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Friday, April 19, 2019

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Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist addresses Kessler Scholar winners

Elected official shares insight to first-generation award recipients at ceremony

BUSINESS

Sophomores in Business discuss early recruitment Students secure summer 2020 internships separate from school on accelerated track CALLIE TEITELBAUM & MADELINE MCLAUGHLIN Daily Staff Reporters

Zachary Goldsmith/Daily Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II speaks on his own education at the Kessler Scholars Banquet in the Michigan League Thursday evening.

ALYSSA MCMURTRY Daily Staff Reporter

Thursday night, about 100 Kessler Scholars gathered to listen to Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II in the Michigan League Ballroom for their annual banquet. The banquet serves as a final celebration of the scholars’ hard work throughout the year. In his address, Gilchrist discussed his path from engineer to politician and the resilience he learned along the way. The Kessler Presidential Scholarship Program was

created by Fred Wilpon and Judy Kessler Wilpon in 2007 for first generation students. Starting in 2017, the program is undergoing an expansion, which includes the addition of a first-year seminar, professional workshops and an enrichment fund to provide aid with tutoring or other minor costs. LSA freshman Lance Schwiderson said the program eased his transition from high school to college. Schwiderson said he did not feel much support from the University of Michigan in navigating academics, and that he would

have been lost without the program’s guidance. “Sometimes I feel like the University at large’s issue is people tell you to do things, but they don’t tell you how to do it,” Schwiderson said. “In regards to all first-generation students, I don’t really feel a connection to that community; I feel more of a connection to the Kessler community.” LSA sophomore Kendra Beaudoin echoed this sentiment, noting that in the wider University community first-generation students are scattered.

“I do a lot of work with firstgens on campus and there’s a huge disconnect between what the University expects from first-gen students and what they think of it and then what first-gen students actually feel,” Beaudoin said. “I know plenty of first-gen students that are on campus and don’t know anybody else but me that’s first-gen.” During Gilchrist’s address, he mentioned how a scholarship is an investment for the future. “Yes, a scholarship is a check that somebody writes,” Gilchrist said. See GILCHRIST, Page 3

While many University of Michigan students are scrambling to secure an internship for the quickly approaching summer, some Business students have already been recruited for the summer of 2020. In an effort to land prestigious internships at top finance and banking firms, many Business sophomores have undergone an accelerated recruiting process for positions, which started winter semester. Official recruitment, consisting of interviews for jobs at banking and finance firms and facilitated by the Business School’s Career Development Office, typically takes place in the fall of junior year. However, many banks have taken the initiative to start recruiting in the winter of students’ sophomore year. And companies have moved formal recruitment interviews off campus, bypassing the Business career center, in order

to expedite their recruitment process. Maria Hayes, industry manager and associate director in the Business Career Development Office, said the Business School does not permit banks to hold on-campus interviews with sophomores. “(Accelerated recruitment) is against our guidelines and our timing,” Hayes said. “Banks come to us and ask if they can host interviews during that time and we tell them no. My guess is that student worked directly with that company to coordinate that interview — they didn’t coordinate it through our office … There are interviews taking place outside of Ross for these students, but that’s something we wouldn’t encourage and we wouldn’t host here.” The Daily reached out to multiple banks and firms for comment on why they participate in early recruitment, but did not receive any responses in time for publication. See RECRUITMENT, Page 3

Multimedia event highlights importance Panel talks ‘U’ coding treatment of individual testimony in refugee crisis team wins CAMPUS LIFE

RESEARCH

of Uighurs in China

Speakers aim to showcase stories of displaced persons within University community

Experts examine ongoing issues of ethnic minority internment, discrimination

More than 80 students gathered in Palmer Commons on Thursday evening for the Michigan Refugee Assistance Program’s third annual capstone event, titled “Record Keeping: The Power of Stories in the Refugee Crisis.” Consisting of a photo exhibit, short film and panel, the event aimed to showcase the stories of refugees in the University of Michigan community and

MARIA SOBRINO Daily Staff Reporter

Since the late months of 2017, news media has increasingly published more information about the detainment of ethnic minority groups in China’s “re-education” camps. These internment camps have been in operation since 2014, and the number and size of the camps have increased dramatically since 2017. Four speakers and a moderator gathered on Thursday evening at the Ford School of Public Policy to participate in a panel titled “The Human Rights Crisis in Xinjiang,” with dozens of students filling the audience of Annenberg Auditorium. The Weiser Diplomacy Center hosted the single-night conference, which aimed to discuss the detainment of Uighur Muslims in East Turkestan. Chinese authorities recognize East Turkestan as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, or XUAR. The detainment of Muslim ethnic minorities in China primarily targets Uighurs, a group that primarily practices Islam and has experience a long history of severe religious and cultural suppression under the Communist Party of China. See UIGHURS, Page 3

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generate discussion about the power of individual testimony in the refugee crisis. For the first portion of the event, attendees were invited to mingle over finger food and view the photo exhibit, which featured the headshots and narratives of six University students and staff. Each blurb had a quote from the individual and information such as their title, year, major, hobbies and information about their immigration process. Among the individuals included was Knight

Wallace Fellow Emilio Gutiérrez Soto, a Mexican journalist who was denied asylum this February after fleeing from Mexico in 2008 following death threats for his reporting on corruption in the Mexican military. In an interview with The Daily, LSA junior Said Al-Jazaeri, one of the students in the exhibit, explained he came to United States from Syria in 2013. Al-Jazaeri expressed it was initially difficult assimilating to a different culture and is still

difficult being away from his family, who he hasn’t seen in six years. “This was a great experience sharing my story for the first time,” Al-Jazaeri said. “It’s important to share my story, as it will help people in the future to learn from my experience… about what refugees and immigrants face when they move to the United States… It’s not always that we want to leave our country, but we are forced to leave sometimes.” See REFUGEES, Page 3

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily LSA sophomore Aumaya Tabbah speaks at the Michigan Refugee Assistance Program’s capstone project “The Power of Stories in the Refugee Crisis” in Palmer Commons Thursday evening.

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INDEX

second in competion

Group competes against 40 teams in Midwestern collegiate tournament ANGELINA LITTLE Daily Staff Reporter

This past weekend, four students from the University of Michigan won second place at the University of Chicago’s Midwest Trading Competition. The students were among 100 competitors across 40 teams selected from universities across the country to participate. Teams developed algorithms to make automatic trading decisions for three different trading cases. The first case focused on uncovering the relationship between prices of assets; the second on making an algorithm that is able to adjust to various market conditions; and the third on managing a portfolio in a hypothetical stock market. Each case was scored according to profits and losses. The University’s team placed second in the third case and second overall in the competition as runner-up to the University of Texas at Austin. The team earned a total of $5,000 in prize money. The event also provided networking opportunities with a number of corporate sponsors of the competition. Four platinum sponsors — Citadel, DRW, IMC and Optiver — hosted unique receptions to get to know competitors. See CODING, Page 3

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

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News

2 — Friday,April 19, 2019

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY: By Design

WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

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Managing Editor Finntan Storer, Public Policy junior, on his story “In-state: A reflection on the U.P., its students and U-M”: “One of my favorite parts was being able to connect with my friend David Alger, who goes to Michigan Tech, who I really hadn’t talked to in a while and really hearing his perspective and digging into what I remember from when we were both applying to college. And then in terms of writing it, just find something you’re passionate about, something that’s highly personal, that really helps to motivate you, and in writing it, you put a lot more into it, I think. So I was really glad I was able to have that opportunity.”

ALEC COHEN/Daily

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“

I’m not completely leaving Michigan — I have a few students, I have a few active grants, so those will continue in some way. But as a graduate of the University, I will always be affiliated, associated with the University. I may be departing from here, but the University will never leave me.”

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Sustainability Forum discusses impact of race and transportation in Ann Arbor City hosts final annual discussion on racial and socioeconomic equity in Washtenaw MICHAEL ZHANG Daily Staff Reporter

Thursday, the city of Ann Arbor and the Ann Arbor District Library held a forum at the library on race and class equity in Washtenaw County as the final event of its annual sustainability series. Approximately 100 students and community members attended the event. Teresa Gillotti, Washtenaw County Office of Community and Economic Development director, emphasized the difficulty of the commute for much of the city’s Black population because of their housing locations. “The African-American population is located primarily on the East side Sudoku Syndication near Ypsilanti, but most of the new jobs being created

are on the West side,” Gillotti said. “Say you live on the East side and want to get to some of the new jobs on the East side but don’t own a car — you would need to spend around an hour one way to get there by bus.” Gillotti then discussed the shortcoming in transportation’s impact in the business sector. “We’re hearing all the time from businesses in Ann Arbor that they can’t find enough workers,” Gillotti said. “We know that there is a divide and that we can’t get the talent where it needs to be.” Additionally, Gillotti touched on the declining number of affordable housing units in the Ann Arbor area. Since 2015, Gillotti said 50 affordable housing units have been added in Ann Arbor, but zero have been added in

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regards to commuting, Wu said there is a need for better public transportation. “I think (the challenges) really show the importance of having a public transportation system that is efficient and on time,” Wu said. “Additionally, it’s We’re hearing all the a really important that we time from businesses also build public transport between Washtenaw in An Arbor that County and Wayne they can’t find County.” Rackham student enough workers. We Amanda Farthing, who know that there is a studies sustainability and divide and that we the environment, said she enjoyed looking at the can’t get the talent main discussion where it needs to be. event’s points through an intersectional lens. “I think it’s really awesome that they post these events that anyone in the community can come to and make all these http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ connections between these really important added since 2000, topics that all tie into sustainability,” Farthing Gillotti said. However, Gillioti said. “I think these issues contrasted these of race, housing, energ y additions by sharing justice and transportation that 800 affordable are all topics that people housing units have talk about separately really been lost in the last often, but having them tied 18 months across the together in this educational forum is really valuable.” county. Farthing said maps LSA sophomore Carolyn Wu said she at the event outlining appreciated the wide where Black residents in diversity of audience Washtenaw County live experiences at the and where the jobs are resonated with her. event. “I’m new to Ann Arbor, so “I really liked the event,” Wu said. “I’m it was nice to see the maps currently working at that they put up for the the Ecolog y Center income distributions and and I think that it’s think about that in relation really cool to see the to people’s daily commutes conversation that to work,” Farthing said. we talk about in the “That was very impactful classrooms be applied and a very real day-to-day to a more community representation of some of setting with a larger the topics that they talk variety of ages and about. That some people, due to where housing is backgrounds.” Ref lecting on the and where jobs are located, challenges facing the are unable to access higher Black community in paying jobs.”

Pittsfield through nonprofit housing developers. Through private developers, 70 affordable housing units have been

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Friday, April 19, 2019 — 3

MICHIGAN ENGINEERING DESIGN EXPO

REFUGEES From Page 1

DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily

Projects on display at the Michigan Engineering Design Expo hosted across North Campus Thursday afternoon.

GILCHRIST From Page 1 “But a scholarship really is to prepare you and position you for a new set of processes.” Gilchrist discussed his background, noting his experience attending the College of Engineering at the University, working for Microsoft and, after creating the first wave of social media networking for the Obama campaign, finding his way into politics.

UIGHUR From Page 1 The most extreme oppression of Uighur Muslims is now taking the form of their detention in internment camps, where members of ethnic minority groups are taken for “extremist” behavior— which, according to Chinese authorities, can include using Islamic greetings or choosing to eat halal. Detainees in these camps include other Muslim minorities in China, such as ethnic Kazakhs. Estimates from various sources suggest that between 800,000 and 2 million people are currently detained in China’s internment camps. Ann Lin, an associate professor of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, moderated the event. Lin began the conference with a brief overview of China’s repression of the Xinjiang region, invoking the United States’ history of its internment of Japanese

RECRUITMENT From Page 1 Business sophomore Bryan Sauer is concentrating in finance and has already secured his internship for the summer of 2020 through off-campus recruitment this semester. Sauer said he spent months reviewing technical accounting questions, problem sets and interview questions, skills he has not been exposed to yet through his academic classes in the Business School. “I started preparing for my interviews right after Christmas because the interview process does have a very large technical portion to it,” Sauer said. “So you have to learn a whole bunch of accounting and finance concepts that they’ll ask you about very in depth in the interview that you haven’t learned yet in class.” Sauer was excited to receive his job offer, but he said the process to get it wasn’t without its difficulties. “It was definitely really overwhelming at first,” Sauer said. “I was kind of mad that (the banks) moved it up on us because that’s six fewer months to prepare for the interviews and get those technical questions down than you would normally have. In the end I kind of liked it because I already have my offer

Gilchrist also encouraged the scholars to remain persistent in the face of failure. He discussed how after his loss in the 2017 election for Detroit city clerk, he initially felt defeated. But he continued forward, eventually becoming lieutenant governor. “My story is one of those that everything in life — the wins you get, the L’s you take — they all prepare you for the next thing in your path,” Gilchrist said. Gilchrist finished his address by reassuring scholars that he sees a potential in all of them to improve both the state of Michigan and the

country as a whole. In an interview with The Daily after the event, LSA senior Mia Choe echoed Gilchrist’s message of scholarship opportunities preparing students for the future. She is a research assistant at Detroit Medical Center and plans to attend medical school. “From freshman year to senior year, I’ve really seen the program evolve, like the mentorship programs and just the different events — it was just nice knowing that I had a community of people who came from a similar situation that I did,” Choe said.

Americans following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. “I start with this piece of history because when we talk about the internment camps of Xinjiang, I think it is important to say that the Chinese government is not the only government that has dealt with fears of terrorism and political unrest by imprisoning its own citizens,” Lin said. Nury Turkel, a former executive director and co-founder of the Uighur Human Rights Project and a Washington, D.C., staff attorney, was the first of the event’s invited guests to speak. Turkel is a selfidentified Uighur American, and spoke on the urgent reality of the human rights crisis in Xinjiang. He described the extensive monitoring by the Chinese state that Uighurs experience, such as being subject to phone checks and data scans and even scans of groceries. “And these are the things that are happening in real time, this is

not a fiction, this is not a dystopian science fiction,” Turkel said, referencing a statement made by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Chinese authorities have stated the camps are means of counterterrorism, meant to address religious extremism in the Xinjiang region. However, multiple speakers at the conference emphasized that incidents of terrorism or separatism (of the XUAR from China) attributed to Uighurs have been almost nonexistent in the past few decades, since China accelerated its intense crackdown on Uighur Muslims. Sean Roberts, one of the speakers at the event, is an associate professor of the Practice of International Affairs and director of the International Development Studies Program at George Washington University with a research focus on the XUAR.

so I know where I’m working in 15 months. So there are pros and cons but it was definitely very overwhelming and not fun at first.” Business sophomore Anthony Coffie II is also in the midst of recruitment while balancing two jobs, 15 credits, participation in the Michigan Interactive Investments club and exploring other extracurricular hobbies. “Tomorrow I’ll be in New York City for an interview,” Coffie said. “And I have assignments due tomorrow … I recognize that it is valuable to learn how to overcome these struggles … I’m trying to keep that in mind.” Coffie said his investment club, Michigan Interactive Investments, significantly prepared him for his recruitment. “It would be a much more difficult process for me had I not been accepted into a club called Michigan Interactive Investments, MII,” Coffie said. “That club has been very finance-focused, very marketsfocused. These are things that, if a student hasn’t been exposed to it prior to college or prior to being in a basic finance course, it would be hard for them to really understand what’s going on and how to apply that to real life situations.” Business senior Scarlett Ong, president of Impact Investing

Group, discussed how student organizations can alleviate stress by offering members a comfortable space to explore their budding career interests. Ong said the culture fostered within a club can be influential in reducing stress brought about from the accelerated recruitment process. “With regards to this whole accelerated (recruitment) process, clubs definitely help students navigate that area,” Ong said. “I think it really depends on the culture that the club is creating and how they are approaching the situation to support students rather than adding more anxiety to the whole accelerated process.” Sauer came to accept the stress of recruitment as part of his daily life — he said the time commitment and demands of networking eventually became routine. “I was taking 18 credits first semester so it (recruitment) was a full workload,” Sauer said. “People say doing that technical prep is a full-time job on top of it because every single moment of free time you have it’s lingering in the back of your mind, ‘I should be doing prep for recruiting right now, I shouldn’t be hanging out with my friends.’” Coffie also mentioned how recruiting often feels as if it stops students from having a more

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RAMISA ROB | COLUMN

America’s Islamophobic war on Ilhan Omar

.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has received boundless accusations of disloyalty to the United States. The first round of fury can be attributed to her pro-Palestinian views, and callous comments on Israel that aligned with certain age-old, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. While Omar should have been watchful of her language, we should note that she has unequivocally apologized and said, “anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of antiSemitic tropes.” But more recently, social media has shifted from antagonizing Omar for antiSemitism to demonizing her with a 20-second snippet of her 20-minute speech about the 9/11 attacks during the Council on American-Islamic Relations banquet on March 23. The speech took place a week after the New Zealand attacks, where Omar made the case for Muslim activism — while many protesters gathered outside and chanted, “Burn the Koran,” “Ilhan Omar go to hell,” and “Shame on you terrorists.” Such outcries are odiously Islamophobic in origin. Islamophobic onslaughts equating Omar with 9/11 bombings found its inception before she even uttered a word regarding the attacks. In early March, on West Virginia GOP Day, a poster of Omar was placed in the statehouse featuring imagery of the 2001 massacre and captioned, “‘Never forget’you said.. I am proof - you have forgotten.” On March 21, prior to her speech at the CAIR banquet, a man from New York called Omar’s office and told her aide that he would “put a bullet in her (expletive) skull.” He was later arrested for threatening to kill Omar. Last Thursday, shallow journalism from the New York Post capitalized on this unsubstantiated outrage by smearing vivid images of this horrific day in American history on an inflammatory cover page — only to vilify Omar. After facing criticism for irresponsible reporting, the editorial board of the New York Post tried to justify their errors by stating, “What’s out of context? She claimed that Muslim civil liberties suffered as a result of the nation’s reaction to 9/11 — even as she completely, intentionally disregarded the grim facts of that day.” The most perturbing element is the willful ignorance that leads educated adults to eschew middle school reading comprehension lessons and misinterpret what Omar meant in her speech. The context for her comments was “a speech about the prejudice against Muslims.” Extracting a phrase out of this context to infer that it’s intentionally ignoring “grim facts” requires interpreting in a far-fetched manner that is optimized to derive offense and stir conflict. To straighten this out, Omar said: “Here’s the truth … Far too long we have lived with the discomfort of being a secondclass citizen. And frankly, I’m tired of it … CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” It was later revealed that she

misspoke about one part: CAIR was founded in 1994. She meant to say it doubled in size after the 9/11 attacks to protect the civil rights of Muslims who were blamed for the violence committed by a small fraction of co-religionists. What is so ideologically objectionable about this clumsy but extemporaneous speech? She does not assert anywhere that 9/11 was not a terrorist attack, nor that the perpetrators were not vile terrorists. Fixating oneself on “some people,” and “something” to purposely diabolize a woman conveys a reprehensible message of baseless rejection for Muslim leaders who expose Islamophobia. Yet, such blowback is unsurprising in a political climate where civil conversations are impossible on account of the large number of these “outrage exhibitionists.”

The U.S. is supposed to be a nation founded on religious liberty On Friday, President Donald Trump amplified the widespread Islamophobic indignation when he tweeted, “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!” alongside an incendiary video that repetitively pans Omar’s remarks with terrorizing background music and graphic flashbacks of the carnage of 9/11. This disrespectful video exploits the trauma of dozens of New Yorkers for a cheap callout to score points against a member of Congress. It is these regular embraces of divisiveness that emboldens the anti-Muslim rhetoric and ensures it stays intact against the safety of all Americans. But if we are going to censure statements, then we should also be appalled by Trump’s comments during the 9/11 attacks. When asked about the damages to his building, Trump responded, “It was an amazing phone call, 40 Wall Street actually was the secondtallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually before the World Trade Center the tallest, and then when they built the World Trade Center it became known as the second-tallest, and now it’s the tallest.” Whether this constitutes bragging is subject to interpretation, as Trump supporters on Twitter have argued. At the same time, they hypocritically saluted Trump’s hate incitement, one that prohibited the slightest context for Omar’s remarks. To counter backlash, Omar quoted the Washington Post’s fact checker that concluded her remarks were reminiscent of President George Bush’s “bullhorn speech.” In one of the top replies, right-wing businessman Dennis Michael Lynch wrote, “I must set you straight dear because you are way out of line. America was always founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, not the Koran. Unlike Muslims who are taught to kill infidels, AMERICANS...” This irrelevant, ghastly response

ignores that Omar’s tweet does not suggest America was founded on the Quran. Omar simply implies that she is receiving strident scrutiny for being a Muslim. Furthermore, the bullies claiming that Muslims are “taught to kill infidels” vehemently demonstrate the Islamophobia she is referring to. The U.S. is supposed to be a nation founded on religious liberty as enshrined in the freedom of religion clause in the First Amendment. Yet, even in 2019, people are alienating Muslims by unconstitutionally and authoritatively asserting superiority of Judeo-Christian principles. What’s next — falsely insisting unknown “Muslim enemies” were involved in the devastating Notre Dame cathedral fire in Paris, just to belittle Muslim leaders and intensify Islamophobia? This is ridiculous. Anti-Muslim echoes in social media signify that Omar’s unpolished words wouldn’t have been so horrendously decried if she wasn’t an outspoken Muslim. This detestable fact reflects a brazen double standard and it is our civic responsibility to condemn such racist narratives that alienate individuals and weaponize faith. Yet, I find it futile to carol, “We should all fight against Islamophobia and hate,” as no one is remotely willing to listen. The truth is people only hear what they want to hear. Thus, I will not reference the book, “Behind the Backlash: Muslim Americans After 9/11” by Lori Peek so people can learn how discrimination against innocent Muslims skyrocketed after 9/11 attacks. I will not explain how exposing this fact does not translate to denigrating the tragic incident. I will not remind people that Muslims, ranging all ages, died in 9/11 attacks. I will not list Muslim victims of countless other attacks, including one where Muslim kids from my neighborhood lost their young lives to Islamic terrorism. And I will not mention that it’s more impertinent to circulate images of 9/11 than saying “some people did something,” because everyone should already know all of this or at least have the human decency to show willingness to grasp it. But how do we get to the bottom of this anti-Ilhan Omar narrative? One answer is Omar outrightly stating that she does not repudiate the viciousness of 9/11 attacks (even if it’s implicit in her comments), and that she co-sponsors 9/11 victim compensation fund. Yet, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has already pointed this out, but many people love defaming her as well. A peaceful conclusion is only possible if people are willing to listen to any plausible explanation without sprouting empty threats and thrusting dialogues into a cauldron of partisan politics. Reaching a substantive solution requires every individual, regardless of political or religious ideology, to recognize that America is a diverse nation, where brewing such pointless resentment will shatter the tolerance and unity that exists today. Ramisa Rob can be reached at rfrob@umich.edu.

How confusion on Brexit is Parliament’s fault

s the curtain falls on an era of unity and diplomacy, I am sure members of the British Parliament are asking themselves, “To be or not to be?” That is, should they be holding British society hostage to nationalistic policies that could send the global economy into a recession? Well, that is the question. Just as Shakespeare meant this phrase to refer to death, it is more than appropriate to use this expression to refer to the death of international stability at the hands of the British Parliament. With the third failure of the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement paired with the European Union’s strong position against changing the terms of the agreement, the chances of Britain exiting the European Union without a deal seems probable. Since British Prime Minister Theresa May has already begged the Parliament to reconsider their decision on the agreement ratification — and even promised to step down from her position to do so — we are left to wonder what else can members of Parliament do? And oh, do we wonder. The actions of the British Parliament have caused nothing but anger and confusion. When I think of all the things that are going to be lost from this deal, I am continually dumbfounded by the effects that the agreement ratification decision Parliament has made will have on the world economy, or on the integrity of European politics as a whole. Under a soft exit, the EU is predicted to lose 22 billion Euros ($24.7 billion) in income, and under a hard exit close to $40 billion, which will predominantly fall on Germany, Europe’s largest economy and largest exporter. Britain is set to experience a 5 percent contraction in their GDP, suffer a loss of 57 billion Euros ($64 billion) in income and probably suffer a major financial crisis that would impact the global economy as well. Though the British Parliament forced May to to extend the deadline to October, it became clear that the EU would not budge in making any significant changes to the more than 550 page document that was negotiated and approved by the rest of the 27 countries in

the bloc. Why would they? Brexit is like an ugly breakup. Of course, the EU is going to be unyielding in the terms of the separation. Think about the integrity of Europe and the European Union without the inclusion of one of its superpowers. The UK leaving the EU negatively affects the entire image of unity between Europe and the EU. They have no control in the UK’s decision, and still must bear the consequences. I, for one, am happy that the EU isn’t budging. There is nothing stronger than the EU flexing its power rather than enduring the cost that a No Deal Brexit will bring. How can the world just bend to the preferences of the members of Parliament that are already represented rather generously in the existing Withdrawal Agreement? Britain wanted to leave. Now they are, and if the world economy spirals, it is on them. The EU should not be bending to the interests of the UK so that the UK can cherry pick what relations of the EU they want to keep and which they don’t. The UK should be the one making larger concessions in this deal as it was their decision to leave. What continues to perplex me is how taking the deal is only temporary — yet Parliament still continues to take on the risk of taking the temporary Withdrawal Agreement that expires at the end of 2020. Let’s highlight that — the members of Parliament would be to blame. Prime Minister Theresa May has done everything she possibly could to arbitrate this deal, so if No Deal Brexit ensues, it will be because Parliament has not ratified the Withdrawal Agreement despite incentives to do so. When the economy and stability of the rest of the world are at stake, MPs should be ratifying the deal. I can, however, see where some of the strong dissatisfaction behind the plan comes from. The Irish backstop would essentially keep EU control over trade in Northern Ireland, and would keep it bound to the customs union that the UK so desperately wants to leave. All of this is to prevent the border from forming. Yes, this is an issue as it would keep extend EU influence longer than intended. But consider the alternative. If there is no deal, then

a hard border would will increase the likelihood of something akin to the Troubles conflict, which ended with the Good Friday Agreement, exponentially. If the UK is cutting off relations this quickly, of course this issue will continue to persist and would probably require heavier customs and immigration control in Northern Ireland. It would just put the UK in a worse position. I am not sure why the UK is trying to force a different option when more harm would likely occur at the Northern Irish border with a No Deal option. Failing the resolution for the third time is almost as if Parliament wanted to expedite the damages that are set to come from the No Deal policies. And of course, we have witnessed the political death of Theresa May in this process. In an era where our trust in national leaders doing the right thing is at an all-time low, May, who has put her career on the line for the sake of her country, has sadly become collateral in this messy divorce. As May desperately tried to get Parliament to vote on the only agreement available, she sacrificed her entire career as an incentive for her country to unite over a decision to safely and securely leave the European Union. I guess my astonishment of May’s sacrifice is the fact that she was willing to unite her country around anything — even the satisfaction of her as their leader — as an effort to push the UK to do the right thing. Maybe the only good thing that came out of Parliament failing the deal is that we got to see just how dedicated May is to her country. The hardest part of this is that we simply will not know what will happen. And though I am deeply disappointed and worried about the state of international politics because of the British Parliament, all I can do is wait. Though most of our attention is on President Donald Trump these days, be sure to pay attention to Brexit, which is proving to be one of the most important events in recent history Times like these force us to call back upon our famous British friend Shakespeare, and hope he was right when advised that “though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” Amibka Sinha can be reached at ambikavs@umich.edu.

MARIA ULAYYET | COLUMN

Doing your best among the “Leaders and the Best”

uccess has not only been ingrained in me because I am a competitive and driven person, but it is also my duty because I am the daughter of an immigrant. Going away to top a university and being the first in my family to do so, was a pretty big deal at the time. From the old days where I skipped nap time to do extra math problems to having over 30 of my family members show up to my high school graduation, I knew there were high expectations for me. My parents made great sacrifices not only to be in this country, but also for me to be able to receive the best education I possibly can. The culture shock I faced as a first-generation minority woman within my first semester of college was also met with the shock that I was no longer on top, and that everyone around me also came from places where they were the best of the best. I spent a lot of time coping with this and trying to accept it. Much of my freshman year was spent in my dorm room — crying or sleeping — because I couldn’t come to terms with the idea that I might not be meeting these expectations of breaking barriers. Every time I didn’t do as well as I wanted to in school, or any time I wasn’t the “best,” I thought of my dad, who lived out his American Dream and wanted to continue the progression of said dream through me. I thought of my mother, who could not have the same opportunity of going to college like me and who I knew wanted to live vicariously through me. Through my college career, I wanted to achieve the impossible. Coming onto this campus my freshman year, I knew I needed to take advantage of every resource and opportunity that I could find on this campus. It is possible to be the best — to be the best versions of ourselves

possible. It is time to break the generational curse surrounding mental health and stop the cycles of self-hatred and guilt of putting happiness first. I felt like I had no room for mistakes, no time for falling behind. I felt like this was my one opportunity and I couldn’t do anything to possibly mess it up. I beat myself over every little thing that went wrong. I blamed myself for not trying hard enough. I told myself I wasn’t good enough. I convinced myself that I was a failure. Most importantly, I drove myself crazy over all the pressure. The best and nothing less is what immigrant parents expect for their children. The pressure to be the “best,” however, is not always easy to cope with. While setting high expectations is important in achieving success, it isn’t always possible to meet such expectations. Compared to our peers, students with immigrant parents face a perpetual state of guilt. Despite our hard work and dedication, we sometimes feel we are not enough and that we should feel guilty for not being good enough. When this guilt manifests into more than just feeling bad after getting a bad grade and reaches the point of affecting our mental health, students with immigrant parents feel even more like failures and even more confused. To many of us, we feel too privileged to be able to go to our parents about these kinds of mental health problems. In their eyes, there is never anything to be unhappy about. If we have so much — from food to money to clothes — then to many immigrant parents, there is simply no reason to be sad. It’s easy to enter a cycle of normalization of poor mental health within these communities. In an essay written by first-generation American Betsy Aimee, she emphasizes that

the reality is that, “immigrants learn to live with sadness.” This suppression of anxiety often manifests in us, to the point where we too, also feel like we have to live in a normalized sadness. Just as I came to the University of Michigan under pressure, countless other children of immigrants come to college not only with the stress of being a new, confusing place, but also with the pressure of being the best in this foreign environment. Added onto that pressure is the disadvantages that many of us face being first-generation college students and/or people of color. It is so easy for us to fall into this trap of “imposter syndrome” — the idea that we are imposters on this campus because we do not belong here and that we are not supposed to belong here. Research has shown that firstgeneration and underrepresented minority students face obstacles that hinder their academic and professional success. I constantly felt and continue to feel like I’m faking it and that it’ll only be a matter of time before others realize it. We don’t have the generational privileges of many of our peers. We don’t have the same access to opportunities as many of our peers. We simply face the reality of others not wanting to see us winning. If there’s one thing I know, it is that I want to make my immigrant parents proud. No amount of “thank yous” could ever possibly express my gratitude for them. They’ve instilled the best work ethic in me and much more just to give me the best life possible. Despite the pressure, I hope to proudly continue their legacy and their American Dream.

Maria Ulayyet can be reached at mulayyet@umich.edu.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Arts

Friday, April 19, 2019 — 5

FILM NOTEBOOK

A Marvel Cinematic Universe ranking, part three JEREMIAH VANDERHELM Daily Arts Writer

In the run-up to “Avengers: Endgame,” I’m running down every movie and TV show the MCU has ever put out and ranking them based on how well they tell their stories with the means available to them. This is part three of a four part series. 22. “Marvel’s Luke Cage”: Season one (2016) As with many Marvel projects on both TV and on film, what makes the first season of “Luke Cage” work more than anything else is the casting. Mike Colter is electric in the title role, so unbelievably charismatic in every scene that you couldn’t take your eyes off him if you wanted to. He’s more than matched by his villains, played just as magnificently by Mahershala Ali and Alfre Woodard. Seriously uneven narrative aside, the worst part of the season might just be that no amount of time with these characters would be enough. 21. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”: Season three (2015-2016) “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” truly comes into its own in its third season, with Brett Dalton completing his transformation from a “big, brave brick of meat” into one of the most deliciously evil villains the MCU has yet offered. Meanwhile, Ian De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge prove themselves to be the show’s hidden weapons — not just charming, but capable of wringing more emotion out of a single glance than some onscreen couples can with entire scenes. 20. “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017) “Ragnarok”’s greatest weakness is that it’s a sequel to “The Dark World,” and thus must spend its entire first act cleaning up that film’s mess before Taika Waititi can get around to telling his own story. There’s a notable shift the moment the story gets to Sakaar, and from there, Waititi is free to realize his heavy metal-inspired dreams for all to see. I may not love this as much as others, but there’s no denying how special it is to watch the God of Thunder finally get his due in his third solo film. 19. “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011) “The First Avenger” is a delight: an old-fashioned, pulpy, cheesy delight. From the moment he first steps foot on screen, Steve Rogers is everything a superhero should be — brave, noble and selfless — and that’s before he’s turned into a beefcake. The film functions in

much the same way; it’s a big-hearted ode to classic superhero movies, one that reminds everyone watching that they don’t need a star-spangled shield to be a hero. 18. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017) Whatever the flaws of the landmark Sony/Marvel effort, director Jon Watts absolutely nails the most important parts of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” — namely, Spider-Man here feels more human than any interpretation of the character since “Spider-Man 2.” Much of this is due to the casting of Tom Holland in the title role but just as superb is Michael Keaton as the Vulture, grounding the yet another larger-than-life story of the film in some semblance of humanist reality. 17. “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015) People dislike “Iron Man 2.” People are ambivalent about “The Incredible Hulk.” But people hate “Age of Ultron,” and I just don’t get it. It would have been so easy for Joss Whedon to let his characters stagnate in their second team-up flick, but instead, he gives them arcs that admirably walk the line of self-containment and feeding into conflicts to come. The action will always be a big draw for these movies, but “Age of Ultron” also understands that just as important are the moments where the movie slows down to give the Avengers time to grow. 16. “Captain Marvel” (2019) As if proving my point about “Age of Ultron,” the MCU’s most recent big screen outing is at its worst during its action scenes, which all-too-often come down to people just shooting beams at each other. Thankfully, much more plentiful are the scenes focused on the characters and their relationships. Captain Marvel is an immediately relatable potential leader for the next generation of Marvel movies, the supporting cast is one of Marvel’s best and Brie Larson’s performance is nothing short of incandescent. 15. “Iron Man 3” (2013) Like “Ultron,” “Iron Man 3” achieved near “Last Jedi”-levels of vitriol from some corners of the fanbase, and like “Ultron,” I think it’s a gem. The

title is almost misleading, as “Iron Man 3” is much more interested in Tony Stark outside of the suit than it is in him as Iron Man. Most of the movie is therefore spent with Tony running around without his armor, struggling to cope with his PTSD in the wake of “The Avengers.” It’s a startlingly real story to foist upon one of the MCU’s bigger personalities, but under the direction of Shane Black, there’s an intelligent sheen to the whole thing that makes it irresistible. 14. “Marvel’s Luke Cage”: Season two (2018) The biggest problem with the first season of “Luke Cage” was that, after all the grounded examination of privilege and the politics of Harlem, the main antagonist was another guy in a supersuit. The second season rectifies this, electing Alfre Woodard’s Mariah Dillard for the role of the lead villain and setting the stage for a gripping season where the line between what’s right and wrong becomes more blurred than anyone would like. Her showstopping monologue in the ninth episode should have netted her an Emmy. 13. “Marvel’s The Punisher”: Season one (2017) “The Punisher” would always face a tricky release, as releasing a series centered on a gun-toting mass murderer at a time of great turmoil of America’s relationship with gun violence is just a bad idea. There’s no glory to the story of Frank Castle, though. There’s not a moment the show asks us to actively root for him to shoot a place up in his quest for revenge. Instead, “The Punisher” takes a look at PTSD and the soldiers afflicted with it and in doing so becomes a mature, surprisingly affecting look at soldiers’ issues in modern day America. 12. “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”: Season four (2016-2017) The fourth season of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” opens with Ghost Rider himself rolling up to a gang of white nationalists in a flaming Dodge Charger and crushing a man’s skull with his bare hands, and it somehow only gets better from there. By all accounts, the run of twenty-two excellent episodes that followed – split into three intensely character-focused arcs that kept the pacing lightning quick in seeming defiance of TV norms – should have changed the way broadcast television operated, and the fact that it didn’t is part of the reason why traditional TV is going the way of Edward Norton’s MCU career. Next week, with “Endgame” upon us, the MCU’s film arm blasts them out of the park like nobody’s business while the cream of the TV crop make their case for why they should have a shot at the top of the list.

TV REVIEW

CONCERT REVIEW

Rejoice, for ‘Killing Eve’ A$AP Ferg tried his very has finally returned to us best at SpringFest 2019

uneasy armistice of sorts is achieved — until Eve stabs Villanelle in the stomach and the elusive assassin flees Daily Arts Writer again. What a quirky, gory way to end a quirky, gory season. The second season begins not more than a minute When “Killing Eve” premiered a year ago, it felt like both a peculiarity and a given. Obviously a show like afterward. Villanelle, nursing an ugly wound, tosses this — an intense, stylish drama dealing in espionage herself in front of a cab to get to the hospital. A dazed Eve and assassins and grisly crimes — could spring from makes her way back to London (along the way she has to ditch the bloody the brilliant knife before she mind of Phoebe goes through Waller-Bridge, airport security) whose “Fleabag” where different is one of the Season 2 premiere problems await most inventive, challenging shows her: Her marriage BBC America & AMC to the sweet, of the 21st century. disgruntled Strange as it Sundays @ 8 p.m. Niko (Owen was, something McDonnell, about it worked. “Single-Handed”) The show has found itself an adoring cabal of fans, a perfect coalition is on the verge of collapse and she is newly unemployed. Oh gets to do her best work when Eve is spiraling, of Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy”) believers ready for her career resurgence, Jodie Comer (“Doctor Foster”) and there’s a remarkable, gripping scene in the season devotees awaiting her time in the spotlight and, of premiere in which a rattled Eve is doing nothing course, lovers of exquisite womenswear. So with the more than sit in a bathtub, picking at her still bloody premiere of Season 2 of “Killing Eve,” which now airs fingernails. She doesn’t get much time to wallow both on AMC and BBC America, everyone will be very though. Soon enough, her boss Carolyn (Fiona Shaw, pleased to know that Oh is back, Comer is back and the “Harry Potter”) has rehired her (this is TV, everyone is promptly rehired after being fired) and they’re back womenswear is back (it’s still quite exquisite). In the first season, we met Eve (Oh), an MI5 agent to investigating the brewing mystery of Villanelle’s re-assigned to a secret passion project to hunt down employer. The stab wound hasn’t kept Villanelle down a mysterious assassin. That assassin would be the either; she’s quickly back to scheming and manipulating glamorous Villanelle (Comer), who is, frankly, quite (and a little bit of killing too). flattered that someone has decided to pay so much The scheming and manipulating, of course, is at the attention to her. But whatever thrill she derives heart of “Killing Eve.” At surface-level, the show is a from being the subject of this investigation doesn’t kind of mindless, stylish caper. But really, it’s so much distract from what Villanelle does best: killing people more: a meditation on the female psyche, a study in in rather gruesome, alarming ways. When we last power and vulnerability, an open question about what a left Eve and Villanelle, they had caught each other woman can or should do to get ahead. And hey, if we get at last in Villanelle’s Parisian apartment and both some coats and blouses along the way, what’s the harm confessed to their deep infatuation with the other. An in that? MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN

Killing Eve

JONAH MENDELSON Daily Arts Writer

The sun was setting on a gorgeous spring day in Ann Arbor. Students milled around outside Hill Auditorium, where A$AP Ferg would be performing shortly. I was occupied in the Panera bathroom, mixing a noxious concoction of tropical vodka, peppermint schnapps, Mountain Dew and Sprite in a plastic bottle. After my brew was prepared, my friends and I sat on a concrete ledge on the side of Hill Auditorium, passing the bottle back and forth among us. A$AP Ferg was due to take the stage any minute. We entered into a dismal scene. The crowd was spread out throughout the auditorium, the energy lackluster. The liquor was an insufficient bulwark against the lameness of the situation. Soon, A$AP Ferg came on stage and, sensing the vibe, almost immediately called everyone to rush the front against the futile objections of the staff. Good move — but not quite enough. It felt like the concert never really got going. One reason is that most people there were clearly not huge A$AP Ferg fans. This is normal — most concertgoers don’t know every

song that is performed, and it’s common for non-fans to attend a concert. However, Ferg’s discography is particularly lopsided towards a few massive hits, so most people in the crowd only knew him from “Plain Jane,” “Work (Remix),” “Shabba” and “New Level.” The real, unsolvable problem was the choice of venue — Hill Auditorium is packed with traditional auditorium seating, meaning the energy of A$AP Ferg’s music can’t really charge up the crowd since, if you move more than a foot in any direction, you’ll trip over a row of chairs. It is an auditorium designed for ensemble performances and lectures, not for hip hop or any other type of concert that invokes an active audience. I think this arrangement also led to a lot of pent-up aggressive energy in certain members of the crowd, most noticeably the guy in front of me wearing a Knicks jersey (with what I believe was his own last name printed on the back) who kept trying to fight people. Outdoor concerts in the spring are fun; maybe MUSIC Matters, having done outdoors concerts for the day portion, should consider that for future events. While I think by and large he did his best, I do have one complaint with Ferg’s set. In

the middle of it, Ferg played “First Day Out” by Tee Grizzley and “I Don’t Fuck With You” by Big Sean. While I understand the Detroit homage, it seems a little strange to play other people’s songs that you aren’t involved with at all during your set. If all people wanted to hear was a set of Tee Grizzley songs played over the aux, I would have done it for much cheaper. I respect and appreciate that he continued to pretend we were a good crowd throughout, as many artists would have made their disappointment known. It’s a testament to his showmanship that he was able to keep up a fairly convincing facade the whole time, his stage presence likeable and serious. At the end, when he thanked us for being a great crowd, I saw some people laugh and shake their heads. When the lights were turned on at the end, a quick glance around left me questioning the heavy use of the n-word throughout the concert by the audience during the refrain of “Plain Jane” given the obvious demographic tilt. After the show I walked to Fleetwood Diner and got a patty melt and fries. It was good. It left me hoping A$AP Ferg’s impression of Ann Arbor wasn’t limited to the narrow scope of Hill Auditorium.

While I understand the Detroit homage, it seems a little strange to just play other people’s songs that you aren’t involved with at all during your set.

BBC AMERICA

Arts

6 — Friday, April 19, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FILM REVIEW

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

‘The Aftermath’ is a total Monterey Jazz Fest looks and utter mess of a movie toward the genre’s future ROSS ORGIEFSKY Daily Arts Writer

Don’t see “The Aftermath.” Where do I start? The screenplay is uninspired and predictable. The plot is dull and straightforward, borrowing heavily from the litany of other WWII films. The film tracks the developing romance between Stefan Lubert (Alexander Skarsgård, “Straw Dogs”) and Ms. Morgan (Kiera Knightley, “Atonement”), after Colonel Lewis Morgan (Jason Clarke, “Zero Dark Thirty”) and his wife requisition Lubert’s house in Hamburg after the Allied Victory. What appears to be a half-hearted attempt to infuse the film with meaning through an aversion to Naziism is unsuccessful, leaving “The Aftermath” weak and soulless. Much of the drama in the film seems exploitative against the post-war backdrop. Out of pity, Lewis allows Stefan and his daughter Freda (Flora Thiemann, “Tigermilch”) to stay in the house but asks that they relocate themselves to the cold attic. Lewis is always out, conducting his military work on the streets of Hamburg — streets populated by nowhomeless Germans searching for loved ones in the rubble and ashes. Ms. Morgan, lonely and missing her son who died during the Blitz, ends up having sex with Herr Lubert on the dining-room table after her dinner party guests bid goodnight.

This rendezvous f lourishes into an affair after the Colonel is called away to the “Russian Zone” to deal with an unnamed Nazi who offers nothing in terms of plot development, aside perhaps from an attempt at showing the Colonel’s merciful nature. While he’s away, Rachel and Stefan don very stylish outfits and go

The Aftermath Michigan Theater Fox Searchlight Pictures

stroll in the woods to Lubert’s well-furnished cabin. Here, they have more sex. During one of these trysts, the viewer is treated to an unexpected and very full-frame shot of Alexander Skarsgård kissing Kiera Knightley’s nipples. Rachel and Stefan plan to run away to the Alps once Lewis returns from his trip. They make it all the way to the train platform before Rachel gets cold feet and runs back to her husband, now that he has proved to her that he actually does miss his dead son. This overused “running away but turning back at the last second” business plays as predictably as you might imagine. The acting is terrible, though the lackadaisical screenplay might have something to do with that. In particular, Jason

Clarke gives a passionless performance. Skarsgård manages to inject fervor here and there, but he leans into stereotypical German stoicism at the expense of originality. Knightley too, adds little of herself to the role; the romantic arc between Rachel and Stefan could easily be plopped into another setting without changing a thing. The Nazi drama is mere ornament. I found myself looking at my watch after only an hour. I feel that it isn’t often that I see a truly bad film. Some things just don’t speak to me (like the recent “Mandy,” starring Nicolas Cage) but I appreciate the aesthetic or literary value. This one, though … yikes. I’ll give director James Kent (“Testament of Youth.”) one compliment: The filming locations are gorgeous. The German forest and chic cabin, the beautiful wood-paneled great room with a Mies van der Rohe chair and Steinway piano, the river views from the balcony – all gorgeous. Honestly, stitch the b-roll together and you’d have a lovely short film. And a thank you to casting director Arwa Salmanova; Alexander Skarsgård and Kiera Knightley are at the very least nice to look at. “The Aftermath” is a f lop. If you’re into cheesy romance and WWII period pieces, be my guest. If you’re after a thoughtful and original work of art, this is not the film you’re looking for.

NATALIE KASTNER For The Daily

Sunday afternoon at the Michigan Theater, the Monterey Jazz Festival concluded its month long U.S. and Canada tour. The Monterey Jazz Festival has been around for over 50 years, putting together diverse and international millennial talent who are blazing trails for the future of top level jazz music. Having originally come to this concert to see millennial jazz prodig y Cecile McLorin Salvant, I was excited when I gazed at the merchandise table and saw multiple artists’ albums for sale. Salvant, winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition as well as three Grammy awards for “Best Jazz Vocal Album,” held down the majority of vocals. She started by looking out into the house. “Take a moment to appreciate who’s around you,” said Salvant. Her voice held incredible vibrancy

ALBUM REVIEW

.Paak has a return to form Daily Arts Writer

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

Release Date: Friday, April 19, 2019

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

FOR RENT

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Bonkers 5 Raucous animal sound 9 Sambuca flavoring 14 Not up 15 Ire 16 Trio in the logo of a national motorists’ group 17 Flatfish family founders? 19 Acquires 20 Shirt with a slogan 21 “Metamorphoses” poet 22 Mindless way to learn 23 When doubled, a German spa town 25 Barbershop levy? 26 Broadway restaurant founder 28 Energizes 30 Upscale 32 Go bad 33 Pairs 37 NFL pass, complete or not 38 Rabbit monopolizing the entrance to the warren? 41 Fez or fedora 42 Pedi concerns 44 Day in Durango 45 N, in a TV content warning 47 Directions 50 Laconic 51 Part in a Humpty Dumpty biopic? 54 Come to 56 Turf grippers 57 Die, e.g. 58 Pet’s attentiongetter, perhaps 61 Great deal of, slangily 62 Mutant tree trunk with extraordinary powers? 64 Concerning 65 God with a quiver 66 Carrot (always) or stick (sometimes)

67 On edge 68 Used to be 69 Tavern array

DOWN 1 Final 2 Vowel-rich woodwind 3 Have a party, say 4 One was written on an urn 5 Valorous 6 Five stars, e.g. 7 Like fine Scotch 8 Fist-pumper’s cry 9 Sock pattern 10 Minimally distant 11 Jerk 12 One-night-a-year flier 13 County not far from London 18 Fashionable 22 With 52-Down, paper since 1872 24 Sunday paper barrage 25 Friend of Tigger 26 “Go away!” 27 Choir voice

29 Mountain nymph 31 Mountain melodies 34 Draining effect 35 Equine eats 36 Eyelid problem 39 Triangle side, say 40 Site of unwanted suburban vegetation 43 Low cloud 46 Trafficking org.

48 Go around 49 Daze 51 Dazzling effect 52 See 22-Down 53 Mount 55 More than a little plump 57 Medical research objective 59 Natural soother 60 Dampens 62 Put in stitches 63 Product of Bali

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“They’re all women!” once they filled onstage. Melissa Aldana, tenor saxophone player, was the first female instrumentalist and first ever South American to win the Thelonious Monk Competition. Aldana played her original composition “El Castillo” from her time spent at Lincoln Center in New York City. Immediately following was five time Grammy nominated piano player Christian Sands. Sands played an arrangement of Puccini’s “Tosca” along with the help of bass, played by Tokyo born Yasushi Nakamura, and Ross on drums. The arrangement left everyone in the audience on their feet. The show concluded with Canadian born trumpet player and singer songwriter Bria Skonberg heading a rendition of Valaida Snow’s “High Hat.” Snow was a Black female instrumentalist most known for trumpet and vocals in the ’30s. People were nearly jumping out of their seats while singing and dancing to the ending of a perfectly thrilling performance.

They were able to communicate such depth of emotion through their intermingling sounds that the audience gave a standing ovation mid-show.

JIM WILSON

Classifieds

and control, as she expertly f lipped from a classic swing number to an acapella folk song. Intermittently, Salvant would leave the stage, and the charming drummer-singer, Jamison Ross, would take over vocals. It was clear that the ensemble adored their art form. They all were in conversation, joking with each other and the audience the entire time. They weren’t afraid to address the audience directly as they explained their backgrounds and why they chose to perform the songs that spoke to them as artists. The ensemble’s ability to storytell was incredibly impactful. They were able to communicate such depth of emotion through their intermingling sounds that the audience gave a standing ovation mid-show. There were a multitude of times that I found my steely self blubbering like a baby during arrangements. They weren’t a typical, male dominated jazz band either — a woman in front of me exclaimed

Anderson .Paak’s soul side is back. It never actually left, but it did go on an extended vacation. After the release of his acclaimed album Malibu and a collaborative album with Knxwledge in 2016, .Paak took some time away from recording and went on tour as the opening act for Bruno Mars. Last fall, he dropped his highlyanticipated album Oxnard, which, in an interview with Consequence of Sound, he claimed he “dreamed of making in high school, when I was listening to (JayZ’s) The Blueprint, The Game’s The Documentary and (Kanye West’s) The College Dropout.” With the starstudded Oxnard, the crooning, smiling .Paak was gone, replaced by a slicktalking, rapping .Paak, and the album suffered greatly for it. .Paak’s voice and delivery are his bread and butter, and by reshaping his sound to rap, his best attributes were lost. With the release of Ventura, however, the Anderson .Paak we all know and love has returned with a slightly altered version of signature sound. Where Oxnard was braggadocious and highly manufactured, Ventura is nurturing and organic. Every song on the album is there because it is the song that fits most naturally and not because it’s the one that will get the most streams. Ventura stands in such stark contrast to Oxnard that it’s almost surprising the same man created both of them. Ventura starts off with a strong one-two punch consisting of “Come Home” featuring the elusive

André 3000 and “Make It Better” featuring none other than the great Smokey Robinson. If that doesn’t capture your attention, nothing will. Both songs are absolutely sensational. “Come Home” is .Paak’s take on soul à la Motown. It’s warm, it’s inviting and it sounds beautiful — not to mention André 3000’s hard-hitting, loved-up verse. “Make It Better” keeps the ball rolling, highlighted

Ventura Anderson .Paak Aftermath Entertainment

by boom-bap drums, funk inf lected guitar and bass and a sparkling string section. This combination lays the groundwork for .Paak to work his magic as he sweetly pleads with his partner to work out their issues. Smokey Robinson, though used sparsely, makes his status as a legend clear as he assists .Paak on the final chorus. Unlike on Oxnard, Anderson .Paak utilizes his features sparingly on Ventura, and it pays off. The features don’t take over each song. Rather, they act complimentary to .Paak, and the results are wonderful. As the album moves forward, more and more funk sounds are introduced. Lead single “King James” features an expressive bass line that harkens back to Earth, Wind

& Fire’s Verdine White. The song itself is an ode to Lebron James and his willingness to spark change despite his high profile. The song “Jet Black” is exactly what new age funk is supposed to sound like; it stays true to the spirit of funk while using modern production techniques. It’s familiar, but at the same time, it’s still fresh. This can be said for the entire album. It’s comforting and warm, but it’s unlike anything else out at this time. Ventura bridges the past with the future in a way that everyone can enjoy. “What Can We Do?” provides the album with a smooth, easy-going closer. Anderson .Paak brings his A-game as he goes line for line with a previously unreleased verse from the late Nate Dogg. The two men f loat all over the track’s prominent twang y guitar sample. .Paak perfectly incorporated Nate Dogg’s verse. It feels like the two were in the studio together when this song was recorded. In a way, it feels like a passing of the torch. Anderson .Paak occupies a lane similar to the one Nate Dogg did before his untimely death: Both men are singers that carry themselves like rappers, so it acts as a perfect close to an album that leans so heavily on its inf luences. Ventura does exactly what it is supposed to do. It shows that Anderson .Paak is more than capable of making cohesive, enjoyable albums that bridge the gap between old-school soul and newschool R&B. Ventura stands as .Paak’s tribute to the sounds that have inf luenced him so much. It is a wholly enjoyable album in which Anderson .Paak displays his full range of talents.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Friday, April 19, 2019 — 7

“You’re no longer the underdog” How Michigan women’s lacrosse learned how to win

ARIA GERSON

Daily Sports Writer

Before the start of the season in February, coach Hannah Nielsen set up a board with challenging but attainable goals for her team. Finish over .500. The Michigan women’s lacrosse team, in its five years of existence, had never had a winning season. A winning record in Big Ten play. The Wolverines had never done that either — or even won more than two games. Make the Big Ten Tournament. The last time that happened was 2016, back before there were just four teams in the tournament. Michigan was winless in conference that year and exited unceremoniously with a 20-5 loss to Northwestern. Its presence was not missed. Follow team values, on and off the field. The mantra upon which Nielsen bases her culture. Now, the Wolverines have done all those things. They’re 14-2, having already clinched an undefeated home record and a spot in the Big Ten Tournament. Those old objectives have been checked off and replaced by new ones — ones that seemed completely unrealistic just months ago. Make the Big Ten Tournament championship game. Get a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Win the opening contest there. “There was no specific mile marker for what we were going to achieve and when,” Nielsen said. “I set out, when I took over the program, to build this team into the best it could possibly be, the quickest it could possibly get there. But at the same time, it needed to be done in the right way. … So to be where we’re at is kind of — it’s excellent.” In one season, the team that was once a cautionary tale on the difficulties of starting up a highmajor lacrosse program from scratch has become a success story. *** Nielsen came into Michigan in 2018 as one of the most decorated lacrosse players of all time, a four-time national champion and three-time All-American at Northwestern who set three NCAA assists records during her career. She’d won everywhere she’d been. She’d won so much that she’d never experienced a losing season — not as a player, not during assistant coaching stints at Penn State, Towson or Northwestern, not even when

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Senior attacker Adriana Pendino attended the Wolverines’ inaugural game in 2014, a 20-7 loss to Villanova.

As recruits in 2014, senior goalkeeper Mira Shane and senior attacker Adriana Pendino — along with several other East Coast commits — attended the Wolverines’ inaugural game, at Villanova. They watched as Michigan scored the first goal only to eventually fall, 20-7. For years, that was what the program was. Any sparks of hope were quickly extinguished en route to constant defeats. To survive in that environment almost requires a numbness to failure, a numbness rarely found in high-level athletes. Nielsen saw that first-hand in her debut as head coach. Following a 20-10 loss to the Buffaloes, the players boarded the bus, laughing and talking like normal. So Nielsen stepped in and addressed her team. That’s not OK. You can’t be coming onto the bus laughing after a first game where you lost by 10. Two days later, Michigan lost to Jacksonville. Again, there was a sense that it was just fine. The Wolverines hadn’t played badly, per se. The defense was alright. They scored more goals than they usually did. When Nielsen let them know that their complacency wouldn’t fly, it came as a shock. “We were OK with losing because that was the culture around Michigan women’s lacrosse earlier, previously,” said sophomore midfielder Maggie Kane. “And so when we were

by example. Her methods were stricter than previous coaches, but she simultaneously made sure her team had fun, gelled with each other and played with confidence. Her biggest message to the team was the first step of building a winning culture: “You’re never gonna go anywhere if you don’t set your expectations high.” *** It was the last game of the 2018 season, and once again, it was meaningless. The Wolverines were in State College for a tilt with No. 16 Penn State. They weren’t going to finish over .500 or make the Big Ten Tournament. They had nothing left to play for but themselves. But sometimes, when pride is the only thing on the line, funny things happen. With seven seconds left, Michigan trailed by one. With six seconds left, Molly Garrett picked up a ground ball and shoveled a pass to Catherine Granito. Granito’s shot plopped into the top of the net. The game was tied. With one second left, Kane sprinted down the field after winning a draw, took a last-ditch blind shot and stood, speechless, watching the net ripple as her shot went in. She looked around to see if anyone else had processed what had just happened. Everyone was speechless. Then, they began jumping up and down and embracing each other.

ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily

Sophomore midfielder Maggie Kane noted that prior Michigan teams have been OK with a losing culture.

she was an assistant at Colorado in the first two years of the program’s existence. With the Buffaloes, Nielsen learned how to build a team from scratch. She took the lessons she learned about laying a foundation with her to Ann Arbor, but this was her toughest task yet. After all, Colorado was a blank slate. At Michigan, losing was all anyone knew.

losing a lot of those games, it was obviously frustrating. But I think everybody was just used to it.” Nielsen worked to rebuild her program’s culture from the inside out. She knew it would take time, and she wanted to make sure it was done the right way. Nielsen’s goal was to change the team’s mindset and to establish the values of accountability, consistent improvement and leadership

“I think I peed my pants,” Shane said. The Wolverines had won, 11-10, beating a ranked team for the first time — ever. To this day, they get chills watching the replay. It was the first time all the puzzle pieces clicked. Michigan was nowhere near a real championship, but this could be its little championship, the small

victory to pave the road for bigger ones. “We realized what a good, big win felt like,” Kane said. “I think everyone geared up and

before faced the phenomenon of a winning streak, of each game feeling more and more important and more and more like a burden. “As the ladder kept climbing, where it was just like six, seven, eight, nine, it was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m really happy, but holy moly,’ ” Shane said. “And the stage got bigger. I think that people were definitely rising to the occasion but … it was hard at some point. “It’s hard to know how to win and this program hasn’t known how to do it in the past and I think Hannah and our whole entire coaching staff is teaching us how to do that, to walk away with — even if you feel like there’s pressure, how do you rise to the occasion and come off the field no matter what, with a win?” In its 13-game winning streak, Michigan learned how to do that. But then came the third step: learning how to lose again. Not losing chronically, like the Wolverines did before, but losing — as all teams do — and coming back from it. On April 6, Michigan scored the first goal of the game against Maryland, then the No. 2 team in the country. An hour later, the Wolverines had to deal with the consequences of a 14-3 drubbing

their athletes. Practice that week was light and fun, designed to get the Wolverines back on board and ready for the rest of their season. This time, they’d earned it. And in a way, the loss took the pressure off. No longer was each game the one that threatened to end the streak. Instead, each successive win would be gravy. The following week, the Wolverines clinched an undefeated home record by beating Rutgers, something that seemed unthinkable just months before. Nielsen always pushed her players to think bigger and set loftier goals. Now, as they’ve thought bigger and won bigger, she’s struggling to temper her own expectations as the bar for success gets higher. “You win games and your expectation levels get higher and higher and you forget to just sort of reflect and say, ‘We’re probably not supposed to be here,’ ” Nielsen said. “And so we’re a little harder on them than maybe we need to be sometimes.” But even if the season does end in disappointment for Nielsen, it will be a symptom of the winning culture she’s successfully established. Even her talk of April losses being preferable to May

KARTIK SUNDARAM/Daily

The Michigan women’s lacrosse team started the season hoping to simply finish with a winning record in Big Ten play.

was like, ‘Wow, that isn’t OK to lose to these teams that are even mediocre, and it feels awesome to beat a top-20 team.’ ” Suddenly, drawn in by the taste of victory, Michigan had confidence and momentum going into the 2019 season. It was a lethal combination. On Feb. 26, the 5-0 Wolverines faced a three-goal deficit at No. 9 Denver with less than 15 minutes remaining. At altitude, on the road, against a ranked team, Michigan stormed back to win, 12-10. “I think win after win, game after game, when we were 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, all the way up, it was like we went into each and every game, the following game, like, ‘We will win this game,’” Pendino said. “Not, ‘We can win this game,’ or ‘We might win this game.’ So I think the confidence aspect just came with our success.” The first step in learning how to win was setting the expectation of winning as the norm. The second — winning close games and coming from behind — came in Denver. Through February and March, the Wolverines kept winning, stretching their streak to 13 games with their first-ever win over No. 18 Johns Hopkins on March 30. But the unexpected success wasn’t without its drawbacks. “The hardest struggle was with winning, you’re no longer the underdog,” Pendino said. “People have more expectations and there was pressure.” As the wins mounted so did the pressure. Michigan had never

by the Terrapins. “It was really just a relief to get the one loss out of the way,” Nielsen said. “Get it early-ish in the campaign, I’d rather lose in April than lose in May. So it was just, it was a really good measuring stick, and to come back and reflect on the game and say, ‘Alright, guys, we need to be better. We need to be a little bit more confident in what we’re doing, play a little harder, play a little faster.’ ” While Nielsen focused on the positives, the players were crushed. It was a far cry from the athletes who had laughed on the bus after a loss to a team far inferior to Maryland. The complacency was gone, but in the immediate aftermath, so was the confidence that had carried the team so far. A year after working to teach her team that losing was never OK, it was up to Nielsen to pick Michigan back up after the suddenly forgotten phenomenon of defeat. That, in itself, showed just how much the expectations had shifted. The coaches had a pulse on

losses would have been unheard of before, when May lacrosse existed simply as a figment of their collective imaginations. Michigan is no longer the laughingstock. Now, it’s a team that could play a few weeks into May if everything breaks right. Nielsen, of course, is no stranger to postseason lacrosse and the way that anything can happen there. She sees that in the Wolverines’ future — if not quite this year, then soon, because with the foundation she built, the sky is the limit. Finally, the team is full of people who — top to bottom — know how to win. Nielsen has teased the players about her experiences with May lacrosse, but she hasn’t gone into too much detail. She wants them to stay hungry, after all — and she wants them to experience the feeling for themselves. To know they’re more than capable, all she has to do is look at how her goal board has changed since February. To know they’re more than capable, all she has to do is look at how her goal board has changed since February.

Sports

8 — Friday, April 19, 2019

Michigan prepares for nationals SHIRA ZISHOLTZ Daily Sports Writer

In order to be the best, you have to compete against the best. The best teams can thrive under pressure. And thrive when it is super close. Can’t break steel. Bev Plocki has been giving her team of 14 gymnasts these nuggets of wisdom all season, and for the thirty years she’s been Michigan’s women’s gymnastics coach. But this year is something different. This group of gymnasts is different. This season has been so different. So the nuggets of wisdom, naturally, mean something different. The Wolverines have been through hell and back. Riddled with coaching scandals, injuries, and some less-than-stellar scores throughout the past few months, they have been in the spotlight and a topic of conversation throughout the gymnastics world. However, as of late, Michigan has been making waves for all the right reasons. After tying for second place at the Missouri Quad Meet on Feb. 15, a meet they were highly favored to win, the Wolverines bounced back to convincingly win the Big Ten Championship. And then, riding the momentum of their conference title, marginally beat a talented Alabama team to qualify for the National Championship. And this was no easy feat. The NCAA changed the format of nationals at the beginning of the season, consequently allowing four less teams to advance to the championship round. There is an initial duel meet to determine the last team in to compete at regionals, and then there are two sessions of four teams competing on the first day. The top two teams from each of those sessions advance to compete in the regional final the following day, and the top

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

The Michigan women’s gymnastics team qualified for nationals last week.

two teams from the regional competition advance to nationals. Michigan, ranked seventh in the country, is now one of the eight teams that performed at the caliber that allowed them to advance from their regional competitions to compete on the biggest stage. The Wolverines are ready. And they know it. “I think the biggest thing for us is going to be believing that we belong,” said junior captain Lexi Funk. “Because, you know, it was a big deal for us to get to nationals, especially because they changed the format and there’s less teams that get to go. But there’s no reason that we don’t belong at nationals. There’s no reason that we can’t qualify to the final day. There’s no reason we can’t win.” Though the 2018-2019 season isn’t over yet, Michigan has already outperformed its previous season. The Wolverines had a solid record, then won the Big Ten Championship, but failed to qualify for nationals. So, as a team that thrives in the face of adversity and missteps, they made sure that wouldn’t happen again and — in this team’s fashion — have found the silver lining in the dark clouds from the past. “Since we didn’t make it to nationals last year, we’re already a step ahead of where we were last year,” said Funk. “So I think

I just want to go into nationals giving nothing but 110 percent and just enjoying all of the experiences that come along with it. … We’ve had such a good team chemistry this year and this is our last meet all together, so I think just enjoying each other’s company and just ending it with a bang. That’s all we can ask to do.” Along with a stacked roster of accomplished athletes that continue to impress with every next competition, Michigan has one outstanding quality that has given it the ability to outshine the ups and downs of the season: its chemistry. “It makes all the difference having that kind of a team dynamic,” Funk said. “… When you’re competing, you’re up on that event all by yourself. And I look around on floor while I’m dancing and I see my team doing my choreography with me on the sidelines. It’s comforting to see that my teammates are having fun with me and they want me to do well so that we can all do well together. And I think you can see the great dynamic that we have in the meets — we obviously say that, but I think you can see that in our actions … it’s indescribable.”