Thursday, June 28, 2018
ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
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Academics
NEWS
Applications hit record high
Shri Thanedar The Daily sits down with Gubernatorial Candidate Shri Thanedar
Over 65,500 students apply for admission
>> SEE PAGE 3
OPINION
Speak up for female athletes
By KATHERINA SOURINE Daily Staff Reporter
“Passive acceptance of inequalities is no longer acceptable” >> SEE PAGE 5
ARTS
PHOTO BY ALEC COHEN
Panic! at the Disco review Brendon Urie returns with catchy new album >> SEE PAGE 6
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
From a diasporic Syrian
“I will never be in a position of a Syrian fleeing a war” >> SEE PAGE 9
SPORTS
Five moments, five days The Daily goes over five prominent moments from the past week in Michigan Athletics >> SEE PAGE 12
INDEX Vol. CXXVII, No. 122 | © 2018 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ............................... 4 ARTS/NEWS......................... 6 MiC......................................... 9 SPORTS................................ 10
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Lecturers’ union to bring contract forward for vote U-M offers LEO higher equity, pay in 3-year agreement By ALICE TRACEY Summer Daily News Editor
The Lecturers Employee Organization announced today they had come to an agreement with the University, following months of negotiation and numerous bargaining sessions with the University over the past three days. According to LEO, the union bargaining team has negotiated an agreement with the University that will raise pay, improve health care and boost job security. “This is a huge victory for our members, it is equally a win for the University and our students,” Kirsten Herold, a lecturer at the U-M School of Public Health, LEO Vice
President and manager of the LEO bargaining team said in a press release from LEO. “Higher pay will lead to less turn-over, more lecturers working fulltime — rather than holding multiple part-time jobs — and a more stable learning environment for our students to whom our membership are so dedicated.” After meeting with University of Michigan administration representatives for bargaining sessions on Wednesday, June 20 and Friday, June 22, the union of about 1,700 non-tenured U-M faculty, will present a newly proposed three-year contract to its members for a ratification vote. LEO’s last contract expired May 29, and since the beginning of the last academic year, LEO has been pushing for higher wages, improved equity increases and a more even distribution of resources across the three U-M campuses to be
included in the next contract. This is the first contract proposal LEO leaders have deemed satisfactory enough to bring forward for a vote. After three years, the contract would raise minimum salary by $16,500 in Ann Arbor, $13,700 in Flint and $12,700 in Dearborn. The minimums are currently $34,500, $27,300 and $28,300 in Ann Arbor, Flint and Dearborn, respectively. Equity adjustments, or onetime additions to base pay, would also increase and would range between $3,000 and $12,500, though equity would differ slightly for lecturers making over $80,000 annually. According to a LEO press release, the contract would provide additional benefits, increasing health coverage access and changing the University’s performance review protocol to protect lecturers’ jobs.
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As summer begins, more than 6,000 incoming freshmen have started preparing for their first year at the University of Michigan, which received a record number of applications this year. More than 65,500 applications were reviewed and processed by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, a 10.6-percent increase from last year’s 59,407 applications, according to the University’s Office of Public Affairs. More than 15,400 students were offered admission, generating an acceptance rate of 23.5 percent. Of the applications submitted, 12,521 were submitted by in-state students and 44,014 were received out-of-state, while 9,149 were international. Incoming freshman Dale Hendershot explained he found the process of applying to the University a smooth one, thanks to the straightforward nature of the Common Application. However, Hendershot did find the growing popularity and competition of the University relatively stressful, especially as an in-state student. “Wondering if the years of preparation were good enough to be accepted into a top college like Michigan did whittle away at my sanity every once in a while,” he said. “Not knowing how I compared to other applicants certainly intensified this feeling. Looking forward, I am excited to confront college life head on and to explore my newfound independence and campus.” Having just graduated from this year, U-M alum Alondra Vergara-Diaz expressed her appreciation for her time at the University and acknowledged admissions will become more competitive.
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2 NEWS
Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Ward 1 reps sue city over $10 million deal Councilmembers claim Mayor, City Clerk violated charter By ALICE TRACEY Summer Daily News Editor
Ann Arbor City Councilmembers Sumi Kailasapathy, D-Ward 1, and Anne Bannister, D-Ward 1, have sued the city of Ann Arbor, Mayor Christopher Taylor and City Clerk Jacqueline Beaudry over a $10 million deal regarding the development of Library Lot. The contract, signed by Taylor, Beaudry and Chicago-based developer Core Spaces on May 31, hands over the development rights of Library Lot, a parking area next to the Ann Arbor District Library where Core Spaces plans to construct a 17-story high-rise called the Collective. Attorney Eric Lipson filed the lawsuit on behalf of Kailasapathy and Bannister June 18 in the Washtenaw County Trial Court. The lawsuit accuses Taylor and Beaudry of violating Ann Arbor’s charter by signing a development contract
STEEP.
without first consulting City Council. The council voted 8-3 to sell Library Lot in April 2017 to Core Spaces, but the purchase was not finalized until this year. The lawsuit claims the May 31 contract finalizing the purchase was not presented to City Council. According to Kailasapathy, the Ann Arbor City Charter requires purchases or sales valued over $25,000 to be approved by at least eight councilmembers. She said the language of the charter is clear and she therefore feels confident about the strength of her and Bannister’s case. “In plain English, it says a contract has to come, and there’s no way they can say there was a contract 13 months before because there was no contract, there was a resolution,” Kailasapathy said. Kailasapathy claimed she and Bannister sued the city to protect the interests of their constituents. Ann Arbor voters trust the City Council to represent their interests, Kailasapathy said, so the council must get a say in financial decisions.
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The Argus Farm Stop is located on West Liberty Street in Ann Arbor.
Ross grads launch local food market Argus Farm Stop pioneers new business model By SONIA LEE Daily Staff Reporter
Argus Farm Stop, an Ann Arbor small business focused on providing sustainable food for the community while supporting local Michigan farms, has proven a successful experiment in helping both consumers and producers in the communal food system. Founded by Ross M.B.A.s Bill Brinkerhoff and Kathy Sample in 2014, Argus Farm Stop is a grocery store and cafe styled as a farmers’ market. The market applies a new business model, allowing customers to buy produce, dairy products and meats directly from local farmers. With the knowledge that farmers’ markets, while having good intentions, are often inefficient marketplaces for both consumers and producers, Brinkerhoff and Sample found a need in the Ann Arbor community Argus could solve. “We knew a lot about local agriculture because we always shop at the farmers’ market,” Sample said. “We knew that farmers’ markets are a really hard way for farmers to sell their stuff. It’s a great community thing, but it’s a really hard way to sell because on a nice day they might rather be out on their farms.”
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Brinkerhoff and Sample were inspired to start Argus after visiting a similar market and cafe in Ohio. Part of their business model included allowing farmers to make deliveries of fresh produce, meat and dairy products to the farm stop at any time on any day, softening time constraints attached to traditional farmers’ markets, as well as eliminating the need for a middle man. “We were down in Wooster, Ohio, and we saw this store called Local Roots that had this new model that was an every-day farmers’ market,” Brinkerhoff said. “Where the farmers could just drop off their stuff and go back to their farm. We came back to Ann Arbor with the idea and talked to lots of people, and there was a consensus that there was a strong need in our community to further make local food economically sustainable for farmers and available to consumers.” The business model prioritizes bringing a majority of profits back to producers. Argus maintains itself as a low-profit limited liability company, which makes this model sustainable, Sample explained. “If they [local farms] were to sell through a traditional retailer, like a grocery store, they would get around 16 cents on the dollar of
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2 per issue. Subscriptions for September - April are $250, and year-long subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. Subscriptions must be prepaid.
NEWS 3 City faces legal costs for Gelman dioxane plume Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Contract with law firm now $445,000 By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM Summer Daily News Editor
MAX KUANG / DAILY
The Daily sits down with candidate for governer Shri Thanedar
Democratic candidate details campaign platform, experience By GRACE KAY Summer Managing News Editor
By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM Summer Daily News Editor
Editor’s Note: The Michigan Daily does not officially endorse Shri Thanedar for governor. The Daily continues to reach out to other gubernatorial candidates for comments and interviews. The Michigan Daily recently met with gubernatorial candidate Shri Thanedar to discuss his platform and goals for Michigan if elected governor. An Indianborn entrepreneur, Thanedar is running against former state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer and University alum Abdul El-Sayed for the Democratic candidacy. The primary election is set to take place Aug. 7. Thanedar says he is unlike any other candidate running for governor in Michigan. He doesn’t come from a family of wealth and opulence, and he doesn’t look or talk like any of the other candidates. He is an entrepreneur who came to the United States with $16 in his pocket and eventually worked to build a multimillion dollar business. Ultimately, Thanedar argues his knowledge, work ethic and life experiences make him the candidate Michigan needs. “I look different. I don’t look like the past governors. I’m an immigrant,” Thanedar said. “I think I’m the only immigrant that’s running for governor. I speak differently more than most people in Michigan. But my
point is that say four years from now I write my State of the State address and I’m talking about taking our education to the next level, fixing the roads and we are approaching near the Top 10 … would it matter where I was born? Would it matter in what accent I said those words? That’s what I want Michiganders to remember when they go to vote on Aug. 7. Any Democrat that is ‘good enough’ isn’t good enough.” Thanedar runs a progressive platform If elected as the governor of Michigan, Thanedar plans to make education his top priority. “I want to be known as the education governor Michigan never had because education is important to me,” Thanedar said. “These are not just talking points, I draw them from my experiences of life. So when I talk about education and why education needs to be improved, education was the ladder for me to pull myself out of poverty. Thanedar also plans to increase the minimum wage, create a skilled work force and modify the tax structure. “One of the more unusual features of my tax structure is that I will have any family that makes $50,000 or less state income tax exempt; they will not pay income tax,” Thanedar said when explaining key changes he would implement as governor. “I will raise the minimum wage to $15 and tie it to inflation.” Working with Republicans at the state level Thanedar says when it comes
to working with people who share different viewpoints and perspectives, he is open to new ideas and willing to work with those he may not always agree with. “Somebody who has completely opposite views from me, we start talking and I’m open to new ideas, that’s who I am,” Thanedar said. “I have very thick skin. I don’t ever tweet at 3 A.M. in the morning. I can listen to different viewpoints. I have run small businesses. I have dealt with teams; I’ve worked with teams. I’m used to this kind of openness and bouncing off things and looking at both sides of the issue, so I think I’d work well.” Thanedar believes with his experience as a business owner he could work well with members of the Republican party at the state level. “I think they would respect me because I’m not just talking when I talk about business, when I talk about finance, when I talk about jobs,” Thanedar said. “I’ve come from experience and I think I will get the respect that the other candidates may not get because I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a business person. When I talk about finance I understand finance. It’s not something I memorized from somewhere.” Setting himself apart from the other Democratic candidates Thanedar explains the role of governor is about much more than giving poetic speeches.
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Ann Arbor City Council will see an increase in legal costs regarding clean-up efforts of the 1,4 dioxane plume contaminating the area’s groundwater. 1,4 dioxane is a carcinogenic organic compound used in many industrial settings. The plume was discovered after inspections revealed years of improper wastewater disposal by Gelman Sciences Inc., an Ann Arbor-based manufacturing company. There are fears that the plume could spread to the Huron River and Barton Pond, two main water sources for the city. The city approved an $150,000 increase to its contract with Bodman PLC, a Detroit-based law firm, in the fight against Gelman to clean up the plume. Councilmember Jack Eaton, D-Ward 4, feels the council’s involvement in the manner helps residents understand the precedence and severity of the issue. “The important part of the state litigation that we’re now a party to is that it provides public information about the spread of the plume and how contaminated water is as it spreads underneath the (surface),” Eaton said. “We will be at the table and able to get a voice about the decimating that kind of information.” Councilmember Chip Smith, D-Ward 5, feels that added expenses will also be more efficient than relying on the federal government to help. “It’s an expensive legal cost but I think the cost of not doing anything is so much greater,” Smith said. “The EPA is not going to come in and help us. To put our faith in the EPA of Scott Pruitt is wholly ignorant.” According to Eaton, state regulations have only allowed
for mitigation by the state instead of more stringent intervention and clean up. Standards on healthy dioxane levels in residential drinking water were also outdated when previous water testing took place, therefore allowing unsafe water to be used in residential homes. The governor’s office lowered the acceptable standards from 85 parts per billion to 7.2 parts per billion in 2016. Eaton says are residents do not believe the city has addressed the plume adequately. “I think the residents of Ann Arbor are concerned that we haven’t done enough over the years,” Eaton said. “This has gone on for decades. The state has been really cevile [COPY: servile?] in its efforts to address this and the city hasn’t been a party to this and hasn’t aggressively pursued any action against the company.” The city wants the company to be held fully responsible for the costs and clean-up efforts. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initially held off on designating the plume as a federal Superfund site, but has been working with city and state officials to resolve the issue. This came after an area petition by Ann Arbor Township, Scio Township and the Sierra Club Huron Valley Group was sent to the EPA to designate the site as a Superfund zone. The city of Ann Arbor did not join this petition. “As the largest municipality in the area affected by the plume, it just seems like we would take a leadership role and we didn’t,” Eaton said. “Nonetheless, the EPA is now monitoring the litigation between the state and the polluter and we hope that in some point in time they become convinced that they should be ordering actual cleanup.”
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4 OPINION
Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FARID ALSABEH | COLUMN
The science behind implicit bias
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MARLEE BURRIDGE| COLUMN
I
Speak up for female athletes
asked my big sister and former Division I collegiate soccer player if her school treated her the same as her male counterparts. Her response: “Students and fellow athletes do not treat me the same. They made comments about women’s sports being less important.” My sister is putting in the same amount of work, sacrificing the same amount of time and working through many of the same issues that all college athletes face and it seems like she gets no respect. This attitude toward women’s sports creates an almost hypocritical view of athleticism as “less-than” solely because the athlete is female. What qualifies men’s sports as holding any kind of importance? How can the same exact thing be any less significant simply because women are doing it? Women’s sports are not less important. Women are not less important. Let’s remember that countless female athletes are putting in the same amount, if not more work as their male counterparts. Not to mention the fact that male athletes should be the first to support female athletes. They know just how much work has to be put in, just how much time has to be sacrificed and how grueling the life of a collegiate or professional athlete can be. Male athletes should not be the first to put their female counterparts down. Rather, they should be the first to
be fighting for equality, fighting for justice. I then asked one of my best friends, a Division I men’s college basketball player, if he ever feels like he’s given advantages over his female counterparts. “No,” he replied. “The only difference is the popularity of the sport. That’s not them getting treated differently, it’s just the way the world works.” Just the way the world works. Women just don’t get the respect they deserve. That’s just how it works. Female athletes are constantly given consolation prizes for competing in what’s seen as a men’s world. Just the way the world works. Now I know that my friend doesn’t really think female athletes deserve less than male athletes. I know because I spent four years of high school playing basketball alongside him and I know he respects me as an athlete. I also know he respects the women’s team at his college as well, but sometimes that can be harder to tell. There have been countless times when I have been hanging out with my guy friends and we decide to play basketball. Without fail, I am picked last. I know it might sound petty – complaining about being picked last – but that’s not the point. The point is that of the group in which I end up playing these pick-up games, I am the only person who actually played basketball. I played for my entire life on competitive club teams and high
school varsity. None of them played past fifth grade. But I am a girl, so I’m picked last – always. That’s the issue that is ignored. Because that’s just how the world works. My friends aren’t really sexist, they don’t truly believe that I am lesser than them. Simply, they have been conditioned to feel this is acceptable. Young boys are raised in a world that believes men are stronger, faster and more athletic than women, and whether they mean to or not, they end up perpetuating these ideas through their own actions. We need to start to recognize the kind of embedded sexism that is constantly faced by female athletes. People need to see that saying “that’s just how it is” is not an answer and is a cop out for not addressing a real issue that needs to be fixed. Passive acceptance of inequalities is no longer acceptable. It is time male athletes step up and speak up about the issues female athletes are facing. And just to leave you with a statistic that highlights this inequity, Forbes just released their list of the Top 100 Highest Paid Athletes and not a single one was a woman. Not one. This can no longer be “just the way the world works.” We need change, we need progress and we need it now. Marlee Burridge can be reached at marleebu@umich.edu.
T
he April arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks has reignited public discourse on the topic of racial discrimination. Arguments proposed by the most vocal critics of the incident, who have charged the coffee chain with racism, portray it as the latest scene of a systemic white supremacy that has terrorized minorities for decades. In a postJim Crow America, the question must be asked: How could such a widespread manifestation of racism persist in our society? The consensus has been, as far as Starbucks’ perception is concerned, that unconscious profiling is the culprit. The idea that motivations can exist beneath the level of conscious knowledge is hardly a new idea; this was precisely the scandalous observation that set a prude Viennese aristocracy on fire in the days of Sigmund Freud. Marked as it is by racial tension, our current era takes as the object of scandal not implicit sexual attitudes but racial ones. As it applies to the Starbucks arrests, the argument states that even if the barista harbored no explicit prejudice against African-Americans, she was nonetheless motivated by an unconscious bias to call the police when the men declined to order anything. The assumption here is that race played a decisive role in the events that unfolded, that the arrest would not have been made if the men were white. The Implicit Association Test has emerged as the most prominent assessment for the kind of implicit bias that has been implicated in the Starbucks incident. For those unfamiliar with the test, I encourage you to try it — it doesn’t take more than 20 minutes, and the firsthand experience will be a far better explanation than what follows. In the relevant version of the test, there are two parts. one is when there are two buttons: “white and good adjectives” and “Black and bad adjectives,” and the other is when the two buttons are “Black and good adjectives” and “white and bad adjectives.”. The finding of this simple test is similar to others in psychometry — the practice of timing mental processes — in that the speed of our categorization changes significantly based on another
parameter. In this case, that other parameter is the face we see prior to the word: It consistently takes people longer to identify positive words, and shorter to identify negative words, when Black and good are the same button, because of implicit bias. Perusing other versions of the assessment, it was startling to consider just how many identity groups may be affected by the phenomenon of unconscious bias. Age, weight, and physical disability among athletes were some of the most striking examples outside the typical race or sex considerations, all three of which have been associated with the classic IAT finding of delayed response time. The diversity of subgroups present in the assessment is a testament not only to the potential ubiquity of implicit bias, but to the rising sociocultural movement that is bringing this issue to the forefront. The f loodgates holding back the uncomfortable topic of unconscious marginalization have been opened. As far as strictly scientific evidence is concerned, the IAT is still as close as we can get to quantifying the phenomenon of implicit bias. But even this has been scrutinized by scientists wary of the test, a skepticism that has slowly but surely been extending into the field of social psychology at large. Some psychologists maintain that the results of this assessment suffer from low replicability, and that the test itself fails to live up to quality-control standards. Moreover, the IAT seems completely inept at doing what it’s designed to do: actually predict potential acts of bias. Despite these criticisms — if only for the sake of argument — I’ll assume that these results are valid and consistent. Where do we go from there? It’s my belief that the psychometric approach outlined by the IAT is not a rigorous method of demonstrating that unconscious racism exists per se. This position was largely inf luenced by my own experience taking the test. Within a few
Continue reading on page 5.
Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The science behind implicit bias by Farid Alsabeh continued below:
rounds of the assessment, I found myself using a simple verbal strateg y to my advantage: Whenever the Black face and negative word prompted the same key, I identified both with the verbal association Black/ bad, an alliteration which I felt made my responses faster and more accurate. If the similar phonolog y of these words contributed to the increased response rate, this seems to cast doubt on the idea that negative emotional responses are necessarily at play in the IAT. Now, it’s certainly the case that not everyone was using this makeshift strateg y, so I can’t argue empirically that this explains the results. But I think this demonstrates on theoretical grounds that a delay in response time is not necessarily caused by negative emotional biases against a particular race. Still, inf luential studies have shown that preferences for names can result in a detectable and unconscious bias against minority groups. So the question is, if not the IAT, how else might we go about quantifying the phenomenon of implicit bias? In order to arrive at a more rigorous demonstration, I think the neurobiological findings by University of Southern California neuroscientist Antonio Damasio should be considered. According to his somatic marker hypothesis, our rational deliberation of options is not a purely indifferent process, devoid of any emotional content. Instead, certain outcomes are “marked” by physiological responses according to our own
mindset and experiences. Under this framework, a demonstration of implicit bias becomes clear. Imagine a manager who, in two separate cases, considers whether to call police on someone who has entered their establishment without ordering anything. If the physiological responses of such a decision, or something like it, could be measured (say, by using galvanic skin detectors, which measure our stress response), we might have objective evidence that negative emotions underlie our seemingly bias-free decisions when race is involved. Unlike the psychometric IAT test, which relies on the circumstantial fact of delayed response, I think such a physiological result could provide a definitive measure of implicit bias. That said, I encourage everyone to take the IAT for themselves and grapple with the question of what scientific result constitutes direct evidence of negative racial bias. To reiterate, I feel that we haven’t yet arrived at an objective standard to definitively say that a certain individual is “unconsciously racist.” A scientific, and strictly neurobiological, approach might someday take us there. The history of America has been fraught with racial strife and injustice for a majority of its history; let’s all contribute to progress by tackling these difficult questions with an open and deliberative mind.
Farid Alsabeh can be reached at falsabeh@umich.edu.
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OPINION 5
EMMA CHANG | SUMMER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
T
he California primaries were a few weeks ago and the Michigan primaries on Aug. 7 are fast approaching. This November marks the national midterm elections that have the potential to change America’s political landscape, and this country needs some serious changing. But how exactly did we get to this point in the first place? A lot of people point to President Donald at Trump and the Republican Party, which is very true, but I’m also looking at the vast number of people who did not vote and, though they did not directly support Trump, were essential to his presidential victory. In the past week, I have scrolled through Twitter and read tweets about how similar America’s relationship with Mexican immigrants is to the way the Nazis treated their Jewish population. And they are not wrong. One tweet, in particular, pointed out how taking rosary beads from Mexican women is like taking wedding rings from Jewish women. Another tweet highlighted the differences between platforms; on the one hand, people on Twitter are outraged, while on Instagram, people have just recently started to acknowledge the state of our nation. This struck a chord. Here I was, peacefully watching “Gilmore Girls,” and at this moment, people in this country are being torn away from their families— and I feel like I haven’t done anything. The only immediate course of action I could think of was to like the tweet and feel sad about where we are as a country. But that’s not enough. In a generation where political activism and awareness is a defining characteristic of a person, the question remains: Do we actually know or even care about what is happening? How many of us actually keep up with the minute details of our state legislature? Sure, I could tell you the midterm elections are this year and yes, I understand that they are important in combating our current administration. But could I tell you anything about the candidates? Most likely, no. As a person who likes to think of herself as “politically aware,” this revelation was incredibly disconcerting, especially as the Michigan primaries and midterms approach. Social media has fostered a
Pretend Politics false grasp of politics within our country’s youth. It’s much too easy to retweet or post a picture of your political opinions and feel as though you are participating in the democratic process. This exact thing happened with net neutrality. It is still a huge issue, yet is no longer trending on Twitter and, therefore, no longer relevant to our generation. But the opposite is true. Other outlets such as podcasts like “Pod Save America” and Crooked Media’s other content are great for feeling informed and trying to understand the conversation, but a lot of this so-called “action” stops there. The company does a fantastic job highlighting those on the ground, trying to get things done as well as creating their own campaign against the current administration, but how many of their listeners actually follow through on the passionate requests and commands of Jon Lovett and Jon Favreau? This false sense of awareness is dangerous. With only a surfacelevel understanding of both the candidates and issues at hand, a lot of the great aspects of democracy are lost on a complacent public. One of the best features of this country is our right to vote, yet much of the younger generation did not vote in the presidential election, an issue with repercussions that none of us thought possible. As a result of the last election, I know a lot of my friends and other young people around the country have worked diligently to help educate both ourselves and our peers. Yara Shahidi, an 18-yearold actress from the hit shows “Black-ish” and “Grown-ish,” started an important campaign called “Eighteenx18,” a program that works to educate and register younger voters. Just how much impact has the program had, however? The actress has 2.4 million followers on Instagram, but only 16,600 follow the program’s account. That’s less than 1 percent of her audience. Sixteen thousand is still a lot, but is it enough? Some would argue it is. Others would argue that they have a much deeper understanding both of their role as a voter and who they are voting for, and they might be right. But there are still people out there that might not have the opportunity, privilege or motivation to spend hours combing through state and national
politics—yet still for some reason, feel as though they are deserving of the label “politically active.” I’m going to say it right now: I am one of these people. It isn’t that I don’t care, it is just that there are so many other things going on in my life that often take precedence over the fact that I really need to figure out for whom I want to vote; however, up until the California primaries and the writing of this article, I would have proudly stated I am very heavily involved in politics when, in reality, I’m not. While I do sometimes think about how I should be helping out a campaign, I have realized I just do not have the time—or, rather, I do not want to make it one of my priorities. There are people out there who will make it a priority and will push campaigns forward, but there are still more people out there who have a basic understanding of politics, but no real wish to participate beyond voting. Therein lies another problem: voter participation. One of the biggest parts of a successful democracy is the voters. In 2016, only about 34 percent of Michigan residents came out to vote in the primaries, and 63 percent voted in the general election. Compared nationally, Michigan does pretty well; 28.5 percent of the nation came out for the primaries and 58 percent for the general election. Still, though, participation in the country’s elections is an essential part of our democracy and even if you don’t feel like knocking on doors to help educate your peers, at least educate yourself and go vote. I applaud those who can join the political campaigns and are actively participating in the democratic process. However, the fact is, the majority of our generation is only trying to get involved. But just “trying” isn’t enough. It’s not enough to post your opinions on Twitter or Instagram. It’s not enough to simply go to a women’s march and post a picture captioned with support for the movement. None of the marches and protests are enough without an educated voter and their subsequent decision at the polling place.
Emma Chang can be reached at emmacha@umich.edu
6 ARTS
Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FESTIVAL COVERAGE
RED FROG EVENTS
Somewhere in the middle of the Delware woods... “That’s tight. It’s A$AP Rocky, yeah?” Pressed up against us, shoulder to shoulder, for the entirety of two performances, Danny’s thin white shirt was almost translucent with sweat by the time he finally decided to speak. It was, indeed, A$AP Rocky that had been blaring through our iPhone speakers, as the sun began to set over the woodlands of Dover, Delaware, and we desperately tried to stave off the ache of our blistered feet. Instantly charmed by Danny’s British accent, we threw Testing to the wayside in order to focus on the “Skins” archetype that had manifested beside us. “I told myself that I would be at the very next Arctic Monkeys show. No matter where or when it was, I would be there. So when it was announced that they would be headlining Firefly…,” Danny smiled slightly and turned toward the empty stage, as if he could already see the phantom image of Alex Turner crooning into the mic. Firefly Music Festival, like most other music festivals, has the particular quality of attracting people from various pockets of the world and forcing them to coexist semi-peacefully in one enclosed area. Unlike most other music festivals, however, Firefly stretches over the course of almost five days, which, surrounded by miles of empty cornfields and barricaded by rows upon rows of nylon tents, can seem to bleed into infinity. Time unravels to become as distant as the outside world itself. In this bubble of perfectly
contained chaos, there is more than just music. A community begins to form amid the dust and the turmoil. A strange, off-kilter community — where bottles of Gatorade 95% filled with Everclear are treated with the same amount of reverence as holy water and the neighbors won’t stop playing the same shitty EDM remix at 4 a.m. — but a community, nonetheless. — Shima Sadaghiyani, Daily Music Editor Foster the People “Pumped Up Kicks” was the “Ring Around the Rosie” of early High School. Hear me out: just how there was always one preschooler loudly announcing “Ring Around the Rosie”’s connection to the Bubonic Plague, there was always one adolescent upstart loudly announcing “Pumped Up Kicks”’s connection to a school shooting. I know this because I was that adolescent upstart, desperately clutching at any way I could put both middle fingers up at authority without actually having to put any middle fingers up. Foster the People arrived at an integral moment; their music a perfect blend of indie rock with a little bit of edge, hard enough to feel appropriately rebellious when blasted out of rolled down windows on the drive to school but still pop enough to fit with the quiet lanes of suburbia. Their Firefly set was much of the same balance, interpersing mellow crowd favorites like “Houdini” and “Don’t Stop (Color On the Walls)” with more experimental performances based off of the moody
psychedelia of their newest album Sacred Hearts Club, a phrase which was emblazoned in larger-than-life neon script on the back wall of the Firefly stage. As lead singer Mark Foster stood in front of the words, ripped sleeves and scrappy tattoos backlit by reds, blues and yellows, before launching into a cover of the Ramones’s “Blitzkrieg Pop,” I felt a familiar sense of preteen angst rise up from the pit of my stomach. Someone next to us said that the set gave them “major Tame Impala vibes.” While the synthheavy, spiraling light show of songs “Pseudologia Fantastica” and “Loyal Like Sid & Nancy” were reminiscent of tracks out of Lonerism, the Foster the People that caused me to rip my jeans at the knee and black out my white converse with permanent markers in the 10th grade was still alive and well. They closed their set with the familiar beat of “Pumped Up Kicks.” — Shima Sadaghiyani Eminem Uh. — Matt Gallatin, Daily Sharts Writer Mom’s spaghetti. — Shima Sadaghiyani Arctic Monkeys The first line of Apple Music’s description of the Arctic Monkeys’s newest album after five years, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, reads “In 2016, Alex Turner received a piano for his 30th birthday.” It’s about the only description you need to
understand the album’s brooding, introspective corridors. And as you wander throughout quiet jazz undertones and loungepop bursts, it’s easy to imagine a mustachioed Alex Turner in the casino basement, plunking away at a grand piano with a glass of scotch in one hand, ready to tell you about his past exploits as a smooth-talking, aviator-wearing rock star. The album is muted, bittersweet and filled with a melancholic sort of appeal. Yet, these are songs for late hours spent alone — solitude mixing with the slow crawl of a dying cigarette — not for the sweaty, beer-drenched animal farm of Firefly. The crowd that had been waiting hours in order to see the Arctic Monkeys did not come to watch Alex Turner cry over a piano. We came for the Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, for the Favourite Worst Nightmare, for the Who The Fuck Are The Arctic Monkeys? Thank God Alex Turner seemed to understand that, bursting out on stage with a rousing rendition of “Brianstorm,” and instantly turning the first 20 rows of the crowd into a pit of flailing fists. Dressed to impress in a monochromatic suit, hair slicked back, every inch of him was the same man who used to break the hearts of Tumblr fanatics left and right. And damn, did he put on a great show. Playing only a few songs from Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, which became welcome breaks from the moshing, most of the set was a trip down memory lane. There was something for every Arctic Monkeys fan here, from more popular songs like “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High” and “505” to tracks pulled from the shadows of old EPs, like “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” and “Pretty Visitors.” No matter how far back the Arctic Monkeys reached, Alex Turner was on top of every note, every minute. Over-exaggerating his gestures and postures to play along with the lyrics of the songs, he brought them, as well as all the memories of crowdgoers to life. The set closed out with “R U Mine?” and as “All I wanna hear her say is are you mine,” echoed around me, bumping along the hoarse edges of a throng of gleeful voices, I looked over to where Danny, my boy from across the pond, was being thrown from side to side. We locked eyes, and I could tell he was feeling what I was feeling in that moment:
perfect, harmonious catharsis. — Shima Sadaghiyani Lil Wayne There was so much Lil Wayne slander at this festival that I almost developed a twitch. Pusha-T warned us on DAYTONA: “He see what I see when you see Wayne on tour / Flash without the fire / Another multi-platinum rapper trapped and can’t retire.” I disregarded these bars before the show because Lil Wayne is without question a legend, a rapper so important to the game that any conversation about rap in the 2000s isn’t only incomplete without mentioning him, but nonexistent. It was simply incredible to think that he had somehow lost the fire. Yet Firefly festival goers seemed completely unaware of the greatness they stood below; called his set “disappointing” when he performed “A Milli” in pink getup, could hardly shout the chorus of “Mrs. Officer.” Concerts are symbiotic, requiring energy from both the performer and the spectators, and while Wayne still had the flash (how could someone who wrote “Georgia Bush” come without it?) there was a creeping sense that the fire was slowly extinguished by this disrespect. I felt a sadness as people merely laughed at his height and said his voice sounded “strange” during “Lollipop.” At the age of 21, I already felt old, upset at these teenagers who didn’t understand the importance of what they were seeing, couldn’t possibly know the absolute joy of screaming “she licked me like a lollipop” at age 12 in the minivan, right before mom and dad switched the radio channel. It seemed like Wayne could sense the loss too. — Matt Gallatin The Killers They brought up a kid named “Brian” from the crowd to play drums. The frontman looked like a glam rocker from the ‘80s. Never before have I seen so many people turn into suburban dads right before my eyes. I guess they played “Mr. Brightside”? — Matt Gallatin His name was actually “Ryan.” He was from West Chester, Pennsylvania and he was doing his best. — Shima Sadaghiyani
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Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MUSIC REVIEW
SHOW REVIEW
FUELED BY RAMEN
‘Pray For The Wicked’ is fun, easy listening for all ROBERT MANSUETTI Summer Senior Arts Editor
I would like to preface this review by stating I am the person at Daily Arts least expected to write it. I am by no means a Panic! fan; it wasn’t until recently that I finally put together that the “closing the goddamn door” song was their “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.” For the longest while, the band was nothing more than word association for me: If someone said “Panic! At The Disco,” I thought Brendon Urie. Besides his name and his Broadway stint performing in “Kinky Boots,” I knew nothing about the man. I always assumed there was at least two or three other bandmates to round out Panic, but it looks like now that’s not even true. I would say I took on this review to write out of my musical comfort zone, write about something that doesn’t have its roots in hip hop or R&B, but I won’t beat around the bush with this review’s little secret: I decided to sign up for it because my wonderful girlfriend is a huge Panic! At The Disco fan. So, without further ado, I present the thoughts of a Panic! neophyte (happily blinded by love) on their latest release, Pray For The Wicked. From an initial listen of the album, it’s clear Mr. Urie was inspired by his time under the spotlight and his love for musicals in general. The sound of Pray For The Wicked is grounded in peppy horns, backed by unobtrusive basslines and drum patterns, the sort of triumphant live instrumentation commonly heard in Broadway recordings. At times, it seems like the album could be easily adapted to a stage production. The question is, would the overarching story of that musical be any good? It seems like the only thing Urie has
ARTS 7
to say on Pray For The Wicked is that he’s made it; he’s overcome adversity and avoided pitfalls that stop most starving artists dead in their tracks. While some tracks contain slight musings on his religious roots, past relationships and the wasteful nature of drugs and alcohol, most refer back to Urie’s rise to stardom. Brendon Urie has basically become a one-man show, so it’s no denying that the lyrical content was written by him and was majorly influenced by his life up to this point. That’s not to say Urie comes off as self-centered with a Father John Misty-sized ego, though. Pray For The Wicked seeks to be inspirational, with most of the songs functioning as celebrations of following your dreams and finding success, and reminding the listener
Pray For The Wicked Panic! at the Disco Fueled By Ramen to never be complacent and always aim higher. This is immediately made clear, as Urie shouts “Fuck a silver lining / ‘cause only gold is hot enough” just 12 seconds into the opening track. Urie incorporates his life story into this symphony of encouragement: He was “shooting for the stars when [he] couldn’t make a killing” on the chorus of the insanely upbeat “High Hopes,” the mania of his “Roaring 20s” eventually resulted in him finding an accepting new home on Broadway and he even named on one of the songs “Hey Look Ma, I Made It.” The one song not grounded in some form of positivity is album closer “Dying In LA,” which explores a different side of following your dreams, the one that only results in lost hope and
breaking under pressure. In ending the album with this hackneyed a maxim — fame is not all it’s cracked up to be — one realizes that Urie does not have much original to say throughout the whole of the album. It’s the same motivating shindig that’s been thrown thousands of times before. Yet music doesn’t have to be complex and embellished with original meaning to be good. Pray For The Wicked lacks real cohesion and comes off as more a collection of songs than an album, but it isn’t supposed to be some profound narrative that lands it a top spot on multiple end-of-the-year lists. Panic’s music has always been designed to be sung along — individual verses are often whispery, slower and not terribly indicative of Urie’s incredible vocal talent, while the high notes and riffing are reserved for the choruses. It’s almost like Urie knows his fans are going to want to belt out the catchy chorus and match his cadence, so he rewards those who know all the words a chance to rest their voices with the intermediary verses. While Pray For The Wicked doesn’t entice me to test my singing capabilities, that’s OK: I am not the target audience. The album sustains the same playful intensity most major musicals reserve for their vigorous bookending numbers, with the occasional sprinkle of an emotional ballad here and there. Brendon Urie knows his music doesn’t have to be nuanced high art, so instead with his latest effort as Panic! At The Disco, he focuses on refining his fun, catchy pop rock sound. Although it doesn’t particularly toot my horn, hearing it play in the car with my girlfriend singing along from the passenger seat certainly does bring a smile to my face.
Iceage at El Club prove themselves CLARA SCOTT Daily Arts Writer
“Let’s turn off the blue lights,” Iceage frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt muttered at the beginning of their show last Friday. Suddenly, the patient audience at El Club was plunged into darkness. Illuminated by the red glow of the stage, Rønnenfelt and his bandmates were magnetic, a sicklysexy collection of thin, stylish Danes with serious presence. Packed into the small Mexicantown venue, the crowd was hanging on to their every move in a shifting mass of noise and color. There are those who say punk is dead, but really it’s just different — now a spirit of pure emotion, anger and joy fused together into sound. That’s what Iceage does best. Formed in 2008 in Copenhagen, the band’s first three albums were a mix of punk rigor and rambling, artistic soundscapes. Rønnenfelt’s signature drawl moves through each and every song on seemingly only instinct. Their 2011 debut garnered critical acclaim from industry legends like Lester Bangs himself, setting them onto a path of success and earning them a devoted following. In early May, Iceage released a fourth studio record titled Beyondless, and the growth was clear. A perfect mesh of discord and atmosphere, the album is a high point for the group, and this was all but obvious at their show supporting it. After an opening act comprised of Detroit noise collective Wolf Eyes and the soothing, looped beauty of harpist Mary Lattimore, Iceage brought down the house one song after another. It was as if each tune from Beyondless had been reduced down to an essence, the expansive scale of their studio production boiled down into a series of thumping beats, thick basslines and eerie, yet moving guitar riffs. That isn’t to say their live performance isn’t just as striking. If anything, it is
a perfect translation of the intensity their recordings evoke. Rønnenfelt was born to be a frontman. Dressed in a beige twill suit and thin linen shirt, his eyes light behind a veil of sweatlaced hair. The singer staggered around the stage for the duration of their show, his trademark vocals somewhat drowned out by a wall of instrumental sound, but it didn’t matter — his stage presence, along with bandmates Jakob Tvilling Pless, Johan Surrballe Wieth and Dan Kjær Nielsen was incredible. On album favorites like “Hurrah” and “Painkiller,” audience members yelled the lyrics just as he uttered them, creating a dissonant choir set against the music. Those nearest to the stage reached up to clutch at the vocalist’s clothes as he came closer to the edge, in reverence to his uncanny hypnotic quality and the dazed melodies accompanying him. In another world, the 26-year old could easily be a cult leader — his performance has a sense of intense gravitas that is strangely accessible. After you realize he’s real, you want to sit and have a drink with him. Before the show, the band roved around El Club’s small bar and exited to the patio to smoke, accompanied by Rønnenfelt’s girlfriend, and powerhouse musician in her own right, Sky Ferreira. Despite their power onstage, for the venue’s patrons Iceage was just four guys in a band, mixing with their audience in a communal appreciation of their music. It’s this balance between comfort and edge that makes Iceage’s music and performances so memorable. The band’s greatest strength lies in their ability to produce a sort of dynamic tug between the melodic and harsh elements of the postpunk sound to create detailed soundscapes which ebb and flow. On Beyondless, they have refined this skill to a point. On stage, they are electric, meshing passion and movement into ecstatic cacophony.
8 NEWS
Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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RELEASE DATE– Thursday, June 28, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Barfly 4 Covered with new grass 10 Quick snooze 13 “Fortunate Son” band, briefly 14 Imagines 16 “Science Friday” host Flatow 17 Generous nature 19 S&L offerings 20 Fortified Portuguese wine 21 Lingering traces 23 Eternally 24 Org. Edward Snowden worked for 27 Cigna rival 28 Exercising control over one’s own affairs 31 Ultrasound goo 32 One who minds his manor 33 Bridal bio word 34 Speak (up) 37 Arabian Peninsula resident 39 Admit, with “up” 40 World Cup chant 41 Persian Gulf republic 42 CBS forensic series 44 1945 Physics Nobelist who discovered the exclusion principle 48 Bottled water brand 49 “__ out!” 50 Minor dents 53 Church official 55 “Just watch me!” 57 Programming pioneer Lovelace 58 Eighteen holes ... and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters 61 Hubbub 62 Blinking diner sign 63 Asian New Year 64 “District 9” extras 65 Blended 66 Texter’s “No way!”
DOWN 1 Loser 2 Indian, for one 3 Baseball deals 4 Go unused 5 Musk, e.g. 6 Neutralize, as a snake 7 Peace Nobelist Hammarskjöld 8 WWII zone 9 Take-out order? 10 Ingredient in therapeutic gum 11 Battle of the Bulge region 12 Excerpts 15 Microchip found in cameras, briefly 18 Go back on a promise 22 One with nest eggs 25 One-named “A Seat at the Table” singer 26 HarperCollins romance imprint 29 Native plants 30 CNN correspondent Hill
34 Coca-Cola sports drink 35 “Two thumbs up!” 36 New Orleans NBA team 38 Quite a few 39 Clerk’s chore 41 Deliberately overlook 43 Decongestant brand 45 Blubber
46 Rated (oneself) highly 47 All things considered 51 Clay being of Jewish folklore 52 Introduction to geometry? 54 Ramble 56 Essence 59 4 x 4, for short 60 Art Ross Trophy org.
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06/28/18
U-M prof discusses dangers of biotech Daily Staff Reporter
Michael Imperiale, an esteemed microbiology and immunology professor at the University of Michigan, recently chaired a national committee to help write a report that aimed to prioritize and identify potential threats in the advancing field of synthetic biology. The report, titled “Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology,” was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.” According to Imperiale, synthetic biology alters biological organisms through various types of computational and design methods. “Synthetic biology refers to a set of concepts, approaches and tools that facilitate the modification or creation of biological organisms,” Imperiale said. “These approaches are, for the most part, founded in engineering principles.” While synthetic biology has many positive contributions to society such as biofuels and new drug development, Imperiale said it also has the capability to do harm. “The Department of Defense asked the National Academies to take this study because they really wanted to get some advice about what the potential vulnerabilities with respect to biodefense would be due to this emerging technology,” Imperiale said. Patrick Boyle, an organism designer at Ginkgo BioWorks Inc. who also helped author the report, has direct experience with the synthetic biology industry. “When I was a graduate student in synthetic biology less than 10 years ago, I synthesized about 10 genes over the course of my entire thesis work,” Boyle wrote in an email interview. “At Ginkgo, my team designs tens of thousands of genes every month for synthesis. This work gives me a perspective on how ‘bad actors’ might use synthetic biology if they have a lot of resources and large teams at
their disposal.” Imperiale explained the process of writing this report could be broken down into two parts. “The first thing we did was to come up with a framework for how to look at these capabilities that are enabled by synthetic biology and then determine how much concern should we have about any of these capabilities,” Imperiale said. “In the second part what we did was apply the framework to a series of capabilities that we thought were the most obvious to think about.” The report ranks 12 capabilities of synthetic biology in terms of their potential threat to society based on the framework created. Altering bacteria ranks near the top of the list, according to Imperiale. “One of the ones we thought was of most concern was modifying bacteria to make them more dangerous,” Imperiale said. “For example, someone could take a bacterium that causes disease and engineer it so that it’s now resistant to antibiotic treatment; it’s now much harder to treat.” The framework is intended to apply to any new developments in synthetic biology that may arise in the future as well. “Biotechnology is changing rapidly, so our ranking of threats in the report itself is just a snapshot of current capabilities,” Boyle wrote. “I expect the framework itself to be more enduring as it anticipates that the barriers and bottlenecks limiting the nefarious uses of synthetic biology will be challenged by new discoveries.” In an email interview, Nina Lin, chemical engineering associate professor at the University, wrote her lab uses synthetic biology to address issues of renewable and sustainable fuel as well as chemical production. “It’s very important to point out that the synthetic biology research community is very aware and proactive to the dual use of this highly promising and powerful technology,” Lin wrote. “Almost at every major synthetic biology conference, there are sessions dedicated to the safety issues where researchers and other experts come together to discuss and formulate preventive plans.”
Thursday June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Mental health in communities of color
A nostalgic piece from a disaporic Syrian By LOUMA KAAKARLI MiC CONTRIBUTOR
PHOTO COURTESY OF AUTHOR
By EFE OSAGIE MiC EDITOR
Mental illness is something hardly talked about in our country. Though mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder are extremely common, and are extremely pressing issues, for some reason, discussion of them always seems to get swept under the rug. Mental illness plays a role in as high as 90 percent of suicides amongst some professionals, though this statistic is often times debated, there is no denying that mental health directly correlates to mortality rates. These studies are extremely concerning, considering the increasing suicide rates in our nation. Mental health should be something we are always talking about — we shouldn’t have to wait until the latest suicide, whether it be someone you know or a celebrity. As little as mental health is talked about in America, it’s discussed even less among people of color. Having a mental illness is stigmatized in communities of color, something that makes you weak, something you should be ashamed of and should not talk about. Even though the reality of the world is that a lot of times, people of color are more likely to have mental health issues, probably because the discrimination and oppression they face on a daily basis have adverse effects on their
mentality. For example, African American adults are 20 percent more likely to experience mental health issues than the rest of the population. One reason why mental illnesses are so prevalent in communitiesofcoloristhatselfcare, something that can really help to prevent mental issues, is seen as a luxury and not a necessity. In one of my classes during the school year that was made up solely of students of color, we discussed the stigmas associated with self-care options such as therapy or yoga. Many students recounted how in their communities, things like those were described as “things for white people,” or luxuries versus necessities to help your mental health. We also discussed how in all of our respective communities, things like therapy were seen as taboo and something not to be discussed and to be swept under the rug, that it was embarrassing to have an issue requiring professional help and if you did you just should not talk about it. The lack of discussion about mental health leads to multiple issues, as it seriously invalidates the experiences of those who do have mental health problems. This is because it makes them feel as if there’s something seriously wrong with them or that they’re inferior to the rest of their community. In reality, multiple people in their community are struggling with the same issues but are
uncomfortable with bringing it up because of the stigma. This adds to the stigma because no one talks about it, creating a cycle. I know one of the subconsciousreasonsIhave felt othered as a Nigerian woman and a Black woman is due to the fact that I have depression and anxiety. Having a mental illness is never discussed in the circles and communities I’m in, both of Black people, and of Nigerian people. People just always talked about how when you face struggles and have problems, you were supposed to toughen up and work through it, making it seem so simple. Like all of my problems could be solved with easy fixes and if I was having issues, I must be doing something wrong. I know from talking to my parents and cousins that mental illnesses “aren’t really a thing” in Nigeria. There, nobody talks about them and they’re never diagnosed. I can only imagine what it would be like to live with a mental illness there. Someone who has depression would just be considered prone to periods of sad moods and someone who has anxiety would just be considered a big worrier. Your illness would stop being just an illness and would begin to define who you are. Read more online at
michigandaily.com
MICHIGAN IN COLOR 9
On Dec. 18, 2010, the Arab world was reborn. A series of peaceful uprisings flourished all around the area, starting in Tunisia and rippling across the region, spreading, extending, expanding, creating a movement of angry people with thundering voices, calling on their governments to step down. I have lived my entire life 5,959 miles away from the country that harbors my lineage. My memory of the birthplace of my parents and my parents’ parents is a mere postcard in the back of my mind. I am a Syrian American who has not touched Syrian land in so long that even my most prominent memories are starting to fade. The scars from the scabs I pulled from the elbows which I scraped on my grandma’s sidewalk have faded. The ink on the back of dated pictures my mom took of my brothers and me in our early youth has faded. My conceptual understanding of a land far away from where I stand is fading. Like forgetting the lyrics to your favorite song you swore you would never forget, I am forgetting what Syria is like. Having been removed from Syria for eight years, it is easy to romanticize the clouds of smoke from the hookah pipes, circling with the resonating echo of laughter, sweetened tea on the mosaic table on the veranda, looking out across the beautiful city lights of Damascus. It is easy for me to romanticize the marks of my ancestors’ great civilizations before me, the lullabies of the slowly churning water wheels that brand the city of Hama. It is easy for me to romanticize the sweet pheromone of jasmine flowers, like being surrounded by a cloud of floral perfume, blending effortlessly with the scent of car exhaust and carbon monoxide, creating a smooth and completely satisfying aroma that floods the mind with childhood memories; a unique scent that takes me back to a time when
I was young. A time when I chased butterflies with my cousins and traced ants back to their anthills. A time when I would come home with dirt in my hair, on my face and in my pockets. A time where I piled into taxis made for five with eight other people. My Syria consists of Kodak moments. Moments of birthdays, first steps, first words, family reunions, good food and late night “SpaceToons” TV. My Syria is a happy Syria, a Syria of innocence, a Syria of sleeping in my grandfather’s lap, a Syria of comfort. I remember the nights being hot and the days being hotter. I remember the water coming and going, I remember not being able to drink from the tap and I remember having working electricity for only select hours at a time. I remember these things and I remember them only ever being temporary for me. These disturbances were minor setbacks, they were funny in the first weeks of every visit, and my grandma would always joke about how Syria’s lack of efficient electricity, inconsistent running water and other low-quality literal necessities for life was a way of building character. Maybe she’s right; maybe they did build my character, maybe they gave me thicker skin, maybe I have been elevated by the dragging weights of inconvenience, but how much has being Syrian actually shaped me? I have only merely tasted Syria. I bared the inconvenience of not having central air conditioning and experienced showering in the cold, but I am still a fraud. As part of an earlier diaspora, I will never be in a position of a Syrian fleeing a war or a Syrian who grew up there. I will never know the extent of a true Syria, of both the pure and the ugly. If “justice too long delayed is justice denied,” then I have been denied the privilege of experiencing my culture firsthand. All my longing for Syria comes from a love I only experienced during my vacations. I have witnessed Syria firsthand but that is not the reason my heart
aches for it. Like a visitor in a familiar home or finding home in unfamiliar lands, my feelings for a place far beyond are comprised of contradictions. If I were to be put on a spectrum, I would lie somewhere between informed tourist and distant citizen. I do not know of a Syria that I can call truly mine. When I am there my broken Arabic, my fluctuation between native and taught tongue, my relatively heavy accent make me outstanding. The type of outstanding that catches your eye, the plastered caution sign, “drive slow,” “no lifeguard on duty” kind of outstanding. The “tread carefully” and “parental discretion is advised” kind of outstanding. The “handle with care” and the “enter at your own risk” kind of outstanding. An outstanding that is enough to make you realize the very essence of who you are is scary to people who are not family. I am oil-hungry, I exploit others, I am here to make a mess of things, pick up none of my pieces and leave as though I was never there. I can afford my taxi fare and a tip to feed three families. I am there to reap the benefits of good food, nice tans and an annual dental checkup for the same price of a mediocre American-made, medium-well steak with fries on the side. Despite these preconceived, somewhat-accurate judgments and this underlying fear that turns me and all my red, white and blue apparel into a warning sign, I have never come back from Syria without a whole new group of friends I shared shawarma with on the side of the road. I have memories of strangers who became my teammates in afternoon soccer matches and kids I jumped rope with using a fallen abandoned powerline. I remember the owners of the corner stores I would walk to daily with my cousins not just by their names but by the freckle on their right cheek, or the dated spectacles they bear on their head, or the light-washed, thick, offbrand Levi’s suspended by the tight grip of a bland black... Read more online at
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10 SPORTS
Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MEN’S SOCCER
‘M’ looks to improve on Big Ten success in 2018 RIAN RATNAVALE who has this position
FILE PHOTO / DAILY
Michigan recruit Kathryn Peterson is looking to immediately make an impact on the field hockey team in her innaugural season
Scouting report: Kathryn Peterson ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
Kathryn Peterson is used to accolades. The Michigan field hockey recruit — ranked No. 7 in the country according to MAX Field Hockey — has racked up an impressive resume before even setting foot on campus. A key member of title-contending teams from high school to club to the U19 National Team, Peterson has the potential to become a difference-maker even as a freshman. Her high school — Serra High School in San Diego, Calif. — is nearly unstoppable. Ranked as the No. 8 high school team in the country and the best west of Washing ton, D. C., Serra went undefeated in the last two seasons and won their section championships all four years of Peterson’s high school career. Her senior year, she served as co-captain and scored 40 goals with 18 assists. Peterson’s club team, RUSH Field Hockey, won every game of the U19 Disney Showcase 2018 and placed fifth last year at the U19 National Club Championships. Peterson is also a member of the USA Field Hockey U19 National Team — an elite squad that gets the opportunity to tour and compete internationally.
Peterson is a well-rounded, energetic athlete whose skills translate well to any team. “She’s super creative, dynamic, on the ball,” said RUSH coach Brian Schledorn. “With ability to distribute long-range passing.” Her versatility also enables teams to use her wherever she fits best, opening up more options for coaches. On her high school team, she played forward and midfield and with RUSH, she has played all three non-goalkeeper positions — forward, midfield and back. “Personally, I like her in the midfield,” Schledorn said. “(But) for the U19 National Team, she plays the forward line, and then I think potentially at Michigan she might play the defensive line.” (She is listed as a midfielder on MGoBlue.com.) The Wolverines lost several top players to graduation last year — including midfielder and back Katie Trombetta and forward and midfielder Esther de Leijer. Like both players, Peterson is a skilled and versatile passer, and she can prove to be a threat on offense or defense. Though comparisons to either player at this point would be unfair — Trombetta was an All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year and de Leijer was named to the All-
Big Ten and All-West Region Second Teams — Peterson has the skills of a potential elite player and as a top-ranked recruit, she will likely be given a chance to contribute right away. Not only was Peterson a star on the field, she was named to the San Diego Union-Tribune All-Academic Team with a 4.64 grade-point average. Her academic and athletic achievements make her a good fit for Michigan. Many Division I field hockey programs are at small East Coast schools, but with her well-rounded interests, Peterson wanted something more. “She wanted a big school,” Schledorn said. “A top-10 contender.” The Wolverines certainly check off both those boxes. Michigan had its most successful season in several years in 2017, sweeping the Big Ten reg ular season and tournament titles and making a run all the way to the Final Four. And while the Wolverines lost several important pieces from last season in Trombetta, de Leijer, goalkeeper Sam Swenson and forward Carly Bennett, Peterson has the capability to become a key part of a young core striving to lead Michigan back to the heights of the sport.
More than 150 years ago, Charles Dickens unknowingly described the 2017 Michigan men’s soccer team’s (6-1-1 Big Ten, 12-6-2 Overall) 2017 season in 12 words as well as anyone today could in a thousand. For much of last season, it was the best of times for the Wolverines. Needing a win against Maryland on the road, Michigan clinched its first Big Ten regular-season championship in program history on an overtime goal off the golden foot of MLS-bound forward Francis Atuahene. The Wolverines rose to as high as No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll, tied a program record with nine home wins and even held then-No. 1 Indiana to a 1-1 draw, all after going 4-11-4 just a year prior. With a first round bye in the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2012, Michigan had lofty postseason hopes. Against Colgate in the second round, Michigan initially looked like the same strong team, scoring two goals in the first five minutes. The good times kept rolling. By the time the first half was over though, that 2-0 lead was gone. And by the time the clock ran out, Michigan’s tournament hopes were gone, a resurgent season squandered 3-2 on a 87th-minute header from a team that finished .500 in the Patriot League. When it mattered most, it was the worst of times in Ann Arbor. The past is not something Michigan can completely erase. However, the Wolverines return all but two players from last year’s team and have enough talent to bury last year’s painful exit under many more achievements. For all the heartbreak at the end of the season, not many predicted Michigan to even come close to where it did in the first place. The Daily breaks down how the Wolverines and Michigan coach Chaka Daley will look to continue their success and the obstacles they may face: Positional Leaders: With Atuahene’s departure to FC Dallas, Daley will lean even more heavily on junior forward Jack Hallahan, who led the team in points (25), goals (nine) and assists (7), and was named First Team All-Big Ten. Sophomore Mohammed Zakyi scored six goals of his own to pace the rest of
the team and should slip right into the forward spot vacated by Atuahene. Other than that, the rest of the team remains largely the same from last year. Senior Robbie Mertz returns to the midfield as last season’s co-MVP with Hallahan, accompanied by fellow senior Ivo Cerda and sophomore Marc Ybarra, the latter of whom started all but two games as a freshman and played a crucial role as the team’s free-kicker from distance. Both Zakyi and Ybarra were named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. On the back end, senior and Second Team All-Big Ten Marcello Borges returns as the best defender. In 15 starts, Borges was the anchor of a Wolverines defense that allowed multiple goals in only four games and ranked fourth in the Big Ten with a 1.138 goals against average. What is Michigan’s biggest question going into the season? The goalie situation. Then-sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Verdi came into the season as the starter, starting thirteen games for Michigan and allowing fourteen goals. After a 3-1 loss to No. 7 Notre Dame, however, the Wolverines turned to freshman goalkeeper Henry Mashburn, who started off strong with three goals allowed in five games. Mashburn, though, allowed four goals in a loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament, and three more in Michigan’s ultimate match against Colgate. Will the Wolverines turn back to Verdi and put their unfortunate end to last season in the rear-view mirror? Or will they build on that late season success with Mashburn and develop him as the goalie of the future? Schedule analysis: Michigan will play 17 regular season fixtures, with twelve of those matches being at U-M Soccer Stadium. Of their five true road games, two of those are also in state — at Oakland and Michigan State for the Big Bear trophy. The Wolverines would benefit from a fast start, however, because the end of their schedule doesn’t do them any favors. To end the regular season, Michigan plays five of their final six matches against teams that they lost to last season — vs. Indiana, vs. Notre Dame, at Wisconsin, at Michigan State and vs. Maryland. All of those teams were ranked in the top 10 at some point of last season.
Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS 11
MEN’S LACROSSE
Focus on fundamentals helps Conry in first year BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer
On the surface, it’s not immediately obvious what drew Kevin Conry to coach the Michigan men’s lacrosse team. He came to Ann Arbor after spending five years as the defensive coordinator at Maryland. In his five years, the Terrapins won the Big Ten Tournament five times and reached the Final Four of the NCA A Tournament four times — including winning the National Championship in 2017. In the five years before Conry joined the Wolverines, Michigan notched just one win in the Big Ten and one winning season. That’s a big leap for any coach to make — a perennial powerhouse to a team still trying to find consistent wins. It’s an even bigger leap when you’re going to your first head coaching job. “I think when you’re in this business, you want to be a head coach, but you don’t want to sacrifice an option to be ahead of the pack and be a part of a winning organization,” Conry said. “I was an assistant at Maryland. We were going to Final Fours, just coming off a championship, so it was very easy for me to stay there. “But when you look at Michigan, all that it had academically, in the Big Ten conference which is the best lacrosse in the country, coupled with all of the facilities that are available and that were gonna come online in a very short amount of time, it was a no-brainer for me.” Conry’s first season at the helm was a bit of a rollercoaster— as is to be expected for a young team and a new coach learning together. Culture change is not a process that happens overnight, though Conry is quick to point out that he was merely building on the foundation left by the previous coaching staff. But new coaches bring new philosophies, and Conry has been steadfast in his since Day 1.
“It was about having 46 g uys buy into an idea and a plan and a process,” Conry said. “Every day — we certainly had our rollercoaster ride of a full season — but we had g uys who wanted to be great, wanted to buy in, and wanted to have the success on the field and off the field. We just helped them to find the way, and once they started to understand how to do it, it started to become habit. And that’s what we really wanted, to just trust the process, get better every day. Culture will come when they understand and when they buy in.” Creating a team that trusted his process and was willing to work was Conry’s top priority in his first year. After all, it’s hard to have high expectations of a team that has only had one previous winning season. “I knew we had to just continually get better,” Conry said. “I didn’t really have many expectations per se, I just wanted us to focus on the process and say, ‘Every day, let’s just get a little bit better, and then we’ll worry about the wins and losses when they come.’ ” Despite the lack of expectations, Conry led the Wolverines to arg uably their most successful season in history. Michigan started 5-0 at home — a program record. One of their two non-conference losses came against Yale, the eventual national champions. The Wolverines went on the road to then-No. 4 Notre Dame and won, earning Michigan’s first top-five win and first road win over a ranked opponent in program history. But the Big Ten is one of the most competitive conferences in collegiate lacrosse — on multiple occasions during the season, all six teams were ranked inside the top 20. Though the Wolverines had found success in nonconference games, Big Ten play brought growing pains and the first real tastes of adversity.
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AMELIA CACCHIONE / DAILY
Freshman defenseman Quinn Hughes was drafted 7th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL Draft after a breakout year
Quinn Hughes taken 7th by Canucks JAKE SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
The past year has been a wild ride for Quinn Hughes. As the youngest player in college hockey last season, the 18-yearold freshman defenseman helped lead the Michigan hockey team — 13-game winners the season prior — to the Frozen Four, all the while wowing Wolverines fans and NHL scouts with his electrifying skating and puckhandling ability. Soon, the ride will take him to Canada. On Friday night in Dallas, Texas, Hughes was selected by the Vancouver Canucks with the 7th pick in the 2018 National Hockey League Draft. Hughes is the highest Michigan draftee since defenseman Jack Johnson was taken third overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005 and is also the second defenseman chosen in this year’s draft after Rasmus Dahlin, who went to the Buffalo Sabres with the No. 1 overall selection. Joining Hughes in attendance at the American Airlines Center was his entire family, including his brothers Jack — a candidate to be next year’s top NHL draft
pick — and Luke, who recently committed to Michigan for 2022. Hughes’ parents were both hockey players as well — father Jim at Providence and mother Ellen at New Hampshire. After Hughes was drafted, he spoke to NBCSN’s Kathryn Tappen about the impact of his mother, who taught him how to skate when he was little. “It’s always nice to have parents that know what they’re doing,” he said. “It always makes a difference. I’m obviously grateful to both of them — my mom knows a lot about the game, like I said, I’m grateful.” Just about every mock draft had Hughes as a top-10 pick, with the most common projections coming in the No. 4-No. 8 range. Considering his skills and production last season, these projections made sense. Hughes’ standout trait is his skating — many outlets have called him the best pure skater in his class. Blessed with terrific speed and acceleration, he’s a terror in transition, and his puckhandling and passing allow him to quarterback an offense from the blue line effectively. His elite skating does come
“I’m really excited, and it’s a dream come true.”
with a cost — at just 5-foot9, Hughes lacks the size many desire from a defenseman and can be outmuscled at times. But he compensates for it with superior awareness and savvy anticipation, and pairing him with a larger, more physical blueliner — such as his partnership with Joseph Cecconi last season — neutralizes many of Hughes’ weaknesses. Hughes’ talent culminated last season into five goals and a team-high 24 assists, as well as selections to the All-Big Ten Second Team and All-Freshman Team. After Michigan’s season came to an end, he was named to the United States national team at the World Championships as the only college player on the roster, contributing to a bronzemedal finish for the Americans. It’s not yet clear what Hughes’ next move will be. Most analysts believe he’s in need of at least one more year of in college in order to get stronger and develop his defensive game. His performance with Team USA, however, hints that he isn’t far off from being NHL-ready. But for now, Hughes seems to just be enjoying it all. “Obviously, I’m very proud,” Hughes said. “I’ve heard a lot of great things about Vancouver, it’s obviously a hockey market. I’m really excited, and it’s a dream come true. Honestly, I don’t know what to say right now.”
12 SPORTS
Thursday, June 28, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN JACOB KOPNICK
Summer Managing Sports Editor
The past week has been a whirlwind for Michigan Athletics. From elite talent leaving the campus in Ann Arbor to promising young stars entering it, there has been a lot to smile about for the Wolverine faithful. It seems fitting that an academic year filled with excitement for Michigan teams would feature a similar level of off-season drama. This past year, Wolverine squads performed miraculous postseason runs, strung together awe-inspiring win streaks and even boasted a national champion. There’s no doubt that this level of sustained success has inspired current and future generations of Michigan fans and student-athletes. And that inspiration has played out in a flurry of off-season news. The Daily breaks down the five events in five days that defined the upcoming season of Wolverine Athletics. June 21st: Moe Wagner drafted 25th overall Further filling the Michigan-toNBA pipeline is now-former Wolverine guard Moe Wagner. The 6’11” Germannative was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 25th pick in the draft. Wagner has had a dream career with Michigan, leading his teams to back-to-back Big Ten titles in 2017 and
2018 and an appearance in the national title game. Wagner led the team with 14.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in his final year with the Wolverines. His elite blend of post moves and three-point ability made him a unique talent that the Lakers just couldn’t pass up. Wagner’s first-round selection makes him the seventh first-round selection in the last six years from Michigan under head coach John Beilein, further cementing the elite status of the men’s basketball program in collegiate circles. As Wagner now looks to undertake bigger and better things, the new wave of talent entered Crisler Center this week as well. A highly-touted recruiting class will now play under Beilein featuring top-tier in-state talents Brendan Johns and David DeJulius who hope to hear their names called at the draft some day. June 22nd: Quinn Hughes selected 7th overall Not to be shown up, Quinn Hughes wanted to represent Michigan well at the NHL Draft where he was selected 7th overall by the Vancouver Canucks. Hughes was the second defenseman taken off the board, coming in behind the No. 1 overall pick Rasmus Dahlin who is largely touted as a once-in-ageneration defenseman. Projected to be selected in the No.
4 - No. 8 range in the draft, Hughes fell a few spots before the Canucks stole Hughes at No. 7. As a freshman and the youngest hockey player in the NCAA, Hughes anchored an elite Michigan defensive line with his unrivaled speed and vision for the game. Using his famed skating ability, Hughes thrives in transition and will look to quarterback Vancouver’s defensive line of the future. Scoring five goals and 24 assists in his first season with the Wolverines, the only downside to Hughes’ game appears to be his size. Coming in at 5’10” and 175-lbs. Hughes will undoubtedly need to bulk up before he’s ready for the bruising size of the average NHL player. From here, Hughes’ future is uncertain. His next step will either be to play another year at Michigan to develop his game or see if he’s truly ready for the next level. June 22nd: Chris Webber accepts invitation to return to Michigan On Friday, former Wolverine basketball legend Chris Webber agreed to return to Ann Arbor to be an honorary captain for the Michigan football team next season. Since his time on the Fab Five in the early 1990’s, Webber has yet to set foot on campus or reunite with his old teammates since he was banished from Michigan for 10 years. The exile
came after Webber committed NCAA violations during his time in college and an illicit involvement with booster Ed Martin — a scandal that saw Webber plead guilty for criminal contempt in 2002. After the ban was lifted in 2013, Webber’s return marks the beginning of healing for a period of Wolverine history mired in regret. “I want every player that ever played here to feel like he’s a part of the building, including Chris and anyone else,” Beilein said. “And we’re a part of your program, and that’s the never ending quest with every player, not just Chris and the Fab Five. We’re really looking forward to the day we get him back here.” June 24th: Michigan football lands three big recruits For a team struggling to find NCAA success and desperately trying to will itself into the playoffs, it all starts with recruiting. Particularly, getting highlevel recruits to choose your program over the likes of your biggest rivals. And that’s exactly what Michigan accomplished on Sunday. The Wolverines hauled in three recruits highlighted by four-stars Mazi Smith and Zach Charbonnet playing defensive tackle and running back, respectively. Both coming from in-state programs, Smith and Charbonnet add
to an already stacked 2019 recruiting class and bring Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s in-state recruit total to seven. Now, according to 247sports.com, the Wolverines have the fifth-ranked 2019 recruiting class and the highestranked class in the Big Ten. Joining Smith and Charbonnet in committing to Michigan on Sunday is three-star tight end Erick All Jr. who will add even more depth in the Wolverines’ locker room. Prior to the surge of commits, the recruiting tone was set early that weekend with three-star safety Joey Velazquez committing to Michigan to play football and baseball, bringing the weekend commitment total to four. June 25th: Wolverines add yet another recruit But Harbaugh wasn’t done there. The very next day, three-star cornerback D.J. Turner III announced his intent to play with Michigan via Instagram. The commitment brought the Wolverines’ recruiting rampage total to five on the weekend and elevated their ranking to fifth overall. From Thursday to Monday, Michigan was gifted with good news after good news from the old to the new. From watching its stars go to the pros or watching new ones come in, this weekend will certainly be referred to as a turning point for Michigan Athletics.