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the statement Tracing the historical origins and modern repercussions of the model minority stereotype.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
CSG debates new justice nomination committee ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Eduardo Chávez, grandson of Cesar Chavez, answers questions about his film “Hailing Cesar” detailing his journey to understanding his granfather’s legacy in Rackham Auditoium Tuesday evening.
Grandson of activist Cesar Chavez showcases his new documentary
Filmmaker continues grandfather’s legacy, depicting stories of Mexican grape field ALYSSA MCMURTRY Daily Staff Reporter
Tuesday night in Rackham Auditorium, Eduardo Chavez, grandson of labor activist Cesar Chavez, shared his documentary titled “Hailing Cesar.” In “Hailing Cesar,” Eduardo said he hopes to fulfill his goal of
sharing Cesar’s message with the next generation. The documentary follows Eduardo working on fields and picking grapes while learning the stories of the employees. Eduardo focused the story around Cesar’s work on the fields. Eduardo also answered ques-
tions from a diverse audience. Students from Cesar Chavez Academy High School in Detroit, students from the University of Michigan’s La Casa organization and residents of Ann Arbor attended the event hosted by the Trotter Multicultural Center and the University
of Michigan Latino/a Studies Program under the Department of American Culture. Maria Eugenia Cotera, former director of the Latina/o Studies Program and the daughter of an activist herself, fielded questions See CHAVEZ, Page 3A
Students discuss judiciary procedures, public comments on banning Wendy’s PARNIA MAZHAR Daily Staff Reporter
University of Michigan Central Student Government met Tuesday to discuss banning Wendy’s on campus, new CSG appointments and adjustments to the judicial branch nomination process. Early in the meeting, Rackham student Kim Daley spoke about blocking Wendy’s, the fast food chain, from campus. She said the first food workers in the U.S. were slaves, and even today, slavery still occurs on farms. Many farmers signed onto the Fair Food Program to better labor conditions. Several multibillion dollar companies have
pledged to improve conditions, but Wendy’s still has not joined the petition. Daley encouraged members of CSG to take action against the presence of Wendy’s at the University. CSG did not respond to Daley’s concerns at the meeting but said they focus on it at a later date. “You all have a lot of power and you are listened to,” Daley said. “You can block Wendy’s from coming to campus.” Following the graduation of the previous vice chair of the Ethics Committee, CSG voted to elect Public Policy senior Drea Somers to fill the position. When asked about her previous experience in See CSG, Page 3A
New restaurant aims to bring 1950’s Exhibition Art history tells story nostalgia to Ann Arbor’s Main Street dept. gets
CAMPUS LIFE
of deported local family Photo exhibit examines family’s experience with U. S. immigration system CALLIE TEITELBAUM Daily Staff Reporter
Photojournalist Rachel Woolf’s exhibit “Deported: An American Division,” which examines the impact of immigration policy on a local family, opened Tuesday at Weill Hall. Woolf’s photography depicts Lourdes Salazar Bautista and her family’s deportation from the United States to Mexico in 2017. The images capture the days before Bautista’s deportation hearing in Detroit and images of the family in Toluca, Mexico after their forced return. Woolf won the Art Works Projects’ 2018 Emerging Lens Mentorship Program competition, which allowed her to put together her exhibition. Art Works Projects focuses on educating the public about human rights and social justice issues through visual art. Woolf met Bautista through a friend during Bautista’s campaign to stay in the United States. Bautista was searching for someone to tell her story of fighting deportation, and Woolf, a photojournalist, met with her to photograph her experience. Woolf remained in touch with Bautista after she left the U.S. and visited her in Mexico. See DEPORTED, Page 3A
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ACADEMICS
Jim Brady’s opens second location serving up a ‘high quality’ local menu BEN ROSENFELD Daily Staff Reporter
Last month, local businessman Tom Brady Jr., along with his associate Darin Dingham opened up an Ann Arbor location of Jim Brady’s after nearly a year’s worth of development and planning. This is the second location opened by the two since 2015, when the first Jim Brady’s opened its doors to the public in Royal Oak, Mich. The restaurant served its first meal on December 10. According to Brady, the vibrant culture of the Ann Arbor community was a key factor in the choice to branch out into the area. “Ann Arbor, to us, is incredibly exciting,” Brady said. “It’s just such a dynamic market in terms of the people that live there, in terms of the culture, the art and the music.” Although the interior was only completed within the last year, the structure of the restaurant dates back to 1861. The restaurant is located in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor, close to the intersection of South Main and Liberty streets. In planning the interior of the restaurant, Brady hoped to capture the energy of the restaurant upon which Jim Brady’s was modeled — Diamond Jim Brady’s. The well-known Detroit restaurant and bar opened more than six decades ago by
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Brady’s grandfather. Located in downtown Detroit, the restaurant quickly gained popularity and became known for casual food and high-end atmosphere. Brady recalled the origins of his grandfather’s restaurant and its success throughout the ’50s and ’60s, up until its relocation to Novi in 1990 where it still stands today. “He had this idea, to take this little corner bar and make it really upscale,” Brady said. “He had really amazing burgers, the chili became legendary. For that style of bar, that really wasn’t what was going on at the
time.” Business sophomore Alais Murillo explained the decades of success of the original restaurant in Detroit could bode well for the future of Jim Brady’s in Ann Arbor. “We have such a diverse group of consumers as a college town,” Murillo explained. “If you’re successful in a big city like Detroit, that will likely transfer to Ann Arbor as well.” During the year-long process of development, Brady and Dingman worked hard to emulate the atmosphere of the iconic Detroit restaurant, hiring the architecture firm
Rossetti and Associates and principal interior designer Kelly Deines to help recreate the 1950s feel. “It’s really a legendary Detroit firm, it’s been in Detroit since the 1940s,” Brady said. “They really helped us — starting in Royal Oak and then in Ann Arbor — realize what that whole visual experience was like.” Scott Behler, an Ann Arbor native who now serves as the general manager of the Ann Arbor location, noted the work that went into finding the See RESTAURANT, Page 3A
donation, will expand
Former professor gives large donation to fund fellowships, study abroad LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan’s History of Art Department has received two donations totaling $8.2 million from alumni and Professor Emeritus Ilene Forsyth, allowing the department to expand its programming initiatives, according to a Jan. 10 press release. The donations establish the George H. and Ilene H. Forsyth Professorship in Medieval Art as well as the Ilene H. Forsyth Fund, allowing the department to better support faculty research. It will also fund undergraduate internship programs, postdoctoral fellowships and study abroad opportunities. Forsyth taught medieval and Romanesque art at the University from 1962 until her retirement in 1997. The University named Forsyth a Thurnau professor in 1984 to spotlight her excellence in undergraduate teaching. In 1972, Forsyth published “The Throne of Wisdom: Wood Sculptures of the Madonna in Romanesque France,” earning
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Vol. CXXVII, No. 54 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6
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SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............5 SPORTS....................7
News
2A — Wednesday, January 16, 2019
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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FRIDAY: Behind the Story
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: LAWMAKERS AGAIN TO CONSIDER AMENDMENT TO LOWER VOTING AGE Legislature. The last time it was on the ballot in 1966, the amendment lost by a vote of 1,270,000 to 703,000,000. Vaughn predicted the amendment proposal would be able to muster the 2/3 majority in both houses which is required to place an amendment on the statewide ballot. However, other supporters of the proposal were less confident. “It’s going to be a tough fight,” said House Speaker William Ryan ) D-Detroit), who supports the
January 13, 1970 In what has become an annual affair, the State legislature will again consider placing on the November ballot a constitution amendment which would lower the voting age to 18. Rep. Jackie Vaughn III (D-Detroit) said yesterday he plans to introduce the amendment proposal by the end of the month. The Legislature reconvenes tomorrow. The proposed amendment was defeated both times it was placed on the ballot by the
proposal. Sen. Roger Craig (D-Detroit) said he believed the amendment proposal would get through the House but not through the Republican-controlled Senate. Craig said many state legislators were in favor of the 18-year-old vote in principle, but felt it was useless to placed amendment on the ballot which the people appeared not to favor. The legislators who support the amendment believe it has a better chance at the polls this November. Craig said the
campaign will be aided by the increased participation of those most concerned with the amendment’s passage—the 18-21 year olds. “The kids appear to be concerned more than they were in 1966,” he said. “They appear to be more enthusiastic about this issue.” Craig said several high school groups and youth organizations have indicated their intention to lobby for the voting amendment after it is introduced in the Legislature. Should the amendment’s
supporters be unable to muster the two-thirds majority of both houses necessary for placing it on the ballot, the youth group plans to organize a statewide petition drive on the amendment proposal. The signatures of eight per cent of the others in 1966 gubernatorial election would then place the amendment on the November ballot. After being introduced into the House, the amendment proposal will be sent to the Committee on the Revision of the Constitution.
The amendment proposal was announced along with several proposed measures which Vaughn said are part of a campaign to encourage young people to become more interested in politics. The other measures include: —A bill which would allow people between the ages of 18 and 21 to circulate petitions for political candidates. —A bill which would allow people between the ages of 18 and 21 to serve as “precinct delegates.”
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DARBY STIPE/Daily Dr. Rebecca Flemming, of Cambridge University, spoke about the ideology of race and the transmission of external factors to offspring in the context of the Roman Empire in the Hatcher Gallery Tuesday.
Editorial Staff FINNTAN STORER Managing Editor
ON THE DAILY: FOUR MICHIGAN CITIES RANK WORST IN US FOR BED BUGS If you live in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, or Flint, you may want to inspect your mattress tonight. According to Orkin Termite Treatment, these cities rank among the worst in the United States for bed bugs. The data is based on the number of treatments Orkin performed in metro areas from December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018. The ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments. Detroit and Flint both displayed progress, moving down from their 2018 rankings. Detroit ranks number 8,
which moved down from spot 7 in 2018, while Flint has moved down the ranks considerably, placing 47 after holding spot 36 in 2018. Grand Rapids has moved up the ranks, placing at number 20 after holding spot 23 in 2018. Lansing ranks 32 after being unranked in 2018. Nationally, Baltimore takes first place in Orkin’s ranking with Washington D.C. taking second. “Bed bugs are the number one urban pest in many cities today,” Chelle Hartzer, an Orkin entomologist, told ClickOn Detroit. “They are master
hitchhikers, so no one is immune. Sanitation has nothing to do with prevention: from public transit to fivestar resorts, bed bugs have been and can be found everywhere humans are.” Luckily, according to Orkin, there are steps homeowners can take to prevent bed bug invasions. Inspecting places where bed bugs tend to congregate during the day, such as mattress tags and seams, headboards, behind baseboards, electrical outlets and picture frames, is an important first step to identifying if you have a bed bug problem. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.
Lawsuit against Ann Arbor dismissed Sixth circuit court declines to hear case challenging city program about sewage LEAH GRAHAM Daily News Editor
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear a challenge to a city program requiring the installation of sump pumps in residents’ homes, Sudoku Syndication ending the fourth such lawsuit
Ann Arbor has faced over the initiative. A 2001 ordinance established the Footing Drain Disconnection Program to alleviate storm water drainage problems, and while the city reimbursed homeowners for the cost of the renovations, the residents
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claimed in the lawsuit the city’s claims that were fundamentally program was unconstitutional. equivalent to the ones thrown They referenced the Fifth out in state court. Amendment’s Takings Clause, “Issue preclusion bars which bars the seizure of private subsequent litigation of the property for public use without federal takings claim after litigation of the state takings just compensation. City Attorney Stephen claim on the merits,” Batchelder http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ Postema said in a statement the wrote. In 2000, City Council passed city’s program was not a “taking” under state or an ordinance mandating federal law and the cases residents install sump pumps brought against Ann Arbor after rainstorms flooded basements with sewage. In were groundless. “The U.S. 6th Circuit addition to causing residential Court of Appeals ruled backups, the storm water that this federal case was caused problems at the sewage without any factual or legal treatment plant, sometimes merit,” Postema said. “… resulting in overflow being As has been true from the discharged into the Huron River. start, the City’s Footing The FDDP sought to deal with Drain Disconnect Program those issues by disconnecting does not constitute a footing drains that mixed taking under the Michigan sewage and storm water, using Constitution or the federal instead sump pumps to reroute Constitution. None of the rainwater to the city’s storm this litigation should water drainage system and away have ever been filed. The from the sanitary sewer system. The FDDP has been the subject City Attorney’s Office will always vigorously of multiple lawsuits brought by defend the city from such residents. A 2014 complaint filed on behalf of homeowners Anita lawsuits.” Circuit Judge Alice Yu, John Boyer and Mary Raab, Batchelder wrote the who went through the program opinion affirming a in the early 2000s, alleged the previous decision by FDDP amounted to the unlawful District Court Judge taking of private property in Stephen J. Murphy III what the plaintiffs claimed was to dismiss the case. the absence of due process or just Batchelder wrote the compensation. According to the complaint, residents were barred from bringing federal See LAWSUIT, Page 3A
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CHAVEZ From Page 1A for Eduardo and opened the discussion by asking Eduardo how it feels being the grandson of an activist, and if there are feelings of guilt for not being more active in United Farm Workers, the organization his grandfather created. “Growing up, I always felt a little disconnected and it was something that I pushed to the side,” Eduardo said. “I could give a memorized spiel about who he was and what he did but I didn’t feel a personal connection.” The son of a Mexican father and a Cuban mother, Eduardo confessed he has come to identify more with his Cuban heritage. “I actually feel more Cuban than I do Mexican,” Eduardo said. “I grew up more with my mom’s side of the family, always visiting my Cuban grandpar-
DONATION From Page 1A her the Charles Rufus Morey Book Award — an award acknowledging distinguished books that have contributed meaningfully to the field. Elizabeth Sears, chair of the History of Art Department, said Forsyth’s commitment to creating a global and wide-ranging history department made her a celebrated professor for more than 30 years. “She was a really famous teacher in the day,” Sears said. “Very conscientious, (she) put together beautiful art history lectures where words and texts worked so well. She really helped people to learn to look, to see. I think she was very devoted to the University of Michigan, to art history and to her own field —medieval.” As a result of Forsyth’s donation, the University became the second in the country to offer a professorship in the specialty of medieval art. Sears noted how medieval history is sometimes misused by contemporary politics to discuss ideas of racial purity.
LAWSUIT From Page 2A while the plaintiffs “previously enjoyed the peace of mind and repose which comes from having dry basements and no water problems,” after they went through the program, they “experienced the inconvenience associated with the installation of the sump pump and related equipment, the ongoing burdens associated with the maintenance and operation of the sump pumps and, in general, the diminution in their quality of life attributable to the FDDP.” Irvin Mermelstein, a local attorney, and Dan O’Brien, a contract lawyer from New York, worked together on the 2014 effort, which ultimately failed.
RESTAURANT From Page 1A people necessary for an optimal restaurant staff. “We started interviewing back in April, and didn’t stop until we opened,” Behler said. “We had over 700 people apply, probably about 500 interviews and ended up hiring about 120 people.”
News
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 — 3A
Latinx community. Julianna Collado, external director of La Casa, believed the documentary showing helped bring the community together and fostered a friendly environment. “We thought this was a really important event to help center our community as Latinx students on campus,” Collado said. “We really just wanted to focus on empowering our students, getting an education, getting a piece of their history, because so many people [in this group] identify as Mexican.” Ronnie Alvarez, lead director of La Casa, agreed and added the event helped with strengthening the Latinx community on campus. “This event and what it was for aligns a lot with the goals of La Casa, which is a student organization that was created as not only a platform for political advocacy, but also to create a community,” Alvarez said.
ents in Miami.” However, he found that he grew closer to his father through this experience. “I definitely feel through the process of this film closer to my dad and that side of the family,” Eduardo said. Eduardo’s father gave him the advice that if he were to take on an activist role, it should come naturally. Through this film, Eduardo was able to find both his passion and his sense of duty. “After making this film, I found my passion was filmmaking,” Eduardo said. “I get the best of both worlds — that I can make films and educate people at the same time. I can pursue my own creative endeavors.” His grandfather shared the same approach to life. When asked by an audience member what question he would ask Cesar today, Eduardo stated he would want to know what kept him going despite all the obsta-
cles he faced. Eduardo shared that he already knew the answer and that his grandfather believed the key to succeeding in life is having a passion for what you do. “My grandfather used to always say ‘I’m not any different than anyone else, I just have a passion and I see what’s wrong and I try my hardest to fix it,’” Eduardo said. This statement resonated with LSA freshman Justin Hutchins, who said he believes it is imperative the general public learn more about historical figures and discover how human they really are. “There’s so much more you can learn about these historical figures and the human aspect of it,” Hutchins said. “They seem like not normal people, but even Cesar said he himself is just a normal guy.” Overall, the members of La Casa found the event both inspiring and essential for the
She said the professorship allows the department to shed light on an often neglected or misunderstood historical period. “The Michigan department has always believed in the importance of studying many cultures and deep history,” Sears said. “Whereas some departments are focusing more exclusively on modern and contemporary, we believe in having a full chronological as well as geographical range. Medieval has been one of our great strengths for decades. This (gift) preserves it.” Jeffrey Craft, chief administrator of the department, said the donation allows the department to “transcend” its previous research and study abroad programs. Craft noted how Forsyth’s gift will positively impact the history of art department as well as LSA as a whole. “As for LSA, I think (the donation) will help them because there are things where we would go to them and ask them for funding, and that we now can be more self-sufficient,” Craft said. “That frees up the funds to be used for other departments and other
initiatives. It’s a win not only for us as a department, but for LSA.” Craft said the introduction of postdoctoral fellowships and faculty research projects allows the department to stand among national programs. He also mentioned how the donation, one of the largest ever given to a humanities department in LSA, must be distributed carefully in order to ensure the money will support different projects for undergraduates, graduates and faculty members. “With such an endowment, there comes responsibilities on making sure we utilize the funds how Professor Forsyth wanted them to be used, while following all the regulations from the University,” Craft said. The department has not decided on how to allocate the funds, but hopes the donation will incentivize new talented professors join the University. Rackham student Michelle Al-Ferzly, whose research focuses on medieval Islamic art, considers Forsyth’s donation instrumental in guaranteeing the future of medieval studies at the University.
“If there is a professor in a certain discipline in a department and they retire, sometimes it is really hard to replace them because there aren’t funds devoted to that specific field,” Al-Ferzly said. “Having that professorship will just ensure that our department will continue to have expertise in the medieval field.” Sears echoed this statement, noting how the gift will attract faculty members with a history of strong teaching and innovative research. “It’s also very good for recruiting because it makes it very attractive for a faculty member to come to a place where they know that they have serious research money that is dedicated to their field of interest,” Sears said. “Of course, as you go outside, particularly in the humanities, there is a great deal of competition for limited resources. It’s also a world in which we’re realizing the advantages of collaborative work. The fact that this can supply the seed money for more ambitious, long-term projects is extremely attractive.”
Mermelstein also represented Lynn Lumbard, who in 2015 filed a complaint against the city on identical grounds. It, too, was thrown out. In 2016, the two cases were consolidated and brought before the Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court’s ruling in favor of the city. Mermelstein and O’Brien collaborated on the most recent case against the city, which involved the same four plaintiffs as the previous challenges. The federal lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Michigan in 2017, alleged violations of the Constitution’s anti-slavery provisions and the Takings Clause. The plaintiffs complained the program “destroyed the foundation drainage system at houses that had been constructed decades ago and appeared to be functioning as designed” and
“replaced it with a system of unwanted operating equipment, inside and outside their homes, that is burdensome, costly, unsafe, noisy and incompatible with the peace of mind and comfort the Plaintiffs enjoyed.” The circuit court heard oral arguments in early December 2018. Mermelstein said despite the circuit court’s ruling, the case was not yet over. “This case is still in active litigation,” Mermelstein said. “It would be inappropriate for us to comment any further on the record at this time.” Circuit Judge Kethledge issued a concurring opinion. He noted the plaintiffs had received compensation, as they owned the sump pumps the city installed in their homes. “But the Takings Clause does not say that private property
shall not ‘be taken for public use, without just compensation, and without remedy in state court,’” he wrote in his opinion. “Instead the Clause says that private property shall not ‘be taken for public use, without just compensation’ period. And that plainly means that, if the taking has happened and the compensation has not, the property owner already has a constitutional entitlement to relief.” He said he wished the circuit court had decided to hear the matter, as the residents were entitled to make their case in court. “Federal courts have a ‘virtually unflagging’ obligation to exercise the jurisdiction that Congress has given them,” he wrote.
Executive chef Ian Hockenberger attributed the attention drawn in by the restaurant thus far to the restaurant’s quality food and ingredients. “We’re using a lot of local ingredients, a lot of local purveyors,” Hockenberger said. “We like to have fun with our menu. The food’s all really high quality.”
Hockenberger also credited the success of Jim Brady’s to the general retro ambiance of the restaurant. “The visuals that you get inside the restaurant are great,” he said. “It’s really a stunning place to eat, especially the upper floors.” Despite the consumer traffic the location and aesthetics of Jim Brady’s has brought since its opening, Brady still credits
the majority of his restaurant’s success to the energy of his staff and the Ann Arbor community. “My dad told me a long time ago: The secret to the restaurant business is people, people, people, location,” Brady explained. “Without the people and the energy that our team brings and that the community brings, it’s nothing.”
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U-M business students compete in national contest, beat Columbia, UVA, NYU Daily Staff Reporter
The Ross School of Business’ Case Competition team took first place at the ninth annual MBA National Case Competition, held Jan. 3-5 at Deloitte University in Westlake, Texas according to PR Newswire. Business graduate students Thomas Corness, Jessica McClain, Jason Rock and Andrea Schiff earned a total of $20,000 in scholarships for their win. The competition, which challenges students to develop innovative solutions
to business problems, hosted 1,000 students from top MBA programs across the country in the regional competitions, with only 64 advancing to national finals. The U-M team came in first place for their innovative presentation on a growth strategy for sweetgreen, a healthy fast food chain. The restaurant model would value transparency, nutritional value of menu offerings and environmentally sustainable business practices. The company, which operates in almost 100 locations throughout
the U.S., sent leaders to judge the competition in addition to other industry and Deloitte leaders. “This year, we challenged the teams with a case focused on creating a growth strategy for a startup health-conscious restaurant chain,” Bill Lam, principal of Deloitte Consulting LLP, said to PR Newswire. “The participants approached the case with passion and determination for helping guide a socially conscious, purposedriven brand. The competition provided the MBA students great exposure to the realities of working in a dynamic, ever-
“My favorite thing is to connect with people and that’s what I love about doing this sort of work,” Woolf said. “What’s challenging is seeing the people you start to care about hurting in a way that I wish I could do more. I think the most challenging is that all I can do it limited to a point. I can do everything I can and she is still in Mexico.” Bautista has lived in Ann Arbor for the past 20 years with her three children, Pamela, 19, Lourdes, 16, nicknamed “Lulys,” and Bryan, 14, who were all born in the United States. After their permission to remain in the U.S. was denied, Bautista was forced to return to Mexico with her two youngest children. There, Bautista reunited with her husband, Luis Quintana Chaparro, who was deported in 2010. Lulys stayed in Mexico for one year and returned to the U.S. to be with her older sister Pamela, who chose to continue her education at Michigan State University. The exhibit consisted of four panels of Woolf’s photographs and direct quotes from Bautista and her family members. One image showed Bryan’s schoolteacher wiping tears from his face as he waited in the airport security line to Mexico. Others depicted Pamela embracing her mother, Bautista and her husband cooking in a small kitchen and Bryan throwing old schoolwork into a fire in anticipation of his mom’s deportation. Woolf said she hopes that by looking at the photographs viewers will understand the positive characteristics of Bautista and her family. “The hardest thing is that a lot of times it’s a preconceived notion that being an undocumented immigrant comes with a bad connotation, so I want someone to look at this and see that Lourdes and her family are wonderful people that are doing the best they can in a difficult situation,” Woolf said.
professor in the School of Art & Design, designed the exhibit and collaborated with Public Policy professors Ann Lin and Fabiana Silva to give the photographs historical and political context. The exhibit included a timeline of changing immigration law enforcement policies from former president Ronald Reagan through President Donald Trump, as well as a graph representing the number of undocumented immigrants over several decades. “I’m interested in how we can embed information in ways that allow you to access it at different levels,” Smotrich said. “I’ve done a fair amount of exhibition work with narrative, all of which have another layer of intent...the goal is not only to work on a visual level, but also to inform, whether it’s a social justice oriented story or just understanding a particular person’s story in a larger societal context.” Kinesiology sophomore Rachel Rodriguez attended the event for her Latino/a American Studies class on Literature of the Undocumented. Rodriguez said she hoped the exhibit would raise awareness of the challenges undocumented individuals face. “I just hope more people become aware of what’s going on with other individuals,” Rodriguez said. “Some people have the privilege to stay in this country and to have documentation and apply to jobs, internships, schools. I just hope people are aware that undocumented people also try in this country.” Similarly, LSA junior Gabriela Paniagua noted the importance of bringing attention to these issues. “I think this art and this exhibit really brings to light all the sacrifices people have to make to just make sure their children get what they deserve,” Paniagua said. “Looking around, there is a diverse group of people here having conversations about this art. I think exhibits like this and conversations like this — creating a discussion — can’t be bad. It’s good to be talking about the current policy going on right now. Real families are being affected by it.”
Hannah Smotrich, associate
Ross team wins MBA Competition CALLIE TEITELBAUM
DEPORTED From Page 1A
changing business world.” Competing teams suggested business development growth through expanding product offerings, creating innovative formats for target consumers, utilizing digital opportunities and identifying the requirements needed to execute those strategies. Runners-up included Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business, University of Virginia Darden School of Business and New York University Stern School of Business, which came in fourth place.
CSG From Page 1A dealing with ethics on campus, Drea responded by describing her experience as a team leader of the University organization America Reads Tutoring Corps. “I’m a team leader, so one thing that is interesting about that is rule enforcement and making sure I’m not partial to people because I know them, so as a team leader I make sure they’re following the code of conduct,” Somers said. “I have experience in terms of rule enforcement, in terms of, ‘Oh, hey, let’s have a conversation,’ and I don’t think conflict is something we should be shy of.” When discussing new business occurring around campus, Law student Jacob Podell spoke about a constitutional amendment regarding the selection of the University’s Central Student Judiciary justices. Adam Glass, speaker of the Assembly, commented on CSG’s efforts to improve the selection process. “It seems that a lot of branches of CSG are coming together right now and are saying, ‘Let’s try and rethink this nomination process to make sure it allows for a diverse pool of applicants,’ and it effectively allows members of each of the three branches of government to be involved in the process early on,” Glass said. “This allows any red flags to be spotted early.” According to Podell, two of the main reasons for proposing these adjustments include a lack of efficiency in the nominating process and a lack of diversity in the nominations pool. “I think the biggest problem with the current system and the old system is diversity in recruitment,” Podell said. “I personally think the reason CSG is incapable of recruiting diverse candidates is our network is small. We are nine (justices) and need a system that incorporates the legislature and executive branch as a larger network to get more candidates.”
Under the current justice nomination process, the justices of the judiciary bring together a pool of potential nominees to fill an empty seat. They then present that list to the president, who selects and brings the nominee to the Assembly to advise, consent to and eventually confirm the nominee. Under the new system, instead of the justices choosing a pool on their own and the executive branch subsequently vetting and choosing a nominee, both branches would complete the tasks at the same time. In the proposed system, the committee for nominating a justice would have six members, four of which would have voting power. Two of those voting members would be justices and the other two would be appointed from the Assembly by the CSG president and vice president. The final two members would be the chief justice, who would break ties if necessary, and an observing member of the Legislative Assembly. The full Assembly then discussed potentially
“Let’s try and rethink this nomination process,” Glass said.
having the current chair of the Executive Nominations Committee serve as the observer. Glass did not discuss his personal opinion of the measure, but said the authors of the proposed system believe improvements to the existing nomination process were needed. “So under the current nomination process, the authors believe it needs some work,” Glass said. “Changes by the Assembly to the compiled code have indicated that the
Opinion
4A — Wednesday, January 16, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ADITHYA SANJAY | COLUMN
Should the Fed be increasing interest rates in 2019?
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NOAH ENTE | COLUMN
Where politics, academia and tolerance collide
A
s a first-year student at the Graduate Student Instructor University of Michigan withheld her recommendation this past semester, I could from a student who wished to study in Israel, and see that tolerance later, in a required was a big topic at the speaking exhibition University. Incoming for first-year students students received in the School of Art notices to attend & Design, a speaker tolerance-focused showed a PowerPoint workshops, heard from slide with sidetheir resident advisers by-side pictures of about the importance Adolf Hitler and of honoring differences current Israeli Prime and, in many ways, NOAH Minister Benjamin were made aware that ENTE Netanyahu, with mutual respect at U-M was vital. “Diversity, Equity and the words “Guilty of Genocide” Inclusion” seemed not only to written across their foreheads. These actions, viewed as be a University office, but also a mantra on campus. However, anti-Semitic and anti-Israel by the inverse appeared true when many within and outside of the it came to the vast political and University, are reflections of an ideological diversity within the intolerance for certain ideological beliefs and an inequitable passing campus culture. Rhetoric surrounding of judgement. Within both intolerance, specifically political the required presentation and intolerance, at our university the refusals to write letters of made international headlines in recommendation is the frequently September, when many students demonstrated practice of holding and those from all sectors of Israel to a different standard than the school community felt that other states. While the Israeli a professor chose to put his government’s actions may be own political expression above frequently subject to controversy, a student’s academic freedom. it is certainly inaccurate to claim This student, hoping to gain the that it perpetuates genocide professor’s recommendation against the Palestinians. Both the to study abroad at an Israeli United Nations and Palestinian university, was denied — after authorities have noted the previously being accepted — when rapid growth of the Palestinian the professor learned where the population in recent years. student wished to study. The Additionally, even in violent professor stated he was pledging conflict, the Israeli Defense Forces an “academic boycott against has been known to make repeated Israel in support of Palestinians and constant efforts to prevent casualties of innocent civilians living in Palestine.” Though some argued the and specifically target militants student could have easily received who seek Israel’s destruction. In these repeated incidents, it a recommendation letter from a different professor, others in is clear that students and faculty the student body and University need to be made increasingly leadership viewed it as a clear aware of the necessary respect not violation of the student’s right to only for another’s race, economic inquiry by a politically motivated background or ethnicity, but also for differing political stances professor. The University administration and worldviews. Incidents such responded by revoking his as these carry the power to not sabbatical privileges, and only harm academic inquiry Elizabeth Cole, interim dean and freedom, but also the safe the University of LSA, criticized him for his environment misconduct by letter, writing, strives to create for students and “Faculty…have discretion to faculty. In the results of a survey decline (writing letters of recommendation) for legitimate published by the University November 2017, U-M reasons such as lack of time, in recognized the information about the student, researchers and academic assessment; need for “(encouraging) greater however, that discretion… does productive interactions across not extend to withholding a letter different political orientations because of your personal views and ideologies,” and explicitly “the university is regarding the student’s place of stated, study and then using the student’s sponsoring a series of events request as a political platform for focusing on the issue of free your opinions, both in the media speech with participants from a variety of perspectives.” These and in the classroom.” Some in the University efforts, if continued, may help community felt that the professor students — and faculty — to had a legitimate right to withhold become aware and tolerant of his recommendation on personal other ideologies and political moral grounds. However, in stances and create a more addition to the University inclusive campus environment. administration, many students, However, these measures will whether speaking as supporters not achieve their desired goals of Israel or as self-described if political discrimination is proponents of academic freedom, allowed to continue at the hands applauded the University’s of University faculty, staff and response. Regardless, it was invited guest lecturers, as these soon clear again that tolerance groups not only hold positions of ideological and political of power, but also serve as role difference is still threatened models for how students should at U-M. Within two weeks, a behave in a diverse community.
I believe positive change is possible, but before students can be expected to change, the University must do its best to assure that those at the helm of creating our U-M education also hold up the standards we set on campus. The problem of intolerance, specifically in the collision between politics and academia, does not only exist at Michigan and other college campuses, but on a national scale as well. Tolerance and understanding is often preached by citizens and politicians on both sides of the aisle, yet, toward their political opponents, it is rarely practiced. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center in June 2016 found 55 percent of Democrats and 49 percent of Republicans say they maintain an unfavorable attitude toward their opposing party. The descriptions most commonly used by those in each party for those with differing views were “close-minded,” “dishonest,” “immoral” and “unintelligent.” Perhaps the most alarming statistic of them all was 45 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of Democrats said the other party’s policies “threaten” the well-being of the United States. In a country that is at its best when its citizens are united, these statistics show we have quite a bit of work to do in healing our divided society. The question arises: What can we do about this? I propose a solution: reparation can be achieved by creating more opportunities for dialogue and interaction between people of differing ideological persuasions, both as examples for — and within — the student body. The survey also provided one statistic that revealed when supporters of the two major parties had few to no friends from the opposing party, they were much more likely to take on “very cold” views of their fellow citizens. Yet, the opposite proved true with respondents who reported having “a lot” or “some” friends on the other side of the ideological spectrum. Maybe this is where the solution lies, nationwide as well as at the University of Michigan. Organized dialogue between various political organizations could potentially significantly improve inter-group political relations from the ground up. This could operate hand-inhand with a continued and easily accessible series of speakers with diverse perspectives, not just on free speech, but on many of the wide ranging issues that arise in political discourse. It may take work to convince the vast network of ideological camps to emerge from echo chambers and open their hearts and minds to others, but the positive results we could see from a united country and campus, seeded with tolerance and free thought, will hopefully prove such efforts fruitful for all. Noah Ente can be reached at noahente@umich.edu.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
D
ecember 2018 — the month when the stock market decided to abandon all normalcy and descend into complete and utter chaos. The month which instilled fear in all Americans about whether or not the 10-years-aged bullish market had finally begun to falter. The month when the White House abandoned all of America and decided it couldn’t deal with this ever-so-volatile economy, and began to argue — of all things — about a wall. Okay, okay, too dramatic — I know. Still, it’s not exactly wrong for me to say 2018 really did go out with a bang. During the month of December, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 15 percent before posting a 1,086.25 point gain on Dec. 26, 2018, “logging its biggest single-day point gain ever.” This surprising increase came a day after the S&P 500 drew within 2 points of entering a bear market — a condition wherein securities fall by 20 percent or more from a recent high. Nevertheless, the market stayed resilient, refusing to drop into bear territory, and continuing said nearly 10-yearslong bullish run — the longest such run in the market’s history. During this time, the unemployment rate hit historic lows, dropping below 4 percent. And amid such circumstances, the Federal Reserve was quick to raise the interest rates, especially as indices showed inflation rising above the 2 percent mark. The White House was quick to criticize the Fed’s raised interest rates, with President Trump lashing out, claiming that “the only problem our economy has is the Fed.” Now, such an action is not exactly unprecedented, as past presidents have been known to bash the Fed over economic policy, but it does beg the question of whether or not the Fed is making the right decision. Before we begin analyzing this, however, we must first understand the mechanics behind how the Fed manages economic growth. The Fed is in charge of maintaining the federal
funds rate — the rate at which financial institutions, such as banks, borrow money from one another. This influences national interest rates, or, simply put, the price tag that a lender puts on the money loaned to a borrower. When the Fed decreases the interest rates, the amount of investment also increases as people the cost of borrowing decreases. As such, the amount of loans demanded increases, thereby increasing the quantity of money (based on the fractional-reserve banking system). And when the quantity of money increases, so does inflation. In this way, the Fed has the ability to adjust the economy’s level of inflation. But why does this matter? There exists a model in economics devised by economist William Phillips — appropriately named the Phillips Curve — that posits an inverse relationship between unemployment rate and inflation. While most economists believe some level of inflation is acceptable, they acknowledge that when it gets out of hand, inflation is detrimental to an economy. By and of itself, this must be managed so that it doesn’t get too out of hand. At the same time, however, if inflation is too low, the unemployment rate naturally increases. This dual mandate is inherently very tricky to work with, especially due to many caveats. Nevertheless, a balance must be reached. The Fed’s move to raise interest rates in 2017 and early 2018 were very understandable. The United States had a booming economy that was showing no sign of stopping, something that is a signal of recession. However, as the inflation rate began to turn upwards of 2 percent following historic unemployment lows over the summer, in December it seemed to have stabilized around 2 percent, based on fourth quarter data. While it definitely is too early to declare the “war” with inflation has been won — especially given market volatility in 2018 — such a trend forecasts good things to come in 2019.
Nevertheless, the Fed still is on track for additional interest rate hikes in 2019, something I think should definitely be approached with caution. Amid all of Trump’s complaining on the Fed’s disruption of the U.S. economy this past calendar year, there actually might be some truth to it based on recent trends. It does appear that the economy has begun to cool down from the hot start it had in 2016. 2018 was “the worst year for stocks since 2008,” with the Dow and S&P both down by 5.6 and 6.2 percent respectively. If the Fed were to overcompensate by increasing interest rates higher than they should be, the agency runs the risk of creating a recession by unnecessarily occluding economic growth. At the same time, if they undercompensate, the Fed runs the risk of inducing increased inflation. Both are formidably terrible outcomes in their own rights, but given our current circumstance, it seems to be a better idea to back the foot off the brakes a little and let the economy find its footing. This is perhaps strengthened by the fact that the global interest rates are running at levels much lower than those in the United States — a counteracting force out of the Fed’s control. So despite Trump’s persistent complaints that the Fed is intentionally sabotaging his economy, it seems the Fed has truly been quite successful in managing the inflation rate thus far. Whether such a trend continues is determined by whether or not the Fed decides to back off on further interest rate hikes in 2019 (at least based on market signals today). And Trump would do well to worry about his trade talks with China, which arguably played a large role in last year’s market volatility. Indeed, seeing to a resolution of some kind would help start 2019 off in a positive way. Adithya Sanjay can be reached at asanjay@umich.edu.
ANIK JOSHI | COLUMN
Governor Whitmer should lead on occupational licensing
G
ov. Gretchen Whitmer was inaugurated on Jan. 1, 2019 and she is already busy working on a number of her campaign promises. From fixing the roads to making health care easier to access and more affordable, her priorities are numerous. However, one was conspicuously missing from the list: occupational licensing reform. Occupational licensing is the concept that people ought to be licensed to perform certain jobs. In theory, it sounds appealing. Who wants a doctor or dentist without a license? However, in practice, it can (and does) get applied to far more mundane activities, like shampooers (who need a license to literally shampoo hair?). Per the Institute of Justice, in the state of Michigan, acquiring that shampooing license would run you about $200 and would take 15 days short of a full calendar year (1500 clock hours). Driving to Indianapolis from Detroit, on the other hand, would take you about four hours and the state of Indiana does not require licensing for such a mundane task, which would make setting up shop significantly less arduous. There are two other main issues with occupational licensing: their disproportionate impact on society’s disadvantaged and how they lead to regulatory capture on an epic scale. It goes without saying that the less welloff have less money to spend on acquiring these licenses, but what can go under the radar is that this effectively locks people out of certain career paths for absolutely no good reason other than them not having exorbitant amounts of money to blow on unnecessary licenses. In addition, this kind of licensing can be very problematic from a free market standpoint because it leads to regulatory capture. Regulatory capture is when the government creates an agency and it ends up getting taken over by those it was supposed to regulate, so the agency now acts in the best interests of the companies represented rather than the
people. This happens when occupational licensing boards are led by industry folk. The boards then come up with more and more onerous regulations that do nothing to benefit the people, but instead benefit the corporations and fatten their wallets along the way. With all of these negatives, you might think, is any of this necessary? Do people really need this much time to learn how to shampoo? Do they really need this strong of a barrier? The answer is no, it is not necessary, and no, we don’t need this long to determine the art of shampoo, and finally, no, we do not need these artificially inflated barriers. You would think the existence
It goes without saying that the less well-off have less money to spend on acquiring these licenses of these boards would be beneficial by making work safer, but unfortunately, you would not be correct. An Obama-era Department of Treasury report puts it very succinctly: “With the caveats that the literature focuses on specific examples and that quality is difficult to measure, most research does not find that licensing improves quality or public health and safety.” What is interesting to note is sometimes this kind of licensing can directly make people more unsafe. In one example discussed by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, additional licensing restrictiveness for electricians tends to be associated with fewer electricians per capita, which is associated with more accidental electrocutions. Now, for the good news.
Former Gov. Rick Snyder made a lot of progress in this area by creating a new office to focus on ending burdensome regulation called the Office of Regulatory Reinvention, which eventually issued a report on the status of licensing in Michigan. Nearly seven years ago, that report was released, and it had a number of immediate positive effects and a number of burdensome rules were cut (including ones that regulated barbershop wastebasket sizes). Better than the report and its changes is a letter the governor wrote to the state House and Senate leaders, in which he eloquently stated his desire to not unnecessarily overregulate: “We should enact new restrictions only when they are absolutely necessary to protect the public welfare.” Whitmer has a chance to continue this legacy and lend it additional support, and she should absolutely seize it. Since the 2012 report, Snyder slashed seven requirements. This may seem small, but it represents tremendous progress on this front and Whitmer should continue quickly. This is a bipartisan issue and people all over the political spectrum are working to make sure this kind of reform continues to pick up movement. Think tanks as diverse as the R Street Institute and the Center for American Progress both blast much of occupational licensing done today because many people see the problems with it. Those on the right can support reform because it helps get government out of the private sector, and those on the left can support reform because it helps disadvantaged members of society. Whitmer can become the champion of a new generation of regulation busters, as the ball is in her court. Anik Joshi can be reached at anikj@umich.edu.
Arts
5A— Wednesday, January 16, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BOOKS NOTEBOOK
Bad company: On reading uncomfortable fiction JOHN DECKER Daily Arts Writer
“Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides is so compelling and broad in both genre and style that it topped 2003’s bestseller lists and won the Pulitzer Prize that same year. Critics extolled the novel, successfully securing Eugenides a spot as a modern classicist and selling him over four million copies of the novel by 2014. Heralded a modern epic, “Middlesex” surveys three bifurcations of lineage in the Stephanides family. The narrative begins in Greece during the First World War, then alternates between late 20th-century Detroit and modern Berlin, all while tracking the history of a gene mutation that leads the book’s narrator to be born intersex. Indeed, the novel is impressive. A masterpiece, even, if a masterpiece is allowed a number of marginal flaws. It’s difficult not to fall in love with the narrator, Cal. His savvy and honest voice alternates between second-hand storytelling and eclipses of his adult life in the first-person. He is both sincere and eloquent. Through Cal’s voice, the book encompasses so many narrative arcs that it almost defies borders. This is a feat both difficult to pull off and wonderfully done. There are wartime tragedies, coming-of-age dramas, car chases, family troubles, identity crises extravaganza. All while, Eugenides succeeds in dealing with the human, nuanced-required experience of being intersex. Recently, I loaned my copy of “Middlesex” to a friend. This loan was on the premonition that they would love it, as I’d only had positive responses to the book from friends, both literary fanatics and non. Instead, I was receiving one-in-themorning text messages berating the harrowed themes of the book. Berating the discomfort of what Eugenides placed on the page. Fiction is not supposed to be comfortable. Often, it is. In the case of “Middlesex,” not as much. From the start of the novel, copious incest is injected into Eugenides’s work. The story itself is despondent. Moments of light and half-happy endings shine through, but in most cases, the novel circumvents joy in exchange for desperation and slow-burn identity crisis. Most of all, nearly every main characters is intensely flawed: most are ravaged by some marriage of addiction, illness, racism, sexism, blatant stupidity or complicity. Did I mention incest? Still, when I found that it was the
moral impairment of “Middlesex” that turned off some readers (including my friend), I was surprised. When I read fiction, rarely am I doing so for — or expecting, for that matter — pleasant narratives. If I wanted pleasant narratives, I would read Dr. Seuss or selfhelp books. Which is not to disregard the authority of the masterful Seuss — these books simply stand in entirely different fields than “Middlesex.” Fiction should, and usually will be, uncomfortable, flawed and ungracious. As Roxane Gay frames it in her essay “Not Here to Make Friends,” “(The fact that likability exists in literary conversation) implies we are engaging in courtship. When characters are unlikable, they don’t meet our mutable, varying standards … merit shouldn’t be dictated by whether we want to be friends or lovers with those about whom we read.” Or, the idea that a book’s stature is determined by the likability of characters and scenarios is, at best, simply absurd. Indeed, to soften this, the mere face of whether a person “liked” a book — the characters, the decisions they made, the setting — holds at least some significance. Much of reading is subjective. It is up to a reader to relate and be moved by a novel. However, when did discomfort and character flaw become the assailant of good fiction? In “Middlesex,” as mentioned, such dark denominators are abundant. Though just because something is discomfiting, or makes us wince — the incest between two characters, say, or their family members’ decision to look away from it — doesn’t mean the fiction is bad. In fact, it doesn’t say much of anything about the work. Fiction labors to dissect the world we live in, to magnify its peculiarities, its evils and its great joys. Fiction asks “what-if,” and these “what-ifs” regularly encompass the grotesque and immoral. More often than not, these things are happening, or have before. This is the case whether or not a reader acknowledges such a reality. Cal’s grandfather’s unbearable gambling and lack of prudence are investigative slices of addiction and family that make “Middlesex” so poignant. Desdemona’s hypocrisy and culpability in her family’s misdeeds are thrilling surveys into character and personhood, about what makes a person human and capable of love, and what makes them immeasurably flawed at the same time. Obsessing over the thorny characteristics of a novel’s plot is a flawed approach to literary appraisal. It is these purposeful defects, rather, that make a novel like “Middlesex” brave, moving
and, eventually, critically acclaimed. “Small Great Things” by Jodi Picoult is perhaps the zenith of these malicious narratives in fiction. The book is feral. Picoult tells the story of a Black nurse who, after being barred from administering care to a white supremacist family, is faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to act when their child is dying before her. The result, despite her intervention, is a lawsuit filed against her. Picoult tackles the perspective of the nurse, Ruth, as well as her white
Fiction should, and usually will be, uncomfortable, flawed and ungracious
lawyer and the deceased child’s father — a white supremacist. While I have reservations about the realism of some choices (and relationships) in “Small Great Things,” it is the perspective of the white supremacist that I find the most disquieting in the novel. Every dozen or so pages, Picoult delves undividedly into this narrative. She chapters violence against Black, queer and Jewish people. She holds back little. She crafts a character and refuses to do so in a subdued manner. Of course, this is not some attempt to offend readers. This berserk extremist, Tuck, is grounded in reality (Picoult, in fact, went as far as to interview several now-amended white supremacists in the writing process). It is a horrific, loathsome reality that had me taking breaks between sections, but a reality nonetheless. Radical hate, worldwide, is alive and well. Jodi Picoult simply dared to write about it. This raises the stakes of her novel as a political and cultural statement, while simultaneously
amplifying the grimness of the depiction extended to readers. Brand this type of narrative a guiltdriven call to action, but Picoult’s novel still succeeds in providing an essential chronicle to culpable white readers. In “Small Great Things,” Tuck is unequivocally repulsive, but a quieted, censored version of him would be, perhaps, more offensive. Is it right to ask authors to simplify characters? To dumbdown hate and discomfort — especially that which thrives in the folds of our own world — simply because we dislike it, or because we don’t find it personally plausible? These are questions we each must answer for ourselves. If unfriendly characters and their narratives are central to a literary criticism, an argument of believability is generally bound to follow. Meaning: The scenarios and people detailed in a work are so intolerable or messed up or stereotyped that it is absolutely implausible that they be laced in a universe, fictitious or not. This is an unfortunate line of thinking. The call to believability is an argument that holds little weight. Indeed, sometimes characters do come across as contrived — tarnished by logically impossible situations or downright terrible writing — and this faux plotting can make a book unbearable. Many times, though, this is not really the case. Take, for example, Hanya Yanagihara’s “A Little Life.” The novel is a paradigm of unlikeable fiction. The work relentlessly destroys its characters, which, in turn, destroys readers along with them. “A Little Life,” at times, seems like nothing but sad event after sad event. This continent of tragedy comes to a peak when one of the main characters, already ravaged by myriad relentless forces, attempts suicide. The novel is not comfortable. Yanigahara gets up close and personal with self-harm, rape, addiction, sexual identity and domestic violence to a nearly unbearable point. JB and Jude, two of the main characters, are constantly either diabolically selfdestructive or depressed. It is a novel that strongly elicits tears from readers. According to some critics, this plainly despondent and uncomfortable narrative is apparently unrealistic. Instead of rebuking objective choices, critiques fall on the fact that the character encounters or flaws simply could not have happened. That Jude of “A Little Life” could not have befallen abuse, physical crippling, extreme depression and eventual suicide all in one lifetime. There is simply no way. And yet, many of us spend our lives in privileged comfort zones. We like
to assume there is a greater purpose to things, that there is generally a happy ending. This comes alive as we root for characters, as we are shocked when tragedy transpires. It’s why these uncomfortable narratives seem to warrant believability criticism. As though, from parlor chairs under a reading lamp, readers can dictate how pejorative the world can get. As though simply because a story doesn’t line-up with a politically correct, favorable, well-meaning cast of characters and plot points we want, it is suddenly unreal. As though crime, or indecent acts, are only disposed to befall people in twos — never threes or fours or fives. Granted, there is a responsibility that falls on writers. Specifically, accountability to correctly represent populaces, especially those marred by imparity or underrepresentation. Writers must be keen of the implications their depictions have. However, this is not to ask for restriction or carbon portrayals. I want messy characters. I want flaws and mistakes and representations of all kinds of folks. The idea that minority characters must be represented in a certain threshold of perfection is in itself dangerous. Just as the faultless woman on television doesn’t absolve representation issues, the depiction of LGBT characters as homogeneously educated, uppity, white and sexy is equally as disturbing. It begs strange expectations from those who encounter these depictions. It represents an artificially delightful world to readers, when, no matter how we wish it was, our world is defective and unpleasant. An imperfect or stereotyped character is not the bane of a novel; in fact, to claim so would be to ask for unrealistic, brilliant mysticism from authors. People have flaws. Characters should be allowed flaws, too. There is simply the need for continual awareness from authors. It is in these narratives that readers must evaluate both critically and carefully ranges of plausibility. Readers must, when possible, cognize the great power of the narrative of discomfort. More often than not, it is these depictions — those of the nasty, the broken, the repulsive and the extreme — that have the most to offer. An atrocity in the real world does not automate a purposeful, equally positive force. We should not expect it to in fiction. The burden of characters and their shortcomings are something we must be prepared to shoulder each time we read. We must allow fiction to fight, question and heal, even when these narratives are ugly. Such journeys are well worth their product.
FILM NOTEBOOK
The Film Beat’s favorite flicks from the holiday ANISH TAMHANEY Daily Arts Writer
BECKY PORTMAN Daily Arts Writer
Netflix is an obvious go-to for any holiday movie-watching. But for me, the streaming service had an especially strong draw over winter break. It seemed like whenever I caught up with the latest Netflix release, a new one materialized the next day. By the time I finally got around to watching “Bird Box,” my Twitter had already been flooded with its reliably funny memes — particularly Sandra Bullock blindfolded on a canoe — so by that point I didn’t so much care about the movie as I did about
It seemed like whenever I caught up with the latest Netflix release, a new one materialized
understanding the source of these quips. The movie itself, well, couldn’t have been much worse. It wasn’t even the best sensory horror creature feature of the year. It was little more than a breathless Bullock doing her best to enliven a laughably dull script. Another Netflix disappointment was “Bandersnatch.” The latest installment in the “Black Mirror” anthology series is notable for its interactivity, allowing viewers to make decisions on characters’ actions throughout its duration. Naturally, the episode’s myriad outcomes — some far stranger than others — were a magnetic topic of discussion between my friends and me for days. The tediously self-aware experiment felt weighed down and at times just nonsensical. However, December was not all letdowns for Netflix. Of course, there was “Roma”; though not a Netflix Original, the film was made available for streaming via the service and also
Over the break, I re-watched several of my favorite films, from classics to guilty pleasures. Christmas came and went, and with it two beloved holiday rom-coms: “The Holiday” and “Love, Actually.” They are the kind of movies that make your insides feel like a nice hot cocoa, warm and sweet. One reminds you that romance is possible. The other that Jude Law is sexy. To balance out the gushiness, I had to take some drastic measures. You guessed it: thriller time. Whenever I get dreary with the state of rom-coms, I like to drown myself in morgue-porn thrillers as a reminder that life is not only full of love, but also murder. I re-watched one of my favorites, “The Silence of the Lambs,” while practicing my Jodie Foster impression (it needs work). And I have to say, after seeing Anish Tamhaney, Daily Arts Writer the film over 15 times, it really never gets old — does it, Clarice? I took on Winter break is a time for recharging, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” for the relaxing, and for me, re-watching. second time and I will not deny that Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates is a snack and a half. So if you thought Penn Badgley’s Joe Goldberg in “You” was the first psychotic hottie, you are sorely mistaken. To end the break on a high note, I spent the last few days re-watching a selection of my favorite comedies. After missing out on his one-man show on Broadway (“The New One”), I watched Mike UNIVERSAL PICTURES Birbiglia’s ode to released in theatres. Alfonso Cuaron’s evocative remembrance of his Mexico City upbringing immediately became not only one of my favorite films of the year, but some of the best work I have seen from the writer-director. “Roma” is saturated with beauty and meaningful symbolism. It’s Cuaron’s whole heart. Break also provided ample time to rewatch a throng of other films, often with friends and family. Some highlights include “Rounders” (the best poker movie of all time), starring vintage Matt Damon and Ed Norton, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” another masterpiece of Cuaron’s and “School of Rock,” arguably one of the most quotable films ever.
To end the break on a high note, I spent the last few days re-watching a selection of my favorite comedies
improv, “Don’t Think Twice.” It was the first time I’ve seen it since becoming an improviser myself and I must say, it hit much closer to home this time around. It is a heartfelt look at success and friendship, and the improv — even if it is scripted — is pretty great. Finally, I re-watched my absolute, alltime, number one, favorite McFavorite film, “Clueless.” I knew every burn, bang and bruise in the 1995 classic way before Iggy got biggy in her “Fancy” video or Dove Cameron starred in the off-Broadway musical of the same name. Becky Portman, Daily Arts Writer
Arts
6 — Wednesday, Jnauary 16, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DAILY HUMOR COLUMN
Becoming Midge Maisel Most of my interactions with other humans these days — more often than not — are centered around “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Have I seen it? What do I think about it? It’s about a Jewish, female comedian, that’s like all of your defining attributes! You must love this show, correction: live this show. No, I am not an absent mother in 1950s New York City working as a stand-up comedian, but I am writing this column dressed in a smart turtleneck tucked into sophisticated trousers, with a homemade brisket in one hand and a slender cigarette in the other. So no, I am not Midge, but I am pretty damn close. Amy Sherman-Palladino’s brilliant series has a very special place in my heart, right between coffee and Nick Kroll. The witty banter, the expertly crafted standup routines, the smattering of Yiddishisms — I swear it feels like Amy is spying on me. OK, so I’m not buddies with Lenny Bruce or some reimaging of him, and you’re right, I’m not actually from New York. I’ve only ever lived in Ohio. And you would be correct if you reminded me that I do not in fact measure myself on a regular basis, but I can prove I have other body issues, I promise. No, I have never made a brisket myself, but I’ve eaten many cooked by my mother and grandmother and I think I could knock out a pretty good one if given the right kitchen and the right circumstances. No, I’ve never actually tried my hand at stand-up comedy. Why, you ask? Is it my crippling anxiety and fear of
failure? Perhaps it’s that I’ve never had the opportunity or desire to try it. Maybe it’s because I am not funny. Maybe it’s because I am an alien disguised in human clothing, tricking everyone around me into thinking I am a real person and the only way to reveal myself as I truly am is to perform standup comedy. Or maybe I’m just scared shitless. That is
BECKY PORTMAN another column for another time, dear reader. Self-pity aside, Mrs. Maisel and Ms. Sherman-Palladino have made a beautiful thing together. The show makes me feel seen and I’m sure scores of others feel similarly. Watching a neurotic Jewish comedian tell jokes and win Emmys and Golden Globes for it makes me kvell like my grandmother during graduations. But as much as I love the character of Midge, I have to remind myself that she is not real. Midge is more like the construction of a Jewish comedy Frankenstein, assembled with the spunk of Joan Rivers, the rebelliousness of Lenny Bruce and the bad-assery of Fanny Brice. She takes men down with her pinky finger and irreverent wit, all while
looking like a mannequin at B. Altman. Midge is what I’d be if I were a skinnier unfiltered version of myself. But I guess that’s why I aspire to be her. It took me far too long to reach the conclusion that I am not Midge Maisel. I think I became so absorbed in it, bingeing every episode with a fistful of macaroons (The Jewish ones not the French ones), that it became all too easy to replace my boring life with her exciting arcs. At points I even felt jealous of her. She is out in the world, making her name known while simultaneously banging a hot doctor she bagged in the Catskills. What a score! People laugh at what she has to say because she makes them pay attention. She stands in the spotlight like she was born there, a sort of comfort I can only relate to my bed. Midge is creation of Amy ShermanPalladino’s imagination; an amalgamation of borscht belt heroes with breasts; a Jewish Lorelai Gilmore with a microphone. Coming to terms with the fiction of Midge is both liberating and terrifying. On one hand, it is a reminder that her authors crafted her because she is a character worth writing, seeing and hearing. She is an imaginary representation of Jewishness, femininity and humor ref lective of her very real predecessors. On the other hand, perhaps Midge only exists in the realm of fantasy and I am kidding myself trying to become some version of her. But maybe that’s OK. No, I am not Midge Maisel and I don’t think I should try to be. I am Becky Portman, and I am damn happy with that.
AMAZON PRIME
Release Date: Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Aesop’s “The __ in the Lion’s Skin” 4 Rips off 8 Batter’s position 14 Phone ringing onstage, perhaps 15 “Star Wars” critter 16 More homey 17 “Don’t know yet,” on skeds 18 iPad model 19 Ways to go 20 “The Iceman Cometh” playwright 23 Emmy category 24 Fed. accounting agency 25 Winery vessel 28 Sir Winston Churchill’s ancestral home 33 Pulled in different directions 34 High-end watch 35 Quick punches 39 Victim of Artemis, in some accounts 42 Cream of the crop 43 Pungent 45 “NFL on CBS” sportscaster Gumbel 47 Cocoa butter treat 53 Stage background 54 “__-ching!” 55 Single-handed 57 Passenger compartments, and an apt description of this puzzle’s circles 61 Italian sub meat 64 Facility 65 Stroller rider 66 Gets dolled up 67 British singer __ Ora 68 “True Detective” network 69 Certify 70 No longer fizzy 71 “Uh-huh” DOWN 1 Played the part 2 Commuter’s destination 3 Action star Steven 4 Leftover
5 Toddler’s scrape, to the toddler 6 Irish singer/ philanthropist 7 Onion exterior 8 Act frugally 9 Handy strip of computer icons 10 Blue, in Barcelona 11 Insect egg 12 Chute opening? 13 Stumbling sounds 21 Suffix with morph 22 Around the 30th: Abbr. 25 Low-lying area 26 Breezes through 27 Written words 29 Follower of boo, woo or yoo 30 Choose answer (a) instead of (b), say 31 “The Princess Bride” swordsman __ Montoya 32 Arcing shot 35 Top-grossing film of 1975 36 Ice pack target 37 Tube rider, perhaps
38 Grab a chair 40 Tolkien creature 41 “The Matrix” hero 44 Literally pulls up stakes 46 Give the evil eye 48 Resurrection figure 49 Japanese yes 50 “True Detective” star Mahershala __ 51 Like some grins
52 Dress for the choir 56 Legally prohibit 57 Got to the party 58 Lightweight ball brand 59 Shadow 60 “¿Cómo __ usted?” 61 Massage venue 62 Hotel lobby display 63 Illuminated
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Susan Gelfand ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/16/19
01/16/19
TV REVIEW
NETFLIX
Netflix’s ‘Sex Ed’ is sweet, smart and oh so salacious MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN Daily Arts Writer
Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”) could read the Maricopa County phonebook for eight hours and it would probably be the most riveting television of the year. Instead, probably for the better, she has opted to star in Netf lix’s splendid new “Sex Education,” a British comingof-age dramedy brimming with charm and sincerity — and yes, considerably better than the phonebook. Lovely as it is, “Sex Education” isn’t for the puritanical. If the snortinducing, did-they-reallyjust-say-that, risqué Anglo humor doesn’t offend your delicate American sensibilities, its inclination toward the gross and graphic — on display from the opening scene — almost certainly will. It’s raunchy, explicit and totally unapologetic. But more importantly, it’s smart and bracingly thoughtful, with plenty of heart. And also, um, some other organs. Anderson’s Jean Milburn is a progressive sex and relationship therapist and doting single mother to Otis (Asa Butterfield, “Hugo”), a perpetually mortified, neuroses-ridden 16-year-old so disturbed by his mother’s line of work that he can hardly stand to think about intercourse, let alone do the deed. A certain Philip Larkin poem about parents comes to mind: “They fuck you up, your mum and dad / They may not mean to, but they do.” When school bully Adam (Connor
Swindells, “The Vanishing ”) comes over one day to work on a class project, Otis whizzes about the house sweeping for any lingering phallic statutes or framed Kama Sutra illustrations that might give his mother away. Alas, to no avail. Adam stumbles into the wrong room — Jean’s private office — and in that horrible teen movie way, Otis’s secret quickly becomes the talk of
“Sex Education” Netflix Season 1
the hallways. The renegade Maeve (newcomer and Margot Robbie dead ringer Emma Mackey), entrepreneurial and fearsomely beautiful, suggests to Otis that he turn his shame into something of a hustle, using what he’s gathered from being raised by Jean to help his sex-crazed schoolmates sort through their own relationship problems. Butterfield’s Otis is the
rare, refreshing on-screen nice g uy who isn’t a Nice Guy. Earnest, sweet and impossible not to root for, he shares his mother’s patience and care in being non-judgmental. And he’s surrounded by an equally winsome supporting cast in Mackey’s Maeve and openlygay best friend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa, “Stonemouth”), both of whom are given their fair share of screen time. “Sex Education” is littered with high school tropes — there are swim team jocks, catty cliques, lunch money robberies and so forth. But the show nicely subverts those by showcasing everyone’s vulnerabilities. It will inevitably draw comparisons to other teen television in Netf lix’s arsenal of originals: the transgressive drama of “13 Reasons Why,” the melancholy-punctuated breeziness of “On My Block,” the referential satire of “American Vandal.” Still, though, “Sex Education” feels like something we haven’t seen before. That’s true on a literal level: It’s shot like a clever, colorful period piece — what the romantic comedy might look like if John Hughes swapped Chicagoland for the expansive English countryside. But it’s also clear in a greater, thematic sense: As ABC airs a season of “The Bachelor” intent on breaking the Guinness World Record for Most Virginity Jokes Made in an Hour, “Sex Education” stands out as television that could so easily be cruel, but instead makes the braver, much more interesting choice to be positive, affirming and joyful.
ALBUM REVIEW
‘Magnolia’ is surprisingly endearing DIANA YASSIN Daily Arts Writer
Fun Fact: I discovered who Randy Houser was last night. I read up a bit about him on Wikipedia, and (spoiler) he’s no Taylor Swift, but apparently he’s a bit of a hot shot in the country community. He has had a few top-20 country hits, decent airplay and a neck beard going for him. However, he’s not particularly fond of his accomplishments over the last decade. In a recent interview with Billboard, he reflected on the progression of his music, stating that “It started to feel like that it wasn’t about music as much anymore as it was just entertainment.” As the quote suggests, Houser’s most recent fifth studio album Magnolia is meant to distance itself from mainstream country appeal. I sampled some of Houser’s older music to get a feel for what this could possibly mean. Less cowbell? More narrative based cuts rather than braggadocious drinking anthems? Or is it all just a marketing ploy? Whatever it’s supposed to be, I hoped I would catch on to it for this review’s sake. It didn’t take more than a few seconds into the first song, “No Stone Unturned,” to understand what exactly makes this a “different” country album. An introspective ode to self-discovery, the track serves as the perfect introductory piece to this album, effortlessly wafting into various rights of passages throughout Houser’s life, from leaving home to pursue his dreams in Nashville to having his heart broken for the first time. It glistens under its instrumental,
building from slow, gentle guitar plucking to spaced-out drum beats and a faint bass in the chorus. It did not take long for the album to prove my assumptions — that it would be 48 minutes of shit — wrong. Unlike much of Houser’s previous work, Magnolia strives for an appeal that is strictly nostalgic. Whereas past tracks like “Anything Goes” or “Like a Cowboy” only ever reflect as far back as a recent one-night stand, Magnolia is willing to linger in experiences and emotions that trail farther behind Houser’s timeline. We get glimmers and pieces of a Houser before all the Nashville glitz washed over him. This heralds a return to a sound that is more traditionally country and a nod to his Mississippi roots, down to the very title; Houser’s late grandmother was buried under a magnolia tree. This isn’t to say that Magnolia is a sappy, emotional conglomerate of redemption tracks that mourn a simpler past. The album samples a broad spectrum of emotions from the mundane to the memorable. Tracks such as the overly-sentimental “No Good Place to Cry” (which is just as emo as it sounds) perfectly display Houser’s bluesy crooning as he channels his emotions over faint piano notes in the background that play into brief moments of silence. Similarly, peppier cuts on the album such as harmonica-laden “Whole Lotta Quit” provide a necessary energy, as Houser details his desire to abandon his arduous blue-collar job and get high with his friends. The album ends on a gracious note, with the song “Evangeline” reminiscing on a past love that didn’t quite work out but is still memorable by virtue of its emotional value.
Regardless of the topic or emotion conveyed, this album carries itself as a cohesive piece not only in its nostalgic energies but its deliberate detailing. Not a single element feels contrived, forced or spared as the album makes skillful use of its negative space, letting melodies fall to moments of silence and building them back up. It follows a unique pattern, dedicating more lavish tracks to the middle of the album, those more restrained to the
Magnolia strives for an appeal that is strictly nostalgic
beginning and end. As someone very unfamiliar with country, I can tell you that Magnolia is a spectacle worth considering for its sheer emotional value. It doesn’t run the risk of being overly sappy despite its case as a redemption album of sorts. It shows that to be emotional doesn’t necessarily mean to be sentimental; sometimes it’s just a matter of appreciating the experiences that have passed.
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 16, 2018 — 7A
Once a forward, Nick Blankenburg finding his footing at a new position BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer
Brian Burke had a problem. It was halfway through the season, and one of the defensemen had left his Victory Honda major midget hockey team — based in Plymouth, Mich. — to go play junior hockey elsewhere. The Victory Honda coach needed a defenseman to fill that spot, and he needed one fast. In 2016, Nick Blankenburg — then 18 years old and now a freshman at Michigan — was a forward on that team, but he had a hard time scoring. Burke decided to try Blankenburg at defense for the first time in his life. After Blankenburg talked over the decision with his older brother Alex, a goaltender for the University of Nebraska-Omaha, he decided to dive into the new position. “I was definitely hesitant for a little bit,” Blankenburg said. “I kind of sat — my brother, my older brother plays hockey too, so he helped me out a lot with the decision. I kind of talked to him and just kind of figured out what I wanted to do. I ended up making the decision to (play defense) and I don’t regret it at all.” While he had never played any position other than forward at the time, Blankenburg saw defenseman as his path to junior hockey and, eventually, a spot on a Division I college roster. And when it came time to learn his new skills, Burke said Blankenburg was ready to go right from the beginning. “He was all in, right from the start,” Burke said in a phone interview. “Fully committed to just playing. He didn’t really hesitate or have any
apprehension. He just jumped feet first, went after it and he did a real nice job.” That commitment paid off. Blankenburg’s success on defense with Victory Honda led to him getting a spot with the Okotoks Oilers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League — quite a change for a high-schooler who had spent his whole life playing for metro Detroit-based teams. Suddenly he was moving nearly 2,000 miles northwest to Okotoks, a city just south of Calgary. “Coming up here, he didn’t know anyone,” said Oilers coach Tyler Deis in a phone interview. “It’s a new environment, coming to Canada and not knowing very many people. He’s a very sociable kid. He interacts really well. … It was a really easy transformation to integrate him into here just because of the social part of him.” And it was while he was playing for the Oilers that Blankenburg caught the attention of Michigan coach Mel Pearson. Daniel Farrell — who coached the Wolverines from 1973 to 1980 — had seen Blankenburg play at some point and passed the name along to Pearson, then the coach at Michigan Tech. “When I got down (to Michigan), I kept following the kid and seeing his stats,” Pearson said. “I was like, ‘Oh, this kid’s pretty good, putting up a lot of numbers for a defenseman.’ That’s how we got on (Blankenburg).” And in December 2017, just about a year after deciding to switch to defense, Blankenburg’s decision paid off when he committed to play for Pearson at Michigan. He had achieved his goal of earning a spot on a Division I roster.
Now, Blankenburg — at 5-foot9 and 160 pounds — is one of the Wolverines’ most important blueliners. He’s spent most of the season on the second defensive
who was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft — are lofty for anyone. They’re especially lofty for a freshman with less than 100 games as a defenseman.
“You try to — not try to play like him, but you try to learn those little details that he has. I mean, it’s a special talent and a special gift. I try to work on
points than he does because of those offensive tendencies when he was a forward. Those are some of the things you see.” Two years ago, when Burke
“I was definitely hesitant for a little bit.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman defenseman Nick Blankenburg played forward until he was 18 years old before switching to defenseman under Brian Burke at Victory Honda.
pairing, but when sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes missed four games because of the World Junior Championships, Blankenburg moved into Hughes’ spot on the top pairing with senior defenseman Joseph Cecconi. “We had seven defensemen we really liked, we thought were playing well,” Pearson said. “You usually only like to play six, so when Quinn left, it was a little decision (about) who to play with (Cecconi). “We put (Blankenburg) there because he’s a lot like Quinn in some of the skating, the puck handling and whatnot. So much like — well, in his mannerisms. Hopefully (Blankenburg) gets about half as good as (Hughes).” Comparisons to Hughes —
But it seems they may be apt. As a less-experienced defenseman, Blankenburg is always looking to learn from his fellow blueliners. “I think I can either be more stubborn about it and just kind of do my own thing or I can look up to those guys and I do look up to all those guys,” Blankenburg said. “I watch them, and I try to learn from them every single day.” And the one he learns from the most is Hughes. “I think everyone says this, but I think you just can learn a lot from Quinn with what he does with the puck and when he does have it, how he’s just so, so calm,” Blankenburg said. “The things he can do with the puck (are) just insane.
those little things every single day, so I can be more effective with the puck to create, in the long run, more offense.” You would think that because of his experience as a forward, Blankenburg would be lighting up the stat sheet offensively. But in 22 games played, he has only one goal and four assists for five total points. Though having skills as a forward is helpful in the transition, learning the type of offense that a two-way defenseman is expected to contribute is more complicated than just transferring his previous experience. “He’s got some savvy with the puck and he’s got quick feet,” Pearson said. “I thought he would maybe have a few more
decided that Blankenburg might be successful as a defenseman, one of the key parts of that decision was the strength of Blankenburg’s shot. Against Notre Dame on Jan. 5 — one of the games Blankenburg played with Cecconi — he unleashed a cannon of a slapshot. It caught the post, but it showed signs that the skills he developed as a forward may be starting to come through in his relatively new role as a two-way defenseman. Blankenburg originally made the switch to try to get on a Division I hockey team. But as he continues to learn from Hughes and develop at Michigan, Blankenburg’s transition to defense may bring him to even greater heights.
The story of Stormy Kromer, Mel ‘M’ looks for big wins in final stretch Pearson and Michigan’s novelty hats TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan coach Mel Pearson wore it behind the bench at Notre Dame Stadium on Jan. 5. As the players took off their gear and changed into their street clothes, they slipped it on as well. It was a Stormy Kromer hat. “It’s a unique cap,” Pearson said. “And a unique story behind the cap.” The story began in 1903 with George Kromer — nicknamed “Stormy” — who was a semiprofessional baseball player who later became a railroad engineer. “We had to do a little research on it,” said freshman forward Nolan Moyle. “It’s got a little history message inside. It’s basically about Stormy Kromer, he’s kind of a railroad worker, whose hat kept falling off so they sewed the flaps onto the side, and it’s a pretty good old-school look.”
After losing many hats to the wind on the locomotive he worked on, Kromer requested his wife to sew a hat that would not only stay on his head but keep it warm. So she took a baseball cap, sewed on a higher crown and added ear flaps to a pull-down earband. The popularity of the hats pushed Kromer and his wife to take their small hometown production to a factory in Milwaukee, Wisc. with upwards of 30 workers. The expansion took off and over 100 years later, it found its way to Ironwood, Mich. — a place not too far from Michigan Tech, where Pearson had spent years coaching. “I spent a lot of years in the (Upper Peninsula),” Pearson said. “They’re very popular up there. They’re a very unique brand of cap and obviously a Michigan company.” Upon returning from winter break, Pearson wanted to surprise
“They almost became a personal mission for them.”
the team with a present for the holidays as well as something special for the upcoming outdoor game in South Bend. “Usually around that you get something different to wear,” Pearson said. “And I thought, hey you know what, give them sort of the Christmas gift and the outdoor ‘Let’s take it outside’ game. It’s amazing.” Upon request, the company Pearson approached made it a priority to finish the product in time for the game. “I found out that the general manager up there in Ironwood, Michigan considers himself the biggest Michigan hockey fan in the Upper Peninsula,” Pearson said. “So when they heard we wanted to do this, they really wanted to do this. They rushed them. They almost became a personal mission for them to see this through so it’s pretty exciting.” Pearson had the block ‘M’ sewn on the side and the players’ numbers added to the front. On the bench and in the locker room, players and coaches alike donned the cap. And with it, they took South Bend in style.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson wore a Stormy Kromer hat behind the bench in the Wolverines’ outdoor game.
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Senior guard Nicole Munger is confident that Michigan’s freshmen will improve as the season continues.
BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer
When the Michigan women’s basketball team walked off the court at the Xfinity Center on Monday night in College Park, it was left wondering what had gone wrong. It had allowed a one-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter to balloon into a 14-point loss. The Wolverines outrebounded No. 9 Maryland and put themselves in a position to win by collecting 18 offensive boards compared to just seven for the Terrapins — the eighth-best rebounding team in the nation. Then, the defense collapsed, allowing Maryland to shoot 77 percent from the floor and 75 percent from deep in the final period while giving up its rebounding advantage. This is no anomaly. Instead, it encapsulates what has been an up and down season for the Wolverines thus far. “Our defense is definitely a work in progress and that’s something that we are continuing to try and improve, sending (less) people to the free throw line,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “I think the last few games we’ve done a much better job of that, but we have taken notice of that.”
A big reason for Michigan’s defensive struggles, especially late in games, is youth. While youth has long-term advantages, the lack of experience has hurt the Wolverines late in games when trying to hold a narrow lead or close a slim deficit. “Well they say defense wins championships and we really pride ourselves on that here,” said senior guard Nicole Munger. “ … I think we’re just really focused on getting better every single day at defense and getting little things, like extra possessions, through charges, loose balls, rebounds and just really trying to lock into our scouts. We’ve shown the ability (against) like Missouri, Maryland for the first half, of being able to really shut down opponents, we just need to be able to out a full 40 minutes together.” That youth has also led to struggles in hostile road environments. Michigan has won just four times in its 10 games away from Crisler Center, and without any notable road wins, the Wolverines will have a hard time making the NCAA Tournament. “I think that we just need to lock in and, like I said, do everything a little bit better (on the road),” Munger said. “You’re not going to have your refs or, like I said, your crowd, but that’s why
you got to be a little bit better at every single thing.” Thus far, Michigan has faced five ranked teams, four of them on the road. To little surprise, the Wolverines have lost all four of those games. But, for Barnes Arico, those losses have a silver lining — they provide a learning experience that will help the young players gain the skills they need to succeed away from Ann Arbor. That starts in Iowa City with a contest against the 22nd-ranked Hawkeyes on Thursday. If it can learn from its previous road contests, Michigan is capable of snatching a few key road wins down the final stretch. “I think our schedule, even before Big Ten play, has been incredibly tough,” Barnes Arico said. “We’ve played against some of the best teams in the country. Whether that’s Texas or NC State, who I think is the only undefeated team left, and all of those games have been on the road. And then to head into Big Ten play and now have four of our first six on the road has really been challenging. “But we keep trying to put a positive spin on it, that it is going to prepare us for February, that it is going to prepare us for March and Big Ten play and the Big Ten Tournament when we will have to be at a neutral court.”
Sports
8A — Wednesday, January 16, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
“I know I’m capable of knocking down those shots”: The terrifying
proposition of Jon Teske, the 3-point shooter, and how it became possible JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Editor
Jon Teske stood at the freethrow line with Eli Brooks about five feet to his right. The two operated in tandem — Teske dropping back behind the 3-point line to where Brooks once stood, Brooks vacating his original position to seal off two defenders with a screen at the stripe. Next came the pass from junior guard Zavier Simpson. Then came the shot by Teske. Then came the sound of ball catching nylon. Then it happened again. Two minutes later, Brooks drove the lane, drawing Teske’s defender to help. Teske stepped back across the arc and fired away. The ball rattled home.
The next possession saw the exact same play and the exact same result. Here was Brooks, a 6-foot1, 185-pound guard, setting an off-ball screen to spring his 7-foot-1 center for a 3-pointer. Here was the center setting up and knocking it down delayfree. Here was Teske, who had hit just five treys in his career before Sunday, hitting three in the first half alone. Michigan’s 80-60 win Sunday over Northwestern did not actually take place in a parallel universe, although
it may have seemed that way for those 150 seconds. Nor did Teske somehow switch bodies with a certain tall, sweetshooting Los Angeles Lakers rookie, even if that may have appeared to be the case too. No, this was Jon Teske, all 85 inches and 260 pounds of him, doing exactly what many have long hoped he’d be doing. Teske shot 3-pointers at Medina High School in Ohio. But in Ann Arbor, the anticipation started last spring, when Moritz Wagner and his 110 career threes departed for the NBA
“(That’s) big to get those big men that can shoot.”
Draft and was drafted by the Lakers. Of all the off-season storylines surrounding the Wolverines, Teske’s improved outside stroke was one of the most prominent. It was the intrigue of something unseen and the allure of yet another behemoth gunning teams down from deep. If Teske’s shooting was as accurate as hyped, Michigan’s pick-and-pop game — so deadly with Wagner as an outlet — wouldn’t miss a beat. “Jon Teske has shot the ball really well (in practice),” said Michigan coach John Beilein on Sept. 25. “Having a big man that can shoot, you all see what can happen, it made everybody else better last year. Having Jon be able to do that … (that’s) big to get those big men that can shoot.”
ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Junior center Jon Teske had only hit five 3-pointers in his career before Sunday, when he went 3-of-5 from beyond the arc in an 80-60 win over Northwestern.
Added Teske: “Now that Moe’s gone, it’s my turn to step up. And I think with my capability shooting the three, I can really stretch the f loor and help us win games.” Teske has indeed helped the Wolverines win games in many ways, but until Sunday, shooting wasn’t exactly among them. In his twoplus years on campus, Teske’s grown from a whistle-prone freshman into a mature rim protector who keeps his arms up and defends without fouling. In his first season, he committed 6.7 fouls per 40 minutes. This year, he’s sliced that rate in half. Teske once ran out of energy quickly, but he now has both the defensive acumen and the stamina to average 27 minutes a night, including a careerhigh 35 minutes on Sunday. His ability to switch onto guards on the perimeter has allowed him to anchor Michigan’s defense both inside and outside. “Jon Teske’s come a long way,” said Purdue coach Matt Painter after his team lost, 76-57, to the Wolverines on Dec. 1. “He’s bypassed a lot of people, in my opinion, that he competes against. ... I don’t know him personally, but there’s no way he hasn’t worked hard, because he was a long way away two years ago.” Added Northwestern coach Chris Collins after his team’s 62-60 loss to Michigan on Dec. 4: “The development he’s made this year has really added to (Michigan’s) weaponry, so to speak. They don’t have many holes.” Teske has only showed
f lashes of the awaited range. But as with Simpson, a maligned shooter who went 5-for-10 from deep against the Wildcats, what’s been more telling is the Wolverines’, and Teske’s, unwillingness to go away from the three-ball. Teske had attempted 22 threes before Sunday, including seven over Michigan’s last three games. “I think (Teske’s confidence) never wavered,” said redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews. “(He) just understood that shots were going to fall at some point, kept taking those shots, kept believing in it.” On Sunday, Teske came out firing. Though most of his prior 3-point attempts were basic pick-and-pop looks, against the Wildcats, he showed a greater willingness to move without the ball and hunt his own shots. He faded out of the post to pop in a 16-footer from the right wing on the Wolverines’ fourth possession, and hit a long two from the left wing one trip later, part of a 10-0 start. Later in the half, the 3-point barrage came in full force. “I know I’m capable of knocking down those shots,” Teske said. “Just finding the right shots within the offense … If the shot’s there, I’m going to take it. I’m not going to force anything.” It’s too early to tell if Sunday’s 17-point, 3-of-5 shooting performance was just another f lash. But if it isn’t? That’s a scary proposition for the Big Ten, as Michigan’s seven-footer continues to grow.
“(Jon Teske) was a long way away two years ago.”
Hughes, Norris return from World Juniors with experience in hand TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer
Josh Norris and Quinn Hughes were no strangers to U20 World Juniors. It was only one year ago the sophomore forwards had both appeared in it together for Team USA, earning a bronze medal. Returning to the scene once more — this time in Vancouver and Victoria, Ont. — they had their eyes set on gold. “It was obviously a lot of fun anytime you can go and represent your country,” Norris said. “Obviously that’s a pretty big tournament and something that you grow up dreaming about playing in.” The duo ended with eight points and a plus-minus of nine between the two. Their impacts, however, were more than just on the stat sheet. “It’s nice having a familiarity there with Josh,” Hughes said
to SiriusXM. “I kind of know what he likes to do and I’m sure he knows what I like to do so whenever we’re out on the ice, it’s easier.” After a slow start that ended in a narrow 2-1 win over Slovakia, Hughes emphasized USA’s growth and unity as a team. “For us, we just got to keep building every game,” Hughes said to SiriusXM. “I think from the first game to the end of the tournament, we’ll be a completely different team. So us every day we just got to continue getting better so hopefully for today’s game we’re better today than two days ago.” Hughes and Norris were named alternate captains before the start of the tournament,
putting a bigger burden on them than just playing their best. They had to be leaders. “You can have different kind of leaders,” Hughes said. “I think for me, just working really hard on the ice and showing that you really care, and that’s what I kind of attract to.” The team got after it in the following match against Kazakhstan, ending in a dominant 8-2 win. Hughes contributed an assist to take the lead after Kazakhstan tied the game at one apiece. He sparked the power play goal after drawing the defense by passing the puck back and forth across the blue line. Norris tallied an assist and the eighth and final goal of the game to cap a
“Probably one of the biggest goals I’ve ever scored.”
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore defenseman Quinn Hughes competed alongside teammate Josh Norris at the World Junior Championships.
commanding performance. Even after the beatdown, Norris thought the team hadn’t reached its full potential. It wasn’t until the following game, against Sweden, that he saw the team grow. After allowing a three-goal deficit through two periods, Team USA looked out of sorts as it allowed in a fourth goal minutes after the third period started. However, the team scored four unanswered goals to tie the game — one of which came off a Hughes assist — and pushed it into overtime, where the team ultimately failed to secure the comeback win. Despite the close loss, Norris says that game will stick with him. “I think the Sweden game, our round robin game against Sweden, we were down 4-1 with eight minutes left, and (St. Cloud State forward Jake Poehling) hit three in the last eight minutes and that was pretty crazy. “That kind of gave our team
a little bit of life, and right after that game is where we took off. We all kind of believed in each other a little bit more, that was probably the moment that stuck out to me.” Norris would add an assist and a game-winning goal in the team’s subsequent wins over Finland and Czech Republic, 4-1 and 3-1, respectively. He also generated multiple scoring opportunities in the semifinals against Russia that ended in a 2-1 win for USA. “It was the first time in the tourney people were actually cheering for us,” joked U.S. National Team Development program player Jack Hughes to SiriusXM after the match. Despite his solid performance throughout, Norris’ biggest achievement was in the final match Jan. 5 against Finland. The team had dug a 2-0 hole and after 50 minutes of play, the deficit was cut to only one. Hitting a one-timer from the right circle,
“It’s hard to score goals in that tournament.”
Norris scored the equalizer that rejuvenated not only the players on the ice but the entire bench. “Everyone was really excited because we were down two nothing to a really good team,” Quinn Hughes said. “It’s hard to score goals in that tournament, so when he scored you could just feel the energy on the bench and in the stadium, that it was tied up and we were all really excited. “There was a confidence on the bench that once we tied it up, we’d be OK.” Added Norris: “It was obviously a pretty big momentum change and probably one of the biggest goals I’ve ever scored and I was on a high there for 15, 20 seconds.” Team USA went on to lose the match 3-2, earning a silver medal. But despite being unable to secure the victory, the tournament offered Hughes and Norris a change of pace from college hockey. “The NCAA’s pretty tough,” Hughes said to the Victoria media group. “You’re playing 24-25 year old men actually, and the guys aren’t as strong, but you’re playing more elite players so sometimes they’re a little bit more skilled.”
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | JA N UA RY 16 , 2019
A second-generation reflection on the model minority
ILLUSTRATION BY CASEY TIN
Annie Klus /Daily
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL
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Wednesday, January 16, 2019 // The Statement
Wednesday, January 9, 2019 // The Statement
statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | JA N UA RY 16 , 2019
Managing Statement Editor Andrea Pérez Balderrama Deputy Editors Matthew Harmon Shannon Ors
Designers Liz Bigham Kate Glad Copy Editors Miriam Francisco Madeline Turner
Time peace P
Editor in Chief Maya Goldman Managing Editor Finntan Storer
BY EMILY RUSSELL, STATEMENT CONTRIBUTOR
acifist is a title I started giving myself after the fateful day I spent with Yoko Ono’s treasure trove of experimental, anti-war art at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain on my first trip abroad. Fifteen years old and wide-eyed, my first plane trip landed me in the heart of jet-lagged sentimentality and an art exhibit calling for non-violence. I can point to that day and know who I became on it, and like anyone, could point to a great number of other days relevant to creating the self, with impacts sometimes felt immediately and other times only much later. I took Ono for God at the time (her status remains), and in feeling that I had stumbled
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL
Photo Editor Annie Klusendorf
upon the secrets of the world, I turned ideology into action, moving from pacifist to peacemaker. Ono’s strategies were simple: Take the things you do and see each day, and make peace with them. Her famous Hair Peace became a symbol of the anti-war generation, as she and many others refused to cut their hair as an act of defying the violence that would otherwise be shown with scissors and blades. Bed Peace was another favorite, a 10-day event during which she and John Lennon invited the press to broadcast their gentility as they led a “bedin” advocating for nonviolence. Living this way, with a conscious extension of effort toward object-awareness and making peace becomes cumulative, habitual. Perhaps my own peacemaking has become cumulative, habitual. Since that fateful spring day, I have all but tattooed Ono’s books into my mind, have become a pupil of the nation’s leading peace scholars, invested my time in human rights projects, studied disarmament around the globe, written plays to nudge the world toward change, and found myself speaking in public fora on issues of citizenship, nonviolence and our chances for perpetual peace. And yet as the new year brought forth the longawaited shared experience of watching the clock, I found myself ruminating on the areas of my life with which I had not made peace. The construction of peace, be it at micro or macro scales, seems to me to require only intention and adamancy. Neglected in my previous pursuits — and at the forefront of my mind, as the fireworks greeted the new calendar year — was making peace with the very thing we stood around to watch: the passing of time itself. We are headfirst in the winter semester of university, facing a multitude of goodbyes: to old courses and their expired syllabi, to old selves by way of resolutions for betterment in 2019, to friends who will soon graduate and move away. This liminality and tumult is a source of real anxiety for me and many others. I have been known to greet the uncertainties of the future with stasis and a fear of commitment to that which is fleeting. For many people I know, the heartache that time brings — by taking people we love and the people we think we are — is an unbearable one. And yet, watching time pass in that suspended state after midnight on New Year’s
incited reflection on the momentousness of 2018. To take stock of a year in the life of the self is to recall its fullness: in joys and disappointments, solitudes and company. For me, 2018 was a year of incomparable growth and mobility. I spent a fourth of it living in Iceland and solotraveling throughout Scandinavia, during which I felt constantly aware of time’s strange behavior. I wandered in an extended period of heightened sensitivity, loving a place and its landscapes, art and people wholeheartedly, fully. Every seaside mountain and cat roaming the street and stroll through a garden invoked in me tremendous love. My heart was a thousand unsent thank-you cards and a thousand unsent love letters every moment of every day. Local friends and I drove through countryside, lounged in cafes, and hiked postcard-style lands, and each moment, I knew, was the last of its kind. For three months, I was in a constant state of loving — deeply — and leaving. The solo travel was just as liminal. The cityscapes and hostel friends filled me and my days with a cinematic wholeness — the discovery and subsequent tenderness toward the details of the Scandinavian landscape was constant. So, too, was the leaving. For a long while after I returned to the States, I grieved for the too intense loving-and-leaving in which my heart had engaged. Time, it seemed, had taken back everything it gave. To make peace with the passage of time means to accept the constancy of this fluctuation. That the liminality is the guarantee. That the loving comes with the leaving. To me, having to say goodbye to those we care for is made easier when we remember the world is small, and if we’re lucky, life is long. Making peace with the passage of time means granting yourself the opportunity to feel and care fully, no matter the rate of return. Time-induced iterations of our selves are perhaps our greatest gifts. We both shed and acquire faults and failings, virtues and successes. We are both timeworn and always reborn. Perhaps our transience is our only guarantee. If that is so, making peace with time means aching for our old selves only in moderation, knowing that new ones are in constant creation. The 15-year-old could not have dreamed what she would become, or what the world around her would become, or that she would find herself, at 20, on a Reykjavik shoreline looking at the inscriptions on Ono’s Peace Tower. Thankfully she had the foresight to let go of the pieces of her self that no longer became her, embracing transience as a tool for change instead of a penalty. Perhaps, in the quest for peacemaking, I will do the same. My heart has learned how to be simultaneously full of goodbye letters and greeting cards. Maybe this making of peace with the passage of time is to 2019 what Hair Peace was to the ‘70s. May we all strive to make a little more peace in these lives, transient as they are.
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The stock market, as explained by Fritas
A
round a corner you might otherwise stroll past on Main Street, there is a set of glass doors between ivory white brick that holds the smallest, most restless Cuban eatery in town. Home to coconut cream milkshakes, community tables, and burgers stacked with eggs, guacamole and fries, Frita Batidos is continuously brimming with culinary enthusiasts from open ‘til close. As sacred as Fritas has been to Ann Arbor’s savory landscape for the last eight years, it is hard to deny its success. And in a parallel and perfect universe, there would be a Frita Batidos gracing at least one canopy sign in every metropolitan city in the U.S — at least the Michigan alumni could attest to that. So, what if there was? Fritas rakes in $8.50 for each burger it so artistically serves, but building out several locations is still a slow and pricey feat. Let’s say they decide to build a couple dozen locations over the next few decades. In its theoretical expansion, if Fritas funds were to run dry, a way to gain access to millions of dollars is by going public: letting laymen get a slice of the pie (or rather, a bite of the burger). Investors nationwide can purchase a share, or a stock, of Fritas and own a fraction of what once was just the little restaurant down Washington Street. So, needing access to thousands of investors to be able to expand more rapidly, Fritas takes the leap and files to go public. After a regulatory green light is signaled by Wall Street and the federal government, bankers and attorneys tend to the grunt work. They analyze when to release shares to the public, how much each share will be, and iron out the details. And then, on the little ticker that scrolls robotically across your screen each weekday, FRTA▲14.2% joins the pack. This “pack” is otherwise known as an index. Like the Dow Jones (DJIA) or S&P 500, an index is made up of tens, hundreds or even thousands of companies that fit certain criteria that can speak to their holistic performance. For example, the S&P 500 is a listing of the 500 largest companies in the U.S. While Frita Batidos could eventually size up to eatery behemoths McDonald’s and Chipotle, it may find itself listed in the Russell 2000 Index: a compilation of 2,000 small public companies that benchmarks small market cap stocks in the U.S. Now, as an investor with the ability to purchase shares of Fritas, you want to make sure you’re getting the best bang for your buck. Essentially, the
BY ROMY SHARMA, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL
mindset to adopt when facing investment decisions is to purchase at a low price in hopes that it will rise over the course you own the share, so you can eventually sell it in the market at a higher price, and pocket the difference. Think of this like a bet. When you buy a share in a company, you tempt fortune on either the company or macroeconomic conditions to go well for the time period you plan on holding that investment. Your Fritas investment in action: If you buy a share of Fritas at $20 and its fate turns south, you lose $2 if it sinks to $18. Don’t bite? If you buy 20 shares of Fritas and things go well — say the share price increases to $25 — you earn $100 without lifting a finger. This price can go up and down for a myriad of reasons, but fundamentally, it rests on the company’s performance and the market’s appetite for Fritas’ stock. The more that people want to sink their teeth into a soft egg bun enveloping spicy chorizo, the higher
Fritas revenue will be. And the higher the revenue, the better off the company’s sustenance. As long as Fritas continues to perform as well as it does on a Friday night here in Ann Arbor, the more investors it will attract. If you decide to take on the investor role, once you purchase shares in your first company, you have opened the cork to bottomless opportunity. You can pair passion and prognosis to delve into companies whose growth piques your interest. And as you accumulate investments in more companies, you inaugurate the beginnings of a portfolio. As you begin to piece your portfolio together, it is important to keep diversity at the forefront of your decisionmaking. While it pains me to report that just 12-15 percent of Wall Street traders are women, I’m referring to another kind of diversity: portfolio diversification. For example, if every Main Street facility was to go public and be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, it is unwise to pour your money into Fritas,
bd’s Mongolian Grill and Prickly Pear. Rather, some of your money should be allocated to other industries, such as retail, like Warby Parker or Shinola, or service industries, like Anneke’s Downtown Hair & Company. So if restaurants have a bad week, there’s a good chance some of your other investments had a better week. Beyond the inner workings of the companies you select, there are greater forces applied to every company on the volatile stock market. While your companies may perform well on their own, the stock market is collectively subject to good and bad news about our towering economy. So, when purchasing shares, it is important to assess the health of our overall economic austerity, as its performance will often trump that of your FRTA holding and other individual companies, and could be the determinant of how much you lose or pocket in your portfolio. And this, friends, is the stock market as told by your favorite Cuban burger place. Need a soda?
4B
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 // The Statement
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 // The Statement
A secondgeneration reflection on the model minority
I
n accordance with the Pew Research Center this article refers to second-generation as US-born children of immigrants. It’s a Saturday morning, and the earthy, slightly acrid aroma perks me up as I walk into Philz Coffee in the Mission District of San Francisco with Chris Shih, a good friend and former classmate of mine who, despite having finished most of a pre-medical program, ultimately transferred and obtained a degree in electrical engineering. He now works as a software engineer, using almost none of what he studied in school. We’re sitting a few minutes later, coffees in hand, and he leans in with a smile. “You’re really out here, huh? Living large,” he says to me, in reference to my cross-country visit to the area for a job interview. “Yeah,” I respond with a chuckle. “I feel very lucky to be here.” I haven’t seen him in quite a while. We
were neighbors in college, but he was a bit older, graduating when I was a sophomore before dropping out of his master’s program to enter the workforce. Chris and I are, at least demographically, quite similar. He’s a second-generation Taiwanese American, and I’m a second-generation Chinese American. We were both born to educated immigrant parents, attended university where we studied engineering and are early in our careers in the tech industry. Barring different Romanization, even our last names are the same. This is a common archetype for young Asian Americans, describing not only the two of us, but many of our friends and hundreds of thousands of students and recent graduates around the country. It’s accurate even down to the experience of entering college on a pre-medical track — I too wanted to be a doctor, but dropped pre-med to become a software engineer. I laugh every time I tell people this,
BY ARTHUR SHI, STATEMENT CONTRIBUTOR
because it’s such a “typical Asian thing” to have done. Though, to be honest, I’m unsure of why I find it funny. Chris and I have talked about this before, and it’s something I’ve thought about a lot. I have at least a dozen second-gen Asian-American friends and classmates who have the exact same story. This can’t be purely coincidental, given the usual image evoked in the public consciousness when we say “Asian”: someone, usually of East Asian descent, educated and economically stable, with a propensity for STEM fields, law-abiding, reserved, unlikely to be politically involved or outspoken and perhaps a bit awkward. This characterization is usually known as the “model minority stereotype,” a phrase coined by William Peterson’s essay titled Success Story, Japanese American Style published in the Jan. 9, 1966 edition of The New York Times Magazine. The essay describes the relative success of Japanese Americans despite marginalization, citing strong work ethics and family values as factors that prevented the Japanese from becoming a “problem minority.” Statistically, Asian students are significantly more likely to be in STEM than other fields of study. One of the prevailing hypotheses as to why so many Asian students choose to pursue medicine, law or engineering is the pressure that came from our parents and the Asian cultural values emphasizing education and hard work. The topic comes up in my conversation with Chris, and I take a poke at it. “Well, Asian kids have four career options: doctor, lawyer, engineer or failure,” I crack, knowing Chris will laugh. He does, and his eyes have an inquisitive look in them as Annie Klus /Daily
he processes the joke. I’m unsure if it’s because he agrees, or because he possesses the same type of cultural understanding that makes it funny for me to have dropped biochemistry for computer science. Then he responds, “Well, it’s kind of true, right?” hy does it appear that so many Asian students go into STEM fields? What are the implications of our conforming to the so-called model minority stereotype? I started reaching out to friends and acquaintances with similar backgrounds — mostly second-gen Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and Indian Americans — to see how they felt about the stereotype and its impacts on the second-gen experience. “I picked electrical engineering because an engineering degree was practical and just seemed like my best choice,” Justin Jung, a Korean-American senior at Michigan Technological University told me. He was wearing a dress shirt and slacks and loosening a necktie as he spoke, having just come from a job interview in town. He didn’t elaborate much on what constitutes a “best choice.” “Maybe that was passed along to me by my parents, I don’t know,” Jung said. “They didn’t have any direct influence over my decision. They told me, ‘Do whatever you want,’ but they did suggest engineering, and that was my choice.” Out of more than two dozen secondgeneration Asian-American students I spoke to, enrolled in a variety of majors, almost none told me their parents pushed them very explicitly into STEM degrees. It just so happens that most of them ended up there anyway. It seems the tiger moms, caricatures of extremely strict Asian mothers (and parents in general) popularized by Amy Chua’s controversial 2011 memoir “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” are rarer than I thought. I always felt it was a stereotype that Asians have incredibly strict parents, but that wasn’t the case for me and evidently wasn’t for most of my friends, either. “It’s more subtle than your parents saying, ‘You should do STEM’,” Raghu Arghal said with a thoughtful tone one day over the phone. Raghu is one of my closest friends from home, the child of two educated Indian immigrants, who studies electrical engineering with a focus in digital signal processing. “We subconsciously develop these notions partially ingrained in us that history or the arts are not as useful as something like engineering,” Raghu said. “As a kid at some point, I remember thinking, ‘Why would I study art?’ The implicit value system around education for most Asian immigrant parents boils down to
W
more education is better than less education, and technical education is better than non-technical education.” The consensus among my peers was most Asian immigrant parents, rather than explicitly demanding it, more actively encourage their kids to get As, or to want to become a doctor or to do math workbooks in the summer (like I used to) instead of encouraging them to practice arts or play sports. For some of us, it works out. As my understanding has grown over the years, I’ve come to genuinely love working with computers and software, even though my decision to study computer science wasn’t much more of a thought than “the intro class was kind of fun and I know there’s a job market.” And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get pleasure from knowing my parents must be, by stereotypical Asian parenting standards, proud of me. Generally, immigrant Asian parents aren’t very verbal with their affection but they have no difficulty letting out an offhanded “Ling a-yi’s son got into Harvard,” or a more pointed, “You should get As.” Though it’s expressed in a language that’s sometimes hard for us to understand, we are loved. We know it because know our parents struggled in ways we do not know how to imagine, and in return, we try — sometimes under tremendous pressure — to succeed. But sometimes, the sacrifices I made to compete as an engineering student rendered my personality one-dimensional. I pushed my other interests aside for years and I have more than once been the person talking about class and work at parties, eliciting eye rolls and dirty looks from those nearby. I’ve listened to my friends in similar positions divulge their frustrations with studying “safe” subjects they weren’t passionate about, and wondered if my passions for writing and music might have taken off if I was brave enough to take the leap. t’s safe to say our childhood experiences and our parents’ philosophies are phenomena of broader social trends. At least in the body of second-generation Asian students I’m acquainted with, usually one or both parents are highly educated and hold a professional occupation. That’s because most of us are here with direct ties to the passage of the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, which allotted 170,000 immigration visas annually, with per-country quotas and preferential categories for skilled laborers and those with family in America. With Hart-Celler, immigration in America changed. Before 1965, more than two thirds of immigrants to America came from Europe or Canada. How-
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ever, between 1971 and 1991, for the first time in history, Europeans did not constitute the largest group of immigrants. During that period, in which immigration constituted about 40 percent of the population growth in the U.S., more than one in three immigrants was from Asia. The demographic landscape of America was changing rapidly. For this wave of first-generation Americans, education and professional skills were the way to a better life, the realization of their American dream. The story of the American immigrant is rife with challenges, sacrifice and, out of necessity if nothing else, faith in hard work. This is a big part of why Asian parents want the best for their kids, to the point of sometimes being incredibly harsh about it. “We know our parents came here with next to nothing, and gave up everything for us to have a prosperous life,” Toraki Maehata, a second-generation JapaneseAmerican student at Michigan State University, told me. “I don’t really think I met my parents’ expectations, or fit that ‘smart as hell’ Asian stereotype. But those sacrifices still motivate me to succeed.” As one of the major cultural influences of today’s second-generation Asian Americans, the Asian immigration boom was a natural catalyst for the development of the generalized notion of AsianAmerican identity that exists today. In many ways, Asian immigration became an extension of the already developing model minority stereotype in America. The notion of the model minority reflects a partial truth, in that certain subgroups of Asians in America have achieved high degrees of socioeconomic success, but as a generalization, it boasts negative social implications. The perceived socioeconomic success of Asians is based on income, education, low criminality and stable family structures. Yet, today, about one-third of Bhutanese Americans live below the poverty line and approximately one-fourth of Hmong Americans over the age of 25 do not have a high school diploma. No other group of Americans has a larger income disparity than Asian Americans, with the top tenth percentile of Asians in America earning a startling 10.7 times the income of the bottom tenth percentile. The reality is Asian identity in America is a nebulous thing, with Asian Americans and immigrants from many cultures contributing vastly different experiences at vastly varying levels of representation. While there are some overarching experiences and challenges faced by overlapping subsets of Asian Americans, it’s difficult to point to any singular artifact that is common to all Asians in this country. See SECOND GENERATION, Page 6B
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seems to indicate this was a matter of national convenience and not of racial equity. When the war ended, Chinese and Japanese Americans cited their military service as appeals for acceptance as Americans, and Chinese community leaders in the ’50s touted Confucian values to frame their communities, especially their children, as law-abiding, hard working and studious. The appeals around Confucian values in particular intended to lessen the vitriol of racism at a time when juvenile delinquency was one of the major concerns of the American public. The Hart-Celler-era immigrants worked hard to be seen as constructive members of society. Jeff Guo, a journalist focused on economics and Asian-American affairs, wrote in the Washington Post, “The model minority myth as we see it today was mainly an unintended outcome of earlier attempts by Asian Americans to be accepted and recognized as human beings. They wanted to be seen as American people who were worthy of respect and dignity.” or us who do fit the stereotype, the up-and-coming generation of the model minority, there are consequences to the cultural balance we find for ourselves. If we have children who look like us but whom we cannot teach the language, the food and the culture — children who may have little to point to but their appearance in claiming Asian identity — how do our identities, the culture we’re building today, affect what it will mean for them to be Asian-American in the future? We who cheered fervently for the representation “Crazy Rich Asians” brought us — a depiction of wealthy
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East Asians, attractive by Western standards and portraying all ethnically Chinese characters — might want to ask some questions. How does our growing “Asian” spotlight affect the undereducated, poor and largely unseen war refugee? What does it mean for Asians as an umbrella group when Harvard is being sued for alleged anti-Asian discrimination, apparently having too many qualified Asian applicants to let them in fairly, when the median Hmong American doesn’t have a high school diploma? People like me bear discrimination, assuredly. The elementary school lunchbox moments (“You eat that? Gross”). The surprised remarks of “Your English is so good!” and the almost innocuous “Where are you from?” Being picked for group projects presumably for our math skills and then being excluded socially. The reminders of the shape of your eyes and your funny name. Discrimination in admissions to elite schools, in getting promotions at work and in participating in the housing market are commonly cited grievances and legitimate concerns. But these are marked improvements over the days of the Chinese and Asian Exclusion Acts, the brutal treatment of Asian railroad workers, the zoning policies and segregations into Chinatowns, the internment of Japanese Americans, the Los Angeles race riots and hate crimes like the senseless murder of Vincent Chin. When I asked my Asian friends, ones who, like me, bluntly fit the model minority stereotype, about the challenges faced by Asian Americans, many said we were faced with stereotypes and discrimination in general, but few could point to specific institutional or structural problems.
For the Asian Americans who get the prized stable jobs and the comfort that our immigrant parents worked so hard for us to have, what comes next? It’s socially myopic to stop asking questions about Asian identity and community once our own needs are met. When you look at the history behind the experiences, stereotypes and behaviors that have shaped our identity today, it is clear that our experiences, stereotypes and behaviors today will shape what it means to be Asian American tomorrow. And that being the case, I’d argue the most important stereotype we have yet to break is that Asians are socially unconcerned and uninvolved. If we want Asians to be taken seriously and seen as a diverse group of people with culture beyond making grades and pulling paychecks, we need to start speaking up, making ourselves visible and pointing out that the story isn’t so simple. I don’t think it’s naive to believe social change begins at the individual and the community level, but it’s going to take time and serious effort, not only on the part of Asian Americans, to build a new Asian-American identity — one that’s perceived as nuanced, genuinely American and unabashedly self-aware and conscious of gaps in status and representation in our home country. The stakes are ultimately higher than understanding why so many second-generation Asian Americans live up to the model minority stereotype. They involve understanding the social factors that make it so others don’t have the opportunity to be “model” and indeed reduce entire races to “problem minorities.” And if those are the stakes at play, let’s be conscious of them, and be, in a new way, what we supposedly are: models.
“If we have children who look like us but whom we cannot teach the language, the food and the culture — children who may have little to point to but their appearance in claiming Asian identity — how do our identities, the culture we’re building today, affect what it will mean for them to be Asian American in the future?”
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he piano in my childhood home is tired. Her brown, fraying ivory sags with overuse and dulled keys sing softly — worn out from years of pounding fingers. Her exterior — covered in stickers and stamps and carved into with uncut fingernails — reeks of resignation. Old and abused, the bench squeaks with arthritic dejection when slid out into sunlight. I have always been an extremely passionate person. The piano in my childhood home represents exactly the effects of this: After over a decade of fully-dedicated, emotional excess, the keys into which I poured my soul have started to give out. I used to get scolded by my mom, who would online shop on the computer near the music room, “He ” which translates to, “Don’t throw yourself onto the piano like a crazy person.” But throw myself I would, because I knew no other way. If I was going to do something, I would assert to her, why not do it with the utmost energy, emotion and excitement? I lived my life like this for a while: in a hurricane of passion. I played my scales in the dynamic fortissimo. I tried to befriend every person I’d meet at a party. I banged out arpeggios to the frustration of my family. I would literally throw up after reading a book that moved me. I tried to memorize multiple sonatas at a time. I lay motionless on my bed as my heart strained over the latest boy I had decided to crush on. While this approach to life, in which I felt everything amplified by 100, made everything more interesting, it was not sustainable. I soon came to realize this on the soccer field, another place where,
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Generalized notions of “Asian successes” and “Asian struggles” don’t take this into account. Imagining all Asians in America as one group essentially projects a singular pan-ethnic identity onto them, and the perception of this identity has been shaped by the portrayal of only a few ethnic groups. While this monolithic identity has provided a vocabulary for conversations around race in America, it has also caused entire communities to be unrepresented in the mainstream Asian-American narrative. With the development of the model minority stereotype, we see a story of one of the fastest turnarounds of racial perception in American history. The first major wave of Asian immigration to the mainland United States was in the late 1840s, when migrants fleeing harsh economic conditions in southern China entered through San Francisco to find work in railroad construction, mining and agriculture. They faced extreme racial discrimination, being cast pejoratively as “coolies” and contibuting to the subjugating “Yellow Peril” in the American zeitgeist. After being segregated into enclaves like San Francisco’s Chinatown, in 1882, the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act barred any further immigration from China. The passage of the Immigration Act of 1924 included the Asian Exclusion Act, and severely limiting all non-white immigration to the United States. Less than 20 years after the passage of the Asian Exclusion Act, the modern model minority stereotype began with pro-Chinese propaganda in the 1940s, a diplomatic gesture toward China, who was America’s wartime ally in the Pacific theater. The contemporaneous internment of Japanese Americans
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Wednesday, January January 16, 16, 2019 2019 // // The The Statement Statement Wednesday,
BY MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA, EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
ILLUSTRATION BY SHERRY CHEN
like music, I found a home. Soccer was a passion, one that I never neglected: If we had a game, I would give it my all, even from the bench. If I was watching a game on TV with my dad, I’d exclaim loud commentary at the screen. To me, soccer was an outlet, an intersection between creativity, energy and community. I could play as hard as I wanted to, and my adolescent body would come out only with a couple of bruises and sore muscles. I could laugh and tease with my teammates, and sure, we’d have to run laps for it, but I’d leave practice with a feeling of warmth in my chest. Like piano, this exuberance reflected in my everyday life, and the world appeared vividly colorful to me because of it. But rainbows are fleeting. With maturity and experience, my naive lens of joy began to give way to the darker clouds of cynicism. High school proved demanding; I had to quit playing music. Our family’s piano remained sad and dulled in the dim light of Michigan winters, untouched for months. High school soccer proved political, and no longer did I enjoy the feeling of sisterhood that I had indulged in for years. Rather, girls were nasty and mean, making fun of the “weirdness” I believed to be my shining characteristic. As I grappled with my sense of self, losing footing in music, my life changed once again – this time, through soccer. At 6:00 a.m. on a winter morning in December, as the newly appointed captain of my varsity soccer team, I tried to rally 12 yawning girls into a dedicated and dynamic pre-season soccer
game. What ensued, as I tried to exhibit enthusiasm with all my might, was that I finally crashed from the high I’d been riding for years. On a simple corner kick play, I planted my leg to cut and felt a thudding pop – I had torn almost every ligament in my knee. In this moment, my body gave up against the overpowering force. Symbolically, it represented the imbalance in my approach to life: I was putting too much weight on a single ligament that couldn’t keep up. As I was wheeled off of the field, my teammates looked at me, dumbfounded. Later, they would tell me they thought nothing would be wrong — that I’d return to practice the next day entirely the same. The truth is, after that event, I never did return to a soccer field in the same way. The months following my injury were humiliating, disillusioning and frustrating. I lay in bed for weeks popping Tylenols and ignoring the rash of purple-blue bruises that covered my swollen leg. I relied on my mom, whose love brought her to sleep downstairs with me on an uncomfortable couch for more than a month, to carry out activities as simple as going pee. I crutched around school out of breath and sweaty, trying to keep up with classroom banter but rather becoming the object of tease when I walked in with my fullleg brace. I felt beaten down, not just by those around me, but internally, too. I felt fully disconnected from my body. I didn’t recognize my frail and feeble legs. I yearned to jump up and down and dance and run. I was ashamed that I couldn’t even take a shower on my own. To me, to be devoid of physical mobility meant to be devoid of my youth. I no longer felt strong, energetic and full of life. I felt like the rejected
piano in my family home: weak, tired and resentful. As I attended physical therapy three times a week, I slowly began to regain my physical strength. Along with it, I tried desperately to rebuild my identity, too. I was no longer the carefree, blindly headstrong girl I was before I quit piano and had my injury. I was more cautious, mistrusting and resigned. But I appreciated this newfound maturity, and as a result, I listened, observed and reflected more. I learned to conserve my energy and save pockets of it for the important things, like family, true friends and art. I revisited music, playing piano to divert my thoughts from the soccer games I was missing. Soon, I rediscovered my love for it. These self-discoveries, these adjustments to who I am, are still a work in progress. I continue to struggle to find outlets for my energy and to live out the everyday stressors of college life with positivity. I never want to lose my spirit — it is the essence of who I am — but in such a time of uncertainty and growth, it is easy to get lost in pessimistic thought. And isn’t that what we’re all doing here in college? Desperately grasping onto the innocent self that we know, love and admire while receiving blows of reality that knock us down? Eventually, I returned to the soccer field, albeit a less frenzied player. I still play with the utmost passion, but I know how to control my previous recklessness. And though I had to give up that part of me, I now play more consciously, safely and therefore, effectively. Similarly, I have returned to the music bench. There, I play piano: when I want to, how I want to and with whomever I want to. The difference is, I’ve now realized there are more dynamics than just forte.
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The Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market By Ruchita Iyer
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