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Monday, September 10, 2018
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SportsMonday Michigan demolished Western Michigan, 49-3, on Saturday afternoon
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CAMPUS LIFE
U-M system of sex assault investigation overturned Judge rules University must allow crossexamination in court hearings KAELA THEUT Daily News Editor
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University of Michigan CFO Kevin Hegarty, IT Vice President Ravi Pendse, Universiy President Mark Schlissel and CSG President Daniel Greene attend the Wi-fi on the Diag ribbon cutting ceremony at Hatcher Friday.
Ribbon cutting ceremony launches new Campus Wi-fi Upgrade project
On the first day of classes, about 106,000 devices connected to University Wi-fi SAYALI AMIN
Daily Staff Reporter
After a heavily anticipated upgrade, students will now be able to get connected at the heart of campus. University and Student Government leaders gathered at the steps of
the Hatcher Graduate Library last Friday to cut the ribbon and officially completion of the Campus WiFi Upgrade. The project brings wireless internet access to the Diag and upgrades internet connection in more than 250 buildings on campus.
RESEARCH
University touches on hot button research Scholars make strides on gun violence, fake news and autonomous vehicles
Ravi Pendse, vice president of the University’s Information and Technology Services, opened the ceremony by sharing details of the project. “We upgraded Wi-Fi coverage for close to 16 million square feet,” Pendse
said. “If you want to think in terms of football, that’s about 300 football fields, or if we’re thinking Big House, maybe 275.” Tuesday, on the first day of classes, about 106,000 devices were connected to the See WI-FI, Page 2A
NCID Network, supports studies on DEI issues University faculty works with over 200 institutions nationally, connects scholars LIZZY LAWRENCE Daily News Editor
The work of Naomi André, a women’s studies and Afroamerican and African studies professor at the University of Michigan, in
the humanities and the work Matthew Diemer, a U-M education and psychology professor, is in the social sciences, but both professors’ work relate to the pressing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. That’s no coincidence. André and Diemer
are both part of the Diversity Scholars Network, a network of professions dedicated to researching social issues and their consequences.
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While you were away this summer, you may have missed some big stories from Ann Arbor. The Daily will be publishing recaps of the summer’s breaking news. Over the summer University of Michigan researchers developed a system that can detect fake news better than a human. The system, pioneered by Rada Mihalcea, a professor of computer science and engineering, identifies linguistic cues such as grammar, diction and sophistication level in fake news
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The conundrum of Asian Americans Pulitzer-Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses identity and in lead up to Tuesday talk
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The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the University of Michigan’s sexual assault investigation model Friday, saying that universities “must give the accused student or his agent an opportunity to cross-examine the accuser.” The current U-M sexual misconduct policy does not require a hearing or cross-examination of the student making the accusation. This decision is an appeal of U.S. District Judge David Lawson’s ruling in the 2017 court case Doe vs. Baum. In this case, Lawson dismissed a lawsuit filed by Deborah Gordan Law on behalf of a former University student who violated the University’s Student Sexual Misconduct Policy
yet argued his due process was denied. According to the court opinion, the University of Michigan, as a public university, failed to comply with the holding that accused students must have the opportunity to cross-examine their accuser when credibility is in question. “Thirteen years ago, this court suggested that cross-examination may be required in school disciplinary proceedings where the case hinged on a question of credibility. Flaim v. Med. Coll. of Ohio, 418 F.3d 629, 641 (6th Cir. 2005),” the opinion read. “Just last year, we encountered the credibility contest that we contemplated in Flaim and
“When I was your age, I was very conscious of myself as a Vietnamese American and Asian American, and I knew I was a refugee but I didn’t like go around calling myself that because I knew that there weren’t a lot of stories about any of these populations that I was a part of.” Michigan in Color had the opportunity to sit down with the Pulitzer Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen to discuss his work and his upcoming lecture at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m about his Vietnamese heritage and history. The conversation turned toward the complexities of the Asian American and Asian identity as well as its place in the greater
Vol. CXXVII, No.131 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
discussion about self-perception and belonging in the United States and the world. Nguyen specifically identifies as a refugee, rather than an immigrant, acknowledging the label makes many uncomfortable because it challenges the standard expectation of arriving to the country to pursue the American Dream. His work is slowly expanding the notion of what it means to be Asian in the United States. Nguyen is the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Sympathizer” and is a prominent figurehead and scholar for AsianAmerican studies. Currently, he is a professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California
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News
2A — Monday, September 10, 2018
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
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At the June Board of Regents meeting, the board, led by University President Mark Schlissel, voted to increase student tuition rates for the third year in a row. In-state tuition increased by 2.9 percent and out-of-state rose by 3.9 percent. Since 2002, tuition revenue has increased by more than 135 percent. Compared to last year’s rates, tuition for Michigan residents went from $14,826 to $15,262 and out-of-state student tuition went from $47,452 to $49,326.
The Michigan One Fair Wage initiative would raise Michigan’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2022 and include tipped workers by 2024. Currently, a “tip credit” allows employers to pay workers who are tipped as low as $3.38 an hour.
Compared to last year’s report, OIE saw a 27 percent increase of reported cases, rising from 218 to 277.
By 2021, the contract minimum salary for University lecturers will increase by $16,500 in Ann Arbor, $13,700 in Flint and $12,700 in Dearborn. Equity adjustments, or one-time additions to base pay, would also increase by $3,000 to $12,500. Equity will differ for lecturers earning more than $80,000 annually.
While 2017’s Hispanic/Latino student population sat near 6 percent, data from the Office of Budget and Planning for 2017 shows the percentage of Hispanic/Latino regular instructional faculty — which includes tenuretrack faculty, non-tenure-track faculty and lecturers — was 3.97 percent.
University of Michigan Regent Ron Weiser, R, and his wife Eileen Weiser donated $10 million Wednesday to establish the Weiser Diplomacy Center at the Ford School of Public Policy. Weiser, chair of the state Republican party, began working on the idea of the center with Public Policy Dean Michael Barr last spring with the goal of generating interest in diplomacy among students and providing them with career services in the field.
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ON THE DAILY: BRENDA TRACY SERVES AS HONORARY CAPTAIN Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh named Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault survivor and activist, as the University of Michigan football team’s honorary captain this Saturday. Tracy was sexually assaulted by four Oregon State University football players in 1998. She publicly came forward with her story in 2014, and has worked with athletic programs around the country with her campaign #SetTheExpectation in 1998. #SetTheExpectation is dedicated to educating high school and college athletes and coaches about sexual
violence and working to make them to be part of the solution. In August, Tracy visited the Michigan football team to share her story. Shortly after, Harbaugh invited her to serve as the team’s honorary captain for the opening game against Western Michigan University. “At the time the media was overrun with multiple news stories of sexual abuse and domestic violence coming out of Ohio State and as an advocate, I was feeling somewhat defeated, but after sharing my story and my pain, I left the team room that day
feeling encouraged and inspired,” Tracy states on her GoFundMe page. In a press conference following the game, Harbaugh expressed his and his team’s appreciation for Tracy’s advocacy. “We all learned so much from Brenda,” Harbaugh said in the press conference. “I did personally and I know all our guys did. She’s amazing. Her story is amazing; her work is amazing; what she’s accomplishing is amazing. The guys really appreciate her. Not just the level of adversit y, but what she’s done with her life and how she’s impacting anybody
that will listen.” On Sept. 4, Tracy announced via Twitter she started a GoFundMe campaig n with a goal of $25,000 for the SafeHouse Center. The SafeHouse Center is a non-prof it organization located in Ann Arbor that provides support for domestic violence and sexual assault sur vivors of Washtenaw Count y. Their ser vices include emergency shelter, counseling, support g roups, and legal advocacy. -JULIA FOR D
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WI-FI From Page 1A University Wi-Fi network.
University President Mark Schlissel concluded the ceremony, speaking on the role Wi-Fi connection plays in student and
faculty productivity and innovation. “This project is actually long overdue,” Schlissel said. “And I’m very pleased that I got to play a role in helping bring it to fruition. More and more each day we depend on internet access as our tether and our lifeline at scales that range from around the Diag to literally around the world.” Schlisse credited multiple generations of Central Student Government leaders for the completion of the project. The project was launched by former CSG President Anushka Sarkar, and current CSG President Daniel Greene, a Public Policy senior, who was present at the ceremony to see it through. Greene acknowledged Sarkar’s dedication to the project and said the Wi-Fi improvement is an example of the ways the University is listening to the needs of its students. “The completion
of Wi-Fi on the Diag highlights the University’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of students and demonstrates the productivity of successful relationships between student and administrative leaders,” Greene said. LSA sophomore Evan Starr was working on a class assignment under a tree on the Diag following the ceremony. “(The Wi-Fi’s) been good — better than last year’s,” Starr said. “It encourages you to be outside.” Schlissel said many Wi-Fi access points have been concealed to preserve the aesthetics of the campus. Coupled with the increased internet speeds, the Diag will become even more active campus spot, Schlissel said. “With Wi-Fi connectivity further enhancing the learning environment, there is no limit on lightningfast access to the world’s information no matter where you are on the U of M campus,” Schlissel said.
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Michigan in Color
The definitive ranking of “Bring It On” EFE OSAGIE
Assistant MiC Editor
Hands down, the “Bring It On” movie franchise is one of the best series of all time. If you don’t agree with this then you probably just need to sit down and watch them all again to reeducate yourself on cinematic greatness. Time and again, the “Bring It On” movies have been ranked, but never have they been ranked by their representation of people of color, only the quality of the film. With the removal of the “Bring It On” franchise from Netflix, I decided the time had come to undertake the task of ranking them by this specific criterion. * “Bring it On: The Musical” will not be included in this ranking as this is solely a ranking of the “Bring It On” films. “Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack” will also not be included in the ranking simply because the movie sucks and is an embarrassment to the “Bring It On” franchise.* 5. “Bring it On: Again.” This placement should come as no big surprise as the first “Bring It On” sequel was one of the least successful movies in the franchise and the least talked about by fans. This lack of notoriety within the fandom is most likely due to its stark lack of representation of people of color. The only named character of color is the main character’s (Whittier) Black best friend Monica. This does not say much about the writer’s inclusiveness due to the rampant popularity of the “Black best friend” trope seen in pretty much every ’90s to ’00s teen movies. (i.e., “10 Things I Hate About You”, “Clueless”, “She’s All That”, etc.) Not only was Monica the lone person of color in the film, but her role was completely relegated to fulfilling negative stereotypes of a Black woman: loud, sassy, rude, always talking back and ready to give someone a piece of her mind. Overall, the movie had an extreme lack of representation of people of color, and the one character that made up its representation completely fulfilled a stereotype. 4. “Bring It On: In It to Win It” Just like “Bring It On: Again”, the only main person of color is the Black best friend. Though the main character’s love interest is extremely ethnically ambiguous,
he also could just be white with a heavy tan. So, we’ll keep the tally of actors of color at one and a half. (After research, I discovered that the actor is actually half-Filipino, but his race is never mentioned nor in question throughout the whole movie, so he will remain ethnically ambiguous.) But back to the Black best friend. Just as in “Bring It On: Again”, the character is a stereotype of a Black woman complete with slang, a fiery attitude and an eagerness to start fights. But even worse than the character Monica in “Bring It On: Again”, this movie’s Black character, Aeysha, is even more shockingly over the top with her one-liners and phrases that try to solidify how “Black” she is. Such phrases include “You know a cheer Crip can’t be hitting it with a cheer Blood.” She actually compared two of the biggest and most violent gangs in American history to opposing cheerleading teams and it was played for laughs. However, “In It To Win It” narrowly tops “Bring It On: Again” because, despite lines like the aforementioned, there are some redeeming moments in the movie involving Ayesha’s subplot. One of these moments comes when she’s going completely over the top trying to prove her “Blackness” by twerking in a cheerleading routine and continuing to talk in her caricature Black fashion. A Black female cheer coach pulls her aside and asks her why she’s making a fool of herself pretending to be this stereotype. It showed at least a glimmer of self-awareness. The second redeeming moment is when Aeysha admits to putting on this “super Black” character the whole time to gain respect because she used to be teased for being an “oreo” in junior high (Oreo is the taunting nickname given to Black kids who are perceived as being “white on the inside, yet ‘Black’ on the outside”). While the movie attempted to reinforce this good message, it didn’t go deep enough or really followed through, especially when the movie ended that “touching note” with a white character telling Aeysha, “ooh, you’re whiter than me.” Aeysha agrees and says she’s proud of that fact. 3. “Bring It On: Fight to the Finish” “Bring It On: Fight to the Finish” is significantly better than the first two, simply because it is one of the
only “Bring it On” movies to have a main character of color, a workingclass Latina named Lina. Rather than giving the exaggerated image of what it is like to be a person of color from a white perspective like the other movies, “Fight to the Finish” gives a person of color a chance to helm the story. This movie does a great job stripping the norms of the “Bring It On” franchise by making the upperclass white cheerleaders the evil antagonists. It also includes a love storyline including an interracial romance of Lina and the popular white basketball player in her new, predominately white school. In the end, the movie does a good job showing people can work across class and racial differences to succeed and work together for a common goal. The only problem I have with this movie in particular is even though Lina is Latina and is of Latinx heritage, that’s never really celebrated. She speaks Spanish with her family but that’s about it. Everyone in her old neighborhood from East Los Angeles is either Black or Latinx, but neither of their cultures or heritages are celebrated. All of them are just grouped together by the social identity of being lower class or “poor,” and that’s how they’re referred to for the whole movie. Being a person of color in the movie is just equated to being poor and their individual identities as people of color are just erased. Also to top it all off, the movie still has the cringey stereotypical role of the Black best friend. 2. “Bring It On: All or Nothing.” Two words, Solange and Knowles. And one more word, Rihanna. Okay, but star-studded cast aside, “Bring It On: All or Nothing” does a great job with its people of color representation. The storyline is flipped from the storyline of “Bring It On: Fight to the Finish”. A privileged white girl, Britney, moves to Crenshaw Heights, an inner city close to Los Angeles. At Crenshaw Heights, Britney learns to check her white privilege and that (gasp) people of color aren’t that different from her. This movie has some of the best representation of people of color in the franchise as multiple main characters are Black or Latinx.
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The need for more POC rom coms NA’KIA CHANNEY Senior MiC Editor
When I first watched Netflix’s original film “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”, my mom was there, and we hesitantly clicked on the trending movie. Obviously no longer in our teenage years, we were sure our enthusiasm wasn’t going to match the hype. However, minutes into the movie, our living room rang with boasting laughter and dramatic gasps, an easygoing warmth emerging as we relaxed more and more into the lighthearted story of Lara Jean Covey and Peter Kavinsky. When I watched it for a second time, my aunt was there, and we sipped beautiful magenta Youthberry white tea together. With every sugary sip, I lost myself a little bit more in the sweetness of Covey’s whimsical, bubblegum pop romance. I soaked up the predictable, but charming love story, secretly wishing for my own Kavinsky. When I watched it for the third time no one else was there, and I laid cuddled up in my blanket, my eyes watching the screen but my thoughts caught in tangles. I began to wonder why I found myself watching this movie repeatedly when hundreds of other selections were only clicks away. Dejectedly, I realized it wasn’t the trope-filled storyline that kept me coming back. It wasn’t even the cute boy. It was the starry-eyed simplistic depiction of romance with people of color, one that isn’t afforded to people who look like me. When I chose not to watch it for the fourth time, I thought to myself, “When will Black women have their Lara Jean Covey and Peter Kavinsky?”
“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is Netflix’s newest romantic comedy that is breaking the internet for not only its playful plot, but for its wonderful Asian representation in a carefree, lighthearted film. Coming out only two days after the criticallyacclaimed “Crazy Rich Asians”, the film tells the story of 16-yearold Lara Jean Covey, a mixedrace Korean-American girl, and her not-so-pretend relationship with high school heartthrob Peter Kavinsky. This movie was the noncultural exposé for which I didn’t know I was yearning. It is incorrect and dismissive to call the film post-racial; however, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is revolutionary because, as a romantic comedy, it portrays the race of its main character without centering its entirety in combating negative stereotypes and racial hardship. Too often, movies with predominantly Black casts, or movies that feature Black characters in general, focus only on Black stories that have an element of trauma. We know them as our slavery-themed, civil rights era, Tyler Perry’s Christian guilt storylines. We also, however, know them as our indie Oscarnominated films that have begun to dominate the box office. Regretfully, I struggle to name critically- acclaimed Black movies without racial trauma at its core. Films like “Moonlight”, “BlacKkKlansman”, “Sorry to Bother You”, and “Dear White People” need to be produced, and they feature amazing storylines that deserve recognition. But I can only wish the Black movie experience can become more diversified to showcase movies with race-based trauma can exist at the same time and in the spaces
as movies that choose not to. In the same token, if “Get Out” can exist to make Black interracial relationships a plot point for horror and thriller, movies that show lighthearted, romantic, bubblegum pop Black interracial relationships should and can exist, as well. It is unfair for the success of Black film to ride on the exploitation of trauma. It is also unfair for Black folks to be voided of cinema that lets Black experiences flourish. It’s why action movies like “Black Panther” and comedies like “Girls Trip” are revolutionary; it’s because they show Black characters in dynamic roles that are usually reserved for white characters. The movement for lighthearted Black representation extends beyond the realm of film. We’ve seen it in photographer Myles Loftin’s multimedia project HOODED, a project to humanize Black men dressed in hoodies; social media movements such as #BlackBoyJoy, #BlackMenSmile and #CarefreeBlackGirl; Quil Lemons’ photo series “Glitterboy”; and numerous other projects focused on presenting alternative depictions of Blackness. People of color are craving representation that exceeds the limited scope of narratives that have historically been portrayed in film. As a hopeless romantic and a lover of love, I am craving a predictable, trope-filled, cringy romantic comedy with a Black girl unapologetically loving and being loved. It is time that we see Black representation that flourishes just as much as it does in quality as it does in innocence and sweetness. Maybe one day, Black women, too, will have their Lara Jean Covey and Peter Kavinsky.
Monday, September 10, 2018 — 3A
Yearning for the comfort of home
REEM ABURUKBA MiC Columnist
Dearborn is my safe haven, a city with the highest concentration of Arabs in all of America, a place for people who are just like me. Growing up, I had the best of both worlds. I was able to connect with my Middle Eastern roots and culture in a city that has the best Mediterranean food around. I could speak Arabic and not feel out of place. My days would be filled with visiting “khaltos” (Arabic word for aunts) and potlucks where we would eat our days away while playing tag outside with the neighborhood kids who were more like family than friends. However, my city was never meant to be this vibrant, lively and diverse. Henry Ford built my town with the intention that it would be a slum for his workers of color and their families, but that backfired because he’s given me a home unlike any other. As a Muslim, I grew up with mosques and religion surrounding me. During Ramadan (holy month of fasting), our bakeries, restaurants and stores stay open until 5 a.m., but are closed during the day because everyone refrains from eating. Ramadan
is my happiest month because it’s when our nightlife shines through; kids play in the streets until three in the morning, families come over and stay until “suhoor” (sunrise, when fasting resumes for the day), friends go out to hookah lounges and our mosques are the fullest they get every year for taraweeh prayer (special Ramadan prayers). I never grew up with a Christmas, but I believe Ramadan more than made up for it. Despite all of the wonderful things about Dearborn, I spent my whole life fighting to get out of its bubble. I hated the relentless gossip and people set in their old ways from the old country. I wanted to see more than my picturesque town and I grew up with such big dreams fighting against the status quo. And despite all of this, now that I am in Ann Arbor, I yearn for my town. I become retrospective and think back to the now defunct Arab-American festival on Warren Street, my old neighborhood growing up and of my wonderful parents who instilled in me the values of family, culture, tradition and community. Even though I live only an hour away, I feel like everything I have ever known has been ripped away from me. Back home, I would spend
my days eating grape leaves, falafel, tabbouleh, fattoush, etc. Needless to say, during my first week at the University of Michigan, my pampered taste buds found the dining hall food bland, unappetizing and incredibly foreign. I saw students carrying plates filled to the brim with food I had never before seen in my life and downing it all like it was nothing. Meanwhile, I needed extra salt, unattainable lemon slices and unheard-of spices to season my food, all of which seemed wholly unavailable in the South Quad Dining Hall. My biggest realization since setting foot on campus is that I may have grown up in America, but my taste buds are 100 percent Middle Eastern. I don’t think I had a decent meal besides pizza for days. This selfinflicted “starvation” forced me to throw away my pride, call my mom and beg her to make me food I could genuinely eat, telling her I would board a bus back home to Dearborn for the day if she did. Now, as I sit in my dorm room, my supply of Arab food is dwindling and I am once again venturing out into the dining hall hoping for the best. They say you never appreciate something until it’s gone and it has never rung truer because now, I want my home back.
Opinion
4A — Monday, September 10, 2018
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T
Trump’s South Africa sophism
he Donald Trump administration is a circus. Naturally, amid all the chaos, many important stories get buried. I would like to turn your attention to a statement Trump made Aug. 22 via his favorite medium — Twitter. “I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. ‘South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.’ @ TuckerCarlson @FoxNews” This half-baked tweet is problematic for a variety of reasons. Firstly, as is so often the case with Trump, the claim is dubious at best. To be fair, the first part of the statement is not explicitly false, just misleading. Though a policy of land expropriation is being carried out by the South African government, to simply point that out and treat it as a problem without providing necessary context is dishonest in practice. The discriminatory policies of South Africa’s former apartheid government created huge levels of societal inequality between white and Black people. The legacy of this morally reprehensible regime still haunts the country to this day. One of the many racist policies enacted under apartheid was the uncompensated theft of Blackowned land and the confinement of the Black majority to only 7 percent of the nation’s arable land. The current land expropriation policy is an attempt at redressing apartheid era grievances. A returning of stolen goods, if you will. And the government is well within their legal right to do this: South Africa’s constitution allows for such action on the grounds of trying to right the wrongs of the past. There is also a justification for doing this on the grounds of enhancing national welfare. Too much land in too few hands naturally creates market inefficiencies. In the words of former South African President Nelson Mandela: “(Land expropriation) fosters national reconciliation and stability. It underpins economic growth and improves household welfare and food security.” The expropriation vision laid out by current South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is an extremely moderate one. His government has made a concerted
effort to target unused land and abandoned buildings first and foremost to inconvenience as few people as possible. What Ramaphosa and the African National Congress are doing is a logical step forward for the South African nation and ought to be treated as such. As for Trump’s second claim, there is no well-documented “large scale killing of farmers” taking place in South Africa right now. National police records show the financial year of 201718 saw the lowest number of farm murders since 1991. Factual inaccuracies aside, the casual observer may be left a bit confused by Trump’s tweet concerning South Africa. What do they have to do with us? The whole thing seems out of left field. South Africa—and all of Africa, for that matter—is all but nonexistent in everyday
Trump no longer has the benefit of plausible deniability.
American political discourse. However, the alleged plight of white South African farmers has become a hot-button issue with a rather unsavory crowd. The “alt-right” has, unsurprisingly, embraced the false narrative of white oppression and Black brutality wholesale. The promotion of this conspiracy theory seems to be a concerted effort by the movement to raise the racial consciousness of whites and incite a fear of Black people. Simply put, it’s a propaganda campaign meant to draw people to their cause of hatred and racism. Naturally, the big names on the “alt-right” have been at the forefront of propagating this lie. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has spoken out extensively on the topic, referring to the land expropriation efforts as “white genocide.” Breitbart News Network, the self-proclaimed “platform for the alt right,” has published countless articles painting white farmers as helpless victims of their violent Black
overlords. “Alt-right” darling and popular YouTuber Lauren Southern recently came out with a documentary peddling the conspiracy theory called “Farmlands.” The film has been met with much-deserved backlash largely due to the fact that it’s little more than a collection of unverified anecdotes about white farmers who were victims of violence. Sad? Yes, but the film’s assertion that these instances are indicative of a broader trend is simply not true. It’s worth noting Southern’s far-right activism has gotten her into trouble in the past. Back in 2017, she was detained by the Italian Coast Guard for attempting to block a refugee boat in the Mediterranean. She then was subsequently banned from entering the UK while on a trip to meet with Generation Identity—a neo-Nazi terrorist organization that has set up military—style training camps across Europe. Trump’s propagation of this racist conspiracy theory is just the latest in a long line of instances in which he has marched in lockstep with these bad actors. In the past he called “alt right” protestors at Charlottesville “very fine people,” retweeted Islamophobic posts by the deputy leader of fascist political organization Britain First and retweeted a fake crime statistic published originally by a neo-Nazi group exaggerating Black on white murder rates. I could go on, but I won’t. Trump no longer has the benefit of plausible deniability. Richard Spencer is not the face of the “alt-right”—Trump is. With the infiltration of such an ideology into the highest political office in our country, what were once the worst elements of the fringe have become the new mainstream. A serious swing of the pendulum will be needed, and fast, if we want to restore order. Moreover, with Trump stating he ordered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to investigate, our foreign policy is openly functioning off of a foundation of lies and propaganda. Though not unprecedented, this is an abject disgrace and beneath us as a country. Everything about this situation screams “DANGER!,” yet the story largely flew under the radar. Elias Khoury can be reached at ekhoury@umich.edu
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“M
Reconciliation of a triad
y hair was long then. Long like the sighs of Loving Trees soaking in the still air before rain. I could hear their voices with the anticipation of thunder.” Hello and welcome to my first novel! Well, the first line of my first novel. Actually, the first line of the first novel I tried to write. I was 14 when I scribbled this line into a notebook margin, and it eventually ended up in the notes section on my phone - a place where prose goes to die. I titled this prose graveyard “Shower Thoughts,” though few of the lines collected there actually came to me in the shower. They fall, seemingly from nowhere, into my head. They dribble down into my hand where I can either write them down or feebly clutch them for a moment before they disintegrate back into vapor, waiting to condense once again into someone else’s brain. I rarely used these lines in any actual writing. I just wrote them down so no one else could have them. I have kept “Shower Thoughts” since middle school. A kind of diary, it chronicles my thoughts and feelings throughout my teens. As I scroll back through, I am reminded of moments both momentous and insignificant. I can see through the emotional kaleidoscope of my 15-year-old eyes as I waited for something important to happen to me, like all the young adult novels said it would. It captures in amber my perspective at one particular moment in my life. As a junior, I find myself sitting anxiously at one of life’s many thresholds. With childhood behind and adulthood ahead, I lie in wait, in between. I feel achingly far away from this young person who wrote and imagined all the time. I am not pursuing the dreams she had for me: I am not majoring in English, I am not yet a published author, and I won’t be studying abroad in the U.K. (where I won’t be falling in love with a beautiful Scotsman who wears cable knit sweaters and is in touch with his feelings). Despite all of this, I want to make sure I am somehow still me.
This column will be about that shifting of self and how one can reconcile who they were at an unformed 15 with who they are at 21, fighting for a place at the adults’ table. I will be rifling through my prose graveyard and exhuming bodies, breathing life back into the moments that birthed them and asking how they feel about where I am now with my life.
The experience also begged me to quesion in what ways I am romanticizing my ideas of the future. The line that opened this column was meant to be the first line of my first novel. I was fixated on the idea of being a child but writing for adults, amazing everyone with a beyondmy-years maturity and complexity of thought. Once it became a bestseller, Anne Hathaway and Leonardo DiCaprio would star in the film adaptation. I had the whole thing sketched out in my head, but getting it onto paper proved more difficult. Not that I tried very hard. I was fairly certain that, when I decided to write it, the whole book would just pour out, standing there shocked and gawking like Adam moments after his creation. I trusted my future self to make this dream come true for the both of us. Freshman year, I did so to a certain extent. I wrote a book, 250 pages in six weeks. I took a class on children’s literature and our final project was to write and illustrate a children’s storybook. I decided this was my chance to fulfill my dream, so I swapped the storybook for a children’s novel. There would be no bowing to laziness or boredom if I had the threat of an academic deadline on my horizon. So, I wrote
a plan. I wrote character descriptions and plot outlines, and did extensive research. When I set to actually writing, the pace was grueling. It was regimented and difficult, and some days the words just refused to come. To top it off, I was 19 and writing for 11 and 12 year olds, something I would have considered an unthinkable embarrassment at 14. Writing a book, it turns out, is really hard (Who knew?). My romantic delusions obscured the inconvenient reality that inevitably manages to seep in once we get to a certain age. The line with which I opened this column always evokes in me an all-consuming idealism. I can once again feel how it felt to have those words fall from the sky and into my churning mind. I can practically feel the weight of the imagined novel in my hands, knowing I would one day make this dream come true. The reality was far worse and far better than how I had pictured it, both in the accomplishment and in its promise for the future. I accomplished something I had dreamt about since I was eight years old, proving that I am unstoppable if I choose to be. However, the experience also begged me to question in what other ways I am romanticizing my ideas of the future. I imagine going to law school and eventually becoming a living version of a character from “The West Wing.” In theory, I know that path won’t be easy. I’m sure I will look back at my college years and chuckle at the idealism of my undergraduate kaleidoscope. Choosing to major in public policy instead of English is not the first time my ambitions will change. However, I hope I always manage to find things to look forward to in the most abstract of ways. And as I go, I will work to reconcile these different parts of myself—my past, present and future—and keep them all in balance. Make sure they learn from one another. And, eventually, get Anne and Leo to star in an adaptation of the book I trust my future self to write one day. Kendall Hecker can be reached at kfhecker@umich.edu
MARISA WRIGHT | COLUMN
I
Let’s talk about women’s health
f you walk into almost any hospital or major health center in the United States, there will be some sort of Women’s Health Center on the directory. In some ways, these can be really good things. They allow women to access focused specialists in one convenient location, which is especially important since women often encounter doctors who doubt their pain or do not take their symptoms seriously. These kinds of areas can also be a refuge of privacy and healing for many women who are experiencing extremely traumatic medical problems or diagnoses. However, setting aside a different part of the hospital specifically for women acts as a metaphor for the culture in which medical issues primarily faced by women are dealt with over there. They are dealt with in places that are not as visible or frankly, accessible, to everyone. When they are out of sight, and therefore out of mind, these illnesses, diseases and maladies are not acknowledged or grappled with as much as they should be in proportion to how many people they affect. This past summer, I learned the implications of this dismissive culture the hard way. At the end of June, I was on a flight home from New York City when I began to have excruciating pain. While exiting the airplane, I collapsed in pain, and an ambulance eventually rushed me off the tarmac to the nearest hospital. After several uncomfortable ultrasounds, I was alerted that I needed to have emergency laparoscopic surgery around 2:00 AM. Once the anesthesia wore off later that day, my surgeon informed me they had diagnosed me with a chronic illness called stage IV endometriosis, as well as adenomyosis. If you’re like me or almost everyone else, you probably have no idea what endometriosis is, if you’ve even heard of it at all. Endometriosis is a chronic illness in which endometrium, the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus, sheds but does not exit a woman’s body during menstruation. Inside of her body, it can grow outside of her uterus and spread to organs and nerves around the pelvic area (though endometrial tissue has been found as far away as the lungs). As a result, the woman may experience incapacitating pain so physically
and emotionally insufferable that it dominates and controls almost every corner of her life: career, social life, sleep, relationships, sexual activity, diet and hobbies. Though endo is incurable, it is highly treatable. The problem is that it is so rarely treated in a timely manner because it is so often ignored or misdiagnosed by doctors who lack the education about women’s health and endometriosis specifically. Because of endo’s variety of symptoms, women may be diagnosed with common maladies such as appendicitis, irritable bowel syndrome, sciatic nerve pain, ruptured ovarian cysts, depression, functional pain syndrome, etc. According to the Endometriosis Foundation of America, one in 10 women and girls suffer from endo; however, the average woman is 27 years old before she is diagnosed. I suffered through this disease untreated for seven years. And I was one of the lucky ones who was diagnosed earlier than most women. And while I was lucky to be diagnosed earlier than many, I could have been diagnosed earlier. When I was 13, I was rushed to the hospital after collapsing in pain at home. Barely conscious, I endured several ultrasounds and eventually, an appendectomy (removal of my appendix). Out of curiosity, my mom recently requested and reviewed my records from that surgery. The notes and images indicate signs of endometriosis that were not heeded. Though it is almost impossible now to know if I truly had appendicitis or the doctors misdiagnosed my endometriosis, I know my body and I remember that pain. It was the same pain I have experienced for seven years, including the time I collapsed after exiting an airplane and had the emergency surgery that finally discovered my endometriosis. I am not a person who wishes to share personal information, especially sensitive medical information, with people I do not know and trust deeply. But maybe if I had heard about this illness before, I could have brought my suspicions to my doctor. I might have been diagnosed earlier, and I might have been able to receive treatment and limited the amount of suffering and
extreme pain I experienced as a result of endo. There are probably many reasons why I had never heard of this illness before, but I think that the disregard for and stigma surrounding issues primarily faced by women is chief among them. When we advise young girls to hide their sanitary pads and tampons in a bag or pouch in public or make noises and faces indicating feelings of being grossed out at the mention of her period, we are cultivating a culture of shame around her natural biological functions. When we tell women and girls that intense pain during their period is normal, we are reinforcing false narratives and information about women’s health and wellness. And when we chastise them for being overdramatic about their pain or any symptoms they are experiencing, we are delaying their access to an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. I am not making the case to eliminate designated areas of health centers dedicated to serving women’s medical needs. In fact, I think they should probably be expanded and given more funding and resources so that more women and children are able to have access to all of the wonderful services they provide. I simply believe we—you and me— all need to start having more conversations about issues women deal with, especially those that are health-related. We need more men to lean in, instead of detach and stop listening, to conversations about women and their health. As women, we also need to be more open and louder about our health and how it affects not only us but also how we are able to interact with the world and how the world can and should be interacting with us. I hope that by sharing my story and subsequent health journey, I am able to bring some light to a vast world filled with matters women have been dealing with in private that is desperate for some illumination. I invite and encourage you to share your health process, too. Share with your family. Share with your friends. Share with the world. Marisa Wright can be reached at marisadw@umich.edu
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
WORLD MUSIC COLUMN
Monday, September 10, 2018 — 5A
TV REVIEW
A brief history ‘The Purge’ continues to follow its of grime namesake franchise’s mediocrity SAYAN GHOSH
Daily World Music Columnist
I’ll admit it, grime isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It is unapologetically in your face, abrasive and constantly energetic. But it’s these characteristics, combined with a rich history, that make it such an appealing genre, and one so embedded in current British music, so much so that one of the genre’s stalwarts, Wiley, received an MBE from the future king himself. While many argue that its best days were in a bygone era, the genre has experienced somewhat of a resurgence. Old figures and new, from Skepta to Kano to Dave, have revived the genre, or at least have released works that have some link to grime. Even Drake has collaborated with some of the genre’s biggest names. In a way, it is the perfect embodiment of modern music in general. Proliferated by the Internet, it has taken influences from cultures and movements from around the world to create a youthful expression of urban life. While the genre itself is a relatively recent innovation, its history and influences go slightly further back. While the genre shares some ostensible similarities with American hip hop, it is a wholly unique form. Rather than drawing its earliest influences from soul, R&B and jazz, grime builds upon the rich electronic music tradition of the U.K., especially the traditions from the early-and-mid-’90s. This time, the peak of the original “rave” era continues to elicit nostalgia from those who participated in the illegal, ecstasy-filled warehouse shows themselves, as well as from those who weren’t even alive during them. A far cry from the commercialized EDCs and Tomorrowlands of today, these raves were dingy, risky and, most importantly, an outpouring of the disillusionment of urban youth (especially among poorer, immigrant communities) in the country’s large cities in the postThatcher era. Genres such as garage, jungle and drum n’ bass were at their peak, combining quick, uptempo rhythms with melodic touches. These genres themselves owe a lot to music made in Jamaica and Jamaican communities in the U.K., namely reggae and its more electronic
cousin, ragga. Garage tracks operated around 130-140 bpm, while drum n’ bass elevated the energy to a frenetic pace of 160180 bpm. An entire book can be written about the incredible scene that dominated the U.K. during this time, but what is important to realize about the scene is the sheer magnitude of its reach at the time and how multicultural and fluid it was. Far from being set in stone, beholden to a fixed set of characteristics, DJs at the time took influences from wherever they could from around the world, all while
Proliferated by the internet, it has taken influences from cultures and movements from around the world incorporating the unique identity of the growing immigrant groups in cities like London, Bristol and Manchester. This particular scene died down at the end of the decade and gave birth to the genre of dubstep, and eventually grime itself. The godfather of the genre, the aforementioned Wiley, adapted the breakbeat dominated sound of dubstep and combined it with energetic rapping to create a genre which he dubbed “Eskibeat” (aptly enough, he address this very topic in this iconic track). In Wiley’s home city of London, other young artists contributed to the growth of this young genre. At just 19 years old, Dizzee Rascal released Boy in da Corner, an album which is to this day considered the genre’s Illmatic. Songs such as “I Luv U” and “Fix Up Look Sharp” are unmatched in their sheer ferocity, telling tales of urban, inner-city struggle intermingled with hilarious interludes of teenage life in general. Wiley and Dizzee Rascal’s success led to arguably the genre’s most productive and influential years, with a host of new artists ready to take over London and the rest of the country by storm.
Release Date: Monday, September 10, 2018
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
SAYAN GHOSH Daily Arts Writer
Have we reached “Purge” saturation? Four movies and now a TV show later, it’s hard to argue otherwise. Moreover, it’s not hard to understand the appeal. Although the premise of 12 hours of lawful lawlessness requires a good measure of suspending disbelief, the potential character studies and societal analyses are abundant. It is unfortunate that USA’s TV adaptation of the vaunted franchise continues perhaps its biggest flaw: The
“The Purge” USA Tuesdays at 10 p.m. Series Premiere
DOWN 1 Having the skills 2 Window box dirt
3 Hartford’s st. 4 Had food delivered 5 “Hooked on” language teaching method 6 In what way 7 GI on the run 8 Valiant 9 Invites to the prom, say 10 Borough across the Harlem River from the Bronx 11 Voice above tenor 12 Abrasive tool 13 Hard-to-explain feeling 18 Pics 22 Bluesy James 24 Boats like Noah’s 26 Brew brand with a blue-ribbon logo 27 Pleistocene period 28 Cheering and yelling, as a crowd 30 Down Under dog 31 “Who’s there?” response from a couple 32 Naples night
33 Golden-egg layer 35 Flagrant 39 Rude dude 42 Actor Scott or his dad James 43 Enters sneakily 45 2001 scandal company 46 Temporary solution 48 Structure protected by a moat
52 The “N” in “TNT” 53 Theater suffix 54 What a key opens 55 Farmland measure 56 One in a forest 58 Woody Guthrie’s son 59 Stadium section 60 Many millennia 63 Dead Sea country: Abbr.
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Matt McKinley ©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
very definition of self-satisfied mediocrity. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by being able to watch so much great TV in this so-called “Golden Age” of the medium, but I can guarantee that the writers of the last couple “Purge” movies were impressed that someone could phone something in even harder than them. Even though the characters are put in some tricky situations, it is extremely difficult to garner any modicum of sympathy for them. Throughout the pilot, the dialogue remains stiff and reveals absolutely nothing about the characters’ inner lives, fears, motivations or really anything at all to make them feel human. Rick and Jenna have all the chemistry of two strangers meeting on a blind date despite being a married couple; Jane’s ostensible anti-hero status is never solidified because there’s nothing the audience actually learns about her. Miguel, who is arguably the most sympathetic character, is
franchise never actually explores the philosophical questions it raises. “The Purge” follows the same basic premise of the movies that preceded it. It is set in a dystopian version of the U.S., one ruled by a (somewhat overtly) nefarious political party called the “New Founding Fathers of America.” As usual, the NFFA institutes an annual 12-hour period in which all crime, including murder, is legal. This particular adaptation focuses on a set of new characters. Miguel (Gabriel Chavarria, “Lowriders”), a Marine, returns home to find his sister, who has joined a twisted death cult that promises eternal salvation during the Purge. The cult is one of the show’s strongest points, a genuinely unsettling part of a show that tries really hard (but usually fails) at being
USA
‘First Reformed’ refuses to show any sympathy toward humanity MEGHAN CHOU Daily Arts Writer
The opening scene of “First Reformed” fades in from black to gradually illuminate a small white church. From there the film only gets darker. The tired and ill Reverend Toller (Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”)
“First Reformed” A24 Michigan Theater
manages a struggling church in upstate New York. When a couple in his congregation asks for his counsel over a possible abortion, Toller descends into a crisis of faith. However, climate change, not abortion, becomes the subject of his troubles. The film begins with sincere, deep dialogue between
reverend and parishioner. Toller and Michael (Philip Ettinger, “Indignation”), a recently jailed environmental activist and nonbeliever in the church, engage in a frank conversation about the state of Earth’s climate. Michael has reached a state of despair so deep he does not want his wife Mary (Amanda Seyfried, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”) to bring a child into this doomed society. The extended static conversation between the two men deceptively promises a slow-paced, entirely introspective film. However, “First Reformed” turns into an environmental-activism thriller, building momentum slowly and then all at once, just as climate change has as we damage our planet toward the point of no return. As he accepts the reality of his failing health, Toller also rewrites the relationship between religion and science. Rather than pinning the two against each other, writerdirector Paul Schrader (“Taxi
Driver”) shows these forces as working in harmony. There’s no battle between Charles Darwin’s theory of biological evolution and the Bible’s descriptions of how God created the world and all its beings, as one finds in schools throughout America. Instead, Schrader argues, concerning the issue of climate change, religious people — particularly Christians — should protect nature, or God’s creation, not destroy it or await His saving grace for all men’s sins; a notion in line with the recommendations of 97 percent of scientists. As a result of this development, Toller becomes the martyr for the cause to save our planet. He is the product of a convergence between science and religion. He is a human being living in a state of passive denial and passive resistance, eventually pushed to an act of extremity it’s a wonder the majority of us have not already reached. As a director, Schrader does not coddle his audience. He does not soften the truth that certain catastrophe
09/10/18
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little more than the classic noble soldier who returns home to face a new battle. My five-year-old cousin has told me stories with better developed characters. The show could have used all of these stories to explore the nuanced aspects of human psychology and seek to answer the philosophical questions of morality, law, justice, etc. that surround a concept such as the Purge. What is the connection between enforcement of justice and morality? Is a legal system that can be switched on and off a valid one in the first place? Beats me. Shows like “The Good Place” prove that it is not impossible to balance easily digestible entertainment and the exploration of deeper themes. Unfortunately, even this edition of “The Purge” eschews these questions in favor of gratuitous violence, cheesy sex scenes and horror that elicits more cringe than horror. Don’t waste your time with it.
FILM REVIEW
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 “We Create Music” org. 6 “You’re a riot” 10 Sportscaster Albert 14 Diner counter alternative 15 Hasn’t paid yet 16 Jai __ 17 Job 19 Govt. crash investigator 20 Weatheraffecting current 21 Give up all expectations 23 __ Strauss, female touring guitarist for Alice Cooper 25 Greek “i” 26 BB-shaped legume 29 Switching from cable TV to streaming, say 34 Relaxing time in the chalet 36 Skin ink 37 Four-time ’60s-’70s A.L. AllStar __ Powell 38 42-yr.-old skit show 40 Regarding 41 Not at all abundant 44 Totally loses it 47 Bedsheet buyer’s concern 49 Observe 50 Pop’s Lady __ 51 1982 Disney sci-fi film 53 Most ordinary 57 Hydrocodone, e.g. 61 Like un maníaco 62 Composition for violin, viola and cello ... and what the starts of 17-, 29- and 47-Across comprise 64 Color of raw silk 65 Sights from la mer 66 Longtime senator Specter 67 Vintage Jags 68 Not e’en once 69 Wall Street’s Standard & __
unsettling. In a world already increasingly filled with truly bizarre cults (looking at you Q-anon), it somehow feels like the most realistic of the organizations set up in the show. Another storyline follows Jane (Amanda Warren, “The Leftovers”), a steely, determined finance executive who hires an assassin to potentially climb her way up the corporate ladder. Rick (Colin Woodell, “Unsane”) and Jenna (Hannah Anderson, “Jigsaw), a married pair of antiPurge socialites form the most mysterious storyline. While all this seems at least somewhat compelling, it was quite impressive how badly the writers botched nearly every single aspect possible. “The Purge” is precisely the worst type of TV show, but not because it is a wholesale trainwreck. No, it does not give the viewer the morbid/ comic satisfaction of watching a trainwreck. Instead, it is the
A24
awaits most of us in the near future and the rest of us now. In a
‘First Reformed’ turns into an environmentalactivism thriller, building momentum slowly and then all at once, just as climate change has as we damage our planet toward the point of no return stunningly devastating montage, Schrader contrasts natural beauty with the polluted hell-scape we have created. Although Toller discovers a conspiracy theory — that big-energy corporations are undermining efforts to save this planet for their own personal gain — no part of his discovery is fiction. His journey to understanding is not just a crisis of faith with his own church, but with the whole of humanity. As he realizes his own insignificance and helplessness to make change through individual action, the only option becomes clear. The question that haunts Reverend Toller will haunt all those who watch “First Reformed”: “Can God forgive us for what we’ve done to this world?”
6A — Monday, September 10, 2018
Arts
MUSIC REVIEW
Merge Records
Waxahatchee’s new EP lays it all bare and raw SELENA AGUILERA Daily Arts Writer
Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield has a musical style that seems to be an exploration of change as she has touched across the sounds of indie, folk and rock through
Great Thunder Waxahatchee Merge Records her past four full-length releases. Her ability to claim a distinct musical voice while experimenting with different sounds has shown itself in her most recent release, Great Thunder. The EP stands as a separation from her rock heavy 2017 record, Out in the Storm, but remains as a stark representation of herself by revisiting both her past music writing experience and her country roots. Great Thunder is a recollection and reshaping of six songs Crutchfield wrote with the now non-existent recording group that wore the same title as this recent EP. The rare and hard-to-find original collaborative tracks gave Crutchfield inspiration to rework their skeletons and bring them back with a clearer sound and a gripping emotional pull. The EP is vulnerable in every sense of the word. Crutchfield’s strong, but breathy vocals stand alone with only soft piano instrumentals resting behind her, exposing every whine, cry and moment of breathlessness. This simple companionship creates a parallel between the production of sound in the EP and the emotions it evokes:
loneliness and pain. These feelings become vocalized within the EP’s lyrical content and are introduced with the beginning track “Singer’s No Star” as Crutchfield cries “We get comfortable with our detachment to our oldest friends / And you got me here where I’m left alone / I’m not the only thing you ever left.” Not only do these lines surface an air of loneliness, they introduce a haunting remembrance for a time that was that only becomes stronger as the EP moves along. This turmoil becomes exaggerated through each song as Crutchfield’s beautifully melodic vocals slip away into soft whispers that feel almost unfinished, leaving listeners with high pitched sighs full of yearning. This f lowing change in her voice instills a feeling close to regret. A painful emptiness that settles at the bottom of your chest when you remember something you want to forget, like an ex-lover’s favorite song or the color of their bedsheets. But, as soon as Crutchfield’s whispers fade out into nothing, her vocals come back with an intensity that sends shivers up your spine, f looding your eyes with the color blue, creating a feeling of abandonment. She sings of this abandonment in the song “You Left Me With an Ocean,” with a heavy voice that rings with melancholy. And even though Crutchfield’s voice is weighed down by this loneliness, as the EP nears the end there is a sign of submission, a desire to return and try again after all of the hurt. In the final song, “Take So Much,” Crutchfield begs this person she has been addressing through the entire EP to come back to find support in her: “Take it out / Take it out / Take it on me baby,” she
sings, leaving these isolating, vulnerable emotions to linger without resolution. After this
The EP is vulnerable in every sense of the word. Crutchfield’s strong, but breathy vocals stand alone with only soft piano instrumentals resting behind her, exposing every whine, cry and moment of breathlessness
EP draws out intense feelings of desolation and despair, Crutchfield leaves us without closure, like most of our haunting memories do. Once the music stops, there are only her haunting sweet voice, a complacent sadness and you.
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
Detroit and Zimbabwe cultures collide at the JIT Exchange at UMMA ISABEL FRYE
Daily Arts Writer
Detroit and Zimbabwean cultures collide as the JIT Exchange puts the two into
“JIT Exchange” Sept. 13, 2018 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. UMMA Free
dialogue through music and dance in the UMMA’s Museum Apse this Thursday, Sept. 14.
The performance will feature Detroit dancer and choreographer, Haleem “Stringz” Rasul, Zimbabwean guitarist Mono Mukundu and SMTD grads of the E. Reid JIT Coalition: Everett Reid, Alexis Lombre and Marcus Elliot. Thursday’s performance is just one part of a much “bigger narrative,” Rasul explained. What started off as just a video exchange between Rasul and Zimbabwean dancer Franco “Slomo” Dakha, the exchange program grew as Rasul began his own time in Zimbabwe. The JIT exchange is hosted by the University’s Center for World Performance Studies and the Department of Afroamerican and African
Studies in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Cultural Centre of Detroit. The event will be a conversation between Detroit’s Jit and Zimbabwe’s Jiti, two distinct styles of music and dance. In 2015, Rasul spent five weeks researching, facilitating workshops, teaching and meeting different artists in three different Zimbabwean cities: Harare, Mutare and Bulawayo. Immersed in Zimbabwean culture, Rasul collaborated with Dakha, facilitated Jibilika — a dance competition and festival — and was documented day by day by a Zimbabwean videographer. New roots were planted in the search for the old roots of Jiti.
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“(The exchange) opened up the door for everything else to follow,” Rasul said. As connections were made and relationships grew, the foundations for the upcoming performance were built. For those unfamiliar, Detroit Jit is a regional dance style which emerged in the 1970s, comprised of fast footwork, armwork and f loorwork, and accompanied by beat-heavy music. Around the same time, a Zimbabwean music genre called Jiti emerged. The JIT exchange will bring Jit and Jiti together into the same space as the artists respond to each other and to the unique aspects of each style. Through music and dance, a cultural dialogue will emerge. Though the two styles emerged through distinct cultural contexts, they originated in the same era. As a result, similarities can be seen. One particular similarity is Detroit Jit’s Funk Shuff le and Zimbabwean Jiti’s Borrowdale, two movements which developed on opposite sides of the world, yet incorporate the same pacing with the feet. While both styles incorporate fast footwork, Jit and Jiti each have distinct elements stemming from their cultural roots. “I’ve tried to Jit to their music and likewise, and it’s just a different feel with their music — their music is very guitar based and ours is more beat and percussion based,” Rasul said. “Zimbabwean Jiti has a lot of hip movement. We have hip movement too, but it’s coming from a different place, you know, we feel a vibe.” Music predominantly
determines the feel of the dance which accompanies
The JIT exchange is hosted by the University’s Center for World Performance Studies and the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Cultural Centre of Detroit. The event will be a conversation between Detroit’s Jit and Zimbabwe’s Jiti, two distinct styles of music and dance it. Through the tempo, the rhythm, the instruments used
and the character, a dancer feels the music and moves with the music. The music inspires a unique set of moves and a particular feel which give way to the dance style. While the original intention was to bring Dakha to Detroit for the second phase of the exchange program and the Thursday performance, visa complications delayed the exchange. As a result, the performance will be more heavily focused on the music of Jiti while Rasul responds in dance. Rather than routines choreographed collaboratively by Dakha and Rasul, the performance will be more of an improvisational performance between Zimbabwean music and the Detroit Jit. More spontaneous in style than a choreographed routine, the performance is sure to bring out new ideas and moves. The JIT Exchange will bring attention to two dynamic cultures: one rooted across the world and the other just 40 minutes outside of Ann Arbor. The exchange will continue on as Rasul brings his own experience home to perform, to educate and to promote both Detroit and Zimbabwean culture. “I hope people get inspired to learn something new,” Hasul said. Detroit has so much to offer in art and ideas, and while it is so close to Ann Arbor, there is a vast unawareness of past and current ongoings. While Hasul traveled to another continent to experience and learn from another culture, the JIT Exchange will bring two unique cultures right here to Ann Arbor, and leave the audience ready for more.
My eyelashes and some additional shortcomings DANIELLE YACOBSON Managing Arts Editor
I spend an unusual amount of time thinking about eyelashes. This is a fairly new development, considering I used to think about eyelashes strictly in a making-a-wishand-blowing-it-away context. I’m Jewish and superstitious, sue me. Now, I think about eyelashes, and the inadequacy of my own, on a regular basis. My summer in Los Angeles quickly exposed me to the fact that my human-length eyelashes were blatantly below average next to the whiskers that f lutter out of the fairer, Southern Californian eyelids. These eyelashes can protect even the most sensitive eyes from desert sandstorms, I’m sure of it. The life and maintenance of these eyelashes requires a separate checking account. The down payment is about 300 dollars, which is nothing compared to the three hours it takes to individually glue the camel whiskers to your individual human hairs, which you surely despise by now. A biweekly rent payment of 60 dollars (excluding gratuity to your aesthetician, obviously) is due to re-glue the eyelashes that have fallen out because, guess what, you’re still a human that sheds hair. It’s unclear if fallen eyelash extensions can still cash in for wishes. I will investigate, and probably wish for girthier eye hairs. The point — and there is a point — is that I made 11 dollars an hour sorting mail this summer. Thus, I did not get eyelash extensions, although I cannot help but think that, had my eyelashes been a couple centimeters longer, more men would have bought me the astronomically priced Los Angeles cocktails that I couldn’t afford. Economically speaking, eyelashes would have been an investment. I blame my eyelashes for loneliness and allergies. If this one thing was different about me, I think, life would
be better. My phone knows this, because it listens to my darkest thoughts and desires, and slyly places a Glossier ad for their Lash Stick on my Instagram feed. The ad promises long, lush lashes that look as if they were genetically programmed to be just so. Full disclosure: Glossier could package rat poison in a baby pink bottle and I would gladly pay upward of 20 bucks for it. So, I stand in line for 30
My summer in Los Angeles quickly exposed me to the fact that my human-length eyelashes were blatantly below average next to the whiskers that flutter out of the fairer, Southern Californian eyelids
minutes to spend my hardearned paycheck in the Glossier store on Melrose. I get the Lash Stick and the Cherry Lip Tint that makes my lips look f lushed and virginal and will thwart the impending thoughts of lip injections for at least a little while longer. However, I hate cherry f lavored anything because it tastes like chewable Tylenol.
I decide to wash down the unbearable taste of my lips with a large iced almond milk matcha latte, unsweetened. I have just spent $7.50 on green tea, which I firmly believe is just badly f lavored water. I drink it anyway because Gwyneth Paltrow swears by it and I secretly think she is magic. Gwyneth also swears by CBD oil. CBD oil comes from cannabis, and it will not make you high. But, if you infuse CBD oil into Icelandic fairytale water, it will replace your medically diagnosed anxiety with eternal bliss and an eligible bachelor. Or something like that. Regardless, I drink the matcha and hope for supple cuticles and brighter eye whites. Along with my stumpy eyelashes, I learned that the whites of my eyes are unacceptably offwhite, eggshell at best. An “inf luencer” tells me that superfoods like chia seeds and matcha and goji berries will strip my eye whites of any unwanted pigments, and so I go to Whole Foods. I suddenly have a deep, unhindered desire for my eye whites to look like effin’ porcelain. I go to hot yoga, even though I’ve fainted in a hot yoga class before. One minute I’m doing a sun salutation and the next I’m waking up on my back to a room full of yogis whose Zen I have totally botched. But I know that I have toxins, and they need to be sweated out. I brave the torture workout sauna chamber once again. The yoga instructor has just come back from a detox in Ibiza. No sugar, no alcohol, no dairy, no meat. I think this is no fun. The mind gives up way before the body, she tells the yogis. So don’t take any water breaks during the f low. It takes me 20 minutes to drive the two miles from the yoga studio to my apartment. I listen to “Pete Davidson” on Ariana Grande’s new album and go into a mild depression thinking about Cazzie David, Pete Davidson’s ex. This is something that upsets me more than eyelashes.
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The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | September 10, 2018
SPORTSMONDAY
HARBAUGH’S 49ERS MICHIGAN 49 WMU 3
Wolverines pummel Broncos, 49-3 ETHAN WOLFE Daily Sports Writer
It took one offensive drive for angry boos to cascade Michigan Stadium, and then the next one to make it seem like it never happened. After Shea Patterson completed a 10-yard out to senior tight end Zach Gentry on the game’s first play against Western Michigan, the offense followed with a false start, two short runs and a stifled screen pass. The Michigan offense from last week appeared to show up again in its home opener. Then, the Wolverines’ defense stymied the Broncos on the following drive to get the ball back. Senior running back Karan Higdon charged down the field on a 43-yard run to get into the redzone, setting up a 17-yard touchdown reception for junior tight end Sean McKeon. From then on, boos turned into sustained cheers. Higdon broke off a 67-yard touchdown run a drive later. After an interception by linebacker Noah Furbush the next defensive possession, junior Chris
Evans converted a 27-yard score of his own. Michigan (1-1 overall) threw Western Michigan (0-2) around like a ragdoll and didn’t stop en route to a comfortable 49-3 win. “Obviously there’s a lot of people talking about us, Michigan is always a hot topic,” Higdon said. “I think we took that today and threw it back.” Just in the first half, Higdon carried the ball 13 times for 156 yards and a score, while his counterpart Evans had two touchdowns. The tandem combined for 282 yards and three touchdowns. “All those holes, you could drive a car through it,” Evans said of the run blocking. “People in there with nobody to block, because everybody was taken care of, and the running backs try to make everyone’s job easier.” Rushing success against porous defenses is familiar for the Wolverines. But Saturday afternoon’s contest was also a game of firsts. Patterson’s touchdown throw to McKeon was his first in his
Alexis Rankin & Amelia Cacchione/ Daily
Gunslinger Shea Patterson did things on Saturday that haven’t been done by a Michigan QB in a while
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Michigan career. With 7:02 remaining in the second quarter, Patterson rainbowed a ball right into the hands of sophomore wide receiver Nico Collins for a 44-yard touchdown — the first collegiate score for Collins, and the first for any Michigan wide receiver since Sept. 9, 2017. And with 6:21 in the third quarter, Patterson connected with sophomore Donovan Peoples-Jones for his first collegiate receiving score. During garbage time in the fourth quarter, redshirt freshman Dylan McCaffrey replaced Patterson under center and threw his first career touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Jake McCurry for his introduction into the endzone. But throughout the afternoon,
it was squarely Patterson who inspired confidence amongst an oftquestioned passing offense. Even when facing pressure, the junior quarterback, who finished the day 12-for-17 with 125 yards and three touchdowns, made plays with both his arm and legs to convert first downs that were unimaginable only a year ago. “Our o-line had a heck of a game,” Patterson said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen holes open up that wide. Just the way that we ran the ball opened up so much more in our passing game. Got the safeties to come down and play in the box and expect the run.” Added Higdon: “He stayed poised. He stood tall in the pocket whenever the offense needed to throw the ball. We got plays out of him.”
“All those holes, you could drive a car through it”
The relative improvement of the offense overshadowed another picturesque output by the defense. After Furbush’s interception, junior VIPER Khaleke Hudson led the way with a blocked punt and six tackles. Junior defensive end Rashan Gary also recorded six tackles and his first sack of the year, amongst the unit’s eight tackles-forloss. Overall, the defense allowed just 208 total yards — 2.8 yards per play — to a Western Michigan team that put up 42 points and 621 yards only a week ago. “I love wearing that hard hat,” Gary said of the pressure he faced from the Broncos’ offense. “You can double-, triple-team me. I’ve got Devin Bush coming off the edge, I’ve got Chase Winovich coming at him, Khaleke Hudson, I can keep going and not leave one person out.” The sizable margin maintained by the defense allowed Jim Harbaugh to experiment with his team. Under new redshirt rules that allows players to play in up to four games while maintaining redshirt
eligibility, the entire offensive line was replaced on McCaffrey’s drive. Junior walk-on running back Tru Wilson also saw game action, adding six carries for 54 yards in the No. 3 spot. “Good to see our young offensive linemen get the snaps they did,” Harbaugh said. Good for (them and McCaffrey), getting a lot of guys out there playing — I think 74 players played in the game and did things, too.” But there was still time for boos to rain down in Michigan Stadium. With 2:34 remaining, and after a blocked field goal was wiped away from an offsides call committed by the Wolverines, the Broncos converted one on the following play to the dismay of the Michigan faithful in attendance. It was a blemish on an otherwise flawless bounceback display by the Wolverines, albeit against a weaker Western Michigan team. And if nothing else, Saturday’s game was one step closer to fixing the issues that have continually plagued Michigan.
Design by Jack Silberman
Domination Michigan volleyball moved to 9-0 on the season with an undefeated weekend at the Michigan Challenge
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SportsMonday
2B — Monday, September 10, 2018
A
A gunslinger comes to town gunslinger walked into
Michigan Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and no, it wasn’t Western ORION Michigan SANG quarterback Jon Wassink. After nine months, Shea Patterson played his first game at home. And if you’re a Michigan football fan, the wait was well worth it. Patterson, of course, went up against a team some would politely describe as a ‘tomato can.’ His overall numbers — 12-of-17 passing, 125 yards, 3 touchdowns — weren’t amazing. Who the hell cares? There are three throws I want to bring to your attention. You can go watch them on YouTube again, if you need any refreshing. 1st quarter, 10:14: Patterson rolls to his left off of playaction. Tight end in the f lats is covered. Patterson keeps running. And running. Then he twists, throws across his body — and finds Oliver Martin on the sideline. 2nd quarter, 2:09: Patterson rolls to his right this time. Within seconds, he’s already more than 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. A Western Michigan defender dives and misses. Patterson continues to roll right … he brings his left arm in the air for an instant, as if he’s directing traffic … and then he uncorks a dart to Donovan Peoples-Jones, who is more than 20 yards upfield on the right sideline. 3rd quarter, 6:26: 3rd-andgoal, Patterson working out of the shotgun, looks, still looking, off his first read now,
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AMERLIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson played in his first game at Michigan Stadium on Saturday, racking up 125 yards and three touchdowns against Western Michigan.
then he tosses the ball to the corner, where ... Okay. Let me stop you there. At that moment, how many of you assumed, based on the past year of throws out of bounds … throws sailing out of the back of the end zone ... throws that had no chance of finding a receiver … that Patterson was going to find PeoplesJones for a touchdown? How many of you thought, as you watched Patterson bring his arm forward, that
the ball was going to be caught? I mean, I didn’t. Jim Harbaugh told the story behind the play after the game. Michigan thought it had the right play called. The primary read was Nico Collins, who ran a slant from the outside receiver position on the boundary. Harbaugh thought that was where the ball would go. Then he saw a Western Michigan linebacker drop into that space.
There are three throws I want to bring to your attention.
Patterson saw that, too. “For him to calculate that, and then change the channel — if I was playing quarterback, that’s where I’d have been going with the ball, reading the initial coverage,” Harbaugh said. “To change the channel and go to the corner, and throw it to Donovan, (to) make that splitsecond decision and then make that accurate of a throw, you’re really seeing things well.” Last week, Patterson saw things well against the
(Patterson) already is a differencemaker
A necessary blowout
The good, the bad and the ugly: ‘M’ vs. WMU MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh admitted that his team wanted to get rid of the bad feelign they had after Michigan.
we put a close to that today,” said senior running back Karan Higdon. “… I think it’s a great kickstart for us.” So how did the Wolverines’ offense improve so much in one week? Well, the opponent certainly matters. The Broncos’ front seven is not close to as talented or physically dominant as that of Notre Dame. But it also goes back to that emotion of losing — a pain that Harbaugh says hurts both his “mind and body.” You can bet he expects his players to feel the same way, and thus began a hyper-focused week of practice. “Notre Dame punched us in the mouth because we were laughing and taking everything for granted,” said junior running back Chris Evans. “But this week we were a lot more focused. “We’re not allowing all those smiles no more. We’re strictly business unless we’re outside the lines after practice.” In his post-game press conference, Harbaugh also mentioned he noticed none of his
players “flinching” or “asking to come out” during 90-plus degree practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s all a cliché — “a good week of practice” is almost always coach-speak. Still, last week’s loss seems to have genuinely sparked the Wolverines, just as it should have. “I just think the expectation we have for ourselves and then meeting something else with the loss to Notre Dame, it was a little different this time,” said fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich. “We knew we had to get it out, and we knew this was the week.” A win wasn’t all that was necessary, however. Michigan needed a dominant performance — something to temporarily reverse the negative narrative that’s justly surrounded the program’s recent performances. And for the first time in nearly two seasons, the Wolverines finally got their domineering rout. “It feels good (to win like that),” Winovich said. “Coach
Sang can be reached at otsang@umich.edu or on Twitter @orion_sang
FOOTBALL
efore the benches emp-
tied and the blowout took shape, tension fermented inside Michigan Stadium. As MARK the WolverCALCAGNO ines’ offense jogged off the field after a fruitless opening drive against Western Michigan on Saturday, boos rained down onto the field. Fans had just seen Michigan shoot itself in the foot yet again. This time, a timeout followed by a false start penalty just 40 seconds into the game led to a conservative, discombobulated series for the Wolverines’ offense. Last week, it was the offensive line’s litany of mistakes that allowed Michigan to score only one offensive touchdown at then-No. 12 Notre Dame. The boo birds were hasty — patience has never been a hallmark of any college football fanbase. But they weren’t completely baseless. Everyone has heard the Wolverines’ unseemly stats. A 9-9 record dating back to November of 2016. Zero wins in their last four games. Another loss to a rival. “There was a feeling everyone wanted to get rid of (this week),” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. Much of that has been tied to Michigan’s offensive struggles, which were well summarized during its first five plays from scrimmage. The penalty, confusion and boos made that quite clear. But what happened the rest of the game should inspire much needed confidence in the Wolverines. Michigan dominated with 49 points, 451 yards of total offense, a touchdown catch by wide receiver — something that hadn’t occurred in exactly 364 days — and then two more. “There were a lot of questions about our offense, and I think
Fighting Irish, too, only sometimes that meant he saw three Notre Dame defensive linemen running straight at him. A quarterback can’t be expected to do everything by himself for an entire game. He needs his receivers to catch the ball, his offensive line to block and his coaching staff to put him in a position to succeed. But sometimes, even when some of those things go wrong — let’s say the receivers can’t get open, or the
offensive line doesn’t protect the pocket for long enough, or the play called doesn’t work as intended — a good quarterback can make things look okay. He can roll out, to his left or to his right, and buy some time for his receivers to work their way back to the ball before hitting them in the tightest of windows on the sideline. He can look off his first read when a linebacker drops into the space where the ball is supposed to be delivered, and throw a perfectly-placed ball that would make Jon Gruden swoon. The third touchdown, the one to Peoples-Jones, was the type of throw I could see Patterson making all the way back in December, when he first announced his transfer to Michigan. I wrote a column about him then, too. Some of it hasn’t aged well — “There’s no squinting required to predict a season that ends with Michigan’s first appearance in the College Football Playoff.” Well, that was before I saw the offensive line at Notre Dame. Some of it has aged better — “Shea Patterson doesn’t project to be good. He is good.” Michigan’s quarterbacks combined for nine touchdowns all of last season. Patterson threw for three in the first three quarters against the Broncos. And then, of course, there’s the headline: “Patterson would be difference-maker at Michigan.” Shea Patterson would be a difference-maker at a lot of schools. He already is a difference-maker at Michigan. Would anyone disagree?
Harbaugh used to say to us last year — he hasn’t said it in a while — ‘It doesn’t have to be close. You don’t have to keep people in the game, there’s no rule that says we have to.’ ” Immense pressure is a reality at Michigan. Losing, even in season-openers on the road, only amplifies that burden. Some national pundits suggested last week was the beginning of the end for Harbaugh in Ann Arbor. Even University President Mark Schlissel, for the first time in his tenure, answered questions about the coach’s job security on Wednesday. But on Saturday, the Wolverines quieted that noise and those boo birds by thrashing Western Michigan. Finally, Michigan can take its breath. “Obviously, there are a lot of people talking about us — Michigan’s always a hot topic,” Higdon said. “I think we took that today and threw it back.” Calcagno can be reached at markcal@umich.edu or on Twitter @MWCalcagno
The Michigan football team that played against Western Michigan was the team that most fans dreamed about heading into this season. From the second drive on, the Wolverines dominated every facet of the game en route to a 49-3 win — the most points Michigan has scored since 2016. The Daily breaks down the good, the bad and the ugly from the blowout. The Good: Junior quarterback Shea Patterson showed exactly why people were so excited about him before the season. He showed his mobility on several occasions and his arm strength on several more. He finished with just 125 yards passing but three touchdowns, including the first receiving touchdown by a Wolverines receiver in 364 days. The kicker to Patterson’s success is that he actually had time to throw this week. The offensive line, unlike last week, protected Patterson well, and they also opened huge running lanes for junior running back Chris Evans and senior Karan Higdon. Higdon had 140 yards in the first quarter alone, and Evans ran for two touchdowns. “There was holes you could drive a car through, and people in there with nobody to block, because everybody was blocked and taken care of,” Evans said. On the defensive side of things, the Wolverines were just as dominant. The Broncos did manage 208 yards, but until late in the game, when the backups were in, they didn’t get any deeper into Michigan territory than the 44 yard line. The only reason the Wolverines didn’t get the shutout was because Western Michigan decided to kick a meaningless field goal on 4th and 10 at the end of the game rather than make any effort at a comeback
attempt. “Their offense, I think, going into the game — I’d have to go back and watch — but I felt like they came in and basically said, ‘ The Bad: There really isn’t much bad. In fact, it’s really hard to say that there was any bad. The one facet of Michigan’s game that was at all concerning was that redshirt sophomore kicker Quinn Nordin missed a 39-yard field goal. This wouldn’t be an issue if Nordin hadn’t been shaky down the stretch last season. But he was, missing an extra point against Penn State, Minnesota and Ohio State, and missing three straight field goals against Rutgers, Minnesota and Maryland. Nordin still clearly has the talent, and there likely isn’t a kicker controversy or anything, but the Wolverines have to be at least a little perturbed by Nordin’s miss. The Ugly: You’ll notice that at the beginning of the story, it says “from the second drive on.” That’s the because Michigan’s first drive of the game was a mess. The Wolverines got the ball first, and the first place was a first down toss from Patterson to redshirt junior tight end Zach Gentry. Then things went sour. Patterson had to call a timeout after what seemed like personnel confusion. When Michigan came back on the field from the timeout, fifth-year senior right tackle Juwann Bushell-Beatty moved early and incurred a false start penalty. The next two plays were twoyard runs from Higdon, and the one after that was a pass to Evans out of the backfield that netted zero yards. The Michigan Stadium crowd actually booed the unit as they ran off the field. That was absolutely not a preview of things to come, but at least for a moment, it looked like the Wolverines’ offensive woes against the Fighting Irish might bleed into this game too.
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SportsMonday
Monday, September 10, 2018 — 3B
Wolverines move to 9-0 thanks to Jones Emma Way nets two FIELD HOCKEY
game-winners for ‘M’
BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer
Michigan up 24-23 in the third set against Colorado State, Wolverines’ senior libero Jenna Lerg received the Rams’ serve as the fans chanted “Let’s.” Junior middle blocker MacKenzi Welsh was next in line and set the ball as “Go” echoed through the arena. On the other end of Welsh’s set was freshman outside hitter Paige Jones, who promptly spiked the ball for the final point of the set as the crowd yelled “Blue!!!” In Michigan’s final match of the Michigan Challenge, the Wolverines (9-0) took care of Colorado State (6-3) in three sets, 25-21, 25-23 and 25-18, behind a dominant performance by Jones. In her best showing of the young season, the freshman notched 25 points with 18 kills and seven aces, including an impressive six aces in the first set alone. Senior Carly Skojdt and redshirt junior Cori Crocker contributed seven-and-a-half and eight points respectively, but the upperclassmen stood back as Jones had her moment. “Even when we didn’t have balance, this all-star right here just kinda took care of the ball, which is really not normal for our team, but she like blew it out,” Crocker said of Jones. “Even when we were balanced … she took care of the ball wherever she was.” After a back and forth affair early in the first set and with Michigan down 13-10, Jones delivered a ferocious spike right in the center of several Rams players to help ignite a seven-point run. Two serves later, she would follow up with back-to-back aces before adding yet another ace to take a 17-13 lead all during the seven-point stretch. Colorado State tried to inch
BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Senior libero Jenna Lerg played a part in Paige Jones’ success by feeding her quality passes throughout the match.
its way back into the set, but was never able to fully close the gap as, of course, Jones nailed her sixth ace to win the set. “In the first play they get us out of system, they set the ball to Paige out of system and she bangs the ball off of the hands for a kill and I was just like ‘Way to follow directions!’ ” Wolverines coach Mark Rosen said. “I thought that was a great approach and I think that set the tone for the rest of the team because they were like ‘Hey, that’s what we’re supposed to do and it worked.’ “The more aggressive we were in the first game, the more we were paid for it. I think that summed up (Jones’) match, it’s just how she started it really set the tone.” The second set was also highly competitive. This time, however, Michigan did not put together any big scoring run and did not fully pull ahead until the very end of the set.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Wolverines dominate Central Michigan, 6-1 ROHAN KUMAR Daily Sports Writer
In the 70th minute, Central Michigan forward Lexi Pelafas sprinted down the right side to receive a through ball near the box. Pelafas was in a foot race with her defender, but used her physicality to shrug off the opponent and win the ball. Staring straight at the keeper, she hammered a shot off the inside of the left post and into the back of the net. It was a display of quality football, but it was too little, too late. The Chippewas’ (1-5) lategame score was their sole shot on goal. The Michigan women’s soccer team had already notched all six of its goals in a 6-1 victory Friday evening. The Wolverines (4-3) dominated possession from the opening whistle and used giveand-go passes to expose holes in Central Michigan’s sloppy defense. This spurred scoring chances for Michigan, who finished with 10 shots on goal. “It’s just something that we’re constantly working on, and looking to have numbers and support around the ball and I think we just really got on the same page, and it just showed,” said Michigan coach Jennifer Klein. “I think we dictated play right away, and it allowed for us to get into a good rhythm.” The Wolverines’ back line faced limited pressure due to the Chippewas’ slow play and failure to attack open space on offense. Just over five minutes into the game, senior forward Reilly Martin settled the ball at her feet in the goal box. Martin broke away from her defender and found a gap to the right before hitting the bottom left corner to put her team up 1-0. This was the opening of the floodgates. Then the flood came full force, starting in the 14th minute with sophomore
midfielders Nicki Hernandez and Sarah Stratigakis. Hernandez kicked a pass into a crowded box to Stratigakis, who sent the ball past the keeper into the bottom right corner. Less than a minute later, Hernandez came back in action. But this time, she found the netting herself — off a ball from Martin — to put Michigan up 3-0. The flood continued throughout the first half as Martin blasted one into the top right corner in the 17th minute for her second goal of the night, off a pass from Hernandez. And then in the 26th minute, freshman forward Sammi Atterbury scored following a smart through ball from freshman midfielder Raleigh Loughman. The second half was much less eventful for the Wolverines. They continued to control the game but only scored once, in the 64th minute, when Stratigakis delivered a through ball to Hernandez who blasted one off the keeper’s hands and into the twine to finish with a stellar two goals and two assists. “Overall just really happy with the result that we were able to get, for our last game of non-conference,” Klein said. “You know, it’s been a journey and a process for our non-conference games and we really felt like we learned a lot and we put ourselves in good position heading into Big Ten.” Michigan’s sizable victory will certainly serve as a confidence booster, but for a team heading into conference play just barely holding a winning record, there is always room for improvement. And Klein is fixated on shutting out opponents as an area to work on. “I was disappointed in giving up a goal,” Klein said. “Our focus going into the game was to have a clean sheet.”
Up 23-20, the Wolverines looked poised to put the set away. Two Jones mistakes gave the Rams life. But that was extinguished by a Crocker kill before Skodjt finished off the set for good. “I think that one of the things about tonight’s game is that, for the first time, we came out not on our right foot,” Crocker said. “We started out, we seemed a little bit timid or whatever emotions I think kind of got the best of us for a little bit in the first set. That’s the first time that it’s happened this (season), that that struggle has kind of hit us and we battled back.” After close first and second sets Michigan f lipped a switch before the third, and ultimately final, set. The Wolverines scored the first point of the set on a service error by Colorado State and did not relinquish the lead from that moment on. Sparked by an early four-point run,
Michigan took a 10-5 lead and dominated the rest of the set. “Our team did a great job of once we got them a little on their heels in that third set, we jumped on them pretty well and that (made) life a lot easier,” Rosen said. “I just thought that we did a great job.” Going forward, the Wolverines know they cannot rely on these types of stellar performances from Jones alone and must play a complete team game. Rosen, Crocker and Jones, though, are not concerned, as they claim the depth of the team means that anyone can step up on any day. “Sometimes you just have your night,” Jones said on her performance. “Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s Cori, sometimes it’s Carly. I just think that’s the great thing about this team, that if one person can’t perform, there’s another person that’s gonna step up.”
Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe it was fate. One minute and 47 seconds into overtime, senior forward Emma Way scored the game-winning goal — on Friday against Pacific (3-3 overall) and then again on Sunday against Monmouth (2-4). To the second. And the timing of the golden goals wasn’t the only similarity between the two games. Both times, the Michigan field hockey team (3-3) dominated possession for most of the contest, but struggled to finish its opportunities. Both times, it went to overtime tied 1-1. And both times, Way put the team on her back and carried it to victory anyway. Early in the second half against the Tigers, senior back Regan Leavitt took a penalty corner — the Wolverines’ seventh of the game. She passed the ball to freshman midfielder Kathryn Peterson, who passed it to Way, who connected, finally, with a successful shot. The dearth of early goals hadn’t been for lack of trying, though. The seventh-ranked Wolverines dominated possession throughout. With the exception of one period with three straight penalty corners by Pacific, Michigan constantly had the ball in the Tigers’ territory. However, the Wolverines’ execution was never quite right, and their shots were blocked or saved. The second half was, by and large, more of the same. Michigan drew several corners, forced turnovers and stifled any possession by Pacific. For a time, it seemed as if the Wolverines’ early score would hold, but seconds after a timeout 25 minutes into the period, the Tigers tipped a shot in from the right sideline, and just like that the score was tied. It took until overtime — when
Way intercepted an errant pass in the Bears’ territory and took it to the goal — for Michigan to finally secure the win. “I knew the second she intercepted the ball she was gonna score,” said Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz. “ … She’s very dangerous.” On Sunday, the script was nearly identical. Early opportunities dissolved with the Wolverines’ inability to finish. The Hawks scored first on a tip in from the left post late in the first half. Despite going into halftime with 11 shots and four corners to Monmouth’s two and three, respectively, Michigan was down 1-0. But in the second half, Dowthwaite intercepted a pass and drew a penalty stroke. Sophomore midfielder Kayla Reed took the direct shot and connected for the equalizer. But again, despite commanding the possession, the Wolverines failed to score for the rest of the game. “A goal really lifts the intensity of the team and the momentum of the team, so it really flipped it around,” Reed said. “I think after that, we kind of all hyped up a lot more and had a lot more scoring opportunities, but unfortunately we couldn’t put them away.” Then came overtime, and after a green card on a Hawks player, Michigan drew a corner. Way’s shot found the left corner of the cage with 8:17 remaining in the period — the exact same game time she had scored the gamewinner against Pacific. On a weekend when not much was going right for the Wolverines, Way came through again and again, and as the players mobbed her after the game, the missed chances were all but forgotten. “We’re really calm, we know what we’re doing, we have the set game plan, and I believe in all their skills,” Reed said. “When it comes to overtime, I’m real confident.”
Michigan survives second half collapse vs. WMU Cerda gets the game-winning goal in overtime as Wolverines top the Broncos CONNOR BRENNAN Daily Sports Writer
Bronco defense, using his speed to his advantage down the wings. Within 14 minutes, Osman was already on the scoresheet. Michigan missed several opportunities in the first half to extend its lead though. Osman and fellow Ghanan native, sophomore striker Mohammed Zakyi, combined multiple times in the first half to no avail, as their final few touches let them down. Fortunately for the Wolverines, the defense led by senior Daniel Mukuna and sophomore Jackson Ragen kept things tight at the back despite Western Michigan continually lofting balls into the box. Ragen even capitalized on a set piece to double Michigan’s lead early in the second half. But as the game grew more chippy, the pace and quality of the Wolverines’ play seemed
to subside substantially. The Broncos clawed their way back into the game as a result. The breakthrough came in the 72nd minute as a ball was played in behind the Michigan defense and slotted past charging sophomore goalkeeper Henry Mashburn. With the momentum clearly having shifted, the Broncos scored again within 10 minutes to tie the game at 2-2. “They just put the ball up and it’s tough when you face 50 balls inside the box,” Cerda said. “It’s not easy. Our back four did very well but some dip in concentration and focus let in the first goal and after that went in they had the momentum. They say 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer.” What looked like a comfortable outing for the Wolverines was no longer
that. And yet, a second yellow card administered to Western Michigan defender Ben Thornton in the dying embers of reg ulation gave Michigan a bit of confidence entering the overtime period. That confidence was evident as the Wolverines once again asserted themselves. Their precise passing moves from the first half were again on display, and it wasn’t long before they paid off. After a whirlwind of a game, Michigan fans went home happy. “These things happen,” Daley said. “It’s college soccer. From our perspective we played well for 75 minutes and had a little lull, but after that, everything was good. We rallied the troops in overtime and they took care of business. Certainly from our perspective, finding a way to win is more important than dropping the game.”
As the ball was played out from a crowded midfield to Jack Hallahan on the wing, a collective fervor resonated throughout the stadium. Spectators stood up in anticipation. All eyes were glued on the movements of the junior forward. After cutting back and getting the ball onto his right foot, Hallahan whipped a cross into the box. And there to meet it was senior midfielder Ivo Cerda, who sent the perfectly placed ball into the net. “Thank God it went in,” Cerda said. “After that it was just madness.” The goal clinched a 3-2 overtime win for the Wolverines (3-1-0) over in-state rival Western Michigan (1-4). The pandemonium that ensued within the Michigan Soccer Stadium, as both the Michigan players and the student section stormed the field, can be summed as Cerda said — madness. “We don’t win that game without the fans,” said Michigan coach Chaka Daley. “At the end of the day, you don’t find a way to win those games if you don’t have the tremendous support of the Michigan Ultras, the Michigan student body and our local community.” A game which ended up being highly contested in the end was far from it in the first half. The Wolverines dominated, both offensively and defensively. Sophomore forward Umar AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily Farouk Osman caused all sorts of problems for the Senior midfielder Ivo Cerda scored the game-winning goal in Michigan’s thrilling win over Western Michigan.
“Thank God it went in. After that it was just madness.”
“They say 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer.”
4B — Monday, September 10, 2018
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Patterson shines, offers glimpse of potential Michigan ground game FOOTBALL
dominates the Broncos
MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Editor
It didn’t hit Shea Patterson until he boarded the bus to head to the stadium Saturday morning. He passed the tailgates he frequented as a kid. He recalled conversations he used to have with his dad. The junior had thought about what it might be like to play quarterback in maize and blue since his childhood. He’d spoken with his coach, Jim Harbaugh, about it since the day he stepped on campus. As he got in the bus, he realized his circuitous journey finally brought him to that desired point. When Patterson got his opportunity to run out of the tunnel at Michigan Stadium, his coach stood back to take in the scene. It’s Harbaugh who might understand that emotional lure better than anyone else. “He touched the banner — looked like he kinda went up and did a little reverse dunk,” Harbaugh said, with a glowing smile. “He had a little sugar on the flakes touching the banner. … It’s awesome when it means something to someone.” Added Patterson: “When I ran out of the tunnel with my teammates, I can’t describe that feeling. It was kind of emotional, but excited as well.” Saturday, Patterson knew that lengthy journey would end with him taking the first snap in front of 110,000-plus fans in the very stands he used to sit in. Perhaps he didn’t know that journey would end with the most promising home debut from a Michigan quarterback in recent memory. Patterson lit up a hapless Western Michigan defense, finishing the game with three touchdowns in three quarters of tidy work, going 12-for-17 for 125 yards and guiding the Wolverines (1-1) to a 49-3 win over the Broncos. His 190.6 quarterback rating is the highest from a Michigan quarterback since Wilton Speight posted a 233.4 rating against
MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson showed what he’s capable of in his dream-come-true debut at Michigan Stadium.
Maryland on Nov. 5, 2016. He dazzled all the shiny tools that made his transfer to Michigan so intriguing in the first place — the playmaking with his legs, the arm talent to make any throw, the poise to command an offense. It was all on display Saturday. For fans and players alike, it was a refreshing change. “We’ve had Jake Rudock here, and there’s problems that are beyond the scope of a quarterback, but in terms of how our offense efficiently played and how Shea looked, I’d say it’s as good as any quarterback I’ve seen here,” said fifth-year senior defensive end Chase Winovich. “It was weird being on the sideline and them just scoring touchdowns. I remember (junior safety) Josh Metellus … he goes, I just remember him sitting there looking, he’s like ‘Man, this is nice!’ I think the feeling is mutual from my half.” Everything in this game comes with the caveat of Western Michigan’s weakness — a team that allowed 560 total yards and 55 points last week against Syracuse. But it wasn’t necessarily the sheer numbers that will leave fans so encouraged by Patterson’s play, and rather the manner in which
The Michigan Daily Top 10 Poll Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with first-place votes receiving 10
they came. There were several plays he made that no quarterback on the last year’s roster would have, independent of the Broncos’ ineptitude. On the second drive of the game, Patterson rolled to his left, throwing across his body to a lunging Oliver Martin on the sideline for a first down. The window was tight, the margin for error non-existent. Patterson hit him anyway. “That’s really having a feel, the depth perception, the ability to throw different types of passes,” Harbaugh said. “Drilled it in there on the run to his left. That’s check, check, check. Plus, plus, plus.” Late in the first half, Patterson stayed calm in the pocket, dropping a dime over the top of the safety into the waiting hands of sophomore receiver Nico Collins. It was the first touchdown a Michigan quarterback has thrown to a wide receiver in 364 days. It was also the first of three such scores on the day. On his third and final touchdown, Patterson floated a delicate pass to sophomore Donovan Peoples-Jones on third and goal from the 5-yard-line. It wasn’t his first read on the play,
Harbaugh said, rather a response to the defense reacting to Collins coming on a slant underneath. Patterson showed the awareness to adapt, the skill to place it perfectly. “The throw to (PeoplesJones) probably stands out in my mind as the one that really puts an exclamation point on it,” Harbaugh said. Stiffer tests will come, no doubt. Nobody will confuse Patterson with a program savior simply because of a game against Western Michigan. But from the players’ perspective, their plaudits have little to do with the Broncos, or anything tangible. It’s in his command of the offense, his constant poise. They see a quarterback who might — just might — have the reins of the program comfortably in his hands. The reins he’s been waiting for since childhood. “The thing about Shea is that he just has such a sense of confidence that doesn’t come off as cocky, but you just know and he knows — this is my opinion about it — that he’s the man,” Winovich said. “He’s the man for the job, and he can get the job done. I think for him, it was just another day at the office.”
It’s been a cycle for a while now. The Michigan football team (1-1 overall) plays a good defense, like Michigan State, Wisconsin or Ohio State, and the Wolverines’ running game struggles. Then Michigan faces off with a lesser opponent, like Minnesota, Indiana or Rutgers, and all of the wrongs are righted, as the Wolverines rip off big play after big play on the ground. Saturday’s 49-3 win over Western Michigan was no different. Senior running back Karan Higdon had more than 140 yards in the first quarter, the most from any Michigan player in one quarter since Denard Robinson in 2010. He finished with 156 yards and a touchdown. Junior running back Chris Evans rushing for 86 yards and two touchdowns of his own. When all was said and done, the Wolverines finished with 308 rushing yards with three touchdowns. “The players, offensively, they’re just doing their skill, being confident in what they’re doing and executing it,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. Added Evans: “There was holes you could drive a car through, and people in there with nobody to block, because everybody was blocked and taken care of.” The performance comes one week after the Wolverines failed to get much going on the ground in their loss to No. 8 Notre Dame. In that matchup, Higdon led the team with 72 yards on 21 carries, averaging 3.4 yards per carry. Evans, meanwhile, had just two carries for one yard. You can calculate that yards per carry yourself. “It doesn’t just happen on gameday,” Higdon said. “It starts with the way we practice. (Running backs) coach Jay (Harbaugh) does
a great job of making sure we bring high intensity each and every week. I’ve got a great teammate in Chris Evans who pushes me each and every day. I push him, and we expect nothing less from each other. “So knowing that we have that 1-2 punch, it’s great for us working together alongside our o-line. I mean, we can’t expect nothing less than to come each and every day bringing pressure.” Saturday’s game was at least a little reminiscent of Michigan’s dominating win over Minnesota last season, though not quite to that level. Higdon and Evans combined for 391 yards and four touchdowns that night. Evans says he and Higdon talk about replicating that production all the time. “Me and Karan were talking about, ‘Let’s try to repeat history,’ ” Evans said. “Just talking, and we talk about that a lot, and just being able to go back to that time. And that day was just amazing for us both.” The problem, of course, is that the Broncos and Golden Gophers are not the Fighting Irish or the Buckeyes. It has been a while since the Wolverines have been able to accrue this kind of yardage in a game that really matters. For that, there may not be a true solution, as this much-maligned offensive line has had its fair share of struggles in the past two seasons. Obviously, if you can’t block the good teams, then you can’t run against the good teams, and there likely isn’t going to be some massive personnel change that will fix everything. Instead, Michigan’s only real hope is steady improvement, so that by the time the big games come around, the car-sized holes remain, and Higdon and Evans can bust free.
Read the full story online at MichiganDaily.com
What you missed when you left at halftime
points, second-place votes receiving nine and so on.
1. Alabama: When you have two quarterbacks you have no quarterbacks, PAWWWWLLLLLLLLLLL. 2. Georgia: Nothing like 90,000 southern people barking like dogs to get the juices flowing. 3. Clemson: SEC speed. ACC schedule. 4. Ohio State: There’s a joke here, but evidently Urban Meyer forgot it. 5. Oklahoma: At this rate, Kyler Murray is gonna be an absolute superstar on next year’s season of Hard Knocks. 6. Wisconsin: Horni... haha 7. Auburn: AUBURN’S GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!!! 8. Stanford: I don’t think I’m ready for Bryce Love. Gonna keep it at Bryce Like for now. 9. Notre Dame: Mike Pence gave a commencement speech at Notre Dame. 10. Washington: Nobody has every actually seen this team play. We all just assume they’re good.
MARK CALCAGNO Daily Sports Editor
It didn’t take long for the Michigan football team to dominate Western Michigan. After a punt on the game’s opening drive, the Wolverines racked up five consecutive touchdowns to put the Broncos well away by halftime. But you had probably left by then. It was already a blowout. Western Michigan was already overmatched. And every takeaway from Saturday’s game does come with the caveat of a weak opponent. But the second half did provide a worthwhile look at Michigan’s youth and depth. So here’s what you missed during your nap. Patterson’s dime Midway through the third quarter, junior quarterback Shea Patterson threaded the needle for his third touchdown pass of the day — a throw that required touch, zip and just enough loft to hit sophomore receiver Donovan PeoplesJones in the corner of the endzone. It was a “high level” play according to Jim Harbaugh. “To change the channel and go to the corner and throw it to Donovan, make that splitsecond decision and make that accurate of a throw, I mean, you’re really seeing things well,” Harbaugh said. It was the exclamation point of a solid home debut for Patterson. He didn’t need to do much while the Wolverines’ running game dominated, but Patterson was nonetheless accurate and poised throughout, completing 12 of 17 passes. He even got involved on the ground, too. Reminiscent of his Ole Miss days, Patterson ran the option to perfection, keeping the ball for 16 yards during his final drive of the afternoon.
Running isn’t Patterson’s bread and butter, but it was still a reminder to future opposing defenses to stay honest. McCaffery, Wilson lead TD drive Just as he did against Notre Dame, Dylan McCaffery replaced Patterson in the fourth quarter. Saturday’s circumstances were far easier for the redshirt freshman, though. Up 42-0, McCaffery’s job was simple: handoff to junior Tru Wilson. And Wilson — having recently been announced as the team’s third-string running back — took advantage with 54 yards on six carries. But McCaffery did get his first career touchdown pass when he hit sophomore Jake McCurry on an out-route for 18-yard score. Another week, another promising effort from Michigan’s heir apparent. “Thought Dylan, he’s got a real coolness about him when he’s out there playing. See it on the sideline when I’m call-
“... I mean, you’re really seeing things well.”
ing the plays,” Harbaugh said. “Watching him execute, it was good.” On the lines First, both sophomore Aubrey Solomon and senior Lawrence Marshall missed Saturday’s game with undisclosed injuries. “They’re both out working through something this week,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll see when they get back, but we should get them back, sooner rather than later.” In their absences, junior Carlo Kemp received his first meaningful action at defensive tackle, where he moved this offseason after gaining 15 pounds. Fifth-year senior Bryan Mone and junior Michael Dwumfour also rotated along the interior — a spot that remains unproven and thin, although it didn’t look it against a shaky Broncos offensive line. Speaking of offensive lines, Michigan’s was indeed improved in both run blocking
and pass protection. But the quality of the opposition matters again. Given last week’s struggles at tackle, redshirt freshman James Hudson and true freshman Jaylen Mayfield were notable substitutions at the end of the fourth quarter. Barring an injury, however, the Wolverines’ starting line will likely be the same next week. Harbaugh showed faith in starters Jon Runyan, Ben Bredeson, Cesar Ruiz, Michael Onwenu and Juwann BushellBeatty despite struggles against the Fighting Irish. It paid off Saturday. Over 300 yards rushing and a mostly clean pocket for Patterson should bring the entire team a needed confidence boost. “Good to see our young offensive linemen get snaps … Get a lot of guys out there playing,” Harbaugh said. “I think 74 players played in the game, and did things, too, while they were out there. Not just got in the game, but acquitted themselves well. Lot to build on there.”
“... acquitted themselves well. Lot to build on there.”
AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily
Junior defensive tackle Carlo Kemp filled in the absence of sophomore Aubrey Solomon and senior Lawrence Marshall.