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MI House Oversight Committee ‘U’ joins group passes campus free speech bill of schools to Legislation aims to regulate how colleges can limit personal expression research lowcarbon future Announcement comes on eve of Washtenaw County Climate Strike MADELINE MCLAUGHLIN & ALEX HARRING Daily Staff Reporters

DESIGN BY SHERRY CHEN

ARJUN THAKKAR Daily Staff Reporter

Two bills that could affect free speech on campus passed in the Michigan House of Representatives’ House Oversight Committee on Sept. 5. The bills aim to regulate the extent to which a college or university can implement policies relating to the free speech of students and staff. The two pieces of legislation were sponsored by state Rep. John Reilly, R-Oakland, and come almost a year after white nationalist Richard Spencer came to East Lansing to speak at Michigan State University and was met with protesters, where two dozen people were arrested. The first bill, titled

“The Campus Free Speech Act,” defines the circumstances under which a public college or university is permitted to limit “expressive conduct” on campus and details the type of legal action students or staff can take when the act is violated. The second bill, “The College Campus Intellectual and Expressive Freedom Act,” requires each college or university to create a policy on free speech in accordance with state-wide standards while also making the policy transparent and understood by both students and staff members. The legislation clarifies what form of protest is allowed and would make it

easier for controversial figures and speakers to visit campus — including Spencer and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who came to speak at the University of Michigan in March. LSA senior Kate Westa, former vice chair of the University’s chapter of conservative organization Young America’s Foundation and current co-president of political organization WeListen, expressed support for the bill and argued public institutions of higher education should not have power over the views expressed on their campuses. “A public university should not be in the business

of deciding which of their students get to host speakers or speak their minds,” Westa said. “It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that our rights are protected, and if the First Amendment is being trampled on or amended by speech codes or unfair treatment, then it is absolutely within their purview to stop that from happening.” LSA sophomore Sam Burnstein, a founding member of Michigan Political Consulting and elected representative for LSA Student Government, said he was appreciative of the freedom of speech available on campus. See SPEECH, Page 3A

University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel announced Wednesday morning the University will be joining the University Climate Change Coalition, a group of leading research universities collaborating on a model to help communities move toward a low-carbon future. The decision comes on the eve of the Universitysponsored Earthfest and two days before the Washtenaw County Climate Strike is set to take place on the Diag. The move follows a recommendation from the President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality. In a University Record article published Wednesday morning, Schlissel said climate change is an issue that must be solved collaboratively. “The problem of global climate change is far too big for any one institution to solve alone,” Schlissel said. “Collaboration and engagement are key to creating real and lasting solutions that will benefit our society.”

ACADEMICS

Rackham Michigan ranked 44th nationally hosts grad in higher education funding education State spent $195.52 per resident compared to national average of $280.60 in 2019 seminar Dean Michael Solomon outlined goals for more partnerships, diversity ANGELINA LITTLE Daily Staff Reporter

Michael Solomon, dean of Rackham Graduate School, hosted a talk on rethinking graduate education Wednesday afternoon. About 200 community members, including graduate faculty and staff attended the event. Solomon began by defining the traditional apprenticeship model of graduate education, which is based on an intellectual connection between faculty and students. While acknowledging the successes of this model, Solomon identified building pressures he believes need to be addressed. Displaying a number of headlines on the projector, Rackham listed some of the controversies facing graduate education, including the tightening job market for doctorate degrees, mental health concerns and instances of sexual harassment. Solomon proposed Rackham could be a leader in transforming the model of graduate education in order to address these issues.

MICHAEL ZHANG Daily Staff Reporter

In new data published by the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University, Michigan ranked 44th nationally in per-resident support of higher education for the fiscal year 2019. On a per-dollar basis, Michigan spent $195.52 per resident, while the national

average stands at $280.60. According to calculations, if Michigan were to increase its spending per-resident to the national average, Michigan would be investing almost $850 million more into its higher education institutions. This new data comes as a dramatic shift from a few decades ago when Michigan was above the state average in per resident spending on

higher education. In 2001, for example, Michigan ranked 20th nationally in per resident spending on higher education at $230.56, not adjusting for inflation. In March, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed to reverse this trend by increasing funding for Michigan’s higher education institutions by 3 percent, totalling around $45.6 million, for the fiscal year

See RACKHAM, Page 3A

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2020. Meanwhile, Michigan’s legislature has pushed for a different budget that allocates a 1 percent increase in higher education spending. Around campus, opinions seem to be divided with some students bringing up Michigan’s tuition and others mentioning the impact raising taxes would have on taxpayers. See FUNDING, Page 3A

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The coalition, which is run by the organization Second Nature and commonly referred to as UC3, unites 20 universities across the continent in an effort to accelerate climate change solutions through innovative ideas and action. The coalition’s primary goal is to foster collaboration among prominent academic institutions across the country toward a more sustainable future. In an email to The Daily, University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald wrote the commission felt joining the coalition would support the University’s goal of having an impact beyond campus. Fitzgerald explained Schlissel accepted the commission’s recommendation and signed a letter committing to the suggestions on Aug. 29. “As you may know, one of the main reasons President Schlissel appointed the President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality was to look for ways in which the university could have a broader impact beyond the border of the Ann Arbor campus,” Fitzgerald wrote. See CARBON, Page 3A

GOVERNMENT

Whitmer e-cig ban could lead to jail time Possession of 4+ vapor products may result in six month sentence EMMA STEIN

Daily Staff Reporter

On Sept. 4, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a ban that will stop the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and other nicotine vaping products. The ban also prohibits marketing vaping as “clean,” “safe” or “healthy.” In order to speed up the process of creating the ban, Whitmer ordered the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to draft emergency rules banning the products. This allows state agencies to create policies that will act as laws after being authorized, according to the Lansing State Journal. The ban will reportedly be filed in a few weeks, and then retailers will have 30 days to comply. Rule 2 of the ban states someone found with at least four of the banned products, will be assumed to have intent to sell them, which is prohibited under the ban. “A person who possesses four or more flavored vapor products, or flavored alternative nicotine products is rebuttably presumed to possess said items with the intent to sell,” the rule reads. See JAIL, Page 3A

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ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily Steve Parrish, Natural Areas Manager at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, speaks to students in Environ 421: Restoration Ecology about different concepts relating to native seed collection and dispersal at the Botanical Gardens Wednesday afternoon.

Dingell withdraws support for bill supporting Palestinian rights Congresswoman claims she is still dedicated to advocating for a two-solution state in Israel MAEVE O’BRIAN Daily Staff Reporter

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., withdrew her support from a bill promoting human rights for Palestinian children last week. The bill, titled “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act,” would require that funds from the U.S. “do not support military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children.” In an email statement to The Daily, Dingell wrote that she remains dedicated to advocating for a two-state solution in Israel. “We must be committed to promoting a peaceful, twostate solution that empowers Sudoku Syndication the Palestinian people to live

in dignity and security with Israel,” Dingell wrote. “That relies on policies that lay the groundwork for that goal and is why I’ve been strongly critical of unilateral moves that serve as an obstacle toward peace.” Dingell explained that after discussing with community members, she decided the bill was “ultimately counterproductive to a peaceful, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Dingell, a Democrat, was originally elected in 2014, succeeding her recently late husband John Dingell. Her district covers parts of Ann Arbor, along with some of western metropolitan Detroit and Dearborn, an area with a significant Palestinian population and one of the

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largest Arab-American interrogation, abuse, or illtreatment of children in populations in the country. of international The bill, introduced in April, violation states its purpose is to promote humanitarian law.” The bill also allocates $19 human rights for Palestinian children living under Israeli million each year to nonorganizations military occupation. It has 21 governmental co-sponsors, including U.S. that either monitor human abuses associated Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., rights the first Palestinian-American with Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children or provide woman elected to Congress. According to the proposed health treatment to children legislation, between 500 and who have been detained. LSA senior Zayd Elkahlah 700 Palestinian children ages of 12 through 17 are detained said as a Palestinian, Dingell’s and prosecuted “before a withdrawal of support from military court system that the bill feels “wrong and lacks basic and fundamental weird” to her, given that it guarantees of due process pertains to the human rights of in violation of international Palestinian children. “You’re not choosing a side standards.” The bill claims such treatment of Palestinian here — kids don’t have a side, children is pertinent to they’re just kids,” Elkahlah Congress because it violates said. “I think she also said in http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ a tweet that she would never international law. Public Policy senior do action to harm Palestinian Arwa Gayar is an children, but at the same time, executive member of by her not acting, by not taking Students Allied for action, she is harming the Freedom and Equality, children.” While Gayar said she does a Palestinian solidarity organization on campus. not think Dingell will lose Gayar said she was people’s support in the 2020 surprised by Dingell’s election over this, she said she thinks it will give some people decision. “Debbie Dingell had a pause. “I think this hesitates some very progressive voting record on issues relating people on their support for to the Palestinian-Israeli her, and I think honestly a conf lict. She often is very lot of it is just wanting more and clarity reliable in supporting transparency issues that are supported in the process,” Gayar said. by Arab-Americans,” “I think a representative Gayar said. “I was democracy depends on that accountability and definitely surprised public when she withdrew I think decisions like this her support, especially where she’s not only citing because the bill itself is public engagement, but it also about promoting human demands public engagement rights for Palestinian from constituents are so important to make sure that children.” The bill would amend there’s transparency in that the Foreign Assistance process.” Act of 1961 to specify that no funds appropriated to another country could Read more at be used to support “the MichiganDaily.com military detention,

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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. Subscriptions for September-April are $250 and year long subscriptions are $275. University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscription rate. On-campus subscriptions for fall term are $35. Subscriptions must be prepaid.

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Thursday, September 19, 2019 — 3A

W O LV E R I N E O F T H E W E E K

How has this year been different from last year? “The biggest change this year has been feeling more sure of myself on campus. Last year was all about trying new things and this year is about accepting my place on campus. This year is about settling into the places I have found that are my own, creating a niche for myself, and finding my people.” - Rachel Milner, LSA sophomore

FREE SPEECH From Page 1A “The campus climate on free speech reflects our school’s diversity — racially, ethnically, socioeconomically, etc. — though it often struggles to incorporate diversity of thought,” Burnstein said. “Ann Arbor is a liberal, progressive college town, so it lends itself well to including those voices, but it struggles to incorporate ideas which go against that grain.” Burnstein reflected on when Richard Spencer tried to book space on the University’s campus in 2017, resulting in widespread student outcry and protests. “He threatened to sue U-M if they were to bar him from campus,” Burnstein said. “I don’t think blocking a speaker from campus is effective. I firmly believe the only way to truly eradicate the ideas he espouses is with better ideas.” \University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald praised the University’s current free speech policies in an email to The Daily. “Free speech is a bedrock principle at the University of Michigan,” Fitzgerald wrote. “The university has had a strong freedom of speech policy in place for decades that often is used as a model for policies at other universities.” The University’s freedom of speech policy is detailed in the U-M Standard Practice Guide Policies page under “Freedom of Speech and Artistic Expression.” The page

FUNDING From Page 1A LSA junior Derek Li admitted he did not know much about the higher education spending in the state, but found it surprising given the size of Michigan. Li a lso sa id it ma kes sen se g iven how h ig h t u it ion is. “ It ’s su r pr isi ng,” Li sa id. “ I did n’t rea l ly k now much about t h is pr ior but it is su r pr isi ng con sider i ng how big of t he Un iversit y M ich ig a n is a nd i n ter m s of ou r public ra n k i ng a nd what not . It does ma ke sen se, t houg h , g iven how h ig h t u it ion is especia l ly for out- of-st ate st udent s.” Li voiced some u nderst a ndi ng reg a rdi ng why M ich ig a n’s ra n k i ng, say i ng he did not wa nt to ra ise spendi ng if it wou ld have a neg at ive i mpac t on t a x payers. “ If too h ig h spendi ng is det r i ment a l to resident s a nd if t a xes were i ncrea sed i n a way t hat wou ld hu r t t hem t hen I feel li ke it wou ld be u nderst a ndable to keep spendi ng low,” Li sa id. When he lea r ned of Wh it mer ’s proposa l to

asserts the University values different points of view and that the rights of speakers and protesters at events should be protected. At the same time, however, the right to free speech does not protect “undue interference” in which a protester disrupts an event or prevents a speaker from expressing their viewpoint, though the policy makes it clear the interference has to be egregious and prolonged in order to be deemed undue. “Expression of diverse points of view is of the highest importance, not only for those who espouse a cause or position and then defend it, but also for those who hear and pass judgment on that defense,” the SPG reads. “The belief that an opinion is pernicious, false, or in any other way detestable cannot be grounds for its suppression.” In a statement released in April, Reilly testified before the House Oversight Committee to explain the legal basis for the creation of these bills. “The state’s public colleges and universities have the responsibility to uphold the constitutional rights of students and the community on campus grounds,” Reilly said. “Right now, students at multiple universities live under speech policies that infringe on their rights to free speech and assembly. Due to some schools’ ongoing unwillingness to ensure their rights, the legislature must do so.” That same day in April, state Rep. Darrin Camilleri, D-Brownstown., issued a

statement in defense of the current freedom of speech policies on public college campuses while criticizing the bills for what he described as overreach. “All of Michigan’s colleges — both in policy and in practice — already respect and protect the rights of all to engage in free speech, but they do so with the simultaneous obligation to guarantee the safety and security of those who attend their institutions,” Camilleri said. “This legislation would tie the hands of college officials by creating a one-size-fits-all approach at the expense of student safety. Our Constitution already protects free speech on and off college campuses. These bills are unnecessary and negligent as they not only seek to fix a system that is not broken, they invite hate speech and potential violence onto our college campuses.” Fitzgerald explained the University would not comment on the bills at the moment. “We do not have anything to add regarding the proposed legislation, but we will continue (to) watch closely as (these) bills move forward through the legislative process,” Fitzgerald said. Michigan is not the only state in which legislatures are pursuing free speech bills. Several other states, including Illinois, South Carolina and New Jersey are considering pieces of legislation that would influence the way in which freedom of speech is handled on college or university campuses.

i ncrea se t he st ate budget by 3 percent , Li showed genera l approva l of it . “A 3 -percent i ncrea se seem s h ig h ,” Li sa id. “A s long ha s Wh it mer eva luated t he ef fec t s of t h is spendi ng t houg h , I

educat ion spendi ng. “ I come f rom a ver y con ser vat ive st ate so t he lack of spendi ng i n h ig her educat ion is not su r pr isi ng,” Sch if fer sa id. LSA f resh ma n Ig nacio Ba r rera s pushed back a g a i n st t he sent i ment t hat spendi ng more on h ig her educat ion wou ld hu r t M ich ig a n t a x payers. “ I don’t k now t hat it w i ll be such a sig n if ica nt i mpac t just ra isi ng t a xes a lit t le bit more to apply towa rds h ig her educat ion ,” Ba r rera s sa id. Ba r rera s a lso broug ht up t u it ion at t he u n iversit y in relat ion to t he st ate’s ra n k i ng, ex pla i n i ng h ig her t u it ion a nd cost s a re wor t h t he super ior educat ion at U-M . “T uit ion is ver y h ig h con sider i ng t hat I a m a n out of st ate st udent ,” Ba r rera s sa id. “ It is def i n itely t ha n ot her public schools but my fa m ily decided to t a ke t he i nvest ment because of t he compet it iveness of t h is school.” However, Ba r rera s sa id t he U-M it self does not need addit iona l f u ndi ng i n h is opi n ion .

“I don’t know that it will be such a significant impact just raising taxes a little bit more to apply towards higher education.”

t h i n k it shou ld be f i ne. It def i n itely sou nds li ke a plus for us.” Eng i neer i ng ju n ior A lex Sch if fer, a st udent f rom India na , sa id he wa s not too su r pr ised by t he lower level of h ig her

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

CLIMATE From Page 1A “UC3 membership will provide U-M the opportunity to collaborate with key research institutions and external partners to share and gain knowledge to accelerate climate change solutions.” This decision comes af ter a semester of climaterelated activism, primarily from the Washtenaw Count y Climate Action Movement. In March, the g roup hosted a climate strike, which resulted in a sit-in at Schlissel’s off ice and 10 arrests. Following the strike, the Climate Action Movement members held an indef inite sit-in, attended events with Schlissel and spoke at regents meetings. The Universit y added a public session to its series of town halls in order to hear communit y input. In June, six demonstrators who were charged with trespassing during the f irst climate strike appeared in court for a pre-trial, which resulted in a Sept. 9 court date. At the September meeting, the six once again appeared in court to review the facts of the case and any evidence ahead of the Oct. 10 trial date. LSA senior Dim Mang, an organizer for the climate strike, felt joining the coalition was a positive step, but she questioned the timing. She specifically pointed to an announcement from the University of California on Tuesday declaring a climate emergency and committing itself to carbon neutrality by 2025 as well as the upcoming climate strike. “With all due respect to the president, I think the timing is a little strange, not only because the strike is coming up, but because of what the UC system has

JAIL From Page 1A Rule 6 also states a person who violates rule two will be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to six months in prison and/or a fine of up to $200 per item. “A person who violates any provision of these rules is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for not more than six months, or a fine of not more than $200, or both,” the rule reads. “Violations of rule 2 are calculated on a per-item and per-transaction basis and may be punished cumulatively.” Police officers are not legally allowed to randomly stop and check for contraband, Law professor Gabriel Mendlow wrote in an email to The Daily. However, he said if they can tell someone is smoking a flavored vape, they are allowed to take it and arrest them. “If a police officer can tell

just decided to do,” Mang said. “I’m not questioning the sincerity of joining the coalition, I just want to understand why he wouldn’t do it sooner or what’s the point of joining it right now, at this moment, when there are other ways that he could aid climate action movements and other initiatives on campus.” Similarly, LSA junior Solomon Medintz, who is also an organizer of the strike and a columnist for The Daily, said he feels the University needs to take action beyond this. “From what I do know, it seems like a good step, but what I also know is that the University just invested $80 million in the Central Power Plant, I know the University has a billion dollars invested in fossil fuels and I know that the University has the least ambitious carbon neutrality goals of any school in the Big Ten,” Medintz said. “(I’m) super happy that they’re joining the national climate change coalition, but I think it underscores the amount of work that needs to be done trying to push the University to take real climate action.” The University has taken action to achieve Schlissel’s commitment to gaining carbon neutrality. Some of these initiatives include coordinating community forums, commissioning internal analysis teams, engaging the student communities and seeking proposals from external firms on environmental concerns at the University. Rackham student Austin Glass, a member of the commission, said UC3 brings schools of similar stature together. “One of the important parts of UC3 is that it’s a sort of concentration of passion, it’s a concentration of interest, it’s a concentration of information, it’s

concentration of resources,” Glass said. “The nice thing about UC3 is that it’s collaborative and that the sort of logic behind it is logic that pervades a lot of work in this area, which is that we’re stronger when we’re working together, especially when we have a common goal, and we do have a common goal.” Glass said being in the coalition allows the University to hold itself to the other institutions in the coalition. He specifically pointed to the University of California system as one member the University could take cues from. The Commission on Carbon Neutrality is hosting a forum to update the community on Sept. 25 at 4:30 p.m. in Rackham. Additionally, the University is planning an Earth Day celebration, which will be the first of a series of events focused on sustainability. Thursday’s EarthFest is set to take place 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Diag with the goal of bringing together environmental leaders to explore how to create a better future for the planet. LSA junior Olivia Thomas, who has worked in various sustainabilityfocused positions at the University, said this is a step in the right direction. Thomas hopes this is one of many actions the University will take. “We need to show that we;re really focusing on leadership and action, and being a leader in this issue,” Thomas said. “Students just want to see more dedication from the President and the regents on this issue. I think it’s certainly important that we’re leading the way and I think joining this coalition is a good idea and a good step to show our dedication, but I do think we need to be doing more than that.”

somehow that the product you’re vaping is flavored – by smelling it, for example – then the Constitution allows the police officer to seize the product and, in theory, arrest you,” Mendlow said. “But if the only thing a police officer knows is that you’re vaping, then she isn’t allowed to force you to let her check whether the product you’re vaping is flavored.” Mendlow added if someone does wind up in court, the “intent to sell” clause could be rebutted if there is a good explanation for why someone was in possession of the prohibited items, but the prosecutor could argue against this. “The prosecutor could argue that you possessed more flavored products than someone would possess who intended to use the products personally rather than sell them,” Mendlow said. “Under the emergency rules, there’s a rebuttable presumption that

anyone who possesses four or more flavored products intends to sell them. This means that if you possess four or more flavored products and you don’t offer an innocent explanation, you may be convicted on these facts alone.” Many University of Michigan students expressed concern regarding how the AAPD would implement the ban and explained vaping has become a common social activity on campus. Due to the soon-tobe illegal nature of the topic, the three students interviewed requested anonymity. They will be referred to as Student 1, Student 2 and Student 3. Student 1 said she used to vape a lot, but she felt some negative health effects from it and was spending a lot of money, so now she mostly uses other people’s products when she wants to vape.

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DIPRA DEBNATH | COLUMN

Improving our situational awareness and respect

n the Friday preceding the University of Michigan football team’s home game against Army, the Michigan Marching Band released a social media statement urging fans to refrain from booing during the home band’s pregame performance of Army’s fight song. It was a call for fans to not only respect the service that cadets at the U.S. Military Academy provide to the people of the United States following graduation, but also to respect all U.S. military personnel they represent. I believe such personal and contextual awareness is foundational to our decisionmaking. Such thoughtfulness leads to more positive interpersonal interactions and larger-scale societal trends. But habitually building this awareness is particularly challenging for undergraduates. With the advent of a new semester, college students are whisked into a frenzy of career fairs, applications, meetings, housing searches and social mazes, all while attempting to keep academics at the forefront. The volume of commitment involved in these activities leaves students with little time and energ y to actively consider personal state of mind and behavior in seemingly insignificant situations. However, it is to our advantage – and to that of the greater community – for us to ref lect on what we are doing, how we are feeling and how our words and actions contribute to the experiences of others. Even the most minor behaviors can have significant positive effects on the experiences of others and oneself. Take, for instance, the action of smiling at a passerby. It seems, perhaps, quite insignificant — many of us would much rather keep staring ahead, focusing on the music plugged into our ears. However, even a simple smile can have significant consequences. Consider the final written words of a man who committed suicide by leaping from the Golden Gate Bridge: “I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I won’t jump.” Not every interaction is going to save somebody’s life, but the power of small acts of kindness

should not be underestimated. We feel good when smiled at by others, when someone holds the door for us, and when we are provided respect and acknowledgement by others. We can expand this thinking and consider the cumulative effects the collective behaviors of a group can exert. The example of the Army game provides a powerful opportunity to examine this. The decisions of individual fans to suppress their boos during the performance of Army’s fight song resulted in an overall display of respect for U.S. military trainees

Even a simple smile can have significant consequences

and personnel. Of course, there are valid reasons for which people may have deliberately chosen to boo, including personal dislike for authoritative military actions in international affairs. Additionally, perhaps not everybody who was silent acted out of respect, some may have simply been going with the crowd. However, the sight of over 100,000 people acting in a respectful way lent a gravity to the moment — an indication that there was a reason to take the moment seriously. The theory behind why the Michigan Marching Band asked fans to refrain from booing can be applied by individuals to similar contexts in the future. When large numbers of individuals act on this kind of learning, greater social trends in behavior can shift toward the positive. Behavioral decisions require situational awareness on an individual level. A primary roadblock to improving these decisions is the effort needed to instigate habitual behavioral change, which poses a significant

problem for college students. This is not an indication that college students are lazy — it is, in fact, quite the opposite. With the inundation of coursework and commitments, students are often focused so directly on what needs to get done now that thinking about the way in which we behave is a process often left on the back burner indefinitely. When there are opportunities to seek momentary refuge from our commitments, we naturally try to expend less mental energ y. In those moments, it may not matter to us if someone is coming up behind us after we open a door for ourselves, for instance, and applying an understanding of why we were requested to act respectfully before a football game may not be tempting in the moment. This is where habit development in these behaviors can play a beneficial role, and thankfully, these behaviors become less effortful as we continue to do them. Benjamin Garner, a health psychologist at Kings College in the United Kingdom and others explain in a 2012 study that once a habit is formed, it persists “with minimal effort or deliberation.” As such, creating habits of respect and situational awareness makes improving our interactions with others a task that does not demand our concentration. The ultimate goal is to promote the idea of a society that is happier individually and collectively due to our willingness to acknowledge and respect one another while recognizing that certain groups deserve selective positive attention for what they do or what they face, like people from the military. This does not mean that we all have to agree on the right way to act in certain situations; what is important is that we are conscious of why we are making certain decisions. A commitment to these behaviors is a step toward ensuring that there will be a time when football fans do not need to be reminded to show respect to those who risk their lives for our welfare.

The rise in reformist prosecutors

ver the past couple them into a rehabilitation treatment program. years, there has been or a surge of progressive Furthermore, many of these prosecutors candidates running act swiftly. for, and winning, Immediately after various district taking office, attorney positions. Wesley Bell, the These candidates, current St. Louis from New York to DA, fired the Los Angeles, have prosecutor who been advocating was responsible for for policies that bringing evidence decriminalize drugs to the grand jury and ease up on nonJOEL that declined to violent offenders WEINER indict the police with the intent officer who shot to combat mass incarceration. This recent and killed Michael Brown occurrence is a break from in Ferg uson in 2014. He also the traditional prosecutor has set up a department to position of being tough on review and investigate past crime and supporting strict convictions, which is isolated criminal penalties. Larry from the rest of the office Krasner, the Philadelphia and reports exclusively to district attorney and one Bell. In announcing this of the first progressive initiative, Bell acknowledged prosecutors in a major city, that false convictions happen is widely considered to frequently, and said his role be at the forefront of this as district attorney should movement. He ran in 2017 for include the responsibility of the Democratic nomination reviewing cases to limit such in a seven-way race. Despite occurrences. Not everyone is happy with earning no major newspaper endorsements, Krasner still such policies. The police won the nomination by an union in Chicago criticized almost 18-percent margin Kim Foxx, the progressive and went on to win the Cook County district attorney, general election by about 50 arg uing that she should focus on enforcing laws instead of percentage points. These elections can be some trying to change the policies. of the most impactful on the Tiffany Cabán ran for the nomination local level because DAs have Democratic district attorney in what is called “prosecutorial for Queens borough of discretion,” which gives the them almost absolute power New York City on a very in charging someone with a progressive campaign, even crime. They also structure announcing that she would plea agreements, which is not prosecute sex workers. how 97 percent of cases She narrowly lost to a slightly end. Policies like mandatory less progressive candidate. minimum sentences further Critics of these shifts claim measures will increase prosecutors’ power reformist because they eliminate judges’ allow crime to f lourish, that prosecutors and juries’ say in sentencing, arg uing making the sentence entirely should be as tough on crime contingent on whichever as possible and that these charge the DA decides to new policies treat criminals as victims. They also take press. This power, however, can issue with district attorneys be used to institute reform, refusing to prosecute certain which is where progressive crimes, saying that it is the prosecutors come in. Rachael legislature’s job to set laws Rollins, the district attorney and a prosecutor’s job to for Boston and surrounding enforce them. This arg ument is partially municipalities, ran on creating reformist policies valid. The justice system is like decriminalizing drug predicated on prosecutors possession and retail fraud and and defense attorneys making not charging for other low- the strongest arg uments on level crimes. She established behalf of the people or their multiple diversion programs client, respectively, which many high-level that do not incarcerate the means defendant, but rather place crimes should be enforced to

the fullest extent possible. That said, a prosecutor’s duty is also to protect the populace, and many progressives have pointed out that the current hardon-crime philosophy toward low-level offenses like drug possession or shoplifting takes young people who have made mistakes and feeds them into a system that reinforces criminal tendencies. Rehabilitation programs, they arg ue, will reduce recidivism. The recent rise in popularity for these progressive prosecutors demonstrates the public’s willingness to accept change. After decades of policy that penalized young people — largely people of color — addressing the need for reformist prosecutors has moved beyond the fringes of the political field. The movement has reached Ann Arbor. Eli Savit, an Ann Arbor native and the current senior legal counsel for the city of Detroit, has announced his candidacy for the 2020 Democratic nomination for DA. Savit is running on progressive values and decriminalizing many low-level offenses. Progressive reforms are moving in the right direction. If a progressive criminal justice philosophy becomes more accepted within the mainstream political field, it can change the tendency of the justice system to turn low-level criminals into more violent offenders. That will create a criminal justice system that more effectively prevents crime rather than one that reproduces it. That is something to remember when we vote on our district attorneys, because having the ability to choose who controls the criminal proceedings in our respective districts requires us to consider the impact that person will have on our communities. At the center of that analysis should be the question of whether that candidate will disting uish between a young adult who has made mistakes and someone who is a legitimate threat to those around them. Joel Weiner can be reached at jgweiner@umich.edu.

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Dipra Debnath can be reached at dipra@umich.edu.

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Harbaugh’s best win?

aturday presents a pivot point in this Michigan football season. It’s not a season-defining one. The Wolverines can lose on Saturday and still accomplish all their intended goals. On the converse, they can win on Saturday and still fail to reach those same MAX goals. MARCOVITCH It is the archetype of game Jim Harbaugh has yet to win and needs to start winning, plain and simple. Which begs the question that, on the surface, might seem hyperbolic: Would a win against Wisconsin on Saturday be the best victory of the Harbaugh era? Substitute any words in that sentence — “most impressive,” “most meaningful”, “most impactful” — and you can have an entirely different conversation. But would it be the best? That is highly determinant on, you know, how the game actually plays out. Would a 30-point drubbing over the Badgers be far more impressive than a squeaker? Maybe, maybe not. Does is matter how the rest of Wisconsin’s season plays out? Sure. But, in the interest of candor, this is a question that speaks far more to Harbaugh’s teams’ shortcomings rather than this one specific game. Michigan will go to Madison having been an underdog in seven games in the Harbaugh era; it has lost all seven. The Wolverines have yet to beat a ranked opponent on the road in his tenure. Their only win over a top-10 team in that span came against Wisconsin at home in a game they were favored by nearly a touchdown. The most impressive wins of the Harbaugh era are, in some order, as follows: — A 32-23 win at Michigan State in 2016 against a group that would eventually flounder to 3-9 on the season. — A 21-7 win over the 24thranked Spartans last year, which teetered in the balance until the Shea Patterson/Donovan Peoples-Jones 79-yard touchdown. — A 49-10 romp of Penn

Redshirt freshman tackle Ryan Hayes benefitted from sitting a year.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has yet to win a game of Saturday’s magnitude.

State in 2016. — A 41-7 blowout over the 14th-ranked Nittany Lions in what eventually amounted to a down year for Penn State. — A 14-7 win over No. 8 Wisconsin in 2016, otherwise known as The Jourdan Lewis Interception Game. — A 38-13 win over the 15thranked Badgers last year. — A 41-7 win over Florida in the 2015 Citrus Bowl that set the table for the 2016 team to hit the ground running. And that’s really it. The success of this year, as with any year now, will be largely determinant on whether or not there’s a Big Ten Title. That’s the only bar worth discussing right now. And Michigan cannot win those until they start winning these types of games. The Wolverines haven’t won in Madison since 2001, which is a stat that has been repeated all week, but ignores they’ve only played four such contests in that span. One that holds more weight? The last time Michigan went on the road and beat a top-15 team was… September 16, 2006 at No. 2 Notre Dame under head coach Lloyd Carr. They’re 0-14 in such games since. That context helps bring us back to the Harbaugh era writ large, toiling still in this really-good-but-not-great stasis that regularly seems on the verge of a next step. That was supposed to come against Ohio State in 2016, but fell literal inches short. It was supposed to happen in 2017 before that washed away in the pouring rain against Michigan State — sending the rest of the season flooding away with it. It was supposed to happen in Columbus again last year, where the Wolverines entered roughly

a 4-point favorite over an uncharacteristically vulnerable Buckeyes side. We all know how that ended. A win Saturday wouldn’t quite be a program-altering moment like those would have been. It’s hard to say just how good this Wisconsin team is right now. Two wins by a combined 110-0 certainly hint it’s a strong group. Sample size and quality of opponent make it such that we just don’t know. There are also, as has been well-documented, questions about whether this Michigan team is ready. The shine is off the new offense, and there’s little shot at emerging victorious without taking a step forward on that side of the ball. The defense has looked up to snuff early on, but those two performances came against a Conference USA team and a triple-option side the Wolverines had all summer to prepare for. Going to Madison, stymying perhaps the best rushing attack in the nation, overcoming offensive speed bumps and leaving with a win would be a whole different animal. To make a long story short: Harbaugh has yet to win a game at Michigan he wasn’t supposed to win. It is the central, most-pressing criticism of the era. As a result, he’s never won a Big Ten Title and he’s never brought his team to the College Football Playoff. His team can’t do anything to alter the latter point on Saturday. But in order to get there, they have to remedy the former point. Here’s another chance. Marcovitch can be reached at maxmarco@umich.edu or on Twitter @Max_Marcovitch.

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Release Date: Thursday, September 19, 2019

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

HELP WANTED

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis DOWN 1 Pram pusher 2 Son of Leah 3 Black, to a bard 4 Zero, quaintly 5 Martini specification 6 Dance with a queen 7 Captain Kirk’s home state 8 Common greeting card content 9 Far from soothing 10 Masonry finish 11 Bully 12 “Everything’s ready to go!” 13 Chance at the spinner 18 Clump of dune grass 24 Fleur-de-__ 26 Baa ma 27 One whose work is laughable 28 Heavenly path 29 Gear bit 30 Word with hot or dog 31 Zonk out

Ryan Hayes and the luxury of sitting

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily NATALIE STEPHENS/Daily

Classifieds ACROSS 1 Barista’s concoction 6 Domino dots 10 Rotating rod 14 Construction rod 15 Square __ 16 Skirt with a flounce 17 Tall display of dishwashing liquid? 19 MiG developer 20 Wee 21 Soy sauce taste 22 Sleuth of radio, movies and TV 23 Sitcom star from Melmac 25 Sticker 27 Global donation of dishwashing liquid? 32 Set in a golf bag 34 TV exec Arledge 35 Barcelona bear 36 Short dog, for short 37 Or so 38 1956 crisis site 39 Chest-beating beast 40 Darts 41 Slow, to Ravel 42 Rock band’s preferred dishwashing liquid? 45 “Supergirl” actor Jon 46 It can be thin but not fat 47 Glance through 48 Goaded, with “on” 52 Seed used in smoothies 56 “O brawling love! O loving __!”: Romeo 57 Using dishwashing liquid in the shower? 59 “__ that a lot” 60 One likely to snap 61 Spree 62 Like everything in a she shed 63 Ballpark figure 64 Aconcagua’s range

Thursday, September 19, 2019 — 5A

32 Tablet with Air, Pro and Mini models 33 Update the look of, as a product 37 Like some bistros 38 1957 Coasters chart-topper with the refrain “Gonna find her” 40 Opponent 41 Fragrant chain

43 MLB team with Mr. and Mrs. mascots 44 Duchamp genre 47 __ Tzu 49 Trusted advisor 50 Pesky bug 51 Goes back 53 Rear 54 “Picnic” playwright 55 Forever 58 Placeholder abbr.

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ETHAN SERS

Managing Sports Editor

Mike Zordich laughed. “My secret?” he asked. “I don’t know if I have a secret.” Zordich, Michigan’s cornerbacks coach, had been asked about the program’s seemingly never-ending churn of NFL-caliber players at the position he coaches. After another year of losing a starter, David Long, to the league, the Wolverines seem just fine. Ambry Thomas has slotted in perfectly, and even when it seemed like Thomas would miss time with colitis, they were fine anyway — Vincent Gray, in his first extended time, has played like a veteran. The biggest secret Zordich may have lies in plain sight, on Michigan’s 247Sports page. Since 2013 — two years before Zordich or Jim Harbaugh got hired — the Wolverines have recruited the position to near perfection. Besides the transition class between Brady Hoke and Harbaugh, when they didn’t take a corner, Michigan’s record of getting corners to the next level since then is almost 100 percent. Jourdan Lewis and Jabrill Peppers are established players in the league. Brandon Watson and Channing Stribling have gotten practice squad opportunities. Long was a third-round pick last April, and Lavert Hill will

almost certainly get his shot this April. That encompasses every Michigan class of cornerbacks from 2013-16; the three classes since are still enrolled. There’s an extent to which that’s a self-fulfilling cycle — young players come in, sit and learn from the older guys and by the time those older guys go to the NFL, the young ones are ready to go. Now that Long and Watson are gone, Thomas and Gray stepped right into their place. “Just about everybody that plays corner ends up being really good here,” Harbaugh said Monday, “goes on to be pro players.” That’s the kind of cycle every position coach dreams of, which brings us to the offensive line, a position where Michigan has been as far away from that cycle as can be over the Harbaugh era. Young players benefit from sitting and learning, and their development gets hindered from getting thrown into the fire too early. Nowhere is that more true than the offensive line — a fact that Michigan exemplified for the first few years of Harbaugh’s tenure, and a cycle it’s finally starting to break. When the Wolverines were struggling to recruit elite offensive linemen — Cesar Ruiz is the only current starter from a five-man 2017 class — guys had to play before they were

ready. When that happened in 2017, Michigan ranked 117th in adjusted sack rate with two of its quarterbacks suffering injuries. The Wolverines endured that slog so they could get to now. The guys who couldn’t hack it that year — Ruiz, Runyan, Bredeson and Onwenu among them — are now integral starters on a line that came into this year as a point of confidence. Talk about a new scheme all you want. Experience goes a long way. When Michigan nets a talented recruit now, it has the luxury of sitting him. When Ryan Hayes, a redshirt freshman, had to play the season’s first two games against Middle Tennessee and Army, there were no alarm bells to sound. Hayes is the kind of recruit who needed developing, a high school tight end with a wide base and weight to gain. In an ideal world he wouldn’t have played this year at all, but his development seems to have come faster than normal. He acquitted himself well in those first two games, enough that offensive line coach Ed Warinner said he’ll probably play some snaps against Wisconsin even with Runyan back from injury. That’s fine and good. It’s also beside the point. “Playing tight end and running routes is not like playing O-Line,” Warinner said. “Playing O-Line at Michigan. So just learning and high repetition of the techniques and the calls and the job description and the work ethic and the culture and all that. “Cause that’s different. Being a grinder offensive lineman is different than being a skill guy. That’s a whole different culture, a whole different way of life, a whole different way of practicing. And, so I think it just took time.” It took Hayes a season, and it can take longer than that. Now, Michigan has the luxury of waiting.

York, Beecher ready for challenge BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer

Last October, Cam York and Johnny Beecher took the ice at Yost Ice Arena for the first time. The U.S. National Team Development Program’s U18 squad faced the Wolverines in an exhibition, and both were in the starting lineup for the USNTDP. York tallied an assist as his team defeated Michigan, 6-3. Just under a year later, York and Beecher are back at Yost — this time, as freshmen for the Wolverines. The duo took different paths to Michigan, but both are expected to hit the ground running and contribute right away. In this year’s NHL Entry Draft, York was drafted No. 14 overall by the Philadelphia Flyers and Beecher went No. 30 overall to the Boston Bruins. “(They’re) obviously bright spots,” said associate head coach Bill Muckalt. “We’re excited about them. I think they’re both going to add a lot to our team.” When York came to Yost in October, he didn’t know that he’d be returning to Ann Arbor the following year. At the time, he was committed to Boston College, but when then-associate head coach Greg Brown left the Eagles to be an assistant coach in the NHL, York began to reconsider his decision. For Michigan’s coaching staff, York’s decommitment was an opportunity to go after a highlyranked prospect and a player who could be in the pipeline behind former defenseman Quinn Hughes. “We knew he’s obviously a high-end offensive player and someone that (former assistant coach Brian Wiseman) and I and (coach Mel Pearson) really were interested in,” Muckalt said. “We discussed and we thought, ‘You know, he’s probably the best player on the board at that position.’ We were excited to try to recruit him.” And when York’s team came to play the Wolverines, the crowd at Yost sealed the decision. “I think that was kind of the cherry on top,” York told The Daily last December. “That’s what

kind of sold me, for sure. Just the atmosphere of that place and just the way that Michigan fans support their team. It’s a special place.” Muckalt and Pearson knew Hughes was likely going to depart for the Vancouver Canucks — the team that drafted him No. 7 overall in 2018 — after his sophomore season, and York stood out as an offensive-minded defenseman who could fill that spot on the left side for the Wolverines. In 63 games with the USNTDP in the 2018-19 season, York tallied 14 goals and added 51 assists for a total of 65 points — a single-season program record for a blueliner. “No question,” Muckalt said when asked if York could replace Hughes. “I think with his vision and his offensive instincts, I think it’ll be a — I don’t want to put any pressure on him, but I think it’ll be a smooth transition.” While York just decided nine months ago to commit to the Wolverines, Beecher has known for years that Michigan was his future home. The Wolverines first reached out to Beecher during his sophomore year at the Salisbury School in Salisbury, Conn. In that initial contact, though, Beecher learned that then-coach Red Berenson would likely be retiring at the end of the season,

so he decided to wait and see who the new coach was before he went further in the process. When Pearson was hired, he and Wiseman paid a visit to Beecher and he was sold. Through two successful years at the USNTDP, Beecher’s commitment never wavered. Now that he’s on campus, the coaching staff is hopeful that he’ll continue to grow as a player and realize his potential. “(Beecher has high-level) skating ability and he can shoot the puck,” Muckalt said. “I think he’s going to be a tremendous asset in a lot of areas, and I think he’s just scratching the surface of the player that he can become.” For the talented duo, the biggest challenge in adjusting to college hockey will be joining a team that had a difficult season last year. Michigan won just 13 of its 36 games last season, while the USNTDP squad won 47 of 63. But Beecher is clearly ready for the challenge of turning around a struggling team. “I think the energy is really high in the locker room right now,” Beecher said. “And I think everybody’s excited. I mean, we know the talent that we have, and I think we’re all pretty eager to get started. I think it’s going to be a great season. Can’t wait for the first game to come.”

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Freshman forward Johnny Beecher was drafted by the Bruins this spring.

6A â€” Thursday, September 19, 2019

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B-SIDE: MUSIC NOTEBOOK

B-SIDE: FOR THE SAKE OF PLUTO

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Trekkie optimism, or: On the merits of Klingon chess MIRIAM FRANCISCO Daily Arts Writer

The first few bars of the theme music for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” sounds more like ambient music at a yoga retreat than the introduction to an ’80s imagination of the year 2364. Then things speed up, soaring into a marching band-esque crescendo, and it’s clear: This is the future. The Star Trek franchise includes 12 movies, eight television shows, two theme park attractions, two magazines, about 850 novels and 17 series of comic books. The cultural impact of the show can’t be understated — it’s where we got “live long and prosper,” “beam me up, Scotty” and “make it so.” It inspired “Galaxy Quest” and “Futurama,” a few notable scenes in the music video for Eminem’s “We Made You” and even a 2010 training video made by the Internal Revenue Service. The franchise garners the kind of obsession that’s endearingly embarrassing: flashing the Vulcan hand salute, having intimate knowledge of Klingon chess, making detailed costumes for conventions. “Trekkie” has become cultural shorthand for a very specific kind of fixation. It suggests, with a patronizing wink, that wanting to be part of the world of “Star Trek” requires a mix of social isolation and naiveté. Instead I think it requires hope, or a profound lack of it. At the height of my Star Trek fandom, I was never the kind of enthusiast who found themselves mired in the minutiae of the show. Instead, it was the big picture that

I latched onto. I watched “Star Trek: The Next Generation” with my mom when I was in middle school; we liked the cleanliness of the Starship Enterprise and the grand, sweeping views of planets and stars. The world of the show (an immense silver vessel, aliens with ridged foreheads) seemed very far away from the setting and context of my life at the time: our little row home in Philadelphia, homemade pumpkin ice cream, math homework, forgetting to hang my suit up to dry before swim practice. Now, rewatching the show, the associations have become reverse engineered. “Star Trek” is inextricable from the way it felt to be fourteen and think the future could contain absolutely anything. According to “Star Trek,” everything we’re worried about right now will be OK. There will be other things that go wrong — a species intent on taking over the universe, arguments between factions of aliens — but these concerns are foreign enough that they’re intriguing rather than scary. The show depicts its fair share of pain and suffering, but usually it’s the aliens who suffer in any permanent way; when humans do, it’s an aberration from the new normal that’s been created. By the time the Enterprise is exploring new worlds, we’ve eliminated climate change, war, disease, xenophobia and sexism. On Earth, everything is as it should be. In the rest of the universe, though, these things still exist, and nearly every conflict on the series involves starship crews becoming entangled with random and calculated unfairness, cruelty and moral complication. We get Klingon

in-fighting, alien merchants selling slaves, a civilization about to be decimated by its dying star. “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is especially prone to depicting easily-recognizable versions of real quandaries. The characters encounter everything from sex trafficking to territorial disputes on distant planets, and they’re forced to confront moral codes that exaggerate the ironies and falsehoods of our own beliefs. Familiar dramas play out: Apartheid is displaced onto a matriarchal society in “Angel One,” and the Israel-Palestine conflict plays out with a group of alien separatists in “The High Ground.” Here lies the ethical problem with “Star Trek,” and also the thing that is so deliciously attractive about it. Every earthly dilemma has been outsourced to an alien species, and we get to be the arbiters of goodness, the agents of scientific reason. Who wouldn’t want to buy into this vision of the future? When I was in middle school and watching “Star Trek” I imagined we were moving closer toward the show’s version of the future: egalitarian, democratic, creative. Now when I watch the show, I vacillate between hope and escapism. I want to believe that “Star Trek” is predictive of how things will turn out for humanity. I want us to wander the universe in brightly colored uniforms, listening to operas sung by sentient robots. I hope we will find our way to peace. But if that’s not what the future holds, if it’s more war and injustice and greed that we’re headed for, then all I want is to watch Captain Picard hold court on the bridge one more time.

In defense of puny Pluto SAMANTHA DELLA FERA Senior Arts Editor

There isn’t much to remember about 2006. It was a year of Razor scooters and Dum Dums and multiplication tables. I was in second grade, where our hottest topics were who was seen holding hands on the playground, or what treats we were bringing in for our birthdays. We certainly weren’t talking about scientific discoveries, intergalactic developments or the terrifying depths of the universe. That is, of course, until it was announced that Pluto would no longer be considered a planet. This plunged our narrow halls into despair. I don’t know why I took this news so hard. My teacher told me I was at a fifth grade reading level and I had just gotten a life-sized stuffed dog for Christmas, so things were going pretty well. But this news about Pluto — it rocked me. It shook me to my Lisa Frank-clad core. I remember little about that year, but I do remember the day Pluto was demoted. For those who don’t, some background: Pluto was discovered on Feb. 18, 1930 at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. by astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh. According to a website for the Library of Congress that looks straight out of the year 1993, the era during which Pluto was discovered was one of “intense planet hunting.” Hardcore. The name “Pluto,” later the name of a beloved Disney pet, was actually proposed by an 11-year-old girl from Oxford named Venetia Burney who was interested in mythology. To thank her for a name that would literally be used for the rest of time, Burney was awarded five pounds.

Such a great story, right? Well, astronomers don’t care about the story, they care about the facts. And, in 2006, the fact was that Pluto could no longer be considered a planet. Instead, the International Astronomy Union (IAU) downgraded it to a dwarf planet. To be a full-blown planet a mass needs to: 1) Orbit around the Sun 2) Have sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape) and 3) Have a “cleared neighborhood” around its orbit. Apparently, Pluto also has annoying neighbors that hover around it, because the third criteria is where it lost out. That’s a lot of science for me to understand now, so I certainly didn’t understand it during the year “A Bad Case of Stripes” caused me to become a juvenile hypochondriac. What I understood was suddenly my time spent memorizing the nine planets was wasted — all the acronyms, the solar system dioramas, the crudely coloredin circles. Why had we even spent so much time learning about planets? Was it all a waste? A facade of happiness to be ripped apart when some old men decide a planet just wasn’t good enough anymore? In hindsight, I think our little second grade hearts were broken because we truly did love Pluto. It was every student’s favorite planet — the underdog, the little guy. Oh you like Jupiter, Sarah? We get it, your dad’s a broker at Meryll Lynch. Your favorite planet is Saturn, Jason? No one cares that you’re in accelerated math. Pluto was the planet for the rest of us, the ones with no rings, no red storm, no semblance of life. When Pluto was told it wasn’t good enough, we were told we weren’t good enough. Everyone always says kids are the future, the next generation will change

the world — how could we do that when no one will respect us? It wasn’t just the second graders, though. The world felt the effects of the diminished Pluto. Just in the past month, 13 years since the tragedy of Pluto, there have been numerous articles about just how bad everybody wants Pluto to be a planet again. We just want it to be happy, to be recognized again, to stand along the big boys of the Milky Way. Honestly, I think all of us see a little bit of Pluto within us. Yeah, it sounds silly to care so much about an insentient rock, but this stuff hits home. We’ve all been told we’re not good enough, and if an entire planet can be ousted, so can we. I don’t care what the IAU says, they can’t tell us how to see Pluto, no matter what fancy degrees they have or how many telescopes they own. For Venetia Burney, for heartbroken second graders and for NASA administrators that can’t let things go, there will always be Pluto. And for Pluto, there will always be those who never give up on it.

It was every student’s favorite planet — the underdog, the little guy

B-SIDE: COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK

Soul-searching and solace-seeking in our solar system TRINA PAL

Senior Arts Editor

There’s somet h ing so mag ica l about t he n ig ht sk y. Yes, t he m illion s of glow ing ba lls of f ire above ou r heads, so fa r away t hat we perceive t hem a s on ly t w in k les in a sea of da rk ness, a re a stou nding to t h in k about . A nd yes, t here’s no ac t more hu mbling t ha n st a r ing into space a nd compa r ing you rself to t he sca le of t he u n iverse. But t he t r ue g if t of t he n ig ht sk y lies in somet h ing much ha rder to a r t iculate: t he mag ic of t he u n k now n . Just li ke ou r expa n sive ocea n s, w it h point s deeper t ha n Ea r t h’s t a llest mou nt a in s above sea level, we k now ver y lit t le about outer space. The va st major it y of space mat ter is u n ident if ied; we k now it ’s t here ba sed on it s g rav it at iona l pull on ot her mat ter, but we ca n’t see it w it h ou r eyes. Th is da rk mat ter is second on ly to da rk energ y, wh ich is causing t he u n iverse to accelerate in it s expa n sion , a for wa rd feedback loop w it h it s feet per ma nent ly of f t he bra kes. Yet here we a re, n ice a nd coz y on ou r Ea r t h , ra rely stopping to g a ze up into t he n ig ht sk y a nd wonder about ever y t h ing t hat rema in s to be discovered.

In bust ling A n n A rbor, t houg h , look ing up into t he sk y w ill rewa rd you w it h a f uzz y ha ze of g ray. Bet ween la mp post s on Sout h Un iversit y, st reet lig ht s on St ate St reet a nd t he glow f rom building s border ing t he Diag, lig ht pollut ion block s t he gem s of t he sk y so ef fec t ively t hat it ’s ha rd to even ma ke out what you’re m issing. But I’m a lways look ing, t r y ing to catch a glimpse. Whet her on a br ig ht fa ll a f ter noon , cloudcovered, m ist y day or wa r m su m mer n ig ht , my f irst in st inc t upon stepping out side is to g a ze up, t a ke a deep breat h a nd sm ile in solit ude. To k now t hat it ’s just you a nd t hat beckon ing expa n se above, if on ly for a moment , is t he best for m of t herapy. Grow ing up in t he Met ro Det roit a rea ha s g iven me ver y few cha nces to see t he n ig ht sk y in a ll it s glor y w it hout a mbient lig ht wa sh ing ever y t h ing out . The most memorable t ime happened to be t wo week s ago, in t he dept h s of Acadia Nat iona l Pa rk in Mou nt Deser t Isla nd, Ma ine. At 8 p.m ., I sat w iped- out in t he back seat of my fa m ily ’s rent a l ca r, my leg s qua k ing slig ht ly f rom t rek k ing a ll day a nd my Circadia n clock disor iented by t he ea rly su n set s on t he ea ster n-most st ate of t he Ea st Coa st . The endor ph in s f rom ea rlier in t he day had faded away, leav ing me w it h a n empt y but peacef ul feeling in my stomach , somet h ing close to g rat it ude for being a live, t houg h I could n’t place my f inger on t he emot ion at t he t ime. Ou r dest inat ion? Sa nd Beach in t he hea r t of Acadia , a lways populated by tou r ist s a nd loca ls a li ke. New pa irs of feet cont inua lly t ra mpled t he sa nd below, on ly to have t heir foot pr int s wa shed away by t he roa r ing At la nt ic in a n in st a nt . Sa nd is a deceiv ing na me: Shell f rag ment s ma ke up t he major it y of t he sof t ea r t h , teem ing m icroorg a n ism s a re lit tered t h roug hout t he rest . Du r ing t he day, one ca n clea rly ma ke out t he loom ing g ra n ite rock s r ising on eit her side of t he sa nd st retch , for m ing a sma ll bay w it h ca lm waters. At n ig ht , it ’s a whole dif ferent stor y. The wooden steps felt foreig n u nder my feet a s I descended in t he da rk ness: My feet had forgot ten t hat I’d t a ken t he sa me pat h t he day before in

Yet here we are, nice and cozy on our Earth, rarely stopping to gaze up into the night sky and wonder about everything that remains to be discovered

The only color I could make out was jet black, putting even the poignant black of ink cartridges to shame

broad, piercing daylig ht . Ever y where I looked wa s sh rouded w it h inten se da rk ness. The on ly color I could ma ke out wa s jet black , put t ing even t he poig na nt black of in k ca r t r idges to sha me. We st u mbled onto t he beach , fa int ly able to ma ke out t he mou nd of people in t he dist a nce. Ever yone else had broug ht a bla n ket , some were cuddling u nder sleeping bag s. We sat on t he ba re sa nd, let t ing it f ill ou r shoes a nd seep t h roug h t he g aps in ou r clot hes. If you’re going to st a rg a ze on t he beach , best to do it r ig ht , no bou nda r ies necessa r y. There wa s lig ht , just not t he k ind one m ig ht expec t . A ll I had to do wa s look up a nd t he n ig ht sk y shone upon me, glad t hat my eyes had f ina lly fou nd it s dest inat ion . M illion s of st a rs da nced in t he n ig ht , tea sing me, inv it ing me to da nce w it h t hem . The broad ba nd of t he M il k y Way st retched f rom hor izon to hor izon , home to m illion s of st a rs, pla net s a nd us, t he Ea r t h . Pa rk ra ngers pointed out dozen s of con stellat ion s sm iling dow n at us. I sm iled back up at t hem . Th is world ha s a lways been t here, wa it ing for t he r ig ht moment , t he r ig ht place, to show it self. Second on ly to t he tot a l sola r eclipse of 2017, I’d never beheld a ny t h ing li ke it . I ca n on ly g ra sp at memor ies of t hat n ig ht , close my eyes a nd let t he st a rs t hat f ill my m ind push a ll my linger ing t houg ht s away. Whenever I get t he cha nce to g a ze ag a in , I k now t hey ’ll be wa it ing.

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Thursday, September 19, 2019 — 3B

B-SIDE: FILM NOTEBOOK

B-SIDE: BOOKS NOTEBOOK

Our space obsession: The Facing absurdity through lit looming threat in the sky LUKAS TAYLOR For the Daily

IAN HARRIS

Daily Arts Writer

Space. The final frontier. The place where Star Wars are fought, odysseys are traveled, and extra terrestrials must inevitably return. Space has fascinated filmmakers and audiences alike for generations. More than 50 years after the moon landing, it is still as much of an unknown to us now as it was to us then. Is there life beyond this world? Are we alone on the vast plane of existence? Or is there a threat still to come from above? What is it about space that is so enthralling and mystifying? Despite our technological advancement over the past five decades, audiences are still as obsessed with space as they’ve ever been. This year alone, multiple major blockbusters have featured threats from above as their primary source of conf lict. “Avengers: Endgame” saw the entire universe come under threat from an ubervillain from another world, a being so powerful that us mortals could scarcely comprehend the force that he could wield. “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” saw a spacepowered King Ghidorah who fell from the heavens in the time before time. “Captain Marvel,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” “Ad Astra” ... all of these films prominently feature space as a central component of their narrative. Why is it that out of the probable five highest grossing films of the year, three of them will be about space? Human beings are obsessed with the unknown. They fear it, they sometimes crave it, but most of all they don’t understand it. Besides death, space is the greatest unknown there is. In some ways it is the ultimate mystery. Despite decades of research, there is still so much we do not know. Chicken Little once said the sky was falling, and while no one believed him then, audiences can’t stop believing it now. Besides the mystery of it all, space is just cool. Aliens, laser swords, spaceships, lightspeed, other worlds, strange encounters — I mean what’s not to like? Science fiction has everything that fantasy has, but with the moral ambiguity and difficult that comes with a more complicated setting. Not to say fantasy cannot be complicated, but over the course of genre history, it is science fiction that has been known as the more thought provoking of the two. “Star Trek,” “Dune,” “2001 A Space Odyssey,” ... all of these pieces are centered around who we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going. By pitting

I think there is a real possibility that deep down a lot of people on this planet inherently know that while our species was born on earth, we were never meant to die here

humanity against the upper limits of what is possible and what is known, storytellers are able to use space to ref lect back on what truly makes us human. Space allows us as a society to understand who we are by comparing us to what we are not. We are not super powered beings from other worlds, blowing up Death Stars and going where no man has ever gone before. But by taking a look at what the future could possibly hold, we give society something to strive towards and something to avoid. If space is truly the final frontier, than it is the last and greatest challenge that mankind must face. I think there is a real possibility that deep down a lot of people on this planet inherently know that while our species was born on earth, we were never meant to die here. Space fascinates us because the definition of space is the absence of something else. That absence gives way to unlimited possibility. Unlimited possibility for telling stories, unlimited possibility for what is out there and unlimited possibility for a world that is seemingly growing smaller every day.

Chicken Little once said the sky was falling, and while no one believed him then, audiences can’t stop believing it now

The 2017 eclipse was a unique point in the American consciousness. Large amounts of people simultaneously pondered their existence relative to the cosmos. It was a singular moment given that people usually only confront their size in proportion to a mundane scale: a shelf they’re trying to reach or a six-foot height preference on Tinder. I was struck by the fragile self-importance of my problems in comparison to the universe beyond, and I think others were too. But the only serious discussion of our relative size I saw was in a flat-earther Facebook group. They were more concerned with how NASA managed to fake such a large-scale event. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Bringing it up at the water cooler isn’t natural and probably won’t do anything to quell the existential anxiety. Literature is a better place to discuss such matters. Its longform nature allows us to explore concepts that would be too difficult otherwise. But what exactly makes the universe scary, and how should literature respond? Our insect-like proportions to outer space can be daunting, but I don’t think size alone can explain the fear. There’s something about the vast, uncaring emptiness that makes humans feel insignificant. And with good reason. What do even the best pieces of writing signify when held up next to the vast expanse of nothing around us? Thinking about such things only makes the stories we tell each other seem less relevant. These anxieties are easy to ignore when engrossed in a good story — we’re usually thinking about our characters existing in a specific setting, not about the oblivion surrounding that environment. Moreover, space implies limits for fully controlling our own experiences. The earth is part of a large and uncaring universe, and we can’t completely control our own environment. Asteroids are one manifestation of this anxiety. Even the small things humans can build will be ripped apart by each other, or a decaying earth, or, ultimately, heat death. Can we just ignore this? People walk indoors, and the outside world feels like a different reality entirely, separated by more than just walls. It’s easy to have a similar feeling about our place in the universe. Maybe this is good. We can focus on solving the problems we have control over. But there has to be some way to adapt our stories to respond healthily.

One typical response in literature is fantasies of new colonialism. It’s comforting to some to grid and map the intergalactic space, and then to colonize it. The Cold War pushed American manifest destiny upward. Perhaps if we build enough floating space Walmarts, we can fill up the vast unknown with something we understand. Spending your entire free time imagining a Chili’s in the Kuiper belt has some negative implications, believe it or not. For one, it’s now easier to imagine geo-engineering a new environment on Mars, as in Andy Weir’s “The Martian,” than saving our own. Other stories in literature try to focus on the horror. For many, this means aliens. Other writers fill the dark void ineffably giant H.P.-Lovecraftian monsters. This makes sense: When presented with nothing, we’re constantly scanning and looking for something we can understand. Like being a kid and running to the bed after turning out the lights, there’s something we don’t trust about blank nothingness. But this may not confront space’s void directly. Humans can understand the horror of monsters. We’re programmed to fear animals that can kill us. Understanding our hypothetical relationship to these monsters does not truly explore why we’re afraid of nothingness, and what we can do about it. Our fears about space aren’t tangible. Translating those fears to identifiable monsters means we can’t honestly face less concrete horrors. Comedy is another fallback. Books like “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” laugh off the absurdity of the void. This may be just another type of deflection. Imaging the answer to life as 42 is simply a way of short-circuiting thinking about the terror of meaninglessness. Even if most literature isn’t genuinely looking in the face of our reality, does that matter? We only have so much time on this earth, and there’s more than enough to worry about without trying to confront large existential problems. Most people are just worrying about how to make ends meet. Perhaps there is no right answer. Facing absurdity shouldn’t come at the cost of happiness. Some terrors aren’t worth considering under certain circumstances, even if they’re right. If you found evidence for heaven not existing, you wouldn’t present it to a mom at her son’s funeral. Ignoring existential absurdity you have no control over isn’t necessarily cowardly. Picking your battles is just one part of coping with the human experience.

B-SIDE: STYLE NOTEBOOK

Space & style fell in love PRIYDARSHINI GOUTHI Daily Arts Writer

When we think of space, astrology and the galaxy, we rarely think of the fashion industry and style. However, the truth is that the concepts of space influence fashion in a multifaceted manner, whether consciously or not. This hidden affair between the two worlds has probably been blossoming since the day we landed on the moon. We can witness how the mark of the space was introduced via more geometric shapes and silhouettes on the runway by designers such as Andre Courreges or Emilio Pucci. Some began to shift to fabrics like PVC that were inspired by space suits; other designs became more utilitarian as a whole. The residue influence was subtle but was still undeniable. Even decades later, designers are continually drawing from the mystery of the space and the adventure that it promises. Take the Chanel Fall/Winter 2017-18 collection. Set against the backdrop of a rocket with models floating down the ramp in metallic hues and futuristic accessories, the show is an example of fashion’s continual fascination with the galaxy. In some ways, space gave birth to the futuristic style that has become commonplace today, be it through oversized, rectangular glasses or super reflective jackets. Coach’s Pre-Fall Collection in 2017 captured the sentiment of exploring beyond the given and achieving the impossible, reflected in their simple but direct prints on their garments and their marketing campaign. Some other huge collaborations include NASA X Vans or Nike’s

Mars collection. Space has lent its artistic potential to everyday style and ways of thinking about fashion. If you were to walk down any crowded street, you would find someone wearing a shift that jokes about their sun sign, dainty pendants in the shape of constellations or even t-shirts that don the NASA logo. The solar system goes beyond design as well. Bloggers such as STARtorialist dedicate their time to sharing the interaction of all things fashion, space and science. Similarly, publications such as Harper’s Bazaar or Her Campus often write about how to dress according to your “star sign,” or zodiac sign, and what that sign means for your personal style. The interaction between fashion and space should not be surprising. Fashion is often pigeonholed and understood to only be what is visible on the surface, when in reality it is so much more than that. Similarly, astronomy is a way of thinking, it’s a belief that some events are beyond control and exert influence over others that we directly do control. This affair is more like two ways of thinking coming together and morphing into a common creative outlet. Moreover, both realms take into consideration things like patterns but apply them differently. To fashion, patterns are pertinent to defining a print or changing the entire look, while for astronomy and the science of space, patterns help predict. In the same manner, structure, forms and colors are pivotal to the functioning of each of these realms. Maybe that’s why intergalactic themes in the fashion industry have proven to be a huge success.

Fashion is often pigeonholed and understood to only be what is visible on the surface, when in reality it is so much more than that

June 1, 19,2017 2016 METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER

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4B —Thursday, September 19, 2019

B-SIDE: STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Student Spotlight: Alex Cucos and engineering

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

B-SIDE: MUSIC NOTEBOOK

DANA PIERANGELI Daily Arts Wrtier

Most children go through the phase of obsession with space. Whether they want to be an astronaut, build a rocket ship or study the stars in their backyard, we all have this innate desire to examine the unknown. Alexander Cucos was no exception. Cucos’s interest in space started when he was a child, as many of us can relate to. In an interview with The Daily, Cucos shared that “I’ve always been interested in planes and rockets and that sort of thing, but what little kid isn’t right?” But he never thought he could make a career out of his interest until he got to high school. “I got this PC game, Kerbal Space Program. I taught myself some super basic orbital mechanics, transfer maneuvers between planets and that sort of thing, from Wikipedia in order to play it,” said Cucos. “I thought ‘Huh, I could totally do this for the rest of my life.’” Now he is an aerospace engineering student at the University, set to graduate in 2020. His education at the University has allowed him to explore many different facets of aerospace. “We have to learn a little bit about circuit design, coding, structural analysis, control theory, and, of course, aerodynamics,” Cucos said. “It’s basically systems engineering with a focus on things that fly.” There is a wide variety of classes offered to aerospace majors, as they can focus on one of two tracks: aeronautics, the study of aircrafts, and astronautics, the study of spacecrafts. They can take everything from a hoverboard design class to pilot training classes. “I honestly think my favorite class so far has been my 300-level Aerodynamics class,” Cucos said. “It’s super cool to be able to take any shape you want, and use math to determine exactly how the flow moves around it, and what kind of forces are applied

What makes the study of space so special to Cucos is the sense of unity it brings to everyone

DEF JAM RECORDINGS / SUE KWON

Blasting off into orbit with the Beastie Boys, of course CLARA SCOTT Senior Arts Editor

to it. It kinda sounds geeky, I know, but I think that stuff is so cool.” The opportunities his education gives him span a wide range of careers. “You can work for the military on fighter aircraft or missiles; you can work for NASA on spacecraft operation, orbital mechanics or trajectory analysis; you can design commercial aircraft with a company like Boeing or Airbus; you can go over to a company like ULA and design rockets; or you can work on aerospace propulsion systems, jets, rockets, electric thrusters, that sort of thing,” Cucos explained. “There’s definitely something for everybody.” This past summer, he had the opportunity to intern at a company in Arizona called Raytheon that primarily builds missiles for the government. Aside from a distaste for the climate, Cucos found the job fascinating. “I was working on the Modeling, Simulation and Analysis team, which basically means I was coding holistic software to simulate the entire use cycle of the product” said Cucos. “I can’t really say a

The opportunities his education gives him span a wide range of careers

whole lot more than that, because, you know, defense contractor and all that, but it was a very interesting experience overall.” With this experience under his belt, Cucos has big dreams for after college. “My dream is to work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). They are responsible for designing and building all of the spacecraft that NASA uses, such as satellites, deep-space probes, and landers/rovers,” Cucos said. “Specifically, I would love to work on extraterrestrial, endo-atmospheric vehicles, things that fly in the atmosphere of other celestial bodies.” Projects like these may seem inaccessible to the public, but aerospace engineering has so much importance in everyday life. “There are the obvious big things, like the GPS satellites that power your navigation app, or the communications satellites that let you watch a rugby game in the UK from your house,” Cucos elaborated, “but one of the beauties about NASA is that they often fund the things that nobody else wants to. NASA funding paid for everything from Velcro to solar panels. NASA funded the invention of the digital image sensor, which is the technology found in every smartphone camera. Every time you use Snapchat? You’re using spacegrade technology!” What makes the study of space so special to Cucos is the sense of unity it brings to everyone. “Space is dangerous and exciting to everyone,” Cucos exclaimed. “Space doesn’t care what your nationality is, or what your religion is; if you mess up, it will kill you. It takes all of us working together to go to space and achieve great things.” Sharing a fascination with space helps bring us together as a species. Whether it’s working cross continent to create a space station or stargazing with friends, space unites us in a way that is out of this world.

Music ha s a lways had a n obsession w it h space. From Dav id Bow ie’s Major Tom to Sou ndg a rden’s “ Black Hole Su n” to even Claude Debussy ’s “Cla i r de Lu ne,” t he st a rs a nd what lies beyond is a subjec t of fa sci nat ion a nd ad m i rat ion for ma ny musicia n s. Space is a myster y to a ll of us, i ncludi ng t hose who k now it well. Wit h ever y pa ssi ng day we lea r n more about t he f r i nges of ou r sola r system a nd ever y t h i ng else i n t he n ig ht sk y. It ’s u nderst a ndable t hat so ma ny people have created a r t ba sed on t he worlds out side ou r ow n . But t h i ng s have cha nged si nce Debussy w rote h is qui ntessent ia l composit ion , a t i me when people looked at t he sk y w it hout t h i n k i ng about ac t ua lly goi ng t here. In t he age of m issiles a nd SpaceX a nd people selli ng seat s on lu x u r y shut t les, space mea n s somet h i ng dif ferent . It ’s a big ger ex pa n se, one we ca n potent ia lly see ou rselves v isit i ng. O u r moder n world ex tends beyond t he Ea r t h it self i n so ma ny ways — in big dat a , broadba nd t ra n sm ission , Bluetoot h , radio, ever y t h i ng i n bet ween — so why wou ld we a nchor ou r a r t ist ic u nderst a ndi ng of space to t he ea silyswa llowable? Now t h is, my f r iends, is why t he Bea st ie Boys’s “ Interg a lac t ic ” is a song t hat ma kes t he most sen se for space a s we k now it today. Relea sed i n 1998 on t he g roup’s f if t h record a nd a rg uably most a r t ist ic i nter pret at ion of f rat-boyrap, Hello Na st y, t he song f i na lly made it out a f ter bei ng shelved for prev ious relea ses. It ’s a cra z y song, combi n i ng a cr u nched, sy nt hesized chor us w it h a r rog a nt a nd h ila r ious verses. From t he moment t he

The thing that made the Beastie Boys popular in the first place — and gave “Intergalactic” a Grammy in 1999 for Best Rap Performance by a Group — is their sheer brashness

t rack beg i n s w it h a repeated “ Interg a lac t ic, pla net a r y, pla net a r y, i nterg a lac t ic,” t he listener k nows t hey ’re i n for somet h i ng specia l. The sheer loud ness of “ Interg a lac t ic ” m i r rors t he sat u rat ion of ent husia sm a rou nd space t ravel a nd ex plorat ion ; it pa ra llels t he cra zi ness of eccent r ic billiona i res li ke Elon Musk a nd t hei r idiosy ncra sies per fec t ly. Each beat of t he d r u m-mach i ne i n st r u ment a l, complete w it h sa mples f rom bot h R ach ma n i nof f a nd The Ja zz Cr usaders, f ills you r bra i n completely, forci ng out a ll ot her t houg ht s for a f u ll accept a nce of t he g roove. You feel li ke you’re bei ng bea med somewhere, a nd not somewhere you’re su re you wa nt to go. But st ill, t he r ide is a whole lot of f u n . The Bea st ies even sa mple t hem selves ha lf way t h roug h t he song, specif ica lly “The New St yle” of f Licen sed to Ill. “ Bea st ie Boys k now n to let t he beat / m m m M M M… d rop!” t hey shout , a nd a nyone listen i ng ca n’t help but si ng a long. The t h i ng t hat made t he Bea st ie Boys popu la r i n t he f i rst place —

a nd g ave “ Interg a lac t ic ” a Gra m my i n 1999 for Best R ap Per for ma nce by a Group — is t hei r sheer bra sh ness. If a ny t h i ng cou ld con nec t so t r ut h f u lly w it h t he space economy of today, it ’s t hat . They si mu lt a neously ma ke f u n of t hem selves a nd hy pe t hem selves up, t h row i ng shoutout s to producer Ma r io Ca ldato a nd each member i n t u r n . It ’s pu re, u nadu lterated energ y i n song for m , w it h a beat f it to bla st of f. So if you’re itch i ng to see t he st a rs, a n noyed w it h t he Elon Musk- Gr i mesA zea lia Ba n k s love t r ia ngle or rea lly just love Sat u r n , “ Interg a lac t ic ” is a per fec t song for you. The t rack is spacey, yes, but it ’s a lso f u n ny, a ng r y a nd ever y t h i ng i n bet ween . It capt u res t he f ren z y of it s or ig i na l Y2K era i n addit ion to ou r ow n , encapsu lat i ng t he f ren zied overst i mu lat ion of each bigboom decade w it h g race a nd, of cou rse, sy nt hesizers. Hell, put on t he whole a lbu m if you’re rea lly feeli ng it — t he na st i ness of ou r t i me is so deep you m ig ht a s well say hello to it . You m ig ht even f i nd you rself i n orbit .

The sheer loudness of “Intergalactic” mirrors the saturation of enthusiasm around space travel and exploration; it parallels the craziness of eccentric billionaires like Elon Musk and their idiosyncrasies perfectly

FILE PHOTO / DAILY

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Thursday, September 19, 2019 — 5B

B-SIDE: SECONDARY

In retrograde: Musings on astrology’s cosmic comeback SOPHIA YOON Daily Arts Writer

If you’ve been on the internet a ny time within the past f ive yea rs, then there’s no way you’ve avoided hea ring someone say “Mercur y ’s in retrog rade” or “I went on a date with this g uy but our sig ns a ren’t compatible.” Horoscopes a nd astrolog y have violently inf iltrated modern-day cult ure from out of thin air, a nd like the f lu at the beg inning of the school yea r, it just won’t go away. I don’t remember when I f irst saw the explosion of astrolog ical ja rgon a nd sy mbols on my discover page on Instag ra m, a nd I certainly haven’t had the cha nce to question why so ma ny people have bought into it until now. Why has it made its controversial ret urn? Ca n we call it a comeback? Does a nyone act ually believe in it unironically? Is it all just a distraction imposed by the government to avert our gaze from the impending hunger wa r? A quick disclaimer: I’m 18 yea rs old. This mea ns I g rew up with the prevalence of social media, so I have lit tle experience with horoscopes in print media, like in the trades or Sunday paper. Some people probably checked their daily horoscope without the ease of technolog y, but not a nyone I know. Maybe it ’s not really a comeback so much as it is proof of how we only know what we see, a nd right now, we only see a ny thing that ’s on social media. Nobody knows exactly where astrolog y ca me from, but t urning to the sta rs has always been a common practice for civilizations to explain the purpose of our existence a nd g uide them throughout life. Some societies at tributed the state of the sta rs to explain the bad times their civilization was having, others as a calenda r or a compass. Up until science showed us that sta rs a re just exploding balls of gas, we used the sta rs to sur vive a nd a nswer the timeless question of “ Why a re we here?” In a sense, we still use astrolog y to do this. The Greeks, Babylonia ns a nd Roma ns a re credited with ma king the 12 sig ns we know today: A ries, Taurus, Gemini, Ca ncer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sag it ta rius, Capricorn, Aqua rius a nd Pisces. They were based of f of when it seemed like the sun passed through each respective constellation, a nd most of the constellations represented cute lit tle a nimals, which is where most of the sy mbols come from — except for Libra, which has a scale as its sy mbol that ma kes it dif f icult for compa nies to ma rket on t-shirts a nd phone cases. It ’s dif f icult to pinpoint exactly why this belief system died down, but it ’s easy to ma ke a few educated g uesses. At some point throughout huma nit y ’s short histor y, the civilizations that developed this belief system died out, science a nd experimentation beca me a more popula r method of explaining the way the world is, a nd Christia n belief systems beca me a fashionable a nd sometimes ma ndator y belief system. Christia nit y also isn’t exactly a big fa n of astrolog y. Let ’s get into the dissection of astrolog y ’s miraculous comeback. Ever since “modern” social media ca me a round in circa 2004 (Facebook a nd Instag ra m), astrolog y has been unavoidable a nd admit tedly, tempting to buy into. Hundreds of social media accounts a re dedicated to pumping out half-assed, vag ue a nd sometimes contradictor y daily horoscopes, yet still ma nage to ea rn millions of followers. If you’re a cy nic, you’ll wonder who’s following these st upid accounts that claim to predict what your luck y days a re each month a nd categorize what the perfect brea k-up song is for each sig n. But if you’re someone like me, who at some point in ea rly high school bought into these accounts, you’ll kind of get it. A nd if you’re feeling kind of brave, you’d be willing to explain the temptation with a necessa r y a mount of sha me. Since ever y thing is so accessible, once you go down the horoscope path, the nat ural next

Let’s say you’re a young, undeveloped, middle to high schooler, and you’re at the peak of teenage angst

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘10/10’

It can make bad events seem more palatable, but it can also give people an excuse to be destructive and avoidant

step is to download a n app like Co—sta r, which has a 4.9 rating (out of 65.8k ratings) on the App Store. A lthough I’ve never used it, the fact that it claims to be “powered by A I that merges NASA data with the insight of huma n astrologers” on its about page ma kes it appea r credible a nd more powerf ul tha n it really is. You’re asked to enter your birth date, time a nd place so the app ca n f ind the exact alig nment the sta rs were in when you were born to develop a comprehensive astrolog ical prof ile. It ’s oddly specif ic, a nd a n issue rega rding occasionally creepy push notif ications has gained at tention for the app, as it would send “day at a gla nce” pushes that said ala rming things like “your ner vous energ y won’t be especially usef ul today.” Using a rtif icial intelligence to cater to individual needs helps the messages seem ta rgeted towa rd personal issues, which ca n be a n issue for the impressionable who might use the app to decide the course of their day. That ’s why astrolog y is especially tempting to teenagers. Let ’s say you’re a young, undeveloped, middle-to-high schooler, a nd you’re at the pea k of teenage a ngst. If you have social media, what a re you going to use it for apa rt from a n unhealthy sta nda rd of compa rison? That ’s where the discover page comes into play. If the algorithm’s doing its job right, a zodiac post will pop up a nd you’ll think “that ’s exactly like me.” From there, you’ll spiral into a rabbit hole of relatable posts a nd zodiac horoscopes. I certainly remember a time where I would screenshot horoscope posts that talk about how st ubborn Tauruses a re a nd send it to my Taurus friend when she was willf ully ig noring my advice, mostly jokingly, but also to be like, “See? Even the horoscope thinks so.” But I think the most curious thing to see is the millennial generation (who technically ra nge from 23 to a round 38 now) really believe in astrolog y a nd incorporate it into their ever yday life. The cy nic in me has a tendency to believe that these “f ull-g rown” adults have a n external locus of control a nd use astrolog y to avoid ta king accountabilit y in their ever yday life. Af ter all, how easy is it to say that you a nd your sig nif ica nt other broke up because you’re a n A ries a nd they ’re a Capricorn? Or that your upper t wenties were t umult uous a nd destructive because it was time for Sat urn’s ret urn? It ca n ma ke bad events ma ke seem more palatable, but it ca n also g ive people a n excuse to be destructive a nd avoida nt. If you’re a cy nic, then astrolog y seems like a way out. But we’re not here to be cy nical. Like astrolog y, we’re here to sea rch for expla nations. There a re belief systems ever y where that we use to g rasp universal phenomena, because we have a need to know. A need to know if the ea rth revolves a round the sun or vice versa, a need to know that we’re never really touching a ny thing because our atoms a re just vibrating against each other, a need to know why ice crea m just tastes so good when you’re sad. You ca n probably f ind scientif ic evidence for a ny one of these things, but even science, like all belief systems, ca n be inaccurate. Maybe science has a stronger basis in facts a nd resea rch, but there’s so ma ny times that this “evidence” has been disproven, corrupt or biased. So if you think about it like that, then believing in astrolog y doesn’t seem all that crazy. Zodiacs have simply come back at the perfect time, a time where relatable content a nd “ Which t y pe of bread a re you?” quizzes have hit pea k pop cult ure. We’re in a n era of categorization — a time when people yea rn to be pa rt of a g roup a nd hea r more about who they a re a nd who they could be. It helps us feel less alone, less like conf used specks in a sea of cha nge a nd huma nit y. It ca n go too fa r, but in moderation, astrolog y isn’t so bad. If your friend ref uses to leave the house because her horoscope isn’t good, then it ’s gone a bit too fa r. But other wise, scroll away. A nd be ca ref ul — the next Mercur y retrog rade is from Oct. 31 to Nov. 20.

SINGLE REVIEW: ‘GRAVEYARD’

CAPITOL RECORDS AWAL

Last week, after hinting at a new song on social media, Rex Orange County released a new single and music video, “10/10.” Although he is dropping all the hints characteristic of an album rollout circuit, what has surfaced in his music, and in the “10/10” video in particular, is a longing to settle down. The “10/10” video is at once wacky and heartwarming. It brings to life the cozy energy of Rex’s previous single, “New House,” setting the stage in a warm and welcoming household. The pals sit around the TV playing video games, the homie smokes in the corner, the gang chills around the couch gossiping and cuddling and reading and chilling out while Rex does his thing on the keyboard. After putting his headphones on, a goofy series of events follow. Rex wanders to the kitchen to make a sandwich before

opting to steal somebody else’s. A group of performers wearing yellow Spider-Man costumes burst into a K-pop-style dance number. An electrician fumbling in the corner makes the house lights flash

‘10/10’ Rex Orange County AWAL

in a pretty sequence while Rex jams on the guitar. It’s funny and bizarre, and the way the video is cut — made to look like one shot — adds to the surreal absurdity. “10/10” is Rex at a crossroads of nostalgia and looking forward

to the future, returning to making warm memories with the people he loves. The ambient noise of friends relaxing in the house is tuned out when he puts on the headphones and begins performing, much like the way becoming a music sensation makes it hard not to tune out the life you had before. His opening verse captures the heart of the video, singing “I had to think about my oldest friends / Now, I no longer hang with them / And I can’t wait to be home again.” When he finishes the song, he takes off the headphones and the comforting sound of the household returns. A sentiment of being uninspired has permeated Rex’s most recent songwriting, but that friendly chatter he misses is a welcome musical inspiration. It left me thinking about the old friends I need to call. — Dylan Yono, Daily Arts Writer

Halsey trades out her classic EDM-pop mystique for a darker take on romance on her latest single “Graveyard.” The song is yet another piece to her 2020 project Manic, following the release of “Without Me” last October. “Without Me” was hailed a contemplative rarity for Halsey, with emotional turmoil and heartbreak gripping every word under its ambient, techno-pop haze. Her split from G-Eazy coats every lyric, down to its “Cry Me a River” homage. “Graveyard” radiates off this baggage. It trails over Halsey’s trials and tribulations in love, dusting a meditative film over her rumination of the past. Whereas “Without Me” highlights the betrayal of her ex-lover, “Graveyard” picks apart at the self, refusing to deny the enabling of past behaviors. Halsey recognizes that she “keeps digging [her]self down

deeper” in obstinate pursuit of the destructive partner. This narrative blossoms under a spacey, bittersweet techno beat that builds synthy layer over synthy layer. It has to muster the courage of its confessional

‘Graveyard’ Halsey Capitol Records

chorus with sharp keyboard instrumentals that crescendo into the track’s peppy, EDM core. A jarring gasp near the bridge cements the overall theme of loss and betrayal. The track functions as cohesively as any other Halsey

track would. It might unfold in an era where Halsey strives to rebrand herself, but “Graveyard” does little to change the narrative she has carried throughout her entire career. Her lyrics run trite with derivative metaphors framed around the cliché “digging your own grave” narrative, leaving little to no insight on how it rings true in the case of her relationship. Lyrics like “eyes so dark, don’t know how you even see me” fall short of any thought provoking perspectives on failed love and leave little anticipation for the song’s progression. As far as standard EDM earworms go, “Graveyard” fits the bill for mainstream success. It certainly toys in areas less familiar to Halsey, but does little to diversify her musical pallette and potential. — Diana Yassin, Daily Arts Writer

6B — Thursday, September 19, 2019

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

B-SIDE: LEAD

A star trek down the streets of AA MADELEINE VIRGINIA GANNON Daily Arts Writer

“Space is for everybody. It’s not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts. That’s our new frontier out there, and it’s everybody’s business to know about space.” — Christa McAuliffe, Teacher and Challenger Astronaut Jul. 20, 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, recalling not only the Cold War space race of an era gone by, but also generating nostalgia for one of humankind’s greatest achievements — our first steps on the moon. Yet, while the glory days of the Apollo missions are long gone, excitement for what many believe is a new golden age of exploration and discovery is happening right now. From new missions to return to the moon to possibly establishing human colonies on Mars, space exploration has returned in force, with big ambition. But it’s not only future astronauts who are leading the charge into this new age of discovery. Some of the most anticipated discoveries are being generated via observatories, whether space-based ones like the Hubble Telescope, or giant ground-based traditional ones. And while most of us won’t be on a rocket anytime soon, the stars are definitely within reach right here in Michigan. Three ways to kick off your “star trek” here on campus range from the historic Detroit Observatory in the Bentley Historical Library, to the planetarium at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, to telescopes wielded by the students and residents of Ann Arbor at the Student Astronomical Society. Getting Starstruck Excitement and passion for the sciences is tangible here on campus. More than a simple passion for education, or enthusiasm for the geekier side of all things space (live long and prosper), there has been a growing sense of animation among the community for the sciences. “Huge numbers of students are coming to the planetarium shows,” says Lori Ann Dick, manager of marketing and communications at the Museum of Natural History. “Weekend mornings are swarming. It’s a real community.” The museum, which has been undergoing extensive renovations this past year, has hit the ground running in its multi-staged re-openings. The Planetarium and Dome Theater exhibit and interactive experience has proven to be an exciting, highly anticipated part of the museum’s ongoing work to update their facilities and improve the overall visitor experience to the museum. Adds Gary D. Krenz, who works with the Detroit Observatory: “I hear people excited about rejuvenating the pushing of boundaries. We are in a new phase of excitement, about exploring space. There’s been more public attention than I would have predicted.” And at the core of this excitement, Dr. Krenz observes, “Science has always been a combination of pure curiosity driven to push the bounds of knowledge.” Where better

ALEC COHEN / DAILY

to find a kindred spirit to this curiosity than on a university campus? The reason for the excitement is threefold. First, both the museum and the observatory have a deep, rich history on campus. Planetarium manager Matt Linke explains, “The roots of the museum go back to the beginning of the University.” Linke jokes, “the original (museum) being a cabinet of curiosities almost 200 years ago!” As for where these masses are coming from, Linke says “Generations have attended the museum — we already had the (audience) base, a kinship with those who came before.” While certainly the wonders of the museum draw visitors far and wide, it is undeniable that the museum also holds a special place in many Wolverine, and local Ann Arborite, hearts. Revisiting old memories and making new ones — all while engaging our child-like wonder and curiosity — is in us all. Dr. Krenz echoes this, emphasizing how the University has always held a track record for research and pushing the bounds of knowledge — a reputation that started with the foundation of the Detroit Observatory in 1854. While the observatory itself is no longer an “active” research observatory, it remains an “exciting hub for students.” Second, the emphasis on accessibility has been vital for drawing in both veteran science fans, and those eager to learn. The museum’s renovated planetarium features wheelchair friendly ramps and seating, along with chairs that have removable arms, allowing for those with limited mobility to rise and seat themselves with ease. But things don’t stop there — Linke highlights a new program for deaf children which was piloted at the planetarium, utilizing new technolog y to connect the exhibit’s accompanying soundtrack to the children’s auditory systems (such as implants). This enabled the visiting kids to experience the exhibit like any other child or adult might, providing a “normalized” experience for anyone and everyone. It’s an impressive level of inclusion for children with disabilities, showcasing both the museum and the University’s dedication to accessibility. The observatory, too, has prioritized accessibility in the construction of the new annex — an additional entrance to the observatory, which will feature not only wheelchair entrances, but classrooms, event spaces and exhibits. From their headquarters in West Hall, the Student Astronomical Society tackles accessibility on the front lines of campus, working to inform, MICHIGAN educate and showcase the wonders of astronomy to the campus community. As SAS outreach co-chair Josiah Sherk outlines, “SAS hopes to focus on outreach, improving our open houses, as well as focusing on external outreach within the community.” These open houses often include a variety of activities structured to engage and inform students from any discipline or major about astronomy. From physics Community Assembly & Discussion featuring CNN’s demonstrations and models, to tutoring University students in astronomy, and even hosting open stargazing sessions utilizing the observing facilities at Plus remarks by President Mark S. Schlissel and senior leaders Angell Hall, SAS offers a 10–11:30 AM | HILL AUDITORIUM variety of resources and tools to all its members, students and locals. PLUS MORE EVENTS THROUGHOUT OCTOBER, INCLUDING: Sherk further explains, “We are dedicated to taking OCTOBER 1 — 6–8 PM | TROTTER MULTICULTURAL CENTER people with a passing interest in astronomy, or Ignite & Implement: Student Engagement with DEI Initiatives dedicated to astronomy as a career path, (and) bringing them together and providing OCTOBER 16 — 1–2:30 PM | MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM them with opportunities to give back to their Community Conversation: DEI Progress Update community.” Third, there is a key balance being struck OCTOBER 21 — 12–2 PM | RACKHAM AUDITORIUM between nostalgia for “An Ingenious Way to Live”: Fostering Disability Culture in what’s old and a passion for Higher Education embracing what’s new. As Matt Linke observes, “The Natural History Museum has been a presence OCTOBER 22 — 5–6:30 PM | PALMER COMMONS, FORUM HALL on campus for the past 42 DEI and Faith in Secular Spaces: Respecting Religious Identity years, and the museum has moved four times … We were in the Ruthven building for OCTOBER 23 — 12–2 PM | MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM 90 years –– a place that was near and dear to heart.” From #MeToo to #NowWhat: Cultivating Safe, Harassment-Free The team at the museum Learning and Working Environments has welcomed the move to the new Biological Sciences Building with optimism OCTOBER 24 — 8:30 AM–5 PM | MICHIGAN LEAGUE BALLROOM and excitement. But while the modern design of the Young, Gifted, @Risk and Resilient: Promoting Mental Health museum’s new home is aweand Well-Being Among Students of Color inspiring, and renovations have brought more technologically advanced diversity.umich.edu/summit-events #UMichDEI @UMichDiversity mechanics to the museum’s

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exhibits and organization, not everything in the newly reopened U-M museum is brand new. According to Dick, dozens of relics and exhibits from the old museum have been saved and brought to the new museum site. “You’re walking around all this new stuff, and then you see something and go, ‘Oh, that’s familiar!’” Linke jokes. Back at the Detroit Observatory, a similar approach is underway. According to Dr. Kenz, new renovations don’t include any direct change or update to the original historic building. Rather, the construction hopes to add to the pre-existing space, in lieu of replacing it. The positive buzz around campus may be an indicator of a larger excitement brewing around the globe. Not everyone may share the cherished memories the Wolverines hold dear here in Ann Arbor, but this mix of nostalgia, accessibility and advancement can be seen on the national (and even international) level. Don’t Fix What Ain’t Broke While the planetarium shows make for an excellent foray into the stars, SAS offers a more direct, hands-on way to continue your “star trek” through campus: telescopes. Both the observatory and SAS offer regular stargazing sessions and related activities throughout the year. But with the observatory currently under renovation, it’s the perfect time for SAS to shine. Aside from hosting most SAS events, Angell Hall also houses the Astronomy Department, along with its own observatory and viewing platform for students and faculty across campus. New technolog y is undeniably helping to reinvent the field of astronomy, and the greater natural sciences, too. New smartphone apps — like SkyView, Star Chart and Star Rover to name a few — allow the everyday user to engage and interact with the stars on a new personal, more direct level. Many of these apps utilize augmented reality to enhance virtual stargazing. Users can use these apps to locate and view constellations, track objects in the sky and learn about our solar system. As cool as telescopes can be (they certainly recall a sense of vintage nostalgia), are apps the new everyman’s telescope? SAS’s Sherk says no. Sherk says, “Technolog y is developing as a tool, and it’s always been a tool — it just helps us do things more efficiently. The fact of the matter is that something the size of a smartphone will never be able to do what a telescope can do.” While the capabilities of smartphones are seemingly immeasurable, it seems that no matter how advanced the classic iPhone or Samsung can get, their small size prevents the telescope from becoming obsolete. Sherk elaborates, “Larger telescopes will have a clearer image, and they’ll be able to see more. The reason we need to use a larger telescope is because it has a bunch of mirrors in it in order to capture as much light as possible to create a clearer image of what we’re trying to look at.” But, while telescopes continue to reign supreme, smartphones can still be a versatile tool for astronomical observation. Sherk explains, “Lots of people like to take amateur astronomy photography; They’ll try to take pictures through their telescopes, and some people even like to use their smartphones (for this) ... Using smartphones for photography, or even helping your telescope to locate certain objects in the sky, that ( becomes) a great tool.” For many, “science” often holds the connotation of new, cutting-edge and modern. Yet, when it comes to astronomy, it seems the old-fashioned methods can’t be beat. Sometimes, “new” doesn’t translate to “better.” As the saying goes, “Don’t fix what ain’t broke.” For the amateur astronomers — or those eager to become one — both SAS’s open houses and telescope viewing sessions, along with buzz-worthy apps, are great ways to continue your exploration through the stars right here at “home.” To Infinity, and Beyond: A look to the future Campus has its head in the stars and so, it seems, does the rest of the world. Beyond the bounds of Ann Arbor, things are kicking into gear to usher into a new age of scientific discovery and space exploration. With advancing technolog y allowing for the realization of what were once impossible dreams, humanity’s gaze once again returns to the moon. To some, a moon landing may seem to be an old hat-trick — after all, it’s been done a few times already, hasn’t it? But while a dozen moon landings, 24 lunar orbits and roughly 550 men and women launched into space may seem impressive, in actuality these numbers do not suggest an ease, or mastery of space travel. Rather, there is much more work to do. The new Apollo 11? A lunar base on the moon by 2030. A goal emphasized by growing interest from private sector companies to engineer commercial f lights to space, from the likes of Virgin Galactic and SpaceX. On a smaller, more immediate scale, 2024 has become the rallying point for humankind’s return to the moon — the “baby-steps” before the Star Wars-esque Lunar Base. Meanwhile, China and India have made space travel a new priority, suggesting that a modern-day space race is brewing –– a race potentially driven not only by politics, but by private-sector investment and innovation. It is certainly an age of wonder that we have come upon. And for those who aren’t yet sold –– those who don’t feel the tell-tale itch of curiosity to get up, go out and learn about science! –– here are a few passing words to change your mind. To anyone who has yet to take a jaunt to the museum, Linke offers, “Who doesn’t want to see a dinosaur?” (The museum has some very cool dinosaurs). Dick adds, “We’re open late on Thursdays, and it’s perfect for a date!” For the people who have deluded themselves into thinking telescopes aren’t the coolest thing about campus, Dr. Krenz enthuses, “There’s nothing quite like looking through a telescope. Seeing the rings of Saturn very clearly, for instance, or the moons of Jupiter — (The observatory) is still a place where people can ( become) inspired; a place where people can touch the universe beyond the atmosphere.” So, consider taking a “star trek” here on campus. Experiencing the universe from behind an IMAX movie screen is all well and good — but the real thing, now that’s something worth seeing (and it’s free!). After all, it’s the final frontier.