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Wednesday, December 9, 2020
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CAMPUS LIFE
COVID complicates career prospects for seniors, recent grads Professional opportunities hard to find as coronavirus upends nation’s economy ELIZABETH WILLIAMS For The Daily
DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily Healthcare workers at Michigan Medicine have been asked to work even if they have a close contact with COVID-19.
University plans to start vaccine distribution as soon as Dec. 15
Pending government authorization, Michigan Medicine makes preparations JASMIN LEE & CALDER LEWIS
Daily Staff Reporters
The University of Michigan is prepared to begin administering Pfizer vaccines as early as Dec. 15 pending government authorization, school officials confirmed in the weekly COVID-19 briefing Friday afternoon. Anyone enrolled in the Pharmacy, Kinesiology, Nursing, Social Work and Medical schools who is exposed to patients will be included in the first phase of COVID-
19 vaccine prioritization, according to Medical School professor Sandro Cinti. COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed in three phases, according to Cinti, who is also co-lead of Michigan Medicine’s COVID-19 Vaccine and Therapeutics Task Force. Phase 1 will be administered in three parts. Phase 1A, set to begin Dec. 15 if the Pfizer vaccine receives emergency approval next week, includes health care personnel and longterm care facility residents and staff. Pfizer has said the vaccine will be ready within hours after government authorization.
“We will start on the 15th — probably — of December in our phase one,” Cinti said. “We will ramp up as we get more vaccine. And we’re looking to start vaccinating people on the Hill in the hospital. And then we will also have off-site clinics in ambulatory care. Very quickly, we will move into Phase 1B, which includes the University.” Phase 1B will vaccinate essential workers in sectors like education, food, utilities and transportation, including members of the University community. Cinti said Robert Ernest, director of University Health Service, and other
University personnel are working on how to distribute the vaccine to the campus and Ann Arbor communities. “1B is essential workers and this is why we added the University,” Cinti said. “(Getting) educators back to work, which includes K-12, the college campuses, is going to be important.” Phase 1C includes senior citizens and others with highrisk conditions. The components of Phase 1 are planned to begin about five weeks apart from each other and overlap. See VACCINE, Page 3
In May, LSA senior Bhoomika Gupta received a call that her internship was canceled due to COVID-19, similar to students across the country. Through networking, Gupta was able to successfully secure a virtual internship with a global nonprofit. Despite working this past summer, Gupta has not secured full-time employment. Gupta, who hopes to pursue a career in human resources, said the competitiveness of fulltime recruiting has only been worsened by the economic uncertainty of the pandemic. “People aren’t recruiting as easily,” Gupta said. “Companies that are recruiting are really large companies that are, of course, aggressively competitive this semester, because everyone knows that very few companies are hiring.” According to Gupta, who hopes to work in business human resources, the pandemic has forced seniors interested in similar fields to adjust their expectations and their recruiting timeline. “The Michigan norm is you recruit first semester, you’re done, second semester you get to relax and then you’re working. But this year, it’s going to be more of second-semester recruiting or at least until December, which is an interesting mental game,” Gupta said. “I think for
many students, because you feel behind your peers, you feel like you’re not doing enough.” The University recently announced its plan for the winter term, which acknowledged unprecedented stressors students are facing and emphasized the importance of mental health. Though the search for professional opportunities against the backdrop of the pandemic has not been easy for many, the plan did not include anything specifically pertaining to enhanced career-related services. Kelly Day, an internship program manager at the LSA Opportunity Hub, said the office has various resources for students seeking internships. She pointed to the LSA Opportunity Network where internships are posted daily. “(We’re) trying to provide all the support that we can, and letting students know that it’s okay wherever you’re at in the situation, and it’s pretty normal to have some of these questions and concerns,” Day said. Limited job options have caused Gupta to contemplate alternative post-graduate opportunities such as graduate school. “I know something will work out,” Gupta said. “I’ve started thinking about grad school as well, because I’d rather be safe. Grad school was not something that was even in my plans for at least another five or six years.” See JOBS, Page 3
ACADEMICS
DAAS students, faculty reflect on department’s history in its 50th year Social activism spurred creation of Dept. of Afroamerican and African Studies in LSA EVAN DELORENZO For The Daily
2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the University of Michigan Department of Afroamerican and African Studies within LSA. DAAS is committed to African studies and conducting research to support the broader African and African American communities. Throughout the 1960s, Black student organizations joined together as the Black Action Movement, demanding racial justice at the University. In 1968, BAM organized on-campus protests to urge the University to increase Black enrollment to 10%. Among BAM’s achievements was the creation of an Afroamerican and African Studies Program, which later became DAAS. As a product of social activism at the University, DAAS was founded upon the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, according to Matthew Countryman, DAAS department chair and associate professor. Since then, these foundational principles have been integrated into DAAS’s undergraduate major and minor in addition to its graduate certificate program. Countryman said the department seeks to create a safe space for students and values
inclusivity greatly. “We can be a home for students, whatever their major or however many courses they take with us. We can be a place that affirms their presence and values their presence on campus in ways that, unfortunately, they don’t always experience in their other classes,” Countryman said. “That’s crucial to our mission and something that all of our staff and faculty are aware of on a daily basis.” LSA senior Thomas Vance, an AAS major, said this 50th anniversary is a testament to what Black activism can achieve. “The 50th anniversary, to me, is just a celebration and a highlight of what happens when Black students fight for change,” Vance explained. “It’s something I’m always thankful for. I don’t think that my Michigan experience would be as positive without DAAS.” LSA senior Tiffany Harris, also an AAS major, found that DAAS faculty foster a welcoming environment where students of color feel comfortable discussing race in the classroom. “In a lot of political science classes, I’ll be the only Black girl, and it’s uncomfortable to have to fight for the whole Black community consistently in class,” Harris noted.
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Business owners look to support companies run by people of color Three Washtenaw County business owners have teamed up to found the Association of Businesses of Color.
Local entrepreneurs form group to provide assistance, guidance amid pandemic SHANNON STOCKING Daily Staff Reporter
Three Washtenaw County business owners have teamed up to found the Association of Businesses of Color. The ABC provides aid to businesses owned by people of color that are struggling with the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABC was created by Brian Jones-Chance, Patton
Doyle and Ylondia Portis, business owners and members of the Downtown Development Board in Ypsilanti, to address the economic disparities between businesses owned by white people and those owned by people of color in the area. “A lot of businesses have closed permanently, and staffing is another issue,” Jones-Chance, co-founder of 734 Brewing, said. “Many of our remaining businesses have found it difficult to keep
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teams employed, the revenue issue stemming from reduced hours or reduced capacity or both.” As businesses adapt to another round of forced closures, members of the ABC have focused on how business owners of color in particular are handling the new restrictions. When county leaders declared racism a public health crisis this summer, they noted that Washtenaw
Vol. CXXX, No. 10 ©2020 The Michigan Daily
was 80th out of 83 counties in Michigan for income inequality according to a 2020 ranking. Black residents have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. A new grant will be introduced on Dec. 15 to support businesses that closed in response to the most recent state order. The ABC is working to ensure equal access to this grant.
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Facing another remote semester, CAPS hires additional counselors University’s Counseling and Psychological Services works to increase resources HANNAH MACKAY & JARED DOUGALL Daily Staff Reporters
With a more stringent, fully-online winter semester on the horizon, students will continue dealing with mental health struggles due to isolation. Because of this, the University of Michigan’s Counseling and Psychological Services plans to increase resources. CAPS Director Todd Sevig said the office is adding “new services in addition to individual counseling that students can utilize.” “We have received increased allocations for additional staff for Winter and beyond,” Sevig wrote. “So, yes we are making some changes for the rest of this semester and for Winter to better meet current needs.” Sevig said they have filled half of the new counseling positions and are collaborating with University students, administration and other Big 10 counseling centers to use the remaining funds most effectively. “We have actually filled 4 of the new 8 positions and they started this fall,” Sevig wrote. “The 4 new ones we have filled have helped us provide more services in our embedded model. We are actively considering the best way to allocate service with
the remaining 4 positions — both short term for winter and longer term for beyond this year.” The embedded model aims to install at least one full-time, specialized social worker or psychologist in each University school. While wait times for initial consultations with a counselor are currently only 2-3 days, these wait times have varied significantly this fall. Throughout the semester, students reported increased feelings of isolation and mental health struggles, raising concerns that resources at CAPS could be stretched thin. Students faced long wait times even before the COVID-19 pandemic. In an email to The Michigan Daily, Sevig said most wait times during the semester were usually “1.52.5 weeks” but that CAPS has seen “unpredicted surges in demand” since mid-October. Sevig said the increase in demand is caused by the challenges students are experiencing with the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re devoting every available resource to meet the need because we don’t want the wait to be that long,” Sevig wrote. To facilitate mental health and well-being for the winter term, the university also announced two mid-week, one-day “well-being breaks”
without any scheduled academic activities on Feb. 24 and March 23. LSA sophomore Ashley Ke said she used CAPS this fall, but felt there was a stigma around seeking professional help for mental health. Ke said CAPS provided her short-term relief from the everyday stresses of the pandemic. “I feel like in general, people seeking professional help are very stigmatized, and I think it’s been slowly getting better in terms of being talked about more,” Ke said. “I think in terms of just getting my feelings out about being stressed about classes because of COVID, or relationships and friendships, a lot of which has been exacerbated because of COVID, CAPS has been helpful.” Ke said mostly online classes and social distancing precautions have affected her mental health. “I’m very safe about following guidelines and so I don’t really leave my room, which definitely has consequences,” Ke said. “It’s hard to do work in the same place that you sleep and eat, and also I think it’s really forced a lot of us to confront holding ourselves accountable.” CAPS uses an online scheduling system where students can sign up for appointments. Throughout
this semester, students have experienced varying wait times for appointments with counselors. Ke, who scheduled her initial consultation online at the beginning of the semester in mid-September, said her experience went smoothly. The system allowed her to schedule bi-weekly appointments and the short wait times surprised her. “I was pretty surprised because they got back to me pretty quickly,” Ke said. “They had more availability than I thought they would, at least from what I’ve heard in the past from talking to other students.” Some students attempting to schedule consultations, especially later in the semester, have had a different experience — finding no immediate availability and wait times longer than a month. LSA freshman Ava BenDavid sought out CAPS this fall due to the constantly changing nature of the semester, which included a stay-in-place order and the closure of residence halls for the winter term. “I sought some counseling, just someone to talk to, because this semester has been so crazy and there’s been a lot of changes,” BenDavid said. See CAPS, Page 3
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is publishing weekly on Wednesdays for the Fall 2020 semester by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. If you would like a current copy of the paper mailed to you, please visit store. pub.umich.edu/michigan-daily-buy-this-edition to place your order.
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VACCINE From Page 1 Phase 2 is set to begin in the late winter or early spring and will extend to the broader University community. A start date for Phase 3 has not been announced. General students will likely be in the second phase of the vaccine’s distribution, unless they are high risk, which could move them to the first phase, Cinti said. He expects the University to vaccinate about 80,000 U-M community members in the coming months. Two doses
JOBS From Page 1 But seniors applying to graduate or professional school have also faced pandemicrelated challenges. LSA senior Yebin Lee spent her summer applying to dental school and had to scramble to find a new testing center for her canceled Dental Admission Test. Additionally, Lee’s summer job as a dental assistant was canceled, which has impacted a crucial component of her dental school applications. “I was supposed to work out in a dental office in Manhattan, and obviously everywhere in Manhattan got closed down because New York was having such a bad COVID crisis. So, I couldn’t work out there, and it was actually kind of a disaster
DAAS From Page 1 “I really value DAAS because not many majors allow me to sit in a room with people that look like me and discuss Black resistance, Black freedom and Black anything while being comfortable in our Blackness.” Outside the classroom, DAAS works to establish a close-knit and welcoming community for students of color and the student body. By coordinating events with student organizations, the DAAS faculty hopes to teach students to understand their cultural and racial differences. Though many of their 50th anniversary events were
BUSINESS From Page 1 “There’s no element of that grant program that targets business centers of color,” Doyle said. “This particular program is going to be firstcome, first-served, and so you can imagine that those people who are not as connected are much less likely to get access.” The ABC has gained momentum, with over 30 Washtenaw County businesses joining the organization. Jones-Chance said the ABC is looking to continue its work after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. “My goal is to just include an educated and inf luential and plugged-in membership,” Jones-Chance said. “We hope that (ABC members) all have thriving and successful businesses, we want them to have access to funding, but to also become some of the folks who make these decisions.” It is easier for some
CAPS From Page 2 “It was getting stressful so I just wanted to talk to someone at CAPS, and I thought it would be a super seamless process.” For Ben-David, the process was not simple and long wait times dissuaded her from going to CAPS. “When I went on the website and I saw that I had to basically wait a month for the next available time slot, I was like, ‘this is not worth
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Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 3 been approved by the standard mechanism,” Monto said. “By the time the vaccine becomes available to the general population it will have standard, non-emergency approval.” Michigan Medicine has partnered with companies leading the pack in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine trials, including Janssen and AstraZeneca. A week after the AstraZeneca partnership was introduced, the trial was momentarily paused after an adverse reaction was observed in a participant. It was later resumed. Fifty-eight percent of adults aged 50 to 80 say they are
somewhat or very likely to get vaccinated to prevent COVID19, according to a University Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation poll taken in September. Schlissel said he will want to “roll up” his sleeve as soon as he is eligible to receive the vaccine. “Without a doubt, vaccination is the number one most effective intervention medicine has ever developed,” Schlissel said. “The amount of human suffering that’s been mitigated through vaccinations is unimaginable.” Daily Staff Reporters Jasmin Lee and Calder Lewis can be reached at itsshlee@umich.edu and calderll@umich.edu.
are required for one person to be vaccinated in the process, which Cinti described as quick but safe. “Will we get (completely vaccinated) before the fall semester?” Cinti said. “I can’t tell you that. I don’t know, but maybe we’ll have the teachers protected. We can’t rip off our masks right away — we have to wait — but teachers might feel better about teaching.” University President Mark Schlissel said there is no plan to require U-M community members to be vaccinated, though it might be considered in the future. “It’s gonna be a situation where the vaccine is limited in
dose, and if I’ve got people that want to take it that are in risk groups — that are frontline health care providers, that are our faculty dealing with students, people that have actual risk — I’m gonna give it to them rather than forcing people who are unwilling,” Schlissel said. When Michigan Medicine delivers a vaccine, that information will be incorporated in the state’s vaccine registry within 24 hours, according to Dana Habers, chief radiology department administrator. Habers said multiple reminders will go out to patients to ensure people
come back for the second dose weeks laters. Arnold Monto, professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health, is the chair of the Food and Drug Administration’s committee evaluating COVID-19 vaccines. His committee, which works to approve the efficacy and safety of potential candidate vaccines, will meet on Dec. 10 and 17 to discuss the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, respectively. In a recent interview with The Michigan Daily, Monto said the risk of taking a COVID-19 vaccine once one is approved will be no greater than other regular vaccines. “This vaccine will have
for me,” Lee said. “I really needed experience, because they do require about a hundred hours of work experience.” Lee originally planned to graduate next semester, but she’s now going to graduate in December in order to work as a dental assistant. “If I graduate this semester, then I could work for about six months and then go to grad school, because I know grad schools are expensive,” Lee said. “I figured I should definitely do that before I can’t afford it anymore.” Some students who graduated right at the onset of the pandemic are also still searching. After graduation in May, University alum Mary Rose Clark decided to take the summer off from applying to jobs due to COVID19 hiring freezes. Since late August, she’s
been actively looking for fulltime opportunities in the philanthropy or development space, but she has not yet secured full-time employment. Clark said many of her peers who graduated in May have also been unable to secure full-time employment. “I’ve applied to numerous things. I’ve begun networking, especially in the past month, with lots of people around west Michigan and still have not heard anything back,” Clark said. “I’ve gotten mostly rejections, which I’ve heard that that’s very common, though, most people that I’ve talked to haven’t really heard back from anyone.” LSA senior Mackensie Freeman spent her summer working for a public relations agency based in Atlanta. Like Gupta, she secured this
internship through networking after many of her other secondround interviews and offers were canceled. Freeman has continued to work for this agency throughout the school year but said she feels she missed out on the full internship experience. “I definitely missed out on that whole aspect of corporate culture and getting to know your work, your coworkers,” Freeman said. With the timeline for returning to offices still uncertain, Day said she recognizes that the difficulty in securing an internship and working virtually will be prevalent this summer. “Based on what happened last summer, there’s still a lot of questions around. ‘Is this internship going to move forward in a virtual format?’”
canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the department has adapted this semester to host virtual events to celebrate the milestone. DAAS associate professor Omolade Adunbi said the department’s greatest strength is its synergy between academics and community, including communities beyond the University. Adunbi pointed to the Semester in Detroit program as one example, which allows students to engage in substantive urban planning that benefits Detroit communities. Similarly, the Pedagogy of Action program has empowered students to learn about the impact of HIV and AIDS on African American
communities and teach prevention in the metro Detroit area and Ypsilanti, Mich. According to Adunbi, DAAS’s most expansive outreach program is its African Presidential Scholars Program. In collaboration with the African Studies Center, DAAS invites scholars from across Africa to the University. Collectively, DAAS’s outreach programs exemplify the department’s growing reach to both local and global communities. Countryman said DAAS provides the most integral component of social activism: education. By learning about historical and present-day instances of inequality,
students can begin to confront these injustices. Whether they advocate for change on social media, donate to charitable causes or work with policymakers to propose beneficial legislation, Countryman said students in DAAS gain the knowledge and fervor necessary to enact realworld change. “I think education provides a crucial opportunity for people to be honest about both the promise of society and promise of the institution, but also to confront and look directly at where we’ve come up short in terms of those promises — ways in which the nation and institutions have been built off structures of inequality,”
Countryman said. “By itself, education can’t change those structures; but without that commitment to understanding and investigating, we’re not going to make progress toward the goals of a just society.” As important as it is to ref lect upon the past, Adunbi said this milestone serves as an opportunity to also consider DAAS’s future. “We’re not just remembering the founders, but we are also thinking about the future of Black studies in general,” Adunbi said. “It’s like looking back, taking a pause to evaluate where we have come from and what we are currently doing, and then looking into the future of Black studies.”
Vance said he hopes the department continues to promote the study of Black communities and facilitate their success. “I hope DAAS continues to thrive, continues to innovate and continues to hire professors and postdoctoral fellows who are really committed to the study of the diaspora and members of the diaspora,” Vance said. “As for the Black community, I really just want to see everybody win. I just want to see everybody succeed where they are, continue to dream big, continue to aspire for greatness and get there.” Daily Contributor Evan DeLorenzo can be reached at evandelo@umich.edu
businesses to adjust to a COVID-19-safe environment than others. Jones-Chance said 734 Brewing has established a beer delivery system that keeps customer relationships and a sense of community intact through the pandemic. “We have happily complied with all the state orders to keep the community safe and our staff safe, so we’ve had to make some changes,” Jones-Chance said. “In such a social business, people who come in are generally looking to socialize and it’s been challenging to maintain those relationships with our customers.” In May, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation released a grantfund program called Matchon-Main that supports small businesses in areas like Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor with main streets experiencing less foot traffic than usual. This program went through the Downtown Development Board to provide grants to local businesses.
“I found that it was inconsistent with the group of people … and their businesses that are in the district here,” Doyle said. “And it was concerning to me, and of course this is in the middle of a broader national conversation and protests about racial justice.” Jones-Chance said the ABC helps connect businesses of color to sources of funding that may help them survive repeat closures. “The grant fund allocation didn’t appear to be intentional, and so we set out to help plug more businesses of color into the pre-existing sources of funding,” Jones-Chance said. “And over time we’ve begun to see some other areas where we can be of use. So more education, helping members gain more inf luence in the community and over some of these funding decisions.” Jones-Chance cites lack of access to capital as the main struggle for people of color who own businesses.
“The main difficulties of being a business owner come from the same systematic social issues as difficulties of being just a person of color or being a racial minority,” Jones-Chance said. “In business, that kind of takes the shape of rugged, economic individualism for people of color but governmentsponsored support for white counterparts.” Jones-Chance said the G.I. Bill, which provides financial assistance to veterans, is an example of how the U.S. government denied thousands of Black World War II veterans access to higher education and resources. “A lot of folks are able to build wealth over time to start businesses, whereas we’re intentionally excluded from that,” Jones-Chance said. “That access to capital and that systemic advantage we just don’t have, and so even when things aren’t intentional now, they’re sort
of built on that foundation and it can make capitalizing your business extremely difficult.” Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Maya Boyd, who frequently uses Instagram to encourage her followers to support businesses owned by people of color, said the dual impact of racial discrimination and COVID19 has put these companies in a difficult position. “In Michigan, for instance, Black people were 40 percent of the reported (COVID19) deaths, while only making up 14 percent of the state’s population,” Boyd said. “Adding all the other obstacles of owning and maintaining businesses that people of color will inherently face in comparison to nonminority owned businesses I feel says it all. And when there are issues that nonminority owned businesses are able to face, it will always disproportionately affect POC-owned business due to
the structural systems that are ingrained in this country.” Doyle said that while Ann Arbor is often viewed as a progressive city, discrimination is still very much present and impacts business owners of color. “I think it’s easy to look at Ann Arbor and say, ‘Oh well, you know, we’ve solved all these problems that exist out there in the real world,’” Doyle said. “And the truth is, of course, it couldn’t be further from the truth.” Boyd said she believes organizations like the ABC can help Washtenaw County better support businesses run by people of color. “There is so much room for growth,” Boyd said. “These kinds of organizations are so important because I feel like they have a lot of potential and there is a lot to benefit from locally having more diverse businesses.” Daily Staff Reporter Shannon Stocking can be reached at sstockin@umich.edu.
it,’ and I just never actually received the type of care that I was expecting from the University,” Ben-David said. During the pandemic, administrative support of mental health services is even more pressing. Ben-David said changes to the “normal” college experience have presented challenges to freshmen and hindered people’s abilities to form friendships. “This is not how we should be entering college, but obviously there’s nothing we can do about it so we just have
to try our best,” Ben-David said. “Generally feeling isolated has definitely taken a toll on everyone’s mental health — I don’t think I’m the only one for sure.” Ke said the University increasing support for CAPS would go a long way in expanding their ability to provide the services that students expect. “I definitely think, in general, the administration should be investing more in CAPS,” Ke said. “I don’t think a lot of it is necessarily their fault —
they’re just understaffed and underfunded and there needs to be more resources invested in them because it’s just so important.” Sevig wrote that the new positions CAPS filled in the fall increased their presence in 18 out of 19 schools and colleges at the University, adding four new sites. The 2020-2021 University budget for counseling services is nearly 3 million dollars, about 0.03% of the total Ann Arbor campus budget for the current fiscal year. The counseling services
funding comes out of the general fund for University expenditures and represents about 0.1% of the general fund. This year’s CAPS expenditures are identical to the budget for 20192020 which was an almost $800,000 decrease from the previous fiscal year. Ben-David said she felt disappointed by the University as well as confused by how resources are allocated with regards to mental health services. “When I saw that I
couldn’t even see someone just to talk to for 15 minutes, I was so frustrated because I thought that it should not be this complicated,” Ben-David said. “The school boasts about how many resources they have and how students are really cared about, but when I saw the ridiculous amount of time I had to wait — it was clearly not working out.” Daily Staff Reporters Hannah Mackay and Jared Dougall can be reached at mackayh@umich.edu and jdougall@umich.edu.
Day said. “Also, (students are still) thinking about, ‘If I am going to do a virtual internship, how can I make the most of it?’” Employers have also had to adjust their hiring practices this year, especially with virtual career fairs. This was not ideal for some students as one-onone meetings with recruiters filled up fast, adding to the competitiveness of recruiting. The COVID-19 crisis has been unique in the sense that some industries and companies have been devastated, while others have thrived, leaving students unsure about the shifting job opportunities. While research opportunities for students have struggled, graduates have still been able to find remote opportunities. However, Day said she has heard from employers that they are better prepared this year for
virtual internships, as they have had more time to plan. “Of course, last summer everything kind of happened in March, so it was a little bit of a time crunch to figure out what to do if you had planned on having in-person interns,” Day said. “(This summer), they are usually planning for at least a virtual option if in-person isn’t possible, depending on the vaccine timeline and everything.” Freeman says the process has been stressful and has forced her to come up with a range of back-up options. “I’m just nervously checking LinkedIn,” Freeman said. “My mom also is having me applying to a grad program just in case everything fails.” Daily News Contributor Elizabeth Williams can be reached at eewilli@umich.edu.
4 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Michigan in Color
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
In the hospital, a moment of clarity DEVAK NANUA
MiC Co-Managing Editor
When my mother emphatically woke me up at 1 a.m. and claimed that I might die from a pulmonary embolism, I didn’t know how to react. Moreover, I didn’t know what I could do. I was laying on my bed with my right leg elevated over almost every pillow we owned to combat the swelling that came with a torn ACL. At first, I rolled my eyes at what seemed to be the classic WebMD diagnosis. However, there was a confidence and fear in her voice that indicated to me that she didn’t have a doubt in her mind. As this sunk in, the thought of not waking up made it near impossible to go to sleep. At age 20, death wasn’t something I had thought about a lot. ----I tore my ACL on Aug. 1, 2019. The reason why I remember this date is because it was conveniently three weeks before I had signed up to take the MCAT. It took seeing three different specialists over the span of a week before I could get an MRI which confirmed the tear. With a certain diagnosis comes a strange sense of relief. While I had received the news that I had a serious knee injury, I suddenly could see a way forward. I scheduled an appointment with my surgeon for a consultation and then with that I’d begin my road to recovery. Over this period of time I continued to study for MCAT. For a whole summer I labored over a standardized test that is as long as a flight to Europe while a lot of my friends actually took flights to Europe to study abroad. I didn’t want my efforts to go to waste and was stubbornly hell-bent to take this exam. Strangely enough something that had given me a great deal of stress earlier that summer now acted as a way to displace the stress that came with my health. For a while, I truly believed that I’d be able to get away with this. I felt like Michael Jordan playing through the flu in the 1997 NBA finals. I found time to study interspersed between the multiple doctors appointments that I went to. With a pair of crutches, MCAT study materials, ibuprofen and a ridiculous amount of pillows, I felt invincible. Until a week later. My injured leg had gone completely numb halfway through a practice exam I was taking. I felt pins and needles start from my calf and make its way up my leg. At first I thought that my foot had fallen asleep or I was just nervous about the practice test. However, by the time I had finished I was sweating and breathing as if I had run a marathon. ----A pulmonary embolism is when a blood clot that forms on the inside of your vein dislodges and ultimately makes its way to the arteries of the lungs through the pulmonary circulation. If the embolus is big enough then cardiac arrest is almost immediate. Even if you get lucky and don’t die immediately, you will die eventually if the blood clot remains undetected. ----It was based on the symptoms from my practice exam that my mom announced my impending doom. Usually in the case of life or death emergencies, one would
call 911. However, we somehow decided that a panicked email to my doctor and a call to UHS for reassurance would suffice. The combination of being left on hold for 30 minutes, the UHS nurse’s reassurance that I didn’t have a blood clot and general fatigue was enough for me to go back to sleep -- I was willing to accept any good news at that point. This interaction all seemed like a dream but I was reminded of its reality when I woke up to a phone call from my doctor who ordered me to come to the hospital immediately to get an ultrasound of my leg. In no time, I found myself on a hospital bed with a nurse taking an ultrasound image of my injured leg. There was an incredibly tense moment of silence with the nurse staring at the imaging screen, my mother staring at me and me staring at the nurse trying to read the reflection of the ultrasound monitor off his glasses. Ultimately, he swung the monitor around and showed me the image of the blood clot that totally occluded my right gastrocnemius vein — a Deep Vein Thrombosis. This complication meant that I had to be put on blood thinners for three months in order for the clot to dissolve before I could get surgery on my knee to repair my torn ACL. ----There have been very few moments in my life where I felt like I had no control over what was happening to me: this was one of them. I remember trying to desperately negotiate with my doctor if there was any possibility I could do a shorter course of blood thinners. It wasn’t possible and at this I felt hopeless. Usually in response to adversity, I’d try to make a plan and could usually see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, as a college student, I could barely make a plan for the next two weeks. How was I supposed to just wait for three months? Also given the seemingly unpredictability of my recent health, how did I know something else wouldn’t happen that would further delay my surgery? This is the anxiety and paranoia that lived in my mind rent free. I started my summer by preparing for an exam that would help me become a doctor and save lives, but I ended the summer as a patient on crutches. I also started to resent the whole pre-medical process. For an entire summer, I crammed a whole college education’s worth of material, I stressed out over not doing well on practice tests and then became a compulsive MCAT reddit checker, which didn’t do any favors to my anxiety. This vicious cycle consumed my mind over the summer. As days went by and my practice test scores didn’t improve, I found myself fighting an uphill battle with doubt. I started to doubt my ability as a student and also if I had what it took to pursue the rather daunting task of becoming a doctor. I was not just in pain physically but I was also mentally exhausted. The fact that I wouldn’t even get the chance to at least try to take the exam that I had put so much time and energy into broke my spirit. Though a lot of friends and family tried to reach out to me and offered their consolation, I truly felt alone. ----With a deep vein thrombosis
diagnosis, I was referred to a hematologist who is essentially a blood specialist that would be managing my treatment. This was the fourth doctor I had seen in the span of 2-3 weeks. It was quite rare for people to get blood clots at my age. I was also told that a torn ACL puts me at risk of getting osteoporosis earlier. These continual reminders made me feel like I wasn’t a 20 year old. I had never been to the department of hematology, but as we arrived at the waiting room and noticed that it was in the cancer center, a familiar yet sorrowful feeling took over me as my mother turned a bit pale. My mother moved to the United States in 1995, and when she tried to start a family with my father in 1998, she received two pieces of information from her doctor. The first was that she was pregnant with me, and the second was that she had been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called chronic myelogenous leukemia. She had the option of getting an abortion and starting her treatment as soon as possible, however she chose to go ahead with the pregnancy and wait to get treated. Cancer treatments in the 90s weren’t the most refined at the time, so as soon as she had given birth to me she underwent a pretty rigorous chemotherapy treatment. Luckily, my younger aunt turned out to be a perfect donor for a bone marrow transplant, and she’s been cancer free for 20 years. Though I don’t have any conscious memories of my mother going through chemotherapy, I have always had this indirect relationship with cancer as I would always accompany my mother to her post-treatment checkups when I was younger. ----As soon as I got to the office, I was reminded of where we were. I was seated in a waiting room of cancer patients. Many of them used walkers to combat the fatigue that comes with the treatment of cancer. Many bald heads had swollen faces, which are common side effects of chemotherapy. My mother had told me that as a little kid, I was a source of joy whenever she’d bring me to the waiting room of her appointments. In what seemed like a parallel of years prior, I watched a little kid walk around the room and introduce himself to everyone. It was both heartbreaking and admirable to watch my mother put on a brave face. I don’t think she could have ever imagined that after risking her own life to give me mine, we would be back in the same waiting room, but this time I was the patient. There was a moment where I met the gaze of a row of cancer patients, and fear surged into me. I stared at them and couldn’t help but frown. They stared at me and my hair and then also frowned. In that moment, we had come to an unspoken common understanding that something was wrong and that I didn’t belong there. Shortly afterwards, a frail elder woman wearing a red head scarf made her way from across the room and started talking to me. After patiently probing and trying to get me to open up, the woman asked me what was wrong and that’s when I told her this whole story. I told her about my ambition and dream to become a doctor. I told her about the cancer research that I’m involved in and that I was
studying biomedical engineering. But I also told her that I was scared, that I had started my summer with all of these plans for my future, but now I was living at the mercy of fate and navigating its unpredictability without a compass. By the time I had finished my story, an attendant had called the lady into the office but before she went in, she pointed at me from across the room and proudly claimed “You’re going to be the one who cures cancer.” I scoffed and without a beat asked “How do you know?” She replied, “I don’t, but it’s kids like you who give people like us hope” and walked into the doctor’s office. I held my tears in until she was out of my line of sight. This simple and honest interaction seemed to ease the majority of my doubts and reaffirmed my passion for medicine. It was a moment of clarity that I hadn’t had all summer. Ironically, while preparing for the MCAT, I had lost sight of what drew me to the field in the first place. I had gotten too caught up with the anxiety and the competition of the process. My over-ambition had narrowed my perspective of the profession and prevented me from thinking about the long term. Becoming a doctor seemed to be reduced to the pre-med checklist that was given to me as a freshman. I was focused on getting good grades, a good MCAT score and doing everything I possibly could to pass off as the “holistic” applicant. In the hopes of helping others, I found myself becoming incredibly self centered. However, I was missing the main point of it all. The cancer patient that approached me reminded me that the root of medicine is our service to others. It’s about how we treat each other. It is the ability to empathize with complete strangers who are in their most vulnerable state and to reassure that they would be alright. The patient/doctor relationship is based on a unique trust and faith that everything is being done to look after the patient. Having the perfect medical school application does not correlate to my ability of being a relatable and comforting human being. ----It was that simple sentence that brought me out of my loneliness. As I inevitably canceled my MCAT date and started my next college semester, I began to value my relationships with people more than I had done before. I had friends who checked in on me when I was stressed out during the semester and especially around my surgery date. I had friends who insisted on hanging out with me even though it was inconvenient because I was commuting from home. I had friends that would carry my bag and walk with me to classes while I was on crutches. Some shared stories of their own injuries. I had professors that supported me and worked with me one on one to ensure I was staying on track. My family supported me unconditionally throughout the process as well. By the time I took the MCAT exam this summer, I realized I was not just a sum of my own hard work but also that of everyone around me. Thankfully, I was able to walk into the exam room on my own two feet.
Photo by Marcelo Leal via Unsplash
Grandma’s recipe. Photo courtesy of the author
A dash of spontaneity from my paati ANAMIKA KANNAN
MiC Assistant Creative Content Editor
I inherited my big nose from my grandfather and my asthma from my dad. My love of dance from my mom and sweet tooth from my dad. My paati (grandma) loves cooking. She cooks with a sixth sense — heart. She makes me my favorite kathrikai (eggplant) each visit and if I were a stranger, she would make me kathrikai that tasted just the same. She is legally blind; she relies not on measurement in her cooking but smell, touch, love, spice. But I don’t like to cook. It takes me too long and I need measurements. I’m not generous. My toast tastes different for each relationship I have. Burnt, too light, rarely just right. I rely on pre-planned precision, measurement and recipes guiding me through every step, but my paati cooks with an array of ingredients and spontaneity that speak from her heart. ----Recipe: Age 8 • Hang up clothes on drying rack. Not tall enough. • Play catch. With siblings. With neighbors. With friends. But be back in an hour. • Dance. You love to dance. But classes are much too expensive. • Sing. You love to sing. Your mom is a beautiful violinist. • School. Nothing less than first rank. ----Recipe: Age 9 • Hang up clothes on drying rack. Not tall enough. But who else to do it. • School. Nothing less than first rank. • Take care of babies. Your siblings. Your mother passed away. You must start helping. ----Recipe: Age 17 • Hang up clothes on drying rack. • Cook. You should have already learned how to cook by now. • Wash dishes. • Clean. • Wash clothes. • Sweep floor. • School Nothing less than first rank. But no more school after this. You need to get married. But you always got first rank. You topped your class every year. You would have continued to excel. Continued to create, achieve, imagine, discover. ----Recipe: Age 21 • Hang up clothes on drying rack. • Cook. • Cook. • Cook. This is your creation, imagination, and discovery. You are so good at it. • Wash dishes. • Cook. • Take care of baby. Your baby. • Take care of baby. Not your baby, but the other ones too. • Clean. • Wash clothes. • Sweep floor. • Ask if anyone wants chai. • Ask if anyone wants food. ----Recipe: Age 43 • Hang up clothes on drying rack. • Cook. • Cook. • Cook. • Wash dishes. • Cook. • Take care of baby.
Your second baby. Your first one is 22. She’s moving to America. She’s starting her life. You told her to get her education. You told her to be financially stable so that she could provide for herself. • Clean. • Wash clothes. • Sweep floor. • Ask if anyone wants chai. • Ask if anyone wants food. ----Recipe: Age 71 • Hang up clothes on drying rack. You take in the California sun as you gently place each item on the backyard chair. • Cook. We have guests coming. You can’t wait to cook your famous rasam. • Cook. You try something new. A new dessert. Made vegan for your granddaughter. • Cook. You don’t take tastes in between. You know we will love it. But you know your daughter has been telling you to use less salt. Because we need to be healthier. So you take a taste. But it’s just not the same without the salt. You add the salt. • Cook. Your favorite way to show love. • Wash dishes. Your son-in-law begins. But you want to help. You love the time together. • Take care of baby. Your grandbabies. Your first one is 20. She’s in college. She’s starting her life. You told her to get her education. You told her to be financially stable so that she could provide for herself. You told her to follow her passion for reading, writing, art, learning. Your second one is 17. You told him to get his education. You told him to never lose his love for music. Your third one is 13. You live, laugh, play and love with her, admiring her pencil sketches with squinted eyes through your magnifying glass. • Clean. You walk to your favorite rooms of the house, cleaning as you go. Fighting us every time we tell you that you should rest. • Ask if we all want chai. Your granddaughter brings her oat milk for you to make your special chai. She watches, asking you to teach her everything you know so she can be independent in college. But she knows her chai will never be the same. • Ask if we all want food. • Take a nap. You listen to your favorite prayer as you drift off, your eyes tired but your heart filled with satisfaction as you remember how much your babies loved your kathrikai. • Phone call. Your best friend from India. Your favorite cousin. Your daughter. You can’t wait to see them when you go back in the summer. I inherited my paati’s recipes; her memories occupy my imagination. They may not shine through me with physical attributions, like the bump on the bridge of my nose that tells of my grandpa’s love for travel. They may not be as evident as my dad’s asthma that plagues me in the winter. But I know they exist within me, reminding me every day that I must continue to protest so that I may create something bigger than myself. I’ve been blessed with a life that allows me to rebel explicitly — one that not only allows but challenges me to fight the system, yet resists my strikes when I forget that it was my paati’s sacrifices and lifetime of implicit rebellion, biting her tongue, feeding her family — that paved the way. So I start to make the kathrikai, FaceTime ringing and a million questions on my mind that I know my paati will answer.
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Why Writing? HANNAH NGUYEN MiC Columnist
Think of all the things you’ve ever written. Essay. Journal entry. TikTok comment. What did you write it for? To inform whoever reads it? To release your emotions? To complete the essay that you’ve put off all of Thanksgiving Break? There has to be some meaning or reason behind everything that is written because if there isn’t, what’s the purpose of it? By now, The Michigan Daily has published thousands of articles ranging from sports updates to the opening of new dispensaries on campus, but what holds the most meaning, at least to me, is the writing that comes from Michigan in Color, “an inclusive space by and for people of color.” My experience with MiC so far has made me realize I enjoy writing for it because the writing here, to put it shortly, is unique. Unique in that every piece comes from the writers’ experiences and opinions as people of color. Unique in that everyone has a different reason for why they write. In MiC ME Maya Mokh’s “Why I Joined MiC” she talks about how MiC gives a platform for helping other POC have a voice and a way to share
their stories, and she writes to find her voice as an Arab, Muslim woman. Or in senior Lora Faraj’s “Why I Joined MiC”, she says she writes because of instances in her life where subtle acts of Islamophobia were ignored, and so she hopes to explore a mind that has been told to stay quiet in those instances — her mind. And in a conversation I had with ME Devak Nanua, I learned that he writes because he does not believe in the narrow perception many people have as to how an Asian American is supposed to act, so he writes to reinvent what being Indian American means to him. As these inspiring seniors sadly make their way to the end of their time in MiC, there is a new wave of writers who wish to share their experiences as well. Freshman Sarah Akaaboune told me that she writes because it gives her a sense of belonging and validity, and that it makes her feel like she takes up a space that promotes good doings and that respects one another. Freshman Grace Garmo, on the other hand, writes for the desire to learn more about herself through her writing and to connect them to her experiences throughout college. Specifi-
‘Healing’ MARIA PATTON MiC Columnist
I’m weary with every redhatted someone who walks past me at the grocery store. I’m afraid that if I take a closer look, I’ll be face to face with four words in white print, confirming the unease I sensed at first glance. I’m scared of every blue f lag that is printed with those same four words, rippling violently through the wind while riding on the back of a red pick up truck. Make America Great Again. These four words adopted by Donald Trump and the injustices they represent have made me fearful of the very colors that are supposed to symbolize pride
and hope — the same colors that represent our nation and our f lag. I would like to say that this fear is a new feeling that developed with the use of those four words. But that would be a lie. The way my stomach drops every time I see red and blue lights f lashing in my rearview mirror is not a new feeling. I’ve been scared of those lights my whole life. I’ve always worried that they would be the last lights I would ever see. This fear has been heightened these past four years, but it is not new. This fear is rooted in the oppression Black people have suffered from since the foundation of this country. As a Black woman, I am hopeful that this fear will subside with the results of the recent
Michigan in Color
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 5
Photo via Unsplash
cally, she chooses to write for MiC because of how much her cultural identity has shaped her as she struggled with balancing her ethnic values while also being surrounded by American standards. Through writing, she is able to stay true
to herself and ref lect on how she’s changing while still being able to hold onto these values. This goes to show how timeless writing is. Issues that impact POC are ongoing, and with that, writing about the experiences, journeys and
struggles are ongoing as well. Reading what the writers of MiC produce is one of the best ways to learn about the experiences and opinions of POC, which is important as it helps non-POC recognize the privilege they have, which is why I
believe the writing from Michigan in Color holds so much meaning. And despite the unique reasons for why MiC writers craft articles, in the end, every writer has a common goal: to be heard.
election, but this country continuously perpetuates its systemically oppressive roots so us marginalized people know better than to think anything will change. Since the anxiety-filled trainwreck that was election week, I keep hearing how America needs to heal. People keep saying that our country is more divided than ever before, and we have a lot of work to do to get our country back to what it was four years ago before Trump took office. But why would we do that? What would we be going back to? Other than living a pandemicfree life, there is not a moment in the history of this country that we need to revert back to. How can we heal a country that was founded on the exclusion of so many people? Saying that we need to heal is like saying we need to make America great again. America was never great, and America was never a safe and whole place. Anyone
who is not a white, straight, cis gendered, able bodied, middle or upper class man has always suffered. Racism, sexism, islamophobia, transphobia and homophobia are just a few ideologies this country embraced since its beginning. These ideologies will continue to exist if we keep pretending like everything was okay before 2016. When the fifty states are all mapped out and colored red or blue, it is easy to see how divided the country is. But the inequities marginalized groups of people have faced in America are not always nicely laid out on paper and easily defined, and just because the oppression is invisible to some, doesn’t mean it is nonexistent. I can agree that these last four years have been brutal. The Trump Administration has brought out the ugly in America. But the key is “brought out”. Trump was only as successful as the people who voted for and supported him allowed
for him to be. His hateful principles are not unique; they did not just appear out of thin air. If people did not agree with his values, he would not have been able to secure the presidency in the first place. Yes the families that were lost and separated under the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement need to be found and brought back together, but how will we get rid of the hateful ideologies that put them in this situation in the first place? Reverting back to how things were before these past few years, or “healing” will only leave these hateful beliefs hidden with no way of knowing who possesses them, or when or if they will come out again. This leaves anyone the power to reinstate the harm we are trying to get rid of. While I am scared every time I see Trump’s infamous “Make America Great Again” phrase on a lawn sign, I am also filled with rage. I am angry that
Black people have been suffering for so long. I am exhausted after reading countless tweets defending his actions. I am frustrated to find out how so many people who I once trusted and called my friends are eager to vote against basic human rights, my rights. I feel hopeless because as I sit here and write this piece, and think about the injustices this country was built on, I’m having a hard time imagining what a semi-just society would look like. A country where everyone is loved and accepted? That seems impossible. I do know that until politicians are able to face the truth and own up to the corrupt mess that is America, we will never grow to be the country marginalized individuals deserve to live in. America needs to wake up to its multitude of faults and work to become the great place it has claimed to be. I am sick of being afraid and I am sick of being angry.
Photo via Unsplash
Opinion
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 6
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SIERRA ÉLISE HANSEN | COLUMN
The Queen’s Gambit shows knowledge can’t defeat addiction
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MAX STEINBAUM | COLUMN
K
A return to Mount Vernon
ing George III probably assumed that George Washington would go the way of Oliver Cromwell. To be fair to America’s colonial monarch, it was a reasonable assumption. Across history, such astronomic victories in the field were rarely followed by voluntary concessions. Many Europeans — and even Americans — suspected that in the event of a Franco-American victory, Washington would retain his power, perhaps even becoming America’s king. Across the waves, King George III wondered the same. He evidently asked Benjamin West, a famous American painter who was in London at the time, what he thought Washington would do if the rebels were victorious. West said that he believed the Virginian planter would return to his estate at Mount Vernon — to civilian life. King George was stunned. “If (Washington) does that,” he said, “He will be the greatest man in the world.” West’s prediction was correct. America’s independence was formally confirmed through the Treaty of Paris in September 1783, and in November 1783, the last Redcoats in the nascent republic sailed out of New York Harbor. A month later, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. “Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action,” Washington said in Annapolis, Md. “And bidding an Affectionate farewell (... I) take my leave of all the employments of public life.” Of course, Washington later did return to public life, becoming the first president under the United States Constitution and serving two terms (after which, to a similar surprise of many, Washington again voluntarily gave up his power). But that Washington returned to public office after having supposedly given up “all the employments of public life” in 1783 does not dilute the importance or power of that moment. After leading the Continental forces through eight years of war against
the Crown, he could have become an American warlord. Instead he became an American citizen. As of writing this article, Donald Trump is desperate. He has still refused to concede to Joe Biden, the rightful winner of the presidential election, which we know produced a fair and correct outcome. Rather than admit defeat with the grace and dignity befitting of his office — something all of his one-term predecessors have done — he has peddled baseless conspiracy theories about how the election was “rigged” or “stolen.” None of it is true, of course, which is why Trump’s halfbaked lawsuits are getting slammed in the courts. After four years of our commander-in-chief’s constant ridiculousness, perhaps we should be accustomed to this sort of behavior. But it is nonetheless disheartening to see an American president behave like a 4-year-old who lost a board game and to see millions of Americans support this obscene disrespect of our republican process. But it goes beyond mere disrespect for American democracy, too. Trump’s refusal to publicly recognize defeat, while not in itself a barrier to the transition of power — Biden will be sworn in on Jan. 20, 2021 whether or not Trump makes a public concession — can cause very real and lasting damage to the nation. For one, it undermines faith in American democracy, both at home and abroad. Americans need to know that our electoral process is trustworthy and fair, and republican government only works because the losers recognize defeat. When a sitting American president calls that process a scam without evidence — and his base, along with scores of Republican Party lawmakers, abet these nonsense claims — it puts the legitimacy of our form of government in jeopardy. What’s more, it damages America’s image on the international stage. Americans have long regarded the U.S. as the paragon of democracy, an ideal that we have long prided ourselves on and often used to inform our foreign outlook. If we
can’t manage a smooth transition of power at home, how can we expect the world to still see us as a model of democracy? There are also some serious practical consequences of Trump’s behavior. In rejecting Biden’s status as president-elect, Trump has evidently refused to share information about COVID-19 that would aid Biden’s transition team. Per CNN, the Trump administration directed personnel at the Department of Health and Human Services to not speak with Biden’s advisers. “Unless it (necessary information) is made available (to us) soon,” Biden said, his administration could “be behind by weeks or months” in addressing the pandemic. Fortunately, federal agencies will cooperate with Biden’s team (with or without Trump’s approval) now that the General Services Administration — the agency which formally oversees presidential transition of power — has confirmed that Biden won the election. GSA Administrator Emily Murphy certified Biden as president-elect in late November, which was inevitable given the insubstantial nature of the president’s litigation. While our sore loser-in-chief holes up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and pursues laughable lawsuits, rational Americans understand that the game is up. Biden is president-elect and Biden will become president on Jan. 20, 2021. At that time, Trump will no longer be commander-in-chief; he will return to being just a citizen. Trump’s appreciation of history is probably as flimsy as his current legal proceedings, but he would be wise to follow the example of our first commander-in-chief. Perhaps in a few years, if he and enough of the American people so wish, we’ll see his return to the presidential arena. But right now, it’s time for the president to do what is right for America: step down, move aside and go home to Trump Tower or Mar-a-Lago or wherever he calls Mount Vernon. Max Steinbaum can be reached at maxst@umich.edu.
ILANA MERMELSTEIN | COLUMN
No religion is more important that people’s lives
O
n Wednesday, Nov. 25, the Supreme Court overturned New York state’s restriction on attendance at religious services amid the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming that New York infringed on freedom of religion. As a result of this decision, New Yorkers may now freely worship in large numbers, despite an increase in COVID-19 cases across the United States. This ruling may result in more COVID-19 cases and more deaths than ever before. Cold weather, the gatherings associated with the holiday season and the spike in attendance at religious services for Christmas and Hanukkah combined will not help. Furthermore, this ruling is indicative of future rulings of the Supreme Court. The majority of this Supreme Court is conservative and will likely rule accordingly in favor of exceptions for religious practice, as they did on Nov. 25. Though not surprising given the justices’ political views, overturning New York’s restriction on attending religious services raises New Yorkers’ risk of contracting the coronavirus. Their decision also showcases that this Supreme Court values religious freedom over the right to live. At the end of the day, no religious sentiments should be valued above the health of many. Life must trump religion, always. Though religion should not come before human life in any
circumstance, it can also be argued that New York’s restriction does not infringe upon the freedom of religion guaranteed in the Constitution. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the First Amendment gives Americans the right to practice whatever religion they choose, or no religion at all. However, restricting in-person attendance at religious services does not enforce a religion, or lack thereof, on New Yorkers. Those affected by the restriction are still free to subscribe to any faith of their choosing: They simply must observe that faith safely, given the unique circumstances determined by the pandemic. Many historians also argue that First Amendment rights were given not to restrict state governments, but the federal government, making New York’s restriction constitutional through some lenses. In normal times, I would agree with the justices in their stance that the government should not be able to determine how people choose to practice their respective religions. But we are not in normal times. The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted government intervention in many areas in which the government is not usually involved. Cities and states have instituted stay-at-home orders and mask mandates to minimize risk of contracting COVID-19, and these orders were deemed constitutional. Why, all of a sudden, do individual
liberties come before national health when religion is involved? Regardless of the constitutionality of the restriction, we can all agree that it would likely mitigate the impacts of the pandemic in the holiday season. Any effective method of deterring people from gathering in large numbers will contribute to the national effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Earlier in the year, religious gatherings facilitated community spread of COVID-19. Combine that inevitable spread with the flu season, the cold weather and the upcoming major religious holidays in the U.S., disaster is bound to strike. Though the Supreme Court has won the favor of many religious individuals in the U.S. with the ruling, its decision will likely lead to thousands of COVID-19 diagnoses. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling putting millions at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, there is some good news: New Yorkers, and all Americans, still have the agency to make the right decisions for themselves and their communities. Many places of worship and religious organizations stream services so attendees can practice religion from the safety of their own homes
Read more at MichiganDaily.com Ilana Mermelstein can be reached at imerm@umich.edu.
T
he period piece and limited Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit” amplifies the internal contradictions of addiction through nostalgic portrayals of a time when the battle for dominance between the then-Soviet Union and the United States was predominantly cultural. Rife with contradictions in how its nostalgic renderings and pleasingly muted color palettes fail to reflect the turbulence of the late ‘60s, the series certainly paints afresh a feel-good, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” narrative. Despite this declaration making immediate indications of a scathing review, I haven’t been able to stop watching the show, and this column isn’t a review of the series as a whole. My tendency to notice one storyline embedded in the series over all the others is born of my foregrounded knowledge of addiction’s consequences. But the series offers a powerful rendition of how self-knowledge, or knowledge of the potential for hereditary diseases, doesn’t defeat addiction. From the vantage point of our cultural moment, it is critical to engage the addiction narrative in “The Queen’s Gambit.” We could begin with the way the orphanage doses the orphans with tranquilizers to keep them manageable, and how we recently learned of McKinsey’s evil corporate scam, where the corporation knowingly preyed on victims of the opioid crisis by offering “overdose rebates” to pharmacies. We could begin by naming another example from that same legacy left by another quintessential icon, the “American scam artist,” where self-proclaimed “rehab centers” systematically scammed vulnerable, low-income families for their insurance money. Even so, let us start with the practical and the cosmetic. About halfway through the series, Elizabeth Harmon’s addiction has clearly escalated — the expected trajectory of any active addiction from modern medicine’s understanding of it. It is additionally important that I clarify what I mean by this: Through the first half of the 20th century and beyond, addicts were regarded by Americans with characteristic ambivalence, perhaps epitomized by the United States Narco Farm in Lexington, Ky., which opened in 1935 and housed both convicted drug addicts and voluntary patients in an ultimately doomed experiment for treating addiction. Still, addicts desperate for relief even wrote letters to the farm’s directors begging to be admitted. This is despite how addiction was then ubiquitously regarded as a moral failure that could be cured by farm work alone. Today, addiction specialists use the term “medical model” to summarize their understanding as opposed to attributing addiction to moral shortcomings. But cue
Harmon downing entire bottles of red wine at an astonishing pace with a pensive, sultry gaze. Her ensuing spiral into substance abuse has a cinematic, nearly iconic look to it. We might want to step away from imagery depicting someone’s bottom as a well-choreographed music video with only one scene of projectile vomiting, where she somehow never manages to lose the house. She simultaneously takes incredibly strong tranquilizers, but even at the end of the series, anyone who has been in or has known someone in the throes of addiction cannot watch the final scene unfold without wondering how Taylor-Joy’s complexion has remained so lovely throughout. Dare I say, her complexion improves significantly and becomes miraculously more radiant, with not a trace of dehydration aside from the one time she downs glasses of water during her “hangover match” with the Russian. Even when Harry Beltik, her pursuer and competitor, notes changes in Harmon’s skin with no shortage of disgust and incredulity (and whoever did Taylor-Joy’s makeup there indeed made her look quite a bit more pallid), I’m not sure I ever noticed a difference as far as her face appearing more bloated. If you were to abuse alcohol on the level Harmon does in “The Queen’s Gambit,” your face would bloat from a combination of water retention and weight gain. Alcohol has many calories and causes a unique kind of bloating — especially and very noticeably in the face. I have regarded my otherwise malnourished face in a mirror, bloated to the point where my own gaze didn’t register the years-long accumulated changes. Remarkably, I didn’t drink until my first year of college, when I ran cross-country for a small Christian school. The act of taking that first drink, it turns out, would make an incision in my life resulting in my nearly losing everything. You may believe this to be an exaggeration but, very unfortunately, it isn’t. Addiction is structural violence within the self that tentacles into obsession, like a magnetic field that cannot be reversed or deprogrammed — think the shimmer of Jeff VanderMeer’s “Annihilation” from which you do not return the same. You may not know this, but here is a haunting and predictable piece of knowledge: Alcohol effectively affects the hominid brain in a literalized reversal of its evolution. First, it powers down the frontal cortex, then the prefrontal cortex and so on. Before it can affect the brain stem, it silences the hippocampus and therefore the acquisition of memories. Then it often triggers a stupor and a restless sleep before it can impact involuntary functions such as breathing. Alcohol incapacitated my desire
for everything else as if a magnet had steadily gained strength and before I knew it, the temptation had become physiologically built into my everyday. My relationship with alcohol was initially complicated because, like many people on the autism spectrum, I felt socializing was impenetrably stressful, like a labyrinth — every interaction was a calculus I was notoriously bad at. The first time I was legally able to consume a glass of wine at a formal event, I remember how my anxiety shrank to a manageable level — it felt like a revelation or a mere fragment of the carefree social life I saw others enjoying. I wondered why no one had ever told me it could feel this good, or this easy. Moreover, this was before I was introduced to cognitive-behavioral techniques for disarming some of my more annoying tics, which did not make me particularly charming and included: repetitively sounding out consonants (“-th” and“-sh”), “stimming” and tunnel vision for particular subjects that no one else cared about (admittedly, this hasn’t gone away). Small talk wasn’t something I was necessarily “disinterested” in — it confused me. I tried to understand why people did it, and then I tried to replicate it. In exuding oddball glamour while exhibiting some of the characteristic obsession that I can personally identify with, Harmon’s character makes rigorous, disciplined obsession alongside fiercely unapologetic female intelligence seem a glamorous performance art. Even when she wakes up severely hungover in Paris, she whips her head forward and instantly collects herself, looking like a veritable siren doll with sinuously reflective red curls magically restored to bouncing perfection — just minutes after emerging from a bathtub with pitch-black mascara bleeding down her cheeks. Every man that has been in her life saves her more than once; the show is a fairy tale without Brothers Grimm body horror or any horror to speak of aside from its tragic opening scene. But let’s rewind a bit more, to the moment when Harmon first visualizes an upside-down game of chess on the orphanage ceiling. There is a particularly dangerous form of causality being drawn here between Harmon’s blossoming intellect — her precocity — and not just her tendency toward addictive behaviors, but her addiction to pills as well. It’s important to note the difference: It’s perfectly fine to acknowledge that sometimes yes, there is a link between an individual who harbors some kind of genetic predisposition toward addiction and their potential for greatness.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com Sierra Elise Hansen can be reached at hsierra@umich.edu
With permission, this design is courtesy of John Conlon, who can be found on Instagram at @/jdarcyconlon.
Opinion
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LYDIA STORELLA | COLUMN
I
The United States and polarization
am worried about the state of our country. Cases of COVID19 continue to rise daily. Our president and much of the Republican Party continue their baseless claims of voter fraud. These are major issues, but the United States is also in trouble if it is unable to solve the problem of partisanship. In the last 40 years, Americans have become more politically polarized. Along with polarization is the rise of negative partisanship, the growing importance of negative emotions towards the other party in politics. Parties are increasingly held together by their hatred of the other party. Both parties are guilty of this: in 2019, 55% of Republicans called Democrats “immoral” while 75% of Democrats called Republicans “closed-minded.” Each of these percentages have increased since 2016. The messaging of the election shows negative partisanship as well. The “Settle for Biden” movement demonstrates how many on the left put aside reservations about President-elect Joe Biden to vote President Donald Trump out of office. While there was no formal equivalent on the right, many people who disliked Trump voted for him, often citing the Democrats as their reason for doing so. This rhetoric about the other party is dangerous for our country. If the two major political parties view each other with suspicion and hostility, it is impossible to have a dialogue about real issues that the United States face and for members of our government, especially elected officials, to find policy solutions to those problems. Both the left and the right contribute to negative partisanship by acting in ways that lead each side to be dismissive of the other. Each side wants to be respected and have their views heard; negative partisanship prevents this from happening. The left often resorts to calling Trump and his supporters racist,
xenophobic, and uneducated to argue their side. This name-calling does nothing but serve to cause further separation between Democrats and Republicans. Why would conservatives have any reason to listen to what Democrats have to say after understanding how Democrats view them? People don’t like to be called bad names, and “racist,” “xenophobic” and “uneducated” are all clearly negative. The left’s tendency to call Trump supporters “uneducated” is one of the most concerning ways that it refers to Republicans. Liberals tend to dismiss those without a college degree solely because they do not have that degree. This is a brand of liberal elitism that often goes unnoticed because American social circles tend to contain people with similar education levels to our own. But Democrats need to understand they are not better than Republicans when they have a college degree. Only about 35% of Americans have a fouryear degree. Democrats will not win voters by being patronizing; using talking points such as suggesting that most academics are Democrats, the most uneducated states vote red and saying that Republicans vote for policies that harm them does not do anything but make Republicans more suspicious of Democrats. On the other hand, the right engages in actions that make the left distrustful and angry towards Republicans. When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Democrats angrily pointed out the hypocrisy of the nomination when McConnell refused to allow a vote on Judge Merrick Garland in 2016. Republican citizens rejoiced while Democrats anguished. Senate Republicans went back against what they said in 2016 about Garland and the Supreme Court to support the nomination. This type of behavior from the
left and the right is not mutually exclusive. They feed into each other and allow each side to become more angry, leading to deeper divisions between each side. The elitism of the left breeds anger from the right that leads to blatant hypocrisy. As long as each side sees the other as the enemy, we will be unable to have a meaningful dialogue about our country. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how these divisions prevent us from not just disagreeing on legislation, such as a second stimulus package during a financial crisis, but having different opinions on facts themselves. The polarization of our country creates anger and prevents our government from being able to work together to solve problems all Americans face. We must work to get over our biases against the other side and realize we are all Americans, and while we have dramatically different opinions about policy, we share values of democracy, life and liberty. Whenever we catch ourselves making generalizations about any group of people, we need to hold ourselves accountable and remember that these thoughts stereotype groups of people and only cause further division between us. This is important to practice with marginalized communities, and it is important to practice with people with differing political views than our own. All Americans must work to overcome our preconceived notions about those we disagree with in order to prevent polarization from overtaking the country. If we follow the path we are on, the trends of disagreement over legislation as well as rights will continue and lead to a divided country whose government cannot work for the people and whose people are unable to see what unites us. Lydia Storella can be reached at storella@umich.edu.
MADELYN VERVAECKE | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT MIVERVAE@UMICH.EDU
ALEX NOBEL | COLUMN
A
s millions of Americans try and grapple with the fact that President Donald Trump will be a one-term president, it is important to note that this is not America’s first “disputed” election. In the 2000 presidential election, Democratic nominee former Vice President Al Gore and Republican nominee former Texas Gov. George W. Bush went head to head in one of the closest and most contested elections in recent American history. That election was much closer than the 2020 election and came down to 537 votes in Florida, where Bush’s younger brother, Jeb Bush, happened to be the governor. Due to the small margin, there was no winner declared on election night, and the country was forced to wait 36 days for the recount to be conducted. The election was eventually decided by the Supreme Court, which declared by an initial 7-2 ruling and then a 5-4 decision that the recount was unjust; in practice making George W. Bush the nation’s next
7 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
NOAH ENTE | COLUMN
On Iran and the Mideast, Biden should follow in Trump’s footsteps
I
n just under two months, former Vice President Joe Biden will assume the Oval Office after defeating incumbent President Donald Trump during the election in November. President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will seek to quickly make changes from the executive branch that will alter the nature of American leadership at home and abroad and create significant daylight between their policies and those put forth by Trump since January 2017. One topic that has once again risen to prominence over the last few weeks has been the U.S.’s confrontational relationship with Iran. Amid uncertainty and concern regarding the future Biden administration’s next steps in managing the conf lict, there have been indications of potential last-minute actions by the Trump administration that could impact the path forward for the president-elect. Reports have indicated that Trump consulted his military advisers about the possibility of attacking Iran’s nuclear processing facilities. This was in the wake of findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran had been enriching uranium on a much greater scale and to a greater degree of purity than was allowed for in the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal. Former President Barack Obama and his administration considered the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, to be one of his greatest foreign policy achievements. Of course, that was under the assumption that the terms of the deal — which included the lifting of all U.S. sanctions against Iran in exchange for a temporary halt to its work on nuclear weapon development — were strong enough to bring Tehran closer to moderation and better relations with the West.
Design courtesy of Erin Shi
As it turned out, and as critics of the JCPOA had known for years, the so-called “deal” was incredibly f lawed and onesided, and the assumptions by Obama and his advisers that led to its creation were fundamentally shaky, to say the least. The evidence found by the IAEA at Natanz proves once again that Iran has never had true desires to moderate and curb its aggressive uranium enrichment activities. Considering Iran’s malign inf luence throughout the region and the threat it represents to America and its allies, too much is at stake for the U.S. to simply sit back and hope that the terms of the JCPOA are honored, or that any true Iranian moderation would occur. To make matters worse, the lifting of Western sanctions on Iran freed up billions of dollars that would not be used for domestic improvements, but rather would be funneled into Tehran’s network of proxy forces that are sowing terror and destabilization all over the region. Trump made the wise choice to abandon the deal in May of 2018. While Biden criticized the decision and warned that “talk of a ‘better deal’ (was) an illusion,” it can only be said with certainty that the old deal wasn’t cutting it for the U.S. and its allies. While it would absolutely be unwise to risk a potential full-on armed conf lict with Iran, the concern from Trump and his administration that the president-elect would repeat critical U.S. missteps in the Middle East is certainly justified. Biden has often defended Obama’s foreign policy record, including the Iran Deal and has stated his desires to reenter the agreement. He has also criticized Trump’s policies, which have not had any tangible downsides — such as moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem — though
he wisely indicated he would not reverse the move. Biden himself was a signatory to the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act that required the U.S. move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In the last four years, the U.S. saw its regional allies strengthened, reconciled and cooperating with one another in Israel and Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. At the same time, its regional adversaries like ISIS incurred losses in their quests for domination. To halt this course of progress would be very unfortunate. In what was essentially a victory speech on the Friday after election night, Biden called for national unity and an end to hyperpartisanship. He also added that “the purpose of our politics … (is) to solve problems.” One way that the president-elect can stay true to his word is by simply not reversing policies or changing an effective strategy because it was implemented by the previous administration. Trump reversed course on much of the Obama-era foreign policy after significant evidence of its failure to bring positive developments and advance American interests; to have abandoned policies purely out of political spite would have been a shame. At the end of his term, it can certainly be said that for all his f laws in rhetoric and other areas of policy, Trump has largely been spot-on when it comes to the Middle East. If Biden truly wants to govern as “an American president” and bring an end to the rank partisanship that has grown within U.S. politics, he should chart a path forward that is based on an earnest look at the last few administrations’ successes and failures, not on the approval of his former boss.
become “the central organizing principle for civilization.” His attention toward the environment led almost every major environmentalist group to throw their support behind him. The Sierra Club, the U.S.’s most prominent environmental group, endorsed Gore, citing his record of improving air health standards, reducing car emissions, conserving America’s landscapes and decreasing the amount of time it took to clean up Superfund waste sites. Following his defeat, Gore focused on something bigger than himself. Since 2000, Gore made it his goal to increase awareness about climate change and do everything he can to remedy it. He has given thousands of presentations around the world about the dangers of inaction. In 2006, Gore released a documentary about climate change titled “An Inconvenient Truth,” which led to him later receiving a Nobel Peace Prize. That same year Gore started an organization called Climate Reality, which
aimed to pressure politicians to support policies that protect the environment. While a Gore administration would not have solved even close to every climate or environmental related issue, it would certainly have been a big improvement over the administration we got. A major difference is that climate change would not have been as bipartisan as it is now. If Gore had acted on climate early, it would have focused the debate on how best to solve climate change, not whether or not it exists. This would have allowed politicians to actually act in a timely manner and face climate change head-on and protecting our environment. A Gore presidency would have had a tremendous butterfly effect on the state of our present-day nation and would have drastically changed the situation we are in.
Noah Ente can be reached at noahente@umich.edu.
What if Al Gore had won? commander in chief. But somewhere in an alternate universe, the recount was justified and Al Gore became the 43rd President of the United States. What effect would Gore — a man who centered his campaign around environmental protection — have had on the planet as president? To begin to answer this question, Bush’s environmental record must be put under a microscope. During his campaign, Bush promised to regulate carbon emissions from coal power plants, but like many of his campaign promises, he did not follow through with it. Just a few days into his first term, his administration announced that the United States would not enact the Kyoto Protocol. Signed two years earlier in 1998, the Kyoto Protocol was an international treaty, similar to the Paris Climate Agreement, which aimed to encourage countries to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Under Bush, the U.S. ultimately did not join the treaty. A spokesman for the Sierra Club, Josh Dorner, explained the legacy of
the Bush administration, saying, “The Bush administration has introduced this pervasive rot into the federal government which has undermined the rule of law, undermined science, undermined basic competence and rendered government agencies unable to do their most basic function even if they wanted to.” If that sounds familiar it’s because it is. Perhaps the most damaging environmental consequence of the Bush administration was its attack on science. Similar to the current administration, it ran a disinformation campaign and silenced scientists who spoke out about climate change. In 2004, James Hansen, a NASA scientist, publicly accused the Bush administration of censoring information about the rate the planet was warming. Following the accusation, the White House continued to ignore science and tried to go around the Environmental Protection Agency to get a regulation on car
emissions overturned by doctoring a scientific study. It also began to deregulate many existing environmental protections and put an emphasis on dismantling the Endangered Species Act — which included special protections for many animals, including polar bears. So what would a President Gore have done differently? For starters, Gore would have joined the Kyoto Protocol, as he explained when he said Bush needed to “listen to those among his advisers who know that we need to have binding reductions in CO2.” While this would not solve everything, it was the absolute bare minimum. Additionally, Gore would not have rolled back environmental regulations in the same haphazard way as Bush did. Gore put environmental conservation front and center during his campaign and would have increased protections for water, air and wildlife. Gore even went so far as to say that environmental protection should
Alex Nobel can be reached at anobel@umich.edu.
Opinion
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 8
JESS D’AGOSTINO | COLUMN
Normalize uncomfortable conversations this holiday season
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s many begin to head home for the holidays, it has become clear that this year will look different. If you are planning to safely reconnect with family this holiday season, there is bound to be tension regarding any discussion from a year that is seemingly a simulation gone rogue. Despite the largely-acknowledged principle of avoiding controversial talk at the Thanksgiving table, complicated conversations are essential this year more than ever before — especially when held with those you don’t agree with. My family and I are about as close as a family can be (maybe even a little closer than that). My parents are my friends, my siblings are my confidants and our family group chat — appropriately named “My Insane Family” — is inundated daily with memes, pictures of my nieces and occasionally something political or controversial. While we all share very similar moral values, it comes as a surprise to many who know how tight-knit my family is that our politics are not all aligned. While I won’t divulge personal information about any of my family members, I will instead use my personal experience as an encouragement to anyone heading home to a politicallyheterogeneous household. Before doing so, it would be ignorant of me to not give
recognition to the divisive, polarizing atmosphere in which we live. Whether it be demanded recounts, a lack of concession from President Donald Trump or the vastly different opinions my Facebook feed has seen as a response to these actions, it is imperative to address the privilege that comes with accepting a difference of opinion. There are differences of opinion and then, in a very separate bucket, there are values which cannot be decided on personal opinion and instead are matters of right or wrong. For example, while tax policy is a matter of debate, the right for LGBTQ+ people to get married is a matter of values — equality, equity, discrimination and opportunity are non-negotiable. With that established, rethink your Thanksgiving table political conversation. Admittedly, the Thanksgiving table is not the best place or time for these conversations. However, “nowhere” and “never” are also not sufficient replacements. Complicated conversations help us grow; they allow us to develop our own perspectives and attempt to see a complex issue from different angles. I recommend establishing a time and place that feels comfortable and open. Sometimes the best conversations require
ground rules to ensure everyone feels like they have a safe space to communicate. At the end of the day, without a difference of opinion, the world would be mundane and resemble a page from a young adult dystopian novel. As human beings, we pride ourselves on our ability to produce and share unique thoughts. If we cannot find the power to acknowledge the other side of an argument, all hope in ending or mending the divisiveness plaguing every sector of life would truly be gone. There is a way to have these conversations and there are endless reasons to have them. So instead of banning off-color conversation, encourage open dialogues this holiday season. Find a safe space and be open-minded. It can be extremely difficult to look past my own ideology sometimes. My brother and I have been at a verbal duel to the death over issues we will never agree on. However, I know we are both better for having those challenging conversations; we exposed ourselves to another line of thinking and in doing so, garnered a better understanding of our own perspectives. Jess D’Agostino can be reached at jessdag@umich.edu.
KAREEM RIFAI | COLUMN
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The future of Belarus is female
lexander Lukashenko, “Europe’s last dictator,” has brutally suppressed mass protests sparked by civil unrest over Belarus’s presidential election in August. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, has managed to maintain his grip on power by rigging elections for more than two decades. No Belarusian presidential election since 1994 has been declared free or fair by international election observers. With state-sponsored media, the Belarusian KGB and Vladimir Putin at his side, the Belarusian authoritarian has managed to effectively fight back against internal and external opposition to his regime for years until now. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former English teacher nowturned Lukashenko’s largest political rival, addressed a crowd of her supporters, saying that she wants her “husband and children back” and would much rather “fry (her) cutlets” instead of leading a major opposition movement. Tikhanovskaya’s husband, Sergei, was the original contender to oppose Lukashenko in the August election. A popular YouTube blogger and activist, he was barred from registering and as a candidate and was thrown in prison. After her husband’s arrest, Tikhanovskaya joined forces with Veronika Tsepkalo, the wife of another barred presidential candidate, Valery Tsepkalo and Maria Kolesnikova, former campaign manager to barred candidate Viktar Babaryka. Together, this powerful female trio has managed to ignite one of the most expansive protest movements against Lukashenko’s brutal regime. Lukashenko’s misogyny was on full display during his campaign, saying that a female Design courtesy of Mellisa Lee
president like Tikhanovskaya “would collapse, poor thing.” Beyond his routine targeting of female pro-democracy activists, the Belarusian KGB went into overdrive to persecute anyone perceived as a political opponent leading up to the election, including journalists, monitors and foreign citizens. Lukashenko’s focus on eliminating his opposition has gone far beyond his attention to COVID-19, which he’s dismissed as “psychosis.” In accordance with his typical machismo, Lukashenko suggested that drinking vodka, riding tractors through fields and going to the sauna would be enough to counteract the deadly virus that has claimed over a million lives worldwide. Despite losing the rigged election, and being forced to flee the country, Tikhanovskaya’s group of three has managed to continue to fuel the mass protests for democracy and human rights. Following the elections, multiple state TV personalities, bastions for the preservation of Lukashenko’s rule, resigned and joined the anti-government protests. Students, doctors, the elderly and prominent athletes and actors have joined since the popular movement’s start more than 100 days ago. Diana Pchelinkova, a young female activist from Minsk described the brutality she endured during pro-democracy protests to the BBC. As she fled from the police, she and other protesters ran into an apartment building, seeking shelter in an apartment: “I was the last one. I fell at the entrance. They hit my back with batons. We tried to shut the door but they pushed through.” According to her account, officers stormed in the
apartment Pchelinkova had taken shelter in and began beating the male protesters while the women screamed and begged for the police to spare them from detention. Another female activist, Alesya, who frequently attends anti-government rallies, recounted her experience at a protest in early November. As crowds increased, stun grenades were unleashed on the peaceful protesters and police hit people with batons. “They attacked us again and again. It was awful. They ferociously beat people, twisted their arms and took us away,” Alesya said. Female leadership and widespread female participation in the protests aimed at ousting Lukashenko are not only eroding the old-guard Sovietstyle institutions that have kept Lukashenko in power for decades but also the image of the traditionally ultra-macho authoritarian leader. Tikhanovskaya’s rise along with Tsepkalo and Kolesnikova’s feminist leadership has effectively destroyed one of Europe’s last strongmen, as Lukashenko continues to frantically suppress his opposition and likely fears retribution from Vladimir Putin in a similar style to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Three women have brought one strong man down to his knees, and if they succeed, Tikhanovskaya, the Belarussian “Joan of Arc,” will radically change the landscape of the Soviet-style nation, despite having to tackle undoubtedly difficult challenges for a former teacher and housewife, including rampant corruption, extreme poverty and COVID-19. Kareem Rifai can be reached at krifai@umich.edu.
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MADELYN VERVAECKE | CONTACT CARTOONIST AT MIVERVAE@UMICH.EDU
LIZZY PEPPERCORN | COLUMN
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It’s past time for a national carbon tax
t is past time for the United States to implement a national carbon tax. Over 40 governments around the world have put in place economic mechanisms for pricing carbon, whether through a direct carbon tax or an emissions trading system. The U.S. is the second-largest contributor to carbon emissions, yet it is behind in the fight against climate change. A few individual states have enacted carbon taxes. But if the U.S. wants to remain a world leader, it needs to start taxing carbon at the national level. The purpose of a carbon tax is to counteract a negative externality that is not already considered by the producer as a cost when considering the costs and benefits of an activity. While people do not intentionally release carbon into the atmosphere, it has negative side effects that impact all of society, such as species extinction, falling crop yields, intensified weather patterns, damage to coral reefs, rising sea levels and more. Therefore, the government must step in and increase the price of the activity to make the cost accurately reflect the negative societal impacts. One of the largest sources of carbon emissions is fossil fuel combustion from burning coal, oil and natural gas. Humans are releasing carbon into the atmosphere faster than the natural rate. While 40 percent of the carbon dioxide we emit will be
removed from the atmosphere in 20 years, 20 percent will remain in the atmosphere after 1,000 years. Already, the parts per million concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from about 280 ppm in 1750 to over 400 ppm in 2019. However, because the impacts of carbon emissions are not immediate, humans have yet to see how the carbon already emitted will alter the climate hundreds of years into the future. According to a 2019 report from the International Monetary Fund, an increased price on carbon may be the most efficient way to reduce global warming and air pollution. The 2015 Paris climate accord aims for a two-degree Celsius warming. However, current trends point to a four-degree Celsius rise in temperature from pre-industrial levels. In order to reach the twodegree Celsius warming level, thus keeping the climate livable for humans, there must be a $75 per ton price by 2030. Currently, the global average price is $2 per ton of carbon emissions, and the U.S. has now withdrawn from the Paris Agreement. As a global leader, the U.S. must set an example for nations across the world and take the fight against climate change more seriously with the implementation of a carbon tax. Opponents of a carbon tax argue that U.S. exports would decrease
since a carbon tax would increase the price of U.S. goods. However, consumerism would likely just be reallocated to carbon-free or lowcarbon goods and services that are cheaper than the carbon-taxed items. Further, some of the revenues from the carbon tax that do not get redistributed can be invested in renewable energy sources and innovation. Another possible risk of a carbon tax is that it could disproportionately impact lowincome individuals since the price of carbon-intense goods and services would increase equally across income groups. However, a redistribution program would solve this inequity by redistributing tax revenue to American citizens. Therefore, those with a smaller carbon footprint who pay less of the tax would make money from the revenue and be further incentivized to focus consumerism on low-carbon goods and services. If the U.S. wants to pride itself on being a world leader, larger, concrete steps towards fighting climate change are necessary. Taxing carbon is a feasible and effective method for reducing emissions. Congress must pass a carbon tax with urgency, decreasing the harmful carbon emission activities in the U.S. Lizzy Peppercorn can be reached at epepperc@umich.edu.
SAM WOITESHEK | COLUMN
I
A remote freshman’s semester in review
may be a little late on the Thanksgiving vibes but, as a whole, the holiday season offers time to “give thanks” (something we should do at least once every day). As the semester winds to a close and Michiganders prepare for another winter featuring hell’s elemental wrath, I would be remiss if I did not stop to think about these last three months. Back in the summer, my excitement was overwhelming. My senior year of high school had ended abruptly and I was ready for a fresh start. I agonized over my classes in July and signed up for move-in in August, both with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. I figured it was only a matter of time before my “college experience” began. As it turns out, expectations rarely meet reality. I elected to study remotely as all my classes were online. I refused to cancel my housing contract with the hope of returning once the number of COVID19 cases lowered, a moment that never came. My parents are immunocompromised, so my options are limited in my hometown as well. It’s been nearly impossible to salvage the positives. However, I’m not looking for pity. Coupled with the University of Michigan’s recent housing decision, it’s been a tumultuous experience for many first-year students, even those that are on-campus. Without further ado, here are the highs and lows from 164 miles away. The good: The option for students to attend hybrid classes was inspiring. Although 77% of all credit hours were taken remotely, some students were allowed to enjoy face-to-face socialization, a scarcity nowadays but refreshing
when available. Here’s to hoping — out of all our pandemic-related collegiate issues — for more opportunities for in-person education and interaction in 2021. Our clubs and organizations have been extremely diligent. The rush processes for most Fraternity & Sorority life and professional fraternities have so far been virtual and wellexecuted. I am a member of the Sports Business Association and we have a speaker series every week over Zoom, as well as professional development workshops. From what I’ve heard from other students, their extracurricular activities have been conducted in a similar fashion. Keep up the awesome work, guys. The bad: The awkwardness in Zoom’s “breakout room” feature is almost palpable. Unless you have a Chatty Kathy in your group, chances are the first minutes will be spent blankly staring at each other in silence. Then, when you finally are able to converse, the professor is already calling you back and you have to strategically say goodbye. Alternatively, there’s a chance your group hits it off! Sadly, you’re probably not talking about what you were assigned, so that’s no good either. Why the heck were community bathrooms an option this semester? No less one that came to fruition! No one is going to reasonably wear a mask while showering or brushing their teeth and, if Michigan Housing thought otherwise, they were so devastatingly wrong. I’m not suggesting that we go fullout barbaric and conduct our business among nature, but can’t we push a little more for a safer substitute during this time? Football season, on the whole,
has been operating below its usual standards. The Holy Grail of fall Saturdays currently does not exist. Where else would you rather be on an Ann Arbor weekend than among 110,000 screaming fans? I get it, this pandemic has stripped us of far too much, but it still hurts to watch the empty, cardboardfilled stands at Michigan Stadium. Plus, if that wasn’t bad enough, our annoying neighbors to the south were victorious and Jim Harbaugh appears lost yet again. His team is a measly 2-4, underperforming by the most mediocre of expectations. He might want to start looking for a realtor soon. A week ago I returned to Ann Arbor to move the few belongings I had in Mary Markley Residence Hall back to my house. It was strange coming back. I’ve been to campus plenty of times for a variety of reasons. Yet somehow, on what should have been a typical fall afternoon, the place I’d come to love had never felt more foreign. Then again, this semester — as we’ve all learned — has become entirely atypical. On-campus freshmen may have had some fun, but they’d be cheating themselves by believing they received the full experience. The University is too diverse and enriching in its possibilities for this year’s freshmen to be satisfied in the short and limited time they’ve spent here. For first-years who have spent the year at home, it’s okay to admit our “experience” was unflattering. Make no mistake, it’s felt like high school 2.0. We’ll enter next fall feeling like freshmen, feeling a year behind our classmates and a lifetime behind our older peers. Sam Woiteshek can be reached at swoitesh@umich.edu.
R
the statement
the sex issue
10 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
statement
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Let’s talk about talking about sex
BY ANDIE HOROWITZ, STATEMENT DEPUTY EDITOR
P
eople love listening to other people talk about sex. The fear is actually talking about it themselves. Aside from the awkward sit-down discussions some parents force upon their adolescent children and the inadequate sex education classes most students are subjected to, talking about sex is generally considered taboo — most especially for women. Most men are granted a free pass in this department. As I’m sure you’ve heard as many times as I have, boys will be boys. Our society frames men as more dominant, aggressive, sexual and outright horny in their nature, so who can blame them when they want to talk about how good a partner is in bed, or how badly they’d love to sleep with someone? And when the current United States president has said, on record, to, “grab ‘em (women) by the pussy,” it makes sense that no one bats an eye when the sex talk is male-dominated — no matter the content or harm it implies. This isn’t the case for women, or for anyone who isn’t a cisgender, heterosexual male for that matter. The narrative around sex has historically been that it’s a private act people engage in for the purpose of two goals: 1) To reproduce and 2) To please men. And if women are going to talk about it, it better be about at least one of those two things. The distinction here comes from where and when it is discussed: If it’s about having a child, it’s permissible to discuss in public; If it’s about pleasing a man, well … that’s a conversation for behind closed doors. Anything not adhering to these invisible yet unspoken rules is deemed by polite society as dirty and impure. It should be at least somewhat obvious that everything I just mentioned is objectively backward in tradition and oppressive. All people, regardless of their identities, should be able to talk about all of the intricacies of sex. Whether it be shifting the dialogue around pleasure, or making people feel less alone in discussing what often are universal experiences, we must break the barriers around these conversations. But what’s the best way to do so? The answer may lie in the media. Media inevitably shapes public opinion, as it proves to have a strong influence on who and what is normalized. For years now, different types of media have worked to make discussing women and sexuality more acceptable. Breakthroughs began with the emergence of sex-positive feminists in the 1960s and ‘70s, with a focus on deconstructing the stigma around sexuality to improve intimate relationships overall. From then, the media improved with developments like the pioneering career of sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the 1960s shift in Cosmopolitan’s focus to sex initiated by Helen Gurley Brown or the 1998 premiere of “Sex and the City.” With these markers, sex-based conversation among women has made significant strides. These changes have helped women across the country feel a sense of reassurance and empowerment in their sexuality, undoubtedly marking some degree of progress. Though these programs started off as progressive for their time period, modern culture has inevitably changed — and with it comes a change in demand for pushing boundaries. Introducing: “Call Her Daddy,” a new and popular female-led, sex-focused podcast, which has turned what’s considered permissible for sex and media right on its head. The show doesn’t talk about sex in a way that lacks depth; instead, “Call Her Daddy” immediately dives into all of the dirty details of explicit sex techniques and common mishaps. In an attempt to be relatable and
authentic, the podcast spits in the face of expected pleasantries: It’s unfiltered, explicit and extremely raunchy. They swear — they refer to sex as fucking; genitalia as dicks, pussies, tits and ass and common sexual acts like oral as blowjobs and eating out. And listeners seemed to like it — in 2018, the show hit two million downloads just two months after its creation. When I first heard about Call Her Daddy, I was overwhelmed with excitement. As a sex-positive feminist, I’ve recognized the importance of and called for this type of nuanced sex media since I began studying gender and sexuality. A podcast with this much success felt groundbreaking and promising. I was sure that this was a step of progress that society so desperately needed. Yet after actively listening for a handful of months, my honeymoon phase began to deteriorate and a wave of clarity forced me to take a step back. The closer I paid attention to Call Her Daddy’s content, the more I realized that it was full of issues. The show preached em-
Each episode was structured as a conversation between Alex and Sofia, touching on elements like stories from their pasts, outof-the-box sexual theories like the concept of “post nut clarity” and advice on how to have better sex. They were young, carefree, funny and unapologetically detailed as they discussed the intricacies of their sex lives. Following its release, “Call Her Daddy” gained thousands of listeners and climbed the charts of Apple podcasts. It was evident that their first listeners experienced “Call Her Daddy” as a breath of fresh air, transforming the show into an overnight sensation. For many, the podcast represented a sort of flyon-the-wall look into how young women really talk about sex with their friends. People started to take notice of this success and after only a month of content, Barstool Sports, a well-known, polarizing digital media company, acquired the rights to the show. It’s important to note that Barstool Sports, led by University of Michigan alum Dave Portnoy, is an extremely controversial
COLLAGE BY EILEEN KELLY
powerment, agency and autonomy, yet had misogynistic undertones with arguably problematic messages. Not to mention, at the time the show was hosted by two conventionally attractive, heterosexual, young white women — a standard that is by no means the norm and comes with a set of undeniable privileges. With this in mind, I began to question: Who does this podcast really serve, and how is it shifting the public discourse around sex? A Crash Course on Call Her Daddy In the fall of 2018, roommates Alexandra (Alex) Cooper, 24, and Sofia Franklyn, 26, were living and working in New York City. At the time, both women were unenthusiastic about their day jobs, so when they gained positive attention for “talking candidly about sex” from strangers in an Austin bar, they seized what they saw as an exciting opportunity. They took their casual, off-the-record conversations to the internet, creating the infamous “Call Her Daddy” podcast. And with this setup, the “Call Her Daddy” brand was born: a name that purposely attempts to take back the power from men by attributing a patriarchal position of power to women. The duo began releasing half-hour episodes with eye-catching titles such as “SEXT ME SO I KNOW IT’S REAL” and “Fine Dining: An Eating Out Special.”
company. What began as a sports newspaper grew into an empire, with content ranging from food to pop culture. Barstool has a target audience of men aged 18 to 34, so much of its material is catered to male college students. This premise is not problematic in its nature but is misogynistic in its execution. They have affiliate accounts like Barstool Smokeshows — an Instagram dedicated to showing off “hot” young women in an extremely objectifying manner. They told a female staffer that she will not “be able to put her face in front of a camera in five years, because people will throw up,” and publicly said ESPN sportscaster Sam Ponder’s main job requirement is “to make men hard,” among other disturbing instances. With this in mind, I found it peculiar that a corporation so evidently tainted by toxic masculinity would be interested in purchasing a podcast that claims to empower women. Nevertheless, the Barstool acquisition pushed “Call Her Daddy’s ratings over the edge, catalyzing the creation of a loyal fanbase known as the “Daddy Gang.” And even after drama between the two hosts and Barstool itself — Cooper is now the sole host due to a widely publicized dispute with Franklyn — the show still has millions of listeners, its Instagram has 1.8 million followers and the brand has numerous items of merchandise. It’s safe to say that “Call Her Daddy” is no
longer just a podcast but also a community. Testimonies from the “Daddy Gang” To further understand the intricacies and implications of the mass consumption of “Call Her Daddy,” I interviewed fans of the show to see why they like it so much. Their answers were wide-ranging and passionate, illustrating a deep care for the subject matter. I first spoke to LSA sophomore Jordyn Staff over Zoom, who reflected on her experiences with the podcast. Enthusiastic and well-spoken, she told me that she was introduced to “Call Her Daddy” her freshman year by her male friends and has been hooked ever since. “After I started, I began listening almost every day, and I fell in love with it,” Staff said. “I’ve listened to every single episode.” What excited her about the podcast, Staff said, was how real and unfettered it was. “What initially hooked me was the show’s rawness,” Staff said. “You’re listening to the craziest of conversations that sound like the ones you have with your friends, and it’s just validating … All girls have these conversations but nobody ever talks about it because women are not supposed to be sexually out there.” This sentiment mirrored my frustration with the lack of authentic sex-based discussion among women in the public sphere. “There’s a standard that men know what women want more than women know what women want,” Staff said.“‘Call Her Daddy’ is working toward balancing the playing field … It’s a form of empowerment, and it’s a form of education that has been stripped by people trying to censor fluidity and freedom of expression. And they introduced the new medium of empowerment, focused on women pleasing themselves, or doing things for themselves that is so ignored by any other media platform.” LSA junior Daniel Glickman offered a similar analysis, especially focusing on the podcast’s current-day relevance. “For what it is, the podcast gets into a space that not many others do. ‘Call Her Daddy’ illustrates a new age,” he explained. “For example, Samantha from ‘Sex and The City’ is so open about sexuality, but Alex recently graduated from BU and is telling stories from college or reading her Instagram DMs. That sort of thing is just more modern. It’s a new exploration of sex relatable to a younger crowd.” Glickman is a recent initiate into the Daddy Gang, having started the podcast over the summer. For him, the show’s biggest selling point is its fearlessness in describing sex and sexuality. “For me, I’m kind of shy when it comes to talking about that stuff, and it shows that people can be candid and talk about their experiences, so I like that it exists,” Glickman said. Glickman and I spent a good amount of our interview discussing how the normalization of sex-based conversation can be reassuring for many people. “Call Her Daddy” makes an overt effort to do this while still engaging viewers, accepting questions from their audience in a way that preserves the asker’s anonymity. In doing so, the podcast not only creates but reinforces a sense of community. “When they read direct messages from people, it allows audience members to step back and realize ‘OK, that experience was something similar to what I’ve had, but I didn’t acknowledge it, or I didn’t see that there could be a similarity between me and someone else,’” Glickman said. Read more online at
michigandaily.com
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
statement
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 11
Quarantine means time to make use of our hands BY GRACE TUCKER, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
C
an anyone else, like, not stop jerking off?” Our respective Zoom boxes lit up in a staggered glow as my group of friends and I erupted into laughter. It was April, and we were enduring what would be the second month of a long, monotonous, 2020 thing called quarantine. That one endearing question had elicited possibly the first pang of hysterical joy I had experienced in weeks. My friend’s inquiry was met with the muffled commentary of an agreeing crowd: “Yeah, oh my god, I thought it was just me.” “I can’t stop!” “Yeah, what the hell, I’m doing it so much more often than usual.” It turns out she wasn’t alone. In the months following that Zoom call, I continued to notice, on various forms of both traditional and social media, an enduring theme of solo sex as the favored quarantine activity; the premier pandemic antidote. Despite the arguably designated stages of quarantine trends, from whipped-coffee recipes and “Tiger King” marathons to the slew of controversial transitions to in-person schooling and University-outbreak-hysteria, one quarantine trend has carried consistent cultural relevance amid masks and marathons, vacation-shaming and TikTok-making: the “m” word. Yes, masturbation. I was unsurprised to find that most people I talked to about masturbation as the quarantine pastime met me with blushed faces. The act carries a significant, religiously-bound history of stigmatization. In a 2020 study by Planned Parenthood, researchers discussed how masturbation as a means of self-pleasure actually carries historical controversy: It was once associated with “pathological origins and negative physical and mental health consequences,” including a so-called “post-masturbation disease” popularized by 18th-century medical practitioners. In his 1711 editions of the Treatise of Venereal Diseases, medical entrepreneur John Marten identified some of the symptoms of the “uncleanly” condition, which included “meager jaws and pale looks” and “legs without calves.” The taboo nature of the act also carries a significant religious basis, specifically with ties to early Christian teachings. Even though the Bible makes no explicit references to masturbation, the act was heavily condemned by fathers of the early church, who considered it sinful due to its non-procreative nature. But, by the grace of some brave friends and an anonymous Google form, I was able to break through this sturdy, historically-constructed stigma against solo sex and hear about their experiences with mid-pandemic masturbation. My friends’ Google Form responses seemed to echo what I had initially heard in that mid-April-Zoom-call: Friend 1: I was so bored in March that I masturbated mindlessly all hours of the day. I didn’t need a reason. It was literally mind-numbing. Friend 2: (During quarantine, I masturbated) so so much!!! Like I was just bored and horny ALL THE TIME. Friend 3: I definitely did it way
more out of boredom, like, I had nothing else to do. Through the Statement’s annual sex survey, I was able to quantify the wave of midpandemic masturbation sentiment I was gathering from friends. It seems as though we really are all making use of our hands while spending more time at home. The survey, which was sent to over 48,000 undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Michigan and received over 3,700 responses, included various questions on the frequency and motivations behind masturbation. Under the question, “On average, how often have you masturbated this semester,” students did, in fact, demonstrate increased rates of masturbation during these pandemic-stricken months, when compared to survey data from the Fall 2018 Semester, which had around 1,700 responses. The number of women who masturbated five to six times per week nearly doubled, from 2.7% in 2018 to 4.4% in 2020; for women who masturbated once or twice per week the rates increased from 22.3% in 2018 to 29.7% in 2020. The masturbation rates for men also increased in a similar manner as those for women. When it came down to the reasons why people masturbate, 56.5% indicated “for pleasure,” 49.3% said for stress-relief and there was significant mention of boredom as a reason in the free-response section. Similarly, in the free-response section for the question, “How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your sexual activity?” multiple people mentioned increased masturbation as an effect. It doesn’t take an expert to deduce how this wave of self-pleasure during the pandemic came to be. The equation looks like this: More time at home + stressful circumstances + possibly less time spent with sexual partners = we make do with what we can do for ourselves, with something that’s proven to have multiple mental and physical health benefits. Megan Fleming, a clinical psychologist at Cornell University specializing in
sex and relationships, offers a more sophisticated explanation when she said, during times like these, “all of our nervous systems are on high alert for danger.” “The good news is that masturbation can act as a reset button,” she said. “It tells your brain that things are OK, that you can breathe and relax.” Masturbation holds the same position in public discourse that it has occupied for a while; it’s something we do behind closed doors, nothing more than a stress-reliever and, thus, a favorable way to pass time in quarantine. However, at the end of March, a public health guide issued by the New York City Health Department seemed to motivate a considerable shift in the ways we think about, discuss and culturally approach masturbation. The department’s guide read: “Have sex only with people close to you. You are your safest sex partner. Masturbation will not spread COVID-19.” No longer an idea met with blushed faces, the “m-word” was now formally delineated and even encouraged via a government-issued advisory document. And suddenly, something once so severely stigmatized was catapulted into the public narrative. Major news sources like The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribunewere not only reporting on the benefits of mid-pandemic solo sex but were also highlighting the booming sale of sex toys and increased pornography viewership that they attributed to increased rates of self-pleasure. In the weeks following the New York City Health Department’s “Safer Sex and COVID-19” guide, the Chicago Tribune published a piece in direct response titled, “‘Masturbation will not spread COVID-19’: Solo sex is best option for pleasure during quarantine, especially if you live alone.” In the piece, they declared that quarantine “doesn’t mean sexual pleasure is over — it just looks different, like engaging in more masturbation.” The article went on to quote a Los Angeles Times report stating that there has been a 30% to 100% increase i n
sex toy sales since the onset of the pandemic. The consumers had spoken: We’re masturbating more! The New York Times joined this conversation in the following weeks with their piece “Sellers of Sex Toys Capitalized on All That Alone Time,” which highlighted the massive spike in sales sex toy companies were seeing. Among the more notable trends include the 200% increase in sales both We-Vibe and Womanizer were seen since April 2019. All the while, Pornhub, the world’s leading free pornography site, cashed in on this quarantine masturbation craze with its launch of #StayHomeHub in March. Italian citizens were their initial audience as Italy was the first European nation to be affected by the virus. A media study distributed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine noted Pornhub’s tactful offer, stating that the platform, “... made headlines worldwide … because it gave quarantined Italians free premium access to the platform for one month. The offer was so positively received that Pornhub immediately expanded it to Spain and France and eventually the whole world.” At the end of March, Pornhub narrowed in on the same “You are your safest sex partner” narrative the New York City Health Department first introduced to us. The platform tweeted: “Stay home and help flatten the curve! Since COVID-19 continues to impact us all, Pornhub has decided to extend Free Pornhub Premium worldwide until April 23rd. So enjoy, stay home, and stay safe … #StayHomehub.” Over the course of a few weeks, sex toy sales, porn viewership and Pornhub ratings in particular shifted from symptoms of “sinful practice” that we previously refused to acknowledge on mainstream platforms to favorable, commercialized prevention methods against COVID-19. Now, we’re not just masturbating behind closed doors, we’re masturbating and flattening the curve behind closed doors. So, what kind of effect might this shift have on the public discourse surrounding masturbation? In a post-COVID world, will news outlets continue to report on and distribute information surrounding the ways we’re pleasuring ourselves? Will the destigmatization of masturbation prove to be an enduring cultural byproduct of the pandemic? Laurie Mintz, a psychologist and University of Florida professor, expressed in the same Los Angeles Times report that, yes, change is coming: “People are scared,” Mintz said. “People are lonely, and I think there’s been enough talk [about the topic that] it’s destigmatizing sex toys and masturbation — finally — and that could be one of the very few positive outcomes of all this.” In a phone interview with The Daily, Hollis Griffin, an associate professor in the LSA department of communication and media, felt more unsure about any prospective change. “I think it’s hard to say what kind of effect (increased news media coverage of masturbation) will have,” he said. Read more online at
michigandaily.com ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE WEIBE
state
12 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
I
t’s that time of year again, Michigan Daily readers. The leaves are changing, holiday music is playing, snow is falling and you guessed it — The Statement Magazine is analyzing campus sex culture. Welcome to our annual sex edition, where we dive deep into the topic’s nuances and intricacies through narratives and investigative pieces. But first, in order to get quantitative data about what sex looks like for students at the University of Michigan, we created a survey with a wide-range of questions focused on sexual education, perceptions and activity. Our survey was sent to all University of Michigan students, undergraduate and graduate students alike, totaling 47,902 recipients.
Of those recipients, 3,761 people responded, consisting of a makeup of 17.1% freshman, 15% sophomores, 17% juniors, 18.3% seniors and a significant 32.6% graduate students. In regards to gender identity, 57.3% of respondents identified as female, 40.9% as male and 1.8% as non-binary. The respondents described sexual orientation was also 72.1% heterosexual, 13.9% bisexual, 5.8% lesbian/gay and 8.2% as other. It should be noted the statistics resulting from this survey may be skewed, as many individuals may not have wished to disclose information detailed in the questionnaire, may have refrained from answering certain questions and/or may have answered questions dishonestly.
How many sexual partners? How sexual experience varies by class standing None
One
Two
Three
Four
5-7
7-10 10+
Senior Junior Sophomore Freshman 0%
10%
20%
30%
None
Four
One
5-7
Two
7-10
Three
10+
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Alex Cotignola and Eric Lau / Daily Data Team
This figure did not surprise us, as freshmen have had less time than upperclassmen to have multiple sexual experiences. Especially in the time of COVID-19, when enforced social distancing and quarantine have made sexual encounters limited, it would make sense for numbers of sexual partners to remain low.
Sexual orientation How would you characterize your sexual orientation? Heterosexual Bisexual Lesbian/Gay Questioning Pansexual Asexual Other 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Eric Lau / Daily Data Team
The 2 sex su Who uses contraceptives? "Have you and your partner ever had a conversation about contraceptives and who is responsible for it?
Type of most recent relationship
No, and it's unclear who uses
How would you classify the relationship between you and your most recent sexual partner(s)?
No, but my partner uses No, but I use Yes, and I use
Yes, and my partner uses
Yes, and we both use
Woman One night stand
Man Casual relationship
Non-binary Exclusive relationship
0%
Friend
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Yes, and I use
No, but my partner uses
Yes, and my partner uses
No, and it's unclear who uses
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Yes, and we both use No, but I use
Other 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
55%
60%
Eric Lau / Daily Data Team
Many responses concerning one’s preferred post-coital activity mentioned cuddling, “chilling” and napping. This was surprising given how college-hook up culture is often associated with a “hit-it-and-quit-it” mentality, which can normalize a sense of detachment from your sexual partner after sex, making it like a business transaction. Cuddling after sex, however, is a bonding activity that strengthens relationships. It is important to note that the majority of respondents indicated that they are in an exclusive relationship, so perhaps this is a correlation. Two main themes that arose in response to the free-response question “What do you wish you had learned about sex when you were younger?” was 1) more information on same-sex sex and 2) more information on consent. Other responses detailed how the internet served as an educational tool to learn about other forms of sex besides heterosexual sex; additionally, responses that were common were learning what a healthy relationship is, how to communicate your sexual needs and the general normalization of sex. In response to the question of generally, what reasons do survey-takers mastrubate,
respondents were able to write in their own free response answers, aside from the checkbox options of “for pleasure,” “stress-relief,” “to find out what you like” and to “boost self-esteem.” The most common write-in answers for why one would masturbate included out of boredom, to help them fall asleep, to procrastinate or to achieve clarity of mind and focus. We found the frequency of these responses to be notable, indicating commonalities behind certain motivations to masturbate that we may have not considered obvious before, like clarity and sleep aid. An overwhelming amount of people who answered the free-response question “If you answered that your sexual experiences in college have been mostly negative, why?” indicated that they have experienced sexual assault and/or sexual harassment during their time in college. Another glaring theme in these responses include a lack of communication. Those parties involved had interests that didn’t align with each other romantically, or did not know how to say what felt good during sex, which was especially distinguished by gender — many responses noted that men aren’t aware on how to provide female pleasure.
While most students, across gender identities, seem to have conversations about contraception and who is responsible for it, more women are expected to take or use contraception compared to men. Men were more likely to answer that it is unclear who takes contraception or that their partner does. We recognize the limitations of this question, as not all people are in relationships that require contraceptive care.
Eric Lau and Naitian Zhou / Daily Data Team
ement
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 13
How often have you masturbated? "For the most part, I enjoy having sex." 7+ times a week 5-6 times a week 3-4 times a week
Reasons for having sex
Never
Once or twice per month
Once or twice a week
Woman
Generally, what are reasons you have sex?
Man For pleasure
Non-binary Out of love 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
To feel wanted Curiosity
Never
5-6 times a week
Once or twice per month
7+ times a week
Once or twice a week 3-4 times a week
It's expected in a relationship
What most struck us about this data was the disparity between women and men, as well as women and non-binary people, in how often they masturbate. Women seem to masturbate less than both men and non-binary, with the majority of women masturbating once or twice per week or less. The majority of men and non-binary people masturbate once or twice per week or more.
Because of pressure Other 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
55%
60%
Eric Lau and Naitian Zhou / Daily Data Team
The most popular response we received for why our respondents have sex is for pleasure, with 59.7% of people selecting this option. Other popular responses included 40.1% of respondents saying they have sex out of love, and 24% answering that they have sex to feel wanted. What we found notable here was the 8.8% of people who answered that they have sex because they feel it is expected in a relationship. It should also be taken into consideration that this question was offered in a “check all that apply format,” meaning that it is likely certain options have significant overlap with one another.
Alex Cotignola / Daily Data Team
2020 urvey Reality vs Expectations How often people have sex and how often they think other students have sex. Reality
Do you enjoy sex? "For the most part, I enjoy having sex."
7+ times per week
13
6
2
5-6 times per week
46
13
4
3-4 times per week
1
147
79
7
Once or twice per week
1
475
169
7
Once or twice per month or less
2
533
159
2
Never
12
787
286
13
Strongly disagree Disagree Somewhat disagree
Neither agree nor disagree Strongly agree
Agree
Never
Somewhat agree
7+ times per week
Expectation
Woman
Man
Naitian Zhou / Daily Data Team Non-binary
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Strongly agree
Somewhat disagree
Agree
Disagree
Somewhat agree
Strongly disagree
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Neither agree nor disagree
Here we see that while women are more likely to answer “agree” to enjoying having sex, they fall behind in the “strongly agree” category. We’re not sure if or what exactly this indicates, considering the subjective scale (i.e. what is the quantifiable difference between “agree” and “strongly agree”), but some reasons for the discrepancy could include the pleasure gap present in some heterosexual relationships or the societal double standards associated with gender and sex.
Eric Lau / Daily Data Team
T
he survey posed two questions to gauge how students’ perceptions of their peers’ sexual behavior differed from reality. Indeed, our findings show that while the majority of students think that students on campus are having sex once or twice a week or less, the reality involves less frequent sex. Of the respondents, 39.8% indicated not having sex at all this semester, while 25.1% indicated once or twice per month or less and 23.6% said once or twice per week. Overall, for the 2020 fall semester, 60.2% of respondents indicated that they’ve had sex this semester. This is down by 5% from The Statement’s 2018 Sex Survey. While there is no exact way to know why this is, we pre-
sume that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult — and thus less likely — for students to engage in sex frequently. This is supported by the free response answers to the question, “How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your sexual activity?” wherein there were many responses indicating less sex due to stress from the pandemic, safety protocols or less opportunities to meet sexual partners. In conclusion, this year’s sex survey was especially interesting given the unique context of our times. We’re curious to see how trends will change when the data is compared to next year’s survey, given the hopes that the circumstances regarding pandemic will have improved. Until then, folks.
14 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
statement
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
It’s time to talk about fetishization
BY ISABELLE HASSLUND, STATEMENT ASSOCIATE EDITOR
T
his September, Netflix announced that it would start streaming the film “Cuties,” a French film directed by Senagalese-French director Maïmouna Doucouré, and the Internet went wild. “Cuties” is a coming of age film following an eleven-yearold girl who uses dance to explore her identity, against the ideals of her conservative family. The film has been critiqued for hypersexualizing young girls, as multiple characters under the age of twelve are depicted making sexually suggestive gestures throughout the movie. A rush of Netflix subscriptions cancellations followed, and the backlash was so strong that a Texas grand jury indicted the film for “promoting certain lewd material of children.” Some, however, defended the film, saying that many people were missing the point. The film was not a promotion but instead a commentary on the hypersexualization of young girls in today’s society. It was lewd, by nature, forcing us to have a conversation about the hypersexualization of young girls, especially during the age of social media, which was another common theme throughout the film. This was the first time in my life that I have heard such an in-depth and purposeful conversation (albeit a short-lived one) about the hypersexualization of young girls, especially girls and women of color. As I reflected further, I started to realize how much this culture of hypersexualization has affected my own perception of my body as I grew into it as a young girl and a woman of color today. This hypersexualization of women of color is deeply rooted in our country’s history, dating all the way back to the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonization. Professors LaKisha Simmons and Andrea Bolivar from the Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan introduced me to the historical contexts of the fetishization of women of color. “There was a concerted effort to define whiteness as proper humanity, and part of that definition involved what makes one a man and what makes one a woman,” Simmons explained in an interview with The Daily over Zoom. “And so you see, these conversations kind of intertwined with what we might say are excuses, or colonization, and stealing both land and human bodies.” There is concrete evidence for this in the writing accounts of early European colonizers and slave traders. In a 1997 paper, Jennifer L. Morgan, professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University, wrote, “Writers who articulated religious and moral justifications for the slave trade simultaneously grappled with the character of the female African body — a body both desirable and repulsive, available and untouchable, productive and reproductive, beautiful and Black.” Postcards with pictures of naked Indigenous and African women on them were even sent back to Europe to entice men to come to settle in the New World. These writings and postcards had a cynical underlying intention. “They’re trying to justify access to bodies, whether for labor or force for sex and justified various forms of violence,” Simmons explained. “So on the one hand you have to say that these are not regular women like the ones back home, right? And then on the other hand, you’re also saying that they’re somehow extra desirable.” As a Latina myself, I was interested in what led to the hypersexualization of Latinas specifically. In an email interview with The Daily, Bolivar gave me valuable insight on the history of hypersexualization of Latinas in the U.S. “Scholars have argued that Latina women are constructed as hypersexual and overly romantic in order to distance them from, and thus bolster, the white heteronormative family and nation,” Bolivar said. “Racialized/sexualized stereotypes also justify violence, including sexual violence, against Latinas, and other women of color.” East Asian women also experience hypersexualization. Like other WOC, they are exoticized and fetishized for their looks. They are stereotyped as being submissive, a justification for access to their bodies.
This issue is further complicated when we look at the intersectionality between being a woman of color and in the LGBTQ+ community. Bolivar, whose research allows her the opportunity to work with transgender Latinas in Chicago, explained the challenges faced in this overlap of identities. “They challenge cisgender notions about gender, the body, and the relationship between gender and the body, and they challenge the gender binary — all of which are foundational to personhood and membership in larger society,” Bolivar explained. “As a result, their bodies are objectified, fetishized, and hypersexualized.” At the inception of the country we know of today as the United States, those in power — white, land-owning men — were creating systems and a culture that inherently served to disempower WOC. In fact, colonizers associated African and Indigenous women with wildlife to justify the inhumane treatment of these groups. “Hypersexuality is associated with animaility, so claiming that they were hypersexual bolstered the association with animals, which of course justified genocide and enslavement,” Bolivar wrote. “We, as a nation, have inherited that reality, but have yet to reckon with it. BI-
POC and BIWOC have inherited this trauma in our bodies.” These systems continue to exist today and have a lasting impact on the women of color living in the United States. For example, the U.S. gender wage gaps disproportionately affect women of color. For every $1 a white man makes, Latina/Hispanic women make $0.54, American Indian and Alaskan native women make $0.57, Southeast Asian women make $0.61, Black women make $0.62 and Hawaiin/ Pacific Islander women make $0.68. This inequity makes sense, considering the systems that exist were built to the benefit of whiteness and maleness, viewing those of color as “others” or exotic beings existing in a completely different category. Women of color today are also more prone to experience acts of domestic and sexual violence. Black women experience intimate partner violence at a rate that is 35 percent higher than their white women counterparts. Transgender women of color are also a group very vulnerable to this abuse. A 2012 study showed that 61.5% of victims from hate violence homicide were women, many of whom were transgender women. “It is incredibly important to recognize violence against trans women of color,” Boli-
by others. Of course, standards of beauty shift with time — they are never stagnant. What was considered beautiful for women in the 1960s is not the same as what was considered beautiful for women in the 90s. When I scroll through my Instagram feed, I notice that the standard of beauty emerging seems to be something I was once made to feel ashamed about: having curves. Namely, having a big butt and big boobs. Enter the Kardashians/Jenners. I really do believe that Kim Kardashian and her family have made big butts and breasts more acceptable and desirable in mainstream society. This is illuminating in itself: A family of white women using their privilege to iconize what has been used to stigmatize women of color for centuries. “It’s really about monetizing Blackness or whatever, but they can do it in a way that actual Black women cannot … It’s actually like leaning into your privilege as a white person to be able to use Black culture and style and look, and then make money off of it,” Simmons explained. But this is nothing new. The entertainment and music industry has a long history of hijacking ethnic minority cultures for profit. Reflecting on the scope of and my own personal experiences with this issue made me feel stuck. How could I possibly fight a problem that is both so deeply rooted in our society and in my internal dialogue? Then, while I was trying to pick out what to listen to for a run one day, I coincidentally stumbled upon Brene Brown’s podcast “Unlocking us” with Sonya Renee Taylor on her book “The Body Is Not an Apology.” The description of the podcast mentioned words of radical selflove, which I reflexively rolled my eyes at. I have stuffed my mind before with one too many self-love podcasts and books, telling me how I can grow more comfortable in my own skin. Would this one be able to offer me anything different? But I was going on a long-distance run and needed something inspiring to listen to, so I gave it a try. I expected the podcast to be cliché, filled with talk about ways to love yourself and to become comfortable in your own skin by accepting yourself for who you are. Boy, was I wrong. Instead, Taylor presented self-love as a means of social activism. She went on to discuss how systems in our society tell so many people to dislike their bodies — from people with disabilities to people of color to plus-size people. By constantly putting ourselves down and apologizing for our appearances, we are contributing and upholding the same systems which disempower us. I had goosebumps for the entire hour or so of my run. But expecting every WOC to reject all systems which oppress them is a tall order to ask. We all have different experiences, traumas and identities we hold that must be dealt with and understood. It’s a personal journey. So I turned to academics for perhaps a more clear answer: I asked Bolivar COLLAGE BY EILEEN KELLY what I and fellow women of color could do I did benefit from many privileges in my to walk the fine line of sexual empowerment withDominican culture because I have glimpses of out feeling like we are being exoticized. “Something that felt empowering yesterday European features: light brown skin, hazel eyes, “good” curls, a curvy physique, a European last may feel icky today,” Bolivar said. “So I guess my name. My POC peers would reach for my curls one piece of advice would be to check in with yourand gently tug to test if my hair was real. They self often. And don’t hold yourself to others’ exwould ask me to look into the sunlight so they pectations about how you “should” feel, and what could observe the golden specks in my hazel “should” be empowering or disempowering,” she eyes and see if they were just contacts. I would responded. That’s just it. The journey into growing into be told that my brown skin made me look taína, the Indigenous people of my country, which is your sexually empowered self is a personal one. It’s the utmost compliment in Dominican culture. I not linear, it’s dependent on circumstances, a trial was made to feel beautiful as if I was a uniquely and error. But it requires being gentle and compassionate with yourself, even when all external presand meticulously handcrafted piece of art. At the same time, I was told that many of the sures and your subconscious want to do otherwise. things that made me beautiful in my DominiI can only hope that the conversations surcan culture were ugly in the white spaces I ex- rounding the hypersexualization of WOC don’t isted in. White peers of mine would ask if they just stop with the conversations we had in Sepcould feel my boobs or if I could flash them, tember on the film “Cuties.” Uncomfortable as if they had never seen a woman with curves conversations and confrontations with reality before. They would assume that I slept around often and asked about my sexual experience, need to be conducted. The most empowering but would also say that I would get more atten- thing we can do is have those conversations in a tion from guys if my skin was a lighter shade. way that doesn’t victimize women, instead, acIt is in these spaces that my white peers felt knowledging their positions and honoring their entitled to my body: to critique my shape, to stories. ask me personal questions about my sex life and to touch me. It’s as if I have been walking Read more online at down a tightrope my entire life, teetering bemichigandaily.com tween being beautiful by some and undesirable var said. “That is the first step in combating it. However, at the same time, trans women of color have become associated with death, which is dehumanizing and dangerous.” As far as standards of beauty are concerned, women of color still exist in a dichotomous space where we are both disgusting and desired at the same time. This weird place of fetishization is fixated on all forms: from our hair texture to our curves to our accents. We are constantly “othered” and outcast in the workplace or in school, but we are simultaneously considered the most beautiful women in the world. Growing up, I subconsciously felt this tug of war inside of me. I am Dominican and Danish, existing in two different worlds with two very different standards of beauty. I was raised in New York City, in spaces that were predominately white, where I was seen as different from many of my peers. When my Caribbean curves began to form, changing the shape underneath my dance leotards, and as my breasts and hips grew, stretching the fabric of my favorite clothes, a sense of shame began to creep in. When I walked down the street, the male gaze became more aggressive — more like a hungry stare. I began to dissociate from my body.
statement
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 15
Sex on the internet BY ALIX CURNOW, STATEMENT COLUMNIST
P
lease, no, not on social media. I *heart emoji* you so much and really no. Savor it for the personal and unique, not the masses,” read the comment my aunt had left on a photo I posted on Instagram last week. The photo was of me, with my back to the camera, wearing a bra and a thong. Before I posted the photo, I had texted it to my group chat with friends from high school. “Do y’all think this is too scandalous to post on my Instagram?” I asked them. They all replied with a resounding “No,” which was followed by compliments on the photograph and questions about where I had gotten the lingerie. Excited, I uploaded the picture. My phone began notifying me of countless likes and comments surrounding the picture. I got the typical rush of dopamine that comes with posting anything on social media and receiving positive feedback. The photo had been up for a couple of days and I was happy with it. I thought it looked nice with the rest of my feed and it seemed like most other people did too. After day three of the photo being posted, my aunt left her comment. In consequence, almost as quickly as the photo was uploaded, I archived it. Immediately after, I deleted the entire Instagram app from my phone. I didn’t want a reminder of her comment or of the photo. I sat on the floor of my room, my cheeks hot with embarrassment. “I probably looked like such a slut to other people who weren’t bold enough to comment as my aunt did!” I thought to myself. I thought about the fact that the first man I had ever had sex with, who I hadn’t talked to in five years and who never usually likes my Instagram posts, had liked the image. “God…” I thought. “He only ever wanted me for my body anyway.” My head filled with thoughts of self-hatred and anxiety. I questioned my intentions behind posting the photograph. Did I post it so the men on my page would see it and find me attractive? Did I post it because I felt good? Did I post it because I wanted to contribute to an Instagram environment where scandalous photos like the one I posted are normalized? Did I post it because I wanted to celebrate the female figure? All these questions didn’t seem to have an answer. Maybe these rationalizations were all true, maybe none of them were. I felt put into a bind: I didn’t know if my post was self-empowering or if my post contributed to patriarchal exploitation and sexualization. Why did my photograph have to contribute to that? I certainly didn’t intend for it to — but it seemed that my aunt’s notions of its appropriateness lent itself to unsolicited sexualization of my body. Or … was it solicited because I had posted it on my Instagram? Why did a photo of me in lingerie have to be sexual anyway? My relationship with my own sexuality has never been something I’m ashamed of. Before entering a monogamous relationship, I regularly participated in hook-up culture. I enjoy sex — like, a lot. I’ve always been excited to explore different areas of my sexuality, and quite frankly, my relationship to sex is something I take a lot of pride in. I felt comfortable with sex and wearing lingerie, and I felt comfortable enough to post that photo on my Instagram. So why was I so incredibly embarrassed when my aunt commented on my post? Perhaps because in the generation she grew up in, any-
thing related to sex was seen as a more private activity than it is now. To my aunt, the photo of me in lingerie was inherently sexual. I did see it as a rather sexy post, but that didn’t make it bad. Why did my aunt think that exposing myself sexually on social media was something I shouldn’t do? At first, I saw my aunt’s comment as a reflection of myself: Because I posted a sexy photo on my Instagram, I was asking to be sexualized, which meant I was a slut. Yet, I started to think about why posting a sexual photo on Instagram made me think of myself as a slut? When I saw other people post “scandalous” photos on their Instagram, I’ve never thought that of them. I think it’s because oftentimes, women are made to feel ashamed for expressing themselves in a sexual light. I had control over my Instagram and what photos I posted. This made posting the photo an act of sexual empowerment. However, I don’t have control over how other people will react. Nor do I think I need to. I realize now that my aunt’s comment was a reflection of her and her own relationship to sex. From her comment, I could see that my aunt thought photos that were more sexual should be personal and unique, whereas my approach to sexual photos and sex overall is that if it makes you feel good, do it! While I see her perception of sex as valid, it isn’t the same as mine. Everyone else who liked the photo or saw it on their Instagram feed has their own unique relationship to sex. Perhaps they wouldn’t feel comfortable posting a photo in lingerie on their Instagram feed. That’s perfectly fine with me and I understand their viewpoint, but it doesn’t mean I should feel bad or guilty for posting it on my own. Especially from the heteronormative male perspective, women can be sexy privately, but not publicly. They can be sexy for their partner, but the minute they recognize their own sexual identity and develop a desire to showcase that to the world, they are subject to ridicule and slut-shaming. Why is a woman taking ownership of her own sexuality deemed something to be ashamed of? I’ll never truly understand why my aunt commented on my post. She said “I *heart emoji* you so much,” which makes me think she did it out of love. Maybe she sees the way women are viewed and sexualized in society, and she doesn’t want that for me. I don’t want that for me either. Which is why rather than deleting my post entirely, I decided to delete her comment. If my aunt or anyone has a problem with my Instagram photo, that’s something they can investigate on their own time. Because it truly has nothing to do with me. When women are modest, they are seen as boring. When women are sexual, they are seen as easy. If we, as women, are going to be continuously placed into boxes, I suggest that rather than trying to adhere to societal standards of what we should and shouldn’t be, we do what feels good to us. Whether that’s posting a scandalous photo on your Instagram or having a feed that’s only kittens and food porn. No matter what women do, someone will always have something to say about it, so as long as we’re not harming anyone else in the process, let’s embrace what we’ve got and forget about the rest.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MAGGIE WEIBE
The B-Side
16 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The B-Side: Harry Potter and the Canceled Author MIK DEITZ
Daily Arts Writers
I grew up in a house in the middle of the woods, surrounded by deer and trees and friendly small-town neighbors, but I spent a lot of my childhood immersed in books instead. Something about the allure of a different world enthralled me; magical, fantastical or realistic, I wanted the adventure that novels promised to take me on. Joanne (Jo) Rowling dreamed of escaping her troubled marriage. A school teacher who thought herself a failure, Rowling left with her child and scouted for somewhere safe, somewhere she could truly get more out of the life she desired for herself. At the same time, she put pencil to paper and began to sketch out the story of a young wizard boy, which had miraculously come to her, fully-formed, while on a train. Fully shaped by her mother’s death and own mental health struggles, Rowling finished her manuscript and two years later saw “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” become a smash hit. Long before I was able to read on my own, my father would sit in a white rocking chair and, with my chubby little body on his lap, read to me. I can’t remember every book we read, though we definitely worked through Dr. Seuss and wore down my copy of “Felix Travels Back In Time,” and I vividly recall us reading through the entire Harry Potter series one chapter at a time. The world of Harry Potter seemed vast and alluring, that of a young mistreated boy becoming the chosen one in a world full of magic and magical creatures. The adventures were grandiose and epic, a battle of good versus evil wickedly waged with wands and incantations. I loved it. I wanted to taste a chocolate frog, a barfflavored Bertie Bott’s bean and feel the warmth of a freshly brewed Butterbeer. I wanted to live among the characters, who even at the height of their angst embarked on daring adventures while attending the coolest boarding school imaginable. The series of seven bestselling books and eight blockbuster films became a pop culture staple throughout the world. As I got older, I found myself returning to Harry Potter during times of comfort and hardship. The first film premiere I ever attended was “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1.” My friend and I were two of the only non-costumed people in line. I saw the play “Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic” offBroadway twice and am dying to see both parts of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on the Great White Way. During a difficult year, I completed a whole re-read of the entire saga and watched all the films again. What started as a silly children’s series became a cultural touchstone for many people’s adolescence. I know that my friend is clearly a Slytherin in all the best ways possible, or how to pick on someone because they’re a Hufflepuff to a tee. Playground talk about our dream houses — I’m a Ravenclaw obviously — became
a real discussion of how our personality traits fit into these fictional constraints. Our generation didn’t just grow up with Harry Potter, Harry Potter grew up with us. My Dad used to hold me as I nodded off, lids heavy with the magic sleep of a child’s day gone by. As I got older and bigger, I would lay down in my racecar bed and listen to him preach the exploits of Harry, Ron and Hermione. The chair older than I was would always squeak. After each chapter was done, he would close the book — he magically always knew where we were in it — and come over and kiss me goodnight. Things started to get weird after the series was done. Rowling, rather than letting everything sit pretty and untouched, started to mess with the status quo in a hasty attempt to answer questions. Sure, there was a Jewish wizard, his name was Anthony Goldstein and he was a Ravenclaw, next. Oh no, wizards absolutely do not take off their entire robe to use the bathroom, they simply shit into their pants and wave it away with magic, duh. There were LGBTQ+ students at Hogwarts, you just never saw them. WAIT, now Dumbledore is gay. How’s that for representation? It would be comical if it wasn’t so pathetic. But the slope of Rowling’s quick retcons soon became slippery. Suddenly all the malicious subtext hiding within the books became prominent once people bothered to go below the surface. Why did these wizards exist only in England? Why was the history of magic so white-centric? How come Cho Chang and Dean Thomas were the only two prominent people of color in an entire school of students? The faults crumbled into fissures and soon working through the world of Hogwarts became a game of dodging potholes. Then … the infamous Pottermore post about magic in early, pre-colonized North America. The history was not only horribly inaccurate but insensitive and white-washed, constantly comparing these Native American wizards to their European counterparts in disgusting ways. The feedback was loud and angry. This wasn’t some little joke Rowling could get away with on Twitter, it was a targeted attack against an entire people, a slight against all Indigenous American tribes that only furthered their erasure in history. Jo Rowling began to play the offensive. Her Twitter was used for responding to any and all criticisms of her which she completely ignored while working on the new, glitzy “Fantastic Beasts” series. When people questioned why the goblins were so reminiscent of Jewish stereotypes or why lycanthropy, otherwise known as the process of turning into a werewolf, is a metaphor for HIV/AIDS, they were met with a wall of silence. Even when Rowling did something progressive, such as cast Black actress Noma Dumezweni (“The Undoing”) as Hermione in the original London production of “Cursed Child,” she backed it up with questionable quotes about Hermione’s unruly curly hair and
SCHOLASTIC
brown eyes. Rowling constantly showed that she was not only out of touch but unable to recognize her problems and change. Some people, even those whose lives had been changed by Rowling’s work, made the decision to cut her out of their lives and stop supporting her and her work. Things were quiet for a little while. “The Crimes of Grindelwald” was a critical flop and Rowling was getting along fine writing her Cormoran Strike detective novels. Frankly, no one cared about either of those projects. But on June 6, 2020, the sixth day of Pride month, Rowling responded to an op-ed’s use of the phrase “people who menstruate” by joking about the word woman being erased, effectively negating the trans safe space the original wording created. She received backlash but kept at it, demanding that sex and gender be connected and continuing to demean the transgender community. She was speaking and acting like a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, or TERF, something a later blog post of hers originally titled “TERF Wars” only continued to prove. Rowling wrote that being transgender was a mental disorder, that it encouraged children to change their gender before they could change their minds and other demoralizing reasons to be worried about new trans activism. The mask was off, the convertible top down — Rowling finally stepped into the light as the bigoted woman she was. No more pretenses or quick retcons to calm fans, Rowling nearly shouted, “I’m transphobic and I’m proud of it!” Responses flooded the internet, with Harry and Hermione themselves, actors Daniel Radcliffe (“Swiss Army Man”) and Emma Watson (“Little Women”), decrying the statements and standing alongside the trans community. Rowling continued her shitstorm, continually denouncing hormone therapy and possibly even suggesting that people who take medication for mental health issues are simply “lazy.” The launch of her next book, “Trouble Blood,” only worsened the issue by having the villain be a — and I
absolutely wish I was joking — cisgendered man who dresses as a woman in order to kill other women. Rowling hates transfolk for simply trying to live their lives and feel comfortable in their own skin. She had picked a hill to die on, but it was turning out more like Custer’s Last Stand than the Alamo. One day, for whatever reason, as my Dad and I were at the tail end of “Return of the King” (we had moved onto Middle Earth at that point) I looked him in the eyes and said, “I don’t want you to read to me anymore. I can do it.” Looking back now, it was heartbreaking. From that day on I’ve read books alone, because I felt it was time to move on. So the rocking chair sat quiet and untouched, until one day I decided it was time to move on, get rid of it and put a desk in its place instead. As I sit here and type this, my Ravenclaw bracelet constantly catches my eye. I struggle to reconcile this modern Rowling with the woman who wrote such a beloved, important series of books. I can’t whisk away my enjoyment of them in the past: There are still a good 15 years of Harry Potter affection that remain in my memory. But as a non-binary human being, I cannot simply sit here and take Rowling’s comments as comments. They are hateful and demeaning stances that hurt deeply to hear. This isn’t an issue for everyone. For some people, doing something famed literary critic Roland Barthes calls “Death of the Author” (summarized and contextualized brilliantly here by critic Lindsay Ellis), can work. The concept is that one should divorce the personal views and actions of an author from their work, stating that their view is simply one of many interpretations possible. This may work for some people, likely the same ones who pay full price to see the new Mel Gibson movie and are ecstatic to see Felicity Huffman acting again, but it’s incredibly difficult for others. Rowling’s hate and prejudices are baked into the text of Harry Potter; there is simply no way around that. I am not trying to discount any single person’s interpretation
because if you got something out of this series, nothing Rowling or anyone else says can ever take that away from you. But I find it difficult to think about supporting this series the way I once did. I hide away my Harry Potter socks and feel a pang of guilt each time I think about the Friday Forty and how I would probably spend a ridiculous amount of money to see “Cursed Child.” With a new Harry Potter video game set to come out next year, Avalanche Studios’s “Hogwarts Legacy,” and the third Fantastic Beasts film in production, people are going to need to take a stance on Rowling sooner rather than later. Either they boycott her or support her. Now as an adult, I wonder why I ever asked my father to stop reading to me. I always feel guilty about it, like I broke his heart. I can say I never went back to finish “Return of the King” either, it just never felt right. Time has allowed me to keep the memories close to me, but has also allowed enough distance for me to see that I made the right decision. My dad and I formed a different relationship, not one out of him reading to me but us reading as equals. He started choosing books specifically for me. I still do the same for him. We manage to find time to talk about whatever he chose to borrow from the library this week. As heartwrenching as it is, sometimes moving on is the right thing in the end. Personally, I say it’s time to move on from Rowling and her TERFy shenanigans. Just like with storytime and my racecar bed, it’s time to take Rowling and put her to the curb. No more chances, no more last second sways of the heart due to nostalgia, no more “but one more butterbeer,” which frankly was never that good to begin with. Let’s hang up our brooms, put our wands in storage and stand firm together and affirm that Rowling doesn’t get another pass. We will always have our fond memories. The siren calls toward a comfortable but now tainted land, and that’s enough for me.
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It’s time that we talk about ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ LILLY PEARCE Daily Arts Writer
No, John Green has not been officially “canceled.” In fact, his work remains quite popular: His latest book, “Turtles All the Way Down” (2017), debuted at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list, and in 2018 Green confirmed its film adaptation. Last August he announced that he will be publishing his first work of non-fiction in May 2021. So, no, Green isn’t canceled in the sense that we have all agreed to stop reading his work and unsubscribe from his YouTube channel, but he is canceled for me. And he has been for quite some time. To be truthful, I was always a great admirer of Green’s work, particularly in middle school. His Young Adult fiction is known for its young female readership, something that held true in my school district and friend group. I can’t remember which novel I picked up first, but “The Fault in Our Stars” was undoubtedly my favorite — a love story between two young and beautiful cancer patients? It was as if its sole purpose was to attract romance-giddy teens. Regardless, by the time I reached high school, I separated myself from his work and most of YA fiction. This isolation wasn’t provoked by a controversy surrounding Green, nor had I simply grown out of the genre; I still loved the glorious romances that were stuffed into my bookshelves. I was just afraid to admit it. It was around the same time others did fervently stop reading Green’s
books because they were “for girls” or “not actually that good” or “overrated.” Maybe other YA fiction readers have encountered the same sentiment — that because we enjoy books with cheesy friendships or coming-of-age themes, we must be superficial. So I can’t blame my first dissociation with Green on him, but I can hold him responsible for the second. Unfortunately for me and John Green, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer when I was 17. It was an odd experience: The diagnosis and the scans and the surgery didn’t feel like they were happening to me, but to someone else. Maybe another me in a different universe, or someone else entirely. Either way, like many survivors of cancer, I had adapted a new perspective. A new way of seeing things, both things trivial and significant, including the way society treats disease and diseased people. Especially John Green. When I reread “The Fault in Our Stars,” it wasn’t so I could relate to Hazel or Augustus or the other cancer patients depicted. I subconsciously started reading it on one of the dark days anyone fighting illness, whether it be mental or physical, knows well. I picked it up out of muscle memory: I had read it on multiple occasions when I was in need of comfort or a distraction. It was simply one of those times. I depended on the trustworthy characters and their cliché remarks to provide some degree of relief. Something to softly pull me out of my reality and into another. And the truth is, I both enjoyed and
detested the book. Lines like “Grief does not change you Hazel. It reveals
But what also stuck out to me were the fallacies. Green invents the therapy that keeps Hazel alive
you,” and “But I believe in true love, you know? I don’t believe that everybody gets to keep their eyes or not get sick or whatever, but everybody should have true love, and it should last at least as long as your life does” stuck out to me. As tacky as they may appear, they were successful in distracting me from my metastatic cancer. But what also stuck out to me were the fallacies. Green invents the therapy that keeps Hazel alive. It’s not real. In the acknowledgements section of the book, Green writes: “The disease and its treatment are treated fictitiously in this novel. For example, there is no such thing as Phalanxifor. I made it up, because I would like for it to exist.” And that’s not fair. Not for cancer patients like me whose cancers don’t have definitive treatments; not for those who live in constant uncertainty
and fear; not for those who are told that we will just have to monitor our bodies for the rest of our lives, as long as we may live. And I know this is a work of fiction; I know that Green is entitled to create any fantasy he would like. But does fantasy belong in a book about cancer? Perhaps it is shocking because of Green’s other statements: “This is hopefully not going to be a gauzy, sentimental love story that romanticizes illness and further spreads the lie that the only reason sick people exist is so that healthy people can learn lessons.” But if the only reason his main character is alive is because of a madeup treatment, isn’t he glamorizing the scarce miracles and hope some cancer patients may have? By keeping Hazel falsely alive to share with us her newfound wisdom upon Augustus’s death, does it not turn into her and her experiences becoming a lesson for healthy people? And Green does not stop there. The other principal character and cancer patient, Augustus Waters, is said to have just been re-diagnosed with cancer right before embarking on a grand adventure to Amsterdam with Hazel. In what world is that possible? Having Augustus endure the long trip and the exhaustive tours around the city while simultaneously maintaining his emotional and mental capacity is another delusion I cannot forgive. It is also difficult to ignore the other unreasonable decision to have the two cancer patients share their first kiss inside the Anne Frank house. Not to
mention the heedless combination of cancer and the Holocaust, something like a kiss should — and would — never happen inside so sacred a place. Did Green think it would not matter because it is cancer patients performing the act? That they were not normal, healthy people, so in turn their actions should be excused in exchange for pity? My particular position might make me overly sensitive to Green’s mistakes — but that’s another comment I’m sick of hearing. My sensitivity stems from my truth, as does my criticism. The errors of authors like Green do not deserve to be disregarded because of their merit or their well-intentioned ventures into sensitive subjects. Instead, that’s exactly why they should be held accountable. By putting their work and themselves into the world, they are inviting both criticism and praise. “The Fault in Our Stars” is expertly problematic because its flaws can be easily overlooked. However, other errors of Green are not so deftly unnoticed: His repetitive usage of the same rudimentary character tropes and his lack of diversity in terms of race, gender and sexuality (noting a few exceptions: Tiny from “Will Grayson, Will Grayson,” Hasan from “An Abundance of Katherines,” and Radar from “Paper Towns”) make me wonder why Green has been, and continues to be, such an influential figure in YA fiction, and why he hasn’t been canceled before. Daily Arts Writer Lilly Pearce can be reached at pearcel@umich.edu.
The B-Side
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Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 17
The B-Side: How has ‘South Park’ not been canceled? KAI BARTOL
Daily Arts Writer
Should “South Park” be canceled? With debates spawned by controversial episodes raging across Twitter and echoing on Reddit subthreads, “South Park” remains as scandalous as it was back in 1997. Mocking Clinton’s sex scandals, Scientology and the Virgin Mary with equal vigor, the show has done double duty as a cultural touchstone and as an argument for why you shouldn’t let your kids watch Comedy Central. Yet over the past two years, many have called for the animated show to be canceled — claiming that South Park has raised a generation of trolls inspired by the racist, hate-fueled vitriol spewed by main character, Eric Cartman. With these considerations in mind, is there still a place for South Park in 2020? I rewatched some episodes to find out. By chance, the first episode I came across was the “South Park Christmas Special” from 2006. Written during the height of the war on terror, the episode follows Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Santa Claus as they attempt to bring Christmas to the downtrodden children of Iraq. Over the course of the episode, Santa’s sleigh gets shot down by an RPG over Baghdad, Saddam Hussein electrocutes Santa’s testicles and Jesus Christ is murdered
by terrorists. Oh, and back in South Park, Colorado, Timmy, the show’s resident child with a disability, stammers through a garbled version of a “Partridge in a Pear Tree.” It’s ludicrous, hilarious and utterly,
The answer lies in their even-handed satirization — of everything.
blatantly offensive. But would the episode have aired today? In the age of “cancel culture,” where Lana Del Ray was “canceled” for wearing a mesh face mask, it seems unlikely that a show satirizing terrorism, making fun of children with disabilities and even going after Jesus Christ himself would be allowed to continue. Shows have been canceled for far less or at minimum altered to satisfy politically correct ideals. Even classic cartoons aren’t safe — Elmer Fudd, the rabbit-hunting denizen of “Looney Toons,” has had his iconic hunting rif le replaced
by a scythe. “The Simpsons” have removed the character of Apu, who was said to perpetuate harmful Indian stereotypes. Yet, somewhat inexplicably, “South Park” has survived the media purges unscathed. The show is in its 24th season and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. So how has “South Park” been able to avoid cancellation? The answer lies in their evenhanded satirization — of everything. The show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, don’t single out one specific race, culture or religion. They rarely even taunt the same celebrities, preferring instead to lampoon hundreds of America’s most famous figures over the past two decades. “South Park” can’t be accused of discrimination; they ridicule everyone with equal glee. Not unlike the fool in the king’s court, the only person allowed to tell the truth without fearing retribution, “South Park” has played the role of America’s jester to a tee, revealing society’s hypocrisies and laughing giddily along the way. Notorious for their tongue-in-cheek humor, Parker and Stone are unafraid to self-satirize, too. This attitude was best exemplified by a video released on “South Park”’s official Twitter in 2018. With white words on a black background, a booming voice reads off the following text: “America has reached a crossroads. What will we do next? #CancelSouthPark.”
Shortly thereafter, the hashtag #CancelSouthPark was trending. Many assumed the show’s creators finally gained a conscience — or that in Trump’s America, the comedy’s onceoutrageous world of “South Park” now
Notorious for their tongue-in-cheek humor, Parker and Stone are unafraid to self-satarize, too.
seemed tame. All speculation was moot; the hashtag was no more than a marketing gimmick. Never afraid to break the fourth wall, Parker and Stone were once again poking fun at themselves and an increasingly prevalent cancel-culture. If “South Park” was like “Family Guy,” it would be viewed anachronistically, like “Fuller House” or some other show that has been dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the 1990s. Yet more than any animated television show, “South Park” has
remained remarkably relevant, due to their rapid production process. Each 30-minute episode is produced in six days (most animated television series have production periods of 3-6 months) allowing for timely humor and a degree of relevancy most other series can’t aspire to. More akin to “Saturday Night Live” than “The Simpsons,” South Park’s spur-of-themoment humor has allowed them to stay one step ahead of cancellation. I ended my viewing spree by watching “The Pandemic Special,” the first episode of the show’s 24th season. Covering the impact of the coronavirus on the inhabitants of “South Park,” the town’s children are forced to quarantine at school under the guard of the district police force, implied to be unemployed due to their poor handling of the Black Lives Matter protests. The episode controversially features Token, the show’s only African American character, being shot by the town’s chief of police for coughing in the classroom. Was this a heartless attempt at a cheap laugh, or does it satirically raise awareness of police brutality? I’ll leave that for you to decide. Regardless, South Park’s unique timeliness, absurdity and pure, comic stupidity ensure it will remain a controversial cultural force for years to come. Daily Arts Writer Sam Mathisson can be reached at mathiss@umich.edu.
You can’t cancel Fiona Apple, not even in 1997 NORA LEWIS
Daily Arts Writer
“This world is bullshit.” After a tumultuous past year (to put it lightly), you’re probably nodding your head in agreement. But 23 years ago, this statement provoked a slightly more severe reaction. Fiona Apple, the then 19-year-old alternative pop singer, shocked the world with her utterly honest and expletivelaced acceptance speech at the 1997 VMA Awards. After winning Best New Artist for the single “Sleep to Dream” off her debut album Tidal, Apple delivered a brief but soon-to-be infamous message to her fans, explaining, “I didn’t prepare a speech and I’m sorry, but I’m glad I didn’t because I’m not gonna do this like everybody else does it.” Toddling her chrome astronaut award from hand to hand, Apple added, “See, Maya Angelou said that we, as human beings, at our best, can only create opportunities. And I’m gonna use this opportunity the way that I want to use it.” Her words, already deviating from the formulaic thank-youfilled speeches of her peers, were met with some intermittent applause, but mostly bewildered silence. Apple continued, “So, what I want to say is — um, everybody out there that’s watching, everybody that’s watching, this world? This world is bullshit. And you shouldn’t model your life about what you think that we think is cool and what we’re wearing and what we’re
saying and everything. Go with yourself.” A sprinkling of audience members clapped at this affirmation, enthusiastic if not a bit puzzled. After a few hurried thank-yous to her family and producer, Apple cinched the speech with one final thought: “It’s just stupid that I’m in this world, but you’re all very cool to me so thank you very much.” Almost instantaneously, the media launched into a frenzy. In just under a minute and 20 seconds, it seemed that Apple had managed to collect enough criticism to last for years. The press labeled the young artist as everything from woefully ungrateful to wildly precocious, a reputation that stuck with Apple for much of her musical career (and arguably still does today). She was essentially, as we’ve coined the term, “canceled” for being unabashedly honest. Apple’s brazen take on an already taboo issue was merely fuel to the fire for her developing “bad girl” rep. With the release of the sexually suggestive “Criminal” music video, Apple had already made clear her unwillingness to fit into the good-girl charade that’s often dumped on female pop stars. With bright blue eyes, a brooding alto voice and an unfiltered matter-of-factness, Apple was by all accounts developing into pop diva material. But this prima donna persona did little to cushion her from the brutally harsh discourse of gossip columnists and distinguished music critics alike. One such critic of The New Yorker characterized her as an “underfed Calvin Klein model”; another NY Rock journalist remarked that her speech was “one of
the most ridiculous soliloquies ever to be witnessed at an MTV Awards event.” Comedian Janeane Garafalo even went as far as to mock Apple’s eating disorder in a blistering parody, stating, “You shouldn’t model your life about what you think that we think is cool . . . Even though I have an eating disorder and I have somehow sold out to the patriarchy in this culture that says that lean is better.” It’s a disappointing, if not unsurprising, reaction to a young artist’s openness. Given the media’s constant fixation with women’s bodies, it’s also unsurprising that Apple’s physical appearance became a focal point in almost every fuming article and subsequent album review. There was no escape from the piercing opprobrium of an industry eager to mark Apple as a moody teen, permanently on the verge of a breakdown. Luckily for us, this didn’t stop her from making breathtaking music. I started listening to Apple this past year with the release of her long-anticipated album Fetch the Bolt Cutters (I know, I know, I’m extremely late to the party). Needless to say, I tore through her entire discography in a day, mesmerized by Apple’s sharp lyricism and unconventional pop sound that makes you question everything you think you know about the genre. My visceral reaction on first listen was how gloriously refreshing Apple’s voice was. She didn’t shy away from hard questions and blunt truths of life, and I felt at home in this mania of biting, vulnerable sincerity. For the same reason, I believe Apple’s
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1997 VMAs speech is a resounding victory. Beneath its overtone of teenage angst and clumsy delivery, Apple presents a gem of a message. As a young female artist in the era before social media, receiving a massive platform to talk candidly about toxicity in the music industry was incredibly rare. Apple merely vocalized the frustration thousands of other women in the public eye had been feeling for years before her. Not only that, but she addressessed the feeling of inadequacy and “uncoolness” that comes from being an adolescent on the peripheries of a celebrity-obsessed culture. In all honesty, maybe we have that speech to thank for Apple’s incredible artistry today. Standing there on national television, in front of hundreds of people, Apple seemed
to reach a moment of clarity. She got a taste of pop stardom and subsequently decided it went against everything she stood for. Despite their best efforts, critics failed to cancel Apple. With each fiery criticism, her commentary on the artificiality of the American music industry is only proven further. Since 1997, Apple has released four more albums, each more introspective and mature than the last. In a sense, she’s finally been justified. Despite all the dizzying circumstances, Apple has found freedom in being unfailingly outspoken. Only this time it’s not in an acceptance speech, but in the intimate lines of her musical masterpieces. Daily Arts Writer Nora Lewis can be reached at noralew@umich.edu.
Why you’re still listening to Azealia Banks in 2020 JOHN DECKER
Managing Arts Editor
Though maybe not an A-list celebrity anymore (she’s too merciless for invitations to ornate parties or wine nights in gilded mansions), Harlembased rapper Azealia Banks has stuck around. She’s still in your friend’s Spotify feed, albeit normally on private mode so it’s hard to know unless you bring it up. She has maintained just under two million monthly listeners on Spotify (with no mixtape release in 3 years), has been nominated for dozens of awards and this year even had an unreleased demo, “Competition,” become particularly popular on TikTok with over 53,000 videos recorded to the track. What makes this interesting isn’t that Banks has lost her talent. Her most recent single, “Black Madonna,” peels back her typical cover of electronic clamor to reveal her effortless flow and vicious lyrical jabs as much as ever. Rather, Banks has been canceled endlessly (and rightfully so) on Twitter and its compatriot social media sites. To list all of her transgressions would itself take up an entire article; a comprehensive list on Wikipedia will show the long-winded extent of Bank’s controversy. The sins range
from impressively articulate, narrativelength jabs at Kanye West and Iggy Azalea to homophobic and transphobic posts that have resulted in temporary bans from Twitter. Skipping discourse about ignoring Banks’ canceled status or “separating the art from the artist” — because these mental gymnastics are the ultimate reasons people are still willing to listen in the face of controversy, and have been written about time and time again — what drags people back to Broke With Expensive Taste? Unlike listeners’ failed campaigns to cancel Kanye West or Chris Brown that seemed to have inflicted no effective damage, with Banks, listeners have the unique foresight to slip into private mode (as two of my friends have confessed that they do) but still are consuming the music. People are wary enough to avoid association but are still seeking tracks like “Anna Wintour.” A combination of factors likely account for these contradictory habits. For one, the nature of Banks’ music — rabid hip house covered in brash lyricism — is an amalgamation perhaps best-suited to engage with her degree of aggression and controversy. The style isn’t constructed for the type of close listening that so many personality-centered pop stars and thoughtful alternative artists elicit.
Listening doesn’t feel like engaging with a conversation; it’s something amusing to consume, like what you’d put on to dance around to after getting
For one, the nature of Banks’ music — rabid hip house covered in brash lyricism — is an amalgamation perhaps best-suited to engage with her degreee of aggression and controversy.
good news. Half of Banks’ lyrics are so muddled, anyways, almost obscured completely by the heavy blanket of the
beats she creates and sticky in the way they gum together as she raps straight through the song, so the sense that clicking play on something you’ll need to think about feels absent when listening. The overwhelming consensus among supporters online runs along the lines of this, too: She’s immoral, she’s crazy, but she makes good, irreplaceable beats. This isn’t to say that the writing on Broke With Expensive Taste or mixtape Slay-Z is underdeveloped. In fact, Banks’ ability to lay out brisk, fiery bars with full-throated aggression makes the listening, in the half of the lyrics that are comprehensible, even more difficult to turn down. The lyrics don’t feel profound; they feel sassy and fun to shout along with. From “212” (“And when I hit that dip get your camera / You could see I’ve been that bitch since the Pamper,”) to demo “Competition” (“She’s like, ‘Hey where’ve you been honey?’ / What it look like, bitch? Getting this money!”), Banks pendulum-swings from creative self-flattery to genius retorts. You can find another poet, but the dancefloor hip hop that moves these tracks, and the spiked lyrics in them, couldn’t have been made by anyone else. They’re addictive, full of lines you wish you would’ve thought of yourself, and that just makes them more fun to get lost in. From the get-go, too, Banks has
told the world she’s controversial and doesn’t care, which likely suggests some self-selection by fans to explain her continued following. Her bellicose genre-melding and lyrics (even when unintelligible) ask listeners not to take her too seriously. But her listeners probably already didn’t care. Maybe they lauded Banks for edginess. Her first single and most streamed song, “212,” uses the c-word a grand total of 9 times. She’s been tweeting belligerently nearly her entire career. Her songs (see “Heavy Metal and Reflective”) have always been exaggeratedly explicit. Which is all to say that Azealia Banks is still creating unique, quarrelsome, sharp music that blends rap with the beats you lose your mind to in clubs, and that people are still consuming it. At this point, it feels like this might turn out to be a small-scale Trisha Paytas phenomenon — “uncancelable,” so to say, for many listeners, with revelations changing things only for those who have gone into hiding on private mode. The collective decision to “cancel” Banks, and stop streaming until she owns up to her actions, might be easier to achieve if anyone in the industry was mixing like she is. Nobody is, and until then, the streaming will continue. Managing Arts Editor John Decker can be reached at jndecker@umich.edu.
Arts
18 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
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Music Talks: Metalcore DAILY ARTS WRITERS Daily Arts Writers
“Music Talks” is a series in which Daily Music Writers give their takes on the biggest releases in new music. However, this time, we picked a release that’s not exactly new, and not exactly big, but allows some of our writers to introduce other writers to a genre they normally wouldn’t listen to. From picking best and worst tracks to asking what makes a genre tick, the Music beat is here to give praise and to give shit to music worth talking about. I discovered the Australian metalcore quintet Thornhill on a YouTube comments section I will never find again. Their full-length debut, ‘The Dark Pool,’ immediately struck me as an album worth sharing, both entrenched in genre but also universally fascinating for any appreciator of music. Thornhill’s label, UNFD, is a hotbed for fresh and zany ideas in metal. It provides an interesting lens to discuss the band in the larger context of what metal is and where it’s going — here’s what we had to say about The Dark Pool. —Anish Tamhaney, Daily Film Beat Editor This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision. Tamhaney: So I’d love to start off by just hearing — what are your one-to-two-word
thoughts about ‘The Dark Pool’? Drew Gadbois, Daily Arts Writer: Heavy melody. Jason Zhang, Daily Arts Writer: Surprisingly lyrical. Kai Bartol, Daily Arts Writer: Exhilarating. Nora Lewis, Daily Arts Writer: This is kind of broad, but I think unexpected. Sam Cantie, Daily Music Beat Editor: Stressed out, in a sci-fi world. Julianna Morano, Managing Arts Editor: I wrote down — like a continual beating. Q: I would call this album comfortably experimental, and I think that aligns with what a lot of you were talking about with it being a little bit heavy and wild, but also lyrical and melodic. Does anyone want to expand on that or talk about that dichotomy? Gadbois: I think I’m gonna be the odd one out here, but I didn’t think it actually was that experimental. I think I had a slight knowledge of metalcore to begin with, so like, having that prior knowledge, I think it allowed me to have a little better context behind it. There was a way they used melody that felt very unique. They built melody around a heavy pulse and it adds a lot of momentum, but it didn’t necessarily push you away. Zhang: Yeah, I was just surprised by how much of it was more of creating a soundscape, and them really playing around in what I would say is a mellower
field. And then they would use juxtaposition, and they would go into a more intense driving melody and beat and then return back to more of a mellow zone. That made it continually interesting to listen to. Lewis: Yeah, I agree. I feel like that prevented it from losing intensity at harsher moments. It prevented it from being sort of watered down. Morano: I think something that I’m not accustomed to is that there’s not a lot of build-up up to intensity. It was kind of, on or off, sort of. And anytime there was a moment of silence, I was bracing myself because I knew it was going to end quickly, and I didn’t realize that I liked that until I was listening to this. Tamhaney: Yeah, that makes sense. Because I think especially a lot of the breakdowns on this album kind of come out of thin air, like you said. But I definitely agree with what a lot of you are saying: The pacing of this album, it feels really organic. And I think that really does just go back to melody, because it just feels like the melody writes itself, and it writes this whole album. And they don’t really stick to any structure or any kind of formula, it happens in this natural way. Cantie: I think I appreciated that it wasn’t extremely experimental, like I could tell that you were trying to give us something that incorporated more melody to ground those who have never listened to metal before.
UNFD
I think something I was left thinking about is the relationship of metalcore to anger, because I feel like I have a complicated relationship with anger, and I don’t get angry, ever. It got me thinking about the ways in which women get angry. So I might be opening us up to something like, too big to talk about, but I’m sort of wondering whether metalcore is extremely, like, male-dominated in “listening-ship”? Is that a word? Probably not. But I think I’m just most astonished by the anger component of metalcore. Gadbois: That’s a really good point, and I think this goes beyond just deathcore, but what I’ve kind of noticed, with more aggressive genres in general, like industrial and stuff like that, a lot of the more upcoming female artists are representing a female anger and
recapturing anger as something that can be female-driven. I think it’s a really interesting topic, and I think it is becoming more diversified. Tamhaney: Yeah, a great example that I’ve been into lately is Spirit Box, they’re another metalcore band fronted by Courtney LaPlante. And she’s incredible. I think she’s an example of exactly what you’re saying, of transforming what anger can look like or what it can sound like, even. Q: Let’s get into some specifics on this album. Are there any standout tracks or moments that you want to talk about that really stuck with you? Bartol: There was one part of “In My Skin” that I had to write down because I loved it a lot. The main vocals that you’re hearing
were very melodic, and very normal, but then they dubbed the words with the vocalists screaming the same words, and I loved the feeling of tension created between the melodic vocals and the screaming going on in the back. Morano: Wait Kai, I think same. I rewound that part: I think that one seemed to exhibit more of a build up. And then an outro with just a repeating lyric, and that was something else that listening to this and really liking that song made me realize that I do, like — because it was such an unfamiliar musical experience, it made me think in more meta terms about my own listening habits and what I like. But yes, Kai!
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Reconsidering monolithic masculinity: On Brando ROSS LONDON Daily Arts Writer
This article is a part of the Daily Arts “Canceled” b-side. For a full look at our b-side pieces exploring this theme, visit our site. The clickbait-y corners of the internet are rife with dubious articles about closeted stars of Hollywood’s past, salacious stories about longdead icons of film: Greta Garbo, Montgomery Clift, Joan Crawford, Marlon Brando. These stories share an unsettling subtext: the intimation that nonheterosexuality reflects poorly on these men and women or that their illustrious careers and contributions to the history of film are somehow diminished by their sexualities. One such article, posted on Medium and written under the ironic pretense of celebrating Pride Month, is particularly deplorable for its homophobia and tabloidstyle headlines (one of which calls Montgomery Clift “a fussy and hard to please bisexual”). While 21st century celebrity coming-out announcements may be met with more praise than condemnation, we need not look far into the past to find ridicule of Golden Age icons that borders on “cancellation.” I adore Tennessee Williams, and Elia Kazan’s film adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” will always be one of my favorite films. Accordingly, Marlon Brando, who so brilliantly inhabits the role of the emotionally volcanic, brutish and sweaty Stanley Kowalski, is one of my favorite actors. Which is why I remember a
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number of articles published in February 2018. It all began with an unfiltered interview with legendary music producer Quincy Jones in Vulture, in which he remarked of Brando that, “He’d fuck anything. Anything! He’d fuck a mailbox. James Baldwin. Richard Pryor. Marvin Gaye.” This “allegation” which supposedly “sent the internet into a frenzy,” according to TMZ, was corroborated by comedian Pryor’s widow Jennifer Lee Pryor. “It was the ’70s! Drugs were still good, especially Quaaludes,” Pryor said. “If you did enough cocaine, you’d fuck a radiator and send it flowers in the morning.” This story was widely reported by the likes of the Guardian, USA Today and the entertainment glossies. Pryor’s daughter Rain and Brando’s son Miko both denied Jones’s claims, adding fuel to the fire and longevity to the story. There is no dearth of Brando smut on the internet, which all begs the question, who cares? In an unsigned opinion article from South African news broadcaster eNCA responding to the February 2018 Brando brouhaha, the author accurately noted that “in the feeding frenzy which has followed Jones’s interview, we have also learned (once again) how deep the roots of heteronormativity and homophobia still run.” With particular disdain for Jennifer Lee Pryor’s statements about Quaaludes and cocaine, the author wrote that “We are asked to understand any sex between Pryor and Brando as the consequence of drugs, not as an aspect of the men’s exploration of being human. In fact, both
men are compared to objects, thus domesticating the threat their human sexual interaction poses to heteronormativity.” Jennifer Lee Pryor’s dehumanizing aside, the media obsession with Jones’s claims reflects a belief that homosexuality is aberrant. That there is something “dirty” about the secret that has been exposed. This is no new phenomenon. In the 1950s, the tabloid Confidential “called out celebrities who were in the closet, in rehab or having marital problems,” purportedly to “show the real image of America,” said journalist Henry Scott, an image hidden by the films these very celebrities created. But glorifying Confidential as breaking barriers and fighting Hollywood idealism hides the ugly truth: It was a mechanism for “cancel culture,” that innate human drive to excommunicate that which we perceive to be harmful to our society. In 1955, agent Henry Willson “learned that Confidential was planning to out Rock Hudson, who still was one of his clients,” said Tab Hunter, a former client of Willson, “so he cut a deal with them to keep Rock out of their pages, feeding them dirt on me instead.” The gossip magazine suggested that Hunter had attended a “gay orgy,” leaving Hunter fearing for his career. It took a cover story in another entertainment publication, in which he was celebrated alongside Natalie Wood, to blunt the impact of the Confidential story.
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Did ‘The Crown’ really cancel the royal family?
NETFLIX
ZOE PHILLIPS Senior Arts Editor
This article is a part of the Daily Arts “Canceled” b-side. For a full look at our b-side pieces exploring this theme, visit our site. Season four of Netflix’s “The Crown” opens with a lunchtime conversation at Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth II (Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”) sits at the end of a long table stacked with food and flower arrangements as she inquires about her eldest child: “No Charles?” she asks. The Queen is surrounded by other members of her family — husband Philip (Tobias Menzies, “Outlander”), sister Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”), daughter Anne (Erin Doherty, “Call the Midwife”) and in-law Lord Mountbatten (Charles Dance, “Game of Thrones”) — but Charles (Josh O’Connor, “God’s Own Country”) is notably absent. The group proceeds to gossip over the Prince’s personal life, reviewing a list of women whom he may hold in contention for marriage. It’s 1977, and the pressure for the heir apparent to find a bride is reaching a tipping point. There was one woman photographed by the newspapers in a bathing costume, says the Queen, and another that Anne describes as a “heck of a horsewoman.” Then there is Camilla Parker-Bowles (Emerald Fennell, “Killing Eve”), who is already married but still mysteriously close to the Prince. “Oh, he’s not still seeing her, surely,” the Queen says. “After all the lengths we went to,” referring to her concerted efforts to keep the Prince and her monarchy away from unwanted scandal.
“No, none of these,” says Lord Mountbatten, who was famously close with his nephew. The latest acquaintance is Sarah Spencer (Isobel Eadie), elder sister of a woman named Diana (Emma Corrin, “Misbehaviour”). The camera cuts to a car driving down a wooded countryside far outside of London — Charles is at the wheel, on his way to the Spencer estate. He’s on his way to meet Diana Spencer. Much of the following nine episodes centers on the infamous story of this relationship — of the teenager who married Prince Charles in a crinkled masterpiece of a taffeta ballgown when she was only 19 and he was 31. Show creator Peter Morgan tells a complex narrative of two faulted individuals bound to a marriage that was broken from the start. The season follows Diana’s personal battle with bulimia and depression that is exacerbated by a lack of support from her new in-laws. On top of this, she faces explosions of jealousy from Charles whenever her presence takes too much attention away from him and battles with her own dejection as it becomes clear that the Prince’s relationship with Camilla never truly ended. “Camilla is who I want!” Charles screams at Diana toward the end of the final episode. “That is where my loyalties lie,” he says. She looks at him blankly, heartbroken and unsurprised at the same time. These conversations are of course dramaticized inferences of what really happened behind the scenes of this crumbling relationship, but Morgan contextualizes this fiction in the backdrop of history from the penultimate decade of the 20th century. Diana and Charles fight as Britain reckons with a growing
resentment toward the monarchy while unemployment skyrockets under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. This is the formula that has worked so well for Morgan’s first three seasons of what is one of Netflix’s most successful shows to date. Characters based on the Royals we know as public figures combat intimate personal turmoil as they navigate the public struggles written about in our history textbooks. Up until now, no one seemed to be bothered about where the facts ended and the fiction began. But as the show’s setting quickly approaches present day, the tension between these two is hard to ignore. Morgan’s depiction of the now-deceased Princess and the still-alive future King of England ignited a new wave of hatred for the faults of Prince Charles and his family. Critics have been quick to point to Morgan’s shortcomings in the show’s depiction of reality — that “The Crown” only shows one unfortunate side of Charles, that it fails to emphasize Diana’s role in the marriage’s failure and that it might destroy the efforts of Charles and his now-wife Camilla in the last quarter century to separate themselves from the hostility of the 1980s. Perhaps this is true; the TikTok teens and Twitter trolls don’t seem too enthusiastic about forgiveness. One especially funny video started with a woman looking in the mirror as she melodramatically told Charles, “You better count your days!” The TikTok accrued 2.2 million views and was shared over 40 thousand times.
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Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 19
Power move
Special teams key in Wolverines’ top-five matchup with Minnesota LANE KIZZIAH Daily Sports Editor
This season, the Michigan hockey team’s penalty kill has been crucial in shutting down high ranked opponents. But on Thursday, it was a major factor in the Wolverines’ downfall. Before its second matchup against Penn State, Michigan had killed 19 of its 22 penalties. “We have faith in our players,” sophomore forward Nick Granowicz said on Nov. 20. “We practice our penalty kill a lot… it’s worked out for us.” Facing the Nittany Lions, though, all of that skill and endurance seemed to fade away. The Wolverines allowed Penn State to convert on four of its six power play opportunities. Michigan coach Mel Pearson felt the out of character performance was a product of both exhaustion and the fact that the Wolverines were missing two of their best players on the penalty kill: junior forwards Garrett Van Wyhe and Nolan Moyle. With the former injured and the latter out with a game misconduct penalty, Michigan had to rely on their less adept members of the roster even as it continued to give up penalty after penalty. “We were playing with fire,” Pearson said. “And we got burned bad.” Even within that game, there were moments when the prowess of Michigan’s penalty kill unit came through. Two minutes into the first period when the Wolverines were already down by two,
junior forward Nolan Moyle earned a five-minute major penalty for contact to the head. With Michigan already in a hole, a five-minute power play for the Nittany Lions became an opportunity for the Wolverines to dig themselves deeper. The penalty kill unit held Penn State to five shots, allowing Michigan to escape unscathed. “That was a critical point in the game,” Pearson said. “And even though we ended up losing the game, at that point, it gave us a chance to stay in the game.” The issue isn’t that the Wolverines can’t kill their penalties, but that they’re racking up too many to begin with. Michigan has had a reputation throughout the years as one of the most disciplined teams in the league. But in their first eight games, the Wolverines have averaged almost 10 minutes with a player in the penalty box and one more penalty per game than last season. It’s an issue Pearson identified right from the start. In Michigan’s first game of the season, the Wolverines gave up seven penalties but only allowed Arizona State to get to the net on one. This team isn’t overly physical, but they have a tendency to make small mistakes that end up sending someone to the box. A perfect example came within the first game against the Sun Devils. Freshman forward Brendan Brisson touched the puck as he was released from the penalty, drawing an interference call that sent him straight back into
We were playing with fire. And we got burned bad.
the box. Pearson said he’d never seen the penalty in his entire coaching career. Those types of small, technical errors — what Pearson calls “tick-tacky penalties” — are expected with a young team like the Wolverines. But it’s not only the freshmen that have continued to make the mistakes. Other than Brisson, the biggest source of penalties have been Moyle, junior forward Jimmy Lambert and junior defenseman Nick Blankenburg. Minnesota — who the Wolverines will face on Tuesday — is dangerous on the power play, converting on almost a third of its opportunities thus far. And with Pearson unsure whether Van Wyhe will be ready to play, it will be even more important for Michigan to limit its penalties. “We can’t be taking penalties,” Pearson said. “If we do, we’re just asking for trouble.”
JACK KINGSLEY Daily Sports Writer
Through the Michigan hockey team’s first six games, its lines remained nearly unchanged. The only alterations were injury replacements and rotations in and out of the lineup among its lesser skaters. But after being swept by Notre Dame a week ago in a series in which the Wolverines scored just three goals in two games — none of which came on the power play in three opportunities — and failed to generate any momentum in the offensive zone, Michigan coach Mel Pearson made some significant adjustments entering his team’s series against Penn State. Senior forward Jack Becker — who played on the Wolverines’ second power play unit — came out of the lineup, allowing for tweaks to both units. While these tweaks were small, they paid dividends. Michigan generated two goals
on five power plays against the Nittany Lions. “We just decided because we changed the lines up a little bit to change units,” Pearson said. “They weren’t drastic. … But I thought they played well. I thought our power play was really good.” With Becker as a healthy scratch, junior forward Jimmy Lambert shifted to his spot both at even strength and on the power play, allowing senior forward Michael Pastujov to replace Lambert on the top unit. Pastujov made an immediate impact on the man advantage for the Wolverines. In the second period of their 3-1 win against Penn State on Wednesday, he scored an impressive goal directly in front of the net, faking out the goaltender and putting the puck in an open net. The goal ended up being the deciding tally for Michigan. “He knows what to do around the net,” Pearson said. “He’s got some offensive instincts that he knows where to go.”
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Michael Pastujov has generated dangerous chances on the power play when stationed near the opposing net.
The addition of Pastujov added another dimension to the Wolverines’ top power play unit that at times has seemed predictable. Freshman forward Brendan Brisson was the focal point, with the goal of every power play to get him the puck for onetimers. While Brisson is dangerous from the right circle, he only has one goal on the man advantage this season, a result of opposing teams anticipating his shots. But with Pastujov on that unit, Michigan often worked the puck into the slot and Pastujov generated multiple dangerous chances in addition to his goal. Against the Fighting Irish, Pearson thought the Wolverines played on the perimeter too much on the power play, oftentimes trying to force feed the puck to Brisson. With the shake-up to the top unit, Pearson effectively found a way to solve this. And while it didn’t come against the Nittany Lions, if Pastujov continues to thrive near the net, Michigan should be able to get more open looks for Brisson. For the time being, though, that will have to wait. Five Wolverines are leaving for World Juniors in advance of their two games against Minnesota, including Brisson and three other players on the top unit — sophomore forward Johnny Beecher, sophomore defenseman Cam York and freshman forward Thomas Bordeleau. With makeshift lines for the series, Michigan may struggle on the power play. “You’re going to see two different (units) this weekend, so get used to it,” Pearson said. “I’m gonna throw it in the blender and mash it up too. So you’re gonna kind of see a little bit of everything.” While playing without nearly its entire top unit will be less than ideal, the Wolverines may have found a power play weapon in Pastujov that could be key to their success on the man advantage for the rest of the season.
Michigan beats Wright State, 82-59 Turnovers a lingering issue in win LILY ISRAEL
Daily Sports Writer
JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily
The Michigan women’s basketball team overcame sloppy play to blow out Wright State on Sunday.
NICK MOEN
Daily Sports Writer
Coming off a historic win against Notre Dame on Thursday, the Michigan women’s basketball was confident going into its game Sunday against Wright State. Yet the Wolverines (4-0) showed they still have work to do in a 82-59 victory over the Raiders (0-2). Wright State’s inability to make shots and Michigan’s own efficient shooting saved the Wolverines from sloppy play — turnovers, questionable passing and allowing second-chance shots on defense. Junior guard Amy Dilk had a momentous first quarter, earning the 300th assist of her career. Still, as it did against the Fighting Irish, Michigan struggled at first with turnovers, giving up the ball seven times in the first quarter. All told, Dilk and junior forward Leigha Brown finished with five and four turnovers, respectively. “We let them speed us up a little bit,” Rauch said. “We wanted to settle back down, get back to running our stuff, go back to what was working, and just play our game.” Michigan continued to hit their shots, though, through the first quarter, ending with Dilk finding junior guard Danielle Rauch for a
3-pointer to close it out. Down low, the Raiders’ defense frustrated junior forward Naz Hillmon early on. Starting the second quarter with only three points, she made up for that slow start by going eight-for-eight from the line and ending the half with 14 points and six rebounds. Hillmon’s early troubles weren’t the only thing indicative of Michigan’s struggles under the rim. Outrebounded on its own glass, Wright State’s 26 offensive rebounds led to 26 second-chance points. The difference came from a Wolverine team experimenting with a zone defense for the first time this season. “We wanted to make sure we protected the paint and tried to take away their paint touches,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “It was better, except for the fact that it gave them the opportunity to rebound the basketball well.” Standout performances from Brown, Dilk and Hillmon in the second quarter gave Michigan the edge, ending the half with a 48-27 lead. Brown was the difference in this matchup, coming into the second half buzzing. Whether it was a layup or jump shot, her versatility in shot making and play creation furthered Michigan’s lead. She led the team with 24
points. Brown’s ability to score is crucial, but not the only way she affects the game. “I thought she helped us on the rebounding end tonight,” Barnes Arico said. “She helped us with her toughness and she was able to get out and transition a bunch with the ball in her hands and finish some great plays. She had a great night.” The third quarter came with a switch in momentum, with the Raiders outscoring the Wolverines 19-10 in an attempt at a comeback. Wright State had 20 offensive rebounds going into the fourth quarter, while Michigan had just eight. The 12-point margin heading into the final quarter wasn’t as large as it should have been on paper, but in the final quarter the Wolverines at last put their struggles behind them. “Once we settled in and moved the basketball and executed some stuff, we had some tremendous possessions in the fourth quarter, where we really looked good,” Barnes Arico said. “I thought that was important there. They were super physical and tried to take us out of what we wanted to do.” In spite of the flaws Michigan came out strong in the fourth and found a way to extend its lead, putting the game out of reach.
Danielle Rauch let out a sigh of relief. The Michigan women’s basketball team led all but the first seven seconds of the game in its 82-59 over Wright State. To the naked eye it looked like the Wolverines — especially their offense — was firing on all cylinders. The team as a whole shot 49 percent from the field, including going 7-for-15 from 3-point range. Firing on all cylinders, right? Still, Rauch was relieved, knowing the ceiling of this team. She knew, despite the win, the Wolverines didn’t play nearly as well as their potential suggests. Thanks to sluggish starts to the first and second halves, the Raiders remained in striking distance — cutting the deficit to 12 at the end of the third quarter — for far too long. “We just kind of let them speed us up a little bit,” Rauch said. “We wanted to just kind of settle, settle back down, get back to running our stuff, go back to what was working, and just play our game. We definitely want to be able to put two halves of really great basketball together in the upcoming conference (games).” Once again, despite its efficient offensive performance, turnovers plagued Michigan. The Wolverines committed 18 turnovers against Wright State, adding to their average of 16.75 turnovers per game. But they limited the damage done by some poor decision making — as they did in two of their three other games against Oakland and Central Michigan. Wright State had just 10 points off these turnovers. This was partly due to playing better at the end of the halves than the beginning. It also has to do with the lack of competition, outside of Notre Dame, they have faced thus far. Despite the turnover issues, they started the season
JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily
Turnovers plagued Michigan all afternoon, though it managed to win.
4-0. Eleven of the 18 turnovers forced by the Raiders came off steals. Whether it was picking the pocket of junior point guard Amy Dilk or intercepting an errant pass or half-court heave, Wright State was quick to attack the ball. There were ample opportunities to turn these steals into fast break points, but the Raiders failed to do so. This will not be the case when Big Ten play starts. The offensive turnovers coupled with trouble on the defensive end, specifically trouble defending the glass, led to some slight miscues. Junior forward Naz Hillmon typically dominates both ends of the glass, however, she was outsized by Wright State’s 6-foot-4 center Tyler Frierson. Hillmon was boxed out consistently, something that doesn’t usually happen, and the Raiders dominated the offensive boards with 26. “(Better rebounding) as well as limiting turnovers, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Rauch said. “Just kind of really honing in on making every possession count and taking care of basketball.” This offensive rebounding discrepancy can be explained by Michigan’s switch to a 2-3 zone defense. With non-conference competition winding down, the Wolverines wanted to gain more experience playing in this scheme knowing they would give up offensive rebounds. “They’re a team that
dribble penetrates very well,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “They got in the paint a lot in the first half. We wanted to make sure we protected the paint and try to take away their paint touches. We knew we were probably going to play them in zone, and it was good for us to work on that defense as well.” Some of the sloppy play can also be attributed to the team’s effort to give their bench players meaningful minutes. With a highly competitive conference like the Big Ten, giving young players experience early in the season could be invaluable. “I think we are very deep with a lot of experience,” Rauch said. “You saw today that people gave really great minutes. Everyone works extremely hard. We all trust each other. We’re only as strong as our weakest link. We want to make sure that we’re a balanced attack from one through 13.” Despite winning by 23 points in the end and improving to 4-0 in the process, with one nonconference game remaining, there are still plenty of kinks to work out. This was a win, but it also wasn’t against a Big Ten quality opponent. The Wolverines will need to shore up the turnover issue if they expect to achieve their goal of a Big Ten championship. It’s yet to be seen if there will need to be more sighs of relief in the future.
Sports
20 — Wednesday, December 9, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Knight squad
Behind Brown’s shooting, bench scoring, Wolverines avoid upset bid from Central Florida CONNOR BRENNAN Daily Sports Editor
Chaundee Brown had a long list of suitors this offseason. The 2016-2017 Florida Gatorade Player of the Year and former Wake Forest guard was coming off a season in which he averaged 12.1 points and 6.5 rebounds for the Demon Deacons. The appeal was evident — the program that landed Brown was getting a battletested veteran, a capable shooter and a frisky defender who had held his own against stiff ACC competition. Brown announced in midMay that he would transfer to Michigan, turning down the likes of Gonzaga, Illinois, Iowa State and LSU. While Brown wouldn’t have started for the Bulldogs and Illini — ranked No. 1 and No. 6 respectively in the AP Top 25 Poll — he very well could have for the latter two teams, or a number of mid-majors for that matter. Instead, though, he chose the Wolverines knowing that his minutes may be limited. “We just have so much talent,” Brown said. “... I know that myself, (senior guard Eli Brooks), (sophomore wing Franz Wagner) and (graduate guard Mike Smith) we all have to sacrifice each other’s minutes, shots, things like that. But that’s why I came here. I knew I was probably gonna come off the bench here. I have no problem with that. I just wanted to win. That’s all, I wanted to win.” Brown didn’t do much winning during his career in Winston-Salem going 35-58 in a three-year span. In finding a new team, winning was a priority. So far, so good for Brown and Michigan. The Wolverines are 4-0, and excluding an overtime scare against Oakland, the results were never in doubt. In addition to crisp ball
movement and a well-rounded offensive attack, Michigan’s bench play has been the driving force behind its early success. In no game was this on display more than in Sunday’s 22-point demolition of UCF — the highest ranked opponent the Wolverines have faced this season according to KenPom. Michigan’s bench accounted for 49 of the team’s 80 points and Brown led the way with an efficient 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting. “I have a second unit that is selfless,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. “They have bought into their roles. Truly the star was Chaundee … he’s accepted the role of being the sixth man for us and he’s perfecting it. It says a lot about his character.” Against the Knights, the Wolverines found themselves in a double-digit hole midway through the first half. With Wagner in foul trouble and the starting unit struggling to score, Michigan turned to Brown, freshman center Hunter Dickinson and freshman forward Terrance Williams to dig it out of it. “The bench guys, we’re all D1, division 1,” Brown said. “(Coach Howard) knows that we have game. Coach Howard, all the coaches recruited us for a reason. He saw it in AAU and in college basketball. “Just coming off the bench, that’s a different role. We’re sacrificing a lot of things that on other teams, we would’ve been star players or starting but we’re taking a second role on a winning team. We’re just always ready.” Through the first four games, Brown’s ability to hit 3-pointers has been on display. At 44% — and with an average of 6.25 attempts per game — Brown leads the team in that category. Whether his stellar conversion rate is more of a product or a cause of the Wolverines’
dynamic offense is unclear, but his confidence from deep is at an all-time high. “I believe in my shots,” Brown said. “I work on my shot hours a day, hours and hours in the gym. Before the game, before practice, after practice, I just work on my 3-point shots a lot and I just felt like I’ve been getting good looks. Can’t turn down a good look. Coach Howard always tells us, if you pass up an open shot it’s like a turnover for us. So all the open shots I get, I try to take them.” Howard added: “I watched a lot of film on him. I knew that he was a knockdown shooter. I kept telling my staff about it, and we were having conversations as we were quarantined in our homes. … We talked about — one of the things that he provides is something that we can truly enjoy as a staff and also as a team is his outside shooting. So it was no surprise to me at all. It was a big reason why we were high on him.” Though it’s early, Brown has excelled as Michigan’s sixth man and justified the decision he made over the summer in the process.
TEDDY GUTKIN Daily Sports Writer
Oftentimes in practice, the Michigan men’s basketball team plays exhibitions between its first and second units. Normally, the result is exactly what you’d expect it to be. “We may beat them a few times but most of the time (the starters are) beating up on us,” senior forward Chaundee Brown said. In Sunday’s 80-58 victory over Central Florida, though, the second unit proved to be the most productive players on the floor for the Wolverines. Trailing by 12 points midway through the first half, Michigan coach Juwan Howard subbed in freshman forward Terrance Williams to join junior forward Brandon Johns Jr. and freshman center Hunter Dickinson in the frontcourt. The Wolverines needed a spark, and they delivered. “Soon as I came in on the floor, (Johns) talked to me, he was like, ‘Be a dog, bring energy, do what you do,’ ” Williams said, after finishing with 10 points and six rebounds. “And that instilled a lot
of confidence with me because he believed in me.” Immediately after entering the game, Williams brought energy and then some. On his first possession, he converted a threepoint play and followed it up with a mid-range jumper on the next trip down. For Williams, coming off the bench and making a difference is a role he’s familiar with, and one that he is more than happy to play for his squad. “(Coming off the bench), it’s not a jarring difference,” Williams said. “I’ve been in this position before.” Dickinson proved to be a difference-maker as well. Though he didn’t enter the game until around the 13-minute mark and struggled early on, Dickinson looked far more confident on the offensive end once Williams joined him on the floor. Dickinson threw down a massive jam off an offensive rebound following a missed 3-pointer to cut the Knights’ lead to three and later converted another second chance bucket to put the Wolverines up 33-30 following a jumper from Williams. “On the offensive glass with his length, it’s always good to have him,” Howard said. “If you miss a
ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Senior forward Chaundee Brown’s outside shooting was key as he helped Michigan’s bench to 49 points against UCF.
spot, he’s there to clean it up. Or if he gets in the low block, he’s there to finish it.” While Dickinson has come off the bench as a reserve for the season’s first four games, he has arguably been one of the team’s most consistent performers on a nightly basis, scoring 14 points and hauling down seven rebounds tonight to mark his fourth consecutive double-digit scoring performance. As is the case with Williams, Dickinson has embraced his role on the bench. “He’s a total team guy,” Howard said. “He trusts the process and that’s a coach’s dream, to have a guy that’s all in and trusts what we can bring to the table to help him be successful.” Four games into the season, Howard has twice called on the two freshmen to deliver a spark for his team, and the pair has responded on both occasions. Last Sunday, Michigan was also struggling, and the duo helped spark a second half rally, with Dickinson scoring 19 points and Williams contributing seven. On Sunday afternoon, the final 10 minutes of the first half, Williams and Dickinson combined to score 16 out of the team’s 22 points. “The chemistry’s really good between us,” Dickinson said. “But I think the chemistry among us all is really good. I think this team is really close and everybody’s really close-knit and I think we all work really well together.” In the second half, Michigan rode the hot shooting touch of fellow reserve Brown — who finished with 19 points and four 3-pointers — to cruise to a relatively easy win. Johns also added a strong effort on loose balls and the offensive glass. The game looked like it had all the makings of an upset special early on, but the team’s reserves were the ones to turn it around in the Wolverines’ favor. “They changed the game for us,” Howard said.
Hailey Brown’s experience helping Michigan Wednesday game off, ‘M’ schedules Toledo
ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Michigan’s game against NC State was postponed due to COVID-19.
JARED GREENSPAN Daily Sports Writer
JULIA SCHHACHINGER/Daily
Forward Hailey Brown is the only senior on the roster for the Michigan women’s basketball team, making her a leader on the court for the Wolverines.
NICK MOEN
Daily Sports Writer
Senior forward Hailey Brown has been a mainstay for the Wolverines ever since she arrived in Ann Arbor three years ago. With classmates Deja Church and Priscilla Smeenge having transferred to DePaul and Liberty, respectively, Brown is the only one left. An energetic presence on the court known for shot-making abilities, Brown’s ability behind the arc has impacted Michigan’s ability to develop big leads. Last season, she led the Wolverines with 56 3-pointers, going 36.6% from beyond the arc. This season, she has shown the ability to be a major contributor, scoring 18 points against women’s basketball powerhouse Notre Dame, three of which were from behind the arc. The shots came at dire moments
when the Wolverines were searching for the edge. In the first half against the Fighting Irish, Brown scored 10 points. Coming into the second half, she scored a clutch three out of transition, giving Michigan a 39-34 lead. Her final three grew the Wolverines lead to four in the third quarter, giving her team the confidence to finish Notre Dame in the fourth. “She has just such great experience and such great feel for the game,” Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “That’s what makes us a different team this year than the team that we were last year.” Brown’s experience comes into play this season. She’s just four games shy of 100 as a Wolverine,
and she knows how to play off her teammates well and get open for shots. It’s been a common theme for the opposition to have two or three players shadow junior forward Naz Hillmon, leaving Brown wide open. And as she’s shown this season, Brown has the ability to make them pay. “She’s a kid that grew up playing with Team Canada,” Barnes Arico said. “She understands the game. Her IQ is exceptional. She just knows where to be, and she’s a shot maker.” Brown’s ability offensively will be a major threat for the Wolverines all season, but her defensive game speaks for itself. The Wolverines blocked eight shots against Notre Dame, half of them coming from Brown. Last
She knows where to be, and she’s a shotmaker.
season, she averaged 3.3 rebounds per game and looks to improve that number this year, averaging 4.5 in the Wolverines’ first four games. Whether it’s her experience as a senior or the pieces aligning for one last ride at Michigan, Brown looks to be extremely valuable for the Wolverines offensively and defensively. The Wolverines have an abundance of experience heading into Big Ten play. Barnes Arico will look towards junior guard Amy Dilk to find Brown off the transition and knock shots. In the dire moments of the game, the Wolverines know they can trust Brown. “We have experience that helps,” Barnes Arico said. “We have depth that helps and our freshmen are going to be outstanding. They’re working hard every day. We have those key components, we have an All-American candidate Naz Hillmon, we have a fifth-year player and a senior that are pretty special.”
The Michigan men’s basketball team’s scheduled game against NC State for Dec. 9 has been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns within the NC State program. The news was first reported by Brendan Quinn of The Athletic. “Far too often have I had to say we are all living in unprecedented times,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard said in a press release. “Our main concern is the health and safety of (NC State) coach (Kevin) Keatts, his players as well as all of those within the N.C. State program. It is unfortunate we have to postpone this ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchup. It would have been fun. However, we must do what is right, and this is the right thing to do for everyone.” Quinn additionally reported that Michigan will instead play Toledo on Dec. 9 at Crisler Center, replacing the matchup with NC State. Toledo is 3-2 on the season so far and expected to be one of the top teams in the
MAC. By scheduling a game with Toledo, the Wolverines will reach the NCAA-prescribed limit of 25 games with five non-conference games and a 20-game conference slate. That means the door to playing NC State would presumably be closed. The Wolfpack had their game against Connecticut, scheduled for Saturday, cancelled due to a positive test within the NC State travelling party at the Mohegan Sun Resort. The positive test was initially detected on Friday after previous rounds of negative testing. Michigan was initially scheduled to play in the multiteam event in Uncasville, Conn. but bowed out. The Wolverines were slated to battle the Wolfpack as a part of the annual ACCBig Ten Challenge. It’s the second contest in the Challenge to be cancelled, joining the Louisville-Wisconsin game which was called off due to COVID concerns in Louisville’s program. Michigan said in the release that as of now, it has no COVID19 issues.
We are all living in unprecedented times.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 — 21
‘THE GAME’ CANCELED
Michigan’s reaction to Ohio State game cancelation ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
Jim Harbaugh protested and marched, released statements and said publicly at every turn that he wanted this football season to happen. And when he told the Michigan football team that the biggest game of their season was canceled — marking the first time in over a century that the Wolverines won’t play Ohio State — they were just as devastated as he was. “Very disappointed,” Harbaugh said. “We were all very much — we wanted to play. And we were all very much, ‘The odds are against us but let’s go do this.’ “And as I said before, to a man. To a man, our players wanted to have that opportunity.” Kirk Herbstreit’s comments on ESPN last week, that Michigan might “wave the white flag” on playing the Buckeyes, using COVID-19 as an excuse, reverberated around the program. Senior defensive back Hunter Reynolds angrily tweeted on Tuesday, “there wasn’t a person in that locker room tryna duck anyone,” and athletic director Warde Manuel released a scathing video last week criticizing Herbstreit. On Tuesday afternoon though, all Manuel had was resignation. Canceling was the right thing to do. That didn’t make it any easier. “The Michigan-Ohio State game is the greatest rivalry in this sport,” Manuel said. “So this is a really hard day, hard time, for me, for Jim and for our team, our staff, our University and for our fans. For both teams, I am certain. But we had a trend with a number of positive tests that continued to go up even over the weekend, and so over the last seven days, they have not slowed. “We were not cleared to participate in practice by our medical staff, and we were looking at, in terms of, by the end of week,
Harbaugh, Manuel mum on contract extension talks
much wouldn’t have changed and against a to be determined Big Ten go and all those different things. ARIA GERSON we still don’t have a total grasp West opponent, is unclear. How rumors get started about Daily Sports Writer “First priority, as Warde has of this virus on our team. And so things before Jim and I sit down we are here today, we made the said, (is) stemming the COVID In a press conference and have a conversation, I’m not decision this afternoon, that we positives has been the objective dedicated primarily to the gonna get into. That’s not for me were not going to track down. to be able to But that’s participate. where that We weren’t is and that’s even cleared to where we’ll be practice today.” at the end of No specific the season.” numbers Harbaugh were given in added: “Warde terms of the and I have, for Wolverines’ months, long COVID-19 agreed that cases. Dr. we’ll talk about Sami Rifat, the the extension team’s medical at the end of director, only the season.” said the Big When asked Ten’s red/red to clarify what thresholds — a was meant by 5% positivity the end of the rate on the season, Manuel roster and a said, “We have 7.5% positivity one last game ALEC COHEN/Daily … that we are rate in the With COVID-19 cases on the rise within the program, the Michigan-Ohio State matchup became the 121st FBS game surrounding scheduled to be canceled this season. team to play,” population — referring to had not been reached. Reports here the last week,” Harbaugh cancelation of the Ohio State the Championship Weekend earlier in the afternoon said that said. “Still trying to get that under game, Jim Harbaugh and crossover matchup on Dec. 19. between contact tracing and control. Hopefully that will be While it is not a guarantee athletic director Warde Manuel positive cases, the Wolverines looking better in the next few declined to speak on rumors of a the Wolverines will be able to would have been missing upwards days. Ultimately, we were told the potential contract extension for play that weekend given their of 40 players had the game been number of people that were out current COVID-19 outbreak, Harbaugh. due to COVID was too high. played. Harbaugh’s original deal Michigan indicated that it is still “So, there’s the real possibility “Our student-athletes have expires in 2021, and with preparing as if it will play that really worked hard and are that we could play again before a dismal 2-4 season so far, game. He also clarified that he diligent,” Manuel said. “This is this season is over. Our players, as I Michigan is at a crossroads on has always held contract talks at probably as much a reflection said before, they want to play. They deciding whether to extend the end of the season and that is of where we are in our state and wanted to play this week. They him or move on. On Monday, not a new development in 2020. in our area. … I don’t want any want to play next week. They’re There would be complications author John U. Bacon reported of this to be reflective of our going to continue to condition and that Manuel and Harbaugh had from waiting until then to student-athletes and their efforts prepare for that possibility.” discussed a new incentive-laden further discuss an extension. With the state of the schedule to really keep themselves and their contract worth less money than National Signing Day is Dec. 16, in flux — Ohio State needs to play teammates safe.” his current deal, with a smaller and if there is uncertainty over A report in the Detroit Free six games to be eligible for the buyout. Tuesday, though, who will coach the Wolverines Press last week said the outbreak Big Ten championship game next Manuel seemingly refuted that. next year, it could lead to losses came from Thanksgiving-related week unless the rules are changed “This is a time where we’re on the recruiting trail. gatherings after the Penn State to accommodate — Manuel said When asked if he was afraid gonna focus on this pandemic,” game on Nov. 28. Whether positive Michigan would be open to Manuel said. “Jim and I will other teams would use the cases will be stemmed in time playing the Buckeyes the week of meet, as we have said, at the uncertainty around Michigan’s for Dec. 19, when Michigan is Dec. 19 as well if Ohio State doesn’t end of the year to discuss the coaching situation against it scheduled to play a crossover game have a sixth game. program and where we’re gonna in recruiting, Manuel stated
simply that, “negative recruiting occurs all the time.” Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic reported Tuesday that Harbaugh and Manuel have discussed an extension in the last week and that the program prefers to have a resolution by Signing Day, a date that is in conflict with what Manuel said in the press conference. Bacon and Baumgardner also both indicated that Harbaugh has received interest from at least five NFL teams, though it is unclear whether there have been any formal job offers. According to Baumgardner, the decision is now up to Harbaugh to accept the new terms or walk away. Tuesday’s press conference didn’t clear anything up on the contract front — in fact, it made things seem even more uncertain. Whatever happens, though, it’s likely that a decision will come in the next few weeks, whether that’s before Signing Day or after Championship Weekend. We just likely won’t know what’s coming until it happens. “I don’t wanna make anybody feel or think that Jim and I have been just sitting around, not talking to each other about this,” Manuel said. “We have had a lot to talk about ... and Jim has been a leader and phenomenal with his efforts on his team. ... He’s committed to this team, he’s committed to this department, he’s committed to this university. “So from my standpoint, he has been doing everything at a high level, including his efforts with the team, so from that perspective I just don’t want people to get the sense that we’re just sitting around and nobody’s talking to each other and we’re waiting and waiting. That is the furthest thing from the truth. We’ve had a lot to do and a lot of other things to talk about.”
What would have been: Even before cancellation, COVID-19 took the life out of “The Game”
O
n Monday morning of the week Michigan was scheduled to play Ohio State, there wasn’t an unruly mess of TV cameras swarming Jim Harbaugh’s press conference. Even in this Zoom year, there weren’t four screens of reporters pining for that perfect soundbyte. On Twitter, THEO there weren’t fans performMACKIE ing the requisite mental gymnastics to convince themselves that this is the year the Wolverines finally win. There weren’t players saying they came to Michigan to beat Ohio State or seniors praying their last shot comes to fruition. The reason, of course, was a COVID-19 outbreak in the Michigan program put in-person practices on pause since last Monday, ultimately forcing The Game to be canceled on Tuesday. “It is disheartening that we’re not gonna be able to play Maryland,” athletic director Warde Manuel said last week in a video released to media. “And our hope is that we can play Ohio State and finish the season in the final week.” On Tuesday, his hopes were officially squashed. Consider that for a second and let it sink in. For the first time in 103 years, Michigan will not play Ohio State. The last time it happened, there was the small matter of a World War. A year later,
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
The Michigan Wolverines lines up on defense against the Ohio State Buckeyes in last year’s edition of “The Game” which the Wolverines lost, 27-56.
despite the Spanish flu pandemic limiting the Wolverines to five games, the two teams faced off at Ohio Field, with Michigan winning, 14-0. Let’s not have any misconceptions: That result would have been incredibly unlikely to happen this year, even if The Game were played. As of Sunday night, the Buckeyes were favored by 29.5 — a fair line considering one team is bound for the College Football Playoff and the other is 2-4. But despite this horrendous year for Harbaugh and Michigan, there’s something inconceivable about The Game being canceled.
From a purely fact-based analysis of the rivalry’s last 15 years, a cancelation would seem to be no great loss. Since 2004, the Wolverines have won just once. Under Harbaugh, Michigan is 0-5. For nearly two decades, it hasn’t mattered whether the Wolverines are a national title contender or bottom-feeding fodder. They do nothing but alternate losses in Columbus with losses in Ann Arbor. And yet, there’s something impossibly hopeful about The Game. Think about the age-old debate amongst fans: Would Michigan rather finish 11-1 with a loss to Ohio State or 1-11 with
a win over Ohio State? As foolish as the question is (and yes, 11-1 is the answer), it highlights
There won’t be fans performing the requisite mental gymnastics to convince themselves that this is the year.
the meaning of this game. A few lucky bounces and questionable calls can reverse a season’s lasting feeling. Consider, for example, the Buckeyes’ 2018 upset of Michigan. Ranked 10th in the country, they weren’t going to the College Football Playoff. By their sky-high standards, the season should have already been a disappointment. But they spoiled the Wolverines’ Revenge Tour party. That, not its eventual Rose Bowl win, is Ohio State’s lasting impression of its 2018 season. And if you think the same can’t happen for Michigan, think back a year further. With three
losses before The Game and John O’Korn under center, the Wolverines were 12-point underdogs and had precious little to play for. Yet, they scored the game’s first 14 points, and led midway through the third quarter. Had Josh Metellus held onto a dropped second-quarter interception, Michigan likely would have won. Do I think that would have happened this year if The Game were played? No. If I had to pick one side of Vegas’ 29.5-point spread, it would’ve been the Buckeyes’. But for this one week, hope would have at least emanated. “We still have the big team, OSU, at the end of the year,” senior offensive lineman Andrew Stueber said, when asked what Michigan had left to play for after a 27-17 loss to Penn State dropped the Wolverines to 2-4. “We just need to click on all cylinders and we’re in contention for that game.” Call that a fairy tale impression of Michigan’s chances. I won’t blame you, because I agree. But the pure presence of that word — chance — mattered. It mattered to these players and it mattered to Harbaugh. And if nothing else positive could have come out of this wretched year, they deserved those five days of annual optimism. It might have been all they had.
Mackie can be reached at tmackie@umich.edu or on Twitter @theo_mackie.
DICKINSON AND BROWN COME OFF BENCH, LEAD MICHIGAN TO WIN OVER UCF worsened their early frustrations. “I can tell you it was frustrating just to see the Daily Sports Editor amount of shots they were making coming off ball screens,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. said. “(We) had to make some adjustments with That refrain certainly rang true for the our ball-screen coverage. ... There were some Michigan men’s basketball team (4-0) during opportunities where they had some direct blowSunday’s 80-58 rout of Central Florida (1-1). After surviving three tune-up games against by drives, when they were touching the paint too many times.” low mid-major opponents, the Wolverines The introduction of freshman duo Hunter came out flat against the Knights, who had beaten Auburn in their only game of the season. Dickinson and Terrance Williams — at center and forward, respectively — changed the tide, Not only was Michigan’s defense incapable of sparking a 25-9 run from the 9:29 mark on. preventing UCF’s guards from getting to the Thanks to their combined 16-point, six-rebound rim, but it struggled to crack the Knights’ 2-3 zone as well. Midway through the first half, UCF contribution in the first half, a rejuvenated Michigan took a 38-34 lead into the break. had built a double-digit lead off mainly layups. “We have confidence in the second unit, of The Wolverines’ inability to hit perimeter shots
CONNOR BRENNAN
course,” Dickinson said. “We’re five guys who are very confident in ourselves. We know that when we go out there we can make an impact on the floor. We know we need the leadership from the first unit to help us out, but we’re also capable of making our own sparks coming in off the bench.” The Wolverines’ newfound energy persisted into the second half as two driving buckets from sophomore wing Franz Wagner and a corner three from senior guard Eli Brooks increased their advantage to 10. Defensively, Michigan also cleaned up its act in the second half. The Wolverines stayed in front of the Knights and forced them into taking jumpers rather than layups, which they had failed to do in the early going.
Despite senior forward Isaiah Livers, who entered the game as Michigan’s leading scorer, being held scoreless through the first 33 minutes, Michigan’s lead continued to balloon. Senior guard Chaundee Brown has compiled some up-and-down shooting performances to start the season — going 5-for-7 against Bowling Green and then 1-for-10 from deep against Oakland — but he caught fire in the second half. In a four-minute span, Brown knocked down three of his four 3-pointers on the day to put the game firmly out of reach. “I realize that, playing this game for years, you’re not gonna have a good shooting night every night,” Brown said. “It’s the life of a shooter. But coach Howard told me just to keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting. Just
having that confidence from a coach like that makes me stay aggressive and confident. I know I have a nice shot, they know I have a nice shot, I’ve been working all summer and all fall on it.” In the end, it wasn’t close. Behind 47 points from its bench — led by Brown’s 18 and Dickinson’s 14 — the Wolverines overcame a sluggish start in dominant fashion. With one game remaining before Big Ten play starts, Michigan’s schedule will only increase in difficulty, and it will have to rely on the very same depth that spurred Sunday’s comeback. “We have a very deep team,” Howard said. “Our thing is all hands on deck. And game by game, it’s always being evaluated on what’s giving us the best chance. But we’re gonna need everyone this season, it’s that simple.”