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NEWS

College Experience Rising sophomores anticipate a more normal college experience >> SEE PAGE 2

OPINION

TikTok’s “experts” Users should be cautious with the spread of misinformation

>> SEE PAGE 5

MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Overthinking Reem Hassan reflects on and questions what overthinking is and whether it is a blessing or a curse >> SEE PAGE 7

ARTS

“Death’s Door”

The video game “Death’s Door” provides the experience of fighting against your death

>> SEE PAGE 9

SPORTS

Olympic Reputation Michigan athletes carry a strong Olympic reputation in the 2020 games

> SEE PAGE 13

INDEX Vol. CXXIX, No. 112 © 2020 The Michigan Daily

NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION................................ 4 MiC......................................... 6 ARTS.......................................8 STATEMENT..........................10 SPORTS.................................12

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily Maggie MacNeil took gold in the 100M butterfly, bringing home Michigan’s first gold medal of the Tokyo games.

UMich swimmer Maggie MacNeil wins gold in Tokyo MAX WADLEY Daily News Reporter

A t l e a s t o n e Wo l v e r i n e will be returning from Tok yo w it h s ome heav y hardware.

Senior swimmer Magg ie MacNeil won gold in t he 100 -meter but ter f ly yesterday and set an

A mericas record with a time of 55.59 seconds.

MacNeil was just 0.11 seconds away from setting a new Oly mpic record, which currently stands at 55.48 seconds.

MacNeil beat Chinese swimmer Yu f ei Zhang by 0.05 seconds.

W h i l e t h i s i s M a c Ne i l ’s f irst Oly mpic gold meda l, s h e ’s n o t u n f a m i l i a r w i t h

winning on a big stage. The t wo-time NCA A cha mpion in t he 100 -ya rd but ter f ly a nd t he 100 -ya rd f reest yle, MacNeil set t he NCA A record for t he 100 -ya rd but terf ly this year with a time of 48.49 seconds. She also became the second woman in histor y to brea k 50 seconds in both the 100 -ya rd back st roke a nd t h e 1 0 0 - y a r d b u t t e r f l y.

MacNeil has a lso won silver as a part of the C a n a d i a n 4 ×1 0 0 m f r e e s t y l e relay tea m. The Chinaborn swimmer was adopted

by Canadian parents when she was young and is swimming for Canada.

MacNeil has ea rned A llBig Ten honor s ever y yea r s h e ’s s w a m f o r M i c h i g a n and is a force to be reckoned with in the pool.

2 NEWS The Ann Arbor Art Fair returns after 2 years, attracting vendors, shoppers from all over the U.S. Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

the reinvited artists and then moves NIRALI PATEL AND KAITLYN to the jury application process, then LUCKOFF the jury reviews the applications Daily Staff Reporters and sends out invitations,” Todoro-Hargreaves wrote. “In The annual Ann Arbor Art Fair the meantime, all three fairs work returned this weekend to spread art, together on things like city permits, good eats and laughter downtown solid waste (removal systems) and after being canceled last year media.” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local artists, businesses and Ann Throughout the weekend, large Arbor community members alike crowds gathered on State St., E. were distressed when the 2020 Art Liberty St. and S. Main St. to shop Fair was called off last May. After for one-of-a-kind pieces and to originally anticipating that the 2021 experience the creativity exhibited Art Fair would be canceled as well, by the many diverse artists. Ann artists, organizers and attendees this Arbor Art Fair vendors traditionally year were excited to do whatever travel from all over the country to they could to ensure the in-person participate, and many return year event would be safe and successful. after year.

In her email to The Daily, TodoroThe Art Fair requires nearly a year Hargreaves said everyone would of planning, with preparations for have to adapt to the changes and the next year’s event picking up right challenges associated with hosting a after the tents go down. The weekend large-scale public event this year for event is a joint experience organized the fair to be a positive experience, by three separate fairs: the Street Art since this year’s event would feature Fair (The original), the State Street fewer vendors than normal.

Art Fair, and the Summer Art Fair.

“With fewer artists we are In an email to The Michigan Daily expecting a more open feeling to sent prior to this year’s fair, Frances the fair,” Todoro-Hargreaves wrote.

Todoro-Hargreaves, the executive “But we are expecting the same director for the State Street District, excitement and great art as we have explained the vendor selection and every year. Our main goals are to planning processes. have a successful and safe event for “The planning process for the fair both the artists and the businesses.” is a year-round process that begins Abstract artist Lisa Burge runs in August with the announcement of her studio out of Kansas City, Mo.,

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ISAAC MANGOLD/Daily People packed the streets at the Ann Arbor Art Fair Thursday afternoon.

but never misses her annual trip to Michigan in the summer to showcase her work at the Art Fair.

Burge said the Ann Arbor Art Fair has come to hold a special place in her heart, not only because it’s a tradition for her to attend, but also because she loves connecting with the fair’s attendees.

“I moved to Kansas City a few years ago, after living in Taos, New Mexico for 45 years,” Burge said.

“Now, my studio is based out of Kansas City. I have been coming to the Ann Arbor Art Fair for a long time, probably somewhere between 20 and 25 years … I think the

quality (of the art fair) is excellent.

It’s always been very well run. The audience is very appreciative and knowledgeable and it’s just been a great show.”

Husband and wife Tom and Chris Clements run a photography business together out of their home in Nashville, Tenn. Chris Clements echoed Burge’s appreciation for the vivacious and diverse crowd, also citing it as the main factor that brings them north to Ann Arbor year after year.

MARTHA LEWAND Daily Staff Reporter

A typical freshman at the University of Michigan arrives to campus eager to enjoy all the factors that make “The Michigan Difference” so special: they attend their first of many parties during Welcome Week, cheer on the football team in a packed Big House, socialize with their new hallmates in the dining hall, attend large lectures taught by esteemed professors and study in the UgLi with peers at unspeakable hours during finals week, just to name a few.

The class of 2024, however, experienced a freshman year far from this. Between resident advisor and graduate student instructor strikes and getting kicked off campus

in their dorm rooms alone all the time, and it was very lonely,” Johsnon said. “Second semester was cold — you can’t really eat outside and there was nowhere inside the dining hall to go, or get dinner with your friends because all the shops were closed as well. So it was really hard to make friends, and the University made it harder by not allowing people to be in your room.”

Despite the precautions that made making friends and exploring Ann Arbor increasingly difficult, LSA sophomore Brody Mayoras said he liked living in the West Quad dorm given its Central Campus location and social scene. In the winter semester, Mayoras moved to a Kerrytown duplex with two friends, which he described as still enjoyable but “weird” and “different,” as he had to adjust to living on his own as

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Rising sophomores reflect on an unconventional freshman year and anticipate a more “normal” college experience in light of surging COVID-19 cases, their freshman year did not contain much normalcy.

But as the University adjusts its plans for the Fall semester and the number of U-M community COVID19 vaccinations continue to increase, rising sophomores have hope for a more traditional freshman year experience.

Engineering sophomore Kaylee Johnson lived in a West Quad dorm the whole academic year.

She described the fall semester as “alright” and somewhat easy to make friends during, but the winter semester as “depressing.” There were only three other people in her entire hall as COVID-19 restrictions remained in place.

“In the second semester, nobody left their dorm rooms, nobody talked to one another and everyone was just

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an adult.

“It was a transition from living at home for 18 years of my life to living in the dorms for three months or so, and then having a whole new experience directly after that living with two roommates off campus,” Mayoras said. “It introduced things like having to cook and clean for yourself, where I didn’t really have to do that in the dorms. I had to figure out how to pay utilities earlier than I expected. It was just very different from how I expected my winter to go.”

Another oddity of Mayoras’ second semester experience was how all of his friends who returned to live in Ann Arbor were sporadically located throughout the city.

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Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

NEWS 3

City Council discusses upcoming ballot question and contracting amendment to city charter LILY GOODING Summer News Editor

The Ann Arbor Cit y Council witnessed a lively debate Tuesday bet ween tenants and landlords during a public hearing on the Early Leasing Ordinance, drawing attention to the complexit y behind the issue. Cit y Council unanimously approved to remove certain lang uage in the proposal and is expected to f inalize approval of the ordinance at the next meeting on Aug. 2.

The proposal approved at the July 6 Cit y Council meeting includes a “right to renew” protection for tenants to secure a lease until 150 days before

the lease expires. This means that landlords are prohibited from advertising, showing or leasing a rental unit until 150 days of the lease are lef t.

Under the current ordinance, landlords are allowed to start the renewal process as early as 70 days into the lease, which tenants have long expressed frustrations around the rushed timeline.

Also included in the proposed ordinance was a “just cause for eviction,” which allows landlords to evict a tenant if they fail to pay rent, vacate upon notice or violate other terms of the lease.

In the last Cit y Council meeting, Councilmember Lisa Disch, D-Ward 1, said she was hesitant to include references to a “right to renew” time

period for fear of legal repercussions. Based on legal advice, the co-sponsors of this amendment, councilmembers Elizabeth Nelson, D-Ward 4, Travis Radina, D-Ward 3, and Disch, will remove references to the “right to renew” and a “just cause for eviction” at this time. Nelson said she is going to continue to work towards this change in the f uture, citing the benef its of this housing policy in other communities.

Several Ann Arbor renters and landlords called in to voice their opinions regarding the proposed ELO during the public comment section of the meeting. Graduate Employees’ Organization housing caucus member Amir Fleischmann said he believes the residents of Ann Arbor need the ELO

for 210 days. Fleischmann previously said the current ELO g ives landlords room to pressure tenants into resig ning their lease before they are ready.

“Being forced to f ind a rental ag reement before you’re ready can ruin people’s lives,” Fleichmann said. “It can force people into unsafe living conditions and potentially drive them into bankruptcy.

A compromise is not the landlords getting what they want.”

The petition to extend Ann Arbor’s Early Leasing Ordinance to 210 days has over 1,000 sig natories, 79% of which are U-M students. However, during the public hearing many landlords said that this is not what renters want.

Founder of Eladott real-estate brokerage Jen Langenburg shared her concerns with council members about issues that may arise when many Ann Arbor residents are looking to rent apartments at the same time.

Langenburg said she believes renters want to avoid that situation. “ With mandating such a late timeline in the leasing renewal process, it will create an urgency of being homeless by prospective tenants and current tenants unless they’ve renewed,” Lagenburg said.

“There’s no way to properly f ield the demand that will be created by the frenzy when the leasing f loodgates open.”

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Tenants and landlords debate Early Leasing Ordinance timeline at Ann Arbor City Council SCARLETT BICKERTON Daily Staff Reporter

The Ann Arbor City Council witnessed a lively debate Tuesday between tenants and landlords during a public hearing on the Early Leasing Ordinance, drawing attention to the complexity behind the issue. City Council unanimously approved to remove certain language in the proposal and is expected to finalize approval of the ordinance at the next meeting on Aug. 2.

The proposal approved at the July 6 City Council meeting includes a “right to renew” protection for tenants to secure a lease until 150 days before the lease expires. This means that landlords are prohibited from advertising, showing or leasing a rental unit until 150 days of the lease are left. Under the current ordinance, landlords are allowed to start the renewal process as early as 70 days into the lease, which tenants have long expressed frustrations around the rushed timeline.

Also included in the proposed

ordinance was a “just cause for gives landlords room to pressure to 210 days has over 1,000 eviction,” which allows landlords tenants into resigning their lease signatories, 79% of which are U-M to evict a tenant if they fail to pay before they are ready. students. However, during the rent, vacate upon notice or violate “Being forced to find a rental public hearing many landlords other terms of the lease. agreement before you’re ready can said that this is not what renters In the last City Council ruin people’s lives,” Fleichmann want. meeting, Councilmember Lisa Disch, D-Ward 1, said she was hesitant to include references to a “right to renew” time period for fear of legal repercussions. Based on legal advice, the co-sponsors of this amendment, councilmembers Elizabeth Nelson, D-Ward 4, Travis Radina, D-Ward 3, and Disch, will remove references to the “right to renew” and a “just cause for eviction” at this time. Nelson said she is going to continue to work towards this change in the future, citing the benefits of this housing policy in other communities.

Several Ann Arbor renters and DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily landlords called in to voice their City Council discussed amending the Early Leasing Ordinance Wednesday afternoon. opinions regarding the proposed ELO during the public comment said. “It can force people into Founder of Eladott real-estate section of the meeting. Graduate unsafe living conditions and brokerage Jen Langenburg Employees’ Organization potentially drive them into shared her concerns with council housing caucus member Amir bankruptcy. A compromise is not members about issues that may Fleischmann said he believes the the landlords getting what they arise when many Ann Arbor residents of Ann Arbor need the want.” residents are looking to rent ELO for 210 days. Fleischmann The petition to extend Ann apartments at the same time. previously said the current ELO Arbor’s Early Leasing Ordinance Langenburg said she believes

renters want to avoid that situation.

“With mandating such a late timeline in the leasing renewal process, it will create an urgency of being homeless by prospective tenants and current tenants unless they’ve renewed,” Lagenburg said. “There’s no way to properly field the demand that will be created by the frenzy when the leasing floodgates open.”

Zackariah Farah, Vice President of LSA Student Government, said one of the problems he hears students talk the most about is finding an apartment, and he believes this amendment will lessen that burden.

“With the 210 day right to renew, students will not be frantically searching for a new apartment only two months into their lease,” Farah said. “When (landlords) claim to speak on behalf of students saying the opposite of what the students here today are saying, I can only hope that you will rightfully dismiss their claims and listen to the students that have spoken.”

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4 OPINION

Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

BRANDON COWIT | OPINION COLUMNIST

Why is Vladimir Putin popular?

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JULIA VERKLAN MALONEY | OPINION COLUMNIST

T

Removing the silver spoon

here exists a wealth disparity on our campus. This disparity impacts 66% of the student body, subjecting them to the harsh side effects of reduced ambition and lack of social understanding. The results are in and the diagnosis is affluenza — a psychological ailment experienced by the wealthy, which includes symptoms such as “guilt, lack of motivation, and social isolation.” Unfortunately, the cure cannot be doled out on a silver spoon.

As a board-certified internist, one may assume that University President Mark Schlissel would be able to treat the internalized classism that plagues our campus, yet even he has his doubts about combating the spread. Such doubt came out in a 2019 interview with Bridge Michigan in which Schlissel stated, “It’s probably impossible to erase the effects of disparities that come from growing up in a household that’s making $25,000 a year as compared to one that’s making half a million dollars a year.”

Despite this supposed improbability, Schlissel’s remedy takes form in the Go Blue Guarantee, granting “free tuition for up to four years for high-achieving, in-state, full-time undergraduate students with family incomes of $65,000 or under and assets below $50,000” for all three University of Michigan campuses. Getting low-income students on campus is the first step to diversify the student body in terms of income, yet acceptance to

the University does not guarantee acceptance into campus culture.

That is a tough pill to swallow.

Those who deviate from the median family income of $154,000 must often become student employees in order to put food on their own stainless-steel spoons.

The Offices of Student Life and Financial Aid department seek to employ more than 4,000 students each year in positions that include work-study roles granted to those in financial need. The payroll and schedules are filled, yet those who put on the logoed uniforms and name badges are not the only ones in need of a job.

Indeed, the benefits gained from working a low-paid job, whether through the University or through an Ann Arbor business, is the prescription those with affluenza need to fill. Character is strengthened when you have a “Karen” encounter at the register.

Stamina is increased when your task list is overflowing with duties that soon become second nature. Grit is molded when you are forced to do work with people that test your differences. Perspicacity cannot be bought with a trust fund nor be learned in class.

We are taught about ethics in school, but the difference between learning and working deepens the divide. We cannot help the situation we are born into. The quality of the spoon on which we are fed is not our fault. Yet work ethic is not hand-

fed nor pre-determined — hence it should be doled out to everyone in equal portions. Everyone should have work experience in college regardless of socio-economic status.

Many families work hard to provide for their children and set them up financially so they can focus solely on the educational aspects of school. While their intentions are good, they not only subject their child to catch a case of affluenza but also of misdirected focus that shortens one’s resume and ability to gain intrapersonal experience and time management skills that are required after earning a degree. Data shows that students engaged in work-study programs are likely to have higher grade point averages, more job skills on their resume and graduate at a faster rate. The same cannot be said for those who spend most of their spare time in a fraternity house on Hill Street instead of in the stacks like their parents intended.

Regardless of if a person needs to work to eat at the end of the day or works simply to gain responsibility and build their resume, the result of working a part-time or summer job can create a unity in understanding on our campus. Unity would help lessen the disparity and treat the ailment of the affluent.

Read more at michigandaily.com Julia Maloney is an Opinion Columnist and can be reached at jvmalo@umich.edu.

Design by Brianna Manzor

O

n June 16, President Joe Biden held what will probably be the tensest meeting of his presidency until Republicans retake either house of Congress: a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland. Surrounding the meeting, both sides set a confrontational tone.

Putin described Russia-U.S. relations as at “its lowest point in recent years,” while Biden stated that the meeting was “not about trust.” This tension is reflected in U.S. public opinion, where Putin has only a 10% approval rating, according to a 2018 Gallup poll.

This stands in sharp contrast to public opinion of Putin in Russia, however. According to the same poll that gave Putin such low approval in the U.S., Putin enjoys favorable views from 61% of the population.

This contrast, along with Putin’s notoriously poor human rights record, has led many U.S. political commentators to attempt to explain Putin’s popularity in his home country, with varying results. One of the most popular explanations is that Putin taps into resentment about the collapse of the Soviet Union, a relatively true assertion I’ll examine later.

But others are simply ridiculous.

For example, one especially popular theory when comparing Putin to former U.S. President Donald Trump is that Russians just love strongmen. Beyond the questionable moral implications of the idea that any nationality is predisposed to authoritarianism, the notion that a history of dictatorship always prevents a nation from being a democracy today is simply ahistorical. Looking at a nearby country, Poland had

never been a stable democracy until 1989, when its Communist government fell. Today, while it is ruled by a rather reprehensible right-wing government with illiberal tendencies, Poland remains a fairly free and democratic country, especially in comparison to Russia.

Russia’s seeming aversion to democracy today likely has more to do with its experience during its decade of post-Soviet democracy, a decade of national humiliation and destruction of living standards, and how Putin has — for his many faults — reversed both.

For a bit of background, after the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, Russia was taken over by Boris Yeltsin, who had previously served as the President of the Russian Soviet Republic. During his rule over the next eight years, he undertook radical changes to Russian governance, enacting mass privatization of state-owned enterprises and pursuing closer relations with the U.S. The results were disastrous. On the economic front, for all but two years of Yeltsin’s administration, Russia saw negative GDP growth rates, with rates reaching as low as negative 14.5% in 1992. Life expectancy declined by over three years, virtually unheard of in peacetime. Daily caloric intake fell by over 20%. There’s a reason why the “Russian mail-order bride” meme dates to this period. Russia was an awful place to live under Yeltsin, and he made little effort to improve it.

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Brandon Cowit is an Opinion Columnist and can be reached at cowitb@umich.edu.

OPINION 5

Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

THEODORA VORIAS | OPINION COLUMNIST

R

ecently, a viral video spreading medical misinformation about how birth control causes infertility popped up in my TikTok feed. It only took a quick Google search to completely debunk: Though the advice came from a nurse practitioner — or so she claimed — article after article dispelled the myth she was so easily declaring as the truth. Finding credible information on the topic calmed my panic that my medication could be making me infertile, but there is no way of ensuring that others who viewed it spent time researching it to invalidate the video’s false claims. Whether it was just plain fear-mongering or a refusal to accept science, I was disturbed not only at how wrong the creator’s advice was, but how quick I was to believe her.

We are told to trust doctors, but there is no way to verify that these supposed medical professionals on social media have the credentials they claim to have. We should also be wary of medical professionals who are giving medical advice outside the scope of their specialty.

Unless social media platforms can find a way to verify the credentials of practicing medical professionals, estheticians, registered dietitians, licensed personal trainers and other health specialists, we must beware of those on social media who selfidentify as experts and offer medical advice.

With nearly 50% of U.S. TikTok users being under 30 years old, the application presents a prime opportunity to take advantage of a vulnerable population. For teens, whose brains aren’t fully developed until their mid-twenties, consuming content that is misleading can be detrimental. While adults process information with the rational part of their brain — the prefrontal cortex — teens process information with the emotional part of the brain, the amygdala. This has ramifications for how a large portion of TikTok users, and social media users in general, consume content.

Because the front of the brain is the last place to fully develop, young peoples’ brains are slower to perform important functions, such as impulse control, which can result in more risk-taking behavior. It should be no surprise, then, how dangerous viral social media challenges, like the cinnamon challenge or Tide Pod challenge, become so popular.

However, challenges aren’t the only

Beware of TikTok’s medical “experts” things people should be wary of on social media.

The rise of misinformation pertaining to health and wellness has become so rampant that social media platforms have begun to censor and flag content that is intentionally or unintentionally misleading or misinforming viewers. The spread of medical misinformation became increasingly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine distribution. While some social media content creators have used scare tactics to stop people from partaking in certain actions, such as wearing a mask, getting vaccinated or taking birth control, other medical “specialists” have made money from promoting diets, medications and lifestyle choices that are either not beneficial or are actually harmful. SugarBearHair vitamins have been promoted on social media by many influencers, including Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Vanessa Hudgens. However, the vitamins got push back from the medical community questioning their effectiveness. Celery juice, sunscreen contouring, appetite suppressant lollipops and IV vitamin hangover treatments are just a few health trends that have taken social media by storm. Nonetheless, many of the trends have little to no research supporting their health claims.

The worst part of these health trends is that too often they are started by people who have no medical training or education. I’m sure the Kardashians have no idea what the science behind the vitamins and treatments they are promoting truly is. Yet they faithfully market them to their hundreds of millions of followers, who are just as ignorant about how the products are made and the side effects they can cause. Even veganism has become a social media trend. While it might have more substantial evidence than other health regiments, there is still the problem that social media makes it too easy for people to spread misinformation about any health regime, medication or treatment. The TikTok algorithm and the algorithms of so many social media platforms have become nearly perfect at handpicking content for our insidiously curated feeds. It makes it all the more enticing to try out a health trend when it claims to magically solve the exact medical issues you’ve been trying to find solutions for. The people who spread medi-

cal misinformation are not the only problem, however. Platforms that don’t recognize the dangers of their algorithms and the misleading content on their sites are also to blame.

TikTok has made strides to slow down and eliminate content and to sanction content creators that promote misleading information.

The app works with fact-checkers, including Politifact, SciVerify and Lead Stories, to remove videos that contain false information. TikTok also announced that it is integrating automated computer technology into the app that will work to support its safety policy for minors.

This will include removing “adult nudity and sexual activities, violent and graphic content and illegal activities and regulated goods.” To specifically target health content that includes false information, the company introduced a warning on videos that have information that “cannot be conclusively validated” in February 2021. Videos that contain unverified content are now flagged with warning banners. While the banners can’t stop users from consuming misinformation, they can at least make people slow down and think about how they should react to a video that doesn’t have validated information. However, social

media platforms should continue to create stricter guidelines about misinformation and enhance their compliance efforts to ensure the content published on them meets their guidelines.

Young people are not the only ones at risk of making poor medical decisions based on the social media content they consume. The demographics of social media users are varied, with some apps attracting larger proportions of elderly users, who are vulnerable to consuming and spreading misinformation. The accessibility of these apps gives people who wouldn’t otherwise have access to medical advice the opportunity to connect with people they believe to be professionals. A rise in health care costs has forced millions of Americans away from seeking medical treatment. A 2019 Gallup poll found that 33% of respondents said they had delayed medical treatment for a condition because they couldn’t afford it. There are certainly positives to the dissemination of vital medical information on social media platforms, like how to selfcheck for breast, testicular or skin cancer, the basics of CPR or when to seek medical help. However, there are still many content creators out there spreading misinformation

that can potentially be dangerous.

We should even be cautious about taking medical advice from licensed medical professionals. Not all medical providers are created equal, so even if they do have sufficient medical credentials, social media platforms don’t provide any way to measure their credibility. While sites like Yelp can provide reviews for doctors or nurse practitioners, there is no direct pipeline of those resources to the social accounts of medical professionals. At the least, there should be a push for social media sites to verify the accounts and content of actual medical professionals. This won’t guarantee that they won’t spread misinformation, but it can hopefully allow users to make more informed decisions after watching content on health and wellness. Users can also do their part to combat the spread of misinformation and unsubstantiated claims by thinking critically when consuming online content, speaking with their medical providers before acting on social media health trends and reporting content that is false or misleading.

Theodora Vorias is an Opinion Columnist and can be reached at tvorias@umich.edu.

AMBIKA TRIPATHI | OPINION CARTOONIST CAN BE REACHED AT AMBIKAT@UMICH.EDU.EDU.

Delta variant woes

6

MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Dear Frank Ocean GRACE GARMO MiC Columnist

D ea r F ra n k O cea n , I wa s never one t o h ave a f avor it e mu sic a l a r t i s t . I ju s t l i s t ene d t o wh at ever c a me on t he r ad io a s f i l ler mu sic . Whenever s ome one a ske d me who my f avor it e mu sic ia n wa s , I never h ad a n a n s wer.

I ’d h ave a rot at ion of f a m i l ia r a r t i s t s I ’d c it e f rom t i me t o t i me when a ske d du r i ng cla s sro om icebrea ker s — Taylor Sw i f t , D ra ke, Bi l l ie Ei l i sh — but i n rea l it y it wa s si mply who ever f i r s t c a me t o m i nd . I ’d a lway s re duce d mu sic t o h av i ng a si mple pu r p o s e: t o s er ve a s backg rou nd noi s e t h at o cc upie s si lence a nd m a ke s c a r r ide s a l it t le le s s awk wa rd .

The f i r s t t i me I hea rd one of you r s ong s wa s on a 6:45 a . m . d r ive t o s cho ol at a g e 16 , my eye s ba rely op en a s t he hu m of my w i nd sh ield def ro s t er m ade me w i sh I wa s s t i l l i n b e d a nd not on t he way t o g et a D - on a n A P Biolog y exa m . It wa s ea rly Ja nu a r y, a nd my New Yea r ’s re s olut ion wa s s t i l l f re sh i n my m i nd : t o l i s t en t o mu sic t h at m ade me fe el s omet h i ng . I felt l i ke I wa s g et t i ng lo s t i n a l l t he ch a ng e s h app en i ng a rou nd me; my s e em i ng ly s ol id f r iend g roup h ad g one sh a k y, my si s t er s (who were a l s o my s upp or t g roup) h ad move d out a nd lef t me a s t he on ly ch i ld i n t he hou s e, a nd I ’d f i n a l ly come t o t er m s w it h t he f ac t t h at de spit e my The image is from Frank Ocean’s 2016 New York Times interview. Taken by Frank Ocean. pa rent s ’ de ep e s t de si re s a nd a l l t he s u m mer prog ra m s I ’d done, I d id not wa nt t o b e pre -me d a nd b e come a do c t or. Th i ng s s e eme d t o b e rapid ly ch a ng i ng r ig ht b efore my eye s — for t he f i r s t t i me i n my l i fe, I h ad t o s er iou sly t h i n k a b out my f ut u re a nd con f ront it s u ncer t a i nt y. I d id n’t fe el l i ke my s el f , a nd hone s t ly, I d id n’t k now wh at “ my s el f ” wa s s upp o s e d t o fe el l i ke. My com for t zone a nd a l l con si s t enc ie s i n my l i fe h ad b e en breache d . I ’d even b eg u n t o s e ek t herapy b e c au s e I felt s o out of cont rol of my ow n l i fe. Thu s , on my b e d ro om wh it eb oa rd , I w rot e dow n a l i s t of a r t i s t s re com mende d by f r iend s a nd s ubre dd it s who I hop e d t o f i nd a pie ce of my s el f i n . B y p opu la r advo c ac y, you were t he f i r s t p er s on on t h at l i s t .

The f i r s t s ong I l i s t ene d t o wa s “ Bad R el ig ion ,” a prog re s sive s ou l f u l R & B m i x where you con f ront you r s ex u a l it y a nd u n re qu it e d love t o a t a x i d r iver a s you fe el s o hop ele s s t h at you’l l t a ke a n s wer s f rom a ny b o dy who w i l l l i s t en . Up on a f i r s t l i s t en , I i m me d iat ely doubt e d t h at you r mu sic wa s for me. I n a l l hone s t y, I cou ld n’t relat e t o t he t opic s of you r s ong s . You sa ng a b out s ou l- c r u sh i ng hea r t brea k , mor t a l it y a nd ex i s t ent ia l i sm . I wa s a ju n ior i n h ig h s cho ol , a nd my t houg ht s were cent ere d a rou nd how t o i mprove my SAT m at h s e c t ion s core a nd wh at t o wea r t o t en n i s pr ac t ice a f t er s cho ol . I t old my s el f t h at I wa s ju s t a k id a nd t he s e t opic s were t o o i nt ro sp e c t ive a nd ph i lo s oph ic a l for me t o u nder s t a nd .

D i sreg a rd i ng my he sit a nc y, I l i s t ene d a g a i n . A nd a g a i n .

Su re enoug h , you r ly r ic i sm , t he u r g enc y i n you r voice a nd you r con f ront at ion w it h t he i nev it a bi l it y of t he con s e quence s of you r emot ion s b eg a n t o ch a l leng e a nd ch ip away t he not ion s of mu sic a l a r t i s t r y t h at I held b efore. The s y nt h a nd s or row f u l R & B wa s s o u n l i ke t he bubbleg u m p op mu sic I l i s t ene d t o on my lo c a l D et roit r ad io s t at ion . You r m a ke sh i f t New York Cit y c a b t herapy s e s sion lef t me sp e e ch le s s , n a mely b e c au s e it wa s t he f i r s t t i me t h at I f i n i she d a s ong a nd d id n’t ju s t let t he nex t one i n t he queue s t a r t play i ng i m me d iat ely a f t er. You r h a r mon ie s t r a n s cende d my pre conceive d not ion s of wh at mu sic shou ld s er ve t o f u nc t ion a s . I ac t u a l ly wa nt e d t o k now t he de ep er mea n i ng of wh at you were say i ng — s omet h i ng I ’d never felt a f t er l i s t en i ng t o a s ong .

A g a i n , when I s t a r t e d l i s t en i ng t o you , F ra n k , I wa s a h ig h s cho ol s t udent . I ’d never b e en i n love, nonet hele s s ex p er ience d hea r t brea k or a ny t h i ng i n b et we en . Yet wh at d rove me t owa rd lov i ng you r mu sic wa s t he u nderly i ng s y mb ol i sm . Ye s , I ’m awa re t h at you’re not t he f i r s t a r t i s t t o u s e s y mb ol i sm i n you r work , but t he way t h at you g r apple w it h yout h , reg ret a nd lonel i ne s s pro duce s a p en sive a nd ex t raord i n a r y s ou nd sh roude d i n t r a n s cendent a l i sm . Not on ly t h at , you r mu sic i n spi re d me t o ch a l leng e my lack of emot ion a l v u l nera bi l it y a nd t he wa l l s I ’d sp ent my ent i re l i fe put t i ng up. You r d i s cog raphy i sn’t s up er f ic ia l — you t el l s t or ie s t h at a re i mp or t a nt , a nd you d i s c u s s t opic s t h at a ren’t ea s y t o t a l k a b out . You w r it e w it h you r hea r t on you r sle eve, s omet h i ng I ’d a lway s w i she d I h ad t he cou r a g e t o do. You’re c a ref u l a nd pre c i s e w it h you r d ic t ion , a nd you r ly r ic s c a r r y p ower. When you si ng , p e ople l i s t en . F r a n k , you h ave a g i f t : you r a bi l it y t o a r t ic u lat e ever y nu a nce d f acet of you r emot ion s i n a d ig e s t i ble way. You r ly r ic i sm ex plore s t he i mpl ic at ion s of t he hu m a n cond it ion a nd t he hea r t i n con f l ic t w it h it s el f . A s a w r it er, I ad m i re you . A s a l i s t ener, I hea r my s el f i n you . A nd a s a p er s on , I wa nt t o b e more l i ke you .

F r a n k , I ’m a r i si ng s ophomore i n col leg e, a nd obv iou sly my l i fe h a s ch a ng e d qu it e a bit si nce my i nt ro duc t ion t o you r mu sic . F rom b ei ng hop ele s sly si ng le a l l t h roug hout h ig h s cho ol t o c r y i ng t o my ro om m at e a b out f a i le d f i r s t-yea r sit u at ion sh ips t o now b ei ng i n a h appy relat ion sh ip w it h t he b oy of my d rea m s , you r mu sic h a s never cea s e d t o i mpac t t he way I pa r t a ke i n t he mu sic a l l i s t en i ng ex p er ience. B e c au s e of you , F r a n k , I c a n’t l i s t en t o a si ng le s ong w it hout read i ng t he G en iu s ly r ic s a n a ly si s , a nd I ’ ve sp ent cou nt le s s hou r s l i s t en i ng t o t he D i s s e c t p o dc a s t on Sp ot i f y. I w rot e my A P E ng l i sh La ng u a g e a nd Comp o sit ion f i n a l e s say on why t he mu sic l i s t en i ng ex p er ience i s t ra n sfor m at ive. You’ ve i n spi re d me t o read a b out how ot her p e ople eng a g e w it h mu sic — s uch a s A a ron Copla nd’s e s say “ How We L i s t en” — a nd ex plore t he va r iou s mea n s of enjoy ment a nd how t hey a f fe c t ou r ex p er ience s . Mo s t not a bly, I u s e mu sic a s a mea n s of con ne c t i ng w it h ot her p e ople. Wh at u s e d t o b e a mu nd a ne ac t iv it y i s now my m a i n way of for g i ng relat ion sh ips . S er iou sly, a sk a ny of my f r iend s how m a ny t i me s I ’ ve ex pla i ne d t he du a l it y of “ Blonde ” a nd t he t h re e mea n i ng s b eh i nd “Ch a nel .”

F r a n k , you d id it . You m ade mu sic mea n s omet h i ng t o me.

I ’ ve b e come much more obs er va nt a nd i nt ro sp e c t ive. I ’ ve sh i f t e d my out lo ok on l i fe f rom a n “ I ” t o a “ we ” p er sp e c t ive. I ’m a ble t o empat h i ze a nd s e e my s el f i n ot her s , a nd de spit e t he never- end i ng t u rbu lence i n my l i fe, I ’m s t a r t i ng t o not on ly rememb er who I wa s , but I ’m a l s o env i sion i ng t he cou r a g e ou s , v u l nera ble, a nd hone s t you ng wom a n I wa nt t o b e. L o ok i ng back a s f a r a s ju n ior yea r of h ig h s cho ol t o a s re cent ly a s my la s t playe d s ong on Sp ot i f y, I c a n’t help but wonder wh at my relat ion sh ip w it h mu sic wou ld b e l i ke w it hout you . W it hout a doubt , it ’s u nque s t ion a bly clea r t h at you a re one of t he def i n i ng a r t i s t s of t h i s g enerat ion . A nd , a b ove a l l , I f i n a l ly h ave a n a n s wer when p e ople a sk me who my f avor it e mu sic ia n i s .

Si ncerely, Gr ace Ga r mo P. S . When/ i f you’re ready, plea s e p er for m l ive a g a i n .

Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

MICHIGAN IN COLOR 7

Overthinking: A blessing or curse?

REEM HASSAN MiC Columnist

Overthink o·ver·think /ˌōvərˈTHiNGk/ verb think about (something) too much or for too long.

My heart jumps at the sound of my phone alarm waking me up for the day. Immediately, I am set into panic mode and hastily grab my phone from my nightstand. What time is it? Am I late? Did I get any missed calls? Text messages? Emails? Am I prepared for the day ahead of me? Am I forgetting to do something? An assignment? A test? A person I need to return a call to? I have yet to be awake for a full minute yet I’m flushed, clammy, anxious and expecting the absolute worst.

It takes going through my mental checklist — the whos, whats, whens, wheres, whys and hows that make each of my worries more complex — and making sure all my affairs are in line for me to finally calm down. Chill out. Everything is okay. Get your day started.

I can’t tell you when or why such agitation became a morning routine for me, but I can tell you that I’ve been an overthinker for as long as I can remember. Overthinking was so deeply entrenched in how I lived as a human being, shaping the way I thought and reasoned and the ways I approached problems and devised solutions. Throughout my journey of navigating my overthinking and what types of impacts it has on my life, I unearthed so many discoveries about myself including the fact that my mental tendencies and attitudes shape me in the same ways that my other identities do. Collectively, they make me the person that I am. So as a professional overthinker at 19 years old, I can’t help but wonder: Is my overthinking something that I should actively work to dismantle or come to terms with and embrace?

As a child, adults always complimented me for being “thoughtful” and “detail-oriented,” but I now realize that these traits were a direct result of being worried and nervous often. Don’t get me wrong — I’m blessed to say that I lived an amazing childhood, but the worst what-ifs always seemed to plague me. What if my mom forgets to pick me up after school? What if my siblings forget to walk me to the school bus in the morning? What if I’m stranded all alone after all the other kids go home? Questions that appeared comical, over-

reaching and quite frankly foolish now prove to foreshadow what was to come later in life. But for that time being, I was considered gifted, always thinking of the possibilities for problems and always producing solutions for each of them.

As I came of age, my overthinking transported into different spheres of my life from school to social life, and even my relationship with myself. I grew out of my worries that I would be stranded at school, and found my anxieties taking arguably more “creative” forms, where it attempted to disguise itself as simply being different parts of my personality, hiding itself as a trait like being funny or brave, and not explicitly as inherent worries that I always carried. For me, this translated to being an overachiever. As I approached later years in my schooling, I proved to be *that* kid: straight-A student, a member of every club, a student never settling for scores lower than 95%, and a peoplepleaser always on top of what needed to be done. I embodied every trait of what it meant to be a “star student” and at the moment, it felt natural. But while my achievements brought me and the people around me happiness and pride, they also raised others’ expectations of me. It became “weird” if I didn’t embody these traits of “perfection.” During instances like a homework assignment gone wrong or a test that I forgot to study for or being overly talkative in class, the pressure that I placed on myself for falling short of my own standards fueled the standards that others set for me without me even realizing it. The unattainable perfection I was trying to force myself to attain caused others to think similarly of what I “should” be capable of, and it began plaguing my every move. Mistakes and times of difficulty brought me misery because a part of me wasn’t used to not being the best at whatever it was that I was doing.

I struggled to come to terms with the fact that perfection is subjective and failure is inevitable, and it forced me to experience a “culture shock” when trip-ups and mistakes, which are experiences one learns and grows from, naturally became a moving part of my day-to-day life as it comes to be in every person’s life.

Ghaltet el shatir malyoun means a mistake made by a “good one” is worth a million mistakes. It’s an Arabic saying that I learned and stuck with when scolded by a teacher for a goofy moment — one I distinctly remember as a minor matter. When I defended myself and said that it wasn’t as big of a deal as it was made out to be, my teacher responded with this saying, further legitimizing the feelings I already carried of not being allowed to mess up. I felt like I was spiraling — completely consumed with the idea of being perfect, doing

everything in my power to prevent that god-awful, pit-in-your-stomach feeling of being told that I should’ve or could’ve done better. I didn’t know why I was placing so much emphasis on this one thing.

Was it my fault for giving in to the pressure of others or was it my fault for putting so much pressure on myself to begin with?

I became explicitly aware of my

ment. But I was so accustomed to this pressure that I placed on myself that it felt normal. I remember nights where I would panic as I tried to sleep because thoughts of “failing” the SATs came to mind. Nights where I would drag myself out of bed to double or triple check my planner and to-do list to ensure I did not miss anything. Nights where I would reread my text messages and dwell on

would go away. And that’s exactly what I did. I presented myself as a confident, outgoing, worry-free person. I was living a paradox. It wasn’t the negative overthinking that I was trying to battle, it was the accusations this negative overthinking caused me to make about myself. For example, I never once sat back and questioned why I suddenly began feeling so socially insecure, where my then-current mindset and

Design by Erin Shi

anxiety in high school, although I am sure that it’s existed in me long before that. My “it” student traits still persevered, and the bars that I was setting for myself and those that were being set for me were constantly exceeding themselves. However, one thing was different: the nerves that somehow always existed in me were amplified and the what-ifs that somehow always fogged my mind were multiplied.

Maybe it was a result of the increased stressors in my life, like coming to terms with what I wanted to do after high school and moving into the next phase of my life, or maybe it was the build-up of bottled feelings that had consumed me for long before that. But all I remember is staying up restless night after night, staring at my room’s ceiling only to pick apart every single detail of my day.

What did I do right? What did I do wrong? What could I have done differently? I scrunch my nose as the negative version of my memories overcome me. Why did I do that? Why did I say that? Why didn’t I do more?

What if…? What will tomorrow look like?

Simply stating that I was overwhelmed would be an understate-

the smallest details in conversation to hold against myself — all products of my overthinking-turned-anxiety.

Before long, I watched as it infested spheres of my life that I used to feel confident about. For example, having always considered myself a people person, I became convinced that I did not know how to hold a conversation. I became hypervigilant of the ways I socially presented myself and the interactions I had with others. In conversations, a voice screamed in my head.

Maintain eye contact. Smile, not too hard. Laugh. Why would you look away? You’re too loud. You’re too quiet.

Stop mumbling. Don’t make lame jokes. You’re. So. Awkward.

It screamed toxicity. But my instincts kicked in, and in order to be my perfect, overachieving self that I “needed” to be, I was determined to not allow myself to give in. I adopted a “fake it till you make it” mentality. My internal battles could not be obvious for the world to see and judge. It would ruin the unattainable perfection that I was striving to achieve. In my mind, if I was struggling on the inside, the least I could do was not allow it to show on the outside, and maybe one day it

mental state was at, and how I can adopt healthier practices to battle these negative thoughts. Instead, I accepted the negative thoughts and made it my mission to become some sort of social professional. My desire to overachieve was no longer fueled by my happiness and striving for accomplishments, it was fueled by my fear of failure.

And to me, failure meant everything short of what I perceive to be as perfect. The perfect outfit, the perfect conversation, the perfect test score, the perfect public interaction, the perfect student, the perfect perception by others. But why did I care so much? Why was I allowing these thoughts to get to me? Why was I setting this inherently impossible standard to achieve for myself?

I don’t have answers. I won’t tell my readers that I’ve undergone an epiphany and figured it all out. This piece in itself is clearly constructed as a result of me overthinking about my tendency to overthink — a living example of what my writing describes at play.

Read more at michigandaily.com

8 ARTS

Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The Rebirth of Still Life CECILIA DURAN Daily Arts Writer

Paris on June 28 felt as crisp as those April days where spring is hesitating between being a bypasser or staying for good. I had brought with me a suitcase full of the wrong clothes, unaware of the contrast between Barcelona’s humid heat and Paris’ omnipresent drizzle.

As if by magic, the rain only came down while I strolled through halls and not through streets. By halls I mean the endless rooms of the Louvre — golden frames, detailed depictions of myths on door handles and ceilings that made one feel like they were mere specks of dust under godly skies.

Aware that I would need many more visits to see it all, and given that this was my second time at the Louvre, I decided to steer towards the Richelieu wing. On the second floor, I embarked on a journey from the XIV century to the XIXth with the aid of the northern European masters — Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer, among others.

I halted the steady tempo of my nonchalant meandering when I arrived at a dim-lit room carrying an ensemble of medium-sized still lifes by Flander and Dutch artists.

They were stacked on top of each other, leaving no more than a few inches between their frames. There was an ongoing dialogue between the four walls; one painting took your eye to the next, allowing you to look closely at one piece but not long enough to delve into every detail.

They were so vivid they reeked — of rotten fish, stale wine and pickled peaches.

I had never really paid much attention to still lifes before. They are the strangers in the street of paintings: you see them but you really don’t see them. Now I regret every time I neglected these pieces, for I was so blind. I had an awakening when I reached Willem Claesz Heda’s Breakfast Still-Life (1637) — a work so dully monochromatic it was hard to fully grasp the details of the painting. Was it a blueberry tart, a meat pie or an English pudding?

I couldn’t quite comprehend the vitality I so oddly found among such nihility and anonymity.

I began guessing why the breakfast was left like this (had a fire made guests flee the room?) or what had happened for that person to drink wine in the morning. Perhaps

the reason for it all was the glass knocked over onto the plate, which had made one diner leave to change their stained clothes, and the other gone to find cleaning materials. I was able to find an ironic sense of delight within such a chaotic setup.

That day I left the Louvre having discovered a love for the “dead nature” I had so often ignored.

I searched for more exhibitions where I could make up stories in my head, using only what I saw within the frame. Tales of dukes and posh silver goblets, of burlesque women and wooden glasses filled with cheap wine, of bourgeois wannabes and their chinoiserie tablecloths…

You are probably thinking: really? Still life? The frenzy over dead nature and wine glasses left undrunk has long been dead, hasn’t it? The bread crumbs, the pear, the worm-eaten apple … Or those who opt for flowers, in order to come across as romantics, or perhaps because they were on offer and spring isn’t the season for pears.

A white canvas, stained with the pigment of earthy colors — green, brown and dijon yellow.

After Paris, I came back to Barcelona and started my internship at a contemporary art gallery where renowned American artist Donald Sultan was currently exhibited.

Sultan, who is known for his largescale still life paintings, made an impression on me from the moment I stepped foot in the room.

On display was a series of six paintings with the mimosa flower as its motif. These flowers had been nourished with enamel instead of water and had grown on a masonite board, not a white canvas. It wasn’t like Cézanne’s assortment of fruit, nor Van Gogh’s sunflowers, but something superior — the desired result achieved through an unusual formula.

To understand how it felt, picture yourself in a concrete plant, where the tar fumes and the heat emerging from the pyramid of pebbles clog your lungs and make your blood boil. In the midst of all that industrial landscape — metal, wood, iron and fire — grows a flower. It isn’t easy to imagine — in fact, it’s almost impossible for a flower to grow among so much hardship.

Yet, against all odds, it does. It is an orange flower, round like the sun, like the moon, like a dandelion that hasn’t granted its wish yet.

Donald Sultan’s mimosas play with your senses: you can see minimal circles, surrounded by a bunch of olive leaves and it makes you think: south of France, dry and fruity air… but when you get closer to the piece all such schemes fall down.

You no longer think of the French countryside, but of the way there — the voyage. The heat emerging from the asphalt when you step out of the car to spread your legs, and the smell of tar coming from a factory that was built far from human life to avoid shortening these with the impurity of the fumes steaming from high chimneys.

Perhaps the death of conventional still life paintings did occur, and they are only meant to be showcased in museums as old as the works themselves — containing that way a contemporaneity to the works.

Freezing them in a time capsule where they are most appreciated in the place and time in which they were created. Heda’s Breakfast Still-

Life would look awfully displaced in the Museum of Modern Art, but so would Cézanne’s Basket of Apples in the Louvre Museum. It is a matter of atemporality.

Cézanne took with him the last sigh of the artist-admirerof-fainted-fruits-over-ceramics, and Van Gogh that of sunflowers, which turned their heads away from the minds of those who selfimportantly claim to “know about art.” Maybe only a few of us still find peace in the representation of nature, even if it doesn’t come accompanied by conceptual affairs and ulterior motives. A bouquet of marigold, a clementine, a landscape or something as mundane as a cigarette that dances in the darkness of a flat near 6 W & 24th St. From Heda to Sultan, I have been able to find a new way of taking in the beauty of nature — dead or alive — and a mode of nurturing my imagination. Still lifes are supercuts of encounters, of things that were left unsaid, of atemporal customs and societal structures … in short, the capturing of life within decaying flesh.

Donald Sultan’s Spring Mimosa — Image courtesy of Galeria Senda

Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ARTS 9

Fighting against your death in ‘Death’s Door’

Photo courtesy of Acid Nerve

M. DEITZ

Daily Arts Writer

If you’re like me and the very concept of death and nothingness terrifies you to your core, then video games have probably earned a special place in your life. Death in a video game is far from the permanent nonexistence we face in reality; the life counter goes down by one and you respawn, ready and raring to try again. While this concept is vital to video games, it’s rarely touched on in any meaningful way, something that “Death’s Door” developer Acid Nerve yearns to change.

“Death’s Door” places you in control of the Reaper — a cute little sword-wielding crow who works for a company of weapon-slinging reaper crows — as they explore a vast and dense land to recapture a lost soul and regain their immortality.

Whether you kill enemies for their souls (a currency to upgrade the Reaper’s abilities) or view the cartoonishly large “DEATH” stamped on the screen with each death, you’ll constantly find yourself embroiled by our inevitable grim demise. Players are never made to feel bad for killing the various enemies and bosses, yet paired with each major victory is a reflection on the life just lost; Stonehead the Gravedigger provides a bittersweet meditation on the deceased’s life

that humanizes the once monstrous and murderous beings. The enemies you fight are monstrous and bloated, crude and dangerous, but they still lived lives and had an effect on the lives of those around them. One question is constantly brought up but rarely answered: Would immortal life truly be better than living with an unknown expiration date?

Grounding the philosophical discussions of life and death are incredibly well-designed components of the game. Gloominess may overwhelm you at first, but eventually, both hope and humor permeate through the depressive fog thanks to sharp, well-written dialogue. The art style initially mimics noir aesthetics before combining them with lush colors of varied and memorable locations reminiscent of Studio Ghibli animation, ranging from sunken fortresses to haunted manors to medieval castles. Backing the stunning visuals is composer David Fenn’s radiant score, whose orchestras perfectly match whatever creepy or incredibly hype vibe the situation requires. In moments of respite, I would often put the controller down for a minute just to take in the sumptuous audio and visual pairing before adventuring again.

The adventure is one you will not want to miss. Sure, “Death’s Door” does little to hide its love for both the Zelda and Soulsborne franchises,

cramming in dense lore to creepy dungeons filled with puzzles and enemies galore, but it manages to take the best part of these series and form something wholly unique. Each area of the game naturally flows from one into another to form a cohesive “just 10 more minutes” experience.

While your destinations are planned, generally the areas are open enough and full of secrets to tempt you off the common path, adding to the feeling of being an avian explorer in an uncharted world.

Much like their debut game “Titan Souls,” the team at Acid Nerve put a large emphasis on combat. Not only does the Reaper get a sword, but they can also use a hammer, dual-wielded daggers and even an umbrella to reap souls. Each weapon has particular pros and cons that truly change the flow and timing of combat and I found myself shuffling between them often. You’ll want to use whatever upper hand you can find in combat because the enemy encounters get tougher and tougher as the game progresses. The combat may be a sticking point for some, as there are variations in how to damage the enemies — light attack, heavy attack, dodge attack, drop attack — but they all grow stale and samey over the eight-ish hours of the adventure. It certainly doesn’t help that the game locks one of the most enjoyable combat moves, the grapple attack, behind a secret boss you can only fight about 75% through

the game. Spamming either the dodge or the attack will inevitably lead to the Reaper’s sure and quick demise, so enemy encounters quickly become a safe cycle of approaching the enemy, hitting them two to three times, dodging their attack, rinse and repeat.

The Reaper also has four ranged spells at their disposal that, when not used for puzzle solving/ exploration, do slightly help vary up the melee combat and have saved my own feathers on many occasions.

The combat truly shines in the boss fights, each one beautifully orchestrated chaos that forces you to rely on skills and problem solving to overcome the (often literally) massive challenge of taking down giant foes. Each victory is a cathartic eruption, dozens of failed attempts finally blooming into one successful endeavor that leads to the somber realization that with the challenge over, you cannot experience the thrills of the fight again. The boss has been killed and all you are left with are the memories — the anger, the cursing, the laughing, the final burst of joy — before moving on to the next challenge.

I know difficult games like this are not for everyone, and with no real accessibility settings to help newer or disadvantaged players, “Death’s Door” surely will not be something all players gravitate towards. The game relies on player skill and memory, rarely leading you along

the main story and giving little to no hints on the secrets that abound in the world. There’s a particular post-game quest that quite literally tells you nothing and demands you figure out each complex challenge on your own. Not everyone will want to spend hours combing through areas of a game with no map and no clues as to what you may have left undiscovered; I do want to exist in this world for as long as I can and squeeze every drop of creativity and secrecy out of it.

While “Death’s Door” is an easy game to try and sell people on — with the brilliant soundtrack, stunning art design, tight puzzles and addictive combat — it also isn’t. The game demands a lot of the players, effort that some cannot or do not want to give and forces an investigation into the uncomfortable topic of death. Not everyone will have the emotional and mental bandwidth for that right now, but for me, it was something I needed. I needed to be reminded that death isn’t scary, it’s just a natural part of the cycle of life — that it affects the ones we left behind far more than our loved ones who pass on and how important it is to feel that pain and to grieve. It’s not easy to continue living with a hole in your life where someone important used to be, but it’s possible. Just as possible as beating a frog king or a yeti or a gigantic mechanical castle robot as a little crow. Improbable and difficult, but never impossible.

10 STATEMENT

Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Virtual reality and why I probably don’t care

BY LEO KRINSKY

Design by Erin Ruark

It is 12:28 a.m. on June 10th in well. They must be getting pretty Brooklyn, New York. A Thursday. serious, I remember thinking. My Overcast, though maybe that’s friend has gotten really good at only how I remember it. I’m sure DJing recently, or so he tells me. there’s a way to check that in some The floor seems to have a constant weather archive stored in a readily hum and the walls vibrate with available location on the internet every bass hit that emanates from for any technology-competent his seemingly very expensive person; however, I’ve decided speakers. Every now and then he not to look into it. My English will exclaim something like “How professor once read us a quote crazy is this?” or “My friend made about creative nonfiction and this song.” I remember admiring how it is actually not the author’s how aesthetically coherent the responsibility in the genre to get apartment was when I walked the nitty-gritty of the facts right, in. Truthfully, I thought the rug but rather to provide an honest really tied the room together. I account of their experience. If I pondered how long it would be were to learn it was raining that until I accumulated enough capital night, or perhaps a thunderstorm, to purchase a rug. Not too long, I that would heavily impact my supposed. confidence in candidly reciting the I am wearing an Oculus virtual rest of the story. How could I be reality headset. trusted as a narrator if I couldn’t My current goal is to kill two remember a detail as lively men who are running at me: one and violent as a thunderstorm? with a gun, one with clenched To seek out this information fists. I hesitate to call them men. would therefore be reckless They are more like minimalist and immature.

Aesthetically, polygonal mannequins, and they emotionally, spiritually: it was certainly lack the empathy or overcast. And I’m tired of talking reason of common man. The catch about it. was this: the men (I’ve decided to I am half-drunk and my friend call them men) only moved when I is playing a DJ set. We are in his moved, which was communicated brother’s girlfriend’s apartment, to the game by the controllers that although his brother lives there as wrapped around each of my hands.

In fact, everything in the world I now inhabited moved only at my accord. When one of the men shot a bullet at me, I slowly knelt down and watched as it leisurely whizzed by my left ear. It was at this moment that my friend informed me that I was getting close to the television, although that information didn’t particularly impact my next move.

In a swift motion, I arose from my kneeling position and punched the man who shot the bullet at me in the face, obliterating him into a thousand little specks of virtual matter. I caught the gun that fell from the now-extinct man’s hands before quickly turning around and shooting the other oncoming foe in the face, decimating him in the same vein as his friend and prompting the message “level complete.” My friend took this time to once again inform me of my whereabouts in relation to his brother’s girlfriend’s television, completely unaware of the feats of athleticism I had just accomplished and the absolute carnage that ensued.

I felt strange walking home that night. I had a lot of thoughts running through my head. I briefly pondered the notion that perhaps what I am currently

experiencing as reality is actually some simulation built from a not-so-distant technology, but discarded the idea on the grounds that it was ultimately a trite and boring thought. To be perfectly honest, I had always been totally and completely disinterested in virtual reality and the discourse surrounding it. I felt the same way about virtual reality as I did about Elon Musk or Bitcoin or veganism. I felt that those who wished to engage me in dialogue on these topics (liberal media, weirdo Joe Rogan dudes, etc.) were trying to sell me something, and by participating I was somehow being profited on. I suppose I still feel this way. I cringe a bit at the thought that my name will be attached to something that will likely be remembered as just another spoke on the greater virtual reality discourse wheel.

However, there is no denying that I felt something on my short walk home that night. And if it made me feel something, surely it’s worth writing about, right?

I was first off struck by the quality of the technology. Perhaps aided by the trance-inducing tempo of my friend’s blaring music and the sedative nature of

the lukewarm beers I had drunk throughout the night, there was an honest moment where I felt completely immersed in the game.

It was truly like nothing I had experienced before, and I had to take a moment when I was done to recalibrate myself to the real world (“the real world”). For a piece of equipment bought at Walmart for $399.99 that I went into using with a slight undertone of irony, I was not expecting this.

I was also struck by my acute understanding at the time that this would have little-to-no effect on me in the future. I do not mean this on an interpersonal level. Perhaps in 50 years, our world will be uninhabitable and we will all turn to virtual reality to live out the rest of our days in 4K UHD, myself included. This is not the type of effect I was talking about. What I meant was that even as I walked home disoriented and convinced that the real world didn’t look all too different from the world I saw in the goggles, I still knew that when I woke up the next morning I would once again not care about virtual reality at all. That was scarier than the technology.

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Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

STATEMENT 11

How improv makes me a better human

BY NICOLE WINTHROP

Design by Erin Ruark

I took my first improv class by accident during my sophomore year of high school because it was the only elective left open. While all my friends enjoyed ceramics or photography, I sauntered across campus to the daunting theater classroom that connected to the auditorium. An intricate line of shoes trailed out from the door. Not sure whether or not to follow along, I removed my sneakers and stacked them off to the side. The teacher of the class, Joel, came out as I was doing this. He made a tisk-tisk noise and instructed me to add to the pattern. When I asked him where, he shrugged, smiled and returned back to the classroom. I moved my Reeboks, adding to the random yet intricate pattern with the rest of the shoes, hoping I hadn’t messed anything up.

I don’t remember exactly what happened during that first meeting.

All I can truly recall is that I showed up feeling anxious and nervous, but I left feeling light and giddy. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into with improv, but I could tell there was something special about it.

I finished that semester-long elective and found myself drawn to other theater classes throughout high school. I tried out an acting course and then a play, both of which I loved. But it wasn’t until I saw improv groups promoting their auditions during Festifall, a club fair at the University of Michigan, that I was reunited with improv for a second time. Today, it feels like my entire life revolves around it.

Improv: I believe most people have a general idea of what it is, or have

at least seen the scene in “22 Jump Street” right before Jonah Hill’s iconic slam poetry performance. Generally speaking, improv is a form of comedic theater that is made up on the spot with no prior planning or scripting. Though it may be an unfamiliar form of comedy to some, I can guarantee that those who have seen a live show whether at college or in a city can confirm that it is hilarious and wildly entertaining. That being said, improv has much more to offer than just a belly laugh on a Saturday night.

Let me introduce you to some basic concepts and rules of improv and show how I’ve been able to apply them to improve my life.

“Yes, and…” I’m sure some have heard this one before. All it means is accepting whatever someone says and then adding onto it. If my scene partner declares that we are on a flying saucer in space, I won’t respond by saying, “No…we’re in a submarine.” That would kill the fun. What I might say is, “Yes, I can’t wait to go to mars for our double date with alien brothers!” Never deny or reject what a scene partner says.

Take it and run.

I remember someone in my improv group on campus explaining that we are so lucky that we still get to play like kids do on a playground. Improv is a blank page waiting for an entirely imaginative world to come to life on it. We get to create the rules and characters and storylines. If we want the world to have talking bananas then so be it. Anything and everything goes. The rule of saying “Yes, and” only heightens this ability to be creative

because the wild ideas and additions that other people have are truly amazing.

In my everyday life, I am able to build off of what others say because of this “Yes, and” principle, and I love to hear what others have to add to my own ideas. Everything is richer when we collaborate.

Giving a gift: This is like planting a seed in a scene or giving your scene partner something to play with. Maybe it’s congratulating them on their recent engagement, or asking about why they have a squirrel crawling up their arm. Remember, improv is building something extravagant and rich from nothing. Giving gifts is like handing each other little building blocks; it’s a great practice especially when the scene feels like it has hit a wall.

Many people have shared with me that they could never perform because of their stage fright, or because they wouldn’t know what to say. I remember feeling a similar way until I learned that in improv, we are building something from scratch and there are no wrong answers. This principle helped me become more confident in unfamiliar situations in my everyday life and feel less anxious when I am out of my comfort zone.

I used to hate ice breakers on the first day of any new group. I would wrack my mind for something interesting to say, driving myself insane and eventually just blurting out, “I can’t think of any fun facts about myself,” and shrugging.

How lame is that? Meanwhile, I thought of twenty different things I could have said but convinced myself

they weren’t up to par. The truth is, anything I said would have been the right answer and probably led to some interesting conversation with other people around me.

I recognize that now, and treat whatever I or others decide to say as an opportunity or a gift.

Throwing a wrench: Similar to giving a gift, throwing a wrench is giving something for your partner to play with, except that something might be absurd or shocking. It may throw your partner off a bit, which can be hilarious, but it also gives them lots of room to take the scene somewhere new and unexpected.

I’ve met some of my best friends through improv. I remember standing in a room among strangers at callbacks for the improv group I auditioned for.

The thought of having to do improv with these people made me cringe; it was like the fear of the unknown. But something clicked between all of us as soon as we played our first warmup game, and we ended up getting dinner together after just two hours of improv.

Improv requires everyone to throw away their inner critic and support each other; there is no room for judgment.

Also, what better way is there to bond with people than laughing?

That being said, some of my favorite friends are people who I would have never expected to click with. I decided to go random for my freshman year roommate. I had quite low expectations and knew a big wrench was about to be thrown my way on move-in day. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but a Mt. Joy concert led to a Halloween

party which led to telling riddles after a middle-of-the-night fire alarm, and all of a sudden my roommate and I became best friends. I’m glad I didn’t go in fully closed-minded or dodging the wrench because otherwise I would have missed out on an amazing friendship.

I’ve realized that just incorporating improv in small ways can have an impact on people. I interviewed a U-M alum, Mary Lemmer, who is the founder of Improve, a company that applies improv comedy techniques backed by research to people’s professional lives, and chatted about her journey with improv.

Lemmer explained how helpful improv can be in improving people’s lives, especially during times of struggle when we are dealing with loss, challenges at work or in relationships.“We make personal and professional growth fun though, and it works! It’s a wonderful way for people to advance their personal and professional goals.”

Our conversation then steered towards Lemmer’s career path and how improv has changed the course of it. Mary started as an entrepreneur in high school and then completed her undergraduate at the University’s Ross School of Business. Upon graduating, she worked in venture capital. She described working overwhelming hours, feeling super stressed, and experiencing anxiety to the point of fainting and other health ailments.

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12 SPORTS Wolverines dominate centerstage atop NHL Draft selections Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.

JOEY GOODSIR

Daily Sports Writer

The 2021 NHL Draft has become a historic advertisement for college hockey, and Michigan can take all of the credit.

Sophomore defenseman Owen Power, sophomore forward Matty Beniers, incoming freshman defenseman Luke Hughes, and sophomore forward Kent Johnson were all selected within the top five picks on Friday night. This achievement marks several NCAA firsts, including the first time the top two players were drafted from one NCAA team, the first time three current players on one team were drafted in the first round, and easily the most players drafted in the top five – let alone from a single collegiate program.

Owen Power, the overall No. 1 pick, was selected by the Buffalo Sabres. The 18-year-old led the Wolverines with 40 blocked shots last year, and won a gold medal with Team Canada at World Championships. Buffalo

looks to utilize Power as a central center developed into a reliable some electric moments along the Samoskevich’s name was called, prospect in their rebuilding leader of one of Michigan’s most way. drafted 24th by the Florida process – having finished 61 formidable lines last season, In addition to the four Panthers. points out of playoff contention, featuring Beniers and senior headlining picks, incoming Read more at michigandaily.com with a record-tying 11-game forward Luke Morgan – and had freshman forward Mackie losing streak this past season.

Matty Beniers will go down in history as the Seattle Kraken’s first ever NHL Draft pick. The forward scored a team-leading 10 goals during Michigan’s 26-game season, and won gold as the youngest player on Team USA’s roster at World Juniors.

Beniers, the overall No. 2 pick, joins a fresh roster revealed by Seattle at their Expansion Draft earlier this week.

While Luke Hughes has not donned a winged helmet yet, his play (most recently with the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth) has already received the attention of NHL scouts, and his last name has inevitably caught eyes in Ann Arbor. Selected fourth, Hughes will join his older brother Jack with the New Jersey Devils.

The Columbus Blue Jackets closed out the first five picks with yet another Michigan MILES MACKLIN/Daily forward in Kent Johnson. The Owen Power was the first of 4 Wolverines off the board in the first round of the NHL draft Friday.

Olympic tradition includes Wolverines from across the globe CONNOR EAREGOOD Daily Sports Writer

Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, The Michigan Daily takes a look at Michigan’s olympic athletes and their performances at the Games, both past and present. The data takes a deep dive into what countries Wolverines hail from, what sports they perform best in and how they stack up against their Big Ten rivals.

Michigan students perform in the highest arenas of college sports. They’re also no strangers to shouldering the dreams of their countries at the Olympics.

After Friday’s opening ceremony, 29 Michigan athletes will look to join Olympic heavyweights like Michael Phelps, Gustavo Borges and the duo of Meryl Davis and Charlie White in bringing Olympic glory to both their countries and their university.

Since 1900, 243 Michigan students, future students, and alumni have competed at

the Olympics. The number of Wolverines at each Olympiad has grown over time, and 38% of them have medaled.

While the majority of those competitors hail from the United States and Canada, Michigan students have represented 32 nations at the Games. Wolverines from every continent but Antarctica have competed in an Olympiad.

Some Michigan Olympians hail from nations as far apart as Nigeria and Bangladesh, while many come from European nations like the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria and Hungary.

Seven athletes have represented Scandinavian countries including Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

This year, Wolverines from 12 different countries will carry their nations’ Olympic aspirations, including wrestlers Myles Amine (San Marino) and Stevan Micic (Serbia). Both are the first Michigan students to represent their respective countries at the Games, and both will be coached

by Wolverines coach Sean Bormet

at the Games.

Bormet will not be the only current Michigan coach in Tokyo, as swim coach Mike Bottom, diving coach Mike Hilde and men’s gymnastics coach Jordan Gaarenstroom will hope to guide

their athletes to top performances.

They will coach athletes from Yemen, the United States and Nigeria, respectively.

In total, Michigan athletes have won 73 gold medals — and Americans have earned most of

them. The only non-American gold medal winner was Australian John Davies in the 1952 200meter breaststroke. Davies set an Olympic record in the event, something Wolverine athletes have done 21 times.

ZACH BREGER, ERIC LAU/Daily Olympians associated with the University have competed for 32 countries.

SPORTS 13 Michigan athletes carry strong Olympic reputation into 2020 games Thursday, July 29, 2021 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

PAUL NASR

Daily Sports Writer

Ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, The Michigan Daily takes a look at Michigan’s olympic athletes and their performances at the Games, both past and present. The data takes a deep dive into what countries Wolverines hail from, what sports they perform best in and how they stack up against their Big Ten rivals.

With the pandemicdelayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics approaching, 29 athletes affiliated with Michigan will represent 14 nations on the world stage. The Wolverine delegation spans 14 different sporting events, securing a Michigan presence throughout the two-week spectacle.

Although national pride remains at the forefront of the athletes’ Olympic endeavors, loyalty to one’s university usually doesn’t fade in the process. As 29 Wolverines look to win medals for their home countries, they also seek to build on Michigan athletes’ historical success in Olympic competition.

In an in-depth comparison of the Wolverines’ Olympic resumes with their two arch-rivals — Ohio State and Michigan State — conducted

by The Daily’s data team, Michigan reigns supreme.

The Wolverines boast a robust total medal count of 160, well above Ohio State’s 113 all-time medals and Michigan State’s — who only had data as of the 2006 Turin Winter Games — 30. 243 Michigan-associated athletes have competed in the Olympics, and 92 of them have graced the medal podium.

Michigan has earned medals in 17 different Olympic events spanning the summer and winter games, but the Wolverines’ strong Olympic rapport is buoyed by tremendous success in the key summer event of swimming.

Michigan athletes have earned a whopping 71 medals in the event, headlined by Olympic legend Michael Phelps. Phelps first qualified for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, at just 15 years of age, and later enrolled in classes while training with a Michigan swimming coach in Ann Arbor.

Although failing to earn a medal in those games, they served as a key launch-point for his storied career.

He went on to win 28 medals over the course of the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 summer games in representation of the United States.

Through his massive success in those four games, Phelps now holds the record for the most medals won by any athlete, thus making him the most decorated Olympian in Michigan history as well.

Track and field serves as the second pillar of the Wolverines’ Olympic resume.

Michiganaffiliated athletes have totaled 30 medals in the event, with Ralph Rose leading the way. Rose possesses the second-highest total medal count among Wolverines with six, as he was a force in shot put and discus throw. Rose medaled in the 1904, 1908 and 1912 summer Olympics, and was the flag-bearer for the United States at the 1908 opening ceremony in London.

Michigan’s second most successful track and field athlete, tied for third in the Wolverines’ total medal count at four, is sprinter Archie Hahn. Hahn was lightning at the 1904 St. Louis games, striking gold in the 60 meter, 100 meter and 200 meter sprints.

Hahn’s speed was trailblazing, for at the time of competition, no man had ever won both the 100 and 200 meter sprints.

In contrast to Michigan’s 71 swimming and 30 track and field medals, Ohio State has secured 22 medals in each of the sports.

Meanwhile, Michigan State has won 10 medals in swimming and six in track and field as of 2006, ensuring that the Wolverines have a comfortable leg-up on their biggest rivals regarding competition on the Olympic stage.

Michigan’s athletes earned 12 medals in diving, and 10 in ice dancing — its most successful winter event. Its remaining 37 medals to date are spread out across 13 separate events, illustrating the impact that success in swimming and track and field has had on the Wolverines’ Olympic pedigree. Of those 13 events, hockey is the only winter event, meaning only two of Michigan’s 17 medaled events are winter sports.

Figure skating partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White tie as the most decorated Michiganaffiliated winter Olympians with

three medals each, earning them as they captivated audiences with their routines in the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Olympics.

There are plenty of Wolverines to watch as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics draw near, and they will seek to add to Michigan’s hearty medal count as they don their national flags with pride.

Current and former Michigan women’s soccer players Jayde Riviere and Shelina Zadorsky will

represent Canada, while wrestlers Stevan Micic and Myles Amine will compete for Serbia and San Marino, respectively.

As softball returns to the Olympics for the first time since 2008, former Wolverine secondteam All-American Amanda Chidester will be in the red, white and blue as Michigan legend Sierra Romero serves as an alternate for Mexico. Moritz Wagner, a key member of the Michigan men’s basketball 2018 national runner-

up team, will play for Germany in the games.

Michigan will be heavily represented as it seeks to add to its historical success in swimming and track and field. 12 swimmers and six track and field athletes with ties to Michigan will make the trip to Tokyo.

Despite vast historical success, the verdict is still out on how Wolverines will fare in this year’s iteration of the Olympic games.

As for now: let the games begin.

ZACH BREGER/Daily U-M athletes have won 160 medals, which is 47 more than OSU athletes and 130 more than MSU athletes.