statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | S E P T E M B E R 19, 201 8
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Wednesday, September 19, 2018
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John Tanton, Nativist Next Door A Michigan-trained doctor went on to lead the modern anti-immigration movement. What story do his papers tell?
» Page 5B CAMPUS LIFE
Journalist honored for #MeToo research ABBY TAKAS
Daily Staff Reporter
The #MeToo movement has focused primarily on high status figures — women speaking out against Hollywood moguls, powerful bosses and even our current president. Journalist Bernice Yeung’s recently published work, after years of investigation, focuses instead on the experiences of women in particularly vulnerable workplaces, such as janitors, farmers and domestic workers. Each year, the Wallace House at the University of Michigan recognizes a KnightWallace journalist to give the prestigious Graham Hovey Lecture. Hovey was a New York Times journalist and served as the director of the fellowship program from 1980 to 1986. The fellowship program offers journalists the opportunity to study at the University for an academic year to collaborate on learning and create strategies to improve the field of journalism. ProPublica reporter Bernice Yeung was chosen as this year’s featured fellow for her investigative work in the seemingly unheard voices of
the #MeToo movement. Yeung has investigated the sexual assault of immigrant workers as a member of the “Rape in the Fields” reporting team and the sexual abuse of janitorial women through “Rape on the Night Shift.” Yeung published “In a Day’s Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America’s Most Vulnerable Workers” in March 2018. Yeung’s investigation into the abuse of low-income women began years before the movement but has highlighted a sector of people previously left in the dark. Yeung was originally learned about this issue after hearing the experience of one lowincome woman and the sexual harassment she endured. “Is this a terrible but isolated event, or part of a larger problem that requires attention and reform?” she asked. Yeung’s lecture focused on the experiences exclusive to low-income workers, explaining how this work environment is conducive to ongoing sexual harassment. Particularly in contrast to many famous faces of #MeToo, these women have limited options when it comes to abuse. There are language
Event hosted by the Knight-Wallace house discusses overlooked impacts of movement barriers, and in some cases the abusers are the sole interpreters for filing a report, resulting in reports of abuse getting “lost in translation.” These women face
the threat of losing their jobs, being deported or receiving retaliation for speaking out. “Low-wage immigrants, laboring in isolation, are
at a unique risk for sexual harassment and assault,” Yeung said. According to Yeung, our judicial system relies on the
assumption that survivors will speak out, leaving many lowincome women unprotected. Domestic workers have also See #METOO, Page 3A
The nativist next door AARON BAKER/Daily
Director of Wallace House Lynette Clemetson presents Knight Wallace Fellow Bernice Yeung with the honor of delivering the Graham Hovey Lecture at Wallace House Tuesday night.
GOVERNMENT
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Washtenaw County sees highest surge Ann Arbor impounds two dozen Bird scooters in voter turnout across Michigan City officials say scooters were improperly Voter turnout up 12.8 percentage points since 2010, with 34.4 percent participating MAEVE O’BRIEN Daily Staff Reporter
Last month’s Michigan state primary election saw a higher voter turnout rate than any primary election since 1978. The nearly 30 percent statewide voter turnout was up 6.7 percentage points since 2010, indicating Michiganders are more engaged with the midterm elections than in recent years. This jump in voter turnout was not isolated to Michigan but swept across the country this summer. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly half of registered voters report being more enthusiastic than usual about voting. As of late July, overall turnout in U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate and state gubernatorial races outpaced 2014 levels. For House primaries, both Republican and Democrat turnout has increased, though Democrat turnout has risen more significantly. As of late July, the number of votes cast in Democratic House primaries is 84 percent higher than at the same point in 2014. Turnout for the Republican House primaries rose too by 24 percent. Michigan also witnessed this partisan trend. Across the state, the turnout rate spiked the most in counties former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. In Washtenaw County, where 68
percent of the 2016 vote went to Clinton, voter turnout is up 12.8 percentage points since 2010. Michael Traugott, research professor at the University of Michigan’s Center for Political Studies, said the higher turnout among Democrats can be partly attributed to the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and a response to the current administration. “There’s a lot of angst still among the Democrats about the outcome of the 2016 election,” Traugott said. “And then concern I think about the behavior of President Trump, so in anticipation of the general election in the fall, Democrats are motivated to select good candidates, which is what happens in the primary.”
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As for the Republican side, higher national turnout may be a result of competing forces within the party. “In both parties, actually, there are some issues about some of the new party candidates and old party candidate,” Traugott said. “On the Republican side, there’s a contest between a particular kind of reform Trump candidate, and more traditional Republicans.” The high primary voter turnout provides promise for large voter turn out in this November’s midtermelection. Erin Byrnes heads the Big Ten Voting Challenge on campus, an initiative among the fourteen Big Ten Conference schools to increase student turnout through competition. Byrnes finds the voter turnout rates in August encouraging
and believes they are harbingers of high turnout rates in November. “Voters across our state are energized, paying attention and voting,” Byrnes said. “Primaries are often seen as forgotten elections, with voters more focused on the general in November. That was not the case this year, and we can likely look forward to a great increase in turnout this fall.” Madison McKenzie, graduate assistant at the U-M Ginsberg Center, agrees more students across the country are becoming politically engaged and motivated to vote. “I think we hit really a lull, or actually a peak in terms of apathy across the country especially among young people,” Mckenzie See VOTING, Page 3A
parked on sidewalks, streets or bike lanes RILEY LANGEFELD Daily Staff Reporter
The city of Ann Arbor has impounded almost two dozen Bird scooters for violating city ordinances. City Communications Director Lisa Wondrash said the scooters were improperly parked on sidewalks, streets or bike lanes, adding that the scooters also violate an ordinance mandating motorized vehicles not impede the public right-of-way. “The company has been notified that their equipment has been collected by the city and is being securely
stored at our Public Works Facility,” Wondrash wrote in an email to MLive. “The city welcomes alternative modes of transportation for residents and visitors, and city staff are actively working with Bird on a licensing agreement.” In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Wondrash said finding appropriate places to park the scooters was “a question for Bird Scooter to answer.” The University of Michigan’s Division of Public Safety and Security, however, advised users of the scooters park them at bike racks or in moped parking areas. “When you are finished riding See BIRD, Page 3A
Hoeltzel pleads guilty to enticement of minor Former Michigan Medicine pediatrician used fake Facebook for sexting with young girls KATHERINA SOURINE Daily Staff Reporter
MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN/Daily
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Mark Hoeltzel, a former pediatric doctor at Michigan Medicine, accepted a plea deal amid allegations of child sex and pornography in federal court last Thursday, MLive reported. Hoeltzel pleaded guilty to one felony count of enticement of a minor. Upon knowledge of the ongoing investigation last December, Michigan Medicine immediately terminated Hoeltzel,
Vol. CXXVII, No. 138 ©2018 The Michigan Daily
who was later stripped of his medical license. Hoeltzel admitted to creating a fake Facebook account in 2017 under the name Ryan Gardner. Hoeltzel used the account to pretend to be a teenage boy, talking to minor girls and engaging in sexual conversations. Police executed a search warrant in Hoeltzel’s home in Ann Arbor, finding a flash drive that contained more than 200 images of child pornography. They also found Facebook conversation history with a 14-year-old girl from Colorado, See HOELTZEL, Page 3A
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............6 SPORTS....................7
News
2A — Wednesday, September 19, 2018
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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THURSDAY: Twitter Talk
FRIDAY: Behind the Story
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: GAYS PICKET BAR OVER ‘DISCRIMINATION’ ISSUE September 19, 1972-About 35 persons picketed the Flame, said to be a gay bar, on Washington St. Saturday night from midnight until about 2:30 a.m., demanding that its owner stop alleged discrimination against “drag queens.” The demonstration was planned by a group of Gay Libera-tion Front (GLF) members, but “other gay people, who do not generally come to GLF meetings” were present and picketing, according to Jim Toy, GLF member and the University’s Gay Student Advocate. Also present were several
members of the Human Rights Party (HRP), including Jerry De Grieck and Nancy Wechsler, the two City Council members from that party. Although the major complaint of the protesters was Flame owner Harvey Blanchard’s alleged barring of “drag queens” (transvestites), a leaflet handed out to passers-by also called for “improvement of the physical environment of the Flame — a dance license and room to dance, bet-ter music,” and “no selective harassment o r discrimination a g a i n s t people by Harvey (Blanchard)
or other employes.” Blanchard, who says he is “looking into” a dance license,” maintains he does not discriminate. “I have barred a couple of people because of their behavior in the bar, not because they’re gay,” he said. He added that he ordered people dressed in drag out of the bar because “there were only a few, and they were going into the women’s john.” He said he is checking into the law with regards to transvestites and “if they do have a point that it is legal,” he will let them back in.
Also present were several members of the Human Rights Party (HRP), including Jerry De Grieck and Nancy Wechsler
State law forbids men dressed in women’s clothing, but organizers of the protest say the city’s human rights ordinance, which forbids discrimination on the basis of sex in matters pertaining to housing, employment, and public accommodations, will apply. According to Harry Kevorkian, GLF member, if Blanchard refuses to allow “drag queens” into the bar, protesters may force a test case under the ordinance, which was passed by City Council during the summer. Kevorkian also accused Blanchard of “hassling gay
women, and straight people.” “He wants a white middle class straight gay bar,” Kevorkian said. “Everyone has to look like white middle class males.” Blanchard asserts that he bars people because of “behavior it has nothing to do with whether they’re gay or straight.”
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ON THE DAILY: DARREN CRISS HONORS HIS U’ ROOTS AT EMMYS University of Michigan alum Darren Criss won his first Emmy during the award show Monday night, but he assured the University of Michigan community he still hasn’t forgotten his roots. “Congratulations to all of you, thank you to the Television Academy and Go Blue!” Criss ended his acceptance speech. Criss graduated in 2009 from the School of Music,
Theatre & Dance with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater performance, quickly rising to fame in 2010 on the cast of “Glee.” He won the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Andrew Cunanan, the murderer of iconic fashion designer Gianni Versace, in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” The FX series was produced
by Ryan Murphy and is the second season in the “American Crime Story” production, following “The People v. O.J. Simpson.” Murphy was also the producer of “Glee.” Songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who graduated from the Music, Theatre & Dance School in 2006 with degrees in musical theater, were nominated for Outstanding Music and
Lyrics for their writing on “A Christmas Story Live!”. If they had won, they would have become the youngest recipients ever to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award. Criss’s Emmy win also marked the first ever by a Filipino American. He called the win “the most extraordinary moment of my life, thus far.”
SAFE releases statement after prof. revokes rec. letter for student to study in Israel SOPHIE SHERRY
Managing News Editor
Students Allied for Freedom
and Equality, a Palestine solidarity organization at the University of Michigan, released a statement on Facebook Tuesday evening stating the
organization stands in solidarity with the students and staff members boycotting Israeli universities. The statement came in response to an incident in which University professor John Cheney-Lippold rescinded his offer to write LSA junior Abigail Ingber a letter of recommendation for a study abroad program in Israel. The email exchange was posted to Facebook in a screenshot Sunday by Club Z, an organization that works to empower and network Jewish students who are committed to Zionism. Cheney-Lippold has received backlash and claims of anti-Semitism from students and community members regarding his decision to revoke his recommendation letter. SAFE’s statement begins by presenting examples of the human rights violations on Palestinian land, writing “there is no question of the violence and inequity perpetuated by settlercolonial Israeli apartheid.” “We support and affirm Professor John Cheney-
Lippold’s right to boycott Israel,” SAFE statement reads. “His actions are the same demanded by Palestinian civil society, and serve to recognize and resist forces committing human rights violations. To punish Professor Cheney-Lippold for his actions would curtail his own academic agency.” SAFE also points out how quickly the University responded to this incident. The statement says students have been placed on a political blacklist for speaking against human rights violations in Palestine, and the University has never released a statement on that issue. “There has been no University statement on the matter. This blacklist is just one of several tangible barriers for students that will prevent them from engaging in not just study abroad programs, but academic programs, jobs, and admittance into Palestine/Israel.” The University of Michigan Public Affairs issued a press release in response to the email Monday evening, condemning the boycott of Israeli institutions of higher learning. Ignber was unable to comment to The Daily earlier this week due to waiting on proceedings with the University.
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BIRD From Page 1A the scooter, it’s important to keep it from interfering with the public right of way. Do not leave the scooters parked on the roads, sidewalks, bike paths, driveways, access ramps, stairways, landscaped areas or near fire hydrants,” DPSS announced in an online statement. “Scooters must be parked in bike racks or moped parking areas. Please walk the scooter to the bike rack if you must traverse a sidewalk.” Dozens of the scooters were dropped in Ann Arbor
#METOO From Page 1A been actively excluded from legal protection; federal laws only protect companies with 15 or more employees. Many of the women Yeung interviewed explained the risks are too high to report these incidents. Many victims are the sole breadwinner for their children and take on these lowwage jobs simply to support them. Yeung explained the risk of their livelihoods is a lot to someone who is just trying to
VOTING From Page 1A said. “There’s been effort in the last few years to really educate students on what is happening around and them and how their vote actually impacts what their lives are.” According to Byrnes, the University had a 14 percent voter turnout rate in 2014. Traugott says this follows a national youth voting pattern.
two weeks ago without prior notice to the city, requiring city officials to deal with the unexpected problems caused by their presence. The city has since issued a statement saying the use of the scooters could merit a ticket and has now begun removing the scooters from public areas. According to a map in the Bird mobile app, the number of active scooters in the area has been reduced to roughly 50. The Ann Arbor Transportation Commission met Sept. 12 to discuss the Birds and the problems posed by their sudden presence. The commissioners resolved to
create a charter for a task force or advisory committee to aid the city in dealing with the scooters and voiced support for regulating the scooters in a similar manner to electric skateboards, which can now be used in city streets. LSA junior Seth Allen, a frequent Bird user, has noticed there are fewer scooters in the city and on campus since the crackdown. He expressed his hope that the Birds stay in the city in the future. “I think that they’re a great way to get somewhere in a hurry, especially if it’s an awkward distance where you don’t necessarily want to bike there but you don’t want
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 — 3A
to walk there either,” Allen said. “It’s very convenient.” Allen plans to continue using the Birds regularly if they stay in Ann Arbor and is in the process of becoming a charger for the scooters. Though Bird’s relationship with the city has been rocky since their deployment, it appears likely that they will continue to be allowed — albeit regulated — in the future. Wondrash has stated the city is currently working on a licensing agreement with the company that would include stipulations allowing the scooters to be parked in sidewalk extensions out of pedestrian traffic.
earn a paycheck through an honest day’s work. “The only rational thing to do is to say nothing,” Yeung quoted. Not all of these workers have remained silent. Georgina Hernandez came to the United States with her six children after f leeing her abusive husband and found a job as a nighttime janitor in California. Her boss threatened to fire her, deport her and hurt her daughter if she did not concede to his sexual advances. Silent for years about the abuse, Hernandez is now in a leader in a California janitors’ union. She
is proactive in helping others after learning how to help herself and hearing the stories of many other women in similar positions as her. The Fair Food Program has recently emerged, enforcing a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment. If farmers don’t abide, they can’t sell their produce to grocery stores. This program is one of many started by women working in a vulnerable environment. Yeung ended her lecture by redirecting the attention to the purpose of the #MeToo movement. She stated these women have been overlooked
“In general, there’s a kind of inverted J distribution between age and turnout,” Traugott said. “So turnout is low among young people, it grows, and then as people get older and maybe get a little infirmed their turnout rate declines.” Traugott explains these low student turnout rates could be because voting is an acquired behavior; it takes practice, and young people haven’t gone through enough iterations to have the routine down yet.
Students from out of state may not be aware of the process for requesting an absentee ballot and miss deadlines as a result. Alternatively, out-ofstate students may be detached from their own local politics. Traugott says another reason for low student turnout rate could be lack of progressive state voting laws. Unlike other places, Michigan has no early voting sites nor no-excuse absentee ballots, and state identification is required to vote.
HOELTZEL From Page 1A with whom he exchanged explicit photos. In addition to his online messaging, Hoeltzel was under investigation for engaging in sexual acts with a patient, whom he was allegedly over-medicating for rheumatoid arthritis. The patient was also diagnosed with various mental health illnesses. Though only charged last year, Hoeltzel was investigated by University of Michigan police in 2006 amid complaints from a mother of an 11-year-old girl who found inappropriate Yahoo messages between the girl and
“Justice is the absence of the transgression happening in the first place”
This month the University’s chapter of College Democrats, along with the Michigan State University chapter and the Michigan Federation of College Democrats, announced they were suing the state over two of its voter registration laws. One of the main goals of the Big Ten Voting Challenge is to energize the youth vote and make midterm election turnout comparable to the presidential election turnout. “The Big Ten Voting
Hoeltzel. Hoeltzel first began messaging the girl after they met at a U-M arthritis camp in 2004, after which the conversations continued for two years. Hoeltzel was asked to take a “boundaries class” in lieu of further investigation or punishment. Six of Hoeltzel’s original felony charges were dismissed under his plea agreement, including receiving and possession of child pornography, production of child pornography, enticement of a minor, and three counts of transfer of obscene materials to a minor. Hoeltzel’s presentence calls for him to serve for 14 to 17 years, and he will have to federally register as a sex offender. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13 before U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow.
and undervalued, and deserve justice, in whatever capacity that may entail. Some of these women want their abusers fired, others want to face their abusers and some simply want to be believed. Justice is highly individualized, but Yeung emphasized her belief that the next step of the #MeToo movement is to use the current spotlight to showcase the stories of low-income women and to shape preventative policies. “Justice is the absence of the transgression happening in the first place,” Yeung said. Public Policy senior Alli
Berry is involved with the sexual violence prevention community on Michigan’s campus. “(The lecture) reminded (me) a lot of the community that survivor’s on Michigan’s campus have built . . . there’s something really powerful about survivors coming together and finding a space where they can share their experiences, and working to prevent violence in the future,” Berry said.
Challenge aims to increase (the 14 percent turnout rate in 2014) by at least 200 percent, which would place us in the realm of typical college student turnout in a presidential election year, which hovers in the low to high forties,” Byrnes said. The Big Ten Voting Challenge has been able to register 12,000 students to vote since 2016 using TurboVote, an online resource that provides voting information and sends the user election reminders. The Big Ten Voting
Challenge aims to continue to help students register to vote in Michigan as well as their home states. As election day approaches, the Big Ten Voting Challenge will be vamping up their marketing and outreach efforts. Byrnes said some get-out-thevote strategies will include signage across campus and an initiative called “Buses to Ballots”, which will provide transportation to the polls for students on election day.
BEHIND THE SCENES: FOOTBALL A look at the past few football games through the eyes of four Daily photographers
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EVAN AARON/Daily
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, September 19, 2018
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AMANDA ZHANG | COLUMN
We need to talk about sexism in tennis
L
et me be the first to say Serena Williams is an inspiration by every metric. As an African-American woman, a mother and a 23-time Grand Slam champion, she is living proof that women can exude both power and grace and that adversity is no match for resilience. However, in regards to her recent controversial match at the US Open, Williams is fighting the wrong fight. For those unfamiliar with the situation, Williams lost to first time Grand Slam Champion Naomi Osaka in the US Open women’s final after the umpire, Carlos Ramos, made three calls against her that proved incredibly consequential to the match’s outcome. In the center of the controversy is her third code violation for “verbal abuse,” which she earned by calling Ramos a “liar” and a “thief.” As per the official US Open rules, Williams received a game penalty, which not only resulted in a $17,000 fine, but also shifted the match drastically in Osaka’s favor. Following the penalty, Williams, in tears, asserted that male tennis players “who do a lot worse” do not receive such harsh punishments. Her comments have sparked a massive debate online with prominent members of the tennis community such as Novak Djokovic and Billie Jean King weighing in and people from all walks of life offering their support and criticism. The truth is both Ramos and Williams are to blame for the controversy that overshadowed a historic US Open final. Williams lost her temper in a moment when she needed it most, and Ramos neglected to consider the gravity of his calls in such a high stakes match. That being said, Williams’ point still has validity. Regardless of her actions at the US
HANK MINOR | COLUMN
S
Open, the onslaught of backlash against Williams is proof that sexism in tennis is a real problem. Following the controversy, the Herald Sun released a cartoon depicting a monstrous Williams furiously stomping on her racket. The cartoon is a blatantly offensive illustration that perpetuates degrading stereotypes of black women, and while it has been met with considerable backlash, it is far from the first time Williams has dealt with sexism and racism in her career. Williams has long been associated with derogatory terms like “gorilla,” “manly” and “savage” by both the public and sports commentators. This is not a problem white men face. We let the athlete entertain us with her amazing power and dynamism on the court and then criticize her for developing the body and grit to do so. Williams can hit serves that exceed 120 miles per hour, so why are we expecting her to have anything less than than a muscular build? Williams has also faced her fair share of adversity on the court. Even as a 23-time Grand Slam champion, a four-time Olympic gold medalist and No. 1 ranked tennis player for 186 consecutive weeks, her accomplishments are still trivialized compared to those of men. After a 14 month maternity leave, prior to which she held a No. 1 ranking, Williams was not welcomed back to the tennis world with open arms and praise but instead knocked down to No. 453 and offered an unseeded position at the French Open. To make matters worse, Williams’ eye-catching and empowering black catsuit, which she wore to her first match, was promptly banned from the tournament. The fact that taking time off to have a child resulted in such a significant blow to her athletic
standing is sexist. The fact that her choice of clothing was a conflict at a tournament designed to measure physical ability is sexist. Williams is an unparalleled athletic force, and she has no shortage of accolades to prove it, yet her femininity proves to be a constant barrier to her success. Time and time again, the athlete has battled opposition her male counterparts have never once seen. Williams may be the most well-known victim of sexism is professional tennis but she is far from an anomaly. Archaic double standards hurt all women in the sport one way or another. Whether it is through a code violation for a quick on-court shirt change as in the case of Alize Cornet or being asked to “twirl” after a sweeping Australian Open victory as in the case of Eugenie Bouchard, sexism in tennis is a double-edged sword -- it hinders women’s ability to achieve success and diminishes its value when they do. The Williams-Ramos controversy was an unfortunate conflict in which neither party was completely innocent, but Williams is not wrong to point out the flagrant injustices against women in the sport. At the end of the day, tennis is a game of physical prowess and finetuned skill. Players like Williams, Cornet and Bouchard have invested thousands of hours of practice into their sport and have developed athletic capabilities the rest of us could not even dream of. It is time we let those hard earned capabilities be the sole determining factor in their failures and successes. It is time we recognize these women as athletes first.
Amanda Zhang can be reached at amanzhan@umich.edu.
Liberal psychosis
top talking about special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation. To close a few loopholes of this request, I’d also add Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos and any of the other bit players in Trump’s orbit to that list. It’s rarely more substantial than media spectacle and offers only an illusory sense of resistance to those dissatisfied with the current government. President Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 unleashed a particular kind of liberal psychosis that wasn’t triggered when they lost the Senate in 2014, or when they lost the House of Representatives in 2010, or when they lost the Supreme Court with Justice Antonin Scalia’s nomination in 1971, or when they lost 910 statehouse seats during Barack Obama’s presidency. As we began to see with President George W. Bush, and as we’re seeing fully now with Trump, the Democratic spirit is extremely lethargic. Unless there’s a single monster to mobilize against, American liberals tend toward complacency. This isn’t entirely surprising. Conservatism rests on the idea that there must be perpetual struggle toward a prior state of society; liberalism rests on the idea that marginal improvements are enough to keep the arc of history bending toward justice. It takes something dramatic — a reality TV star, a billionaire without bourgeois values, a man called incompetent by enemies and allies alike — to break the patient faith of liberals. Mueller’s special counsel investigation, which began May 17, 2017, has soothed the anxiety of many people whose trust in American institutions was shaken in 2016. A narrative emerged from the chaotic
horror of November that year: the noble underclass of the Midwest was tricked into electing this man by Russians, but the Americans who aided and abetted them will be brought to justice. Every news story that comes out of Mueller’s investigation — like former Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort’s guilty plea last Friday — is another nail being pounded methodically into Trump’s coffin. The way this spectacle unfolds — CNN and the New York Times publish stories, a hashtag starts to trend on Twitter, #Resistance grifters like the Krassenstein brothers start making bad jokes — is similar to the way we react to prestige TV. A “Game of Thrones” episode airs, people turn to Twitter, celebrities start weighing in. Rinse and repeat. However, this isn’t — as dozens of other columnists have said before — reality TV. American politics has given over entirely to what’s most entertaining, and we wait with anticipation for the next episode. This isn’t inherently wrong — I’m not particularly interested in parsing whether or not the net benefit from increased (but low quality) engagement with politics is good or not. What’s much more discomfiting for me is the unironic, self-serious way people participate in what isn’t much more than D.C. media drama. Superficial victories presented like plot twists in a novel or television show, such as Manafort and Flynn’s plea deals and that anonymous Op-Ed from within the administration, have become acceptable substitutes for actual victories. Manafort is a selfinterested, morally bankrupt leech — one of thousands in Washington, D.C. I don’t really care whether he goes to prison or not because he doesn’t control policy or legislation;
the Republican House, Republican Senate, Republican presidency, Republican Supreme Court and (in a plurality of states) Republican state governments do. Even if the “blue wave” arrives as forecasted, Democrats — the kind who attack the president on Twitter and glorify a man who opposed them at nearly every stage of his career — will only control one of five battlegrounds. Maybe in 2020, California Sen. Kamala Harris or former Vice President Joe Biden will beat Trump by sufficiently scolding Americans about civility, and then they’ll control two out of five. The fundamental problem with recovering political ground for the left isn’t that Republicans are a party of Machiavellian, ice-chewing maniacs assisted by the Russian government — they routinely elect some of America’s most embarrassing citizens — it’s that the Democratic base and founding principles (i.e., liberals and liberalism) are unequipped to deal with radicalizing conservatism. The right wing’s presentation of a Manichean battle between everything you love and everything you hate is a lot more mobilizing than patient Democratic centrism or the ostensibly apolitical Mueller investigation. The powerful should be brought to justice when they break the law — few people find that controversial. When that process is turned into a comforting spectacle offered in lieu of economic, material progress, though, it should be ignored. Focus on moving the Overton window, pursue direct action and stop following the Mueller story — it’s not going to solve any of our actual problems.
Hank Minor can be reached at hminor@umich.edu
o the Editor, We are former members of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, representing different political parties and times in office. What unites us is our love of the University that we so proudly served and our frustration with the misimpressions of the University’s Investment Office and its relationship with U-M donors and benefactors created by a series of articles in the Detroit Free Press, the most recent of which ran on Sept, 13, 2018. Creating the Investment Office as a unit separate from the Treasurer’s Office in 1999 was an important decision made by University leaders at the time. These leaders, including the Board of Regents, understood well that with declining state support it was increasingly important to grow the University’s endowment through the generous private support of alumni and friends. And they knew it was important to make prudent investments with those funds that had the potential to generate strong returns to help meet our academic priorities as public sources of funding declined. These include scholarships for students with need, supporting
research to find better ways t o manage common diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease, and so much more. Nearly 20 years of experience has continued to show the wisdom of this decision. Today, the University’s endowment stands at more than $11 billion. It is the largest public university endowment in the country other than the f lagship universities in Texas, which receive oil royalties. It is no exaggeration to say that the University of Michigan would not be the university it is today — one of the best and most highly ranked universities in the world — without generous donors and wise and dedicated professionals who invest those funds to maximize returns for the public good. The documented facts should speak much clearly and loudly: the Univeristy offers free tuition to qualifying in-state students from families with incomes up to $65,000 a year; the University’s investment performance puts it near the top of all endowments; and the distribution from the University’s endowment has increased every year since 2003. We are proud of our donors and alumni, who have helped
us raise over $1 billion to support our students in this campaign alone. Attempting to disparage our donors is potentially destructive to the culture of philanthropic support at the University, which is one if its hallmarks. It is also hurtful to some of our most generous donors, whose wisdom and involvement has helped the University enormously. We are proud of our current Board of Regents and University leaders, including the executive vice president, chief financial officer and the Investment Office staff. Regent Andrea Fischer Newman has long served this University with distinction and her dedication to this institution is beyond reproach. We firmly believe that the University of Michigan deserves better treatment by one of our state’s leading news organizations. We take great pride in the success of our beloved institution and the positive impact it makes in the lives of the people in our state.
David A. Brandon, Laurence B. Deitch, Daniel D. Horning, Shirley M. McFee, Robert E. Nederlander, Neal D. Nielsen, Philip H. Power, Nellie M. Varner
ERIN WHITE | COLUMN
Substance abuse does not discriminate
H
ip-hop star Mac public, attacking the glamorous Miller was found dead view of drug use. The narrative in his home on of chic and Sept. 7, 2018 at 26 years sophisticated old. His overdose hit drug-using the media like a wave, celebrities leaves with strong responses out some crucial of mourning on social facts about media platforms from addiction. A life both fans and fellow of substance artists who respected abuse is not his work. Miller was sustainable. extremely open about ERIN Celebrities are his struggle with drug not untouchable. use, referring to it WHITE Anyone can be in many of his lyrics and interviews, oftentimes affected. 21.5 million American acknowledging the negative adults (12 and above) were reported to have a substance effects of continued use. In a 2015 Billboard abuse disorder in 2014. These interview, Miller spoke about staggering numbers, and the his substance abuse at its peak, recent newsworthy examples saying, “It just eats at your of Miller and Lovato highlight mind, doing drugs every single that substance abuse does not day, every second. It’s rough discriminate. on your body.” This premature tragedy comes in the wake of pop star Demi Lovato’s welldocumented relapse earlier this summer, when she was taken to a Los Angeles area hospital after a reported overdose. Lovato is another artist who has consistently addressed her drug habit (in addition to her eating and bipolar disorders) in music and with the press. She had recently released a new song “Sober” that recounted Regardless of your net her relapse when she overdosed in July. Lyrics of the song worth or follower base, the include “I’m sorry that I’m here negative effects are going to come. The highs are high, again. I promise I’ll get help.” However, Miller and but the lows lead a user down Lovato are rare examples of a dangerous road. And the Hollywood elite who actually dangers of this attitude are acknowledge the devastating not restricted to Hollywood, effects of substance abuse but are rather increasingly disorders. To many, it seems prevalent in our larger society. as though celebrities are This is especially true across destined to live their lives with high schools and college drug habits by virtue of their campuses, where in place of exposure to a celebrity culture status equating invincibility, that champions drug use. This students and young adults is only emphasized by the equate it with youth. I would be remiss if I did not constant glorification of drugs and alcohol by our media, with point out that substance abuse movies and music glorifying disorders are vastly different the high while consistently than casual drinking and avoiding the struggle of living smoking, which are common with a substance abuse disorder. in all types of communities The mental and physical toll of and do not indicate severe abuse issues. continued drug use is extreme, substance as evident from the 72,000 Substance abuse disorders deaths in 2017 caused by drug are when these habits become overdose, as estimated by the addictive, necessary to one’s Centers for Disease Control and way of life. This reliance is Prevention. Artists like Miller explained by the Center on which defines and Lovato have attempted to Addiction, highlight this dark and hidden addiction as “a complex portion of addiction to the disease of the brain and body
Substance absue disorders should be tackled with the same tenacity as other diseases.
that involves compulsive use of one or more substances despite serious health and social consequences.” When someone focuses on a consistent need for drugs above good health and social relationships, substance abuse becomes a severe risk. While these disorders may originate from an initial stage of choice, addiction quickly becomes compulsory. Substance abuse disorders should be tackled with the same tenacity as other diseases, but in our society only one in nine Americans get support and treatment for their addiction. The societal view of drug abuse as fun and cultural discourages those who feel its daily struggles from reaching out for help. A general reliance on these substances can be perceived as weak and embarrassing, adding to this fear of getting help. While people are struggling, overdosing and dying, others continue to support a culture that praises these habits and then judges them when they get out of hand. When Miller passed away, social media became an outpour of support, love and mourning for the late artist. After hitting mainstream media with his debut album Blue Slide Park in 2011, Miller was a prominent artist in his genre. Other artists looked up to his work, while a large community of fans were inspired, moved and some would say raised on his sound. Miller was preparing for an American tour when he passed away. His legacy is incomplete, and the shock of his tragic loss to both his colleag ues and fans should be a signal to take substance abuse off of a pedestal. We need to accept substance abuse as a disease and address its effects from that perspective. We need to stop focusing on momentary release and instead zero in on long-term health and happiness. We need strong individuals to continue to speak out about the darkness and struggle that comes with substance abuse so that people can receive the help that they need. Erin White can be reached at ekwhite@umich.edu.
JOIN OUR EDITORIAL BOARD Our Editorial Board meets Mondays and Wednesdays 7:15-8:45 PM at our newsroom at 420 Maynard Street. All are welcome to come discuss national, state and campus affairs.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 — 5A
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
Remembering Mac Miller JONAH MENDELSON Daily Arts Writer
I always wanted to be Mac Miller. He was effortlessly cool, his cockiness somehow charming through his willingness to be publicly imperfect. His music was easy-going and
kind, an impression confirmed repeatedly by those who knew him personally. He possessed sensitive indie proclivities (e.g. the “Nikes On My Feet” video opens with a snippet of “Wordless Chorus,” his sampling of Sufjan Stevens, his covers of “Lua” and “First Day of My Life,” etc). He started as a fun kid and developed into a
thoughtful and clever lyricist with a penchant for irreverent humor interspersed with Hemingway-esque moments of incisive candor. He was always rhythmically innovative and musically-minded. His music soundtracked my high school experience and, to a certain degree, my college experience so far. He felt like an old friend.
SONY PICTURES
Mac Miller died alone at his home on Sept. 7, 2018, of an apparent drug overdose. I’ve spent the last two weeks listening almost exclusively to Mac’s music, and the main message I’ve taken away from it is that hindsight is 20 / 20. His most recent works in particular are foreboding: What could be brushed off before as an exercise in depression as a lyrical theme now feel like obvious foreshadowing. Take “Rain”: “Sober I can’t deal, I’m
in the corner with my head low / Runnin’ from my shadow, never ending chase / Ease the pain and the battle that’s within me / Sniff the same shit that got Whitney, the high heel depression / My temple feel the metal comin’ out the Smith & Wesson, bang / Say a prayer, leave my brains on the tile floor,” or “Perfect Circle/Godspeed”: “They don’t want me to OD and have to talk to my mother / Tell her they could have done more to help me / And she’d be crying saying that she’d do anything to have me back.” The tracks that hit the hardest, however, are from the K.I.D.S era, a time when Mac seemed so carefree and lighthearted. “Nikes On My Feet,” “Knock Knock,” “Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza” and many others now serve as morbid reminders that the good times don’t always last. Since his death I’ve been asking myself the same question: What is it about Mac Miller’s music that makes his loss such a devastating blow? I think it’s that he always seemed triumphant in some way; even when he was candidly discussing his demons, it always felt somehow inevitable that he would overcome them. For him to succumb so tragically is a grim message. If Mac, a guy with so much going for him, can’t beat his own human failings, who among us can? He always stressed that he was a normal guy, especially in his early tracks like “Kool Aid and Frozen Pizza”: “I live a life pretty similar to yours / Used to go to school, hang with friends
and play sports.” What was once an inspiring message now turns bleak. The title of “So It Goes,” the final track off Mac’s final album, Swimming, is a reference to Kurt Vonnegut’s “SlaughterhouseFive,” in which the phrase “so it goes” is repeatedly used when someone dies. For this to be the title of Mac’s final track is unfortunately fitting. Mac’s final Instagram story, posted hours before he was found dead, was the outro to “So It Goes.” His final tweet, later deleted, was “The end of So It Goes is so beautiful man. I told Jon Brion to play the ascension into heaven and he nailed it.” The phrase “so it goes” is often misinterpreted as an expression of passive acceptance, a shrug of the shoulders. To the contrary, Vonnegut used that phrase to convey the way in which words are often not capable of expressing the raw tragedy of death. Instead, the reality of the situation is numbed through cliché fatalism. The repetition of the phrase draws attention to how much pain is buried beneath stoicism. It is not a positive message. Mac’s death is not poetic, it is sad and meaningless and real. He once said “I’d rather be the corny white rapper than the drugged-out mess who can’t even get out of his house. Overdosing is just not cool. You don’t go down in history because you overdose. You just die.” So it goes. Rest in peace, Easy Mac with the cheesy raps.
tent, working on an hour or two of sleep. The concessions tent was doling out a sugar-heavy complimentary breakfast, and while we sipped our orange juice and ate our doughnut holes, we surveyed the scene that had so terrified us only hours before. The turnaround of the hayride was dusty and f lat; the haunted castle was clear-edged in the pale dawn, no longer a threatening cave of shadows. Already I felt a little nostalgic as we finished our breakfast, said goodbye to
the crow-man while we packed up our rental tent. It was a clear morning and everyone was happy (we survived!) yet I already missed the thrill of the night before. I missed the story: the constant expectation, the emotion, the question of which characters we could trust. Yet I still felt giddy. We left the campsite still marveling about how different it looked, about how bizarre it was to see all of this left over in the daytime. It’s a wonder what a little darkness can do.
DAILY LITERATURE COLUMN
Living inside a horror story, for the night A man with a mask shaped like a crow’s head met us when we arrived at the scream park, lugging our sleeping bags, fresh off the golf cart that had brought us from our car. I’d already quietly predicted that the golf cart might unironically be the most fun part of the night for me, and when the crow-man approached, wielding a staff and peering inscrutably at us down a sharp red beak, I froze. He was the first “monster” we’d met. “You guys signed the waiver, right?” he asked us. Oh God! I thought. Somebody nodded yes. “Good! That means I get to hug you!” He enveloped two of us in a hug. I wasn’t sure how to react. Was it meant to be friendly? Uncomfortable? He kept hugging us for a minute although we didn’t really hug him back. Uncomfortable must have been the goal. When my friend pitched us the idea — one night of “horror camping” at the Scarefest Scream Park in New Haven, Mich., where we were guaranteed to be terrorized for 13 hours straight at a campground in the woods — I thought she was joking. Every step of the process was twofold for me: Not quite wanting to go while still agreeing, pulling up thrilled to see the festive searchlights and torch-rimmed park while simultaneously yearning to backtrack and find an Airbnb somewhere. We really are those idiots, I kept thinking. Signing up and paying money to get terrorized for a night, waltzing into a forest where we know we’ll get attacked, joking about it. All of it was like that: excitement virtually indistinguishable from dread. I’ve been thinking about this line a lot lately. In the spirit of fall (and of my whole horrorobsessed self ), I’m taking an English class focused on popular horror, and last week we talked about why anyone would ever enjoy something that’s specifically designed to disturb or frighten them. I tried recalling some of the theories to my friend while we waited in line for the haunted hayride (the least terrifying attraction by far, and the one we both felt most equipped for), but could only remember
a few. There was the idea that horror engages our curiosity and fascination, the notions of being thrilled or vindicated by empathizing with either the attacked or the attacker, and the gender-normative “snuggle theory,” which my class seemed to unanimously decide was the strangest.
LAURA DZUBAY As the night wore on, we noticed a lot of recurring characters. There was the young man with a face caked in skeletal grey makeup, who seemed to dislike all four of us in a fair, controlled sort of way. There was the nun in the terror maze whom we later saw in the late-night scavenger hunt who was dressed scarily but who actually gave us helpful advice whenever we talked to her. In the scavenger hunt we met a boy covered in makeup who had us do the “Thriller” dance in exchange for a clue. The crow-man’s presence was woven in and out of our night; every couple of hours we’d cross paths with him again, ask each other how the night was going. He was a benign presence. Oh, good, I started to think, after the second or third encounter. It’s our friend the crow-man again. By 3:00 a.m. or so, toward the end of the scavenger hunt, I’d begun noticing a thread: The horror of the night was tied inextricably in with comedy. Even now I can’t completely figure out why — there’s no simple reason, and it’s not like the event was marketed as comedy, or as anything other than strictly horror. But we were very open to laughing, the same way we were open to being scared. Maybe it was the same door inside of us that was open to both of them. It was weirdly freeing. The monsters made fun of us when we made missteps or took wrong turns,
and we made fun of ourselves, too. That giddy feeling you get when you’re nervous stuck with us all night, making us giggle probably more often than we jumped and screamed. For all the giddiness I mentioned before, it was still unquestionably scary; the two were linked. I clutched my friends and held hands with them. We were a team, the Dream Scream Team as one of them had labeled our group chat beforehand. We jumped at fake gunfire, tensed at chainsaws and f linched when monsters crept up on us. A couple of times I started shaking and couldn’t will my body to stop, which was frustrating, but really more mystifying than anything. I’ve always loved scary stories. I think horror is a rich and fascinating subset of literature, and of culture in general. One of my friend’s persuasions for why we should go camping was, “It’ll be like being in a scary movie for a night!” Which sounds horrible, sure, but also kind of awesome, right? Who hasn’t sat in a group of their friends, debating the order in which they’d be picked off in a horror movie? Who hasn’t watched “Halloween” or read “The Shining”and thought, What would I do if that were me? They’re hero stories, and everyone wants to think they’d be brave, but there’s no way to know unless you’re there. Maybe you want to be Sidney Prescott or maybe you want to be Carrie, or maybe you want to be both, either, just as long as the night ends with you covered in blood, as long as you’ve changed, you’ve emerged the real you, you’ve gone through something. I was afraid that “living through” a scary story wouldn’t be as much fun for me as reading or watching one from outside. It would be too much for me, I wouldn’t be able to take it. To be sure, there were parts of the night I opted out of; our experience could have been much more extreme. But overall, I had a terrific time. It felt liberating, exhilarating. Everything was elaborately, enthrallingly ridiculous. So a clown is running after us with a chainsaw? Whatever, we paid for this, didn’t we? The scary crow-man? Yeah, he’s
our friend. At one point in the terror maze I urged my friend forward, saying something along the lines of, “What are you afraid of? Getting scared? That’s going to happen no matter which way we go,” and I felt an immediate small rush of pride. Even this one moment of impatient rationality made me feel very smart and competent, in control, like maybe I didn’t need to be so terrified all the time — maybe it was up to me. The next morning, we wandered dull-eyed out of our
BOOKS NOTEBOOK
Summer Reading: Sedaris and a new way of thinking MIRIAM FRANSISCO Daily Arts Writer
I have a theory: For every person there is one book that changes everything, a novel or memoir or poetry collection that blows their world wide open. One book to which we can point and be able to say, “After that everything was different.” For me that book is David Sedaris’s 2017 collection, “Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002).” Good books give us fresh perspectives, new ways of understanding the world’s contradictions and entire languages through which to filter them. The best books, though, are the ones that change not just how we speak and think about the world but what of our lives we deem worthy of critical attention. I began “Theft by Finding” on a muggy July afternoon this summer. It was a two-week loan from the Boston Public Library, with a faded green clover sticker on the spine indicating it was from the new books section. I’d never read any of Sedaris’s other works. I picked it up on a whim because I liked the cover art — big red block letters in a pleasing font. My lack of purpose or expectation made it especially thrilling to have found this book, a manifestation of the kind of life-altering luck that one imagines but rarely experiences in such vivid clarity. “Theft by Finding” is something very special, perhaps because Sedaris
himself is so extraordinary. It’s not his fame that makes the book so remarkable, but instead his dedication to seeing the world as it is; ridiculous, pain-filled, joyful, incomprehensibly bizarre. “Half the people I know have dead animals in their freezers:
I have a theory: For every person there is one book that changes everything, a novel or memoir or poetry collection that blows their world wide open.
reptiles, birds, mammals. Is that normal?” Sedaris ponders. Or: “Today the teacher told us that a ripe Camembert should have the same consistency as a human eyebrow.” His dutiful recordings of strangers are just as engaging: “Man ordering at Butera’s deli/prepared-foods counter: “Hey, give me one
of them chickens that spins around.” Sedaris’s sharp sense of irony anchors the entries, whose subjects range from his career as a professional mover to the emotional aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. He is constantly ready for a tender takedown of nearly everything. “While listening to a country music station, we heard a talk / song narrated by our f lag,” Sedaris writes. “I f lew proudly at Iwo Jima and the blustering deserts of Kuwait, anywhere freedom is threatened, you will find me.” Even his literary success is addressed with this keen, sincere logic of life’s incongruity. “Roger Donald called from Little Brown to say that he would like to negotiate a two-book deal,” Sedaris says. “To celebrate, I bought a denim shirt, and thought it amazing how quickly one’s life can change. I never thought I’d want a denim shirt.” I am enthralled with Sedaris’s eye for the strange, and for how he manages to juxtapose his own trials with the oddities he comes across. “Today I saw a one-armed dwarf carrying a skateboard. It’s been ninety days since I’ve had a drink,” he writes. Nothing gets a pass; the whole lot of life is presented raw, spread-eagle for his dutiful examination. After reading “Theft by Finding,” the world seems that way to me, too: unimaginably strange, teeming with things to notice and write about. It is all here. It always was. I just had to look.
Arts
6A — Wednesday, September 19, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DAILY COMEDY COLUMN FILM REVIEW
I will not atone: All the things I’m not sorry for BECKY PORTMAN
Daily Comedy Columnist
NETFLIX
‘On My Skin’ does little in the way of commentary SAMANTHA NELSON Daily Arts Writer
Through the judicial system, power is granted to a select few in hopes that they will uphold the law and use their authority to protect and defend the greater good. This ideal, however, often doesn’t translate to reality. Countless instances of oppression and wrongdoing throughout human history have proved that power corrupts and often yields injustice. “On My Skin” brings to light the true story of Italian young man Stefano Cucchi, (Alessandro Borghi “Don’t Be Bad”) who was arrested on minor drug charges and shockingly died in prison a week later. Though Netflix’s adaptation of Cucchi’s harrowing tale tells an important story, cinematically there are more than a few shortcomings. The day of Stefano Cucchi’s arrest begins like any other. He transitions from a morning workout, to work as a surveyor at a construction site, to a religious service, to sharing a meal with his parents, to finally meeting up with a friend for a casual smoke. This day of normalcy is interrupted, however, when a pair of arrogant policemen approach Cucchi with suspicions that he has been smoking and dealing marijuana. A few minutes of back and forth interrogation ensues, leading to the police’s eventual discovery of a hefty bag of pot in Cucchi’s pant leg. Detained overnight, Cucchi endures a brutal and illicit beating from his arresting
officers, leaving his face black and blue and two vertebrae in his back broken. Shortly after, Cucchi is sentenced to imprisonment for the dealing and possession of cocaine and marijuana. Following his sentencing, Cucchi’s life begins
“On My Skin” Netflix a continuous downward spiral and it gradually becomes clear that, within the grasp of the prison system, he will never walk free again. “On My Skin” manages to stray from creating archetype characters. Director Alessio Cremonini portrays Cucchi as a multidimensional protagonist, allowing audiences to perceive him as human and not entirely innocent or guilty. On the one hand, all signs point to the fact that Cucchi was “a bad man” for dealing cocaine and marijuana. However, at the same time, we also receive a glimpse into another part of Cucchi, the part that is a son and a brother. Though brief, the moments that reiterate the positive and loving relationship that Cucchi has with his family, such as regular dinners at his parent’s house or the sibling banter shared with his sister, build his character’s complexity and realness. Though “On My Skin” is commendable in its introduction of Cucchi’s story to a broader audience, it lacks enough engaging material for audiences to grasp onto. The majority of
the film can be encapsulated as a visual representation of Cucchi’s slow and painful physical and emotional deterioration, which is simply not sustainable for a two-hour film. Additionally, with such a large portion of the movie relying solely on Cucchi, there are no sturdy character relationships to invest in. Scene after scene, Cucchi is depicted lying in bed in worse condition than the day before, which becomes rather repetitive and, frankly, a bit boring. Not to mention the dialogue is far from riveting. The majority of conversations occurring between Cucchi and the prison guards or doctors, or between Cucchi’s parents, take on somber and relatively bland tones. The film’s greatest misstep is failing to delve deeper into the aftermath of Cucchi’s death. Stefano Cucchi was unfortunately not alone in the cruelty he endured at the hands of the judicial system. The credit sequence reveals the staggering fact that Stefano Cucchi was the 148th person to die in an Italian prison in 2009. Additionally, audiences learn that after his death, Cucchi’s sister Ilaria and parents began digging for answers about Stefano’s bizarre death. This brief fragment, suggests that Cucchi’s story may be better off told as a documentation of his family’s search for answers. With uninvolved character interactions and a depressing downtempo mood, “On My Skin” simply does not have the lifeblood to invest audiences in what in reality is a very compelling and gripping story.
Today is Yom Kippur. The international day of Jewish repentance. A day of ref lection, atonement and not eating. A day to look back on the year and contemplate one’s sins, failures and mistakes. Thinking back on the year and all of the people I may have offended or the minor traffic laws I may have violated or the shade I may have thrown fills me with the guilt of a thousand Jewish mothers. As you know, dear reader, I’m a selfconscious, guilt-ridden kind of gal, so this time of year isn’t very good on my poor nerves. Therefore, I’m gonna let you know exactly what I will not be atoning for this year. Yeah, I am sorry for running over that man with my bicycle last week (he was unharmed, by the way), but there is no way in hell I’m apologizing for bingewatching all of “The Fosters” on Netf lix (Noah Centineo stole my heart as replacement Jesus long before he was Peter Kavinsky, thank you very much). So here is a list of things I will not atone for on this holy day of atonement: I will not atone for my three identical pairs of white sneakers. They may look the same, but I am telling you they have different places in my heart and closet. I will not atone for trying to convince my ophthalmologist I needed glasses because I wanted to look smart even though my vision is perfect. I will also not atone for buying glasses anyway even though I do not need them. But I do think people take me more seriously when I wear them. Even though they hurt a bit, I still wear them, and for that I will also not apologize. I will not atone for my face sweat, back sweat or boob sweat. I have over-active glands and they perspire, get used to it. Most activities, including standing, make me sweat, so telling me I look sweaty is unhelpful and rude. But I will not apologize for my
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
For the Daily
Having recently returned from a spell as a guest conductor in Innsbruck, Austria, Director of Orchestra Kenneth Kiesler immediately resumed his work in conducting worldclass musicians as he prepares for the University Symphony Orchestra’s first performance of the 2018 — 2019 term. The School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD) University Symphony Orchestra is the most experienced orchestra at the University. Composed of 73 undergraduate students and 35 graduate students, the University Symphony Orchestra is consistently ranked one of the top university orchestras in the United States, having been awarded a Grammy for Best Classical Recording in 2004 and nominated for the Grammy on two other occasions. The SMTD University Symphony Orchestra will be performing three pieces: the “Violin Concerto” by Benjamin Britten, performed by SMTD Concerto Competition winner Christine Harada Li, Elgar’s
I’m a selfconscious, guiltridden kind of gal, so this time of year isn’t very good on my poor nerves. Therefore, I’m gonna let you know exactly what I will not be atoning for this year.
addiction is my problem, and I don’t think it’s a problem. I will not atone for my Mrs. Maisel impression because it is gold. I will not atone for my Russian stacking doll collection. Period. I will not atone for taking that handful of Splenda packets from Starbucks. But I actually do feel pretty bad about that one, so maybe scratch that. I will not atone for making a playlist titled “True Happiness” that is just Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut to the Feeling” 26 times. I will not atone for taking back the T-shirt I gave to my brother as a birthday present. Because he left it at home and that is simply his fault. I will not atone for not putting my phone on airplane
mode when I’m on an airplane. I will not atone for unironically liking blue grass music. It has a twang and a soulful beat that fills me with joy. I will not atone for taking selfies when I feel good about myself. Because, hell, if you feel hot, own it. I will not atone for asking that guy out first. #feminism I will not atone for writing this article. #journalism I will not atone for my unconscious brain. #surrealism I will not atone for using hashtags. #hashtag I will not atone for asking which 12:00 is a.m. and which 12:00 is p.m. because it gets really confusing. I will not atone for re-watching “A Cinderella Story” with Chad Michael Murray and Hilary Duff up to five times a year, because the soundtrack is killer and it literally never gets old. I will not atone for wearing hats and claiming it’s for the outfit when I actually just didn’t wash my hair. I will not atone for biting my nails, though I should probably stop doing it because it’s a bad habit. I will not atone for my crush on Jeff Goldblum. I will not atone for my crush on Adam Driver. I will not atone for my crush on Pete Davidson. I will not atone for my crush on Johnny Bravo (yes I still think about him). I will not atone for my perpetual watch tan. I will not atone for my love of Christmas. Just because I’m Jewish doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good carol and a glass of eggnog. I will not atone for watching drag queen makeup tutorials on Facebook. I will not atone for wearing pajamas to class, because who doesn’t. There you have it folks, a year’s worth of guilty pleasures, sinful indulgences and hedonistic tendencies that I refuse to apologize for. In the wise words of Demi Lovato, “I’m sorry (I’m not sorry).”
Release Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2018
SMTD Symphony Orchestra will honor Bilik & Bernstein in opening ZACHARY WARAALA
body, in fact, I am thankful for it and all the wonderful things it does, like sweat. I will not atone for ubering to Zingerman’s. It is a far walk and you know how important it is to get there before the Sunday crowds roll in. I will not atone for drinking two to three to four cups of coffee a day. My caffeine
most famous piece, “Enigma Variations” and the encore: Jerry Bilik’s arrangement of “Hail to the Victors.”
“SMTD University Symphony Orchestra” Sept. 22, 2018 @ 8 p.m. Hill Auditorium Free
Kenneth Kiesler has been at the University for 23 years and is currently the Director of Orchestras at the University. As such, his responsibilities include the supervision of the conductors of the other orchestras at SMTD, handling programming and scheduling for each orchestra and conducting the renowned University Symphony Orchestra. Kiesler’s work is significant in both
physical demand and musical payoff. Although he often finds himself burning the midnight oil, Kiesler has led his colleagues and students to be ranked by U.S. News and World Report as constituting the number-one graduate program in conducting every year since 1997. In short, the conductor is well-versed in the intricacies of Mich.’s orchestras and a celebrity in his field. The encore piece being the focus of the University Symphony Orchestra’s opening performance for the term, Kiesler wanted to honor Bilik and Bernstein for their contributions to the University and to American conductors. “Usually encores are a surprise, but this is very cool, so I don’t want it to be a surprise,” Kiesler said in an interview with The Daily. “Jerry Bilik is the guy who has written over 1000 arrangements for the Michigan Marching Band for football. In 1967, he wrote variations on ‘Hail to the Victors’ for the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic in the premier here at Hill Auditorium in 1967. It has never been played since.”
Kiesler has long been a follower of Leonard Bernstein’s. “I grew up in the New York area, in the suburbs of New York city, so I grew up going to his concerts, and he spoke at my graduation for grad school, too. I conducted the orchestra at my graduation with Leonard Bernstein staring at me,” the conductor recounted. “It’s neat for me. I’m certainly no personal friend of Bernstein’s but I met him and was with him three times and I feel a huge debt of gratitude to him because he opened the doors for American conductors.” The University Symphony Orchestra is well-equipped and ready to fulfill this debt to the late Leonard Bernstein with the group’s first performance of the season next Saturday. After a 51-year slumber, Bernstein’s performance of Bilik’s arrangement of “Hail to the Victors” will ring through Hill Auditorium once again, revived by the University’s finest musicians. There will be a pre-concert lecture at 7:15 p.m. in the lower lobby of Hill Auditorium to be followed by the main performance at 8:00 p.m. Entry to the performance is free of charge.
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Most populous città in Italia 5 Vintage photo tone 10 Scheming 14 “Are you __ out?” 15 Tidies text 16 Scattered, as seeds 17 Ladled party drink 19 Vast landmass 20 Island near Maui 21 “__ a Lady”: Tom Jones hit 23 It blows things up 24 CPR pro 25 Cigarette brand featured on “Mad Men” 29 Ingredient in a Florentine dish 31 Ancient Aegean region 32 Notice 33 Crosswordsolving Simpson 36 WWI pistol 37 Martial arts level 40 Happen next 43 Korean imports 44 “Hostel” director Roth 47 __ Bornes: card game 48 Being disrespectful to 51 Manhattan stage attraction 55 Cal. column 56 Oft-numbered rd. 57 Saltimbocca herb 58 Stationery brand 60 Indian music 62 Slimy pest in a flower bed 65 Heal, in a way 66 Fire remnant 67 New Age composer John 68 Not mad 69 Fixes the leaks in 70 Two-toned cookie DOWN 1 Rummages (through) 2 Parkway entrances 3 Canadian force member
4 Met melody 5 Fall mo. 6 Part of a college URL 7 Belarus city 8 In need of calamine lotion 9 Fire pit residue 10 N. American land 11 Bulletin board item 12 Hostess sponge cake 13 Painting the town red 18 Chef Jet __, frequent “Cutthroat Kitchen” judge 22 “All the same ... ” 26 Western sch. with NCAA Division I team championships in 20 sports 27 Hen-to-be 28 Post office assignments 30 Sci-fi/fantasy award 34 Slalom slider 35 Embarrass 38 West Yorkshire city
39 Morales of “The Brink” 40 Boards at the dock 41 Kurt Cobain’s group 42 Alabama Slammer ingredient 45 More diminutive 46 Not outsourced 49 WWII weapon 50 Enthusiastic
52 Pay 53 “Only __”: NPR sports program 54 __ maté: tealike beverage 59 About 61 Dined 63 St. with a former “Small Wonder” slogan 64 Stammering sounds
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Kurt Mengel and Jan-Michele Gianette ©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
09/19/18
09/19/18
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 — 7A
Paye striking balance between present and future
Sophomore defensive end Kwity Paye finally had the opportunity to take his shot during Saturday’s game with SMU. MAX MARCOVITCH Daily Sports Editor
Kwity Paye recognized the trickery right away. He wasn’t fooled. Southern Methodist’s offensive line stood still, hoping to confuse the Michigan defensive line so the Mustangs could get a quick play off. Paye was undeterred, turning the corner with his elite speed on full display as the quarterback rolled to the other side. He approached the quarterback, and in practice — where his reps largely take place these days — that’s where the play would have stopped. “Can’t touch the quarterback in practice,” Paye said through a laugh Tuesday. “No, sir.” But this was a game, and Paye was giving no mercy. “I saw that he was trying to get a quick play off,” he said. “So I just sprinted over there and then I saw he still had the ball and just took my shot.” Take his shot, he did, sending the quarterback’s helmet f lying and putting fans on notice for things to come. The sophomore defensive end is stuck in limbo right now, groomed as a successor at one of the defensive end spots. For now, he sits behind stalwarts Chase Winovich and Rashan Gary, operating at both the “end” side and the “anchor.” Each has its requisite skillsets. For now, Paye is walking that tightrope. “The anchor side is more of a hard-nosed position,” Paye said. “That’s like the base of the defense.
So if the anchor is weak, the whole defense falls apart. You have to be strong at the position, knock the tight end back, just be physical. At the end position, I feel like that’s more the pass-rushing side — able to finesse and chase after that quarterback.” In high school, he played the “end” spot, where he was known best for his athleticism and pass-rush ability. Paye has since added about 25 pounds, which allows him to spell Gary at anchor as well. Defensive line coach Greg Mattison’s system is predicated on plenty of rotation, often dictated by the players themselves. But with All-American-level players operating each end, there’s hardly room for anyone else to take on an extended role. Paye would be next in that pecking order — he will be next in that pecking order, be it this year or next. It’s hardly a knock on him that his playing time is limited by Winovich and Gary. In fact, he’s using their presence to pick up morsels from their games. From Gary, Paye is hoping to absorb resilience. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him miss practice,” Paye said. “Even when he’s injured, he’s out there practicing. That just motivates me to fight through injury and go out there.” From Winovich, it’s his relentlessness. “When you see Chase play, there will be a quarterback that will take off down the other sideline, you see Chase
“Can’t touch the quarterback in practice. No, sir.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore defensive end Kwity Paye has the opportunity to play one of two defensive end spots after Chase Winovich and Rashan Gary leave Michigan.
hunting him down,” he said. “Just seeing him play with that much enthusiasm, that much effort, makes me want to play that same way.” Paye has been working with Tenarius “Tank” Wright — a former defensive end at Arkansas, who is on Michigan’s strength staff right now — to help develop pass-rush tools and proper
usage of his hands. At the moment, it’s about finding balance as he juggles what’s needed now and what will be needed in the future. He has to be ready to play this year, in the event of an injury or any other circumstance. For next year, he needs to be as best prepared to step in (likely for Winovich at “end”
“The anchor side is more of a hard-nosed position.”
side) and produce. There will be boatloads of production to replace. Paye admits it’s been hard, that next year will be easier for him. He’s taking reps at both sides, sometimes to the detriment of the long-term outlook. “I think (Mattison) knows those guys are getting ready to leave,” Paye said of his outlook on
the future. “So I feel like he’s trying to prepare me to try and eventually take over, eventually fill those spots. But as of right now, I’m just trying to contribute.” Often, that’s on display more in practice than in the games. But rest assured, when Paye gets his look — just as he did against SMU — he’ll be ready.
“But as of right now, I’m just trying to contribute.”
Patterson has “never been this comfortable” Michigan lands fivestar safety Daxton Hill MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
It’s clear that Shea Patterson is feeling good these days. All you have to do to know that is ask the sophomore quarterback’s teammates. After the Wolverines beat Western Michigan two weeks ago, senior defensive end Chase Winovich talked about Patterson’s demeanor. “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 last week. “He’s the man for the job, and he can get the job done.” On Tuesday, Patterson took his turn with the media, but not before sophomore fullback Ben Mason spoke. And while he answered questions, Patterson poked his head up over the railing in Schembechler Hall to watch Mason. “I mean, you just saw it,” Mason said, pointing up to where Patterson was peaking over the wall. “Everybody on the team likes him.” If Patterson played any other position, these descriptions wouldn’t be valued at all. But he doesn’t. He’s the brand new, transfer quarterback at Michigan, and he’s under the microscope that accompanies that position. So people care that he has acclimated quickly to the team and feels comfortable. Last week, Patterson got the chance to respond to Wolverines fans who were panicking after the Week 1 loss to Notre Dame. Patterson said to relax. It’s not that he wants fans to pipe down completely, just that it’s a long season, and not everything goes perfectly.
MIKE PERSAK
Managing Sports Editor
EVAN AARON/Daily
Junior quarterback Shea Patterson said he’s never been more comfortable in the system than he has been at Michigan.
“I understand the tradition and expectations that surround this program, and that’s what it is,” Patterson said. “It’s the University of Michigan. I’m proud to just be here and be a part of the team. Just when I say that, it’s understanding that nobody’s expectations are bigger than our own here in this football office. So we’re just going to continue to get better every single week.” When it comes down to it, though, none of that stuff matters outside of the team. What does matter is the product on the field. That part is much more obvious to an outside observer. Patterson has completed 70 percent of his passes, has six touchdowns and has given the Michigan the kind of dynamic playmaker in the passing game that they’ve been longing for. He has called Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh the best coach he has ever played
“He’s the man for the job, and he can get the job done.”
for. He seems to be grasping the concepts of Harbaugh’s offensive schemes. “I think it’s right where I needed to be,” Patterson said, when asked if he’s ahead of schedule. “Just learning, learning every single day. Learning every single day from (Harbaugh) and the coaching staff who have been around the game of football for so many years. “… There’s nothing left unsaid or unsure about. You know, if you make a mistake, (Harbaugh) is gonna come talk to you — not necessarily yell at you — but tell you, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing. You know, this is what I need you to do.’ So I think that’s awesome.” All of this is made especially impressive by the fact that Patterson is a transfer. It was less than a year ago when he announced he’d be transferring from Mississippi to Michigan. Then there was the whole
saga of whether Patterson would even be eligible to play. And yet, after all of that, Harbaugh named Patterson the starting quarterback before the opener for the first time since he’s been the head coach. Maybe that should have been a testament to just how comfortable Patterson was, and how quickly he got there. If there was any doubt after that, or any doubt after Winovich espoused his quarterback’s confidence, there shouldn’t be now. As Patterson began to wrap up his media session on Tuesday, he was asked if he feels like the best quarterback he’s ever been. “A lot of room to grow, and a lot of stuff to learn from over the past three weeks,” Patterson said. “But as far as the comfort level, I’ve never been this comfortable than in this system and with this team and with these coaches.”
Five-star safety Daxton Hill, the No. 12 player in the class of 2019, according to 247Sports, announced via Twitter on Wednesday that he is committing to Michigan. The Tulsa, Okla., product is the second 5-star player the Wolverines have added to their recruiting class, joining defensive end Chris Hinton. Hill, with a 247Sports ranking of .9946, is the highestrated recruit Michigan has pulled in since junior defensive end Rashan Gary committed in 2016. Hill stands at 6-foot, 186 pounds and possesses top-ofthe-line speed, as he recorded a 4.3-second 40-yard dash. He finished last season, his junior year, at Booker T. Washington High School, with 71 tackles, five interceptions and four
touchdowns. “I thank all the universities for recruiting me and taking time to invest in me,” Hill said in his tweet. “With that being said, I will be committing to The University of Michigan!!” The commitment comes mere days after Hill’s visit to Ann Arbor for the Wolverines’ win over SMU. It is a big recruiting win for Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff, since Alabama was a favorite to land Hill’s services. The Wolverines now have three safeties in their 2019 class, as Hill joins 3-star prospects Quinten Johnson and Joey Velazquez, though Hill is, obviously, the crown jewel of that group. Michigan now has 23 players committed for 2019, and Tuesday’s news alone moves the class from No. 11 to No. 7 nationally, according to 247Sports.
“...I will be committing to the University of Michigan.”
“I’m proud to just be here and be a part of the team.”
EVAN AARON/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has 23 players committed for the 2019 season.
Sports
8A — Wednesday, September 19, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines finish sixth at East and West Match Play Challenge ROHAN KUMAR Daily Sports Writer
Sunday through Tuesday, the Michigan women’s golf team hosted its season opener at one of the team’s two home courses — Radrick Farms Golf Course. At times, it appeared the Wolverines had the home field advantage. During Monday’s match play round, Michigan was tied with Texas A&M with only one group still on the course. Luckily for the Wolverines, sophomore Ashley Kim was in that final group. Despite trailing by one hole with four left to play, she notched a par and then three consecutive birdies to win her match by two holes and help Michigan defeat the Aggies, 3-2. Overall, though, the Wolverines’ performance was mediocre and the team finished the three-day East
and West Match Play Challenge in sixth place. UC Davis won the tournament by default because its final round opponent, Iowa State, withdrew from the field. On Sunday, the eight teams present competed in 36 holes of stroke play to determine seeding for the ensuing match play tournament. The top four teams from stroke play qualified for a championship bracket while the bottom competed in a consolation bracket. Each round of the match play brackets consisted of 18 holes, with the semifinals and finals on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Michigan had a rocky stroke-
play performance. Over the first 18 holes, the Wolverines’ score of 301 put them in seventh place, and although they made big strides the second time around with a score of a 290, it wasn’t enough. Michigan stayed in seventh place. “We kinda kicked ourselves in the foot a little bit in that first round but recovered very nicely,” said Michigan coach Jan Dowling. “I’d say ball-striking contributed to the change.” Kim’s performance was the highlight of the stroke play competition. She carded scores of 73 and 72 to tie for eighth place. “She’s very determined to have
“I’d say ballstriking contributed to the change.”
a great season, and she was ready to go in that first tournament,” Dowling said. “She took her preparation very seriously and she’s looking forward to the rest of our tournaments.” Freshmen Ashley Lau and junior Alisa Snyder had stellar second round scores of 71 and 72. They finished stroke play in 17th and 23rd, accordingly, and their success sparked the Wolverines’ 11-shot improvement between rounds. Freshman Sophia Trombetta and senior Elodie Van Dievoet, also in the lineup, placed in 31st and 40th respectively. After defeating Texas A&M,
Michigan faced Oregon on Tuesday. But the Ducks proved too much to handle, and the Wolverines fell, 4.5-0.5. Though Van Dievoet tied her match, her teammates all lost their respective matches. “We played well, they played well, but they definitely played better than us,” Dowling said. “Plenty of positives to take away from our week.” Junior Hannah Ghelfi and freshman Jacqueline Young also competed, but as individuals. They placed 28th and 46th among all competitors, and Ghelfi finished as runner-up in the individual bracket.
“Golfers at any level don’t get to compete at home very often.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore Ashley Kim recorded a par and three consecutive birdies to help Michigan achieve a 3-2 win over Texas A&M during Monday’s match play round.
Regardless of the outcome, the Wolverines were glad to get match play practice, especially since the National Championship consists of a match play tournament. “It’s important to get that experience,” Dowling said. “We don’t play match play all year. … It can get you in this great one-shotat-a-time mentality, and it requires some experience. … It creates a lot of great team camaraderie.” Additionally, while many sports enjoy frequent home play, golf is an exception. Thus, hosting a home tournament was a memorable occasion for Michigan. “Radrick is a great place to host a tournament,” Dowling said. “It’s really good. It’s hard, but it’s really good. “It’s always nice to compete at home. Golfers at any level don’t get to compete at home very often. … It’s a pretty special thing.”
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | S E P T E M B E R 19, 201 8
The nativist next door
2B
Wednesday, September 19, 2018// The Statement
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | S E P T E M B E R 19, 201 8
Managing Statement Editor: Brian Kuang
Photo Editor: Amelia Cacchione
Managing Editor: Dayton Hare
Deputy Editors: Colin Beresford Jennifer Meer
Editor in Chief: Alexa St. John
Copy Editors: Elise Laarman Finntan Storer
The guilt of the unread books on my nightstand
BY SHANNON ORS, DAILY STAFF REPORTER
I
know I am not supposed to say this, but most of the books I have bought recently have not been finished. My nightstand has become a graveyard for abandoned literature. I read a few chapters of “The Idiot” because I fell in love with the millennial pink jacket cover. After watching Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk I found myself downloading her book “Presence.” And I even tried reading “An American Marriage” because Oprah Winfrey said I should. This consumerist f law revealed itself earlier this summer when I found myself impulsively adding books to my Amazon shopping cart. I think I felt like I was missing some important knowledge about the world and the only way to make up for this was to start reading. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that you really only have two options when you spend money on Amazon. You can either be practical and stock up on shampoo or mechanical pencils or you can indulge and buy things you really don’t need. I chose the latter. Two days later a box of 10 books arrived at my front door. The moment I broke the seal of Amazon Prime packing tape, I felt the weight of the books drop in my stomach. I had betrayed bookkeeper Kathleen Kelly and the local Shop Around the Corner. I had bought from the breed of corporate giant Nora Ephron had specifically warned us against — à la Fox Books. I had given into the allure of discount pricing, two-day shipping and the comfort of shopping in my pajamas. The experience of shopping online did not satisfy any of the reasons why I love shopping for books. So, why did I do it anyway? To begin to understand the roots of my impulse book buying, it is necessary to examine the genius marketing scheme that raised a generation of retail habits: Scholastic Book Fairs. Once a year in elementary school, Scholastic would take over the library creating a curated retail space of Junie B. Jones, Harry Potter wands and
hamster posters. For one week, our dedicated library time turned into a shopping crash course. My classmates and I would browse the inventory, write our book lists on the provided stationery and tally our pocket money. It was exhilarating. A decade later, I still love the romance of bookstores. I love how all the salespeople wear cable knit sweaters and tortoiseshell frames. I love the scribbled handwritten recommendations that dot the bookshelves. I love the old couple who spends the entire afternoon working on the coffee table puzzle. I love when a guy whoàfaintly looks like Timotheé Chalamet spends five minutes explaining why I need to read “The Goldfinch.” I love the tchotchkes. The fogged glasses. The Mozart music. Going to a bookstore evokes a feeling of escapism, to the extent that I forget about all the unread books sitting on my nightstand and I buy more. I wish I could say I read all 10 of those books this summer. I would even be happy if I had read five. I am like one of those people who has a g ym membership, but rarely goes to the g ym. I buy books and never read them. It is pitiful, I know. Each week there is a new body of research or viral op-ed discussing the pitfalls of consumerism or rebuking those who no longer read. It would appear I am guilty on both accounts. I don’t think my reading for school or the occasional f luffy beach reads qualifies me as a member of the book club anymore. And I acknowledge my impulse Amazon book purchases do not renew my membership to literary circles. You actually have to read books to be considered a reader. Despite my remorse, the stack of nightstand books continues to remain largely untouched. Their uncracked spines mocking my ignorance every time I reach for my phone or turn off the light. Occasionally, a vacation or lazy afternoon will summon one of those books off the shelf and for a few
hours, I remember the girl who used to read dozens of books — the elementary and middle school version of myself. The girl who finished the library summer reading challenge in June and who memorized the account number of her library card. It is an interesting thing when you run into the person you used to be. The identity that carried you through childhood. Yet it happens every time I return to the bookstore. At least
for a few hours, I reconnect with the characters and settings I grew up with. I remember how much I loved to read and I feel a sudden panic to read again. To not lose who I use to be before it is too late. And when this feeling creeps up when I am not in a bookstore? Well, I guess that is when I buy 10 books on Amazon. I am beginning to think in the future I should go to the library instead.
DESIGN BY BETSY STUBBS
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 // The Statement
3B
Visual Statement: Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre BY EMMA RICHTER, SENIOR PHOTO EDITOR As I was photographing Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen at the Helen Zell Writers’ Program event last week, I began exploring the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. I got to climb up to different platforms, peek out from the curtains and roam the backstage — and I discovered the strange juxtaposition of the beautiful and the industrial that exists in this old theater tucked into the Michigan League. The audience only sees one perspective of the stage and theater, so I tried to capture several perspectives of the space.
4B
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 // The Statement
CHRISTINE MONTALBANO FOR THE USER
The idea that I can take my mind to whatever extent I desire and create what I want is one of the most riveting feelings that continuously propels me to create genuine work. Whether I am designing an infographic or programming an application, I imagine how the user would experience it. Studying design at The University of Michigan has put me in the hot seat to help pave a better future for the world around me through design. It is easy to get lost in our schoolwork, become selfish and block anyone else’s needs out, but as a designer that is all I seem to think about. Through the needs and desires of those around me, I have the power to alleviate stress, evoke creativity and inspire those to join me in the process of improving the world’s design. Being selfish is never in the equation for me, I consistently create for myself in order to enhance my skills to create for others — it’s a never-ending cycle. My work is undefinable, yet understandable. I don’t believe one piece or even a presentation of my work can put a cap on the depth of thoughts and aspirations I have for the good of the users. I refuse to be defined by the opinions of others, but rather I rise above and prove myself through design. What is unique about being a designer is I can essentially help shape the user’s life, their experiences and their mood as well as give certain scenarios context and stir up conversation. The user’s mindless day-to-day tasks and encounters are all shaped by design, and I am grateful to be a part of that everyday bustle. The paper you are reading, your alarm clock that went off this morning and the credit card machine at your coffee shop are all shaped by design and gave your day meaning and context. Without your alarm clock, you would still be in a deep slumber, and without your morning coffee, who knows where you would be. It is beyond fascinating how every single thing around me was intricately planned out through design. Though I often joke about being in a relationship with my computer, the reward is unlike any other. Behind the screen there are big dreams, ideas and plans to enhance certain products and interfaces that are flawed for the user. Behind my screen there are multiple Adobe Create Suite applications running at once and a notebook flooded with sketches and mockups of potential designs. Behind my screen there is a plethora of written thoughts and emotions to keep track of how certain experiences affect me. The users shape my life too, and watching them interact or experience my work is extremely satisfying. The timeless hours I have spent “in a relationship” with my computer, the countless nights my wrists and neck have been sore and the endless contemplation of ways I can better my work suddenly become worth it for those brief seconds I experience the user interacting with my work with ease. The feeling of being a part of this ease is one of the greatest gifts, and it is all through design. Devoting my fingertips to the user will never get old. Taking my mind to whatever extent I desire for the future of design will help me remain in tune with the quick demands and desires of the user. No matter what it is I am designing, I am designing for myself to enhance my abilities for the user to pave the way for the future of design. My design experiences will allow me to be a part of the users’ everyday life. I realize what a blessing it is to be able to experience life from both the eyes of a designer as well as a user, and I know this will only put me in a better place to design the future.
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 // The Statement
5B
John Tanton, the nativist next door How a Petoskey doctor shaped modern white nationalist movements
by Brian Kuang, Managing Statement Editor
“W
e are quitting at two,” a Northern Michigan doctor named John Tanton told the Alpena News in 1975, referring to his two daughters. Moving to Petoskey, Mich., in 1964 after a medical residency at the University of Michigan, Tanton had long established himself as a committed — and sometimes eccentric — pillar of the local community. Decades before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion and when birth control was considered taboo, Tanton’s wife Mary Lou had been heavily involved in Ann Arbor Planned Parenthood; the couple established the first Planned Parenthood clinic in Northern Michigan and expanded access to family planning services in the regional clinics. However, this was not out of some dedication to liberal politics. John was also a deeply-committed conservationist, heavily involved in nationwide grassroots environmental groups. Heavily inf luenced by the 1968 book, “The Population Bomb,” which warned that exponential population growth would devastate the environment and food security, to Tanton the goals of environmentalism and access to birth control were fundamentally intertwined. As was the thinking of many other educated minds of the time, environmental preservation meant population control could not be a taboo subject. Around this era, the post-Baby Boom birth rate had tapered off and the immigration restrictions of the early 20th century rolled back; population growth in the United States had come to be driven by immigration. “Even back in high school, my idea was that man’s role was not to multiply and subdue the earth,” Tanton recounted in a 1989 interview. “But to exist in easy partnership with it and to study the natural world.” This vision of environmental preservation and population control, combined with a zeal for activism, would ultimately manifest itself in Tanton — himself the son of a Canadian immigrant — as a fervor for restricting immigration into
the U.S. In the decade that followed the opening newspaper quote, Tanton would become one of the preeminent national voices to limit American immigration, both illegal and legal, and his life’s work has made him one of the most consequential figures in shaping the modern anti-
ascended to the White House on overtones of racial revanchism and draconian crackdowns on immigration, and many of the current administration’s strict immigration agenda originate from groups tied to the Michigan doctor. Contemporary liberals tend to attri-
“In the decade that followed the opening newspaper quote, Tanton would become one of the preeminent national voices to limit American immigration, both illegal and legal, and his life’s work has made him one of the most consequential figures in shaping the modern anti-immigration movement in this country.” immigration movement in this country. Despite living half a country away from Capitol Hill, Tanton helped establish the Federation for American Immigration Reform and a myriad of other advocacy groups in the late 1970s and 1980s that would shift the national conversation against both legal and illegal immigration in two subsequent generations. Largely avoiding the public spotlight and attempting to cast himself as a gentleman doctor, Tanton’s detractors — including the Southern Poverty Law Center — have labeled him as a white nationalist, though he himself takes offense to the label. In 2007, pushing the age of 73, he donated 25 boxes filled with his correspondence — dating back from the late 1960s up until the early years of the new millennium — to the University of Michigan’s Bentley Historical Library. The first 14 boxes are accessible to the public. The remainder are sealed until 2035 per Tanton’s request and primarily contain documents related to FAIR and the later years of his life. In our present political moment, immigration has become perhaps the most bitterly polarizing issue in U.S. politics. A New York real estate developer has
bute the anti-immigration politics of the present to an ignorance of America’s history as a nation of immigrants. Indeed, it is one of the oldest ironies of this country that the descendents of immigrants — such as Tanton — would reject subsequent generations of arrivals as unable to join the country, be it the Irish and Italian Catholics or Eastern European Jews
Courtesy of the Bently Historical Library
on the East Coast, or the Chinese on the West Coast. The Tanton of the 1970s was well aware of this tragic irony in his writings and explicitly warned against repeating the mistakes of the past. Nevertheless, by the 1990s he had evolved to associate with some of the nation’s most inf luential white nationalists. An extension of his decades-held beliefs would ultimately consume his political philosophy with the idea of preserving a homogenous American civilization against the perceived threat of immigrants and diversity. As his public persona and private writings descended into white nationalism, it remains to be seen how much of this transformation ref lected a genuine ideological evolution to embrace bigotry rather than from prejudices that had been hidden behind his public motives, much like his advocacy for birth control. n 1956, Tanton — then a senior at Michigan State University — arrived in Chicago alongside 11 other Rhodes Scholarship finalists to compete for roughly half-a-dozen awards to study in Oxford, England that had been set aside for Midwesterners. Having spent his adolescence on a farm in the rural “thumb” of Michigan and in a
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article published by North Woodscall and labor markets. The issue that kept in 1977 about Tanton’s appointment to discussions about limiting migration the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore out of the mainstream, Tanton would country schoolhouse, he credited most Advisory Commission, he’s introduced write in 1975 in an essay tying migraof his education to being self-taught, as a “Petoskey surgeon” and “one of tion control and conservationism, was and he had excelled at his studies in Michigan’s leading environmentalists.” America’s unique history as a nation of MSU. However, Tanton found himself The doctor considered himself an immigrants. Tanton himself expressed feeling out-classed by his peers who came from wealthier upbringings and East Coast Ivy Leagues, and he was ultimately not awarded a scholarship. “In the decade that followed the opening newspaper Still taking pride in how far he had made it in the Rhodes Scholarship pro- quote, Tanton would become one of the preeminent cess, Tanton entered the University of Michigan Medical School following his national voices to limit American immigration, both illegraduation from MSU. In Ann Arbor, he continued to excel at his studies, mar- gal and legal, and his life’s work has made him one of the ried a fellow student and completed an ophthalmology residency in 1964. Fond most consequential figures in shaping the modern antiof their rural upbringings, the Tantons moved to Petoskey, Mich., a small town immigration movement in this country.” in the north of the state famed for its freshwater polished stones that bear the town’s name, and John Tanton became one of the few ophthalmologi- eccentric philanthropist willing to sup- a discomfort with the country’s history cal surgeons in the region. port causes he felt others weren’t will- of violent racism and xenophobia. Tanton has been a meticulous hoard- ing to touch. He once wrote to a medical “This visceral reaction (to immigraer of letters, news clippings, and other colleague that despite donating 10 per- tion restrictions) is understandable, as correspondence that began at this cent of his income to charity, he and his most of us have immigrant roots, and time, and his public file in the Bentley wife chose to “treat (our) contributions we feel compromised,” Tanton wrote. Library paints an incomplete portrait as venture capital and put them into “An aversion to discussing immigraof a dizzyingly busy community activ- high-risk areas that are struggling to tion is also understandable in light of ist and outdoors enthusiast. get started … where we hope our pit- the seamy history surrounding past According to a résumé he saved in tance can make a difference.” efforts to limit immigration. These his folder, at the time he held positions It was around the mid-1970s that Tan- were marked by xenophobia and racincluding president of the Northern ton’s interests fixated him on human ism, and gave rise to the likes of the Michigan Planned Parenthood, as well migration, leading him to believe it Know-Nothing political party, and the as various state and national positions threatened environmental conserva- Ku Klux Klan.” in the Sierra Club, League of Conser- tion by draining resources, hurt the However, according to Tanton, this vation Voters and other local conser- economic well-being of developing unseemly history was insufficient reavation clubs — all while practicing nations by draining highly-skilled son for limits to migration to become medicine. In local news clippings from workers and hurt the working class a fair topic of debate. Nonetheless, his that time, he is referred to as a promi- and environment of nations receiv- writings would come to exhibit the nent local environmentalist. In an ing immigrants by straining resources xenophobia and racism of which he noted of in 1975. ensing that his liberal Planned Parenthood and conservationist colleagues weren’t willing to put immigration on the table as a means to control population growth, Tanton struck out with several like-minded associates to raise several thousand dollars and establish FAIR in 1978 as a D.C.-based issues-advocacy group. Tanton would continue practicing medicine in Petoskey, except for a brief hiatus when he and his family moved to Arlington, Virg., in 1981. The group drove grassroots and media advocacy campaigns, and took advantage of access with sympathetic policymakers from both parties on Capitol Hill. “It was great working on the population problem as long as we could f lagellate ourselves for being bad people by havAmelia Cacchione/Daily ing too many children,” Tanton The Bently Historical Library on North Campus. said in 1989. “But then the birth
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rate fell precipitately during the 1970s, at the same time that the immigration rate was going up.” Tanton’s entry to this issue was largely reactive to a transformation of U.S. immigration that began the preceding decade. Since 1921, U.S. immigration laws had placed strict limits on the number of people admitted from outside of Northern Europe, crafted specifically to exclude certain groups deemed undesirable and preserve a white anglophone majority in the country. This was nullified by the Hart-Celler Act of 1965, which replaced the racially-biased quota system with criteria favoring those with high-value skills and familial ties to U.S. residents. Simultaneously, the development of the American Southwest created a newfound demand for cheap agricultural labor from Latin America composed of both illegal and legal migrants. These two forces would begin driving a demographic change in the U.S. Tanton’s goal wasn’t to revert America’s immigration policies to the 1921 status quo, which he considered to be too openly prejudiced. “At times, our immigration policy has actually been rather racist,” he ironically told the Houston Chronicle in 1981. In Tanton’s words, the early goal of FAIR was to allow immigration restriction to become a socially acceptable topic of political debate. He and his colleagues hoped to also transcend the political spectrum with a what he considered centrist anti-immigration platform that would ostensibly avoid the open bigotry of the past. Of the initial five board members of the organization, he described only one as “on the conservative side,” himself and another board member as centrists and the other two as liberals. On a day-to-day basis FAIR also vocally opposed federal programs for migrants in the courts of law and public opinion. “You want to appeal to a person’s emotions but to do it in a way that’s still respectable,” Tanton said in 1989.We didn’t want somebody reading back to us in a Congressional committee something that we didn’t want to live with.” In its initial years, FAIR was cautious of its messaging, wary of using “demagogic” appeals that could sully its public image as racist. However, Tanton would note that this allowed parallel groups to emerge to FAIR’s right that advocated for similar policies in much more inf lammatory terms. y 1982, Tanton and a subset of his colleagues came to be frustrated with FAIR’s moderate messaging points and began exploring the use of inf lammatory linguistic and cultural wedge issues to drive their anti-immigration message. By then, his writings increasingly came to ref lect a
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worldview that a culturally diversifying America was leading to a civilizational clash. “When the question came up of whether we should broaden FAIR’s bundle of issues — taking a look at cultural division and bilingualism and the changing composition of the American population and what that might mean — there was a great deal of resistance, as you say, to getting into what seemed like dangerous territory,” he said. Despite the misgivings of some of his fellow anti-immigration activists, Tanton and his associates came to embrace more divisive, high-profile tactics to drive support to their issue. They came to focus on the American Southwest, the prime destination of migrants from Latin America for generations, where Tanton felt the cause of immigration restriction to be the most salient. “Because the problems of immigration had already become sufficiently acute in areas like California, the political system was already compromised there,” he recounted in 1989, suggesting that he didn’t believe the Hispanic populations in the Southwest were entitled to political representation over white Americans. “Politicians could no longer take stands for fear of back pressure from the immigrant populations.” The most provocative push by Tanton was a direct advocacy campaign to enshrine English as the official language of the U.S., in a rebuke of the bilingual English-Spanish society that had been emerging in the Southwest as a result of migration. With several high-profile backers, including former California Republican Sen. Ichiye Hayakawa — who was born in Canada and was of Japanese descent — and former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite he helped launch the advocacy group U.S. English to accomplish this, initially by forcing ballot referendums on the issue in states such as California and Arizona. It was this latest endeavor that finally put Tanton — who didn’t care much for public appearances — and the true nature of his worldview into the public’s eye. In 1988, the Arizona Republic leaked a memo written by Tanton to an inner circle of his associates just days before the vote on a divisive Arizona ballot proposal to enshrine English as the official language of the state. In the memo, Tanton had made explicitly racial arguments that large-scale Hispanic migration threatened the foundations of American society. California, he claimed, would become akin to the South African apartheid by 2030 as a result of Latin American immigration, and he suggested Blacks and Hispanics would form a permanent socioeconomic and cultural underclass.
Furthermore, he insinuated that Latin American immigrants would bring an inherently corruptible civic culture antithetical to American society, and that they were of an inferior intelligence. The view of growing cultural, linguistic and racial diversity as a threat
tice, he would still remain active in his network of anti-immigration advocacy groups — including FAIR — though he avoided the limelight. A year after his donation to the Bentley Library, the Southern Poverty Law Center published a report detailing extensive communications
“How does one reconcile the racial belief system shown in Tanton’s Arizona Republic memo, and the Tanton who warned that America’s history of violent racism shouldn’t be repeated, who initially shied away from ‘demagogic’ tactics in FAIR’s early years, and who himself was the son of an immigrant and expressed a fondness for America’s melting pot history?” to the cohesion of American society is consistent with many of Tanton’s other private writings that are archived in the Bentley Library around this era. This political philosophy is hardly unique to Tanton, and echo the writings of controversial political scientist Charles Murray, among others. Backlash would be swift, with many of Tanton’s prominent allies — including Cronkite — condemning him and resigning from U.S. English. Tanton yielded to public pressure and also resigned from the group. In an interview the following year, Tanton stated that the contents of the memo ref lected his sincere beliefs, though they didn’t ref lect the talking points he would use in public. He also stated that he regrets resigning from U.S. English, insisting that he had done no wrong. “My memo was written for a group of people who were already initiated into immigration, population and language issues,” he said. “It was not written for people off the street who’d never heard any of these ideas before and had no background in them.” Despite the Arizona Republic’s revelations, the voters of Arizona would go on to narrowly affirm the proposal several days later, banning the state government from offering services in Spanish (outside of several narrow exceptions) by 12,000 votes out of roughly 1.1 million cast. he records available to the public in the Bentley Library dating to the early 1990s and later are largely closed to the public, a precondition of Tanton’s 2007 donation. Nonetheless, there are certain aspects of his life that are public record beyond this point. Remaining in Petoskey and continuing his medical prac-
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between Tanton and high-profile white supremacists — including Jared Taylor, Peter Brimelow and Kevin MacDonald — throughout the 1990s. In these communications Tanton regularly expressed sympathy for their views that immigration from non-Western societies would undermine “Western Civilization.” “We’re very concerned that his ideologies are at best sympathetic and at worst fully supportive of white nationalists,” said Humza Kazmi, one of several Virginia immigration attorneys who has studied Tanton’s network. Kazmi and his colleagues sued the University of Michigan last November to release the entirety of Tanton’s papers, arguing that the embargoed documents will demonstrate the full extent to which he embraced white nationalism and inf luenced presentday policymakers. The University has resisted the lawsuit in court, arguing that it is contractually bound to honor Tanton’s donation agreement to withhold files until 2035, as is the case with many donors to the library. Currently, the case is awaiting appeal by the plaintiffs. How does one reconcile the racial belief system shown in Tanton’s Arizona Republic memo, and the Tanton who warned that America’s history of violent racism shouldn’t be repeated, who initially shied away from “demagogic” tactics in FAIR’s early years, and who himself was the son of an immigrant and expressed a fondness for America’s melting pot history? Perhaps he experienced a genuine ideological evolution that lead him to embrace a vision of racial exclusion and white nationalism.
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But another possibility is that he had always held these views of racial hierarchy, and he advocated for non-racial immigration restrictionism as a ruse to one day normalize his vision. After all, he regularly expressed in his papers that his overarching goal was to bring immigration restriction into the political mainstream without any social stigma. In his 1989 oral history, Tanton envisioned “three stages in the immigration debate.” The first, which he dubbed the “Statue of Liberty phase,” was where any discussion of limiting immigration is viewed as inherently anti-American. The second he dubbed as the “‘Yes, but’ phase” where limited discussion about immigration would be possible in the political mainstream. “Then the third stage, which I think we still have yet to move into, is one in which it’s accepted as a legitimate topic and you can discuss it without being accused of things, or without first excusing yourself for being concerned about immigration policy,” Tanton said in 1989. In the present day, perhaps we are on the cusp of entering Tanton’s third stage of debate. Individuals with ties to white supremacists have held official positions in the current White House, the President of the United States has suggested there is moral equivalency between Nazis and their opponents and prime time Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham regularly go on screeds against “demographic change” and diversity with no professional repercussions. It is also a legitimate question how much of the current administration’s inhumane immigration crackdown is driven by a legitimate concern for border security, and how much driven by racial animus against non-white immigration. As for Tanton, he has reached his mid-80s but his wife told the Detroit News in 2017 that he had contracted advanced-stage Parkinson’s disease and has been committed to a nursing home. He reportedly has had a difficult time understanding the news. FAIR and other organizations he helped shape continue to exist and are outspoken advocates of the president’s immigration agenda. Was Tanton the architect of our divisive political moment, or simply a gadf ly who held wildly diverging political views that foreshadowed the division that would come decades later? The true extent of his role in shaping the present will continue to be unclear, until perhaps the remainder of the Bentley archives open in 17 years. It will be much longer before it will be clear how the demographic identity of our nation and what it means to be an American will change.
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