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South U Pizza to shut down to make room for high rise
Planned development of Vic Village forces restaurant out of business HANNAH MACKAY Daily Staff Reporter
RYAN LITTLE/Daily Protesters from the Sunrise Movement held a sit-in at Debbie Dingell’s office on Friday.
Sunrise Movement activists protest at Dingell’s Dearborn, Ypsi offices Demonstrators return to call on congresswoman to support Green New Deal ANGELINA LITTLE Daily Staff Reporter
At about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, 12 people traveled to U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell’s Dearborn office to continue protests to urge Dingell to sign the Green New Deal. They were met with police blocking them from entering the building. After occupying U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell’s, D-Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti office for nearly 24 hours this past weekend, Sunrise Movement Ann Arbor activists continue to attempt sit-ins as they urge Dingell to sign the Green New Deal. About 15 protesters hoping to stage another sit-in showed up to her office in Ypsilanti, Monday
afternoon to find it closed for the week. Sunrise Movement Ann Arbor has been pressuring Dingell to sponsor the Green New Deal — legislation fighting climate change and economic inequality — since February. Dingell has not been present at any of the previous sit-ins staged by the group in April, September, or this past week, when three activists were arrested after refusing to leave her office. After finding Dingell’s Ypsilanti office closed on Monday, the group posted a Facebook event advertising their plans to stage an “office takeover” at Dingell’s Dearborn office. Although Sunrise activists were not allowed to enter the
building, they stood outside, sang and recorded statements urging Dingell to respond to their repeated attempts to convince her to sign the Green New Deal. Naina Agrawal-Hardin, Sunrise hub coordinator and Washtenaw International High School student, referenced the UN’s most recent Emissions Gap Report, which compares projected greenhouse gas emissions for 2030 to the goals of the Paris Agreement. “We have to treat this crisis with the urgency it deserves,” Agrawal-Hardin said. “Just today, the United Nations released a new report stating that if we don’t seriously get our act together, then it’s over for
us.” Allie Lindstrom, Sunrise activist and Washington University in St. Louis senior, urged for action beyond the 100% Clean Economy Act Dingell introduced on Friday, which sets 2050 as a goal for an economy which produces net zero pollution. “It’s not enough just to do the bare minimum and to set 2050 as a deadline,” Lindstrom said. “We have to make substantive changes to our economy so that it fights for our lives, and it fights inequality, and it addresses the ways in which we are experiencing climate change here in Michigan.” See PROTEST, Page 3
After a decade of serving students and Ann Arbor locals, South U Pizza is shutting its doors for good in mid-December. Located at 1110 S. University Ave., the local eatery has been a pizza staple since opening in 2009. South U Pizza, along with several other businesses on the block, will be replaced with new luxury student housing, known as Vic Village South. Manager of South U Pizza Karim Ghussani explained the developer, Hughes Properties, is planning on tearing down South U Pizza along with most of the block to build the new high rise. “The main reason is because the building is going to be torn down to put a high rise instead there,” Ghussani said. “That company, the Vic Village company … they’re going to tear down the whole block, and they’re going to build another high rise.” Hughes Properties has already begun advertising the new development just
steps from campus as luxury student housing. The same company completed construction of Vic Village North earlier this year. The apartment complex is located directly across the street from South U Pizza, and will be 12 stories tall with over 57 apartments and 261 beds. In a previous Daily article, Sean Havera, vice president of construction at Hughes Properties, spoke about the addition of Vic Village North and soon to be Vic Village South on South University Ave. “When you look at the area where Vic Village North is at and where Vic Village South is at, those are probably the best student housing locations anywhere in downtown,” Havera said. “So, the projects will actually complement each other.” As a result of this new development, other businesses including Underground Printing, PNC Bank and Oasis Grill will be relocating or closing. See PIZZA, Page 3
Founder of Play Out Apparel talks New site rise of androgynous fashion trends University looks to launches GOVERNMENT
track info on health Washtenaw County launches new website with interactive data EMMA RUBERG
Daily Staff Reporter
Earlier this month, the Washtenaw County Health Department debuted a new website to serve as a centralized hub for data on the health of county residents. The Health For All Washtenaw website features information from nine different census locations about approximately 250 different topics, including demographics, mental health, poverty and public safety. In a Nov. 18 press release, Washtenaw County Health Department Communications Coordinator Kayla Steinberg explained the purpose of the website and how it is meant to benefit the community. “Healthforallwashtenaw. org is a central location for information, stories and action items on what impacts our health,” Steinberg said. “Think of it as an online health record for all of Washtenaw County.” In each set of data, users are able to compare the data of the county to that of the entire state of Michigan, as well as the country. They can also see how the measurements have changed in the location over time. See HEALTH, Page 3
RESEARCH
Designer discusses increased popularity of gender equal clothing NEETI BHUTADA For The Daily
About 30 people attended a local event Tuesday titled “What is Queer Fashion? Millennials, Gen Z, and Gender Equal Clothing” at the Ann Arbor District Library. The event focused on a push for an increase in inclusivity within the fashion industry. Abby Sugar, CEO of Play Out Apparel, LLC, a company centered around creating gender
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equal underwear and athleisure, began by speaking about what the words “fashion” and “queer” mean both technically and in terms of the fashion industry. According to Sugar, “queer” means “something that breaks heteronormative assumptions of gender and sexuality and challenges and redefine gender binaries and traditional expressions of masculinity and femininity.” She defines “fashion” as “the intersection of commerce, social and cultural
expectations with the expression of individual identity.” However, in the context of the industry, these terms have a much more realizable meaning, Sugar said. “When we’re talking about queer fashion, we’re talking about how the multiplicities of gender and the multiplicities of gender identity are performed through fashion and clothing, and also how LGBTQ designers are bringing their point of view to fashion,” Sugar said.
Sugar continued to discuss how fashion is a way of expressing oneself. She said even if society does not identify as “fashionable,” the clothes worn and the styles embodied are very indicative of personalities and perceptions of oneself. She explained how clothes not only communicate mood and perspective to others, but also express social and gender expressions. See FASHION, Page 3
1st energy challenge
Department of Nuclear Engineering partners with DC-based institute MICHAL RUPRECHT Daily Staff Reporter
The University of Michigan’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences and the Energy Institute partnered with a D.C.-based research institute, the Energy Impact Center, to create the first inaugural energy competition. The competition is called the Nuclear Energy Grand Challenge and is open to all students. Co-director Todd Allen, who is the chair and a professor in NERS, said one objective of the competition is to create a space for interdisciplinary learning. “A lot of Engineering students work on their engineering degree and don’t get enough interactions with people from the Business School or people from the School of Public Policy,” Allen said. “I’m hoping that another thing we do is help with that connectivity in a way that it makes the students’ educational experience impactful.” The competition began on Sept. 27 with a series of workshops hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship.
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Abby Sugar, the Founder of Play Out Apparel, discusses what queer fashion is at the Downtown Ann Arbor District Library Tuesday evening.
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Vol. CXXIX, No. 36 ©2019 The Michigan Daily
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University stands by women in slander suit Nov. 24 , 1987 The Universit y’s executive off icers yesterday reaff irmed their support for t wo women being sued for slander by a visiting professor in what has become a landmark case testing the Universit y’s commitment to its f ive-year old “Tell Someone” prog ram. The prog ram was desig ned to encourage victims of sexual harassment to report incidents. However, this is the f irst time a
complaintants’ charge has been challenged with a slander suit, and Universit y off icials decided to offer legal aid. The slander suit stemmed from a student who charged that she was sexually assaulted by Dutch author and writerin-residence Thomas Rosenboom in September. Rosenboom f iled a defamation suit against the woman as well as Universit y Sexual Assault Counselor Kata Issari. Rosenboom said the women slandered him by
telephoning Germanic Lang uages Department chair Robert Kyes, his boss. Rosenboom will stand trial for fourth deg ree criminal sexual conduct December 21. He would not comment on the case. Although Universit y off icials promised legal aid to the student and counselor, on Friday the’ Universit y’s Board of Regents called for a review, prompted by Regent Neil Nielsen’s (R-Brighton) concern about high legal costs and the
Universit y’s responsibilit y to provide legal aid in “private litigation.” Students, facult y, staff, and communit y members protested the review saying the Universit y’s “Tell Someone” prog ram would be worthless if the Universit y did not “stand behind” it with legal aid. Universit y President Harold Shapiro st ymied protestor’s fears by reaff irming the Universit y’s commitment to victims of sexual harassment.
“ While we are studying the matter, as the Regents have requested, the Universit y will continue to obser ve the present practice which is to defend employees who may come under legal attack as a result of the performance of their duties or following existing policy such as the ‘Tell Someone’ prog ram. “I want to emphasize that the Universit y remains f ully committed to combatting racial and sexual harassment and to the ‘Tell Someone’
prog ram,” Shapiro said in a press release. The regents can, however, overturn a decision made by the executive off icers. While Shapiro met with executive off icers behind locked doors early yesterday morning to review the decision to represent the women, about 30 Universit y protestors pounded on doors and chanted against the regents’ review request.
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Michigan Economic Growth Institute wins Innovation Award from APLU
Programs commemorated for exemplary leadership, innovation in entrepreneurship, tech HANNAH MACKAY Daily Staff Reporter
The Association of Public Land-Grant Universities’ 2019 innovation and economic prosperity award was awarded to the First Customer and Small Company Innovation programs. Both initiatives are part of the The University of Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute. Since 2013, this award has commemorated exemplary leadership and innovation in the fields of entrepreneurship and technological economic growth. Both programs aim to meet the diverse needs of startups and small businesses in Michigan by creating jobs, bringing products to market and capitalizing on the University’s academic Sudoku Syndicationto provide research resources and educational opportunities.
ventures and program, said the goal of this The Economic Growth technology Institute more generally entrepreneurs and the third is project has been to develop aims to better the Michigan doing research that guides this and support small businesses and entrepreneurs with the economy by providing services kind of work as well.” Chandrashekar also spoke necessary resources by forming and allocating resources to all on the specific purpose of the partnerships with Michigan’s market levels. Vikesh Chandrashekar, First Customer project as a 15 public universities. “We want to support project manager of the First innovation… a lot of innovation Customer program, said the comes from small business, a Economic Growth Institute lot of jobs are created by small improves the Michigan business,” McCardwell said. economy by engaging “This particular program was and supporting the many for those small businesses contributing entities. specifically that were “The economic growth commercializing tech.” institute, the way I like to Paula Sorrell, director describe it, is an outward of the Economic Growth facing institute at the Institute, said the programs University where we work with were initiated in response to regional companies and try to a statewide demand for jobs bolster the economy that way,” and economic revitalization Chandrashekar said. “There’s following a recession seven three facets of our engagement. years ago. One is through working with “The state needed to manufacturing companies, http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ diversify the economy — so another one is working with much of it was heavily reliant on the automotive industry and really the universities were such a huge asset for the state to be able to leverage those into helping small companies MEDIUM and to helping get innovative companies launched,” Sorrell major supporter of the said. “That was why it was technology economy in really important to create it in Michigan, helping to bring the first place.” LSA sophomore Joshua new company’s products to market in the most efficient Burg, a political science and economics major, shared his and successful way. “We work with thoughts on the importance of technology companies cross University collaboration in helping them get their and the high educational value customers,” Chandrashekar for everyone involved in such said. “Technology ventures an opportunity. “I think fostering cooperation here in Michigan are heavy in technical talent, between universities is one but where they might be of the key aspects of being in lacking is in their sales a university,” Burg said. “It’s and marketing capability… how we can first of all learn… We’re trying to provide by working together towards a them assistance, connect common goal and that common them to the resources goal being altruistic, we can in the state in terms of both follow a moral mission while also furthering our own consultants.” Mary McCardwell, experiences and knowledge puzzle ©by sudokusyndication.com project manager of the within economics.” sudokusolver.com. For personal use only. Small Company Innovation See APLU, Page 3
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PROTEST From Page 1 Maggie Rousseau, Dingell’s deputy chief of staff and communications director, gave a statement regarding the police presence on Tuesday. “When the event was posted on Facebook, the Dearborn Police communicated to our office that protests are not allowed without proper permits, and the building manager when alerted gave us written notice that no protests are allowed inside the building,” the statement said. “Dingell and her staff strive to be good tenants in the space we lease to continue serving the people of the 12th Congressional District with critical services such as help with Veterans and Social Security benefits.” The statement also included an explanation of Dingell’s absence. “Dingell returned to Washington, DC Tuesday to perform the Pro Forma sessions of Congress over the Thanksgiving holiday – a part of her elected duties as a Member
of Congress,” the statement continued. “She was very clear with staff and Dearborn police that she respects this group working very hard on this issue. Dingell strives to build coalitions – making friends, not
parent’s friends are quick to remind me — knowing that we’re running this campaign trying to get Congresswoman Dingell to cosponsor the Green New Deal — that she is a really fantastic representative and a really fantastic advocate and to be honest, I think that’s true,” AgrawalHardin said. “But that’s not been the way that she’s treated us young constituents who have peacefully protested her inaction on climate change … She hasn’t made us feel like she wants to hear what we have to say.” Lindstrom said she feels she needs to continue demonstrating to make change. “I don’t think she seriously started considering things until we started popping up everywhere,” Lindstrom said. “I think it takes flooding the office with constituent calls, and occasionally with people, to get her attention. But her constituents should always matter, and her constituents shouldn’t have to organize like this for her to take our lives seriously.”
“We have to make substantive changes to our economy so that it fights for our lives, and it fights inequality, and it addresses the ways in which we are experiencing climate change here in Michigan.”
FASHION From Page 2A After defining important and frequently misunderstood terms including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, Sugar discussed the growing global awareness of inclusive fashion. “We’re seeing a lot of mainstream, high-fashion designers on the runway, designing for gender-equal clothing and non-gendered styles,” Sugar said. “This is important because … if we’re seeing the opening up of gender expression, and if we’re seeing non-gendered clothing styles on the runway, eventually those are going to be passed down because of inf luencers.” Sugar showed a video portraying the 2018 runway show from the Brooklyn Museum, hosted by dapperQ, a queer fashion magazine that
HEALTH From Page 1 In some cases, the webpage for certain topics includes a section explaining to the user why the data are important. In order to make the data more accessible, the website includes the option for users to build their own customized dashboard or view premade community dashboards, focusing on a specific location or topic. It also has options for colorblind users and a video about how to best use the website. Once on a dashboard, users are able to see more specific information for each topic and subtopic of data. A variety of icons show how the data compares to other locations, whether the levels met the target goal and how they have changed from the prior value. Some of the data are also categorized into a green, yellow or red level based on a comparison with 500 U.S. cities. Washtenaw County Health Department Performance Improvement Manager Lily Guzmán discussed how the Health Department hopes the website will make information more accessible for community members. “We recognized that there is so much data out there,” Guzmán said. “What we really liked the idea of was having more of a central location where folks in our community can come to one central place, know it’s a trusted source and get all their data needs met at one time.” Based on this measure, Ann Arbor is in the red zone for adults who binge drink, homeownership, median household gross rent, people
enemies – to achieve goals and takes that seriously.” Agrawal-Hardin expressed her dissatisfaction with what she sees as Dingell’s continued lack of direct response to those promoting the Green New Deal. “A lot of my friends and my
inspires all people to think uniquely about queer fashion as beauty and art. In this video, models defined what queer fashion meant to them and set trends that would spread awareness about queer fashion on a broader scale. Sugar also talked about prominent existing designer lines such as Virgil Abloh’s Off-White luxury line. The designers were focused on not only creating LGBTQ inclusiveness, but also inclusiveness for race, gender, ability and size. Finally, Sugar discussed her own company, Play Out Apparel, a company that provides multiple styles of underwear, anatomically adjusted for both males and females. They create prints that will be equally available for any gender and style of underwear or athleisure. “I started this company because I wasn’t able to find clothing that affirmed my gender identity or gender expression,” Sugar said.
“Underwear, when I started this company years ago, was extremely gendered. Every color should be in every single cut or style available.” Stacy Miller-Bond, a marketing manager at Spark Foundry, spoke to The Daily about her high hopes for growing inclusivity in the fashion industry after the event. “I think overall, my hope is that (the fashion industry) is always inclusive, and not just inclusive of a specific look or of a specific group of people,” Miller said. “(In terms of ) intersectionality, it was not always inclusive of people of color … but I definitely feel like it’s moving there. In the presentation itself, just in the choices of imagery, there weren’t just stick-thin models, white models or Black models. It was a little bit of everyone which made it feel more at home, and that’s how I feel fashion and queer fashion should be.”
living below the poverty level and households without a vehicle, among other categories. Guzman also discussed how Ann Arbor is in a unique situation for data collection, as it is one of the 500 largest cities in the United States. She also explained why the large student population does not skew the data when compared to these other cities. “There are some specific indicators that are only available on the Ann Arbor level,” Guzman said. “That is because Ann Arbor is one of the largest 500 cities in the country, and so there are some special indicators on the website that only Ann Arbor has because there is an extra data source for them. I’m sure some of the other largest 500 cities also have large universities in them, so I would imagine there is some comparability with other communities.” Aubree McMahon, Public Health senior and president of the Public Health Association, commented on how University students interested in public health can use this new information to improve problems faced by the community. “As students at the University of Michigan, we have heightened access to people with resources that can make a difference,” McMahon said. “Making your voice heard on ways the University should give back to … the community and talking to local and state legislators for this area are some ways to draw attention to these issues. (You can also) use the new website to find programs where you can volunteer your time, resources and talents.” In addition to data, the
website also houses various resources for community members, including funding opportunities for public health projects and a community calendar of events. It also includes the ability to build a customized report to download or share with others. Public Health junior Maxwell Ryner is the liaison to the School of Public Health for CURIS, a public health advocacy organization. He discussed why the accessibility of data and resources is important and how it could be used for public health projects to help the Ann Arbor community, specifically with homelessness. “I personally believe that the information being accessible to the public is crucial in getting conversations started,” Ryner said. “(Especially when) addressing the problem of homelessness in our communities. There is far too much stigma surrounding public misconceptions regarding homelessness and is often a conversation most shy away from. Having this information available to the public would be beneficial to public awareness.” The creation of Health for All Washtenaw comes after a steering committee was created earlier this year — composed of ten community members, four organizations and two hospitals — to improve public health conditions and bring attention to related issues. The committee is part of a national model for improving public health through community planning known as Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships.
ENERGY From Page 1 Allen said the optional workshops introduce the idea of nuclear waste, help students get a better understanding of entrepreneurship and foster interactions between possible teammates. Engineering senior Mackenzie Warwick, a participant in the competition, said about 30 people are participating in the competition and about 10 people attend each workshop. Warwick said she pitched the idea of a prize competition to Allen during the summer, which led Allen to collaborate with Energy Impact Center’s Managing Director, Bret Kugelmass. Warwick said her team is working on a project that uses radiation from used nuclear fuel to decompose plastics for hydrogen, alternative fuel production and hydrocarbon base chains. “I’m so excited,” Warwick said. “Anything about nuclear excites me, and so I think it’s a cool way to kind of get everybody in the college thinking about things.” Since an important aspect of the competition is interdisciplinary teamwork, Warwick said her team is made of a diverse group of students. However, she mentioned she’s the only NERS student in the group, which makes it frustrating to explain concepts at times. She said the competition provides a low stress environment that allows her to work on these skills. “With a very specific set of people with the same mindset, being able to convey what you want and know technically to someone who has no experience is a challenge,” Warwick said. “It’s very helpful because now I have to see how other people are thinking about the competition and interpreting the information.” Kugelmass said the most important aspect of the competition is to create a new narrative around nuclear
APLU From Page 2 Steven Wilson, associate director of the institute, said their approach towards fostering economic innovation is particularly unique, as each business’ needs are different and the institute responds accordingly. “We don’t have a canned approach, we don’t have a basket of goods that solve your problem,” Wilson said. “We don’t come to the table with anything to sell. We’re always looking for the right thing for that
PIZZA From Page 1 Oasis Grill will be moving into the previous location of China Gate, another South U. eatery that closed recently. “Because the lease is not expired yet for the Oasis, they gave him the other location there and I think the Oasis Grill is going to move on Jan. 7 over there,” Ghussani said. Ghussani also explained South U Pizza would not be relocating after December. “He’s not going to open any more because it says South U Pizza, it should be on the South U, and there’s no more locations on South U,” Ghussani said. “There’s a lot of customers that are really, really sad, they have customers from a long time ago.” Many students know the restaurant as a quick and easy pizza stop. Business junior Jaylen Burch explained South U is his choice for a pre-class meal. “Before class, if I just want a little bite to eat
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 — 3 waste. “They are tasked with reimagining nuclear waste,” Kugelmass said. “The idea is to come up with ideas of how nuclear waste can productize so you change something that once was thought of as dangerous and a liability, and by giving it economic value, you change the perception.” Allen agreed with Kugelmass saying this is an important opportunity to get people talking about nuclear waste and come up with a technological solution that changes the way people think about the issue. “The most optimistic innovation would be we come up with something that actually changes the national narrative on nuclear waste,” Allen said. Warwick said she got interested in nuclear energy after the Fukushima accident occurred in 2011. She said she hopes disasters like Fukushima and Chernobyl don’t happen again. “I hope that these are some very good initial steps into getting the status quo of nuclear to be a more positive outlook,” Warwick said. “A lot of the people who refute nuclear use Chernobyl or Fukushima as examples.” The organizers also formed a group of advisers who are experts in nuclear energy and entrepreneurship to help students develop their ideas. Allen said participants will have an opportunity to enroll in a Center for Entrepreneurship course to receive academic credit for their work. The technological innovation portion of the competition will officially begin in the winter semester when the teams are finalized and will conclude with teams pitching their ideas to a panel of judges on April 9. The winning team will win $17,000. Kugelmass said the prize money will help incentivize students, and could be thought of as an investment in a future company that may be created out of the competition. “We’re hoping that some of these students become very
encouraged and really get the momentum going that they’ll turn their projects into real life products, perhaps through entrepreneurship,” Kugelmass said. Kugelmass said the new innovations could lead to a more positive outlook on nuclear energy, which could be useful in reducing carbon emissions in the future. “This is one step towards making nuclear more publicly favorable,” Kugelmass said. “Nuclear energy as a whole as it increases in share will have dramatic effects on reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. This is one way to popularize nuclear energy.” Allen echoed this thought, saying the competition may provide initial steps to move toward zero carbon emissions. “If our prize comes up with a different pathway that makes people more comfortable with nuclear technologies, that will be important for moving towards zero carbon,” Allen said. “I also think it helps more people understand just what nuclear waste means. I think that’s helpful, because it is informative and allows people to better understand the conversation.” Kugelmass said he hopes to partner with more universities and organizations in the future. “The University of Michigan is a real leader in a lot of areas,” Kugelmass said. “They’re definitely a pioneer with us in the first of these nuclear energy grand challenges, but there’ll be many more to come.” Warwick said she hopes to participate in other prize competitions in the future and would like to see her project come to life one day. She hopes people become more informed through the project. “I think it’s just a fear of the unknown and the fact that (nuclear energy) was originally used for war, and it wasn’t a peaceful application,” Warwick said. “I think if anybody is interested in nuclear, just look at the many options it could be used for.”
company, regardless if that’s in our camp or in some other university’s camp… we have projects going on at the 15 other public universities because it was a better fit, it was the right thing to do.” Wilson also ref lected on what it means for the institute to have won the award and why the University stands out nationally. “Why our university over all others in the nation won the innovation award, was if you look at other ecosystems around the country, some of them have more gaps than others and I think in our ecosystem we fill those
critical gaps,” Wilson said. Sorrell said the programs’ state funding is to be cut and that they will be ending shortly, but the institute will continue to serve Michigan’s businesses in different and evolving capacities. “These two programs, we were notified the same week that we won the award that they were being cancelled by the state. It’s unfortunate because they’ve been running for seven years now,” Sorrell said. “We’re always looking to build on the skill sets that we have and the success that we’ve created.”
since this looks probably cheap and inexpensive, I’ll come grab a slice here,” Burch said. LSA junior Laura Sanderson expressed her disappointment since her usual stop between classes would be closing down. She bemoaned the loss of South U’s many creative pizza f lavors. “I’m disappointed. I don’t know how long they’ve been here, but I’ve seen plenty of businesses in Ann Arbor open and close within a few months,” Sanderson said. “But it does make me sad, because now, where am I going to go for my mac and cheese pizza and what not?” Sanderson also elaborated on her concern for the replacement of local restaurants with apartment complexes and its effect on student life. “I mean, there’s the whole arg ument that Ann Arbor does need more housing, hopefully that more supply is supposed to drive the price of housing down, but I don’t know that’s really going
to happen,” Sanderson said. “If South U is just apartment complexes, then it’s not going to be a popular place to hang out anymore.” In the past year, many of Ann Arbor’s small local businesses have closed down, and the large number of developments like those already and soon to be on South U. may be linked to this. South U Pizza employee Felipe Lopez said he has experience with working at businesses which have closed in Ann Arbor. “I mean, this is normal, you know? I used to work in other places, and they closed,” Lopez said. Ghussani also shared his thoughts on the real estate developers that will build another high rise where a cohort of local businesses sits right now. “They have money, they’re going to do whatever they’re going to do,” Ghussani said.
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Opinion
4 — Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
BRITTANY BOWMAN | COLUMN
Why are men so obsessed with their daughters’ virginity?
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SOLOMON MEDINTZ | COLUMN
U-M has $1 billion invested in fossil fuels. Let PCNN talk about it
A
couple weeks ago, my colleague Timothy Spurlin wrote a great article explaining why fossil fuel divestment is necessary and why the University of Michigan should divest. He is right, but I want to go over some of the logistical barriers that are preventing U-M from divesting. In the column, Spurlin says that divesting is complicated. He’s not wrong that the process of divestment would be difficult, but President Mark Schlissel could take the clear and obvious first step of letting the President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality discuss divestment. On Oct. 4, 2018, President Schissel created the PCCN. He charged the commission to recommend a path for the University to achieve carbon neutrality and to contribute to a “sustainable and just world.” While the commission’s charge is nominally ambitious, it is also contradictory; the PCCN was created to get the University to carbon neutrality, but it cannot engage with some of our biggest sources of carbon, including the expansion of the Central Power Plant and investments in fossil fuels. Schlissel has explicitly banned the commission from discussing these issues. This ban is especially egregious because the University has at least $1 billion of its endowment invested in fossil fuels extraction. And that number is rapidly increasing. Our tuition money is directly bankrolling the very industry creating the climate crisis. Refusing to even discuss the possibility of extricating U-M money from the fossil fuel industry means the University, even if it achieves carbon neutrality on its campuses, will continue footing the bill for the extraction and burning of fossil fuel around the globe. For this reason, Schlissel should let the commission discuss divestment. How do we know the University has $1 billion invested in fossil fuels? Of the University’s $12.4 billion endowment, 8.2 percent of that money is devoted to “Natural Resources,” which brings the total to over $1 billion. The University is somewhat secretive about where the money from its endowment is going. We only have access to the most recent years of investments, but here are some of the highlights: In April 2018, the University invested $75 million into Kayne Private Energy Income Fund II, L.P., a natural resources private equity fund that “will take advantage of increased long-term demand for natural gas … and … will acquire large, long-life gas assets.” They also committed $50 million to PetroCap Partners III, L.P. to invest in “strong operators in oil and gas projects.” The University also says that the “Natural Resources” category of the endowment is not just oil and gas. They recently changed the section name from “Energy” to “Natural Resource” to suggest they are transitioning their investments to renewable energy sources. However, when comparing the relative returns of U-M’s investments to market-wide standards, they compare it to “the MSCI World Energy Sector Index, as energy is by far the largest component of this asset class.” “Natural Resources” really just means “Oil and Gas.” And the transition from oil and gas to renewables, if it is happening at all, is going slowly. The recent endowment reports show that of the 11 recent “Natural Resources” investments, 10 are in oil and gas and one is in renewables. Why should the University divest? Besides the University’s own goal of carbon neutrality, the most recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change say that humans need to nearly halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis. If we trust these scientifically-based limits on greenhouse gases, it makes no sense to continue investing in fossil fuel projects that only encourage further extraction and burning of fossil fuels for the next 30 years. We need to undo these investments, stop making the investments altogether or at the very least have a conversation about it. But President Schlissel won’t allow the PCCN to have the conversation. Also, fossil fuels meet the University’s own criteria for divestment. When asked about divestment by both faculty and students at the President’s Special Town Hall on Carbon Neutrality on April 9, Schlissel said, “Essentially, we don’t divest,” and ended the conversation. He is mistaken. The University has actually divested twice and even has an explicit policy for divestment, though it is insufficient and unclear, as I wrote last April. Despite this lack of clarity, fossil fuels meet the policy’s three criteria for divestment.
The University should trust its experts on the commission to make decision about our entire carbon footprint
The first criterion is that “The concern to be explored must express the broadly and consistently held position of the campus community over time.” There is absolutely broad student and faculty support for divestment right now. On the student side, more than 10,000 people came to the Washtenaw County Climate Strikes in March and September, respectively. After the March 15 strike, students conducted an extended study-in at the Fleming Administration Building for three weeks, calling for — among other things — divestment. On the faculty side, more than 300 staff members signed a letter last year calling for the University to divest from fossil fuels. Not only is there broad consensus right now, but there has been consensus for a long time. The Daily wrote editorials calling for fossil fuel divestment in 2014 and 2015. The second criterion is that, “There must be reason to believe that the behavior or action in question may be antithetical to the core mission and values of the University.” The only way that fossil fuel investments do not meet this criterion is if you believe that investing in fossil fuels does not accelerate the climate crisis, or that contributing to the climate crisis is not antithetical to the University’s core values. Schlissel created the PCCN to recommend a path to carbon neutrality for U-M and to contribute to a sustainable and just world. This mission statement shows that the University recognizes its contributions to the climate crisis as antithetical to its core values. The University’s investments in fossil fuels are one such significant contribution, and should be treated as incongruent with its core values. The third criterion is that, “There must be reason to believe that the organization, industry or entity to be singled out may be uniquely responsible for
the problems identified.” One hundred fossil fuel companies are responsible for 71 percent of global emissions. Furthermore, fossil fuel companies like Exxon Mobil were aware of climate-changing risks from burning fossil fuels as far back as the 1970s, but concealed that science while undertaking massive, expensive disinformation campaigns to sow doubt in our society about the independent scientific evidence of climate change. This industry is uniquely responsible both for creating the climate crisis and for concealing its risks for decades. So, the University has reason to divest from fossil fuels to follow its divestment policy, accomplish its goal of carbon neutrality and help the world meet the IPCC’s scientifically-required reductions in greenhouse gases. The University also has experience with divestment. When the University divested from South Africa during Apartheid and from the tobacco industry, it created committees to discuss and recommend whether or not to divest. The commission could serve a similar purpose, but U-M explicitly forbid its members from discussing divestment. Finally, Schlissel should let the commission discuss divestment because it is a reasonable thing to do! Schlissel says he is no expert in carbon neutrality, which is why he appointed the commission. And to members of the Climate Action Movement, he says that we should trust the process and recommendations of the commission. But by silencing the commission on divestment, Schlissel shows that he does not trust it and is not committed to the political and financial steps required for U-M to achieve full carbon neutrality. The University should trust its experts on the commission to make decisions about our entire carbon footprint, not just the carbon sources that are convenient to eliminate. What is frustrating about this for me personally is that it would not be logistically hard to allow the commission to discuss divestment. All Schlissel has to do is give the order and the process would start. And while I don’t know this for sure, I speculate the expert members of the PCCN would be excited to hold productive discussions on divestment. The PCCN could even look to peer institutions for guidance. Many universities have already divested, both for moral and financial reasons. In September, two officials from the University of California co-authored an op-ed explaining they are divesting for financial reasons (though it was more likely organized pressure from students and faculty). They said, “We continue to believe there are more attractive investment opportunities in new energy sources than in old fossil fuels.” Syracuse University, which also moved towards divestment from fossil fuels in 2015, reported that divesting from fossil fuels did not hurt the endowment. The University of Massachusetts, University of Maryland and Smith College have also divested. Letting the commission talk about fossil fuel divestment would align with the University’s stated value of carbon neutrality. This would allow the University’s divestment guidelines to work as intended, give appropriate weight to the severity of the scientifically-established, ongoing damage from the climate crisis and bring U-M into alignment with peer institutions working on carbon neutrality. Solomon Medintz can be reached at smedintz@umich.edu.
R
ecently, musician and singer T.I. went on a podcast called Ladies Like Us on Nov. 5, and boasted about how his daughter’s hymen is still intact, and he knows because he forcibly takes her to the gynecologist. Here’s why that is problematic, and frankly, sickening. When Deyjah, T.I.’s daughter, turned 16, her father posted a note on the fridge stating they would be attending the doctor’s office within the next few days. When I first heard this story, I was straining to be optimistic, hoping this would be a case of teaching children and teens about sexual wellness and awareness by taking the time to familiarize them with their reproductive health resources. Instead, Deyjah’s father is inherently obsessed with maintaining his daughter’s socially-constructed purity and her virginity. Every year since she turned 18, he’s been driving her to the gynecologist as a post-birthday tradition. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that girls first see a gynecologist between the ages of 13 and 15, with a yearly checkup every year post initial exam. However, if reproductive health and overall health are maintained smoothly, there may not be a need to attend a specialized branch of medicine like the gynecologist. Many women’s health needs can be fulfilled by a primary care provider or even on the third floor of University Health Services at the University of Michigan, the Women’s Health Clinic. The Women’s Health Clinic provides comprehensive care for patients of any gender, and any patient seeking gynecologic information, STI treatment or post-sexual assault services can surely find some degree of help on the third floor. Granted, if the financial resources are available, it can be important to have a gynecologist. However, due to the potentially invasive nature of medical procedures or practices, gynecology visits can be intimidating. Some of the top reasons people make a gynecologist appointment are for overall physical health check-ups, pregnancy-related visits, irregular menstruation, breast or pelvic exams, pap smears, birth control, etc. Even then, the idea of making an appointment or going to the gynecologist is intimidating.
For this reason, gynecologists and other medical professionals tend to stress the importance of not performing unnecessary procedures. One of these unnecessary medical procedures is a virginity assessment, or hymen check. There is no factual, scientific or medical basis for determining whether or not someone has experienced vaginal penetration, and therefore has “lost their virginity.” In cultures where female virginity is prized, many women and girls are subjected to these invasive examinations in order to ensure that they are still “pure.” In addition to there being no scientific or medical evidence of virginity, these examinations can be psychologically and even physically harmful to girls and women. Examinations are oftentimes done without proper patient consent, normally when the patient is coerced into the procedure by an elder family member or even a partner. It is the physician’s job to ensure patient safety and not violate commonplace HIPAA guidelines. When the physician seeing T.I.’s daughter attempted to get her consent for the procedure with her father knowing the results, the exchange was frighteningly forceful. T.I. stated, “Is there anything you would not want me to know? Oh, OK. See doc? No problem.” Madeline Brewer, an actress on “The Handmaid’s Tale”, tweeted, “This makes me feel physically ill. It’s abhorrent … The level of toxicity and malice and control he’s exerting on his own daughters (sic) life and bodily autonomy and privacy. I’m sick.” T.I. was then informed again that there are other ways to tear the hymen, such as riding a bike or horse, running on the playground, playing sports, etc. Furthermore, sometimes people can be born without a hymen entirely — so the presence or absence of this thin piece of mucosal tissue is not indicative of one’s virginity. Each person is different. Presented with this information, T.I. promptly responded, “Look, doc, she don’t ride no horses, she don’t ride no bike, she don’t play no sports. Man, just check the hymen please and give me back my results expeditiously.” You can notice in T.I.’s language that he objectifies his daughter by saying “the hymen” and “my results,” not a single mention of his daughter or
the control she should have over her own body. If virginity is not measured on a factual nor medical basis, what is it? First, virginity is strictly a heteronormative concept based on the first episode of vaginally penetrative sex, which excludes anyone who does not participate in heterosexual intercourse. It’s a social construct that was ultimately manifested to control women and to make them feel bad about being sexually active. This ideal is ingrained in religion and cultures around the world and is almost always harmful to women and girls. From the time we are young girls, we are told that if we do not “wait for the right man” or “save ourselves for marriage,” we are committing a sin, or we are ruined or we are not worthy. This certainly led to the patriarchal double standard where it’s perfectly fine, even encouraged, for boys to lose their virginity and gain sexual experience, but girls who are sexually active are considered damaged, ruined, used or slutty by the exact same standards. Why is something so different to everyone — this thin mucosal tissue that can be compared to an earlobe — so important in determining a young woman’s worth? T.I.’s behavior towards his daughter and her body is possessive, sickening and controlling. He is deeply invading her privacy by making her attend the gynecologist with him, but the fact that he also went on a podcast to talk about it showcases his gross sexism and misogyny toward women and, ultimately, his own daughter. T.I. is obsessed with saving his daughter, but from what? This idea of psychologically manipulating and ruining his daughter to “save” her from an evolutionarily and physically normal process is profoundly disconcerting. What’s even more frightening is the possible reaction when and if he learns that his daughter’s hymen is, for whatever reason, not intact. T.I.’s daughter is not his property, nor is any other human being. Young women are fully capable of making their own informed choices about their bodies and their sexuality and certainly do not need to have their sexualities or bodies policed. Brittany Bowman can be reached at babowm@umich.edu.
ZACK BLUMBERG | COLUMN
T
30 years on, has German reunification hit a wall?
his month, November 2019, marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the most momentous events of the 20th century. In many regards, the German reunification was an unbridled success: After being divided for more than four decades, the nation was able to come together quickly and peacefully, bridging major divides. On the surface, this reunification appears to be a miraculous success story. Since 1990, all of Germany has cheered for the same national soccer team, used the same currency and operated politically as one united nation. However, below the surface, there are many signs that Germany’s seemingly smooth reunification process failed to address significant political, social and economic divides between the former East and West states. In recent years, increasing political polarization and rising cultural tensions have highlighted this problem, and in order to move forward, Germany and the world at large must critically re-evaluate the successes and failures of reunification. Currently, the most obvious concernforGermanyisthelarge-scale inequality that still exists between the affluent former West and the comparatively less well-off former East. Though the gap has shrunk in absolute terms since 1990, at which point the former East produced only 8 percent of Germany’s GDP, a large chasm still exists. Today, Germany’s six poorest states (measured in GDP per capita) are the six that formerly composed East Germany. Furthermore, the disparity between disposable incomes in the former East and West states has actually increased since reunification. In 1991, former East Germans averaged 61 percent of what West Germans made in disposable income. Today, that difference has increased. Unsurprisingly, people from both the former West and East believe the two regions still have unequal living conditions —
66 percent from the West and 74 percent from the East. Though the German government has poured money into the former East since reunification, it has not been able to effectively bridge the economic gap between Germany’s two regions. In the years immediately after reunification, the German government used the poorer former East as a testing ground for new neoliberal policies. Unfortunately, this experiment did not promote increased economic growth in the former East to the degree many had hoped for. Today, only 7 percent of Germany’s 500 biggest companies are based in the East. Historically, the most
A major cultural wedge still exists between the former East and West
effective method of overcoming Germany’s economic chasm has been direct state expenditure into the former East in the form of solidarity payments, but these were largely used in the years immediately following reunification, and are not a particularly sustainable way to develop the East. It is imperative that Germany finds a way to address this wealth gap, since it ties into nearly all of the other divisions that exist today. A major cultural wedge still exists between the former East and West, which has been highlighted and worsened in recent years, most particularly by an influx of refugees and migrants into Germany. This divide, which is descended from a larger debate on what constitutes being “German,” is in part derived from Germany’s history of “jus sanguinis” inherited citizenship
policy, which prioritizes German ancestry — not German residency — in determining national status. This ideology was thrust into the spotlight after the fall of communism, particularly after a number of Russians with German ancestry were granted citizenship, while ethnically Turkish German residents, who lived exclusively in the former West, were not. In 2000, Germany finally adopted a more modern citizenship system, but the sentiment that citizenship should be tied to ethnic background still exists, particularly in the former East. This internal conflict was again reinvigorated when Germany began accepting large numbers of refugees in the early 2010s. Today, the six states composing the former East have far fewer migrants than the rest of Germany and are categorically less supportive of Germany’s liberal immigration policies. Though the former West’s prevailing sentiment is that Germany should present itself as a bulwark of liberalism, this view is not particularly popular in the former East. Instead, many Germans in the former East believe refugees and migrants are dangerous and should not be welcomed. In many ways, this belief is rooted in Germany’s geographic inequalities: Many residents of the former East think they have received insufficient support from the modern German government and feel it is unfair that Germany devotes energy and resources to resettling migrants as they continue to suffer. Considering Germany’s political systems, institutions and parties descend from the former West, the former West’s outsize population gives it more electoral influence — hence why the former East feels somewhat put-upon.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com Zack Blumberg can be reached at zblumber@umich.edu.
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 — 5
COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW
ALBUM REVIEW
‘Midsummer’ a needed DJ Shadow’s latest is heavy relief during this winter It’s got some Toby Fox vibes going on, invoking the magic and nostalgia of the “Undertale” soundtrack. Daily Arts Writer That’s an influence I never expected to find on a DJ Shadow album. The highlight instrumental is “Rosie.” Compared to other legendary hip-hop producers The way the vocal sample gets chopped up and that got their beginnings in the ’90s, DJ Shadow has deconstructed is terrifying. By the midpoint, when the not quite kept up. Just look at his peers who are on top eerie oscillating synths and sticky bassline kick in, I’m of the world right now, even after 25 years in the game. seeing little Rosie in my midnight dreams. For the most part, though, the beats on disc one El-P is pumping out some of the hardest production of his career as part of Run The Jewels, somehow sound a little too sterile, a little too unfocused, a little competing with contemporary experimentalists like too lost and rambling in their runtime. That leaves clipping., Death Grips and JPEGMAFIA. Madlib is the weight of this bloated album on the backs of all still a prolific music making machine, maintaining the zany disc two features. Could fire verses save this his iconic lo-fi sound for modern rap rock stars like album? Maybe they could have, but the majority of the raps Kanye West, cooking up beats on his iPad for shits and giggles. And then there’s DJ Shadow. The eccentric. on this half are not fire. They’re not even mediocre. The kooky collector with more vinyl records in his They’re mostly dirt that snuffs this album out. If disc possession than the average American household’s one invokes the OK boomer meme, then disc two is yearly income. The hip-hop trailblazer who has never cashing it in for all its worth. Immediately on “Drone been able to turn heads with his music the way his Warfare,” the societal commentary is extremely heavy debut album did in ’96. Behold: He is out with a brand handed. There is nothing clever about lines like “I duct tape the cam on a Mac Pro” or “My smartphone’s new 90-minute behemoth. Our Pathetic Age is more interesting before listening.” It’s like DJ Shadow got a bunch of hip hop legends on the album just to listening, with its flashy spout off vague doomsdayRoy Lichtenstein-esque sounding bullshit. cover art and two-pronged That unwoke commentary structure: The first half is on society today pervades all instrumentals, while the throughout most of the second half is packed with DJ Shadow verses on the album. features. Guest vocalists are Mass Appeal Records The worst offender is an unconvential mix of OG “C.O.N.F.O.R.M.,” featuring rap legends (Nas, De La Soul, the most uninspired and some of Wu-Tang Clan’s cringe-inducing lyrics about hardest hitters), modern hip-hop kings (Run The Jewels, Pusha T) and random social media I have ever heard. The production isn’t bad at least. It’s just that the piano keys literally sound nobodies (who the fuck is Barny Fletcher?). DJ Shadow doesn’t shy away from flexing his like the intro to the “Goosebumps” TV series, and I technical ability on this record. “Slingblade” is cannot unhear it for the life of me. There are bits of gold that shine beneath DJ horrifying and perplexing, with freaky pitched vocal samples and sputtering cyberpunk synths. There’s Shadow’s oppressively unimpressive thematic something weird going on with the percussion that direction. Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah and makes it unsatisfying to the listener’s expectations, Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan spit some of the album’s creating an intentional discomfort that might be better smoothest verses on “Rain On Snow,” sandwiched unpacked by someone who understands music theory. between a blood-chilling chorus. “Rocket Fuel” is By the time “Juggernaut” comes on, it’s obvious DJ blessed by De La Soul’s unwieldy groove, the only Shadow wants you to feel an oppressive weight through instance of cheer on the entire album that makes for the music. His weapons of choice are overwhelming a breath of fresh air among the futuristic despair. The noisey blares, too many snares and that creepy sound beat on “Taxin’” would not sound out of place on an you always hear in horror movie trailers. Then plays album from a modern LA rapper like ScHoolboy Q or a vocal sample where a man says, “Sometimes you Jay Rock. Unsurprisingly, Run The Jewels bring the are so charmed by the music, he might be saying heat on “Kings & Queens,” rapping over a gorgeous ‘death, death, death,’ and you would not notice.” The soul sample. And the best vocal performance goes to title is Our Pathetic Age and the album cover is a girl Pusha T on the bonus track “Been Use Ta.” He raps staring at a smartphone. It takes very little effort to over the unfortunate beat from “C.O.N.F.O.R.M.,” but decipher the album’s message. It’s like that episode of with far better writing and delivery than the random “SpongeBob” when Squidward accidentally gets stuck wackjobs DJ Shadow enlisted for the not-bonus in the Krusty Krab freezer for 2,000 years. This album version. Our Pathetic Age has its high points on both discs, but is just DJ Shadow curling on the floor screaming bloat is the death of this record. On the instrumental “FUUTUUUREEE.” half, it’s mediocre bloat, and on the feature-packed OK boomer. There are some other neat cuts in the mix on half, it’s poisonous bloat. Cut out the unfocused tracks side A. “Firestorm” is an orchestral composition; from side A and the god-awful tracks from side B, that’s something new for DJ Shadow, whose debut string it together a little more cohesively, and this Endtroducing has a Guinness World Record for being album might have been memorable. Too bad it’s only the first album recorded with only sampled sounds. middling at best. DYLAN YONO
NATALIE KASTNER Daily Arts Writer
Shakespeare is remembered as the greatest playwright of all time. The greatest struggle with putting on Shakespeare now, though, is to make it fresh and relevant for audiences all over the globe. His narratives are geniusly concocted, but the vernacular more closely resembles rocket science than a lighthearted rom-com, which was how they were originally performed. Such struggles were not the case for National Theatre Live’s production of Shakespeare’s comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” presented Sunday evening by the University Musical Society at the Michigan Theater. The most extraordinary aspect of the production was how specific and clear the storytelling presented itself. Usually, I can barely make out every other phrase in a Shakespearian play. In this production, the actors, among them Gwendolyn Christie (“Game of Thrones”), Oliver Chris (“Green Wing”), David Moorst (“NT Live: Allelujah!”) and Hammed Animashaun (“The Barber Shop Chronicles”), managed to relay the plot in such a way that I was able to enjoy myself the entire time. I relaxed into the storyline so much that I found myself laughing hysterically through most of the production. In a society full of Twitter feeds and Instagram captions slaughtering any sort of poeticism we have left in the English language, I felt refreshed by how decadent Shakespeare’s language was while maintaining the playfulness and absurdity of the comedy. Director Nicholas Hytner changed one key aspect of the plotline. He switched Titania, played by Christie, and Oberon’s lines around so that the king ended up having sex with the donkey, Longbottom, instead of the queen. The reason for the switch was because Hytner lamented
how serious productions of “Midsummer” were becoming. Originally, the queen is constantly being humiliated by the king, and has no choice but to be presented as a very sexist parable. In Hytner’s production, the king is tricked by the queen and the end result was hysterical. Their “lovemaking” was interpreted by a dance/silk number to Beyonce’s “Love On Top.” Pure genius. Initially, I was worried by the fact that much of the audience stood on the stage for the immersive experience. Shakespeare’s plays are more of a marathon than a sprint. However, the performance was so inventive and immersive that I understood why the director Hytner opted for audience participation. At times, they served as the forest for which the dream takes place. Silks were also suspended above the audience for most of the play from which the actors did trapeze tricks to show that they were, indeed, fairies in the production. At intermission, Hytner casually said that the performers, world class actors, who had never interacted with silks before were given three months to learn how to maneuver their way around silks some 20 feet in the air while reciting Shakespearian monologues. National Theatre Live brings world class British theater to cinemas around the globe. It’s not difficult to surmise why this production of “Midsummer” was so brilliant. Theater in Britain receives more funding from the government compared to the U.S., and actors are allowed a significantly longer time to rehearse and prepare for each production. Last year, I attended NTL’s production of “Antony and Cleopatra,” and was equally impressed. It is such a privilege to experience world class performances for a low student price, even if it is relayed on a screen. In a society full of reality television and superhero franchises, the ability to refresh classic works as efficiently as National Theatre Live did is reassuring.
The most extraordinary aspect of the production was how specific and clear the storytelling presented itself.
Our Pathetic Age
TV REVIEW
TV REVIEW
‘Heartstrings,’ because Dolly ‘Donovan’ is still intense ANYA SOLLER Daily Arts Writer
Only Dolly Parton could get away with “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings.” That is, if Dolly herself didn’t appear in each episode, this show would be nothing more than Netflix’s attempt to corner the Hallmark feel-good movie market. “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings” consists of eight episodes with unrelated storylines all based on the most famous of Parton’s songs. Each episode explores a different aspect of family, friendship, love, loss or acceptance, and features Dolly’s own commentary on the history of each song’s creation and legacy. The series’s first episode takes inspiration from famed song “Jolene” and reimagines the titular character (Julianne Hough, “Grease Live!”) as a struggling musician stifled by the traditions of a small town. The next story, “Two Doors Down,” has a similarly light, comedic tone and follows an estranged family as they each reveal personal secrets during a lavish New Year’s Eve wedding. Other than a few various petty conflicts, every loose end in these episodes ties up nicely and each have happy (albeit slightly unrealistic) endings. While the opening episodes of “Heartstrings” are framed as lighthearted comedies, the series becomes more of a melodramatic tragedy than the average holiday heartwarmer as it progresses. “If I Had Wings” and “Cracker Jack” delve into Parton’s sadder tunes and depict fractured families or friend groups torn apart by terminal illness or addiction. Though
Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings Season One, Episodes 1-4 Netflix Now Streaming some moments are genuinely emotional, most of these episodes feel engineered to produce tears, rather than to elicit the emotions so central to Parton’s music. Despite its best attempts to connect with what makes Dolly Parton an icon, “Heartstrings” feels too commercial and hollow in comparison to its source material. With vapid and occasionally ridiculous dialogue, characters closely resemble two-dimensional archetypes employed to easily move stories forward. Even the storylines, which consistently rely on plot twists, seem too simplistic and trite to get invested in. Without the compelling narratives of Parton’s original lyrics, “Heartstrings” fails to capture the heart of the country singer’s music. However, for all its faults, the show succeeds in capturing the fun of her storytelling. Dolly Parton has long been one of the kindest and truly positive musicians in American pop culture. Despite the cheesiest aspects of “Heartstrings,” the wholesome joy of the series is undeniable. Even with iffy writing and moments more worthy of eye rolls than tears, the show’s heart is in the right place. Dolly’s personal involvement with each episode serves as the perfect reminder to the audience that her music is more about feeling than judging. Although “Heartstrings” tries its hardest to manufacture these feelings in abundance and loses out on some of her songs’ subtleties, the show still retains some of the sentiment in Parton’s lyrics. “Heartstrings” is less focused on technical quality and devotes itself instead to being a comforting show for the holiday season. Without Dolly’s infectious personality, the show probably wouldn’t work. But if you love the Queen of Nashville enough to overlook the show’s flaws, NETFLIX “Heartstrings” is worth the watch.
“Atypical”) because she has met someone else. Ray has begun therapy with Dr. Arthur Amiot Daily Arts Writer (Alan Alda, “The Good Fight”), who suggests he forgive his father Mickey and let go of all his After “Ray Donovan” relocated from Los anger. Flash forward four months, and some Angeles to New York City at the beginning of fishermen discover the heads of one of the Season 6, there was reason to be concerned officers that the Donovans killed in the season about how long the crime-drama could five finale. To make matters worse, there is continue. The change in the setting of a still a bullet in the victim’s head and is going television show is often followed by a decrease to be tested by ballistics which could lead the in quality. Some notable examples that come police back to Ray. Like I said, how long could to mind include “Glee,” the final season of this path of self improvement really last for the “Scrubs” and the upcoming fourth season of Donovans? This is what sets the episode in motion “Stranger Things.” But “Ray Donovan” is the exception. Moving away from L.A. has allowed as Ray tries to move on from his past while the show to successfully and logically change still being haunted by it. Ray shows flashes of this new lifestyle — he its direction. With punches a guy for one the unique job held of his clients but then by Ray Donovan (Liev apologizes and says Schreiber, “Spotlight”) he could have handled — it’s easiest to things better and urges describe him as a more the guy to “get the help violent Olivia Pope he needs.” But Ray is (Kerry Washington, Season 7 Premiere still under the control of “Scandal”) but a “fixer” Showtime New York City Mayor Ed nevertheless — no Ferrati (Zach Grenier, matter the location, Sundays @ 8 p.m. “The Good Wife”). Ray there will always be cannot possibly keep up someone in need of his this “new lifestyle,” as services. he is still involved in the After years of Ray same “fixer” business battling alcoholism, anger issues and arrogance, the Season 6 that forced him to turn the very violent finale hinted that a change was on the horizon. behavior he’s setting out to end, but he’s trying Not just for Ray, but for everyone in his life. to do better. Oh, and remember the bullet in the victim’s Each character seems to be on a path of selfimprovement. His father, Mickey (Jon Voight, head? Well, Ray decides he will put Mickey’s “24”), has finally gone to jail. His brothers, fingerprints on the gun as he is already in Bunchy (Dash Mihok, “Whiskey Cavalier”) jail. But, he can’t do that if Mickey never gets and Terry (Eddie Marsan, “Deadpool 2”) are there. Most of Ray’s problems are rooted in both living healthier lifestyles. His college- his relationship with Mickey so it comes as no aged daughter, Bridget (Kerris Dorsey, surprise that another huge one is created in “Moneyball”) even apologizes to him. This is the final minutes of this episode. The episode ends with a bus full of convicts the newer and happy Donovan family … for — including Mickey — getting transferred to now. If there’s one member of the Donovan a maximum security prison upstate. Up the family that deserves eternal happiness, it’s road, a tanker truck driver has a heart attack Terry, Ray’s brother. Unfortunately, his while inclining. This results in the tanker Parkinson’s disease has gotten worse. He rolling back down and smashing into the bus meets a woman at the drugstore that Bunchy, full of convicts with an explosion that could Ray’s other brother, works at who urges him have been seen from a zip code over. What to try a natural remedy that will disinfect his does this mean for the rest of the season? Is liver. Elsewhere, Bridget considers ending he dead? Did he live and escape? Regardless, her marriage with Smitty (Graham Rogers, Ray’s therapist is going to have his hands full. JUSTIN POLLACK
Ray Donovan
Arts
6 — Wednesday, November 27, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MUSIC NOTEBOOK
A playlist of solidarity: Surviving Thanksgiving break MADELEINE GANNON Daily Arts Writer
It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. Holidays are always equal parts joyous and frightening, longawaited and spirit-breaking. We all love our families. We also hate them a tiny bit, too — it’s OK to admit it, I said it first. But this Thanksgiving won’t be like the others. No, you’re going to go in prepared — defenses ready, arms locked and loaded. Enter upon America’s beloved day of justified gluttony steeled against the onslaught of “Are you dating anyone?” “What exactly are you going to use your English major for?” “I’ve never heard of the University of Michigan, is it any good?” And last, but by far the most painful: “Let’s gooooo Buckeyes!” Godspeed, if you’re returning home to a football rivalry family. Your secret weapon? Allow me to humbly offer this playlist. May your holiday be the movie montage we all wish we had. For the Pilgrimage: You’re excited, everyone is optimistic and a good mood reigns free. But you know, deep, deep down that something wicked this way comes. To balance the pessimism and optimism of the pilgrimage back home, or the run up to the holiday if you’re staying put, listen to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising.” Shame we couldn’t listen to their warming, “I see a bad moon rising / I see trouble on the way.” For That One Question: Mistakenly, you believed you had made it through the holiday without someone asking the dreaded question of your single status. Or, if you are “cuffed,” that you need to find someone better. Ugh, right? I suggest Lana Del Rey’s “Norman Fucking Rockwell.” Maybe not the exact fiery, don’t-care attitude you might expect — but soft fall vibes, Lana’s dreamy voice, what
more do you need to mourn single-dome? Plus, as Lana says in her song, no one needs a “man-child,” so you can celebrate your freedom from one. It’s the perfect song for an efficient mopesession in a borrowed bedroom. For When the Turkey Starts Burning: Tensions rise as the smoke of that crisp, brittle bird fills the air. You know what’s coming. Suddenly, everything starts to go wrong: Dinner isn’t ready yet! Mom’s nerves are on the
someone has already stolen a slice of pie! For When Someone is Inevitably Injured: Someone decides to clean the gutter, a knuckle is grated or a bout of good-natured wrestling among siblings or cousins go wrong — tears, cussing and “Another One Bites The Dust.” Whether you’re in the middle of the fray, or — like me — watching from the sidelines with a glass of wine and a snack, nothing will narrate Thanksgiving fumbles better than Queen. For When Things Get Melancholy: Post-dinner and everyone is lazing around the house, hoping that by laying, the nausea might go away. Grandma or Grandpa are holding court somewhere with a glass of something that screams The Great Depression. Without warning, suddenly you’re thrown violently down memory lane and the vibe check lands hard — things go melancholy fast. While Gramps waxes poetic on the greatest generation, play Willie Nelson’s “Are You Sure.” It’s appropriately reminiscent and slow, good for when you’re too tired to fight the good fight. Plus, it’s an oldie-but-a-goodie and without fail will cue some (much needed) contemplative silence. For the “OK, Boomer” Moment: The family gets a second wind over pie, and niceties are dropped now that dinner is over. It’s like the indulgence in dessert is a green light for all the taboo dinner table topics you shuff led around before: politics, religion, family gossip. Someone accidentally lets a “Trump” or “Obama” slip, and bam! It’s a plummet of no-return. All bets are off, time to use the random handful of intro-level political science facts HOLLYWOOD RECORDS / YOUTUBE you’ve held onto from freshman year to wage a onefritz, the kitchen is 1000 degrees, it’s nearing 4 p.m. and people person battle. The Happy Fits’s “Dirty Imbecile” embraces our are getting antsy. Family member turns on family member — craziness while brushing off the buzzkill attitude of the rest of it’s survival of the fittest, every man for themselves. “Staying the world. They sing, “if I’m so smart and I’m so pretty / damn Alive” by The Funky Town will add some appreciated disco this town and damn this city / you never give me anything that f lair as well as motivate you to get out of the kitchen, and as I want,” like a break, or some respect, or a planet that isn’t far away as possible before the bomb goes off and Mom realizes trying to die on us.
COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK
The anxious artist and learning to believe in my art ALIX CURNOW Daily Arts Writer
Thanksgiving is the two-day-old meat in the sandwich of holidays that lies within the months of October through December. Halloween season is full of spooky stories and costumes. December is filled to the brim with gift-giving and snowmen. Thanksgiving is rooted in racism, arguing relatives and an underwhelming parade in New York. While Thanksgiving has many negative stereotypes, there is one thing I enjoy about it: The attitude of gratitude that resides in not only me, but my closest family and friends. Thanksgiving is a time to spend appreciating the things you would usually take for granted. This Thanksgiving, I want to shed light on something that I never thought I’d be grateful for. I’ve had anxiety since I was little. I started taking medicine for it after I graduated high school. It’s no secret that having anxiety is hard, especially when it comes to my art. The constant nagging of never being good enough in my mind pushes me to do better. However, this pursuit of perfection often turns sour quickly. This year, my perfectionism broke me for the first time in months. Have you ever cried in class? It’s awful. It’s embarrassing and vulnerable, but at the same time could potentially be the best thing to happen to you during your collegiate career. Earlier this year, I cried in my acting class. The tears in my eyes swelled up and burned hot against my cheeks. I wanted them to stop, but they kept falling one after the other — a physical manifestation of the frustration I had with myself. We had been working on a difficult scene. The scene work had been going on for at least two weeks. With my anxiety, I often tend to extremely over-prepare or drastically under-
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis DOWN 1 “Careful where you open this link” shorthand 2 Jai __ 3 Grammy winner Aimee 4 Yuletide mugful 5 Doglike facial feature 6 Universal donor’s type, briefly 7 Artist Mondrian 8 Not at all lenient 9 Touchdown preventer, often 10 Reacted to a scare 11 Ill-mannered type 12 Tramcar filler 13 Source of blowups 21 “Fat chance” 22 Future stallion 25 “Tennessee’s Partner” story writer 26 Racing family name 27 PC abort key 28 Rule of __ 29 Put on quite an act 30 Large chamber group
31 Monopoly token since Mar., 2017 32 Transition point 36 Rolling in dough 38 MacLaren’s on “How I Met Your Mother,” e.g. 41 Holder of oats 42 Drink with a polar bear mascot 44 Jenny’s mate 45 Post-CrossFit woe
48 Tracked down 49 Checkers cry 52 Atoll barrier 53 Zigzagged 54 “When you’re right, you’re right!” 55 Caspian Sea land 56 Geeky type 57 Places with elliptical trainers 58 Dept. that includes the TSA 59 Old Faithful’s st.
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
‘Beautiful Day’ is moving, naturally SABRIYA IMAMI Daily Arts Writer
For a movie centered around a famous children’s television show host, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” deals with some heavy topics — primarily anger and how it can consume you. I suppose that makes sense, though, considering that is what the original show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” did as
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SONY PICTURES
By Bruce Venzke and Gail Grabowski ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
I wanted to brush off his comment. Say “Nothing, I’m just tired” and walk away. But all of a sudden, every ounce of frustration I was feeling boiled up inside of me. I started to cry. “I don’t know, I guess — I feel like I’m doing a bad job,” I said, wiping away the tears. “You’re not doing a bad job. You’re just not being present,” he replied. It was these words that sparked a groundbreaking realization for my artistry. Throughout my life I had thought that the harder I was on myself, the better I’d become. Yet, upon ref lecting on other acting assignments, I realized it was my own self-deprecation that had stunted my growth. No one was telling me I was a bad actor except for me. Critiques were given to me, but the projection of my own insecurities onto them is what made these critiques impossible to listen to. The next day in class, I approached the scene with a sense of being present. I still knew all my lines and blocking, of course, but I tried my best to get out of my own head. I practiced an approach of self-awareness that I had never thought possible before. When a self-deprecating thought entered my mind, I ignored it and focused on the scene instead. I’ve practiced methods similar to this with meditation, but I never thought to apply them to my art. This was difficult, and it certainly didn’t happen the entire time, but I was trying. Anxiety with any art form is a hard battle to overcome. There are many days where I wish my brain would just shut up, days I want to reach into my own skull and pull out all the bits that make living with anxiety so hard. But there are also days like the one I had in class, where I experience monumental growth. There are days that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ll think of these days and people like my professor that help me get there this Thursday.
FILM REVIEW
Release Date: Wednesday, November 27, 2019
ACROSS 1 Roster entry 5 Opens, as a car hood 9 Letter-shaped opening 14 Foundry by-product 15 Army outfit 16 __ squash 17 Long tooth 18 Will of “The Waltons” 19 Vinaigrette holder 20 First, Lucky plays the lottery and buys the __ 23 “Price negotiable,” in ads 24 Soft drink choice 25 Then, Lucky goes to court and is awarded a __ 32 Put up, as preserves 33 “Winter Song” musician John 34 Post-quake rumbling 35 Bear up? 37 Pride youngster 39 “That’s that!” 40 Tennis great Graf 43 Goya subject 46 Second-largest U.S. state 47 Finally, Lucky joins March Madness and fills out a __ 50 Lascivious look 51 Letter after phi 52 What Lucky got, literally and figuratively, when his alarm clock put an end to a very pleasant dream 58 Geeky type 60 Unresponsive state 61 Like a cloudy London day 62 “Laughing” critter 63 Pre-event periods 64 Old-time teacher 65 Giant opening? 66 Rooms with TVs 67 Fades to black
prepare. When I under-prepare, I lay in bed all day thinking about what I could be doing, but don’t have the effort or motivation to. When I over-prepare, I figure out everything to the most minute detail in an effort to ensure that all the “what if” scenarios f looding my head never become a reality. For this particular class, I was over-prepared, and it ended up being my downfall. I was working too hard. I had memorized the lines, I had read the script three times, I had done hours of research, I had set myself up to succeed. Yet each day, I failed. My professor would give me more critiques than compliments. I knew the work I was doing was not where I wanted it to be. Instead of taking these critiques as a learning experience, I started to take them personally. One day, during one of our end of class discussions, I let the critiques get the best of me. My head was littered with questions: What am I doing wrong? Why is my pacing too fast? Why am I not playing into the given circumstances of the scene? Why am I not listening to my scene partner? As I had time to anxiously stew in my own thoughts, my questions got bigger and less founded in reality: Why am I so bad? What if I’m never good enough to make a living as an actor? What if my professor hates me? What if everyone hates me? The list of questions racing through my brain could go on for pages. I couldn’t get them to stop. I sat idle as the class talked about their work, yet my brain was moving at a million miles a minute. My professor noticed I was not fully present in the group’s conversations. He made a joke, and I didn’t laugh because, quite frankly, I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t hear the joke being made. He coyishly asked me, “Do you not think I’m funny?” To which I replied, “No, I was just — I wasn’t listening.” After class he approached me. “Alix,” he started, “What’s wrong?”
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well. Just like the show, the movie frames these heavy topics in a way that makes them suitable for kids. And by following the style of the original television show, the filmmakers beautifully soften the harsh topics. The film opens up by introducing us to Mister Rogers, played by Tom Hanks (“Forrest Gump”), who explains to the audience that he will be talking about his friend Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys, “The Post”) and some of the hardships in his life. Hanks’s portrayal of Rogers is easily one of the most successful parts of the film; every time he is on-screen, he has a gentle, easy-going manner that matches that of the real Mister Rogers. What is interesting about the movie, though, is that it isn’t
really about Mister Rogers. It really follows Lloyd Vogel. The movie was inspired by the article written by Tom Junod, the man who Vogel is presumably based on. Vogel, like Junod, is a magazine writer who is tasked with writing a ‘hero-centered’ article about Mister Rogers. Initially believing the man to be hoax, Vogel doesn’t want to write the article. But as he interviews the man, he begins to learn that Mister Rogers is just as good a man off-screen as he is on-screen. Through the lessons that Rogers preaches on his television program, through the stuffed animals and puppets starring on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and through genuine conversations with Rogers about important matters of life, Vogel realizes that he has to let go of the anger he has been holding in, releasing the contempt he feels towards his father all his life. I have no shame in admitting that I cried while watching this film. There is something incredibly moving about pulling back the curtains on this children’s television host so loved by the world. One scene features Rogers and Vogel on the subway together, where a group of kids sees Rogers and begins to sing his show’s famous theme song. Other people in the subway car join in until everyone is singing. Seeing that moment of togetherness from a group of people who don’t know each other is, in many ways, what Mister Rogers is all about: kindness. The film makes you want to be a better person. Viewers will see Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers and some distant part of them — the part of them that remembers watching Rogers’s show, learning about his kindness, and wanting to be just like him, will awaken. The movie follows Vogel because we, the audience, are Vogel. We are learning what kindness is, just Sony Pictures like he is. We are in awe of Mister Ann Arbor 20 + IMAX Rogers just like him. We, at the end of the film, will be just as transformed as he is.
A Beautiful Day
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 — 7
Battle 4 Atlantis preview: What to expect
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily The Wolverines’ upcoming trip to the Bahamas will be their first road trip and first true test.
JACOB KOPNICK Daily Sports Writer While families come together from far and wide to devour turkey, watch football and reluctantly talk politics, the Michigan men’s basketball team will be facing its fiercest competition to date at the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. Hosted every year in the Bahamas, the tournament hosts a variety of college basketball’s historic programs in an early-season slugfest prime for early resume-building and testing weaknesses. This year, the Bahamas will
welcome the Wolverines (4-0) along with No. 6 North Carolina (4-0), No. 8 Gonzaga (6-0), No. 10 Oregon (5-0), No. 13 Seton Hall (4-1), Iowa State (3-1), Alabama (2-2) and Southern Miss (2-3). On Wednesday, Michigan kicks off the tournament against the Cyclones in one of its first true tests of the season. The Wolverines are guaranteed at least three games throughout their stay in Atlantis and could face any of the visiting opponents throughout the tournament. The Daily breaks down the three teams Michigan is most likely to face and what the Wolverines must be thankful for in the event of a Thanksgiving day
win. Iowa State When the Wolverines take the floor on Wednesday against Iowa State, they will face a team that is practically their mirror image. Well, more like a funhouse mirror that slightly distorts the image. The Cyclones use an up-tempo offense centered around a dynamic, ball-dominant guard who excels at ball distribution and rains 3-point shots. Add some bruising post players and a slightly worse turnover ratio and you have the Michigan Wolverines. Iowa State’s offense is highlighted by one of the most exciting players in the country in sophomore Tyrese Haliburton.
As Mason Parris rises, he continues to stay the course
The point guard leads the nation in assists per game with 10.3. Who’s number three on that list? Senior guard Zavier Simpson. Haliburton has emerged this season as one of the best facilitators in college basketball and continues his potent threat from deep after hitting 43.4 percent of his shots from beyond the arc last season. Accompanying Haliburton is a loaded backcourt in Penn State transfer Rasir Bolton and Colorado State transfer Prentiss Nixon. Bolton leads the team in points per game, with 12.5, and is a consistent perimeter threat. Per usual this season, Michigan’s clear advantage here is size and presence down low. If the Wolverines can find points in the paint, rebound effectively and find ways to neutralize Haliburton’s prolific passing, then they should be able to walk out with an important win. North Carolina If Michigan snakes out a win on Wednesday, it’s set to face the winner of Alabama-North Carolina. Assuming the Tar Heels, the clear favorite, take this one, the Wolverines will face their toughest opponent to date. North Carolina has mowed down opponents thus far this season on its way to a 4-0 record and a plus-13.7 scoring margin. And it all goes through one man: freshman sensation Cole Anthony. Saying the Tar Heels’ entire team identity is shaped around one figure will take some getting used to for college basketball pundits this season. North
Carolina coach Roy Williams has consistently favored depth on his rosters and uses a wide array of talent to carve up opponents. This season, though, that’s not the case; everything has rested on Anthony’s shoulders. So far, this is the furthest thing from a problem seeing as the true freshman is leading the team in many statistical categories, including points per game (22.8), assists (4.5) and steals (1.8). Aside from the freshman phenom, North Carolina has used its elite size to outrebound and outplay its opponents early in the season. If Michigan matches up against the Tar Heels in Atlantis, big men Jon Teske and Colin Castleton will have to prepare for a battle down low. Alabama Pay attention, because up-tempo basketball with prolific guard play will be a running theme throughout this tournament; and the Crimson Tide might exemplify this more than any other team. Alabama coach Nate Oats loves running wheeling-and-dealing offenses whose guards almost consistently find success scoring the ball. This year’s leading guard comes in the form of 6-foot-3 sophomore Kira Lewis. As a 17-year old freshman last season, Lewis led the team in many offensive categories and stands to be a primary key of Oats’ new offensive system. He leads the team with an eyebrow-raising 21.5 points per game. Accompanying Lewis are other capable guards in freshman guard Jaden Shackleford and West Virginia transfer Beetle
Bolden. If Michigan has proven anything early in the season, it’s that it knows how to handle up-tempo teams who love to launch a lot of 3-point shots. The Wolverines have conquered similar offenses in Creighton and Houston Baptist, making the necessary defensive adjustments and hammering their opponents down low. When it comes down to it, a mid-level Alabama team should not threaten Michigan. Gonzaga, Oregon, Seton Hall, Southern Miss The other side of the bracket comes loaded with ranked teams in Gonzaga, Oregon and Seton Hall. For the sake of brevity, enjoy one sentence of analysis for each team. Gonzaga: Forward Killian Tillie is back, and his ability to stretch the floor makes the Bulldogs a lethal team with a multi-faceted offensive attack. Oregon: Another absolutely loaded backcourt highlighted by premier point guard Payton Pritchard which will keep even the most tenacious defenses up at night (The Wolverines take on the Ducks on Dec. 14 in Ann Arbor). Seton Hall: Good luck to Simpson in trying to lock down the one-man wrecking crew that is Myles Powell. Southern Mississippi: While the Golden Eagles may seem like a fish out of water among the fierce competition, big man Boban Jacdonmi (16.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game) has emerged as a leader and could keep Southern Miss in some games.
Michigan women fall flat at the NCAA championships, take 13th
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily Sophomore heavyweight Mason Parris, the No. 3 heavyweight in the country, defeated No. 7 Matt Stencel of Western Michigan.
JOSEPH ARONOFF For the Daily As Michigan’s Mason Parris mingled with a procession of young fans decked head-to-toe in maize and blue clamoring for his signature on their hats, t-shirts and posters, the sophomore heavyweight and team captain took a moment to reflect upon the hard fought win over Central Michigan’s Matt Stencel that sealed his team’s victory. For Parris, as the successes accrue, so too do the responsibilities. Acutely aware of his rising profile, he doubles down on the habits that made him an elite wrestler, locker room leader and owner of a budding fanbase. Take it from his coach. “Mason’s a great leader,” said Michigan coach Sean Bormet. “The style he wrestles is the style we like to see at all the weight classes, so I really like that we have a heavyweight that pours on the offense, that wants to score a lot of points and wants to put guys on their back and pin them. And that’s another reason he’s the captain.” Parris’ example was not lost on his teammates. Freshman
141-pounder Cole Mattin’s gutsy come-from-behind win was his first at Cliff Keen Arena. Redshirt freshman 174-pounder Max Maylor also capped his home debut with a win, the first match of the meet in which a Michigan wrestler secured riding time advantage. But in an afternoon replete with star performances, Parris’ shone brightest. “He dominated the action in that match,” Bormet said. “It didn’t result in a score until towards the end of the match, but all that work he did and all that action he created in the match led to that score.” Parris, the No. 3 heavyweight in the country, is well-acquainted with his opponent, No. 7 Matt Stencel. Sunday marked the sixth meeting between the two. Parris now leads the series 4-2, but it was Stencel who eliminated him from the 2018-19 NCAA Championships in Pittsburgh. “Wrestling him is always a really good rivalry,” Parris said. “He’s the one who put me out at NCAAs, so it’s definitely something I thought about all year round, just beating him. He’s the one who kind of stopped me from my goals last year, so I knew I had to give it my all every time I wrestle him, but I
know it’s always gonna be a great match every time we go.” In what the public address announcer called the “marquee match of the day,” Parris took to the mat with deafening applause. For much of the first period, Stencel and Parris, as all good wrestlers do, lunged at one another like bulls locking horns, each trying to size up the other. The period ended without a score, but the one who struck first would likely emerge the victor. Parris is deceptively shifty for a heavyweight. In the second period, he slipped out from under Stencel’s grasp, earning a point on the escape. Stencel responded in kind, tying the match with an escape of his own. But Parris slammed the door shut in the waning seconds of the third period, pinning his foe to the ground, taking the match, 4-1. Yet even in victory, Parris seeks improvement. “I’m getting better each week moving my hands, moving my feet, getting to my attacks, and this week, just after that match, still working on that stuff and still finishing my takedowns,” Parris said. “I just know the guys look up to me, so I’ve always got to stay really good and just lead by example.”
FILE PHOTO/Daily Redshirt junior runner Maddy Trevisan came in 145th overall for the Wolverines.
SPENCER RAINES Daily Sports Writer In cross country, the entire season comes down to one day. The months of training, the many races and the countless miles all can lead to a euphoric climax or a feeling of missed opportunity. The Michigan women’s cross country team got the latter. The Wolverines came into Saturday’s meet ranked eighth in the country and with a shot to finish on the podium. The day didn’t go as planned, though, as they finished 13th, failing to capture their seventh top-10 finish in the last 10 years. “You always want to try and come out of here ranked better than you were going in,” said Michigan coach Mike McGuire. “And in that regard, we didn’t meet our objective.” Michigan’s biggest problem was its rough start. At the two-kilometer mark the Wolverines found themselves in 10th and had only freshman Erika VanderLende running near the front of the
race. Their second through fifth runners were packed up near the 100th-place mark. For reference, the teams vying for a top-five spot all put four to five runners ahead of the Wolverines’ second runner, junior Kathryn House, who McGuire said “was compromised” coming in, as she had a cold. Junior Maddy Trevisan — a team leader throughout the year— also didn’t have the best performance, she finished in 145th. One of Michigan’s bright spots was VanderLende. She was the third-highest finishing freshman, coming in 25th and earning All-American honors. With Saturday being the last race of the season, this also meant one last time for the seniors to represent the block ’M’ on their chest. “(The seniors) would’ve liked to go out on a bit of a higher note,” McGuire said. “We’ll measure it off the body of work and the season that we had, it still was solid. But it wasn’t reflective of the trend we made going forward out of the regional meet, and in that regard it was a bit of a disappointment.” While disappointed with the
outcome, McGuire also talked about the season as a whole being what they should focus on. And for good reason, as the Wolverines took second place in the regional meet and third in the Big Ten meet. And, while their lofty goals at the beginning of the season never materialized, they’ll still have a top-15 finish to look back on and a breakout season from VanderLende, who could be one of the sport’s brightest stars for years to come. McGuire also talked about the impact Trevisan had on the team and what she meant to the program. “Our captain Maddy Trevisan did a great job,” McGuire said. “Her impact on the program has been long-felt and we’re gonna miss her.” So, in a sport where one day can define an entire season for good or for worse, McGuire made sure to remember the journey that led up to that final day and reflect on everything, good and bad. “Overall, it was a pretty good season,” McGuire said. “Just not a great day.”
Men’s cross country races to highest finish since 1999 PAARTH SHARMA For the Daily Jack Aho kicked into full gear, edging ahead of the crowd in the final stretch of the 6.2-mile NCAA Championship race. As the end approached, the junior burst into form, finishing the course at 40th place, just enough to clinch All-American honors for the second straight year. The final race of the season proved to be one of the strongest performances of the year for the No. 16 Michigan
men’s cross country team, which finished seventh out of 31 teams for the Wolverines’ highest finish at the championships since 1999. When asked what stood out about this team that allowed them to have such success, Michigan coach Kevin Sullivan singled out a handful of his runners. “(Junior) Devin Meyrer, who’s been one of our captains this year, has been one of the biggest leaders on the team,” Sullivan said. “He’s also been our No. 1 runner in every race but one. (Senior) Isaac Harding and Jack Aho have also both consis-
tently improved throughout the season, and ( junior) Joost (Plaetinck) has had a breakout year for us. They’ve really been a force for us, especially the last four meets of the season.” Aho and Meyrer both finished in the top-40, which automatically grants a runner All-American honors. Meanwhile, Harding just missed the cut at 44th place, and senior Jordy Hewitt and Plaetinck also ran to strong finishes at 96th and 101st, respectively. The team’s strong finish came as no surprise to Sullivan, who expressed strong confidence in his team’s
abilities. “Every one of our guys ran the way I knew they could run.” Sullivan said. “I think its fantastic that we had two All-Americans in Devin Meyrer and Jack Aho. When you factor in that Isaac Harding just missed out, we were this close to having three All-Americans. It wasn’t so much that anybody ran better than expectations as much as it was that we all came and put our best races together on the same day. That’s what it takes to perform well as a team.” The team carried significant momentum into the NCAA
Championships, with big finishes in each of the past two weeks. The previous week, with bids to the championships on the line, Michigan finished third out of 29 teams at the Great Lakes Invitational. In doing so, the Wolverines beat out Indiana and Wisconsin, two teams ranked higher at the time, and clinched their eighth appearance at the championship meet in the past nine years. The week before that, Michigan finished in third place at the Big Ten Championships, scoring higher than a Purdue team ranked in the top 10 at the time
of the race. This string of meets allowed the team to achieve one of its preseason goals – finishing in the top 10 at the championships. “The nice thing about our team is that they always kept their composure and felt they could be a top-10 team,” Sullivan said. “This was something our team never lost sight of throughout the course of the year. This was the stage where our performance really mattered. “It was one last opportunity to end the season strong, and we took advantage of that.”
8 — Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Aria Gerson: Their scandal is not your rivalry Last week, as students tailgated before Michigan’s game against Michigan State, Psi Upsilon fraternity draped a bedsheet out a window of their house. The banner, ostensibly to offer up a roast of the Spartans, read: “You can’t touch us, @LarryNassar.” There are a lot of legitimate things to insult Michigan State about, starting with its on-field results against the Wolverines the past two years. But Psi Upsilon’s sign crossed a line, big time. The Larry Nassar scandal is one of the worst sexual assault scandals in sports history. At Michigan State and later with USA Gymnastics, Nassar, a trainer and team doctor, sexually abused hundreds of people. Multiple administrators at those institutions covered it up for decades. It’s an example of large-scale institutional failure, not an item in a rivalry. There are Nassar survivors at Michigan, and countless more survivors of sexual violence. By casually mentioning Nassar as a reason the Wolverines are better than the Spartans, Psi Upsilon diminished the experiences of all of them. Even top U.S. gymnast and Nassar survivor Simone Biles
commented on the situation, tweeting, “unbelievable...../this is the type of stuff that makes me sick to my stomach/I hope the school is taking the proper measurements in investigating this...” The larger problem here isn’t what Psi Upsilon did, but the fact that this isn’t an isolated incident. Three of Michigan’s biggest rivals — Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State — have recently had largescale sexual misconduct scandals. And during rivalry weeks, you don’t have to look far to find examples of this same kind of behavior. There are the people who sell shirts outside the Union that say, “Liar, liar, Urban Meyer.” The person who commented on a “Michigan State respekt thread” on a popular Michigan blog saying, “+1 for less sexual assault.” The tweets about not letting Ohio State’s record against Michigan distract from the Urban Meyer and Zach Smith scandal, like those two things are remotely equitable. Turn on any edition of “College GameDay” and you’ll see signs making light of rivals’ scandals. When GameDay was in South Bend last year for Notre Dame’s game against the Wolverines, one fan held up a sign that said, “I had
ARIA GERSON
a better sign, but Urban Meyer covered it up.” It’s not just Michigan fans who do this, either. Those behaviors aren’t as public and perhaps not as immediately repulsive as what Psi Upsilon did. But they’re just as problematic, because in weaponizing these scandals — these failures that hurt hundreds of people — people minimize them. “It minimizes the actual violence that they’re talking about in turning it into a taunt,” said Jessica Luther, an author and journalist who has covered sexual violence in college athletics extensively. “What we’re actually talking about is violence and harm and often trauma. … It minimizes and even ignores that this is actual violence and that there are people in the stands who are fans that have to hear this stuff and are definitely victims of it and are watching that minimization of it.” When you hold up a scandal such as Nassar’s alongside rivalry jokes like “94 yards,” the number the Spartans gained against the Wolverines in 2018, this is the message you’re sending: All of this is just a game. Michigan is better than Michigan State, not just because of those on-field results, but because the Wolverines don’t have a public scandal involving a serial sexual abuser. But here’s the thing: There’s a reason the Spartans and Buckeyes are the Wolverines’ biggest rivals. It’s because, as much as Michigan fans hate to admit it, the three schools are similar in culture and demographic. If it happened at Michigan State and
Michigan hockey uses tackling dummies to mimic game conditions
Ohio State, who is to say it won’t happen here? And, while Michigan’s never had a scandal on the level of those other schools, it was just five years ago that it came out that then-kicker Brendan Gibbons had been expelled from the school in 2014 for a sexual assault that had happened four years earlier. It had taken the university that long to handle the case, and all that time Gibbons had a prominent role on the football team. “(I feel) just kind of this fear, and maybe this is not justified … but I always think, ‘OK, if this happens at Michigan, or if some horrible, terrible person does this to people at Michigan, how will these same people react?’ ” said Anjuli Shah, a Michigan fan and alum who has volunteered with domestic violence shelters. “I hope they’ll react in the same way. I hope they’ll start admonishing the administration and calling for all of these people to get fired, but there’s fear inside me that maybe they won’t, and maybe this is just another sports thing.” There’s a reason so many survivors of sexual violence don’t come forward, especially when athletes are involved. Nassar survivors tried to tell Michigan State and USA Gymnastics administrators about their abuse. Those administrators did nothing and kept enabling their abuse, kept valuing the money and medals pouring in above all else. When ex-Ohio State wide receivers coach Zach Smith’s wife came forward about her abuse, she had her character questioned.
It came out that then-coach Urban Meyer had known about the violence, but it was only after public pressure that Smith was fired. Meyer was put on administrative leave but missed just three games — the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. The fact is, something like that could happen here. The Gibbons incident is proof of that. “I just hate the idea that you’re going to make fun of another institution for this issue without, especially if you think that’s because your institution is flawless and perfect, because it isn’t,” Luther said. “There are absolutely sexual assault survivors at Michigan, just statistically, that’s really true, and it’s statistically true that some of the people who harm are athletes. Some of the people who get harmed are athletes. “I don’t know if there’s a right way to respond to another school, I just think you should always be thinking about the place that you’re in, that you’re definitely standing near a survivor of sexual assault, almost all the time when you’re in public, and that’s gonna be as true at your school as it is at the other school.” By making these allegations just another item in the rivalry, what you’re really doing is reinforcing the idea that sports are most important. When horrible, unthinkable things happen to rivals, fans’ first instinct is to turn it into another reason their program is better. Instead of thinking about how to help the victims or — better yet — how to ensure these things don’t happen in the future, they reinforce the very culture
that causes this to happen. Michigan State kept Nassar around for so long because it didn’t want to admit it had hired an abuser. The Spartans covered up sexual assaults by their athletes, and the Buckeyes hired Smith, because those people made their on-field product better and that was the thing fans cared about. This is a culture problem above all, one that permeates throughout the sports landscape. Fans scamper to weaponize anything that suggests their team is better. So, the next time you consider bringing up Zach Smith or Larry Nassar to a fan of one of those other schools, think about this: one in five women will be victims of sexual assault at some point in their lives, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. Picture Michigan Stadium, packed to the brim, 111,000 fans in maize and blue. Statistically, thousands of women in that stadium — and many men, too — are or will be survivors. Instead of jumping to the low-hanging fruit, think about them. Then, find another insult. The Spartans’ 94 yards. The Buckeyes’ 49-20 loss to Purdue. Michigan State’s blown 28-3 lead against Illinois. The fact that Ohio State tried to trademark the word “the.” While the chippiness of rivalries is part of the fun, there are some things that should be off limits. This is one of them. Gerson can be reached at amgerson@umich.edu or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
Collins sure to play major role in Ohio State gameplan
FILE PHOTO/Daily Senior forward Nick Pastujov appreciates using tackling dummies in practice.
MOLLY SHEA Daily Sports Writer To open practice Monday afternoon, player development coach Steve Shields skated onto the ice at Yost Arena dragging two figures by the arms as he skated onto the ice. It was the second time in two weeks Shields was tasked with setting up this surprise drill for the players. He struggled, but eventually managed to bring the objects out from behind the bench all the way to the block M at center ice. And the effort was worth it because Shields loves this type of drill. Standing on the ice next to Shields were two blue tackling dummies — the latest addition to the Wolverines’ team. While all the players were in the locker room getting dressed for practice, Shields was preparing the ice. When he was finished, it resembled something you’d be more likely to see at a Michigan football practice. At each end of the ice, 20 feet in front of the net, he positioned the dummies in the center of the zone. Their purpose was twofold — provide a screen for the goaltender and block the direct zone entry for the offensive player. When the Wolverines took the ice, Shields and other coaches took their positions behind the tackling dummies. As a skater brought the puck into the zone, a coach pushed the
dummy in its direction, forcing the player to change directions. “We did that last year,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “We’ve done it a couple times this year. It’s just to help in our shooting drills, you can’t just come straight down the ice and not have to think. This way you have to get your head up and make a move. Just change your angle a little bit and not come straight in on the goalie while he stands there just shot after shot.” For the team, the dummies offer a nice change of pace. Rather than just skating with the puck and firing a shot from the top of the faceoff circle, the players have to think of their feet. The drill forces quick shots from less than perfect angles. Senior forward Nick Pastujov enjoys how the tackling dummies create small, awkward spaces and force creativity to move the puck around the obstacle and to the net. “It gets you going,” Pastujov said. “Gets you thinking a little quicker. It’s nice on Monday when we’re doing a little less team stuff (and more individual). Get your hands going. It’s nice to get you working on some skills that you don’t normally do.” Beyond requiring Michigan to be creative offensively and play with more speed and urgency, the tackling dummies make practice conditions more like what the players experience in games. Mimicking game scenarios is something Pearson has strongly
MILES MACKLIN/Daily Junior wide receiver Nico Collins is coming off a 6-catch, 165-yard, three-touchdown performance.
pushed for in the midst of the offensive slump his team has experienced. The Wolverines have to learn how to take what they do in practice and use it in the game. They have to bring that same level of energy and creativity they’ve exhibited with the tackling dummies. “In a game, you’re not just going to walk into the slot and shot it,” said senior forward Will Lockwood. “There’s going to be a body in front of you. It definitely makes it more gamelike, and for those situations to occur in practice so in the games it doesn’t surprise us as much.” Last weekend against New Hampshire, Michigan exhibited some of the exact skills that working with the tackling dummies pushes it to use. On the power play, there was more creativity. The passes were purposeful. The shots were quick and from off-center angles. And it paid off — for the first time in seven games, the Wolverines won. But even with last weekend’s success, Pearson still wishes he’d thought to use the tackling dummies earlier in the season before Michigan fell to last place in the Big Ten and hit an offensive slump. There are still two weeks remaining in the first half of the season, plenty of time for the Wolverines to continue implementing the skills acquired from their new drill. The biggest question is whether they’ll remember what they’ve learned in practice come game time.
MAX MARCOVITCH Managing Sports Editor Joe Milton dropped back a full 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, rolled slightly to his right and let it fly. The game was deep into the recesses of garbage time by that point, with Ohio State putting any intrigue about the outcome to rest long before. So Milton had a go, flinging the ball 50 yards downfield. That play, to the extent it even registers as a memory, is recalled for a glimpse into the arm strength of the then-redshirt freshman quarterback last season. Perhaps a barebones hint of a bright future. On the other end of that dart was a 6-foot-4 receiver, leaping over an awaiting safety, with another defensive back draped by his side. Nico Collins got up, tossed the ball back to the referee and quickly shook his head. What was understood, and need not be said: Where was that in the 55-plus minutes prior? Fast forward a year, and it seems Michigan would be remiss not to learn that lesson, as it faces the tall task of knocking off the second-ranked Buckeyes. Collins, coming off the best game of his career last week at Indiana, will almost surely be an outsized part of the gameplan — presumably, before it’s too late. “Last year, it didn’t end
well, like we wanted it to,” Collins said Monday. “And ever since that loss, we don’t want to have that feeling again. So throughout the offseason, our main focus was to not have that feeling again. We take it very personal throughout this whole building. And it’s that week.” Even in a game that will feature future NFL talent up and down the field, Collins’ skillset will stick out. Ohio State will likely line up cornerback Jeff Okudah on Collins for the majority of the game. Okudah, for all his merits, will be at a three-to-four inch size disadvantage. Collins, coming off a monstrous six-catch, 165-yard, three-touchdown outing against Indiana will be out for more in the most important game of his career to date. “A dude of (Collins’) size probably puts fear in a lot of cornerback’s hearts,” said senior tight end Nick Eubanks. “And one thing about Saturday is, I think he’ll do way better than what he did last week. “To me, I think it’s catching everything and blocking everything. Most people don’t see it, but he’s a big, mean dude. In terms of getting what he wants and getting what he needs. I think he’ll come through for us Saturday.” Collins’ ascension comes as the Wolverines’ offense has discovered an identity befitting of the “speed in space”
mantra that offensive coordinator Josh Gattis espouses. In the past six weeks, Michigan has averaged over 38 points per game — spearheaded by a potent passing attack. His breakout game last weekend comes after a performance against Michigan State that saw Collins reach the end zone on a 22-yard post route, when he elevated over a smaller defensive back, making a contested catch appear routine. “He’s catching the contested balls as well as you can,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. “Drawn a lot of pass interference penalties. There’s times where they’ve got to grab him because he’s behind them, so he’s getting behind them, getting separation on defensive backs and in the secondary.” To Harbaugh’s point, Collins’ nine pass interference penalties drawn are good for tops in the nation, according to Pro Football Focus. Most of those calls have come on deep passes, as a desperate corner cuts his losses with the ball in the air. All year, he’s been a viable outlet when the offense has needed a big play down the field. Ahead of a game that might just be Collins’ last in a Michigan uniform, it would stand to reason he’ll be a focal point of an aggressive offensive gameplan. Perhaps he’ll even get those chances before the game’s dying embers render any big plays meaningless.