2018-02-15

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Ann Arbor, Michigan

michigandaily.com

the b-side

This week, The Daily arts section took a look at queerness and gender fluidity in the arts.

the queer b-side

» Page 1B

THE

ACADEMICS

$12,986

90,000

money lost

number of non-technical workers that increased (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Stats)

Deloria to be 1st Native studies prof. at Harvard

QUEER B-SIDE U.S. unionization at a record low of

from working an unpaid summer internship

10.7%

Former ‘U’ dean and professor joins ranks as first tenured faculty member

CASEY TIN/Daily

Haberman’s unionized U.S. rep. campaign is first to do so in state

University alum, Democrat running to replace Republican Dave Trott in 11th district CARLY RYAN

Daily News Editor

Dan Haberman, one of the 11 candidates for Michigan’s 11th Congressional District seat and University of Michigan alum, has made the decision to unionize his campaign staff.

Haberman, who received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University, is a businessman, lawyer and Democrat from Birmingham running to replace the seat vacated by former U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, R-Birmingham. Democrats hope to claim another U.S. congressional

seat despite the district’s Republican-leaning history. Now, Haberman is unionizing his staff in a move that he says symbolizes his commitment to workers’ rights. “I believe that it is important to protect all Michigan workers. It’s not always convenient, but it’s the right thing to do. Our

representatives in Congress are sent there to represent and protect the people they represent and to take action,” he said. His Democratic opponents include Haley Stevens, the former chief of staff for an auto task force led by former See HABERMAN, Page 3A

REMY FARKAS

Daily Staff Reporter

Philip J. Deloria, former University of Michigan professor, became Harvard University’s first tenured Native-American studies professor last week after having taught in the History and American Culture Department at the University for over ten years. Deloria specialized in NativeAmerican history and also served as the associate dean for Undergraduate and Graduate Education in LSA, director of the Program in American Culture and acting director of the Native

American Studies Program. In his time at the University, Deloria was an outspoken advocate for Native American students and inequalities in higher education. Deloriaa earned his doctorate degree in American Studies from Yale University and taught at University of Colorado before coming to the University. He became a Carroll Smith-Rosenberg Collegiate Professor in 2009. “At Michigan, I was really fortunate to be involved in building the Native American Studies program,” Deloria said. “I feel like my time at Michigan was full of really good things and it was really See HARVARD, Page 3A

LSA CSG passes resolutions in support In light of ‘U’ studies Nassar, MI of LEO, investigation into endowment finds links

GOVERNMENT

RESEARCH

assault bill introduced

Assembly requests more transparency from Regents on investment policies

Michigan state legislators present three-pronged law with focus on campus

LSA Student Government passed five resolutions Wednesday night, including one in support of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization’s negotiations for a new wage contract and another calling for an investigation into potential conf licts of interest in investment of the University of Michigan’s endowment. The latter resolution was introduced and approved in time for LSA SG to join a group of student organizations also requesting further transparency before the Board of Regents’ meeting Thursday afternoon. LSA SG representative Amanda Delekta, an LSA junior, co-sponsored the resolution. “The regents, who are supposed to overlook the investment of the endowment, passed the responsibilities largely on to a financial executive committee,” she said. “A number of those individuals have been investing the endowment into their own enterprises, which is obviously a large conf lict of interest and there has not been a lot of oversight with the issue.” The Detroit Free Press recently reported the University invested portions — estimates range from $3

JORDYN BAKER Daily Staff Reporter

On Monday, several Michigan lawmakers proposed new legislation during a Michigan House of Representatives meeting to fight sexual assault and harassment in response to the Larry Nassar trials, #MeToo movement and #TimesUp movement. The call for new policy has a specific focus on college campuses in hopes of increasing prevention, education and protection services. In early February, Nassar received his third sentence of 40 to 125 years for sexual assault charges. The 260 reports against Nassar included those of Olympic gymnasts Jordyn Wieber and Aly Raisman, as well as countless other women who were assaulted under his treatment as a former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor. These reports of abuse contribute to the thousands of women who have recently come into the spotlight under the banner See NASSAR, Page 3A

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LEAH GRAHAM

Daily News Reporter

Check out the Daily’s News podcast, The Daily Weekly

to nearly $4 billion — of its nearly $11 billion endowment in funds run or owned by major donors. The resolution passed with 19 votes in favor and three against. LSA SG members debated whether the allegations of conf licts of interest had merit and if calling for an investigation might needlessly incite the regents. Representative Jordan

Schuler, an LSA sophomore, said he didn’t see how an investigation could hurt, especially if the claims about the endowment, as University President Mark Schlissel wrote in an op-ed in the Free Press, are false. “Passing this resolution doesn’t necessarily say that we believe there is severe malpractice, but passing it does say that it’s worth

finding out,” Schuler said. The resolution in support of LEO’s bargaining efforts comes two days after the University responded to the union’s salary proposals. The union, which represents nontenure track faculty across all three University of Michigan campuses, is asking for higher wages and enhanced job security. On Monday night, See LSA SG, Page 3A

CHUN SO/Daily

LSA Student Government committee representative Emma Rose discusses agenda points at the LSA SG meeting in Mason Hall Wednesday

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INDEX

Vol. CXXVII, No. 77 ©2018 The Michigan Daily

in resisting junk food

Obesity-prone rats had stronger responses that lead to more consumption MOLLY NORRIS Daily Staff Reporter

A study conducted at the University of Michigan found unhealthy body weight may make it harder to resist food, an important step in the struggle to prevent obesity. In her study, Carrie Ferrario, a research and assistant professor at the Medical School, discovered obesityprone rats had a stronger response to a sound signaling food, and the rats that showed the strongest response were the ones that gained the most weight. To test her theory, Ferrario cued rats, both obesity prone and obesity resistant, by associating the promise of food with a certain sound. She then trained the rats to push a lever when they wanted food. She found the rats that were more prone to obesity were more likely to press the lever when they heard the sound. She also discovered the obesity-prone rats developed more CP-AMPA receptors in the nucleus accumbens region, See JUNK FOOD, Page 3A

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

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

News

2A — Thursday, February 15, 2018

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY: By Design

WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

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Ky @kyliebreaa

Kristen @kristencrosss

amanda @aefm_

Okay umich, I get it. you’re having a fire drill, but I’m freezing my ass off and I would really enjoy being inside now.

neing part of the psych depoartment at umich means running into colleagues in the atrium as you’re all marveling at the new tables and chairs

Today i learned that valentine day is also be rude as hell to your local bakery employee

tdm @teemitch_

Joe @j_spag

Kyle @kessenma

you wanna see road rage? put me in 5pm traffic downtown ann arbor

In my accounting class today some guy saw a girl with ash on her forehead for Ash Wednesdsay and the guys next to me were trying to figure out what it was. One guy goes “I think it’s for singles awareness or something”

I made a friend in my stats class and he told me he puts wine in his water bottle for his pottery class, and tbh being tipsy playing with clay for college credit sounds so ideal.

W O LV E R I N E O F T H E W E E K What is your ideal Valentine’s Day date?

“Going to Skyzone and jumping in trampolines with my significant other, grabbing something to eat, and then watching a movie.” LSA junior Nate Baker

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Researchers at University awarded with grants, state recognition for studies Innovation Hub acknowledges biomedical teams working on drug therapies ZOE BAXTER

Daily Staff Reporter

On Tuesday, 11 biomedical projects from across the state of Michigan were selected as recipients of the Innovation Hub awards. Fast Forward Medical Innovation, a unit within the Medical School’s Office of Research at the University of Michigan, grants the awards. More than

CANDY SALE

$1.8 million in total has been allocated to health-related research projects statewide, ranging from automated brain tumor diagnosis using convolutional neural networks to reversing synchronized circuitry to treat tinnitus in humans. The awards are funded by the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization for Life Sciences Innovation Hub,

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which is managed by Fast Forward Medical Innovation and funded by the University and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The MTRAC Innovation Hub began solely as a University program in 2014 but has since expanded to the entire state of Michigan. It has an operating budget of over $4 million. One project which was granted the award is a University research team led by Susan Shore, a professor within the University’s Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. The team is developing a device to treat tinnitus, a condition that causes a ringing in the ears and affects 15 percent of Americans. They have conducted successful trials on guinea pigs and are starting to work with humans. “This tells us a lot about how the circuitry in the brain changes after noise damage and tells us how the auditory system works in general, so that can end up helping other kinds of hearing disorders as well,” Shore said in January. Howard Petty, a professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, is another recipient of the Innovation Hub award. Petty is the principal investigator of a University research team working to improve

ocular cancer therapy with semiconducting nanoparticles. “In our preliminary studies, we have a couple papers on this. We have developed nanoparticles that generate toxins and what we can do is we can inject them into the eye and the nanoparticles have been developed so we can target the tumor cells in the eye,” Petty said. In the future, Petty said he wants to make the drug available to human patients. “What we’re going to be able to do with the money is get enough publications and data that if it works well in treating mice, we’ll be able to use it as an investigational drug,” Petty said. “The goal is to try to make this available to patients, and this will provide us, between fundamental research and clinical research, it will help us cross that gap.” In early January, the finalists – whose initial proposals were due in September – gathered in downtown Ann Arbor to present their project proposals at the annual meeting of the external MTRAC oversight committee. Those selected, spanning as far as Michigan Technological University to the University, received individual awards ranging from $75,000 to $250,000 with the goal of helping their products, which are already partially developed, reach the market and help patients as soon as possible.

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Thursday, February 15, 2018 — 3A

SWI N G DA N C I N G

RUCHITA IYER/Daily

LSA junior Josh Debel and Engineering senior Jessica Schnabel teach swing dancing at MSwing’s open night in the Michigan League Wednesday.

JUNK FOOD From Page 1A or receptors that have been shown to be linked to cocaine addiction. When the team used drugs to block these receptors, the rats no longer sought food when they heard the trigger sound; however, Ferrario said this type of drug would not work for humans given how large an effect a healthy lifestyle and environment have on obesity in people. Nonetheless, the findings could still be a “huge step” to understanding obesity. In an email interview,

HARVARD From Page 1A productive and important.” Deloria began teaching this winter at Harvard in a transitional semester, teaching a graduate seminar in Native-American studies. Beginning next semester, he will teach an introductory course on Native-American studies — which would look similar to the course he taught at the University — and an introductory seminar for graduate students on the same subject. Deloria looks forward to his time at Harvard and hopes to accomplish the similar goals he achieved at the University. “At Harvard, I am hoping to do a little more of the same,” Deloria said. “It’s a different institution with

NASSAR From Page 1A of #MeToo, accusing actors, politicians, university officials and men of sexual assault and harassment across the nation. At the House meeting, state Rep. Kristy Pagan, D-Canton, spoke in favor of improved funding for prevention education as well as a potential requirement for health care facilities to ensure all minors are aware of their rights during examinations, specifically that they may be accompanied by a parent, guardian or other adult during the examination. Pagan also noted the state of Michigan currently allocates no funding for rape prevention and services within the

LSA SG From Page 1A the University proposed a $1,000 increase to the starting salary for lecturers in 2019, followed by a $750 increase in 2020 and then $500 in 2021. Appointments Committee Vice Chair Brooke Lennox, an

Ferrario stated these findings could be very significant if they could find out how individual differences relate to this kind of cue-triggered eating. “Our data suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach may not be best when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, but rather that prevention and treatment strategies may need to be tailored to individual needs,” Ferrario wrote. “We can use our obesity-prone and -resistant rodents as tools to work out changes in the brain that inf luence feeding and potential strategies, both behavioral and pharmacological, to dampen and reverse unhealthy eating

different challenges and it’s an institution that is really interested in Native-American issues.” Deloria discussed his latest scholarly project on researching global indigenous people in countries such as Taiwan, Australia and Scandinavia. He said Harvard will allow him to further explore these areas. “I’ve got a real interest in global indigenous connections and some experience with Taiwan and Australia and Scandinavia,” Deloria said. “Harvard is a place where I think it could be interesting to learn about indigenous groups.” History department chair James Cook, University professor of history and American studies, discussed the close relationship he has had with Deloria and the

budget for the Department of Health and Human Services. She proposed a $1 million allocation from the state budget for these services. This would require an increase in federal funding in Michigan. “We are one of the only states in the country that does not have any money going toward sexual assault prevention,” Pagan said. “This leaves a striking gap in providing these services to nonprofits. We are only able to fund 18 nonprofits that focus on sexual assaults throughout our entire state. And these 18 nonprofits are only able to cover 33 of Michigan’s 83 counties.” State Rep. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, spoke on the current lack of protection for survivors of sexual assault and harassment on college

LSA sophomore, sponsored the resolution. “Showing as much support as we can is important,” she said. Three bylaw amendments were also passed, one of which requires representatives to use gender-inclusive language during official LSA SG events and in communications. Diversity Affairs Committee

patterns.” Rackham student Rebecca Derma, who works in Ferrario’s lab, stated in an email interview that she believed obesity is a very important area of research, and Ferrarrio’s research struck a chord with her. “Carrie’s research examining the psychological and neurobiological contributors to obesity struck a chord with me,” Derman wrote. “Whereas addictions are rather rare disorders, obesity is a very common disorder and it is on the rise. It’s prevalence (both in human and nonhuman animals - pets and urban wildlife) to me, suggests that it arises from a rather

lasting effect he had on his colleagues. Cook and Deloria began their time at the University around the same time in 2001 and Cook said they have since been close colleagues and friends. “We have supported each other’s work in many ways.” Cook said. “I am very sad about that, he is one of my closest friends and colleagues here and I understand why this was a good move for him and really wish him well.” Deloria comes from a Native-American family with his father and grandfather as Native-American intellectual leaders, setting the foundation for his love of NativeAmerican history. He often brings his Native-American legacy into the classroom. Rackham student Matthew Villeneuve described how he would accompany his lectures

campuses. She proposed the creation of a Title IX ombudsman within the Department of Civil Rights who would become a resource for survivors and help protect them from potential retaliation or intimidation. “Creating a Title IX ombudsman would help to strengthen the laws on Title IX reporting and ensure that victims and survivors are given the support and help that they need,” Geiss said. “Creating this Title IX ombudsman would reaffirm Michigan’s commitment to protecting those who are victims of unwanted sexual behaviors.” State Rep. Donna Lasinski, D-Scio Township, argued in favor of eliminating the current “10-year statute of limitations for charging or

‘normal’ appetitive process. This is of particular interest to me because it allows us to explore the more naturalistic and perhaps more generally relevant forms of ‘maladaptive’ appetitive behaviors.” There is a lot more research to be done, and Ferrario said there are already people working on extrapolating on this research. The studies were only done on male rats, and Rackham student Yanaira Alonso-Caraballo, who also works in Ferrario’s lab, has been studying how naturally occurring changes in female reproductive hormones enhance cue-triggered foodseeking in obesity prone rats. Alonso-Caraballo studies the

with Sioux songs, bison hides and by singing protest ballads on his guitar. “Phil’s not just one of the best scholars of AmericanIndian history, but he is also a tremendously creative thinker in American Studies, and a wonderful mentor and teacher,” Villeneuve said in an email interview. “I’m guessing these kinds of folks don’t come along very often. I’m excited to see the intellectual community that Phil is able to gather in Cambridge and I can’t wait to see what he does with the place.” Deloria looks forward to making a difference at Harvard and beyond. “It’s a chance to make a difference at a big institution and to make a difference like this at this institution, is to make a difference in the wider world.” Deloria said.

filing a civil lawsuit against a person suspected of committing a sexual assault on a person under the age of 16,” according to the Detroit Free Press. “We know that for adults, the processing of a sexual assault is very difficult,” she said. “For those who are minors when the assault occurred, we know that these are some of our most vulnerable citizens. It is disgusting and inhumane to take away a child’s innocence and to rush them through (the) process of what it takes for them to reconcile what has happened to them.” Lasinski also proposed a law should be put in place to require health facilities to begin investigations of a report of sexual assault against a health professional within 48 hours.

Chair Corrina Lee, an LSA sophomore, offered an “unfriendly amendment,” as she felt a phrase mandating LSA SG members “shall make an effort to use genderinclusive language” was too “f lippant.” “I appreciate the sentiment behind this,” she said. “Obviously we should all be

using inclusive language, but seeing the way it’s worded I reject it. It’s seems easy to disregard. I don’t feel like that’s a real culture change.” Secretary Hunter Arcand, an LSA senior, disagreed. “I don’t think this clause is f lippant whatsoever,” he said. “When people make an effort, it makes a massive

different responses that occur when rats are in different phases of their ovulation and menstrual cycles. “For the past 15 years, we have been mainly studying males, and females are basically the understudy,” AlonsoCarabello said. “So a lot of the drugs and treatments that are out there have been done on males, and this is across all sciences. My goal moving forward is to keep on studying females and the female brain and the female behavior, and understanding the very basic mechanisms of behaviors and how the brain works.” Derman stated she felt the research was important on

two different levels in order to increase human well-being and uncover important truths about reality. “First, it is important because uncovering the mechanism that drive obesity will help us treat and prevent this disorder and ultimately bring us closer to maximizing humanities collective wellbeing,” Derman wrote. “And second, from a basic science perspective, understanding the neurobiology of behavior is a profoundly valuable endeavor because there is intrinsic value in uncovering the nature of reality, whether or not it results in a direct impact on human life.”

HABERMAN From Page 1A

by targeting young campaign workers who are usually shortterm and sometimes unpaid. According to Bloomberg, the CWG aims for a collective bargaining agreement that would apply to all Democratic campaigns for all government sectors. Janice Fine, Rutgers University labor studies professor, has worked on both local and national election campaigns. She is supportive of the CWG goals because workers often overexert themselves without sufficient compensation. “There’s no question that it’s exploitative work,” Fine said to Bloomberg. “It’s premised on the idea that young people will work 24-7 in a self less – and often dangerously self less – way, and that culture has been passed on for generations.” Haberman agreed and said as a Democrat, it is his job to protect and “champion” the rights of workers. “My staff had heard about the formation of the new Campaign Workers Guild and brought it to my attention,” he said. “They expressed a desire to send a message that we stand in solidarity with campaign workers who dedicate their careers to promoting progressive values at all levels of government. For me, this was the right thing to do,” he said. However, many of the lowpaid and non-paid staffers are often student interns. As of right now, Haberman said he is unsure if they will benefit from this change. “The campaign is working with the CWG to determine if any, changes or effects this will have on those students who are in our fellowship program. It is our understanding that the unionization will only affect full-time staff of the campaign.”

President Barack Obama, and Fayrouz Saad, former director of Detroit’s immigrant affairs who would be the first Muslim woman in Congress if elected. This decision comes the same week that Randy Bryce, a

“It’s exploitative work...and often dangerously selfless...”

Wisconsin Democrat running for the seat of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced he would unionize his own campaign staff. Bryce said his campaign’s contract is the first collective bargaining contract by campaign workers — Haberman’s is the first such congressional campaign in Michigan. “The more folks we can help stay in the field, the better off the Democratic Party and the progressive movement will be,” Meg Reilly, vice president of the Campaign Workers Guild, said to the Huffington Post. Though U.S. unionization was at a record low of 10.7 percent for the year, nontechnical services saw an increase of 90,000 in union members, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Campaign Workers Guild is looking to further increase non-technical union workers

difference.” The amendment ultimately failed, and the LEO resolution passed with 23 votes in favor and none against. The two other bylaws amendments replaced the Communications Committee’s former ThisSucks@umich. edu with Campus Complaints, a more streamlined and

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accessible web page and instituted instant runoff voting for internal elections, meaning if no one wins a majority in an election then the candidate with the fewest votes will be taken out of the running and those ballots awarded to the person listed as the voter’s next choice.

Opinion

4A — Thursday, February 15, 2018

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

RISHABH KEWALRAMANI | COLUMN

Looking to local elections first

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ELENA HUBBELL | OP-ED

W

In defense of hook-up culture

hen I was a little girl, I had a very clear picture of how my romantic life would turn out. Here’s what would happen: When I was about 18 or 19, I would meet the love of my life. He would come home, meet my parents, impress them and, after a few years of dating, we would get married. It would be an easy and simple system, following a moral code of conduct in parts inspired both by the Bible and the Disney princess movies I was addicted to watching. As I grew older, the media I consumed changed from Snow White and “The Young Women of Faith Bible” to more mature romantic books and films, mostly romantic comedies such as “27 Dresses” and “Hitch.” With this change also came an alteration to my perception of sex and dating. All of the sudden, the clear picture of my future romantic life turned into a story of how I would date multiple awful men before finding The One. Sex early on in the relationship was imperative to the relationship’s survival, and I would have to walk the fine line between slut and prude. Though less easy and simple, this new system would also follow a sexist moral code of rules and regulations on how to act and behave in potentially romantic situations. And then I was old enough to participate in both of the systems I had created in my head, and I began to realize just how unappealing they really were. I could either pressure myself into getting into a longterm relationship at a super young age, or I could play romantic games with everyone I dated until I found someone with whom I could cut through the bullshit, holding myself to ridiculous beauty and diet expectations until then. So, though every adult I’d grown up with was shaming millennials’ “hookup culture,” I have to say I’ve found much more freedom

“

in this supposed immoral system than in any of the other dating systems presented to me by the media and the rules of our parents. The freedom I have found comes from the fact that in regard to dating, none of us really seem to know what the hell we’re doing. Some of us are hooking up with lots of people, and some of us are intentionally single and abstinent. The rules that governed the romantic lives of our parents don’t seem to apply anymore, so we’re kind of making things up as we go. And honestly, I think it’s in this confusion that really makes hook-up culture great. People in romantic/sexual relationships are forced to talk about their relationship status and what that status looks like to them. They’re forced to really think about what their expectations are and what they want from a romantic/sexual partner or partners. From my experience, I’ve learned that “casual” and “dating” look a lot different to different people, and what might be “casual” for one person might be more serious for another. And honestly, even though they’re undoubtedly awkward, I’m here for these open and communicative discussions. They prepare us for when, or if, we decide to enter into more serious, longterm relationships. They make us better listeners and also better friends. Our generation has seen a sexual and romantic revolution comparable only to the sexual revolution of the 1960s. In our lifetime, we have witnessed the implementation of marriage equality, the rise of discussions surrounding consent on college campuses and the #MeToo movement, all of which have transformed the ways we view romance, sex and relationships. In my experience, the generational gap between our parents and us regarding attitudes towards LGBTQ relationships is the

size of the Grand Canyon, and the universal idea that we are all sexual beings who wish for romantic happiness is very much in question. Suddenly, the conversation surrounding our romantic lives isn’t as open and shut as it once was, and I celebrate that. I’ve read articles criticizing hook-up culture for dehumanizing women and for destroying young people’s abilities to have long-term, meaningful relationships. However, I would argue that a more liberal attitude toward sex and relationships has created a landscape where young people feel more able to express their wants and desires. It’s this more liberal attitude that I see bringing about the ability to discuss the #MeToo movement without the shame that was once attached to sexual assault and harassment. And apparently, since the divorce rate is dropping, I would advocate that folk’s ability to foster healthy relationships isn’t dying out, but becoming stronger. I would argue hookup culture’s liberal attitudes toward sex and romance are creating an atmosphere that makes sex and romance safer. So, this Valentine’s Day I hope everyone does exactly what they want to do, uninf luenced by any societal expectations of what they should want. If that means looking for a casual hook-up, having a romantic date with a long-term partner, being alone or spending time with friends because you aren’t interested in romance or sex now or really ever, then I hope you do that. We are living in a time of unprecedented change and confusion in regard to our personal lives, and I hope you take advantage of that and do exactly what is comfortable for you.

Elena Hubbell is an LSA senior and a Senior Opinion Editor.

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ho here knows who their state representative is?” my professor asked on the first day of class. As I quickly scanned the room, I was startled. Not a single hand was in the air. You might be wondering what class I was in, rationalizing that maybe this lack of knowledge is acceptable in Introduction to Biology or Calculus 2. But you would be sorely disappointed, just as I was, to know that the class was Electoral Politics in the Developing World, a class taken by most political science majors as one of their final requirements for graduation. In a population with a relatively high need for basic political knowledge, not one person could name their state representative. His name is Adam Zemke, by the way, but that could not be further from the point. For progressives to reverse the causes of a Donald Trump presidency, they must not once again fall into the trap of throwing away local elections. Under President Barack Obama, Democrats had a net loss of 1,042 state and federal posts. Read that number again for good measure: 1,042. Democrats lost nine senate seats, 62 seats in the House of Representatives, 11 governorships and over 900 seats in state legislatures. For all of the unity and hope tied to Obama’s campaigns, it is startlingly evident that those themes did not translate to Democratic candidates everywhere. In fact, the opposite happened. Republicans running in local elections relied on emotional appeals, in direct contrast to those of Obama. Using racism, antiSemitism, conspiracy theories and lies, politicians in these local elections started a transformation in the American public. In Oklahoma, the state legislature mandated teachers present the shortcomings

of evolutionary theory. In North Carolina, the state voted to deny using studies that cited rising sea levels in formulating policy. Finally, in Georgia, the legislature had a four-hour meeting where at one point it was proposed that Obama was capable of mind control. These are just a few of the truly absurd actions local politicians have taken recently. The lack of accountability in American politics is striking, and it by no means started on Nov. 8, 2016. In the wake of Obama’s resounding win, Democrats lost sight of the inf luence local races can have. Having the presidency was not enough to stop the destruction of trust in our political institutions. The Pew Research Center found that fewer Americans trust the government now than after the Watergate scandal. Democrats allowed Republicans to relentlessly attack our institutions, and we are seeing the effects of that now. There is a lazy narrative out there that these baseless attacks, or “alternative facts,” were born out of a Trump presidency. The truth is that Trump was a consequence of almost a decade of looking the other way, and not a cause of compulsive lying in politics. While it is true that all of the examples above come from states with a Republican majority, Democrats are to blame too. Instead of fighting for truth and facts at every juncture, they chose instead to save their time and resources for only the biggest of races. In the congressional district where I grew up (Pa.-18), I did not get a chance to cast a meaningful vote for my U.S. representative because the Republican incumbent ran unopposed. That congressman, Tim Murphy, resigned this past October after reports came out that he urged his mistress to have an abortion,

despite his staunch pro-life advocacy. Even though it was highly unlikely for a Democrat to win in the district, at least contesting the seat might have led to a more rigorous vetting of Murphy. More generally, by failing to contest races all over the country, Democrats allow Republicans to erode our democracy one election at a time. There are signs that everyday progressives started to recognize the value in consistent grassroots organization. Groups like Indivisible, Swing Left, Flippable, Run for Something and many more are equipping citizens who want to get involved in politics with the tools to make differences in their communities. There have been some recognizable gains because of this transition, such as the performance of Democrats up and down the ballot in Virginia; however, the Democratic establishment has not fully embraced a 50-state approach. In a Montana election for the House of Representatives, where the Republican candidate bodyslammed a reporter, the Democratic establishment had been outspent by $4 million. The Republican candidate won because the election was not played on a level field because of a lack of interest from the Democratic leadership. Members of the Democratic Party must demand that the establishment step up and match their fervor. Finally, my home district, the one where the Republican just resigned in scandal, sees the Democratic candidate only trailing by three points. The Democratic Party must be learning their lesson, right? They have to be all in, right? Nope. Republican outside groups have spent $3 million to the Democrats’…$0. Go figure. Rishabh Kewalramani can be reached at rkew@umich.edu.

JOEL DANILEWITZ | COLUMN

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Manigault, Misty and madness

hen a former contestant on “The Apprentice” became a White House staff aide, it felt like the world was beginning to turn on its side (though, to be fair, the star of the show becoming president is probably the primary reason for why everything’s gone lopsided). When that same contestant is dismissed from the White House staff and then airs her complaints and fears about her former employer on “Celebrity Big Brother” to an E! News anchor, it feels like someone set the world ablaze. The complaints of Omarosa Manigault (known, inanely, as the mononymous “Omarosa”), the former director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison, could be internalized in several ways, all of which indicate the bizarre state of media and news consumption. In one aspect, it can be viewed as her warning to the American people via the popular reality television show about the hazardous ineptitude of the incumbent administration. However, it can also be perceived as — and this is the way I processed such bizarre news headlines — that entertainment has seeped into the stratosphere of the already-hyperpartisan political climate. Or, instead of seeped, perhaps it has completely devoured it, distorting the face of politics into something that is as harrowing as it is amusing. After seeing a headline as asinine as “Omarosa talks Trump on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’: ‘I was haunted by tweets every single day,’ I recalled how a certain entertainer prophetically tried to tell the world, or at least his fans, of this disastrous path. Omarosa’s dark proclamation on reality TV evoked a certain album that

haunted my summer days, the stinging and searing “Pure Comedy” by folk-rock singer Father John Misty. The blend of masterful cultural criticism with the resonance of someone who’s been left exhausted and beleaguered by the political climate was both cathartic and blisteringly incisive. As though with a scalpel, Father John Misty’s clean dissection of today’s politics came from a messy place, especially in songs such as “Total Entertainment Forever,” where he highlights how entertainment saturates existence, rich or poor, describing an Oculus Rift-like VR system that elucidates every desire through a screen. Every dystopian image rendered is clearly rooted in the messiness of a culture whose politics have become circus-like. Two summers ago, after the nomination of President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, I saw Father John Misty at Camden, New Jersey’s XPoNential music festival. He bitterly improvised a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On a Wire” with new lyrics slamming the fact that a “reality god” was inching closer to the White House, and that we, the crowd and proverbial “people,” were to blame for fostering an environment that commodified politics vis-à-vis an obsession with entertainment. After the festival, which I went to solely for his appearance, I was miffed by his departure after singing one song that he didn’t really write. Yet his words have continued to linger in my head, and the only way to internalize the increasingly fatuous nature of our world has been through his music. It is almost as though I have begun reading every headline as inextricably tied to his omens as they manifested

themselves in a White House run by clueless celebrities and far right zealots. Though I doubt Father John Misty is the only cultural critic to point out the troubling nature of our discourse, I referenced his music in the hopes that perhaps it would shed light on how our insatiable need for entertainment has transmuted politics. Omarosa’s warning could signify the deeply troubling nature of a White House currently teetering the world on the brink of apocalypse. But we already knew that. Instead, her appearance on “Celebrity Big Brother,” whispering to Ross Mathews while she chokes back tears, featured the staple histrionics of any reality TV show as she exploits the fears of the American people. Do we blame the advent of capitalism for pushing for every last view out of the American people, or do we blame ourselves? However, the point is that Father John Misty’s prophetic vision, one which doesn’t stand alone but, invariably, is constantly floating in my mind, has barely even been approached. We continue to frame every political act in such overly sensationalist terms that it feels like a globe is falling off the edge with a racist, xenophobic world leader at the helm. Will we begin f louting this hedonism in the hopes that entertainment and politics will no longer be inextricable? Or are we to continue being complacent in our own decadent demise? Perhaps this is the next move of the resistance: distilling politics and entertainment and renormalizing the culture in the hopes that we will never again elect a “reality god.”

Joel Danilewitz can be reached at joeldan@umich.edu.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Thursday, February 15, 2018 — 5A

Game-saving plays against Spartans display Cecconi’s growth The junior defenseman made a heady play to prevent what would have been the game-tying goal in Michigan’s 3-2 win BENJAMIN KATZ Daily Sports Writer

“Don’t let the puck cross the line.” That was the only thought going through Joseph Cecconi’s mind late in Saturday night’s game against Michigan State. With under three minutes left in regulation, sophomore goaltender Hayden Lavigne had just made two critical saves to preserve the Michigan hockey team’s 3-2 lead over the Spartans. But the rebound was loose and the netminder was out of position to make a play. Michigan State forward Cody Milan backhanded the puck toward a wide-open net, and suddenly, the Spartans were milliseconds from tying the game and spoiling the Wolverines’ hopes for a regulation win and three points. But in swooped Cecconi, and the junior defenseman would follow through on his own command. Originally, Cecconi wanted to swat the puck away from the goal, but as he fell backward into the net, he realized he couldn’t. Instead, he caught the puck in his right hand and caressed it to his chest. Recognizing where he was, Cecconi pushed the puck out before it could cross the goal line — preventing, after further review, the game-tying goal. “When it’s a scramble like that, everyone has to go back to the front of the net,” Cecconi said. “I was the closest guy to the net and Hayden was far out, so I just stepped right in there and made a save, I guess.” The previous night, Cecconi was watching his teammates from the Munn Ice Arena stands in East Lansing, dejected after being called for

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Junior defenseman Joseph Cecconi has flourished into a reliable offensive player since coach Mel Pearson’s system has given him more opportunities.

a game misconduct and ejection for a high hit midway through the first period. Twenty-four hours later at Little Caesars Arena, the blueliner was making a heroic heads-up play to ultimately seal a Michigan victory in the annual “Duel at the D.” Three minutes earlier, Cecconi was the first one down the ice with the puck, looking to make a play on the rush. A pinpoint cross-ice pass to a trailing Quinn Hughes resulted in a toe-drag from the freshman defenseman and the gamewinning goal. Saturday night’s standout

game was just an addition to an already-breakout season for Cecconi. His 16 points — four goals and 12 assists — and 69 shots double his production in both categories from his freshman and sophomore campaigns. Michigan coach Mel Pearson believes that while Cecconi’s offensive ability has always been there, he hadn’t been able to put it to good use until this season. After two years of being underutilized, Pearson’s new systems suddenly gave Cecconi the chance to capitalize, especially on the power play.

“... I just stepped right in there and made a save, I guess.”

Focused on moving the puck low-to-high in the offensive zone, the Wolverines’ defensemen are now registering more shots from the blueline, affording Cecconi scoring opportunities aplenty. And he hasn’t put them to waste. With crisp passes and strong blasts from the point, the Youngstown, N.Y. native has notched two goals and seven assists with the man advantage — comprising more than half of his points and more than any fellow defenseman with the extra man. “He’s got good offensive

skills, and I just think with that encouragement and confidence and the opportunity, he’s taken advantage of it,” Pearson said. “I think his growth in his game is huge.” Pearson credits part of Cecconi’s offensive success to his elite puck management, seen in swift breakouts from the defensive zone, anticipating his teammates’ positions and passing “like a pro.” On defense, his 6-foot-2, 205-pound frame contributes to an increased reach with the stick and being able to body up opponents in scrums.

“He just keeps things light, he’s not always serious.”

But Pearson was quickest to point to Cecconi’s increased maturity as a reason for recent achievements. He believes Cecconi’s elevated poise started with winning a gold medal with Team USA at the 2017 U-20 World Junior Championships — an experience that “really changed him.” Next was being named an assistant captain. “Obviously, he is a leader, he wears a letter, he plays in every situation for us,” Pearson said. “He’s still young, but he’s matured a lot, and I think just taking on that added responsibility has helped him understand what being a leader is all about.” Cecconi agrees. Offseason drills upped his technical game, but he considers his veteran presence on a roster mainly comprised of youngsters to have made the greatest difference. “Being an upperclassman, I know that I have more of a role to play on the team,” Cecconi said. “I think that added to my confidence.” And the “A” on Cecconi’s jersey is rubbing off on his teammates. “Joe’s a great friend, a great teammate and a great player, obviously,” said Hughes, Cecconi’s defensive partner. “He just keeps things light, he’s not always serious … and he’s a very well-liked guy in the locker room.” With intimidating defense, sharpshooting on the power play and veteran leadership, Cecconi has stepped up in a big way. “He understands how the team counts on a guy like him,” Pearson said. “Especially when you’re given the opportunity, you have to seize it and take advantage of it, and he has.”

The perfect snowstorm RIAN RATNAVALE Daily Sports Writer

Taylor Bump’s home in Gulf Port, Fla. is almost 1200 miles from Ann Arbor. Situated right on the azure waters of Tampa Bay, it’s about a 40-minute drive from South Florida’s softball stadium. The last thing anyone would associate with the house is softball. Yet by a chance event, the sport became both the nexus and the antithesis of the freshman third baseman’s house, all in one afternoon. It was after the Michigan softball team had wrapped up the USF Wilson-Demarini Tournament. If there was one word to describe the up-and-down weekend, tiring would be a fitting choice. Five games in three days, smack dab in the middle of midterms, the players had a lot on their plate. Back home in Michigan, however, an incessant winter storm had no plans to stop. Coach Carol Hutchins broke the news to the Wolverines: their flight back to Detroit had been cancelled. They would need to stay the night in Tampa after having already spent more than three days there before. That would give them only two full days back home until they had to go back on the road and play in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. “Now what are we going to do?” Hutchins wondered. The team had 24 hours to kill, over 20 hungry coaches and players to feed and no hotel booked. In the midst of all that, Hutchins didn’t turn to a coach, captain or another veteran, but rather to Bump, fresh off her first collegiate start at third

base, for advice. “Well, I asked her, ‘Taylor, if you were stuck in Tampa with all your softball friends, what would there be to do?’ ” Hutchins said. “I was wondering what we might do. Go to Busch Gardens? Go to the beach? Walk around?” Bump had no hesitation. Even as a freshman, she knew that she had lots of camaraderie within Michigan softball and a tight family at worst an hour’s drive away. The third baseman goes as far as describing her teammates as “basically my family now.” So, just like that she picked up the phone. “Hey mom, how do you feel about having the whole team over?” Bump says her mom showed no hesitation. Fast forward a few hours, and it’s easy to see that Hutchins, Bump and the rest of the team made the right choice. The players traded in sweaty uniforms for swimwear and peace of mind. Some of the assistant coaches and the seniors stopped by a local Publix and bought the fixings for a makeshift ice cream and snack bar — a welcome indulgence for everyone from Bump to Hutchins. But therein lies exactly the beauty of the softball team’s Tampa excursion. Even though the players and coaches didn’t follow the most efficient schedule or regimen for the day, the opportunity to relax and bond off the field over the course of a long season provides them a chance to grow closer as normal people: without being forced to work together by the rigid construct of college athletics. “I think every time that we’re

FILE PHOTO/Daily

The Michigan softball team stayed in Florida on Sunday due to a snowstorm.

together, when we’re together on the field and in the locker room, we become really close, but when we’re together outside of the field and outside of the locker room, there’s just something, there’s a different

kind of bond that forms,” Bump said. “And with trust and with laughter and with, just like, smiles, and just being around each other when we’re not around softball, it makes us really comfortable together.”

The Wolverines won’t have many more opportunities off the beaten path to build up true team bonds like they did on this sunny Sunday in Florida. The opportunity to establish a family, like the perfect

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pitch for a batter, is something Michigan can’t afford to miss out on. Right now, though, after an opportune snowstorm and Bump’s open home, it seems the Wolverines are on the right track.

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ACROSS 1 Día de San Valentín flowers 6 California’s __ Gabriel Mountains 9 Construction rod 14 Remove from the bulletin board 15 Blood type letters 16 Like 36 piano keys, traditionally 17 Lewis with 12 Emmys 18 “That ’70s Show” exchange student whose nationality isn’t revealed 19 Lessen 20 *Beer hall snacks 23 Surf and turf, say 24 NASA vehicle 25 Tempe sch. 28 Time for action 29 *Deli snacks 33 Actress Neuwirth with Tonys and Emmys 34 Slim craft 35 *Bakery snacks 41 “Tempt not a desperate man” speaker 42 Pretty good 43 *Diner snacks 46 California wine valley 50 Favorite 51 One of three rhyming mos. 52 Pavement cloppers 54 Component of balanced health ... and what each answer to a starred clue looks like it should be part of? 57 Lose one’s cool in a big way 60 Murmur 61 Lift with force 62 Car or tree feature 63 Tote 64 Film with lots of shooting stars? 65 Ships 66 Stat for Clayton Kershaw

48 Rather put out 36 Sharpen 49 Starlike flowers 37 Skip over 53 Figure-eight 38 Board bigwig steps, in an 39 Heart test letters DOWN Argentine tango 1 Blitzed, in football 40 Broth that’s the 54 Posterior base of miso 2 In stock 55 Acidic soup 3 Peloponnesian 56 Draped garment 44 Cath. or Prot. War victor 57 FG’s three 45 Christmas eave 4 Put on the line? 58 Exist decor 5 Wading bird 59 Many a “Call the 46 “The agreement 6 No-risk Midwife” is off” 7 Help with an character 47 Take wing inside job, say 8 Gas pump part 9 Genuine article ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 10 Flows out 11 Feathery wrap 12 House pest 13 Bread with caraway seeds 21 Insurgent 22 Charged fish? 25 Indigenous Japanese 26 Notice 27 Multi-tools have many 30 Old hoops org. 31 Board 32 Solo with a Wookiee co-pilot 33 Nowheresville, with “the” 35 Cut closely 02/15/18 67 Flexible Flyers, e.g.

By Elliot M. Abrams ©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

02/15/18

Sports

6A — Thursday, February 15, 2018

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

I-O-W-A

Seniors help Michigan dominate Iowa in 74-57 victory

Resurgent Robinson leads Wolverines over Hawkeyes

(against us) isn’t great,” Beilein said. “They had 12 turnovers in the first half that allowed us to (pull) away a little bit.” Early on, however, it was Iowa’s defense that was causing problems. Taking a page from Northwestern’s playbook, the Hawkeyes utilized an extended zone to slow Michigan’s offense, forcing numerous attempts late in the shot clock. “About ten minutes before the game, I saw the starting lineup and knew they were definitely going zone, and it was going to be a huge zone,” Beilein said. “We were ready, but it took us for a shock initially.” After trailing 9-2 early, the Wolverines responded with aggressiveness in transition to tie the contest at 14 just minutes later — capped by a steal and score by Abdur-Rahkman off an Iowa inbounds pass. That trend continued for the entire first half, which was dominated by sloppiness. The Hawkeyes committed 12 turnovers during the first 20 minutes. Michigan had five. Errant passes, shot clock violations and air balls were plentiful for both sides. As sloppy as the half was, though, Abdur-Rahkman provided some beauty on Valentine’s Day. Slicing down the right side, he whipped a pass behind his back into the corner that shifted the Iowa defense to create an open triple for junior center Moritz Wagner, who would finish with 14 points. “(Abdur-Rahkman) is really careful with what he does and is not afraid to make the extra pass,” Beilein said. “I think we’re going to really miss him in the future. … He’s as complete of a player than as you’d ever think he’d become.” It was just one example of the impressive vision AbdurRahkman flashed all night, as he finished with seven assists and no turnovers to go along with his 18

After draining three of his five 3-point attempts in the first half Wednesday, Robinson came back out in the second half on the prowl. With Michigan maintaining a steady lead, he put the game on ice, stamping the stretch of the game with 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions. With the Wolverines holding a 49-40 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the game, Robinson spotted up comfortably behind the Hawkeyes’ packed-in zone. Receiving the ball on the wing, he used the space to elevate and drain a 3-pointer. Then, with the flimsy zone offering ample space, Robinson knocked down another on the next possession from the same spot on the floor. By the time the third left his hand, the whole building knew it was in. Iowa promptly called timeout, but it was too late. Robinson — mobbed at midcourt by his teammates — had put Michigan up 58-42, and the game to bed. “Again, I watch everyday in practice,” Beilein said. “It’s the rep shooting drills where you have a minute to make so many threes. … He just goes ‘Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.’ Some of our guys will have a good day and a bad day. He never misses the mark.” Added Robinson: “When you make one or two, you kinda, at least in my head, have the green light for the next one even if it may be questionable. That’s just kind of how basketball is. Coach B instills a lot of confidence in me and so do my teammates. … He was actually on me after the game to shoot more.” After Wednesday’s game, Robinson raised his 3-point shooting percentage to 38.6, inching closer and closer to his elite career norms. His re-emergence offers a potent shooting threat on a team that has consistently struggled to maintain offensive consistency.

MARK CALCAGNO Daily Sports Editor

Unlike many coaches, John Beilein doesn’t pretend every game is equal. When the No. 22 Michigan men’s basketball team (10-5 Big Ten, 21-7 overall) was lackluster early this season, he posited that January and February were when it really mattered. After last week’s loss to Northwestern, however, the Wolverines looked far from experiencing the February success they had enjoyed in years past. Beilein had a solution: to give his seniors more opportunity to lead. That’s exactly what happened Tuesday, and it worked. Bolstered by 36 combined points from seniors Duncan Robinson and Muhammed-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, the Wolverines routed Iowa (3-12, 12-16), 74-57, at Crisler Center. “It’s their time right now,” Beilein said. “I want them to shoot more, I want them to be more aggressive. It’s their time. “Tonight, they saved the day.” Though Michigan never seemed to lose control of the contest, forward Luka Garza scored Iowa’s first eight points of the second half and closed the team’s 13-point halftime deficit to single digits early in the frame. But in his second-to-last game at Crisler, Robinson came up with a big-time answer. The forward drained a trio of 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, extending the Wolverines’ lead to 16 points midway through the second half. From there, Michigan’s defense would ensure the victory, as it has all season. The Wolverines shot a middling 42 percent, but held the Hawkeyes — who lead the conference in per-game scoring — to their third-lowest output of the year. “I was really proud of our defense, although the percentage

EVAN AARON/Daily

Fifth-year senior forward Duncan Robinson went 6-for-8 from three Wednesday.

points. And in a game dominated by Michigan’s seniors, it’s fitting that three of those assists were to Robinson. With just over seven minutes to go in the first half, Abdur-Rahkman drove baseline to find a wide-open Robinson, who drained his first of six 3-pointers on the night. “(As seniors) we don’t want to leave any stones unturned,” Robinson said. “We want to compete and play hard and make winning plays. I thought (AbdurRahkman) played great tonight and found me in a lot of good situations.” After a 16-point effort against Wisconsin, Robinson would finish with 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting Wednesday — a sign he’s starting to solve his offensive woes at the right time. And as demonstrated by the win, Michigan might be too. That’s pivotal as the Wolverines prepare for a challenging stretch to close the regular season that includes Sunday’s showdown with No. 8 Ohio State. Robinson and Abdur-Rahkman realize they have some power in the way their team ends the year. And in accordance to Beilein’s solution, Michigan’s seniors showed exactly that on Wednesday.

MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Editor

You remember Duncan Robinson, right? The lanky marksman who set the world ablaze from beyond the arc when he transferred from Division III’s Williams College. The guy who captivated the fanbase and agitated opposing coaches. The fifth-year senior captain primed for the season of his life. Senior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rakhman sure does. “I was here when he was shooting like 70 percent as a sophomore,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “I’m glad he’s getting back to his old self and playing with the same confidence he had before.” Robinson followed an offensive outburst on Sunday against Wisconsin — 16 points on 4-of-8 from 3-point range — with another electric shooting display Wednesday, helping lift Michigan past Iowa, 74-59. These performances were nothing that Robinson and coach John Beilein didn’t see everyday in practice. But for the Wolverines’ opponents, this was a warning shot: Duncan Robinson is back, and subsequently, Michigan’s offense is on the ascent.

And yet, the secondary and tertiary benefits of having a dead-eye shooter might be equally important. The possession after Robinson’s long-distance bonanza, junior center Moritz Wagner grabbed an offensive board as Robinson sprinted to the near wing for a potential open three. As the Iowa defender frantically attacked Robinson to close out, Wagner instead fired the pass to Abdur-Rahkman at the top of the key. Using the space afforded to him by Robinson’s 3-point threat, Abdur-Rahkman breezed down the lane for an easy lay-in. The Duncan Robinson Effect is back, and not a moment too soon. “We have a couple shooters on our team,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “But no one like Duncan, one of the best in the country. When he’s hot like that, it adds a different dynamic and a different look for teams to try to guard, and helps open up a lot of things for other people.” Robinson has sporadically shown signs of breaking out of his prolonged slumber. Against Rutgers he hit four 3-pointers to spread the lead in that ugly defensive battle. Against Detroit Mercy and Alabama A&M, he combined for eight threes, though the competition level still left more to be desired. But coupling his outing Sunday against Wisconsin with his performance Wednesday, this stretch could very well be a breakthrough at the biggest time of the year. “(It’s) not really (hard to stay aggressive), especially when you’re a senior looking at your last games,” Robinson said. “I kinda look at it like it’s now or never. You see the time ticking out on your career, you’ve got to have a heightened sense of urgency about wanting to leave a mark.”

Wolverines in trouble after loss to Minnesota HUNTER SHARF Daily Sports Writer

The No. 23 Michigan women’s basketball team is in a world of trouble. After falling to Minnesota (9-4 Big Ten, 20-6 overall) on Wednesday, 93-87, the Wolverines have now lost four of their last five. Against the Golden Gophers, as well as its other defeats during the slide, Michigan had opportunities to come out victorious, but couldn’t finish. In the first period, the Wolverines (9-6, 20-8) shot an efficient 47 percent from the floor. Given Minnesota’s abysmal 27-percent clip from the field, it seemed rather peculiar for the Golden Gophers to be up 21-19 at the end of the frame. The reason for this? Minnesota was able to force Michigan to commit eight fouls, affording the Golden Gophers 12 free throws. The main culprit, junior guard Nicole Munger, racked up three fouls in the first quarter. In the second frame, Michigan fouled only twice, giving up two Minnesota points from the charity stripe. However, the Golden Gophers were able to pick it up from the field, scoring 24 points, to take a 45-40 lead going into the half. The Wolverines’ deficit could largely be attributed to their dreadful defense and the lack of scoring from their big three scorers — senior guard Katelynn Flaherty, junior center Hallie Thome and Munger — combing for seven points; Thome and Munger were both held scoreless. “They went to that box-andone early where they were faceguarding Kate,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “At halftime, we felt like we were okay, even without her not scoring a lot because she had six assists and she was really moving the ball and finding them for high percentage shots.”

Flaherty came to form in the third quarter. The program’s all-time leading scorer tallied 13 points, including nine from behind the arc. Thome added 10 points of her own. This run allowed Michigan to take a 73-69 lead into the final quarter. But then, things fell apart. The Wolverines’ defense continued to be poor, allowing Minnesota to start the quarter on an 11-2 run. Michigan made a slight run of its own after a Flaherty 3-pointer, taking an 83-82 lead, but the Golden Gophers prevailed. “I thought we ran out of gas a little bit,” Barnes Arico said. “We had some critical turnovers late. They made the plays they had to down the stretch and we did not.” There was one bright spot, it was the Wolverines’ bench play, which had to step up, as starting freshman forward Hailey Brown out with a yet-to-be-determined leg injury. Michigan’s bench scored 27, including a career high 19 from sophomore guard Akienreh Johnson. “I thought (Johnson) did a great job of moving without the basketball and was able to get some easy buckets just because of her movement,” Barnes Arico said. With the loss, the Wolverines are now in jeopardy of missing out on the NCAA Tournament, again. This would be the second straight year Michigan’s lateseason slide knocked them out of the tournament. “We’ve been trying to stay really positive,” Barnes Arico said. “We talked about our seniors and juniors — Jillian (Dunston), Kate and Hallie — they need to make those plays down the stretch.” The Wolverines now have only one regular season game left — on the road against No. 10 Maryland. In a scenario that seemed unlikely just a few weeks ago, their postseason hopes just might depend on that matchup.

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico and her team are in trouble after losing to Minnesota on Wednesday, their fourth loss in five games.

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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, February 15, 2018

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QUEER B-SIDE

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Queer art is thriving in the Ann Arbor community LAURA DZUBAY Daily Arts Writer

Local activist Ariel Friedlander is ready to fuck shit up. Of course, that’s not all she’s here for. But it summed up a lot from our interview this weekend. “That’s what’s in the future. Having fun and fucking shit up,” Friedlander said. “I think that’s what we do best.” The “we” to which she was referring is Radical Anticapitalist Deviants and Forum of United Nonconformists, a local collective dedicated to student activism and the creation of fun, safe and welcoming spaces for marginalized communities in Ann Arbor. Radfun was formed during the fall semester of last year with the goal of creating a space where students could come together and focus on things that they care about: one part social justice and one part having fun. Friedlander herself is warm and approachable, manifesting in her mannerisms the same welcoming nature that she describes as characterizing Radfun. But, like Radfun, she’s also angry and passionate about defending what she cares about. She’s just making sure to direct that passion to the right places. “When we create a safe space for queer and trans people of color, we’re also creating a radical space, because it’s so different from the social scene our campus offers,” Friedlander said. “We do like to use our parties and our social events as a way to create radical change.” Radfun’s emphasis on radicalism and fun as “intertwined,” as Friedlander put it, brings up interesting questions about the intersection between these two things. For Friedlander and her fellow Radfun activists, this means seeking out ways to work toward social justice while making as much use of fun and creativity as possible in the process. In the past, Radfun has used both zines and fundraising parties as ways of working toward this goal. Their current and recent projects have also included working with the Stop Spencer Coalition and the Michigan Student Power Summit. Zines in particular are among Radfun’s primary vehicles for creative political innovation. Commonly defined

as self-published minimagazines (hence the name “zines”) with relatively small circulation, zines are popular in both artistic and social justice circles, and Radfun is no exception. “I think art is so important

“When we create a safe space for queer and trans people of color, we’re also creating a radical space, because it’s so different from the social scene our campus offers”

to good activism, and I think it’s incredibly underused,” Friedlander said. “And Radfun is awesome because they see how art can play such an influential role in activism, reaching people on different levels that words just can’t. So creating these spaces and parties with music, or zines full of art and color, is really important and a way to reach people that is really useful and unique.” Radfun is currently working on several zines, including one about queer safe spaces for people of color, and one visualizing what the University of Michigan might look like in a future in which everyone was truly welcome and included in the community. “Art is always at the forefront of social justice issues,” Friedlander said. “Any social justice movement that’s successful has heavily relied on art … because we are often from a place of oppression and exclusion, and by using art, we

can communicate those ideas. We can create that radical change that we couldn’t do any other way.” She added that Radfun has been seeing a lot of art that “reflects the queer identity and queer experience.” President of Radfun Darian Razdar was also able to speak to the presence and significance of queer art in an email interview. “Creativity and the arts have always been important for the queer community,” he wrote. “Through the arts we are able to make our voices heard, to affirm ourselves and folks like us. As queer people, we face an increasing amount of political, social, cultural and economic marginalization — so the arts both allows us to process the world in which we live and make a life for ourselves that feels more authentic and fulfilling than more capitalist styles of production.” Radfun is doing a great deal of work on the University’s campus as far as combating injustice and advocating for queer people. However, beyond the campus itself, the larger queer community of Ann Arbor is also consistently active, particularly when it comes to the arts. One long-established focal point for Ann Arbor’s queer community is Braun Court, a small, homey square of local businesses located in Kerrytown. The primary components of Braun Court are the Jim Toy Community Center, Trillium Real Estate, Aut Bar and Common Language Bookstore. The latter two are co-owned by married couple Martin Contreras and Keith Orr, who have been active players in the queer community of Ann Arbor for at least the last couple of decades. From the outside, Common Language Bookstore is welllit and full of bright colors, an inviting sight nestled into the far-left corner of the snowy courtyard. As I walked up to it for the first time, a cheery ’60s pop song began emanating from the speakers of its next-door neighbor, Aut Bar, which felt like it added even more spirit and character to the previously silent street block. You barely have to step inside to see that Common Language is any true bookstore lover’s dream. It’s cozy and vibrant, with walls and shelves spanned by a broad selection of both vintage and brand-new books — Nadine Hubbs’s “Rednecks, Queers, & Country Music”

CAPITOL RECORDS

Embracing queerness in Troye Sivan’s ‘My My My!’ DANIEL HENSEL Daily Arts Writer

There was a moment years ago when I felt attacked, not intentionally, but in the way that an offhand comment by someone at the table next to you at a restaurant might strike you rather peculiarly, as if a nugget of truth you had neglected your whole life took the form of a small bug that creepily crawled inside your ear, planted itself there and birthed a number of smaller

bugs that ravaged your thoughts. The attack came in the form of a truism, or as close to a truism that an opinion can get, uttered by a friend: That if I was such a passionate listener of music, I could surely name one song that made me emotional. The fact was, I couldn’t. Sure, there were songs that made me feel lost in space, if only for a moment. George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and the sudden break that occurs midway through Vampire Weekend’s “Hannah Hunt” both came to

mind immediately. But I would be lying if I were to declare that either song or really anything in my life I had heard up to that point, on a wintery Feb. midafternoon in 2015, had struck me to my physiological core. Troye Sivan’s “My My My!” might just be the first song to do that. It’s a bubbly pop song, constructed from the bare bones that have defined the genre: verse-chorus-verse-chorusbridge-chorus. Its three minutes and 25 seconds feel specifically engineered to be just short of

Emma Richter / DAILY

was one of the first intriguing examples to catch my eye. A narrow staircase leads upstairs, which features a variety of sections such as mystery, performing arts, men’s erotica, health, self-help and ecology. Daylight streams in through bright, colorful curtains. For me, by far the most appealing discovery upstairs was Duke, a friendly dog curled up in an armchair. Orr and Contreras have worked for many years to make Common Language a welcoming and useful space for queer people in Ann Arbor. Common Language was founded in 1991 as a space, alongside Aut Bar, for Ann Arbor’s LGBTQ+ community to come together and engage with literature. “The primary mission of the bar is to provide a safe space for the LGBT community,” Orr said. “So with that in mind, we have always been on the forefront of any activism. We’ve sued the governor twice, won both times. We’ve certainly engaged in lots of fundraising activities. We’re often the focal point if there is any reason for gathering.” As a bookstore, Common Language is naturally largely focused on literature as an art form. However, the store also features graphic and visual art and uses its Instagram account (@commonlanguage) to post and reblog queer art from a variety of sources. “Art is a different type of language,” Orr said. “It’s also like spoken language — it’s going to be very different from one culture to another, and

within a culture … At its heart, I think every piece of art is a piece of activism. Because it says something, and it says something in a way that’s different than our everyday experience, and therefore is already a radical notion. I think it’s one of the reasons why great art tends to have proponents who are part of a radical movement.” According to Orr, the most prevalent environment for

local queer art currently is in the realm of spoken word and performance art. This can be seen in shows such as “HERsay,” a performance art show organized by singersongwriter Patti Smith, as well as demonstrations such as performance artist Holly Hughes’s imaginative protest of Donald Trump’s presidency

through the organization of performance events. In the past, the businesses of Braun Court have also participated in stands of their own. One memorable incident occurred when notoriously anti-gay activist Fred Phelps came to picket Aut Bar in 2001, and Orr and Contreras decided to respond by donating one dollar to the Jim Toy Community Center for every minute he stayed. They reached out to the community via email to ask for additional pledges and ended up raising $7,500 in about an hour. As such, for Orr, running queer businesses and participating in activism have often gone hand in hand. “Ultimately, books are part of the artistic culture, and as such, the radical element is there as well,” Orr said. And hopefully the radical element will be there for years to come. Common Language might be small, but it is a timetested and starring example of the type of community many young, queer people in Ann Arbor are currently envisioning and seeking. That is to say, a space that is radical while also being welcoming, artistic and relentlessly creative. “Art’s what changes the world,” Orr said. “And such has it always been. Every time there’s a repressive regime, the underground movement is largely being fueled by, or working in parallel with, an artistic movement of some sort. In fact, oftentimes the artistic movement is well ahead of the political one, and the rest of the world is catching up. So I guess it’s just look, listen and learn.”

satisfying, the only solution for which is to hit repeat. But more importantly, it’s a shameless anthem of queer love, one that works as an uplifting sequel to Sivan’s song “Heaven,” which appeared on his first album Blue Neighbourhood. “Heaven” details Sivan’s journey coming out, his reckoning with his moderately religious upbringing — like me, he’s Jewish, but unlike me he attended an Orthodox school. Sivan noted in interviews around the time “Heaven” was released that the hardest person to come out to was himself. Before his coming out, Sivan sings, with mournful regret, “Trying to sedate, my mind in its cage / And numb what I see.” The central concern in “Heaven” is spiritual, with Sivan reconciling his sexuality with its inherent connection to sin. Judaism, it seems to me, views sin as an act, not as a characteristic. One murders, for instance, but one is never a murderer. We’re all, in that way, redeemable. But sexuality is different because it’s a core part of us. It shapes our desires, our behaviors, our longings. It’s inseparable from who we are as people. It would feel rather disingenuous, or whatever the proper word for that is, to “atone” for my gayness and then, later the same day, partake once more in gay life. That’s Sivan’s question: Can I get to heaven while being gay? In other words, am I abrogating this nebulous spiritual-cumreligious-cum-familial obligation by liking men? Later, in the chorus, Sivan lets out a cry for

help: “Without losing a piece of me / How do I get to heaven? / Without changing a part of me / How do I get to heaven?” He ends his entreaty with some degree of resolution — “Maybe I don’t want heaven?” — but there’s more than a shred of doubt. After all, denying a core part of your identity feels rather cruel, but considering the alternative may be an eternity of damnation, well, something’s gotta give. These doubts have also plagued my mind; I think I became more “religious” — or at least more conscious of my relationship to my religion — when I came out (again, to myself more than to other people). And the idea that I was giving into sinful temptation disturbed me. I didn’t have the throngs of screaming fans that comforted Sivan and told him he was loved, but I did have supportive parents and brothers and friends. And something tells me that Sivan wasn’t entirely comforted by that fandom, just as, despite displays of support, I still wrestled with that inner conversation, telling myself not that what I was doing was morally wrong in any way, but was disappointing to my family and faith, if anything by the text alone. If “Heaven” asks a question, “My My My!” answers it. A passionate ode to, presumably, his boyfriend, the professional very good-looking person Jacob Bixenman, “My My My!” finds Sivan gloriously loving another man. The beauty, though, is that his act of pitching woo mirrors his transition from self-doubt to self-assurance. “Now, let’s stop

running from love,” he croons. “Let’s stop running from us.” He’s taking a risk, as we all do when we fall in love. But he’s also turning his inner conflict from “Heaven” inside out. Once in denial of his sexuality, Sivan embraces it. And he’s roping others in with him. It also helps that “My My My!” really bangs. Its glitch-infused chorus is so joyful, a mixture of hesitation and confidence that is inextricably linked to the gay community. It’s a community that has been ravaged by AIDS and is still held in contempt by large sections of America, let alone elsewhere in the world. Sivan’s vocals cut through, cheerfully crying, “I die every night with you.” Sivan has transcended and, perhaps, embraced this heaven/hell fear, describing and celebrating his personal petite mort without shame and with passion and verve. When “Call Me By Your Name,” the other recent celebrated work of Jewish gay art, was released, there was some commentary that the film was a celebration of hedonism, and that Michael Stuhlbarg’s fatherly monologue towards the film’s conclusion was the coup de grâce in its celebration of uninhibited sexual behavior. But I don’t buy that. I don’t agree that someone, prone to intellectualizing their lives, finding themselves rapt by an unexplainable urge and an undeniable love is hedonistic. It’s liberating. It’s who he is. To deny our love is to deny our selves. I’m happy that Sivan has been able to do the same, and I’m glad I have his example to lead me through my own life.

The most prevalent environment for local queer art currently is in the realm of spoken word and performance art

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

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SECONDARY

Thursday, February 15, 2018 — 3B

TV REVIEW

YOUNG TURKS

NETFLIX

Secondary: Music recs for ‘Queer Eye’ begins a new the queer & questioning quest for representation SHIMA SADAGHIYANI Daily Music Editor

In 2017, singer-songwriter Annie Clark, better known by her stage name St. Vincent, coyly fielded questions in an interview with The New Yorker about her supposed position as the queer protagonist of her then-upcoming album Masseduction. She responded to the interviewer’s questions with, “Songs are like prophecies. They can be

More than just convoluted spectacle of glam rock, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust melded music and social commentary

stronger than you are.” Three years before that interview, I heard Romy Madley-Croft, one of the lead singers of the band The xx, croon the first few lines of “Shelter” from a bruised iPod Nano: “I find shelter in this way / Undercover hideaway / Can you hear when I say / ‘I have never felt this way.’” She sings above sparse background instrumentation, and the yawning ambiguity of her voice turns the song into a seemingly endless line of possibility, which — at the time — matched the seemingly endless line of long black hair that belonged to the girl who always sat next to me in seventh period art class. She liked to paint flowers, and the careful way her fingers sketched the curving outline of a rose made something in my chest bloom. I don’t know what to call this kind of quiet attraction — easy laughter passed between us like love letters in an after-school special — but I did match the uptick of my heartbeat whenever she turned to talk to me with the tempo of the beat during the second half of “Shelter,” so I think I have a start. Many years later, in an interview with The Fader, The xx would describe their music as “A queer space. We avoid gender, we avoid sexuality, we avoid time and place, so people can have that room to connect and to set their own ideas to it.” Songs that can take any form desired; music to free the questioning soul. It’s a liberation that can be seen time and time again within the musical archives. The androgynous legacy of Prince — with his blown out

curls, platform heels and affinity for wearing sequined suits during performances — highlights the allure of art’s nonconformity, the lines that can be blurred in expressions of identity. “My name is Prince, and I am funky,” the opening song off of Prince’s historic album [Love Symbol] declares, embossed with the golden arches of The Love Symbol itself. The glyph Prince invented to take the place of his name during the early ’90s defied phonetics and defied labels, an icon that melded the astrological Mars-Venus, malefemale signs into something new: a bold announcement of fluidity. Ziggy Stardust, the first of David Bowie’s many elaborate personas, inspired a similar sentiment of eccentricity. Stardust dazzles in Bowie’s 1972 album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, as an extraterrestrial sort of hero, descending from the heavens with a sleek red mullet, heavy makeup and an iconic lighting bolt streak of red and blue, destined to save Earth’s slow, apocalyptic demise with the power of rock ‘n’ roll. Unfortunately, he eventually weaves his own demise. As both the spider and the insect caught in its web, he finds himself trapped by the destructive nature of the very cult of personality he has created. The album closes with the song “Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide,” and Stardust, knees cracked under the weight of his own stardom, implores anyone, everyone, “Let’s turn on and be not alone (wonderful) / Gimme your hands cause you’re wonderful.” More than just convoluted spectacle of glam rock, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust melded music and social commentary within the splendor of an eclectic, space-age narrative. It wasn’t queer music in the traditional sense — speaking directly to LGBTQ experiences — yet this particular album, as well as the persona it catapulted into prominence, is still heralded as an icon for many who question labels of sexuality, of gender and of the interplay of the two. Within the strange effervescence of Ziggy Stardust, the outcasts and misfits who questioned their place in society’s norms at the time found a hand onto which to grab, a space to traverse their own forms of creative expression. A few months after her New Yorker interview, Clark dropped Masseduction and, much like David Bowie’s work, it is more illustrative of the St. Vincent persona she created than of Clark herself. The overtly sexual figure that graces the album’s cover in a leopardprint thong and hot pink tights, a glaring reminder of the neon glow of the 1980s, is one of St. Vincent’s many elaborate manifestations. She embodies the rattle of pill bottles and throws cheeky winks that are half-hidden behind plastic surgery bandages. “Sugarboy,

I’m in need / How I wish, for something sweet,” she sings on the album’s fourth track, and then immediately parries with, “Sugargirl, figurine / Pledge all your allegiance to me.” Songs have gleaming edges — sensuality oftentimes is used as a weapon — and the world she develops is one that is fraught with personal tension, different from Bowie’s and Prince’s softer, more grandiose expressions. Yet, all three pop phenomena can be considered related in the distinct ways they eschew orthodoxy. As Clark herself said in a series of interviews with Pitchfork, “All human beings create their own mythologies, and I’m in the somewhat bizarre circumstance of creating a big mythology that gets shared with a lot of people. In some ways, doing the work that I do is about reinventing a value system. More or less, there’s a ubiquitous value system in America, these markers that signify your rite of passage into adulthood or into validity: getting married and having kids and having mortgages. But I always felt a little bit like an alien cocking

The transcendent power of these artists — Prince, Bowie, St. Vincent and countless others — lies in their imaginative exploration of the self through their music

my head to the side at various cultural milestones, going, ‘I would never aspire to that.’” The transcendent power of these artists — Prince, Bowie, St. Vincent and countless others — lies in their imaginative exploration of the self through their music. The various personas and characters conceived may not be accurate representations of the artist but to be autobiographical is not the point. In the hypersurreal landscapes of Ziggy Stardust, [The Love Symbol] and Masseduction, individuals can find echoes of private desires that are too fluid, too subjective and too nuanced to be so easily categorized. “When people are growing up they’re generally looking for something in the culture that reflects their subconscious yearnings,” Grayson Perry told The Guardian as he described the effect Bowie’s pop had on his generation in the ’70s. I can’t help but be reminded of a certain song that one bruised iPod Nano used to contain.

SAMANTHA DELLA FERRA Daily Arts Writer

“The original show was fighting for tolerance, our fight is for acceptance.” This is the sentiment that opens the first minute of “Queer Eye,” a Netflix reboot of the 2003 Bravo series “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” For those unfamiliar with the show, the concept may seem offensive or demeaning. Five gay men, each an expert in either food, culture, grooming, fashion or design, take a disheveled straight man and turn him into something beautiful. Yet the show is not an exploitation of stereotypes or a gaudy attempt at reality; rather, it is truly “a fight for acceptance,” as on-cast fashion expert Tan says. Dallas, Ga. isn’t exactly a town that anyone would consider progressive. Located in the Deep South with a population of just 13,000, it encapsulates the classic hometown Southern attitude that is practically immune to change. But this is where Bobby, Karamo, Tan, Antoni and Jonathan, better known as the “Fab 5,” find their first project. Tom is a self-described “country boy.” He’s got a lush beard, a rotund belly and a thick Southern drawl — the type of character who would seem more comfortable adorning a certain red trucker hat than a pair of suede Oxford shoes picked out for him by a gay man. When the

Fab 5 find him, Tom is sitting in a stained recliner, drinking his special mix of Mountain Dew and tequila. He may look like a lost cause, and with his mantra of “You can’t fix ugly,” it’s clear that he certainly thinks he is. Yet the last thing that “Queer Eye” will stand for is insecurity. This is a show about acceptance, and that means accepting every

“Queer Eye” Netflix part of yourself and expecting others to do the same. The Fab 5 are unapologetically themselves, and they each have a vibrant personality that transcends the career stereotypes that people may try to fit them into. The same goes for Tom, who I myself am guilty of placing into a certain category. But Tom is a delightful character whose transformation from a jort-clad lonely man to a confident, flat-cap wearing grandpa was honestly tearinducing. And it’s through this realization and through the interaction between the men that the significance of the show becomes so evident. The politics are not obvious, but they are certainly present. Nobody has to ask what might be strange about bringing together these two demographics that are so often pitted against each other. But watching Tom cuddle up on a mattress with Jonathan and

Bobby, talk love with Antoni and be vulnerable with Karamo — it makes a person start to question everything they thought they knew about how we should view and treat each other. Normalizing this behavior is why it is so important that we have such queer representation on television. This decade is no stranger to a proliferation of queer characters on hit TV shows. From “Modern Family” to “Andi Mack” to “Will & Grace,” queer people are representing all different walks of life. And while all of that is wonderful, “Queer Eye” brings a new, perhaps more favored form of representation. In “Queer Eye,” queerness is obviously central, but it isn’t a plotline or conflict or ploy to get publicity. Rather, it is just something that permeates every aspect of the show, in all of its pure-fun glory. If you’re watching “Queer Eye,” you are going to be having a good time. Incorporating queerness into such a feel-good, relatable show not only encourages, but also fosters, acceptance. As humans, our differences may seem far more important than our commonalities. It is hard to look at someone who leads such a vastly different lifestyle and believe that they too share the same hopes and wants and insecurities as you do. But if “Queer Eye” teaches us anything, it is that some prejudices and assumptions run only skin-deep and no matter the circumstances, there is nothing that a great makeover can’t fix.

SINGLE REVIEW: “ONLY ACTING”

DOUBLE DENIM

Kero Kero Bonito’s newest single “Only Acting” finds the British trio experimenting with elements of rock ‘n’ roll, punk and industrial music. The track opens simply, with a drum machine and vocalist Sarah Midori Perry delivering her signature light, comfortable f low. An easy bassline works its way in next — a definite sonic shift for Kero Kero Bonito — which is then followed by a crescendoing f lurry of harsh synth. It’s exciting to see Kero Kero Bonito, well known for their stellar saccharine J-pop style, experimenting with sounds that are a little edgier and more intense. The real payoff of “Only

Acting” is the interplay between Perry’s lyrics and the new techniques employed. Perry opens with an assertion: “When

“Only Acting” Kero Kero Bonito Double Denim

I step onto the stage, I see the curtain raise / It’s apparent, I’ve got someone to play.” The couplet is a tongue-in-cheek nod to how embodying an aesthetic can be useful, but also limiting. In Kero Kero Bonito’s case, Perry is making it clear that

the past pop-centric style has become cumbersome, and that the group is ready to grow out of it. However, that isn’t to say that they completely abandon the fun, sugary electro-pop that put them on the map. That same energy is infused with a tense desire for release, culminating in skipping effects, errant cymbals and synth as the track trips over itself during the final moments. “Only Acting” is a morsel of what the next iteration of Kero Kero Bonito will sound like — innovative, self-aware but as fun as ever. - Jack Brandon, Daily Film Editor

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FILM NOTEBOOK

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Exploring the evolution of contemporary gay cinema SYDNEY COHEN Daily Arts Writer

The shape and fabric of queer cinema, particularly male-centered gay narratives, has changed and evolved in interesting ways in contemporary film history. Some of the most beautiful, heartbreaking and emotionally resonant stories of the past two decades involve a negotiation of love and desire between two men. Critically acclaimed films featuring these narratives, like “Brokeback Mountain,” “Moonlight” and “Call Me by Your Name,” portray the dynamics of gay relationships in different ways ref lective of the contemporary social landscape. These three films, notable for their critical success and wide popular appeal, showcase an important evolution in the artistic representation of gay narratives as well as the cultural reception of these stories. In 2005, “Brokeback Mountain” made waves as one of the first films in wide release to show open expressions of affection and desire between male characters. The film tells the story of two cowboys, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal, “Stronger”), whose passionate escapades in the isolated Wyoming countryside turn into a lifelong forbidden love. Ennis and Jack both represent a brand of dominant masculinity defined by gruff silences, salt-ofthe-earth physical labor and bow-legged stances typical of the unromanticized modern cowboy. But alone in the scrub of Brokeback Mountain, the two men are free to release the façade and explore each other emotionally and physically. The texture of the relationship between Ennis and Jack in “Brokeback Mountain” is shaped by tense silence. The two men engage in intimacy through aggressive and hurried moments of furious passion, communicating in a few quick thrusts the conf licting tension between desire, guilt, identity

and societal condemnation intertwined in the act of love. Silence is almost a tangible and weighted physical force in this film, present and solid as Ennis and Jack try to come to terms with their internal desires. Through this silence, the irreversible bond forged between the two is clear from body language and eye contact alone. Eventually, both men must return to civilization and try to lead normal lives, marrying women and having children. The sweeping tragedy of the film is the collection of speckled moments where Ennis and Jack share a brief rendezvous on Brokeback

“Moonlight” is deeply moving in its almost symphonic gay narrative

Mountain, dream of a life together and know it would be impossible. “Brokeback Mountain” is a story of powerful but heartbreaking forbidden love. The film represents a gay narrative defined by sparse, intense physicality and chronic longing, with men who fit neatly into the mold of dominant masculinity. The film ref lects a budding societal acceptance of mainstream queer narratives, an ability to watch two men having sex on screen and appreciate the humanness of their story. But the film’s overwhelming focus on the consequences of being gay also ref lects a persistent societal fear of wholly accepting gay romance as simply romance in general. The film is an important benchmark in gay cinematic narratives, particularly malecentered ones, but fails to do the work of more recent critically acclaimed films. In 2016, Barry Jenkins popped onto the scene with

“Moonlight,” a hauntingly beautiful film chronicling the youth, adolescence and young adulthood of Chiron, a kid growing up gay and Black in Miami, played in three parts by Alex Hibbert (“The Chi”), Ashton Sanders (“Straight Outta Compton”) and Trevante Rhodes (“If Loving You Is Wrong”). The film handles its gay coming-of-age story with impeccable nuance and grace, painting a main character whose personality is opaque but whose desires for companionship are viscerally resonant. Chiron’s relationship with Kevin, also played in three parts (newcomer Jaden Piner), Jharrel Jerome (“Mr. Mercedes”) and André Holland (“Selma”) acts as a throughline in the film, as Kevin is Chiron’s first and only sexual encounter. “Moonlight” is deeply moving in its almost symphonic gay narrative. Like “Brokeback Mountain,” the film has little dialogue; Chiron is defined by his quietness, barely speaking to other characters or voicing his own thoughts and emotions. It is only with Kevin that Chiron is able to articulate his thoughts and feelings, and in every stage of the movie, Kevin’s genuine interest in Chiron allows him to shake off the weight of his crippling loneliness. The relationship between Chiron and Kevin is complicated by the rules and expectations of their world, as in “Brokeback,” but the simplicity of their connectedness to each other is profoundly beautiful. Masculinity also plays a similar role in “Moonlight” like it did in “Brokeback.” Dominant masculinity is reaffirmed, as Chiron tries to emulate the hard exterior of powerful men as armor for his inner tenderness. The film doesn’t reject this form of masculinity, but challenges its validity and explores the complex negotiations of identity. Unlike “Brokeback Mountain,” the gay narrative in “Moonlight” is textured by a gentle give-and-take of honesty and vulnerability. The film’s incredible win

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for Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars ref lects a societal appreciation for intricate, introspective stories that reveal the realities of human experience. In “Moonlight,” the gay narrative is both the focus of the film and one of its many layers. The film marks the progression from a crucial and critical focus on sexuality to a dynamic and nuanced portrayal of a character who happens to be gay. The most recent film to feature desire between two male characters is “Call Me by Your Name,” a breathtaking story of attraction and affection between Elio (Timothée Chalamet, “Lady Bird”) and Oliver (Armie Hammer, “Free Fire”). The tension between Elio and Oliver builds as a gradual avalanche, collecting itself slowly and ultimately barreling all at once. But unlike the hurried bouts of furious passion between Ennis and Jack in “Brokeback,” Elio and Oliver explore each other gently, slowly and tenderly. And while physicality plays a part in “Call Me by Your Name,” as in its predecessor, it takes the form of a gentle, pawing playfulness, similar to “Moonlight.” The shading of the gay narrative in “Call Me by Your Name” is unprecedented in the canon of critically acclaimed films of its kind. The film doesn’t focus on characters wrestling with their sexuality and is simply about love and personhood and bodies. Masculinity is not emphasized, questioned or asserted, but is almost

dismissed in favor of passion. The film is unconcerned with structuring a space in which two people can’t be together, and instead explores

Gay narratives are defined by the process of opening oneself up emotionally in order to share a selfless, tender and deep emotional connection with someone else.

the equally heartbreaking forces of memory and feeling. “Call Me by Your Name” is a universal story about a human connection between two people who wholly love each other. The success of the film, its enormous presence in popular culture and the way fans worship and obsess over Chalamet and Hammer all speak to a societal shift in audiences who crave a story

about an organic and beautiful love between two people. “Call Me by Your Name” isn’t a story about a gay relationship, but about a relationship in general, one that emphasizes the importance of feeling deeply. Vulnerability is the guiding throughline of these three films. In each, characters must detach themselves from societal expectations and personal hesitations and relinquish themselves to the purity of love and desire. While each film handles this process in different ways, they collectively show how gay narratives are defined by the process of opening oneself up emotionally in order to share a self less, tender and deep emotional connection with someone else. In “Brokeback Mountain,” vulnerability reveals the fragile masculinity of its characters who are trapped by an era that condemns their expression of love. In “Moonlight,” vulnerability is both Chiron’s weakest and strongest point; he struggles against it his whole life, but when he relinquishes himself to it, he finally finds peace and happiness. In “Call Me by Your Name,” vulnerability is celebrated, as the characters physically and emotionally explore each other in honest terms and celebrate the experience of feeling. The lasting presence and evolution of vulnerability in gay narratives emphasize the shifting ways in which audiences and filmmakers understand and portray the nuances of queer experiences.

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

Joshua Bell is met with endless praise in encore SAMMY SUSSMAN Daily Arts Writer

There’s nothing quite like hearing one of the world’s top musicians performing in one of their favorite concert halls. Joshua Bell’s performance with Sam Haywood this past weekend in the Hill Auditorium was one of these

The quiet opening of Mozart’s “Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-Flat Major” seemed quite modest and unassuming

instances. From the very moment that I entered the auditorium, the concert hall was abuzz. Practically every seat in the hall was full, thousands of excited conversations being conducted throughout the auditorium. After the thunderous applause as Bell entered the stage, the quiet opening of Mozart’s “Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-Flat Major” seemed quite modest and unassuming. Bell and Haywood’s playing was impeccable, each phrase f lowing seamlessly into the next. If anything, I found it difficult at certain points to remain engaged with the performers on stage — the music was so calming that it became hard to remember that it was being performed by the two little people being dwarfed by the huge stage on which they stood. This f lawless performance was met with three separate applauses, the audience refusing to hold their praise until the end of the

work. Though the concert was presumably centered around Joshua Bell, Sam Haywood easily lived up to expectation. He played with an incredible attention to detail, bringing specific notes out of the texture and offering an interesting counterpart to Bell’s playing. Haywood’s loose definition of tempo gave the pieces an ethereal quality as he felt out each moment, accelerating and decelerating in tandem. The second piece on the program was Richard Strauss’s “Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major.” This thorny work was executed with the same technical proficiency as the first piece. The frantic arpeggios in the piano and scalar passages in the violin were particularly impressive. At no point in the piece did it seem as though Bell was in anything but complete control. He moved around the stage, leaning backwards as he reached for higher notes and jumping forward as he navigated particularly loud or assertive passages. It was incredibly fun to watch these two musicians communicate through the music, the separation between the audience and performers dissolving as the musical conversation continued. The piece ends with a prolonged false cadence before a quick, humorous coda. Bell sold this ending both visually and aurally, the beleaguered false ending matching Bell’s increasingly rigid playing posture. Bell jumped in the air as the quick coda passage began and the musicians followed through with an energetic performance of this passage. After two applauses, Bell and Haywood retired to the dressing rooms to take their well deserved break. Third on the program was Schubert’s “Fantasie for Violin and Piano in C Major.” Bell and Haywood managed the eclectic work well. The calm opening gave no hint of the lively concepts to come, the violin part constantly reaching its upper limits before somehow expanding even further upward. For the first time in the concert, Bell

had some pizzicato (plucked) passages. If there was anything missing from this performance it was his employment of this technique, as it was quite difficult to hear Bell over the piano. The rest of the work, however, was quite impressive — though the work calls for the upper limits of the violin’s large range, Bell did not seem phased. The applause following this work was overpowering. After two encores, Bell announced from the stage that he would perform a movement from Clara Schumann’s “Three Romances” and Henri Wieniaski’s “Polonaise No. 1 in D Major.” The Schumann was a touching end to the concert, a quick respite before the virtuosic “Polonaise.” In this regard, the “Polonaise” did not disappoint. Bell performed the piece from memory, moving about the entire stage as he was finally freed from the spatial limitations of the stand. It was this piece, more

Though the concert was presumably centered around Joshua Bell, Sam Haywood easily lived up to expectation

than anything, that stuck with me after I left the concert — Bell moving about the stage, his hands a blur, his bow in motion; the complex passages meeting the ears seeming to defy the simplicity with which the musician carried himself. It was a memorable end to a memorable concert, a musical experience that will stick with me for a long time.

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MUSIC NOTEBOOK

Thursday, February 15, 2018 — 5B

COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK

Fun Home Broadway

‘Fun Home’ creates art On the division between from identity and tragedy queer and punk cultures REPRISE RECORDS

ELI RALLO

Daily Arts Writer

DOMINIC POLSINELLI Senior Arts Editor

“What kind of music do you like?” When this question is dropped on any date/Tinder conversation I’ve ever had, my heart hits my stomach. There’s the safe route containing my pop interests: “I adore Carly Rae Jepsen and Lorde. The new Charli XCX mixtape is full of jams. I’ve been a long time 1D fan,” etc. And then there’s the answer that’s a bit more true to form: “I’d literally cut my heart out for The Wonder Years. I feel a religious connection to everything Green Day has

I’d literally cut my heart out for The Wonder Years. I feel a religious connection to everything Green Day has ever done.

ever done. I shed a few tears during Jawbreaker’s reunion set at Riot Fest last year.” As a gay man in 2018, I often find it hard to reconcile my punk and queer identities, something that has bothered me due to the closely entwined history of these two cultures. Both punk and queer identities share the idea of “otherness” — not making the cut for normalcy, feeling disenfranchised from the state of the world and generally sticking out. The punk scene was often where queeridentifying people would be able to gather to have some sense of belonging. Punk is literally rooted in otherness, in the ability “to stick it to the man” and to live however you want, not how the world wants you to. The first time I heard the lyric “So fuck the world / And what it wants me to be,” off of “Hoodie Weather” by The Wonder Years, was the first time I began to have hope for any type of agency in my life. It was the first time I decided to fight back against the homophobia deeply ingrained in me from 13 years spent in Catholic school. About a year ago, I read an article by Tom Vellner on Noisey that lauded the merits of punk and “the scene” in helping him come out as a gay man after also spending years in Catholic school. The article mirrored my experiences in middle school and high school with almost startling accuracy. I have vivid memories of being enthralled by the melodrama of My Chemical Romance’s “I’m Not OK (I Promise),” and the

sensual theatricality of Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie helped me understand that it was just fine to be male and expressive at the same time. Senses Fail’s Pull The Thorns from Your Heart taught me that a period of self-hatred and denial was perfectly normal for queer people to go through, and hearing Billie Joe Armstrong belt out “Seventeen and strung out on confusion” from “Coming Clean” comforted me more than anything else when I was 17 myself. My first real crush ever was probably on Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. This music was my first indication that I wasn’t an anomaly. As positive and heartwarming as the article was for me, I also find it to be a fairly uncommon experience in the modern world and among people my age. While I certainly know other queer punks, I’m more often greeted with surprise or a jabbing, “I used to love ‘Sugar We’re Goin Down’ when I was 15” when I tell other gays (usually men) about my musical passions. Despite the shared ethos of punk/emo music and queerness, there seems to be a disconnect in the general perception of their relationship by many gay individuals in the 21st century. This could be largely due to the mostly indie/hip hop obsessed bubble of Ann Arbor (the city where I first opened up to seeing men romantically), but I’d like to propose that it could be partly in response to the more open social climate of today’s world in comparison to the ’80s and ’90s. With the continuous deconstruction of social norms like gender and heteronormativity — which punk culture was one of the first to widely express and popularize (i.e. Pansy Division) in the last few decades of the 20th century — LGBTQ+ individuals may find it less necessary to seek comfort in marginalized, niche cultures that used to represent safe havens for the queer community. More queer people might be able to find comfort in shinier, more visible mainstream genres like pop and hop hop, or simply not feel the need for catharsis in music. While these are freedoms I wish I had growing up, brainwashed by conservatism and religion — I often had to sneak my sisters’ Britney Spears HitClips because boys weren’t supposed to enjoy “(You Drive Me) Crazy” — it’s a beautiful thing to witness an improving social climate where more and more LGBTQ+ people feel much less pressure from society. Yet, I’m also worried that the sparks ignited by the punk movement that have burned a path for this improvement are slowly being forgotten and degraded. The importance of this artform in queer identity is being further marginalized even by queer people themselves, chalking it up to meritless melodrama

masked in aggressive guitar riffs and the quick pulse of a snare drum. Punk culture continues to degrade itself in the modern world through

Punk music let me know it was OK to ride my sisters’ Barbie bike and to play Pretty, Pretty Princess with them

the perpetuation and almost overwhelming saturation of assault cases, most often by cis, straight white men. Despite today’s decaying relationship between queer and punk cultures, it should be remembered as a forerunner and advocator for queer rights and expression, as a place for those growing up without acceptance to go and finally turn themselves inside out. Punk music let me know it was OK to ride my sisters’ Barbie bike and to play Pretty, Pretty Princess with them and to love “The Powerpuff Girls” and, eventually, to look at a cute boy without a second of shame.

“My dad and I both grew up in the same Pennsylvania town. And he was gay, and I was gay and he killed himself.” This is the line that sums up the plot of the critically acclaimed graphic memoir and musical “Fun Home,” a riveting story based on the life of cartoonist Alison Bechdel. I first read Alison Bechdel’s 2006 graphic memoir “Fun Home” when its musical adaptation was nominated for Best Musical at the 2015 Tony Awards. Discovering “Fun Home” was one of the most interesting and intimate reading experiences I’ve ever had. It is a heartbreaking and truthful and beautiful depiction of a unique experience that has the ability to transcend its specific narrative, making it relatable in a way I would never have expected. Although I don’t identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community, I never expected a graphic novel about the experience of growing up with a queer identity to speak to me on such a personal level. But just as the queer community is constantly asked to suspend their own disbelief to relate to the hundreds of thousands of straight protagonists in all mainstream literature, it shouldn’t come as a shock that as a straight person, I could relate deeply to the queer narrative Bechdel shares with us through her cartoons. When the book was published in 2006, “Fun Home” headlined nearly every best of the year book list, but it took a transition into a musical and garnering an immediate popularity in the world of musical theatre to find its way to my bookshelf. Praised for breaking the boundaries of any

definition the world previously held of “memoir,” the story follows Bechdel’s childhood in rural Pennsylvania and tells the journey of both her own sexuality and her relationship with her closeted gay father. The memoir is laid out in a series of comics that chronicles her relationships with her parents and grapples with the past and the present — telling the stories of her life before and after her father’s suicide. The graphic novel is seen as a turning point for the world of graphic novels — after its massive success, more people began to write and share graphic novels. But more importantly, after its publication, the greater theme of queerness became more mainstream in the world of art and literature. The story came at a time where the world was ready to celebrate this narrative and bring it into a dialogue that had been on the precipice for a very long time. The honesty of the novel makes reading it feel like looking directly into the house that Bechdel grew up in, the one described intricate in the memoir. After being received as a smash hit in both the queer community and society as a whole, talk of a musical based on the memoir began in 2013. “Fun Home” opened on Broadway officially in 2015, and the theatre community — more importantly, the mainstream theatre world that is Broadway — have never been given such a gift. Historically, musicals and plays that make it to Broadway aren’t always the ones that look to make a statement, but rather those that look to entertain. “Fun Home” was able to do both, creating a beautiful and captivating moment for the world. After falling in love with the novel, I bought tickets to the show when it took home the 2015

Tony for Best Musical, among other accolades. The LGBTQ+ narrative needed to hit center stage Broadway; I sat in the Circle in the Square Theatre in early 2016 and I don’t think I breathed for a full two hours. By the end, I was sobbing with a joint feeling of heartache and awe. The most beautiful and inspiring part of the performance was seeing a queer protagonist not limited to just a coming-out-narrative. The story is about so much more: memory, relationships, connecting with others, growing up, finding yourself and coming to terms with the life that you have been given. All of this is surrounded by and framed in Bechdel’s struggle with her sexuality — both the graphic novel and the musical are unique in that they are multifaceted. I sat in that theatre, right in the center of Bechdel’s pain and ecstasy and was refreshed to see something so needed on a mainstream stage, being shared and celebrated by the queer and non-queer communities alike. Since its original publication, “Fun Home” has become a cultural phenomenon. It is the gift that the world needed, it is the musical Broadway needed and it is the book my mind and heart and soul needed. Despite closing on Broadway in 2016, the show has completed its first national tour, produced regionally in the United States as well as internationally in the Philippines, with its future sights set on Japan and a second national tour. Its ability to continue to captivate and affect audiences is a great testament to the universality and prominence of the story. It is a beautiful moment for the queer community and the world — one that inspires thoughtful discussions and opens the door to more mainstream art that is rooted deeply in the theme of queer identity.

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘SISTER CITIES’ Just a few weeks ago, The Wonder Years put up a mysterious website with a list of coordinates; these coordinates happened to be the location of posters spread across the globe — from Manhattan to Dublin to Sydney and many other places — each containing a letter spelling out a password to unlock a teaser video for their forthcoming album Sister Cities. In the video, lead singer Dan Campbell offers a succinct thesis for their latest work: “It’s a record about distance, or maybe how little the distance matters anymore.” Last week, the band released the title track as the album’s lead single along with a music video directed by Josh Coll (formerly of Foxing). The song explores this idea of distance and the interconnectivity of the human experience. Both in composition and lyricism, The Wonder Years continue to separate themselves from other contemporary rock bands, relaying emotionality that feels intimate to the listener but is also immediately understood to be universal. Campbell belts out on the

bridge, “I was just mange and skin and bone / You took me into your home / Kept warm on a blanket from your worn out winter coat,” leaving us with a hint of the comfort we experience in the people around us; reminding us that negativity and collapse aren’t permanent. The video chronicles the experiences of people staying at the same motel, mapping out different emotions in their separate lives and following the maid who cleans up the aftermath — there’s destructive children, lovers in the bathtub, a duo dancing in a haze, a couple in a bitter argument and a family trying common setting of the motel to cope with their displaceunites these emotions and ment by a experiences hurricane. within all of Throughout us, conveying the video, the cohesive “Sister Cities” essence of shots cut human nature. from delight The Wonder Years and ecstasy Toward the Hopeless Records to grief and end of their teaser, Campanger, a breathless bell adds that whirlwind the record is of emotions “about how we as frantic as the track itself. all experience grief and sucUniting these scenes in the cesses in these alternating

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tidal waves of joy and devastation,” a perfect summary for the theme of their latest music video. If the lead single is any indication, The Wonder Years’s masterful storytelling is taken to new horizons and even greater heights on Sister Cities, one with a scope far vaster than the more personally oriented narratives explored on their past few records. -Dominic Polsinelli, Senior Arts Editor

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MUISIC NOTEBOOK

The homophobia of hip hop & the rise of queer rap

PROFILE

JOSEPH FRALEY Daily Blog Editor

Alexis Rankin / Daily

Alex & Effee expand narratives of LGBTQ+ in blog, love and life JACK BRANDON Daily Film Editor

To be trans and visible has always been radical. Despite the leaps and bounds made by activists like Laverne Cox and Janet Mock (their work being proclaimed in 2014 as “The Transgender Tipping Point” by Time), transgender individuals continue to be the victims of violence disproportionately. And while more and more transgender stories are being brought to television and film, stock characters and ideas, such as the “tragic trans figure” or the “successful transition,” dominate the public’s idea of trans life. It makes sense, then, that the next step for trans representation in media is finding a voice for the stories that defy tragedy or explore life beyond, or even without, transition. Artists Alex Jenny and Effee Nelly are a pair of queer and trans people of color who seek an outlet for these stories. Jenny and Nelly are poets and photographers, who recently opened a blog that chronicles their experiences in life and love. Jenny and Nelly met at the University in 2012 and graduated in 2014. The pair married later that year. While they were not as much the activists they are now, Jenny was a member of The Coalition for Queer People of Color and volunteered at the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center. Last Friday, SAPAC invited Jenny and Nelly to speak on the intersection of queer and trans identities and healthy relationships. “They invited me back a few years ago to do the keynote

for their student activist conference, and once we started the blog, they invited both of us back,” Jenny said. Their blog was born out of their need to feel connected to the creative aspects of their lives as the pair was busy maintaining and building their professional lives. By day, Jenny is a therapist and social worker and Nelly works as a consultant. But out of the office, they are poets and artists. The blog, simply titled “Alex & Effee,” consists of writing, photography and a journal where they share life updates and playlists. The pair’s writing deals with the complete trans experience, ranging from healing, current and past trauma, romance and family. Despite meeting in 2012, the pair didn’t bring their relationship to social media until Feb. 2017. Part of the delay stemmed from their growing disconnect from the creative part of their lives as the pair worked on building and maintaining their professional lives. Other reasons are far more personal. “We didn’t identify as trans when we were here at school, but through the safety of our relationship, we developed together and discovered parts of ourselves we thought were unlovable,” Jenny said. Through their process of growth and healing, Jenny

and Nelly bring a different sort of queer and trans narrative to the fore. Instead of telling a traditional coming-out narrative, like Amazon’s “Transparent,” or a tragedy like “Prayers for Bobby” or “Brokeback Mountain,” Jenny and Nelly use their blog to share what Jenny calls: “the multiplicity of possibilities and existence. There are so many different storylines for queer and trans people, not this one imagined narrative.” However, opening up for the entire world was not an easy process. The pair worked on striking a delicate balance between raw and confident, a struggle that continues to play out for many queer and trans individuals. Nelly said that “as trans people, we’re often reminiscing,” which alludes to the push-and-pull between internal pressures to be true to oneself and external pressures to follow the status quo. So, if a person comes out later in life, they question whether their efforts to protect themselves when they were younger inhibited potential growth. This question resonates throughout many of Jenny and Nelly’s poems. While it has been a struggle inviting so many people into their creative process, Jenny and Nelly find managing the blog to be incredibly fulfilling. As time has passed, Nelly said,

Jenny and Nelly use their blog to share what Jenny calls: “the multiplicity of possibilities and existence”

“(they’re) being a lot more intentional now” and explained how the couple is trying to give readers and followers a full picture of her and Jenny’s love. She mentions how some of the photography on their blog helped a father find someone to do senior pictures for his trans daughter, which was incredibly fulfilling. “These are gifts to my younger self that she just didn’t have,” she said. Aside from new creative pathways, Jenny and Nelly find the blog to be a different and exciting new outlet for activism. For Nelly, starting conversations through an online platform — and being visible in that way — is very different. “I was in direct action. I was part of the group advocating for a new Trotter,” Nelly said. Jenny agreed and stated that the blog allows them to explore elements of their identity that other forms of activism cannot: “I don’t think we would have been able to do this a few years ago. Our most radical work is to love ourselves.” Romance or not, Jenny and Nelly’s blog reflects the crescendoing calls for a new sense of social rights and a complete picture of the life of marginalized individuals. “As glamorous as we portray ourselves, we are part of that middle,” Nelly said. As you read through Jenny and Nelly’s blog, you start to understand the inner workings of their lives. They like pop music. They reminisce about the past. They love to see their family and travel. From their journal, you would think that life is simple and easy now — but the road to being visible has been everything but.

It’s no secret that historically mainstream hip-hop culture has been saturated by straight men making misogynistic and homophobic remarks in their music and in the media. Hip hop was dubbed a male and masculine genre that had no room for women or those with a queer identity. However, time changes things, as does talent. Queer hip hop got its start as an underground movement in the early ’90s. Labeled “homo hop,” the movement wasn’t aiming to create a subgenre of music but to serve as a community building tool for LGBTQ+ rappers. Primarily based in Calif., the movement included the likes of rap group Deep Dickollective and rappers Caushun and Cazwell. Yet, the idea of a queeridentifying famous rapper still seemed strange. An unspoken rule still permeated hip hop, that even if you were queer, you didn’t talk about it. While not necessarily a rapper, Frank Ocean is still a part of hip hop’s culture. He was a member of the Californiabased rap collective Odd Future and is friends with legendary hip-hop artists like André 3000, Jay-Z and Kanye West. On July 4, 2012, Ocean posted an open letter on his Tumblr account in which he stated that the first person he ever fell in love with was a man. His next album, released a week after his Tumblr post, would be filled with beautiful lyrics referencing his first love. Channel Orange went on to sell 131,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number two on the Billboard Top 200. A queer identifying man became a reserved superstar. Ocean’s success set a precedent. Queer hip-hop artists who may have felt they couldn’t express their sexual identities through their music now had a shining example to look up to. Tyler, the Creator, the Odd Future frontman with an eccentric personality and a brand defined by his comical approach to music and social media, took a different approach to his most recent album, Flower Boy. Seen as a “coming out” album by critics and fans alike, the candid Flower Boy is

splattered with direct references to Tyler’s sexuality. In the track “I Ain’t Got Time,” Tyler raps — almost under his breath — “Next line, I’ll have em’ like woah / I’ve been kissing white boys since 2004.” While Tyler, The Creator is a part of the culture Frank Ocean helped popularize, artists like Kevin Abstract are a result of it. His 2016 album American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story paints a vivid picture of two men completely taken with one another. Abstract doesn’t try to hide his identity with suggestive or impressionistic lyrics. He is direct and open about his feelings for the man he loves. On the second verse of the album’s title track Abstract sings, “My parents wanna kill them / Let them kill me.” An aura of indifference towards others’ opinions of his sexual identity permeates throughout American Boyfriend. Hip hop’s attitude towards queerness is evolving rapidly. The culture is beginning to lose the toxic masculinity that plagued the early years of the genre’s history. Atlanta-based rapper Young Thug wore a dress for the cover of his 2016 mixtape Jeffrey, and when asked about his decision to do so, he stated: “When it comes to swag, there is no gender involved.” Jay-Z raps about his mother coming out in “Smile” — “Cried tears of joy when you fell in love / Don’t matter to me if it’s a him or her.” Old- and new-school rappers alike are beginning to embrace the cultural shift of popular rap. Despite the strides that have been made, it would be misleading to say that hip hop has become a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. A few bad apples still stain the improving reputation of hip hop’s culture. The members of rap group Migos have recently made the news multiple times for making homophobic remarks. From Offset’s blatantly ignorant lyric “I don’t vibe with queers” to the members expressing public disappointment at discovering their fellow rapper iLoveMakonnen came out as gay. Yet the ignorance of a few shouldn’t minimize the clear shift currently taking place in hip hop. The young genre has come a long way from its socially problematic beginnings.

Hip hop’s attitude towards queerness is evolving rapidly. The culture is beginning to lose the toxic masculinity that plagued the early years of the genre’s history

Courtesy of Alex & Effee