2017-04-18

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Black students outline concerns with issues of overpolicing in A2 Members of the Black community highlight negative encounters with law enforcement RIYAH BASHA & ALLANA AKHTAR Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporter

University of Michigan student Dyshon Toxey doesn’t smile much anymore. An LSA senior, Toxey is finishing his degree in cognitive science and mathematics, and is involved in a number of development programs for fellow first-generation students. Toxey is Black, and said he often took pride in his perfectly

straight, groomed set of teeth to build connections in Black circles and beyond — he’s known as a community mentor with an easygoing demeanor and an even easier smile. That is, he was until last April, when Toxey was detained, body slammed and handcuffed outside Hill Auditorium for alleged disorderly conduct at the SpringFest concert headlined by Migos. Toxey recounted event staff asking him and his friends — all Black students — to fill in the front rows of the concert, then being asked by security guards to leave

shortly thereafter. When a white Ann Arbor police officer attempted to grab ahold of him, Toxey, who admits he was intoxicated, said he panicked. “I ran,” he said. “There was no one to protect me, no one was videotaping. I really was not trying to get into an altercation.” When Toxey came to a stop near the Panera on North University Avenue, he said the officer threw him to the ground and kneed him in the back, knocking a tooth out and spraining Toxey’s wrist in the process. Toxey said he was later transported to the University

Hospital and released hours later, with stitches, crutches and a bill totaling nearly $7,000 in medical fees. The University’s Division of Public Security and Safety notes the case as closed in its crime log. Toxey, the report details, was taken to the emergency room for “treatment of injuries sustained during a fall when he was fleeing.” Despite protests from his parents, Toxey didn’t inquire into his record; he wanted to brush the incident aside, take his final exams and return to his family and home in Harlem, New York. He said he was never notified about his charges

again. “(The cop) kept saying, ‘I told you not to run,’ ” Toxey said. “ ‘I told you not to run.’ And then I never heard anything from them again.” A few other Black students who were present at the concert corroborate Toxey’s account, but they agree on more than just his take on the night’s events. Toxey’s fate was not surprising to them. The Black community on campus and in Ann Arbor, many students claim, is more frequently and aggressively policed in student life than other demographics at the University. More stringent law enforcement, then, does little to close the gap between Black students’ lives outside of the classroom and mainstream perceptions of the glorified Michigan experience. Many lament that few qualifiers can spare Black students, especially Black men. For all of LSA freshman Rashan Gary’s acclaim as a highly recruited defensive tackle on the football team, he said he witnessed similar stereotyping while interviewing an Ann Arbor Police Department officer for a class project on community relations. The cop said, if he had seen Gary, 6’5” feet tall and 287 pounds, on the street late at night without context, he’d have reason to be scared. “He was straight up about it, that I could be dangerous or something,” Gary said. The suspicion is then often institutionalized. As recently as two weeks ago, in a carjacking case in downtown Ann Arbor, AAPD Detective Lt. Matt Lige told MLive the suspect was described as “a light-skinned black male.” The department arrested a white 17 year old for the crime three days later. Elizabeth James, program associate director of the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, pointed to the mistaken identity case as a microcosm of larger systemic issues in local forces. The discrepancy in policing, she said, is something she’s been aware of since she began working in Ann Arbor in the early ’90s. “What do we do with our tall men … or our darker men?” she asked.

“There’s a double consciousness for Black students that’s always resting on your shoulder. Your party’s going to be shut down … even when it’s in the (Michigan) Union. You’ve got to walk more delicately, and you have to be twice as good.” I. The Danger in Numbers In the years since Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., police departments across the country have come under fire for both aggressive tactics and racial disparity. A New York Times study in 2015 found white representation in hundreds of police forces across the country is up to more than 30 percentage points higher than their community’s proportion of white residents. Ann Arbor wasn’t spared from the slew of fatal police shootings. In 2014, a Black woman named Aura Rosser, who suffered from mental health issues, was killed by white AAPD officer David Ried — county prosecutors later refused to indict Ried for what officials deemed lawful self-defense. Rosser’s death sparked protests and prompted AAPD to mandate body cameras and diversity training, but the force hasn’t yet collected data on whether its demographics have shifted. As of the last Bureau of Justice Statistics survey in 2013, 82.8 percent of sworn AAPD officers were white, more than 10 percent higher than the percentage of Ann Arbor residents who were white. At the University, police demographics bear striking resemblance to national trends. White officers and staff members represent 78.1 percent of DPSS, which includes University Police, Housing Security, Michigan Medicine Security and general Security Services. Only 10.7 percent of DPSS is Black, while 4.6 percent is Latino. Furthermore, the division is overwhelmingly male, with women making up just 32.8 percent of DPSS. II. Hands in the Air Most students’ interactions with police at the University take place against the backdrop of parties, with the ubiquity of underage drinking See POLICE, Page 3

Hidden Gems: a look at three libraries High rise to Website for be built at on the University of Michigan’s campus contacting

ANN ARBOR

GOVERNMENT

Ann Arbor Library Lot

Preservation and digitization efforts are priorities at the Bentley, Clements and Ford

City Council passes the resolution to sell lot despite community division on sale

It was a dismal, Michigan morning — cloudy, with raindrops that didn’t warrant the use of an umbrella but were heavy enough for me to put up my sweatshirt hood — and it was my first semester at the University of Michigan when I went to the Bentley Historical Library on North Campus for the first time. I had been forced into familiarity with the buses going to the University’s separate campus — I had an 8:30 a.m. class on North four days a week and knew how to navigate the often daunting system. I arrived at the library after a quick trip on one such bus. The Bentley Library — established in 1935 by the University Board of Regents — had archives I needed to see for one of my earliest stories at the Daily. I was working on a piece about the newly archived collection of University alum Jack Kevorkian, a famed advocate for assisted suicide. What I found in the archives, procured by library assistants, were files of what are referred to as “medicide” — or medically assisted suicide — letters Kevorkian received from clients whom were suffering from illnesses they believed made their lives unbearable. There were also records from Kevorkian’s court trials; following years of advocacy, he was convicted and sent to prison for murder. At the time these papers and files were made available to the public in December 2015, Lara

ISHI MORI

Daily Staff Reporter

Concerned citizens filled Larcom City Hall Monday night as the Ann Arbor City Council voted to authorize the sale of the Library Lot, a piece of real estate across from the downtown Ann Arbor District Library on Fifth Avenue, to Chicago developer Core Spaces. Core Spaces, a firm centered around real estate management, is set to built a high-rise at the location. The council’s decision concluded a decade-long struggle for the future of the Library Lot, which is currently a city-owned surface parking space. Public opinion has been dividedbetween constructing a $10 million, 17-story, multipurpose high-rise — which is the current plan — and setting aside the land as a public common area with a few small-scale residential projects. Councilmember Chuck Warpehoski (D–Ward 5) said a new building would provide several benefits in the long run by contributing $5 million in revenue from the high rise to the Affordable Housing Fund, aiding the current See LIBRARY LOT, Page 3

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Managing News Editor

Zielin, the editorial director at the Bentley Historical Library, said an increase in interest in the archives was noticeable. “It’s a sensitive subject, and we’re aware it evokes lots of strong feelings,” Zielin said at the time. “We’re trying to be respectful and cautious about the material while, at the same time, not withholding the things that his estate wanted public.” These archives are just a

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fraction of 11,000 other research collections at the library — from those of University administrators to University athletics to documentation of Detroit’s history and state legislature photos — with more than 25,000 digital images scanned in its image bank, all geared toward serving as official records of the University and state of Michigan. Of course, the Bentley is one of many libraries located at the

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University specifically meant for historical collections and that allows for visits, updates digital archives, hosts temporary exhibits and holds events to celebrate the materials available. Though there is uncertainty regarding the future of archive preservation at the Bentley, the William L. Clements and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential libraries at the University — See ARCHIVES, Page 3

DESIGN BY MICHELLE PHILLIPS

INDEX

Vol. CXXVII, No. 69 ©2017 The Michigan Daily

politicians developed

LSA student initiates “Going Postal Politics” to send postcards to reps CARLY RYAN

Daily Staff Reporter

Inspired by political involvement on campus, LSA junior Alexander Forsyth has developed a website to help expedite the process of sending mail to politicians. The website, called Going Postal Politics, aims to reduce the tedious process of sending mail to three steps: pick from premade postcards, choose which politician to send the postcard to and send it for 99 cents. Users also have the opportunity to upload their own photos for postcards. The site asserts that postcards are the most effective way to deliver a message to politicians because of their simplicity and visual effect. The postcards feature many of the issues students on campus have been fighting for, such as the Black Lives Matter Movement, #NoDAPL and the immigration ban. “Most of the inspiration comes from students or activist Twitter,” Forsyth said. “I’ve been paying attention.” See WEBSITE, Page 3

NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6

SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7

News

2 — Tuesday, April 18, 2017

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ON THE DAILY: RECORD BREAKING For the 11th consecutive year, the University of Michigan has broken its record of most applications reviewed and processed, with 58,590 applicants seeking admission for fall 2017. This total is a 7-percent increase from last year. According to University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald, admission will be offered to about 14,000 students, making the acceptance rate approximately 24 percent. Last year, about 55,500 students sent in applications for the fall 2016 school year, yielding a class of about 6,600. Of the applicants, 16,100 students were offered admission, resulting in an acceptance rate of about 29 percent.

Although a detailed breakdown of the incoming class is not yet available, it is expected to be similar to that of last year, with an acceptance rate for in-state students of about 40 percent and an acceptance rate for out-of-state students of about 25 percent. The number of applicants to the University has been rising steadily as the number of applications this year is nearly double that of 2009, when 29,939 applications were received. The growing number of applications has yielded larger class sizes as well, with the class of 2020 being the largest in University history, despite University plans to curb overenrollment. - CARLY RYAN

MEET AND GREET

bex @beccamelanied There are ppl dressed up as dads on the diag holding a poster saying “wanna play catch with dad” & throwing tennis balls at people I cant Shapiro Undergrad @UMichUGLI Happy Easter. Christ has risen! If only your GPA would do the same.

AARON BAKER/Daily Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor greets community members at the City Council meeting in City Council Chambers on Monday.

CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Climate Change and Its Effect on Health

Vodka Tasting

WHAT: The co-founder of the Ann Arbor Distilling Company WHAT: The intersection of will host a private tour and health and climate change will be discussion of the historic analyzed in this discussion with company, followed by a tasting. the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. WHO: Osher Lifelong Learning WHO: Matthaei Botanical Institute Gardens & Nichols Arboretum WHEN: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. WHEN: 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHERE: Ann Arbor Distilling WHERE: Matthaei Botanical Company Gardens

Close Encounters: The The Wedding Mishap 2017 Stamps Senior Show WHAT: The work of graduating BFA, BA and Interart students will be showcased at this exhibition of performance, screenings and screenings. WHO: School of Art & Design WHEN: Noon to 7 p.m. WHERE: Stamps Gallery

WHAT: Third- and fourth-year Russian students will perform an adaption of the play “Wedding” by Mikhail Zoshchenko. WHO: Slavic Languages & Literatures WHEN: 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m. WHERE: Modern Languages Building, Room 3308

Dance Mix 2017 WHAT: This performance will feature premier student-run dance groups including EnCore, FunKtion, Impact and Rhythym. WHO: Michigan Union Ticket Office WHEN: 7 p.m. WHERE: Power Center for the Performing Arts

EXCELebration WHAT: This event, hosted by EXCEL, will offer free tacos from Tios! and discuss highlights of this year and plan for the next. WHO: School of Music, Theatre & Dance WHEN: 3 p.m. WHERE: Earl V. Moore Building, Student Commons

anastasia @anastasiapac

Little Star That Could WHAT: A presentation of this children’s story will be held in the Planetarium to teach what makes every stary special. WHO: Planetarium WHEN: 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Ruthven Museums Building

Michigan Tennis @umichtennis

WHAT: The poetry of third-year Japanese students will be posted to give readers the opportunity to vote for their favorites. WHO: Language Resource Center WHEN: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. WHERE: North Quad, Room 1500

A special congrats to our club team on winning the USTA #TennisOnCampus Title this past weekend! #HailtoTheVictors

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Body also considered a mental health resolution during final meeting of the year MAYA GOLDMAN Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan’s Senate Assembly met Monday for the last time this academic year to hear a report from the Academic Performance Committee and discuss various final resolutions. The meeting began with an overview of the APC by LSA Prof. Anne Curzan, the chairwoman of the APC, and LSA Prof. Ketra Armstrong, the faculty athletics representative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Big Ten conference. The committee handles academicrelated policies for intercollegiate athletics at the University and deals mostly with student-athletes’ academic performance. As of fall 2016, the University had 850 student-athletes spread out over 29 athletic teams.

I’LL MISS YOU DEARLY.

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utilizing these services — but there are also other factors at play. “When you look at the numbers, it’s a combination of a lot of things,” Armstrong said. “One, I do think our coaches have the right mind of the balance between athletics and education. … We’re also bringing in good student-athletes who want to have life after sport. And in addition to that, it’s understanding the support that’s here. That, we think, is second to none.” Armstrong, who has direct contact with the studentathletes, told the Assembly when students are struggling, it’s usually just because of a lack of time management skills. This is something Armstrong is working to help remedy. “Most of the situations where I have talked to students, it really pertained not to something systematic, but just making sure they have the time management,” she said. “And the thing we have impressed upon them the most is making sure they have a good relationship with their faculty.” The APC is also trying to work on integrating studentathletes into the greater student community. Curzan said this means having them use the University-wide resources in addition to more specific resources dedicated to studentathletes. “We’re really trying to work with athletics to make sure the student-athletes are taking advantage of the resources all across campus and make sure there are all sorts of bridges built to make sure students aren’t isolated on South Campus,” Curzan said. “We want to make sure they’re using their own writing centers but also Sweetland (Center for Writing).” The pair then talked to the Assembly about graduation rates among athletes.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Man sitting in UHS w a face mask....chill bro ur in radiology broken bones aren’t contagious

Haiku Exhibition and Contest

Senate Assembly discusses success of student-athlete academic work Armstrong said the students come from diverse academic backgrounds, but seem to be performing well across the board. “Our students are in a number of majors,” Armstrong said. “Many of them are in LSA, Kinesiology, Engineering and (Sport) Management. They’re taking legitimate classes, and we’re looking at high-caliber students who are participating in high-class athletics. We think they’re doing a really great job of balancing it all.” Curzan and Armstrong presented the Assembly with graphical evidence that shows student-athlete academic performance has been increasing over the last several years. They attribute this success to the many academic support services that have been instated recently, which include tutors, mentors and study tables — Armstrong said about 62 percent of student-athletes are

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POLICE From Page 1 and drug use. Still, Black students assert that their functions are hyper-patrolled, to the extent that every predominantly Black party gets shut down by police officers. AAPD Sgt. Thomas Hickey leads the department’s Community Engagement unit, and emphasized “party patrol” officers are indiscriminate in policing offcampus parties, as officers only respond to phone calls. Public Policy junior Stephen Wallace took issue, however, with the frequency of the alleged complaints, especially as many students live around other students. “You ask them, ‘Why is our party being shut down,’ or ‘What can we have done differently,’ and it’s just like ‘Oh, people are calling,’ ” Wallace said. “I just don’t believe it’s all coincidence, I refuse to believe every time we throw a party someone just happens to call.” Many students point to the vicious cycle of the imbalance: Black student groups simply do not leverage the institutional resources on campus to accommodate and control activities like those of older, predominantly white fraternities and sororities. Nearly every chapter affiliated with the Interfraternity Council or the Panhellenic Association has a longstanding address registered with their respective council — none of the “Divine Nine” historically Black chapters of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, on the other hand, have a long-term address on campus. Black parties hosted at offcampus locations, then, are rarely registered with the University’s Office of Greek Life. “We cram the whole Black community into a three-room apartment,” Toxey quipped. “Minorities don’t have enough stuff for people on campus,” agreed LSA senior Javon Shell. “It’s rare for a frat like us, or let’s say like Alpha or Que, would be in the same house two years in a row. We pretty much go house to house, and call that house our house. We don’t have big houses, we don’t have these luxuries. But yet, every time we try to have fun it gets shut down. Literally every time.” Shell, leader of historically Black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi, recalled an incident of aggression with officers at the frat’s annual Christmas in July party last summer. Shell said KAP threw the party in a white fraternity house on Hill and State Streets to account for the large crowd. After admitting over 1,000 people arrived at the venue, he said police used unnecessary force and roughness when shutting the party down. “Christmas in July was very aggressive,” Shell said. “You could tell they didn’t know how to handle that many people — Black people specifically — and the way they handled it was so bad.” Police from seven different districts, he added, were called to shut down the party. Though University Police spokeswoman Diane Brown told The Michigan Daily in a December interview that police from multiple jurisdictions are usually brought in on game days to account for the large amount of partying, she did not say the same happens during regular weekends or over the summer. According to a police report detailing the party attained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the officers on the scene included the entire AAPD night shift, all available units from DPSS, at least four Michigan State Police troopers, one Chelsea sergeant and a Pittsfield Township officer. The Washtenaw County Sheriff’s department also redirected Dexter Township squad cars to assist, but canceled the order before their arrival. The report states over 500 people were in attendance and over 200 people were on the road near Hill Street. Though Shell said no major altercations occurred, AAPD Officer James Boylan provided a written statement that he observed a large fight breaking out, then overheard radio traffic that there had been gunshots fired — though police later found no evidence of guns at the party. Nonetheless, Boylan deployed his department to issue pepper spray in areas where crowds were not dispersing. Boylan wrote he was “unsure how many people were hit with the mace.” Shell highlighted Christmas in

July as one prominent example of AAPD unnecessarily monitoring Black parties. KAP functions are usually shut down by 1 a.m. or 2 a.m., he said, and police officers enter date parties to check identification and cups, and he once finished cleaning up a party at the University Sports Coliseum only to find two squad cars still idling in the parking lot. “Not every event is going to break into a fight,” he said. “We don’t have that established foundation that these other people do have. And we can’t (often) get venues like (the Sports Coliseum) because we’re Black.” LSA sophomore Gracie Dunn, a member of the majority-white Zeta Tau Alpha, wrote in an email interview the Panhellenic Association party registration system ensures her contact with the police — outside high-profile daytime parties or tailgates — remains limited. “In the year and a half I’ve been here, I haven’t been to one mixer that’s gotten shut down,” she wrote. The Office of Greek Life declined to comment on this story. The police scrutiny isn’t limited to the time and place the of event itself: Black students say they’re more likely to be stopped before, after and even completely outside the context of partying at all. Wallace remembered a night of his Welcome Week in 2014, he was returning to his dorm on the Hill from a friend’s house when suddenly, a bright light stopped him in his tracks. A DPSS officer demanded Wallace put his arms up and proceeded to violently frisk him, even tugging on his insulin monitor. The officer finally stopped, and when Wallace asked if he needed to show ID, the cop refused. “He said ‘you fit the description for a gun crime in the area, but there was no place on your body to conceal a weapon,’ ” Wallace said. “It was over the top.” As with Toxey, DPSS dropped the issue. “There was no police report filed,” he said. “I called for the next couple of days … but there was no follow up; nothing really came of it. Almost like saying, ‘you can go here, but never said you can enjoy being here’ — that’s the way it feels sometimes.” III. Good Cop, Bad Cop With these collective experiences and memories, it’s not a stretch to understand why, as countless hashtags and protests have exposed by 2017, Black communities are reluctant to place their trust in law enforcement agencies. As Black LSA junior Priscilla Huddleston pointed out, students coming from predominantly Black communities arrive with very different outlooks on relationships with police forces. “I have a trust for police officers in Detroit that I don’t have here,” she said of her hometown’s police force, which was 62 percent Black as of 2013. “You can’t protect who you fear. You fear what you don’t know.” University Police Chief Robert Neumann doesn’t shy from criticism about his force, and admits he hasn’t been in close contact with Black students on campus. Both AAPD and DPSS participated in two annual Pancakes & Policing dialogues put on by the Black Student Union and Students of Color of Rackham. DPSS drew on the feedback in part to craft its sub-plan on diversity, equity and inclusion; initiatives currently being piloted include division-wide implicit bias training, microagression workshops and a plan to recruit more diverse officers. “I never had a sense (race relations) were bad,” Neumann said. “I can’t tell you about a time where we’ve had a bad relationships … but like to think it’s improving. Better than average. If those questions are unresolved, I’d like to know more about that.” Hickey, however, pushed students to consider their own stereotypes about police officers, especially for those “transitory citizens” coming from other communities. He admitted the pancake breakfast was the first significant dialogue between Black students and AAPD, but claimed the department has been practicing diversity and de-escalation training “for years.” Racial profiling, he insisted, is not an issue in Ann Arbor. “What did you do that brought unfair treatment on?” he said he’d ask students. “Because an officer

News would lose their job over racial profiling. That hasn’t happened here. If you’re saying that because it happened in another city … it’s not going to happen here.” Hickey pressed further, at times questioning the credibility of students’ accounts. “When you have a student that’s underage and intoxicated, a large majority of them are mean or aggressive, but sober, they’re the nicest person and apologetic,” he said. “If you’re throwing alcohol into the mix, you’re not making good choices. If police did 100 percent of what you wanted them to do, would the problem go away?” He agreed, though, community relations between AAPD and students in general could stand to be improved. Efforts to establish a civilian review board have stalled, as a $200,000 audit of the department is still underway. “If students don’t reach out, we can’t get this clarified,” Hickey said. “I’ve been aware of race relations my whole life. How do you think this makes me feel? We continue to battle negative perceptions. We have to step up our game in areas other police officers don’t even touch.” James, who was stopped years ago by an AAPD officer who couldn’t believe she worked at the University, suggested the dialogue for city officers move beyond annual breakfasts. “I see AAPD trying — but I don’t think just one or two officers can,” she said. “When you have this many people saying the same things, it’s a systemic problem.” IV. Between Two Worlds Add in the racist flyers, the threatening emails and the ever-dwindling Black student body population, and a fractious campus becomes even more divided by disproportionate policing. Whether students experience police aggression firsthand or secondhand, the result for many is arguably the same. An already alienated Black community sequesters itself even further from seemingly unwelcoming spaces. Black students even stop themselves from seeking the outlets most students would otherwise avail themselves of. According to a self-survey by the Black Student Union, 34 percent of students feel uncomfortable approaching officers in uniform. “I shouldn’t have this distrust or this disdain in my heart every time I see someone in a uniform, but due to what’s going on, due to how they police our events and police us on this campus, I don’t have much of a choice in the matter in how I see the police,” Wallace said. Huddleston, one of the only Black members of the cheerleading team, said she’s turned heads at predominantly white parties she’s attended for being “too loud.” Shell looks back on his Black friends who pledged IFC frats, and laments their separation from the larger Black community. James, however, related the more jarring story as proof of the toll on Black students’ mental health. As she entered a Haven Hall elevator two weeks ago with three of her Black students in DAAS — an academic space — the two white people already in the elevator appeared unsettled. No more than a minute later, they all exited, one remarking to James, “we’ll take the stairs.” “I want to believe this place is for me, but … it does get to prey upon you,” James said. “So why not stay safe? I feel safer around other people of color.” Many of the University’s DEI efforts hinge on successful collaboration between students of all races and ethnicities. With a strategic plan that largely fails to engage with the implications of disparate law enforcement begs the question: If Black students don’t feel comfortable around white students because predominantly white institutions are not yet attuned to Black needs, who can break the cycle? How much of the burden should, or can, be placed on the students themselves? Toxey is slower to smile in public these days, and entire cohorts of Black students subject to overpolicing aren’t far behind him. Hickey—with the full force of AAPD’s three-person Community Engagement department behind him—wound up asking the question at the heart of the matter.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017 — 3

LIBRARY LOT From Page 1 housing shortage in Ann Arbor. “If I vote no on this, would I be willing to sit on the phone Tuesday and call people on the Housing Commission, on the waitlist and say, ‘we’re down on money on affordable housing and I couldn’t help you guys’?” Warpehoski said. “I couldn’t imagine doing that.” However, public polling has shown majority support for a public space. A 2013 Park Advisory Commission survey

ARCHIVES From Page 1 especially with depleting storage space, ongoing efforts of digitization and a desire to distinguish fact from fiction — it seems these libraries will continue to be strongholds of history for students, faculty and historians to come. Though non-Bentley staff are not allowed in the official storage space of the archives, students, researchers and alumni can sign up online to request materials using the online database Mirlyn. Once the physical materials are brought up from storage, they can only be viewed at the library. Photographs can be taken of authorized materials, and placeholder cards are given when there are multiple files in order in an archive box. My English 221 course, Literature and Writing Outside the Classroom, taught by Lecturer James Pinto, traveled to the Bentley this semester

WEBSITE From Page 1 Forsythe, a computer science major, said he originally created the program to assist his girlfriend, who had to handwrite postcards for her job. Later, his

showed that 76.2 percent of respondents thought Ann Arbor would benefit from more downtown open spaces, like a park or town square, and 41.5 percent of respondents chose the Library Lot as the best place to build such a space. Last year, the Ann Arbor Committee for the Community Commons delivered a petition to put the future of the lot to the November election ballot, but it fell just short of a few hundred signatures because of technical mistakes. The crowd became increasingly restless as councilmembers urged compromise and attempted to

quell concerns about floor-area ratio, as an Internal Revenue Service audit of the Build America Bonds was issued to create the parking space under the Library Lot, and other salient details. The tension reached a tipping point when Councilmember Julie Grand (D–Ward 3) charged that anti-high rise advocates were ignoring the realities of compromise and resisting stubbornly against a democratically decided process.

in search of old letters for analysis. The class — centered around the art and significance of letter writing — was able to look at former students’ letters, letters from the civil war and scrapbooks of letters from a woman — Lulu B. Middleton — affectionately named Aunt Lulu. Bentley director since 2013, Terrence McDonald said the most significant and unique collections in the library include a collection of the work of architect Albert Kahn, who designed and constructed many prominent buildings — including the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press buildings, numerous Ford Motor Co. plants nationwide, the University’s Angell Hall, Ruthan Natural History Museum and the Clements library itself — books written by University faculty and staff and notebooks from students who took courses taught by famed philosopher John Dewey. These collections attract historians and students from about 60 courses per year, in programs across the

University. The Bentley takes in materials that hold value for researchers and students on information relating to the University and state. Recently, the archives have added materials related to Detroit’s underground magazines, and also showcase a number of student-made scrapbooks from the late-19th and early-20th centuries. However, because of a recent shift toward online research and the University’s bicentennial, the Bentley has taken a number of steps for digitization and has contributed many materials to the celebrations, thought not all with ease. “The digitization is challenging in that it requires all of the expenses of curation and storage of a paper collection, and then adding onto that the cost of digitization,” McDonald said.

market became apparent when watching students labor over sending mail to representatives in bulk. He then set on automating the process in “five clicks.” “I was in the (Shapiro Undergraduate Library) in January, right after the election, and there were 50 some women

sitting in the back of the UGLi who had literally printed out a big stack of postcards and were writing addresses of representatives on the back,” he said.

HUSSEIN HAKIM

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Opinion

4 — Tuesday, April 18, 2017

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JEREMY KAPLAN | OP-ED

STEM should think beyond the bubble

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ROLAND DAVIDSON | COLUMN

W

Dear Ford Class of 2017

e’re graduating into why their ideal world is “politically a world that is more impossible.” Social security seemed fractious than ever impossible 100 years ago, and now before. This statement, it’s a cornerstone of which has been our political reality. repeated for years, has With dedication, we moved from insight can expand the scope to truism to enduring of the possible. political reality. We can Beyond legislative put our heads in the goals, we need to sand, drown out the reflect on how to create rest of the world with a truly inclusive civic Colbert clips and retreat society. The sexual into our enclaves. Or we revolution liberated ROLAND can do something about millions of women. it. Personally, the last DAVIDSON But now evangelical six years of the Obama Christians are feeling administration lulled me into a increasingly endangered by a more sense of complacency. We lived sexual public sphere. Perhaps part under a divided government with of this may be due to misogyny, but incremental social victories on the part of it comes from a very real place national level by the left, like the of having their values threatened. expansion of LGBTQ rights, and How do we create a country that by the right on the local level, like caters to both groups? I don’t have restrictions on abortion access. the answer, but I think there’s room I often recall the quote by Martin in the middle for both groups to find Luther King Jr.: “ the arc of the moral common ground. Both a number of universe is long but it bends toward feminist and religious conservatives justice.” There’s inevitability to it. have criticized the prevalence of But after watching the liberal (small pornography in our society, perhaps “l” Lockean liberal, not big “L” for different reasons, but there’s Democrat liberal) world order tear room for collaboration that could at the seams, I’ve begun to realize help build a more inclusive society. that our future is not inevitable. But there are basic values we We must actively work to craft the can’t compromise; they are too world in which we want to live. essential for our democracy. We This might sound obvious. I’m must maintain a respect for open sure that the Facebook commenters participation. Our democracy will tear me a new one for sharing is better when more people such an obvious failing. But I would vote. However, this is at risk. seriously ask that everyone try Voting identification laws have to find a way they can make the consistently stifled the voices world a better place. Even if you’re of the most marginalized working outside policy as a 9 to 5 among us. Furthermore, (more realistically 9 to 9) business gerrymandering has been consultant, find time to volunteer at used by Republicans and a food bank or tutor children on the Democrats to make elections weekends. It’s too easy to become more difficult to contest. complacent. Seriously reflecting Both tactics may be politically and finding the time to help make expedient but they whittle our the world a better place is part of our democracy’s foundation. duty to the American people. We also must have Right now, the United States compassion for the oppressed. is going through a period of deep Listen with an open heart and unrest, but I think we have an an open mind when a person opportunity. Politics is often in pain tells you about their defined as the art of the possible. struggles. This extends to But what is possible seems to people we wouldn’t traditionally have shrunk. Gone are the New view as marginalized. It’s Deals, the Great Societies, even truly a privilege to attend the the Contracts with America. I University of Michigan, and don’t mean to sound like a Sanders the critical thinking skills that acolyte — I’m not­— but I really do we’ve honed have been a blessing. believe this is the time we need to With this degree, we’re part of relitigate American truths. Why the intellectual elites. With that can’t the United States have a honor comes an obligation. Many welfare state like the Netherlands? don’t have the luxury to learn Why can’t we have a universal in the environment we have. basic income, a policy that Nixon We need to learn how to talk to privately supported? those people. That means having Ross Douthat, The New York uncomfortable conversations Times’ token Republican, has spent with the archetypical racist the past couple months writing uncle or your teenage brother about policies that he believes when he makes offhand sexist would be good for society but comments. That means standing politically impossible. I implore up for others even when it’s each of my readers to think about difficult for you.

JOE IOVINO | CONTACT JOE JIOVINO@UMICH.EDU

Throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, I was relatively uncritical of his mass surveillance policies because I trusted him. Now that President Donald Trump has control over the National Security Agency, I’ve become increasingly concerned about what effects mass data collection will have on undocumented immigrants and Muslims. In 1967, Noam Chomsky warned about the danger of leftwing intellectuals being co-opted by the Johnson administration’s imperialist policies. We have to remain critical of our own government, even when candidates we support hold the reins of power. Lastly, there are dark fringes that have moved increasingly centerstage this past year. These are not people with whom we negotiate. We can’t debase ourselves by acting as though the ideologies that undergird the alt-right are as legitimate as any other. This is not a missive against the Republican Party. Since I’ve come to attend the Ford School of Public Policy, I’ve come to respect a number of staunch Republicans and understand that we have common goals. For example, a number of mainstream conservatives, such as Marco Rubio and Newt Gingrich, have recognized the reality of racist policing. Let’s keep our eyes and ears open for unexpected allies outside of our own camp and build new coalitions to achieve our goals. However, we must remain vigilant. While some populist Democrats share Chief Strategist Steve Bannon’s desire for a massive infrastructure bill, working with him further cements Bannon’s power and political legitimacy. But we need to distinguish between the Steve Bannons and the Ben Sasses of the world., between people who are willing to stand up against the bigotry in their own ranks and those who will abuse our political system for their nefarious ends. With an enduring commitment to our most important values and constant questioning of the world around us, we can really make the world a better place. That’s really the crux of public policy. When you strip away all the trappings, that’s why we all chose to study our discipline. Borrowing from Herman Cain, borrowing from Pokemon, I would like to leave everyone with these words of wisdom: “Life can be a challenge. Life can seem impossible. It’s never easy when there’s so much on the line. But you and I can make a difference. There’s a mission just for you and me … Just look inside and you will find just what you can do.” Roland Davison can be reached at mhenryda@umich.edu.

I

f you told me a year ago that in a year I’d be writing about how I love chemistry, I probably would have laughed in your face. Around that time, I was miserably glued to Problem Roulette, an online tool filled with thousands of multiplechoice questions from past exams in Chemistry 130, the University of Michigan’s primary introductory general chemistry course. I had done well enough on the course’s midterm exams by reviewing past homework and doing plenty of textbook problems. But the finale of my studying always required a trip to the deep pits of Problem Roulette, a tool that would test my understanding of the material while also giving me a f lavor of what I would find in 30 multiple-choice questions come exam day. A year later, I’m not approaching my secondsemester organic chemistry final with the same dread I felt a year ago. A lot has changed since then: I’ve fully settled into the rhythm of college studying, I’ve had a number of inspiring chemistry professors and graduate student instructors and I’ve developed a good support system among my peers. But what has most changed in my mind is how I’ve been asked to approach exams in organic chemistry. Instead of bubbling in letters on a Scantron, organic chemistry exams feature questions that require students to draw structures and mechanistic arrows to model how the concepts and reactions occur and work together. As such, my studying has focused less on integrating multiple aspects of a problem into an A, B, C, D or E answer and has focused more on making sure I can explain and draw out concepts in a coursepack of old exams. The difference in my attitude toward the two classes could not be starker: Instead of worrying whether all my work on a multiple-choice problem boils down to a single correct or incorrect answer, I’m studying by drawing reactions to diagnose exactly what I know and don’t know.

Multiple-choice exams have always received wrath from the likes of standardized test opponents and those who claim that requiring students to bubble in responses on a separate Scantron form makes it too easy to make a mistake. I’m not so sure I oppose them outright, but I do take issue with how they’re used in introductory science, technolog y, engineering and mathematics courses such as general chemistry. Introductory courses exist to teach important concepts to a wide audience, but they also should inspire and excite students about the possibilities in a field. Using multiple-choice exams as a primary method of assessment takes this seemingly primary goal of inspiring and exciting students about STEM and makes it secondary. Take this example of how a core concept could be assessed through multiple methods: Intramolecular interactions underpin everyday life, from the boiling point of liquids to ensuring your stomach enzymes have the correct shape to digest specific proteins into their subcomponent amino-acids. A multiple-choice question in general chemistry might assess this concept by listing a number of molecules and asking which one does not have an intramolecular interaction affecting boiling point, while a non-multiple-choice problem might ask a student to draw the specific interactions that stabilize a molecule. Both questions assess practically the same thing. But the feedback the second question provides makes it more valuable. A student who gets the multiple-choice question wrong just knows that they lack some piece of understanding about intramolecular interactions. In contrast, a non-multiplechoice question shows students immediately what they understood and missed and can award a range of credit depending on the completeness of the answer. Needless to say, the ability to guess correctly without understanding seldom exists on non-multiple-choice questions.

Multiple-choice exams simply tell students whether they answered correctly or incorrectly, regardless of if they understood 0 percent or 90 percent of the problem. While the differences in feedback may be addressed with the help of an instructor, students who are not always inclined to immediately seek out help from an instructor will feel demoralized if they thought they understood most of the concept and lost points on the full question because of a small error. I feel grateful that I came to college having had terrific mentors in high school who encouraged me to pursue a path in STEM. But I worry that when just a few dozen multiple-choice problems determine most of a grade, those who are just testing the waters of STEM can become demoralized by how the exam format of courses like Chemistry 130 treat their progress, and may leave the field all together, as STEM fields have high attrition rates. Some may deride this call for assessments that recognize the multiple aspects of an answer as a call for “participation trophies” for answers that aren’t 100 percent correct. Multiplechoice tests are a terrifically simple and low-effort way to separate an “A” student from a “B” student from a “C” student. But should that be the only goal of an assessment in an introductory class? Introductory classes, especially in STEM, are supposed to teach and assess, but also should paint students a picture of the road ahead if they pursue a STEM path. While using non-multiplechoice exams in large introductory classes requires an increase in grading effort and costs, in my mind, the benefits make them worth it. While by no means a panacea to all of STEM education’s difficulties, non-multiplechoice exams provide students with honest feedback about their performance instead of just a simple score.

Jeremy Kaplan is a senior opinion editor.

LUCAS MAIMAN | OP-ED

Whataboutism distracts from justice

N

obody’s perfect. It’s an age-old mantra that lets us find a bit of comfort in our shortcomings. Our mothers, friends, teachers and coaches have hammered this basic pillar of humanity into our brains. Imperfections, we are taught, are universal and part of what make us human. It is a shame, then, that we have begun to view perfection more as a choice and less as a pipe dream. Human error, polluted by agendas, politicking and biases, has slowly warped into a tool that perpetuates division. What’s more disheartening is that, more often than not, the imperfections that we see in others or in ourselves are irrelevant in context. We are quick to judge but slow to empathize. With this line of thinking, shortcomings are not seen as human error — they are seen as inexcusable. Worse is that they are used as false equivalencies in the hope of invalidating things that come to our attention. Take the latest public relations faux pas, courtesy of United Airlines. In the age of social media, it did not take long for videos to surface of Dr. David Dao being dragged down the aisle of a plane by United Airline’s security and the bloody aftermath. Nor did it take long for United Airline’s stock prices to tumble or for the boycott sirens to ring after United Airline’s President Oscar Munoz doubled down on the company’s self-vindication. But even as most of the world criticized United Airline’s handling of the whole fiasco, a different

narrative began to emerge in other enclaves of the media. Dao, the headlines read, had his own personal demons. Information swirled that Dao had his medical license revoked in 2005 after being convicted of drug-related offenses. With this new information, the story shifted away from the growing injustices levied by corporations like United Airline’s to the culpability of the victim – never mind the irrelevance of a nonviolent drug offense 12 years ago to being manhandled out of a purchased seat. The fallacy of the defense that “he was no angel” is that it overplays any prior mishaps of the victim. It provides unnecessary context to a situation as a false equivalence to sidestep the underlying problem. Through the wealth of information available at our fingertips, we have jumped the gun in trying to play both sides. This way of approaching controversial situations has come to be known as “whataboutism.” Whataboutism is the name given by The Economist’s Edward Lucas to describe a propaganda technique birthed by the Soviet Union to deflect criticisms from the Western world by asking “What about … ?” followed by an event in the Western world. Whataboutism is dangerous because it makes us so hyper-focused on human error or imperfection, even when inapplicable to the overall context, that we neglect to acknowledge the initial wrongdoing. In Dao’s case, his own mishaps over a decade ago created the false sense that there was more to the story than United Airline’s wrongdoing.

But whataboutism has not just popped up in isolated circumstances. Its resurgence in the United States has been steady and widespread not just in social situations, but also in politics. President Donald Trump has used whataboutism to avoid implicating Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the crimes he has committed against people who oppose him. Trump’s response to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough’s point that Putin “kills journalists that don’t agree with him,” was, “Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing also.” In a February interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, in which O’Reilly said, “Putin’s a killer,” Trump replied, “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country’s so innocent?” Trump’s whataboutism implies that Russia’s transgressions are less evil because the U.S has its own faults. But when Trump uses the faults of the U.S as reasons to not denounce the mishaps of other countries, there is no accountability to prevent future catastrophes on the global stage. This reasoning makes us prone to disaster. The fallacious whataboutism that is used to justify matters like Dao’s forceful removal from his flight and Trump’s foreign policy toward Russia is a dangerous race to the bottom. When we use one’s past to question the legitimacy of their victimization, we ignore the real issue at hand. Justice should not be limited to people who have clean records.

Lucas Maiman is an editorial board member.

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Arts

ALBUM REVIEW

TV REVIEW

Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” came out last Friday

INTERSCOPE RECORDS

Cyclical black conscious is embodied on LP ‘DAMN.’ AARURAN CHANDRESEKHAR Daily Arts Writer

Although scholars contest the dates, Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period is set between 1901 and 1904. Reeling from a close friend’s suicide, Picasso descended into a deep depression, blue tones soon coming to dominate his canvases. As bright hues darkened, so too did subject matter, his artwork devolving into bleak narratives of prostitutes, beggars and drunks. Struggling through poverty as consequence, this period marks his first shift away from classicism into what ultimately solidified into Cubism. DAMN. opens with an arrangement of mellow strings reminiscent of Hans Zimmer. Kendrick’s tone is gentle, reserved, tranquil. Reminiscing, he recalls a woman – a blind woman – who is frustrated because she’s dropped something precious. Lady Justice has misplaced her balance scales. In prototypical hyperconscious fashion, Lamar alludes to the eroding integrity of American political life. Watching Lady Liberty struggle, Kendrick approaches, kindly offering to help. He points out that she’s lost something. She responds, “Oh, yes. You have lost something. You’ve lost… your life.” Lamar is shot. Is it wickedness? Spiraling out of a Fox News segment, the album abruptly transitions into the most colossal braggadocio banger of Lamar’s career: “I got, I got, I got, I got / Loyalty, I got royalty, inside my DNA / Cocaine quarter piece, got war and peace, inside my DNA / I got power, poison, pain and joy, inside my DNA / I got hustle though, ambition, flow, inside my DNA.” In trademark Mike WiLL Made-It fashion, a dark, groaning baseline oozes against a guitar modulated down into the twang of a holy sitar. Towards the back half of “DNA.,” a vocal proclaiming “gimme some ganja” is abrasively mixed into the track. Alongside Kendrick’s ruthless rhythm, the song masterfully reflects our modern, oversaturated, GIMMEGIMME-GIMME-GIMMEGIMME-GIMME-post-internet multiracial consciousness. From Section.80 through to last year’s untitled unmastered., Kendrick has been continually fusing West Coast gangsta with jazz, funk, soul and spoken word, bridging the avant-garde with the accessible. It’s easy to forget that the man who did “Backseat Freestyle” is the same one who did “i.” What marks DAMN. as an inflection point in Kendrick Lamar’s evolution is its strippeddown, Spartan sound; it’s surprising that Rick Rubin doesn’t have any production credits. Although there is a curious departure into dance & electronic in “LOYALTY.,” “LOVE.” and through the synths of “GOD.,” the album is largely centered around inflected soul and hard-hitting, classical hip hop. It’s telling that jazz-influenced, frequent collaborator Thundercat is only credited on a single bassline. Lamar’s interests have pivoted, his focus tightened. In Jobsian fashion, the album’s minimal is its most mosaic. Between the layers of sonic complexity, BADBADNOTGOOD-assisted “LUST.” is a standout. The track opens with a waterlogged psychedelic riff: a tune reminiscent of Hendrix’s nasal solos on Electric Ladyland. A cyclical filter sweep is tucked between guitar and the vocals, its closest cousin the spellbinding whoosh of Radiohead’s “Like Spinning

Tuesday, April 18, 2017 — 5

Plates.” Make no mistake, this themes and his lyrics are tightly is a rap track: one with bars wound, largely internal. Track by grafted between Atlanta-trap- track, he digs deeper into his own deriven-triplicate-Hi-Hats. black consciousness, distilling the While Kendrick has long been conflicting beliefs, influences, and one to explore unconventional obligations into abstract values percussion (See: “Momma”), here — “PRIDE.,” “LUST.,” “LOVE.,” we see the furthest he’s ever delved “FEAR.” — never forgetting his into the experimental left-field. fleshly physicality — “BLOOD.,” For the first half of the track, kicks “DNA.,” “ELEMENT.” In effect, and snares are noticeably absent. DAMN. is more akin to LamarianWhen they do appear, they show stream-of-consciousness than up for one, two, three beats and prototypical “bars.” then disappear for another four, Between 1906 and 1907, five, seven. The sound resembles Picasso became spellbound by footwork’s surgical DNA splicing African sculpture and artifact, much more than traditional snare- tugged between the refinement driven hip hop. At very few points of classicism and the open bounds of the track are all elements in play, of abstraction. Although his either: it’s usually just one or two work was not yet full fledged sounds. “LUST.” does not feature cubist, the elements of structural Kendrick’s most complicated decomposition and reassembly drumkit nor his intensified. most dynamic Proportions DAMN vocals. Rather, the exaggerated, song’s intrigue is in form Kendrick Lamar subject its sheer precision, morphed; the the calculated palette of his Interscope technicality through past periods Records which its sounds harmonized. morph. Scholars refer to “DUCKWORTH.” is some this as the Negro Period. of Kendrick’s most soul-heavy On “Mortal Man,” 2Pac warns, work to date. Layered samples “I think that niggas is tired of compete for with his rhymes grabbin’ shit out of the stores and for space, similar to his verse on next time it’s a riot there’s gonna “No More Parties in LA,” track be bloodshed, for real. I don’t think 17 of Kanye’s most recent effort, America know that.” The Life of Pablo. Yet, the album’s DAMN. opens with “BLOOD.” slowed-down, soulful minimalism Although we live in one of the isn’t without its contrast. In fact, most animated periods of political DAMN. is further proof that no activism in recent memory, rapper alive has the aesthetic Kendrick still looks out and sees versatility of Lamar. On “XXX.,” stagnancy. On “FEEL.” Kendrick Lamar ventures into the industrial, rhymes “I feel like this gotta be rapping over police sirens mixed the feelin’ ‘Pac was [having] / The down to sound exactly like they feelin’ of an apocalypse happenin’ / were lifted from “Need for Speed: But nothin’ is awkward, the feeling Most Wanted.” On “FEAR.,” the won’t prosper / The feelin’ is toxic, bridge is looped backwards, and I feel like I’m boxin’ demons, it sounds as if he’s been divinely monsters, false prophets, schemin’ possessed by the Holy Spirit, sponsors, industry promises, prophesying in ancient tongue. niggas, bitches, honkies, crackers, Rising from the bleak depths Compton, Church, religion, token of depression, Picasso’s entered black and bondage.” a new era near the end of 1904: Lamar is suffocated by what’s The Rose Period. Although most around him. He is trapped, lost, of posthumous-Picasso-interest unsure of what more he can do, is centered on the Blue Period, unsure of what more he can change. it was only in the Rose period He’s said what needed to be said; that the technical foundations of he’s done what needed to be done. Picasso’s later abstraction would Yet, he stills looks out and sees the begin to crystallize. Themes of same injustice that inspired him to solitude and despair evolved into compose To Pimp a Butterfly. pink and orange compositions that On DAMN., Kendrick comes to articulated cheer and question. terms with the fact that he is just Kendrick Lamar is an artist one rapper, one man, one soul. It first and rapper second. Although takes more than one to solve our his product is packaged as ‘music,’ entrenched social tensions, more his medium is language, and his than one to achieve universal work strives to extend beyond equality. Lamar has known that the bounds of lyrical form. His — all along, he has. Yet, through rap stretches into poetry and the album’s nested anguish, he spoken word, and his albums are continues to grapple with his role cinematic. The cover of good kid, as the face of the ever-evolving m.A.A.d city has the words “A Black Consciousness. To Pimp Short Film by Kendrick Lamar’” a Butterfly made its importance scribbled onto it. Beyond his bridge sufficiently clear, DAMN. marks its between word and film, Kendrick furthest examination, its highest utilizes artwork to exhibit content magnification. and give flesh to aesthetic. Greens, His deepest critique of our mass blues, browns, greys and blacks social paralysis is on “FEAR.” dominate all his past covers. While Kendrick’s cousin — Carl — opens the straight grey of 2015’s To the track. A devoted Christian, he Pimp a Butterfly reflects its blunt, is convicted to the belief that God detached, sociopolitical truth, the is punishing his family — alleged fusion of color in his other work true Israelites — for disobedience. reflects an earthly calmness: a Lamar spends the majority of the calmness under which deep, nested track reflecting on his own fears: tensions brew. reminiscing of a home life where DAMN. is red — devilishly the threat of domestic abuse so. Donning a plain-white tee, looms large, recalling the fear of Kendrick stares at the camera, dying as a young teen in Compton, eyeballs lowered, his expression acknowledging his present worries one of possession, one in need of over losing his newfound wealth exorcism. “In my DNA / In my and success. Lamar makes it clear DNA / In my DNA.” Rhythmic that even after he’s left home, even repetition stretches across the after he’s sold his records, even LP. “Ain’t nobody praying for me after he’s ‘made it,’ he’s still driven / Ain’t nobody praying for me / by fear — to the point that he would Ain’t nobody praying for me.” even smoke it. The litany is cathartic, dogmatic, DAMN. concludes with a tale Gregorian. “I’ll probably die / I’ll of a seasoned gangbanger and an probably die / I’ll probably die.” innocent Kentucky Fried Chicken Although Lamar is oft mistaken employee. The narrative’s moral: for a preachy, middle school free chicken and extra biscuits. substitute teacher, on DAMN., his The simplest of gestures can

Still from new series “13 Reasons Why”

NETFLIX

‘13 Reasons Why’ drama explores teenage suicide New Netflix Original series explores repercussions of bullying SOPHIA KAUFMAN

Daily Book Review Editor

Includes spoilers and mentions of suicide and sexual violence including rape. In a pretty spot-on adaptation of the YA bestseller “Thirteen Reasons Why,” the new Netflix series follows Clay Jensen as he receives a box of cassette tapes left on his doorstep and, upon pushing play, is greeted by the voice of Hannah Baker: a classmate, coworker, friend, crush and, recently, victim of suicide. For the next 13 episodes, she explains — “live and in stereo” — why she is about to kill herself, and we listen. It’s hard to know where to begin with this series, which has sparked a lot of debate over how this story should have been told, or if it should have been produced in this medium at all. From a purely stylistic standpoint, there are times when it feels manipulative and overly drawn out. Hannah’s instructions for the tapes are simple: listen to all of them, then pass them on to the person whose tape is after yours. Instead of listening to all the tapes at once, Clay takes breaks after each one and talks to the other students who have heard them, demanding answers, apologies or retribution — which doesn’t quite make sense, as his questions could be answered if he just finished listening to the tapes the way everyone tells him to. This gimmick allows the show to last for 13 episodes, and leads to Clay seeming more selfrighteous than he does in the book. On top of that, there are several conversations between some of the other kids about how they’re going to deal with the possibility of the whole school learning about Hannah’s tapes that feel almost sickening in their self-interest, almost to the point of feeling unreal.

generate the most significant change. He concludes: “Whoever thought the greatest rapper would be from coincidence? Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be servin’ for life, while I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight.” Just as we’re given a penetrating glimpse into one of Kendrick’s deepest held truths, the final consonant ‘t’ blends into a rewind, one that zips back through the album, back to Lamar’s first line: “So I was taking a walk the other day.” The entirety of DAMN. compresses into a snapshot: a single snapshot beseeching relisten. So we push play, again. Just like that, Kendrick is shot, again. We dive into his personal struggle, again. And just like last the last listen, the album ends with another restoration to origin. It’s a manifestation of the cyclical course of unjust African American death. Few still talk about Trayvon; few still talk about Michael. But in the moment, we obsess over the details, we delve into the history, we join struggle. We say, “this death, this murder, this will be one that will change things.” But then fear overtakes us. And we forget. And the cycle continues.

But the further into the adulthood; I fully understand season you get, the more these the concern surrounding it. aspects seem to somehow fade But I also think it’s a story into the background. The show worth telling. No, the show does allows us to visualize things that not discuss whether Hannah the book can’t, like how it feels has issues with her mental to see the parents of the dead health, but a lot of the criticism girl you bullied and know they I’ve seen of this show based have no idea about the role you on that aspect seems to gloss played in her life, or how fake it over how deeply painful and can seem to have posters about isolating Hannah’s experience suicide prevention plastered on of being bullied was. Some the walls of a high articles don’t school brimming even mention with pain and the fact that she “13 Reasons oblivion. was raped — Why” Is “13 Reasons something I find Why” raw and incredibly, deeply Netflix real, or is it disturbing. romanticized? Something This seems to makes me want be the main determinant for to defend this show, despite whether or not this show is its faults, but I’m not sure worth watching, but I don’t why, and I’m not sure to what think there’s a simple answer. length or if I’m right to feel Some have voiced criticism that way. Maybe it’s all of the that because Hannah gets comments I’ve read under to tell us her story, the show think pieces about it from romanticizes suicide; some are parents who are watching it worried about copycat suicides with their kids and using it as a occurring among youth who jumping off point to talk about watch the show. Others feel bullying, sexual violence that it’s misleading to tell a and male entitlement to the story about suicide without ever bodies of girls and women really engaging with the role and suicide. Maybe it’s the that mental health plays in the fact that it represents at least large majority of cases. Some soame kind of exposure to feel that certain scenes are stories that so often get buried gratuitously graphic, especially with their owners. Maybe it’s the rape scenes and, of course, the fact that by talking about Hannah’s suicide itself. what this show does wrong, Personally, I haven’t figured we can get closer to talking out what I think or feel about about how we — as friends, this show. When I read the as classmates, as parents, as book in high school, I felt like school administrators and it got a lot right about how it counselors — can do better. feels to be in Hannah’s or Clay’s Because like it or not, it position, and showed just how does nothing to talk about shitty high school and high how artistic portrayals of schoolers can be. It conveyed suicide are incorrect without just how disconnected adults discussing the problems of can be from the lives of their how we talk about bullying, children or students and, just as sexual violence and mental importantly, how dangerous it is health in our schools. to keep subtly blaming victims Perhaps one of the actual of sexual assault for their own most romanticized elements assaults. It’s weird to watch the of Hannah’s story is that she show now, being in that strange points to 13 specific reasons. If place between adolescence and only it were actually that simple.

6 — Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Arts

JOIN DAILY ARTS IT’S A GRAND OLD TIME E-mail arts@michigandaily.com for an application and some friendly neighborhood advice

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

DAILY TV COLUMN

College, TV & the imperfect closing scene I’m not going to compare my the penultimate episode. And college graduation to the series even that was hardly conventional finale of a TV show. — sure, all four of the main It’s common knowledge that characters appeared onscreen for everyone who likes TV sees their the first time in more than a year, own life as a TV show. We see but the scene ended with them ourselves as the protagonist of decisively ending their friendship. an indie movie, complete with These women have outgrown romantic subplots and a built-in each other, and the show is bold coming-of-age narrative. If you’re enough to suggest that they were a person who watches a lot of TV, never there for each other in the it’s impossible to avoid looking at first place. graduation — whether it’s from Many times this past year, I’ve high school or college or med craved big moments of finality, school or anything — as a series sappy reminiscing sessions finale of sorts. with friends and huge personal That’s how it was for me revelations, like the crowdduring my senior year of high pleasing series finales of shows school, anyway. I knew relatively like “Friends,” “The Office” and early on where I’d be going to “Parks and Recreation.” college the following year, and I’ve managed to have a couple. that allowed me to experience One night at a party I bonded most of the year as sentimentally with my friend Sam, talking as possible. I hung out with my honestly about heartbreak when friends all the time, savoring the the only things we’d really talked time I had left with them. I wrote about before that were TV and heartfelt notes on the back of movies. A week ago, I spent a full wallet-size senior pictures and day with my close friend Shev, told people what they meant to hammocking in the breezy spring me, even wrote full letters to some weather and just talking for as they left to move into their hours. My fantasy this year was new dorms. I’m embarrassed to to have a day like that with each admit it, but I actually tabulated of my friends, a day after which a list of my friends, complete with I could safely feel like we’d given schedules of how often to keep our friendships the attention they in contact with them based on deserved. what ‘friendship tier’ they fit in. But I’m sensing the end of My very closest friends belonged college, in reality, will be more like in the ‘talk to every the finale of “Girls.” week’ category, while In “Girls,” Hannah my good friends were didn’t reach perfect ‘text every two to moments of closure four weeks,’ and my with most of the vague tertiary friends characters. She made were ‘text every now BEN ROSEN- peace, to a degree, and then.’ I thought with her ex-boyfriend STOCK I could keep a strict Adam and her ex-best schedule in order to maintain my friend Jessa, but it’s unlikely various high school friendships. they’ll ever be close again. She Of course, that didn’t happen. almost completely forgot about I think I failed the first week I her old friend Shoshanna, and moved away. As I would learn her friendship with Elijah will over the course of college, and as remain long-distance as long as I’m still learning now, endings he’s pursuing showbiz fame in can never be perfect. Closure isn’t New York City. She hasn’t talked always possible, and sometimes to her ex-coworker Ray since she things must come to an end awkwardly tried to give him road without a tidy resolution. The end head and he crashed the truck. of college is, of course, also the Even her best friend Marnie beginning of something new and is still self-centered, helping exciting, but it’s wrong to pretend Hannah raise her baby just to give it isn’t the end of something her own life meaning. important and irreplaceable. Some people will criticize My senior year of college has this ending as incomplete and been imperfect in a way that unsatisfying. But “Girls” is a high school never was. The purposely untidy show, based pressure of post-grad plans has on incremental growth and a hung over everyday life like an realistic lack of easy closure. It ominous cloud, preventing me reflects my life better than those from fully feeling the weight of closure-heavy sitcoms. The everything, from processing the ending of “Girls” is imperfect, fact that it’s all actually ending. just like my own senior year. I Besides, college endings are haven’t connected with all the weird and anticlimactic — back people I’ve wanted to this year. in middle school, on the last I’ve failed to stay in touch with day of school, we’d all sign each some of my favorite friends. On other’s yearbooks, and at least the positive side, I’ve continued in high school we all had the to form connections with new same last day of school, the same people, even in the last month of prom, the same graduation date. my senior year — but that’s untidy In college, people all move out in its own way, because I’m sad at different times depending on I won’t be able to build on those their final exam schedules and new friendships when I leave Ann their summer plans. There’s Arbor. These are some of the same no climactic day when you can imperfections that riddle the last deliver your perfect goodbye to season of “Girls.” everyone you care about. And here I am now, comparing Last night, I watched the my senior year to a final season series finale of “Girls.” “Girls” even though I said I wouldn’t do has never precisely been about that. Old habits. college, but the journey Hannah Here’s what I know: If my Horvath (Lena Dunham, “Tiny college experience was a TV Furniture”) goes on seems to show, the series finale wouldn’t parallel my own, in some ways. show the moment I throw my It’s a coming-of-age story about a cap into the air or hug my best young woman whose perspective friends goodbye. It wouldn’t of the world and herself shifts show a flashforward to the over the years. I started watching moment I step out of a plane “Girls” the summer before its and see Manhattan in the flesh third season aired, which also (and hell, I don’t know when that meant the summer before college flashforward would even be set began for me. It feels fitting that — maybe a month from now, or the show is coming to an end just maybe a year, or maybe never). as my college experience comes to It would show something an end. more subtle, like the shot that The series finale of “Girls” closes “Girls,” with Hannah’s was an anticlimactic affair, subtle expression of confidence filled with low-key moments and accomplishment. My series of connection and growth. If finale would end on something “Girls” had a bombastic ending quiet and intimate, like closing with massive leaps of character my laptop at the arts desk, development, it’d be disingenuous or biting into a slice of South to the spirit of the show, which U pizza, or laughing at some has always been concerned with stupid meme. Or maybe I’d emotional realism. The closest just be sitting alone in bed, “Girls” got to a traditional sitcom watching the end of one of my ending, complete with satisfying favorite TV shows, smiling a bit emotional catharsis, was actually as the credits started to roll.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Tuesday, April 18, 2017 — 7

Blanco providing spark at the plate Michigan preparing BASEBALL

MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Writer

Michigan first baseman Tera Blanco came to the plate in the top of the first inning last Wednesday with a runner on second base and a two-run cushion already in tow. Blanco patiently worked a 3-2 count before finding her pitch; she didn’t miss. Keeping her weight back, she blasted the fastball to center, rocketing what appeared to be a shot headed for Yost and beyond. But the ball plummeted just feet too short, allowing Michigan State centerfielder Lea Foerster to make a spectacular leaping grab just left of the “222” sign under the flagpole, indicating the deepest part of the ballpark. It may have been frustrating for Blanco at the time, but the result didn’t mar the progress that has become apparent in her approach at the plate. This type of approach — one complete with high contact level, pitch recognition and patience — hasn’t been there for the Wolverines’ fans to see since last year’s Women’s College World Series.

In her next at-bat, in the third inning, the Spartans wanted nothing to do with Blanco — walking her on five pitches with first base open and two outs. Neglecting to force the issue, Blanco took her base, extending an inning that very well may have halted there just weeks ago. Two batters later, a bases-loaded walk of junior infielder Amanda Vargas would tack on another run and extend the lead to four. While Blanco’s day may appear inconsequential in the scorebook — no hits, no runs batted in, one walk, one run scored — her approach offered more evidence of a player breaking out when her team needs it most. Michigan coach Carol Hutchins believes her improved mentality has led to her across-the-board improvement. “Tera has done her part and embraced pitching,” Hutchins said. “She wants to win and wants to be good. She’s improved in every category and most importantly in attitude.” It’s been no secret that the junior first baseman/right-hander has underperformed at the plate

relative to expectations. Blanco was perhaps the second-most productive Wolverine hitter last season, behind only Sierra Romero. After a monstrous 2016 season — .404 average, 66 RBI, 12 home runs, .537 on-base percentage, etc. — Blanco was slotted into the middle of the order to start the season. With a young offense now devoid of the same firepower that headlined the 2016 lineup, Blanco, at least, could assuredly be counted on. Until she couldn’t. Perhaps her increased role in the circle affected her, perhaps it didn’t. Perhaps it was unfair to expect the same production at the plate — alongside her role in the circle — right away, perhaps it wasn’t. Blanco admits that the increased workload has an impact mentally, though she has readily denied that the dual role directly affects her performance. “It’s something I’ve had to get used to this year, but I really enjoy it,” Blanco said earlier in the season. “I love being in the lineup and having to make an impact on the game. It’s a lot to handle mentally, probably, I think that’s the biggest thing.”

for Michigan State

She took that same approach into the weekend series against Maryland, this time with better statistical success. Deadlocked in a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth inning Sunday, Blanco stepped in with a runner in scoring position and two outs. She identified her pitch, knocking a sharp single back up the middle to bring in the go-ahead run. This time, there was no robbing Blanco of her production. And really, the game against the Terrapins was just one part of a larger trend. Over the last 15 games — a significant sample size — Blanco has posted a .382 average, with 16 RBI. In addition, her 10 walks and just three strikeouts over the same span are a testament to a more patient approach that has keyed the turnaround. While it’s not certain what was hindering Blanco at the begining of the season, what is apparent are the changes that she has shown lately. The changes Blanco has noticed; the changes Michigan coach Carol Hutchins has noticed; the changes that just may change the course of the Wolverines’ season.

PAIGE VOEFFRAY Daily Sports Writer

The No. 13 Michigan baseball team (6-3 Big Ten, 29-7 overall) will face in-state rival Michigan Michigan State in a State at midweek Michigan matchup Tuesday. Matchup: While this Michigan contest is 6-3 Big Ten, 29-7 overall; considered Michigan State a non- 5-4, 20-12 conference game — a full When: Tuesday 6 Big Ten series P.M. ET will be played later in the Where: Ray Fisher Stadium season — it will provide a strong test for the surging Wolverines. Michigan is coming off a sweep of No. 18 Oklahoma, while the Spartans (5-4, 20-12) dropped their series finale Sunday against Ohio State after taking the first two games. Tuesday’s game figures to produce a high number of hits and runs, with both teams leading the Big Ten in batting average — the Wolverines are first with a .294 average and the Spartans come in a close second at .293. Michigan’s current hot hitters include sophomore second baseman Ako Thomas, batting .350, and sophomore designated hitter Nick Poirier, batting .324, sitting in the first and seventh slot of the lineup, respectively. The Wolverines’ squad is deep, something Michigan State is no stranger to. Outfielder Brandon Hughes leads the Spartans with a .336 average, and it doesn’t get much worse from there — catcher Matt Byars rounds out the team with the lowest batting average of the starters, yet still bats .263. Michigan’s offense sputtered during last Tuesday’s matchup against Eastern Michigan, but fortunately for the Wolverines, their defense

ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily

Junior first baseman Tera Blanco has managed to post a .382 average over the last 15 games — a sign of improvement at the plate that the Wolverines needed.

‘M’ looking to sweep Spartans ANNA MARCUS Daily Sports Writer

With its perfect record at Alumni Field on the line last week, the Michigan softball team managed a 5-1 win over Michigan State, thanks to an effort that saw the Wolverines tally twice as many hits as the Spartans. Right-hander Megan Betsa tossed 17 strikeouts, matching her career-best performance in the circle. On Tuesday, the 18th-ranked Wolverines (11-2 Big Ten, 31-91 overall) will look to complete the season sweep against their in-state foe just a week later. Both Michigan and Michigan State (5-8, 21-16-0) have hit bumps in the road since their last encounter.

While it appeared the Wolverines — the then-top team in the conference this past weekend — would have little trouble routing Maryland, this was not the case. The Terrapins robbed Michigan of a series sweep with a 2-1 victory Saturday, even though the Spartans had swept Maryland just two weeks ago. As the Wolverine offense was unable to jumpstart Saturday, the lineup saw significant shifts for Sunday’s game. The changes seemed to pay off, as a seventhinning rally allowed Michigan to overcome Maryland, 4-3, eking out the 2-1 series victory. “I’m glad we got through it,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins after the series. One point of consistency that

ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins and her team have a shot to sweep Michigan State

has been the Wolverines’ saving grace throughout the season is the performance of Betsa. The ace notched two complete-game victories in the circle, tossing 26 more strikeouts, boosting her total on the season to 292 — good for No. 1 in the nation. “Megan’s been a rock for us,” Hutchins said. “She’s our leader. She’s throwing right now with an offense that’s underperforming. So she’s got to have nerves of steel, and I was really proud of her. I thought she really had a gutsy performance (Sunday).” Michigan State faced struggles of its own on the weekend. Though the Spartans intended to host Illinois at its own Secchia Softball Stadium, flooding prevented this from happening, and their matchups were instead held at Davenport University. The field has been an issue all season, and now water damage has Michigan State’s infield and outfield to be replaced. The Spartans were swept by the Illini, including a heartbreaker Saturday in which Michigan State took Illinois to extra innings, but ended up falling, 6-5. The Spartans are now on a four-game losing streak. It is clear that both teams are looking for a spark heading into Tuesday’s game, though the Spartans may need it more. But with some recent low points — a game dropped to Ohio State and a game dropped to Maryland — it will be pivotal that the Wolverines come into the game with confidence. And if they can beat Michigan State, that confidence could also be important to carry over for Michigan heading into next weekend’s series against Big Ten competitor Wisconsin.

Classifieds

was as sharp as ever. This has become a common theme for Michigan, as it leads the Big Ten with a .984 fielding percentage. But after the Wolverines’ impressive win over the Sooners on Sunday — when Michigan recorded 17 hits — it may be back to top offensive performance. Getting a lot of hits will be no easy task against a strong Michigan State pitching staff, though. The Spartans sit third in the Big Ten with a team 3.43 earned-run average. Righthander Mike Mokma will most likely be on the bump for Tuesday’s game and he enters the game with a 2.77 ERA. On the hill for the Wolverines will be junior left-hander Michael Hendrickson. He is the normal Sunday starter for Michigan, but after he suffered a broken nose last week, junior right-hander Alec Rennard had to step in. Hendrickson needed the extra couple of days to rest, but Michigan coach Erik Bakich assured he will be ready for Tuesday’s game. While Hendrickson has a 4.25 ERA, he has the experience of a weekend starter and has played against the Wolverines’ toughest opponents. And for the most part, the Michigan’s toughest opponents are Michigan State’s as well. The Wolverines and Spartans have many common foes, the most recent being Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. Michigan defeated all three, whereas Michigan State fell to each, with all of the games being midweek matchups. The Spartans have not been strong in midweek games as of late, dropping their last three by one run each. The Wolverines on the other hand have proven they can win the close games, as their last two midweek games were both won by one run each. If Tuesday’s game is close, the Wolverines’ prowess in close games seem to give them the advantage.

Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

AUTOMOTIVE

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Valuable stone 4 Hamilton and Burr, notably 8 Find incredibly funny 14 Word for a Latin lover 15 Cookbook author Rombauer 16 Not certain 17 Mom-and-pop stores 20 Vietnam’s capital 21 Part of MST: Abbr. 22 FDR’s successor 23 Serpent’s tooth 26 Irreverence 29 Alfalfa, Darla and friends, with “the” 33 Biblical verb ending 34 Quick hellos 35 Curbs, with “in” 38 Blackjack half 39 “God bless us, every one!” Dickens character 42 Wedding notice word 43 What hares and mares do 45 Long, long time 46 La Brea __ Pits 47 Game with windmills, ramps and such 52 Coiffures 54 Move, in real estate lingo 55 Part of MST 56 Tango maneuver 58 Higher than 62 Waterspout climber of song 67 California’s San __: Hearst Castle locale 68 Filming locales 69 401(k) kin 70 Six times cinq 71 VCR insert 72 Gov. Cuomo’s domain DOWN 1 Deep cut 2 2016 Best Actress Stone of “La La Land” 3 Pained sound

4 Like a child’s love for a parent 5 Heavenly sphere 6 Grounded bird 7 Fresh talk 8 Pioneering hiphop trio from Queens 9 Single 10 Beast of burden 11 Does without much thought 12 “Give it __!” 13 Cantankerous 18 Barn storage space 19 “How sweet __!” 24 Classic grape soda 25 Smile that may be silly 27 Eggplant __: Italian entrée, briefly 28 L’eau land? 29 Shakespearean king with three daughters 30 Nagging desire 31 College freshman’s comment about why his parents call so often

32 Until now 36 Patricia of “Hud” 37 Medieval laborer 39 Take care of 40 Vacation option 41 Memo heading 44 Defunct Soviet space station 48 First-aid fluid 49 “__ happens ... ” 50 Pass, as time 51 Mongolian desert 52 Bank holdup

53 No longer sleeping 57 “Hey, get a load of this” 59 Chief Norse god 60 Quite 61 Significant periods 63 Kyoto cash 64 Droid 65 Positive vote 66 Gas additive brand

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8 — Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily