2019-02-21 by The Michigan Daily

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Thursday, February 21, 2019

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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CAMPUS LIFE

CAM, faculty address ‘U’ obstacles in sustainability LSA Student Government meets to discuss the LSA foreign language requirement in Mason Hall Wednesday evening.

KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily

LSA Student Government votes to amend language requirement

Resolution passes in favor of allowing final semester to be taken pass/fail LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily Staff Reporter

LSA Student Government convened for their weekly meeting Wednesday evening in Mason Hall to discuss the LSA language requirement policy and fixing faulty MCard readers in residence halls.

LSA SG passed a resolution 26 to 0 in favor of allowing the last semester of the language requirement to be taken pass/fail. LSA juniors Gabbie Ammond, Wyatt Puscas, Jon Reid and Jordan Schuler and LSA senior Hanna Simmons sponsored the resolution and discussed concerns many stu-

dents taking language courses may have about their GPAs in language courses. Currently, students are required to take four semesters of one language in order to complete LSA’s language requirement. Prior to LSA SG’s vote on Wednesday, the first three courses in the sequence

could be taken pass/fail, but the last course had to be taken for a grade. Since the language requirement went into effect, students have voiced concerns over the large time commitment required to finish all four courses of the sequence. See LSA, Page 3A

Student group highlights climate challenges facing campus community ANGELINA LITTLE For the Daily

This Wednesday, the Climate Action Movement at the University of Michigan hosted an event focused on building the climate change movement on campus. Held in the Annenberg Auditorium at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the event attracted about 100 students, faculty and community members. The event began with four panelists discussing the most pressing issues concerning climate change and how to address them, followed by a small group breakout session in which students brainstormed their own ideas about the

issues and finished with a large group discussion. Engineering junior Logan Vear, president of the Climate Action Movement at the University of Michigan, started off the event by explaining the goal of bringing community members together to figure out how best to address climate issues and make a change in the University and larger Ann Arbor community. “Although we do not have the power to change things at the global level, taking action and influencing change at the local level i s ju s t a s i mp or t a nt , i f no t e ven mor e s o,” Ve a r s a id . See CLIMATE, Page 3A

Panel discusses human rights violations, Lieutenant YSA hosts Governer impact of US foreign policy in North Korea the founder GOVERNMENT

tours U-M MCity site

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrest II talks future of autonomous vehicles in state of Michigan ALICE TRACEY

Daily Staff Reporter

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II toured the University of Michigan’s driverless car test and research site, Mcity, Wednesday afternoon. The visit was part of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Home for Opportunity” tour, a series of 50 events intended to highlight avenues for technological innovation, infrastructural development and economic opportunity in the state of Michigan. Mcity Deputy Director Carrie Morton started the event with a presentation on Mcity’s research and partnerships as well as the future ofBY autonomous vehicles. She DESIGN SHERRY CHEN noted Mcity is currently focusing on small-scale, local deployments of autonomous vehicles, such as the driverless shuttles in Detroit. “We’re going to see this increasing level for deployment, where they can drive themselves in a very small area, similar to the May Mobility shuttles in Detroit,” Morton said. “We’ll see these in small deployments, but make no mistake, at this stage, all of those are pretty highly curated science projects and they’re not ready to scale and they won’t be for some time.” See MCITY , Page 3A

CAMPUS LIFE

Conversations occur amidst recent negotiations of denuclearization between both countries NIKKI KIM

Daily Staff Reporter

On Wednesday night, about 100 students and faculty gathered in the Annenberg Auditorium for a panel to discuss the human rights violations in North Korea and the role of American foreign policy in such conversations. The panel was hosted by the Donia Human Rights Center, in partnership with the Ford School of Public Policy, International Policy Center, Law School and the Nam Center for Korean Studies. The panel took place amidst recent negotiations of denuclearization between the United States and North Korea while humanitarian crimes contin-

ue to occur under the Kim Jong-un regime. Business sophomore Richa Shah explained why she came to the panel and expressed her desire to partake in the broader conversation. “Dialogue can often be ineffective but if communities go about it in a strategic way with tangible plans, I think it will help,” Sacha said. The panel opened with Jared Genser, a legal expert with probono experience in the North Korean humanitarian crisis. He explained the progress the international community has made with resolutions adopted by both the United Nations Human Rights Council and the General Assembly

of the United Nations to focus on the rights of North Korean citizens under Kim’s dictatorship. “While we have done a lot of report writing, public speaking issuing, and combinations of the two, really nothing has been put in major effect regarding the situation in North Korea,” Genser said. According to Genser, the humanitarian rights of the North Korean people are often pushed to the back burner by many policymakers who focus solely on denuclearization. Citing the Responsibility to Protect doctrine adopted by the UN World Summit in 2005 that obligates states to protect populations from crimes against humanity, Genser emphasized the necessity of bringing to light the human rights issue

in North Korea. He noted the famine, lack of basic food policies in North Korea and the Gulag concentration camps as some of the many problems that North Korean citizens face on a daily basis. “The international community has a responsibility to help and engage in these human rights violations in North Korea,” Genser said. “But the reality is that the world focuses almost exclusively on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. And the security establishment in the United States, such as the defense department or intelligence agencies, really make the ability to engage in North Korean human rights much more limited than you would expect.” See NORTH KOREA , Page 3A

of Qahwah coffee shop

Local entrepreneur talks current situation in Yemen, reflects on own experiences EMMA RUBERG For the Daily

On Wednesday night, about 100 students attended the Yemeni Students’ Association’s event “Crisis, Commitment, and Coffee: A Yemeni American Stor y.” The event featured Ibrahim Alhasbani, a Yemeni Immig rant and the founder of Qahwah House, a coffee shop in Dearborn, Michigan. Qahwah House aims to teach their customers about the struggles of those living in Yemen, where the shop sources their coffee. Alhasbani began his presentation by describing Yemen’s historical connection to coffee. He also explained the orig ins of the coffee shop’s name. Qahwah translates to “coffee” in English. “ Yemen is the birthplace for coffee,” Alhasbani said. “That’s why Yemen’s coffee is the most important coffee in the world … I remind ever yone, coffee comes from where? It comes from Yemen.”

KARTIKEYA SUNDARAM/Daily Panelists open up for audience questions at the North Korea and Human Rights event at Weill Hall Wednesday evening.

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INDEX

NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 SPORTS......................6

See YSA , Page 3A

SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............5 ARTS...................1B

DESIGN BY SHERRY CHEN

News

2A — Thursday, February 21, 2019

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY: By Design

WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

Michigan Women’s Basketball @umichwbball

Michigan Athletics @UMichAthletics GAME-WINNER! @ UMichWLAX’s Molly Garrett secured the victory for the Maize and Blue with this doubleovertime goal as U-M improved to 4-0 and are off to the best start in program history.

Crack 2,000 points and make the Big Ten Player of the Week Honor Roll! Congrats to @halthome30

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THURSDAY: Twitter Talk

FRIDAY: Behind the Story

UMichPets @UMichPets After that snow yesterday, I know @umichstudents are thinking about spring break. It’s just two weeks away, so don’t pack your bags and just yet.

University of Michigan @UMich

Dr. Mark Schlissel @DrMarkSchlissel

Goldxashley @goldxashley

A true leader, and one of the best. We’re proud to call President Gerald Ford a #Wolverine and honor his legacy of leadership and public service through the @FordSchool. #PresidentsDay

Three of our outstanding @UMich researchers have been recognized as amongst the most promising in their fields of computer science, chemistry & neuroscience. Congrats, 2019 @ SloanFoundation Research Fellows.

umich better clean the damn pavements I know that much

W O LV E R I N E O F T H E W E E K What is your technique when walking to class on icey sidewalks?

“I walk normally until I fall a few times and then I start walking without picking my feet off of the ground.” LSA junior Keemya Esmael

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Managing News Editors news@michigandaily.com Senior News Editors: Sayali Amin, Rachel Cunningham, Remy Farkas, Leah Graham, Amara Shaikh Assistant News Editors: Barbara Collins, Alex Harring, Danielle Pasekoff, Atticus Raasch, Ben Rosenfeld, Samantha Small, Emma Stein, Zayna Syed, Callie Teitelbaum, Liat Weinstein

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MAX MARCOVITCH and ETHAN SEARS

Activist emphasizes importance of intersectionality Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha also touches on topics of queerness, disability in book “Care Work”

Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com Senior Sports Editors: Mark Calcagno, Jake Shames, Matthew Kennedy, Anna Marcus, Paige Voeffray, Avi Sholkoff Assistant Sports Editors: Aria Gerson, Tien Le, Rian Ratnavale, Bennett Bramson, Theo Mackie, Akul Vijayvargiya

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pressing issues concerning climate change and how to address them, followed by a small group breakout session in which students brainstormed their own ideas about the issues and finished with a large group discussion. Engineering junior Logan Vear, president of the Climate Action Movement at the University of Michigan, started off the event by explaining the goal of bringing community members together to figure out how best to address climate issues and

make a change in the University to accept that we don’t have to ROSEANNE CHAO and JACK SILBERMAN Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com and larger Ann Arbor commu- know everything nor can we, For The Daily Senior Design Editor: Willa Hua nity. then we would make progress at “Although we do not have the a much faster right,” Simon said. ALEXIS RANKIN and ALEC COHEN This Wednesday, the Climate Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com power to change things at the Dominic Bednar, third-year Action Movement at the UniverSenior Photo Editors: Alexandria Pompei, Natalie Stephens, Alice Liu, Annie Klusendorf global level, taking action and PhD student in Environment Assistant Photo Editors: Katelyn Mulcahy, Miles Macklin, Emma Richter, Hannah sity of Michigan hosted an event influencing change at the local and Sustainability emphasized Siegel, Allison Engkvist focused on building the climate level is just as important, if not the importance of emphasizchange movement on campus. even more so,” Vear said. “Many ing diversity within the climate ANDREA PÉREZ BALDERRAMA Held in the Annenberg AuditoriStatement Editor statement@michigandaily.com people and individuals within change movement. um at the Gerald R. Ford School Deputy Editors: Matthew Harmon, Shannon Ors our communities, such as you “Climate change disproporof Public Policy, the event atall, have already been actively tionately affects low income MADELINE TURNER and MIRIAM FRANCISCO tracted about 100 students, facManaging Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com working to make sustainable people of color, so how do we ulty and community members. changes, but we can’t do this weave those people into the Senior Copy Editors: Dominick Sokotoff, Olivia Sedlacek, Reece Meyhoefer Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ The event began with four alone. We have to come togethconversation to, again, help us CASEY TIN and HASSAAN ALI WATTOO panelists discussing the most er, and that’s exactly what this is understand,” Bednar said. “We Managing Online Editors webteam@michigandaily.com Senior Web Developers: Jonathon Liu, Abha Panda, Ryan Siu, David Talbot, today.” don’t necessarily have all the Samantha Cohen The panelists who spoke at answers, but when you put a diNOAH TAPPEN the event were Adam Simon, verse group of people together Managing Video Editor video@michigandaily.com professor of earth and environ- you’re able to innovate much Senior Video Editors: Jillian Drzinski, Aarthi Janakiraman mental sciences at the Univer- more rapidly.” sity; Joshua MacDonald, enerSimon also proposed that EASY CARLY RYAN and NA’KIA CHANNEY gy coordinator for Ann Arbor; the multitude of clubs on camMichigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com Dominic Bednar, third-year pus focused on climate change Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Maya Mokh, Samuel So, Ana Maria SanchezCastillo, Efe Osagie, Danyel Tharakan PhD student in Environment should come together to ensure Assistant Michigan in Color Editors: Grace Cho, Harnoor Singh, Nada Eldawy, and Sustainability and Rack- their collective impact is lasting. Lorna Brown ham student Fern MacDougal, “Your time on campus is fiwho studies conservation en- nite,” Simon said. “You are here, CATHERINE NOUHAN and JOHN FABIAN Managing Podcast Editors ergy. you are loud, you’re gonna leave. The panel responded to And you have to make sure when CARRINGTON TUBMAN and MADALASA CHAUDHARI questions about what chal- you’re gone the next group of Managing Social Media Editors lenges hinder the University’s students is going to be as loud as progress when it comes to you are.” fighting climate change and Following the panel, attendwhat steps students and com- ees split into small groups to munity members might take discuss the ideas put forth by ADRIANNA KUSMIERCZYK Creative Director to tackle them. Adam Simon, the panelists. A list of prompts CAMERON COANE ZELJKO KOSPIC professor of earth and environ- were projected on the front of Sales Manager Special Projects Manager mental sciences at the Univer- the room, encouraging attendROBERT WAGMAN ANITA MICHAUD sity highlighted faculty mem- ees to brianstorm the best ways Marketing Consulting Manager Brand Manager bers’ lack of acknowledgment to take action. of the magnitude and complexStudents also shared what ity of the issues concerning brought them to the event. LSA climate change we face as a sophomore Aviva Nemeth said The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fall and winter terms by students at the University OF Michigan. One copy is available major obstacle to progress. He she wanted to learn how to do free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for emphasized the importance of more to fight climate change. $2. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. © sudokusolver.com. Forseeking personal use only. help in improving susUniversity affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions SPRING PLS puzzle by sudokusyndication.com Read more at for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid. tainability initiatives. MichiganDaily.com “I think if we were willing ANGELINA LITTLE

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b-side

2B — Thursday, February 21, 2019

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B-SIDE: MUSIC

B-SIDE: STYLE

PEXELS

NBC

Vinyl, talisman to the past The resurgence of normal: ‘Seinfeld,’ ’90s, The Gap CLARA SCOTT Senior Arts Editor

Music today isn’t physical like it used to be. Gone are the days when every release demanded a walk down to the record store or even to Target for the newest Taylor Swift CD, gone are the collections that take up whole walls in living rooms or scatter themselves across the floor in precarious towers. No one is handing out mixtapes that you can turn over in your hand, a little thoughtful gift for a friend or a potential romantic interest. Instead, today’s music is becoming increasingly more abstract in the wake of streaming services and has been since the birth of software like iTunes and Napster. Music is in the airwaves, online — everywhere. We have millions of songs at our fingertips, but they’re never quite tangible. This makes it hard to pass down the tunes that make us us to those who matter. You can send someone a Spotify playlist, but can they find it when they dig through their college mementos? Probably not. In this way, the songs that soundtrack our lives are much less tokens to be collected, and more ephemeral in nature than they’ve ever been before. Because of that, more and more people are returning to the physical in fear of losing that kinetic connection to music, including me. The summer before I came to college, the record player that I had bought on a whim during sophomore year finally reintegrated into my life. The

needle was broken, sure, but finding the orange turntable and my family’s old TV speakers gave me a project for once that could potentially turn into something great. I hooked everything up in my room, (including a subwoofer, to my mother’s chagrin), and there it was — a true old-fashioned record setup ready to play anything I wanted. The problem was, of course, that I had no actual records. The only obvious choice was to steal them from my father. And so I ventured deep into the cluttered basement at his house, with the blessing that I could take anything that wasn’t either incredibly valuable or literally his own music that had been released in the ’80s. Don’t worry about those, I assured him, I could hear that for free when he practiced in our living room, sounding through the house with a deep baritone buzz. What I was really looking for was everything else; the music that had soundtracked my childhood, the James Taylors and Joni Mitchells and Tom Pettys of my past. In that basement, I found these and even more records that I could call mine, though they were technically his. And in that handover of the music we both shared, I discovered a very particular kind of nostalgia, hidden in the grooves of each well-played pressing. I threw them all into a shopping bag and lugged the weight of 30 records to my mother’s house, where the newly-connected sound system waited. They looked nice on my shelf, a dingy rainbow of everything from Suzanne Vega to Talking Heads. He even had a

pressing of Prince’s 1999, a funny connection to my birth year even when the album came out in 1982. I sunk into my bed and let the music ring out in the summer afternoon, laughing when I came upon a song that had been played so much it skipped. I realized that my father and I liked the same tunes 40 years apart, as “The Boy in the Bubble” by Paul Simon and “The Boho Dance” by Joni Mitchell refused to finish without the needle wobbling into another track. It made me smile, and appreciate the things that these physical versions of music could tell me that just listening to the songs couldn’t: With every record I felt heavy in my hands as I put it on the turntable, I could feel the weight of my father’s love for each song, entangled with my own so many years down the line. They echoed into my room and I closed my eyes, finally understanding why people loved vinyl so much. Sure, it is pretty, and a symbol of the old-soul mentality many hipsters boast today, but there’s more to it than that. Sitting on my bed in the July sun, I imagined my father listening to the same records after buying them from the store new, in his dorm room, in a friend’s apartment, in his first house. There was something comforting about that image, something that I didn’t feel just hearing the songs in my headphones. But the thing that really got me was the fact that the songs I had stolen from my dad’s basement weren’t only just noise, they were wrapped up in memory too, sentiment that had the same place in each record that the music did.

B-SIDE: COMMUNITY CULTURE

An ode to the playground BEN VASSAR

Daily Arts Writer

You’re sitting on a bench swinging your legs that hang several inches from the ground, leaning your weight on your left hand as your right hand holds a Strawberry Shortcake Bar. Although your hands have picked up all sorts of dirt from the asphalt, the sandbox and the public bench you now sit on, this doesn’t prevent you from licking the quickly-melting vanilla ice cream that flows from the bar off of your fingers. Your skin is already sticky anyway from hours-old sunscreen and sweat. The sun is blindingly hot, but your moistened bangs serve as a visor and a sort of cool mop atop your head. A grey squirrel shuffles over to within a foot or so of your feet, gazing up at you with a look that wants something but doesn’t seem to remember what exactly. Being possessive of your ice cream, you kick your foot to motion the animal away. Just as quickly as you got the urge to ask your dad to spend $1.50 on an ice cream bar, it’s done, and you hop off the bench to run back to the sandbox and the two friends you just made. They have a green castle-shaped bucket to make sandcastles and they need the materials. You dig like a madman under the assumption that this box contains an unlimited supply of sand running straight through to the earth’s core — if only you put in the effort to get it.

Sure enough, though, you fairly quickly knock your scratching nails against a solid layer of wood that is the bottom of the box. As the shadows of trees in early August begin to creep over the sandbox, you enthusiastically propose that you and your friends race to the top of the jungle gym. Without hearing an answer back, you run barefoot over hot black rubber (in your mind molten lava) to claim victory at the top. From here, you cover your eyes as you look out through the trees to the river. It glistens in the distance, allowing for the passing silhouettes of runners, bikers and dog walkers to be seen as they block its shine. From this great height of 10 feet, a wind suddenly whips up, blowing leaves from trees and prompting you and your pals to scream and and run for the ground. You jump down the slide, never admitting that you’re scared of sliding down the fire pole. A game of tag breaks out in a sudden frenzy. Everyone is “it.” You’re feeling the sugar rush from that ice cream bar — those other kids are in trouble, because you just became Dash from “The Incredibles.” You run tirelessly about the jungle gym, the strong wind at your face an indicator of your speed, until you’ve huffed and puffed and can’t any longer. As you take a seat on the first step up to the slide, Dad comes over to say that you have to go in a minute. In this sobering moment, you look around and see that

the once luminous sun is now a blood orange orb nestled against the horizon. You notice that your exposed calves and forearms are now cool to the touch, a gentle graze provoking goosebumps. You look back at Dad and accept your return to reality as you get up to go. Time flies when you’re having fun. Sitting on a small plastic seat in front of Dad on his bike, you casually drift down the park’s main strip with his sweater wrapped around you. As he turns on the front and rear lights, fireflies begin to glow. Instead of pondering the reasons for their glow, you instinctively grab for them as they come closer and closer to being within your grasp. You notice one or two dogs doing the same as you pass. After a bit of biking, your eyes begin to itch as if it were early April, as your eyelashes have failed to prevent unfiltered park and city air from carrying debris into their realm. You close your eyes for a bit, still able to make out the impressions of passing lights. You hear the occasional jangle of a dog’s leash or the cry of a far-off siren, but mostly just the low hum of the tires running on asphalt. You notice the park’s constant earthy scent — a scent of old wood, grass and soil — and become aware of whenever this is interrupted by aromas of subway vents, dog feces or sweaty runners. You open your eyes every so often, guessing where you are based on these clues. You’re forming memories in this moment and you don’t even know it.

SOPHIA HUGHES Daily Arts Writer

Clad in a denim-on-denim ensemble, a girl walks down the bustling streets of Ann Arbor. She’s wearing earphones and the clash of drums in Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” seems to eradicate the chaos that surrounds her. Her getup is anything but form-fitting. The oversized jean jacket and the Adidas sneakers create a unisex style while her accent braids keep the look feminine. There is nothing flashy about her, yet people can’t help but stare because this isn’t the ’90s. This took place yesterday. I could roll my eyes at the scene and comment on how hard the girl is trying to seem “grunge,” but I’ve already drank the Kool Aid. Bootcut jeans and “dad jeans” are back in stores such as Lucky and The Gap, and jean jackets have had a full-on resurgence among the Generation Z kids that missed their last heyday. Stan Smiths, vintage Adidas, New Balance and Nike sneakers have taken the streets by storm. Denim-ondenim is acceptable once again. Multiple hoops adorn women’s ears, turtlenecks have become the standard sweater and flannel shirts are inescapable. Many would label these style choices as the epitome of “white ’90s dad” attire, so why would young people be championing them?

The answer involves both psychology and stylistic choices. The style is called Normcore, a hybrid of “normal” and “hardcore.” The New York Times has defined it as “a fashion movement in which scruffy young urbanites swear off the tired street-style clichés of the last decade — skinny jeans, wallet chains, flannel shirts — in favor of a less-ironic embrace of bland, suburban anti-fashion attire.” Normcore is a unisex style that works hard to embody “normal” and “simple” through unpretentious clothing and basic colors. There are no blouses or neckties. There are no complex patterns or tight fits. It’s not meant to stand out, and the biggest brand these urbanites shop is The Gap. Fashion trends are often driven by young people choosing new ways to express themselves, and often the sentiment is a rejection of what was there before. The cynics among us will blame the market economy and say that trends keep the retail sector humming and second hand stores flush with new cast-offs. With Normcore, I choose to see something less cynical in fashion trends. I see something more creative: A generation slowly moving into the world of our parents claiming its independence and asserting its perspective. But why embrace the styles of what many considered one of

the blandest eras in the history of fashion? I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the ’90s was arguably one of the most stable and uncontroversial decades in modern US history, a clear contrast to the political and social volatility that our society finds itself in today. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that many young trendsetters are striving for a generic aesthetic, rather than name-brand and highly stylized trends. I can’t help but see parallels to a rejection of the lines of demarcation that have recently marked our national landscape. The euphoria of being part of a group is gone. The key trendsetters here are millennials, a group often maligned for feeling entitled. Alternatively, millennials can be seen as individualists who feel they have the power to make change when they see that their society is not living up to its potential. They’ve been developing platforms to express themselves through social media, and this is simply another platform. In this way, Normcore should not be viewed as another eye-rolling attempt by many of us to show that we’re “retro,” but that we are, in fact, proactive. Of course, my armchair psychological analysis may not apply to all — maybe people just really liked the outfit that Elaine wore in that “Seinfeld” episode they binge-watched last night.

SINGLE REVIEW: ‘NEW HOUSE’

LAKESHORE RECORDS

At its root, a suburban house is known as a residential accommodation. The undercurrents of a suburban house are plentiful, with connotations of what is a domicile and ordinary. Moreover, a suburban house is perhaps “what came before,” as in what came before fame, or what came before a big move to LA or NYC. Rex Orange County interrogates this suburban space as an entity he wishes to recreate in his single “New House.” The homespun familiarity of picking out décor is the exact, genuine space of groundedness that he seemingly feels went missing since striking fame. The release of “New House,” and Rex’s subsequent tweet stating his gratefulness for his career, elaborates on his difficulty in achieving fame, and successively struggling to find a honesty to which he has a substantial connection.

By releasing “New House” on Valentine’s Day, Rex reminds us that love is not about dinner dates, but rather about recognizing the people in your life who build up a house around

“New House” Rex Orange County Lakeshore Records

you and ground you. “New House” elaborates on an apparent lack of inspiration to impress, with lyrics like “Every time I try, it never feels the way it did at the start.” “New House” is Rex’s plea to strip to the basics, away from the nepotism and

consistent hype of the music industry. Rex himself has always served as a suburban house to his fans. He’s a staple of ordinary and attainable, but certainly not in a colorless manner. The authenticity of his simple striped tee and jeans at every performance, and his unpretentious themes of coming of age woes (self-deprecation, depression, youthful love) come naturally. “New House” yearns for a territory of authenticity from which the suburban house cover art and symbolism is born. Rex offers an intimate and important reminder for Valentine’s Day: The importance of facilitating and creating spaces where our loved ones feel grounded and real.

— Samantha Cantie, Daily Arts Writer

News

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LSA From Page 1

Puscas said LSA SG has been working to bring this resolution to the f loor for close to t wo years. The sponsors of the resolution said it was “common sense” that students should be allowed to take the last semester pass/fail, since all other LSA requirements, like quantitative reasoning, do not need to be taken for a g rade to count toward the distribution requirement. Puscas said this disparit y is unfair for students who may have diff iculties learning lang uages. “Some students may struggle with learning a lang uage, whereas other students may excel at that,” Puscas said. “But if I have a lot of diff icult y working with numbers and models and stuff, I can take my QR requirement pass/fail. However, if I’m a student that struggles learning lang uages, that isn’t a libert y on the f inal course of the sequence that’s afforded to me.” Reid, who ser ves on the technolog y, advising and academic committee, said a curriculum committee meeting in 1994 determined that stu-

dents who take the lang uage requirement pass/fail show “minimal interest” and “put forth minimal effort” in the courses. Reid contested these claims, saying students who take courses pass/fail are actually better able to explore their interest in the lang uage without worr ying about GPA. “The stig ma is still there around taking a class pass/ fail,” Reid said. “So I think this is one of many projects we hope to pursue in terms of tr ying to reverse the narrative on this stig ma around pass/fail courses.” Ammond, who ser ves as the chair of the academic affairs committee for LSA SG, also noted how a student taking a course pass/fail is held to the same standard as those taking it for a g rade. “The threshold for receiving this prof iciency credit is a C-, which is also the threshold for pass or fail,” Ammond said. “That’s roughly about a 30 percent, a 70 percent is a C- in a cur ved course. Your participation g rade is roughly a 30 percent. So if you don’t participate at all, you’re not going to pass a class, because if you don’t participate at all it’s highly unlikely you’ll get a 100 percent on ever y thing else. So the arg ument that these students aren’t partici-

pating at all just doesn’t make any sense.” LSA SG also passed a resolution 24 to 0 in favor of working to f ix MCard readers in residence halls, which they said repeatedly fail to work. Reid said a sur vey sent out to students showed that 86.1 percent of respondents had to swipe their MCards at least three times, making the process frustrating and ineff icient for residents. The government also voted to conf irm Nicholas Fadanelli, Rackham student and former LSA SG president, as elections director for their upcoming election. Before bring ing the vote to the table, LSA SG President Nathan Wilson, LSA senior, praised Fadanelli’s previous work as elections director. “He’s been a dedicated member of student government for his four years of underg raduate education,” Wilson said. “He was our elections director last semester and we believe he does an excellent job running the election. He produced the most comprehensive report that has ever been produced by an elections director and he has been working with us since producing that report on improving our processes for elections.”

Thursday, February 21, 2019 — 3A

CLIMATE From Page 1 “Many people and individuals within our communities, such as you all, have already been actively working to make sustainable changes, but we can’t do this alone. We have to come together, and that’s exactly what this is today.” The panelists who spoke at the event were Adam Simon, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University; Joshua MacDonald, energy coordinator for Ann Arbor; Dominic Bednar, thirdyear PhD student in Environment and Sustainability and Rackham student Fern MacDougal, who studies conservation energy. The panel responded to questions about what challenges hinder the University’s progress when it comes to fighting climate change and what steps students and community members might take to tackle them. Adam Simon, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University highlighted faculty members’ lack of acknowledgment of the magnitude and complexity of the issues concerning climate change we face as a major obstacle to progress. He emphasized the importance of seeking help in improving sustainability initiatives. “I think if we were willing to accept that we don’t have to know

everything nor can we, then we would make progress at a much faster right,” Simon said. Dominic Bednar, third-year PhD student in Environment and Sustainability emphasized the importance of emphasizing diversity within the climate change movement. “Climate change disproportionately affects low income people of color, so how do we weave those people into the conversation to, again, help us understand,” Bednar said. “We don’t necessarily have all the answers, but when you put a diverse group of people together you’re able to innovate much more rapidly.” Simon also proposed that the multitude of clubs on campus focused on climate change should come together to ensure their collective impact is lasting. “Your time on campus is finite,” Simon said. “You are here, you are loud, you’re gonna leave. And you have to make sure when you’re gone the next group of students is going to be as loud as you are.” Following the panel, attendees split into small groups to discuss the ideas put forth by the panelists. A list of prompts were projected on the front of the room, encouraging attendees to brianstorm the best ways to take action. Students also shared what brought them to the event. LSA sophomore Aviva Nemeth said she

D ATA F O R P U B L I C G O O D S Y M P O S I U M NORTH KOREAN From Page 1

MICHAEL BAGAZINSKI/Daily Attorney Sean H. Donahue, of the D.C.-based law firm Donahue, Goldberg, and Weaver, LLP, gives a lecture on the rollback of climate protection acts by the Trump Administration as part of the ELPP Lecture Series Tuesday afternoon.

YSA From Page 1 Alhasbani shared his story of moving from Yemen to the United States and establishing his coffee business. Born in Sana’a, Yemen, Alhasbani came to the United States in hopes of finding better opportunities. He worked as the Marketing Manager for Red Bull and Nestle, respectively, but after 17 years he moved to Michigan. “I want to do something different,” Alhasbani said. “We own the best coffee in the world. So I think it’s time to do it.” He quit his job at Nestle and began working on his coffee business in Dearborn. Alhasbani said he’s pleased with his decision, but acknowledged the initial challenges. “It’s not easy — there’s no income,” Alhasbani said. “But I said, that’s fine. It’s going to be okay.” Alhasbani opened Qahwah House in 2018. He intended for people to understand the country of Yemen and the story of its people. “People see the coffee, but they don’t see how we bring it,” he said. “We talk to the people, tell them what’s going on in Yemen. They come to drink the coffee and we tell them our story.” Alhasbani continued discussing the challenges Yemen is currently facing and how he tries to help. “People don’t have food or medicine,” he said. “It’s not a small problem. It’s every house in Yemen. We try to send the message for people to help Yemen.” Following his presentation,

Alhasbani held a question and answer session. Many of the questions centered around Alhasbani’s business strategy. One audience member asked about his marketing strategy and why Alhasbani believed his coffee shop was so successful. In part, Alhasbani said the publicity for the coffee shop comes about in a unique way. “It’s social media,” he said. “They taste something good, they share it.” Alhasbani was also asked about how he got the confidence to quit his job and trust that he would succeed. “Believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you can do anything,” Alhasbani said. “But make a plan, take it step by step. Study and do research.” Alhasbani also discussed his newfound connection to Michigan and the city of Dearborn. When he first came to the United States, Alhasbani moved to New York City. He compared New York to Michigan, explaining why he prefers Dearborn. “Over there you have friends, but you never see them,” Alhasbani said. “Everyone’s busy. Here you feel like you’re home.” He then talked specifically about his relationship with his customers in Dearborn and how he wants them to feel when visiting Qahwah House. “I try to make it special for everyone,” Alhasbani said. “I want to keep it for everyone, for families and students, too.” At the end of the event, Alhasbani opened up to the audience about the challenges he has faced. “I didn’t have family,” Alhasbani said. “I didn’t have

friends. I didn’t even have a driver’s license or a work permit.” He then offered advice to those in the audience who are trying to decide what they want to do in their life, urging them not to choose a career just because of the money or their parents. “Think a lot about what want you want to do,” Alhasbani said. “Then just do what you like.” LSA junior Rasheed Abdullah helps with public relations for the Yemeni Students’ Association. He explained the organization wanted to share Alhasbani’s experiences and business. “We wanted to showcase a member of the Yemeni community with a unique story,” Abdullah said. “We though hearing his entrepreneurial story would be a unique opportunity … With his success in the U.S. as a Yemeni immigrant, and his mission is to improve the conditions back in Yemen, that’s really inspiring.” Public Health junior Jenna Chami initially came to the event for a class, but said she left with a greater understanding of the topic. “It’s important to know that the coffee you’re drinking, it was hard to get,” Chami said. “I think the stories behind it would resonate with a lot of people.” When Alhasbani was asked what he would tell a person who doesn’t know anything about Yemen or coffee who came into his shop, he offered a short and direct answer. “You tell them everything’s good,” Alhasbnai joked. “Coffee is coffee. Good coffee, anyway.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

all the opportunities this could bring,” Morton said. “It has given Michigan a brand that other states, other regions envy.” Morton listed some of Mcity’s major focus areas, including user trust, market adoption, legal issues, privacy and security, as well as autonomous vehicle testing. She also said Mcity places a strong emphasis on federal and state outreach alongside education. Through a partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Mcity has created an incubator called TechLab which partners startups interested in autonomous vehicles with undergraduates at the University. According to Morton, TechLab works with about four companies a year. Another example of Mcity’s outreach, Morton said, is a TeachOut on self-driving cars currently being hosted by the Office of Academic Innovation in partnership with MCity. Overall, Morton said working through the University presents Mcity with opportunities to share its work with faculty, students and industry members. “The great thing about being at an institution like U-M, as you know, is a byproduct of our research is education,” Morton said. “When the talent pipeline is under such restriction, we’re looking for every way possible to leverage our platform here to educate the next generation in this space, really the first generation actually.” Gilchrist concluded his visit by heading to the Mcity track, though The Daily was asked not to join. He followed his tour of Mcity with a visit to Washtenaw Community College, which is also conducting research on autonomous vehicle technology.

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B-SIDE LEAD

LENI SINCLAIR

Look what’s going down: Protesting in Ann Arbor ALIX CURNOW Daily Arts Writer

There’s nothing special about a street corner. It’s only a tiny intersection that thousands of busy passerbys see in their peripheral vision on their drive to work each day. Thoughts of their to-do lists or annoyance at the poorly made coffee the barista gave them that morning are given far more room in their minds. Ann Arbor street corners have been stepped on and overlooked for decades. Yet, they have felt the feet of thousands of protestors beating against their pavement. They have heard the voice of John Lennon singing the words “Free John Sinclair” to a crowd of thousands. They have seen the delicate intricacies of an LGBT couple interlocking fingers in nervous excitement publicly for the first time. They have smelled the sourness of illegal (and now legal) marijuana being lit from the carefully rolled joints of college students for decades. How many eyes have grazed over these idle street corners? And who did those eyes belong to? What did these people believe in? Who are they now? Street corners have been holding up the city of Ann Arbor for decades. Decades that were filled with groundbreaking political movements, new scientific discoveries and innovative musical melodies. Decades that have slipped away from us, falling into the allconsuming creature that is “the passing of time.” However, the memories of these decades can forever be retold to all ears who are willing to listen. When I interviewed Jeff Gaynor, a retired Ann Arbor teacher who studied at the University of Michigan from 1968 to 1971, memories of the past seemed to come flooding back to him. After graduating from Cass Technical High School, Gaynor came to the University as a freshman in the fall of 1968. It was the only school he’d applied to. He’d play pool in the billiards room and go bowling in the Union. His freshman year was also a huge year politically for the United States. “The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert

Kennedy, Vietnam, huge protests of the Democratic Convention in Chicago, etc. — the latter happening just after I arrived at U-M. But my freshman year, the student protest was to establish a student-run bookstore,” said Gaynor in an email to The Daily. “There were only two bookstores students had to buy textbooks: Ulrich’s and Follett’s,” he continued, “and we considered them to be capitalist businesses that were ripping off the students. (Students) wanted the University to fund our own bookstore. There were marches and protests, and one Saturday night students occupied the Administration Building – what became the LS&A building on State St.” “I was involved enough so that when the administration placed a memo in all of the dorm mailboxes, giving their perspective but not allowing the protesting students to do the same, I was livid,” he said. “I found a friend and walked down S. University to the president’s house, knocked on the door, and asked to speak to President Fleming. We were ushered in, and 5 minutes later he came down and spoke with us, probably for 10 minutes. I left unhappy that we couldn’t convince him of the righteousness of our position, but I gained a lot of respect for him for speaking with us. It was more common in those days for hundreds of protesters to assemble on his lawn, and chant. Who knew that you could knock on his door in the middle of the day and actually talk with him!” Bookstore protests didn’t seem to be the only political movements students were getting involved in during this time. Gaynor explained that in his sophomore year (1969-1970) he saw the emergence of BAM (the Black Action Movement) at the University. The Black Action Movement was a series of protests by students against the racist policies and actions of the University of Michigan. “I wasn’t centrally involved, but I was supportive,” Gaynor said. “One day, I remember being in the lobby of South Quad talking with another student, a Black student, who was on the football team. I asked him if he was going to be participating in the student strike that the BAM

organizers had called for. He paused, looked at me straight in the eye, and said, ‘Bo says, ‘No!’’” Gaynor went on, “Bo Schembechler was the football coach, if I need explain. I was flabbergasted, but realized that scholarship athletes didn’t have the autonomy to make decisions that other students had. It also made me realize that U-Mich athletes were athletes first, and students only incidentally.” It’s important to note that political movements such as the ones BAM participated in during this time are still being fought for today. The first protest that BAM ignited was after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968; the students protested against the University administration for lack of support for minorities on campus. In September of 2017, racial slurs were written on dorm door nametags and students took to the lawn of President Schlissel’s home and protested in a manner similar to the protests Gaynor describes. The incident was featured in Teen Vogue, which wrote, “On September 20, nearly 200 students, including members of the Black Student Union and student organization Students4Justice, protested (the racial slurs) on campus, leading to a meeting that night with University president Mark Schlissel and University police chief Robert Neumann — a meeting that Schlissel ultimately left early, to the ire of students. A white man, who was ultimately arrested, harassed protesters with racial slurs which led to a physical confrontation.” Perhaps the past isn’t as different from today as we are lead to believe. “There was a significant town-gown split — the campus being liberal and the rest of Ann Arbor being quite conservative,” says Gaynor about the political climate in Ann Arbor at the time. “It was the time of student power so we felt it natural that we could advocate powerfully for change. The SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) had formed before I arrived on campus. Meanwhile there were many Republicans in Ann Arbor back then. In fact, there was a Republican mayor.” It was this exact political

divide in Ann Arbor that ignited movements such as “Free John Sinclair.” Sinclair was one of the founders of the political party The White Panthers. The White Panthers were a far left, antiracist, White American political collective. John Sinclair was sent to prison in Jackson, Mich., serving an eight-and-a-half to 10 year sentence for giving two marijuana cigarettes to an undercover police officer in 1967. In response to his arrest, a “John Sinclair Freedom Rally and Concert” was organized. According to an essay written for the Ann Arbor District Library by Rob Hoffman, a former sports reporter for the Ann Arbor News, “Leni (Sinclair) had spent the evening of Dec. 10, 1971, manning a table on the Crisler concourse where she sold merchandise and distributed literature for the political party founded by her then-husband, the White Panthers. By her side were her two young children. Between the table and her parenting responsibilities, she admitted she remembered very little about the music and speeches taking place on the main stage - except for the surprise appearance by one of her personal favorites, Stevie Wonder.” Hoffman went on to write that, “The night, however, belonged to two main attractions: John Lennon, performing live in the United States for the first time since the breakup of the Beatles. And there was Sinclair himself, in a phone call piped over Crisler’s PA system ... It was a semi-clandestine call — one that Sinclair didn’t think would happen until he noticed that the prison guards were paying more attention to the game on TV than to what he was doing. About 48 hours after Lennon closed the concert by singing ‘Free John Sinclair,’ a song he had especially written for the event, Sinclair walked out of his prison cell and into the arms of a sobbing Leni and their two children.” I had the opportunity to speak on the phone with Amy Cantu, a librarian at Ann Arbor District Library and organizer of the 2011 program “Freeing John Sinclair: The Day Legends Came to Town.” This was a series of events celebrating the launch of AADL’s Freeing John Sinclair website and marking the 40th anniversary of the John Sinclair Freedom Rally that took place in Ann Arbor on December 10, 1971. Cantu has spoken with Sinclair herself. “He doesn’t hold back,” Cantu said of Sinclair. “He says what he

Thursday, February 21, 2019 — 3B thinks and he’s very thoughtful and willing to share.” Although I did not get a chance to interview John or Leni Sinclair myself, I watched the panel discussion he participated in amongst many other members of The White Panther Party during the “Freeing John Sinclair: The Day Legends Came to Town” program curated by Cantu. Retired Professor Bruce Conforth moderated this panel. When discussing the ideas The White Panther party promoted, Conforth asked Sinclair, “Are

Now, it seems that people capitalize off of the “coolness” of the ’60s, as seen through the mass marketing of flower crowns and bell bottom jeans

you still putting together the idea that, come out in the open and smoke some dope with us, pass the joint around to your friends, doesn’t it make you feel good, doesn’t it make you want to fuck, well then go right ahead. Because after all, what we want is fucking in the streets.’” Sinclair responded with a solemn, “Amen.” Conforth followed up his question by asking, “What were you thinking?” Sinclair replied: “Thinking? Does thinking have anything to do with a statement like that? We also had an expression at that time called cut your head off, stop thinking, follow your body. That would be part of that rhetoric. Cut your head off, get rid of it. People thinking too much. Thinking was what got them into the war and the whole ugly shit that America has become all came from

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘CLOSE FRIENDS’

QUALITY CONTROL MUSIC

It’s funny. For a song detailing the circumstances surrounding an ugly breakup between Lil Baby and his former girlfriend/ best friend, a surprisingly short amount of time in the “Close Friends” music video is devoted to the two former lovers. In fact, there are several shots of Lil Baby slouching on the balcony of a Parisian apartment, and there are even more shots of him riding around Paris in a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, rapping emphatically. After all, it is a rap video — these lackluster scenes are industry standards at this point, and it doesn’t appear they are going away any time soon. As such, these tropes are to be expected and sufficiently ignored. On top of this, the video has a few glaring issues, primarily Lil Baby’s acting. It is so robotic and flat-out bizarre that it’s BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY

white men with a lot of money thinking about how they wanted a perfect world. Now they have it. Do you like it? It’s like Frank Zappa said. Do you love it? Do you hate it? There it is, the way you made it.” The energy surrounding Sinclair’s statements was palpable, and truly a testament to the times back then. In my conversation with Cantu, she spoke of the energy of the streets of Ann Arbor during the ’60s. “Ann Arbor tapped into that whole social protest of the period. It was fueled by some of the groups that were here. It had kind of its own energetic era,” she said. The energy Ann Arbor had then is still lingering in the street corners somewhere, although now, it may be a bit harder to find. Gaynor attested to the belief that although Ann Arbor isn’t the same as it once was there are still some dangerous similarities. “I’ve always said Ann Arbor is a great town to live in if you’re educated and/or wealthy enough — and that is even more true now,” Gaynor said. “More people want to live here, and an even greater number can’t afford to. This is true for students too, I’m sure. I paid $480 a year for tuition in ’68-69. When I lived off campus, I paid $150 a month rent – or less when I lived with more people. And as liberal as Ann Arbor pretends to be, many long time Ann Arbor residents, especially homeowners, don’t want new development, don’t want Ann Arbor to change.” The fights that were being fought back then are largely the fights we are fighting now. Yet during the time of the White Panther Party, there seemed to be an altruistic energy to their protests. Now, it seems that people profit and capitalize off of the “coolness” of the ’60s, as seen through the mass marketing of flower crowns and bell bottom jeans. Our obsession with the aesthetic of the ’60s and ’70s rather than their cultural importance perpetuates a culture of people fighting for the perfect Instagram photo rather than equal rights. Or perhaps a culture obsessed with trying to wistfully regain a past that is looked at with such affection. But these are only prototypes and renditions of an era with an authenticity and energy that cannot be replicated. And though the era cannot be so easily replicated, it can certainly teach us all something. These Ann Arbor street corners have thousands of stories to tell — we should be listening.

hard not to laugh. The tender opening dinner scene between the Atlanta crooner and his girlfriend (who is Lil Baby’s actual girlfriend) is made absurd by Lil Baby’s writhing

‘Close Friends’ Lil Baby YSL Records / Quality Control Music

and constant motion. The scene portraying an argument in which the woman swipes a video game controller from Baby’s hand is ruined by his inability to feign emotion, instead opting to cease all

movement until the camera changes focus. With this in mind, it is wholly possible for viewers to display more emotion while watching the video than Lil Baby does while acting in it. With “Close Friends,” director DAPS, the man once renowned for his surreal, almost whimsical music videos for the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Migos, seems to have lost his edge. While visually stunning, DAPS videos become stale rather quickly, and the one for “Close Friends” is no exception. Perhaps it is because DAPS has oversaturated the market with his repeated use of the same creative vision for every single one of his videos. It’s hard to say, really. But hey, at least it looks nice. — Jim Wilson, Daily Arts Writer

Opinion

4A — Thursday, February 21, 2019

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Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

FROM THE DAILY

On the one year anniversary of Parkland

t’s now been just over a year since the day of the Parkland, Fla. shooting, in which 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were killed by a gunman. While these students can never be replaced, their fellow classmates saw this moment as an inflection point in our nation’s history, choosing to take action and try to ensure that no other student has to suffer such a tragic fate. As a movement, March For Our Lives was truly the f irst of its kind. Children from middle school and up across the nation confronted lawmakers for their inaction and demanded commonsense g un control. We commend these students and their efforts to call attention to the crisis of g un violence in America. As student journalists, we at The Michigan Daily feel a special connection to the young people who have continuously updated SinceParkland.org — a website run by teens that documents the horrible and far too common incidence of young lives taken too soon by f irearms. In an exemplar y display of journalism done right, these young reporters seek to humanize — rather than simply empiricize — the deaths of those their age. These activists are deser ving of our utmost respect and g ratitude as their impact on the national discourse regarding this contentious “wedge” issue has been immeasurable. As a unit, these youth activists have seen gains made in the wake of their tireless work. For example, a majorit y of Republicans — whose policies lean favorably toward the g un lobby — now support raising the legal g un-buying age to 21 from 18. On the leg islative side, we saw an NR A-endorsed Republican administration ban “bumpstocks,” a move that coincides with point number f ive on the March For Our Lives policy agenda: “Limit f iring power on the streets.” Furthermore, a day before the one-year anniversar y of the Parkland shooting, House Democrats backed a bill that would require backg round checks for all sales and transfers of g uns — a policy that 92 percent of Americans support. The sig nif icance of these gains should not be understated and they are far from the only ones.

At the same time, however, we still have g reat strides to make. Since Parkland, more than 1,200 children have been killed in acts of g un violence throughout the countr y. This should galvanize the nation to advocate even more f iercely for leg islative change.

Sustained collective action is what is needed to inspire change While the proverbial gears have been turning and things seem to be trending in the right direction, most of the leg islation that has actually been passed and implemented since the tragedy has been fairly cosmetic and fails to bring about the sweeping f undamental changes needed to beat back the rising tide of g un violence. We urge leg islators to properly uphold their dut y to ser ve their constituents. Part of doing so requires that they take substantive action on the issue of g un control in order to ensure safet y for all, so that no child has to feel scared while pursuing an education. Reg ret tably, t he movement for increa sed g un cont rol ha s, historica lly, been fa r more reactive t ha n proactive. We see a g roundswell of suppor t for t hese mea sures in t he immediate af termat h of t hese ma ss shooting s, only to see sa id suppor t subsequent ly beg in to wa ne until it event ua lly ret urns to its ba seline. This is in spite of t he fact t hat ma ss shooting s in t his count r y occur on a da ily ba sis. We simply ca nnot af ford to

succumb to complacency. Susta ined collective action is what is needed to inspire cha nge. We a lso would like to ta ke t his time to condemn t hose insidious voices on t he fa r-right who at tacked t he heroism of t he Ma rch For Our Lives activ ists. Disinformation agents, such a s radio host A lex Jones, spread ma licious conspiracy t heories mea nt to t urn t he public aga inst t he movement. Jones even went so fa r a s to cla im t hat t he Pa rkla nd st udents who spoke up about t he t rauma of being forced to endure t he sudden loss of 17 of t heir fellow schoolmates were crisis actors a nd t hat t he shooting itself wa s just one big “deep state fa lse f lag operation.” Fox News host Laura Ing ra ha m a nd former Milwaukee Sherif f Dav id Cla rk a lso chimed in w it h t heir reg ula rly scheduled prog ra mming of hate a nd v it riol, going on-a ir to ta rget sur v ivors such a s st udent Dav id Hogg. These public f ig ures consciously attempted to manipulate the narrative to paint honest, wellintentioned student activists as the bad actors. Such malevolence not only poisons our media ecosystem, but it also discourages f uture student activism of all kinds as people fear becoming the victims of targeted attacks. We remember the lives of the students killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as well as every victim of all mass shootings before and since. We will continue forward with optimism in this battle, as we look to activists, journalists and everyday citizens alike to continue calling attention to g un violence. We also hope that those in political office will be receptive to the demands of such broad swaths of the population, and enact the policies that will facilitate the positive changes we wish to see.

JOIN OUR EDITORIAL BOARD Our open Editorial Board meets Wednesdays 7:00-8:30 PM at our newsroom at 420 Maynard St. All are welcome to come discuss national, state and campus affairs.

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.

Environmental racism in America

ll stories are composed of five basic parts: an exposition, an inciting event, a climax, a resolution and a conclusion. In the United States, there are many ongoing stories related to the injustices faced by minority groups. These forms of injustice range from the rise and fall of the Jim Crow laws, Japanese internment camps and President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban — just to name a few. Each form of injustice was (and is) rooted in racism, bigotry and xenophobia. Each form of injustice has its own story, and each story is full of characters — protagonists and antagonists alike. These unfolding stories have shaped the history of our country and continue to write our future, as myriad forms of injustice are still prevalent in the very fabric of our society. Many of these issues continue to tear apart our already divided society and any resolution to mitigate these injustices. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.” Humans have put a man on the moon, but cannot figure out how to live together in harmony. Is this due to our inherent selfinterest and neglect of altruistic principles? Environmental racism and the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on low socioeconomic minority groups exhibits our apparent inability to reconcile these ideals. The exposition is multifaceted. Environmental racism is rooted in the continued racial discrimination towards Black people since the end of slavery. Throughout history, people of color have been subject to unfair housing, inequitable zoning policies and limited say in land allocation and use. These factors have cumulatively produced environmental racism that has lead to a myriad of health risks associated with air and water quality. However, the magnitude of the injustice would not have been understood if not for the exploratory work published in Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring.” The book sparked the environmental movement, lead to the ban of DDT, the amendment and creation of laws concerned with our environment and most importantly the institution of the Environmental Protection Agency,

or the EPA — the preeminent regulatory agency dedicated towards environmental policy. This inciting event involves the most influential protagonist in the fight for racial equality, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr went to Memphis, Tenn. to support the strike of sanitation workers who were not being properly compensated for their dangerous and dirty work. The workers were subject to health concerns from the chemicals in the sewage to the contaminants from the waste. In pursuit of equality, King’s actions lead to the establishment of the Clean Water Act and Fair Housing Act, two influential pieces of legislation in curtailing the impact of environmental racism. Memphis was a preeminent example of environmental racism and set the stage for the environmental justice movement by fortifying the connection between issues pertaining to the environment and issues of racial equality. The climax took place in 1982 as the state of North Carolina planned to relocate 60,000 tons of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) contaminated soil to the rural Warren County, N.C. — a majority Black community with 24 percent of people living under the poverty line. The PCB landfill was feared to leak and contaminate the community’s water and air quality, as PCB is a carcinogenic toxin. However, the people did not have adequate resources to fend for themselves, so they resorted to peaceful protest reminiscent of those encouraged by Martin Luther King, Jr. The scene was best depicted by an iconic photograph of six Black men lying face up in the middle of a country road as six trucks full of toxic soil are stopped in the distance. The state ultimately took advantage of the community, bypassed the protesting citizens and built the landfill. The inherent racism in the land use brought environmental justice concerns into the national spotlight. Despite coming to national attention over three decades ago in Warren County, environmental racism and injustice continue to be prevalent in society as more than half of people that live in proximity to a landfill, hazardous waste site or other industrial facility are people of color. In addition, water contamination plagues lowincome areas around the country

as best exemplified by the lead issues permeating through Flint. Therefore, while we are confronted with the issue of how to promote a resolution to this issue, we must also ask how we can move forward and close the chapter of environmental racism and injustice. For starters, we need to force businesses to be more environmentally conscious and decrease the mass production of harmful chemicals. Between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, communities that are predominantly minority and lowincome make up “Cancer Alley.” Cancer Alley contains more than 150 petrochemical companies and 17 refineries, all of which take advantage of poor communities and damage their health in exchange for corporate profits. Just like corporations can greenwash by fabricating their reports, politicians can lie to leverage votes. Therefore, we need to step up come election time and vote for candidates that have a demonstrated interest in environmental issues to support their campaign promises. We cannot have leaders like former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who in 2013, despite the injustices in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, offered Shell a $112 million incentive package with tax exemptions to create a new factory. Our elected leaders should not act in terms of profit. They should serve their constituents’ best interest. We need to ensure laws already put in place to prevent discrimination are properly put into action. The biggest obstacle towards resolution is the government’s neglect to vigorously enforce the laws on the books. With the Earth hanging on by a thread and on the brink of catastrophic and irreversible change, we need to prompt action and to recognize the far-reaching impacts of our behaviors. We are not fighting another civil rights battle, but we are fighting for our lives as the story of environmental racism continues to tragically unfold. The conclusion must be, then, to eliminate injustices, especially when its main vehicle is environmental catastrophe.

Sam Sugerman can be reached at samsug@umich.edu.

ABBIE BERRINGER | COLUMN

A journey to defending life through science

was raised in a pro-life family. It was an implicit part of our Protestant Christianity. The fundamental ideas underlying our belief in the sanctity of life were that life begins at conception and every human being is endowed with a unique purpose from our creator. Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” This Bible passage, as well as others on the topic of life, leads many denominations of Christians to believe God knew us and planned for us before we were created through human conception. Therefore, the second we are fertilized we are not just another random human, but rather unique in form and loved unconditionally by our creator. For me personally, though I remained a believer in Jesus Christ, the transition into my teen years began to make me question many of my beliefs, including my belief in the sanctity of an unborn life. High school accentuated the complexity of this issue within me as people I knew began to experience pregnancy scares. I spent more than one panicked night with a friend wondering how they would take care of a child financially, if the father would be supportive, if their parents would disown them and if their dreams for the future were essentially ruined if they chose to have the child. I began to put myself in these shoes as well, feeling with intensity that my whole life could be altered completely in a moment if I were to become pregnant. I also became more invested in the scientific view of life. Are we really no more than a clump of cells for weeks on end? When can a baby in the womb feel pain? When are the unborn sentient? Politically and ethically I began to hear both sides of a complex debate on when the right of a life inside the womb trumps the

rights of the mother. Additionally, I kept being told by so many of my peers as well as much of the media that if I didn’t support a woman’s right to choose then I was somehow betraying my own gender. I had also become more aware of the consequences women in unplanned pregnancy situations could potentially face, including physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their families and partners, exacerbated poverty and so much more. For these reasons my position as someone who still considered themselves fairly pro-life had shifted further away from this long held belief to a point where I openly considered myself pro-choice. Then, I attended an apologetics conference through Summit Ministries the summer before my senior year, and that is when everything changed. Apologetics essentially is a branch of Christian theology that attempts to defend Christianity against objections, not just through the use of scripture but through science, philosophy and ethics. In a lecture given by Christian elocutor Megan Almon I learned the most important question in the abortion debate: “Are the unborn human?” I was forced to ask myself this over and over again. At first, I thought it was fair to say “they are becoming human.” Then I learned the scientific study of embryology affirms that once an egg is fertilized to become a zygote, it is at once a “highly specialized, totipotent cell [that] marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.” From the moment we become zygotes we are genetically distinct and totipotent, meaning that, aside from the nutrients we will use to grow from our mother, we have all the components we need to continue developing from within as a human being. We are not becoming human. We are human from the point of conception. We are living, we are

distinct and we are whole, meaning we have all the fundamental characteristics of a unique living organism. As philosopher Richard Stith put it; like a picture taken on a Polaroid camera that we are waiting to develop, just because we can’t see our full form yet does not mean that we are not fully there. We aren’t being constructed from outside forces like pieces of a puzzle but instead we are developing from within ourselves, growing just like one small seed grows into a beautiful flower. As these scientific and philosophical arguments began to sink in for me, I started to ask myself if I thought it was ok to kill an innocent child. So much rhetoric around the abortion debate says that it is not right to call abortion murder. Yet if I believed the unborn were human beings even in the first stages of their development then I felt morally compelled to believe their destruction was murder. This contradicted so much of what I had come to believe in the previous years. All of the arguments I heard between professors and peers didn’t really account for the unborn as being human and endowed with the same rights as all of us outside of the womb. They often focused solely on the rights of the mother. Arguments like: “As a woman, no one gets to restrict my autonomy over my body,” or, “if we force women to have unwanted children, they may not receive the care they deserve.” In addition, some say “Sometimes women with multiple children cannot afford to feed another child, and abortion gives women the freedom to continue pursuing their career goals.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com Abbie Berringer can be reached at abbieber@umich.edu

b-side

4B —Thursday, February 21, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

baked.buzzed.bored.

B-SIDE: FILM

in this series, three daily arts writers in varying states of mind visit the same place and write about their experiences. this week’s destination:

‘Danny Phantom’ NETFLIX

Experiencing cinema in black and white, literally STEPHEN SATARINO Daily Film Editor

By the mid-1960s, shooting your film in black and white was already becoming a stylistic choice. Fighting against the pull of the monochromatic little television boxes that were more and more frequently gluing families to their living room sofas on Saturday nights, the industry made dazzling, colorful widescreen cinema the de-facto standard. Stalwarts of that era, Mike Nichol’s “The Graduate,” Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” Jaques Demy’s “Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” couldn’t be reimagined in anything other than the lyrical color they’ve come to be known for, in much the same way we wouldn’t want to see “Casablanca” on Kodachrome film. In the forty years since Woody Allen’s “Manhattan,” black and white films have become more and more of a novelty, showing up sparingly, typically as art-house pieces looking to buck the studio-standard in more than one way. With the Oscars just a few days away, and with Cuarón’s heart-rending black and white feature “Roma” at the front of our minds, the state of modern black and white filmmaking is due for a checkup; a look in at how the black-andwhite cinematography is being used today. “Roma” is verbally a nostalgia piece (Cuarón told IndieWire that “90 percent of the scenes” came straight from his memory). The filmmaker leans on what he knows and what he can recall, bringing the events of his childhood to life in crisp, clean, digitally captured black and white. The distinction here between shooting black and white on film versus digitally is important, as it speaks to the role Cuarón sees the technique playing in modern cinema. Cuarón’s black and white is not a grainy, rough emulation

of classic Hollywood — it’s a much sharper, higherdefinition use of a color-set that, while once the norm out of necessity, can bring to a story an unconscious thematic weight when used in the right light. Cutting away to a black and white scene in a full-color picture has been easy movie shorthand for a flashback or a memory for decades. “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse” (the biggest bestpicture snub of the year) uses sudden shifts to grey-scale

screenwriting sometimes, but they’re producer favorites because they get the point across without too much of a hassle. The most important thing to recognize from them is how easy it is for us to notice and understand them as viewers. I’d bet that most people’s first experience watching something in black and white is with something pretty old — rewinding a VHS of “Arsenic and Old Lace” found beneath a grandparent’s television set, slogging through re-runs of “I Love Lucy” on summer afternoons when nothing else is on — Cuarón shooting his entire feature in black and white, then, has some effect on us as viewers, impacting our first impression of the film to make it feel as if it was plucked straight out of time. The digital aspect of Cuarón’s photography fights against this a bit. Had Cuarón wanted to make a strict call-back to the Hollywood-ofold (he wouldn’t have made a film focused on an immigrant working in domestic help) he would have shot on 16 mm. Cuarón’s crisp, wide-format blackand-white suggests of a new way to use this cinematic technique in a way that makes use of our unconscious associations with blackand-white cinema to make nostalgic films, though films not trapped by the customs and expectations — by the baggage that comes with this two color range. “Roma” could be the first of many more modern monochrome features to come, but I sort of doubt it. It works well in this case, but I struggle to see the technique breaking past the ‘niche’ area with just this one movie. “Frances Ha” was the last big, modern black and white film I can think of, and though it did well to give Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig a name, it didn’t send many directors running to their supply closets to dust off their grey hues.

With the Oscars just a few days away, and with Cuarón’s heart-rending black-and-white feature “Roma” at the top of our minds, the state of modern black-and-white filmmaking is due for a checkup; a look in at how the black-and-white cinematography is being used today.

in a few different contexts to indicate a jump into a character’s backstory or a reference to something that only existed in the past, and we as viewers didn’t need any notations on-screen to understand that. In general, we know without saying that the little boy watching the old car backdown the driveway in the rain is the younger version of our main character — that the unnamed boy in the hospital bed is the dying son of the presently grieving mother in our story. These types of moments in movies don’t represent the peak of creative

IFC FILMS

Jazz! Is! Me! Casper high! Oh damn I get it — Casper the friendly ghost. My powers my problems, sounds like an Ariana Grande song. Buzzed is writing in actual paragraph form and I didn’t know until now!! Talk about a head start, honestly. And she’s typing like a maniac. I’m so confused. Entonces, here is my diatribe on why Tucker is a soft boy, Sam is everyone’s sexual awakening and Danny needs to do his homework. Tucker, my dear, your backwards hat, the slightly skinny/baggy jeans with ankle boots reeks of classic softboy syndrome. The confidence and swagger ooze of I don’t know what. This is starting to sound like an insult (?) and I don’t want it to be. Obviously, we love Tucker. A true king. His glasses are a time. Samantha Sampson had f lawless makeup at the age of 15 and, because “Danny Phantom” is def early 2000s, this fact is a work of nature. Or talented animators. However you want to think about it. Personally, I like the whole talented animator situation. I just like to appreciate the “behind-thescenes” thing. But anyways, her talents as a young artist probably indicate the work of a 2005-era YouTube star ready to go and live her life. Anyways, good makeup is the beginning of every successful relationship. Her coordinated outfits (purple and black!) exude the vibe of a girl quite clearly pulling off “Clueless” era fashion in a low-rise jean world. Further, not only does she embody the confident cool-girl attitude we all want, she’s rich!! I can quote “Danny Phantom” and it concerns me so much. Why do all these shows have social comments — no! I’m so confused. Anyways, back to Danny. Danny man. High school is not going to last forever. You will have to go to college and if you’re always off fighting ghosts your grades will slip. Spiderman was a kid genius and you seem like you barely have basic algebra skills. Anyways that’s why you gotta do your homework. But we still love Danny and Sam and Tucker. “Danny Phantom,” you have my heart. You have our hearts. Mood for 2019: “Hmm. Why do I feel like I’m so special and cute? Oh right! Because I am.”

Oh my god. That’s all I have to say. Who thought of this concept. A boy ghost? Why is that so goddamn attractive? An alarming amount of women my age agree that Danny Phantom is at least somewhat of a snack — honestly it’s enough to warrant a psychological study. THIS THEME SONG SLAPS. Damn, where’s the Grammy? You’re telling me Cardi B won a Grammy before the writer of the “Danny Phantom” theme song? Why was the Fenton house — oh my god I get it phantom — FENTON. Anyway. The show must go on. Quote: “These moms are all so thick, I feel like they are too thick for white women.” This was not spoken in “Danny Phantom.” This was spoken by Baked. I think she’s doing very well. Lay some respect on Elastigirl though. Some character analysis for you: Sam is so emo, honestly mood. Me too girl dont worry, you’ll get there one day. Tucker is the guy in your philosophy class that’s like “well I would love to get to know Kant on a personal level.” I just know he would raise his hand in class to play devil’s advocate in an abortion discussion. Some appreciation for the background characters: That lunch lady is a straight savage, 10/10 would stan. I’m so proud of her — making a living for your family while stealing from the bourgeoisie. Seize the sandwiches, seize the means, my comrade. I’m beginning to think perhaps “The Incredibles” was a ripoff of “Danny Phantom.” Or was it the other way around? Oh wow they came out around the same time. What was with 2004 and having large chunky men married to woman with a big ass and snatched waist? Sorry to kinkshame you 2004, but you did give us Facebook which has become a bit of a problem.

Let’s get this out of the way: I have made a career out of being bored at parties. As a person who doesn’t drink that much, reaches Fox Mulder levels of paranoia while high and is too student-poor for anything better, I am more than used to chilling in the corner as my friends get progressively more wasted. I usually clock out at around 12:45 a.m. at any given party, as the voyeuristic fun of being nearly sober ends and people start to dance in basements. So, when I volunteered to be the “Bored” component of this “Danny Phantom” revival of Baked, Buzzed, Bored, it was a calling that I had only expected would come. Unsurprisingly, I was, ahem, bored. Despite this, our trip down memory lane was eventful, to say the least. As we flicked on Buzzed’s apartment TV and people settled into her couch, I was returned to my childhood immediately. My mom wouldn’t let me and my siblings watch Nickelodeon because it was “crass,” so much of my cartoon viewing was covert, including that of “Danny Phantom.” I used to watch the show ONLY when my babysitter was over, and it began a forbidden love story for the ages. As the theme song began, I was instantly taken back to those days. Almost like a call to action, the first notes of the episode rang out, and my mouth opened in a primal response: “Danny Phantom!” Before we even decided to watch this for the Nostalgia B-Side, Baked, Buzzed and I have been members of a group chat titled “would fuck danny phantom.” Needless to say, our friend Danny was a mutual sexual awakening that can only be rivaled by teenage Simba in “The Lion King.” That platinum hair that pre-dated even Zac Efron’s foray into bleach? Revolutionary. That black ghost-suit and piercing blue eyes? Iconic. Learning that Danny is supposed to be 14 years old in the series made me feel a little creepy for acknowledging his undeniable allure, but I stand by my point. At 8, he was the height of boyish charm, a fact that we can all settle on.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Thursday, February 21, 2019 — 5A

Amid struggles, Hutchins challenges upperclassmen to right the ship AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA Daily Sports Writer

Coach Carol Hutchins tells each freshman the same thing when they set foot on campus. “Leave the program better than you found it.” When the current upperclassmen first arrived in Ann Arbor, there wasn’t much to improve. Michigan had consistently been ranked in the top-10 and was graced by the presence of 2016 National Player of the Year Sierra Romero. It’s been three years now since Romero graduated — the program has struggled to reach such heights since. And Hutchins thinks it’s incumbent on the upperclassmen to help bridge that gap. Junior Madison Uden is one of those upperclassmen Hutchins thought she’d be able to count on. After a breakout year when she was second in batting average for the Wolverines, the third baseman was primed to lead the team both on and off

the field. As one of the team’s captains, Uden started the first weekend in the heart of the lineup, batting somewhere between third and fifth. Expected to drive in runs and be one of the anchors on the offensive side of the ball, Uden has done the exact opposite. Across nine games, Uden has had a lackluster hitting performance, going 4-for-21 with one run-batted-in and no extra-base hits — giving her a spot in the dugout instead of the lineup. But Uden isn’t the only upperclassman in a slump. “To be honest, we’re all kind of struggling,” said senior second baseman Faith Canfield. “But let me tell you, (Uden’s) supporting the team the way she needs to be. She’s all in, the way she needs to be even if she’s not starting.” Canfield, who led the team in batting average and doubles last season, is yet to have an extrabase hit this season. On top of that, senior outfielder Natalie Peters is a mundane 5-for-22

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Junior infielder Madison Uden is being counted on this season both on the field and as an upperclassman leader.

in the box while senior first baseman Alex Sobczak has hit her way out of the starting first base position, batting .125 in five games. “You know you have to rely on the experience of your upperclassmen because the underclassmen have to learn how to handle this pace and intensity of the game,” Hutchins said. “I’d like a little more certainty from our upperclassmen. They know not only what this field battle is about but they understand how to play at this level. “We need them to walk on the field every day, and I’d like everybody on our team to walk on the field, with authority and we’ve been a little uncertain and it shows.” The lack of veteran leadership isn’t just limited to the hitting positions, however. Sophomore left-hander — and most experienced pitcher — Meghan Beaubien has had her fair share of struggles as well. After bursting onto the collegiate scene with an earned run average of 1.16, an atrocious performance in Chapel Hill this past weekend has her ERA at a 3.00 with only one win on the year. One veteran, however, that has been piling up the box score is senior catcher Katie Alexander. After just five home runs in her junior season, Alexander has three thus far. More importantly, Alexander is molding into the leader Hutchins wants to see out of her experienced players. “On the field, (Alexander) is a beast,” Hutchins said. “She’s been in a stalwart for us, I’ve been really pleased. I really liked her best probably this past Sunday because she was mad. “She’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. She’s a great teammate, her teammates love her. She’s a nice kid. But on the field, she wants to beat you. And that’s the kind of kid I want

on the field.” Right now, Michigan has no reason to panic. There are at least 47 games – if not more –

for the team to turn it around. The veterans know that. And if there’s any chance for the leaders of this team to leave the

Classifieds

program better than they found it, they all know it’s going to start with them. Time is ticking.

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

Release Date: Thursday, February 21, 2019

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

SUMMER EMPLOYMENT

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 ’90s-’00s Olympic soccer notable 5 Literary captain 9 Leaks slowly 14 Burn soother 15 Zippo 16 Computer text code 17 They’re not loyal 18 Unyielding 20 Golfing group 22 Base for money 23 Swallowed 24 “Harry Potter” reporter __ Skeeter 25 Not much 27 Anthem contraction 29 Blue, on the Danube 31 Noir hero 32 Lose oomph 34 Movie SFX 35 Purim heroine 39 Centers of attention 40 What unfixed malfunctions usually do 42 Flight-related prefix 43 “Burnt” color 45 Coastal bird 46 Sound of an angry exit 47 LSU conference 48 Chicago-style pizza chain, informally 50 Education org. 51 Started, as a conversation 55 Car dealer’s abbr. 57 Acct. that may be rolled over 58 Half a numbers game 59 Seattle pro 62 Going back, in a way 65 Arch type 66 Often harmful bacteria 67 Basmati, for one 68 “What, will these hands __ be clean?”: Lady Macbeth 69 Thick 70 “Futurama” creator Groening

71 “Baseball Tonight” channel

DOWN 1 Roxie __, “Chicago” role 2 “There oughta be __” 3 Grand Prix, for one 4 Soccer superstar Lionel 5 Edible elephant, say 6 Fabled also-ran 7 Hubbub 8 Xhosa’s language group 9 French holy women 10 Bilingual subj. 11 Grand display 12 Mary-in-mourning sculpture 13 Agreed (with) 19 Skillet dish with ham and peppers 21 Wagering shorthand 25 Supercharge, and a hint to what’s literally hiding in the four longest Down answers

26 Take the role of 27 Does in 28 Morlock victims 30 Memorable time 33 Infomercial brand 36 FAQ spots 37 Q.E.D. word 38 Type of tomato 41 Spigoted server 44 Suit go-with 49 Fed. benefits agency 51 Located

52 Jiffy 53 Hispanic penguin in “Happy Feet” 54 Render harmless 56 Lake Geneva river 59 Religious offshoot 60 Bawl 61 “Ol’ Man River” composer 63 Raised trains 64 Through

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02/21/19

The keys to Wolverines’ win streak Bakich points to depth as key to Michigan baseball’s early success TEDDY GUTKIN Daily Sports Writer

It’s hard to believe that, just four short weeks ago, the Michigan women’s basketball team suffered a loss to Michigan State that put its tournament hopes on life support. Just two weeks later, freshman point guard Amy Dilk went down with an ankle injury, and the Wolverines’ slim odds became even slimmer on paper. But, just as they have shown time and time again this season, Michigan has found a way to win. On the heels of six straight victories, the Wolverines finds themselves in the mix of the Big Ten and the NCAA Tournament picture. While senior forward Hallie Thome grabbed headlines on Sunday after scoring the 2,000th point of her Michigan career, junior forward Kayla Robbins was the night’s true star. The sophomore forward scored a career-high 15 points and hauled in five rebounds in just thirteen minutes of action against Illinois. “We knew it was a matter of

time,” head coach Kim Barnes Arico said in an interview with MGoBlueTV. “She’s been a difference-maker for us.” Robbins’ performance is just one of the many examples of different Wolverines stepping up on a nightly basis. After the win against the Illini, Barnes Arico called the victory “an incredible team effort.” While this was evident in Sunday’s triumph, it’s a quote that could truly be pulled from just about any game that the team has played over its recent hot streak. Despite being hampered by injuries and by fielding an extremely young roster, every player has recognized their role and filled it perfectly. Perhaps the two players shouldering the biggest load are junior forward Akienreh Johnson and senior forward Nicole Munger, who have split the team’s point guard reps since Dilk was sidelined. The two have helped the offense play efficient and, more importantly, relatively turnover-free basketball. While the team has

improved drastically over the course of the season, it feels as if it is continuing to make progress every game. Especially with a young group, more game experience has sharpened the play of young stars like freshman forward Naz Hillmon. Sophomore guard Deja Church has improved drastically on drives to the rim as well as on the defensive end, and Johnson and Robbins have contributed too, making tremendous strides in their recent extended action. Elsewhere, the veteran leadership of Munger and Thome have helped to stabilize the offense as well as helping to guide the team through the Big Ten gauntlet that they have become all too familiar with over the course of their four years with the program. Simply put, this is a team that’s getting hot at the perfect time, and Barnes Arico believes that, once healthy, the best is yet to come for her squad. “One of the exciting things about our team is that we’re continuing to get better,” she said.

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Junior guard Akienreh Johnson split the point guard reps with Nicole Munger after Amy Dilk went down with an injury.

AVI RAJENDRA-NICOLUCCI Daily Sports Writer

With a runner on third, the Michigan baseball team was deadlocked with Binghamton 4-4 in the eighth inning. That didn’t last long. Sophomore shortstop Jack Blomgren took the pitch and smashed a single up the middle to send senior infielder Blake Nelson home — giving his team the lead for good. The Wolverines swept their opening weekend series against Binghamton and the unlikely heroes were in the bottom of their lineup. “The guy (Blomgren) statistically who had the best weekend hit in our nine hole,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “That’s just a credit to the really good hitters that we have on our team. What’s nice is that if somebody doesn’t have a great day then he can be picked up by

someone else.” Blomgren is part of a talented sophomore class that is expected to carry the load for Michigan this season. Bakich and his coaching staff seem to have found the right combination of players in their lineup as compared to a year ago which was overly reliant on the top of the batting order. “In our 5-4 win (over Binghamton) on Saturday, I think the top of our lineup was like 0-for-15 and the bottom of our lineup carried us,” Bakich said. “But the day before, in the 10-0 win, the top of our lineup had a great day and guys were smashing the ball all over the place. So it’s nice to have that balance, it’s nice to have multiple threats in the top, in the middle and in the bottom of the order. From a coaching standpoint, that’s the lineup we try to construct as you enter a season.” In order for Michigan to be consistent this season, their role

players will need to be prepared to step up. Nelson also was instrumental in the second win, going 2-for-4 with two runs-batted-in from the eighth spot. In the Wolverines’ first win, Blomgren shined again, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs while sophomore catcher Joe Donovan contributed with two hits and three RBIs at the seven spot. For a team whose weakness last year was hitting, the early games are promising as Michigan has scored 27 runs in just three games. “Yeah it’s an older lineup, there’s not a freshman in the starting lineup and what we have is we have balance,” Bakich said. “We have one through nine guys that are threats either with their speed, their power, or with just their general hitting ability. When you have a veteran lineup like that, it’s tough to pitch to and there’s no let-up.”

RUCHITA IYER/Daily

Sophomore shortstop Jack Blomgren had the best statistical weekend of anyone, batting out of the ninth spot.

b-side

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B-SIDE SECONDARY

MADELEINE VIRGINIA GANNON / DAILY

Inheriting the Wolverine name across generations MADELEINE GANNON Daily Arts Writer

On the day George G. Gannon got married, he didn’t wear a wedding ring. Instead, he simply turned his University class of 1952 ring around on his finger; silver band on the outside, ostentatious blue sapphire facing the palm. Real classy, grandpa. But then again, as a newly minted Wolverine myself, such an incident is rather unsurprising. School spirit has always been the University of Michigan’s most prized commodity. Or, at least that’s the excuse my grandfather used to defend his slightly unconventional tastes. We — the students of the 21st century — might instead chalk that up to “The Michigan Difference” in all it’s beautiful simplicity. Leave it to a Michigan Wolverine to forgo a ring on their wedding day in favor of their class ring. What romantics we Wolverines are. As a child, I can still vividly remember holding my grandfather’s wrinkled, soft hand in my small, chubby fingers. And oh, how I loved to play with his class ring. I would roll the ring round and round his finger, and peer into that sapphire, imagining that I could fall right into it’s blue, mysterious depths. I know every facet carved into the stone as well as I know the words to John Denver’s “Country Roads” or the menu at Ann Arbor’s local coffee haunt, Espresso Royale. Back then, his hands seemed so big and strong, despite being

weathered with age. Even now, though his hands are no longer as steady, warmth and reassurance still oozes from his grip. When I take his hand in mine, strolling down our familiar and beaten Brooklyn paths, the world stops turning for a few restful moments. Two partners in crime, nothing was beyond us. Whether it was ice cream with dulce de leche sauce for breakfast or giggling incessantly in the back rows of church (during mass, to my mother’s horror), trouble was our shared manifesto. A selfproclaimed “tough guy,” I had him wrapped around my little, chubby fingers. Thick as thieves as we were — and still are — it should have been no surprise to anyone that the University of Michigan is where I would find myself a second home. Where I went, my jiddee – my grandfather – would always follow. And I always thought I knew my grandfather well. Among my family, I’ve always been incredibly close to him. From confiding in him about failed tests, discussing the complexities of literature and film or even gossiping about boys (George Gannon’s pro-date tip is to grab some “soda-pop” or a malt at the local diner), nothing was ever a secret between us. Even the things left unspoken, we still understood. As my grandfather grew older, his health declined. Conversations cut short with excuses of exhaustion, and a softly exhaled “I’m fine” never truly

deceived me of my grandfather’s difficulties. I implicitly understood everything looming behind the silence. Now, the years separate us, and so, too, does a new, unfamiliar distance gape between us. Yet, since stepping foot in Ann Arbor, I feel that I have never understood my grandfather more. I have never felt closer to him than I do now. As I walk along the streets of Ann Arbor, with its the pothole littered streets and lamp-lit sidewalks, everything is strangely familiar. As I lay on the lawn of the Diag during Michigan’s half-hearted attempt at spring or fall, or as I plod heavy-footed along snow banked paths, I feel torn between a thousand different moments, a million different lifetimes. Every day, I wake up blearyeyed in a dark dorm room. The sun not yet risen from winter’s darkness; the room muggy and hot from a heater on full blast. Every day, I trod, unbalanced, down the hall to the bathroom. Every day, I ungracefully pull on layers on layers to bundle against the warmth. Sometimes, I stop, and I think. I think, for a brief moment, of my grandfather. I think of how he once lived in the very same dorm as I did, all those years ago. I sit, and I wonder: Did we have similar morning routines? Stumbling from his bed, pulling on his shirt backwards, hair sticking up awkwardly like my own curly mane? I did inherit my dark curls, bushy and thick, from him and my ancestors from

B-SIDE: BOOK REVIEW

FILE PHOTO / DAILY

Ann Arbor is a town for those that love to read SARAH SALMAN Daily Arts Writer

The sign, “Ann Arbor: A Book Lover’s Town,” is located on the corner of N. University and State St., right across the street from Walgreens. After pointing out the sign to a number of people in the course of the past week and a half, I realized that it hides: In its inert position and monochromic color scheme, “Ann Arbor: A Booklover’s Town” remains tucked away from prying, curious eyes. I picture students and workers hurrying past, their heads down, focused on their phones

or their Airpods in, lost in Ariana Grande’s “NASA.” It’s an iterance of go, go, go. There’s not enough time to stop and observe. It makes sense. After all, they’re not tourists. I remember standing right in front of that sign, donned in a charcoal coat, a polka-dotted blouse and red lipstick. My coat, which had once served me well for my 37-second trek from my Honda Accord to my high school in Nebraska, didn’t fare well in the Michigan winter. I was f lanked by my parents and siblings, with my mother urging, impatient and cold, to go inside and eat. “Yallah, Sarah. Yallah,” she

called out, holding the door to Mama Satto’s half open. “We’re hungry.” I had just enough time to read the last line: Borders is opening on Main Street. Next to it, a shot from 2011, when Borders closed, bittersweet. I snapped a picture, my nails chipped and fingers bit by the cold, collecting quirky pictures of the University and Ann Arbor like they were rare Pokémon cards. In my arsenal, I had more than 20 pictures of the Law Quad, including a scribble of stick figures on the edge of the wall — aesthetic, I thought — and, of course, the quintessential photographs in the entry of Nickels Arcade

Thursday, February 21, 2019 — 5B

Lebanon. Did he slink down the hallway at the crack of dawn and blanket himself in coarse layers to protect against the cold? Sometimes, I can almost see him walking beside me. I’ll sling my leather messenger bag over my shoulder, careen out the door in a bundle of scarves and sweaters and flying papers — and there he is, walking beside me. An ever-changing collage of old photos, my mind sloppily piecing together an indecisive image of my grandfather in his college days. Often, I am too sleep-deprived and frantic in my rush to class to acknowledge this ghost that walks with me. But together, on sleepy mornings, we walk into the cold together. And with a gush of February wind, he’s gone again. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, I work the morning caffeine rush at Bert’s. I’m always all-smiles, sing-song small talk and an array of selfdeprecating jokes about exams and the cold. The café, always busy, is a buzz of warm chatter, pierced by the shrill cry of the espresso machine, the smell of roasting coffee hanging heavy in the air. As I bustle to and fro, mopping, scooping, dashing, chatting, I think. I think, again, of my grandfather. I think of how he worked, too, in college. I think of how he grew up scurrying around the family grocery as a child in Detroit; I think of how he worked as a chef for a sorority on campus, making ends meet with the same brand of hustle and bustle I do three mornings a week. I wonder if he joked with coworkers and gossiped in between customer orders, like I do. I wonder if he turned some of the famous Gannon charm on some of the girls he served — just like I throw in a playful wink to passerbys, or jokingly write my number on the rim of a coffee cup when friends float by. Sometimes, as I lean against the counter, hands braced behind me and huffing oh-soslightly from my endless stream of small-talk, I see him there with me. We slyly nudge our hats off our heads, combing fingers through our hair in an effort to revive flattened curls — Gannons have never been hat people. Of course, in lieu of a gray T-shirt and baseball cap, my familiar ghost wears a more 1950s characteristic button down, and trousers belted at the waist, with what my mind fancies to be a funny-looking paper-boat hat. Then, the peace is broken by a new wave of customers. The line seemingly without end, like a cruel, impossible bonus-level of a video game. I’ll whip my cap back on with a wince and quick

prayer for my hair, and step up to plate at the register — my ghost disappears. On Wednesdays, I go out dancing — swing dancing, to be precise. Dancing around the ballrooms in the Michigan League, spinning on the balls of my feet and kicking up my skirts, it’s as if I’ve fallen through time. From the vintage fashion proudly shown off by fellow dancers and the classic jazzy tunes of the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s to the old-fashioned wood floors and panelling of the ballroom, the evening is suspended between eras. As I stumble though my swing-outs in a botched version of the Lindy Hop, I think of my grandfather. I think of how he, too, used to dance swing on campus — maybe even in the very same ballrooms. I think of how he’d frugally save his pocket money — just enough for a date, he always tells me, just enough to take a nice girl out for the night. I think of how he might have come dancing, weary and tired from hours of classes and work; I wonder if he felt the same burst of energy, the same jittery excitement to dance when the music starts to play as I do. Yes, he would have. He still does, even though his knees no longer let him join the dancing fray. My grandfather has always loved music with all his heart. I imagine that just like me he would have been content to never let his feet leave the dance floor. Some things are different, of course. Back then, I imagine, they might’ve had a band playing through the night, rather than Spotify hooked up to speakers. I imagine students might have dressed up for the night out; I imagine that going out dancing was the big night of the week. I think of how I might have fit in well, with that crowd from the ’50s, as I dance away my Wednesday night in well-loved, second-hand red heels and a bright orange flouncy skirt. Sometimes, I imagine that it’s my grandfather I’m dancing with instead. I close my eyes, and for a moment 2019 slips away — the music and the movement takes over. Together, we dance for a moment in a timeless bubble, neither in my time, nor in his. He always said he wanted to teach me to dance. I imagine that it’s my grandfather coaching me though the fast kicks of the Charleston. We may never be able to dance together in real life, but I can have this moment. Later, as midnight closes in, I’ll triple-step my way across the softly illuminated diag. I’ll dance playfully, teasingly around the block M. I’ll tip-toe across the stone benches, swing along the steps of Hatcher, and twirl my

way past Angell. I revel in the intimacy of the night. This dark, unknown world after sunset that seemingly only I know — here, I dance across more than a century of precious dreams gifted by The Sandman. In the quiet of the evening, I hear the buzz of activity of students from years — from eras — gone by. Lover’s embrace under the engineering arch, friends scurry from the library, dancers, like me, blissfully straggle home. This moonlight world is the collision of timelines. The entirety of campus, of Ann Arbor itself, is steeped in nostalgia. The city is practically dripping in memories — good, bad, beautiful and ugly. It is easy to reminiscence when gazing at the block M, sitting in the Michigan Theater, or walking through the Michigan League. But the truth is, these memories are everywhere. One only has to slip beneath the thinly veiled surface to find these carefully nurtured moments and lifetimes. Thousands of students before us have walked along our campus. Thousands have filtered through these very same halls, trudged stubbornly through snow-storms, and dragged themselves through exam seasons. Just because they leave does not mean their presence is no longer felt. Rather, I imagine that within the very foundations of the University lie the experiences of these travellers who have passed through and beyond Michigan’s walls. I often reach into this veil, beyond the demanding excitement of the everyday to the depths of the past. It’s true that one should not dwell too long on what has happened, and instead look to the future, but for me, it has provided comfort. My grandfather, who I love unconditionally, is now more than that — more than a “grandfather.” As silly and obvious as it may seem, he is also a person, one who I finally have had the pleasure to become acquainted with. By accessing the well of memories held within the heart of the University and its campus, I have come to understand and identify with my grandfather, George G. Gannon, so much more. I have come to understand, as cliche as it is, what it means to be a Wolverine. Now, when my byline prints “Madeleine Virginia Gannon,” I bring those memories — that nostalgia — with me. I invoke the memory of my grandfather, of the Gannon name, in every article I write. I add to this collection of memories with every morning I wake up to the Ann Arbor sunrise, and every night I fall asleep to that clear and bright Michigan moon.

and under the sign of the State Theater, “Howl’s Moving Castle.” If I wasn’t already endeared enough to Ann Arbor, “Howl’s Moving Castle” was that final proverbial brick. Ann Arbor’s history with books was just the cherry on top. It’s true — in my college search, outside of Niche and U.S. News & World Report, I’ve spent an embarrassingly long time looking at websites that ranked the best college libraries. The Michigan Law Library appeared every time, and I added an asterisk beside the University of Michigan to signal its edge. I was rearranging the photos in my head, planning which ones to post or make into a collage on Instagram (this was the time before Instagram had the option to add multiple pictures at once). I knew what I was going to say, my college hopping coming to a close: I’m ready to be a Michigan Wolverine. Flash-forward four years and Ann Arbor is like a revolving door with books: Each year it seemed as if another one would exit, and in its place, something else will arrive. Infatuated with the crinkly feel of used books and the dusty, dreamlike atmosphere

of bookshops, I had coaxed my friend Katherine the year before, another bibliophile, to go bookstore hopping with me. “It would be like an exploration of Ann Arbor itself!” I enthused. I wrote a list of all the book-stores in the area, including a few unconventional ones like Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea

space. And no book-voyage is complete without a trip to Dawn Treader — Its outside book-display is a staple in my memories of Michigan and Ann Arbor. When I ventured to Aunt Agatha’s the next fall in a quest to find Christie’s “ABC Murders,” however, I was shocked to find that the store was permanently closed. It was a signal of the everchanging landscape of Ann Arbor and books, paving the space for something new. The very first sentence from the sign on the corner of N. University and State St. reads: “Ann Arborites have always bought books, borrowed books and had private libraries.” And even with the heavy loss of a bookstore. Whether the Ann Arbor Library Association in 1838, Borders in 2011 or Aunt Agatha’s in 2018, Ann Arbor has always had and always will continue to have a dedicated relationship with books. Even though the bookstores may leave, the books stay. Now, almost exactly four years later, I’m snapping the same photo. And despite my new winter coat and new life experiences elbow-deep into college, my relationship with books has remained.

I was rearranging the photos in my head, planning which ones to post or make into a collage on Instagram (this was the time before Instagram had the option to add multiple pictures at once). I knew what I was going to say, my college hopping coming to a close: I’m ready to be a Michigan Wolverine.

Room, Vault of Midnight, Aunt Agatha and even the Ann Arbor public library. I was amazed at the specificity of books, and how so many of my favorite things — coffee, books and cats — could exist in the same

Sports

6A — Thursday, February 21, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Pastujov reflects on growth this year Improvement on free throws spurs Wolverines down the stretch JORGE CAZARES Daily Sports Writer

ARIA GERSON

Daily Sports Writer

With the clock running down and Maryland facing a 10-point deficit, Anthony Cowan grabbed Zavier Simpson. The whistle blew. Cowan was playing hacka-Simpson, assuming that the junior guard — a notoriously poor free-throw shooter — would miss, giving the Terrapins an extra possession. But Simpson no longer fits his reputation. In Big Ten play, Simpson has hit 22-of-28 from the charity stripe — a 76 percent clip. And against Maryland, he continued the trend, sinking both free throws to extend the Michigan men’s basketball team’s lead. Cowan didn’t try his luck again. “It’s a long way from last year, where it was hard for him to find the bucket and the freethrow line,” said sophomore forward Isaiah Livers. “Now he’s one of our late-game — I think everybody — nobody minds Zavier getting the ball.” It goes beyond just Simpson. Redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews and junior center Jon Teske — 58 and 57 percent

shooters in their careers, respectively — are both up to 63 percent in conference play. Teske, Matthews and Simpson are the Wolverines’ three best defenders as well — making them vital to have on the court down the stretch. But in prior months, Michigan coach John Beilein faced the choice of removing them and losing their defense or keeping them and giving opponents the opportunity to take advantage. In that sense, the teamwide improvement has paid dividends in more ways than one. *** Last season — in which the Wolverines shot just 66 percent — proved by far the worst freethrow shooting team in Beilein’s tenure. Because of that, Beilein decided from the beginning that foul shots needed a renewed focus. “We’re practicing it more,” Beilein said at the team’s media day on Oct. 22. “It’s been a thing that we’ve taken for granted because we had so many good foul shooters that we didn’t practice it as much. We probably practice it 500 percent more knowing that they need to do that.” Players who miss from the stripe during games — from key members of the rotation to walk-

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily

Zavier Simpson has shot 76 percent from the free-throw line in Big Ten play.

ons — stay after practice the next day to shoot 15 to 20 free throws. Beilein has also stressed the mental side of things. He’s introduced the team to meditation and visualization exercises. The night before a game, he instructs players to picture themselves getting to the line and draining the shot so that during the actual thing, they’ll have the confidence to actually make it happen. These new practices, along with more experience, have paid off. Michigan is shooting 75 percent from the stripe in Big Ten play. “A lot of hard work has really helped with it,” Beilein said. “When you get on the big stage and you’ve gotta make those free throws and you’re all alone out there, you sorta get used to it.” That’s certainly been true of Simpson. Early on in the season, he wouldn’t indulge reporters’ questions about his foul shooting, viewing them as slights to his ability. But with his numbers now, the only inquiries he has to face are about his improvement — and about how his free throws have helped down the stretch, not hurt. “I feel like it was all mental,” Simpson said after the game against the Terrapins. “ … Not being a great free throw shooter last year, you can capitalize your weaknesses and that’s what I did. Hopefully, it can continue, but at the same time, I’m gonna keep working.” Last year, teams knew they could foul Michigan at the end of games, daring the Wolverines to make or break the contest from the line. But this year, a more common sight is what happened on Saturday: The opposing team tries, but Michigan calmly sinks each free throw. Then, the dare goes back to the other team: Do they want to risk trying it again? Often, they don’t.

In his third season with the Michigan hockey team, junior forward Nick Pastujov has started piecing together the elements of his game. The Florida-native has put forth career-high numbers in goals and points – notching 10 and 20, respectively, with four games still remaining in the regular season. He began the year with a threegame goal streak and surpassed his previous career high of four goals after just 10 games. Pastujov has quietly put together his most complete season to date. So quietly that Michigan coach Mel Pearson was unaware of his current goalscoring drought – one that dates back to the championship game of the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament. “I hadn’t realized that he hasn’t scored because his play hasn’t diminished,” Pearson said. “He’s continued to play well, and you can play well and not necessarily score goals.” After recording just one and four goals, respectively, in his first two seasons with the Wolverines, his 10 goals through 30 games may have come as a surprise to some. But for Pastujov, it is a part of his

game that he felt was previously there. “Well before I came to Michigan I kind of was producing a lot with Team USA,” Pastujov said. “I think through two shoulder surgeries and becoming a freshman that kind of knocked my confidence back and that’s when kind of the production stopped. But then kind of getting back to how I felt like before, like feeling confident again, I think in those first two years I really got a chance to round out my defensive game.” His goal drought may have gone unnoticed because of the other things Pastujov does on the ice. Whether it’s clogging up the area in front of the net or showing off the defensive skills he developed over his first two seasons, they are all pieces of his game that are coming together. But that goal production could easily be much higher, too. In the first period against Penn State on Jan. 26, Pastujov had three shot attempts strike iron and one later in the game for good measure. Add in a couple unfortunate bounces in Minneapolis against the Golden Gophers on plays that prevented Pastujov from scoring — including a point-blank open net miss in the 4-3 loss and a game in which he set his season-high with seven

shots — and you’d be looking at Michigan’s leader in goals. It is a hypothetical scenario but all just to say that the scoring opportunities are still coming for Pastujov. Through the first half of the season, the goals followed. But now, despite the number in the goal scoring column staying stagnant, his play and the play of those around him has not. “He’s making players around him better,” Pearson said. “And that’s the thing that he’s done even though he’s not scoring. He’s making good plays for the guys who are scoring, whether it’s (Jack) Becker or (Will) Lockwood or whoever he may be with.” Lockwood, Pastujov and Becker have been on a line together since the series at Columbus on Jan. 11. Since then, Lockwood has recorded eight goals in those last nine games — perhaps a testament to the elevated play of Pastujov. And though the goals are not coming for Becker, aside from the pair he had against Michigan State on Feb. 8, he is fourth on the team with 84 shots behind Lockwood, junior Jake Slaker and Pastujov, meaning that the opportunities are coming for the linemates. For Pastujov, though, even now that the goals are finally coming in his third season, it is about more than finding the back of the net.

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Junior forward Nick Pastujov has put forth career-highs in goals and points, with 10 and 20, respectively.

Brienne Minor is ready for her final chapter Twenty months removed from a national title, Minor is fighting through prior injury struggles to cap off a storied career MAX MARCOVITCH Managing Sports Editor

Donning a gray sweatsuit, Brienne Minor stood draped over a railing next to the court and watched. There was the occasional cheer, a passing conversation here, a word of encouragement there. But mostly, just silence. It was the Michigan Invitational — the final exhibition tune-up for the Michigan women’s tennis team on Jan. 21 — and Minor was sitting out the singles round. Precautionary reasons? “Mhmm. She’s good. She’s fine,” said Michigan coach Ronni Bernstein, tentatively. “… Not overdoing it with her.” It’s been 20 months now since Minor watched a forehand return from Florida’s Belinda Woolcock sail long, flung her racket in the air, clenched her fists and cemented her place in history. The first Michigan woman — and the first Black woman — to win the NCAA singles title. From unseeded fairy tale to national narrative in the blink of an eye. Twenty months since reaching the apex of her sport. Twenty months that might now feel more like 20 years. “I just like kind of, at the end of it, I just couldn’t really believe that it happened,” Minor told The Daily last week. “... I just remember I felt really relaxed that week. I was just having fun, and it was like some of the best tennis I’ve played.” Her rise was chronicled in the New York Times, Washington Post and The Michigan Daily, among others. It’s one of tremendous athletic achievement — a supernova hot streak, a historic week, a generational achievement. It is the centrality of Minor’s story, but it is not the final chapter. Minor, then a sophomore, played in the US Open. She handled droves of media requests and a sudden influx of fame. And she did it all before the age of 20. But, with two years of school left and no desire to tempt professional fate just yet, Minor had to face a question as bewildering as it was simple.

that being said, there’s a little bit to superstition. What next? “Uh, no,” Minor said, “because “I just tried to let her know that after my procedures the pain still The predicament is inherently more of a mental side to it as well.” That toll manifested itself on the it’s OK, you know,” Yurovsky said. came back in my knees. So I was front-facing, an unnatural vantage point for Minor. The thing to court, where the reigning NCAA “Just because now you have this definitely never physically 100 understand about Brienne Minor Singles Champion went several added pressure, it doesn’t mean percent.” is that, even as she reached the months without winning a singles that it’s not OK to lose here and What about now? pinnacle of her sport, etched her match. And the pressure of that there. It’s just sort of how you’re “Nope, definitely not.” name in the throes of Michigan inescapable pedestal — reigning able to get through it. And I told She will have knee surgery lore, ascended to stardom, it was NCAA Singles Champion — did her that it just takes one or two in the offseason, and perhaps when you get your confidence in a different context — or for a her no favors. never about her. “I was just really sad all the time back.” Nor was it about her when those different athlete — she would get that I couldn’t get it done for my fortunes flipped. Minor considers that the surgery done now. For Minor, team,” Minor said. “Over and over conversation a turning point in her that is not a consideration. *** It was early March 2018 when again.” But Minor details the minutiae senior season. She notched a 6-2, In the midst of that drought, 6-1 win over Iowa’s Zoe Douglas of her injuries and struggles with Brienne Minor dialed the phone. This was not what her junior Minor turned to Yurovsky. The on Mar. 16, her first singles victory an upbeat tone. Were it not for the season was supposed to look like, two have talked frequently since of the year. She then followed it up words coming out of her mouth, it and she knew it. Those around they were teammates in 2016. with three more straight-set wins would seem just as plausible she her had insisted she would emerge During Minor’s improbable run to re-calibrate her season and, was sharing her favorite memories from knee surgery in the summer in 2017, Yurovsky insisted she take perhaps, more than that. from that week in Athens, Ga. of 2017 stronger. But as the pain an ice bath after the first night to Not an ounce of regret. Not a Minor finished the year 11-7 persisted, frustration festered. She minimize wear and tear during the in singles matches, including hint of fear. Just a constant, bright went nearly two months without grueling week. “And Bri hates ice 8-1 in Big Ten action. She also smile. registering a singles win to start baths,” Yurovsky said. “It’s one of was instrumental in helping *** the things she absolutely dreads.” lead the Wolverines to a Big Ten the season. So, here is Brienne Minor, This was far from Minor’s first It became a rite of superstition — Tournament title, just the second 20 months removed from a lifeencounter with knee issues. She reluctantly climbing in the cold in program history. altering achievement, sitting in has battled patellar tendinitis in tub night after night if for no other But her return to winning ways an office, neither effusive of her both knees for much of her playing reason than she’d done it the night served more as a Band-Aid to the past nor daunted by her uncertain career. It has loomed menacingly before. issues still beneath the surface. future. She is not tethered to her But this time around, the Asked whether she felt 100 percent achievements nor unraveled by in the subtext of her career; an injury which demands rest, for an problem was more complex. And at any point last season, Minor any of the misfortune. Just Bri to the answer couldn’t be chalked up does not hesitate. athlete naturally resistant to it. most. Bri-yonce, to some. Minor had Perhaps that’s surgery after the simply a fortune 2017 season and Minor has earned. sat out the fall of Her story comes the 2018 season to with the inherent ensure, she hoped, security blanket a full recovery. of permanence. But when that Minor has promised full accomplished recovery never more in her 21 truly came, unease years on earth grew. than most ever “The pain will; and it’s basic got to a certain human nature point where it — to a degree — was constantly to rest on those on her mind laurels. At least, and constantly that’s how most affecting her would see it. matches,” said Those closest Ronit Yurovsky, a to her would former teammate undoubtedly and now-volunteer resist that kind assistant coach for of egotistical MAX KUANG/Daily the Wolverines. framing. Senior Brienne Minor has prioritized team achievements, like a potential Big Ten title, in her senior season this year. “But I think with “She is very

much herself at all times, which is, on one hand, just so remarkable,” said Mira Rudor-Hook, Minor’s doubles teammate for two seasons. “We all go through phases of just self-doubt — she also had just a lot of expectations on her. And, honestly, I felt like she actually navigated that very, very well. And it also made a massive impact on our team. “We all knew she was coming back from that and we now had a national champion on our team. Day-in, day-out, she’s just so humble, it does massive things to just how we all interact together. I would say I didn’t see a difference, honestly. I would just be like that’s Bri — whether she wins a national title or doesn’t.” What comes of the twilight of Minor’s college career is yet to be seen — and not entirely up to her. She is playing through the pain that remains; and so far, doing so quite capably, posting a 3-0 singles record in the early going of the spring season. She has professional aspirations and, the health of her knees permitting, has the talent reach them. Ask her, though, and she’ll choose to emphasize the importance of her role as a senior leader on a team brimming with potential, currently ranked 13th in the nation. And her goals lie squarely in team success. “I definitely want (the team) to win the Big Ten Tournament and then also go far in NCAAs,” Minor said. “Obviously the goal is to win it, but, you know, baby steps.” “I don’t know, I just want her to enjoy it,” Rudor-Hook added, on her hopes for Minor. “Like to enjoy the girls and the team and to give herself the credit that she deserves to be honest.” For Minor, this senior season rests on striking that balance. She cares about the tangible, and what more can be obtained for herself and her teammates. Perhaps equally important, particularly to those around her, though, is appreciating what’s already there.

Arts

6B — Thursday, February 21, 2019

ARTIST

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

B-SIDE: MUSIC

PROFILE

CARTER FOX / DAILY

COLUMBIA RECORDS

Capturing memories with Call him what you want: ‘The Moth’ in Ann Arbor Springsteen, The Boss EMMA CHANG Senior Arts Editor

What is nostalgia, exactly? Rooted in the past, this feeling of longing can often bombard us when we’re watching old shows (“Kim Possible,” anyone?), flipping through old photos or even just taking a bite of a chicken nugget. In 2016, Scientific American reported on the positive effects of reminiscence, stating that nostalgia “boosted self-continuity by increasing a sense of social connectedness.” In other words, remembering a common past, whether with our family, our friends or a complete stranger, is reassuring — it shows us we weren’t alone in our strange childhood obsessions or moments of vulnerability at any point in time. It makes sense, then, that NPR’s “The Moth” has remained so popular over the last 20 years. Starting in 1997 New York, “The Moth” has captivated audiences at events around the country, drawing all kinds of people together by sharing both stories and intimate experiences. The show should be the poster child for nostalgia — the stories that hit the stage are rife with the feelings and connection that so many of us are missing, especially in today’s digital age. Jennifer Hixson, a senior director at “The Moth” for almost 20 years, discussed this need when she said “it’s just fun to hear something straight from a human being — unfiltered, unmessed with, unedited and just straightforward. Right from a person, I guess that’s it, just human connection.” Hixson speaks from experience: She has worked with “The Moth” since the beginning, producing the beloved “Moth” story slams that its audience has come to know and love. Hixson helps storytellers take their experiences and turn them into entertainment. Nostalgia as a raw emotion is something powerful, but when crafted into a story and weaved throughout other feelings, it becomes a tool for connection and understanding. Instead of simply being a means of entertainment, it becomes a piece of art. When asked about the role of “The Moth” when it comes to spreading these stories, Hixson said, “We certainly provide people with platforms all over the country and I hope that we

have contributed to storytelling being an art form … There have always been stories … but then the thought that wow, it’s kind of an artform and look I can do it. It’s an equal opportunity art form.” Pursuing this equal opportunity art form, though, is still a journey. While storytellers may have an intense experience, they have to learn what details to include and how to end it. So, what actually makes a good story? Hixson emphasized the need for vulnerability within a story when describing its connective nature and how, despite the individuality of each of the stories showcased in “The Moth,” people everywhere can empathize and relate to the storyteller’s experience. What does it say about us that, in order to connect with people, we need to see their weaknesses? Maybe it’s the age of social media and our constant need to compare ourselves to others. But stories have been around for ages, way before Instagram, Twitter and the like. What is it really about stories that makes us keep telling them? In Hixson’s words, “it feels intimate to have someone tell you a story.” Stories are an unedited version of ourselves, oftentimes highlighting some of our lowest moments. The comparisons we make listening to these stories aren’t the same thing as scrolling through post after post after post. Instead, stories become “a really rich way to understand somebody else’s perspective. It’s much easier to picture yourself in someone else’s shoes when you hear the story coming right from them, you see what you have in common. They can take you places.” And take you places they will. On Feb. 19, Ann Arbor hosted its own Moth event and people from all over the city came to watch and enjoy the stories. But we didn’t stay in Ann Arbor, nor did we even stay in the 21st century — the audience traveled from 1997 Paris, following Princess Diana’s death, (almost) all the way to the astral plane and to a Texas lawn on a Sunday morning where wedding rings flew. If you’ve never been to a Moth event, the basic breakdown is ten stories, from ten people (obviously). Each person, in theory, has five minutes to tell their story that in some way or form connects to the night’s theme (ours was flight).

Afterwards, a set of judges (audience volunteers) give scores to each story, with the end goal of crowning a “winner” who will go on to tell their story at a “Grand Slam” with other winners from other events in various areas. Jim McCargar told of his experience riding high in the Goodyear blimp; the stakes weren’t terribly high (unless you count the very real possibility that he wouldn’t get the chance to go up), but his story carried that air of whimsy that we all seem to lose in the midst of midterms, job-hunting and other “life” things. Joanna Courteau recalled her time at the University of Minnesota and a certain lab assistant who got a little too comfortable with a little too many students. She lamented “the wonderful love that might have been” but also recognized her escape from a “seduced and abandoned” fate. Kari Styles, on the other hand, brought us back to Texas, 1991 and a world where a woman’s duty was to have her husband’s baby. A gripping story with the vulnerability and stakes to match, Styles had captured the room and the tension was palpable. Courteau and Styles both told stories of relationships gone awry, but while the first was an endearing tale of her brush with “what might have been” the second story was the gold standard for what it means to take your life back. Seeing what Hixson talked about in person was an unparalleled experience. Not only did I hear hilarious and fascinating stories, but I also received three business cards in one night. If I was there to network, I would have been proud of myself. I talked to all ten storytellers (some more than others) and while each interaction left me a bit more drained than the one before, it was exhilarating to see these people up close and hear more about their life and their stories. Technology is great, but if I hadn’t left my laptop at home or turn my phone off during the event, I never would have learned: 1) Never play hide-and-goseek with demons. 2) There’s more to life than masturbating. So, maybe saying we’re all starved for human connection is cliché, but does that make it any less true?

CARTER FOX / DAILY

Art is steeped in nostalgia. One piece of art can have a million different memories for a million different people. Bruce Springsteen, “The Boss,” may not be the artist you’d expect to see in a student newspaper in 2019, but here he is. Springsteen is a rock ‘n’ roll legend, one that is beloved and cherished — in vastly different ways — by two Daily Arts writers. Bruce Springsteen and the spring of 2011 I’m Black. I’m female. I’m under 40. I have no ties to New Jersey other than an unwavering allegiance to Teresa Guidice, and yet I hold a strong passion for The Boss. As I compose this love letter to my favorite unexpected liberal, I am listening to “Hungry Heart” and being flooded with memories from the spring of 2011. Sixth grade … good times. I already know what you’re thinking: What buffoon listens to the Born in the U.S.A. album, an album explicit in its analysis of the struggles of Vietnam veterans, to be reminded of middle school? Especially when said buffoon did not attend middle school in 1984, but in 2011? The answer is the buffoon whose piece you’re reading, and my justification is Pandora. Although universally clowned now, there was a point in time when Pandora was the premiere music streaming app, and, arguably, an entire subgeneration’s (1997-2000 babies, stand up!) musical sherpa. In fact, I attribute most of the foundations of my current musical tastes to Pandora’s all-knowing algorithm — which may or may not suspect is my guardian angel. How else can you explain being pointed in the direction of testosterone-fueled Springsteen from “Material Girl Radio,” a station overwhelmingly populated by the likes of queer and feminist icons like Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand, Culture Club, Joan Jett and Madonna? Yes, you could make the argument that the algorithm recognized I had an affinity for ’80s music, and aptly suggested one of the biggest albums of the decade. BUT. Wouldn’t it be more fun to imagine a guardian angel working tirelessly to introduce 11-year-old me to the discography of Bruce Springsteen? I cannot remember exactly which Bruce Springsteen song I heard first chronologically, but I can remember the first song that made me stop and take notice of the weird album cover with some man’s tight ass on it: “Working on the Highway.” Again, odd that my gateway song into fandom was not even one of the many singles on Born in the U.S.A. that cracked the Billboard Top Ten, but then again, Bruce and I are not a conventional match — why would we would have a conventional meeting? “Working on the Highway” appealed to me then because it reminded me of summer, specifically the music I would hear on my day-long excursions to Six Flags Over Georgia. It was bright, cheerful, poppy and most importantly, had an overload of synthesizer. I didn’t yet have the language to express that I was a ho for synth-pop, but dear God, was I. It was only a matter of time before I found “Glory Days,” (a song with even more synthesizer), then the remaining singles off the

album, then “Born to Run,” and soon, Bruce had a new fan. My sixth grade summer was still the best time in the universe, and the last spring months of school leading up to it were a close second. The days were longer, field day was on the horizon and by this point, parents and teachers had long-since given up the control they held in September. Also during this time, my club soccer team had practice. So three days a week, my father and I made the long, sun-soaked drive to the complex and the sweaty, grass-scented drive home. In the moment, I hated these drives, but of course, in hindsight, I have to appreciate them for providing me the time to be glued to Pandora and ultimately shaping my musical tastes. Excuse the tired platitude, but I would give anything to go back to our beatup Jeep Cherokee and hear “Hungry Heart” for the first time. That’s the beautiful thing about nostalgia. One song or one artist can completely bring you back to an entirely different time in your life that may not seem significant, but once you open Pandora’s box (pun fully intended), the obscure memories begin pouring in. So thanks, Bruce — not just for refusing to let Republicans use your music — but for the memories of 2011. — Ally Owens, Daily TV Editor I learned more from a threeminute record than I ever learned in school Unlike Ally, I do have ties to New Jersey. No, wait — more than ties. I have a visceral, deep, uncomparable love for New Jersey. The Garden State. The armpit of America. The most disrespected and underrated state in America. My home. I love everything about my state, from the near-death experiences on Route 22 to the fact that it is literally the only state you can order Taylor ham on a bagel and no one even thinks twice about it. I could write a novel on New Jersey — a modern Bible that would easily rival the works of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John in both relevance and notoriety. Instead I will dive into a single gospel, one that honors my God, my muse, my surrogate father: Bruce Springsteen. I did not fall upon Springsteen by chance. In fact, it was the opposite of chance — I couldn’t avoid being a Springsteen fan if I tried. Every car ride with my parents was complemented by Springsteen’s words, overpowered only by my mother’s off-pitch scream-singing of them. I came out of the womb knowing every single word of his discography, my childhood soundtracked by the gruff yet poetic voice of The Boss. There is not a single memory I have of New Jersey that cannot be matched with a Bruce Springsteen song. From Devil’s hockey wins punctuated by the banger-worthy synth of “Glory Days” to beach trips washed in the sunny glow of “Sherry Darling.” I have danced my heart out to “Rosalita” along with a crowd of baby boomers on a Jersey shore rooftop, and I have cried alone to the aching desperation of “Bobby Jean.” My devotion to Bruce has grown alongside me. While as

a child Bruce was an inevitable constant in my life, as an adult he has become a conscious choice. Listening to Bruce brings me back to my roots — to long drives on the parkway, bagel breakfasts in the morning and dance parties in the kitchen with my mom. It would be a disservice to this story to not dedicate a section to my mother, for without her I would not be a Bruce fan. Both my parents were born and raised in Jersey, and yes, my father has his fair share of Bruce clout. But it is my mother whose devotion to her teenage idol has been passed on to me. She’s been to over 10 Bruce Springsteen concerts, some as a rockin’ ’80s chick sneaking out of the house and some as an equally cool suburban mom staying true to her past. My first and only Bruce concert was with my mom in the summer of 2016, a climatic event we had been meaning to do together for years. The show lasted for four and a half hours in the steamy summer sun of New Jersey in August, standing bright and proud above the open air of Metlife Stadium. Bruce wove through the classics and surprised us with some bluesy deep cuts — all fantastic of course, but it was the end of the marathon of a concert that nearly brought me to tears. As soon as Bruce brought out the harmonica, I knew it was happening. I turned to my mom and said the only two words either of us wanted to hear: “Thunder Road.” And “Thunder Road” it was. Bruce ripped into arguably his best song with intensity, but it was unmatched by the ecstacy of my mother and me. If you’ve never listened to “Thunder Road,” first of all, I’m sorry. Second of all, please for the love of Bruce listen to it, and you will feel changed. Just as I thought the night was ending, Bruce decided to slap me across the face. He played “Jersey Girl,” a cover that has stripped Tom Waits of all rights to the original — this is Bruce’s song. As he crooned his love for a Jersey girl, Bruce invited a couple up on stage to slow dance. They proceeded to get engaged as Bruce burst into the final chorus and fireworks shot into the Meadowlands sky. If it feels like I’m vomiting these words up, it’s because I am — this was literally one of the best moments of my life. All at once I saw my past, present and future. I saw myself as a bobbed-hair, wide-eyed child prancing on the Jersey sands to “Dancing in the Dark” with my mom and grandma. I saw myself as a soon-to-be high school senior screaming “Born to Run” on car rides with the friends she might not see again. I saw myself as a bride with a faceless groom, the sweet lyrics of “Jersey Girl” serenading our first dance. I saw myself as a mother, carefully indoctrinating my own daughter with Bruce’s music to continue the cycle. All of this came rushing to me at once, an entire lifetime composed of lyrics and guitar riffs and saxophone solos. I could end this symphony with my own finale, but instead I’ll leave it to The Boss. “What else can we do now? Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair.” — Samantha Della Fera, Senior Arts Editor