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Thursday, January 31, 2019
Ann Arbor, Michigan
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ANN ARBOR
Low temps put homeless population at risk DESIGN BY NOLAN FELICIDARIO
Experts, business owners speculate on small business closures in 2018 Local institutions including restaurants and bakeries close their doors ZAYNA SYED
Daily Staff Reporter
In November 2018, Ann Arbor’s beloved MD Bagel Fragel was forced to close shop. A family-owned business of 25 years that attracted customers through its local vibe and “fragel,” a shop staple consisting of deep fried raisin dough covered in cinnamon sugar, its owners were given two days to move out of their location on Broadway Square after the building was purchased by a company from Toledo. Community outrage ensued, with supporters starting a GoFundMe that accrued more than $11,000 and Underground Printing creating T-shirts printed with the phrase “#SaveBagelFragel”. The new
owners of the building gave the business an extension, allowing them to move out by the end of the year before turning the space into a marijuana dispensary. MD Bagel Fragel is one of 18 Ann Arbor businesses that closed in 2018. For many Ann Arbor residents, the closure of small businesses comes with a community cost. Of the 18 businesses that closed in 2018, nine of them were open for more than 25 years, with only two businesses being open for two years or less. In an email interview with The Daily, MD Bagel Fragel shop owner Patricia Rockette offered some advice to City Council. “Stop letting the big corporations like Starbucks go in which
forces the small businesses out of business,” Rockette wrote. “They cannot compete. Landlords raise the rent so much, that only big, unfeeling companies can survive.” City Councilmember Jeff Hayner, D-Ward 1, used to hold coffee hours at Electric Eye Café, a business that also closed in 2018. According to Hayner, the loss of businesses such as Electric Eye Café and MD Bagel Fragel are often unquantifiable. “Businesses come and go, and especially these small businesses, but there were some that has really been sad with the community, especially my constituents,” Hayner said. “A lot of these small businesses like that, they actually play a role in the community in a small way,
where they offer their room up for meetings, or they host different events or creative things. When these small businesses go away, sometimes you lose those things that aren’t quantifiable.” While records tracking the number of businesses that have closed in Ann Arbor over the past few years do not exist, some estimate this is a relatively large amount to close in one year, particularly since 2018 proved strong for the overall economy. Six of the businesses that closed in 2018 belonged to the dining industry, such as MD Bagel Fragel and Pieology Pizzeria. However, the majority of closures — 10 — were retail businesses.
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People facing housing instability turn to shelters, warming centers CATHERINE NOUHAN Daily Staff Reporter
LEAH GRAHAM Daily News Editor
With record-breaking low temperatures sweeping the state of Michigan and wind chill temperatures of approximately negative 40 deg rees Fahrenheit, Michigander have been warned of frostbite on exposed skin within 10 minutes of standing outside. In Washtenaw Count y, there are about 300 homeless persons at any g iven time each year. Students organizations, shelters and cong regations are working to aid the homeless population of Ann Arbor. Lit Kurtz, a vendor at Groundcover News, a nonprof it that sells newspapers to help low income people, praised the shelters for opening warming centers to help people get out of the cold, but said more still needed
to be done. “I don’t think we go far enough and these sort of conversations shouldn’t have to take place because it should be a g iven that everyone has a warm place to be by now,” Kurtz said. “It’s far from an ideal situation. I believe that it shouldn’t be an emergency to make the shelter and the warming centers extend their hours. It should just be normal practice.” Kurtz, who previously dealt with housing instabilit y herself, noted the challenges those in v ulnerable situations face year-round. “It’s not just times like this that people have to deal with the cold weather,” Kurtz said. “This of course is extreme and it brings attention and a little more focus to what people without adequate housing have to encounter, but it’s a challenge throughout the year to stay warm... I think See AT RISK, Page 3A
Students come together to ban Wendy’s 2019 to see Adaptable resolution from renting spot in renovated Union additions to ADMINISTRATION
introduced to SSMP Solution offers options for sexual misconduct cases at the University CLAIRE HAO
Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan’s new interim student sexual misconduct policy expands the use of additional options and support for students who may not want to pursue a hearing and investigation. The pathway, called adaptable resolution, was outlined in the December 2018 revisions, which took effect Jan. 9. The new Interim Policy and Procedures on Student Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct and Other Forms of Interpersonal Violence was also updated to include an in-person hearing. During the investigation process both the accused and the accuser will be able to cross-examine each other and the witnesses. This revision was implemented in accordance with the September U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruling that public universities must give the accused student or their adviser the opportunity to cross-examine the accuser and witnesses. The University petitioned for a rehearing in late September. The circuit court denied the petition in October of 2018.
ANN ARBOR
The restaurant fails to comply with labor partnership Fair Foods Program REMY FARKAS Daily News Editor
With the renovation of the Michigan Union underway, students and faculty will decide on which three vendors will move into the space when it reopens in the winter of 2020. Members of the University of Michigan community expressed concern regarding the potential of Wendy’s moving back into the building due to employee labor conditions. Washtenaw Solidarity with Farmworkers, a community and student-based group, has been lobbying the administration and the Central Student Government to ban Wendy’s from coming back to campus
until the fast-food establishment has signed the Fair Food Program. The Fair Food Program is a partnership between farmworkers and food distribution companies to ensure agricultural workers have access to adequate working conditions and fair wages. Fourteen companies have signed on, including large grocery distributors such as Walmart and Whole Foods Market and fast food chains such as Burger King, McDonald’s and Subway. Rackham student Kimberly Daley has led the on-campus effort to ensure Wendy’s will not be put in the basement of the Union. Daley believes it’s likely Wendy’s submitted a bid
for the Union based on their widespread representation on college campuses. She emphasized Wendy’s lack of transparency regarding the Fair Food Program. “Wendy’s hasn’t signed on (to the agreement) and they have been avoiding the sign on process,” Daley said. “They moved all of their purchases of tomatoes to Mexico to avoid it, and then they moved it all back to greenhouses in the U.S. and none of those have actually good working conditions.” Two Wendy’s restaurants previously resided in the Union and in the Michigan League before their contracts expired. She began the process by meeting with Susan Pile, the Union
administrator at the time, and the Office of Procurement, but quickly became frustrated with their lack of response. “Since 2015-2016, I’ve been in contact with administration and University to either cut the contract with Wendy’s or make sure that they couldn’t come back to campus after the contract expired,” Daley said. “Both of them told me there was nothing they could do and they couldn’t cut the contract with Wendy’s because they needed the money. And for procurement, said they can’t legally make rules, supposedly, about who can or cannot submit bid to be vendors at the University.” See WENDY’S, Page 3A
off-campus apartments
Variety of developments planned for the coming months throughout the city ANGELINA BREDE Daily Staff Reporter
As the University of Michigan continues to increase enrollment, multiple new student housing developments in Ann Arbor have been proposed for the coming year. Triad Real Estate Partners reported that off-campus housing occupancy for students last fall sat at 98.3 percent, compared to a national average of 95.2 percent. This demand for student housing continues to grow, according to the report from Triad Real Estate Partners. According to Triad, rent for off-campus housing has also grown, having risen by 4.64 percent since last year. Recent luxury-based student housing developments contribute to this rise in cost. Limited affordable housing has sparked a conversation around campus, especially within Central Student Government. Ann Arbor approved plans in November for a new 28-bed student apartment building on Hill Street, estimated to cost $1 million to build.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 64 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 SPORTS......................6
SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............5 ARTS...................6
News
2 — Thursday, January 31, 2019
MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers
TUESDAY: By Design
WEDNESDAY: This Week in History
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THURSDAY: THURSDAY: Twitter Talk Talk
FRIDAY: Behind the Story
Kristi Corbeil @KLJCorbeil
Alex Anne @alexanneindia
Sabrina @xosab_
It might be cold enough @ UMich to cancel classes for 2 days but @umichbball and @ Xaviersimpson3 are hot!
umich has only had 3 snow days in 200 years, but we have 2 this week so yeah I feel special
If Umich doesnt close campus at least one day this week im dropping out
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The Black Sheep Michigan @blacksheep_um
Michigan Women’s Basketball @umichwbball
Classes canceled tomorrow and Friday, just beat Ohio State in basketball, sat in the Maize Rage, living in Ann Arbor everyday, and most importantly @umichbball is 201. Who’s got it better than @UMich students? NOBODY.
watching Man Vs Wild as a child prepared me for my morning walk to the MLB
Thank to our @umich and Ann Arbor communities, we have sold out Crisler Center for the second time in program history! #goblue
W O LV E R I N E O F T H E W E E K What ’s yo ur favo rite par t of S up e r B owl S un day?
“This year, my friend Max is turning 21 the night before and my birthday is the day after, so I’m actually most excited for three straight days of birthdays and football.” L SA se nio r L an ey B yle r
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Research rebounds after government shutdown Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research looks to future projects with temporary reopening ALEX HARRING
Great Lakes. While his orga- though the data is still benization was able to continue ing collected by CIGLR, the its research despite the shut- shutdown leaves Cardinale’s down, the data CIGLR col- organization without access The partial government lected during the shutdown to the NOAA models to upshutdown — which ended could not be uploaded to date them. temporarily on Sunday as NOAA’s online models, which “It highlights the imporlawmakers work to create an are used by the public, until tance of cooperation between agreeable budget — directly the shutdown ended. public organizations like uniimpacted the ability of re“The impact of the govern- versities and government searchers at the Cooperative ment shutdown was sort of agencies,” Cardinale said. “It Institute for Great Lakes Regood news, bad news with allows for some redundancies search to publish their findrespect to our particular or- to occur, so if the government ings. Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ ganization,” Cardinale said. agencies go down, public inProfessor and ecologist at “The bad news is all of stitutions like our University the NOAA models, all of can continue collecting data. the NOAA projects, every- Now, those models are still thing that’s led by or host- hosted on the NOAA served by NOAA was down. ers, so if NOAA goes down The good news is … we they’re not available to anyEASY were able to maintain a lot one, but the good news is we of the data collection that can still be collecting data to is important to NOAA, so update them when they come that once their models back online.” come back online, we can LSA junior Alyssa Cutter begin to repopulate that does research on breast canwith data.” cer and cancer cells in the Cardinale highlighted University’s Department of the impacts of not being Radiology. She said her reable to make his organi- search is funded in part by zation’s data available the National Institutes of through NOAA’s models. Health, which has still been As an example, he said the funded throughout the shutCIGLR works with NOAA down. to create and publicize For her research, however, ice forecasts on the Great the shutdown has affected Lakes, which are used by grant funding and reviews. and can affect the sched- She said the government ules of people in the ship- shutdown hasn’t altered her ping industry. research in its current state When the government but the shutdown’s impact is shut down, Cardinale will be felt further down the said, these forecasts are road. © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. NO SKOOL. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com not readily available for Read more online at those who rely on them as michigandaily.com part of their work. Even Generate and solve Sudoku, Super Sudoku and Godoku puzzles at sudokusyndication.com! the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, Bradley Cardinale serves as director of the CIGLR, a research organization sponsored by the University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Cardinale says his organization works with NOAA and represents about 50 percent of NOAA’s research and management operations in the
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AT RISK From Page 1A people need to understand that the agencies can’t do it all, that people, individuals need to interact with anyone they feel might be in danger and not be afraid to ask them if they’re ok, if they’re safe because safet y is not g uaranteed, especially during the extreme situation that we’re in right now.” On Monday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency and released a press release stating the concern she has for the upcoming temperatures. “Such widespread, extreme conditions have not occurred in Michigan for many years and it is imperative that we are proactive with recordlow temperatures being predicted by the National Weather Service,” Whitmer wrote. “Wind chills are predicted as low as 50 deg rees below zero in many places, such as metro Detroit, which is especially unaccustomed to these temps.” In Washtenaw Count y, there have been efforts by cities, local homeless shelter communities and students to aid the homeless population during this time of extreme cold. Kurtz said even after the extreme temperatures subsided, obstacles would remain for people affected by housing insecurit y. “I think it’s a shame that it takes a pure emergency situation such as this to have the shelter and the warming center extend their hours,” Kurtz said. “A safe indoor space should be available all seasons, all hours to anyone who lacks stabilit y and there are times during the winter when the severe weather goes away and people are still going to be exposed to incredibly not only uncomfortable but unsafe temperatures.” Daniel Kelly, executive director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw Count y, said their center is taking additional precautions to host more people during the cold nights and days this coming week. “With record low temperatures, we are trying to accommodate as many bodies as we can. We have a residential shelter prog ram that houses 50 beds, and our warming centers house 118 individuals,” Kelly said. “We
SSMP From Page 1A Under the interim policy, students wishing to resolve cases of sexual misconduct have two options: traditional investigative resolution, which involves now an in-person hearing, or adaptable resolution. An adaptable resolution must be voluntary on part of both the claimant and the respondent and must be approved by the Title IX coordinator. If the case is successfully resolved, the respondent does not incur a disciplinary record. In an email to the Daily, Erik Wessel, director of the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, explained how contrary to longstanding misperceptions, adaptable resolution is not the same as mediation. “In fact, what is now described as adaptable resolution (formerly alternative resolution) is both a philosophical framing which seeks to hold accountable those creating harm and support the process for repairing harm and a spectrum of voluntary resolution options that are focused on meeting needs and repairing harm,” Wessel wrote. Adaptable resolution has been available under the SSMP since the August 2013 iteration of the policy, but it has been referred to in policies prior to 2019 as “alternative resolution” and “informal resolution”. One goal of the 2019 interim policy is to establish the title of the resolution as “adaptable resolution”. According to Wessel, the 2019 interim policy also seeks to more explicitly describe the types of
News
The Robert J. Delonis Center, a homeless shelter in Ann Arbor, has developed a transportation option in response to an unsheltered emergency after 5 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends. This additional winter response is for homeless individuals who lack transportation to the overnight warming center the Delonis Center. Students on campus
are also helping the local homeless population in light of this week’s weather. Public Health senior Hussain Ali, co-president of Michigan Movement, has been gathering supplies and donating warm clothing items and food with a g roup of 15 other students to various homeless shelters around Ann Arbor on Tuesday. On Wednesday, f ive students who have access to cars will be driving around Ann Arbor and offering rides to shelter to the homeless on the street. “Michigan Movement’s main mission is to provide aid and relief to people experiencing homelessness in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw Count y. This week, our major concern is getting anyone who doesn’t have shelter in an area of heat for the day and/or night,” Ali said. Other students on campus are sharing emergency helplines to call if someone on the street is in need of housing. LSA senior Catherine Szkop saw that friends were sharing numbers for various shelters on their Instag ram stories and so she decided to share the Ann Arbor helpline. “I got the Ann Arbor number just by looking on Google and the Detroit numbers - someone else had on their story so I just screenshotted it and posted it on mine,” Szkop said. “I think sharing information through social media allows it to spread faster especially since more often than not, your friends check it multiple times a day. It’s more eff icient and more likely to reach a wider audience to put a number for a warming center on my Instag ram story than another method.” Ali said in addition to calling the helpline for someone on the street, people should also let them know where to f ind warming shelters. “The f irst step if someone is outside is to call the Delonis Center or let them know that there is food and shelter there. The major importance is that everyone is safe from the bitter cold during the night and day,” Ali said. Kurtz called on people to reach out to one another and address the problem of housing instabilit y. “There’s just a lack of understanding that everybody needs to play a role in helping people, making sure that everyone is safe,” Kurtz said.
options available under adaptable resolution. These options, which have remained the same since 2013, include various mediation methods with a trained adaptable resolution coordinator. Facilitated dialogues and restorative circles are facilitated in-person conversations between those involved in which parties share their perspective and work toward a shared agreement. Alternatively, shuttle negotiation does not require direct interaction between parties; instead, parties negotiate an agreement by meeting individually with the coordinator. The circle of accountability focuses on support and education of the respondent when the respondent has assumed responsibility for repairing harm and does not require the participation of the claimant. According to Dana Elger in an email to The Daily, the University’s Public Affairs representative for sexual misconduct, the new 2019 interim policy is the latest in a series of revisions. The 2013 policy originally prohibited the use of adaptable resolution, then called informal resolution, in any sexual assault cases. Informal resolution was first broadened by the 2016 policy, which used the term alternative resolution and specifically barred mediation in any sexual assault case. “(The 2016 SSMP) did not specifically state that alternative resolution other than mediation was not available in any sexual assault cases, but that was our practice and I believe the language from that policy could be and often was reasonably interpreted that way,” Elger wrote.
Adaptable resolution was further revised in the February 2018 SSMP, which only prohibited use of mediation in respect to penetrative sexual assault. The newest January 2019 iteration fully expanded the pathway, allowing for the use of any adaptable resolution method on any sexual misconduct case, regardless of the nature of conflict alleged. Public Policy senior Allison Berry is a Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center volunteer who studies sexual violence prevention policy. According to Berry, the expansion of adaptable resolution is a positive change, as it offers more options to survivors. “I think (adaptable resolution) allows the opportunity for the survivor to ask for what they need,” Berry said. “It shows that the University wants to provide claimants with the resources and the support that they want. … It’s opening the door for all different kinds of survivors who have unique needs to have their needs met by the University.” Similarly, Engineering senior Courtney Burns, a SAPAC volunteer and Sexperteam education chair, said adaptable resolutions could empower survivors in ways investigative resolutions sometimes cannot. “The adaptable resolution process allows the survivor to have more agency to decide how they want their case resolved,” Burns said. “It is a welcome step forward in the process of enabling survivors of sexual violence to feel empowered. A lot of the adaptable resolution pathway is enabling a conversation between the claimant and the respondent where the respondent learns and assumes
are converting our on-site communit y kitchen to more beds at the Delonis Center and are aiding operation of rotating shelters at faithbased cong regations.” Kelly also mentioned the cit y of Ann Arbor and Washtenaw Count y have been crucial partners in expanding their outreach efforts for this particular week. “Tomorrow we have additional off-site and overnight warming spaces at Ann Arbor Public Schools,” Kelly said. “Just for the next couple of nights, we’ll be able to house more folks in their g ym. We set up those t ypes of precautions especially for extreme weather situations such as these.” Kelly explained that many homeless individuals don’t feel comfortable coming to shelters, but that the Shelter Association is working in partnership with Washtenaw Count y Communit y Mental Health, an organization that sustains relationships with and provides mental health services to the homeless population in Washtenaw Count y. They are tasked with g uiding and encourag ing those on the street to seek shelter and helping them f ind transportation.
There’s just a lack of understanding that everybody needs to play a role in helping people, making sure that everyone is safe.
Thursday, January 31, 2019 — 3
WENDY’S From Page 1A In October, Daley discovered the Michigan Union and Office of Procurement have begun the process of accepting bids for vendors. Daley said she was concerned because of the Union’s lack of transparency regarding the bids. Kim Broekhuizen, University Public Affairs spokeswoman, described the bidding process, which lasted from Oct. 24 to Dec. 31. Broekhuizen expects final selections to be made “soon”. “The University is engaged in a competitive bid process for thee spots in the Michigan Union for fast food-casual restaurants,” the Broekhuizen wrote. “A team comprised of U-M students as well as employees from Procurement Services, University Unions and Auxiliary Services is currently evaluating the bids and will likely make selections for the three spots in the next few months.” Daley said she wants more information and greater student involvement in the project. “It is a completely hidden process,” Daley said. “So there is no feedback being accepted from the community or students so it is very difficult to tell people what you think; they won’t even tell anybody if Wendy’s submitted a bid.” Daley emphasized the importance of community interaction in deciding which organizations should be placed in the building. “The Union is going through this bidding process with no mechanism of getting feedback,” Daley said. “And also not communicating with most of the student body and most of the community about which corporations to work with to sell students things and sell people things in the
Union.” The Michigan Union Board of Representatives is a student organization working with Union administrators consulting on various aspects of the renovation. One of the students sits on the Selection Committee for the vendors, but the members of the committee are not known. “At least one of these students sit on this board, but I don’t think this is an accurate representation of the student body and the community,” Daley said. Daley emphasized the importance of student voices speaking out against Wendy’s coming to U-M. “We are basically trying to pressure this corporation who has a lot of power in the amount of money they spend on produce to be able to put pressure to make working conditions for farmworkers in the United state better,” Daley said. Daley said the community cannot know who submitted bids by the Dec. 31 deadline without submitting a Freedom Of Information Act request. The organization has made a motion to the Michigan Board of Representatives and is working with CSG to create a resolution to ban Wendy’s from campus. With the University as one of the largest employers in Michigan, the University’s actions can impact every resident. As a result, Daley said, the decision of vendors should be chosen transparently with community feedback. “Students spend thousands of dollars on tuition and if the University is going to be making money on vendors in the basement of the Union, then members of the community and the Michigan Family should have a say in what goes there.” Daley said. “(Vendors) should fall in line with our values as a community and to not have that ability to share
or even comment or provide feedback at all, is not transparent and I think that’s really problematic because the power the University holds over the community.” Rather than signing on to the Fair Food Program, Wendy’s has created their own code of conduct meant to be equal to the Fair Food Program. According to Daley, this code is not mandatory and only suggested in the United States and Canada. “Wendy’s still purchases some amount of tomatoes from Mexico and there is no legal ground for them to enforce any of their code of conduct,” Daley said. “There are reports every year to show the changes that have been made in the field based on the program and there isn’t anything that Wendy’s has provided at all about their non-mandatory code of conduct.” In response to The Daily, Wendy’s communication representative Heidi Schauer released a statement saying the former restaurant on campus was independently owned and will not be renewing their lease. “The Wendy’s restaurant on campus was independently owned and operated by a franchisee,” the Schauer wrote. “As a brand we were happy to have been part of the University of Michigan community, but I understand that our franchisee’s lease expired when the school remodeled the building in which the restaurant was housed, and they made the decision not to pursue a new lease.” Schauer emphasized the company’s commitment to responsible business practices. “We will continue to work to bring greater transparency to our supply chain practices and only the best, highest quality products to our customers.”
H AI L F ROZE OV E R
RUCHITA IYER/Daily The University ceased all non-emergency operations until 7 a.m. Friday, leaving the campus empty and deserted. responsibility for their actions. … That can provide a form of closure that the investigative process perhaps cannot as oftentimes those processes are not successful in the claimant’s favor.” By providing more resolution options, University President Mark Schlissel said in an interview with The Daily earlier this month that the University hopes more students will be encouraged to report sexual misconduct. “The hope is by providing the second pathway, students who did not want to come forward and expose themselves to a hearing might come forward and say, ‘Yeah, I’d like to consider this other way of getting justice here,’ a more negotiated way to get justice,” Schlissel said. “By offering that as an option, we’ll get more students to step forward and ask for help.” According to Kaaren Williamsen in an email to The Daily, director of SAPAC, revisions of the policy were motivated by student feedback. “Student requests for adaptable resolution also influenced the expansion of the policy,” Williamsen wrote. “We know that not all survivors want to initiate an investigation and adjudication process, but do want some assistance in addressing what happened to them. The policy now allows for more survivors to request assistance and intervention beyond an investigation and hearing.” Since its implementation in 2013, adaptable resolution has only been used in two cases out of the 580 total cases from July 2013 to June 2018 deemed to fall under the scope of the SSMP. According to KC Johnson,
Brooklyn College history professor, one reason behind this statistic may be bureaucratic. “Certainly you can infer from those figures that Title IX bureaucracy at Michigan is not encouraging students to pursue this alternative pathway,” Johnson said. “And then the other question is, how much this is disseminated on campus? Students do not pursue (adaptable resolution) if they do not know it exists.” Burns also testified to a general need for more education of sexual misconduct awareness and of University sexual misconduct policy. “I think the general student body isn’t particularly well-equipped with the knowledge of what it would look like after a sexual violence case is reported to the University,” Burns said. “Every student goes through Relationship Remix when they arrive at the University. However, when they’re off-campus, it becomes more challenging to keep administering dosages of sexual violence prevention and resolution education.” Burns explained more work needs to be done, particularly at the College of Engineering. “As an engineering student, most of my professors either don’t know what SAPAC is or are not traumainformed if a survivor were to come forward,” Burns said. “SAPAC doesn’t have a big presence on North Campus.” Johnson said to his knowledge, no other schools have implemented an adaptable resolution policy as comprehensive and formalized as the University’s. “It’s particularly positive that (a policy like adaptable resolution) is
coming from Michigan because it’s a high-profile institution,” Johnson said. “If the program succeeds at Michigan, it could be a model for lots of other institutions. It has potential. Maybe it will just fizzle out if no students will use it … But if the University finds a way to channel students into this, the literature on restorative justice suggests that for some students, this is the best option.” In response to Johnson’s claim that the University may be taking the lead on using alternative methods in dealing with sexual misconduct, Wessel reaffirmed the University’s core purpose as a place of education. “The University of Michigan is indeed at the forefront in providing fair, just, equitable and adaptable resolution options for our community,” Wessel wrote. “Indeed, we are educators — and this is how we support our community while fulfilling both missions of education and compliance.” Wessel also said many students may still not be aware of the new policy and explained the University is always looking for community input. “Although the policy change has been communicated to the community, we understand that many would not have read through the nuance of the policy,” Wessel said. “That said, it should be noted that the policy was intentionally implemented as an interim policy to comply with the ruling of the Sixth Circuit. We will be engaging the University community as we seek to draft a finalized policy in the coming months. A process for seeking community input is currently in development and will begin to roll out in February and March.”
Opinion
4 — Thursday, January 31, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
CHAND RAJENDRA-NICOLUCCI | COLUMN
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RAMISA ROB | COLUMN
S
What is good and bad masculinity?
ince I was eight years old, my teachers and parents warned me to avoid the types of clothing that revealed my feminine features because men on the streets, uncles who visit my house and even young boys in my class might be provoked to take advantage of me. I grew up in a society where a man’s testosteronedriven malignancy was rarely decried when rape crimes flashed on the news. Instead, the news vilified the women who were victims for wearing outfits that unveiled more legs than necessary and blamed them for “asking for it.” I perceived the link between sexual assault, abusive power and a man’s gender identity as a South Asian, sociocultural phenomenon — until I attended a multicultural boarding school in Italy where the male teachers sexually harassed their female students, and the only physical violence that happened in two years was between men, or a man towards a woman. When I came to the United States for college, my friends and I were groped on dark dance floors at frat parties. During my vacations to France and Los Angeles, men from all over sent me catcalls. My girlfriends and I were verbally abused when we rejected men who pursued us at bars. I witnessed the toxic elements of a universal framework of masculinity built on the historical social dominance that gives men a license to abuse, violate and sexually mistreat members of the opposite sex. But I cannot theorize the boorish behavior as the essential nature of manhood because I have seen the more righteous sides of it as well. I was raised by my father — a non-violent, affectionate, masculine paternal figure — who continues to sacrifice his own comfort to provide for me. He always respected my mother and reprimanded family members who treated females as subordinates. Many men — not just my father— in my life have been compassionate, caring and respectful. This new year, the topic of masculinity has wrecked the internet with raging debates. In early January, the American Psychological Association published its first-ever guidelines for therapists working with men and boys, in order to address the concerning fact that men are more often the perpetrators and the victims of violence, and also comprise the larger demographic in suicide rates. Though the study draws from four decades of research (long before the #MeToo era) and is intended to better men’s physical and mental health, it has still been opposed as “anti-men” for concluding that perceptions of “traditional masculinity” (such as suppressing emotions and not seeking help) can have potential
harmful effects on men and people around them. A week later, Gillette released a commercial critiquing, “the particular brand of masculinity” by which some men feel they are allowed to commit various acts of harassment such as bullying, groping and catcalling. This ad was met with furious backlash from men’s rights activists and many others, including women, who have been seriously offended that the phrase “toxic masculinity” has branched out from the confines of gender studies classrooms and entered our personal lives where we can actually address it. In response to the Gillette ad that garnered 1.3 million dislikes to date, Egard Watches released a commercial that has been received without the same fury because it positively frames men’s bravery and doesn’t display some of the more problematic aspects of masculinity. Similar to the APA guidelines, the ad made note of the fact that men make up the overwhelming majority of homicide victims. The two commercials and the APA guidelines essentially agree that men are inherently righteous and the deplorable, abusive behavior does not portray “real men.” The fundamental difference is that unlike Egard Watches, Gillette and APA expose the detrimental aspects of socialized masculinity in order to prevent them. Both of these messages are equally important.
We need to dismantle the problematic archetype of masculinity If young boys are only shown that courageous men have sacrificed their lives to end wars, they won’t learn that men engaging in “locker room talk” is dishonorable. We seem to not realize that condemning certain damaging actions in order to eradicate them is just as vital as praising positive, virtuous conduct so as to encourage its adaptations. While we should highlight the model of masculinity that entails the selfless and commendable, we also need to discuss and dismantle the problematic archetype of masculinity that, time after time, perpetuates a crude culture of entitlement that far too often leads to abuse and violence. While social media struggles with what it means to be a man, one constructive message is clear: Bullying and sexual violence are not key characteristics of a man’s identity. So, it’s time to start denouncing the bad behavior as well as positively
reinforcing good behavior. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” actor Terry Crews has emphasized the necessity of this call to action and said: “Until men stand up and say, ‘This abuse, this harassment, these assaults are wrong,’ nothing will change.” And this is crucial because men do not always hold each other accountable for bad behavior, even when they see it or know about it. Of course, there are men who do, but it is not as commonplace as it should be. For example, when a male friend of mine warned one man to stop his pernicious insistence on sex with a drunk woman, he was criticized by other men for being “unchilled.” Similarly, when my female friend was sexually assaulted by her Tinder date who ignored all the “Nos,” her male best friend responded, “I’m sorry but you cannot just walk into a strange man’s house and expect everything to be alright.” If a 21-year-old, college man utters such words, it demonstrates the fallacious mentality that presumes an innate bridge connecting masculinity, sexual assault and fear. But that dynamic should not exist because a society where a woman has to fear an unfamiliar man but a man can violate an unknown woman is simply unfair. When another man in the same friend circle learned of this comment, he claimed it was thoroughly disrespectful. Yet, he failed to warn his male friend who blamed the victim because they have a “guy code” where rebuking each other’s wrongs rhymes with “uncool” negativity. But negativity is not calling each other out on sexist comments or bullying, it’s the destructive words and actions itself. Hence, men need to administer conversations about sexual assault awareness with their “bros” and deliver warnings when required. And yes, men are not the only ones behind social problems because women can also be guilty of harassment, bullying and violence. Women unquestionably share the responsibility for ensuring the community is safe for all. Yet, even up until 2015, rape prevention tips were mostly directed to women and not men. Discourse on sexual politics is progressing. That’s why this current dialogue on masculinity is a good sign that we can now start decomposing any association between a man’s gender identity and abuse of power and violence. So to everyone reading this — especially men — I urge you to hold yourselves and your friends accountable for harmful behavior. If this is something you uphold, continue to do so. But if you don’t, it’s time to start now.
Ramisa Rob can be reached at rfrob@umich.edu
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M
Another lesson to be learned from Flint
ore than four years since the start of the Flint water crisis, thousands of residents still have lead pipes. Flint is in the process of finding and replacing those pipes, but it is challenging. City records are spotty, making locating at-risk homes somewhat of a shot in the dark. However, simply digging up all the lines in the city would be costly and time-consuming. This is where the computer scientists come in — specifically Eric Schwartz of the University of Michigan and Jacob Abernathy of Georgia Tech (formerly of the University). The two assistant professors designed a machine learning model to predict where lead pipes are most likely to be in Flint using digitized city records as well as property data such as age and location. The Flint pipe replacement team was able to achieve above an 80-percent success rate for finding lead pipes in 2017 with this model. The problem is Flint stopped using it. Due to misconceptions about predictive models, the strategy of prioritizing at-risk homes was abandoned. Residents questioned why their neighbor’s pipes were being excavated while theirs received no attention. City council members asked the same thing about their wards. Facing mounting political pressure, Flint adopted the approach of excavating the pipes of every active water account (without prioritization). The misconceptions don’t seem to be limited to those without a technical background. The international engineering firm hired to execute the pipe-removal project, AECOM, explained they aren’t using the model to prioritize homes because it is “94 percent accurate” — an especially puzzling statement considering the alternative is to dig and hope. This change to a nonprioritized approach has resulted in an accuracy rate of 15 percent for finding lead pipes. That is a pretty damning statistic when you consider that, while using the
predictive model, the replacement team was achieving an accuracy rate above 80 percent. I agree that every Flint resident deserves the peace of mind of knowing that their home doesn’t contain lead pipes. The situation in Flint has been far too dire for anything else. However, the city failing to prioritize those most at-risk is not acceptable — especially when they have a proven option which can help them do just that. Poor decisions like the one described above will become
Policymakers should prioritize getting informed about the basics of technology commonplace if tech-illiteracy among decision makers remains the status quo. Members of Congress have demonstrated their incompetence on tech issues repeatedly this year, with hearings intended to hold tech companies accountable devolving into basic explanations of how Facebook and Google make money and other questions that could be answered by using your favorite search engine (Google perhaps?). In order to best serve their constituents, policymakers should be prioritizing getting informed about the basics of technology and the tech industry at large. Facebook, Google, Amazon and the like are no longer scrappy upstarts carving a place for themselves in the economy. They have their hands in a wide range of sectors such as entertainment, health care and defense and are the most valuable companies in the world. Until they are treated as the giants of industry that they are, we risk allowing unchecked externalities to run their course.
Furthermore, aside from the industry giants’ reach, technology is everywhere. Our digital age ensures that whatever issue a policymaker cares about most, whether it’s the financial industry or the justice system, has pressing questions involving the use of technology. Understanding the basics will help all legislators better tackle the problems they care about most. I don’t expect politicians to become subject matter experts on technology. That’s not productive or feasible. However, a baseline understanding of the most prevalent use cases is a worthwhile goal. Such an understanding would help policymakers more effectively address constituent concerns and confusion, like what city officials faced in Flint. Technology that truly improves the lives of citizens could be identified and prioritized. Decision makers could ask the right questions about companies and their technology. Our representatives are expected to understand the basics of health care because it affects every citizen. Shouldn’t they understand the basics of technology for the very same reason? The narrative that tech companies are motivated by altruistic sensibilities has been proven to be clearly and demonstrably false by now. They are driven by profit just like any other company. The tech industry’s promise of self-governance and a wave of public benefits has proven to be unrealistic, and it is now the responsibility of our legislators to represent the best interests of citizens when it comes to technology. Unfortunately for Flint residents, their leaders’ lack of tech knowledge has led to yet another misstep in the city’s long running saga. We can only hope other policymakers take note before they make similar mistakes. Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci can be reached at chandrn@umich.edu.
ABBIE BERRINGER | COLUMN
How big of a problem is biased political journalism?
W
hen it comes to media bias, many of my peers scoff at the idea that the political media is somehow coloring their opinions of the most contentious political issues today. Most of us want to believe we are coming to the most logical conclusions when it comes to the formation of our opinions. However, those of us deeply concerned about media bias feel the problem is so obvious and impactful that we aren’t sure how anyone can deny its reality anymore. While the problem exists in the headlines on a daily basis, it was no more apparent than this past week as two of the nation’s most contentious protests — The 46th Annual March for Life and the third annual Women’s March — took to the streets of Washington, D.C. Many mainstream media outlets on the right and left are guilty of portraying the version of events that fit a predictable ideological narrative, but since several mainstream media outlets are decidedly left-leaning, liberal political sentiments often pop up much more often on social media timelines as well as in TV and print news. CNN, MSNBC, the Huffington Post, the Atlantic and The New York Times often all face criticism by conservatives for coming across as left-leaning news outlets. They proved these criticisms accurate with their coverage of these marches. While I initially thought analyzing headlines from all of these sources would be a beneficial undertaking, I quickly realized delving into the full breadth of media bias would take a much more in-depth analysis than I am capable of providing in this space. So instead, I chose to analyze just one of these sources, The New York Times, to see how their coverage of the two political protests from this past week varied in both quality and quantity. I chose The New York Times over the others due to the prevalence with which I feel my peers tend cite its credibility and due to the amount I consume articles from The New York Times over other sources as well. I find that compared to very openly biased sources on the right and left — like Fox News and the Huffington Post, respectively — The New
York Times is substantially more balanced in general, though I was disappointed with their coverage of these two marches this past week. The New York Times coverage of the March for Life featured three news stories on the day of the march itself but had no articles in the days preceding. The first search result on their website was titled, “Thousands March in Washington at Annual Anti-Abortion Rally.” I was immediately incredulous that an article reporting on a march that has existed for 46 years and this year collected nearly 100,000 participants neglected to even call the march by its name. Rather, it referred to it by the politically charged characterization of being “Anti-Abortion.” By doing so, the headline already painted a negative picture in the minds of the reader. Not inconsequentially, the organizers of the March for Life portray their own message as positive. They don’t claim to be marching against abortion but rather marching for life. While this may seem like mere semantics, anyone well-versed in persuasive writing tactics understands positive versus negative persuasive language has a very strong effect on a reader both consciously and subconsciously. Additionally, by the second paragraph, the article had shifted into a long tangent surrounding the government shutdown and President Donald Trump. It continued with a macabre tone as it delved into the difference in the climate of Washington this year versus the last due to the shutdown. It finally circled back to the march itself by the last paragraph, still without any substantive coverage of the details of what people were marching for or the history of the event itself, ending on a note about failed Republican attempts at antiabortion legislation under Trump. The other two articles also both featured headlines about Trump instead of talking about the march more substantively. While this may not appear on its face to be the boldest form of media bias, the reporters at The New York Times neglected
to report on any of the pro-life perspectives provided at the march or even to detail the sheer mass of pro-life supporters from all walks of life who were in attendance. Instead, they continually turned the discussion back to Trump’s presidency with only occasional blips of reporting about the march itself. The New York Times coverage of the third annual Women’s March varied substantially from its coverage of the March For Life. There were five total articles posted on the day of the march itself and another six articles were posted about the march in the preceding days. While the title of the first search result from the day, “Smaller Crowd Turns Out For Third Annual Women’s March Events,” did not initially inspire optimism, the article did boast the accomplishment of actually calling the march by its name. It also discussed the march with substance. Instead of depicting Washington as “a capital full of shuttered federal agencies” as the article about the March for Life did before delving into veiled criticism of President Trump, it began to discuss the positive aspects of this year’s march despite the low turnout, noting how “throngs of marchers” arrived with their “spirits visibly lifted.” The article went on to tout the march as a “celebration” of all that had been accomplished in women’s rights in the previous year — utilizing the type of positive language that was notably absent throughout the piece written about the March for Life. It did then go onto to discuss the controversy around alleged anti-Semitic comments made by two of the organizers of the march, however, noting how this fractured the movement as a whole and contributed to the decreased turnout. While this was most definitely an example of balanced reporting, it by no means excuses The New York Times of the disproportionate level of coverage given to the Women’s March versus the March for Life.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com Abbie Berringer can be reached at abbierbe@umich.edu.
Arts
5 — Thursday, January 31, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
What makes our hidden places in Ann Arbor special? The Huron River It’s July in Michigan: A roasting sun hangs high over the Huron River while lazy, college students stretch out on the rowing docks. They sip on Oberons and blow up inner tubes. The river is murky, but it still glistens in the sunlight and is a temperature that is just perfect enough for a swim. Ann Arbor wouldn’t be Ann Arbor without this place. Located two miles from the Diag are the well-known docks
Whenever I need to meditate on an idea or seek solitude to listen to an album, I drive down to the river. I watch the push and pull of the waves along the shoreline and listen to the silence that looms over the park. No matter if I run, walk, swim, drive or sit down there, I feel a natural sense of freedom that the city just doesn’t serve. Although there are a number of special, nature-based places that Ann Arbor provides (like the Arb or the Botanical Gardens), it’s the Huron that calls me from the city, drawing me into its groundedness
dancing light. I’d like the porch to forgive me when I write one of its many secrets on this page: The people who live here, leave changed. — Alix Curnow, Daily Arts Writer
A place to run I am struggling to locate my favorite place in Ann Arbor. Perhaps this is because the whole city is my favorite place, it’s ins and outs, late night pizza places and sticky booths in diners and ancient
MIKE ZLONKEVICZ / MICHIGAN DAILY
of the Huron River. Home to the University’s and many Ann Arbor high-school rowing teams, the docks are a vital place for these students. Surrounding this spot on the river are parks like Bandemer Park, Longshore Park and Beckey Park. Here, people can access hiking trails, kayak rentals, bike paths, disc golf and serene woods. But what makes the Huron River special is not just the array of activities that it produces, but rather the magic of the river itself. Flowing over 40 miles, dressed with trees and roads along its edges, the river invites those who are tied to the city to escape. This lure is what led me to rely on the river in order to get some peace of mind. I started going to the docks as a break from my summer job, for it served as a place to tan, swim and catch up with friends. But as summer turned into fall and long, breezy days turned into brisk nights with tough deadlines, the magic of the river and summer faded. One night in the fall, a close friend of mine from the summertime needed a private place to vent. We both lived with many housemates, so we decided to take my car to the river to retreat from the hustle and bustle of a college town. We sat on the docks, with hats and scarves on, and we poured our frustrations into the moonlit river. It was here where I realized how easy this place was, how non-judgemental it is. Its natural emptiness and simplicity allowed for me and my friend to release all that we had bottled up. The river, although not immensely clean, holds an emotional enchantment that I’ve been lucky enough to feel and understand. It’s a place where romantic nights watching the stars happen and where tiresome runs occur. Capable of seeing the city lights and skyline from the docks, the Huron provides a vantage point that makes one feel pure isolation: a tranquil getaway just close enough to home and far enough away to gain some perspective. I’ve begun to bring more friends to the river when they are emotionally distraught. As someone who studies and feels serenity through nature, I hope to show others the power that is held in the Huron River and its encompassing woods. I hope to show them that by merely taking a step back from the crowded city — by literally seeing it from afar —it can put their mind into a better state of understanding: hopefully, one of peace and relaxation.
and vastness, it’s easiness and comfort. The Huron serves as a nucleus of community, collecting Michigan’s natural, minuscule wonders and the people who make up this town. Without that river, my mind would be suffocated, my emotions would be drowning and the decisions I’ve made would still be unclear. But the moment I sit on those docks under the stars, sipping on an Oberon and laughing with a good friend, I know that somewhere in this constricting city I’ve found a place to call home. — Erika Shevchek, Daily Arts Writer
Luther Co-op When I think of my home, I think of the floorboards. I think of the weight of all the shoes they have creaked beneath. I think of every place those shoes have journeyed to, and how lucky they are to have ended up here. When I think of my home, I think of the stains. My home has so many stains. I think of the stories that caused them. I wonder who spilled what, and what they were doing when it happened. I wonder if anyone was there to see the incident. I bet someone was. My house is always full of people. People laughing, loving and spilling. A perfect mess. When I think of my home, I think of my bedroom. How the ceiling concaves into itself because I live right below the roof. I think of the single window, and how the light that comes from it dances with the sun as it sets in the evening. My own private ballet. Feeding the flowers my roommate and I have gathered over time. When I think of my home, I think of the porch. I think of how silent it is in the morning, before the wear and tear of the day makes it loud. I think of how well it pairs with coffee; it’s the perfect substitute for sugar. I think of all the secrets the porch has heard and how well those secrets are kept. I wonder if it knows any of mine. I think of the late August evenings the porch has been witness to. Filled with strumming guitar strings, summer’s favorite lullaby. I wonder if the porch has a bedtime. I don’t think it does. I’d like to fall asleep in the floorboards of my home. Have the aged wood keep me safe. I’d like to tattoo the stains onto my skin. So if anything’s ever too clean, all I have to do is look at my arms to be reminded of beautiful messes. I’d like to pack my bedroom in a suitcase. So I can impress all my long distance friends with the
I wonder if anyone was there to see the incident. I bet someone was. My house is always full of people. People laughing, loving and spilling. A perfect mess.
movie theatres and snowy streets. Perhaps this is because it is easier to associate physical places with times of more specific heartbreak, instead of the thousands of times I am lucky to have felt content here. I sometimes think my favorite place in Ann Arbor is the dining hall in East Quad where I met my best friend, the lecture hall where I met my boyfriend, the yoga studio I go to leave my doubts, surreptitious study spots I won’t mention for fear they will become less secret, newsrooms on Maynard, wooden benches in the drama building — drowned in pools of sunlight coming in from the floor to ceiling windows, restaurants on Detroit Street. But these places are favorites not because of the spaces they occupy specifically, but because of the people, memories and moments I attribute to them. To think of my true favorite place in Ann Arbor, I head toward a semblance of something solitary. I love to be overwhelmed with socialization, with human contact, with friends old and new, this bubbly and bright outgoing city never runs low on energy, but this is an Ann Arbor that is in reach, it is an Ann Arbor that is easy, it is the Ann Arbor I know and love. But the reason I fell in love with our city was not for the clatter and the whirlwind, but for the places in which I can find fragmented moments of silence. A place to rest my mind, a place where I can be utterly alone in my thoughts. I think of places that are soundless, confidential and exclusive. I think of places I can revel in the beauty and the sentimentality of this town, without distractions, without the hustle and bustle of a busy college campus. These places are rare and in short supply around us, with a campus crawling with students, education professionals and townies. I believe I’ve managed to discover the best of all. People always ask me how I managed to train for a marathon in Ann Arbor — a city that most people imagine can’t be interesting or thrilling for 10 mile runs, let alone 18 or 20 mile runs. But for me, every run in Ann Arbor is as present and new as morning. My favorite place in Ann Arbor is a place where I can run. On mile 16 of a twenty-mile workout, I find myself in Nichols Arboretum, a place that takes me out of this pulsing, bright college city and onto a trail. Lush greens grow around me, spilling onto the edges of the earth and twisting up the trunks of trees. My tired feet pad along a dirt path one after another, a constant. This is my favorite noise. Normally, as I venture down the Arb’s first downward hill, I pause my music, giving my ears the gift of nothing but my sneakered feet against dirt and soil. This is my favorite sound of all. Everything about the headspace this running sanctuary creates for me can completely alter my mood, turn a bad day into a spectacular one, push me toward moments of serendipity in the mundane and provide the well needed break I so often crave in a city that never seems to stop. Ann
Arbor is a runner’s city and I know all runners will agree. Despite the fact that many of us don’t leave campus much, I have a lot of pride in knowing I’ve traversed every inch of our Midwestern college town on foot. During my marathon training I found home in Gallup park’s shaded concrete sidewalks, and I picked up the pace to the sounds of rushing water to my left. I ran into people I didn’t know, running the opposite direction, and we’d always smile and wave — the runner’s nod, in solidarity with one another, we both get it. I found myself getting lost in suburban pockets on the edge of town, admiring homes and appreciating unexpected downward slopes. As the sun came up, I ran around the Big House once, twice, three times, watching as the sun reflected golden against bright maize columns as autumn came to a close. I flew down E. Liberty as breakfast places opened early on Sunday mornings, the air smelling of crisped bacon, warm maple syrup and mugs of coffee. I jogged down the narrow road of Kerrytown on Saturdays, watching students groggily saunter down the roads. I ran through an empty Diag, and then an hour and a half and twelve miles later, a diag bursting with life. I wrote poems in my head as I ran down Main Street as businesses came to life, spent half a 20 mile run and hours in the Arb — time passing faster than ever. In months that felt like weeks, these special running spaces propelled me to a start line I’d never imagined making it to. And alone in my race, as I ran 26.2 miles through Detroit and Canada, thousands of people cheerings me on, runners surrounding me like oxygen. I held the memories of my solo adventures in Ann Arbor’s runner’s oasis by my side. When I made it to the finish line I had so many people to thank, so much support around me. My mother called me crying, my brother jumped up and down, reminding me how much I needed them to make it to the finish line of
of my own life and who composes it terrifies me. My first year of college was a lot of things, but, mostly, it was shocking. Everything I knew was no longer there — a hard thing to grasp for someone introverted and perpetually nostalgic. My childhood bedroom existed only on some weekends, and otherwise only in my memory. The bookshelf on my bedroom wall, lined with all of my favorite books and yellowing journals, was empty. The books sat under my lofted bed, stripped of their home. I barely looked at them. I didn’t touch a novel that wasn’t assigned and didn’t write anything that I wasn’t told to. I was far away from myself. Maybe I didn’t know this, or maybe I didn’t care. All I knew was that it was painful. My second semester of my freshman year I took my first class on creative nonfiction. I hadn’t considered myself any type of writer because I hadn’t written in months. I started to write again, and to read a little, too. A little became a lot, and a lot became every waking moment in which I wasn’t doing schoolwork. Almost all of this reading was done in the basement of Literati Bookstore, on the bench in front of the memoirs. On that bench, I read a lot of things that I didn’t pay for. I still feel guilty. I owe that basement a lot. That basement may have saved me. There I found all of my favorite writers, the writers who inspire my bravest writing because they are strong and wonderful and heaven-sent: Claudia Rankine,
book section. But when I moved to school, I lost those places. All at once I was thrown into this new home without a place to anchor myself. But the one place I felt truly comfortable was the nook under my bed. The nook under my bed was where I sat and listened to my “calm songs” playlist when the first week of school was overwhelming. The nook under my bed was where I had a movie night with my new friends on a Saturday night instead of going to a frat. The nook under my bed was where I took naps in between Intro to Ballet and PoliSci because getting all the way up to my top bunk was way too much commitment. The nook under my bed was where I had deep talks with the first best friend I’ve ever really had. The nook under my bed is my safe space, my calm space, my place. My nook has everything I need: My books and notebooks, outlets, chargers, food, water and mountains of pillows. Why go anywhere else when all I need is right here? I don’t have to spend money. I don’t have to dress up. I don’t have to put makeup on or do my hair. The nook under my bed takes me for what I am. If I want to curl up in my PJs with my hair in a towel, my roommate might judge me, but my nook certainly won’t. With having a roommate for the first time, it’s comforting having a space that’s just mine. The rest of the room is a common area, it’s open to the public, but under my bed is like a separate room. When I hang my coats up, I can’t even see the door from my desk. When I’m sitting on the ground, I’m completely hidden
A place to rest my mind, a place where I can be utterly alone in my thoughts. I think of places that are soundless, confidential and exclusive.
EMMA RICHTER / MICHIGAN DAILY
my first marathon. But the biggest thanks of all I owed to the roads that led me there, the roads I’ve run everyday for three years and yet, in their intricacy and beauty, manage to show me something new every day. The roads of Ann Arbor, their stories and their memories, their tradition and their kindness, always there for me — awaiting me to need a break, need solace, need to lace up my sneakers and run. — Eli Rallo, Daily Arts Writer
The basement of Literati My life has been marked by one constant: the ache of my hands. While working on a farm in Oahu, Hawaii last summer, my hands were named “writing hands.” They are inherently and exactly that – soft and clean, but aching. They eventually blistered and hurt in a way that only weeding and shoveling can do. After I returned home, they returned to their familiar, but perpetually aching, selves. Reading is my place of refuge; writing my place of release. These two places are the source of the aching. I’ve always kept these places of asylum secret. Letting people into these places is dangerous and scary because they are my own. Release, however, is terrifying. I write creative nonfiction. I write about what unfolds before my eyes. I write about people who’ve raised me, who’ve slept in my bed, who’ve kept my secrets and who’ve broken my heart. My world exists on paper. To share with others my perception
Joan Didion, Melissa Febos, Lidia Yuknavitch, Maggie Nelson, Mary Karr and Sylvia Plath. There are hundreds more, I promise. That basement brought their stories to me. That basement gave courage and wit and intelligence to a lost freshman who is now a junior and more sure of herself than she ever thought she’d be. On any given Saturday, you can find me reading in that basement. If I’m not there, I’m writing in the coffee shop, likely at the table against the window. To spend a week without visiting that basement gives me a deep, unshakeable feeling of forgetting. Rightfully so. Literati made me feel safe during a time when I’d forgotten what safety was, and continues to do so today. That basement is the sun on my face in a bleak January. That basement has reminded me that I am, and always will be, a writer. Literati, if you’re reading this, thank you. Also, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll do my best to buy more books from now on. — Jenna Barlage, Daily Arts Writer
The nook under my bed When I first arrived at the University of Michigan, the extent of my knowledge of Ann Arbor was my dad’s route to the football games and his friend’s tailgating spot. Back in Grand Rapids, I had plenty of places that provided my home away from home: The Starbucks across the Beltline, the backroad path to school, the Meijer
from view. Friends stopping by can see the whole room — everything is on display. They can walk around, grab a chair and settle in. But they can’t see my nook unless they come into the room, they don’t go under my bed unless they ask. In college we are expected to be social all the time. Not only to be social, but to go out, to party or do something Instagram-worthy. We are expected to be active every Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, even Sunday night; to talk to a million people and forget their names the next day. To look like we’re having the time of our lives when sometimes all we want to do is relax in our dorm in the comfort of our nook. But sometimes it’s okay to stay in, by yourself or maybe with a couple friends, all sitting under your bed talking or watching movies. Sometimes it’s okay to not be constantly social. Sometimes we just need some alone time. I haven’t been in Ann Arbor long enough to establish a special place. I don’t have a coffee shop that I regular (though that’s my goal for the second semester), I don’t have a bookstore I visit every Sunday (though I would like to), I don’t even have a special spot in the library I like to study. What I do have is the nook under my bed. I now plan to go out by myself or with friends on the weekend, exploring those coffee shops and bookstores and the sights of Ann Arbor. But I also know it’s okay to spend a night in the nook under my bed, laughing with friends, relaxing by myself and making memories. — Dana Pierangeli, For The Daily
Arts
6 — Tursday, January 31, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DAILY COMMUNITY CULTURE COLUMN
FILM REVIEW
Art for what it is, not what it could be AOI PRO, INC.
‘Shoplifters’ approaches film with algebraic eyes JULIANNA MORANO Daily Arts Writer
In terms of his methods, director Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Nobody Knows”) is algebraic. His latest film “Shoplifters” interrogates every axiom that has been used to define family. Is it childbirth that makes a mother? Does calling someone mom, dad, sister or brother automatically baptize that person into fulfilling the corresponding role? Do these titles even encompass all that a person actually means to us? Can family be chosen, or renegotiated or be anything other than an unalterable birthright? At the same time that Kore-eda reevaluates these supposed axioms, he applies selective coefficients within the formula for family drama, focusing specifically on the effect of poverty. The family in “Shoplifters” consists of couple Osamu (Lily Franky, “The Devil’s Path”) and Nobuyo (Sakura Andô, “100 Yen Love”), as well as the various dependents with whom they share their lives: A young boy named Shota (Jyo Kairi, “Erased”), a young woman named Aki (Mayu Matsuoka, “A Silent Voice”), Aki’s grandmother Hatsue (Kirin Kiki, “Returner”) and the most recent addition to the nontraditional family, a young girl named Yuri (Miyu Sasaki, “Samurai Gourmet”). The nontraditional family is united in their shared victimization, each one clinging to the bottom rung of the economic ladder; they also share the burden of finding a way
to survive in spite of their poverty (usually taking the form of the titular practice of shoplifting). All the while, the constant pressure of their precarious financial situation threatens to erode the unquestionable care they have for one another and instead compel selfishness. Other filmmakers would do well to pay attention to Koreeda’s cinematic arithmetic, especially others who also endeavor to tell insightful stories about families. It is tempting to try to account for each of the countless variables that
‘Shoplifters’ Aoi Pro, Inc. State Theatre shape family dynamics but, as “Shoplifters” attests, much more rewarding to zero in on a few. While his approach is mathematical, Kore-eda’s results are poetic. For example, he structures his investigation of family dynamics in what could be described as a series of couplets. He pairs off members of the nontraditional family and devotes to these duos scenes like stanzas, each one poignant enough to stand alone but each one also working together to form a more resonant whole. And through all these stanzas, “Shoplifters” speaks with a steady tone of composure, inflecting characters’s exchanges with unselective compassion. As if to say, “So
what if we shoplift? So what if break the rules? We are trying to survive. We are trying to take care of one another.” So take, for instance, one of the most thoughtful of the aforementioned couplets: the relationship between Aki and her grandmother. When Yuri wets the bed the first night she stays with her new family and Aki’s grandmother offers to sleep next to Yuri, Aki protests, insisting on her rightful place beside her grandmother. Aki’s jealousy is not conveyed as dispassionate but rather a childish, touching manifestation of fierce love and loyalty – a familial dynamic too subtle for other directors to capture on screen. Or take the design of a recurring set in “Shoplifters”: that is, the shabby place this nontraditional family calls home. It houses the dregs of consumerist capitalism. Every room is congested with cheap goods, to the point that the scenes in this house always border on inducing claustrophobia. And yet, it is in one of these cluttered rooms that Aki’s grandmother tends to Yuri’s wounds from her abusive upbringing. It is here that every member of Yuri’s new family strives to reteach her what it means to love and be loved. It is here that this family somehow finds room and reason to breathe and continue to live in spite of their living conditions. Take any scene, any conversation, any shot in “Shoplifters.” Revel in its careful calculation and pore over its resonant results.
When I was in high school, one of my composition teacher’s first challenges for me was to compose a piece for the organ. The organ is a notoriously difficult instrument for non-keyboardists to compose for, and I had little familiarity with organ repertoire. As my composition teacher and I reviewed an early draft of my piece, he said something profound; something that stuck with me and affected how I think about the performance arts. He told me that the hardest part of the composition process is not generating ideas, or getting ideas down on the page; it is the struggle between the ideas being conveyed and the medium through which they are being conveyed. It is not the struggle between the mind and the blank page, in other words, but it is the struggle between the musical ideas and the instrument that must communicate them. As I’ve grown older, this philosophy has influenced how I think about art. It has come to qualify how I classify “good” performance art across genres. This art transports the audience member past the world of the artform to the world of the artwork. The audience’s need not focus on any meta realms of criticism or analysis; their entire focus is captured by the performers and the artwork itself. This past weekend, for example, I attended a performance of “Juliet,” a retelling of “Romeo and Juliet” set in the Great Depression. This performance was an unstaged reading of the play; it featured actors and actresses dressed in normal clothing reading from music stands and thick black binders. The script was written/ adapted by Alix Curnow (SMTD sophomore), Kellie Beck (SMTD sophomore) and Eli Rallo (SMTD junior). I will be scoring this play this coming month as it moves into the Duderstadt Video Studio for a staged, choreographed production in April. Going into the performance, I had read the script three or four times, and I was quite familiar with the changes the playwrights made in adapting the script to the Great Depression era. Yet despite my familiarity, I was unexpectedly touched by the conclusion of this unstaged
reading. Though I was skeptical at the beginning, I had gotten past the limitations of the production by the end. I was touched by the slew of deaths taking place onstage, though the actors and actresses on stage were clearly not dying. I was no longer distracted by the music
SAMMY SUSSMAN stands, the lack of costumes, or the stage directions being read out loud. I had learned to observe the production for what it was, not what it could be. I also find that I can judge “good” artwork as a performer through similar means. These past two years, for example, I have been a member of the University’s Javanese Gamelan Ensemble. The instruments that we play are many years old, and few are in very good condition. On a couple of the instruments, a few keys don’t even resonate, instead producing a rather pitiable “thud” when struck by the mallet. Though not every instrument produces a pure sound, the effect of the overall ensemble, at least to my ears, is breathtaking. It is like nothing I am used to experiencing, and yet I find it to be incredibly engaging. When we perform, I sometimes enter a state of mind where the quality of the instruments and the sound they produce doesn’t matter. I am experiencing the piece for what it is, not for what it could be. If this is the defining feature of “good” art, then the best art in my view is that for which audience member is no longer even conscious of the performers. Performance arts, after all, are an inherently hierarchical endeavour; the performers presents something to the audience, while the audience observes and experiences the performance. The performers are
the source of the entertainment, the audience the recipients of it. The best art, then, is that which collapses this boundary. Just as my composition teacher argues that bridging the gap between what is possible and what should be possible is the greatest challenge of the creative process, bridging the boundary between those onstage and those in the audience is the biggest challenge of the performance practice. Occasionally, I witness performances where this comes true, where I don’t perceive this natural hierarchy between performers and audience members to exist. These are performances where it doesn’t matter who is performing, or what they are performing. These are performances where all I perceive is the work itself. I have completely immersed myself in the suspension of disbelief. I don’t mean to make it seem as though this is a common occurrence. Personally, I can think of perhaps five or ten performances where this is the case. There was a solo piano performance in Paris, a video opera in Carnegie Hall. There was a moment of traditional religious music in a rural village in Vietnam, a recording of the New York Philharmonic that I first listened to when I was 16. These moments are few and far between. I never know when I will next experience them. And to this end, I sometimes fear that they are as much a result of my state of mind as they are the quality of the performance taking place. No matter how good the performers, if I am not ready to receive their performance, I will never truly appreciate it. But this is perhaps the most magical aspect of the performing arts; their inexplicable ability to draw in a willing audience member for an hour or two and not let go. It is hard to explain and harder to replicate, an ever-elusive experience far out on the temporal horizon. And yet it is what motivates me to attend rehearsal after rehearsal, performance after performance. It is an incredibly powerful force, these performing arts; simple, brief, fragile, and yet moving beyond all else.
BOOK REVIEW
‘An Anonymous Girl’ is a Classifieds poorly developed thriller
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
Release Date: Thursday, January 31, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
SUMMER EMPLOYMENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
SARAH SALMAN For The Daily
The promise of an original premise isn’t enough to distinguish “An Anonymous Girl” from your common thriller. Money forces us to consider things we wouldn’t normally do. It worms its way into our brains, saturating every thought with the anxious sense that: You need this. When desperate, conventions are put to the side. I remember clamoring to raise money for a student organization. The situation was classic: a fast-approaching deadline with less than half the funds raised. Suddenly, it seemed so easy to stand outside in biting cold and ask passersby for spare change, or to cast away reservations in soliciting distant family friends to donate. I signed up for psychological studies and began to perceive throwaway flyers scattered around campus in a different light — like decadent, bittersweet chocolate, promising to reward its subject 10 dollars for 30 minutes of their time for something as simple as filling out a questionnaire. Nothing, really. It was almost too good to be true. Jessica, the protagonist of “An Anonymous Girl” by Greer Hendrick and Sarah Pekkanen, needs money. Jessica works as a makeup artist for BeautyBuzz, a
fictional company that is a stickler to their rules and apparently doesn’t pay their workers enough. Hey, isn’t that the rub? She stomachs the insecure ramblings of sixteen-year-olds and highstrung mothers, using pasted smiles and insincere assurances to reap better tips. Sure, she doesn’t love her job, but it pays the bills.
‘An Anonymous Girl’ Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen St. Marten’s Press Jan. 8, 2019
In particular, it pays the medical bills for Becky, Jessica’s sister, whose treatment Jessica has been secretly paying for the last 18 months. When one of Jessica’s clients, an entitled college student, complains about an eight a.m. appointment for a psych study — a questionnaire with a $500 payment — Jessica shows up in her place instead. The study, an innocuous questionnaire on morality, unfolds in an eerie manner. It starts with relatively tame questions like: Could you tell a lie without feeling
guilt? That, in and of itself, doesn’t warrant an eyebrow raise. I imagine myself thinking sure, face deadpan. The “thriller” aspect slowly creeps up on you, offering readers only bits and crumbs with alternating perspectives of Jessica and the psychologist behind the study, Dr. Shields, gradually escalating to a prolonged, spinechilling end. By then, it’s hard to know who to trust. At one point, I even doubled down on the dog. I admit, the premise itself is a tad gimmicky. $500 dollars for a two-hour questionnaire? I had to suspend my disbelief for over half of the novel and take it as it is: a thriller. I pushed logical questions aside — say, basic ethical principles? — so that my incredulity didn’t cloud up my experience. I wanted to shake Jessica and tell her: “Just go to the police!” In an attempt to emphasize its psychological premise, “An Anonymous Girl” is littered with well-known psychological studies like The Asch Conformity Study and The Invisible Gorilla experiment, references that allow readers to recall what they learned in their high school psychology class, but also cheapen the plot of “An Anonymous Girl” itself.
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ACROSS 1 Word that appears four times in a 1963 film title 4 Roof tiles 10 Deadens, as a piano string 15 Media agcy. 16 Roadster in the Henry Ford Museum 17 How sardines are packed 18 Mythical bird 19 With 63-Across, ending lines of a poem by 72-Across 21 Hydrocarbon group 23 1995-2006 New York governor George 24 Alice Sebold novel, with “The” 27 The W in kWh 31 Athlete’s peak performance 32 Wines and dines 34 Thrill 36 Credits list 39 Place for spectacles 40 __ Navy: discount retailer 41 Harmful spells, in the Potterverse 44 Gen-__ 45 Like universal blood donors 47 Nantes notion 48 Drill parts 49 Symbolized 52 Roof features 54 WWI battle river 55 Really cool place? 60 “Indubitably!” 62 Hot pot spot 63 See 19-Across 68 __ Van Winkle 69 Tolkien ringbearer 70 Tell 71 Sheep’s call 72 Poet who used the starts of 24-, 41- and 55-Across to describe the woods 73 Old-Timers’ Day VIP 74 Unspecified amount
DOWN 1 Diego Rivera creation 2 Speed skater Ohno 3 “Mary Poppins” and “Mary Poppins Returns” actor 4 Component of the “at” sign 5 Chaney of horror 6 Toss in 7 Beat 8 Cuban boy in 2000 headlines 9 One curing meat 10 Saucer, e.g. 11 Like many ’60s-’70s protests 12 __ juice 13 Trough guy 14 Road sign caution 20 Move gently 22 Safecracker 25 Initial disco hit? 26 Smokey, for one 28 1964 Anthony Quinn role 29 Religious belief 30 Dynasts of old Russia
33 What H, O or N may represent 34 Pirate riches 35 Choir group 37 __ lift 38 Tiny bit 41 Lair 42 Great Barrier __ 43 Hot streak 46 Stretches 48 Sweet root 50 Actress Falco 51 Itch 53 Evening star
56 Southend-onSea’s county 57 Focus group surveys 58 Water brand 59 Give back 61 Harness race pace 63 Fave pal 64 Be in the wrong 65 Egg __ yung 66 “Mangia!” 67 Zeta follower
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Ed Sessa ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/31/19
01/31/19
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Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, January 31, 2019 — 7
Postition review: running backs ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
With the Michigan football team’s 2018 regular season in the books, The Daily looks back at the performance of each unit this year and peers ahead to the future in 2019. In this edition: running backs In the two weeks leading up to Michigan’s 41-15 Peach Bowl loss against Florida, with Karan Higdon having announced he would skip the game to focus on preparation for the NFL Draft, the program kept an air of calmness about the running back position. The thinking went: Freshman Christian Turner would get a chance to showcase his ability and placate any concerns for 2019. On the Wolverines’ opening drive, as Turner took a jet sweep for a 41-yard score, that optimism seemed proven correct. Then, after a review, it turned out Turner stepped out of bounds right after the line of scrimmage. The touchdown was wiped out, and with it, any momentum Michigan’s running game had. Turner finished that game with 32 yards rushing, nine fewer than he appeared to accrue on that first play. As a team, the Wolverines finished with 77 yards on the ground, their worst mark since the season opener at Notre Dame — leaving a slew of questions to be answered. HIGH POINT: All week, Michigan heard nothing but how Wisconsin would be a different kind of test — one that could determine whether five straight wins after that loss to the Irish was a mirage or the start of something real. By that point, offensive line coach Ed Warinner’s grip had already taken hold on the run game, a move from the powerheavy game that defined Jim Harbaugh’s first three years in charge to a zone-blocking game in full swing. The early results
looked good, but the Badgers — a team that stifled Harbaugh’s run game in Madison the season prior — were on a different level. Not only did the Wolverines blow the doors off Wisconsin in a 38-13 win that catapulted them to sixth in the rankings, but they did so behind a revitalized run game. Not only did Higdon notch 105 yards and a touchdown, but junior quarterback Shea Patterson came up with 90 and a touchdown of his own, including an 81-yard run to set up Higdon’s score. The zone read had, emphatically, made its way to Ann Arbor. “A lot of people have a lot of questions about who we are as a team, our offensive line, our run game, we don’t show up in big games,” Higdon said that
night. “I think we laid that to rest today.” Higdon went on to say that Michigan’s offensive line, heavily criticized after a poor performance at Notre Dame weeks earlier, was the best in the country. As much an overstatement as that was, it served to highlight a massive improvement that took place in a short span of time. This is an article about the running back position, but it’s hard to run the ball without an offensive line and a sound philosophy. The Wolverines found both against Wisconsin. “If a team is playing undisciplined, we’re going to use that to our advantage,” junior safety Josh Metellus said after the win over the Badgers. “The edges were squeezing in too hard on the inside zone, so Shea
Daily Sports Writer
Two years ago, Nick Blankenburg was a forward. Two weeks ago, the freshman was a defensive force on the blue line against Ohio State. But two days from now, the freshman will more than just go back to his roots — during practice on Tuesday, Blankenburg skated with Michigan’s top line for the first time since converting back to being a forward. “We’re changing things up a little bit there,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “It’s partially because we handicapped (redshirt sophomore forward) Luke Morgan a little bit by playing him at center. He’s a guy who likes to go up and down the ice as a wing and get to work.” Blankenburg’s straightline speed is somewhat akin to Morgan’s, so it makes sense that he will be out on the wing as opposed to center. In this scenario, it seems likely that junior forward Jake Slaker will play center for the top line, given that he played that position as a freshman. Michigan’s offense has been productive enough since the turn of the calendar year despite the loss of sophomore forward Josh Norris for the remainder of the season, but it doesn’t hurt to maximize speed wherever possible.
will look like in 2019, and it didn’t look pretty. It turns out that Higdon, a leader who rushed for a combined 2,172 yards in the last two seasons — 1,178 of which came in 2018 — will be pretty tough to replace. “We’re going to be a dominant force (next season),” Turner said. “We’re going to be hard to stop. We’re going to be really good. All we can do is just improve off of what we have so far. I’m not going to downplay anybody’s skills or downplay anybody’s ability, because we have the skills to be great. Just need to tune it up and keep going.” Despite an offensive line that returns four of five starters with the highly-touted Jalen Mayfield stepping in at tackle, it’s hard to project optimism after a performance like the one Michigan had in Atlanta.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Freshman running back Christian Turner figures to take on a bigger role next season, with senior Karan Higdon departing after a strong career with the Wolverines.
Notebook: Blankenburg to top line, Mann flashes at goaltender RIAN RATNAVALE
felt like he had a chance to pull it and he did. They kept being undisciplined, so Shea just kept taking advantage of that.” LOW POINT: It would be easy to draw back to that night in South Bend here when the Wolverines ran for 58 yards, the offensive line looked like a season-killing disaster and there was no solution in sight. But what happened next — a run game finding itself, then becoming a key cog in a 10-game win streak — makes it hard to describe the Notre Dame game as a low point as opposed to a launching pad. The Peach Bowl, well, that’s another story. Against the Gators, and more importantly, without Higdon, the Wolverines had no answer in the running game. That game served as a preview for what the position
Strauss Mann might get some more playing time again: Michigan seemed to settle into starting junior goaltender Hayden Lavigne after four solid performances against Notre Dame, Ohio State and Penn State. However, Pearson opted to pull Lavigne for Mann against the Nittany Lions in New York when the former let in five goals in less than two periods. Many of those were almost unguardable — the product of odd-man rushes following Michigan turnovers deep in the defensive zone. Regardless, leaving Lavigne in and further submarining his confidence in an already-decided game served no good purpose. Enter the New York-native Mann, who recorded 19 saves and didn’t let in a single goal against Penn State’s top-ranked offense. “Whenever you can get into games after a while off it feels good,” Mann said. “To make some saves and play how I did, where I did, it’s a good feeling.” Pearson knows that he has two different commodities in Lavigne and Mann — Mann tends to wander out of the goal a little more and take risks on shots, while Lavigne prefers to sit back in the net and operate from there out. And while Lavigne is somewhat more emotional as a player who rides his positive momentum, Mann maintains an even keel, whether
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Freshman Nick Blankenburg has been moved to forward from defenseman.
Michigan is up by three goals or is getting pummeled, like it did at Madison Square Garden. For now, the question of who gets the start each night seems to be opened again, if just for a little bit. Breaking down where Michigan stands (and wants to stand) in the Big Ten: Michigan sits in fourth place in the Big Ten with 21 points, but the team is in an unstable, if not perilous, spot. While the Wolverines are just four points behind second-place Notre Dame and can realistically catch it with a few wins, Michigan is also only one point ahead of Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State for last place in the conference. Why is it especially significant that Michigan is in fourth? Seeds 2-4 in the Big Ten tournament host the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. With getting an at-large bid probably out the window barring a miraculous winning streak, the Wolverines are going to need all the help they can get to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. Michigan’s next two opponents — the Spartans and the Nittany Lions — present good opportunities for the team to solidify its standing or even move up the ladder. After two inconsistent series against both teams in December, nothing is a given, but a sweep of Michigan State likely means one fewer team that the Wolverines have to worry about losing home-ice advantage to in the first round. Getting four or five points against Penn State would go a long way to ensuring home-ice for the first round, and maybe even the second round, too. “I think everybody knows what’s going on and where we are, and we want to win a Big Ten championship,” Pearson said after Thursday’s 5-1 win over Penn State. “We do talk about that and it’s within our grasp.”
The same, of course, could have been said on Sept. 2 — and the Wolverines proved anyone who did echo those sentiments wrong. Perhaps they’ll do so again, but a month after the Peach Bowl, it’s hard to say the low point has really ended. THE FUTURE: With Higdon gone, the starting job next year is up for grabs. After all the hype leading into the Peach Bowl and a performance that, albeit disappointing, was an inch away from exciting the fanbase, Turner will likely come into spring ball with a chance to take the job. Competition, however, will be tight. Chris Evans will come in as a senior, and with some pedigree — making him the favorite. It’s easy to forget, but before Evans missed three games with injury this season, he got nearly as many carries as Higdon in a win over Western Michigan. Even with the injury — and over 50 fewer carries than he had in 2017 — Evans averaged a rock solid 5.2 yards per carry. Elsewhere, four-star recruit Zach Charbonnet figures to get a chance for playing time. A product of Oaks Christian Schoool and a top-50 overall recruit whose rating has bordered on five-star territory, Charbonnet ran for 4,741 yards in four years of high school and his tape is as good as the numbers suggest. Tru Wilson, who earned 62 carries as a walk-on last year, will figure into the rotation as well. Harbaugh complimented Wilson’s ability in pass protection multiple times last season, and the junior threw multiple pancake blocks throughout the season. If he keeps that up, it will be enough to continue earning playing time. As for the position as a whole, the Wolverines come into 2019 with more questions than answers.
‘M’ ready for rematch with BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer
On Thursday night, the Michigan women’s basketball team will get its second shot at taking down No. 13 Iowa and star forward Megan Gustafson at Crisler Center after losing 75-61 just two weeks ago. This time, though, the Wolverines may be without senior guard and captain Nicole Munger. Munger exited Sunday’s contest against Michigan State in the first quarter with an apparent ankle injury and left the Wolverines with a gaping void to fill. In addition to being one of the team’s vocal leaders, Munger holds experience and poise that many on the young Michigan team lack. And while Munger has been far and away the Wolverines’ best and most efficient deep threat and free throw shooter — she is shooting 34.5 percent from three with 41 makes and is shooting 94.3 percent from the free throw line, both best on the team — it is the intangibles Munger brings that proves her true value to Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. “I mean Nicole (Munger) is not only one of our top scorers, but she is the glue to our program,” Barnes Arico said on Sports Talk 1050 WTKA. “I mean we go as far as she goes. I’ve never seen a basketball player go as hard day-in and day-out as she does, and that’s in every aspect of the game. She plays with incredible passion on every possession and will do whatever our team needs to do to be successful. “So she dives on the floor, she takes charges, she gets rebounds, she’s in on every single play and we need players that are willing to sacrifice and step in and do that.” With Munger out, the Wolverines will need to look to players like sophomore guard Deja Church, sophomore forward Hailey Brown and junior guard Akienreh Johnson for outside shooting.
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Kim Barnes Arico has faith in her team’s ability to defend Megan Gustafson.
And need them they will if Michigan is going to have any chance of keeping up with the high-scoring Hawkeyes, who average just over 80 points per game, the 17th-highest mark in the nation. The Wolverines will look to slow down the Iowa senior — who averages the most points per game in the country at 26.4 — by playing a variety of players against her such as Brown, freshman forward Naz Hillmon and senior center Hallie Thome. “(Gustafson’s) a dominant force, but we have kids that can match up against her,” Barnes Arico said. “I think we did a good job for a half against her last game. Now we have an opportunity to play with our trio of post players that can go out and really match up with her. So she’s the key for them, but they have tremendous guard play as well and their guards do a tremendous job of playing off of Megan (Gustafson)” Similar to Michigan, while the Hawkeyes have ridden Gustafson to a great season thus far and a dominant home record, one area they have struggled in is their road performance. Iowa is 4-3 on the road for the season and just 2-2 against Big Ten teams. The Wolverines, meanwhile, are 8-1 at home, 3-1
against Big Ten teams and ready to welcome Iowa to Ann Arbor. “We got an opportunity to get them at home, a place where we play well,” Barnes Arico said. “An opportunity for Hallie (Thome) and Megan Gustafson to have another matchup. You know they’ve been matched up for the last four years. It’s kind of been a great battle to watch those two go at each other. And hopefully we have Nicole back, but if not I always listen to coach Beilein and next man up and who’s going to be able to step up and give us an opportunity to be successful.”
Sports With Simpson leading way in rivalry game, Wolverines show toughness
Thursday, January 31, 2019— 8
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
JACOB SHAMES Daily Sports Editor
Trash talking in basketball comes with a set of unwritten, but impossible-to-forget rules. Among the most important of these dictums: it doesn’t leave the court. In the second half of Michigan’s 65-49 win over the Buckeyes on Tuesday, Zavier Simpson fell to the court after being on the business end of a hard screen from Ohio State’s Kaleb Wesson. As soon as the play was over, Simpson popped up, yelling and pointing at the Buckeye center.
Sophomore guard Jordan Poole and junior center Jon Teske came armed with words of their own. Wesson responded to both players, and he and Teske exchanged shoves, prompting officials to separate the two. “We don’t share those,” Simpson said, when asked about the incident. But therein lies the beauty of trash talk: to the extent that its impact can be quantified, you don’t have to know what, exactly, was said in order to do so. The anatomy of that skirmish sums up a game that rode the emotional highs and lows of one
of the fiercest rivalries in all of college sports. It sums up a team that prides itself on beating you down physically and mentally. And it sums up a team that wants to let you know that in the worst way. “A game like this is huge emotionally, especially with it being a rivalry,” Poole said. “Obviously they’re a really good team. Being able to have the fire and the energy definitely sets a tone, being able to just take everything personally, that’s the type of game it was today.” By now, if you know anything about the Michigan men’s basketball team, you know that
toughness starts with its junior point guard — who had no hesitation in calling himself the leader of it all. “Everybody’s tough on the court until things really get deep,” Simpson said. “That’s when you know who’s really tough. … It’s about who’s going to take the charge, who’s going to grab that rebound, who’s going to dive on the floor, who’s going to
make sure the team mindset is great. That’s really toughness.” Simpson’s proven that toughness many times over. One thing he hadn’t done before Tuesday night, though, was record a tripledouble. Simpson scored with his signature skyhook, and he even hit an uncharacteristic pullup 3-pointer among his 11 points. His 12 assists came in just about every conceivable form: post feeds, kick-outs to open shooters, and fast break dimes. But the 6-foottall Simpson also corralled 10 rebounds, constantly scrapping against much larger men. On the other end of the court, Simpson stayed busy guarding Ohio State’s C.J. Jackson and keeping him off the foul line, where he found success early. And it was his chasedown block of Wesson in transition that helped spark the fracas in the first place. “You can’t say enough about Zavier Simpson and what he accomplished today,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. “Triple-double is incredible, just to have the ball that much — he had 12 assists and no turnovers. He’s the sparkplug, and this game means a lot to him. “He just competes. He’s relentless in his desire to win.” Sometimes, the Wolverines’ toughness looks just like that — their floor general setting the tone, spearheading the defense and piloting the offense to perfection. On other occasions, it looks like Poole — more known for his flashy playmaking than his defensive grit — receiving an elbow from the Buckeyes’ Andre Wesson and drawing a charge, and then draining a deep three
He just competes. He’s relentless in his desire to win.
EVAN AARON/Daily
Sophomore point guard Zavier Simpson posted the sixth triple-double in Michigan history Tuesday, with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the win.
on the next possession. Sometimes, it even looks like the normally mild-mannered Teske, jawing with Wesson and earning, along with Wesson, a technical foul, which sophomore forward Isaiah Livers speculated might have been the first of his lifetime. In these instances, it’s Simpson’s fire, coursing through his teammates like a potion. “He’s a leader,” Livers said. “Coach (Beilein) mentioned earlier, the head of the snake. He’s our leader, he’s our point guard, he does it all for us.” As Poole lay on the ground after drawing his charge, he yelled, banging his fist against his chest. Rising off the floor, he continued shouting, raising his right arm to pump up a Crisler Center crowd and a student section already in the middle of its third or fourth loud rendition of an unprintable chant directed at Michigan’s southern neighbor. This was the Wolverines, once again, showing off their mettle, and being more than happy to do so. And with Simpson setting the tone, and his team and fans following suit, Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann readily admitted his young squad had no answer. “I think we can handle it better,” Holtmann said. “I think that was the cumulation of some frustration. For a variety of reasons I thought the game was really physical, for the bulk of the game, when it’s that physical those things kind of happen. “We’ve got a lot of young bodies that are thrown out there, they’re trying to realize that for the first time, and I think we’re not there yet.” Michigan, on the other hand? “Everybody’s tough with their mouth but not tough with their play,” Simpson said. “Guys like to talk, which I appreciate, we feed off that, that gets us going. So when they do that, we’re just hungry for more.”
Michigan’s reliance on 3-point shooting on display in win over OSU For the Wolverines’ offense to be running at full capacity, it needs to be taking — and making — 3-pointers aplenty THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
Facing an early 12-6 deficit Tuesday night against Ohio State, John Beilein pulled Jordan Poole aside during Michigan’s first timeout to give his sophomore guard a quick word of advice. “The only mistake you could make now,” Beilein told Poole, “would be to stop shooting.” Poole, of course, needed no such instruction. At his first chance out of the timeout, Poole caught a crosscourt pass from junior guard Zavier Simpson and — despite having missed his first two 3-point attempts of the game
BY THE NUMBERS Michigan’s win over Ohio State
7
Times Michigan has held its opponent under 50 points in a game this season.
6
and 21 of his past 26 — let go. Again, it clanked off the back of the rim. Seconds later, after an offensive rebound, Poole tried his luck once more. And again, it rimmed out. But the ball found its way back to Simpson and, armed with all the trust in the world, he hit Poole open on the wing. This time, his shot found nothing but net. “A lot of people would stop shooting after the first one then just kinda hesitate the second time,” Poole said. “But I’m a shooter. So being able to get looks like that is very rare.” Added Beilein: “When he shoots and misses a few times, it’s not so bad. We know he’s gonna make them eventually.” The Wolverines’ 3-point shooting funk, though, had extended far beyond Poole. A 35 percent team from deep on the season, they had shot under 30 percent in four of the past six games, bottoming out in a 3-for-22 performance against
Minnesota last week. For a team averaging 71.4 points per game on the season, the difference was obvious. Before its Jan. 19 loss to Wisconsin, Michigan had not scored under 60 points in two months, and had finished with under 70 just three times. And then — suddenly marred by a bout of unexpected 3-point woes — they posted consecutive games in the 50s. So with the threat of another offensive impasse looming, Beilein’s voice was not the only one filling Michigan’s huddle during that first timeout. Simpson — frustrated with the touch on his own shot — rallied his teammates. “Yo, just stay locked in, stay ready,” Simpson said. “I’m gonna get y’all open, I’m gonna find y’all. We gonna make sure we get good shots.” As usual, he made good on his promise. First, it was the repeated looks for Poole. Then, a swing pass to sophomore
When you see us with 10 made threes, it’s usually a W.
forward Isaiah Livers in the corner. Minutes later, he found redshirt junior forward Charles Matthews on a kick out, followed by an push pass to freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis in transition. “Just being able to have a point guard who’s willing to get everybody else open and try to get us the best possible look even if his (shooting) isn’t going the right way,” Poole said. “Just
being able to stay solid and find other ways to get assists.” And just like that — on the back of four assists from their point guard and four ensuing daggers from deep — the Wolverines displayed their most impressive offensive basketball in weeks and turned a five-point deficit into a four-point lead that they would never relinquish. The barrage continued into the second half, as the Buckeyes
— who opened the game in a zone defense designed to force Michigan to shoot — could offer little resistance, allowing that four-point deficit to quickly balloon into a 20-point hole. As is so often the case, the Wolverines had their 3-point shooting to thank in a 65-49 win. “When you see us with 10 made threes,” Beilein said, “it’s usually a W.”
Times in Michigan history a player has notched a triple-double, after Zavier Simpson did so in Tuesday’s 65-49 win.
1
Ranking in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.
37
Percent shooting as a team from 3-point range in the win over Ohio State.
EVAN AARON/Daily
Sophomore guard Jordan Poole scored a team-high 15 points in Tuesday’s win, which included three made 3-pointers.