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Political science expert Regents talk talks US racial dynamics endowment,
Notre Dame professor gives lecture on political history surrounding race
One University at Flint meeting
Public commentators express concerns regarding three campuses, climate change EMMA STEIN & LIAT WEINSTEIN Daily Staff Reporters
ALEX BAKER/Daily Notre Dame Professor Dianne Pinderhughes speaks to audience members about the growing political incorporation of African Americans into electoral politics at the ISR building Thursday afternoon.
ATTICUS RAASCH Daily Staff Reporter
The 2019 Hanes Walton Jr. lecture featured Dianne Pinderhughes, political science and Africana studies professor at the University of Notre Dame. About 50 people were in attendance for the event Thursday afternoon.
The lecture is given annually in honor of the late Hanes Walton Jr., former political science professor at the University of Michigan. Pinderhughes gave a lecture titled “Racial Dynamics in the American Context: A Second Century of Civil Rights and Protest” and covered the historical progression of racial dynamics in relation to
governmental structures in the United States. She discussed the development of U.S. racial politics, Black politics after civil rights reform, the 2018 midterm election and the unexpected politics surrounding the Obama and Trump presidencies. Citing historian Rayford Logan, Pinderhughes said the 19th to 20th century represented the “nadir,” or
lowest point for Black political development in the United States. “...After the Civil War, after abolition, African Americans had begun to exercise some power. They’d been able to register to vote. They’d been able to elect numbers of Blacks to office at the local level and the national level,” Pinderhughes said. See DYNAMICS, Page 3
The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved a number of finance property agreements, listened to an investment and endowment report and appointed Valeria Bertacco, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the College of Engineering, as vice provost for engaged learning on the Ann Arbor campus during a meeting in the Northbank Center Grand Ballroom on the University’s Flint campus Thursday afternoon. University President Mark Schlissel opened the meeting by congratulating Elizabeth Anderson, professor of philosophy at the University’s Ann Arbor campus, for being named a 2019 MacArthur finalist. The MacArthur fellowship, also known as a “genius grant,” awards people of “outstanding talent” $625,000 to pursue independent projects. Schlissel also mentioned the recent announcement that the University’s Ann Arbor campus will host a presidential debate in October 2020, saying he and other University officials will work to plan debate watch parties and other activities in the months before the debate takes place. “This event places the University and state squarely
Harvard Radio host discusses intersection case may of politics and popular culture affect ‘U’ Mike Muse explains how government affects sports, music and film policies ADMINISTRATION
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Judge rules Harvard affirmative action not discriminatory, could impact admissions at ‘U’ EMMA RUBERG Daily Staff Reporter
A court case focusing on Harvard University’s consideration of race in their admissions process could impact the University of Michigan’s future admissions policy. On Oct. 1, U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs ruled that Harvard University’s admissions policy, which accounts for race, did not discriminate against Asian American applications and would be allowed to stay in place. Students for Fair Admissions, the organization that represents a group of Asian-American students rejected by Harvard, has filed for appeal with the First Circuit Court of Appeals. If the case reaches the Supreme Court and the court rules in favor of Harvard University, it would reverse precedent and result in policy changes for the nine states that have banned affirmative action. See HARVARD, Page 3
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Thirty-five people came out to Weill Hall to hear media entrepreneur Mike Muse talk about the intersection between public policy and pop culture Thursday. Muse is the host of radio show “The Mike Muse Show,” co-host of “Sway in the Morning” and is also an ABC News political contributor. Throughout the event, he analyzed politics and pop culture topics such as film, environment, music and sports. Muse started the conversation by talking about film and television, specifically the movies “When They See Us,” “The Kill Team” and the “Dave Chapelle” series. He discussed their effectiveness in creating conversation by addressing topics that are controversial and come off as offensive. He also said film can illustrate stories that have been hard for others to understand, which was the case for “When They See Us.” “We heard the story of the ‘Central Park Five,’ but we never got a chance to witness it for those who may have been too young, including myself,” Muse said. “To see it on the big screen, it takes on a whole new narrative. When you see
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at the center of next year’s presidential election,” Schlissel said. “It provides a tremendous opportunity for our entire community to do as we always have, which is to lead the way examining major national issues while advancing democracy in the United States.” Schlissel told the board the University began to collect feedback from the community on their draft policy in the Standard Practice Guide relating to sexual misconduct. According to Schlissel, the external review committee that first evaluated the University recommended they create a single policy that could apply to all sectors of the University, including faculty, staff and students on all three campuses. “Though the procedures for different groups will remain distinct, we are seeking community input on the draft policy,” Schlissel said. Erik Lundberg, the chief investment officer at the University, then presented the latest investment and endowment report for the three campuses. Lundberg spoke about the state of the University’s investments and said while the University is ranked among the top 10 schools based on the size of its endowment, it is ranked lower in terms of endowment per student. See REGENTS, Page 3
ANN ARBOR
A2 police oversight group has elections
Commission elects vice chair and chair, works to increase social media presence, transparency BECCA HIRSH For The Daily
KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily Radio host Mike Muse speaks at the Getting Stuff Done Workshop about climate change and its impact on college students at the Ford School Thursday evening.
it, you can feel it. The policies, law, the courtroom become humans, and then it becomes lives at stake. You can see how lives are impacted, so when you see it on the big screen that allows you to say: ‘OK, how can we change things?’” Before his media work, Muse was an industrial engineer. He said his engineering background led to an opportunity to serve as
a Google NextGen Tech Policy Fellow. The intersection between technology and climate change came into the conversation when Muse talked about his time at Formula E, a car race consisting entirely of electric cars. “These (Formula E workers) are climate fanatics and they wanted to make a better impact on the world, but it
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was a marketing strategy,” Muse said. “Businesses are not rocking with electric cars and hybrid vehicles because it’s not sexy enough. They don’t see them as strong cars with the ability to go fast. So, what they decided to do was create an entire racing industry to impact climate, and I thought that was the coolest thing.” See RADIO, Page 3
Vol. CXXIX, No. 14 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
The Independent Community Police Oversight Commission met Thursday night to hold elections for leadership positions. Former acting Chair Commissioner Lisa Jackson and Former Commissioner Frances Todoro-Hargreaves were elected as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively. The commissioners also passed a resolution to establish social media platforms and discussed the budget and workplan for the commission in the 2020 fiscal year. There were eight commissioners and two non-voting county liaisons in attendance; two commissioners were absent and one seat is currently vacant. The Police Oversight Commission was founded in March in order to increase transparency in the Ann Arbor Police Department.
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I think we should lower the voting age to 16, which would make every American high school a hotbed of political activity,” Yang said. “And the fact is you can pay taxes at 16 - you’re going to be on this earth for longer so you should have a say in the future.”
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Eric Hemenway shares culture, history of Anishinaabek Odawa tribe at ISR
FINNTAN STORER
Activist discusses Native American repatriation work, meaningful traditions
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perspectives and answers, home goes beyond a house. It and they’re all correct,” goes beyond this area I visit Hemenway said. “So, I’m occasionally. It’s literally my not speaking on behalf of all DNA, my roots. My ancestors Odawa, I’m not speaking on are in this land, and that’s why behalf of all Anishinaabek, I consider this my anchor.” Hemenway also shared I’m speaking on behalf of myself and everything I’ve his own family’s meaningful traditions for a yearly learned on my time here.” Hemenway spoke about ceremony during the fall repatriation, the idea of called the Ghost Suppers. returning someone or Ever since he was a child, family has something back to their home Hemenway’s land, and how it connects with participated in the ceremony, the land where Natives buried which included many hometheir ancestors. As a historian, cooked dishes, Hemenway Hemenway explained how said. Eating at least one bite of hundreds of thousands of every single dish is part of the Native Americans were ceremony because it signifies forcibly removed from their that someone on “the other side” — an ancestor who has native lands. passed away — is also eating. “When things were very http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ “We open the house to not tumultuous, and we were forced with removal, that just our immediate family, but connection with their to anybody. If you hear about heritage, their history and the supper you’re invited,” their culture is severed,” Hemenway said. “That’s how Hemenway said. “One of it works, it’s the hospitality … the main things that kept It’s these activities that show HARD us in our homelands was this continuity of connection and culture and beliefs in our ancestors.” The idea of home is a home. And it would be deeply rooted in Native very, very difficult to have culture, Hemenway this connection if I was in explained. Hemenway (somewhere like) Kansas. shared his experience You could do it, but it doesn’t of reading letters Native have the impact, doesn’t have leaders wrote to the the power that it does when federal government 200 you’re going to the grave years ago explaining the of your grandmother, and necessity of staying on the putting a reef on, and then the next day, feeding her.” land of their ancestors. LSA sophomore Lindsey “Reading these letters from 200 years ago Smith attended the event has been rewarding, after hearing about it from impactful and very deep,” sociology professor Arland Hemenway said. “When Thornton, who coordinated you’re being forced with the event. Smith also works in this choice of ‘Do I leave a museum studies class that my land? What do I do to focuses on repatriations, and stay home?’ I’m thinking was interested to hear more of my grandfather, my about Hemenway’s work. grandmother, my dad, my © sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. Read more at puzzle by sudokusyndication.com mother, and you have to MichiganDaily.com be there with them. So that idea and feeling of
the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act by working with museums and universities, and has brought roughly 300 people back to their homelands, according to his website. Hemenway began by acknowledging the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Bodewadmi tribes who are indigenous to the land that the University currently resides on. He explained how his stories about culture and heritage may not apply to his entire tribe, but rather his own experiences and traditions growing up in northern Michigan as an Anishinaabe/ Odawa. “I always say you could have 10 Natives up here, and they can give you 10 different
KRISTINA ZHENG For The Daily
The University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research hosted Eric Hemenway, an Anishinaabe/ Odawa from Cross Village, Mich., on Thursday morning to speak about the history, culture and repatriation of the Anishinaabek Odawa tribe. About 35 students, faculty and staff attended the event. Hemenway is the director of Repatriation, Archives and Records for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian, a federally recognized tribe in northern Michigan. HeSyndication has done extensive work Sudoku with the repatriation of Native American remains under
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REGENTS From Page 1 Nickxit Bhardwaj, Flint senior and president of the Flint campus Student Government, also addressed the board about issues facing Flint students and the ways the University should support students across the three campuses. Bhardwaj urged the board to understand the unique challenges that many Flint students must overcome in order to get an education. “The story of a University of Michigan-Flint student is not the same as Ann Arbor, Dearborn or any other campuses,” Bhardwaj said. “On average, most of my student peers have two jobs or ... are involved in different projects or organizations that impact student life on campus. On top of that, our students have multiple demands on their time or resources. Many of our students are veterans, single parents, transfer students or nontraditional students over the age of 25.” Bhardwaj asked the board to take steps to ensure Flint students feel included in the University system and have access to resources made available by the University. “So, the question stands: How does the University of Michigan provide for the needs of students in Flint?” Bhardwaj said. “How, as a University, do we think about the student who works two jobs, takes 18 credits, struggles with economic disadvantages and still has to go home and take care of their family? ... We are a different campus, and hence we have different needs.” The remainder of the meeting was centered around 23 finance agreements, all of which were approved by the board. A few of the agreements centered around renovations to University buildings, including
HARVARD From Page 1 For the state of Michigan, this would mean the University could resume its previous practice of affirmative action and the use of race in admissions decisions. The lawsuit was filed in November 2014, claiming that the practice of racial balancing, commonly known as affirmative action, in Harvard’s admissions process was discriminatory. In Burroughs’ conclusion, she described her belief that racial balance positively affects Harvard University’s student body and explains why she upheld their affirmative action policy. “(Students) will have the opportunity to know and understand one another beyond race, as whole individuals with unique histories and experiences,” Burroughs wrote. “Until we (can all do that), race conscious admissions programs that survive strict scrutiny will have an important place in society and help ensure that colleges and universities can offer a diverse atmosphere that fosters learning, improves scholarship, and encourages mutual respect and understanding.” Rob Sellers, the University’s vice provost for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, commented on the Harvard admissions case and how it could ultimately affect the University in an email statement to The Daily. “The decision is important in reaffirming the compelling nature of [the] benefits [of diversity] -- an argument that U of M successfully championed before the Supreme Court in the Grutter and Gratz decisions -- but ultimately does not affect our admissions practices, as we remain subject to Prop 2,” Sellers wrote. “On a national level, the case’s ultimate impact is not yet clear: SFFA has reportedly already said it will appeal to the First Circuit, and to the Supreme Court if necessary. LSA senior James Lee, the advocacy chair of United Asian American Organizations, similarly expressed that
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a $9 million renovation to the A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center. The public commentators then took the stage to address the Board of Regents and Schlissel, most of them speaking on behalf of the One University Campaign, which advocates for equal funding on the University’s three campuses. Daniel Birchok, assistant professor of anthropology at the U-M Flint, argued some of the University’s initiatives to promote equality, such as the Go Blue Guarantee, don’t actually promote equity on all three campuses. “The public knows that you, the regents, have the resources to pursue equity for students on the U-M Flint and Dearborn campuses,” Birchok said. “But when you set aside 50 million dollars to education innovation that does not include the Go Blue Guarantee for Flint and Dearborn, something that would help our students avoid crushing debt, you send a message that your interest in equity is more about image than the well-being of students.” Birchok said though students who attend U-M Flint and Dearborn may not be as wealthy as students on the Ann Arbor campus, they deserve the same level of education and opportunities. “Our staff, my colleagues and our community have not given up on a vision of equity that includes our students,” Birchok said. “Our students may not come from the wealth that many Ann Arbor students do, but they are of equal worth.” LSA junior Solomon Medintz, who writes for The Daily’s opinion section, addressed the board regarding climate change during the public comment period. Medintz criticized the University for its investment in the fossil fuel industry and for arresting students for sitting in the Fleming Administration
Building last March. “You should stop trying to throw students who speak out in jail,” Medintz said. “It’s absurd that students who peacefully sat in last March asking to schedule a one-hour public meeting with President Schlissel were arrested by University police and are still in and out of court rooms today. It is a stain on this University.” Flint senior Brooklyn Golden, president of the Black Student Union, discussed how many students at U-M Flint are first-generation students or low-income students, and she said many of them feel like the University does not value their opinions. She noted the negative reputation U-M Flint has. “Unfortunately, many of us have the feeling that the faculty and staff and administration at this University do not hear or value what students have to say,” Golden said. “There are three universities under the University of Michigan umbrella ... The University of Michigan-Flint is commonly known as the non-tuition university. The majority of our students fall under the category first-gen, commuter students, parents, transfer or low-income students.” Golden concluded by saying that while the University says it prioritizes diversity, she and her peers often feel unwelcome on campus. “The University makes it a point to talk about diversity, equity and inclusion on campus without seeking any course of action to exemplify change for students of color,” Golden said. “It is a shame that in 2019, students of color on this campus share experiences of prejudice and derogatory remarks and actions from faculty, staff and even peers. Many students of color, particularly AfricanAmerican students, feel unwanted and out of place here at this University.”
DYNAMICS From Page 1
affirmative action would benefit the University. “I think we very much need it,” Lee said. “I think affirmative action is a good thing, inherently. It gives people the channels and avenues that they historically weren’t given into the top tier elite universities. So I guess as a blanket statement, yes, we do support affirmative action.” In contrast to Harvard University, the University of Michigan has not considered race as a part of the admissions process since 2006. This change occurred after a statewide ballot initiative when the Proposal 2 amendment, which banned the use of race in admissions in education, was added to the state constitution. The Supreme Court ruled the amendment was constitutional in 2014. Following this change, the University saw declines in the enrollment of minority students. To combat this shift, the University established programs through The Center for Educational Outreach, such as collaborations with K-12 schools and service organizations on campus. University administration has confirmed they will continue to be an affirmative action employer, ensuring all individuals have an equal opportunity for advancement, and have reaffirmed their commitment to diversity, implementing a five-year plan for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that began in 2016. Sellers also commented on how these programs and the University’s commitment to diversity affect students, despite not being able to use affirmative action in admissions. “As the University of Michigan enters the fourth year of its five-year strategic plan for diversity, equity and inclusion, we continue to make progress in transforming the university into a place where everyone has an equitable opportunity to succeed and contribute,” Sellers wrote. “These changes can be seen and felt throughout our campus, as programs, practices and initiatives continue to reflect our values in making Michigan a more diverse, equitable and inclusive
university.” Despite the University’s commitment to diversity, Public Policy junior Cydney Gardner-Brown said she is one of only two Black students in her cohort at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. This has often forced her to be the spokesperson of her race, she said. “Black students entering spaces where they are the racial minority can be extremely difficult for them to navigate,” Gardner-Brown said. “As one of the only two Black students in the Ford Class of 2021, my presence is hyper-visible to my classmates and instructors. My voice, face and opinions are often amplified, whether I want them to be or not, because a Black perspective is quite rare.” She thinks the state of Michigan’s lack of affirmative action in admissions has negatively impacted the University and student body. “I’ll say that repealing (affirmative action) made a significant negative impact on diversity on campus which is harmful to the university as a whole,” Gardner-Brown said. “Its repeal was a demonstration of the Supreme Court’s lack of empathy and resolve for social reform and of its failure to recognize and honor the dire need for trailblazers in public educational settings to help rectify institutionalized racism.” In Harvard’s case, though Burroughs’ ruled in favor of the school, she also suggested there were ways the admissions process could be improved. “Notwithstanding the fact that Harvard’s admissions program survives strict scrutiny, it is not perfect,” Burroughs wrote in her decision. “The process would likely benefit from conducting implicit bias trainings for admissions officers, maintaining clear guidelines on the use of race in the admissions process … That being said, the Court will not dismantle a very fine admissions program that passes constitutional muster, solely because it could do better.”
RADIO From Page 1
“But with the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, with the overall understanding that the national government would not be aggressive about implementing and ordering and protecting the rights of African Americans, voter registration collapsed.” From this concept, Pinderhughes said she developed her own notion of a “contested nadir,” showing resistance in the face of systematic struggle for the African-American community. The contested nadir represents a new resurgence of the civil rights movement in the United States. “This is a kind of optimistic future,” Pinderhughes said. “I’m arguing that there are challenges — there’s no question that the Trump administration has worked very hard to undercut all the reforms that were being put in place over the last 40 to 50 years — but that there’s enough structural changes that make this (stable) long term.” Rackham student Michelle Mann, a doctoral candidate in history, said she thought the historical comparisons throughout the lecture allowed for a better understanding of racial dynamics in the country. “I think it’s great,” Mann said. “I appreciated the comparison of the nadir to a new nadir. I think there’s definitely something to that. You can’t understand where you’re at if you don’t know where you came from.” According to Rackham student Kamri Hudgins, connecting concepts of academics and activism is effective in starting conversations about institutional change. “I think it’s always good to bridge the gap between
Muse then transitioned to music, where he said catch phrases are a big part of pop culture, such as Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer.” After her song went viral, Muse said Stallion went to patent a copyright for her famous phrase and was successful. Muse emphasized the importance of Stallion being able to obtain a copyright due to a history of Black Americans being unable to in the post-slavery era. “The patent office, when it was created, Black folks could never get a patent for anything they did during the post-slavery days because they weren’t look at as citizens,” Muse said. “They weren’t viewed as having the ability to get a patent and they
academia and activism,” Hudgins said. “So, I feel like a lot of times when you think about people like Ralph Bunche — he was a scholar and an activist — so when you have these people on the ground doing the work, the grassrootstype-thing that are going on, it’s good to have things like this because you almost need a framework to pull from.” When asked about modern movements like Black Lives Matter, Pinderhughes said social media has allowed for the resurgence of a large-scale civil rights movement. “In a sense, what we’re seeing is the full mobilization of the African-American community,” Pinderhughes said. “I think we’re not afraid to rise up and take public stands about it and protest in the streets and do things that people wouldn’t necessarily think you’d be safe doing all the time. Ella Baker used to say ‘Strong people don’t need strong leaders.’ It seems to me that’s where we’re seeing community organizing and grassroots organizing happening frequently, and those local organizers rising up and challenging the police and local officials successfully.” Hudgins said she appreciated the acknowledgment of a new era of civil rights in the lecture. “I thought it was really good because you don’t necessarily hear people talking about this new era of civil rights that we’re in. People don’t really frame it in that context,” Hudgins said. “It’s like everybody knows something is going on. There’s a lot of movements and a lot of talk. There’s a lot of stuff happening, but you don’t really know what is going on, so I think it’s good to even just start baseline.” According to Pinderhughes, the Obama presidency and subsequent Trump presidency was the result of an overwhelming change in racial
dynamics and politics in the country. “Decades of work seemed to be moving in the right direction, and then the improbable election of Obama surprised many of the most astute observers into saying ‘not in my lifetime,’” Pinderhughes said. “And then Trump was the opposite and the inverse of an Obama, and yesterday was the 1000th day of Trump’s presidency and he may have lost his base.” When asked about how the modern ideological landscape pertains to the 2020 election, Pinderhughes said candidates appealing to “old-school” Black politics are struggling to garner the attention and support of young AfricanAmerican voters. “You could argue that Harris and Booker are out there on the edges,” Pinderhughes said. “Partly — I’m pointing to the race test — how Black are they, issue, and then there’s the issues of they’re not liberal enough for the young population. I wonder what this means in terms of what people’s definition is of ‘liberal.’ How do we judge that?” According to Rackham student Zoe Walker, discussions regarding racial dynamics are especially important on the U-M campus. “The University of Michigan is still a predominantly white campus in the Midwest, so I think diversity is going to be an ongoing issue and the question of civil rights is going to be an ongoing issue in a place like Michigan, especially in Ann Arbor,” Walker said. “Even though there’s only 4 percent black students here at this school, as Prof. Pinderhughes was saying race has become a national issue and it’s always been an issue in national politics, but especially in the era of Trump it’s going to continue to be a national conversation.”
were viewed as (not) having intellect. So, if you didn’t have intellect, then you couldn’t be considered a U.S. citizen. And considering having intellect meant you had a patent.” Rackham student Aloka Narayanan told The Daily she was interested in the policy involved in the copyrighting of “Hot Girl Summer” and other viral catch phrases. “The copyrighting of ‘Hot Girl Summer,’ I didn’t know that had been done. I had heard about recent efforts to copyright ‘Taco Tuesday’ and some other big catch phrases,” Narayanan said. “I thought it was interesting that he introduced it as an intellectual copyrights issue. What we traditional see purely related to pop culture and cultural norms can also have public policy implications that we don’t typically think about.” Muse also talked about the platform that sports
players have and how that has turned political in recent years. For example, Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, posted in a now deleted tweet a statement supporting Hong Kong protestors and China responded by removing all events and coverage of the NBA in mainland China. “I think sports has a hell of a way of really moderating our discourse in ways that we don’t really think about it,” Muse said. “I encourage you when you’re doing your studies, think tanks, internships to think about the ways that sports could help elevate things you guys care.” Public Policy senior Ethan Ramer told The Daily he thought the discussion around sports and public policy is
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POLICY TALKS @ THE FORD SCHOOL
K ATHY CR AMER
Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Photo: Michelle Stocker, The Cap Times
CLOSUP LECTURE SERIES
Listening to Strengthen Democracy Wednesday, October 23, 2019 4:00 - 5:30 pm Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy Annenberg Auditorium, 1120 Weill Hall 735 S. State Street
Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. Information: 734-647-4091 or closup@umich.edu
@fordschool #policytalks
HOSTED AS PART OF THE FORD SCHOOL'S CONVERSATIONS ACROSS DIFFERENCE INITIATIVE.
Opinion
4 — Friday, October 18, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MAX STEINBAUM | COLUMN
The Gettysburg of the Trump presidency
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KIANNA MARQUEZ | COLUMN
F
It’s time for sustainable agriculture
ollowing the recent emission of greenhouse gases, climate strike that we also contribute to these took place on campus destructive algal blooms by allowing surface last month, I have runoff to contain been thinking a lot contaminants such about how I show as fertilizers and my concern for pesticides. Surface the future of our runoff poses a environment. I was threat because an proud of myself increase in the for participating amount of nutrients in an event that present in a body only resembled of water, coupled a microcosm of a KIANNA with the increasing greater movement MARQUEZ temperatures of and a period in our lives that will become those waters, festers large a distinguished part of our amounts of algal growth. Thus, history. Even through that it appears that the quality of sense of pride, I realized our water resources has been that this one event doesn’t hindered both by our demand represent my entire lifestyle. for mass agriculture and by I should be creating more our other actions heating our habits to cultivate my own planet, which are aspects of consciousness about the our lives that we can control. quality of our environment. How can I truly care about our future when I continue to practice a lifestyle that is leading to its destruction? With that being said, I think it’s time that all of us — myself included — begin to uphold an environmentally-conscious mindset that starts with sustainable agriculture. Among the many aspects of our daily habits that contribute to climate change, our nutrition and appetite are In an unintentional and major ones. While admittedly a habitual and unconscious almost oblivious way, our practices are decision, the simple choice agricultural of consuming meat or not leading to the destruction of consuming meat has become the resource that best serves one of the most important them and are jeopardizing the debates inf luencing the future functionality of the industry of the food industry today. Not as a result. At this point, it’s only has the food industry been imperative to speculate how where this matter becomes we can allow the agriculture important, but it has expanded industry to sustain itself and to the public health sector, realize that it’s going to require the environmental sector drastic measures of change and the agricultural sector. for self-sustained, deferential Donald Scavia, University agriculture to be possible. of Michigan professor Despite the challenges that emeritus of environment and will surface in this effort, we sustainability, ref lected in a should be aiming to continue recent article on the way many our mentality of being able of our current diets contribute to provide for ourselves to the gradual destruction of as a civilization through our surrounding environment. agriculture, but only if we For instance, it’s logical make the alterations necessary to connect the increase in to make it a sustainable and algal blooms in Michigan and conscious process. In an effort to promote throughout the country with the strain our diets put on the action of government agriculture. As we contribute and businesses to make sustainable, to climate change through the agriculture
I should be creating more habits to cultivate my own consciousness about the quality of our environment
Scavia comments on reducing several components of the food industry system and implementing other techniques that reduce the effects of contaminants in our natural settings. For one, reducing the necessity for industrialscale corn production would eliminate the extent that corn production contributes to nutrient pollution. In addition, reducing meat consumption would reduce the demand for corn production, again limiting the effects our actions have on the environment by controlling sources of nutrient pollution. Similarly, implementing a two-stage drainage ditch in the topography of agricultural areas would allow for the shape of the land to naturally capture nutrients without dispensing them into the groundwater during heavy rainfall periods. Thus, we should expect that the quality of our water resources can be salvaged in part by altering the demand for several types of infrastructure and all aspects of our lives and our society that we are able to inf luence and control. As Scavia concludes, it’s more surprising that little to no action has taken place to mitigate industry’s negative impacts on our environment than the fact that our environment is suffering as a result. Perhaps we aren’t able to contribute immediate change to the policies and laws we live by, but we have to realize that our social lives and habits today have been sculpted by the reaches of corporate inf luences since the beginning of the Industrial Age. We have the opportunity to inf luence the companies and the products that serve us. Therefore, to show them that we are truly concerned about sustainable practices, it’s crucial that we support shifting toward agricultural sustainability by reducing our interest in degrading processes and demand corporations become the primary proponents in creating institutional change.
Kianna Marquez can be reached at kmarquez@umich.edu.
CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
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F
our months after the is curious as to what Congress Union and Confederate will say, and posterity will armies receded most definitely applaud or condemn them for from Gettysburg, what they do. President Abraham As much as Lincoln boarded Trump and his a train bound loyal Republican for the southern minions wish Pennsylvania town to discredit the that had witnessed impeachment the costliest battle inquiry, the drama in American history. is no trumpedThe following day, up theater. He delivered a MAX Our president two-minute speech that redefined our STEINBAUM attempted persuade a foreign nation’s mission and has since to come to be counted among government to investigate a the greatest speeches of all political rival for personal time. But the president did gain. It was against the law, not anticipate his Gettysburg and if unpunished, it puts Address to be as revered as it the integrity of American has been, or at least, he did democracy in peril. not believe his words could ever match the sacrifice made by the Union soldiers four months prior. “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,” Lincoln said. “But it can never forget what they did here.” Lincoln, of course, was only half right. America did note and does remember what was said on that Thursday in November in Gettysburg. There are few times in American history when the By no means was Trump’s words of our leaders have become so entrenched in solicitation of the Ukrainian our national consciousness. government to investigate Our collective remembrance former Vice President Joe of these times is usually Biden and his son appropriate associated with significant or acceptable. Even Fox moments in American history. News’s Tucker Carlson, a The words of the Declaration long-time cheerleader for the of Independence, for instance, president, recognized the encapsulate the zeitgeist severity of Trump’s offense. Republicans are of Revolutionary America. “Some The immortal reassurance trying,” Carlson wrote with of FDR’s first inaugural Daily Caller co-founder Neil address — “the only thing Patel, “but there’s no way to we have to fear is fear itself” spin this as a good idea.” House Democrats, who — ref lects the uncertainty Americans felt during the launched an impeachment Great Depression. Unlike in inquiry after news of the scandal broke, November 1863, America is Ukraine not engaged in a Civil War of certainly agree. Unfortunately the president, cannons and rif les — but we for resides are most definitely engaged in impeachment a civil war over our national entirely within their control: Impeaching the president character. We are quickly arriving only requires votes from a at one of these momentous majority of the House, which junctures. As House the Democrats hold 234-197. Democrats promote After his impeachment on the impeaching President Donald House’s charges, the president Trump — and justly so — two would then be tried by the realities are clear: In the event Senate. To convict Trump of impeachment, all of America and thereby remove him from
We are quickly arriving at one of these momentus junctures
office would require 67 Senate votes. Given the current partisan composition of the Senate, a conviction would necessitate 20 Republican defections. According to an Oct. 3 USA Today poll, only 17 percent of Republicans favor impeachment. Let’s pretend, for a moment, that every Senate Democrat were to vote to convict the president; that’s 47 of the necessary 67 votes. If the way Senate Republicans vote roughly ref lects public opinion, 17 percent of the GOP’s 53 Senate seats would bring in nine more votes for conviction. The final tally would be 56 votes in favor of conviction to 44 against; the Trump presidency would survive by the grace of 11 Republican senators. But that simulation assumes Republican voting would follow public opinion (it very well may not), and that public opinion won’t be different come a Senate trial (it very well may). It also ignores the possibility, however slim, that Republican senators — however deferential to the president in the past — may not defend him from conviction. As CNN’s Frida Ghitis reports, “Former Republican Senator Jeff Flake said if the vote were private, at least 35 Republican Senators” would vote to convict the president — well over the 20 defections necessary for a two-thirds majority. Flake’s implication is rather upsetting: Because America will know how individual senators voted, a good deal of Republicans — perhaps enough to save Trump — will vote to acquit despite their better judgement. A principled stand against our criminal-in-chief will fail out of Republican cowardice. The Senate would do well to remember that this could potentially be the Gettysburg of the Trump presidency and perhaps even the era. In the event of impeachment, the bitterly judgmental eyes of history will fall upon them, and the country will note and long remember what they did. Max Steinbaum can be reached at maxst@umich.edu.
JONATHAN VAYSMAN | COLUMN
Why pulling out of Syria is a massive mistake
I
n early October, President Donald Trump announced his plan to call back troops from northern Syria. This was immediately followed by Turkey invading Syria. Trump claimed he was completing his campaign promise of bringing home our troops and that “great nations do not fight endless wars.” While his base will see this as him fulfilling a campaign promise — which he is — I view this as a colossal mistake. The Middle East is known as one of the most unstable regions in the world. It has been plag ued by war and chaos for the entirety of the 21st century. By removing our troops from the area and allowing the Turkish forces to invade, the chaos in Syria would increase immensely. A nation that has been torn apart by an ongoing civil war cannot handle a Turkish invasion. David Ignatius, a Washing ton Post columnist tweeted that “a bad situation in Northeast Syria is about to get much worse...The US will do nothing.” While I am typically one to say that the United States should not have to be the world’s policeman, in this case, I believe there is no choice. By leaving the region, we are leaving our Kurdish allies in Syria vulnerable to the Turkish forces. The Kurds were instrumental in helping us defeat and quell the presence of ISIS in Syria. They were the boots on the ground that helped us tackle one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organizations. Nikki Haley, the former United States
ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, said it best when she tweeted, “We must always have the backs of our allies, if we expect them to have our back. The Kurds were instrumental in our successful fight against ISIS in Syria. Leaving them to die is a big mistake.” If we allow our Kurdish allies to die, why would any of our other allies trust us to stand up for them? Trump is not only throwing Syria, specifically
Our allies will have less faith in us, and our word will mean nothing Syrian Kurds, into a war with Turkey, but he is also showing our allies around the world that we don’t care about them. It’s a very dangerous game to play. In a world as interconnected as ours has become, it is vital to make sure that we keep strong ties with our allies in the event of an emergency, or even worse, a war. Even Republicans are lashing out at Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was critical of the president’s decision, stating, “A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime. … I urge the President to exercise American leadership to keep
together our multinational coalition to defeat ISIS and prevent significant conf lict between our NATO ally Turkey and our local Syrian counterterrorism partners.” It is unusual to see top Republicans, such as McConnell, criticize Trump. Despite the many issues I have with McConnell, he is completely right. In no way would pulling out of Syria benefit the U.S. It would only help Russia and other disruptors in the area, like Iran. Leaving Syria allows for hostile nations to inf luence the region and create more chaos. Russia knows that a war with the U.S. would end in catastrophic loss for both sides, but with the U.S. out of Syria, they will be able to assist the Turks in taking over the region and killing Kurdish allies. There is no reason for Russia to be fearful with the U.S. gone. I believe that Trump needs to reconsider his stance on pulling out of Syria. This could be far worse for his campaign than not bringing home the troops. The aftermath of what will happen in Syria will be a permanent stain, among many other things, on his foreign policy resume as president. Our allies will have less faith in us, and our word will mean nothing. The next time we make a promise to an ally they will take it with a grain of salt because of our actions in Syria. It will result in countless lives of allies lost and will throw the Middle East further into a downward spiral. Jonathan Vaysman can be reached at jvaysman@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, October 18, 2019 — 5
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
FILM REVIEW
‘Old Town Road’ revisited KATIE BEEKMAN For The Daily
NETFLIX
‘Fractured’ makes for a spooky, satisfying whole
can’t help but side with him, and that’s the point. “Fractured” makes the audience For The Daily sympathize with a man lost in a confusing world, then makes them doubt him and then brings it back to sympathy ( before finally “Fractured,” directed by Brad Anderson ending with doubt once more). (“The Machinist”), is a psychological thriller While there are surely other stories and meant to make viewers doubt themselves and movies that are similar in plot and maybe even their observations. It follows Ray Monroe, in direction, the unsettling nature of this film played by Sam Worthing ton (“Avatar”), in a is truly what makes it stand out. The film is hospital that has no record of his six-year- purposefully slow and dragged-out so as to make the audience old daughter having wonder how it will ever been admitted. end. And after a Though the movie solid ending begins begins slowly, it’s to slowly form and well worth the wait. the audience begins Throughout the Netflix to feel confident in entire first quarter their understanding of the movie, the of how the plot will film is saturated unfold, the movie with dark, muted takes a turn that colors, slowlybuilding piano music and unnerving action is wholly unexpected at the time and yet that makes the audience aware of the trauma completely predictable after the fact. The ending, though not completely that awaits. When it does, it takes a turn that satisf ying in the traditional way, is somehow no one is expecting. Worthing ton’s dedication to the portrayal perfect. It drives home the idea that no one of Ray Monroe is what makes the story and can really understand anything or believe character so believable. The movie centers what is even right in front of his or her face, around this man, lost and confused in a rather which makes it completely satisf ying in its terrif ying and unnatural situation, which own right. The chilling final scene left me in makes Worthing ton’s role crucial to making shock as I wondered how I missed something the story plausible and moving it forward. so obvious. Coupled with Worthing ton’s Because we see events unfold from his stellar performance as Ray Monroe, that perspective, we are naturally seeing what he single moment of shock and wonderment sees, believing what he believes. The audience makes the movie worth watching. SABRIYA IMAMI
Fractured
ALBUM REVIEW
Another compelling album & iteration of Dev Hynes aura radiates throughout the project as one song leads to another, especially within the “For All the Fury” suite. The songs are characteristically sparse and embody a minimalistic appeal, keys The alias Blood Orange is etched in Dev and flutes beckoning in a new emotion the way Hynes’s discography. He does embrace other synths generally would in a Hynes album. At noms de plume, though, and assigns each to a its core, this album, especially within the suite, signature style. But “Lightspeed Champion,” the strives to tell a story. Intro track “Reach” is sheer. It wades in a pattern spacy, genre-defying brand that carved a delicate niche in the R&B and soul game, never gained of sparse glockenspiel and sharp xylophones the traction that Blood Orange has. The latter’s that loop over a subdued, humming percussion dreamy, sometimes melancholic synth-pop has that slowly gives way to plinking bells. There’s given Hynes the recognition he deserves from a wistful, nostalgic energy as the song gently artists Empress Of, Carly Rae Jepsen and A$AP invites listeners to follow along in the eleven track Rocky. And since the release of Negro Swan last journey. Conversely, its follow-up “Blur” conveys a fall, Hynes has been on a creative streak, releasing somber side. The title is fitting, as a hazy buzz that an EP Angel’s Pulse this summer and Fields last revs with only a few chimes to offset the tension dominates the track. This general pattern of Friday. Fields is a significant departure from any work zigzagging from serenity to anxiety develops the previously released. A classical music album, it’s album track by track. It triggers and blends both published under Hynes’s official name alongside emotions well, most notably in “Curl,” a brief track Third Coast Percussion. Hynes composed all the with a background sound akin to a car trudging music in a digital audio workstation and sent the through the snow. All of this culminates at the end recordings and sheet music to the members of of the suite with eponymous “Fields.” It traverses Third Coast Percussion to arrange and orchestrate effortlessly through xylophone and glockenspiel for their own instruments. “This was the first based choruses that build over one another. In its time I’ve written music that I’ve never played, last stretch, a chaotic rhythm with too many beats and I love that,” Hynes said in a press release. at once — a fascinating conundrum, given the “It’s something I’ve always been striving to get to. minimalist appeal of the entire album. Concluding with “Perfectly Voiceless” and Seeing what Third Coast Percussion had done with these pieces was magical.” This relationship is “There was Nothing” is questionable. The tracks symbiotic, with Third Coast Percussion partaking are undeniable standouts, especially the former, in the collaborative energy and increasing the but they operate on a different plane than the very cohesive “For All Its Fury” and keenly differentiate potential to reach new groups of people. An 11-song-suite titled “For All Its Fury” gives themselves with their combined 23-minute length. way to “Perfectly Voiceless” and “There Was Though they borrow similar elements from the Nothing,” the two final tracks on the album that suite, they’re more lavish and stretch themselves each individually span more than ten minutes. The over longer schemes like a slow burn. As an introductory project between Dev Hynes songs of the suite have been regularly performed live along with “Perfectly Voiceless,” which was and Third Coast Percussion, Fields functions as a stunning mashup intended as a musical between forces. The interlude. album effortlessly Despite the new embraces the magic packaging, the album of both artists in doesn’t stray too far its captivating from the conventions portrayal of emotions of a Blood Orange and diligent album. Within its Devonte Hynes, Third Coast instrumentals. dreamy membrane Percussion Despite its are songs that Domino Records sparse appeal, reach for particular this burgeoning emotions within branching-off us, striking the from convention is good and the bad rich, exciting and in equal measure. addictive. A contemplative DIANA YASSIN Daily Arts Writer
When Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from the Hot Country chart in early April, media and listeners alike were quick to shout racism. And with good reason. Lil Nas X is Black and country music is known for its whiteness and conservatism. Then, when Blake Shelton released his single “Hell Right” near the end of the record-breaking “hip-haw” hit’s reign, the lyrics “Then the girl from the small town took off the ‘Old Town’/ put on a little Hank Jr.,” reignited the argument that country music is racist, after Hank Jr. compared Obama to Hitler and was removed from EPSN. As a white, life-long country music fan, I followed the saga closely and was disappointed in Billboard and Blake. In the midst of country music’s identity crisis, why else would only the Black country rapper be excluded? While there’s no excuse for Lil Nas X’s unequal treatment, I’ve found the full story to be a bit more complicated than it looks at first glance. Today’s country music stars include Hootie and the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker, R&B influenced Kane Brown and traditional-leaning up-and-comer Jimmie Allen. All Black men, all successful under the country label. Additionally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the powerful Black men in country that came before them, including Charley Pride and Ray Charles. Pride recorded 30 number one hits spanning 1966 to 1987 and Charles’s 1962 release Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music sold extremely well. (All this said, it should be noted there aren’t any Black women in mainstream country music today, likely because of the compounded difficulties they face from being part of both a gender and race that the genre marginalizes.) But country music isn’t just whiteness with a few token Black male artists. Country music is fundamentally both Black and white. Hear me out. In the early stages of country music, black artists were often left out, which painted the entire genre as one just for white individuals. Additionally, the banjo has African roots. There’s plenty more to the story of country music’s origins, but regardless, it’s clear that at its birth the genre was never the ultra-white Anglo-Saxon Protestant music it’s been made out to be today. So what is country music then? Country artists and fans have been arguing about this over radio waves and in YouTube comments for years. What “real” country music is always seems to be what was
happening 20 years ago, no matter the decade. Still, instruments like the banjo, fiddle and acoustic guitar are generally understood as “country.” Working-class themes and rural imagery are also accepted as well as lyrical storytelling. These loose requirements also tend to push that country music reflects “real life” and has a deeper meaning. But again, all of these “rules” have exceptions and conditions like having “meaning” are up for interpretation. “Old Town Road” doesn’t tell a story. It doesn’t feature a fiddle or a banjo and I’m not sure what its “deeper meaning” is. But this doesn’t let the Nashville executives who kicked it off the chart off the hook. In other ways, “Old Town Road” is absolutely country music. Another piece of its history, the reason that “country” was recorded in the first place was to make money. Lil Nas X’s commercial success is the stuff Nashville dreams about. Also, the artist himself has a “country”-esque origin story as he is both from the South and self-made. Finally, in a genre where what’s authentic is constantly up for debate, the artist’s selfidentification as “country” holds a lot of weight. If Lil Nas X says his song is country music we should believe him like we believe Sam Hunt. Ultimately, Lil Nas X’s juggernaut defies genre. That’s part of what made it so popular. However, if the success of “The Git Up” by Blanco Brown, a Black country rapper, is any indication, the genre was already making room for “Old Town Road” predecessors. The hip-haw “Cupid Shuffle” spent five weeks atop the Hot Country chart and was generally made welcome by the country music community. Although both songs can be dismissed as fun, Tik Tok-ready genre-blending earworms, refuting the idea of country music as white music is not only empowering but historically accurate. So, what were the intentions behind Billboard’s removal of “Old Town Road” from the country chart? Likely a mixture of racism and genuine anxiety over the preservation of “authentic” country music. But, as noted before, attempts at either are futile. The genre has never been fully white and is characteristically ever-changing. Even songs supposedly poised against the rise of artists like Lil Nas X actually lean in to what he’s doing. Remember “Hell Right,” the Blake Shelton song that takes a jab at “Old Town Road” from the beginning? It uses autotune in its pre-chorus. That’s why I’m expecting to hear a lot more about “the horses in the back” against hip-hop instrumentals in the future.
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michigandaily.com
TV REVIEW
‘Nancy Drew’ is having a televised identity crisis
characters are more complex than expected. Where the show falters, however, is in its strange relationship to the For The Daily rest of the Nancy Drew franchise. Throughout the premiere, the show makes it exceedingly clear this isn’t your grandmother’s Nancy The CW’s new teen mystery series “Nancy Drew” is Drew. The title character maintains almost none of her far more CW than it is Nancy Drew. Despite the similar iconic traits of optimism and friendly resourcefulness and character names and occasional cheeky references to the substitute it with aloofness and intense arrogance to prove original book series’s titles, there is not much carrying the Nancy’s struggle with grief has warped her personality. While the original book series’ happy disposition may iconic girl detective’s legacy in this gritty reboot. The series premiere of “Nancy Drew” opens on the seem out of place in modern television, the overt attempts titular sleuth’s hometown legend of a beauty queen who (particularly the gratuitous sex scenes) to make the show committed suicide the night she won her title. Nancy edgy are ridiculous and almost laughable. Again, on its own, the show could work. It lays a wins the same crown years later and spots the girl’s ghost in a cemetery, and the story transitions into Nancy’s foundation for the kind of drama and intrigue that thrives abandonment of her teenage mystery solving after the on the CW network and embraces the fun of a local urban legend as a backdrop. However, by forcing the Nancy death of her mother. Still living at home a year after graduating high school, Drew label onto a show that desperately tries to shirk all it Nancy spends her time waiting tables at a local diner represents, it feels like the writers are struggling to strike with George, her manager and former classmate, and a balance between old and new. “Nancy Drew” really, really doesn’t want to be Bess, a city girl summering in the beach town. She also is revealed to be casually hooking up with the show’s “Nancy Drew.” So why does it bother? With the success version of book character Ned Nickerson, who now goes of “Riverdale” and “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” by “Nick” and is a mechanic with a dark secret. After these it’s easy to assume these shows work because they are four and the diner’s dishwasher stumble upon the body of updated versions of popular classics. By embracing more a rich socialite from out of town, they become the prime adult themes for shows aimed at teenagers, “Nancy Drew” assumes it can gain a following through overlaying suspects in her murder investigation. As the group of less-than-friends works to clear their salacious material on a wholesome series. Unfortunately, names to the police, Nancy finds herself reluctantly this combination misses the mark and suffers because of reentering the amateur detective game and uncovering it. If “Nancy Drew” wants to justify its attachment to secrets about the victim, the other suspects and even her own family members. Mounting evidence reveals that the its source material, the solution lies in returning to what ghost of the tragic beauty queen may be seeking revenge made the books so timeless: focusing on the thrill of a on the town and ends the episode looming over Nancy mystery, rather than the complexities of the characters. Sure, the Depression-era as she kneels over the Nancy Drew may not recovered dress the girl be memorable on her wore when she died. own, but the escapism “Nancy Drew” itself of her stories captivated is not a bad show. In fact, Series Premiere audiences for a reason. it has plot twists and The CW “Nancy Drew” could do character reveals fellow the same; it just has to CW show “Riverdale” Wednesdays @ 9 p.m. focus on being fun, not wishesitcouldpulloff.The inexplicably steamy and mystery is compelling, the comically ominous. setting is spooky and the ANYA SOLLER
Nancy Drew
Fields
THE CW
Arts
6 — Friday, October 18, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
FILM REVIEW
TV REVIEW
‘El Camino’ lets fans say ‘Press’ is 20 years too late goodbye to Jesse Pinkman JUSTIN POLLACK For The Daily
ELISE GODFRYD Daily Arts Writer
Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul, “BoJack Horseman”) is, in many ways, the unsung hero of “Breaking Bad.” Even as Walter White (Br yan Cranston, “Malcolm in the Middle”) became just a tad too deplorable to sympathize with by the end of the series, Jesse maintained as a character viewers could see the humanit y in, despite his crimes. Af ter all, he was just a kid when he partnered up with Walter, his chemistr y teacher, to join the meth trade. And though his youth is no excuse for what he ends up doing, it does make us more forg iving of his actions, more inclined to cling to him. Yet, “Breaking Bad” was never really Jesse’s stor y. It was Walter White’s. It was the stor y of just how far a normal man will go to f ind wealth and power, conf idence and meaning, even when it costs him the safet y of his family and, eventually, his own life. The series f inale wrapped up this stor y perfectly with Walter, or rather Heisenberg, making peace with himself, or at least as close to peace as he could manage. But for me there was still a looming question in the back of my mind: What about Jesse? How does his stor y end? This is where “El Camino”, Netf lix’s latest extension of the “Breaking Bad” universe, comes in, arriving more than six years af ter the show’s f inal episode. “El Camino” tells viewers ever y thing they could want to know about Jesse’s fate, picking up exactly where “Breaking Bad” lef t off, with Jesse f leeing the neo-Nazis who kept him hostage in Todd’s (Jesse Plemons, “Fargo”) 1978 El Camino.
Shootings and heists ensue, but Jesse isn’t in it for the reasons he once was. He’s desperate for money, not to f uel his own g reed but to pay Ed (Robert Forster, “Mulholland Drive”) for a new identit y and a new life. All in all, it appears that Jesse has learned from Walter’s mistakes. Meth dealing, despite its prof itabilit y and its thrills, just isn’t worth it for him, at least not anymore. Jesse wants to escape his past, but can he? The short answer is no. Mike (Jonathan Banks, “Better Call Saul”) even tells him so in the f ilm’s f irst scene, saying, “Sorr y, kid, that’s the one thing you can never do.” No matter how far away from New Mexico he manages to run, he can’t run away from himself, from the people he’s killed and from the people he’s lost. You can see his torment, his g rief written all over his face, covered in dirt and scars from his time in captivit y. You can see it in his eyes, too, even af ter he succeeds in his mission. There’s no way for him to rid himself of it. There are only t wo options: die, or learn to live with himself. He chooses life, and I’m happy for it. “El Camino” doesn’t need to exist, but I’m glad it does. It’s g iven Jesse’s journey a closure I never knew I needed. It doesn’t tie up ever y loose string, but it’s all the better for it. Had “El Camino” g iven Jesse a happier ending and a less ambig uous f uture, the movie would be devoid of the realism and complexit y that made “Breaking Bad” so challeng ing and so exciting to watch. Because this f ilm exists, “Breaking Bad” fans can take comfort in knowing that, even if Jesse isn’t okay now, maybe he might learn to be, and that’s more than enough for me.
In PBS’s “Press,” a cheerful yet outdated melodrama set in contemporary London, two British newspapers — The Post and The Herald — find themselves engaged in a war where the journalists that cheat and lie the most appear to be the victors. While the offices may be close in proximity, their journalistic practices and financial conditions differ significantly. The lowlife Post is led by uber-confident editor-inchief, Duncan Allen (Ben Chaplin, “Kiss Me First”), who was once an impressive and ethical journalist. His profession and unnecessarily high opinion of himself, though, have eroded these attributes in favor of seeking sensationalist stories. Holly Evans (Charlotte Riley, “Dark Heart”) brings us inside the left-leaning, award winning, serious reporting Herald that prides itself on exposing corruption and hypocrisy. She is a humorless investigative journalist who marches on with the hunch that a new injustice is always around the corner. She represents what Duncan used to be — she abides by the highest journalistic practices, but lacks the cut-throat attitude of Duncan. Duncan, however, is not the one calling the shots for The Post. George Emmerson (David Suchet, “His Dark Materials”) is the CEO of World Wide News, the company that owns The Post. Emmerson is not motivated by financial gain, but is instead determined to wield his influence around the world.
The central focus of this six part mini-series is the differing practices of journalistic integrity of these respective papers. The result is continuous action that is impossible not to become entrenched in, even when the practice is as simple as reminding us that it’s wrong to steal. Holly represents the heroine: She fearlessly fights her way through the cruel and dark tabloid world, full of reporters who blackmail parents of kids who have committed suicide with threats of humiliating publicity if the grieving parents fail to meet interview demands. While it’s an entertaining show, “Press” comes up short in being mostly about print media, as if the Internet is not central to contemporary London journalism. The setting might be off by about two decades, but it doesn’t hinder the pacing or quality of the show. On the flip side, “Press” brings in real-world issues such as declining sales, press regulation, difference between public interest and interest to the public and whether or not something that is in the public domain is fair game. Beyond its lame attempt at being relevant, “Press” also fails to humanize its characters, as most of them lack personal lives. Even Duncan, whose screensaver is a picture of his wife and kid, prefers to spend every second creating stories that will ruin other people’s lives and, consequently, his own in the process. Maybe because “Press” is a mini-series with a tight narrative, there is no time to explore the lives of the characters outside of work. The only reason it’s problematic is because the characters have been framed to make it seem like journalism is the only thing in their lives and they all have absolutely no interest in anything else.
Press Season Premiere PBS Sundays @ 10 p.m.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie Netflix
PBS
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
New SMTD minicourse breaks discipline barriers STEPHANIE GURALNICK NETFLIX
Classifieds
Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
Release Date: Friday, October 18, 2019
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
HELP WANTED
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 1 Show anxiety, in a way 5 No good 11 Prankster’s projectile 14 Excited response to a cue 15 Pressed 16 Also 17 Iranian vocal improvisation? 19 Primitive dwelling 20 Furniture cleaning brand 21 Bar __ 22 Assistant 23 Web address 24 Household employee’s fraudulent ruse? 26 Approve 29 Put into words 30 Preface to a conviction 31 Product warning 34 Sew up again 38 Nursery school air fresheners? 42 First name in black-and-white photos 43 Stash 44 Cabinet dept. 45 Born, in Brussels 47 Smidge, to a laddie 50 Poem that seemed awfully profound at the bar last night? 55 Realtor’s unit 56 Words of understanding 57 Shad product 58 Tabloid output 61 Catch 62 What optical character recognition software often produces? 64 I problem? 65 Purpose 66 “This is terrible!” 67 Intl. Talk Like a Pirate Day month 68 Sudden reactions 69 Crucial things
DOWN 1 Plumbing item 2 “So be it!” 3 Casual pants 4 Make certain 5 Decree 6 Item near a sugar bowl, perhaps 7 Opera about an opera singer 8 Peruvian of old 9 Comes to realize 10 Summer CT clock setting 11 Moral principle 12 Big wheel in delis 13 27-Down’s victorious words 18 Hebrides unit 22 So far 24 Pokes (around) 25 Knitter’s need 26 Opera about an African princess 27 Gangster movie hero, perhaps 28 Sailor 32 Follower’s suffix 33 Displeased look
35 Sad song subject 36 Cogito __ sum 37 Car sticker amt. 39 Perfume with myrrh, say 40 Actor Guinness 41 Lamb’s dam 46 Roaming, like a knight 48 Palindromic Parisian pronoun
49 Performs adequately 50 Longs 51 Treatment 52 Jazz style 53 Vital vessel 54 Barbecue brand 58 Some NCOs 59 Wacko 60 First chimp in orbit 62 Base figs. 63 Small colonist
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10/18/19
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“Pockets of Silence at the Glorified Disco.” Fourteen School of Music, Theatre & Dance students stare at this strange amalgamation of words, amazed (and perhaps a little intimidated) by the fact that they have named a show they haven’t even created yet. “They did a photo shoot almost immediately after, where they made a poster for the show,” Assistant Professor of Dance Charli Brissey added in an interview with The Daily. “There was suddenly this strange camaraderie for a show that no one had made yet.” This is what the first day of class looked like for DANCECHAMBERDANCE, a five week mini course that is expanding and testing the definitions of dance, chamber music and collaboration. In SMTD there has been an increasing interest in these collaborative, interdepartmental classes. Among an emerging gaggle of such classes, DANCECHAMBERDANCE has come forth as an “infrastructure” for cross-department collaboration. Brissey, who teaches the class, describes their role as “facilitator.” “I don’t choreograph for the show, I don’t tell the students what their collaboration needs to look like,” Brissey said. “I’m just there to teach them a little bit about production.” The show is entirely left to the students to run and organize. So how does a group of fourteen students — ranging from ages 19 to 35 with varied experiences in production and their respective fields — create a show from nothing but a title? The students at DANCECHAMBERDANCE break the rules a bit and test the limits of their project and each other’s artistry. In an interview with The Daily, students in the class Jacob Taitel and Aislinn Bailie described the process of creating this show as “exploratory” and “wildly improvisational.” They said that the first few rehearsals were mainly used to figure out what everybody could bring to the table. From there, it was clear the line between “dancer” and “musician” was going to become blurred: One dancer professed that they could DJ, another could play the drums, a tuba player was trained in ballet for a year and a bassoon player could beatbox. It is a piece where everyone does everything. It’s less about setting a dance piece to chamber music and more about artists creating a fusion piece with movement and sound as their primary tools. So
the class tumbled forward, tossing out concepts, interesting words and scraps of music or choreography, and instead created a space to improvise with other artists and create something risky in a low-stakes environment. “It’s so nice to just let out energy and put something out there knowing that someone else will pick it up. Like, everyone’s just trying stuff,” said Taitel, a second year Masters student in Tuba Performance and Chamber Music and student in this class. In addition to this class being a space for artists to experiment without the pressure of perfectionism, it has also become a space to learn about one’s own craft through a different kind of artist’s eyes. “I get some of my most effective criticism from other people within the arts,” Taitel said on the idea of collaborating with dancers, “because they don’t deal with the things that I have to deal with as a musician — they just hear the music.” Musicians who have never played improv before were met with the challenge of thinking and creating beyond the music stand (of which there are none of in this show). Same goes for the dancers; this class has become an opportunity for artists to expand their vocabulary and skill sets across artistic mediums. And the results seem pretty exciting. And weird. “There are a lot of pockets, some disco, and, I don’t know, we break into a line dance at one point? And that’s pretty cool?” said Bailie, a Masters student in Bassoon. Other notable cameos in this piece include a metronomic solo dance piece, a set of pieces on the seven deadly sins and a good many dancers playing music and musicians dancing. “Sometimes we don’t even know what’s going to happen!” Bailie laughingly explained, “Not in a bad way … in an exciting way. You have to be present for it.” In live performance, there is often a pressure to make capital-A Art, art that is supposed to feel deep and complex and cryptic, but oftentimes just renders the audience confused and feeling a bit left out. This group of artists have relieved themselves of that pressure and seem to just be creating for creation’s sake, reacting honestly from moment to moment, in what will be a unique, strange and genuine experience. “I think that what an audience member takes away from a piece is pretty up to them and their experiences and however they feel,” Taitel said, “but I guess if I had to choose something I want them to take away from this, it would be that weird things can create emotion too, and things that you wouldn’t expect can be extremely effective.”
Pockets of Silence at the Glorified Disco Oct. 18-19 @ 8 p.m. Arthur Miller Theatre By David Alfred Bywaters ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/18/19
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Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Friday, October 18, 2019 — 7
Behind Enemy Lines with Penn State writer (and friend) Mike Persak MAX MARCOVITCH Managing Sports Editor
Ahead of No. 16 Michigan’s clash with No. 7 Penn State this weekend, The Daily called up an old friend. Mike Persak, former Michigan Daily Managing Sports Editor, now covers Penn State football for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. We dialed up his number, turned on the recorder and let the (half-baked) thoughts flow. The Michigan Daily: So, what do you want to talk about? Mike Persak: Do you want to know what I cooked for dinner? TMD: What did you cook for dinner? MP: I figured out that it actually isn’t that hard to just make homemade chicken parmesan, so I’ve just been making chicken parmesan for myself like four nights a week. TMD: I’m happy for you. (awkward pause) TMD: What else do you want to talk about? MP: What do you think about tomorrow? TMD: Tomorrow? Tomorrow’s Friday, it should be a good day— MP: (Expletive) off. Saturday. TMD: What do I think? I think (Michigan) is going to get blown out, honestly. I said two touchdowns, and I think it could be more. MP: I’m not so sure. TMD: Why? Why not? MP: Penn State, their offense hasn’t been good against good defenses. I think Michigan has arguably the best defense that they’ve played so far. TMD: Yeah, but are we sure Michigan’s defense is really good? MP: Well, I don’t know. That’s the thing. Michigan, when they show up on defense, they’re really good. But, yeah, it’s a good question. I think — I split Penn State’s schedule into two spots. And they’ve played Idaho, Buffalo, Maryland and Purdue. Those four teams are not that good, and they really beat up on them. And those two teams have good defenses
and they scored 17 points in each game. The only way I see it being more than two touchdowns is if it’s, like, 24-3, which I’m not necessarily ruling out, but it seems like unlikely. I don’t see Penn State running up the score here. TMD: To me, it’s the kind of thing where if Michigan, let’s say they turn the ball over early and Penn State goes up a score or two scores, it’s over. It’s done. MP: Yeah, it might just avalanche quickly. But the thing that’s funny to me is that I actually think these two teams are kind of similar offensively in that I think that both offenses are really close to like breaking out. Like, really breaking out. Penn State has technically broken out already, they have a top-10 scoring offense because they really kicked the you-know-what out of the teams they’ve beat up. But if you told me that one of the offenses kind of exploded on Saturday, and it was like kind of crazy and out of nowhere, I wouldn’t know which offense it would be, even if I think it’s probably Penn State. TMD: I would be kind of shocked if Michigan’s offense went to Penn State during the night game and exploded. MP: No, no. I don’t necessarily think that’s going to happen. But I think Michigan’s offense is closer than people think it is. TMD: That’s interesting. Go on. MP: I was reading a stat … comparing when Joe Morehead came in as OC at Penn State in 2016 and when Josh Gattis came in as offensive coordinator for Michigan. (unnecessary rambling) Through the first six games, it’s extremely similar. The difference is that Michigan is 5-1 and Penn State was 4-2 at that time. And that was the year Penn State won the Big Ten championship. I’m not saying Shea (Patterson) is going to turn into Trace McSorley and Hassan Haskins or Zach Charbonnet is going to be Saquon, but the offense, it’s more different than people think it is. I think people thought it’s just a matter of scheming guys
open, but that’s not the case, you know? TMD: I think that’s interesting. People here talk about 2016 Penn State as the optimist’s take on this year, because they do have so much talent. MP: Yeah. And it’s a different kind of talent, because Penn State was just like quarterback — they had Gesicki, Sayid Blackwell on the outside. They had some good receivers. But it was like, Trace McSorley was sick, and they finally just had to trust him. And Saquon was a god. But the other thing was, I remember watching that Penn State team and being like, ‘Jesus Christ, they just throw bombs and that’s all they do.’ The Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin that year, they just threw bomb after bomb after bomb. TMD: McSorley throwing those slot fades on Michigan. I don’t know, I think the optimist’s take on this Michigan team is 2016 Penn State, and the pessimist’s take on this team is 2017 Michigan. MP: For sure. And whatever way it goes. … I could see it either way. TMD: How has your perspective on— MP: Hold on, shh shh, listen. TMD: I’m listening. MP: (Crackling noise) TMD: What was that? MP: That was a beer can. (Laughs) TMD: Anyway. How has your perspective on the Michigan football program changed since you flew away from the nest? MP: I mean, it’s pretty much the same. The answer is what everyone says. Michigan is convinced that it’s still the late ‘90s and Michigan is Michigan. I heard it put well by someone that, like, I’m not writing off — Michigan I think in any given year could make the College Football Playoff under Jim Harbaugh. But to expect them to be a perennial contender for the Playoff, it’s just not where the program is right now. I think people outside of Michigan get
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Former Managing Sports Editor Mike Persak now covers Penn State football for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
that, and I think people who watch Michigan every year don’t quite get that. But that’s just fandom. (Random Lions blabber. Super Bowl bound. Other nonsense.) MP: Do you think that Michigan currently has a Big Ten championship-winning quarterback? TMD: Yes. MP: You do? TMD: I mean, it depends how you define “Big Ten championshipwinning quarterback”. They don’t have the best quarterback in the Big Ten. But they have a quarterback who’s capable of leading a Big Ten — I still think this roster is talented enough to be good enough to put themselves in a position to win a Big Ten title. I just do. And I still think the talent is there with Shea Patterson. I just don’t know. MP: Last year, I would have told you that I thought Shea was good enough to be a Big Ten championship, potential College Football Playoff. This year, obviously, he hasn’t been great. But I also don’t know… if I see Joe Milton or Dylan McCaffrey as being that either. Who knows. Maybe it’s J.J. McCarthy. TMD: J.J. McCarthy, the next
reason for Michigan fans to point two years down the road. MP: I’m old enough to remember when Alex Malzone was that guy. TMD: Then Shane Morris. Remember him? MP: I do. What’s he up to? Still at Central? TMD: Uhhhhh. We’ll cut this. TMD: I have two more questions because I don’t want to transcribe more. First question: prediction? MP: I don’t know. I’m really bad at predictions. … I’ll go 28-10. TMD: That’s pretty convincing. MP: Yeah, 28-10, but it’s like closer than that. Do you know what I mean? TMD: 28-10, but really it’s an eight-point game. Got it. (Laughs) MP: 28-10, but really Michigan wins by 35. MP: I don’t know that’s just reaching into my gut and pulling out a random score that I think might happen. But if I have to make a prediction, don’t think Michigan’s going to be able to score on Penn State very well. See, man, the other thing is Penn State really hasn’t faced an offense like this from one of the good teams...
TMD: I don’t know how much of the Michigan offense you’ve watched, but uh… MP: I mean, I watched pretty much the whole game last game, and I watched pretty much the whole Wisconsin game. And Army. I have got the spectrum of both (good and bad). Either way, yeah, prediction: 28-17. TMD: If we talk to you on Saturday morning, that’ll be 28-26. MP: It’ll be 45-2, Penn State. (Random Vegas spread talk. Mike offers gambling advice. Isn’t sure what can feasibly be printed, per his contractual obligations. Swears he’s not betting on Penn State games. That’s unethical.) TMD: Last question, where should I go — MP: Wait, is Louisville at home against Clemson? TMD: I don’t know. MP: Because if so, that’s my pick: Lousiville to cover against Clemson. TMD: Last question, where should I go for dinner tonight? MP: How about a good Piada push? TMD: Interesting. Very interesting. I’m going to turn off the recorder now.
Howard at home during media day Michigan ready for physical play JACOB KOPNICK Daily Sports Writer
On Thursday, freshlyminted Michigan coach Juwan Howard sauntered into the room full of reporters at Crisler Center. Greeting the crowd and recognizing some familiar faces, the 19-year NBA veteran sat down in the Ron and Eileen Weiser Family Club — an exclusive area of the arena shrouded in maize and blue — and looked like a man who’s been doing the job for years. Answering questions about the state of the team, the development of his roster, the city of Ann Arbor and more, Howard gave a glimpse into what the men’s basketball program is going to look like under his tenure. Blending key aspects of the program’s identity under former coach John Beilien and a new scheme and value set under Howard, a few key aspects of the team appear to be making their way into the limelight: work ethic, coachability and athleticism. Going one by one, detailing his players’ strengths, a few key words kept making their way to the forefront. Chief among those was dedication. Junior forward Isaiah Livers? He’s in the best shape of his life after hitting the weight room hard all off-season. Sophomore forward Brandon Johns Jr.? He’s been hustling in practice attempting to gain confidence in his position. Senior guard Zavier Simpson? He was working so hard his coach had to tell him to ease off the three-a-day practices. Howard lent further insight into this mentality through a story of one of his first weeks on the job this summer. He was in his office late, around 10:30 p.m., when he heard music blaring from the gym at the Player Development Center. Startled and a bit confused, Howard made his way to the floor, where he saw a group of his guys putting up shots and getting in a workout.
KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily
Michigan coach Juwan Howard has acclimated to his new role.
“I enjoy it,” Howard said. “Guys were in there working out. Whatever it takes for you to get into that zone, get comfortable, come into the gym and get a workout. You can blast your music or whatever music it is. I don’t care. At 10:30 I heard music playing, and there’s always one or two guys in there working out, and it’s not policed by me, I don’t see it. They do what they want to do.” In the summer, these latenight musicblaring workouts became a staple of the offseason regimen. Especially for sophomores Colin Castleton and David DeJulius, junior guard Eli Brooks, and Johns — the usual suspects for late-night shenanigans. Howard also noted that his players are inherently coachable, always striving to get better — a skill perhaps most embodied by Johns. The sophomore struggled to find the floor in his first year with the Wolverines. Confidence problems, difficulties adjusting to a new position and a complicated offensive scheme were used as reasons for his benching. This offseason, the name of the game has been building up confidence and getting ready to take a larger role in a team that saw its top three offensive producers take off for the NBA.
“Brandon is a very athletic guy who has a beautiful stroke in his jump shot,” Howard said. “I’m just instilling more and more confidence in Brandon. He’s competing hard in practice. He’s grasping a lot of the new responsibilities in teaching what is asked of him. He’s a joy to work with. “I see that he’s gonna have his chance to play a lot this year, but as he knows, it starts in practice. You gotta earn your minutes.” Straying away from basketball, Howard also delved into what made Michigan and the city of Ann Arbor such a great place — especially for any top recruits who may be making their college decisions soon. Discussing the diverse food scene, the Art Fair and the unparalleled academics, Howard provided a snapshot into his recruiting toolkit. After all, basketball is only one of many factors going into a recruit’s decision of where to spend their lives for the next one to five years. But his larger-than-life personality and sense of humor snuck into his description of the city, too. So when he added, “And we have me,” when listing off what makes Michigan the place to be as a student athlete, he seemed right at home.
Whatever it takes for you to get into that zone.
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Senior foward Jake Slaker said he was eager to use his speed this weekend.
MOLLY SHEA
Daily Sports Writer
End-to-end hockey. Battles on the boards. Body checks, poke checks and forechecks. Anything to bother a player and get position in between a Michigan player and the net. Grinding hockey. That’s the first phrase Michigan coach Mel Pearson used to describe the scrappy play style the team had faced thus far. It was gritty. It was extremely physical. The Wolverines had to fight for every inch of the ice. They saw it last weekend against No. 10 Clarkson — every loose puck required a battle. The space in front of the net was clogged by Golden Knight players. They outworked Michigan without the puck, and the moment the Wolverines had the puck on their stick a Clarkson player was preparing for a hit. These little details ultimately led to a loss and a tie. Michigan will see the same style of play again this weekend with Lake Superior. While all teams aim to play with a high level of physicality, in the Big Ten, speed and skill reign supreme over strength and size. There’s much more open ice to skate and make plays. But non conference opponents like the Golden Knights and Lakers force the Wolverines to adjust their play style slightly. “We played Lake State last year,” said senior forward Jake Slaker. “They definitely play the same kind of similar style
(as Clarkson). Kind of a grindy, simple game so now we’re expecting what we had last weekend so we can change a few things and be ready for the weekend.” All week in practice, Michigan has been prepping and fine-tuning its play in the wake of the series with the Clarkson. There’s been a lot of battle drills, contact drills — really anything to get the team further attuned to the physical play. Ultimately, its focus is on competing hard, especially from the get-go. Just like last weekend, the Wolverines know if they want to win, they have to get off to an early lead. They cannot afford to play from behind. Last year, when Michigan played Lake Superior, the games almost didn’t resemble hockey. Whether the puck was nearby or not, the Lakers were hitting hard. The Friday night game had 18 penalties, and Saturday’s had 10. And Lake Superior has the personnel to make that play style work. Its roster is stacked with big, strong defensemen. Only one of its blue line players measures under six feet tall. Offensively, the Wolverines aren’t necessarily known for being physical. Against the Golden Knights, the forwards showed they could handle matching up against defenders with a size advantage. But playing a stronger team gives Michigan a chance to win with a different skill — speed.
“It’s nice when you play those physical teams,” Slaker said. “Usually they’re a little bit slower and clunkier. It’s a time for the fast guys like myself to use that to our advantage.” While playing a gritty team offers the Wolverines a chance to display their quickness, there’s also a catch — less open ice to play. Big, physical teams take away space to move the puck in the offensive zone, particularly around the net. It’s an issue Michigan battled with last weekend, and will have to overcome this weekend to have a chance of winning. “As a team we’ve all agreed upon (the fact) that we need to drive the net better,” said fifth-year senior forward Jacob Hayhurst. “When we see shots going towards their net we need to get in front of their goalie’s eyes and drive the back post in order to create more scoring opportunities.” Crashing the net will require the Wolverines to perfectly balance both speed and strength. To make matters more difficult, the team will be without one of its most physical players, senior defenseman Griffin Luce. He was suspended one game after hitting a player from behind in the closing minutes of last Saturday’s game. In his place, another defender — maybe sophomore Jake Gingell or fifth-year senior Shane Switzer — will have to step up. “Their forwards aren’t real big,” Pearson said. “They play strong, but we have to use our quickness and our speed. Would I like to have Griff in the line up? Yes. But Gingell is physical. Switzer is a big guy so I think we’ll be fine there.” But after Clarkson, Michigan is better prepared to handle situations where every puck is a battle to get to. A game where ice space, especially in front of the net, won’t be easy to come by. And now, the Wolverines know what they’ll have to do to find success against a team that plays an extremely physical brand of hockey.
What it’s like to attend the
Whiteout ARIA GERSON Senior Sports Editor
As much as any single game in college football, the Penn State whiteout is a spectacle. This year’s edition — Penn State-Michigan on Saturday night — was announced way back in April, when college football is the last thing on most fans’ minds. The announcement wasn’t much of a surprise. The Nittany Lions have been holding whiteouts since 2004, and Saturday’s will be their sixth against Michigan, the most of any team. For home fans, the whiteout is a way of life. The stadium is surrounded by open fields and parking lots, perfect for huge tailgates and RV parks. Fans buy into the experience. Their dedication to wearing white combined with a metal stadium that shakes under the weight of more than 100,000 screaming fans makes it an imposing experience for away teams and fans. But for those away fans, it’s also an experience rarely matched by any other in the sport — for better or for worse. The Daily spoke with seven Michigan fans who have attended whiteout games to get a picture of what a whiteout is like from an outsider’s perspective.
FILE PHOTO / DAILY
DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN
It’s something that I’ve never seen Michigan pull off
THE ATMOSPHERE Most people interviewed said that the whiteout was unlike anything they’ve seen at Michigan Stadium, perhaps with the exception of the first “Under the Lights” game in 2011. Penn State is located two-and-a-half hours from Pittsburgh, the closest city, and it’s hard for casual fans to get to — so those that come are the diehards, and the whiteout game is the crown jewel of every season. The diehards all buy in. Kelly Heller, attended in 2013: When you walk into the stadium, you can’t miss it. Zack Kessler, attended in 2013 and 2017: This is gonna sound dumb, but it is very white. It is astoundingly white. Brendan Warren, attended in 2017: I was the only one not wearing white in the entire student section. Actually, there was one other guy in yellow. But out of like 20,000 in that whole section, it was all white. Steve Rosenberger, attended in 2010 and 2017: The first game wasn’t as hyped up … because it wasn’t an undefeated ranked matchup like the one I went to two years ago. But Penn State kind of got better at the whiteouts since then. Ken Davidoff, attended in 2015: I didn’t know about the whiteout until I showed up at the stadium. It’s actually very funny because I had a white Michigan golf shirt, like a polo shirt. Just having no idea about the whiteout. Warren: I was getting booed the entire time. Davidoff: (Penn State fans) were turning to high-five me and I would pull my zipper down and show them the block ‘M,’ the blue ‘M,’ and they were like … ‘What are you doing? It’s a whiteout! Why are you wearing a white Michigan shirt?’ And I laughed, I said ‘I’m a wolf in sheep’s clothing, I didn’t know about the whiteout.’ Dan Mickelson, attended in 2010 and 2017: If you go to a night game in Ann Arbor, life is still going on outside the game. But everyone in Happy Valley is wearing white except for the away fans there for that game. Heller: It’s something that I’ve never seen Michigan pull off. … Even a maize out, people wear gray, people wear white, people wear blue. There was not a person 90 years old or an infant
that wasn’t wearing white. Rosenberger: When I was there two years ago, the fireworks got amped up and the rock music gets turned up. … They do it to a point where it takes a bunch of inauthentic things, combines it and it kind of becomes something authentic just by, they’re not apologetic about it. THE GAME The Wolverines haven’t had much luck in whiteout games, losing three of the five matchups. Though Michigan won in 2006 and 2015, the matchups it lost were perhaps more memorable. In 2010, the Nittany Lions won, 41-31, in a shootout. Jack Warner, attended in 2010: We were sort of licking our chops the whole time, the whole drive out there, and we were pretty optimistic that this was gonna be Rich Rod’s signature win and this was gonna jump-start the program. And obviously that’s not how it turned out. In 2013, Brendan Gibbons missed three field goals en route to a 43-40, quadruple-overtime loss. Heller: For (Penn State) it’s the best part. For anybody else it’s the worst part, is that the students come in early, they stay until the end, and their goalposts are white. So at night, when they’re behind the goalposts and they’re going for a field goal, the students start swaying and you can’t see the goalposts. Mickelson: It’s hard to go into a stadium like that. … I was a student manager back in ‘07 so I know you can’t replicate that in practice. There’s no way to pump in noise like that and prepare a team for an away game like that. Heller: I fully believe, obviously if they were at home, they would’ve totally won. But if not for the whiteout … they would’ve made those field goals. And in 2017, Saquon Barkley ran for 121 yards, cutting through the Wolverines’ defense in a 42-13 blowout. Warren: (Michigan) started the game on defense, so everyone was silent. Dead silent. And I was just screaming because we were on defense, and then Saquon Barkley scored very quickly and that kinda shut me up. Mickelson: From our vantage point, (Barkley) was running towards us. It was just wild to see the whole place shake. The environment provides what many believe is a built-in advantage for the Nittany Lions. Rosenberger: I don’t think it (affected) as much for Denard (Robinson), because they were used to going no-huddle all the time and Rich Rod’s teams … called their plays in with hand signals from the sideline. But when you’re trying to huddle up, the sound is of another — it’s even louder than any other stadium I’ve been to. Warner: We’ve seen better Michigan teams go into Penn State in a similar environment and win, like in 2015. … I think the impact of the crowd is often overstated, and that’s often especially the case with Penn State because I think the whiteout is more a marketing scheme than an actual difference maker on the football field. Rosenberger: They make the whiteout their biggest game of the year, so they see it as an advantage, and they move it around. They use it as a weapon.
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