepared for its biggest home crowd ever for its “break the attendance record” game. The Wolverines accomplished the feat with an attendance of 12,707, but suffered their second-worst defeat of the season. While Michigan lost the previous game to Indiana in Bloomington, its first and only home loss to Michigan State exposed a lot of the Wolverines’ flaws and marked their descent out of the Associated Press top25 poll and eventually the NCAA Tournament. Best individual performance: Katelynn Flaherty in the WNIT The junior guard’s scoring prowess — Flaherty averaged 20.2 points per game this season — is a mainstay for Michigan, making her appearance in this category unsurprising. Even on the biggest stage she has ever played on, Flaherty still managed to shine on offense with 21.3 points per contest in the six WNIT games. Her biggest impact came in the WNIT championship, though. Flaherty didn’t make any of her first-quarter field goal attempts, but rebounded strongly with those two game-tying 3-pointers and 27 total points to re-energize her team. Most important game: Penn State 76, Michigan 75 Even with losses down the stretch to Indiana and Michigan State, the Wolverines still appeared to be a lock for the Tournament before their regular season finale against the Nittany Lions. But tied at 75 with five seconds remaining, a shooting foul committed by sophomore center Hallie Thome put Penn State on the free throw line. The Nittany Lions only hit one of two attempts, but it was all they needed to top Michigan and seemingly seal the Wolverines’ fate out of the Big Dance, as they
ALEX SAYLOR For the Daily
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
The Michigan women’s basketball team captured the WNIT Championship.
lost three of their final four Big Ten contests. Most improved player: Jillian Dunston The junior forward, who started just nine games and played 19.6 minutes per game in the 2015-16 season, started all 37 games for Michigan this season and bumped her playing time up to 28.9 minutes per game. Her point total increased marginally from 4.4 to 5.8 points per game, but her efforts on the glass — 7.7 rebounds a game — were the best on the team. Dunston’s most valuable contribution, though, has been her newfound role as the Wolverines’ emotional leader. She is often the most animated player on the court, and has become a vocal representative for Michigan during games. According to Flaherty, Dunston even guaranteed a 10-point win during a team huddle before the third overtime of the WNIT
championship. Most valuable player: Hallie Thome It wouldn’t be wrong to put Katelynn Flaherty here as WNIT MVP and first team All-Big Ten honoree, but the Wolverines relied most heavily on Thome, their best frontcourt big. The sophomore center averaged 16.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, and had her second consecutive season in the nation’s top-10 for field goal percentage at 61.3. Thome was also a first team AllBig Ten honoree. Thome’s achilles’ heel — foul trouble — also makes her Michigan’s most valuable player. In seven of the Wolverines’ nine losses, Thome either had four fouls or fouled out, and had three fouls in the other two. With Thome off the court, it was exponentially harder for Michigan to win, a conviction that came to fruition.
The Michigan women’s lacrosse team (4-9) had no shortage of firepower on their way to a 20-10 victory over Niagara University (4-7) on Tuesday. 10 In a wellNIAGARA MICHIGAN 20 rounded team effort, the Purple Eagles just couldn’t seem to find the answers to anyone in the Wolverines’ lineup. The first half began with four unanswered goals for Michigan. Senior midfielder Ann Schueler had a standout performance as she scored two unassisted goals to start the game. Ten minutes later, senior Natalie Carti ended the scoreless drought off an assist from senior attacker Tess Korten. Korten went on to pick up a goal herself just 30 seconds later. There were still about 15 minutes left to play in the first half. Niagara began to build momentum three minutes later, scoring three unanswered points, but the Purple Eagles faltered shortly afterward, and failed to come any closer. Schueler responded immediately, picking up a goal just 15 seconds after Niagara had scored. “They made a push,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Ulehla. “We pushed back. We pushed back before the first half. And that makes a difference.” With 41 seconds remaining in the first half, Korten scored her second goal. And with just two seconds left on the clock, freshman Sydney Whitaker broke through off an assist from Shueler. This put the
Wolverines up, 7-3, at halftime. Michigan blew open its lead halfway through the second half. Senior attacker Jess Angerman tallied three of her own, and goals also came from redshirt junior attacker Bianca Brueckner, junior attacker Mae Tarr and senior midfielder/attacker Lauren Olbermann. Up until that point, upperclassmen had dominated the play for the Wolverines, but with a comfortable lead, Ulehla decided to give her younger players a chance to compete. “It was great to be able to put in a lot of younger ones, freshmen and sophomores,” Ulehla said. “It was great to showcase our depth. So it was a great day for the youth and the future of Michigan lacrosse.” Redshirt freshman attacker Adriana Pendino notched a hat trick, and freshmen midfielder Chandler Kirby and attacker Lilly Grass would pick up a goal apiece. Sophomore Grace Hemmer would also contribute a goal to wrap up the 20-10 win. As the team gets ready to head into the last three games of their tough season, Ulehla explained the importance of Tuesday’s win. “It’s good for us from a momentum standpoint,” Ulehla said. “We really did really well on the draw. We had nine draw-controls against Niagara, which just shows consistency. We’re going to carry that on into our game against (Johns) Hopkins.” Michigan has just three games left to capitalize on its momentum, but if they continue to succeed as they did against the Purple Eagles, they might be able to pull together a great finish to a difficult season.
Evans builds stronger physique ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Sophomore running back Chris Evans has taken advantage of the offseason to gain more strength and knowledge.
Chris Evans strolled into the lobby of Towsley Family Museum, clad in a grey cut-off t-shirt and a pair of flip-flops. The customary flattop hairstyle — a trait which he became known for last year — was still there. What was different was Evans’ physique. The sophomore running back has made upperbody gains — significant enough that it was hard to believe that the difference between his weight Tuesday and last season was just seven pounds, up from 205 to 212. However striking his physical difference may have been, it probably should not have been a surprise. After all, Evans simply followed through with a plan that he told to many near the end of a breakout freshman campaign, one that saw him average seven yards per carry en route to 614 total rushing yards. As the season wound down, Evans had said he wanted to put on more weight so he could run with a more bruising style similar to last year’s starter, De’Veon Smith, while also improving his pass-blocking ability and knowledge of the offense’s concepts. “Basically last year, I was just going out there and I had one job,” Evans said Tuesday. “(Former running backs coach Tyrone) Wheatley just made sure I had one job, because once you get two jobs and you’ve got to check this and check that, it gets crazy. “Most of the plays that I ran (last year) were like, ‘Okay, run to this gap,’ and that’s it. During (pass) protection, you have to look coast to coast and all that, so it’s really hard.” In short, he wanted to develop the traits of a complete back — the type of back who would earn more than the 10 combined carries Evans received against Michigan State and Ohio State. While the jury is still out on whether Evans will be able to dole out more punishment to
opposing defenses and whether he has a better grasp of the offensive scheme, he claims he has already seen improvement in his pass blocking. It was also evident in the results from Michigan’s Spring Combine that he has retained the speed, agility and overall athleticism that made him a home run threat last year, earning recognition as the top offensive performer for his standing within his position group. Evans finished first amongst running backs in seven out of eight tests, each designed to measure athleticism. He had the highest vertical, the best shuttle times, the farthest broad jump, and the fastest 40-yard dash time at 4.64 seconds. While 4.64 is still plenty fast,
“Last year, I was just going out there and I had one job.” the time may have seemed slow to many, especially given Evans’ pedigree as a high school track star. Plus, he had flashed what certainly looked like 4.4 or 4.5 speed plenty of times last year. Evans was adamant that — even with the weight gain — he has maintained his speed, mentioning with a slight chuckle just when exactly the 4.64 time had been recorded — “It was 6:00 in the morning.” His physical change has come during what could have been a tumultuous offseason, given that his former position coach Wheatley left Michigan for the same position with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. Evans and Wheatley were close, and still are, with the former saying he still calls his old mentor nearly every other day. “I talk to him a lot and he just tells me his side,” Evans said.
“We just have long talks and stuff. ... I’ll send him clips of stuff I couldn’t do last year just to be like, ‘Hey coach, I’m getting better.’ ” The Wolverines ended up finding an in-house solution for Wheatley’s vacancy, moving Jay Harbaugh from the tight ends to running backs, which eased the transition. Evans said the younger Harbaugh’s preparation, from having meetings and slideshows on the first day back, “really blew him away”. And Evans, a speed and “finesse” back, as fifth-year senior center Patrick Kugler described, has enjoyed the change in philosophy that Harbaugh has brought to the position group as well. “It’s a different perspective because Coach Wheatley, he had the perspective of a big back and I’m not a big back,” Evans said. “So the technique and things he was teaching me, I really couldn’t get all the way because I couldn’t relate to them. Coach Jay, he didn’t play running back, but he’s looking outside in, so he gives a different perspective of the game.” It has been quite the eventful offseason for Evans, from the weight gain to the coaching change to the terminology that new assistant head coach and passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton has installed into the offense. What has sustained Evans through all of the work and the grueling four-hour practices is the knowledge that slowing down could result in getting passed by any of the other backs on the roster. “All the competition in the room just makes you compete at a higher level,” Evans said. “You have to come to practice knowing your stuff, or somebody will know more and he’ll expose you. “You’re not gonna be like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to make sure I do better than him.’ No one’s saying that, that’s just in everyone’s head. … Having that competition in the room is just going to make you go that much harder.”
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | A PR I L 5 , 2017
THE PEDICAB MAN
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | A PR I L 5 , 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
Personal Statement: Reflection
BY ALLANA AKHTAR, CONTRIBUTOR Based on “Long Distance” by Victor Lavelle Preface: This is an essay originally published by my high school Prize Papers collection at the end of my senior year. As a senior in college graduating in three weeks, many of the same insecurities I struggled with at the time are still with me today, which is why I decided to come back to this piece. The essay has been slightly revised from its initial version. he longest I had gone without viewing my reflection was three weeks when I was in high school. I had a systematic way of avoiding mirrors. I would wake up in the morning, look down as I entered my bathroom, brush my teeth with my eyes on the faucet, brush my hair with my head turned to the side and apply copious amounts of kohl around my eye rims, using the cheap drugstore mirrors that only show your eyes. This was how I started my day. I remember thinking that avoiding my reflection wasn’t too hard. I wouldn’t use public bathrooms where the mirrors were so big and hard to avoid, and if I really needed to look at myself, I would try to use opaque or grainy reflectives, such as car door windows. Looking back, this entire practice seems bizarre, as I knew I was a kind, passionate, loyal and intelligent 15-year-old. But I also believed I was ugly, and this somehow marred any good quality I possessed. I wouldn’t always do this ritual. My parents used to tell me I was a cute baby, and my deep black eyes would twinkle in the sun. Not only that, but I had a pretty smile — one that made my eyes scrunch up and my lips pull back to reveal my entire top row of teeth. Things went downhill when I began losing teeth. I had dreadful teeth. Not only did I lose all my top and bottom ones at around the same time, which ruined my precious smile, but my adult teeth grew in uneven and angled. My unsightly orthodontics, coupled with the pubescent shadow on top of my upper lip and between my eyebrows, were reasons why I lost the attention of adults and began my lifelong battle with self-image. Then came my “tween years.” My body stretched vertically, my hair got oily, my cheeks sunk in, my feet grew too fast for my balance to keep up — I thought I looked like the South Asian version of the girl from “The Ring.” But since everyone around me was equally awkward, I was still looking at mirrors just fine. It was in my sophomore year of high school that my self-perception dropped to an all-time low. All of a sudden, everyone left behind his or her awkward stage. Braces were coming off as bodies were filling in. Except
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for me. I stayed brace-faced, bony and undesirable. I blamed my mirror. It showed me everything that was wrong with my life. I came to believe that if the mirror showed me someone beautiful, someone like the models or actresses, my life would be better. Instead, boys didn’t want me because of what I saw in the mirror. I mean, how could they, with my braces and my stringy hair and my oily skin. Out of shame, I walked with my head down most of the time, my shoulders hunched, trying not to let anyone, including myself, see my face.
mirrors because I believed I was “unattractive” and somehow less of a person. But I realized I was blaming my looks for my own personal failures in life instead of taking responsibility for them. So no matter how hard it was, I forced myself to look at mirrors and appreciate what I saw. I forced myself to stop avoiding my reflection and come to terms with who I am, flaws and all. I made myself pick my head up when I walked and look people in the eyes so they, too, could see my face. It wasn’t easy, but as I became more comfortable looking at myself, I slowly started to like what I saw. I was starting to stop hating mirrors. *** Summer 2012. I was at day camp, trying to get my group of rambunctious 6-year-olds to settle down and do their coloring activity, when I caught Demetrius looking at me. He was one of the few counselors I had never spoken to, but I knew he was really popular with the kids. He had curly hair, a tall, slender build and hazel eyes that were pointed right at me. My palms immediately started sweating — I knew there must have been something on my face or something embarrassing that I had just done. I quickly shuffled to the other side of the table, away from his vantage point. He stayed back after class to help me clean up and ILLUSTRATION BY ERIN TOLAR introduced himself. We spoke for a bit, mainly about the kids we thought were cute or the other counselors we In my delusional state, I convinced myself that after both knew. On his way out, he smiled at me and said, my braces came off, I would finally be attractive enough “You have pretty eyes,” before shutting the door behind to look myself in the mirror. I believed that my entire him. world would change — that I would go from being an I caught my reflection in the window, ash gray and awkward, gangly teenager to a straight-toothed young dotted with translucent raindrops. Now when I look in lady. So upon coming home with my newly unshackled mirrors, I see a new girl staring back at me. I see a girl pearly whites, I went straight to my bathroom, turned who has a sincere smile and kind eyes. I see a girl who on the lights and faced my mirror. doesn’t need physical beauty to define her, as she knows But nothing happened. physical beauty should not determine a person’s worth. I was expecting fireworks, a beautiful brunette with She walks with her head held high and makes better eye tan skin and a Julia Roberts smile to stare back at me. contact with people. But she is only who I appear to be. But my mirror did not show me that. I was basically the The girl I see, the one who stands tall and tries to make same girl — the same awkward girl with lanky hair, bony it seem like she does not care what anyone thinks of her, elbows and a budding hunchback. I stared at myself for somehow formed around the reflection I used to see, half an hour, trying to see another reflection, but I could the skinny, awkward girl. Although this new reflection not. may appear confident, she still has the insecurities of And that’s when I realized it wasn’t the mirror — it the old reflection, buried inside her, that will never fully was me. I avoided mirrors to convince myself that I could disappear. But she’ll never stop trying to overcome her be happy even if I knew I didn’t like the way I looked. self-doubt. However, only after looking at my reflection, really Allana Akhtar is an LSA senior and former senior news looking at it, did I realize that this was not true. I hated editor for The Michigan Daily.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement
On Threatening the Land of Make Believe
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BY ALEX INTNER, DAILY ARTS WRITER
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n the skinny budget proposed in March by President Donald Trump, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be defunded. The agency, which carries a budget of about $445 million, would lose all its money and, as a result, public media stations and producers are slated to lose sizable amounts of their budgets. This isn’t the first time that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was threatened with budget cuts. During a presidential debate in 2012, Republican Mitt Romney said he would cut the agency’s funding. “I’m going to the stop the subsidy to PBS,” he said. “… I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you (Jim Lehrer), too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.” However, in this round of budget cuts, Big Bird wouldn’t be directly threatened by the cuts. Back in 2015, Sesame Workshop, which produces “Sesame Street,” signed a deal with HBO to help fund the show in return for access to new episodes nine months before they air on PBS. Still, local stations and production companies would be heavily affected by the proposed cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. One of those entities is The Fred Rogers Company. This production company started as the home for the classic children’s program “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood,” but in 2010, it started producing original programs of its own. The new flagship for the company is “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.” The show, which features characters from Mr. Rogers’s Land of Make Believe, follows Daniel, a 4-year-old tiger who deals
with similar issues to normal 4-year-olds. The show focuses mostly on teaching kids social and emotional skills. In a phone interview, Ellen Doherty, the executive in charge of production at the Fred Rogers Company, talked about how the show continues Rogers’s legacy by speaking to children at their own age. “That was what Fred was really committed to was thinking about what do kids know and what do they need,” she said. “In producing the program, we and our partners at Out of the Blue Productions are looking at (questions like) ‘Is this the right thing to say?’ ‘Is this how Daniel, who’s age 4, would talk?’ ‘Is this what he would be thinking about?’ ” For Doherty, the themes of “Daniel Tiger” resonate with children because the show’s stories parallel what a young child would deal with in their lives, too. “‘Daniel Tiger deals with the issues that are tough for toddlers. Daniel has to learn how to use the potty; he has to learn how to get along with his friends; he has to learn how to deal when he has a brand-new baby sister and he’s not the one in the spotlight all the time anymore. Those are huge issues when you are 2-, 3- and 4-yearolds.” The Fred Rogers Company also produces “Peg + Cat.” This program, which primarily focuses on teaching math skills, follows Peg and her best friend, Cat, as they try and solve problems using the math skills they use in the episode. “Each episode focuses on one or two themes in math and Peg and/or Cat encounter a problem, Doherty said. “Peg is totally freaking out to try and figure out how to fix it and then she fixes it and then they encounter something else, another iteration of that math. So it shows persistence in
problem solving. Persistence is huge with math.” The other show The Fred Rogers Company produces is “Odd Squad.” The series follows a group of agents who use math skills to battle “Oddness” in their world. It’s targeted at a slightly older age group than the other two programs. According to Doherty, the spy premise connects with the show’s viewers. The Fred Rogers Company receives the funding to produce these programs from a variety of sources including corporations, government agencies and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. According to a company spokesperson, they would be affected by cuts to the CPB and would have to rework their plan to make up for the deficit. For the people in public media, these shows reach out to children, as well as parents. The Fred Rogers Company released an app this year called “Daniel Tiger for Parents.” It’s meant to give parents access to materials to help guide them through helping their child through a difficult moment like a temper tantrum. Detroit Public Television, Detroit’s public television station, uses the characters and resources created in conjunction with Fred Roger Company’s shows in local events on its own. Tara Hardy, an education specialist at the station, discussed its role in a phone interview. “When we bring a Daniel Tiger character to an event, it’s like bringing a rock star to a concert for 5-year-olds.” “Peg + Cat” also played a big role in one of Detroit Public Television’s key educational initiatives. It receives funding through a grant the Department of Education called the Ready to Learn grant. “The Ready to Learn grant is
designed to go into classrooms and into schools. We were able to bring in iPads and tablets to classrooms and were able to train teachers on how to use their smart boards. There’s a few smart board activities that “Peg + Cat” put out that the kids just ate up. I mostly worked with kindergarten classrooms. ... “Peg + Cat” was one of the favorites.” According to Hardy, this grant would go away in the event that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is defunded. The full impact of the defunding for the station isn’t yet known, but a station spokesman wrote in an email to the Daily, “It will prevent us from expanding our work in that space and offering early-childhood education programming to those who need it most.” Detroit Public Television also tries to reach out to parents through a series of interstitials between programs on its new 24-hour PBS Kids channel. “A lot of the times we’re leading them to PBS resources or we’re saying ‘it’s a gorgeous day outside today. Why don’t you take the child to the park?’ to help empower parents,” she said. “Those are the parents who don’t have their kids in preschool or are not active if their kids are school age at the school. We’re able to talk to them and that’s a really unique position in the field of early childhood.” Also, there are kids in the Detroit metro area who don’t have access to a preschool education. “What we’ve found in our work in Detroit and around the areas is there’s not enough slots in preschools for every child that’s four to be in,” Hardy said. “We like to see ourselves as a supplement to a quality preschool program, but we also like to see ourselves as providing the content as best we can without that social piece
to families that really don’t have the access to a quality preschool.” For Hardy, the possible defunding of the CPB is frustrating. “I’ve been working here for roughly three years. I have really in those three years discovered how powerful and impactful public media can be, especially working with young children and working with parents. Kids are watching TV no matter what we do. ... Public media has the chance to put quality in front of those kids.” For Doherty, the noncommercial nature of PBS allows for the ability to create different kinds of shows that wouldn’t otherwise be on television. “Public broadcasting is really unique. … Public media is a great safe zone for kids,” she said. “Fred (Rogers) literally helped get it funded through is testimony to Congress and what he called the expression of care for children and families. That’s really what’s kept me working in public media for most of my career is knowing that’s it’s really helping, making content that really helps kids and that reaches a lot of kids who don’t necessarily have other ways to get TV content.” After many years of working in public media, Doherty has seen how the shows she has made has changed the lives of the children who watched them. “You’re going to hear from kids in 10 years talking about how ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’ had a lasting influence on them,” Doherty added. “That’s what’s unique about public media. We want to make sure that we’re making shows that people watch, but we want to make shows that are good for kids and give them valued stuff but without the pressures that commercial channels face.”
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement
Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement
The Pedicab Man the story behind Boober Tours
by Avi Sholkof f,
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Boober Tours! The only way!” Pedestrians stare at Kevin Spangler, the six-foot-five man wearing a long black jacket who is pedaling on a pedicab on a mid-afternoon day. “Boober Tours! The only way!” Spangler shouts again, hoping someone will notice him. It’s a typical day for Spangler. He bikes all around Central Campus and downtown Ann Arbor, from the Diag to Rick’s to Blank Slate Creamery. Some recognize him. A man in a red pickup truck rolls down his window at a traffic light and strikes up a chat. A group of men seated on the sidewalk outside Salads Up excitedly yells at Kevin: “Boober Tours!” followed by “What’s up Kevin?” Others seem more mystified by the man peddling on the pedicab, but are friendly nonetheless such as the young couple pushing a stroller, or the elderly duo in matching Michigan gear. To most Ann Arborites, Spangler is an omnipresent, optimistic feature of their downtown. Most don’t know of his multiple stints in prison, his struggles with alcoholism or his homelessness. All they see is a man cheerfully laughing, sometimes wearing a banana suit as he solicits riders. “For extra tips,” he explains to me. *** Spangler grew up in Manchester, a modest township roughly 20 minutes southwest of Ann Arbor, as the son of a corrections officer and a nurse. From 5 years old until the time he graduated high school, he dealt with attention deficit disorder, taking Ritalin and Adderall throughout his education. Spangler developed severe anxiety and socially isolated himself. After serving in the military, he began dealing
Daily Sports Writer
drugs. “When you’re taking medication for ADD, it makes you into a robot,” Spangler recalls. “I never talked to anybody, I never really had any friends in school, and then it wasn’t until I quit taking the medication that I became this social butterfly. I got into dealing drugs.” Joining the Navy straight out of high school, he was able to end his Ritalin addiction. However, alcohol became his new drug of choice. After leaving the service, he worked as a chef for the Washtenaw Country Club and became the locker room manager, a position he worked for a year. Because of his success in his position, he found himself traveling to outside of Los Angeles to work as a locker room manager at Moorpark Country Club — considered one of the best country clubs in the United States in 2002. But then his drinking problem brought his fortunes down. He lost that job because of a DUI violation, the first of many. By 2010, Spangler married, but soon divorced because of a “marijuana business that got out of control,” according to an article he wrote in Groundcover News. As a drug dealer, he still grappled with alcohol addiction. By June of 2015, he had been given a total of five DUIs and a prison sentence. In December 2015, he left prison for the final time. Although he had been in and out before, this time was different. He learned he would be having a son — named Romando — and he was motivated to change his life. With few job prospects available because of his criminal record, Spangler needed to flex his creative muscles. As he emphasized throughout our inter-
view, he remained undeterred. “When you get in trouble, you lose your rights to get a regular job,” Spangler explained. “When they do a criminal check, you could be the best person in the world, but if you have a criminal record, you don’t get the job. I’ve had to struggle, start my own businesses, wait tables, anything I can.” After prison, Spangler found a safe haven in the Robert J. Delonis Center, a homeless shelter on West Huron Street, where he lived for three months. While in Ann Arbor, he discovered Groundcover News — a community newspaper that employs local homeless people as vendors and writers — from existing vendors around town. Spangler wrote regularly for a year, according to publisher Susan Beckett. “The thing that touches me most is how committed he is to his son,” Beckett said. “When he started (at Groundcover), his girlfriend was pregnant and he made it clear he wanted to turn his life around and be the kind of father he always wanted to be, and he’s doing that. He’s gone from living in the shelter to now having a place where his son can be with him.” Though he no longer consistently writes for the paper, he often attends the organization’s socials once or twice a month, according to Beckett. During our ride last Thursday, he waved and exchanged pleasantries with a vendor on State Street too. “I don’t regret anything I have ever done, as it has made me the person I am today,” Spangler wrote in the January 2016 edition of Groundcover. “I own it and I am using everything I ever went through as a tool to help me with future.” Spangler enrolled at Washtenaw Community College briefly, but as was the case earlier in his life, classes proved challenging for him because of his
ADD. Spangler realized that college wasn’t the path for him. Groundcover provided some financial literacy and budgeting courses, something that Spangler emphasized was essential to avoiding the plagues of drugs and alcohol. Spangler explained that he had heard extensive complaints from Uber and Lyft drivers in town who complained about their experiences with their parent companies. If the drivers were unhappy, Spangler asserted, their riders were equally unsatisfied, thus opening the space for a pedal-powered ondemand transportation service. By January 2016, he saved up to purchase his first pedicab. Day and night, residents and citizens of Ann Arbor would begin to notice the tall man wearing a costume outside Skeeps at 2 a.m. At first, he kept the pedicabs behind a bus station on the outskirts of town, underneath some tarps. Then, he expanded his fleet and moved them into a small storage unit, but that soon became too tight as well. He initially intended to have three pedicabs by the summer of 2016. After finding large demand, however, he expanded it to 10. Riding with Boober Tours is free, though customers are encouraged to give their pedalers tips, and they often do. Spangler’s company is funded by donations. Because of his work at Groundcover, Bennett explained that Boober is eligible for donation matches from Groundcover. Thus far, he’s received $5,000 in donations and $2,200 in loans. He additionally reinvests earnings from cab rides back into his company. His first pedicab merely served as his first step. Spangler dreams of a ride-hailing app, of even add-
ing cars and perhaps trolleys to his network. Presently, though, he focuses on his 14 pedicabs, manned by a pool of seasonal and full-time pedalers — only a year after he began Boober Tours. While Spangler’s company has experienced tremendous growth in just over a year, he still sees greater returns on the horizon. As spring turns into summer, Spangler will look to hire additional pedicab drivers to expand his business. In the winter, fewer people drive because of weather and reduced demand, but that doesn’t faze Spangler. He’ll drive rain or shine. He never wants to have a boss again. *** But starting Boober Tours isn’t enough for Spangler. He seeks to additionally help those who struggled like himself, recovering drug addicts or those with ADD. As a former addict, Spangler says he comprehends how an addiction can affect not only an individual but his or her family and social circle as well. He utilizes his business to find positions for those just out of rehab or struggling with drugs or alcohol. A handful of his current employees are recovering addicts. “I want to inspire people,” Spangler said. He aims to create economic opportunity for those whom society — and many of its employers — has all but closed its doors on. For Spangler, his own personal struggles with drug addiction are vital to his empathy with those who have gone through similar tragedies. Walking into the warehouse where Spangler stores his pedicabs, there’s a whiteboard filled with ideas: plans for Boober, plans for other businesses, advertising and for his personal future. “I have a tiered process of how I’m going to get there over the next year-to two years,” Spangler said. “Back in December, I knew I was going to turn this company into a million-dollar company, but then I was like, ‘Why stop at a million dollars? Why not make this a billion-dollar company?’ ” With 14 pedicabs, Spangler may well be on his way. Riding through the Diag on a Thursday afternoon, he seemed comfortable on the University of Michigan campus, waving to a number of students and even stopping to answer questions. One man asked him about any events happening around Ann Arbor in the upcoming weekend. “Hash Bash,” he replied with a smile. “It’s a good day for business.”
Riding throughout the city, Spangler holds a smile on his face, complimenting the beautiful 55-degree weather, uncharacteristic for a March in Ann Arbor. Spending time with Spangler, it becomes evident that he simply wishes to make the most of life. That sentiment is echoed by others, such as LSA sophomore Brendan Genaw, the incoming president of OptiMize — a social entrepreneurship student organization — who has spoken with him a number of times. Genaw explained that Spangler came in contact with Jeff Sorenson — the founder of OptiMize and a University alum — who encouraged Spangler to
attend a workshop. While at OptiMize, he discussed his business model and success. He even gave some of the students a ride home afterward. At another workshop, Spangler became more personal. He told them his origin story, how he progressed from prison to his current position. “That was something cool for our people to hear because a lot of them actually know what Boober is,” Genaw said. “It’s not like he’s the CEO of some super high-tech company that no one is ever aware of. He’s someone that’s in Ann Arbor and they’re constantly around him too.” The positive experience that Genaw explained is a constant feature during a Boober tour with Spangler. He’ll ask customers about their goals, their motivations and their dreams. He’ll play music from an auxiliary cord, and he’ll do what he can to engage his riders. This positivity radiates from Spangler not just on his pedicab but in conversation as well. His enthusiasm is contagious. You speak to him and he has such a joy, a passion for his work and for life. “I just kind of felt when I was growing up as a child that I was going to do something massive to help the world,” Spangler said. “I always had that, but I feel like I had to go through the struggles I went through (in order to do it). To help somebody, you need to go through what they’ve been through. I’ve kind of mastered it and now in the future I want that for my company, since it’s second chance jobs for people in recovery.” But Spangler wasn’t always this positive, happy-go-lucky individual. At times in his life, he felt depressed and at one point suicidal. Starting Boober Tours reversed his outlook.
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PHOTOS BY: ALEXIS RANKIN/DAILY He explains that, as a pedicab driver, he exercises every day and engages in breathing exercises such as the Wim Hof method and the Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, a Buddhist breathing technique he learned from his aunt. Now a year in and about 19 months sober, he reflects on how he began. His parents barely took care of him in prison. “There’s a difference between Democrats and Republicans: Democrats take care of their kids in prison, Republicans don’t,” he quipped. But they did send Spangler books. Anthony Robbins’s self-help book “Awaken the Giant Within” particularly inspired him. He set goals for himself, goals he continues to look at each day. Without these “massive goals,” Spangler explains, he would have struggled to accomplish anything. He says goal-setting is imperative for struggling individuals. *** It’s likely you’ve seen the tall, lanky man on a Boober. Perhaps you’ve been slightly intoxicated at 2 a.m., or perhaps you’ve been walking in the Diag in the middle of a school day. But maybe now, you’ll know why the man is wearing a ridiculous costume. Maybe, instead of shaking your head, you’ll ask him for a ride and ask about his story. It’s safe to say, however, that no matter the time or day, Spangler wears a smile on his face. He’ll wave and exchange pleasantries with those he knows and make small talk with those who doesn’t. It’s not weird, it’s normal. It’s how Spangler acts. Like Boober Tours, it’s the only way.
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement
Sports is Art by Claire Bryan, Contributor It took me four seconds to spot Teddy in a line of 50 students outside Crisler Center. He stood tall in a bright-yellow Pikachu costume holding a small Tim Horton’s hot chocolate in his right hand. As I approached him, he seemed to be talking a little bit to a lot of people. He told me we would be let inside the Crisler Center — home of the University of Michigan’s men’s and women’s basketball teams — in about 15 minutes. I settled into the back of the line, gearing up for the wait to be longer than what Teddy predicted. Looking around, I noticed how quiet this line of Michigan sports fans was. Football Saturdays at the University are equated with Christmas morning by many of my friends — though, of course, instead of candy before breakfast, it’s shots. There really isn’t a time on this campus when you can’t find students in jerseys on front porches, celebrating their team. Needless to say, at 5 p.m. on a Thursday at Crisler Center, I was expecting a line full of rowdy kids. But instead, I was surrounded by peaceful, dedicated students waiting in not so visible anticipation for the basketball game. They stood as if it were their job, not their pleasure. Which, in a way, it was. I was standing in line with Maize Rage, the golden T-shirt-wearing student section, for the Michigan vs. Wisconsin basketball game. Many students in line two hours early are a part of the Maize Rage Core — the smaller group of more dedicated students who have weekly meetings to plan cheers and sit at the front of the student section for every game. LSA Engineering senior Teddy Tran is an icon of the group. He’s dedicated countless hours to the Maize Rage and many more to talking about basketball with his family and friends. He’s been following the Michigan basketball team since his senior year of high school. He’s been to 31 football games and almost 70 basketball games. “I found a passion for the sport and I got invested,” Teddy said to me as we sit down in the first row of the bleachers. *** As a student at the University, I feel isolated from the exhilarating force of sports culture that reverberates between students. Students like Teddy, who make this mental, emotional and monetary investment in sports. Walking down East Hoover Avenue and then South Main Street for the first time my freshman year, it was as if I could taste the community. Shouting “Go Blue” can stand for the entire Michigan community anywhere else. But here, on this street, the phrase meant I supported a group of people playing a sport I do not care about. My lack of interest in sports doesn’t stem from a lack of understanding: I was a cheerleader in high school — I had to learn the rules and watch football games closely to know when and what cheers to do.
Sitting in the Big House for the first time, I remember tasting it. I can still taste it. I understand there’s a powerful community at work on campus, but what I don’t understand is the foundation that brings this community together. Extract the crowds, the multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry, and even the comradery. What I’m asking is: What is it that draws humans to sports? *** Over Spring Break, I sat down next to my dad to watch the Chargers play the Kansas City Chiefs — something I never do. “The Chargers” is a term I heard growing up so often that I never actually thought about its meaning. I understood the word “Charger” as a sports team before I ever thought about the verb it was connected to, or the goldrimmed platter that sits under china dinner plates, or the type of horse or even the phone-charging device. To my family, “The Chargers” was a team, a dinner table conversation go-to and a reason for my sister and I to get out of the house on Sunday afternoons. I try to look for the box with the score and the elusive timestamp on it (a time that was incredibly deceiving to me as a child: Four minutes and three seconds never actually meant four minutes and three seconds). I feel a familiar ache in my stomach as I realize the game won’t be over soon and an even larger ache for how incapable I feel when I try to connect with people who love sports. No matter how attentive I try to be, how much I listen and learn, how large of a BigTen-sports-playing university I attend, I could never become a sports fan. My dad hears me sigh. I turn my head toward him and smile skeptically. He reaches his arm towards me and pulls me next to him. “I wish I could explain better to you what sports mean to me …” he trailed off. “Why I care about it just so much.” I laugh softly and mostly to myself. It is the type of laugh that masks the irreproachable dearth of understanding between the two of us. He wishes he could explain, but could he? Could I? Could I find concrete answers to why he, and so many, love sports in a way I never could? Why I can list out my friends who are sports fans vs. non-sports fans? And why, to non-sports fans, caring about sports feels so irrational? *** My father grew up playing sports: Football, basketball and baseball for the small city on the even smaller island of Coronado, Calif., with a large sports community. I reason to myself that watching the sports he once practiced and played is a form of studying for him — it is useful and interesting to watch experts play the form you once or still work hard to play. “Having played sports as a child there was a sense of ease and harmony between different parts of myself: body and mind primarily,” said Santiago Colas, an associ-
ate professor of comparative literature and arts, ideas and the humanities. “With that, a kind of absorption and a lack of self-consciousness that felt like freedom. Freedom to exercise my capacities as a person, as a whole person.” Teddy, who sits next to me at the basketball game, didn’t play sports growing up. “To be honest, I think I’m an anomaly,” Teddy told me. “I did robotics in high school, but no tennis, no football, no basketball or stuff like that. But for some reason, here I am, dressed like a Pikachu and all.” However, Teddy is not an anomaly. Andrei Markovits, a professor of political science, Germanic studies and sociology, has been studying sports cultures since the 1980s. Markovits and David Smith, a doctoral student at the time in the Political Science Department, conducted a study about undergraduates at the University, reporting on how many students attend sporting events, how often they watch sports on TV, who their favorite teams and players are, and how they support teams in the state of Michigan. “Crudely put, one need not have played one second of football in one’s life to have developed into a rabid and highly knowledgeable football fan,” Markovits wrote. When I told Markovits about how I attended a Michigan men’s gymnastics meet to try to engage in a sport I once played, unlike football or basketball, he laughed at me. For sports like gymnastics, the followers of the sport tend to also be doers of the sports. However, for sports such as basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer and cricket — sports Markovits defines as “hegemonic sports” — the followers outnumber the doers immensely. “Football is the most post-modern sport, because virtually no American has ever played football like these guys play football,” Markovits said. “Very few people understand. In fact, very few people have actually been to an NFL game, and yet if you look at the NFL, it is the most successful sport of all time.” “There are a group of almost all men who we call the ‘sports omnivores,’ ” Markovitz says. “They basically are guys who were actually awful athletes but who are obsessed with sports. For them it really is an intellectual in devour. … What is going on in is a form of identity.” *** I’m sitting in the basement of Ashley’s on State Street talking to LSA senior Matt Fisher. There is a basketball game playing on a screen behind me. I ask him the question I’ve been asking everyone I meet this semester: Why does you love sports so much? “Sports were a big part of my childhood,” Fisher says. “I first really got into sports with the Cleveland Cavaliers when LeBron came to the team in 2003. I was 9 years old
and as I progressed through elementary school, middle school and high school, that was the golden age of Cleveland sports and Cavs basketball.” When I asked Business senior Rikki Miner the same question, she was eager to tell me the same thing. “Being from Chicago, sports are everything,” Miner sIS. “We have a lot of storied history and teams in all Big Four sports leagues. My family is third-generation Bears season ticket holders, so I’ve been going to those games since I was an infant. My family is also a huge Michigan sports family, so every Saturday growing up I watched the Michigan football games on TV, and our weekends were planned around the time of the game.” And yet again, when I asked LSA senior Joseph Evans. “To me, Michigan football is the holiest of holy things,” Evans says. “I learned about Michigan football from my dad, he taught me about it — we would always be watching games together. Sports represent a generational bond. Because it is a strong part of my family, I can identify with it. It is a part of my identity even though I’ve never played for them, never made a contribution beyond being a fan. But this leaves me feeling a part of the team and that’s why I care about it.” Even for students who claim they are “non-sports-watching fans,” family identity contributes to their watching habits. I found Shirley Wang’s “Sports Complex: The Science Behind Fanatic Behavior” report observing how a fan’s identification with a sports team is similar to how someone identifies with their nationality, ethnicity or even gender. In it, Daniel Wann, a professor of psychology at Murray State University, defines this team identification as “the extent to which a fan feels a psychological connection to a team and the team’s performances are viewed as self-relevant.” This identity is a form of attachment for fans, and like multiple concepts within the study of sports psychology, it dates back to the ancient world of sports. David Potter, a professor of Greek and Roman History at the University, describes this idea of collective identity as one of the largest reasons for humans developing intense attachment to sports. “As populations were brought away from rural roots, deracinated, put into cities and are taking up industrial jobs, there was an anxiety about them, people started to ask: ‘Who are you?’ ” Potter told me that the University, and universities across the country, recognized this powerful sense of identity and tapped into it. “In the late 19th century and early 20th century, universities began to support sports as a way of reaching out into communities and helping to build a connection between themselves and the community that just
Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement
their academic mission often couldn’t do,” Potter said. “The stands for Michigan football very early on were intended to be larger than the city of Ann Arbor. Again, it proved that the University was stretching its image.” *** An hour and a half before the game, the inside of Crisler Center feels a bit like a shinier Disneyland. It’s pristinely clean, and there’s an overpowering cinnamon sugar smell floating throughout. “Bad and Boujee” is pulsating over the speakers. I can see the first six rows already filled in with matching T-shirt-wearing students. The students next to me have their backpacks in their laps and notebooks opened. Others fill out a quiz about basketball player fun facts. Despite their age difference and varying roles in the University community, everyone is united in this space. This ecosystem works. Students come here to be entertained and support the team. The team thrives off the support the large fan base offers. The team does well and the fans are rewarded and the team is rewarded as well. It is a cyclical process. For Teddy, it is this cyclical nature of sports — the scene I’m about to witness of fans and players collaborating together and feeding off one another — that brings him here each week. “I love the passion, from both the athletes and the fans,” Teddy says. “Especially in basketball, the team plays off our energy and we play off their energy and what they do in the game. When it’s great, this place is rockin’ and it’s just really fun to be a part of all of that.” Teddy believes that although sports events are more about what the team does, the way his club consistently shows up to games and contributes to the environment helps. “I mean obviously the players are playing but if one thing goes right it can turn into two or three things all in succession, and before you know it this place is rockin’, everyone is screaming, everyone is yelling, and for the other team it becomes very difficult because it is very loud, very chaotic … that’s how the crowd and the team play off each other.” Though I’m suspicious, I respect this participant role. After all, don’t I have to? I worked for years playing the ideal participant: leading a whole group of girls in this exact phenomenon as high school cheer captain. The difference between Teddy and me, though, and Fisher and all of these students I interviewed, is that I didn’t believe in it. I cheered for other reasons such as physical fitness and leadership, but I never truly cheered for the team. I never truly believed that what I was doing was changing their game. *** I turn around to see a screen playing a basketball game positioned behind the bar. I turn around and see Fisher’s eyes fixated
on the screen and I feel the familiar ache of disconnection. Fisher cares, his eyes are still glued, but I don’t. “I have no idea what the end result is going to be,” Fisher says. “No one knows what’s going to happen in a sports game — you are watching it unfold right in front of your eyes. That unpredictability I think allows for such an emotional range, and such a powerful experience.” Prof. Colas noted that Fisher is picking up on this unpredictability, along with the fact that in sports there is an end result that
is entirely clear cut — you either win or you lose. “For people who are interested in other arts, sports can seem sometimes childish, or infantile. A novel isn’t either great or shitty, it depends a lot on where the reader is coming from. But a team either won or lost. I don’t think that’s the best way to approach sports, with that narrow of an outlook, but (sports) are kind of built that way. They activate an appeal to people who are needing, for whatever reason, black and white, clear outcomes.” And it’s exactly this tension that Colas presents that bothers me so much — I don’t want to find these sports games childish, I don’t want to roll my eyes and not understand the irrational fervor I see in my dad’s eyes. *** Art — mostly writing, but also diagram drawing — means a lot to me. Art’s powerful psychological benefits and productive means of expressing a form of the self are why I find it not just entertaining but wholly important. I hold sports to this same standard because of the urgent rate at which society consumes them. Even though society loves art, discusses politics and even screams at music festivals, sports have a specific kind of
spectatorship that I find so strange and different — it is a blind belief in an event you have no control over, but have a large emotional investment in. “The first thing I would think about every morning when I woke up for a week was the Michigan State game two years ago where they fumbled the punt,” Evans told me. “It’s 100 percent irrational.” I say I don’t understand it, but I continue to ask Evans about his experience. “I felt such disappointment because I watched every game this team has played
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previously. I try to better understand what Teddy has been telling me, what professors, students and my research have told me all semester, and what society has been telling me my whole life. And as I do it, it is hard not to be affected by the overpowering cheering crowd. I can barely hear my thoughts as cheers are flooding through my ears. “For me there’s a more kind of microlevel that unfolds repeatedly throughout the course of the sporting event,” Colas says to me. “What is the next play going to be? What is the player going to do with their body right now in this next instance in this challenge given to them by the rules of the game, the ability of their opponents, etc., etc.?” It is at this micro-level beauty that I try to watch as the game unfold in front of me now — one player’s torso seems to disconnect from his hips as he pauses to fake a throw to his teammate, in blinks of eyelid time another player is already across the entire court swinging into the air to shoot, a pause, a dribble is so precise before a shot is made. “I think that it’s important to human beings to be able to witness that beauty, dramatic tension and this sort of exhibition of a human being doing things that human beings are uniquely suited to do, and often don’t get to do, because of the way our lives are organized,” Colas says. But as I watch the game and search for this type of beauty, what I think about is not the basketball players, but the gymnastics meet I attended last week. I remember my stomach tightening as my eyes traced over the gymnasts’ ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY HARDIE hands gripping the bar. My head raced as I imagined what type of flip may be coming next. since I was 9 years old. It was my child- My mouth opened in awe of the strength, agilhood dream for Michigan to win a national ity, athleticism of those I was observing. And title while I was a student here, so I could when players prepared on the sideline, I genufeel like all of that hard work I had done, at inely cheered and cared about the result. times watching Michigan lose, paid off, in This is perhaps a result of a combination of a culminating moment of going to a really the factors I have experienced — being a gymsignificant sports game. It doesn’t matter if nast when I was young, watching the Olympic I have control over it or not, it just represents gymnasts with my sister for years, respecting so much throughout my whole life. And it the hours of training and personal dedication almost felt deserved, that I had earned it.” the athletes make. But who is to say why I find The art that I interact with is entertain- this beautiful and not basketball plays? Or why ing and impactful, but does not wake me up I find spoken word poetry beautiful and not every morning feeling the weight of a bad Michigan’s final football game? concert or a win of a Grammy in the way “It is a matter of taste, a matter of upbringing; that sports fans are emotionally affected by clearly there are a matter of social categories Michigan’s wins and losses. that impact it — it’s not completely random — “Winning or losing does not impact your but ultimately, it can’t be explained,” Markovits object of life, and yet it matters so much,” told me. “Ultimately, you cannot translate this. Markovits says. “Look, I’ve studied it for 50 You cannot translate what is beautiful. It just years. I don’t know if you can ever really get is.” at this. … It’s about a lot of things. … It’s about With Maize Rage students roaring behind a form of comfort, a form of community.” He me and the final seconds racing down on the pauses. “It’s an imagined community — that scoreboard clock in front of me, I’m more conis power. But in some way, it is also a low- tent feeling isolated in this crowd than I ever cost thing. Unlike in politics, if your party imagined. For those around me, I understand loses you will get bad policies, it has an effect there’s beauty here, even if not for me. Sports, on your life.” just as art, cannot be translated. Sports, just as *** art, just is. As the basketball game begins, I force myself to pay close attention, follow the Claire Bryan is an LSA senior and former players with a new awareness that I haven’t editorial page editor for The Michigan Daily.
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Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement
V I S UA L STAT E M E NT:
PAR ADISE FOUND PHOTOS BY JULIA LAWSON
This past summer I went to Kauai, Hawaii and was lucky enough to be able to explore a beautiful garden in the Wailua River Valley called Smith’s Tropical Paradise. Its vibrant colors and beautiful scenery will stay with me forever.