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Friday, February 1, 2019

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CAMPUS LIFE

MDining to start new emergency allergy plan Addition of epinephrine auto injectors serve as aid for sensitive food allergies CALLIE TEITELBAUM Daily Staff Reporter

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Coalition of faculty, students launch One University campaign Initiative is an effort to spread resources fairly among three ‘U’ campuses ALEX HARRING & ELIZABETH LAWRENCE Daily Staff Reporter & Managing News Editor

The One University Campaign, a coalition of faculty and students, launched last semester across the University of

Michigan’s three campuses as an effort to equip the University’s Flint and Dearborn campuses with more resources. A key player in the campaign is sociology lecturer Ian Robinson, president of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization. Robinson said the campaign has ideas in the works

ACADEMICS

LSA creates institute to expand the digital minor New institution will focus on intersections of technology and human identity, provide research DANIELLE PASEKOFF Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts announced the formation of the Digital Studies Institute Monday. The Institute will expand the current minor degree program and provide students and faculty with greater resources, in addition to a new location on campus. “LSA created the Digital Studies Institute to bring a humanitiescentered approach to the power and problems of the digital worlds billions of people visit and inhabit each day,” the press release reads. “The compelling, integrated coursework allows students to attain a degree with a more holistic and tech-savvy viewpoint on social and cultural issues.” The Department of American Culture created the Digital Studies minor program in 2014. With only 20 students in its first year, the curriculum focused on the digital world and its history, as well as human interaction with technology. The program grew to more than 100 students by its second year and expanded to include a graduate program in 2016.

for where these resources should go and has the numbers to back them up. “We are in many ways one university, and in many ways not,” Robinson said. “The 1U campaign is really, fundamentally an effort to get more resources for those

campuses, and we have a number of different areas in which we think they’re lacking right now and which we have ideas on what might address those inadequacies and some numbers that prove where things are now.” See 1U, Page 3

DOE investigates Flint professor’s Ann Arbor claim regarding male discrimination apartment MICHIGAN

Mark Perry accuses U-M of unfair allotment of STEM programs, funds for women GRACE KAY

Managing News Editor

Katie Wolberg returned to campus after winter break filled with anticipation. As a secondsemester LSA freshman, she resolved to explore her developing interest in consulting, excited by the prospect of what joining a firm offered her: a network, a group of friends and a community at the University of Michigan. Despite Katie’s interest in data analytics and consulting, her anticipation quickly turned into disappointment when she was met with rejection at some of the

top consulting clubs on campus, cutting short her opportunity to engage in this new atmosphere. “I’m planning on transferring to the School of Information,” Wolberg said. “I’m interested in maybe consulting in the future, or doing something in the tech industry, and I thought [joining a club] would be a really good opportunity to meet new people and expand my network … and then it fell through and now I’m like, ‘Do I need to rethink what I’m doing?’” Campus clubs and organizations are an integral part of the college experience.

With more than 1,600 clubs at the University, students are afforded the opportunity to engage in a myriad of activities. But many pre-professional organizations require intensive application processes that make membership extremely exclusive. Competitive admissions are especially prevalent in businessoriented, pre-professional organizations, including consulting groups, investment firms and business fraternities. Applications often require written supplements, interviews and multiple rounds of “cuts,” yielding an extensive process of

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new member selection. A growing sentiment of frustration has developed among portions of the student body due to the highly selective nature of these clubs, which reject a majority of initial applicants before welcoming new members. LSA junior Andrew Levey discussed how his own experience with rejection from a campus consulting firm led him to create Alliance Consulting Group, an organization dedicated to providing all students with an opportunity to learn about consulting. See GENDER, Page 3

loses heat amid cold

Emergency alert sent to consumers to conserve energy due to weather and power concerns BEN ROSENFELD Daily Staff Reporter

Following temperature lows of -17 degrees Fahrenheit Wednesday and Thursday, numerous Ann Arbor tenants faced difficulties resulting from the inclement weather. Several apartment buildings around campus contended with burst pipes and heating malfunctions Thursday due to the low temperatures. Varsity Ann Arbor, an apartment building on E. Washington Street largely housing University of Michigan students, dealt with these problems yesterday afternoon. On Thursday at about 1 p.m., Varsity Management sent out an email to its tenants, stating that a water pipe had frozen and burst, leading to a fire alarm going off on the 3rd f loor of the apartments. Consequently, heating and hot water throughout the building was limited for much of the day.

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See MINOR, Page 3

GOT A NEWS TIP?

MDining decided to implement an emergency-use epinepherine program for fall of 2019 after a change in Michigan Legislation in 2015 allowing pharmacists to dispense auto-injectable epinephrine to an authorized entity. The epinephrine auto-injectors will be available as an emergency resource in all residential dining halls, according to a press release from the University of Michigan. MDining will partner with Housing security, a subunit of U-M Division of Public Safety & Security, which will have security officers patrolling residential areas, equipped with epinephrine auto-injectors. According to the press release, a 2017 FDA report said there has been a 25 percent increase in allergy sensitive adults from 20072017. The Journal of the American Medical Association found nearly 26 million adults have food allergies, and that number is

growing. MDining Dietitian Anne Smiarowski explained the implications of this research in the University press release. “All research points to this number increasing for many reasons, including new additives and food processing that our bodies are not used to, as well as the possibility that we’ve become too clean,” Smiarowski said “The focus has been on making sure we use hand sanitizers, disinfectants, etc., everywhere in our life. Some studies suggest this has altered our immune system’s response to potential allergens.” Kathryn Whiteside, Director of Systems Management for MDining, said the epinephrine program is not necessarily a response to a rise in allergy sensitive adults but to the recent legislation passed under the Public Act 221 of 2015 that allows for authorized personnel on campus, including See DINING, Page 3

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NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 CLASSIFIEDS................6

SUDOKU.....................2 ARTS...................5 SPORTS....................7

News

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MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY: By Design

WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

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LSA sophomore Sayali Amin and LSA freshman Alex Harring on “Blue bus slides off road, crashes into tree Monday afternoon”: “I’ve been at The Daily for almost a year and a half now and I actually haven’t covered breaking news before, so I was a little stressted at first because none of these people were answering their emails or phones. But I’m really glad Alex was there becauses he’s very handy with Twitter and reached out to sources and it was really a team effort.” - Sayali Amin “I thought it was a really interesting experience. It was a bit of a learning curve because I hadn’t done breaking news yet either, but it was a great experience to have, and I thought it was super cool doing this in real time.” - Alex Harring

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“

The University of Michigan - Ann Arbor must close campus during harsh weather conditions - not just in extreme circumstances. A refusal to do so is classist and ableist, with disproportionate effects on workers, low income community members who are not ablebodied.”

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Nuclear nonproliferation program will further research in the field

The $25 million project will help prepare students to enter the security workforce KATE JENKINS

Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan began spearheading a new $25 million nuclear nonproliferation program earlier this year to further nuclear research and prepare students to join the nuclear security workforce. The program, called the Consortium for Monitoring, Technolog y and Verification, is part of the College of Engineering’s Detection for Nuclear Nonproliferation Group and will work with 13 national laboratories and 14 universities. The effort is being funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration. The Consortium MTV program aims to further research in three primary areas, called “thrusts,” which include particle detection, discovering theSyndication locations of secret Sudoku nuclear weapons facilities

and monitoring the globe for nuclear explosions, connecting more than 200 graduate and undergraduate students with laboratories, internships and fellowships. Engineering professor Sara Pozzi, founder of DNNG, emphasized the importance of involving students in research. “We can transition knowledge to students we are training and they can contribute to this important topic of nuclear nonproliferation and safeguarding,” Pozzi said. “We are providing a strong pipeline for the nuclear workforce in national labs, government and industry.” The Consortium MTV will also provide funds for students to travel and attend graduate school. Pozzi said she is particularly excited to be working with the Los Alamos National Lab, where the World War II-era

Manhattan Project was conducted. The Manhattan Project was a research and development project led by the United States, with aid from the United Kingdom and Canada, which led to the creation of the first nuclear weapons. “Los Alamos has a long history going back to the

We can transition knowledge to students we are traning and they can contribute to the important topic of nuclear nonproliferation and safeguarding.

Manhattan Project in the area of nuclear physics,” Pozzi said. “We’re working with some of the scientists at Los Alamos to delve EASY into the physics of the fission project. We hope to deliver results and a new understanding of the fission process.” Rackham student Michael Hua has been working with the Detection for Nuclear Nonproliferation Group since he was an undergraduate at the University. Hua stated he is currently interested in special nuclear materials, which can be used for clean energ y or nuclear weapons. He said the University is a good place for students at both the undergraduate © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. puzzle by sudokusyndication.com and graduate levels interested in nuclear technolog y.

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“The University of Senior News Editors: Sayali Amin, Rachel Cunningham, Remy Farkas, Leah Michigan is a fantastic Graham, Amara Shaikh Assistant News Editors: Barbara Collins, Alex Harring, Danielle Pasekoff, research university and I Atticus Raasch, Ben Rosenfeld, Samantha Small, Emma Stein, Zayna Syed, Callie think students at all levels Teitelbaum, Liat Weinstein should take advantage JOEL DANILEWITZ and MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA of our capabilities,” he Editorial Page Editors tothedaily@michigandaily.com said. “There are many Senior Opinion Editors: Emily Huhman, Alexander Satola, Elias Khoury, reasons to research nuclear Nicholas Tomaino, Erin White including fundamental MAX MARCOVITCH and ETHAN SEARS science discoveries, Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com developing public policy, Senior Sports Editors: Mark Calcagno, Jake Shames, Matthew Kennedy, Anna and furthering what is a Marcus, Paige Voeffray, Avi Sholkoff Assistant Sports Editors: Aria Gerson, Tien Le, Rian Ratnavale, Bennett relatively young field of Bramson, Theo Mackie, Akul Vijayvargiya study. One of the biggest JACK BRANDON and ARYA NAIDU reasons is the ability to Managing Arts Editors arts@michigandaily.com effect change, even at the Senior Arts Editors: Clara Scott, Emma Chang, Rob Mansuetti, Sam Della Fera, undergraduate level.” Trina Pal LSA senior Aditi Arts Beat Editors: Verity Sturm, Sayan Ghosh, Mike Watkins, Ally Owens, Stephen Satarino, Izzy Hasslund, Margaret Sheridan Rajadhyaksha first became involved with nuclear ROSEANNE CHAO and JACK SILBERMAN research through the Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com Senior Design Editor: Willa Hua Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program her ALEXIS RANKIN and ALEC COHEN sophomore year. She said Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com Senior Photo Editors: Alexandria Pompei, Natalie Stephens, Alice Liu, Annie Klusendorf she has since developed a Assistant Photo Editors: Katelyn Mulcahy, Miles Macklin, Emma Richter, Hannah deep interest in the area Siegel, Allison Engkvist and continued to research with DNNG. ANDREA PÉREZ BALDERRAMA Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com “I joined the group my Deputy Editors: Matthew Harmon, Shannon Ors sophomore year and have been doing research in MADELINE TURNER and MIRIAM FRANCISCO Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com the group ever since,” http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ Senior Copy Editors: Sadia Jiban, Olivia Sedlacek, Reece Meyhoefer Rajadhyaksha said. “I work on characterizing CASEY TIN and HASSAAN ALI WATTOO Managing Online Editors webteam@michigandaily.com and improving the Senior Web Developers: Jonathon Liu, Abha Panda, Ryan Siu, David Talbot, performance of organic Samantha Cohen scintillator detectors. NOAH TAPPEN Organic scintillator Managing Video Editor video@michigandaily.com detectors detect nuclear Senior Video Editors: Jillian Drzinski, Aarthi Janakiraman radiation. They are used CARLY RYAN and NA’KIA CHANNEY to detect the development Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com of nuclear weapons and Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Lorna Brown, Samuel So, Ana Maria prevent nuclear terrorism.” Sanchez-Castillo, Efe Osagie, Danyel Tharakan Rajadhyaksha said the Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Grace Cho, Harnoor Singh, Nada Eldawy, funding and fellowships Maya Mokh in the area of nuclear CATHERINE NOUHAN and JOHN FABIAN nonproliferation had a Managing Podcast Editors substantial inf luence CARRINGTON TUBMAN and MADALASA CHAUDHARI on her undergraduate Managing Social Media Editors experience, as well as that of other students. “(The fellowship) has given us the opportunity to make significant impacts ADRIANNA KUSMIERCZYK in the field and gain useful Creative Director CAMERON COANE ZELJKO KOSPIC research experience, Sales Manager Special Projects Manager ultimately allowing us ROBERT WAGMAN ANITA MICHAUD and encouraging us to Marketing Consulting Manager Brand Manager keep working in the field,” Rajadhyaksha said. “MTV will do the same for students like me who The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available want to get involved in the free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for field and work towards a $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. safer world, free of nuclear University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. proliferation.”

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H A I L T O T H E S N O W D AY S

Students trek across State Street during winter storm Jayden amongst frigid temperatures.

1U From Page 1 As Robinson noted, the campaign has a great deal of data at its disposal. According to Robinson, 42 percent of U-M Dearborn and 39 percent of U-M Flint students qualify for the Pell Grant, a federal grant awarded to high-achieving students with financial need, yet none are covered under the Go Blue Guarantee, the University’s offer of free tuition for in-state families with incomes under $65,000, because this is offered only to Ann Arbor students. None of the $85 million Diversity, Equity and Inclusion funds go to the Dearborn and Flint campuses, despite a significant number of students of color. The list of numbers goes on, and so do the ways these numbers manifest themselves in the daily and long-term operations of U-M Dearborn and Flint, according to members of the 1U campaign. These numbers and stories are the basis for 1U’s demands of the University. The 1U coalition and campaign Rackham student Corey Bowen, who works as an organizer for the Graduate Employees’ Organization, didn’t apply to the University of Michigan as a senior in high school. Hailing from a small town upstate, Ann Arbor didn’t seem like a place she could access at the time. “I didn’t even apply to University of Michigan for undergrad,” Bowen said. “My perception was the University of Michigan is for wealthy, affluent families and not for rural communities.” Now, as a graduate student here, Bowen is involved in 1U’s growing coalition. Her interest in this work spurred from her experience with

GENDER From Page 1 “I tried to become interested in the consulting industry in the beginning of my sophomore year,” Levey said. “I applied to a lot of the Ross consulting clubs to see if I could learn about the industry and get some real-world experience doing so, and I found that these clubs are really, really hard to get into if you don’t know anything about what’s called a case interview.” In a case interview, an applicant is presented with a hypothetical business scenario that the interviewee must assess and propose a solution to. Consulting clubs often utilize this interview style to assess potential members. Levey went on to discuss how Alliance Consulting combats a culture of exclusivity by focusing on new member education and developing skills for consulting, including how to complete a successful case interview. “I thought it was unfair that people who don’t know about an industry are assessed on a learned skill they don’t know,” Levey said. “I felt that there needed to be a club on campus for students who, even if they don’t know what consulting is, if they want to become interested in it, they can have the opportunity to do so.” Business junior Thejas Suvarna, president of APEX Consulting Group, one of the most selective consulting groups, stated that in an effort to provide all students with

MINOR From Page 1

ALEC COHEN/Daily

GEO bargaining in 2017 when she said the University wouldn’t budge on equal pay for graduate student instructors across the three campuses, even when other progressive changes were made. She sees this issue, among others 1U advocates for, as a question of the University’s values and an example of what 1U calls an “unfair silo system” budget model used by University administrators, which hurts the Flint and Dearborn campuses. For Bowen and other 1U organizers, disparities across the University system are noticeable. 1U has specifically listed the Go Blue Guarantee’s lack of extension to Flint and Dearborn, Flint and Dearborn not receiving any of the $85 millionearmarked for DEI over five years nor any of the $1 billion in funding for student support from the Victors For Michigancampaign and Flint and Dearborn lecturers being paid less than Ann Arbor, while 1U research shows workloads are 30-50 percent greater for Flint and Dearborn lecturers, as issues the campaign hopes to address. Dan Birchok, an assistant professor of anthropology at U-M Flint is also working on 1U. He said many of his coworkers notice the issues 1U raises. There is also widespread concern, Birchok said, among faculty about the future of the Flint campus if the current level of monetary support from the University continues. “There’s been a large crosssection of interest from across the U-M Flint campus, and that appears to only be growing as we talk more and circulate what’s going on,” Birchok said. “These are all people who are invested in the institution and who fear if we don’t solve this problem then the already dire situation there will be worse, then we won’t be able to support

our students.” The overarching goals of the campaign include addressing a budget model the group believes perpetuates inequality among the three campuses. They also seek to press the University and state of Michigan to allocate more funding and resources to the Dearborn and Flint campuses. According to Robinson, 1U’s goals are complex and made for long-term achievement. Currently, the coalition focuses on spreading their message across the three campuses ahead of the June 2019 budget deadlines for both the University and state of Michigan. Robinson said some of the points of the campaign are still undecided because as a large coalition, all parts of the group need to decide on priorities. He also said the coalition has begun communicating with members of the state legislature and University Board of Regents and will continue talking with decision-makers until the budget deadlines. “A kind of fundamental shift to a vision of what we should be doing — that puts our three campuses on a more equal footing — is a longterm project, but there is a sort of immediate target, which is the budgets,” Robinson said. “Part of the reason we’re building a big coalition is because it’s not going to be easy, but … we’re cautiously optimistic that we can make real progress.” To do this, the coalition has held community forums and tables on all three campuses, circulated leaflets and created a listserv to build a support base. Going into winter semester, Robinson said the campaign is planning to increase its outreach efforts. Lia Fabbri, a student on the Dearborn campus who joined 1U to address inequities she’s noticed

on her campus, said one of her challenges is making 1U and its campaign points known to other U-M Dearborn students. “I think a lot of people come to school and get their education and they go home, which is fine, but I think people need to realize — need to be shown — there are these issues we can be fighting for and that they will directly impact our education and make our experience at this University a better one,” Fabbri said. “It does sometimes feel that we’re secondary, that we’re forgotten, that we’re the end of the list where resources are being allocated.” How the discrepancies 1U claims are reflected Studying abroad is popular on the Ann Arbor campus, with a plethora of opportunities within the University and non-University programs offered. Funding is available through the Office of Financial Aid, as well as through a variety of University scholarships. Birchok is involved with helping students go abroad through the International and Global Studies Program at U-M Flint. Birchok explained Flint students face a number of obstacles when trying to apply to these trips and the program office doesn’t have the funds to overcome them. “For our around 40-percent Pell Grant students, for those students to take a two-week trip overseas, for them to have to pay for their trip but then in many cases lose the opportunity cost of not being able to work during that time, some of our students have children or are responsible for children, there’s a lot of hidden costs for them,” Birchok said.

an equal opportunity to succeed in the recruitment process, case interview workshops are held to explain what they are and provide applicants with examples of how to approach problems. APEX Consulting Group focuses on offering pro-bono consulting for local Ann Arbor businesses and is known to have selective membership. “At the end of the day, we really emphasize that while there’s a formal name to this case interview, really it’s just a way to gauge your thought process and see how you break down a problem, and those are inherent traits people will have,” Suvarna said. “We do so much work with clients and we have to manage those relationships,” Suvarna said. “Clients give us their personal information. We have to make sure that we’re respecting their privacy and serving them a purpose and doing a good job, and it’s not feasible for us to do that well with a club that’s too big for us to manage.” Suvarna went on to discuss the firm’s applicant selection process is based on anonymity to ensure a more holistic process at large. “Our application process is completely anonymous,” Suvarna said. “We go through and read the responses to our essays because, for us, what is most important is, ‘Did these people do their homework and learn about what APEX has to offer? Is there a legitimate reason that they want to be in APEX, to contribute to the community rather than to just use it as a step to the next thing?’ That all comes

first.” Ed Huebner, assistant director of Counseling and Psychological Services, noted the positive aspects of selective clubs, as they instill a strong sense of community among members within a large campus. “I think the idea goes back to connection and feeling a sense of belonging — and that could be belonging to a group, a club, an organization or a department,” Huebner said. “There’s a sense of identity that can come from feeling like, ‘This is my group, this is my connection, these are my people, and from that there’s a closeness that we feel.’” Huebner discussed how the feeling of belonging contributes to the mental health of students on campus, both positively and negatively. “For a lot of our students that come in, this can be a very big place,” Huebner said. “So that idea of, ‘Who can I connect with and feel belonging with?’ on campus ends up being a really big factor when it comes to their mental health.” Norm Bishara, the associate dean for undergraduate programs at the Ross School of Business, provided an email statement on behalf of the Business School discussing how success on a college campus goes beyond admission to any one organization. “The clubs provide benefits to students by creating opportunities for leadership and real-world experiences, offering fellowship and a like-minded community, and creating positive impact,” Bishara wrote in the email. “…

We recognize that the student leaders of some clubs have implemented competitive application processes. While clubs and student organizations are an important part of the Michigan Ross experience, student success is independent of participation in any single club or activity on campus.” Business junior Jack Geiger, vice president of clubs for the Bachelor of Business Administration Council, said the competitive nature of business-oriented clubs is appropriate, given the rigorous work students participate in once admitted. “I think for the most part it’s justified, based on the fact that a lot of these clubs are operating as businesses in a way,” Geiger said. “A lot have clients and will be managing funds where it definitely makes sense to have a merit-based application process.” Geiger went on to discuss how a small club environment is beneficial to students, as it resembles the competitiveness of the professional world and prepares students for the future. “Business school in general is a pretty competitive environment and I think the point of that is to prepare you for the real world, which is the next step in everyone’s process,” Geiger said. “So, as we recruit for jobs or are applying for internships, it’s obviously very selective. … I think having a minienvironment when joining clubs is beneficial because it prepares you for what you can expect in the real world.”

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Opinion

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ANIK JOSHI | COLUMN

Effectively addressing climate change

nvironmentally-friend- fossil generation, largely from ly policies have tradi- natural gas combined cycle tionally been associated (NGCC) power plants.” Swapwith more liberal ping out a zeropoliticians. This has emissions source stayed somewhat for natural gas consistent — the seems foolish and first hearings on clithe exact opposite of what those who mate change were were interested in held by former Rep. actually addressing Al Gore Jr. in 1976 carbon emissions and today, from would do and yet much news coverhere we are. age, it seems that ANIK Carbon emissions the progressive left JOSHI trading is one of the is the only group trying to seriously address most efficient ways to reduce anthropogenic global warm- carbon put into the atmoing. sphere. The way it would work However, this is far from is there would be a set numthe case. There are a number ber of carbon credits and they of policies that can effectively would be distributed among address climate change that firms. Each would have a cerdo not receive the support that tain number of carbon credits they should from the left. I — allowing the owner to prowant to focus on two of these— duce a certain amount of carnuclear energy and carbon bon. If a firm was to run out, capture. they would then be allowed Nuclear energy is a policy that does not have much support because there is a large amount of fear of another nuclear disaster like Fukushima in Japan. However, this is unfounded. As Bill Gates wrote in his end-of-year letter for 2018, “Nuclear is ideal for dealing with climate change, because it is the only carbonfree, scalable energy source that’s available 24 hours a day. The problems with today’s to purchase additional credits reactors, such as the risk from those who have not used of accidents, can be solved their credits. The reason the progressive through innovation.” Nuclear energy is clearly groups who put together the a net positive and one would Green New Deal are opposed hope that more plants would to this is that if a company be opened. However, this is needs to purchase more crednot happening and nuclear its, the cost would probably plants are being unnecessar- be passed on to the consumer ily shuttered. As of 2016, the and they disagree with this. amount of energy lost by clos- They think that the company ing five nuclear plants was alone should have to shoulder almost equivalent to all solar the burden. However, this is energy in the United States. unfair. If a person is buying This leaves a gap that must be something that takes extra filled, and what tends to fill it carbon to produce, from a fairis natural gas and other, dirtier ness standpoint, why should sources of energy. Per the Rho- they be exempt from the burdium Group, “over 75% of the den? lost generation from at-risk The policy that both would nukes would be replaced by have the biggest impact on

Climate change is happening and the window to do something is closing quickly.

carbon emissions in the U.S. and has the biggest chance of passing is a carbon tax. In the last Congress, a bipartisan carbon tax bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. This was similar to the bill introduced in the House, which was also done in a bipartisan manner featuring moderate Republicans and Democrats from all over the country. Per the Washington Examiner, should the House bill become law, the bill’s authors say it would “reduce U.S. carbon emissions 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2015 levels, and 80 to 90 percent by 2050, well beyond the pace of the Obama administration’s target under the Paris climate agreement that President Trump rejected.” There is agreement across the spectrum on this — every living chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, every living chair of the Federal Reserve and a number of Nobel Economic laureates signed an open letter in the Wall Street Journal calling for exactly this. Climate change is happening and the window to do something is closing quickly. There needs to be large-scale decarbonization and two of the main methods of doing so (carbon capture and nuclear energy) are specifically denounced in the Green New Deal which is supposed to be a plan for large-scale decarbonization. Carbon taxes are also not as popular as solar or wind energy. In the 48-page PDF, the phrase “carbon tax” is only mentioned three times and not one of them discusses what a reasonable number would be. Addressing climate change is something that can only be done in a bipartisan manner and I hope that cooler heads prevail over this political dispute.

SOFI ZERTUCHE | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT SOFZER@UMICH.EDU

Anik Joshi can be reached at anikj@umich.edu.

The left’s folly in Medicare-for-all

uring the 2016 presiden- single-payer health care would tial campaign, then-can- force millions of Americans to didate Hillary Clinton abandon their private health care plans in favor of proclaimed that singovernment-rationed gle-payer healthcare care. Earlier this will “never, ever” week, Sen. Kamala happen, citing its Harris, D-Calif., a impracticality. Democratic presiDespite Clinton’s vicdential candidate, tory over progressive kicked off her camstandard-bearer Sen. paign saying, “We Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., need to have Mediin the primary, Demcare-for-all” and ocrats have made a DYLAN that she feels “very stunning lurch to the BERGER strongly” about the left on health care and a whole other host of issues issue. When asked what would since the 2016 election. Only happen to the private health three years after Clinton sound- insurance plans nearly 136.5 ly rejected single-payer health million adult Americans under care, support for a Medicare-for- 65 rely on, Harris said, “Let’s all single-payer health care plan eliminate all of that. Let’s move has swept into the Democratic on.” At the very least, one has to mainstream. A large part of the surge in support for single-payer appreciate Harris’s honesty health care is because of support about her dreadful ideas on from young people, especially health care. Instead of emulating President Obama by falsely students. Contrary to talking points promising the American people, from some conservatives, youth “If you like your health care support for single-payer health plan, you can keep it,” Harris is care isn’t the result of our gen- admitting from the outset that eration’s laziness and desire for her plan would take away health “free stuff.” Instead, it’s because care from those Americans on our current health care system private insurance. Instead of is so exorbitantly expensive providing Americans with a that young people simply can- choice regarding their own wellnot afford healthcare. In fact, being, Harris and other supportan NPR study found that more ers of single-payer health care than 40 percent of those under would replace the patient-insur35 have had trouble paying for ance company relationship with health care. As a result, young big government. One doesn’t have to look furpeople are forced to choose between taking care of their ther than the Veterans Affairs health, paying back student Administration to see the bleak loans and covering basic new- results of single-payer governcessities. In the United States, ment-rationed care. When given the task of providing veterans that’s unacceptable. The American Dream is the with quality health care, the idea that if you get an education government allowed the VA’s and work hard, you’ll be able to “waiting lists” for care. In 2015 live comfortably and pass on a alone, more than 200 veterans better life to the next generation. died while waiting for care at the Our leaders in Washington, of VA facility in Phoenix. One can both parties, have fallen short by only shudder thinking of all the allowing the American Dream needless suffering our veterans to fade from reality. In bringing went through while waiting for Washington’s failure to secure care. The government’s failure quality, affordable health care to care for our nation’s heroes for the American people to the is a national disgrace. Given the forefront, youth activists are grim results at the VA, it would doing a service to our nation. be a profound mistake to expand Despite their noble intentions, the VA’s single-payer model of however, single-payer health government-rationed care to care isn’t the answer. Beyond its our entire healthcare system enticing title, there’s no coherent with Medicare-for-all. Beyond the grave conseplan behind Medicare-for-all other than the wholesale gov- quences Medicare-for-all would ernment takeover of the Ameri- have on our national health, it can health care system. Any would also prove debilitating hasty embrace of a European- to our economy. According to style government takeover of the Mercatus Center, Bernie our health care system would Sanders’s Medicare for All Act have catastrophic effects on would add $32.6 trillion to the Americans’ physical well-being federal budget in the first 10 years of its implementation. In and the nation’s economy. First and foremost, a move to order to even attempt to pay for

this, Emory University professor Kenneth Thorpe, a former Clinton administration official, estimates the government would have to implement historically high taxes. Thorpe estimates that the total tax burden resulting from Medicare-for-all would equal 20 percent of the national payroll and cause 70 percent of working households to pay more in taxes. These astronomical tax increases resulting from Medicare-for-all would put the American Dream even further out of reach for the vast majority of working Americans. Even Sanders’s home state of Vermont rejected Medicare-for-all after initial enthusiasm when the crushing fiscal realities set in. The rest of the country ought to join Sanders’s home state in rejecting such damaging policies. However, we cannot allow Washington to continue abdicating its responsibility to build a health care system that works for all Americans. For an issue as momentous as health care, Washington must work together for an American solution — not a Republican or Democratic one. Going forward, we need to improve our health care system so that it provides quality care at low costs while covering those with pre-existing conditions. Addressing the opioid crisis is also a must. This task is undoubtedly lofty for a government that is unable to come together even to fund basic services. However, it’s possible if Washington starts with common sense issues that most Americans agree on, regardless of party. For example, removing regulations that prevent Americans from purchasing insurance across state lines and small businesses from pooling together to buy insurance would go a long way in boosting competition, which would likely lower prices and improve quality. In implementing these bipartisan reforms, Washington would show its ability to bring back some much-needed bipartisan common sense to politics. The future of the American Dream for generations to come depends on Washington’s ability to reject extreme proposals like Medicare-for-all in favor of common-sense reforms. Dylan Berger can be reached at dylberge@umich.edu.

MARIA ULAYYET | COLUMN

“Hey, what’s your name?”

ho would’ve thought such a simple, everyday question could trigger so much anxiety and dread?

Hi, my name is Maria. Pronounced MAH-ree-ya — not mah-REE-ya. Taking it upon myself to correct the pronunciation of my name is my way of reclaiming both my narrative and my identity. And it’s about time my fellow uniquely named individuals did so as well. When my parents, Fahed and Nour, immigrated to America in the 1980s from Syria, they faced a lot of prejudice. From their “strange accents” to their “weird names,” they continuously felt out of place. Soon enough, in a professional space, Fahed became Fred and Nour became Nora. Though my parents cherished the beauty and depth of the Arabic lang uage and culture, they never wanted their kids to feel the same isolation and alienation they once felt. Out of love and protection, they gave me and my three siblings “hybrid” names. At home, I was Maria (MAH-ree-ya) but at school or sports practice, I was Maria (mah-REE-ya). A quick Google search on “changing your name to get a job” will reveal a plethora of articles and studies regarding the effects of “namewhitening.” The “whiter” your name sounds, the more likely you are to fit a certain image and gain better opportunities such as a higher-paying job.

My parents weren’t crazy to think that a little bit of accommodation would translate to a lifetime of easier and simpler interactions. While this may seem like such a small inconvenience, what my parents once did to safeg uard me from discrimination, inevitably

The reality is our names carry a lot of meaning

served as the erasure of my Arab identity that I proudly carry. The concoction of my fair skin, my light brown hair and my name all give me a very whitepassing identity. While I can’t deny the social advantages this may have given me throughout my life, I never wanted to hide my true self behind this facade. Throughout middle school and high school, I switched between the “white” version of my name and the “Arab” version. Should I settle for the ease of a quick introduction or play a game of trial-anderror for the sake of a “proper” greeting. For most of my life, if we were close, I was MAH-reeya. If we weren’t, I was mahREE-ya. The duality of my name

contributed to this “doubleagent” feeling I grew up with and carried with me into adulthood. The reality is our names carry a lot of meaning. The first impression. The first semblance to who we are. Freshman year of college, I switched between Maria and Maria, Maria and Maria. It took until now, the second semester of my sophomore year to start correcting my professors when they take roll in class. To formally introduce myself to everyone I meet the “right” way. To stop minimizing the beauty of my unique name for the sake of easing it for other people. The assumptions we make on a daily basis solely on the grounds of someone’s name signal the extreme bigotry we face today as a society in modern America. While we pride ourselves on being a melting pot nation of people from any and every background imaginable, the landscape of our society is far from ref lecting such an idea. With the rise of an emphasis on diversity and inclusion, it is time to end this trend of whitewashing and Americanization for the sake of fitting in. For now, I will do my part and continue to use the correct pronunciation of my name to highlight the beauty of where I come from. Maria Ulayyet can be reached at mulayyet@umich.edu.

Arts

5 — Friday, February 1, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

From the Sundance Film Festival: Days one and two SAM ROSENBERG Daily Arts Writer

The first two days of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival felt a lot like the first two days of college. I was alone in an intimidating, new environment, surrounded by people I didn’t know, struggling to acclimate to a tight routine and figure out how to get from place to place. As someone in their final semester, I found this change to be especially jarring. But as the days went by, the Sundance experience slowly became less about trying to fit in with the festival’s esteemed guests and more about what the festival was really focused on: a celebration of independent cinema. Sundance kicked off its first string of premieres on Thursday evening. That first night, I embarked to the press screening for “Native Son,” and though the film itself wasn’t the best way to start the festival — as you’ll read about in my review below — the palpable air of excitement from fellow cinephiles and critics was exhilarating. Making conversation is the first big step in ingratiating yourself into the Sundance culture, a challenge I pushed myself to prevail against by chatting with the woman in front of me in the line for “Native Son,” who just so happened to be a Michigan alumna. Amazing how a festival as big as this can still feel like a small world. The following morning, I ventured to two equally captivating panels, the first being an interview moderated by the Jewish Film Institute with filmmaker Matt Tyraneur, who discussed in comprehensive detail his riveting documentary “Where’s My Roy Cohn?,” and the second a wonderful, important conversation on advancing inclusion in the film industry, conducted by The Black List creator Franklin Leonard. With hours to kill before my second and third screenings of the festival — “Share” and “Give Me Liberty” — I explored the downtown area of Park City, where crowds of people

bundled in expensive jackets, boots, scarves and beanies shuffled about. Over the course of these busy 24 hours, I learned very quickly that Sundance isn’t as scary as I thought it would be. Sure, there were plenty of folks who looked like they could destroy me if I met their eyeline, knowing immediately that I was a novice. But I had to remember that everyone is here for the same reason, that learning the tricks of the trade is second-hand to the jittery anticipation of seeing a movie for the first time.

‘Native Son’: With the recent critical and commercial successes of “Get Out,” “BlacKkKlansman” and “Sorry to Bother You,” social allegory cinema is in high demand. Young audiences are craving stories that can unspool the intricate web of social conflicts plaguing our society, with the hopes that current issues like race relations, gentrification and microaggressions can make us think deeper and give us some sense of clarity about how to combat the systemic nature of such problems. “Native Son,” first-time director Rashid Johnson’s daring, disjointed adaptation of Richard Wright’s 1940 novel, is one such story that tries so desperately to say something, anything, important about modern-day racism and class divides. And while the film has all the right pieces — timely themes, gorgeous visuals, an A24 stamp and a refreshingly diverse young cast — none of these elements coalesce into a tale that you can sink your teeth into. Even the modernized update of Wright’s book, while certainly ambitious, fails to wring out any new insight from its source material. Segmented into three chapters — “Fate, “Fear” and “Flight” — “Native Son” revolves around Bigger Thomas (Ashton Sanders, “The Equalizer 2”), a green-haired, black-nailed loner who receives a lifetime opportunity working

as a chauffeur and caretaker for an affluent white family in the suburbs of Chicago. The lighthearted first act, “Fate,” presents a promising start, immersing us in Bigger’s fragmented world through his love of punk rock, his strained relationship with his mother Trudy (Sanaa Lathan, “Nappily Ever After”), his rowdy friends and his high-maintenance girlfriend Bessie (Kiki Layne, “If Beale Street Could Talk”). All that dramatic momentum, however, loses steam when the second act, “Fear,” kicks in. The coming-of-age undertones slowly evaporate into a dread-induced thriller when Bigger begins to service the Daltons, a family whose socioeconomic bubble and alltoo-harmless demeanor bring to mind the creepy antagonists from “Get Out.” Even more disturbing is Bigger’s connection with his employer’s rebellious teenage daughter Mary (Margaret Qualley, “The Leftovers”), a social justice warrior with good intentions but prone to making problematic assumptions about Bigger’s attitudes and interests. Discomfort is to be expected when narrative and all-too-relevant subject matter collide, though in the case of “Native Son,” the discomfort is rooted in the jarring tonal shifts, plodding pacing and surface-level characterizations. These issues are no more realized than during a late second act twist so horrific and viscerally alarming, it elicited a bevy of anxious groans from the audience at my screening. Though “Native Son” remains a distinct entry in the social allegory canon, the parallels with the aforementioned films are undeniable. It evokes the white-liberal guilt of “Get Out,” the provocative undercurrents of “BlacKkKlansman” and the surreal satire of “Sorry to Bother You.” But compared to those far more superior takes on the complex interplay between race, class and power, “Native Son” remains muddled and unfocused

in its messaging. Through a series of poetic narrations by Bigger and some vague symbolism, the film suggests that blindness toward our own actions creates dire consequences for ourselves and for others, an idea that could have been intriguing had it not been for its flimsy execution. There are, of course, a few instances in “Native Son” that save it from falling completely flat on its face. The fleeting moments of levity peppered throughout the film soften the ebb and flow of tension, especially during one early comical scene involving a rat that interrupts a family breakfast. Matthew Libatique’s reliable cinematography is as sharp as ever, amplifying the soft blues of Bigger’s bedroom walls and the orange tints of a house party. Sanders is also a marvel to watch. Fresh from his breakout role in 2016’s “Moonlight,” he moves through each sequence with a swaggering gait, making the most of the film’s uninspired dialogue with an unprecedented balance of gravitas and charm. What’s frustrating, however, is the weak script, penned by Suzan LoriParks (“Their Eyes Were Watching God”), inhibits Sanders from giving a fully nuanced performance, ultimately undermining his character’s motivations and masking his emotional interiority. The same goes for Layne, who delivers a striking performance

despite her character having very little substance and arguably not enough screen time. Much like Bigger’s aimlessness, “Native Son” meanders in its storytelling, setting up a potentially thrilling story only to disappoint. In the melodramatic final act, “Flight,” Bigger muses via voiceover: “The only thing worse than being blind is seeing but having no vision.” Ironically, “Native Son” seems to have a vision, one that’s both specific and fitting to the current socio-political landscape, but can’t see its own faultiness.

‘Share’: In the wake of the #TimesUp and #MeToo era, victims of sexual assault and harassment are finally getting the justice they deserve. Yet they are frequently left out of the conversation, with the media spotlighting its attention more on the perpetrator of the crime. When those affected are given the time to speak out, they have the unfortunate duty of reliving their trauma over and over and over again, as evidenced by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s long, comprehensive testimony during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court Justice hearing. No matter how hard we try to bury it, trauma is truly inescapable, a constant reminder of our inability to control the terrible, inexplicable things that happen to us. In the Age

of Internet, it’s even more amplified and publicized than before, a trend that “Share,” a sensitive, haunting, feature-length follow-up to writer-director Pippa Bianco’s 2015 short film of the same name, tackles with a humanistic deftness. In 87 lean, economical minutes, “Share” follows 16-year-old Mandy (newcomer Rhianne Barretto) in her quest to fill in the gaps of a humiliating experience captured on video that surfaced online. The experience in question remains ambiguous for both Mandy and the audience. It’s unclear whether an actual assault took place or not, but with the sparse details we’re given — a bruise on Mandy’s back and upper arm, a group of boys laughing at her unconscious body in the video — we get the sense that something nefarious definitely occurred. Rather than exploit Mandy’s assault like Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” did with its protagonist through pulpy, high-school melodrama, “Share” does something different. It concentrates less on the people surrounding Mandy — her basketball teammates, her parents, the alleged perpetrator of her assault, the investigators looking into the crime — and more on Mandy’s reaction to her circumstances.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

BOOK REVIEW

‘Oculus’ made me a luddite in the most wonderful few ways VERITY STURM Book Review Editor

Sally Wen Mao’s second poetry collection, “Oculus,” looks like an Instagram post. The cover of Mao’s new book features a mysterious woman hiding behind a Nikon and a conveniently in-the-way bunch of lilies, a DSLR mirror selfie covered by one of those white, centered, all-caps sans-serif titles that apparently aren’t out yet. At first glance, it’s a too-cool-for-chroma feat of millennial eye candy. If you find enough interest to linger on the image, however, it grows ominous. The lens of the camera is nearly indistinguishable from its body, swallowing up the face of its owner and creating a gaping black hole in the focal point of the piece. The photographer is distanced from us by the black hole of the Nikon, the flowers, the title and the supposed mirror, which we can’t even see. The disproportional, gaping expanse of gray-blue above her head practically yawns “absence.” There’s a woman in this image, but it’s hardly a portrait. The poetry in “Oculus” operates like the collection’s smart cover design. Mao’s poems are front-loaded with detail, flashing handfuls of hot topics, aesthetic trends and buzzwords that capture the attention of a particular audience (millennials and their apologists) just enough to create some interpretive distance between the reader and the more sinister forces at work underneath their poetic Instagram filter. In “Mall of the Electronic Superhighway,” the “makeup made of mica” and holographic guest-star appearances by James Baldwin, Whitney and Prince act as a sort of technosensational gloss for what’s actually unfolding throughout the poem: The electronic mall is “curat[ing] an apocalypse / into a beautiful, fashionable memory the texture of the silk / you can’t afford.” In another poem, the whitewashing of Asian roles in cinema is encoded in a “cyberpunk heaven” where an “investigator cyborg” reports a crime: “someone has implanted Scarlett Johansson’s face onto mine; hacked my ghost, installed an imposter’s memories, reprogrammed my optic nerves, diluted my brain into a white projection…”

DOMINIC POLSINELLI Daily Arts Writer

JACK BRANDON

Managing Arts Editor

Vans: the quintessential skater shoe, and a co-opted staple of “alt” kids for the last few decades. When one thinks of Vans they’re likely to think of the angry kid in high school who listened to too much A Day to Remember and Man Overboard. OK, fair enough, I’m just describing my own past, but to the company’s credit, they know how to put on a damn good pop-up concert/ art installation/skate park hybrid that offered Detroiters something a little new from the stream of performances at the city’s prototypical clubs. This past weekend (Jan. 24 through 27) Vans put together a wide variety of artists to perform at The Jefferson School in Midtown Detroit, which featured not only a stage for the artists but also classrooms filled with art installations and an entire skate park set up in the g ymnasium on the third f loor. Have I mentioned that the entire experience was free if you took the time to snag an RSVP online? The first night began with sets from Detroit’s own Protomartyr and master of funk R&B Thundercat, which my coworker Jack Brandon covers below. Friday night featured a private after party at Third Man Records for VIP ticket holders with DJ sets from the University of Michigan’s very own Matthew Dear and his labelmate Shigeto (also from Ann Arbor). Attendees didn’t really start to stream in until 11:30 p.m., but the artists kept a steady stream of their widely praised house music during our entire stay. Yet, it seemed to function as more of a social function for the VIPs, whose interest in the beats was transient at best. Nonetheless, the music was killer, the bar was open and the Third Man Records storefront has always been one of the best and most unique spots to catch live music in Detroit. Saturday brought the all-star combo of Detroit’s Danny Brown and LA’s Joyce Manor. In what can either be a stroke of luck or genius by Vans, the two artists were a match made in heaven for the alt/ punk crowd — Joyce Manor being one of the scene’s biggest

Mao is lifting contemporary tech-jargon keywords out of their comfortable Silicon Valley context and manipulating their excitable aura to illustrate high-gravity social concerns for an audience susceptible to the technical. The difficult distance between language and theme is intentional. Its unsettling affect, Mao seems to say, is the consequence of prioritizing, entertaining and investing in such flashy gadgetry — the consequence of spectacle. Spectacle, it seems, is the unifying theme throughout “Oculus,” and one that Mao traces back from the Instagrammable cover and glittering technical jargon to cinema; specifically, early 20th century Hollywood and Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American movie star. Wong appears throughout “Oculus,” travelling through time and space to reckon

“Oculus” Sally Wen Mao Graywolf Press Jan. 15, 2019

with her career. Particularly, her work in the ’20s and ’30s is cast again and again as “the strumpet, the starved one” in “nacre and chignon,” always fated for “deception, despair, death,” roles objectifying and typecasting the Asian woman as a sexy cinematic disposable in the American imagination. In “Oculus,” Wong is free. In a Vonnegutian feat of imagination, Anna May Wong is unstuck in time: She “fl(ies) the hell out in (her) Chronojet,” makes out with Bruce Lee at a space bar and talks shit with Josephine Baker in Paris, a place to where both movie stars fled to escape Hollywood racism. Almost a third of Mao’s collection is devoted to freeing the memory of Anna May Wong. Her liberation, however, is necessarily bittersweet. While travelling through time, throwing back space shots and attending Fashion Week, Wong meditates on the portrayal of East Asians in the American spectacle of her wake, from Long Duk Dong in “Sixteen Candles” to Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls. Through Wong, Mao traces the development of the spectacle and its nefarious encryption

pop-punk bands today and Danny Brown’s upbeat, biting hip hop being some of the most widely beloved among this crowd. Joyce Manor, whose tracks average approximately a minute and a half in length, was able to rip through over 20 songs during their 45-minute set, keeping small talk to a minimum and the snare drum on blast. As a band that started with loveable, albeit messy melodies, their growth has begun to leak into their back catalogue, opening with fan favorite “Heart Tattoo” and then deep cut “Derailed,” both of which have truly never sounded better. They only tossed in a couple of newer tracks from 2018’s Million Dollars to Kill Me, balancing their set with aggressive older tracks among the more pop-inf lected new ones. Since their inception, Joyce Manor has been an unstoppable force in pop punk, and Saturday’s performance absolutely cemented them as some of the genre’s greatest. After my few days at the pop-up, I can only hope Vans returns next year (hopefully in warmer weather as well), taking advantage of all the ways Detroit has begun to thrive as a cultural center for art and music. Transforming a Midtown school into a small artsy haven proved to be an incredible experience, bringing together artists of multiple genres and mediums without pretentiousness or inaccessibility. With so much to do in Detroit now, House of Vans offered a small glimpse at everything this city has to offer. — Dom Polsinelli, Daily Arts Writer In the g ym of The Jefferson School, Protomartyr’s maturity and aggression juxtaposed with a space of youth and insecurity recontextualized the sound of Protomartyr’s music.

of stereotype from the the big screen to the little, merging effortlessly with the collection’s simultaneous preoccupation with gadgetry. The passive-oppressive power of spectacle is now in the hands and pockets of billions, across the globe, all the time. It’s exponential. “Oculus” is brimming with information. Beyond her lyric biography of Anna May Wong, Mao conscientiously works modern-day media and current events into nearly all her poems, enough research to necessitate a section of explanatory notes at the end of the book, akin to an Oxford World Classic. Few volumes of poetry boast such backmatter — flipping back and forth between text and notes is a style of reading I figured highly academic and contained to, say, John Whittier-Ferguson’s Joyce class. But this slim volume of contemporary poetry warrants it, too. Prior to discovering the notes (my first mistake was assuming they weren’t there), I went around telling too many people that Mao’s poems had the contemporary tendency to come off as handfuls of tasty language stylishly cast upon a page, free-verse style boo-rah. What I had initially written off as ornament, though, is actually far more calculated. Entire lines in “The Toll of the Sea” are lifted from 1922 silent film of the same name, the first Technicolor film ever made, and the self-titled “Oculus” is based on the story of a young woman in Shanghai who documented her suicide on Instagram in 2014. My favorite poem in the collection, “Lavender Town,” is named after the town in “Pokémon Red and Blue” where all the dead Pokémon are buried. I was deeply affected by it, even as someone who didn’t completely understand the reference having not played the games, which suddenly cast the poem in a more complex, melancholy light. In this manner, the poems in Mao’s collection execute a deft two-punch maneuver. They first generate internal spectacle on the line, distracting from their local plot with flashy words and glittering gadgetry. Then, with this in mind, “Oculus” as a whole starts to look like spectacle, unveiling the artistic distance between the poetry and the very real, very serious topics and themes it comments on (the text and the notes, if you will). Mao’s poems don’t just comment on spectacle — they literally perform it, unveiling its subtle machinery and complicated network of repercussions right there, right on the page.

When I saw them back at The Blind Pig a few months ago, I had thought them noisy, past prime, but in a high school g ym, I understood them better. So many teenagers want to converge with the assertiveness that Protomartyr exhibits. The group was relentless, enduring. Lead singer Joe Casey stands on stage like he’s pissed off at you, barking and singing, and I could only share that confident, this-is-how-I-feel-so-you-will-too energ y he radiated. Putting this post-punk outfit on the stage of the g ym, performing without any fright or indecisiveness turned me into a believer. There’s virtue in being strong willed. Protomartyr ended their set by reminding the audience to be kind to those left out in the cold, which resonates with truth in this current weather. Despite the nostalgia of the high school, Protomartyr didn’t let the audience indulge too much. The sobriety of Protomartyr was dispelled, however, the moment Thundercat and company took the stage. He sauntered on stage, effortless, bathed in colorful light and behind a set sunglasses. They started to jam, and the intensity of the first set melted away, and the atmosphere of the g ym felt permeable; so much so, actually, that a few members of the audience felt it acceptable to heckle the House of Vans sound engineers during the set. Thundercat paid it no mind. The compassion that comes with jamming and solos won out, in the end, and by the time closers “Friend Zone” and “Them Changes” played, I felt like I had experienced the ends of an extreme: Protomartyr’s shouts of self and Thundercat’s easy connectedness. — Jack Brandon, Managing Arts Editor

HARDLY ART

Release Date: Friday, February 1, 2019

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 They may be scraped off in bars 6 Hamlet’s “A little more than kin, and less than kind,” e.g. 11 Cut short 14 Atlas box 15 Got a lode of 16 Half a pair 17 Up-tempo music lover’s aversion? 20 Tune 21 Pond fish 22 Sticks in 23 Meeting organizers 27 Belg. neighbor 29 Oil-yielding Asian tree 30 Large garlic relative? 36 Striped animal 38 South side? 39 Time to mark 40 Employed 41 Negative prefix 42 Amazon business 44 Disney Store collectible 45 Weakling’s lack 47 Performed well enough 48 Classical dance minus the lifting, throwing, and such? 51 Sign of elimination 52 Wise __ 53 Matured 55 Siamese, nowadays 58 One seen on most 46-Down 61 Bar valve 62 Genetic determinants of Southern linguistic variations? 68 Vietnamese soup 69 Irritant 70 Drudges 71 Polish off 72 Good thing to have 73 Totally committed, and a hint to four puzzle answers DOWN 1 It’s petty but misleading

2 Brahms’ “Variations __ Theme of Paganini” 3 Comm. system with hand motions 4 Mixtures 5 Serious 6 “Moi?” 7 Set, as the sun 8 Collection of spies? 9 Make happy 10 Email suffix 11 Investor’s alternative 12 Like most ’80s-’90s commercial music 13 Winged collectors 18 Uninteresting 19 Countess’ spouse, perhaps 23 Storage areas 24 Old U.K. coin worth 21 shillings 25 Swallow up 26 Lighthouse output 28 Facilitated 31 Unhappy utterance 32 Everyone, to some believers 33 Oppressively heavy

34 Colorful songbird 35 Rapped 37 Hasidic teacher 43 Quahog’s quarters 46 58-Across homes 49 Oscar winner Jannings 50 Puente of mambo fame 54 Noodles 55 Class 56 “Yeah, that’s funny”

57 Tons 59 Tram loads 60 Masterminded, as a complex plan 63 Many an IRS employee 64 Made the acquaintance of 65 Thickness measure 66 __ Gold, Alan Cumming’s “The Good Wife” role 67 U.S. ID

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

02/01/19

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Friday, February 1, 2019 — 7

The underappreciated art of avoiding fouls Due to cold weather, ‘M’ to play game on Friday ETHAN SEARS

Managing Sports Editor

Over the last 15 months, as Michigan’s defensive star has ascended — taking the Wolverines from a team on the tournament bubble to the Final Four to a 20-1 record to start this season — nearly every reason why has been dissected and digested. Assistant coach Luke Yaklich instilled a culture. Junior point guard Zavier Simpson and redshirt junior forward Charles Matthews enforced it. The virus took hold, then spread — and now, Michigan’s 83.8 adjusted defensive efficiency is on pace to be the best in the KenPom era. But there is one element of this renaissance that, really, isn’t a renaissance at all. More accurately, call it a continuation. The Wolverines don’t foul. They rank second in the country in defensive free throw rate, and since 2012, they’ve been worse than 25th just twice. That’s no recent development, but something preached within the program for quite a while. “That’s stuff we’d work on all the time, is not reaching, not using an armbar,” said Spike Albrecht, a Michigan guard from 2013-17. “Things like that.” In practices, the Wolverines can use slide drills or verbal reinforcement to stress avoiding fouls. In a game though, playing good defense while doing so is a sort of art. “Especially on the ball, just picking up stupid fouls — they call like an armbar, instead your hands are up and you’re sliding and using your chest,” Albrecht said. “Cause you wanna be physical but you don’t wanna foul. “Essentially you’re fouling with your chest instead of your

arms, because lots of times, if a ref sees an arm in there, they’re more inclined to call it versus, ‘Hey, his hands are up.’ But you’re still making contact with the dude. Sometimes you can kind of get away with fooling the refs a little bit.” This iteration of Michigan doesn’t just defend physically without fouling. It has perfected the art, and you don’t need to look too far to see it. This is how Simpson turns opposing point guards — or, in Tuesday’s case, Ohio State center Kaleb Wesson — into overly frustrated playthings. It’s how Matthews has turned himself into a potential NBA commodity despite shooting just 32.3 percent from 3-point range. It’s how junior center Jon Teske has gone from merely tall to a dominant rim protector. Anyone who has asked Michigan coach John Beilein

about Teske in the last year has been treated to a range of hand motions, demonstrating his want for Teske to use verticality in the paint. After a 65-49 win over Ohio State on Tuesday, Beilein had nothing but praise. “He was trying to slap at the ball when the guy was coming up,” Beilein said. “He’d run his arms through him and use verticality, all the time. Now he’s learned to do it — wait, wait, be more selective with shots you can block.” Teske may be the most overt example. He’s far from the only one. Avoiding bad fouls is a part of Michigan’s defensive culture, as much as anything else. One of the keys behind a great defense, it turns out, is overwhelmingly simple. “I don’t wanna say, ‘Hey, we don’t foul.’ We try not to have bad fouls,” Beilein said Thursday. “And if you look at a

Sometimes you can get away with fooling the refs.

game, there’s three or four bad fouls every single game, that if you can avoid those, that could be the difference between a one-and-one, a guy in foul trouble, right, or a doublebonus. So we try to avoid that. “It’s just every day in practice, we’re very physical with how we practice, but bad fouls are pointed out every minute. And sometimes, people want to start every practice, ‘How are we gonna practice? Hard. How are we gonna practice? Smart.’ And smart is, don’t put them to the foul line. We can’t defend the foul line. We can’t defend a foul shot. So the one way to avoid that to happen is, don’t put them there carelessly.” In this sense, Beilein has been the perfect complement to Yaklich. Asked on Tuesday who’s behind the emphasis, sophomore guard Jordan Poole struggled to come up with an answer. “Coach B hates fouls,” he said, “and coach Yak loves defense, so —” Then Isaiah Livers stepped in to finish the sentence. “It works perfectly.”

EVAN AARON/Daily

Michigan coach John Beilein has always emphasized playing physically while avoiding fouls on defense.

MILES MACKLIN/Daily

The Michigan women’s basketball team play Iowa on Friday at noon.

TEDDY GUTKIN Daily Sports Writer

The polar vortex already canceled classes for Wednesday and Thursday. Now, it’s postponed tonight’s Michigan women’s basketball game against Iowa. The game will now be played on Friday at noon. The game is set to be an exciting one, with the nation’s leading scorer Megan Gustafson coming to town. The matchup between Gustafson and Wolverine center Hallie Thome was one that fans were excited to see, but that bout will now be rescheduled for Friday in the wake of Ann Arbor receiving some of the coldest weather it has ever seen. The bout represents a chance for the Wolverines (12-9 overall, 3-6 Big Ten) to get back on track, coming in having lost four of their last five games. Michigan maintains a home record of 8-1, though, and in No. 13 Iowa, it had a chance to seize a signature win. That, for now, will be put on hold. Michigan spokesperson Kurt

Svodoba said Thursday morning that the postponement has made for a “crazy morning” so far, and stated that the teams have not yet set a date to potentially reschedule the game. A few hours later, the team announced the rescheduled time. Svodoba did, however, announce a deal that could excite some fans who will be unable to attend the game. “Not only can (the ticket) be

(The ticket) can be used for the rescheduled game.

Michigan vs. Iowa Matchup: Michigan 12-9 overall, 3-6 Big Ten; Iowa 16-4, 7-2 When: Friday Noon, E.T. Where: Crisler Center

used for the TV: Not rescheduled game, but it can televised also be used as a general admission ticket for any home game (this season),” he said. Tickets for the original game can also be used Friday, though the game will no longer air on Big Ten Network. According to a press release sent by Iowa, details are still being hashed out on a live stream and radio coverage.

In need of more than a series split, Wolverines to face Golden Gophers JORGE CAZARES Daily Sports Writer

It’s crunch time for the Michigan hockey team. Coming off another series split, it must begin to make up ground in the Big Ten standings. Save dropping both games to Michigan State before the holiday break, the Wolverines have split every conference series. Nine games remain for Michigan in the regular season, all against conference opponents. Heading into this weekend’s series at Minnesota, the Wolverines are only one point ahead of the threeway tie for last place in the Big Ten. Eight points separate them from first-place Ohio State. At 26th in the Pairwise rankings, at least 10 spots separate them from a potential at-large bid. If Michigan hopes to make an NCAA Tournament appearance, it will need to begin coming out of weekends with more than three points. The Wolverines can start by sweeping the Gophers, who are in third place — three points ahead of Michigan — in the Big Ten standings. By picking up their first sweep, the Wolverines will leave the company of Penn State as the only Big Ten teams without

one. “We have (felt a sense of urgency) for a little bit now, I think,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “So that’s why coming off the (series split) — it was disappointing you know — at Ohio State when you have the lead in the third period. And then played pretty well but made some bad mistakes in New York — because you can’t get those points back. And as you look at the standings, everything’s so tight. One game and you go from third place to last place, seventh place. So, it’s a huge shift there so yeah, we understand that, and we have to make sure we dial it up even another notch here and the last nine games that we have. “I wouldn’t call (the rest of the games) must-win but the points are very critical. I mean, you don’t want to be at the end of the year after the regular season and say, ‘Well, if we would’ve won this game here then we would’ve been on home ice.’ You don’t want that, so that’s how we’re approaching this, it’s a process.”

But as far as the rankings go, Pearson sounds unconcerned. “You do A, B, C, D and you’ll have a good chance instead of looking at the standings,” Pearson said. “We don’t talk too much to the players about the standings or that. It’s just trying to do everything we can for that next game and give them the information they need to go out and execute and have a great game.” Barring a late-season run, Michigan will most likely need to win the Big Ten Tournament to make a postseason appearance. If the Wolverines can manage to stay in the top half of the table, they are assured home-ice advantage in the first round, bestof-three series of the tournament — and with every series split that passes, it is looking like the sole route to the NCAA Tournament. Prior to the team’s flight to Minnesota, Pearson was asked whether he feels comfortable relying on the conference tournament to earn a bid. “At this point I think we might

You do A, B, C, D and you’ll have a good chance.

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

The Michigan hockey team must stop splitting series if it is to make a miraculous run to the NCAA Tournament

have to be,” Pearson said. “The way the Big Ten Tournament is set up — I don’t want to say it’s any easier than any other league, but you have a better chance. If you can get past the first round, then you’re just in a single game format. It doesn’t matter where you play or who you play, you have to try and find a way to beat them once to move on, and that’s what it is. … And I think it’s more of a toss-up who is going to win that game because there is

so much balance in the Big Ten. “First round is a little tougher because if you’re going to be on the road, you have to go in and win two out of the three games and that’s a little more difficult to do on the road. Winning one game, hey, anybody would take that chance.” It’s a chance Pearson is willing to take. And it’s a chance he will have no choice but to take — unless the team strings together back-to-back wins.

I wouldn’t call (the rest of the games) mustwin.

Sports

8 — Friday, February 1, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Position Review: Wide receivers THEO MACKIE

Daily Sports Writer

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: wide receivers. Amid a disappointing 8-5 season in 2017 that was marred by inconsistent play from the quarterback position, Grant Perry led all Michigan wide receivers with 307 receiving yards. Improvement, of course, was the minimum expectation. But with the addition of junior quarterback Shea Patterson from Ole Miss, hopes for the Wolverines’ talented pass catchers lay much higher. Instead, despite a scattering of impressive performances, those hopes were marred by a lack of consistency and opportunity. Sophomores Nico Collins and Donovan People-Jones paced the group with 632 and 612 yards, respectively — ranking 151st and 161st nationally — making it five consecutive seasons without a 1,000-yard receiver for Michigan. Behind them, the Wolverines’ struggles at the position only worsened. Sophomore Tarik Black missed most of the season with a broken foot for the second consecutive year. In his stead, Perry placed third among Michigan’s receivers with 147 yards — just ahead of freshman Ronnie Bell and sophomore Oliver Martin. HIGH POINT: With the Wolverines embattled in a defensive struggle against Michigan State, Patterson dropped into the pocket, stared down his favorite target and let fly. Seconds later and 79 yards away, Peoples-Jones strolled into the end zone untouched. It was the type of careerdefining moment Peoples-Jones envisioned when he committed to Michigan two years ago as

the top wide receiver recruit in the country, catapulting the Wolverines to their seventh consecutive win and first on the road over a ranked opponent since 2006. Michigan’s receivers as a whole, peaked — not coincidentally — when the team as a whole did, amid its midseason push for a College Football Playoff spot. A week later, in a 42-7 win over Penn State, Peoples-Jones and Collins shone again. Collins — a four-star recruit in the same year as Peoples-Jones — highlighted the performance with a 47-yard grab, and Peoples-Jones again caught the key touchdown pass, dragging his feet along the side of the end zone to put Michigan up 14 midway through the second quarter. Against Rutgers the following week, it was Collins who caught two touchdowns, including a trademark jump ball over cornerback Avery Young in the corner of the end zone. That ability to make contested catches quickly became Collins’ most reliable attribute, as he finished with six touchdowns on the season, including two against Ohio State. “The biggest thing is the way (the receivers) catch the ball,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh after the Rutgers game. “All the pass receivers, still the amount of drops is really so low right now for the year. The way they’re catching the ball is really good. Also, the separation they’ve gotten in the passing game. The precision in how they run the routes has been really good. The third thing I would point out is their blocking.” LOW POINT: Peoples-Jones and Collins stood along the

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Sophomore wide receiver Nico Collins led all Michigan receivers with 632 receiving yards, good enough to rank 151st in the nation, along with six touchdowns.

Michigan sideline, watching from afar as the Wolverines’ offense struggled more than its bevy of talent should have allowed for. This is not a description of any specific moment. Rather, it’s a repeated scene that became emblematic of Michigan’s ultimately disappointing season. For each highlight-reel catch from its top receiving duo came a slew of drives in which the targets went elsewhere, the offense stagnated and the Wolverines fell short of their lofty potential. In that same win over Michigan State, Michigan’s top duo combined for just 16 yards in the nearly three quarters before Peoples-Jones’ touchdown,

The amount of drops is really so low right now for the year.

as Perry and tight ends Nick Eubanks and Sean McKeon finished second, third and fourth, respectively, in receiving yards. In the Wolverines’ seasondefining loss to Ohio State, it took 16 pass attempts before Patterson completed a pass to Collins. By the time he grabbed a second reception, the Buckeyes led 41-19. Meanwhile, Black — another highly-touted signing from the 2017 recruiting class — managed just four catches for 35 yards after returning from injury. He was the class’ most productive receiver early in his freshman season, racking up 149 yards in his three games at Michigan before his first broken foot sidelined him for the rest of that season. Since then, he has only seen sporadic usage, despite being declared fully healthy in early November. The trio’s success when on the

field led to calls for more threereceiver sets, but the Wolverines instead opted to rely on their tight ends and running game. When they were used together, the results often followed, such as in a 71-yard first-quarter drive in the Peach Bowl, during which the three combined for 61 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately for Michigan, that seldom happened. Instead, the receiving corps’ success was sporadic, capping Patterson’s ceiling in his first season with the Wolverines. THE FUTURE: The future, as with the present, lies in the hands of Peoples-Jones, Collins, and to a lesser extent, Black. Just two years ago, those three — along with Martin — comprised one of the most impressive receiver hauls in recent memory. But through two seasons, they have managed just 1,857 combined yards. On Jan. 10, though, the group’s

outlook took a sharp turn for the better when Michigan hired offensive coordinator Josh Gattis from Alabama, where he was the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. Gattis helped coach a potent Crimson Tide passing attack that averaged 320.2 yards per game. Four of Alabama’s receivers finished with at least 693 yards — more than any Wolverine pass catcher — including Jerry Jeudy, who won the Biletnikoff Award for the nation’s best receiver with 1,315 yards and 14 touchdowns. A year ago, Michigan’s offensive expectations hovered near an all-time low. Now, with Gattis in tow, an NFL-caliber quarterback under center and a prized recruiting class entering its junior year, 2019 has all the ingredients to be the Wolverines’ best offense in years. Whether or not it gets there may rest on the shoulders of its talented receiving corps.

Behind Enemy Lines: The Daily sits down with Iowa forward Tyler Cook THEO MACKIE

Daily Sports Writer

The Michigan men’s basketball team (20-1 overall, 9-1 Big Ten) will face its toughest test since losing to Wisconsin two weeks ago when it travels to Iowa City to play Iowa (16-5, 5-5). The Hawkeyes have been one of the biggest surprises in the Big Ten this season, playing their way into NCAA Tournament contention after missing out in the past two years. They struggled to a program-worst 4-14 Big Ten record a year ago, but have already improved on that win total with five in conference play so far this year — including victories over Ohio State and Nebraska. The biggest improvement has come on the defensive end, where they currently have the nation’s 120th-ranked adjusted defensive efficiency — up from 242nd a year ago. Offensively, they were 19th last season before improving to 10th this year on the back of a team-leading 16.6 points per game from junior forward Tyler Cook. The Daily sat down with Cook at Big Ten Media Day in October. The Michigan Daily: What’s been the leadership role of players who were on the team when Iowa last made the NCAA Tournament in 2016? Tyler Cook: Coming in when I was a freshman, we had Peter Jok. And he was a great leader from the standpoint of, he led by example. When you looked at Pete, he was always the first guy in the gym and always the last guy to leave. So when you ask guys like myself or Jordan (Bohannon) or Nicholas (Baer) or Isaiah (Moss), that was kinda our first impression of what leadership looks like. So whether we choose to lead in that same way or if we choose to be more vocal, we always gotta realize that it starts with what we do first. Holding ourselves accountable as individuals and then we can begin to other

accountable as well. TMD: Do the current players still keep in contact with Jok? Cook: Yeah, most definitely. I talk to Pete probably a couple times a week, at least. And he’s back on campus during the offseason as well. So we talk with Pete and see Pete all the time. TMD: What kind of advice does he have for you guys going into the season? Cook: Really just to keep working, and keep working hard. Because preseason stuff, it only holds so much weight. The real show starts when we get on the f loor. So when November comes, we lace them up and we’re ready to go, that’s when it really counts. So he just always tells us to keep working

stay in the lab, don’t listed to what other people have to say. And just do what we know what to do and we’ll be fine. TMD: Have you looked at the preseason rankings? Do you use them as inspiration? Cook: I haven’t looked at the team standings yet. But they probably have us at the bottom. We got a team full of guys that have really been overlooked and underrated for the majority of our career so far so it’s nothing new to us. It’s more fuel to the fire and I think we use it to our advantage. TMD: What went into the decision-making process to enter your name in the NBA draft last summer? Cook: Toward the end of the season, I pretty much knew

what I was gonna do, in terms of putting my name in the draft. I had a lot of interest, got a chance to work out for a lot of good organizations and got some good information as well. Made a lot of new friendships, new relationships and stuff. The decision to come back was tough, but I made it and I’m happy I came back. Hopefully, I’ll be in a better position — whether that be next year or the next year — for myself. TMD: What feedback did they give you? Cook: Teams aren’t gonna tell you, ‘Okay, you did bad in today’s workout.’ It’s kinda really on the individual to realize your strengths based on what they say they saw from you over the season,

what they say they saw they liked, how you performed in the workout, going to headto-head with whatever guys they bring in with you. So at the end of the day, they really leave the decision up to you wholeheartedly and let you make your own decision. TMD: What was coach (Fran) McCaffrey’s advice to you through that process? Cook: Coach was super supportive of myself and basically just let me know that whatever decision I ended up making, he was 100 percent behind me. He forwarded me all the information that he got, we talked a lot throughout the process. I’d go to him for advice and stuff like that. So coach is — I couldn’t ask for anything

more from him throughout that process. He was great and I wouldn’t expect anything else from him. TMD: Have you used that experience of going through that process to mentor some of the younger guys who might go through that in the future? Cook: Most definitely. Whenever I get information that can help myself get better or help any of my teammates get better, I always try to forward that on to them. Because I want my guys to be successful as well, in whatever they choose to do. So whatever they ask me, as to how it was like, I give them my honest opinion, what I thought about it, what they’ll see in the future. And I’ll continue to do that as well.

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Iowa forward Tyler Cook tested the NBA Draft waters last summer, before ultimately returning to the Hawkeyes for his junior season, in which his team has been a surprise contender in the Big Ten.