Thursday, June 27, 2019
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
inside
Faculty assist in victorious project design
NEWS
Katie Bouman The ‘U’ alum talks her time on campus, capturing picture of black hole
Three professors, ‘U’ alum win competiton with proposal ‘Detroit Square’
>> SEE PAGE 8
OPINION
From the Daily The Michigan Daily Editorial board addresses ‘U’ proceedings in Doe v. University of Michigan >> SEE PAGE 4
ARTS
Childish Gambino Tracking the trajectory and musical evolution of the Bonnaroo headliner >> SEE PAGE 6
MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Guava Island
Devak Nanua writes about the significance of the Donald Glover’s Film, writes to his brother
>> SEE PAGE 9
SPORTS
Baseball Michigan loses game three of College World Series final, 8-2
>> SEE PAGE 12
INDEX Vol. CXXVIII, No. 115 © 2019 The Michigan Daily
NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ............................... 4 ARTS...................................... 6 MiC......................................... 9 SPORTS................................ 10
michigandaily.com
HANNNAH ALLBERY Daily Staff Reporter
Community members raise awareness for the victims of the attack in Sudan on the Diag Sunday.
MAX KUANG/Daily
Students and activists gather on Diag, demand peace for Sudan Community shows support for Sudanese people Sunday afternoon JIALIN ZHANG
Daily Staff Reporter
In the wake of a violent attack in Sudan leading to at least 30 deaths, students and activists packed the Diag on Sunday to demand action and to show support for the Sudanese people. The rally consisted of a recapitulation of the events, a prayer and an open discussion which followed shortly after in North Quad Residence Hall. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan first began when protesters demanded longtime president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, be removed from office after remaining in power for more than 30 years. Protests were first provoked when President Bashir’s government imposed emergency austerity measures in an attempt to save the Country’s failing economy in December 2018. Protesters succeeded in forcing Bashir out of the office, and a seven-member Transitional Military Council replaced him.
Despite the removal of the president, the TMC struggled to appease the tension in Sudan. Protesters continued to demand a civilian-led government, in response, the TMC launched a violent attack on protesters on June 3, resulting in at least 30 deaths. Khadega Mohammed, Wayne State University junior and one of the organizers of the event, said her goal is to help the community become aware of the current situation in the country and the severity of the crisis. “I think it is especially important that we organize something like this because what is happening in Sudan is not just a Sudanese cause, it is a humanitarian cause,” Mohammed said. “I’ve noticed that a lot of people are silent about this, there is nothing happening in Michigan, there is no awareness event for it.” Because of her Sudanese heritage, the situation was personal for Mohammed. With this connection, she felt the obligation to spread awareness. “If nobody is going to do it, then I’m going to have to do it,” Mohammed said. “This is my people, this is my country that I care about. So I’m going to do an event to raise awareness and to echo the scream of Sudanese
people.” During the rally, Mohammed led the chanting of phrases such as “Who are we? Sudanese. What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Right now” and “No justice, no peace” to voice the struggle for justice in Sudan. Zaynab Elkolaly, an incoming freshman to the University, said she believes regardless of race and ethnicity, everyone should feel obligated to show their support for those affected. “You don’t have to be Sudanese to care about a humanitarian crisis,” Elkolaly said. “People are too motivated by the fact that it would be their family or someone they care personally involved, but I don’t think that should be a factor, it should be the people who need help, and we need to respond to that.” Elkolaly also criticized what she believes to be the ignorance and stereotypical assumptions Americans tend to have when it comes to crisis in underdeveloped nations. “In this region of the world, Middle East and Africa, there is this tendency for people to believe that, ‘Oh, it’s a third world developing country, there is going to be violence,’” Elkolaly said.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Over the past two years, the DIA Plaza/Midtown Cultural Connections international design competition accepted project proposals that could transform the Midtown district of Detroit. The goal of the competition is to unite 12 cultural institutions, including the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Public Library and University of Michigan. More than forty project submissions were narrowed down to three finalists and a winner titled “Detroit Square.” The project has a core team of Olivier Phillippe from Agence Ter (based in Paris, France); Anya Sirota and Jean Louis Farges from Akoaki (Detroit); Cezanne Charles and John Marshall from rootoftwo (Detroit); and Harley Etienne, an assistant professor of urban and regional planning at the University Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. In addition to Etienne, three other of these team members have ties to the University. Sirota is an associate professor of architecture at the Taubman College, Marshall is an associate professor at the School of Art & Design and Taubman College and Charles is an alum of the School of Public Policy. Sirota said she believes her team’s key to success was their plan being more fluid and adaptable instead of concrete and decisive. “It is not a finished plan; it is not a masterplan in and of itself,” Sirota said. “It is a framework to engage the 12 institutions. It proceeds with a very clear, strong diagram of its shared parts, but then assumes they will need to be adjusted to conform to the material reality of the institutions’ needs.”
Read more at michigandaily.com
2 NEWS
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Company opens A2 research space ‘Keep Moving Forward’ looks for engineering talent from ‘U’ students ALYSSA MCMURTY Summer News Editor
On June 11, Silicon Valleybased company Keep Looking Ahead opened a temporary Research and Development site in Ann Arbor. The global capital equipment company specializes in artificial intelligence, sensor technology and protons and electrons, and hopes to take advantage of the engineering talent the University of Michigan provides, according to Click on Detroit.com. KLA started in 1976 when the company had a breakthrough with a mask inspection tool. They currently partner with customers around the world to develop state of the art inspection and metrology technology.
BLOOMING
With more than 10,000 global employees, KLA announced their plans for opening an Ann Arbor location Oct. 24, 2018. In a news release on their website, CEO Rick Wallace, a graduate of the University with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, said he hopes to strengthen ties with the University. John McLaughlin, Ann Arbor site leader for KLA and 2005 University graduate, said the company purposely picked the location in Ann Arbor near North Campus after considering more than 350 possible sites because of its high quality-of-life, low costof-living compared to the Bay Area and its engineering talent. “Big picture: we are creating 600 jobs in Ann Arbor,” McLaughlin said. “We are establishing a second headquarters and a major R&D facility here.
Read more at michigandaily.com
puzzle by sudokusyndication.com
420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com
CASSANDRA MANSUETTI Editor in Chief 734-418-4115 opt.3 cassette@michigandaily.com
RYAN KELLY
Business Manager 734-418-4115 ext. 1241 dailydisplay@gmail.com
CONTACT INFORMATION Newsroom
Office hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. 734-763-2459 opt.3
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Farmer’s market hits 100th season Ann Arbor residents celebrate begininngs of outdoor sale OLIVE SCOTT
Daily Staff Reporter
This summer, the Ann Arbor Farmers Market is celebrating its 100th birthday. Over the past century, the farmers market has become an Ann Arbor staple with 142 stalls open on Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout the summer. The outdoor shop also includes Kindlefest, a holiday market open only in December. The Farmers Market is an outdoor shopping center across the street from Zingerman’s Delicatessen full of fresh, brightly colored flowers that sit alongside bundles of produce. Vendors sell merchandise ranging from jewelry, breads and jams, to local coffee beans and even snow cones as the summer months begin to heat up. The Kerrytown market has been serving the community fresh produce and locally-made food since its 1919. As noted in an Ann Arbor Observer article in 1978, the history of the Farmer’s Market included three big moves. Initially, the shops were located on Main Street but were then quickly moved near the courthouse on Fourth Avenue after residents complained Main was becoming too clogged up
with vendors and patrons. The market continued to grow, and so did the need to expand. In 1931, the local market moved to its current location with over 124 stalls surrounding a paved walkway, which was built as a Great Depression Era Works Progress Administration project. The celebration of the farmers market’s 100th birthday began in the beginning of May with posts on the market’s Facebook page in tandem with an exhibit opening at the Ann Arbor District Library in July. Stephanie Willet, Ann Arbor Farmers Market manager, said she has been planning events throughout the summer, including a food truck rally and outdoor movie screening in July. “We are going to be trying to highlight our history as well,” Willet said. “We’ll have a bunch of old photos, we’ll be printing those on banners and hanging them up around the market.” The farmer’s market will officially commemorate their 100th year anniversary with a “birthday party” on Aug. 17. The party will feature the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, along with an array of children’s events, such as an “instrument petting zoo” where children are able to play with the symphony’s instruments. There will also be a magician and free ice cream to commemorate the expansive history of the farmers market.
Read more at michigandaily.com
News Tips Corrections Letters to the Editor Photo Department Arts Section Editorial Page Sports Section Magazine Advertising Department
news@michigandaily.com corrections@michigandaily.com tothedaily@michigandaily.com or visit michigandaily.com/letters photo@michigandaily.com arts@michigandaily.com opinion@michigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com statement@michigandaily.com Phone: 734-418-4115 dailydisplay@gmail.com
EDITORIAL STAFF Barbara Collins & Alex Harring Managing News Editors news@michigandaily.com
Erin White Editorial Page Editor tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Jorge Cazares & Akul Vijayvargiya Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com
Julianna Morano Managing Arts Editor arts@michigandaily.com
Alexandria Pompei & Natalie Stephens Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com
Alec Cohen & Kathryn Halverson Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com
Emily Stillman Managing Copy Editor copydesk@michigandaily.com
Devak Nanua & Sam So Managing MiC Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com
Amir Basha Managing Online Editor webteam@michigandaily.com
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 free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2 per issue. Subscriptions for September - April are $250, and yearlong subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. Subscriptions must be prepaid.
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS 3
‘U’ Regents approve new budget, tuition
New LSA dean appointed at meeting Thursday CLAIRE HAO
Summer News Editor
Courtesy of Olivia Scott
Goatscaping added at Gallup Park island
Ten goats live at park full-time to help with brush management, aid in prevention of invasive species OLIVIA SCOTT Daily Staff Reporter
For the past three weeks, Ann Arbor has been using a more unorthodox landscaping method: goatscaping. Ten goats placed on two of Gallup Park’s islands have been conducting brush management to prevent invasive species from entering the area. According to a press release from the city of Ann Arbor, using goats for brush management is an alternative to typical invasive species management, as the city manages these areas by hand. According to Erika Pratt, Parks and Recreation GIVE 365 volunteer and outreach coordinator, the goatscaping project is a pilot program with hopes to expand. “I know there’s a lot of interest within different parks, different folks that have different areas
in mind for future goatscaping, so I’m hopeful that we’ll continue this practice,” Pratt said. “It’s really affordable … By and large people have really loved it. We live in a community where people really care about whether or not we’re putting chemicals on our spaces.” On June 24, more than 100 people showed up to Gallup Park for a “Goats at Gallup” Talk and Walk for a tour with Mike Mourer from Twin Willow Ranch. Mourer and his family breed and raise the goats on their farm in Milan, Michigan and is home to more than 70 goats. The tour groups had the opportunity to pet and interact with the goats as they were eating leaves off a fallen tree. LSA sophomore Emma Hammond visited the goats with her mother after hearing a lot about the project.
“I think it’s really cool to see up close what they’re doing,” Hammond said. “We’ve been on the island before the goats and it was so overgrown, so it’s cool to actually see how much they eat.” The goats have cleared away much of the brush on the islands. All 10 goats have been living on the islands full time for the past three weeks. They eat invasive species like honeysuckle and buckthorn, as well as poison ivy, which is harmless to the goats. “They’ve got it made here, they get to eat and take it easy,” Mourer said. “They are good for the environment because as they eat the seeds and everything else it grinds it up so small because they have four stomachs … so by the time it comes out its not viable as a seed anymore, so that’s part of breaking the cycle of the invasives.”
On Thursday afternoon, the University of Michigan Board of Regents gathered at the Richard L. Postma Family Clubhouse for the annual meeting to approve budget proposals for the University’s three campuses, athletic department and the University Health System. The board also appointed a new U-M Flint chancellor and a new LSA dean. University President Mark Schlissel began the meeting by holding a moment of silence for the passing of Douglass Diggs, husband of Regent Shauna Ryder Diggs (D). “(Douglass Diggs) was passionate about creating opportunities for talented, but underrepresented students,” Schlissel said. “He was active in the U of M community, and the Michigan family will miss him deeply.” Schlissel then announced the winner of the Russell
Lectureship, the University’s highest honor for senior faculty, as Engineering professor Steven Forrest. He also recognized Carrie Ferrario, assistant professor of pharmacology, Xianzhe Jia, associate professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, Corinna Schindler, associate professor of chemistry and Megan Tompkins-Stange, assistant professor of public policy, as recipients of the Henry Russell Award, the University’s highest honor for faculty in the early to middle stages of their career. To replace current U-M Flint chancellor Susan Borrego, Schlissel recommended chancellor Debasish Dutta, the former chancellor of Rutgers University. The board unanimously appointed Dutta, whose five-year term begins on Aug. 1. Later in the meeting, Provost Martin Philbert recommended Anne Curzan, professor of English language and literature, as the new LSA dean. Appointed by an unanimous vote, her term
will begin Sep. 1. “As a faculty member, she exemplifies the University’s commitment to research, teaching and service to higher education and to the broader public,” Philbert said. Much of the meeting centered around approving budget proposals — all of which were approved — for the 2020 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Schlissel began the budget presentation by emphasizing an additional $23 million in funding for need-based financial aid, which Schlissel said will “offset” a 1.9 percent increase for in-state undergraduate tuition. He noted this in-state tuition increase is the smallest in six years. With the 11.2 percent increase in financial aid funding, Schlissel said tuition rates this next year will not increase for most instate undergraduates with need-based aid packages. Read more at michigandaily.com
DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily
4 OPINION
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MEGAN VAN KOOTEN | OP-ED
Is the University responsible for local issues?
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com
CASSANDRA MANSUETTI Editor in Chief
ERIN WHITE
Editorial Page Editor
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Zack Blumberg Emma Chang Joel Danilewitz Emily Huhman Tara Jayaram
Jeremy Kaplan Magdalena Mihaylova Ellery Rosenzweig Jason Rowland Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Alex Satola Timothy Spurlin Nicholas Tomaino Erin White Ashley Zhang
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
The University needs to stop dragging its feet
O
n June 13, 2019, University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel was due in U.S. District Court in Detroit to explain the University’s sexual misconduct policy in a settlement conference for the ongoing Doe v. University of Michigan lawsuit. On June 12, this hearing was delayed until further notice. The stay, prompted by an emergency petition sent by University lawyers, was the latest in a set of actions by the University to keep Schlissel from testifying publicly on the matter. We as an Editorial Board feel that the University should stop delaying the case and encourage President Schlissel to appear before the court; furthermore, we find the University’s lack of clarity surrounding the policy in question to be extremely disconcerting, and it should be actively working to remedy this issue. The lack of adequate reasoning for Schlissel’s abstention from testifying, especially in a situation where he is not intended to be crossexamined, is concerning. It is clear that President Schlissel’s position grants him oversight over the University as a whole, but it remains worrisome that he is uncomfortable or incapable of publicly explaining the intricacies of the University’s sexual misconduct policy; a policy that is integral to student safety and rights. These sentiments were publicly supported by Judge Arthur Tarnow, who criticized Schlissel for his and the University’s unwillingness to streamline the case proceedings, writing, “The University’s attorneys appear to be more concerned with keeping the President out of the public eye than with prompt resolution of this case
and providing a fair process for adjudicating sexual misconduct claims.” The lack of definitive public figures surrounding the University’s sexual misconduct policy points to broader confusion surrounding the foundation of the policy itself. When legal representatives for the University offered to bring in a different spokesperson to testify about the sexual assault policy, they were unable to identify who that would be when prompted by the judge. This begs the question: Who is the authority who can be held accountable for the policy and its implementations, if not President Schlissel? It is evident that the University does not have a clear person in charge and is hoping to merely avoid confrontation about this lack of leadership. This is unacceptable, and we implore
the University to point to a clear and reliable source on the matter. Considering the current social climate regarding sexual misconduct, especially within institutions of higher education across the country, we feel that President Schlissel and the University should be considering a settlement meeting regarding these University policies to be a top priority. Delaying the process more will ultimately only serve to undermine the University’s authority on the subject going forward. The University’s President should have a clear idea of the direction we are moving in terms of our treatment of accusations and cases of sexual misconduct, and avoiding policy discussions like this is only counter-productive to the creation of a fair and safe school environment.
D
ioxane, a potentially carcinogenic chemical that has leaked into Ann Arbor’s aquifer slowly over two decades from Gelman Sciences, Inc., was found in our drinking water on two separate occasions in the Huron River and Barton Pond. The plume, discovered in well water in 1985, has migrated in the groundwater over the last three decades and now encompasses a much larger area. While the federal, state and local governments have been entrenched in legal battles over this environmental issue, the threat to public health has steadily increased. As a Masters of Social Work student at the University of Michigan, and as someone who cares not only about the environment but also the health and well-being of students and community members who drink this water, it is alarming that this issue has gone unresolved for decades. Across the state and country, similar issues have taken several years and an abundance of resources to resolve (Flint, Baltimore and several others). As a result of agonizingly slow and expensive undertakings, residents are left endangered, confused and often defeated, lacking a real solution. The longer we wait for the government to devise a plan, the longer Ann Arbor residents have to worry about their ability to feel safe and healthy while enjoying the natural resources around them. While some feel powerless to address issues like the dioxane plume, I am not alone in feeling the University of Michigan should look locally for solutions and start doing the necessary research regarding this potential health hazard. Perhaps the University lacks a sense of urgency — even government officials litigating the issue seemingly lack this resolve. Or maybe the donation made by the family of the founder of Gelman Sciences, Inc. to U -M’s Risk Science Center creates a conf lict of interest and gives pause to action. Regardless of the root cause, the wealth of knowledge and potential resources from a university should not be held back when justice and the safety of the community is at stake. In social work, our mission is to promote social justice and the dignity and worth of all indi-
viduals regardless of race, socioeconomic status and background. This includes advocating for our community and its members, ensuring they have access to the resources needed to live healthy and fulfilling lives. Issues like the dioxane plume disproportionately affect communities of color and vulnerable people. Given this marked disparity, it is everyone’s responsibility to raise awareness and promote action around issues in order to serve these marginalized communities that may not have the resources to adequately advocate for themselves. This call applies not only to social workers, but to all schools within the University of Michigan that seek to produce leaders within their field of study and continue to build the prestige of the University. At the University of Michigan, we claim to be “the Leaders and Best.” But, is that motto fulfilled in our relationship with nearby communities? When we, as a University community, choose to bypass opportunities to perform research and develop high-impact projects that create positive change in our own neighborhoods, we fail to uphold that standard. By investing research capabilities and skills in environmental safety and public health projects, we could utilize the privilege afforded to the University of Michigan and play an active leadership role in the community, laying the groundwork for positive community interaction. Reassuringly, several students have already taken up this call and have begun to pioneer their own initiatives to support their community. The environmental and health impacts for the greater Ann Arbor area due to the dioxane plume worsen as time passes, and there is still no solution in sight. The University of Michigan should leverage its resources and the skills of students and faculty to develop innovative solutions to this decades-long problem and, in doing so, renew its dedication to serving its neighbors. Neglecting to do so will result in further contamination and ill-placed reliance on time-consuming legal action. Megan Van Kooten is a Masters of Social Work Candidate at the University of Michigan.
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SAMANTHA DELLA FERA | COLUMN
Internalize the message of ‘When They See Us’
M
edia has the power to teach. Sometimes what it teaches us is dangerous — our bodies are disgusting, our love is invalid — but sometimes what we learn from media has a positive impact. I wrote about this power in my last column, and the sentiment rings true in today’s piece. Today, media is teaching us to stop forgetting history, and instead allowing it to guide our future decisions. The story of the Central Park Five reached infamy far before my generation existed. I personally only knew small details about the case, and had only been exposed to it because of Donald Trump’s involvement and its discussion during his 2016 presidential candidacy. For those alive in the year 1989, the case of the Central Park Five is comparable to OJ Simpson: You don’t forget where you were when you heard it. Now, the Netflix mini-series “When They See Us” has catapulted the story of the Central Park Five back into the public eye. For those who haven’t watched the series or are unfamiliar with the story: After a night of crime and violence in Central Park, a female jogger is found brutally raped and assaulted the next morning. Five young men of color — four Black and one Latino — are arrested. All of the boys are under the age of 16, and they only confess to the crime after hours of abusive interrogation. Some went over a day without proper sleep or food, and none had a parent or counsel present. The boys were all convicted, and spend a range of five to 12 years behind bars for a crime that DNA eventually proved they did not commit. “When They See Us” is a heartbreaking journey through the trials and convictions, demonstrating how horrifically these men were treated. Near the time of the trial, President Donald Trump spent $85,000 on a full-page ad in four newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty just to execute the teenage boys, an act for which he refuses to apologize. As five men of color accused of raping and beating a white woman, these five boys were vilified and presumed guilty by the media, a prejudice that hung a dark cloud over the court and led to the harmful, unfair result of their trials. The mini-series has reignited the rightful outrage against people on the wrong side of justice. The lead prosecutor, Elizabeth Lederer, resigned from her position at Columbia Law following backlash sparked by the mini-series. The head of the sex crimes division of the NYPD, Linda Fairstein, also resigned from several boards thanks to criticism associated with “When They See Us.”
The backlash mirrors what followed 2015’s “Making a Murderer,” which profiled yet another wrongful conviction. Again, the prosecutor in this case received widespread disapproval — people just couldn’t grasp how this man could be put away for something he didn’t do. The problem is, this happens every single day. Wrongful convictions like the Central Park Five happen all the time — which is far too often to make a Netflix series for each. The roar of outrage when these shows premiere is justified — the American criminal justice system is significantly broken. But eventually, the next hot thing comes along, the outrage dies down, and thousands of disadvantaged people are left to deal with trials built to lock them away. A great pairing to “When They See Us” would be “13th,” a documentary on the epidemic of mass incarceration that plagues this country. If you are left heartbroken and angry from the story of the Central Park Five, “13th” will piss you off even more. But at the very least, you’ll recognize the institutional racism and classism that landed five young boys of color in prison 30 years ago. The United States is the world leader in incarceration, with over 2.2 million people in jails and prisons, a 500 percent increase in the past 40 years. Out of those 2.2 million people, 67 percent are Black, despite Black people only making up 37 percent of the American population. A Black man has a 1 in 3 chance of being incarcerated, a Latino man 1 in 6, compared to the 1 in 17 probability among white men. These are the basic statistics of the disparities in the criminal justice system, and they only get more disgusting as you go deeper. Private prisons, drug laws, bail money, felon voting laws — all of these and more benefit from keeping poor people and people of color on a one way road to prison. So what are we going to do? Are we going to forget this outrage until Netflix formulates another true crime drama to rake in subscribers? Don’t let this outrage go away, because the reality of the Central Park Five sure won’t. There are still young men of color being wrongfully imprisoned, and sticking them in a harmful cycle society has made nearly impossible to end. There are young children being tried as adults because they were not given the resources or treatment necessary to prevent this. Public outrage is good, but there is always more.
Read more at michigandaily.com Samantha Della Fera can be reached at samdf@umich.edu.
OPINION 5
OLIVIA TURANO | COLUMN
A
pop-up in my Facebook browser prompted me “How much do you think Facebook cares about its users?” I thought about it for a bit, and decided that “neither agree nor disagree” most adequately summarized my feelings. So when Facebook thanked me for my feedback, promising to “use it to improve Facebook,” and asking me to share any additional thoughts, I decided to do my civic duty and participate in the democratic process. I said: I think Facebook is becoming a monopoly and needs to be broken up. It’s been done in the past with every generation’s new monopoly: Ours is just online giants like Facebook and Amazon. Don’t take it personally, Mark Zuckerberg, you just own way too much of our information for any one person to have. We’ve been hearing about Facebook consistently in the news since its inception, but increasingly so since January 2018, when the news of the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke. This raised red flags about how much of our information Facebook really has, how that information was misappropriated and the influence platforms like Facebook could have had on the 2016 election. This incident was followed by Mark Zuckerberg’s two appearances on Capitol Hill last April when he testified in front of Senate and House committees on Facebook’s business practices, ethics and protection of user data. More Facebook scandals have continued to appear in the news, remaining at the forefront of the emerging dialogue on the influence and power of Facebook and other companies like it. This is all part of a bigger picture, beyond just Facebook and the scandals that characterized 2018. Since the turn of the twentyfirst century, media and technology giants have continued to grow with almost unchecked power. At 2018’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, George Soros described Facebook and Google as a “menace” to society, intentionally engineering their services to be addictive. “They claim they are merely distributing information. But the fact that they are near-monopoly distributors makes them public utilities and should subject them to more stringent regulations, aimed at preserving competition, innova-
Facebook’s influence tion, and fair and open universal access,” Soros said. In May 2019, we heard from Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, in a New York Times op-ed. Hughes described the extent of Mark Zuckerberg’s power and control over Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram. Zuckerberg has an astounding 60 percent of Facebook’s voting shares. He doesn’t just run Facebook — he completely controls it. Facebook is worth half a trillion dollars and by Hughes’s estimate, over 80 percent of the world’s social networking revenue. He argued that Facebook has reached monopoly status, “eclipsing all of its rivals and erasing competition from the social networking category” and has called for the company’s leadership to be broken up. Despite Facebook’s scandals, it continues to thrive. “Even during the annus horribilis of 2018,” Hughes wrote, “Facebook’s earnings per share increased by an astounding 40 percent compared with the year before.” Hughes offered two explanations for Facebook’s continued prosperity; first, less people are going off Facebook than we think, with most deletions being temporary due to the lack of a compelling alternative; second, those who do choose to leave Facebook often turn to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Sleeker and simpler, Instagram has somehow managed to remain separate from Facebook’s scandals. I was surprised to learn that Facebook is still prospering. Among college students, on the precarious edge of millennial and Generation Z, it feels like Facebook use is dwindling. Only four years ago, Facebook was integral to the high school social scene and culture. For over a decade, people have used Facebook to unite over shared experiences online. Today, I notice my friends posting on Facebook far less, and many high schoolers don’t have Facebook accounts. I don’t think our constantly updating news feeds have gradually dwindled because of fear about information security, or even because we know that Facebook influenced the 2016 election. I think it’s because, quite simply, it’s going out of fashion. Facebook rendered MySpace obsolete by 2010, and as 2020 approaches, Facebook is being crowded out by apps that capture our young, impatient minds’ attention more. And yet, we
are all still on Facebook. Why? I think Facebook comes in handy for the small things that don’t add anything extremely valuable to our lives anymore, but make it worth not deactivating — it’s not much more than updating photo albums for your friends and family, sharing articles and providing commentary on current events, but we’ve been doing so for so long that it makes more sense to continue than to stop. But whether or not we’re actively using Facebook, our information remains in the company’s hands nonetheless. Even if we delete our Facebook accounts, we’ll still be on Instagram. Echoing what seems to be a common sentiment of many millennials and Gen Z-ers alike, Mashable published an article in 2018 entitled, “I will delete Facebook, but you can pry Instagram from my cold, dead hands.” In fact, I would argue many of us aren’t even ready to delete Facebook — because if we were, wouldn’t we have already done so? I’m not suggesting that we all will, or even should, get off social media. Maybe it’s our biggest enemy, but it’s sometimes our most important friend, essential to our social lives today. Technology is irreversibly ingrained in our existence now, and denouncing it altogether isn’t feasible or productive. We could all theoretically delete our Facebook accounts, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Once we delete Facebook, what about Instagram? What about Google, Amazon and Apple? What about the streaming services, email lists, financial institutions and thousands of other providers to which we’ve inevitably provided information? The turn of the twentieth century was characterized by monopolies. Now almost 130 years after the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, many monopolies have been broken up, from Standard Oil in 1911 to AT&T in 1982. The technology that revolutionized the world a hundred years ago needed eventually to be regulated, controlled and divided, and the arguably monopolistic power of all tech giants deserves, at the very least, a thorough examination.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Olivia Turano can be reached at turanoo@umich.edu.
6 ARTS
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FESTIVAL COVERAGE
FILMMAGIC
Putting Gambino’s career in perspective after ‘Roo ‘19 STEPHEN SATARINO Daily Film Editor
Childish Gambino announced in early 2018 that his next project would be his last. Not the last for the musician, but for the online, Wu-Tang Clan generated moniker that he had been producing music under for over a decade. I imagine then, a new, more mature Donald Glover will rise from those ashes and continue to make Grammy-worthy records. But until that day comes, we are left to wonder what the musician’s post-Gambino profile will look like. Gambino headlined the 2019 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, playing Friday’s first nighttime show on the main stage, just as the sun had tucked itself behind the rolling hills of rural Tennessee. Gambino followed on the heels of a disappointing Avett Brothers set, made worse by the fact that the anxious crowd showed all the excitement of sitting in a checkup waiting room. It was clear most of the patronage to the Avett Brothers was an attempt at scoring prime Gambino real estate, some of the audience members beginning the glacial push toward the front even before the previous performance finished. After a few false sightings (each accompanied by ecclesiastical screeches, then ho-hum groans), the singer-rapper made his entrance on a rising platform, unearthed from
the center of the pit. Fog machine blowing and spotlight showing, we caught sight, for the first time, of the figure of this final Gambino chapter: long beard, partially braided hair, loose white drawstring sweatpants, a shirtless upper body. This is the Childish Gambino we first met in the viral music video for his single “This is America” — a gruff, aged reincarnation of the lanky kid that first broke through playing Troy on the NBC sit-com “Community.” Gambino has come a long way in that time, releasing three studio albums (Camp in 2011, Because the Internet in 2013 and Awaken, My Love! in 2016) and a slew of mixtapes in the decade since, his musical stylings evolving just as much as his look. It was interesting to see these changes played out in the audience’s energy over the course of the show. The first half of his set came mostly from Awaken, before the artist looped back around to finish the night off with his older crowd favorites. There was a noticeable disconnect when Gambino played tracks off that third studio album, the crowd drifting off during “Zombies” and “Riot,” snapping back into focus as soon as the first chords of “Sober” hit, then falling asleep again when more Awaken was played. (Surprisingly, the crowd was most receptive to all of Gambino’s post-Awaken singles, the Summer Pack and “This is America,” a collection of songs I think was a drop-off after the inven-
tive third album.) Awaken was a departure for Gambino, leaving his trademark snarky bars behind for a more soulful R&B sound. Though it topped out at number 5 on the US charts, the highest mark of any of the three studio albums, the album’s startling change of pace from the expected obscenities associated with the Gambino brand seems to have affected Awaken’s staying power, raising questions as to how the next chapter of Donald Glover’s music will be received. *** Gambino announced himself to the music world as, essentially, a quippy rapper — one armed with clever bars about being a nerdy black kid from the projects — his verses often laden with an undercurrent of dual identity. Gambino’s music was raunchy and obscene, but, at its core, playful more than anything else. The rapper seemed to enjoy letting his wordplay flourish, even if the lines about girls and money were, at times, pretty vapid. I look at this era of Gambino’s music as the final evolution of the types of raps two high school sophomores would pass back and forth in the back of AP Chemistry. Raunchy and humorous, they don’t seem to care what anyone else thinks of them. Camp-era Gambino leaned on his writing more than anything sonic in the songs he produced, the beats often fairly simple, allowing the focus to land on the rapper’s talent for lyricism.
Gambino left out of his Bonnaroo set the hit single from Camp, “Bonfire.” Quick-witted and crude, “Bonfire” epitomizes early Gambino, and had long stood as the poster child for what a Childish Gambino song looked like. Leaving it out was a curious snub, the musician even shoving the single’s iconic, siren-sounding intro in between “3005” and “Sweatpants” before abandoning the song, never returning to it before his time on stage was up. As he walked away, everyone was floored by the performance, but disappointment from the lack of “Bonfire” and “Freaks and Geeks,” another Camp-era hit, were common grumblings. Looking at the artist’s musical trajectory, since even before Camp hit the charts, the at first strange absence of these two songs begins to make some sense. Gambino’s second studio album Because the Internet was a step forward in production value and size from Camp. It was experimental in its highly sequential, narrative format, and though not all its risks paid off, Because the Internet lives on as an interesting attempt at using music as a stepping stone for a more expansive, multimedia experience — the album was released with an accompanying (near-interminable) seventy-two-page screenplay as well as a short film. From Because the Internet, we got two of Gambino’s biggest hits to date, “Sweatpants” and “3005.” Both of these Because the Internet singles have iconic music videos where the artist raps deadpan into the camera while absurdities abound around him. The two videos have a lot of similar qualities and reflect the atmosphere of adolescent character erosion that the project’s screenplay and short film also focus on creating. This can be seen as Gambino Mach 2, an ambitious artist working on ways to connect his two diverging careers. Because the Internet has some of the same witty qualities of Gambino’s earliest work, but already the artist was stomaching his ego to try something new. Jumping forward, the R&B stylings of Awaken, My Love! are nearly unrecognizable as the future sonic direction for the kid behind Camp, but looking at his discography from 10,000 feet up, a clear trend toward
new directions at every major step starts to emerge. Awaken has none of the iconic witticisms that so saturated the Camp-era projects. It drops the expansive ambition of Because the Internet as well, making a point to be as simple, and as soulful, a showcase of Gambino’s singing talent as it can be. Hidden beneath this 10-year discography is an artist with an incredible ear and an incredible voice, and it seems as he continues to make music, these once-hidden talents will continue to be paid more notice. Gambino is not alone in the music world as an artist whose later projects trend away from the sound that originally made their name. Two artists with similar timelines and statures, Kid Cudi and Chance the Rapper, both reinvented themselves in their sophomore and junior projects, leaving fans of their previous work left feeling slighted. Which raises an interesting question on what responsibility (if any) an artist has to continue the spirit of the work that made them famous in the first place. On one hand, an artist whose projects seem too iterative on past work may be viewed as lazy or unoriginal, so caught up in their old sound that they’re afraid to push at their boundaries. On the other, an artist whose projects are always a leap into the avantgarde may be viewed as too in their head — obsessed with the notion that they can do anything, that anything they try will be great, they consistently work too far out of their element, eventually completely losing track their roots. In the end, whatever choices a musician makes about their artistic trajectory will ultimately be settled in the court of public opinion. The artist shouldn’t lose sleep over alienating their base, though they should know full well that any step outside of their proverbial box runs the risk of cutting them off from the fans they’ve worked so hard to cultivate. If the new stuff is good enough, people will stick around. If it’s not, we stomach our blows, regress back to our path, and we return to form with something like Cudi’s Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’.
Fog machine blowing and spotlight showing, we caught sight, for the first time, of the figure of this final Gambino chapter
Read more at michigandaily.com
ARTS 7
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
STYLE NOTEBOOK
COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
Glitch-art fuels new Versace line SAM KREMKE Daily Arts Writer
LIBRESHOT
Rosé all day this summer ELI RALLO
Daily Arts Writer
The temperature in suburban, seaside New Jersey has climbed to exactly rosé degrees Fahrenheit, which is just a few degrees warmer than springtime Chardonnay and a full 360 from musing autumn Cabernet. Summertime near the shore means one thing: Everyone is grabbing for a glass of that chilled, light, millennial pink wine and toasting “cheers” as early as 11 a.m. on a Friday. But what is it, really, about the wine that’s so attractive when mid-June hits and you’re near the ocean? Not to make an assumption, but I’ll assume most people don’t really know why rosé is pink, and why other wines are simply red or white. Wine is quite the science, and winemakers are some of the world’s most romantic, tipsy scientists in the world. I normally don’t take much interest in chemistry, but when wine is our final result, I’m listening. For Italy’s sake, and the sake of celebrating wine and heritage, let’s call rosé by its proper name, “rosato.” When winemakers make rosato, as opposed to a red or white wine, they incorporate only some of the color from the grape skins — but not enough to qualify the beverage as red wine. Interestingly enough, rosato may be the oldest form of wine because it is actually the most straightforward to make, due in part to the light grape skin
contact method. When making rosato, the grapes are crushed, and their skins remain in contact with the juice for a very short period of time — normally, no longer than 20 hours. The skins are not in contact throughout fermentation, as they would be with a red wine. The longer the skin is in contact with the juice, the darker the color will be; therefore, making that perfect bottle of rosato is a bit of a slippery slope. A bottle of rosato can come in plethora of colors: from nearly sheer yellow-pink, akin to a sweet onion skin, to a vibrant, near-fuschia. However, true, authentic rosato tends to lean to the lighter side, so, if you’re in a wine shop without a clue, reach for something that resembles the inside of a peach, not the tube of baby-pink lipstick. It’s been said that many of the earliest red wines were made similar to modern day rosatos, so, our counterparts in ancient Roma may have been celebrating summer Fridays similarly to how we are today. One thing they didn’t have back then though: the marketing paradise we call Instagram. Today, rosato has become so much about the look of the wine and the appearance of the bottle, and not so much about the taste. These days, on your whitepainted picnic table overlooking the sea, even what’s in your ice bucket has to fit the theme, the color scheme and the “brand” of a Hampton’s summertime, no matter where you are. Wölffer Estate seemed to master this when they created Summer in a Bottle Rosé,
otherwise known as the most Instagrammable bottle of rosé you’ve ever seen. It costs anywhere between 22 and 25 dollars at most liquor stores, and is decorated with multicolored flowers, accenting its blush, sunset color. The winery has been around for about 30 years and calls Bridgehampton home, using their location to their additional advantage in selling cases of the bright rosé all over the country. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the bottle — the design is beautiful and is the perfect addition or centerpiece to any summer event. But in the taste and flavor department, it isn’t a winner for me. What Summer in a Bottle does, gracefully and successfully, is mask the relatively tough and uncomplex flavor of the rosé with an incredible marketing ploy and a perfect front cover when what’s inside the bottle simply doesn’t match such facial excellence. In spite of any criticism, Summer in a Bottle flies off the shelves, even when it costs you over 30 dollars, which is an overpriced bill for an almost flavorless bottle. The reason being it looks the part. We’re so geared toward the digital in this technological age. With all the affirmation we gain from Instagram likes, we’re willing to sacrifice flavor for looks almost immediately — forgetting the purpose of rosé in the first place. The wine, like so many Italian food and beverage staples, is about culture.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Opening on a gluttonous helping of piercing, Prodigy-indebted synth and a battery of steel-toed boots (the house down), Donatella Versace’s message at the Versace Menswear Spring 2020 show was both composite and staggeringly clear. She sent her usual gaggle of unassailable superbeings down the halls of their Via Gesù showroom to reassert her expansive and heavily branded universe’s influence on modern culture. Lurex flarepants, oversized PVC suiting, rhinestone Greek border chokers, glittering race car embroidering, grommeted leather, the aforementioned calf-high clompers and seemingly endless Medusan adornments are just the tip of the Milanese iceberg, nearly all of which was somehow featured in the show. Neon buzzcuts and flat-ironed manes raced down a pink, plexiglass runway and around the glossy black body of a 1995 Corvette, swathed in a pile of matching roses, peonies and orchids, glacially spinning as a GIF would in the early days of the internet. Visual hallmarks of the 1990s have been present, often in the form of direct regurgitation, in nostalgic digital art as well as trends and points of reference in the fashion industry for some time now. Versace’s visual legacy of elevating the gaudy and garish is cemented within almost every creative field that comes to mind, and it’s clearly come time to cash in. Disparate elements of the Versace canon clash and clamor for attention yet manage to coincide with balance thanks to a shared design ethos (pure maximalism) and a masterful fusion of the two defining elements of the show. First is the overwhelming presence of Versace’s branding in all forms of art that fall under the
umbrella of “Tumblr.” The most fitting example of the vague, amalgamated genre is Vaporwave, the Petra Cortright and early-aughts gamerinspired atmosphere that playfully pokes at corporate identity and often features the pink and purple hues present in this year’s show. The second source of inspiration is modern masculinity’s relationship to the tropes that continue to define it. Describing the collection’s architecture on their YouTube channel, the brand asserts that “Stereotypes of masculine character are challenged through tailoring, fabric and print — an interpretation of confidence through Versace’s maximalist style,” and that “The Versace man is free to self-express with no limitations.” It is evident that Versace not only seeks to challenge masculinity, including about as many women in the show as men and pairing emblems of virility with color palettes and style elements that cue the unmasculine; it mobilizes the irony and playfulness of those now defunct, yet massively influential art forms to inspire the same attitude toward the modes of social enforcement that attempt to dictate what brings us joy, how we view ourselves and how we present ourselves to others. Versace is so ubiquitous that it doesn’t need to go out of its way to sell itself as a brand or try to invent something new. The groundwork has already been laid for that — the brand literally spawned Google Images. Much like Chanel and other labels of its stature, the house shines brightest when it finds new worlds to merge with and integrates established designs. In doing so, they’re taking every aspect of what they have come to be known for, a decade that they have become synonymous with, a creative movement that more or less owes its whole self to both, synthesizing a politics and communicating it clearly, which is about as much as anyone could ask for.
Versace is so ubiquitous that it doesn’t need to go out of its way to sell itself as a brand or try to invent something new.
8 NEWS
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Katie Bouman on time at ‘U,’ black hole research SAMANTHA SMALL Summer News Editor
Before Dr. Katie Bouman became the center of a social media firestorm, she would sit in “the bullpen” of DB Cafe on the University of Michigan’s North Campus with fellow members of HKN, an electrical, computer and computer science engineering frater-
nity, and eat “way too much Domino’s pizza.” About ten years later, Bouman hit “go” on her computer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab to reveal a ring-shaped image warped around a backdrop of hot gas. A previously unseeable mass, Bouman captured the first ever image of a black hole, a product of an algorithm
Classifieds
she helped develop with a team of more than 200 scientists. “I was going between the shock that we were getting this — I think I really expected things to go wrong,” Bouman said. “Although I didn’t want to say that out loud, I expected things weren’t going to work the first time. Going between that, we had to keep pinching ourselves that this was real. I was going through these emotions
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
Release Date: Thursday, June 27, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
FOR RENT
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 “Welcome to Kauai!” 6 Channel bobber 10 Persian for “crown” 13 “Service at the Speed of Sound” fast-food chain 14 Tolstoy title name 15 Moment or way lead-in 16 Place to get gifts? 19 Web statistic 20 Cruet contents 21 “Yay me!” 23 French friend 24 Place to get fireplace equipment? 27 Hedy of Hollywood 29 Stick with a boat? 30 Singer DiFranco 31 Roman fountain 32 “Rebel Yell” singer Billy 34 Grasp, in slang 35 Place to get movie actors? 38 Put up with 41 Techniques 42 Liver spreads 46 Prefix with catastrophe 47 Online help page 48 “My turn” 49 Place to get laundry detergent? 53 Shopkeeper who by his own admission sells “surprisingly expensive” penny candy at the Kwik-E-Mart 54 Silent performers 55 Oz. or lb. 56 “Instinct” star Cumming 57 Place to get help with estate planning? 61 Park it, so to speak 62 Slope overlooking a loch 63 Speak formally 64 Pair of allies? 65 “G’day” addressee 66 Put on the back burner
DOWN 1 It can cover a lot 2 “Dallas” production studio 3 Former 4 Sound neither an actor nor a hiker wants to hear 5 Top fighter pilot 6 Dyeing art 7 “I give up!” 8 Peace activist Yoko 9 Thanksgiving veggie 10 Royal topper 11 Ring-shaped 12 Host of a “garage” show since 2014 17 Jordan’s Queen __ 18 Berth place 22 Composer Satie 24 __ fixe 25 They may be pitched 26 Spanish surrealist 28 Say with conviction 32 Mosul native 33 Calendar square 34 FBI agent
36 Christmas poem contraction 37 Tach nos. 38 Ray 39 Total or partial event 40 Outlook alternative 43 One steeping in a cup 44 One-sided, in legal proceedings 45 Huge surprise
47 Complain 48 Analogy words 50 Conquers 51 Pester 52 One sporting a mic 56 “Back forty” unit 58 Tech giant that sold its PC division to Lenovo 59 New Deal agcy. 60 Drift (off)
CENTRAL CAMPUS, FURNISHED rooms for students, shared kitch., laundry., bath., internet, rent from $700 and up. Call 734‑276‑0886.
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
By Bruce Haight ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
06/27/19
06/27/19
ENJOY THE SUN WHILE READING THE MICHIGAN DAILY!
of disbelief, awe and being afraid it might even be fake.” Bouman was fascinated with science from a young age. Almost every year starting from the sixth grade, Bouman would compete in the juniorsenior high school science fair in West Lafayette, Indiana. A few years later, as a junior in high school, Bouman began conducting image research at Purdue University with a group of graduate students. At Purdue, she aided in the students’ research attempting to figure out if they could pinpoint from invisible signatures which type of camera took which image. Coincidentally, at Purdue, Bouman used the same computational device, the Event Horizon telescope — a global array of telescopes coming from the South Pole, Chile, Spain, Mexico and the United States — as she would work with years later to capture the first image of the Messier 87 black hole. Because of this work at Purdue, Bouman decided it fitting to pursue a degree in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan. “You know, all the people in this lab were electrical engineers so I wanted to do this,” Bouman said. “I guessed I should just be an electrical engineer … I was kind of interested in images, signals and that kind of side of things from an early age. From that, that’s what made me decide to go into engineering and do research.” However, Bouman theorizes her early work at Purdue wasn’t the only rationale behind her career path. It really boils down to biology, she admitted. Her father, brother and sister are all accomplished engineers. “It’s one of those things where, as a kid, I wanted to be as different from my dad as possible,” Bouman said. “I think that I thought I was doing something very different from him, I didn’t really know what he did. I
knew he was in electrical engineering but I didn’t know details on what he worked on. Initially, I was doing more stuff in the computer vision realm. But as I got older, I think biology took over, whether that is good or bad, I don’t know.” In 2008, Bouman moved into East Quad Residence Hall, a part of the Michigan Research Community — now the Michigan Discovery and Scholars program — and began attending 101 classes for her projected degree, electrical engineering. At the end of her first year, she received the William Harvey Seeley Prize, an award given to an electrical engineering freshman first in their class. Clayton Scott, University of Michigan professor of electrical engineering and computer science, cites Bouman as the first student whose name he remembered in his probability class. “She answered questions well, and asked her own challenging questions of me in return,” Scott wrote in an email to The Daily. “Her questions indicated a clear interest in not only learning the basic course content, but in applying and extending it in new directions.” After graduating from the University in 2011, Bouman moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts to pursue a masters degree and eventually a post doctoral degree in both electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. About two years after her arrival at MIT, she joined the Event Horizons Telescope project with no previous knowledge on black holes. “I kind of stumbled across the project,” Bouman said. “My advisor was going to give a talk to the group and so I went with him and was looking for new ideas or projects to get into.” Read more at michigandaily.com
Courtesy of Katie Bouman
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MICHIGAN IN COLOR 9
To Shimla, through Guava Island, with love
DEVAK NANUA
Summer MiC Managing Editor
The artists that find a way to reinvent themselves with every project they put out are some of the most exciting to watch. After a while, it’s quite easy to get bored listening to the same song repeatedly or to music that you can’t relate to at all. This is what I enjoy about Donald Glover as an artist. He always manages to create new art while being relatable and sticking to a common underlying theme. It’s like his signature as an artist which makes it authentically his. I would not have expected for a funk and jazz album like Awaken, My Love! to follow projects like Because The Internet or STN MTN / Kauai, which fit more under the rap and pop genre. I also would not have expected the actor that played the lovable and animated Troy Barnes on “Community” to play a more serious and painfully realistic Earn Marks on “Atlanta”. Glover’s latest project is his short film, “Guava Island”, in which he co-stars with Rihanna and Letitia Wright. Most of the reviews that I read for this project have been positive but there are a handful of them that have described it as a great Childish Gambino music video but a bad movie. While Glover does use this film to provide visuals for his most recent songs, I
believe that this short film wasn’t made to be a traditional award winning film; instead, it was made to prove a point and to send a message. The film circulates around the Glover’s character Deni Maroon and his love for his home Guava Island through its art, music and culture. Deni stands for artistic freedom while Guava Island is ran by an oppressive body of power lead by the main antagonist, Red. A thought-provoking and critical scene that resonated with me was when Deni walks into his shift late and overhears his co-worker talking about moving to America and opening his own business. Essentially, he talks about living the American Dream. Deni scoffs at his co-workers dream and points out that America is a “concept” and that Guava is no different. “We live in paradise but we don’t have the means to live here”. To be honest, Deni has a very valid point here. For ages, the concept of the “American Dream” has been sought after and idealized by many immigrants. People immigrated to America based on the thought of opportunity and freedom. The opportunity to start a family and get a well paying job and more importantly to be in a position to give their kids more opportunities than they had growing up. And the freedom to live as you want to and more
importantly in a place that tolerates different schools of thought. However, recently the “American Dream” seems to be a bit overrated and honestly underdelivers on many promises. We live in a country where mass shootings of schools and places of worship have become a common occurrence. We live in a country where undocumented migrant families are placed cages and forced to live in unsanitary conditions while our president has some sort of fascination with building a wall (and scarily enough has a sizable proportion of the American population who agree with him). I really could write a couple of paragraphs more about the scary reality that is America, but that would just turn this into a rant. And to be honest, I can’t defame the American Dream that much because I’m kind of living it right now. If my parents didn’t believe in it, I probably wouldn’t have the majority of the opportunities I have today. I also acknowledge that these are my opinions and that everyone is entitled to their own. But I think that a prominent thing that we should take away from art such as Glover’s is that we should all be a little more aware of the world that we live in and more importantly is that we should ask more questions and have more discussions about it. Throughout the film, Deni takes every opportunity he’s
given to convince the audience that life on Guava still has the potential to be paradise.Deni demonstrates Guava’s potential by performing many Childish Gambino songs in a more simplistic and stripped down way. For example, “Feels like Summer” is performed with a simple three chord loop on the acoustic guitar and “This is America” seems to have its background track as noises from a working factory. At the same time all of these songs are given background visuals that show off the islands natural beauty and vibrant colors. *** I originally started writing this because while watching this film, Deni reminded me a lot of my brother, Abhi. He’s actually my first cousin, but to compensate for being an only child and for living in a different country from the rest of the family, my mother and my aunt raised me, Abhi and my cousin/sister, Kushu, as siblings. We built our relationship through my frequent trips to India over summer break. As a kid, Abhi’s head was disproportionately big for his body. He was quick to flash a smile, as he was always up to something. I was often an accomplice to his mischief, much to the dismay of the rest of the family. Abhi is from a small town called Palampur in Northern India. It’s close to Dharamsala, the city where the Dalai Lama lives. It’s also mentioned in “Oxford Comma” for all of you Vampire Weekend fans out there. Palampur is sort of in a valley and is surrounded by a lot of hills. It’s a great vacation spot but it’s sort of detached from the busy metropolises that sprawl across India. For some reason, as an elementary schooler, I couldn’t imagine living in such a small town. But to my comfort, at the end of each vacation Abhi would always reassure me that one day he’d move to the United States. He would always crack a goofy smile as we waved goodbye to each other. The last time I saw Abhi was last summer, as I returned to India after six years. The once short and smiley kid that I once knew was completely unrecognizable. He’s around 6’ 1’’ now and more of an introverted brooder. If Drake’s music was a person, that pretty much sums up
my brother. There were moments during my trip when my brother became a little more recognizable, but this was mainly through the lack of coordination he possesses with his tall frame. He’s going through his first year of college in a town called Shimla, which is away from home. Therefore, my aunt can’t really keep up with him as frequently as she did. Considering that I hear about his whereabouts from my mother, who hears it from my aunt, my reactions are pretty delayed But with every piece of information I get, it’s like I’m meeting a new person. Recently, he won a personality contest which is exactly what it sounds like, I think? He also won a traditional dance competition with his dance team. Another thing that I picked up was that he’s kind of turning away from the notion of immigrating to America and instead would rather settle down in his hometown. Many of my family members sort of scoff at my brother like he’s going through a phase or that his hobbies take away from his time for school work. To be honest, I also thought that my brother had sort of lost it. But it’s only recently that I realized two things. The first is that I should be proud of my brother trying to give back to his hometown. He sees something in those people that no one else could possibly see and as long as he’s passionate about his work and happy where he is, there really is no reason for him to chase the American Dream. The second is that the artist that finds a way to reinvent him or herself with every project that they put out are some of the most exciting to watch. My brother is in the process of reinventing himself and I can’t wait to see what he becomes. I should also mention that he turned 19 last week. This is sort of a belated birthday gift (sorry). So as your older brother, by a whole year I offer these words. Good luck on your journey to become the sort of man that you want to be. But always remember that to me you’ll always be that kid who always seemed to find a way to make the ordinary extraordinary at our grandparent’s house in Delhi. And not to forget the kid who mistakenly drank insecticide thinking it was sprite.
10 SPORTS
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Jordan Poole selected in first round by Golden State Warriors ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — When Jordan Poole declared for the NBA Draft after just two seasons, he had his fair share of detractors. People said Poole was being rash. That he was leaving too early. That he would benefit from another year in college, that he was dooming himself to a career in Europe or the G League. On Thursday night, Poole took the first step towards proving them wrong. The Golden State Warriors selected Poole with the 28th pick in the draft. He’ll be playing alongside Stephen Curry next season, making nearly $2 million on a guaranteed contract. “I think it was just being able just to trust myself, follow my deams,” Poole said. “Just having hope and faith. That’s all I’m going to really say on that. Being able to be in the position I’m in now, I feel like I made the right decision.” Poole is John Beilein’s last firstround pick at Michigan, and by
getting into the first round, extends Michigan’s streak to four years in a row with a first-round pick. Ignas Brazdeikis was also drafted, going to the Knicks in the second round. Charles Matthews slipped out of the draft after suffering an ACL tear during a workout. At Michigan, Poole left a legacy by hitting a gamewinning shot against Houston in the second round of March Madness in 2018. That win eventually propelled Michigan to the Final Four, and etched Poole’s name into program lore. In his second year with the Wolverines, Poole’s play was marked by its inconsistency. He shot 36.9 percent from 3-point range, a key part of a team that set a program record for consecutive wins to start the season, but that number dropped to 32.7
percent in conference play. In big games, particularly the Big Ten Tournament final against Michigan State, Poole struggled, and frustrated Beilein. Any NBA team could have looked at Poole and seen an inconsistent gunner, or a gifted player who can play with or without the ball, and shoot it, too. The Warriors, evidently, saw the latter. “It’ll definitely be amazing,” Poole said of playing alongside Stephen Curry in Golden State. “Being able to know at the same time we’re out there doing the same thing, and they’re definitely going to teach me some stuff right away and they’re definitely going to invite me into the league. “Being ready for all challenges, but more than anything just coming in ready to get to work and be excited.”
... more than anything just coming in ready to get to work ...
NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily
Former Michigan guard Jordan Poole was drafted in the first round by the Warriors
Fraisse promoted to assistant coach following Byron’s departure DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer
After spending 15 months as a volunteer assistant, Jerome Fraisse has been named the Michigan volleyball team’s third full-time assistant coach since 2015. The move comes in conjunction with the departure of previous assistant coach Sean Byron, who agreed to become Marist’s new head coach in April. “We are really excited to add (Fraisse) full time,” said head coach Mark Rosen in a statement. “He has a great skill set in terms of his coaching knowledge working with the setters. His personality and view of the game match our staff really well and makes him a great fit for our program.” As a volunteer member of the staff in 2018, Fraisse crafted drills for the team’s setters and developed data-oriented gameplans. He crunched numbers and watched film on Data Volley and VolleyMetrics — two of college volleyball’s popular analytics services —
to prepare the Wolverines’ scouting reports. From a modern analytical standpoint, Fraisse understands the numbers that go into running a successful offense. As Rosen alluded to, Fraisse will assume Byron’s former role as the program’s setters coach. He inherits one of the Big Ten’s best setters in rising senior MacKenzi Welsh, who has tallied 3,881 career assists and an All-American Honorable Mention selection during her career. The promotion marks Fraisse’s first full-time NCAA job at any level. That’s not for a lack of coaching experience, though, as he boasts an impressive overseas background. Prior to arriving in Ann Arbor last year, Fraisse spent 18 seasons coaching in France — three as the men’s head coach at Grenoble Volley University Club, five as an assistant with L’Asul
Lyon Volleyball Club and 11 between L’Arago Sète Volleyball Club, Volleyball Romans and L’ES Meylan Volleyball Club. In addition to his coaching tenures with five separate clubs, Fraisse brings a wealth of national team experience to the Wolverines’ staff. While coaching for L’Asul Lyon Volleyball Club, he worked under former Italian national team head coach Silvano Prandi for five years. He managed tryouts for France’s U17 and U20 programs in 2017 and 2007, respectively, and has coaching experience in Canada. While coaching in Fra nce, Fra isse spent time recr uiting Europea n players interested in play ing volleyba ll in A merica. This could bode well for Michiga n’s internationa l recr uiting ef for ts, a nd w it h By ron gone, Rosen may not hesitate to ca ll upon Fra isse in
t hat rega rd. A s a player, Fra isse enjoyed a t hree-yea r professiona l stint w it h t he Grenoble Volleyba ll Club f rom 1997-2000. Though he only saw time at middle blocker a nd outside hit ter during his play ing days, his 20 -plus sea sons a round t he
ga me ma ke him a good f it to work w it h Michiga n’s set ters. A f ter losing Maddy Abbot t to g raduation, Fra isse w ill prima rily work w it h Welsh, rising senior Katerina Rocafor t a nd incoming f reshma n Madison Dowd in 2019.
We are really excited to add (Fraisse) full time ...
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
The Michigan volleyball team added Jerome Fraisse as a full-time assistant coach
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS 11
Don’t let the end distract from Michigan’s run
Wolverines national runners-up after being named one of last four teams into the College World Series OMAHA, Neb — In February, no one thought Michigan’s season would end on June 26th. No one thought it would get its first 50-win season since KENT 1987 and beat the No. 1 team SCHWARTZ in the country twice on the road to go to its first College World Series since 1984. And most of all, no one thought that the feeling of losing in game three of the College World Series final against the No. 2 team in the country would be disappointing. But it is. On Wednesday, the Wolverines watched Vanderbilt storm the field and celebrate its second national title in five years, coming back to win the last two games in a three-game series for
the championship. They were as close as it gets. A team that squeaked into the NCAA tournament as one of the “Last Four In”, and that was discounted in Corvallis, Los Angeles and Omaha, shocked college baseball. Since the walkoff win against Illinois, Michigan went 12-5 against some of the best teams in the country. A hit that lit a f lame inside the hearts of the Wolverines propelled them to simply be better than all but one team. They showed how much they had improved by crushing Texas Tech, a team that dominated them in March. They showed they could bounce back from crushing losses against Creighton and UCLA with winor-go-home victories. Junior left-hander Tommy Henry dominated on the mound in his last two starts, throwing a complete game shutout and
a game one win, respectively. Senior first baseman Jimmy Kerr turned red hot, launching seven of his 15 home runs in the NCAA tournament while capturing the attention of baseball with the story of his father and grandfather. Coach Erik Bakich beat possibly the most storied coach of college baseball, Mike Martin, in his last year, when the world was on Martin’s side. In the meantime, Bakich made tough calls that paid off, such as moving Jeff Criswell to the bullpen and dropping closer Willie Weiss. Over and over, interview after interview in Omaha, Bakich was asked what this meant for Big Ten baseball — for northern baseball. “The more we can do this, I think the more the Big Ten in baseball can continue to grow and be perceived as a major sport on par with some of the other major conferences in baseball,”
ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich led the Wolverines to the College World Series final
Bakich said. In disbelief, reporters would ask how the team got here, how Michigan beat the teams that it did. The focus was on how excited they were, not how good they were. Bakich never once said, “We’re just happy to be here.”
As improbable as it was, the Wolverines won their way to Omaha. They were playing better than every team they faced along the way. Michigan made it. It was a long, uneven road but the eyes of college baseball might have finally turned north.
Offense quiet as Michigan falls to Vanderbilt in CWS Finals ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
OMAHA, Neb. – It was almost enough. Deft management from Michigan coach Erik Bakich. A batting order that had been hot all postseason. All of these were almost enough. But Vanderbilt’s pitchers were just too talented, too experienced, and Michigan’s upstart offense wasn’t up to the task. The Wolverines recorded just 2 runs on 6 hits in a 8-2 loss to the Commodores. “The last two days in the red zone, I haven’t gotten it done,” said senior first baseman Jimmy Kerr. “I’ve been striking out with runners on base, less than two outs, when my team needed me. We haven’t got the two-out RBIs that we did early on. We didn’t have the clutch hits that we got early on.” In the top of the first inning, it looked as if Michigan’s lineup would stay hot in the postseason. Senior second baseman Ako Thomas, thrust back into the
leadoff role he had occupied in years past after an injury to sophomore designated hitter Jordan Nwogu, cracked a single to left field to kick off the title game. He advanced to third on a single from sophomore center fielder Jesse Franklin and scored on an RBI single from junior right fielder Jordan Brewer, putting the Wolverines on top, 1-0. But that was all the success that Michigan’s offense saw for several innings. A few walks saw some baserunners, but Vanderbilt’s pitching retired the lineup each inning with clinical precision. The Commodores didn’t allow a runner past second base for six straight innings. They struck out 14 Wolverines on the day. The Wolverines didn’t get another hit until the eighth inning, at which point Vanderbilt already led, 7-1, a chasm that proved too wide for Michigan to breach. The Wolverines tacked on another run, but it was too late. Their bats had been quiet for too long. Though they ended up totaling a respectable six hits on the night –
just three short of Vanderbilt’s nine – they could not capitalize on the opportunities they got. Michigan left eight runners on base. And as a volatile Commodore lineup beat
up the Wolverines’ pitchers, those were opportunities Michigan could not afford to lose. “We just didn’t execute the way we were supposed to,” senior
second baseman Ako Thomas said. “We were kind of on our heels the rest of the game, didn’t maximize our opportunities. But we fought our hardest out there.”
ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
Sophomore center fielder Jesse Franklin made the NCAA All-Tournament Team along with four other Wolverines.
12 SPORTS
Thursday, June 27, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan’s tournament runs ends with 8-2 loss in CWS final KENT SCHWARTZ Daily Sports Writer
OMAHA, Neb — Michigan would not win the national championship. Instead, its run will be earmarked as another remarkable underdog run ruined by a perennial power. In game three on Wednesday, the Wolverines (50-22 overall) lost to No. 2 Vanderbilt (59-12) 8-2. But the game seemed over by the fourth inning. On short rest, Bakich went to junior right-hander Karl Kauffmann to bring home the championship. Early on, he was himself. Besides missing a pitch up high on Commodores’ Pat DeMarco, who hit it out of the park for a home run, he struck out five and was one out away from finishing his third inning. But a walk, a single, another walk and a pitch that had the Michigan defense leaving the field but the umpire called it a ball led to a runner being walked in. His first pitch against Vanderbilt’s Stephen Scott was a two-run single, and just like that, the Wolverines were down 4-1. “Tonight most of the damage was done with two outs, and we were just getting that big hit, and we were stringing good offense together as a team,” said Vanderbilt centerfielder Pat DeMarco. “It was team offense
tonight.” And then, similar to the first inning, the Wolverines went back to the dugout after leaving runners on base. They had the perfect opportunity to answer, to pull themselves back into the game, but when they made hard contact with the ball, it went straight to a Commodore defender. Vanderbilt didn’t let off the gas and chased Kauffmann out of the game in the third inning after a leadoff walk, his fifth of the game. His final line was three inningspitched, five runs, five walks, and five strikeouts. But nor was it sophomore right hander Jeff Criswell’s night who, despite striking out the first batter he faced, eventually let in two runs in the fourth inning, putting Michigan down 6-1 heading into the fifth. In the first inning, though, the game had a completely different picture: Ako Thomas, leading off in place of Jordan Nwogu, started the game with a single. Sophomore center fielder Jesse Franklin then singled to put runners on the corners before junior right fielder Jordan
Brewer brought in Thomas, and it seemed like the f loodgates were open with the score at 1-0 and no outs. “We came out on the attack,” Thomas said. “I think it was three hits in a row, scored a run first. We just didn’t execute the way we were supposed to. We were kind of on our heels the rest of the game, didn’t maximize our opportunities. But we fought our hardest out there.” Added Commodores’ shortstop Ethan Paul: “It was the first inning and it wasn’t like there was anything to really worry about. We all trust Mason. He’s going to give us a good outing. I think I just wanted to remind him that it’s a big park. I wanted him to work down in the zone and let our defense work. We trust each other in the infield, so we wanted to make some plays for him.” But Vanderbilt ace Mason Hickman shifted into another gear, striking out the next three batters in the lineup and setting a tone that left the Wolverine offense unable to cash in. Hickman ended the game with 10 strikeouts through six innings,
We just didn’t execute the way we were supposed to.
ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
Sophomore catcher Joe Donovan (right) collected two hits in the CWS finals
walking three and allowing just one earned run. The game fell into a rhythm after the fourth as both pitchers gained control over the game. There would be no spark and no more rallies. Senior first baseman Jimmy Kerr’s hard hit
f ly ball would be caught one foot short of a home run and every line drive found a defender. Vanderbilt suffocated Michigan and at the end of the day, the Wolverines found themselves going home emptyhanded.