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KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily LSA program associate Elizabeth James speaks to the audience about discrimination and stereotypes at the Beyond Black and White panel in the Tauber Colloquium Wednesday evening.

Beyond Black and White event looks at identities on campus

Student organizations collaborate on discussing interplay of power, privilege NIKKI KIM

Daily Staff Reporter

On Wednesday night, around 80 students gathered in the Tauber Colloquium to discuss the history of power, privilege and stereotypes as a person of color. Spearheaded by the United Asian American Organization, the panel

was a coalition of four POC organizations on campus: UAAO, Black Student Union, La Casa and Arab Student Association. The panel featured faculty advisors and staff in multicultural leadership roles throughout campus. Titled “Beyond Black and White: Marginalized Identities in Academia”, Business senior Chandra

Sahu told The Daily after the event that she thinks it’s unique to campus. “I haven’t seen a collaboration with organizations of these identities in all of my four years,” Sahu said. “I think it’s easy to feel that there is a divisiveness between different kinds of students of color so it’s nice to have a reminder. Because coalition build-

ing is how change happens.” Robert Sellers, Chief Diversity Officer and vice provost for Equity and Inclusion, served as the moderator and began the event by discussing the need for solidarity among people of color.

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Campus resources help students Roundtable ‘U’ student discusses combat seasonal affective disorder caters to CAMPUS LIFE

the state of journalism

Panelists talk experience with suppression and violence in SE Asia ATTICUS RAASCH Daily Staff Reporter

Around 30 people showed up to the Perspectives on the State of Journalism panel Wednesday evening to hear three panelists, each representing different Southeast Asian countries, speak on their experiences as journalists. The event started with each speaker talking about their career and works focusing on Southeast Asia before moving into a Q&A session with the audience. Documentary filmmaker Orlando de Guzman explained his work in the Philippines, describing his experience filming police violence and civilian murders following the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. “Soon after he was elected, I went immediately back to the Philippines because I felt it would be a rather big change in society,” de Guzman said. “The usual night beat reporters who cover crime would go out and there would be at least two dozen killings a night we wouldn’t even spend time in one place before we’d have to run off to another.” See JOURNALISM, Page 3A

CAMPUS LIFE

Employees at CAPS work to mitigate negative consequences of SAD SONIA LEE

Daily Staff Reporter

During the winter months many students can face the possibility of seasonal affective disorder, a mood disorder causing depression to occur at the same time every year. While most people experiencing SAD feel the effects from late fall to the end of winter, in a rarer form, people can experience SAD from late spring to early fall. Vicki Hays, senior associate director of the University of Michigan’s Counseling and Psychological Services, says CAPS treats SAD as a facet of depression. “Seasonal affective disorder is considered a part of the

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overall umbrella of depression,” Hays said. “Primarily, I think you would notice that unlike your normal state of being, you’d feel more lethargic, less interested in things, maybe not able to concentrate as well, lots of our basic symptoms of depression. And it’s not a great combination to have that and have all the school stuff going on this time of year.” Jim Dolan, the clinical director of CAPS, said although there may be an increase in students with SAD during the winter months, CAPS does not keep track of SAD-specific changes. “I can tell you that about 22 percent of our students report depression as their primary presenting concern,” Dolan said.

“But we really don’t differentiate between types of depression.” Hays echoed his statement, saying depression is the second largest most common reason students go to CAPS for help, with anxiety being the first. Hays could not confirm if there is an increase in students going to CAPS during the winter. “I don’t think so,” Hays said. “I have to say we’re fortunate that the students find us to be helpful and we have tons of students who come in. So we don’t necessarily track that data.” Dolan also stressed the importance of understanding the difference between when someone may have depression and when the weather is just

affecting their mood. “It’s important for people to understand there’s a difference between the weather just kind of affecting your mood and the normal things we feel as human beings when the season changes, versus when something becomes depression, which is a more serious matter,” Dolan said. “It’s pretty normal for people to want to stay in bed a little more, or to raise carbohydrate foods and things like that. But it’s when it starts to interfere with your life — like you can’t get out of bed or you stop attending events or you don’t go to classes — that’s when depression can be a real problem.” See SAD, Page 3A

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cosmetic demands

Undergraduate provides threading services to others out of her house JULIETTE SIBLEY Daily Staff Reporter

On top of attending classes and fulfilling other typical college related responsibilities, Engineering junior Sara Bashir runs and operates her own minibusiness. Using her Ann Arbor apartment as a makeshift salon, Bashir provides lip and eyebrow threading services to students. Her prices range from approximately $2-$10, depending on the treatment. Eyebrow threading is the most expensive service she provides. Bashir’s interest in threading began long before she launched her business, back when she was in middle school. “My mom knew of the concept (of threading) because it’s kind of cultural for Desi people and people from South Asia to thread … so I just tried it,” she said. “In middle school, I started by threading my leg or my arm or my mom’s arm and then I did their faces and then when I got more confident I started doing other people.” See THREADING, Page 3A

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Street Vendor Appreciation Week begins GroundCover celebrates work to aid low income people through distribution of news publication Washtenaw County. GroundCov- ty and government members. This pedicab service that works with er vendors buy newspapers as in- year, Beckett says, they decided to recovering drug addicts, was a dependent contractors of the non- try a different approach. vendor for GroundCover News GroundCover is joining street profit to sell to pedestrians in Ann “As we were planning for this before he molded their business papers across the globe, as well as Arbor and neighboring locations. week this year, a couple vendors model into his own local vending sister papers in Detroit and TraSusan Beckett, publisher of said that they want to celebrate service. verse City, to celebrate InternaGroundCover News, started the by spreading awareness about Spangler believes in a secondtional Vendor Appreciation Week company nine years ago when the city paper and showing the chance job philosophy, providing Feb 3 through 10. The annual she saw a need in the community community to know that selling work for those who may not be celebration commemorates over after the 2008 recession. In the GroundCover is legitimate work,” able to obtain work because of 9,000 street newspaper vendors past, GroundCover has celebrated Beckett said. their personal history. Spangler worldwide. International Vendors AppreciaLit Kurtz, who lost her teaching also provides programs for recovGroundCover is a local newstion Week by inviting community job in Detroit during a large layoff ering employees to enroll in, and paper sold and written by lowSudoku Syndication of approximately 4,000 teachers says vending services give producmembers to open houses or sellinghttp://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ income and homeless people in newspapers with local communi- in 2012, discovered GroundCover tive opportunities to people strugafter she was evicted from her gling in the community. house and left without perma“I think the vendor’s impornent housing. tance is that we are contributing Kurtz saw this vending op- something positive to the commuportunity as a business introduc- nity,” Spangler said. “We are proEASY tion and potential for financial viding a positive newspaper and growth. Since 2014, she has been we’re not just asking people for writing and selling Ground- money. We’re at the level of trying Cover newspapers, and has been to get back on our feet. Same thing vocal about how this industry with Boober Tours — I structured has changed her life. Kurtz says my business like GroundCover, there are difficulties in securing creating a second-chance job for a job when permanent housing people in recovery.” is unavailable, and GroundCovHussain Ali, LSA senior and er gives work to persons in the president of Michigan Movemidst of housing issues. ment — a student organization “When you are living home- focused on providing aid and less or without conventional relief to people experiencing housing, you’re living without homelessness in Ann Arbor and access to showers, laundry, stor- Washtenaw County — has been age, which means you can’t al- working to spread awareness ways be presentable as you’d like about GroundCover. for a job interview or for holding Ali says GroundCover adds down a mainstream job,” Kurtz an important aspect to the comsaid. “So GroundCover meets munity, and provides meaningful you where you’re at — on the content to the community while street — and puts something in simultaneously creating cohesion your hands that you can sell to among the public. the public.” © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. KISSES puzzle by sudokusyndication.com Read more at Kevin Spangler, owner and founder of Boober Tours, a local MichiganDaily.com CATHERINE NOUHAN Daily Staff Reporter

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JOURNALISM From Page 1 According to de Guzman, covering the events in the Philippines became more difficult following the widespread attention of the killings. He also expressed his overarching concerns reporting the Philippines’ political situation. “As the months went on as more and more international attention was put on the killings and as international criticism rained down on all of this, it became harder and harder to do our work,” de Guzman said. “It got to a point where police stopped sharing information with us about where killings were taking place.” De Guzman went on to stress the dangers of journalistic work in the Philippines. “Looming over everything is that fact that the Philippines is still probably the most dangerous place for journalists working in areas outside of a war zone,” de Guzman said. “I wish I could be more positive by where things are going in the Philippines right now, but I feel that’s a bit premature.” Panelist Arlyn Gajilan, Reuters deputy managing editor, went on to present and discuss a video of two Reuters

journalists captured in Myanmar while covering the killing of 10 men. Gajilad said the situation highlights the dangers of journalism in violent areas. “Despite our size and inf luence, we are like any other journalist working in a country where people are oppressed,” Gajilad said. “They are subject to the same kind of dangers, and thats whats happened here.” Gajilad said many people fail to recognize the true impact of violence towards journalists. “It’s easy to think of them as journalists, it’s kind of a nice safer road,” Gajilad said. “But then journalists are people too, with families and children and ties to the local community so there is a human toll.” As the final speaker, Tyrell Haberkorn, Southeast Asian studies professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, focused mainly on the state of reporting and voice suppression in Thailand. Haberkorn highlighted the reasoning behind the concern of freedom of expression to oppressive regimes in Thailand. “Why are dictators so afraid of freedom of expression and what do they do when they’re afraid,” Haberkorn said. “They’re afraid their misdeeds will become uncovered,

News they’re afraid that upon seeing this information, citizens will become subjects, not objects, and they will rise up.” A fourth speaker, photojournalist Hkun Lat, was supposed to speak but could not attend due to issues obtaining a visa, according to Allen Hicken, political science professor and moderator of the event. In the Q&A section, audience members asked several questions regarding the effects social media poses on journalism in Southeast Asia. According to Haberkorn, social media sites such as Facebook provide both a positives and negative impact for citizens looking to freely express their views. “Facebook is both a tremendous platform for dissonance and to call for action,” Haberkorn said. “But it is also a place of great danger largely because of those who are accused of imposing the monarchy have been accused on the basis of Facebook posts.” AJ Vicens, audience member and Knight-Wallace fellow, said he is happy there are people who bring these Southeast Asian issues to light on campus. “Clearly journalism is a troubled institution around the world,” Vicens said. “To

hear from these people their perspectives on what’s happening in Southeast Asia is just so important and I’m glad there are people paying attention to all that’s going on over there.” De Guzman said issues are faced by journalists all over the world, and the issues may increase before the problem can be solved. “We are seeing a kind of really rising populism and mix of nationalism in the country, a mix of white nationalism,” de Guzman said. “I feel there are more and more dangers now that journalists face, especially those who have to be there where things are happening, and it might get a lot worse before it gets better. It’s an exciting time to be a journalist but it’s also getting to be extremely dangerous.” Vicens said he hopes viewers leave with respect for journalists who work in a dangerous time. “Reporters are putting their lives on the line, quite literally to get truth out in these countries,” Vicens said. “It’s very difficult work, it’s not very appreciated in a lot of places. In the face of such opposition from the community, the government and security forces they are doing such hard work and people should respect that.”

COM PLE X R H Y T H M S DA N C E S H OW

ASHA LEWIS/Daily The University of Michigan Department of Dance rehearses for their annual show opening at the Power Center this Thursday.

THREADING From Page 1 During high school, Bashir began to thread her friends’ facial hair, which is where she got the inspiration to continue her pastime in college. “In high school, I started threading my friends — literally in the middle of class I would thread them,” she said. “One of my teachers said ‘You should go to college and be your dorm’s eyebrow threading girl or your hall’s eyebrow threading girl,’ but, at the time, I thought that it would never actually happen.” Bashir explained she had no initial intention of turning this hobby into her own personal, student-run business. In fact, she simply continued to thread for her friends’ benefit. “Originally, (at Michigan), I was just doing it to thread my friends if they ever needed to be threaded,” Bashir said. “I just kept threading my friends and it just kind of grew by itself. I didn’t have to do a whole lot.” Once Bashir began charging people for her services, she began to amp up her marketing skills beyond word of mouth, she explained. She also created a digital f lyer, which circulated various studentrelated social media groups. “At some point last year, I started to put up posters in the UGLi and around my dorm,” Bashir said. LSA sophomore Annika

Dhawan, one of Bashir’s current customers, said she discovered Bashir’s business through her digital f lyer on Facebook. “I first heard about her before I came to school,” Dhawan said. “I remember someone posting ‘Looking for recommendations for threading and waxing services, etc.,’ and then I remember seeing someone posting her f lyer in one of the comments and a lot of people were paying attention to that. When I was actually looking for someone during the year I consulted that post.” Dhawan explained she decided to use Bashir instead of a local threading business because of her prices and convenience. “Because she is a student herself I feel that her prices are a lot more reasonable for students and it’s really accessible,” Dhawan said. “Last year she was running her services out of her room in Alice Lloyd, and it was pretty convenient to make a trip over there.” Public policy junior Arwa Gayar also discovered Bashir’s threading business through social media. “I found out about it through MSA (Muslim Student Association), so the Muslim girls on campus have kind of like a mass chat on WhatsApp and I remember I saw a f lyer on there about threading services and I needed to get my eyebrows done, so I contacted her,” she said. Gayar explained she chose to use Bashir’s services not explicitly for convenience or

price, but primarily because she felt more confident in Bashir’s threading ability considering her heritage. “I have pretty thick eyebrows and there’s a certain style that I like and a lot of times salonists will not know how to do my eyebrows how I like them,” Gayar said. “I trusted her more because it’s kind of a community thing that Desi girls and Arab girls struggle with their eyebrows and because she knows the struggle, I trusted her more to do my eyebrows how I like them.” Many customers not only appreciate Bashir for her actual threading services, but also for the comfortable experience she provides. “She has made a very comforting environment for everyone who goes to her and anyone who wants the service done,” Dhawan said. “She always makes her little set up very homey and really comfortable and familiar. People not only find it convenient and accessible but also just very comfortable and a nice safe place to go.” Gayar echoed this opinion, adding Bashir has fostered a sense of community through her services as well. “It’s comforting to know that I can go to this girl’s apartment and know that she is going to do a good job instead of going to some random salon,” she said. “I think (Bashir’s business) is also important just because eyebrows have kind of been like a common theme among Muslim girls … (they are) a constant struggle and so

it’s kind of a unifying thing that you can provide for your community even when it’s something as simple as a basic service.” Bashir donates a portion of her profits to local charities. She explained she wanted her business to have a larger impact. “When I started charging people in college, I wanted to do something with (the money) … so I started to donate 30 percent of the proceeds to different charities,” she said. Bashir said she wanted to be intentional about her donations. “I usually send the money to charities I have personal ties to,” Bashir said. “In high school, I worked a lot with the Muslim Center Soup Kitchen in Detroit. … I also give it to Syrian Refugees … who have been relocated to my hometown and around Detroit. I actually also always ask my appointments for suggestions about where they would want their money going, but for the most part it’s soup kitchens and refugee charities.” While Bashir said the most important part of the business for her is the charitable aspect, she also appreciates the community it has provided her, as well as her customers. “The biggest thing is that I’m doing something because I’m donating to charities,” Bashir said. “But in terms of my daily life, it’s nice because I get to meet a lot of new people … (and with that), I get to know what’s going on around campus.”

Thursday, February 7, 2019 — 3A

SAD From Page 1 Engineering senior Anna Learis agreed, noting she has noticed some of her friends suffering more from actual clinical depression during the winter, while some may just be feeling more down. Learis is the co-founder and editor in chief of Mentality Magazine, which aims to increase discussion about mental health by providing a platform for students to share their mental health experiences through writing. “I have quite a few friends or acquaintances with things that are more along the lines of clinical depression, and obviously that gets worse,” Learis said. “But also with people who usually don’t have any mental health issues, when it’s this cold, you don’t go outside, you’re not socializing, you know, you stay in bed all day. And although that’s fun every now and then, you just get in such a slump, and especially in Michigan, I think it’s hard for students to get out of that slump.” As a result, CAPS has established Wellness Zones on campus. Wellness Zones come equipped with massage chairs, yoga mats with meditation videos and artificial full spectrum light therapy lamps, which are used to alleviate SAD. However, there are currently no Wellness Zones available for undergraduate students to use. The Wellness Zone for Central Campus has been temporarily closed and put into storage because of construction on the Michigan Union, and is slated to return in the winter 2020 semester. A new one is coming soon to North Campus in collaboration with the Engineering Student Government, but has not yet opened. Graduate students can use the Wellness Zone in the Munger Graduate Residences. For those struggling with SAD or feeling the effects of the cold on their mental health, Learis recommended the sun lamps for light therapy and reaching out to friends to leave the house more often during the winter. “One of our writers tried (light therapy lamps) out for two weeks and told us it changed her mood completely,” Learis said. “And then I tried it out and was like, “Oh my gosh, this works.” And going along those lines, I think one thing that comes up a lot when I talk to people about seasonal affective disorder is a lot of it kind of all rotates back to cutting yourself off socially … so another thing is reaching out to friends and making plans that force you to leave the house to still engage.” Hays also recommended light therapy lamps and getting natural light outside in her advice to students. “Spend time outside, regardless of how cold it is,” Hays said. “Even if it’s cloudy, the rays seem to come through in a way that lifts the spirits. Trying to maintain a regular sleep habit, trying to get outside even if it’s walking outside instead of taking a car. Spending more time outside than they might normally think about doing in the winter.” While CAPS provides a multitude of resources for students on campus, some, like Learis, still bring up the issue of long waiting times for appointments. Learis said the issue of long waiting times can be detrimental for people who need help immediately, but acknowledged that this problem has been alleviated slightly within the School of Engineering. “If someone’s having an issue, they want to talk now, not in two and a half weeks,” Learis said. “So I think until they get more rotating counselors, that’s a major issue. And fortunately, the College of Engineering has two

embedded CAPS counselors, so a lot of my Engineering friends have said that they’ve seen improvements in scheduling times since it’s happened, but I think that’s the exception.” According to Dolan, CAPS is on track to see about 2,500 students this semester, continuing a trend of substantial increases each semester for the past several years. However, the CAPS staff is at full capacity for their budget, so he said the possibility of increasing the number of counselors and available appointments is not likely. “We are fully staffed for the funding that we have,” Dolan said. “It is a challenge, and I’ll be honest as the clinical director, it’s very challenging right now to meet the needs of all the students who come to CAPS.” LSA senior Jordan Lazarus is the executive director of Wolverine Support Network, an organization sponsored by CAPS offering weekly peer-facilitated support groups as well as biweekly community events. Although he too has heard of the long waiting periods for CAPS appointments, Lazarus said they are still able to provide far more resources than other colleges he has worked with through WSN. “Like everything else, there’s a finite amount of resources and I wish there was more,” Lazarus said. “I don’t run CAPS, but they exist to serve students. And I know that compared to a lot of campuses that I do interface with, CAPS here is really 50 steps ahead. But yeah, there are waiting times, and it is a problem.” On long waiting lists, Dolan emphasized initial consultations are usually within a few days and CAPS provides a counselor on duty every day for walk-in meetings. “Now that (walk-in meetings) is a first-come, firstserved service, so sometimes students might have to wait to see the counselor on duty, but we have counselors on duty to see someone every day,” Dolan said. “The wait times might come in later on when people are actually engaged in counseling because we have so many students that are interested in individual counseling. Again, we do our best to see students right away, but there might be some waits in terms of actually engaging with the counselor.” Learis also recognized improvements in student resources when it comes to mental health and highlighted the growth in student organizations advocating for mental health. “I think this might… be because I’ve gotten more involved with the mental health community over my time — but I see so many organizations doing such great work,” she said. “From CAPS in Action to CSG’s Mental Health Task Force to Mentality Magazine. So I feel like the conversation is more frequent about mental health, even if we aren’t necessarily getting more resources. More people know they can say, ‘I’m not having a good mental health day.’” For emergencies, Learis recommended the CAPS 24-hour hotline as well as the University’s Psychiatric Emergency Service hotline. Finding a shared experience with someone else, Lazarus says, could make all the difference in getting better. “Talk about it,” he said. “Everyone — seriously, everyone — is going through something. And I believe from a peer support side, just knowing that there’s someone who you can relate to and empathize with, you know like, ‘We both get SAD in the winter.’ Just to feel that sense of connection and shared humanity is really powerful, and can really, really help.” CAPS 24-hour services can be reached at 734.764.8312.

Opinion

4A — Thursday, February 7, 2019

SAM SUGERMAN | COLUMN

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ZACK BLUMBERG | COLUMN

Where does Venezuela go? Look at the past to find out

fter several years of growing unrest and widespread protests, tensions in Venezuela finally boiled over at the start of this year. To begin, the immensely unpopular president Nicolas Maduro was re-elected in 2018 through an allegedly rigged vote. In the wake of his 2019 inauguration, the National Assembly of Venezuela, believing Maduro’s election to be illegitimate, invoked articles 233, 333 and 350 of the Venezuelan Constitution, allowing them to render the presidential position empty and confirm Juan Guaidó instead, setting the stage for a dramatic battle over presidential authority. While there has been an outpouring of support for Guaidó in the weeks since his confirmation, not many concrete changes have occured, leaving Venezuela in a state of great uncertainty going forward. In a situation with so much up in the air, looking at similar situations from recent history can be the best way to try and determine what comes next. Thanks to several key factors, including military backing, the role of foreign intervention, and how far leaders are willing to go to stay in power, recent uprisings have had three distinct outcomes: transitions of leadership with government reforms, increased oppression and a greater concentration of power, or civil war. For Venezuela, the ideal outcome is a relatively orderly transition which ends with Maduro conceding power to Guaidó without violence. While this is far from guaranteed, there is still some historical evidence it is possible. In 2011, Tunisian citizens launched massive protests against President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a revolution which bears similarities to the situation in Venezuela today. Similar to Maduro, Ben Ali faced protests fueled by economic instability and allegations of corruption (Ben Ali had been in office for more than 20 years, routinely threw dissenters in jail, and often won elections with more than 90 percent of the vote). Facing nationwide protests, Ben Ali was ultimately overwhelmed and fled to Saudi Arabia in January. In October 2011, the country held free elections, and while Tunisia still has many issues to work though, the 2011 transition has undeniably improved Tunisian politics. Crucially, the military showed relative restraint during the protests, which was a crucial component of the revolution’s success. In Venezuela today, the military still backs Maduro, though one high-ranking official has already declared support for Guaidó. Additionally, as protests go on, there are reasons for the military to flip. Maduro cannot rely on issues like racial identity to keep

the army behind him, as some leaders like Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been able to do. Maduro must also be wary of foreign intervention, especially from the United States, where remnants of Cold War anti-leftist sentiment make Venezuela a target. While examples like Ben Ali’s overthrow in Tunisia provide hope, a positive outcome is far from assured. An uprising could also be quelled, allowing Maduro to remain in power without conceding anything to his opposition. For example, protests erupted in Bahrain in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring. The country’s Shia majority wanted equality and greater political freedom. In response to the uprising, the Sunni king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, used Saudi Arabian troops to brutally suppress the protests, even killing several people. After declaring martial law and a state of emergency, Hamad remained in power, squashing the chance for a regime change. The most prominent recent example of an uprising backfiring in this manner was in Turkey in 2016, when a small faction from the Turkish military, known as the Peace at Home Council, attempted to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In response to the uprising, Erdogan’s regime arrested more than 40,000 people and labeled a leading critic of Erdogan, Fethullah Gülen, a terrorist. While the Bahraini uprising is obviously not identical to Venezuela, Hamad and Maduro have one commonality which helps strengthen established regimes: They are willing to greatly infringe upon citizens’ rights to maintain their power. In addition to the army, Maduro is also backed by the Special Actions Force, or FAES, a group of largely untrained government loyalists who have no reservations about attacking or even outright killing dissenters. In the long term, a relatively small force of untrained radicals is not enough military support to sustain power, so it is important for Maduro to retain the support of the military if he wants to stay in power. Looking beyond the violence, Maduro could also spin foreign support of Guiadó into an “us-against-them” narrative to try and create national unity. Additionally, Maduro has been accused of corruption several times, and it is important to consider there may be highranking government officials involved who would actively benefit from Maduro retaining power. Ultimately though, while Erdogan may have been able to spin his attempted overthrow into increased authority, there is no guarantee it would be as effective for Maduro. The protests in Turkey had nowhere near the popular support

Guiadó has, and many foreign governments condemned the uprising, saying they felt it disrespected democratic institutions in Turkey. While violent repression of protests is often effective when support for the opposition is limited, using violence against huge masses of people is often an exercise in futile cruelty which does little but draw international ire. Using violence against large groups of people may be an exercise in futile cruelty, but it doesn’t mean it’s never been done before — sadly, it leads to the third outcome of popular uprisings: civil war. On a simplistic level, the most notable contemporary civil wars, fought in Syria and Yemen, both began when massive anti-government movements were met with widespread violence. In Syria, people flooded the streets to show their opposition to Bashar al-Assad as part of the Arab Spring in 2011. Assad refused to back down and responded with incredible violence against his own citizens, leading to a civil war that has killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. In Yemen, the Houthi movement, which supports former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and refuse to recognize the authority of current President Abd Mansur Hadi, violently took the capital city of Sana‘a in 2015, leading to an ongoing civil war. Thankfully, it is extremely unlikely the dispute in Venezuela will spiral into anything as violent as the wars in Syria and Yemen. In Syria, Assad has violated human rights to a truly extreme degree. While Maduro may use some violence against dissenters, Assad’s extreme measures are an outlier, and not representative of how most leaders handle uprisings. In Yemen, the rebel Houthi movement is comprised of armed attackers, not peaceful protesters, and the conflict has worsened by attacks from terrorist groups like ISIS, as well as the United States, Saudi Arabia and Iran all using it as a proxy war. Venezuelan opposition has, thankfully, been peaceful, so escalation into a military civil war is extremely unlikely. To conclude, it’s remarkable how profoundly the next few months could shape the future of Venezuela. There are still a great number of questions left to answer, leaving the world with nothing to do but speculate and hope for the best. Thankfully, it is unlikely Venezuela will go down the path of bloody civil war. However, who is ultimately able to retain power is still unknown. Hopefully, the situation concludes peacefully and Venezuela can move forward once again. Zack Blumberg can be reached at zblumber@umich.edu.

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

A butterfly’s fight

s a child I remember aimlessly running through my yard in constant pursuit of the graceful butterflies that fluttered their wings only a fingertip away from my youthful reach. My intent was never malevolent — quite the opposite. I yearned for a butterfly to latch onto my hand so I could mesmerize myself with its colors. Though I am far removed from my backyard adventures, butterflies continue to be an emblem for my life and the lives of others, as they represent hope, display grace, denote beauty and symbolize freedom. Unfortunately, during the summer of 2017 in Mission, Texas, these dignified creatures became entangled with the Trump administration’s effort to move forward with construction of a wall for increased border security. In July 2017 at the North American Butterfly Association’s National Butterfly Center, the director Marianna TreviñoWright confronted chainsaw wielding construction workers. The workers were tasked with demolishing the building and the landscape Wright and her team worked so diligently to create and preserve. This confrontation precipitated a legal battle between the Center and the Trump administration, in which the administration ultimately prevailed. Trump eventually enforced eminent domain (the government’s power to take private property for public use) and waived 28 environmental protection laws to take over NABA’s private property in order to expedite the construction of his infamous wall. Now, in the coming weeks, 200,000 square feet of the National Butterfly Center is scheduled to be bulldozed. Four-hundred endemic and migratory species of butterflies are at risk if we do not rally and act in their support. Butterflies are too fragile to fight for themselves, and thus the fate of their beauty, grace and hope depends on the determination of engaged citizens. The fight is especially salient because butterflies are ecologically pertinent to healthy ecosystems as they are an indicator species, meaning they provide evidence of a healthy environment. However,

butterflies do not merely indicate health in an ecological scope, but their natural beauty is a microcosm of the health of society. On an ecological level, the proposed border wall will divide the National Butterfly Center, leaving an estimated 70 percent of the land on the Mexican side of the wall. This physical partition poses a threat, as the butterflies will be challenged to navigate the wall. This reduction in viable land will lead to fewer resources for animals and catalyze the bottleneck effect which will weaken the butterflies’ genetic pool and decrease their population.

The creation of the wall will leave a permanent scar on our landscape For more than 15 years, the National Butterfly Center has been a lush area of vegetation drawing flocks of wildlife and tourists alike, to witness the vibrant environment. This raises the question: Will people at the border realize that any day they may see their last butterfly all due to the construction of a border wall? I fear this wall will slowly strip away the hope of a sustainable future, the strength to fight and the beauty of the world, much like the Holocaust did to poet Pavel Friedmann. Friedmann wrote “The Butterfly,” a poem which profoundly encapsulates hope while incorporating despair during his encampment in the Theresienstadt concentration camp and ghetto. His poem discusses the last butterfly he saw. The butterfly was “dazzlingly yellow,” but after a short stay “it went away.” The creation of the infamous wall will leave a permanent scar on our landscape. Butterflies are simply a precursor to the greater tragedy that is unfolding due to the environmental follies perpetuated by the Trump administration and its unprecedented desire to fulfill one of its many campaign promises

at all costs. The construction of this small portion (38 miles) of the border wall will require the removal of over 30 million square feet of vegetation, vegetation situated on public land that is ultimately paid for by our taxes and therefore owned by the people. President Trump is neglecting our wildlife, our backyards and our environmental health in pursuit of a wall that will only lead to larger ladders or deeper tunnels. Trump, on behalf of the butterflies and all other animals subject to the ramifications of the proposed border wall, should remove and recognize the impact of his decisions. This wall will stand far beyond his term, and will stand as a monument to hate, bigotry and environmental destruction. Ultimately, the border wall is not constrained to just environmental ramifications. It also is an emblem of antiimmigration. Immigrants hope for a better future and have the strength to risk their lives in pursuit of happiness and embody the beauty of the promise upon which our country was formed. This principle was best put forth by the poet Emma Lazarus in her poem forever emblazoned on our Statue of Liberty, “The New Colossus”: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” I refuse to accept a person may see their last butterfly in response to ethnic tension and the fallacious misconceptions perpetuated by Trump in his pursuit to degrade the immigrants yearning to be free. I patiently await the day I can watch my kids running around a field chasing butterflies to experience their beauty first hand. I fear, however, that his wall — if constructed — leaves our country less vibrant, hopeful, beautiful and free. I fear I will never watch my children chase butterflies.

Sam Sugerman can be reached at @ samsugumich.edu.

AMANDA ZHANG | COLUMN

There’s no shame in liking “Twilight”

s a little girl, I was something of a tomboy. I played jackpot in the mud at recess, and my Christmas wish lists consisted of baseball mitts and remote controlled cars. Skirts were my mortal enemy, and, much to my parents’ chagrin, I was always unbearably uncooperative at the mall. While I have incredibly fond memories of those times, my adolescent years were also haunted by a dark secret — I was a Twihard. I distinctly remember watching the first “Twilight” movie and gawking at Bella and Edward’s forbidden love and Edward’s mysterious disposition. But to those who knew me — or so they thought — “Twilight” was just a stupid movie. Bella was boring, Edward’s sparkly skin was absurd and their romance was over-the-top cheesy. After the second movie came out and the world divided itself into Team Jacob or Team Edward, my guy friends and I judged the “obsessive” fans with disgust. Little did they know, I was a closeted Edward supporter. As a disclaimer, I have since grown up to realize the many flaws in the “Twilight” franchise and the problematic power dynamic between the two main love interests. That being said, “Twilight” fans have faced a uniquely harsh judgment in our society, and a lot of it has nothing to do with these flaws. For whatever reason, the franchise has become the posterchild of anti-intellectual, unartistic, cinematic garbage. Even as a little girl, I knew that if I wanted respect from my male friends, I had to join the camp that disdained the vampire-obsessed girls. I couldn’t be seen as a member of Team Edward because everyone knew that the people who bothered themselves with that nonsense didn’t know “good” film. “Twilight” is an extreme case, but it is certainly not the only example of a franchise whose fan base receives frequent criticism and judgment. In middle school, it was “Pretty Little Liars,” “Gossip Girl” and “The Vampire Diaries.” In college, it’s “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Bachelor.” It’s no secret that all of these shows and

movies share a common thread: Their target audience is female. Yes, the criticism these shows and movies face is not entirely unfounded. Was “Twilight” a groundbreaking, Oscar-deserving film? Obviously not, but the degree to which our society loathes these particular shows and films is rooted in something more than just their lack of originality. It is rooted in a sexist attitude toward entertainment that goes almost entirely unrecognized.

The judgment towards fanbases of traditionally “girly” works is dehumanizing Society spends far too much time judging works that target female audiences. Yes, when artists release a piece to the public, they must be prepared for strong opinions, and it is perfectly within the rights of the public to share their praises and criticisms. But among public reception of certain works, particularly in the film and television industry, is a commonplace contempt for those that target female audiences. The judgment towards fanbases of traditionally considered “girly” works is dehumanizing. Girls are painted as irrational and foolish for succumbing to the appeal of drama, romance and fantasy. They lose credibility and respect merely for enjoying certain forms of entertainment. Moreover, the girls who take part in the judgement of those who like such works earn praise for managing to “rise above” their sex’s tendency to gravitate toward such primitive cliches. For some reason, when girls enjoy “Twilight,” their lack of taste is irreconcilable, but there is no such equivalent in entertainment that targets a more traditional male

audience. In fact, when girls like these traditionally male-targeted films, it is seen as an impressive display of good taste. If you like “Twilight,” you’re irredeemable, but if you like “Star Wars,” you’re a game changer. We all know the popular complaint against shows like “The Vampire Diaries” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” They’re repetitive, predictable and overly dramatic, and those that enjoy such entertainment simply have no taste. While these series receive a seemingly constant stream of backlash, television shows and films like “Criminal Minds” and the millionth installment of “Mission Impossible” that cater to a more general or male audience receive virtually no such criticism. Yes, sometimes we make fun of these works for being repetitive and predictable, but nobody is shouting that those who enjoyed them are intellectually inferior. The fact of the matter is, franchises earn success with unoriginal work because there are certain tropes, that, no matter how overused, pique our interest. Nobody is watching “Mission Impossible” expecting a life changing viewing experience. We watch because it’s entertaining to see Tom Cruise save the world with some last ditch effort, even if it is for the seventh time. Similarly, girls don’t watch “Twilight” seeking enlightenment. They watch because forbidden love and vampires are exciting. There is a disturbing double standard in public reception of film and television, and it is reflective of a greater societal perception of traditional femininity. Succumbing to conventionally “girly” norms is not a bad thing. There is nothing inherently worse about liking “Twilight” than there is about liking any other cliche action film, and our punishment as “Twilight” fans has lasted far too long. It’s time we let it go. Amanda Zhang can be reached at amanzhan@umich.edu.

Sports

5A — Thursday, February 7, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Tests off the bat New rotation and offensive roles starting to take shape for No. 19 Michigan ahead of competitive opening weekend LANE KIZZIAH Daily Sports Writer

Meghan Beaubien, perhaps, knows better than anyone. “We graduate one and bring in another,” the sophomore pitcher said Tuesday evening. Four-year starting first baseman and veteran pitcher, Tera Blanco, has left a void in the No. 19 Michigan softball team’s rotation and batting order. While most softball programs are able to rely on a rotation of two or three strong pitchers, Blanco’s graduation has left Beaubien the sole pitcher with significant experience returning this spring. Beaubien started her college career with a bang last year – playing in over 50 games and pitching three completegame no-hitters — earning both the Big Ten Freshman and Pitcher of the Year titles. “Sometimes it’s really hard to come back from a really great season,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins. “I think that’s probably Meghan’s biggest challenge.” Not only will Beaubien face high expectations this year, but she will also face off against opponents who know how she pitches. “Everyone prepares for the opponent’s best pitcher,” Hutchins said. “There’s a lot of scouting out there on her and we asked her to come back with better spin. Spin the ball, break it more and obviously mix it up a little more.” Of course, Beaubien won’t have Blanco alongside her in the

rotation, either. The physical exhaustion of playing so many consecutive innings, potentially, took its toll on Beaubien as her performance began to falter in the last few games of the season. In the last five games of the year, Beaubien had a 3.19 ERA, more than two points above her season average of 1.16. That is one mistake the Wolverines do not want to repeat. “If I had my wish, I’m hoping for a good step-up pitcher,” Hutchins said. “We have our sights set on Alex Storako, a freshman. We think she’s going to give us some innings, some really good innings.” Added Beaubien: “I spend a lot of time with (Storako) as pitchers. She stands out to me, personally. I think she’s got a lot of passion and fight in her. She’s a very hard worker. She’s very driven. I know pitching that Alex will definitely have an impact. ” Though both pitchers have been training side-by-side all year, they each bring very different skill-sets to the mound. While Beaubien focuses on speed, Storako is more of a spin pitcher. “I like (Storako’s) moxie,” Hutch said. “I like her presence on the mound. She’s a totally different pitcher from Beaubien. I like the fact that they’re so different.” The pitching rotation is rounded out by sophomore pitcher Sarah Schaefer, who ended last season with 26 appearances and a 1.57 ERA. How many innings these two will take off Beaubien’s hands is unclear at this point.

I like (Storako’s) moxie... I like her presence on the mound.

“We need some innings from Sarah Schaefer,” Hutchins said. “We definitely need her to give us some innings. How much is yet to be determined. She’ll determine that when she gets her opportunities.” Blanco’s presence won’t just be missed on the mound, but also at the plate. The graduated senior led the Wolverines last year, both with 44 runs batted in and a .495 on-base percentage. The Wolverines will have to adapt their offensive strategy in the coming season. “Tera was a huge bat,” Uden said. “I’m interested to see how we will adjust to it. I think there’s a little bit of a different dynamic. She had a little bit more power. I think our girls this year are linedrive hitters. We’re going to get a lot of bases. Tera got us a lot of runs but we’re going to go base to base this year I think. “I’m not so sure if anyone’s going to fill her role, but we’re going to pick up in areas where it will fill the gap.”

during December of eighth grade. Five years later, the Weidman, Michigan native tallied a .571 batting average and 31 home runs as a senior in high school en route to her fourth consecutive AllState First Team selection. To Alexander, leadership is more important than numbers. “I take pride in being (a mentor) because I want to leave the program better than I found it,” Alexander said. “That’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I know that’s something I’ve done so far this year (with Carson), but really want to help her understand how it all works and make sure she’ll be able to lead just like I’ve been. She’s an amazing player, and she’s obviously been catching for a long time.” Today, Carson is the rookie that Alexander once was. But at the end of the day, mentoring the program’s next catcher seems more like glancing in the mirror than teaching an outsider. “I see myself in her,” Alexander said. “I’ve watched videos of

DANIEL DASH

Daily Sports Writer

Staring at your own imminent successor would stir conflicting feelings for most. For Katie Alexander, it’s her day job. Now in her third season as the No. 19 Michigan softball team’s starting catcher, the senior has established herself as one of the best backstops in the conference. Last season, she slugged her way to a .314 batting average and 24 runs batted in while picking up All-Big Ten Second Team honors as a junior. Though this weekend’s WilsonDeMarini Tournament will mark the beginning of Alexander’s final chapter, Alexander is more focused on her role in writing the first chapter of freshman catcher Hannah Carson’s muchanticipated career. Perhaps much-anticipated is an understatement. Carson — FloSoftball’s No. 21 2018 prospect — verbally committed to Michigan coach Carol Hutchins

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Senior catcher Katie Alexander is coming off a season in which she earned second-team All-Big Ten honors.

myself hitting while she’s catching and I think, ‘Am I catching? Is that me?’ She pays attention to detail, and I think she’s going to do really well because she already has the physical stuff. Now it’s about the mental game — getting in there, getting reps and knowing the speed of the college game.” When the Wolverines take the field this weekend, they’ll see No. 7 Arizona and No. 5 Florida on the other side of the diamond. With an early opportunity to capture two statement victories, Hutchins knows her newcomers will have to contribute immediately. Michigan returns seven starters from last year’s Big Ten championship team, meaning Hutchins will have to call upon a pair of freshmen or 2018 reserves for a spot in the starting lineup. Though Alexander has established herself as the Wolverines’ starting catcher and a staple in the heart of the team’s batting order, Carson’s presence can spark mutual growth for both catchers. “It’s my goal to give (freshmen) as much of an opportunity as possible,” Hutchins said. “Hannah Carson looks up to our senior catcher tremendously, and I think our upperclassmen have really been great mentors for these guys, really showing them the ropes. Katie’s totally helping Hannah get ready, but Hannah really needs some playing time so she can give Katie some rest and get ready for the future. You never know when the future’s going to show up.” Regardless of how the playing time is split, 2019 has the potential to be a special year behind the plate in Ann Arbor. With Alexander’s career set to come full circle, perhaps there isn’t a more fitting way to leave a lasting legacy than by setting an example for her successor.

Wolverines finding footing heading into matchup against Nebraska TEDDY GUTKIN Daily Sports Writer

After notching two consecutive wins for the first time since November, the Michigan women’s basketball team (5-6 Big Ten, 14-9 overall) will host Nebraska (5-6, 10-12) Thursday night. Nebraska has had an up-anddown season, picking up big wins against ranked opponents such as Minnesota while dropping tight contests to lowertier squads such as Wisconsin. Junior guard Hannah Whitish leads the team with a scoring mark of 10.2 points per contest, and is efficient from beyond the arc, shooting the three ball at a 36.4 percent clip. The team’s best shooter from deep, however, is sophomore guard Taylor Kissinger, who shoots 44.6 percent and converts 86.4 percent of her free throws. Overall, the Huskers have eight players who score more than seven points a night and have

plenty of weapons who can come up big any given night. While Nebraska is just 3-7 on the road, it could prove to be a pesky foe for the Wolverines, as many of their losses have been sealed in the game’s final moments. On Jan. 27, a tough 77-73 loss to Michigan State dropped the Wolverines to 3-6 in Big Ten play and put their NCAA Tournament hopes on life support. Michigan — as it has all season — found a way to fight back. On the heels of securing victories over No. 17 Iowa and Wisconsin on the road, the Wolverines find themselves on the NCAA Tournament bubble (per ESPN), helping to make what was a pipe dream into a reality in just under two weeks. A major catalyst for Michigan’s recent surge has come in the form of senior forward Nicole Munger. Munger, who suffered a seemingly-gruesome ankle injury in the team’s loss to Michigan State, returned for

Friday’s game against Iowa. While she only scored eight and 10 points in each respective contest, Munger’s return has given the Wolverines new life heading into Thursday night. When discussing her star senior, Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico said that Munger has to be essential if Michigan is to qualify for the tournament. “She is just everything for our program,” she said to WTKA Tuesday. “She just does all the little things because of her experience and how hard she plays.” While Munger has garnered a significant amount of attention since her return, the Wolverines have received a nice boost from junior forward Akienreh Johnson, who scored 19 points in the win against Iowa and was a factor on defense in Sunday’s victory at Wisconsin. “We knew (her breakout) was coming, we were just sitting on when,” Munger said on Friday. Though its win against Iowa

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Junior guard Akienreh Johsnon scored 19 points in last week’s win over Iowa and was a defensive factor at Wisconsin.

was big for its tournament resume, the Wolverines’ victory on the road against Wisconsin was important for a different reason. The win marked the team’s first victory in conference play on the road and

helped Michigan clear one of its biggest hurdles. While Thursday night’s contest will be played in Ann Arbor, Barnes Arico knows that the task of beating a Nebraska team that previously handed

Classifieds

Michigan a 70-56 loss in December will still be a tough one. “They’re just a really good team,” she said. “We gotta take advantage of having them at home.”

Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

Release Date: Thursday, February 7, 2019

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

FOR RENT

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Correspondence sign-off 5 Musical series set at McKinley High 9 “Wealth of Nations” author Smith 13 Pot for paella 14 Speaks up? 15 Bit of folklore 16 Mature gentle treatment? 18 B’way hit signs 19 News letters 20 “Have some” 21 Decides not to dele 22 Bodega miss 25 Roe-producing fish 26 Mature sprightly piano classic? 30 Canaanite deity 32 Half a cocktail 33 Handler of “Sex and the City” 34 Costa del __ 35 Mature young infatuation? 39 Taking a sick day, presumably 40 Trivial, as talk 42 Versailles ruler 43 Mouselike animal 45 Mature news newbie? 49 Salty margarita glass spots 50 Low-alcohol beverage 54 Dries gently 56 French menu word 57 Singer Grande’s perfume brand 58 “__ move” 59 Mature “Agnus Dei” translation? 63 Air 64 Word with offering or officer 65 “Who __ knows?” 66 Scandinavian literary work 67 Lie next to 68 Wedding couple?

DOWN 1 Phony 2 Run secretly to the chapel 3 Dispatched, as a dragon 4 Ankle pic 5 Cavern 6 Brit’s facilities 7 Bud on a spud 8 Snaky curve 9 On the line 10 Stunt performer, say 11 Boatloads 12 Food in a hall 14 Braid 17 Notable Ford of the ’70s 21 “__ Persisted”: children’s book about inspirational women 23 Andean tuber 24 Pit-digging insect 25 Handmade blade 27 Eastern “way” 28 Second-oldest Ivy 29 NBC show since 1975

30 Portend 31 Versatile 34 Bro or sis 36 Rich rocks 37 Political initials since 1884 38 Exceedingly 41 Asmara’s nation 44 Poetic sphere 46 Rental ad abbr. 47 Veto 48 Brownish gray 51 Birdie topper

52 Jagged, as a leaf’s edge 53 Carnival attractions 54 Data unit 55 Musician’s forte? 59 Place for a chemical peel 60 Lang. of the Torah 61 __ minérale: French spring supply 62 Gratified

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michigandaily.com

Sports

6A — Thursday, February 7, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Despite being undrafted, Slaker seeks out NHL path in future JORGE CAZARES Daily Sports Writer

The path from college to the National Hockey League can take many forms. Some skaters are highlytouted prospects from their teenage years, become earlyround draft picks and see success at the collegiate and professional levels. Those transitions from one level to the next are seamless — think former Michigan forward Dylan Larkin. Other players face more obstacles navigating the path towards living out their dreams. For the past two summers, junior forward Jake Slaker has attended the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ development camp. NHL teams host development camps every summer as a means of evaluating young talent. Slaker is tied for second on the Wolverines with 10 goals, tied for third with 10 assists and is third with 20 points. The alternate captain is currently undrafted, but like many players on the Michigan hockey team, he has NHL aspirations. “(It’s) really since I picked up a hockey stick,” Slaker said. “You know you want to get to the highest level you can, and I didn’t start playing on the ice until I was eight years old. So, I think right when I changed to ice, it was a goal of mine that I wanted to fulfill. So right around that age when I switched to ice hockey from roller hockey.” Slaker has the potential to one day play in the NHL. In his three seasons with the Wolverines, he has tallied at least 20 points each year, including leading the team with 21 points as a freshman. This season, he continues to be one of the main contributors on the offensive attack. Having success at the collegiate level is not an automatic guarantee that a player will experience similar success at the next level. Conversely, putting up less than prodigious numbers in college does not mean a player cannot

have a fruitful NHL career. Michigan coach Mel Pearson knows this firsthand. The Wolverines have had their fair share of highly-touted draft picks don the maize and blue threads, like Max Pacioretty, Kyle Connor and Zach Werenski. Being undrafted may have its perks, though, according to Pearson. “When you’re drafted usually there’s just one team looking at you, but when you’re a free agent, you’ve got 31

teams which I think is better,” Pearson said. “… And we’ve got a lot of good players and pro scouts here all the time. And that’s what happened to Johnny Madden. New Jersey came to watch Brendan Morrison because he was a second-round draft pick and they kept asking, ‘Who’s this guy? Who’s this guy? Who’s this guy?’ and then ended up signing him after.” Madden was a part of the 1996 team that won the NCAA Tournament when

You know you want to get to the highest level you can.

Pearson was an assistant coach. He went on to play on three Stanley Cup Championship teams after a two-year stint in the American Hockey League. Pearson can see some similarities between Madden and Slaker. “Johnny Madden was maybe one of the best (undrafted players),” Pearson said. “He wasn’t a big scorer when he was here and then obviously when he got to the NHL, he was put in more of a defensive penalty kill role. And that’s something like what Slaker could become at the next level. He might not be the big scorer but he’s someone that can kill penalties and add some offense.”

Slaker still has ways to go before making an NHL roster. And even further success at this level will not guarantee a prosperous professional career. “I’ll give you a good example,” Pearson said. “Tony Calderone was a pretty darn good college hockey player. He had 25 goals last year and Dallas signed him. He played a little bit in their American League team and then gets sent down to the East Coast League. There’s a guy who put up 25 here and did (find

success). And Cooper Marody — Cooper Marody lead our league (in scoring). He got a few games in the NHL but he’s down in the American Hockey League.” Marody and Calderone were a pair of forwards that Pearson referred to as “usually the best players every night.” And though Pearson has confidence in his players — especially a player of Slaker’s caliber — it is clear that the junior must continue to develop. “You’ve got to be a hard worker to play on that level at a consistent basis,” Pearson said. “And one of the things he’s got to continue to work on is his consistency and his play without the puck … I’m not saying he’s not going to but to me — come back and be an All-American, come back and dominate at this level.” Slaker still has another year left of eligibility. But at the end of the day, he is an NHL free agent. “It’s just a waiting process for (making it to the NHL) because I am a free agent,” Slaker said. “Teams will follow you throughout your college career and kind of give you calls or see you after a game and kind of just let you know their interest and talk to you at development camps. And when they think you’re ready to make the jump to the pros they’ll start to be serious about conversation and maybe offer you a contract and stuff like that. So, I think it’s just a waiting game and seeing what their interest level is.” As Slaker and the rest of Michigan have their sights set on making an NCAA Tournament appearance for the second consecutive season, there is likely another thing that looms in the back of the minds many Wolverine skaters: their path to the NHL.

It’s just a waiting process for (making it to the NHL)...

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Junior forward Jake Slaker is currently tied for second on the team in goals with 10, tied for third in assists with 10 and third in points with 20 so far this season.

thursday, february 7, 2019

DESIGN BY SHERRY CHEN

b-side

2B — Thursday, February 7, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

B-SIDE: MUSIC

B-SIDE: STYLE

FAECBOOK BTNH WORLDWIDE

Horrorcore brings out the Navigating fashion by way freaky side of hip hop, rap of astrology and the occult DYLAN YONO Daily Arts Writer

Many popular movie directors got their start in horror films: J.J. Abrams, Guillermo del Toro and James Cameron to name a few. In the film industry, horror is where many directors and producers begin to make a name for themselves. The same can be said for hip hop, as underground rappers debuted in the eerie, little-known subgenre that is horrorcore. Marked by harsh, aggressive beats and over-the-top depictions of taboo subjects, horrorcore is hip hop’s foray into the supernatural. Often it was an outlet for their twisted fantasies. Drug abuse, slasher-style murder, mental derangement and satanic messages all found a home in horrorcore. Starting in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the genre began to take shape, and its influence would run deep in hip hop for years to come. Early horrorcore pioneers were some of hip hop’s greatest experimenters and influencers. The Geto Boys’s 1991 single “Mind Playing Tricks on Me,” widely hailed as one of the greatest hiphop tracks of all time, is a journey through paranoia that set the groundwork for horrorcore’s pervasive themes of mental illness. Three 6 Mafia were the first to introduce sinister, hardcore beats and satanic, occult-themed lyrics on their 1995 debut album Mystic Stylez. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony followed suit on E. 1999 Eternal with ominous cuts like “Crept And We Came” and “East 1999.” All horrorcore needed was someone to bring all those elements together. The album that started it all The genre-defining moment came in 1996 with the release of Dr. Octagonecologyst, the otherworldly story of the alien gynecologist Dr. Octagon. The mad genius behind the record is Kool Keith, founder of the influential hip-hop group Ultramagnetic MCs, an artist who would go on to claim he invented horrorcore with the album’s release. He may not have invented horrorcore per se, but he definitely wrote the bible for it: Packed with disturbing rhymes and surreal messages, the tales of Dr. Octagon were the culmination of all prior experimentations in horrorcore. I remember the first time I listened to Dr. Octagonecologyst,

I was dumbstruck by its extraterrestrial imagery and deadpan non sequiturs. I knew I just listened to something brilliant, but I found it so unsettling that I didn’t revisit the record for over a year. Each time I went back, I left more confused about it than before — but I began to find comfort in the discomfort that is Dr. Octagonecologyst. I would not be the only Detroiter to feel that way. In Detroit The mantle of horrorcore has largely been taken on by a counterculture wave of Detroit artists associated with rap duo Insane Clown Posse (ICP) and

Horrorcore is hip hop’s foray into the supernatural.

their label, Psychopathic Records. ICP coined their own style of horrorcore in the mid ’90s focused on transgressive tongue-in-cheek lyrics. They maintain a dedicated base of “juggalos,” a nickname for ICP fans. Juggalos, a fringe group united by a shared love for ICPbrand horrorcore, have developed their own culture: They wear clown makeup, share a common slang and find a catharsis in expressions of anger and violence. (Despite this, they are largely harmless and confine most of that expression to ICP’s elaborate concert theatrics and festivals). Other Detroit artists have also taken influence from horrorcore. Legendary underground hiphop duo Binary Star included a horrorcore cut on their debut in 1999, “Wolf Man Jack.” More recently, rapper Danny Brown

has flirted with horrorcore on his 2016 album Atrocity Exhibition, which feels like the soundtrack to a Stephen-King-style funhouse. In the Mainstream Horrorcore has struggled to find mainstream success by nature of its lyrics and themes, but one Detroit horrorcore rapper launched his career as hip hop’s best-selling artist. The only exception who found mainstream success in horrorcore without watering down his lyrics is Eminem. Even at his most profane and terrifying on The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP, he shattered sales records and dominated the charts. Since then, no other true horrorcore records have reached the mainstream, let alone replicating the enormous sales of Eminem. However, other mainstream artists have launched their careers with horrorcore and found success as their styles changed. Most notably, Tyler, the Creator built a fan base out of his first two albums, Bastard and Goblin, which were filled to the brim with disturbing, demonic depictions of rape, murder and mental illness. Modern Influence Today, artists from a range of genres still draw influence from horrorcore, usually in sonic style rather than lyrical themes. The shock factor of horrorcore has lost its charm to most listeners, but the eerie sound has inspired many. Grimes has cited the underground horrorcore group Jedi Mind Tricks as one of her influences. The blood-curdling screams and cackles on Kanye West and Kid Cudi’s 2018 album Kids See Ghosts are reminiscent of Dr. Octagonecologyst. Even Billie Eilish’s latest single, “bury a friend,” draws on the themes of horrorcore, though stripped of the gruesome lyrics central to the genre. Horrorcore’s time in the limelight has faded since the days of The Marshall Mathers LP. The violent splatter-film-style lyrics may forever be a niche reserved for juggalos, but darker themes, hardcore beats and supernatural soundscapes are beginning to rear their head in hip hop once again with artists like Earl Sweatshirt and JPEGMAFIA. As rappers and producers continue to innovate new ways to scare listeners, they show just how deep their horrorcore influences run.

RAP-A-LOT RECORDS

SAM KREMKE Daily Arts Writer

Regardless of how seriously you take astrology, it’s a very useful tool for introspection and expression an effective means of understanding oneself and connecting with others. The same can be said for the clothes you throw on your back. Wearing your heart on your sleeve at any price point will pay off in the end because you allow others to understand who you are and find ways to connect with you, whether that means expressing how you’re feeling on that particular day or that each outfit you debut is a carefully constructed and consistently aligned expression of identity. Regardless of how much value you place on fashion, personal style is inescapable. Astrology’s take-this-asfar-as-you-want mantra lets you pull different elements of your life and relationships and create meaning, or just make a few tired jokes in attempt to disparage the two Scorpios in your life that crossed you (let them live, sweetie!). After reading your chart, some random sextile moons are going to strike a chord that resonates with you so profoundly that you’ll be

on the f loor fully gooped and riding through severe heart palpitations. Some are going to seem like they’re completely off (or are they?), and most people just look at their inner planets and end up saying that every sign’s overview is vague enough to relate to, which is kind of the whole point. From entire maelstroms of online horoscopes in fashion magazines aiming to determine your personal style based on star signs to designers that build their brand around the energy and characteristics of a specific zodiac sign, the creative channels that stargazing has opened up for fashion are without bounds. The latter manifests itself best in Aries Arise, the brainchild of Sofia Prantera and Fergus Purcell, respectively of Silas and Palace Skateboards, and patches together elements from what they call “80s trash fashion” along with other high-energy stylistic movements that sought to burn bourgeoisie tastes to the ground, with refreshingly minimal and considered silhouettes. Their self-aware engagement with the unsustainably fast paced world of streetwear, injecting bits and pieces of rave culture and grunge to a

market that those movements were diametrically opposed to, is almost Foucauldian in nature and results in a sort of seductive, controlled pop of energy. The brand name is not just a smart-alecky play on words, it’s an encapsulation Aries is associated with a brash fearlessness and an unapologetic energy, their design ethos is to provide a vehicle for their customer base to tap into that through their wardrobe. Horoscopes and natal charts become a powerful means of expressing identity in a world that pounds the masses with information, treating the individual as little more than an object of inf luence and transaction potential under the guise of connection and belonging. Entire cultures are blended into marketable drops of goo in the face of liquid modernity. Both bewitching and horrifying, it’s important to have something to hold onto when navigating through the world marketplace. If there is no other option than to operate as a consumer, we can at least consume in such a way that creates meaning in our everyday lives, the intersection between astrology and personal style provides a wonderful way of doing that.

SINGLE REVIEW: ‘BURY A FRIEND’

INTERSCOPE

Billie Eilish has the power to scare you shitless. She’s a 17 year old dichotomy, an essence of terror with a fairylike voice that’s softer than a breeze. Her new single “bury a friend” features her horrifying aspects as she steps into the realm of nightmares and the subconscious. Eilish did in fact bury a friend this past year: American rapper XXXtentacion, who was shot and killed during a so-called robbery in June of 2018. In an interview with Montreality, Billie speaks on XXX: “Jah was someone that stuck with me and got me through something that I felt like I would not have gotten through if it weren’t for him.” This interview (along with text messages Eilish posted on Instagram between her and Tentacion) launched surges of hate against Eilish, as fans wondered why her backbone came from a rapper imprisoned for aggravated battery of his pregnant girlfriend, amongst other

charges. “bury a friend” immediately captivates with the feature of Eilish’s friend Crooks, whose sonorous voice calls out, “Billie.” However, the rest of the single is slightly disappointing, especially for longtime Eilish fans. The most egregious letdown is her overuse of the preoccupation: “All artists are so sad, sadness

“bury a friend” Billie Eilish Interscope Records is what creates great art.” Although truthful in some ways, Eilish hits this trope home time and time again without digging deeper into a possibly more profound space. She makes it clear in every interview that she hates herself, a notion that is present in her song “Idontwannabeyouanymore” and now in “bury a friend”

with the lyrics, “Like I wanna drown, like I wanna end me” and “Honestly I thought that I would be dead by now.” The second letdown is her seeming embrace of making an abnormal creation because it’s cool, as opposed to creating something with the beauty of sound as a priority. Abnormality is dope, but I’d like to see the song stand for itself by musical standards. The track is choppy, cutting from different melodies quite quickly — these melodies bump, but they’re fleeting. Her debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? comes out Mar. 29th. The expectations and fame she’s acquired could cause anyone to cave, but I have no doubt Eilish will harnesses her struggles and turn them into a crazy and creative experience. That is, after all, what made her so great in the first place. — Samantha Cantie, Daily Arts Writer

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

b-side

Thursday, February 7, 2019 — 3B

B-SIDE: FINE ART

B-SIDE: NEW MEDIA

Death’s depictions in art and medeival medicine ZACHARY M.S. WAARALA Daily Arts Writer

WARP

The magic of hauntology and its manifestations JONAH MENDELSON Daily Arts Writer

If you look at a white grid over a black background, you will see grey splotches at the intersections of the grid. You’ll find, however, that the second you try to examine closer and focus your gaze upon a particular dot, it vanishes. Those shapes never really existed, but you saw them, didn’t you? The binary concept of real vs. unreal fails to explain these dots; they can’t be simply one or the other. Binary concepts such as reality vs. unreality, truth vs. fiction and good vs. bad have long been the target of postmodern philosophers such as Jacques Derrida, who seek to demonstrate how these oppositions are nothing more than illusions. Hauntology: What is it? Hauntology is a concept that has its origins in postmodern deconstruction theory. Specifically, it began with the work of Derrida, who used the word “hauntology” to describe the alternate future promised by modernism that never came to be, the disjunction between the reality we live in and the cultural memory of the anticipated reality we thought we would be living in. It is a term that offers freedom for creative interpretation, and while typically used to reference temporal disturbances and the ever-increasing interaction between the present and the past, I will use it to refer to a broader but intertwined dichotomy: Real experience vs. unreal experience. While perhaps abstract-sounding at first, it is not hard to think of examples of experiences you’ve had where the power of the moment comes from what didn’t happen as opposed to what did. Picture yourself passing through a crowded nightclub. You lock eyes with someone who passes by with a slight smile, but neither of you turn back, the flash of potential fading as soon as it begins to burn. Stories you’ve heard that you only know through imagination; dreams that slip away as you wake but leave emotional traces that you can’t shake throughout the day; missed opportunities and regrets that hound you even when their sources are long gone — these unrealities are just as impactful on our internal experience as the realities we experience, and hauntology is an attempt to capture the ineffable emotion that comes at the border of the two. Burial In the realm of music, the concept of “hauntology” has been applied almost exclusively to British electronic acts in the late ’90s and ’00s such as Boards of Canada and Ghost Box. The artist most closely associated with hauntology is the enigmatic UK electronic act Burial. Critical to hauntology is a feeling of broken time, a dreamlike non-linearity. In the music of Burial, this feeling is created through a few key means: The first, and most salient, is the use of ghostly R&B samples from decades past that echo

coldly with distorted emotional resonance. Also contributing is his drum and bass patterns, skittish and inverted: Instead of keeping time they further warp it. His sampling technique captures and emphasizes all the mechanical noise, vinyl crackle and static of the original recordings, helping to create this sense of temporal disjunction, almost as though each element of the track has been lifted not just from a different place but a different time, a different reality that never came to be. Even the title of his most important album, Untrue, reaffirms this theme of the unreal. The cover art, too, depicts a unreal reality — it is clear that, while we see an angular, grey, dystopian café, the true experience depicted does not actually exist; rather, it is happening inside his head.

It is a term that offers freedom for creative interpretation, and while typically used to reference temporal disturbances and the ever-increasing interaction between the present and the past.

Vaporwave Vaporwave, a subgenre of electronic music which emerged about half a decade ago, is a little more overt in its relationship with time through its supposedly-ironic embrace of the hyper-consumerism of the ’80s and ’90s. I say “supposedly ironic” because even though popular consensus is that the vaporwave aesthetic is a critique of consumerist society, I disagree: Vaporwave is hauntological through its nostalgia for the early days of the internet, an artifact of cultural memory from when the future seemed much more exciting and reality seemed much more simple. The genre focuses on the subsequent loss of this innocence (see: “Teen

Pregnancy” by Blank Banshee). If you look for vaporwave videos on Youtube, the predominant style involves heavy use of temporal disjunctions (i.e. Greek statues in a grid-like cyberspace) that channel the feeling of a future that never came. Hauntology in other art forms This broader definition of hauntology allows for it to be applied more liberally to other forms of artistic expression, particularly visual media. The recent cross-platform surge of a neon aesthetic (see: “Drive”, Kavinsky, /r/outrun) could also be viewed through a critical lens of hauntology, where the “retro” styling belies a deeper yearning for this futuristic reality that was anticipated in the ’80s, that might have been but ultimately wasn’t. The constant inability of society to break free of selfreference (i.e. the past) is another component of hauntology that is certainly at play here. The re-emergence of neon aesthetics in the middle of the ’10s is almost the visual equivalent of a musical sample, where a cultural artifact from the past is altered to carry a different intonation or meaning, becoming ghostlike and haunting in the process. Even the popular television series Twin Peaks: The Return can be interpreted as hauntological: Without spoiling anything for those who haven’t seen it, a major plot point revolves around how the past interacts with the present and how dead futures are still, in some sense, alive. The loss of innocence explored in the original series and spin-off movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me leads the town of Twin Peaks to a dissonant future, where something, somehow, feels missing even though it never ended up existing. The shots of Sarah Palmer alone in her empty home watching old TV programs are the visual equivalent of Burial’s tunes, a certain inescapable loneliness brought by the unreal. Hauntology and the supernatural An interesting theory that has surfaced in developmental psychology is the idea that “monsters,” as children conceive of them, are a mechanism through which their fear that the adults in their life, who are to kids inscrutable and all-powerful, will turn on or abandon them is confronted. Similarly, ghosts can be viewed as a physical projection of a deeper sense of temporal disjunction, or a fear that our past mistakes and traumas loom over our heads, making themselves known only long enough that we remember that they have been there all along. The specters and wraiths of our past hover just beyond our reach, equal parts teasing and threatening, only visible in those supernatural moments where time seems to fold before our eyes: A strange light, an alienated walk home, or the moment between waking life and sleep. Much like the dots in the optical illusion, if you try to home in on these lost futures, they vanish.

“Death and the Miser” is a 1561 painting from Hieronymus Bosch that depicts a classical deathbed scene, with the figure of death creeping into a room from a side-door to take the life of the individual sitting on a bed to the right of the painting. Death takes the form of a skeleton, clad in drab clothing and holding a spear of sorts. It appears unfriendly, cold, but great in stature. A grey piece of cloth twists around Death’s head and carries down to the feet, like an oversized toga, as if the skeleton didn’t deserve the garb it found itself in. Interestingly, Death seems to be moving slowly; it does not seem like it had planned to burst into the room and follow with a quick escape. Instead, it is almost as if death had knocked prior to entering the room. There are three humanappearing individuals in the room: One in a brown robe, fiddling with something at the foot of the deathbed; another without clothing, tucked underneath the sheets of the deathbed (supposedly the one for whom Death has appeared); and another clad in white touching the shoulder of the soon-to-be deceased and looking directly at Death with an outstretched hand — not welcoming it, but acknowledging it. It is the relationship between

death and this individual clad in white that is of most interest to me. My mother was an internist at a small hospital outside of Detroit for some years before we moved to the fringes of Ann Arbor. As a specialist in internal medicine, she worked with patients who had been admitted to the hospital and placed under her care. Working at a smaller, more rural hospital, her case load inevitably involved fewer instances of fastpaced trauma and more instances of elderly patients for whom age was simply taking its medical toll. This, however, never exempted her from a healthy dose of interesting medical stories and life experiences: I grew up in earshot of an innumerable amount of complex medical discussions and consultations that my developing mind couldn’t comprehend. Over the years of being filtered into the pre-med pool of academia (against the advice of my mother), I heard more and more tales from her residency and practice to attempt to sway me from the grueling track that will be medical school and residency. She recounted experiences of rude patients, changing electronic systems, the threat of depositions. She told me about her long on-call shifts, nightmares about her patients and the pitting feeling of guilt when something didn’t go your way. One story that has failed to banish itself from my mind and my mother’s involves an on-call shift in 1996. My mother, as an

attending internist, was tasked with rounding the entire admitting floor, patients who had been judged as needing more extensive and prolonged medical treatment than the emergency department could provide. “I had just finished a code when I was called to the floor below me to see a patient,” said my mother upon my request for her to recount the story. A “code” refers to a “code blue,” which denotes a patient who has gone into cardiac arrest, resulting in immediate resuscitative efforts. In this case, my mother’s patient was unable to be successfully resuscitated, and my mother had to call out the patient’s death. “This patient had called me to tell me that she had seen death walk by, and was walking around the halls. She was afraid that it was coming for her and I told her no, it was for someone else.” she continued. “She went right back to sleep.” “Death and the Miser” is considered to be a memento mori, or “reminder of death.” In depicting the physical manifestation of death, Bosch introduces the notion that death is mobile; it can show up in unfortunate places. The story presented by my mother and her patient illustrate a similar idea. You might see Death roaming the halls. You might see Death asking to enter a room. Yet, Death might not be there for you; it might be on its way to a code, to an outstretched hand, clad in white.

B-SIDE: MUSIC

PAPER MAGAZINE

On the infinite possibilities of goth in music and sound DOMINIC POLSINELLI Daily Arts Writer

Upon googling “gothic rock and the supernatural” I was utterly shocked — disgusted even — to find very little on the topic save a “The 20 Best Goth Songs of the Last 20 Years” listicle. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to excuse me while I rant about the intrinsic reliance with which goth has laid its roots in the fertile soil of the supernatural. It’s 1979, and the founding fathers of goth rock, better known as Bauhaus, have just released their first single, a 10-minute crawler titled “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” Ten minutes, only 11 lines of verse and a chorus repeating “Bela Lugosi’s dead / Bela Lugosi’s dead / Undead undead undead.” I’m assuming at this point you’re either a film major or you’re wondering “Who the hell is Bela Lugosi?” Bela Lugosi is the Hungarian-American actor who portrayed Dracula in the 1931 film by the same name. So here we have what is widely considered the first goth rock song inspired by one of the first films to be based on one of the most widely beloved gothic horror novels. This is literally an art movement that has spanned hundreds of years and crossed mediums, maintaining its momentum, and not a single article has mentioned the importance of the supernatural in all things gothic. Bauhaus sparked a movement, one that brought bleak melodies into a union with the spooky, romantic imagery of gothic horror: “The virginal brides file past his tomb / Strewn with time’s dead flowers / Bereft in deathly bloom / Alone in a darkened room / The count.”

Goth is the marriage of the supernatural and the romantic, and Bauhaus found a way to reflect that sonically. The supernatural is critical to the development of gothic art and essential to its use as a descriptor. The Cure is too catchy to be goth you say? Oh, I’m sorry, apparently you haven’t listened to “The Figurehead” off the underappreciated Pornography: “A scream tears my clothes as the figurines tighten / With spiders inside them / And dust on the lips of a vision of hell / I laughed in the

It is firmly, indelibly, rooted in the supernatural, the horror of the unknown.

mirror for the first time in a year.” Oddly sensual for such harrowing images … kind of like goth. The fact that rock began to borrow these emotions from literature isn’t all that surprising. Most lyricists with any semblance of fame can list off a host of writers who have influenced their own work, and fans have clung to the words from the likes of Ian Curtis, Robert Smith and Siouxsie Sioux for decades. But these artists are decades old and mostly defunct (albeit, we do have a new

The Cure record to look forward to!). So what happens when one of pop’s biggest breakouts decides to drop a goth EP? TURN OFF THE LIGHT, VOL. 1 by Kim Petras sent everyone head-over-heels for its combination of pop’s glamour and goth’s supernatural horror. “Goth pop” is a phrase that is far too often tossed around. Alice Glass/Crystal Castles is not goth — aesthetically, perhaps, but thematically, no. But with the release of her newest EP, Kim’s soaring, catchy vocals mix with moody trance beats, all layered with some incredibly goth lyrics. The first lyrical track on the record, “Close Your Eyes,” doesn’t waste time in proving the work’s goth nature: “Sometimes the best things kinda hurt / ’Cause this is real, it’s unrehearsed / My fatal touch, you’ll feel cursed.” This is followed by the instrumental dance banger “TRANSylvania,” whose pulsing bass parallels the downtrodden rhythms of some of goth rock’s greatest hits. What I am getting at here is that goth is a genre of many forms, unconfined to any one medium or sound, but it is firmly, indelibly rooted in the supernatural, the horror of the unknown. Could Petras’s small collection be an indication of goth’s revival in the pop sphere for the 21st century? Only time will tell, but historically speaking, gothic art has been around for about 300 years to date, and I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t continue to innovate the way we look at horror and romance for years to come. Goth is an artistic microcosm born from human fascination with the supernatural, and it should be revered as the pioneering, essential movement that it is.

b-side

4B —Thursday, February 7, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

B-SIDE: FILM

B-SIDE: BOOKS

A24

The permanence of ghost stories in the imagination The scary and familiar image of ghosts on film PIXAR

MADELEINE GAUDIN Daily Arts Writer

ANISH TAMHANEY Daily Arts Writer

When I was eight, a strange thing happened. I was on my way up the stairs of my old house, about ready for bed, and heard my mom gasp from the kitchen. I looked back to her to see her clutching her coffee cup with her eyes somewhat wide. “The basement light just turned on,” she said. No one was supposed to be downstairs. My sister was next to me, my dad in the living room. Warily, my parents headed to the basement armed with steak knives and searched every corner. Of course, they found nothing out of the ordinary. My dad even trudged out into our snowy backyard to look for footprints. He didn’t find any. The whole thing was silly, in retrospect. Many of us have memories that fringe on the preternatural, that are somewhere between the almost explicable and the undeniably spooky. But a place that nearly everyone has seen the supernatural at work for themselves is in film. Film ghosts are everywhere — they’re not limited by genre or archetype. In fact, they span an array of abilities, personas, and motivations. Casper: At their shallowest, and arguably their most fun, ghosts in film are odd companions, comic relief and maniacal antagonists. Casper the Friendly Ghost, first created as a cartoon character in the 1940s, has become our collective interpretation of how the average ghost should look like: a cloud-like, white apparition hovering wherever it pleases. Casper is the ultimate “everyghost,” the spirit of the afterlife most relatable to the living. His relation to the supernatural is a giddy and purely benign one. He shows us that we don’t have to be scared of ghosts at all. They may be a little more translucent and monochromatic than we are, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be companions. Moaning Myrtle: J.K. Rowling brought to life a whole new kind of ghost with the “Harry Potter” series, and while these ghosts are largely underrepresented in the film adaptations of her novels (most notably Peeves the Poltergeist), Moaning Myrtle steals the

ethereal spotlight in the second installment of the series, “The Chamber of Secrets.” Myrtle is not simply the wailing tormentor of a decrepit bathroom at Hogwarts; she also provides the key piece to the story’s central mystery of unlocking the Chamber. Behind her hilarious melodrama, deceptive coyness and ear-splitting wails, Myrtle is the ghost with the missing answer — the solution that has evaded Harry and his friends from the beginning. She’s wonderful. “Beetlejuice”: Tim Burton, a director known for his theatricality and otherworldly atmosphere decided to push the boundaries of the spirit world with 1988’s “Beetlejuice,” a film as overthe-top as it is rewatchable. Michael Keaton’s full-throated, comical performance as the film’s eponymous villain is something of a twisted delight to witness. Beetlejuice is both grotesque and sloppily charming. Of course we find him repulsive, but there’s something uncannily inviting about Keaton’s exaggerated gestures, snarky delivery and clownish affectation. “Coco”: At their most profound, ghost stories provide far more than goofy characters and visual spectacle. Ghosts in film have the capacity to express our shared human expectations, ruminations and anxieties about death itself. Perhaps no movie captures this depth better than Pixar’s “Coco,” a poignant journey about a young boy lost in the land of the dead with only the assistance of his departed family members to find his way home. “Coco” explores the spirit world in ways that few other films have. Not only are the ghosts of the film benign, but they are Miguel’s own ancestors, shedding light on his heritage and the lost truths that have ultimately torn the family apart. The film uses these ghosts so effectively because they become essential vehicles to tell the story at hand as well as unravel more complex quandaries of grief, detachment and reconciliation. “A Ghost Story”: The most on-the-nose title for a tale of the supernatural also managed to become one of the most heart-wrenching and

philosophical examples of ghosts in film. “A Ghost Story” is an affecting story about supernatural forces that act through the bond of love. As mawkish of a premise as that may sound, director David Lowery (“The Old Man and the Gun”) maximizes the emotional impact of the movie in a way that feels fresh and simplistic. Rooney Mara’s performance as a mourning widow is empathic and legitimately haunting, enhanced by the invisible presence of her late husband outfitted plainly in a white sheet, played by Casey Affleck. Lowery’s work is a testament to the simplicity ghost stories can operate without losing their sweeping cosmic implications. “The Others”: Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to discuss my favorite ghost story without spoiling its whirlwind of a conclusion. Suffice it to say that what “The Others” does best is to blur the line between the real and the ghostly, investigating death as a process rather than an event. “The Others” uses a hackneyed haunted house premise to take advantage of a viewer’s expectations, but subverts them ruthlessly by the end of the film. What seems like a traditional horror story on first watch turns ultimately into a spellbinding tragedy that might be the single best example of cinematic ghosts. It was only much later, years after my family’s strange incident with the basement light, that we realized what had actually triggered our panic. The pressure from my sister and I walking up the stairs had likely disturbed wiring above the basement, causing the stairway light to switch on. The aspect that differentiates film ghosts from the supernatural phenomena that we recall around campfires and during thunderstorm blackouts is this: The ghosts in movies need no explanation. They can be make-believe because film itself is an escape from reality. In real life, we have a tendency to explain away the initially inexplicable to feel in control of our surroundings. But in film, there is no desire, no necessity to do such a thing. We can interact with the supernatural, become endeared or frightened by it. But most importantly, we don’t have to challenge it.

WARNER BROS

“You don’t seem too haunted, but you haunted,” poet Terrance Hayes writes in the ninth sonnet of his collection “American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin.” In the context of the collection, this haunted thing is a black body in modern America (“You will not assassinate my ghosts,” he writes at the end of the 13th sonnet). But literature of the present moment, too, is a haunted thing that does not, perhaps, immediately present itself as such. There has been a resurrection in American fiction of a fascination with the dead, undead, half-dead and dying. And even when these texts aren’t filled with literal ghosts, there’s a hauntedness — an uneasy feeling that things are not quite as they should be — that seeps out of everything I read. It’s like walking down a dark hallway late at night in your own home, which is safe because it’s your home and monsters aren’t real. And yet, you feel for a moment as if something could slip out from the shadows are grab you. Even though you are an adult, you feel it. That’s what reading in 2019 feels like. Ghosts are not new, of course. But this ghost, the modern, literary ghost is something unlike those that trolled the halls of Edith Wharton or Shirley Jackson’s haunted mansions and wreaked havoc on barefoot children in nightshirts. It’s not like Stephen Dedalus seeing his mother’s grey, melting face, but it’s also not not like that. A ghost is an odd supernatural being because it doesn’t come with guidelines. Vampires drink blood, avoid the sun and (as popular teen media constantly reminds us) have sex. Zombies do not have sex, but they lumber and represent consumption and capitalism in their purest, most disturbing forms. Witches are persecuted because — for better or worse — they are women with unchecked power. But ghosts are a harder thing to define. Perhaps because they are (often) noncorporeal, voiceless and vague: existing literally without the definition of body or self. Or perhaps because the thing they represent—something that was, but isn’t any long — is more malleable than fears of sexual “perversion,” consumerism or power. A ghost is a reminder that the past lives, even when we don’t want it to. In that way, it can mean trauma, memory, loss. It’s no wonder ghosts crop up in narratives of immigration (like Viet Thanh Nguyen’s “The Refugees”), sexual trauma (Karen Russell’s “Swamplandia!”) and racist violence (Jesmyn Ward’s “Sing, Unburied, Sing”). When people want to forget, ghosts resolve to stay. They remind and in that, they

find their fearful power. There’s the ghost towns (and supermarkets) of Alexandra Kleeman’s “You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine,” the campfirestory-esque spin of the stories in Carmen Maria Machado’s “Her Body And Other Parts,” and the nosy, curious spectors of George Saunder “Lincoln In The Bardo,” all of which, in their own distinct ways, have fun with these dark, indefinite beings. Even on the more benign, domestic level ghosts represent the things we don’t want to look right in the eyes. Michael Furey in James Joyce’s “The Dead” is a ghost only in that his presence is felt supernaturally: He represents the impossible and horrible truth that the people we love, loved other people before us. Snow comes down on the windows like tiny, tapping hands at the story’s close, and Joyce maintains narrative reality and casts a ghostly emotional aura.

Ghosts need this ambiguity. Unlike their cousins in the supernatural world, ghosts rely on belief.

Following in those footsteps, much of contemporary ghost literature straddles the line of belief, never letting on wholly what it thinks is real and not real. In “Swamplandia!” a teenage girl runs away with her ghost boyfriend on a ghost ship. The terms are explicit and because a child’s point of view is privileged, belief is everywhere. But what the characters believe and what the text believes are maintained as two seperate things. Maybe those things meet and maybe they don’t. Ghosts need this ambiguity. Unlike their cousins in the supernatural world, ghosts rely on belief. You don’t believe in zombies: They exist or they don’t. But you believe in ghosts, even if you can never know for sure. Surprisingly enough, ghost shows — yes, like the “Ghost Adventures” kind of ghost shows — operate in the same way. They present themselves as scientific investigations with video and audio and radio equipment. And regardless of whether they fake the results these machines produce, they’re very careful about what they don’t fake. There’s a reason we never see a ghost as anything more that a streak of light. It could

be dust or a lens flare or a glitch, but we don’t know. If you know. If you see the transparent child in a nightgown in the upstairs hallway, it isn’t fun anymore. Because you don’t have to believe, you just know. In literature, the relationship between knowing and believing opens up even further the narrative possibilities. Do we believe in ghosts? And if we do, do we believe the character who sees the ghost? And if we do believe the character who sees the ghosts, does the novel? The very convention of ghost stories denies closure and answers. Because we can never know. And, when this endeavor into belief is done well, it doesn’t feel anything like “Contact,” that horrible movie with Matthew Mcconaughey and Jodie Foster that equates belief in aliens and belief in God. In the world of narrative fiction God is much more like vampires and ghosts are much more like aliens. God has canonical rules and institutions and customs. Aliens and ghosts are more indefinite things. Every new ghost requires new belief, and every new ghost story must establish the terms of that belief. Casey Affleck being a terrible person aside, I think “A Ghost Story” (David Lowrey’s 2017 whitesheet-ghost film) handles this question of belief in a particularly interesting way. The film spends a long time (perhaps too much time) on one insufferable man’s nihilist monologue without ever hinting at whether it agrees with him or not. The ghost, when he rattles the light bulbs at the end, give an indication of an opinion, but the film does not. This ambiguity is particularly powerful in the modern era of ghost stories because the physical things many of them represent are real. Real in a way that negates belief. But these stories don’t often deal with the real explicitly, but rather the less physical, less tangible effects of the real. You cannot feel the shape of generational trauma in the same way you feel the shape of a bed or a chair, but the characters of these stories live in it as if it were a house, carrying with them the ghosts of their histories and parents and home countries. What stays behind is not something (sorry “Ghost Adventures”) that can be measured by any device or apparatus, no matter how strong or advanced. And that is precisely what makes America in 2019 the haunted place that it is. We can’t see or feel or know everything that is here. But that doesn’t make it all less here. Ghost stories remain strongholds of the literary canon because, to be sentimental and a little reductive, history is itself a kind of ghost story. To live in the world is to walk through a minefield of ghosts that both belong to and because of you and your people and where you come from.

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B-SIDE SECONDARY

b-side numeric and aren’t physically side by side as expected, but labeled on site. Forty minutes into there was a surprise to the left: my expedition, I was frustrated, Wilhelmina, held at an awkward lost and nauseous to boot. I had grave’s length away, another Sturm a meeting in half an hour, I had that somehow didn’t make the a hangover and I had a lot of database. How scandalous! While doubt. 65 acres of mind-numbing photographing their wonderfully tombstones studded out in every austere, bevel-block gravestones, though, I realized that these were direction. I needed a sign. As if on cue, I registered a sort Sturmses, not Sturms. Indeed, of skidding sound in the distance, while my surname is singular, surprising me out of my solitary theirs was plural: “Sturms.” The funk. And then a woman fell heck? How wrong could the from the sky — one of the most database be? How much can we beautiful women I’ve ever seen, trust … data? I left Forest Hill a little miffed honestly, crashing into the snow in a melee of curly hair and plaid. by the inconsistencies; that is, My jaw dropped. I was so lost in determined to resolve them. A the sauce I thought someone had free ancestry.com trial later, I had sent me an angel or a demon or some answers. Carl, originally something, but then the context Johann Joachim Hartwig, was arrived: A longboard, late, trailing born in Mecklenburg, Germany in after her (the skidding noise) in 1823. He fell for a certain and a man on his board, also Wilhelmina (“Minnie”) in 1856, beautiful. He helped her up, they and the two came to the United VERITY STURM / DAILY gave me an awkward, beautiful States in 1863, where they settled acknowledgement, and skated on in Ann Arbor and had five kids. by. I was too stunned and nervous Carl lived to a solid 71 and Minnie to photograph them, so I took a goddamn impressive 91 (she died a picture of the impression her in 1918!), but their only son, Henry wipeout made in the snow. It felt L., passed away tragically at the age of 31 before marrying or siring spiritual. While taking that arguably children of his own. All the dates creepy shot, though, I accidentally lined up exactly — these had to be paid extra-special attention to the people I found in Forest Hill. Everything I read, though, the family of graves she crashed I even realized what I was doing, on, “Hawkes,” and realized that I recorded their surname as “Sturm” my surname appeared in the bar could orient myself in Forest Hill — singular, like mine. Why their and I was smashing that “search” by looking up the surrounding gravestones spell “Sturms,” then, button. graves on their database right then remains a mystery, not to mention Lo and behold, there are Sturms and there. My phone told me the Minnie’s unexplained exclusion buried in Forest Hill. Two, to be Hawkeses were buried in plot 75 from the Forest Hill database. And exact: Henry and Carl. My own and boom, I kind of had a loose why is Minnie buried at a distance kith and kin? Next to Markley? idea of where I was. In a series from her husband and son? And Spooky. I immediately shot an of searches, the Kau, Buzzo and how the heck did they get “Carl” inquiry to the unique void that is Loomis families all helped me from “Johann Joachim Hartwig?” the parent group chat, demanding move closer and closer to plot 82, Something’s fishy here, that’s for intel on a Carl or Henry in the and then I found them. sure. But I don’t have the time to family tree. My parents, god love Carl and Henry were tucked figure out exactly what, that is them, were wholly unhelpful. My mother responded immediately with the robotically urgent question-statement “ARE YOU IN CEMETERY.” My father took a more nostalgic approach, reminding me that “We are from Pfaffenhoefen (German flag emoji) near Augsburg and Munich. Fun loving Bavarians!” Thanks guys. The unique void never fails to be uniquely voidy. It looked like this fun-loving Bavarian was taking matters into her own hands. This is how I spent Sunday morning pacing about Forest Hill Cemetery in the sun and mud, hungover as hell, searching for my ancestors. I can see how Forest Hill would be an interesting, sexy area to wander around for the sake of wandering. It’s not a particularly happening spot on campus, so the whole place is softened with a silence that grows thicker as you move through the first few rows of crumbling graves and into the acres and acres of dead beyond. And winter looks good on the dead: The contrast between stone and snow, light and dark, brings sinuous attention to the curve and corner of every tombstone, monument and oak. By Sunday, the melting snow had collected into massive pools of still water that snaked around entire family plots like moats, protecting them from the scrutiny of people like me. I was a minute visitor in a massive, permanent place: I felt powerless, alone and good. But the thing is, I wasn’t really wandering. I was looking for Sturms. And let me tell you, Forest Hill is a hard place to navigate if you’ve got an agenda. There’s a map online, sure, but it kind of resembles a Matisse cut-out (when I asked my roommate what she thought it was, she told me “fish, parrot or crab”). The database told me that Henry and Carl were buried in plot 82, but the plots progress in an order far from As it begins, the music is overlaid with a crooning video for James Blake’s “Mile Scott. High,” starring Blake and The remainder of the video Travis Scott, doesn’t make finds the two men firmly much sense. The lead single planted in Blake’s mind from Blake’s Assume Form as the camera seemingly is ethereal and dark, but the very beginning of the video provides a stark contrast. ‘Mile High’ Blake is seated by himself James Blake in the “Mile High Cafe” and is soon joined by an overly Polydor Records enthusiastic Travis Scott, who begins to question his high-octane lifestyle, ludicrously declaring that he is considering not using floats from Blake to the a cellphone anymore. As he ether and back to Scott. says all of this, Blake stares From this point onward, the at a cup of tea and begins to video and the song begin to zone out. The camera position synchronize. By itself, the changes from third person song details the ponderings to first person, shot through of old relationships; however, the pupil of James Blake. As with the music video, these the song begins, an image of thoughts seem so much Blake falling through space more critical because they

Searching for ancestors in Forest Hill Cemetery VERITY STURM Daily Books Editor

A lot of people have asked me to preside over their funeral. They usually pop the question about a year into our relationship, when I’ve been worn down to the sort of loyalty that compels careful documentation of their requests (a note in my phone titled “friend funerals”). This has happened frequently enough, unprompted, for me to identify with it in a way, as if making sure my friends go out in the manner they desire is some spiritual duty I was chosen for way, way back. I mean, how else do I explain such a macabre pattern to myself? Don’t get me wrong, I take it very seriously. Derek wants the full 15 minutes of Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” as his urn of ashes is slowly wheeled up to the front. My roommate has requested Frank Ocean’s “Novacane” while her brothers process with her soaring coffin, each one assigned specific lines to perform throughout (A.J. gets “cocaine for breakfast, yikes”). An individual whose identity I must protect has this vision where their cremated remains are served to their extended family in a lavish seven-course meal, the end of which features me delivering a speech revealing what (or, more specifically, who) has been eaten. Nicoletta simply wants to be mauled by a hellhound, no fuss about it. That one’s a little complicated because I’m not exactly sure how to gather the resources, but lord knows I would walk 500 miles and 500 more to secure some Cerberus for that queen. My cousin Sarah thinks it’s the darndest thing, that it’s more complimentary than being asked to do something totally normal and fun with my friends while they are, say, alive. “It’s such a testament to your character!” she told me, totally stoked, sipping Pét-Nat around an October fire in Northern Virginia. “These people are looking at you like, ‘Oh that chick? I can trust her with my death.’” Pretty metal. Verity Sturm: Funeral planner. This is a long way of explaining why I wasn’t all that surprised when my editor, Clara Scott, told me I would be the “perfect person” to write about the cemetery for her B-side. To be honest, I had a lot

to do that week, the temps were looking like a soft 50 below zero, but hey. It wasn’t even a question, because this is the line of work I’ve been chosen for. Duty calls. That being said, I wasn’t about to die walking around the cemetery next to Markley in a polar vortex. It’s just not the end I’ve envisioned for myself. Instead, I dealt with the extreme weather by fleeing the state like a responsible adult. By the time I returned it was sunny and 40, yes, but this deadline was looming and I had squat. I sauced onto the cemetery’s website in a jiffy and started dicking around, looking for something, anything. The Forest Hill Cemetery describes itself as “an unfinished landscape that welcomes all,” the private, non-profit brainchild of a 1857 collab between some University of Michigan profs and “a group of leading Ann Arbor businessmen.” Synergy, baby. She buries the dead. The cemetery’s design emulates the “rustic and rural cemetery tradition” popularized in 19th-century France, notable for its rolling expanse of land, abundance of trees and displacement from town and churchyard. 18,000 people are buried at Forest Hill, but there’s room for 8,000 more, although prices range from a modest 835 dollar cremorial unit to that skinny 3145 dollar glass-front middle-row spot in the coveted Columbarium. The hellhound would probably be cheaper, but investment in Forest Hill secures your remains in exciting proximity to those of local celebs like John Allen, founder of Ann Arbor, and the popular spiritual guru Bo Schembechler. Forest Hill Cemetery boasts a sparse Facebook account (not a page — a full-on user account), 65 gothic acres and 4.7 stars on Google. Most importantly, its website features a robust database of historical information on those buried there (leave it to a University cemetery to incorporate data frames into their business, some undergrad is totally getting whipped to parse that shit, RIP my dude). Anywho, if you scroll down the bottom of the “Internment” page, you’ll run into a regal little search bar, all burgundy and warm gray and curly serifs inviting you to just type in your own name and see what happens (excellent UX). I’m always looking out for the Sturms of this world, so before

Thursday, February 7, 2019 — 5B

also definitely for sure. Not now, at least. One thing is for certain: I don’t think these people are technically related to me. I’ve never heard of a Carl/Johann or Minnie/ Wilhelmina in my Sturm ancestry, and Henry died before he could even pass it on, anyway. My dad’s text about Pfaffenhoefen actually came in handy when I pulled up a map to see if Mecklenburg was close enough to continue entertaining the notion. Turns out it’s on the literal opposite side of the country, those Sturms are absolute north while my clan hails from the southiest south. Unless the Sturms somehow spawned across the entire nation, it’s not looking likely. So it goes. Genetics aside, I feel like I’m related to these Sturms. I have tracked them down, visited their grave and learned their history. And I’m caught up in their mysterious forces — the flying woman who eventually led me to them, the little mysteries in the details of their burial. They’re haunting me, taking on new life in my vulnerable, adjectiveladen brain: The displaced and introspective Carl, his fiery-fresh bride Minnie and the tragic story of their precious Henry, taken too soon. It’s as if these Sturms have come to me, like Derek and Nicoletta, and asked me to do the thing I do, to preside over their death. These Sturms don’t want Frank Ocean or a seven-course meal, though. They’ve requested a Michigan Daily article, and a second life via imagination — yours and mine. If that ain’t supernatural, I don’t know what is. VERITY STURM / DAILY

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘MILE HIGH’

VERITY STURM / DAILY

POLYDOR

take place in the depths of Blake’s mind. Blake and Scott are essentially two parts of Blake’s inner voice, and the music video details the conflict within Blake. Scott embodies the inner voice of Blake that wants to hold on to an old relationship, but as Blake sings, he tries to convince himself that, at this point in his life, it will never last. As the video comes to a close, James Blake wearily exits the recesses of his thoughts. As he returns to the Mile High Cafe, a concerned Travis Scott attempts to get Blake’s attention — he waves his arms in front of his face and genuinely asks, “(y)ou all right?” — Jim Wilson, Daily Arts Writer

Arts

6B — Thursday, February 7, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

B-SIDE LEAD

Hauntings in A2: Breweries, theaters and elsewhere

RUCHITA IYER / DAILY

LAURA DZUBAY Daily Arts Writer

Walking around campus or the larger sloping grid of Ann Arbor, it’s easy to get the sense of an everpresent history. Plaques adorn buildings and pop up on street corners, boasting black and white photographs of old marches and speeches; campus tours recount legends and lore long sealed into the school’s character. This history takes a presumably darker turn if you stroll through Forest Hill Cemetery, where the mossy gravestones dotting the hills date centuries back. Who were these children and parents and grandparents, now sealed away in mausoleums or beneath grassy statues? It seems as if something unusual and distant has brought them there, rather than, in reality, the natural processes of time that all of us can reasonably expect. Dwelling on it long enough can give you an eerie and often unwelcome feeling of the uncanny. It’s the same sensation that takes over if you’re talking with your friends late at night, or when you’re reading in your favorite coffee shop on State Street and find yourself relating a little too much to a ghost story. Or if you find yourself alone in an old building late at night, studying or working, and trying to convince yourself you’re just hearing things. * “For me, I like the lore of it,” said Megan Muma, manager at Arbor Brewing Company on Washington Street. “I like thinking about history. I like the idea that history can affect our sensory experience of the present. And kind of peeling back the layers of what it is that you observe in your day to day life, and thinking about how that might be related to someone else that lived a long time ago.” Muma has been working at the Ann Arbor Brewpub since 2013, and says she started hearing stories about ghosts her first day on the job. The haunting of the building began with mist in the game room and the basement, which soon progressed to staff members seeing a man wearing what they described as a mailman’s uniform, walking around the game room, the dart area and the brewing side of the basement. “At some point, they figured out that this was the location of a murder,” Muma said. She was referring to the murder of Clifford Stang, an off-duty police officer who was shot dead on the property — at that time the Conlin and Wetherbee Clothing Store — in 1935, after witnessing a robbery in progress. One of the two robbers, William “Shorty” Padgett, was arrested a year later. The other was never found. Stang is perhaps the most famous ghost of the Brewpub, but according to Muma, he’s not the only one. Caretaker James Gertz, also known as Mr. Largebeat,

started working here “right when it opened,” and claims to have seen a Victorian woman walking through the kitchen and the other side of the restaurant. “He’s an old-timey rocker from way back in the day,” Muma said of Gertz. “He’s really into the paranormal and extraterrestrials and UFOs and all that kind of stuff. But he’s definitely spent the most time here as an employee, and then also spent most of the creepy hours here. Because he’s here in the morning, when it’s quiet and empty.” An impression of the Victorian woman’s visage can be witnessed even during the non-creepy hours in one of the wooden booths at the Brewpub, where another staff member stenciled her silhouette. “I think there are three types of ghost-presence here,” Muma said. “It’s the guy that was murdered, the lady and then there’s some kind of poltergeist activity. You know how poltergeists are attracted to negative energy?” She went on to describe a student riot that took place on the grounds in 1908, when the building housed the Star Theater (prior to the Conlin and Wetherbee Clothing Store). After learning that the theater manager had approached a star University of Michigan football player with a financial offer to “throw” a game, students hurled bricks from a nearby construction site at the establishment until it was destroyed. Sixty-two arrests were made in attempts from police, firefighters and University officials to end the riot, which lasted all night. “Actually I just learned about it last year, when the Ann Arbor library posted a bunch of historical information around town,” Muma said. “It was the site of the largest student riot in U of M history.” This is why — short of the appearance of the uniformed officer or the Victorian woman — some of the strange goings-on at the Brewpub are tough to pin to a single entity. “This is a very large building, and we have a lot of loud equipment, but even at night, it quiets down to a point. Sometimes you just hear really weird stuff that doesn’t really sound like a condenser, or a dishwasher, or any of the brewing equipment, ’cause you know it’s been shut off for hours. So a lot of staff hear sounds, or sometimes you hear music or talking, when you know everyone has left,” Muma said. One particularly harrowing experience occurred in 2017, when the old general manager arrived to open in the morning and found pots and pans all over the kitchen. “He was understandably upset — like, who did the worst close ever and just threw stuff all around the kitchen?” Muma said. “So he started looking through the cameras, and what he saw was not someone doing their job improperly, but just a lot of weird stuff flying around at four A.M., after everyone had left. And kind of

flashes on the camera.” The security footage isn’t kept for longer than five or six months, but Muma, who has seen this particular footage herself, described it for me: “We have two cameras, one that’s facing inside the kitchen and one that’s facing kind of toward the door ... On the door side, there were a bunch of flashes and weird lights. And on the kitchen side, there was just stuff flying off the shelf. Like, not just getting knocked, but flying. It was really weird and eerie to see.” The poltergeist idea is Muma’s personal theory, based on strange happenings just like the pots and pans story. But the idea of negative energy is a compelling one, to the point that she has done a little research of her own. “I tried to do a little bit of digging into what this space was before it was downtown Ann Arbor, and I probably could have invested a lot more time on it, but there wasn’t a lot of information about whose land it was,” Muma said. “You know, like what colonizers came in and did what to it. But I think that might be another interesting area of exploration, as to why spirits feel trapped here, and what horrible things happened on these grounds before they were a business.” With stories like the pots and pans and the sightings of ghostly figures, it’s no wonder Muma and other staff members feel “creepy” or “watched” when they’re walking around the Brewpub or one of its three basements at night, after everyone else has left. “I’ve definitely been afraid here after close, if I’m the only one in the building and I’m locking up, and I have to do a walk-around, you know, making sure everything is in its place, all the doors are locked. And it just feels like there is somebody here,” Muma said. “And they’re not going to leave.” * So what is it that makes certain places — a brewery, a theater, a whole city — feel more haunted than others? If you ask Lilly Inverse, founding member of the Ann Arbor Paranormal Research Society, it has to do with the lives and events that preceded the ghosts: The history that fascinates residents like Muma, before it was history. “In my experience, haunted places have one thing in common: A strong energy during the life of those who seem to linger,” Inverse said in an email interview with The Daily, citing the Michigan Firehouse Museum in Ypsilanti, which has burned down in the past, as one example. “Big events like fires, battles, murders, etc., seem to give those who were involved the ability to return to the location after they pass.” Inverse founded the Ann Arbor Paranormal Research Society, which is always accepting new volunteers, in an effort to offer residents of Ann Arbor and beyond objective, fact-based assessments

RUCHITA IYER / DAILY

of potentially paranormal situations. “We just wanted to avoid some of the big pitfalls that some investigators fall into, as well as offer the community the best and most genuine service that we can,” Inverse said. In the Society’s investigations — requests for which come in at least once a week — this looks like a very specific process. The process involves conducting an initial interview to answer clients’ questions and learn more about potential “hot spots” and patterns of events, setting up a main “base camp” area on the haunted property, and then setting up a digital video recorder system (DVR), computer monitor and video cameras. “Once everything is set up, one team member will sit at the DVR base camp and watch the live video feed,” Inverse said. “If something pops up in the video that seems interesting, they will mark down the timestamp and camera number for later review. Everyone else will go from room to room taking pictures, using other specialized equipment such as EMF detectors and MEL meters, and doing EVP sessions.” This process is followed by an in-depth evidence review by the team, resulting in a formal report for the client. All of this is free of charge.

secrets, but Ann Arbor hides hers better than most,” Inverse said. “If you talk to many of the people who work in the older buildings downtown, many have stories to tell about the strange things that make them not want to be the last one in the building at the end of the night.” * This past fall, Ann Arbor’s litany of public places, spanning from the Arbor Brewing Company to the University Bank on Washtenaw, found a tour guide: Sivan Jones. Around the end of September, Jones decided it could be a good idea to set up a haunted tour of Ann Arbor. She did the research, going through local history books to investigating crimes and murders reported by the Ann Arbor Police Department, then figured out a route and set up an Airbnb page. The tours, which went through the end of November (“the Halloween season,” Jones called it), were an hour and a half long, at $22 per person. They were packed. “You have the people who are really into the local history, but then you also have the people who really love being scared,” Jones said. Her research unearthed a wide-ranging scale of creepiness. Some of the stories are what Jones deems “hearsay” accounts,

a ghost story even farther. It is common for tour-goers to share their own personal stories and anecdotes, whether from Ann Arbor or from other places they’ve lived. “I really like leading the tour to help people connect with each other and share their stories, too. So it’s kind of like this interactive thing,” Jones said. This communal exchange of supernatural encounters hasn’t only enhanced the tours; it’s also affected Jones personally. Her interest in giving tours was sparked by her love for Halloween and going to haunted houses with friends, but she didn’t actually use to believe in ghosts. Now she’s afraid of them. “I started out kind of being skeptical, ’cause I work in a science-based field,” Jones said. “I thought it was a lot of people with overactive imaginations. But then as I went through the tour, I kept meeting people, and they just seemed like very logical, smart people. Like they genuinely had something happen to them that could not be explained in any other way. And honestly, I truly do believe in — I believe in the paranormal now, I do. Because these people, they weren’t pulling my leg or anything. They genuinely saw something or felt something or heard something, and I believe them.”

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In spite of, or perhaps because of, the depth and variety of the Society’s approach to investigation, there are some methods that they do not use. These include seances, spirit boxes, phone apps, Ouija boards and psychics. The reason is generally a lack of reliability: If something can be afforded a nonparanormal explanation, such as wishful hearing or planchettepushing, it’s too easily disqualified as admissible. “We want to be 100 percent sure that we are offering the best and most credible evidence to our clients that we can,” Inverse said. “We’re definitely not saying that some of the methods we don’t use can’t be used. But this field is the target of so much skepticism as it is, so if there is a natural explanation for a test that we use, we can never be sure that the result we record is actual evidence of something paranormal.” Inverse has several fond experiences and memories associated with the paranormal, and notes that “everyone who enjoys this hobby has at least one experience that they love recounting.” For Inverse, standouts range from her first experience with the paranormal — a visit to a cemetery on Christmas Eve, where she captured a ghostly whisper (an Electronic Voice Phenomena, or EVP) on a camcorder — to her later visits to the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, and the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky. “These places were not happy places,” Inverse wrote of Waverly and Mansfield. “Overcrowding, over-extended stays in solitary confinement and countless other horrors awaited inmates at (Mansfield). It’s no wonder some of them can’t find peace even in death.” Washtenaw County specifically seems like a magnet for such unresolved histories, at least if you ask around. Muma pointed me toward the Michigan Theater as another spooky place where strange noises are said to have been heard late at night, and Inverse adds the Firehouse Museum and Bone Heads BBQ to the list. “I think most cities have their

ones she’s gleaned from personal conversations and word-of-mouth, like the little girl who is said to hang out in a studying cubicle on the lower floor of the Bentley Historical Library, or the woman who haunts the stacks of Hatcher Library. “Several students have seen her late at night,” Jones said. “And multiple people have told me that. Again, it’s something that you can’t really research. I researched the history of the library, and nothing bad has ever happened there.” The stories gleaned from Jones’s research range from places like these, personal stories that are tough to physically confirm, to well-documented and verified instances of unsavory history. One example is Randall Laboratory, the University’s original medical campus. “They used to steal bodies,” Jones said. “It used to be illegal to use corpses for science, so they would have to dig up graves ... So they hired these shady guys, and they would dig up the graves and then bring it over to the medical college and sneak it into the building. This was for a couple years, until it became legal.” This isn’t necessarily proof of paranormal activity, but it does seem to fall into place alongside the theories from Muma and Inverse about what leads to a haunted reputation: A twisted history. So — aside from the education of local history, or the excitement of wanting to be scared — why do these twisted stories so often intrigue people? Jones’s answer: “It starts with a character,” she said. “People love imagining themselves as the person ... I have some stories from the seventies, and people are much more scared by those than stories from the 1800s, because then they can imagine themselves as that person. It’s like it’s close to home. And then the person goes through something scary or something mysterious, and then it’s never quite resolved. So it gives you this thrill, and you don’t know if it’s going to happen to you.” Often, she continued, her guests on tours will take this habit of imagining one’s own way into

She even went so far as setting parameters: You’re welcome to tell your own ghost stories on the tours after they start back up again in April, just as long as you don’t make them too scary. * I was surprised, conducting all of these interviews, to learn the extent to which pockets all around Ann Arbor are considered haunted by their residents. Maybe this is true of every city. But even after living here four years, I didn’t know beyond a general feeling that dark and strange histories are continually existing here — many of them revisiting us night after night, repeating themselves over and over — around every corner. They make themselves known to expert paranormal researchers, armed with well-tested equipment and years’ worth of knowledge and experience. They present themselves also to unsuspecting students or employees working late in the evening, alone and just trying to finish up a long night, but finding themselves followed by an unnameable other-worldliness that just doesn’t seem to go away. These are stories that are best told in groups, shared and bonded and laughed over, yet that also seem to prey on some of our most innate and instinctual senses of the danger that is tied to being alone. Yet perhaps these stories, and the different ways they have found into our lives — whether we have witnessed them firsthand ourselves or still remain skeptical — reveal something surer about the sense that we fail to make of death. In a subjective sense, it seems irrational that a story or an experience that is unsettling by nature could produce some kind of joy or bring people together. But maybe the whole point is that there are things about living (and maybe about living in this city in particular) that we aren’t meant to understand, and never will. Sometimes all we can do is wade through the histories that inevitably surround us, sentient or not, invisible but thick, and listen honestly to the stories that we’re telling each other.