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Wednesday, October 13, 2021 PUBLIC SAFETY
DPSS report logs over 2,000 crimes by Anderson Survivors of late athletic doctor have protested for better protections DOMINIC COLETTI Daily Staff Reporter
GABBY CERITANO/Daily University President Mark Schlissel sat down with The Michigan Daily to discuss his resignation announcement and exit package.
Schlissel: Exit package is ‘a fair way forward’
U-M President talks resignation announcement, multimillion dollar contract in Daily interview CALDER LEWIS, GEORGE WEYKAMP & ARJUN THAKKAR Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporters The Michigan Daily spoke with University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel Oct. 8 to discuss his plans to step down as president in June 2023 as well as his exit package. Read part two of the interview to hear Schlissel’s thoughts on COVID-19 on campus one month into the semester, in addition to new sexual misconduct policies. This conversation has been edited for clarity. The Michigan Daily: On Oct. 5 you announced that you will be stepping down as president of the University in June of 2023, a year
earlier than previously planned. Why did you decide to step down, and why did you announce it now? Mark Schlissel: I’m looking at the University gradually coming out of this pandemic that upended how we function and trying to define what the new normal is going to be. We’ve got people working remotely still, some people working on campus. We’ve learned how to deliver online education in ways that may alter the on-campus curriculum. It’s just a time of great change. We want to be sure that we’re planning forward-looking strategies to make sure that the excellence and the impact of our University is maintained and enhanced, even under the new world we’re going to be functioning in, and it seems like that’s operating with a time course of many, many
years longer than my original time horizon. I told myself I’d do 10 years, and I’ve reconsidered. I plan on stopping after my ninth year. The reason to announce it as soon as I did is to give the Board of Regents and the community as much time as possible to talk to one another and to get a sense of what the highest needs are, what our ambitions are as a community, and just to get enough input and be deliberative on what you know is an important decision. I’ll have been leading the University for approaching a decade — that’s a long period of time — and the regents really need the time and space to make a really careful, thoughtful approach to a search, look very widely for my successor, settle on a great person, and then we need time for a transition. I
benefited greatly from having my appointment announced six months before I actually started. I was still provost at Brown, but I was able to come here to Ann Arbor at least once a month or once every three weeks or so and meet with people and climb the learning curve to help understand this big, complicated place. So, just to provide plenty of time for a thoughtful transition is the main thing. TMD: The Detroit Free Press has characterized your stepping down early as a deal between yourself and members of the Board of Regents who were divided over your performance. Is this reporting accurate in your view, and what role did the board play in your decision to step down early? See SCHLISSEL, Page 2
The University of Michigan’s Division of Public Safety and Security released its 2021 Security and Fire Safety Report Oct. 4. The annual report, which is required by the Jeanne Clery Act, lists statistics for several types of crime on campus. The most recent report covered the 2020 calendar year. Crimes are entered into DPSS’s Clery logs based on the date the crime was reported, regardless of when it occurred. Reports of crimes perpetrated by former University doctor Robert Anderson — which spanned the decades he spent at the University — were not reported until 2020, making the number of reports from this past year much higher than in years prior. Of the 1,212 rapes reported in 2020, 1,194 were part of the Anderson investigation. There were 947 cases of fondling, of which 916 came from the investigations. “It is important to note that the University also received reports about Anderson that included conduct that did not meet the definition of a Clery Act crime,” the report reads. “Because those allegations did not reflect crimes meeting Clery Act definitions, they are not included in the University’s statistics.” As part of the report’s addendum, DPSS clarified how it classified Anderson cases, especially cases where the
details are unclear due to the nature of the reports. In general, when there was a question of whether or not a case took place within the University’s Clery area — which refers to the University property and its immediate surroundings — DPSS said they erred on the side of including that case in the report. Survivors of Anderson protested at the most recent Board of Regents meeting, calling on the University to better protect victims of sexual misconduct. Hundreds of survivors had previously filed a class action lawsuit against the University, saying the University knew of misconduct but failed to take action on these claims. DPSS also said they leaned toward including all cases when an individual gave a vague number of instances. When individuals reported a range of occurrences, officials took the higher end of the estimate. DPSS also said they did their best to correlate descriptions of cases to a specific number. For example, a “couple” of incidents was counted as two and a “few” were counted as three. Beyond the Anderson-related claims, the University saw a decrease in liquor and drug law violations during 2020, while other crimes remained largely stable. Four fires occurred in 2020 — all were unintentional. Daily Staff Reporter Dominic Coletti can be reached at dcoletti@umich.edu.
RESEARCH
Michigan Medicine nurses exempt from vaccine mandate
Bargaining agreement approved last year includes stipulation against a requirement ASHNA MEHRA & NADIR AL-SAIDI Daily Staff Reporters
Last December, the Michigan Nurses Association voted to ratify a one-year extension to their previous collective bargaining agreement with Michigan Medicine. The agreement, which included a stipulation that nurses are not required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, covers all 6,200 nurses in the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council Independent Union and will expire in June 2022. According to the new agreement, “subject to Federal and State requirements and guidelines for distribution priority, the Employer will provide the COVID-19 vaccination at no cost to the employees and on a voluntary basis.” The University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate announced in July by University President Mark Schlissel does not apply to nurses at Michigan Medicine due to the terms in their collective bargaining agreement. The provisions of the agreement allow nurses to negotiate a vaccine mandate and though it encourages vaccination, it doesn’t require it. Michigan Medicine spokeswoman Mary Masson told The Michigan Daily that reporting individual vaccination status is not required as well. “Our staff members are required to be vaccinated, unless they have received an exemption or are covered by collective bargaining and have not reached an agreement on the vaccine
mandate,” Masson wrote in an email. “We are currently asking our nurses to voluntarily report their vaccination status, but have not collected all of that data.” Anne Jackson, a registered nurse at Michigan Medicine and interim president of the MNA, said she believes a vast majority of nurses at Michigan Medicine are vaccinated and encourages everyone who can to get vaccinated. Jackson added that there are other aspects of safety that Michigan Medicine staff should be focusing on and that vaccines are only one part of the fight against the pandemic. “We need to make sure that every nurse has access to proper PPE,” Jackson wrote. “We need to make sure that nurses are promptly notified by Michigan Medicine if we have been exposed to COVID-19. We need to make sure that nurses are able to easily and quickly get tested if we are exposed irrespective of vaccination status. We need to make sure that all nurses are able to take the time off they need if we get exposed or contract COVID-19.” Many Michigan undergraduate nursing students said they feel as though getting the vaccine is an obligation that nurses should have to follow. Nursing junior Molly Reynolds explained that health care providers set the standard for others, so if patients see their caretakers not getting vaccinated, that might persuade them to decline the vaccine as well.
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DESIGN BY MELLISA LEE SMTD Professor Bright Sheng stepped away from his course after showing a version of Othello that featured an actor in blackface.
SMTD professor steps back from course after blackface incident Bright Sheng previously taught an undergraduate composition seminar
FRANCESCA DUONG Daily Staff Reporter
A professor has taken over the undergraduate class previously taught by Bright Sheng, Leonard Bernstein Distinguished University Professor of Composition, David Gier, dean of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance announced Oct. 1. The announcement comes almost a month after Sheng showed a video to an undergraduate composition seminar featuring an actor in blackface. Regarding the recent instructor change, Gier wrote that this switch would “allow for a positive learning environment” so students could focus
on their “growth as composers.” Sheng, a highly accomplished composer, conductor and pianist, has had his music featured by prestigious groups including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra and the New York City Ballet Orchestra.Sheng also received a commission in honor of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visiting the White House in 1999, as well as numerous awards and fellowships. The Michigan Daily looked deeper into what happened. On Sept. 10, Music, Theatre & Dance freshman Olivia Cook attended her first composition seminar with Sheng. This semester, the course focused on analyzing Shakespeare’s works, and
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the class began with a screening of the 1965 version of “Othello.” Cook told The Daily she quickly realized something seemed strange, and upon further inspection, noticed the onscreen actor Laurence Olivier was in blackface. “I was stunned,” Cook said. “In such a school that preaches diversity and making sure that they understand the history of POC (people of color) in America, I was shocked that (Sheng) would show something like this in something that’s supposed to be a safe space.” The 1965 version of the film has been a topic of controversy since its initial release when The New York Times wrote a 1966 article criticizing
Vol. CXXX, No. 54 ©2021 The Michigan Daily
Olivier’s use of blackface as well as his stereotypical performance. According to Cook, the students were given no warning or contextualization prior to the viewing. Sheng sent out an apology on Sept. 10 shortly after the class ended, noting that the casting and portrayal “was racially insensitive and outdated.” A copy of this email has been obtained by The Daily. A planned “Othello” project was then canceled by Sheng. In an email to The Daily, Evan Chambers, professor of composition, wrote about the importance of properly preparing students for possible instances of racism in film.
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NEWS BRIEF
Schlissel to be paid full presidential salary of $927,000 for two years after resignation Contract also includes $36,000 per year, $60,000 housing stipend and $2 million for new lab JASMIN LEE
Daily News Editor
University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel signed a contract with the Board of Regents on Sept. 23 guaranteeing that he will be paid his same salary of $927,000 for two years after his resignation in June 2023, according to a copy of the contract obtained by The Michigan Daily. Schlissel announced Oct. 5 that he will resign in June 2023, a year earlier than originally planned. The Board of Regents and Schlissel held a public meeting on Sept. 23 but made no mention of Schlissel’s planned resignation or the signing of a new contract. “After discussion with the Board of Regents, I decided that this timing is appropriate,” Schlissel wrote in an email to the University community on Oxt. 5. “The new horizon gives the Board time to consult with our
SCHLISSEL From Page 1 MS: I’m always working with the board, and I work incredibly closely with them. I’d say there isn’t a week that goes by that I’m not speaking with several board members individually. I think the board is as responsible as I am for any of the successes that the University’s had since I’ve been here. We deal with the same challenges together, the challenges are very intense — we’re living in a very critical era — and just like any personal set of relationships that are intense, they go up and down. I don’t talk in the media about private conversations with the board — it’s just not appropriate — but I’d say there’s great alignment between the board and myself of what we’re trying to accomplish for the University: to continue to make it an outstanding educational institution where folks can come and study regardless of their wealth or their background, and a diverse community that’s doing research that makes a difference in the world, and we’re completely aligned on that. There are always ups and downs. I wouldn’t give credence to individual news articles, certainly ones that don’t cite name sources. It’s always easier that way, and what can I say? TMD: Many have criticized the
SMTD From Page 1 “To show the film now, especially without substantial framing, content advisory and a focus on its inherent racism is in itself a racist act, regardless of the professor’s intentions,” Chambers wrote. “We need to acknowledge that as a community.” Five days after Sheng showed the video, on Sept. 15, Gier sent a department-wide email
community, think about the future and thoroughly plan and conduct a search for my successor, while allowing us to continue momentum on important and time-critical efforts that are underway.” After stepping down as president no later than July 1, 2023, Schlissel will become President Emeritus, a role in which he “will be engaging in a variety of activities in support of the University as well as continuing (his) ambassadorship of higher education more generally,” according to the contract. Per the terms of the contract, as President Emeritus, the University will give Schlissel $36,000 per fiscal year “to be used in (his) discretion to support (his) activities as President Emeritus.” He will also be given an office space on Central Campus, a parking space and an office assistant. The money, office and office assistant will be for an initial term of seven years through July 1, 2030,
with automatic renewal every three years unless terminated or modified by the Board of Regents. In his first year after resignation, Schlissel will serve as a special advisor, working under the Board of Regents to “promote the interests of the University, support a new president in ensuring a successful transition, and perform other reasonable, appropriate duties,” according to the contract. While Schlissel serves as special advisor, he will be paid his current presidential salary and also receive a monthly $5,000 housing allowance, as he must move out of the presidential house on South University no more than 30 days after ending his presidency. If a new president is appointed after Jan. 1, 2023 and before Schlissel’s resignation date of July 1, 2023, Schlissel will start immediately as special advisor. After he finishes his term as special advisor, he can go on leave for
one year — paid at the rate of his current presidential salary. He can then return to the University as a tenured faculty member in the Microbiology and Immunology department and the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology department. Per the terms of the contract, the University will provide Schlissel with a $2 million starting fund — which he can begin using while serving as special advisor — to establish a research laboratory for his tenured faculty position. His salary as a tenured faculty member will be at least 50% of his current presidential salary. If Schlissel decides to retire on or after June 30, 2023, his service requirements will be waived. His retirement package currently provides that “the University will match the President’s five percent contribution with a ten percent University contribution on salary of up to $290,000,” according to the contract.
amount of money offered in your exit package and the fact that it was negotiated in secret. What do you say to these criticisms, and do you believe that your package is too generous? MS: I’d say that the package is really the contract that I signed three or so years ago when I was renewed for a second five-year term, and what the agreement does is it changes the term from 10 years to nine years, and keeps me on as a consultant for that 10th year. It seems like a fair way forward to the board and to me. That’s basically it. It’s not new. The agreement itself that you’re referring to is new, but the terms are really basically the terms of my renewal back in 2018. TMD: A Free Press report also details changes in funding the Detroit Center for Innovation that were not shared with the regents. The report states that the original plan for the center ended and you and Stephen Ross negotiated with Ilitch Holdings to gain the firm’s support of the center. What is the current status of plans for the center, and why was the board not informed of the negotiations? MS: The work of developing the Detroit Center for Innovation had really taken place between Stephen Ross and his company Related, and initially with Bedrock, Dan Gilbert’s company. We were a partner to the extent that once the whole complex was built, we were going to run the educational programs we spoke
about. I was not present for the detailed discussions between Ross and Gilbert that broke down, and then Ross began looking for other partners, as has been reported in the media. Again, that wasn’t part of our part of the deal — we were interested to see how that turned out. And at the time that the news broke about the DCI, I wasn’t aware of any signed agreement for a different partnership. I knew Mr. Ross was in conversation. The board asked me to hold off while the dust settles, and now that the pandemic is on the wane, but will have changed the world, we need to take a deep breath and consider whether the DCI project is the right thing for the University to do. I think that was a really fair request for the board that we reconsider it in a post-pandemic world. I’m hopeful that we still get to do the project, but again, that’ll be a matter of discussion with the board. TMD: Will you have any role in the search or appointment of your successor, and does the Board of Regents have any kind of timeline for when that decision will be made or when the University community will be receiving any updates? MS: I can’t speak for the board in terms of any timing or any details of the search. Traditionally, sitting presidents don’t play a role in the actual search but do play a role at the stage of helping with the transition, and that’s what I promised the board. But I told the board I’m happy to do
whatever they’d like me to do to help, because I’m invested in the future success of the University for the next two years where I remain the president and then thereafter. TMD: It was announced that you recently signed a contract, as we discussed earlier, agreeing to a role as president emeritus following the expiration of your presidency in June 2023. Can you elaborate on what role you’ll have at the University following your resignation? Schlissel: President Emeriti help raise money and help represent the university, but not in the capacity that would create any confusion with the true president. For example, President Coleman, she’s president emerita, but nobody thinks she’s still in charge. That would be my role. But after I’m done as president, I’ll still be a tenured member of the Michigan faculty. I’m a professor of medicine, I’m a professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, and I’m in a number of divisions in the Medical School. So most likely I’d end up starting to teach again and resuming a small research lab studying the immune system, which is what I did for 25 years before I started doing this administrative work.
acknowledging the incident and apologizing for what students experienced. “Professor Sheng’s actions do not align with our School’s commitment to anti-racist action, diversity, equity and inclusion,” Gier said. The email also stated the incident had been reported to the Office of Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX.
formal apology to the department. He wrote that after doing more research into the issue, he realized the true extent to which racism impacts American culture, adding that he failed to recognize the racist connotation of blackface makeup. “In a classroom, I am a teacher representing the university and I should have thought of this more diligently and fundamentally; I apologize that this action was offensive and has made you angry,” Sheng wrote. “It also has made me lost (sic) your trust.” However, the apology has been
another source of controversy among students. Students have taken particular issue with the section of the letter where Sheng lists multiple examples of how he has worked with people of color in the past. “At the world premiere of my opera The Silver River in South Carolina in 2000, I casted an African American actress (for the leading role), an Asian female dancer and a white baritone for the three main characters,” Sheng wrote.
Sheng’s apology causes controversy On Sept. 16, Sheng sent out a
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CAMPUS LIFE
UMich survivors of Young Life speak on allegations of sexual misconduct Members of Christian group said they’ve experienced assault, retaliation within organization LILY GOODING & JASMIN LEE Daily News Editors
Content assault
Warning:
sexual
A story published by Business Insider Oct. 5 detailed decades of sexual misconduct tied to Young Life, an international youth Christian organization, with incidences of sexual assault of former members reported across the country — including at the University of Michigan. Public Health senior Maddie Malvitz and LSA senior Becca Wong, two of the students interviewed as part of the Business Insider story, both began attending Young Life meetings at the University as freshmen. Wong was promoted to a leadership position her sophomore year. The two told Business Insider that a male student leader harassed Wong at a block party in 2019 and later that night, invited Malvitz to a house where he and other Young Life members lived. Instead of going to that house, Malvitz told Business Insider the student leader took Malvitz to the back of another house and forced her to perform oral sex on him. Following the incident, Malvitz said she went to the house where other Young Life members lived and slept on their couch while the student leader went upstairs. During the middle of the night, Malvitz said the student leader came downstairs and demanded they have penetrative intercourse; Malvitz refused. When Malvitz told Wong about the assault in May 2020, Wong was a student leader and reported the incident to the University’s Young Life leadership immediately, according to the Business Insider story. After doing so, Wong said she was called to meet with leadership over Zoom, where they informed her that she would be terminated from the organization. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Wong said she felt blindsided by this decision and even afterwards still wanted to be a part of the organization. Wong said it took her time to fully recognize the organization’s systemic issues. “It’s a very harmful experience but when you’re in (Young Life), you really drink the Kool
Aid and you really believe everything they’re doing,” Wong said. “Leaving Young Life was a very eye-opening experience, and you can’t really see the problems in Young Life until you’re out of it.” Malvitz echoed Wong’s point, saying that after her assault and what she believes to be the organization’s manipulative handling of the report, she began experiencing religious trauma that she still struggles with. “I think my trust in church structures in general has declined extremely,” Malvitz said. “(Young Life) has hurt me so much further than I can explain by using the word of God or saying that what they were doing was more important than the pain I was going through.” Wong said she believes Young Life will not take proper action unless they are prompted to by people speaking out. She referenced the #DoBetterYoungLife movement, an online forum space dedicated to those who have been harmed by Young Life and want to share their experiences, as an example of how members continue to speak about their experiences in the organization. “I do not believe that Young Life can change internally,” Wong said. “I think the external pressure is the only thing that will force them to change because we’ve seen how they responded to the #DoBetterYoungLife movement and how they responded to so many stories of people being hurt by their homophobia and their homophobic policies, and they responded with, ‘We’re not changing our policies. This is the Word of God.”’ In an email statement to The Daily, the Young Life parent organization’s communications office said they take all allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment seriously, and “no one guilty of violating or abusing another individual is allowed to continue in relationship with Young Life.” The organization also said they deny all claims from Malvitz and Wong. “Regarding the specific allegations that Maddie Malvitz and Becca Wong assert, this is an active claim in the EEOC, so we cannot comment. However, Young Life has denied all claims and is defending itself vigorously,” the statement reads. The Daily also contacted the University’s Young Life branch
but did not receive a response in time for publication. Wong and Malvitz also discussed the shooter threat that was directed at women and shook the University campus over the weekend, specifically mentioning how the threat appeared to target sexual assault survivors. Wong said the threat is one example of the added stress many survivors have about reporting incidences of sexual violence. “Regardless of whether or not the threat is real, the fear is real and we all experienced that,” Wong said. “I wish the University would have taken this more seriously.” The University investigated the threat with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and decided there was no harm to the campus, allowing classes to continue in-person as normal. More than a thousand students signed a petition asking the University to hold all classes and activities remotely Monday. Malvitz said she too was unsettled by the threat, especially considering the fact that the Business Insider article was set to publish within a few days following. Malvitz said she was disappointed by the University’s response and its lack of recognition of how the threat specifically survivors of sexual assault. “There’s these constant little aggressions that make you not want to speak on campus,” Malvitz said. “A lot of these announcements from the University were just saying, ‘It’s okay now. We are safe.’ They weren’t talking about that it is directly targeting women in the #MeToo Movement It’s dangerous to not notice the violent factors that are going on on campus, and acting like they’re not happening makes it so much worse.” Wong said she believes it is important to speak about these issues. If survivors choose to report, Wong said, she hopes they feel safe and supported. “It’s important to speak truth into these issues, because a main weapon of oppression is silence and Young Life has silenced a lot of us,” Wong said. “That’s why we’re speaking out today. We will not be silenced and we are not going away.” Daily News Editors Lily Gooding and Jasmin Lee can be reached at goodingl@umich.edu and itsshlee@umich.edu.
RESEARCH
What is the ‘Go Blue Flu’?
People are more sensitized and aware of coughing, illness now given the pandemic, epidemoiology professor explains NADIR AL-SAIDI Daily Staff Reporter
The “Go Blue Flu” and the “college plague” are just some of the witty names students at the University of Michigan and across the country have termed the back-toschool sickness that has infiltrated lecture halls with dry coughs and runny noses. Though students across campus may be experiencing flu-like symptoms, the flu season has yet to come. So what is the source of this seemingly infectious illness? The Michigan Daily sat with Dr. Joseph Eisenberg, U-M professor and chair of the epidemiology department and public health expert, to get answers as to what these symptoms could possibly be from. Is the Go Blue Flu really the flu? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the influenza virus can be contracted year-round, but getting the flu is quite common in the fall and winter months, specifically between December and March. Eisenberg said an early September-October flu season is highly unlikely. “As the weather gets colder, people are inside more … so transmission is more efficient with respect
to aerosol droplets, very much similar to COVID-19, which does better in colder and drier environments,” Eisenberg said. “However, early October is quite early for the flu season. There (are) also a lot of other viruses that cause the common cold.” Eisenberg said it is more likely that students are infected with other respiratory viruses that are not COVID-19. These can include various respiratory syncytial viruses like rhinoviruses, the other coronaviruses and others. Why is everyone sick? Some studies suggest that quarantine and isolation lead to a weakened immune system. Eisenberg said this could be the biggest explanation as to why so many students are experiencing flu-like symptoms. He also explained that the congregation of students across the country in one city, or even one lecture hall, can expose everyone to viruses that may have been localized to one community or general area back home. “If people have not been exposed to (viruses that cause the common cold) in a long time because they’ve been mostly at home and not socializing, their immune system is not quite primed to fight off viruses,” Eisenberg said. Even as COVID-19 cases at the
University remain low, some U-M students have said they have witnessed their peers coughing in their classrooms and lecture halls. Eisenberg noted that, after experiencing a pandemic, most people are no longer desensitized to coughs and sneezes that would have otherwise gone unnoticed in the past. “The flu pre-COVID really wasn’t on students’ radar and I think that COVID-19 has increased our awareness of coughing,” Eisenberg said. “It used to be acceptable to come to class or work with a cough. The majority of people probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought. I think that people are sensitized to coughing now in a way they probably weren’t two years ago.” Dr. Erik Nielsen, professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, teaches roughly 150 students in a single lecture hall twice a week. He said that it is not uncommon to see people coughing this time of year. “It’s not uncommon to see this many people coughing a little bit, but I think we are more aware of it now — (we) have been isolating for a year and have not been hearing these coughs in large groups of people in a long time,” Nielsen said.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2021 — 3
CAMPUS LIFE
Students face online scams when buying football tickets
The Michigan Daily found three red flags to look out for RONI KANE
Daily Staff Reporter
Having just transferred from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow, Russia, LSA junior Veronika Volevich was looking forward to attending her first football game in The Big House. She made a post in the “Buying and Selling Tickets UMich” Facebook group on Sept. 4 requesting that anyone selling tickets to the football games on Sept. 11 or Sept. 18 comment or contact her privately. Within a few minutes, Volevich said she got a message from Facebook user “Elena Beretta.” Beretta told Volevich she had tickets for both games in Section 31, Row 10 and asked Volevich to make an offer. Volevich suggested $40 per ticket and said Beretta immediately accepted. But an hour after Volevich electronically paid Beretta for the tickets, Volevich said she still had not received them. When Beretta stopped responding to her private messages, Volevich realized it had been a scam. “Then I decided to make a post about (Beretta) in the (Buying and Selling) group,” Volevich said. “I received three or four messages from other people saying … she had used the same exact strategy on them.” Associate Athletic Director Kurt Svoboda confirmed in an email to The Michigan Daily that this is the first year that student football tickets have been solely distributed online. Ice hockey and basketball student tickets have been virtual since 2019. “We do not have plans to return to physical tickets in the future but we will continue to follow best practices within the industry to provide security within the ticketing landscape,” Svoboda wrote. “Mobile ticketing is proven to be far more safe and effective than paper tickets as it relates to authenticity.” Volevich is not the only student who has recently been scammed while trying to buy student tickets through social media. After talking to several other students with similar experiences to Volevich, The Michigan Daily found three major warning signs to look out for — and ways to mitigate the risks — when trying to buy student tickets online. “I know I’ll never get my money back,” Volevich said. “I just want to warn other people so this doesn’t happen to them.” Red Flag 1: Pressuring the buyer to pay the full cost before sending the ticket LSA sophomore Audrey Beach was scammed on Aug. 21 while trying to purchase an entire season of student tickets through the Buying and Selling Facebook group. Beach said a scammer by the name
of “Reilly Kat” liked Beach’s post in the group, so Beach reached out to her to purchase the ticket Once they agreed on a price, Beach said Kat told her to set up a Zelle account and transfer the money immediately if she wanted the tickets. “She was definitely pressuring me into paying right away, like as soon as possible, and to get a different payment app that was better for her,” Beach said. Beach said she was out shopping with her family at the time and told Kat she wanted to wait until she got home to set up a Zelle account on her laptop. Kat insinuated she would sell the tickets to someone else if Beach took too long, suggesting she use her phone to transfer the payment if she was serious about buying. Since there were no live spectators at football games last fall, this was Beach’s first time purchasing tickets to a U-M football game. She said if she had known more about how tickets were transferred, the value of season tickets or the tricks scammers traditionally used, she would have been more careful. “If I had that experience last year, if I had ever been to a football game … I definitely would have had a better understanding of what I was trying to buy and how to do it safely,” Beach said. To protect both buyers and sellers from losing the full value of the tickets, Beach and other scam victims suggested sending half of the cost before receiving the tickets and the other half after. Red Flag 2: Asking that money be sent through new payment applications All of the scam victims interviewed by The Daily said the PayPal-owned application Venmo — a middle ground between a payment transfer service and social media platform — is their preferred interface for virtual payments. Venmo appears frequently in lists of the applications college students use on a daily basis, and a third of Venmo users are between the ages of 18 and 24. Volevich said Beretta refused to use Venmo when they were discussing how the payment would be sent. “(Beretta) said she would prefer either Zelle or Apple Pay,” Volevich said. “I found that weird since everyone has Venmo.” Volevich said she consented to using Apple Pay since she had used it previously to make contactless payments at local businesses. When a pop-up warning screen appeared indicating that this particular Apple Pay transfer might not be safe, Volevich said, she assumed Apple Pay flagged any non-commercial transfer and dismissed it. “When I started the Apple Pay transaction, I was warned by Apple that this might be fraud,” Volevich said. “I assumed that
since I’m transferring money to another person, Apple Pay might just suspect fraud, so I didn’t pay attention to it.” Besides paying attention to explicit security messages from payment apps, Volevich and other scam victims recommended telling the seller they are not comfortable using certain payment methods they are less familiar with. They also suggested that if the buyer and seller can arrange to meet in person while the transaction takes place, it would increase transparency and reduce scam risks. “I would ask the (seller) to meet in person,” Volevich said. “Since all (students) live in Ann Arbor mostly, it’s not that hard to meet in person.” Red flag 3: Facebook account is not active and person’s student status is unclear If they had paid better attention to key details on the scammer’s Facebook pages, all of the scam victims said they might not have been so quick to send money to strangers. 2019 University alum Zena Shunnar told The Daily when she was a student, she had never heard of scams involving tickets to U-M sporting events. But when she was scammed while trying to buy three tickets over Facebook from a “fellow alum” to the Sept. 11 game, Shunnar said she found out the hard way that things had changed. Shunnar messaged “Simone Williams” who claimed she had tickets available. Williams’ profile mentioned she had recently moved to Paris and had studied at École Polytechnique de Milan in Milan, Italy. Shunnar said she thought this was odd, but gave Williams the benefit of the doubt, supposing Williams wanted to sell her tickets because of her current residence in Europe. “I kind of made up the story in my head on why she could be selling these tickets and why it says she lives in Paris now,” Shunnar said. LSA senior Julia Smoot said the individual who scammed her had very few Facebook friends and only had posted a couple of times — with each post receiving zero likes. Similar to Shunnar, Smoot said she had also purchased paper tickets several times before and had never had any issues. Both recommended taking more time to identify inconsistencies on the Facebook profiles of prospective sellers or buyers. They also both suggested using MCommunity to verify their student or alumni status. “I started looking up (student ticket sellers) in MCommunity and I found at least two other people who didn’t go here,” Smoot said. “This one guy just kept saying, ‘you’re safe with me, you’re safe with me.’ He did not go here.”
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Arts
4 — Wednesday, October 13, 2021
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
The F B - S i do o d e Like art, food has the ability to bring us back to our fondest memories of people, places and moments. Food can comfort us and help us feel connected to others, but it
can also force us to confront our deepest insecurities. We make countless movies, television shows, cookbooks, songs and TikToks honoring food. And I, for one, will
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never stop getting sucked into the trap of watching videos of a stranger cook and consume their own delicious creation in the wee hours of the nighttime.
In our second B-Side of the 2021-22 school year, Daily Arts investigates our deep-rooted relationship with food and how it influences our self-expression in all forms of art —
The inherent eroticism of the Paul Hollywood ROSS LONDON Daily Arts Writer
I’ll state my case plainly: Paul Hollywood is a sex symbol. The British celebrity baker and host of the “Great British Bake Off” may be a bit of an asshole, sure, but so were James Dean and President Kennedy. A quick visit to Twitter reveals a clearly polarized public opinion. While one twitter user tweeted “If Paul Hollywood wants a thick bottom he knows where to find me,” another said: “Thinking about saying to paul Hollywood ‘sorry daddy I’ve been a bad bad baker.’” However, the best comment was that “Paul Hollywood is known as a silver fox because he eats voles and urinates in bins.” Hollywood’s sex appeal is a running joke on the show as well. In one episode, host Noel Fielding likened Paul’s rear end to “two beige moons, dancing in the sky,” which contestant Maggie remarked was a “rather nice” thought. Stickers of Hollywood with chiseled abs can be found on Etsy (and made a cameo in episode one of the latest season). Former stars have criticized Hollywood’s harshness, and fans love to hate him when he makes contestants cry, but deep down, I think many can agree that “Paul Hollywood is such a dilf bro, omg,” a statement which was (naturally) followed by two agonized emojis. But what makes Hollywood so sexy? It certainly isn’t the way he berates old ladies. There’s nothing sexy about that. But it’s so easy to forget his brutishness when you see him extend his right hand for the elusive Hollywood Handshake. Reserved only for what he deems the most impressive bakes, the handshake is arguably more coveted than the weekly “Star Baker” crown. That meaty paw, connected to a forearm — thickened by years of kneading dough — that emerges from a sleazily cuffed and coolly untucked shirt, is enough to send shivers down spines. The effect of the shake remains the same from season to season: A strong hand extended in silent praise from an otherwise frigid critic is hot, if you’re the kind of person who thrives on positive reinforcement. I’ll pass that off to the fact that I’m a Leo, but feel free to read into it further. If there’s something else to the Hollywood Handshake, it’s the oceanic eyes. With a piercing blue stare, Hollywood must have X-ray vision and can probably read minds. Nestled beneath a furrowed brow, Hollywood’s “fuck me” eyes could
melt butter, which he’d then work into the perfectly un-soggy bottom of a cheesecake or something. The final piece to this puzzle, and the one that has nothing to do with Paul’s lumberjack limbs or Ice King eyes, is baking itself. In a very cottagecore (i.e., antithetical to the traditionally masculine Paul) way, there’s nothing sexier than a loaf of bread, baked just for you. The gift of comforting carbohydrates, the luscious and erotic aroma of yeasted dough, the time spent by a loved one so that you may slather a chunk of hot sourdough with butter — bread and baking are a love language.
doesn’t finish last (a real James Bond, he races Aston Martins in his free time). He has his issues too, cheating on his now ex-wife with a co-host on another baking competition in 2013. This he called “the biggest mistake of my life” in a BBC interview at the time, but what else do you say about this sort of thing? Another big mistake in his life was in 2003, when Hollywood dressed up as a Nazi for a New Years’ Eve, to which he responded, 14 years hence, “I am absolutely devastated if this caused offence to anyone.” The classic non-apology, shifting blame to those who were offended and then proceeding to use his
Daily Arts Writer
I love to read about food, especially when I’m down. Apart from being necessary for survival, great food is a compositional masterpiece, a labor of love and a sensory puzzle. Reading about food satisfies an elementary sense of curiosity while offering delectable imagery and a healthy dose of escapism. More than anything, it is comfort. Here are the books I turn to: Food for thought: “Sourdough” by Robin Sloan “Sourdough” is warm and fluffy, with the funkiness of a good starter. The story follows Lois, a software engineer who moves to San Francisco, where she starts to bake sourdough bread with a mysteriously animate starter culture. One would expect a book about bread to be apolitical; however, as you keep flipping through the pages, it’s easier to see undercurrents of Sloan’s commentary on technology and how it changes culture (as in a “fungal party hellscape,” but also the characteristic features of everyday life). Sloan asserts that “food is history of the deepest kind,” and follows Lois as she overworks herself at her day job while uncovering the source of her fungal party hellscape. Lois continually questions her work. Her programming job needs her to solve an endless scope of new problems: “Baking, by contrast, was solving the same problem over and over again, because every time, the solution was consumed. I mean, really: chewed and digested. Thus, the problem was ongoing. Thus, the problem was perhaps the point.” “Sourdough” wraps you in a soft, disarming hug — its taste is strongly
— Sophia Yoon, Senior Arts Editor
The downfall of ‘Bon Appetit,’ one year later
Design by Megan Young
KATRINA STEBBINS Daily Arts Writer
Design by Madison Grosvenor
Especially for the post-lockdown baking crowd, the comfort and love found at the bottom of a cake pan is certainly part of the hobby’s appeal. It isn’t a great leap to suggest that baking is intimate, sexual, erotic. There are 200k posts tagged #crumbshot on Instagram. Beyond the blooming aromas and communal joy of a batch of cookies, the art of baking is arousing even when no one is there to share. The way a roll gently rises and falls of its own accord in the distorted heat of an oven, the dregs of batter licked flagrantly from a spatula, the soft sizzle of a cooling loaf in a quiet room. The eroticism of baking is a big part of Hollywood’s charm. As a prominent face of 21st-century baking, he stands for it all. Anyone who can make such delightful things, and especially one who can show you how it’s done, is worthy of a desiring, perhaps lustful eye. Hollywood is no “nice guy,” and he certainly
WWII-veteran grandfather as proof that he does not like Nazis. This is to say that Hollywood is not a perfect man. He makes old ladies cry and does his hair like a repressed Guy Fieri. These problematic aspects of Hollywood’s history might make him less attractive, but they don’t kill his “Bake Off” sex appeal. His flaws notwithstanding, he remains a sex symbol for lovers of baked goods everywhere. The celebrity chef community could do with a page from Hollywood’s book. The signature flames that Fieri wears on his clothing are frozen solid in Paul’s eyes. The suave dad style of Bobby Flay is given a burly, British twist. Even Giada De Laurentiis’s smile is mercifully softened into a sly, all-knowing grin. In fairness, I’ll concede that, style-wise, Hollywood is lacking. But his hands are his hands, no matter the sleeve from which they emerge.
Comfort food you can read MEERA KUMAR
literature, film, social media and much more. This is the Food B-Side.
thought-provoking yet wholesome. When reading it for the first time, I remember finishing a chapter, sighing contentedly and falling asleep. It’s not a book you want to down; instead, you want to savor it. Solving the same problem over and over again isn’t such a bad thing; Lois loves the meditative process of baking bread, and I love the equally generative process of reading “Sourdough.” Bread and circuses: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins This one isn’t technically comfort food, but it’s a comfort read, and ultimately, a story about food. Set in a world of food insecurity where foraging is necessary, “The Hunger Games” is a dystopia where children
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How TikTok has transformed our love affair with food
the food around her. The game she hunts in District 12 is sparse but fresh; berries are plucked directly from bushes. As Katniss is first introduced to the rich, overly luxurious foods of the Capitol, she fights “to keep it down,” overwhelmed: “What must it be like, I wonder, to live in a world where food appears at the press of a button?” The more I think about it, it’s messed up to say that “The Hunger Games” is a comfort read — after re-reading the young adult series so many times in middle school with friends, I’ve fallen into the same trap as the Capitol’s audience. The world is ridiculously captivating: the political intrigue, the delectable luxuries of the Capitol and of course,
Design by Lindsay Farb
are forced to fight to the death in order to feed their communities. There are too many examples to name: Characters are named after edible plants, like Katniss and Prim. There are symbols of hope, like dandelions, which characters forage after starving for weeks. And who could forget the boy with the bread? As Katniss moves through different worlds, she makes a point to notice
I spent almost the entirety of my pandemic year in my apartment in Ann Arbor, which is to say that I spent it on my couch in front of my TV. The early days of quarantine have mostly turned to mush in my memory, but one thing I can remember distinctly is watching Claire Saffitz make gourmet Girl Scout Cookies. From March 2020 through May 2020, content from the Bon Appétit YouTube channel was more or less the only thing I cared to put on TV. I was a fan before the pandemic, but something in my anxiety-addled brain latched onto Bon Appetit in a new way during that time. Maybe it was that the Test Kitchen chefs were easy to develop parasocial relationships with (I still think that Gaby Melian and I would really get along in real life), or that the process of cooking, especially in the hands of these experts, was just soothing to watch. Maybe there was a little bit of schadenfreude (an uber-German concept describing the sort of perverse pleasure you can get from other people’s misfortune) involved as well. Part of the fun of watching “Gourmet Makes” was wondering if, after days of intense frustration, Saffitz would ever crack the recipe for gourmet Starburst. I don’t tend to think of food as an escape, but Bon Appétit made it feel like one. There was something warm and welcoming about watching these smiling, personable chefs
make beautiful dishes in a bright kitchen. They talked to the camera as if everyone on the other side was a friend. Especially when I was sad, ordering in on most nights and isolated from most of my real-life friends, each video was like a shot of serotonin to my brain. However, everything came crashing down in early June. A picture of Bon Appétit’s thenEditor-in-Chief Adam Rapoport in brownface surfaced on Twitter, which opened an enormous can of worms not only about his conduct at Bon Appétit but about the way people of color were being treated on the channel. Sohla El-Waylly was the first of the Test Kitchen chefs to reveal an incredible pay disparity between white employees and employees of color. Although she was quickly becoming one of the most popular chefs on the channel, she had not been compensated for any of her video appearances and was making significantly less than white contributors. Things spiraled from there. Rapoport resigned, most white Test Kitchen chefs publicly vowed not to appear in Bon Appétit videos until chefs of color were fairly compensated and some, including El-Waylly, left the company outright. Others still were called out for their own problematic behavior, and previous contributors disclosed their own experiences with racial discrimination at Bon Appétit.
the star-crossed lovers from District 12. Suzanne Collins used the trilogy to comment on how, as long as we receive our panem et circenses, we can neglect humanity. To love “The Hunger Games” is, quite literally, to enjoy our bread and circuses. But damn, if it isn’t a juicy read.
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SARAH RAHMAN Daily Arts Writer
Food is a powerful thing. It has brought people together for centuries, between families, communities and cultures. From birthdays to neighborhood potlucks to holiday feasts, the nature of sharing food with others is a tradition carved into our very existence. We’ve found bread with score marks in the ashes of Vesuvius, indicating its intention to be divided and shared, and a OnePoll study found that 84% of Americans say food has the power to connect people of different cultures and backgrounds. Indeed, the sharing of food and recipes is nothing new, but recently there’s been a shift in how we share recipes, as well as who shares them. The digital age has brought on the popularity of cooking videos. TikTok in particular, with its unparalleled ability to create widespread virality, is a giant in the age of the viral food trend. You might remember Gigi Hadid’s famous pasta alla vodka recipe, simply consisting of fried onions and garlic, heavy whipping cream, tomato sauce, vodka and the pasta of your choice, or the feta pasta trend that was so popular it caused feta cheese shortages. Hadid was obviously not the originator of pasta alla vodka and feta cheese is no new ingredient, but with this new era, watching cooking videos is far from an isolated moment an individual experiences before dinnertime. Rather, it is a concept commonly shared and discussed throughout popular culture. This isn’t to say food trends are a new concept — I mean who could forget the Jello trends of the 1950s, which included adding gelatin to practically everything, from a
vegetable and sugar mix called “Perfection Salad,” to submerging lamb chops in the mix. Even in more recent times, there has been the avocado trend of the 2010s, which caused the relentless slander of millennials and their spending habits. Yet the recent rise of food trends originating from TikTok is different from the trends of the past: The food is usually cooked rather than bought and can be made by anyone, often including younger generations. The most viral food trends usually use simple, accessible ingredients and don’t require much skill to master. Part of the allure is that even someone with very limited cooking experience can watch a minute-long video and think, “I can do that!” (And
unspoken limits. Dialogue usually doesn’t center around nourishing, balanced meals, and rarely centers around the process of cooking. Yet the emergence of viral cooking videos on TikTok, a platform where 62% of users are between the ages of 10 and 29, has changed this, and more people who have never cooked before are now encountering fun cooking content that they can replicate themselves. There are benefits to conversations about food that aren’t centered around caloric intake or body image. Normalizing society’s relationship with food, particularly within the digital world that so often fills our feeds with unattainable ideals, is a healthy thing. While 69% of girls
Design by Jessica Chiu
of course, the foods must also look enticing enough to warrant the desire to make them.) Why is this change so significant? We have lived in a popular culture that has frowned upon eating or has provided narrow definitions for what we’re allowed to talk about. We can be quirky with phrases like “I love pizza!” and “Don’t talk to me before I’ve had my coffee!” but there are
ages 10 to 18 state that photographs of models and celebrities in the media motivated their “ideal” body shape, it can be helpful to build a neutral relationship with food — one that isn’t motivated by any endgame outside of creating something tasty for the fun of it.
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Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 — 5
Disordered eating and the death of my creativity ERIN EVANS
Daily Arts Contributor
Content warning: Disordered eating Writing was how I defined myself before food was all that mattered. I was a writer. This was the part of me that connected to the world outside of myself, what I thought about and what I wanted to do. I lived to tell stories. They could be stories I made up, stories of other people or stories of my own. It wasn’t something I questioned or decided to care about; it had always been there, as much a part of me as my arms and hair and stomach. I have thought many times about what caused the descent that stripped me of everything I once cared for, including my art. I hated getting bigger from as long ago as I can remember. I compared myself to everyone at least as far back as my time on a gymnastics team. In middle and high school, I was shy and not good at connecting with people, and instead of trying to get better, I told myself I had nothing to offer. My personality was not enough. Being good at writing certainly wasn’t enough. I didn’t know how to improve those things, but people told me I was pretty, so I clung to the hope that I would find respect and friendship by being “the pretty one.” I thought that since people commented on it, if I could improve my body, make it perfect, then it would somehow solve all my problems. My body mattered before food did, but then the two became tangled together and impossible to separate. Creativity stopped
mattering and turned scary. It was something I couldn’t control. I never knew if it would come to my rescue or push me away, making me feel worthless. I stopped hoping for inspiration in favor of control. So the mirror and the scale and whether I ate only soup for dinner the night before became ways of determining how I was allowed to feel, what I was allowed to do, what I could eat and what stricter rules I would implement for myself. It might seem like disordered eating would leave you with more time. If I was eating less, becoming less, food would take up less space in my life. Instead, it took over and erased every other part of me. I spent less time eating, but I spent every second of every day thinking about food, and everything else that once mattered faded away. How could something as trivial as my artistic pursuits matter when I was missing something I needed to survive? I did not realize I was being drained of my passion for writing at first. There was a wilting part of my brain that still liked the idea of telling stories, but I had no energy to do it myself, and even if I had, I would not have known what to write about. I still said that I liked writing, but at the end of high school, when the writing program I was in concluded, I had no plans to continue the craft. I was preoccupied with scheduling times to go to the gym and filling the tiring hours of the afternoons trying to satisfy my hunger with vivid images of eating chocolate cake. The world around me that had once ignited ideas in my mind was bleak, and I didn’t notice that I stopped having ideas
because there was no spare room in my head for them. Advice books for writers said to “write what you know” and “find a subject you care about,” but the only thing I knew was the pain of being consumed by thoughts of food, and I couldn’t write about it, because I didn’t want it to matter. I hated the part of me that cared so much about it and, beyond not finding a subject I loved, writing itself was no longer a part of me or a way to explore my world. Besides, that world had turned so far inward and became focused on something I couldn’t write about, even if I wanted to. In my second semester of college, years after I started to lose my passion for writing, I could go several hours at a time without thinking about when and what I would eat next. I still cared about my disordered eating, but my fascination involved looking back on my experience from the other side. I wanted to express myself again, to say what I had felt when I was trapped inside a body I refused to love. But even when my experience was easier to talk about, it didn’t feel worth writing about. I considered discussing eating disorders on the YouTube channel I had at the time or working my experiences into open-ended school assignments involving writing. But when I tried to do any research, it upset me and I wanted to distance myself from the topic completely. Getting over my ruinous relationship with food did not bring my passion for writing back.
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It left an empty space, and my brain was not accustomed to feeling joy from an activity other than eating after starving. My art became strictly scheduled. I finished a draft of a novel, a thousand and then five hundred words at a time, over the course of the summer. I didn’t know if I cared about the novel — I still don’t — but I enjoyed some of the writing. Getting into descriptions brought me joy. I never wrote more than I had to, never kept going because I was enveloped by a scene. I worried about the fact that if I didn’t force myself to do the things I claimed to love, I would not do them out of my own desire. The constant
anxious tension that came with disordered eating had left, but nothing had taken its place. A few nights ago, I was having a good night. My work was done, and I gave myself permission to relax and do nothing at all for the next few hours before I went to bed. I considered watching a show or reading a book, but I was itching for something else, and I knew that wouldn’t be satisfying. I wanted to do something, something of my own. I wanted to create something and put it out into the world instead of just taking things in.
I have this habit of being acutely aware of the finite amount of time I have with those I love. Every so often, I’ll get this feeling, almost like a premonition: “Good god, I’m going to miss this so much.” As a result, I tend to mourn the absence of these “good times” before they’ve actually passed. It heightens my
appreciation for the present moment: I clutch these memories-to-be more tightly, love those around me more deeply and hold them closer to my heart. This is how I’ve come to feel about the nightly dinners my housemates and I have.
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Love is the secret ingredient in ‘Pig’ TATE LAFRENIER Daily Arts Writer
I’ll admit— if Nicolas Cage cooked a meal for me, I’d be a little weirded out, but I’d still be flattered. Yet that’s exactly what he does in Michael Sarnoski’s debut film “Pig.” The premise is refreshingly odd. Reclusive trufflehunter Rob Feld (Cage, “Willy’s Wonderland”) has his beloved truffle-hunting pig stolen, and he embarks on a journey into his past life to get it back. The film is an inversion of the classic revenge story: Think “John Wick,” but instead of the protagonist brutally murdering his animal-abusing enemies, he shows them empathy and compassion through the act of cooking. In this film about grief and loss, food takes center stage. Human emotion and food are inextricable from one another in “Pig.” Prior to retreating into the Oregon wilderness, Feld was a world-renowned chef, revered for his ability to cook soul-piercing meals. However, after the death of his wife, Feld became a recluse.
Nevertheless, food remains his love language, a language made more potent by the tragedies he’s suffered. And what language is more savory than a lovingly prepared meal? The act of cooking for another human being is inherently selfless, and there’s a certain vulnerability that comes with cooking: You’re offering up your own labor to be enjoyed, or critiqued, by others. There’s always that tortuous moment when you’re waiting with bated breath as your diner takes their first bite. Do you like it? Is it okay? Do you want more? Does it need more seasoning? These are questions you need the answers to, but don’t dare to ask. Cooking is more than an act of vulnerability, though; it’s an undertaking steeped in empathy. How can you prepare a meal without taking into consideration the needs of the person you’re serving? How much avocado should I use? Should I poach or scramble these eggs? Is this too much oregano? Queries with no purpose beyond the enjoyment of the guest. Throughout “Pig,” Feld capitalizes on food’s capacity to foster human connection,
and he uses his past as a chef to tease out others’ dearest emotions. When the wealthy businessman Darius (Adam Arkin, “Sons of Anarchy”), who orchestrated the theft of Feld’s pig, refuses to release it, Feld doesn’t retaliate. Instead, he prepares a meal he had served Darius and his now-comatose wife years earlier. Previously, the meal (pigeon with foraged wild mushrooms and huckleberries, for those wondering) had a profound impact on Darius, essentially revitalizing his marriage. Now, Feld has cooked it again and sits down with Darius to enjoy it. You know that scene in “Ratatouille” where Remy’s dish launches the antagonistic food critic into a series of fond childhood flashbacks? This was basically that scene, with food being the warmth that thaws the frozen heart. Comparisons to “Ratatouille” aside, this scene in “Pig” prods at a fundamental truth: Sharing a meal with another person is a deeply intimate event. Once you finally take your place at the table beside those you’ve served, there’s a shared experience, the millions of tastebuds of each person lighting up in unison.
Exploring Ann Arbor’s local ice cream scene to find home KAYA GINSKY
Daily Arts Contributor
Homemade ice cream is the center of my life. Since starting my summer job at a tiny family-owned shop four years ago, homemade ice cream has become my source of peace. It grounds me and calms me in any place and any situation. When I travel, the first place I hit is the destination’s signature ice cream shop. Local ice cream stores, with their homey air of familiarity, can be serene. But the stores are also exciting, immersing customers into the culture of their community with friendly scoopers, uniquely local flavors and close neighborhood ties. In my first month at the University of Michigan, ice cream from Ann Arbor’s local and family-owned shops kept me sane. On my first night of college, I headed straight to Blank Slate Creamery. Being there reminded me of why I chose the University. It was loud and teeming with young people, as much of Ann Arbor is, but the warm aroma of waffle cones, cookies and brownies surrounded me like a warm hug. Cute chalkboards covered in the writing of friendly patrons and servers covered the shop. Flavors like Apple Cinnamon Crisp invited me into my first midwestern fall, while Wolverine Tracks reminded me of the overwhelming spirit of Ann Arbor. Browned Butter Cookie Dough was so rich and comforting that I (almost) saved some for the impending first-day-of-class breakdown. University alumn Janice Sigler, along with son Nate Nuttle and husband Jerry Sigler, opened Blank Slate, an all-natural and allhomemade ice cream store, in 2014. Since then, the family has become an invaluable member of the Ann Arbor small business community
ice cream (salted caramel espresso swirl with espresso chocolate flakes), heaped with hot fudge, I worried that I’d feel painfully nostalgic for my classic American summers. Instead, I felt content. While employees do not make the ice cream or chocolates on-site, they locally source all products. “All of our products are Michigan made,” owner and manager Sarah Seta proudly emphasized in an interview with The Daily. The sense of artisanship and Michigan loyalty permeates the store, which Sarah and Jim Seta opened on State Street in 2012. They provide treats, discounts and funding for local schools, churches and nonprofits while employing many University students and serving students stumbling down State Street into the late night. Their stunning display of Alpine Chocolat Haus artisan chocolates and lineup of coffee treats from local favorite Bearclaw Coffee has customers wondering if two desserts are too much (it never is). “Everyone that we deal with are also family-owned local businesses. So we relate to the way they run their businesses,” Seta said. “And their products are Design by Erin Shi exceptional.” If you say you like ice cream, every go to Blank Slate, and people who go to Blank Slate might not know about local will steer you to Washtenaw Dairy. As I sat down to write this HOMES yet.” On the third night of Welcome article, I realized I had never visited. Week, I walked the literal and But as soon as I walked in, I never figurative “lonely road” of State wanted to leave. In the best possible Street to my current campus favorite: way, it feels like somewhere a Michigan Creamery. Michigan grandparent would take you on a hot Creamery reminded me so much of summer day. Vintage posters cover my workplace that I almost called the dark wood-paneled walls. Next my boss (largely because I wanted to the rows of Stroh’s homemade ice to steal their creative flavors for cream (a Detroit classic) and lines of next summer). It has the perfect fresh donuts and coffee, is the perfect diner feel, with bright blue walls, little town store, with dairy products, fun colorful lighting, a mural of Ann wine and beer (in kegs too!) Arbor and just about every ice cream Read more at and chocolate treat imaginable. As MichiganDaily.com I dug into my Detroit Grand Slam and invaluable to the life of many students and local regulars. In their eight years, the family has grown closer to one another and stayed true to Ann Arbor. “It’s been eight years, and I’m still kind of dumbfounded by the opportunity that the community has given us … but also by the opportunity I was given by my own family, having built this place,” said Nuttle, Blank Slate’s operations manager, in an interview with The Daily. The family sources local ingredients ranging from RoosRoast coffee, to HOMES Brewery beer, to Frog Holler produce and Guernsey Farms Dairy. Through their focus on community, Blank Slate uplifts fellow local businesses. “We get to share each other’s customers,” Nuttle noted. “When we worked with HOMES Brewery, that was a big partnership for us, because people who go to HOMES might not
Design by Elizabeth Yoon
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Deconstructing the dinner playlist CONOR DURKIN Daily Arts Writer
You’re standing before your stovetop, spatula in hand as the oil begins to heat up in your pan, the sun already setting and casting a shadow of the clock tower across from your kitchen window. Your stomach and the burner growl in anticipation as you scroll through your playlists, looking for the perfect song to start your cooking: one hand clutching a bowl of ingredients just inches away, ready to be stir-fried, the other hand hovering above your phone screen, deciding between the melodic gems of Brazilian Samba or Spanish Bolero. Yes, the dinner playlist — it certainly necessitates such delicate attention. It’s much like the indecisive shower-goer moments before stepping into the heat of the bath, one foot dry, one foot wet, frantically making their mind up on what songs might fill their eight-minute scrub. The dinner playlist (otherwise known as the cooking playlist, or songs to fry to, slice-n-dice tunes, the chef’s curation, a “vin et fromage” soundtrack, if you will) differs from a selection of shower melodies in that it isn’t a simple block of sound to fill a space of time with but rather a deliberate curation of music that builds upon and improves a mood or a feeling. The division of time in the creation of a dinner vibe, the ambiance and the adherence to an established aesthetic (Italian food necessitates not just pasta but Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore,” of course) all point to an effort to fit pieces together into a feeling. From the taste of cast-ironcrisped rosemary focaccia to the music filling the incursion from start to finish in accordance with a style. As we curate a playlist of all our favorite hits, an image forms of what we want our 7-9 p.m. attempts at the culinary arts to look and feel like. Music is the dancer that accompanies us in our deep-seated need to romanticize, to aestheticize, to create excitement in the mundane.
Cooking, and by extension “dinner,” is a start-to-finish journey, a commitment. First, there’s the careful selection of a recipe from your TikTok recipe favorites or, perhaps, your YouTube channel “Binging with Babish” video bookmarks. Then, you take to purchasing ingredients days in advance from a corner store farmer’s market or the endless aisles of a supermarket. Finally, comes the mental preparation, the actual preparation and the ceremonious start, the waiting, the checking, the re-checking, the plating and then sitting down with the end product: dinner. What better way to spend time agonizing over the perfect sear on a steak or the rising of a levain bread than with the faithful sounds of the music that has accompanied us in every comfort, discomfort and those moments in between in our lives? Maybe, you’re listening to the folk of Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” or the soul on Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” on repeat while eating stale crackers and cheese because you’re trying to get closer to home than you’d ever thought possible. Maybe it’s The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Hendrix, The Velvet Underground, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder and Elton John — the music your father played set to the ill attempts at cooking he too employed in his dinner nights for you as a kid. Maybe you instead require the up-beat tunes your mom included alongside her culinary endeavors, with Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Phil Collins and Bowie. Maybe you’re even a culinary prodigy, and Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” plays as you compose your symphony of eclectic plating decisions — complete with an internal monologue worthy of a Chef’s Table voiceover narrating your life’s work. Or maybe the dinner is instead just a blank canvas for your body’s beat, and to fill that is the dance tunes of House or Techno, pop like Dua Lipa or Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Rina Sawayama or songwriters with screamable melodies: Rodrigo, Eilish, The Weekend, a music video for
whatever recipe pops to mind at 7:45 p.m. Maybe classics like Patti Smith, Elliot Smith, Joni Mitchell and PJ Harvey set the singer-songwriter stage for a night you wish was rainy, ending with a warm pan shakshuka with flatbread. Whether we like to admit it or not, the music we choose to play says something about ourselves, just as the food we decide to cook does. In a restaurant, selection is an ill-afforded luxury. Although menu items come aplenty, your options are limited to just that: choices on paper. The food comes cooked by another’s attention, wine or beer poured by somebody else’s steady hand. And the music is carefully curated by the Top 40 hits on Spotify the manager has been getting really into ever since they discovered the term “boomer,” and realized that it can indeed be applied to 32-year-olds. But in our own kitchens and our own dining tables, music is chosen by us, as is the food we decide to serve. Maybe your soundtrack of choice is none at all. You opt for silence because the auditory pleasures of food cooking mere inches away from your ears is certainly enough to fill the silence of the evening. Some might call you weird, but you know in your heart of hearts the sizzling of onions in a pan preparing for your signature roasted garlic pasta sauce brings just as much joy as the sizzling of Doja Cat on a heartbroken trap beat. The dinnertime playlist is not for you, then. But no matter, because you appreciate the beauty of the mundane, this everyday shakedown of routine into a masterful seduction of flavors and tastes and spices and textures. Dinner is hard, making it is hard and no matter how hard we try to decorate the time with artsy plating, Instagram-worthy setups and the music we listen to, it does get quite boring. We get restless, tired and exhausted from the whims of our lives.
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Michigan in Color Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala look was not iconic, it was hypocritical
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
6 — Wednesday, October 13, 2021
REEM HASSAN MiC Columnist
“Kim Kardashian West understood the assignment.” “Genius. Pure Brilliance. She swallowed them all.” “Iconic.” Top-line celebrities and fans used these words to describe what they thought of Kim Kardashian’s questionable outfit for the 2021 Met Gala. If you’re unfamiliar with her ensemble, allow me to paint you a picture: Kim wore black from head to toe, literally. Every inch of Kim’s body, including her face, was covered in a black Balenciaga T-shirt, with two long capes dragging feet behind her. In a sea of the glitz and glamour of the Met, Kim’s plain but entirely bold number stood out like no other. The deepness and darkness of her outfit contrasted with the bright and vibrant looks of the Met Gala like night and day — almost to the point that Kim’s outfit seemed bat-like and scary at first glance. The theme of the Met was “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” an effort to highlight emerging American designers and “sentiment over practicality”. This left lots of ambiguity surrounding the meaning behind Kim’s outfit and how it fit into the theme of the event — what was so “American” about wearing something that seemed to represent nothing at all? Other celebrities paid tribute to historically iconic American figures: Kendall Jenner recreating Audrey Hepburn’s crystal gown look from “My Fair Lady” and Nikkie de Jager paying homage to American LGBTQ+ activist Marsha P. Johnson. Some contend that Kim’s outfit represented how she proved to be a recognizable figure despite being covered head to toe. Some thought that because Kim is so overly sexualized, her outfit was used as a point to prove that she can still be critiqued while being covered entirely. Whereas others, like me, concluded her outfit to have no significance to the theme at all.
Design by Janice Lin
As a Muslim woman who observes the hijab and has experienced firsthand discrimination for representing my faith, I find the response to Kim’s Met Gala ensemble to be awfully hypocritical. Kim’s outfit has sparked a large discussion, ranging from predictions for its “elaborate meaning” to praise for its “unique” and “original” nature. However, this conversation never included buzzwords like “oppressed” or “barbaric” the way buzzwords like these are presented when it comes to conversations regarding hijab. Naively, I thought Kim’s outfit would be regarded as a “miss.” Other than the fact that I felt as though it was simply ugly, I couldn’t wrap my mind around any sort of significance it could have possibly held. But could I say I was surprised when her praise began f looding my social media feed? No. After all, when Muslim women are covered, their practice is regarded as “third-worldly” and backwards. Kim’s outfit demonstrated that it is Muslim women, and Muslim women only, who face such bigotry. She was quite literally unable to see in her outfit, proving that when an A-list celebrity takes the practice to an even more extreme level, they are regarded as fashion icons. It screamed the double standard at play,
and I couldn’t believe how explicit the hypocrisy made itself out to be. Why are you shocked? It’s always been this way. But my excessive ref lections in trying to figure out where to channel my frustrations made me realize that my anger wasn’t aimed at Kim’s outfit — but rather the greater conversation of anti-Muslim bigotry. Kim Kardashian just happened to be the one to reiterate the societal hypocrisy that surrounds the hijab and other religious coverings. In reality, Muslim women, especially those who wear the hijab, have borne the greatest burden of anti-Muslim discrimination. Visibly Muslim women, such as those who wear the hijab, niqab or burka are at the frontlines of knowing what it feels like to be Muslim in the west. It means confronting daily discrimination, humiliation and the feeling of constant fear of what wearing a hijab in public could possibly lead to. It means waking up every day and actively making the decision to wear the hijab while knowing much too well that it sets you apart, and in the West, this distinction tends to be negative.
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How to be my dad HANNAH NGUYEN MiC Columnist
In southern Vietnamese culture, it is common to refer to your siblings based on their birth order. The rankings start with “hai,” which means two, so the oldest sibling would be __ hai, preceded by either “chị,” meaning older sister, or “anh,” meaning older brother. To reference younger siblings, we use “em.” Translations for this piece: hai = two, tư = four, sáu = six, tám = eight. Step 1: It’s May 12, 1958, when you are born. You are the eighth child, with four older sisters and three older brothers. Your name is Nguyen Hoang Hung, son to a dad who is a teacher and a mom who stays at home but sometimes helps her brother-inlaw at his herbal store. You get along best with your older brother whom you call “anh tám,” since he’s the closest to you in age. By the time you are born, your eldest sister will already be 17, your second eldest sister will have died when she was eight or nine and your eldest brother will have passed away when he was young, but you won’t remember specifics because you weren’t even born yet. Step 2: Your sister whom you call “chị tưư” takes you to the Christian elementary school every day, and you spend time after school playing with anh tám because there aren’t many neighborhood kids to play with. You enjoy playing with your dogs in the evening and sleeping in your mom’s bed at night. Step 3: By the time you are 18, you start worrying about escaping your home country. Your anh sáu has already embarked on his journey before you, so now, you’re going alone. November 1980 is when you’ll have to try for the first time. At night, you make your way to a set location along with other hopeful citizens to be led by a person who will take you to the boat. No one will show up. You do not return home, so instead, you go to a farm in the Rạch Sỏi village, staying at the home of your parents’ acquaintances, where you go from a city boy to a farmer boy. You do what they do: fishing, planting rice and yard work. Step 4: Across the next five months, you make five more unsuccessful attempts. After every failure or false call, you return to the farm, but you have to blend in, so you pick up smoking and drinking even though you despise it.
Step 5: When April 1981 comes around, you leave for your sixth try but before you can make it to the boat, the police start chasing you and the others. It’s nighttime so it’s hard to see. You try to hide in a ditch, but it doesn’t work; an officer grabs you by the shirt and beats you and jabs you with the butt of their gun in the ribs and stomach — an experience so painful and traumatizing that you will still have nightmares about it when you are older and safe. Step 6: For about two months, you are in a labor camp. Your head is shaven. Little scabies start to take over your body, and it hurts to sit or sleep. Every night you eat cabbage soup which, too, traumatizes you to the point where, in the future, when your wife cooks it for dinner, you eat it only to make her happy. Step 7: You are let out of jail because there is not enough room for the new incoming prisoners. You go back to the farm until August of that year where you return home to your parents and anh tám because the rest of your siblings are on their own journeys. Your father knows a man who needs extra help at his pharmacy, so you go there to work. From 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., you are at the pharmacy — aside from lunch when you bike home and your father teaches you English as you eat. You sleep at the pharmacy, too, because your parents fear that you will be caught if you go out at night. Step 8: On April 27, 1982, you leave the pharmacy for your seventh, and finally successful, attempt. After staying at a set location until the night of the 28th waiting for the boat, it comes and starts making its way deeper through the water. On the morning of May 1, you and 70 others go from the fishing boat onto a Norwegian ship carrying liquid natural gas. You are on the boat for six days before the boat comes to port at Chiba, Japan, on May 7, 1982. After going through the immigration office, you get on a bus for 24 hours that takes you to Nagasaki, where refugees tell officials what country they want to go to; they are then split off to different provinces accordingly. You choose America, so you stay for two weeks before heading to Seto City in Aichi Prefecture for the next two years in a refugee camp.
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Emily Mariko arrived when we needed her the most SARAH AKAABOUNE MiC Columnist
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ACROSS 1 Mires 5 Loving smack 9 Kind of coach or jacket 13 “Bolero” composer 14 Spots to clear up 15 Not at one’s desk 16 *Progressive Era muckraker 18 Socially aware 19 Tundra deer 20 Plane engine type 22 CNN anchor Burnett 23 “Your turn” 26 Whack, biblically 27 Stephen of “Citizen X” 28 *12-time 35-Down All Star and TV analyst 30 Wall St. “500” 32 PreCheck org. 33 Crave, e.g. 34 *Australian swimmer with five Olympic golds 38 Tijuana home 41 Gen-Z sweetheart 42 Prompts 46 *First daughter and senior adviser to #45 50 Fig. of interest to a dietitian 51 Slangy “Absolutely!” 52 Petro-Canada competitor 53 Leave early 54 Appliance connection, briefly 56 Mass-timesvelocity measures 58 Swimming great Torres 59 ’00s Britcom about an underappreciated computer support squad ... or what the answers to starred clues comprise? 62 Early garden spot 63 Muscat’s land 64 Book with roads
65 Easy gait 66 X-rated material 67 “__ she blows!” DOWN 1 Shady part of town 2 Of a certain reproductive gland 3 Arrive 4 Thick slice 5 Japanese dance-drama 6 Party bucket item 7 NBC skit show 11 Minuscule amount 8 Lead-in to made or love 9 Blades that cut blades 22 warm spell 10 Winter WWII flag-raising island 11 Faux glow 12 Evaluation with a capital E? 13 Kitchen cutters 31 a number, say 17 Do Outback hoppers 21 Outdoor grill residue 24 Amasses 25 Very, very 28 Pub drink, briefly 29 Roofing goo
31 “Unfaithful” Oscar nominee 35 Hoops org. 36 London gallery 37 Yipping adoptee 38 Fortress 39 Much of guacamole 40 H.S. course pioneered by Stanley Kaplan 43 Crunchy bar stuff 44 Battle waged on
Wikipedia 45 Tossed courses 47 The NCAA’s Wildcats 48 Govt. moneymaker 49 Academic 53 Sailor’s quarters 55 Sporty muscle cars 57 Future MD’s exam 60 “Let’s see ... ” 61 Lac contents
PUZZLE: ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
There lies a certain tension that comes with rekindling a return to in-person learning after nearly a year and a half of screens and stonecold breakout rooms. Tension over catching the right bus and finding the right class and showing up not too late and not too early and finding the quintessential sweet spot in every lecture hall and even the best, most private places to cry because to cry is to be human. And where do we go when things get to be too much and too fast? Where do we seek refuge and comfort
eggs by size and cuts her carrots in perfect little slices and stores them in mason jars of water and quarters her kale and fish in squeaky clean plastic bags and bins. And perhaps more than anything else, with women like Emily Mariko, and more so, with the inception and commodification of life as a means of capital — to share and sell aspects of living — there comes first dislike, then sullen bitterness derived from intimidation because to cut your farmer’s market bread loaves into neat little slices is to sometimes be grievously and shockingly threatened. Then soon after, there follows reconciliation, peace, a willful grace even, because Emily Mariko had
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WHISPER “I love you still, I have since the start, and I always will. From: 143”
“Judas the stray cat, if you’re reading this please come inside the house. It’s too cold outside.”
and, mostly, predictability in a world that is anything but predictable? Where do we find the most perfect clean-cut lines and palatable sweet things that make us feel not too much and not too little? We first start with finding it all in Emily Mariko. Most TikTok “For You” pages have been bustling with the classic salmon, rice, Japanese mayonnaise, sriracha, avocado and seaweed bowl that found itself skyrocketed into mainstream popularity through lifestyle vlogger Emily Mariko. At first, there wasn’t very much to like about Emily Mariko, because who cuts their vegetables that close to the screen and why is she leaning down that low in the frame to butter a slice of toast and microwaving her rice with an ice cube and how does she manage to cut her peaches and pears and onions just right without one ounce of mess. It simply isn’t natural. Her counters are sparkling clean and she doesn’t just shove groceries into the back of her fridge like the rest of us and hope they don’t rot. She even organizes her
mastered the most arduous, daunting, taunting burdens of life, the icky, sticky tasks we sometimes cannot bring ourselves to do, and there is joy in watching someone else accomplish them in the most refined, beautiful, polished way possible. We have been embroiled in a global pandemic for nearly a year and a half. I lost my aunt last week to the virus because it has not yet finished wreaking violent havoc. And the return to college is no different because it can quickly fray and fall apart as things pile up onto other things and other things, and even more so, at a school like the University of Michigan with the Leaders and the Best looming around every corner, it becomes even more difficult to convince ourselves that imperfection is okay, to sometimes reconcile with falling short and failure. And women like Emily Mariko help us put one foot in front of the other.
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Michigan in Color
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 — 7
Altar: Finding beauty in loss MARIA PATTON MiC Columnist
R&B singer Kehlani has experienced a great deal of loss and portrays their resulting grief in unconventional ways through music. In their latest single, “Altar,” they celebrate the impact and the lives of those who have passed, emphasizing that just because a loved one is gone, they don’t need to be forgotten. This song feels incredibly personal because of my experience with loss. My aunt passed away almost six years ago and I still have a hard time coping with the fact she’s really gone. A picture of her and me remains on my lock screen just so I won’t forget what she looks like. My heart aches profoundly when I look back on the time I had with her. I think about everything I took for granted and the million different things I wish I could say to her and ask her. I wish that I could hug her again, see her smile and hear her infectious laugh in real-time.
“Altar’s” upbeat tone, which challenges the somber tone that often comes with songs on grief, drives me to pay attention to the memories I have left of my aunt, rather than the heartbreak that remains. The song offers a sense of comfort and shows me that there is beauty in loss, so long as I grow to appreciate why I feel pain when thinking about her. “Altar” radiates warmth and happiness, expressing the power of grief and acceptance. It feels like a gleam of sunshine after days of seemingly endless darkness and storms. It reminds me that the reason why I’m still so insistent on keeping her memory fresh in my mind is that she taught me how to love so deeply. Instead of feeling regret from failing to enjoy the moments I shared with loved ones, this song challenges me to think about why I care so much about keeping them alive. Listening to “Altar,” or even thinking about its lyrics, challenges me to empathetically change how I perceive life without my aunt. People
constantly say that loved ones who have passed are “gone, but never forgotten” and that they will live in our hearts forever. But I don’t think I truly understood what that meant until hearing this song’s lyrics. I try not to beat myself up over the fact that it is taking me so long to cope with her death, because as Kehlani so gracefully sang in her song, I’m keeping her alive, because I want to and I am able to. There is no reason for me to get over her death until, or if I ever feel the need to. The fact that a desire to keep her alive remains so strong almost six years later should empower me to keep going and honor her every day. My aunt’s passing still causes me pain. But being able to recognize, even for a second, that the reason why I may feel so much grief over her is that the love we shared for each other was profound when she was here, and remains just as strong today, is enough to get me through the day. “Altar” is not the first time that I have been pushed to view loss in
Design by Meghana Tummala
a positive light, but I think that its message came at a time when I was finally ready to accept that grief
Teenage characters should be played by teens, not decades-older adults SYEDA RIZVI MiC Columnist
“Gossip Girl,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “Glee” and “Riverdale” are all TV shows that share two large similarities: They are incredibly popular and the main cast of teenagers is played by adults, sometimes 15 years older. There are many technical reasons producers choose to hire actors much older than the character they play. For one, most teenagers and minors under 18 can only work under a highly restricted number of hours due to labor laws. Their time on set has to revolve around their schooling, rest and meals. Actors under 16 also need to have a guardian on set as they work. But despite these technicalities, it is hard to justify shows like “Riverdale,” where the average age gap disparity between actors and the roles they play is a solid 8.25. It’s not the number of years that seems to be a problem, but more so the time frame selected. If a 58-year-old actor plays a 50-year-old character, the harm that reaches the audience is significantly less than if a 28-year-old adult plays a 16-year-old
student, which also happens to be the age difference between Stacey Dash and her character Dionne Davenport in the renowned classic
much we changed in this period. A lot of us have the majority of our “firsts” during this time — first job, first year of college, first time living
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“Clueless.” This is because 10 years is a huge time difference when you’re younger. Most of us likely don’t change as much, physically or emotionally, when we go from 50 to 60, but when we go from 10 to 20, we may be practically a new person. Between the ages 10 and 20, we change physically and mature emotionally. Most of us start this time frame at the beginning of middle school and end it in our college years. Think about how
independently and so on. When a 15-year-old looks at the screen, at what they are “supposed” to look like according to the media’s latest beauty standards, they are comparing themselves to people, in some cases, nearly a decade older than they are. They are forced into reevaluating themselves because perhaps the small student in high school with a face full of hormonal acne feels they are supposed to look like a 30-year-old professional model. It
perpetuates unrealistic standards, dragging a bag full of insecurities along with it. Being a teenager is hard enough as it is; we don’t need an increase in unachievable beauty standards. It’s not all just unachievable physical standards. Quite often, shows that revolve around high school life have a large added element of romance or sexual relationships. It’s not completely accurate to say high school is devoid of all romantic associations, but for most of us, it’s nothing as over-sexualized as Riverdale. Often, older actors are hired because of how unethical it is to have minors play out sexually explicit content. But there seems to be a much bigger, overlying problem: If you can’t get actual teenagers to play out a teenage character, chances are that your character isn’t doing what normal teenagers do. Watching this kind of explicit content forces teens who have only just started to figure themselves out to mature at a rate that may be too fast for them, a process that deprives them of reflecting on who they really are and who they want to be in the future.
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doesn’t always have to be filled with shame and regret. “Altar” has aided my growth towards acceptance
in ways I never thought possible. I am forever grateful to Kehlani for sharing this art.
The pink house on that one street ROSHNI MOHAN MiC Columnist
As my mother struggled to force open the door that had been sealed for months, dust blew through the air. The purple walls in the garage were no longer the pretty lavender I loved, but a gloomy gray from the layers of dust and faded memories. I turned to the right and looked for the white car my grandfather used to drive my brother and me in. I was met with empty space and a reminder that the car was sold. I’ve been in that car less than a handful of times. But when I was, those were some of the few moments I was able to spend with my grandfather. He’d drive us to the only mall in our small town — a mall that also functioned as a hotel, restaurant and playground. I’d run into the ice cream shop that only sold the wrapped cones that you could find at every store and grab one from their freezer, finishing it before my grandfather even had a chance to pay. Then we’d make our way up to a red booth in the top-floor restaurant, my favorite in all of India, and eat the same meal I get at every restaurant — naan and paneer. My brother and I would share the food and each order a different flavor of lassi and split. We’d be the only ones at the restaurant, which makes sense since I now realize the food was mediocre at best. But at the time, I thought the food was the best in town. The entire restaurant would smell like a mix of every spice, ironic since the food was bland. The empty garage connects to my grandparent’s office. I stepped over the broken door frame that guarded the office and noticed the layer of gray dust coating my foot. The green walls looked the same as they did the last time I was there — untouched. After my grandfather passed, the office became a time capsule, opened only to enter and leave the building or as a room for my grandmother to speak with my grandfather’s old clients who kept coming to talk about their case files from years and years ago since he was their lawyer. The normally crowded room filled with loud clients from all over town was uncomfortably silent. When I entered, I hesitated before I looked up to see his empty chair and cleared desk — a desk that was normally covered in case files. My brother and I would sneak around and peek into the office when my grandfather had clients over. We’d move the curtain that covered the dividing glass door and quietly laugh from the living room, joking about the clients who’d glare through the door. Then, if we were bold, we’d open the door and bolt into the office. We’d laugh or pretend there was something important to tell our grandfather, but we really just wanted to get a look at the clients and eavesdrop. The living room was the same shade as the garage. Pictures of all the grandchildren, our parents’ weddings and the Hindu gods my grandmother prays to every morning covered the wall. Splotches of water damage covered the top parts of the walls, and the previous paint job shined through them. I wasn’t allowed into part of the attached dining room and bathroom because the ceiling had collapsed there. The window behind the box TV was too small to let in a lot of
light, and it was distorted so people couldn’t see inside and we couldn’t see outside. The window in the back blocked off any ounce of sunlight because my grandmother covered it with blankets for a reason I forgot to ask her about. But even with the dust and the damage and the covered windows, the room was still oddly bright from the nostalgia and joy that beamed from the pictures. I would spend most of the time in my grandparent’s living room when I was at their house. My brother and I would lay on the cot and watch Harry Potter movie marathons all day with the air conditioning pointing directly at us on high so that when the power went out, the room would stay somewhat cold until the air returned two hours later. We would wait patiently for the power to come back and the minute it did, we would continue our marathon, never moving from the cot. Our grandmother would come and give us homemade dosas and chutney for dinner, and we’d scarf it down in the living room as the marathon played on. I walked past my grandfather’s locked bedroom — it sent a slight shiver through my body — and made my way to the bedroom my mother and aunt once shared. The red paint was peeling off the walls, and the only working light was the sunlight hitting the distorted windows. A few crows sat right outside the window cawing, breaking any silence in the room. The hot air burned my skin. The fan and air conditioner no longer worked. A sadness loomed over me when I saw the murals my brother and I painted as kids tattered from the aged paint. I took a breath in and was hit with the pungent smell of mothballs, a smell so familiar to me, yet, one that I hadn’t smelled in years. The windows were covered with my cousins’ paintings from when they were little, over 25 years ago, dull, but still intact. Whenever I visited my grandparent’s home in India, my entire family including my aunts and cousins would all sleep in this room. We’d watch TV and talk for hours. My grandmother would tell us her best stories as I played with my toys. She’d talk about my parents and my aunts and my uncles. She’d tell me about my cousins who were all much older than me, and the things they did when they were little. Just before leaving to go back to my aunt’s house (12 hours away by train), I went out onto the terrace. I was met with burning dry air, hotter than that from my mother’s room. The sun was beating onto the concrete, so every step I made burned my feet. The brightness blinded my eyes for a short second while I adjusted from being inside a room of darkness. The clothesline that we used to dry our clothes every few days had fallen and was laying on the ground. My toy scooter sat in the corner next to the fallen line, unusable, completely rusted and dusty. I looked to the side and saw the other entrance to my grandfather’s room. A large heavy silver lock held the door closed. I stared at it for a few minutes with a pit in my stomach as my mind went blank. The same emptiness in my head I felt years before at his funeral.
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Opinion
8 — Wednesday, October 13, 2021
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Two lessons about American politics from the Canadian election JULIAN BARNARD Opinion Senior Editor
C
anada recently had elections! An odd idiosyncrasy of the Canadian political system is that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (through the governor general) has the power to call elections whenever he sees fit. Trudeau called the elections in August, with an election day set for Sept. 20, in the hopes of securing a stable majority in Parliament to pass some of his more ambitious COVID-19 recovery packages. Before the election, Trudeau was the head of a minority government, in which the largest party in Parliament is the governing party unless a coalition rises to supplant them. Opinion polling indicated that it was likely he would be able to obtain that majority in Parliament, so he called the snap election. In the end, after a drop off in polling for Trudeau’s party, the Liberal Party and a surge for the rival Conservative Party (Tories), the election ended with disappointment for most parties involved, as none of the major parties saw significant shifts. Even though we saw no dramatic wins or losses, there are still teachable moments for American political observers, as Canadian voters prioritized the same issues as American voters this cycle: COVID-19 and the economy. If you are unfamiliar with Canadian politics or parliamentary systems, just imagine that by virtue of being the boss of the largest party in Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the head of government. The main parties in Canada that you have to know about are the ruling centre-left Liberal Party headed by incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the centerright Conservatives headed by Erin O’Toole and the social-democratic New Democratic Party (NDP) headed
by Jagmeet Singh — the first person of color to head a major Canadian party. Also in the mix, while not winning any seats this cycle, is the right-wing anti-coronavirus lockdown People’s Party of Canada (PPC). Other minor parties are the environmentalist Greens and the Quebec Separatist Bloc Quebecois, but these two are much less analogous to American parties and institutions. The first lesson from this election is that there is an upper limit on energizing the youth. Jagmeet Singh of the New Democrats ran a youthcentered campaign. Singh, a turbaned Sikh with a west coast surfer accent and a hipster vibe, prioritized issues young people are supposedly in support of, such as taking decisive climate action. He was a constant presence on TikTok, and he even played Among Us on a stream with his American counterpart, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. All that to only gain one seat in Parliament. It makes sense to at least partially center youth issues into the fun social democratic party, given that young people tend to be the most amenable to social democratic policies and Singh’s aesthetic. But the NDP did not do as well as they hoped, gaining only one seat to increase their total to 25 members of a 338-member Parliament. That is not to mention that even though they were successful at winning a plurality of voters in the 18-35 range, they only beat out the Liberals by a few percentage points. It wasn’t even that Singh did a bad job. According to recent polling, even after the loss, 82% of NDP voters want Singh to stay on as leader. Singh often polled as the most popular of the federal party leaders, but artificially limiting a movement to youth aesthetics is not a recipe for success. We know that the NDP can have electoral success because not even three elections ago, in 2011, they had more seats than the currently-ruling
Liberals under leader Jack Layton. So we know the problem is not that Canadians detest left-wing policy. There are only a limited number of young people with a propensity for voting, and parties (or progressive wings of American parties) hoping to effect national change should not limit their policies or aesthetics to the young. Focusing on a group as uniformly distributed across the country as young people does not lend itself to electoral success. Focusing on turnout above all else, which is the trap many left of center organizations can fall into, has limited effectiveness as you scale this strategy up and out of the most progressive districts because even if you energize the youth into voting, there is no guarantee that they will vote for you. The second message is for American conservatives. Parties without a shared narrative or a shared voice will inevitably fail. The Conservative Party’s leader. Erin O’Toole, an unassuming former member of the Canadian armed forces, adopted a strategy of extreme moderation for the conservatives. Pro-carbon tax, pro-choice and probanning certain models of firearms, O’Toole did everything he could to seize on the center of the Canadian electorate. The fact that these are not traditional issues championed by the Tories did not go unnoticed by voters. Moderation will be seen as pandering when the Conservatives are perceived to have abandoned many of their signature issues in hope of securing the keys to the Prime Minister’s office. This gamble failed, as you may be able to tell from my tone in the last paragraph, and caused a surge in parties to O’Toole’s right. Meandering down the middle of the road ultimately proved to be an ineffective way for the Conservatives to pick up stray votes.
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Being gay and poor at the University of Michigan is an isolating position to occupy JACOB FENLON Opinion Columnist
T
he “Michigan difference” is not something that students from poor backgrounds and rural communities often get to truly experience — it seems like students who yearn for it the most are excluded. We go to orientation and hear group leaders and staff laud the University of Michigan. The University really likes to promote a familial feeling and an “everyone belongs here” schtick to new and prospective students. To be fair, this is something that a lot of students experience when they begin their educational journey here, but I, unfortunately, was not one of them. I did not get to have a normal orientation. As a student from the rural Upper Peninsula who also went to an underperforming high school, I was sentenced to the Summer Bridge Program. Bridge is a two-and-a-halfmonth-long orientation program where students such as myself take high-intensity classes in a short period of time. We were given talks about imposter syndrome and reminded that we belonged here. Ironically, the entire experience made it feel like we did not. While we were in Bridge, there was a similar program happening on campus — the Comprehensive Studies Program. It was much less intensive and the students got to pick the one class they wanted to take. So while most Bridge students were struggling to get all of their work done by 8 a.m. the next day, CSP students were coming back to their residence hall
drunk from a night of partying. This was my first taste of the divisiveness of the University. As freshman year started, I had a hard time making friends. I was placed in Mary Markley Residence Hall, in an all male hall. I was shy, and very gay, which made it hard to connect with anyone, even my roommate. I constantly heard whispers between my roommate and the other students in my residence hall questioning my sexuality and making uncomfortable remarks. “Do you think he’s gonna try and hit on you?” or “Has he tried to hit on you?” are questions I’ve overheard more than once. This was a very offputting experience for a gay student, especially after being told that college is more accepting. But, I digress. When I could not make friends in my residence hall, I tried clubs. I went to Festifall, explored the many tables and talked to a lot of people. I thought that surely I could find a student organization where I would fit in. I applied to seven different clubs ranging from art, music, business and sports, only to get rejections from all seven. I sadly spent my first semester alone. Along with my loneliness, I struggled with a fear of missing out, or FOMO. I saw everyone around me living the college experience I desperately wanted, even other gay kids. I was constantly trying to figure out what was wrong with me — I was trying everything they told me to do. I left my door open, I tried to get into clubs, yet nothing worked. After a while, I realized the problem was most likely my background.
When I have previously made the argument that poor kids are treated differently at University, I always heard the same rebuttal. People always say “How is someone going to look at you and know you are poor?” In reality, they probably will not be able to. You can argue that things such as the clothes you wear, the headphones you use or the organizations you are a part of can make you stand out, but that is not what I am getting at. When I applied to clubs, I had one thing specifically that kept getting me rejected: my lack of a resumé. Other kids were coming in from wealthy suburbs and excellent school districts — how was I supposed to compete? Some of these kids had all the opportunities they could want in life, while I was trying to survive with what I had. It felt like I was always going to be labeled as the poor kid from the UP that barely got into the University, rather than a valued student who has overcome adversity to make it here. As much as I wanted to fit in and believe that I was meant to be here, it was hard to do so when I felt judgment from my peers at every turn. Whether it was because I was gay, or because I was poor, I have never been able to feel like I belong. A lot of people have asked why I did not look for support groups or clubs specifically for firstgeneration college students. I already felt like an outsider, and to me and many other first-generation college students, we just want to fit in. We want to try to move away from and grow from our past, not have to keep living in it.
DEVON HESANO Opinion Columnist
W
hen Joe Biden was running to unseat former President Donald Trump, one of the main talking points during the race was that electing the former Vice President would return the United States to a level of democratic norms we had lost during the Trump Administration. Indeed, much of that has come to fruition — our current president has yet to incite an insurrection over false claims of voter fraud, for example. However, Biden has failed to adequately mend one of the most damaged parts of our democracy: a frequent, cordial and informative level of interaction with the free press. He is certainly an improvement from our previous administration. Outside of a few minor incidents, the notorious spat with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins in June being one of them, Biden has afforded the press a level of civility that Americans were more or less used to before the Trump presidency. There has been no lambasting of the press as the “enemy of the people.” But being a nice guy, and giving the press corps the occasional presidential cookie, doesn’t mean Biden has handled the press well. My problem with Biden isn’t his civility toward the press, it’s his availability. Biden is averaging the fewest press conferences per month since Ronald Reagan. He constantly claims that he “isn’t allowed” to take off the cuff questions from the press. He does almost no sit-down interviews, and if there’s one thing for sure, you better not try to overcome
his press wranglers. Biden’s wariness of the press isn’t just a partisan talking point — it’s a real issue. Sure, Republicans are overzealous in their baseless claims that Biden “has implied that handlers set the rules and determine when and where he’s allowed to take questions,” and the idea that he lacks the mental acuity to interact with the press was never founded on any sound footing. But, one could very well argue the current president does not appear to feel it’s a priority to answer questions from the press. The press corps represents the American people, and the American people deserve to hear from the leader of the free world in a non-scripted format. This September, Biden’s apprehensive media tendencies were exposed in a painfully obvious way. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was visiting the White House for a meeting in the Oval Office when the two had a brief appearance together in front of the media. After brief remarks, Johnson invited his fellow British reporters to ask questions. They did, and he promptly answered. One would expect Biden would reciprocate the offer to the American press, especially given the location, but this offer never came. He didn’t open the floor to American reporters, and his wranglers yelled so loudly that the one question he appeared to answer was indistinguishable. It was frustrating to see, and it made Biden look timid at an important moment. The White House press corps formally issued a complaint to the White House about the matter. When a press corps feels so deprived of meaningful communication opportunities that they are filing
complaints, it is doubtful that Biden has restored our presidential press relationship to an adequate level. This isn’t something that should be pushed aside. If those who are doing the questioning think it’s a real problem, it can no longer be cast aside simply as a partisan attack. I’ve long felt empathy for Biden with his communication abilities, especially given his history with stuttering. But all the crises his administration has gone through in the last few months, most of which he has been unwilling to answer tough questions about, are deeply concerning and bode poorly for the state of transparency in his administration. This behavior is mystifying politically, democratically and morally. One of the biggest attacks on his campaign, and now his presidency, has been that he doesn’t want to face the music. At this rate, he may prove that to be true. Republican talking heads couldn’t ask for him to fall in line any better. Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves if much of what Republicans are saying about Biden’s press interactions are less so a set of disingenuous talking points, and more of an unfortunate reality. I find Biden to be a strong speaker, and he has even been lauded in the past by right-wing networks for numerous speeches he gave as a candidate and as president. With policing talks breaking down, the deadline for raising the debt ceiling fast approaching and the Democratic Party infighting reaching a breaking point, the nation desperately needs its leader to raise his voice, and not just to the level he feels convenient or comfortable.
America, let’s learn from Korea’s “nunchi” LILY KWAK Opinion Columnist
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o any Korean, the word “nunchi” rings familiar bells. Its literal translation in English is “eye-measure” and can be likened to reading the room, but more specifically to gauging the sentiments and interests of another and then acting in accordance with Korean manners and customs. So, for example, a friend that heads out to the car to turn on the AC in the heat of the summer before others get in has “quick nunchi” because that person’s senses and intuition are ahead of the situation. For the youngest person seated at a dining table, nunchi is second nature because they wait respectfully until the elders begin to eat first. When my mom returns home at 8 a.m. from the gym, ready to take over the world and knock down anyone in her path, my nunchi urges me to get out of bed, open up the windows and match her energy before she throws me a dirty look. Admittedly, I heard the word used most often growing up when my mom reprimanded me for having “no nunchi.” There is a Korean adage, “half of social life is nunchi,” and thus nunchi is instilled in children from a young age. But as a Korean growing up in America, I became bitter at my culture’s high esteem for nunchi. I called for family meetings where I demanded that we insteadlearnfromthelatterofmyAsian American identity and value clear communication and conversation. To ask directly, “How are you today?” “How are you feeling?” “Is something wrong?” rather than chastise one another for not being a mind-reading telepathist. I was burdened by the miscommunication that arose from the emphasis on reading the room, and my mind felt tortured, always calculating whether I had missed a nuance from someone’s ambiguous glance. It turned out that I had missed the nuances of nunchi. The Korean drama series “Reply 1988” is set in South Korea in its progression into a
socially, culturally and economically flourishing state. As I watched the beautiful, hilarious, heartwarming and tear-jerking story of five families sharing struggles, laughter, cries, intimate moments, kinship and love in a small alley in Seoul, my poor appetite for nunchi changed as I refined my palate to the deeper undertones behind the art. I often found myself in tears as nunchi wove tighter threads in relationships: One late night, when Lee Il-hwa falters and fails to muster her strength and ask her wealthier friend Mi-ran for support to pay her daughter’s school fees, she heads back home with tears in her eyes and her head hung in shame in her inability to support her daughter. Later that night, Mi-ran hands Il-hwa an unassuming bowl of corn; to her surprise, underneath it is an envelope containing money and a kind letter. In another episode, I watched the quiet and distant son of Ra Mi-ran sense his mother’s witty and charming persona disappear into the darkness of menopause despite his mother assuring him that nothing was wrong. In a gesture beyond his comfort, he plans a surprise wedding anniversary in the neighborhood for his parents, rekindling his mother’s spirit. Nunchi tugs on your heartstrings in ways direct communication and blatant requests cannot. Nunchi is the serendipitous act of kindness that depends on another’s quick senses, building kinship between families and communities. Euny Hong, Korean American journalist and author, writes that nunchi is more than quaint Korean customs in “The Power of Nunchi: The Korean Secret to Happiness and Success.” Nunchi is the secret behind Korea’s progression from one of the world’s poorest to now one of the richest and most technologically advanced nations. It fosters trust and connection in a way that opens doors in all areas of life — also explaining the unlikely modern rise of K-pop to the global stage. The world of “Reply 1988” is an antithesis of American culture and
values. In America, the individual comes before all else — even sometimes to a fault. We hear it today in the riotous cacophonies of anti-mask protests that fight for the individual’s choice to wear a mask and in anti-vaxxers’ dismissals of collective safety and well-being. In the vast regions, cultures and backgrounds that constitute America, we have difficulty relating to and understanding people who seem to share different beliefs and values from ourselves, and cynicism about their intentions often stops us from trying. The recent devastation on women’s rights by Texas’ abortion law, in which other people forced decisions on women’s bodies, exemplifies this. But John Locke, one of the greatest advocates for individual rights and freedom, still affirmed that the equality of man demands obligation to mutual love and duties among men. In the “Second Treatise of Civil Government,” Locke quotes political theorist Richard Hooker: “It is no less their duty, to love others than themselves … If I cannot but wish to receive good … how should I look to have any part of my desire herein satisfied, unless myself by careful to satisfy the like desire?” This is an echo of the Golden Rule. In “Inventing Human Rights,” Lynn Hunt, UCLA professor of modern European history, argues that the concept of natural rights was born in history through empathy. As humans began to learn in the late 1700s that we were all in some way fundamentally alike, we began to empathize with one another and thus expanded natural rights to other groups of people. Empathy’s fists knocked down the walls of even the longest-held prejudices of the time: In 1791, Jews were granted equal rights by the French revolutionary government; in 1792, men without property were enfranchised; and in 1794, slavery was abolished by the French government.
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Wednesday, October 13, 2021 — 9
Op-Ed: The University of Michigan’s culture of sexual assault dismissal needs to change PORTER HUGHES Contributor Content warning: sexual harassment and assault As a sexual harassment survivor, I am calling on the University of Michigan to enact policies preventing other students from experiencing the trauma that causes the pain I continue to feel today. As survivors, we deserve justice and the feeling of being safe on campus. Unfortunately, this is not the reality at this university. Those in power have allowed students like me to be harassed and assaulted by predators, and it’s time they are held accountable. Small changes made by the University are a hollow appeasement tactic and do not right the wrongs of the past. For years, students have tried to report sexual harassment crimes to University leadership and have largely been ignored.
Instead of hearing our complaints and acting to rectify the situation, the University’s bureaucracy and complacency have gotten in the way. As a result, thousands of students have fallen victim to sexual predators on campus. This has happened to me, my friends and many students before us. As I’m hearing more and more about the case against former athletic physician Dr. Robert Anderson, I realize this behavior has been allowed to go on for decades by the University. The horrific crimes of Anderson went on for over 30 years and left more than 900 student-athletes reeling from trauma, pain and neglect. How could the University ignore over 900 student voices?
The University knew the crimes of Anderson and did nothing to protect its students — it’s not doing enough today, even considering the settlement process. Instead of standing up for what
Those responsible for protecting Anderson and other abusers on campus, as well as those dismissing their actions, need to be held accountable. The University needs to do more to change the culture of sexual assault on campus and address the root of the issue. What has been done is superficial, and still not enough. The actions taken by the University so far are too narrow and don’t do enough to protect students and support survivors. As the Michigan Students Against GABBY CERITANO/Daily Sexual Assault, we is right, the University continues to are working together to hold hide behind its flashy ratings and the University of Michigan’s athletic programs. When will this leadership — and all those like stop? When will justice be granted it — who continue to enable to survivors like me, my friends predators on campus accountable. and all of the victims of Anderson? We are a group of students,
Runaway infrastructure spending poses grave risks to fragile economy NIKHIL SHARMA Opinion Columnist As the nation recovers from a medical and financial calamity, we are finally nearing a point of relative economic stability after a year of more than $5 trillion in spending to keep the economy afloat. But with Congress on the verge of passing a $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill we risk dealing a catastrophic blow to an already frail financial system. Before we empty the country’s pocketbook and snatch funding from future priorities, we desperately need to consider the consequences of passing the largest spending bill in U.S. history. With the U.S. national debt above $28.8 trillion and the country set to default on its obligations by mid-October if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, our near-term economic future is anything but certain. If Congress fails to reach a compromise and the nation defaults on its debt, we could be instantly plunged into another recession, with the potential loss of 6 million jobs. Even without the doomsday scenario of a default, we still risk an economic downturn from a rise in cases from the delta variant and other strains of the virus. As the world has painfully learned over the past 18 months, failing to plan ahead has dire consequences, and maximizing our spending now could easily lead to a lack of funding for unforeseen crises in the future. Although the $3.5 trillion figure on the infrastructure bill already
seems immense, the even more concerning number is $24,000, the amount of spending in the proposal per U.S. taxpayer. The vague plans put forth by the Biden administration to increase the corporate tax rate by 7% and capital gains rate by 19.6% would not only fail to raise enough revenue to cover the full cost of the bill but would greatly weaken American small businesses in the process. The cost of
this spending would ultimately fall on middle-class taxpayers and the next generation of Americans, who will be burdened by two decades of reckless spending on both sides of the aisle. Yet another major risk comes from inflation. After the $5 trillion injected into the economy during the pandemic, the economy is dangerously overheated, with the August Consumer Price Index rose 5.3% year over year, making it increasingly likely inflation is here to stay. Since wages aren’t rising fast enough to meet ever-ballooning prices, this increase is imposing
looming climate disasters and even $7.5 billion to make electric vehicle charging stations ubiquitous. This bill is not only a win for American workers, the environment and infrastructure but a victory for bipartisanship and unity. On the other hand, the $3.5 trillion bill includes partisan priorities such as universal preschool, free community college, expanded child care credits and an expansion of the Affordable Care Act. While all positive ideas in theory, these scarcely constitute imminent crises or “infrastructure” needs. In practice, this wish list of programs would bring more harm than benefit to America, boosting inflation and indebting the nation while fixing few significant issues for everyday citizens. In a time where America is more polarized than ever and our lawmakers can’t seem to agree on anything, now is not the time to Design by Lindsay Farb sow our increasing divifit the Merriam-Webster defini- sion with a controversial plan that tion of “infrastructure,” giving puts our economic future at risk. the appearance that the bill was Instead, our lawmakers should reverse-engineered from its eye- follow the example of Sen. Joe catching cost. As opposed to the Manchin, D-W.Va., who has called bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastruc- for a “strategic pause” in governture bill passed by the Senate ment spending until our economy and set to be voted on in the U.S. is healthy again. By opting instead House, the $3.5 trillion bill splurg- to pass the bipartisan $1.2 trillion es on many partisan priorities that bill, we can find common ground don’t address the dire needs of our and work together to rebuild our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. nation, proving that despite our The $1.2 trillion bill offers once-in- differences, Americans are still a-generation upgrades at a fraction capable of coming together to of the price, with $110 billion for drive real progress. Let’s all hope roads and bridges, $66 billion for that Congress makes the responrailroads, $47 billion to address sible decision. a tremendous cost on the lower and middle classes. Since last year, the price of food has risen 3.7%, energy and utilities 25% and gasoline an astronomical 42.7%. Recklessly flooding the economy with another $3.5 trillion could prove devastating to families already struggling to pay their bills. Meanwhile, the $3.5 trillion price tag of the bill is composed of a hodgepodge of items that don’t
How republicans use the deficit to hold our country hostage KEONI JONES Opinion Columnist Anyone remotely interested in American politics has heard of “the deficit” at least once. The deficit is how much the United States government’s annual expenses minus its revenue. Conservatives treat it as an ever-present threat, with every bit of spending bringing the nation closer to their imagined annihilation. But, in reality, many economists seem to agree that the deficit isn’t the biggest issue facing America, with the United States having other financial liabilities that could be an even bigger threat. So, if the deficit doesn’t show any serious risk of harming the United States, why do Republicans seem to care about it so much, and why do they only seem to talk about it when they’re not the ones in power? Well, that’s because Republicans don’t actually care about the deficit; it’s just another talking point they use to stop the government from getting anything done that doesn’t help them or the corporations that fill their pockets. During the years of the Obama administration, Republicans couldn’t stop talking about the deficit and used it as an excuse to try to stop anything that came through Congress that wasn’t put up by them. Things like school funding and welfare pro-
You’re not smarter for correcting someone’s speech, you’re just rude BEN DAVIS Opinion Columnist Sitting down for dinner with my friend, a fellow anthropology major, we began discussing the topic of human evolution. All was amicable until we reached an impasse. The discussion of Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) brought us into conflict over the correct pronunciation of the species name. My pronunciation was “Nee-ander-TAL” while his was “Nee-and-erTHAL.” I pushed back, explaining how my pronunciation was correct given that it is how the scientific community refers to the hominin, but then realized my rebuttal was not based on the intent to educate. Correcting his pronunciation was more about pedantry and was plain rude. Overcorrecting a person’s speech not only neglects dialectical variation and those with solely written rather than oratorical knowledge, but it also goes against the purpose of linguistic interactions. The primary goal in social interaction is to be understood by fellow conversation participants. If that is accomplished, it should not matter what the exact phonetics and syntax of the speech are.
The syntax and lexicon used by an individual are often out of their control and due to upbringing and early socialization. An individual’s grammar develops quite young — with children learning a variety of complex sentence types at 2 — and is mostly fleshed out by the age of 7. With this in mind, it makes little sense to shame a person for utilizing certain grammatical constructions. It is quite literally out of their control most of the time. Yes, people may learn other forms of syntax and alter their speech accordingly. But that does not take away from the fact that no one should be shamed from speaking with a syntax they were raised to speak. Much of our linguistic style is out of our control. Rather than an assertion of intelligence, correcting minuscule aspects of someone’s style of speech is insolent. An issue of centering whiteness exists within the American English education system that imbues negative bias toward speakers of non-white English dialects. Dialectal variation within a language is a common phenomenon among the languages of the world. One estimate claims English to have as many as 160 dialects. Still, the U.S. education system privileges the dialect of white people and casts all other dialects as incorrect
forms of speech. African American Vernacular English is the dialect of English used by many AfricanAmerican communities and is often the target of linguistic stigmatization. Word constructions like “ain’t” and uses of the habitual “be,” as in “she be runnin’,” are trademarks of this dialect. Unfortunately, AAVE is often delegitimized as a proper form of English and dismissed as simply grammatically incorrect by language ideologues. AAVE has become associated with ignorance and illiteracy, both of which are faulty claims that don’t stand up against linguistic science. AAVE syntax and phonology are a valid form of language. Yet, these speakers are hyper-corrected and shamed. Claims that these speakers speak incorrectly have no scientific basis and are outright disrespectful. A difference in dialect is not a basis for linguistic pedantry. Another point to be made is that many people learn new words from reading rather than conversation and therefore have not heard the correct pronunciation. If one is not acquainted with the complex patterns of English phonology, knowledgeable of the International Phonetic Alphabet or have a person to consult, how can one accurately know a word’s pronunciation solely from
print? Scrutinizing another person’s pronunciation delegitimizes those whose access to language and novel vocabulary remains sequestered to the literary. English orthography is notoriously convoluted. Without the help of sound, there is no way I personally would have discerned that words such as “wait” and “weight” are phonetically equivalent. Biting criticism of another’s diction is rude and disparages those who choose to increase their vocabulary through print sources. The point of language, when taking an anthropological viewpoint, is to be understood by others. If that goal is achieved, why does it matter what syntax or phonetics someone uses? Any attempt at imposing rigid linguistic prescriptivism on others has faulty scientific foundations and does not correlate with sociolinguistic data. It is illogical to assert that a pronunciation or grammar construction is the only valid language form that exists. Dialectal variation is an integral part of linguistic diversity and should be celebrated instead of shunned. Whether a person is a speaker of AAVE, “Standard English” or another dialect, all of those Englishes are worthy of respect. You’re not smarter for correcting someone’s speech. You’re just rude.
survivors, friends and advocates in Michigan who formed a statewide organization to inform our peers about sexual assault on campus and hold universities that harbor sexual predators accountable. We want students to be aware of what has happened and what is currently happening on their campuses. We want justice for the victims and those in authority to be held accountable for the suffering they have abetted. We, as students, have enough to worry about and shouldn’t have to be additionally concerned about being harassed or assaulted by a sports doctor or professor. Throughout the year, the MSASA will be holding demonstrations and protests on campus. We will pass out literature and call on the leaders in Michigan to put an end to this multi-generational catastrophe. We will do whatever it takes for the hypocrisy and pain to come to an end. To the University of Michigan: Enough is enough.
doesn’t seem as though they have any intentions of stopping. While Republicans’ hypocrisy is obvious, how exactly has it harmed the United States? The first and most obvious example of this is the lack of any major health care reform happening in recent years, largely due to debt hawks in Congress shooting it down whenever it comes up. While Democrats themselves aren’t too great on this issue, the lack of health care reform in this country has caused prices to skyrocket, causing many people to be unable to afford health care, and many who can pay are still at mercy of the predatory insurance industry — all of this because Republicans don’t see it as a reasonable sector to spend money on. Republicans’ debt-hawking has also been disastrous for the United States’ infrastructure, with roads and bridges nationwide crumbling, the public school system favoring only those lucky enough to be born in certain zip codes and electric infrastructure barely holding on by a string in some parts of the country as many saw in Texas this last winter. Even though there is currently an infrastructure plan being pushed that could help solve a lot of this, Republicans and the few “Democrats” who agree with them are doing their best to stop it. But the one part of government spending that has never fallen under the ire of Republicans’ obsession with
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grams were shot down by Republicans. But, oddly enough, as soon as the Trump administration began in 2016, it was like every Republican in the United States forgot that the deficit ever existed. From 2016 to 2020 government spending shot up, and even though Republicans held the presidency, House and Senate, it seemed like they never even brought up the deficit as a concern when they were raising the military budget, increasing police and border patrol funding or paying for expensive weekend getaways for the president. The Trump administration was not the only time in history that Republicans have completely stopped caring about the deficit either. During both the George W. Bush and Reagan administrations, the national budget increased by over half a trillion dollars. While some would argue that the Bush administration was forced to spend that much due to the War in Afghanistan, documents show that the U.S. had no real strategy in Afghanistan and were essentially dumping money that the American taxpayer would never get back. Republicans have a long history of hypocrisy when it comes to the deficit and national budget, and with the issue making somewhat of a resurgence during the first year of the Biden administration, it
the deficit is the military. Whether it be sending us into a 20-year war based on a lie, setting up unnecessary military bases worldwide or getting involved in struggles that don’t concern us, Republicans love spending money on the military. One could look at this and think that it’s just because Republicans just have an interest in keeping the United States safe, and while some surely do, it’s almost certain that some Republicans’ votes when it comes to increases in the military budget are affected by the money they get from lobbyists who represent military contractors or by their investments in those same contractors. While Democrats also take money from the same lobbyists and invest in the same military contractors, it is Republicans’ particular hypocrisy on this issue that shows a maliciousness that does not belong in American politics. While no politicians are strangers to hypocrisy, Republicans’ duplicity on the issue of national spending and the deficit has been especially damaging to the United States. It has caused infrastructure to crumble, health care to be largely inaccessible and military funding to skyrocket. While this has been disastrous for the working class, large corporations have only gained from it.
Sports
10 — Wednesday, October 13, 2021
After Saturday, the Wolverines’ refusal to flinch is more than just a mantra DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor
LINCOLN — When the Michigan football team took a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter at Wisconsin last week, the Wolverines’ sideline joined the party for the Badgers’ famed “Jump Around” tradition. It set the tone from an energy standpoint, and Michigan cruised to a 38-17 win thereafter. Against Nebraska (3-4 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) on Saturday night, the ninth-ranked Wolverines’ situation from a week ago was flipped on its head. Rather than winning big, they had just blown a double-digit lead in the third quarter. This time, the momentum wasn’t on Michigan’s side. Memorial Stadium knew it. But as the stadium lights dimmed, replaced by a red glow and cell phones while ACDC’s “Thunderstruck” blared, the Wolverines (6-0, 3-0) once again partook in the dance party. Then they went out and made the key plays necessary to secure a crucial 32-29 comeback win. “Keep the same energy when you get punched in the mouth,” junior defensive tackle Mazi Smith said. “Everybody’s got a plan until you get punched in the mouth. But when we get punched, we’ve still got that plan. And there’s still another quarter to play.” Over the last two weeks, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
has lauded his team for not flinching in the face of adversity. It’s become a team mantra of sorts. Players have picked up on it, too, as junior quarterback Cade McNamara, senior running back Hassan Haskins and fifth-year safety Brad Hawkins all alluded to it after the game. Hawkins, in particular, has been around Michigan teams that have flinched in past years. But through the first five weeks of his final season, this year’s Wolverines had no reason to unravel. By Saturday night, they were the only Power Five team in the country that hadn’t trailed yet in 2021. Until they weren’t. After leading 13-0 at the half, Michigan was outscored 22-6 during an underwhelming third quarter. That didn’t stop the Wolverines from dancing their way into the fourth quarter the same as last week, though. “We didn’t flinch,” Hawkins said. “We stayed composed throughout the whole game. We knew adversity was going to hit. It hit, and we didn’t flinch. I love this team, I love this defense and I love that we’re fighters. We went out there, we fought today and we didn’t flinch.” Added Harbaugh: “Not to flinch, that’s what I’m talking about — that kind of grit, that kind of determination not to be denied. Just staying after it until you make one more better, sensational, incredible play than they do.” As Michigan’s defense struggled to stop Nebraska’s option offense,
McNamara appeared especially unfazed. A game that began as a slugfest evolved into a shootout, and the junior quarterback was more than ready for it. He led a 10-play, 91-yard touchdown drive to give the Wolverines’ another possession of breathing room after the Cornhuskers got on the board. And when Michigan began trailing, McNamara spearheaded three consecutive scoring drives — a touchdown and two field goals — to help the Wolverines escape victorious. Through the bumpy second half, he overcame his first career interception and maintained the poise of a veteran rather than a quarterback making his second-ever start in front of opposing fans. All told, McNamara completed 22 of his 38 pass attempts for 255 yards. What won’t show up in a box score, however, is the leadership he brought to the table. “The way he’s seeing the field, just cold-blooded back there in the pocket,” Harbaugh said. “You know someone’s about to hit you and you’re still throwing it to the right spot. Not flinching, that says a lot.” McNamara wasn’t the only Wolverine who didn’t flinch on Saturday night. In the process, Michigan showed it’s more than just talk. For proof, look no further than the sideline before the fourth quarter. “That was a huge scenario for our team to be in,” McNamara said. “We’re not going to blow everyone out. This game showed a lot.”
BECCA MAHON/Daily The Michigan football team has a new identity, one where it doesn’t flinch in the face of adversity.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Power takes the reins and leads Michigan to opening weekend sweep PAUL NASR
Daily Sports Writer
As the first overall pick of the 2021 NHL draft, Owen Power faces high expectations each night he plays. In the No. 3 Michigan hockey team’s sweep of Lake Superior State last weekend, he delivered. The sophomore defenseman totaled one goal and four assists in the two-game series, leaving his mark in every facet of play and proving too much for the Lakers to handle all weekend long. “He’s taken another step this year obviously with his offense,” Michigan coach Mel Pearson said. “… He’s gained knowledge and some wisdom and he’s smarter with the puck.” On Friday’s season opener, Power recorded the first four-point performance of his collegiate career, netting a goal and three assists. From the blue line, he orchestrated the offensive onslaught that drowned Lake Superior State early, putting his talent on full display. Power’s three assists set the tone early to help the Wolverines bust open a lead. The increased attention he attracts from the defense continually opened up scoring opportunities. That magnetic effect on opposing defenders was evident in his third assist of the night. As he controlled the puck in front of the left faceoff circle, all eyes were on him. After zipping a pass across the ice to sophomore forward Brendan Brisson, the defense struggled to recalibrate after placing such a
heavy emphasis on Power, leaving sophomore forward Kent Johnson with space in front of the crease. Brisson fired the puck into the middle of the ice, and Johnson redirected it into the top-left corner of the goal. Later in the matchup, Power flexed his shooting strength and accuracy when he extended the Wolverines’ lead to 6-1. After receiving the puck from senior forward Nolan Moyle near the blue line, Power drifted to his right before propelling a wrist shot at the net. The wrist shot had the strength of a slap shot, deflecting off the goaltender’s blocker and floating into the net for the goal. “He’s really put in a lot of work between last year and the start of this year as far as driving the offense and creating offense,” Pearson said. “Not only from the offensive blue line or in the offensive zone but coming up the ice.” Power’s single assist on Saturday night barely scratched the surface on the influence he had over Michigan’s win. When facing the same team on back-to-back nights, it’s important to give teams new looks. Power did so early in the first period after gaining possession of the puck at his usual position near the blue line. Instead of initiating a pass sequence or firing at the net, Power skated at the goal with a burst of speed, shooting at goaltender Ethan Langenegger from close range. Caught off guard, Langenegger sold out to stop the shot, leaving the net wide open with the puck loose in front. Michigan failed to cash in on
the opportunity, but Power’s antics had the defense off balance early. Later, six minutes into the game, Lake Superior State pressured on the Wolverines’ net. Power responded with his striking speed, dangling through the opposition and bringing the puck deep into the Michigan attack zone all by himself — singlehandedly flipping the game script from a Laker attack to Wolverine offense. “He’s really improved his skating,” Pearson said. “...Power’s got more power.” Power’s game awareness and multi-dimensional skill set came through when Michigan needed it most in the third period. The Wolverines had just clawed back from a two goal deficit to tie the game, and Lake Superior State looked to take momentum back with a key penalty kill. A Laker skater interfered with Michigan’s fine-tuned power play passing and launched the puck for a clear. Standing at the blue line, Power said no. He caught the puck out of the air and dropped it onto his stick. Instead of being forced to chase the puck down and lose crucial power play time, the Wolverines were in position and back in business. Shortly thereafter, Brisson launched his signature power-play one-timer into the net, giving Michigan a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Power living up to his limitless potential will be key for the Wolverines moving forward. If he maintains his high-level performance, they’ll always be on the Power play.
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily Sophomore defensman Owen Power has added several skills to overpower opposing teams and contribute offensively.
Big fourth set powers victory over eighth- ‘M’ sweeps challenging weekend ranked Minnesota in biggest win of season DAVID WOELKERS
Daily Sports Writer
sure that their presence is known. Once they start going, it opens our whole For The Daily offense.” Although Mruzik heaped praise on her teammates, she was the one Down two sets to one, Michigan leading the charge in the fourth set that volleyball needed a win to keep the ultimately won the match. With six match alive. kills in the fourth set alone, including As junior outside hitter May the match point, Mruzik put the team Pertofsky rose up to serve, the crowd on her back and was the sparkplug for went silent. The Minnesota defense the Wolverines. responded, sending the ball back over Mruzik was dominant as she the net, requiring sophomore libero attacked the backline and the sidelines. Hannah Grant to do the splits to keep But with Minnesota focused on the rally alive. Sophomore setter preventing the Scottie Johnson easy kills and set the ball, getting its blocks, and sophomore holes opened up outside hitter Jess and Mruzik took Mruzik walked advantage. on air, delivering “When we a vicious spike. played them The Gophers tried the first time, I to track the ball went back and down, but it hit off watched what of the chest of the happened in that outside hitter, and match,” Mruzik the ball trickled said. “I picked to the score table. out some spots Point Michigan. that they weren’t The necessarily Wolverines took picking up on so this momentum I really tried to and knocked highlight that in out No. 8 ranked BECCA MAHON/Daily this match.” Minnesota in five Michigan junior middleback Jess Robinson keyed its big fourth set. Added Rosen: sets, their first match against a ranked opponent this with three solo blocks. Even sophomore “They just kept plugging away. I season, and their first win against a top opposite hitter Kendall Murray got into thought Jess Mruzik was great in that situation. Scottie was great in that the mix with a kill of her own. ten opponent since November of 2018. “Once we get those middles involved situation, you know, just a lot of kids After Michigan took a commanding lead in the first set, the Gophers fought and our setters, it’s almost impossible stepping up. We’re seeing some really back to make it 2-1 going into the fourth for blockers to pick up on things and good development with this team and set. The Wolverines knew they needed defend us,” Mruzik said. “Our middles character.” The momentum the Wolverines to win the next set if they had any did a great job today. That’s something chance of winning the match, so they we’ve been working a lot on in practice gained in the fourth set was too much and throughout the preseason, and for the Gophers to handle as Michigan kicked it into gear. “We got more kills. That was big,” the beginning of this season is getting carried it over to the fifth set to win the Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. “We those middles involved and making match. JAKE SINGER
use the term ‘dig to kill.’ When we dig a ball, we got to turn that ball into a kill if we can. If we’re just putting the ball back in play, at this level in the Big Ten, they’re gonna get a kill, so you’ve got to be able to dig to kill, and I thought we did that really well.” Michigan got a lot of help in the fourth set from players who typically aren’t relied upon to get kills. Junior middleback Jess Robinson started the set off with two block assists, including a solo block. Freshman middleback Jaque Boney followed Robinson up
When the Michigan field hockey schedule was created, it was assumed this past weekend’s games against Northwestern and Louisville would be competitive. Following the release of the NFHCA coaches poll earlier last week though, it was revealed how much of a gauntlet it actually was; Northwestern just outside of the top five, and Louisville at No. 3. With Michigan holding ground in the No. 2 slot, it was the kind of weekend you’d expect from the NCAA tournament, not a series in early October. The Wolverines didn’t back down from the challenge, however, and cemented their place in the highest caliber of Division I with a 2-1 double overtime win over the No. 6 Wildcats on Friday and a 2-1 win over the Cardinals on Sunday to sweep the weekend. Both games were close until the final buzzer, in contrast to the blowouts Michigan racked up in early season play. While the double overtime nail-biter against the Wildcats was the most visibly contested game, the Wolverines were equally pushed by the Cardinals, who erased an early 1-0 lead in the third quarter and kept the game tied up into late in the fourth, when a penalty corner shot off the stick of redshirt senior midfielder Halle O’Neill finally broke the stalemate. “We were playing on heavy legs after Friday,” Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said Sunday. “The girls played as hard as they would with a week’s rest though. I’m super proud of their grittiness.” Entering the weekend, members of the team confessed that nerves had been high. After playing two highly ranked teams in then-first-ranked North Carolina and theneleventh-ranked Wake Forest to start the season, the majority of games since have been played against unranked opponents, allowing few opportunities to test their game-plan. Coming home from a close brush with No. 18 Ohio State, Pankratz drilled the team on maintaining pace and keeping a cool head in high pressure situations, cognizant of the threat to their undefeated record poised by
the aggressive offenses of Northwestern and Louisville. On Friday, the Wildcats gave Michigan the scare the Wolverines had been preparing for. For much of the game, Northwestern dictated the pace and put Michigan on their heels, becoming the first team this season to outshoot the Wolverines. As the second overtime period headed to its end and a shootout loomed, Michigan found another gear, ending the game on a walk-off penalty corner shot by sophomore midfielder Anouk Veen. “We were definitely nervous going into the game,” Veen said. “Being able to shake that off and stand on our feet was huge.” Building on the lessons learned against Northwestern, Michigan was able to match Louisville shot for shot, and ultimately finished with 10 shots to the Cardinals’ seven. While the game was hard fought, the Wolverines were much more in control of the game from buzzer to buzzer, pushing Louisville back at almost every surge. “We’ve been playing down to our opponents lately,” O’Neill sa id on Sunday. “This week we stepped up and played at the level we want to be playing at” For several members of the team, what mattered most in the victories was the ability to stay calm despite the nerves. It was observable in the team’s play: from warmups to the final buzzer, the team danced to the music coming over the speakers, laughed with each other and tried to keep the game in perspective. Both game winners came off corners given from lengthy video reviews, in which the team was able to huddle together and take a breath. “The music is one of our inside jokes,” senior goalkeeper Anna Spieker said Friday. “It keeps up from freaking out and getting too in our heads.” Spieker provided both a brick wall in the net for Michigan, finishing the weekend on a near perfect 12-for-14 save record, as well as acting as a source of spirit while on the field. “When you see Anna dancing in the goal, it’s hard not to smile to yourself,” senior midfielder Kathryn Peterson said Sunday. “If she’s not panicked, we can’t be panicked either.”
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Unlike past years, this team finds ways to win in tough environments
Inside Moody’s emergence as a reliable, game-changing kicker At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Moody and Nordin were locked into a battle for Daily Sports Editor starting kicker duties. A native of Northville, Mich., Moody returned home to train at his high school Less than two minutes after drilling the most field. He posted a video of himself kicking a personalimportant kick of his career, Jake Moody trotted onto record 69-yard field goal in April and claims he made multiple kicks from 70-plus afterwards. the field. His next one would be even bigger. But last fall, that offseason work didn’t translate to That was how the final stretch of Saturday’s narrow win at Nebraska unfolded for the No. 8 results. Moody attempted four field goals during the Michigan football team’s senior kicker. With the pandemic-shortened season and missed three of them. Through the first six weeks of this season, Moody Wolverines trailing, 29-26, Moody’s 31-yard field goal tied the game with 3:05 to play. And after Michigan’s has rebounded in a big way. Part of that comes from defense forced a critical turnover, Moody put the a new snap operation. Fifth-year senior punter Brad Wolverines on top for good with a 39-yard field goal as Robbins began receiving and holding junior William Wagner’s snaps during fall camp and the results have the clock ticked down to 1:28. For Moody, Saturday night’s heroics are the latest been encouraging. “It’s been the confidence, the preparation,” example of his consistent success. He finished 4-for4 on field goals and 2-for-2 on extra-point attempts, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Saturday. “Brad Robbins is a huge part of it, not earning Big Ten Special just because he’s the holder, Teams Player of the Week but his mental fortitude and honors in the process. He’s positive daily infusion on our converted 12 of his 13 field goal entire team, especially that tries — including a 52-yarder snap, hold, kick battery. … against Washington — this Moody is just a straight calm, season while successfully cool, collected kind of guy.” knocking through all 25 extra Now, Moody says he’s points. comfortable kicking from “Jake is a part of the anywhere inside 60 yards offense. We can always in good conditions. Wind count on Jake,” junior gets tricky across the Big receiver Mike Sainristil Ten during football season, said Monday. “Moody, but Michigan’s special he’s real cold, to do what teams unit always takes the he did on Saturday. As a player himself, having MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily field early for warmups on game days to test out the that confidence in those Michigan senior kicker Jake Moody kicked weather. While on the road, situations, I just love that Saturday’s game-winning field goal. Moody looks for gaps in the from Moody.” Similar to a baseball pitcher managing his arm, the top of each stadium and takes note of any wind Wolverines’ coaches keep Moody on a “kick count.” deflections within. Rainfall and wind may be out of the Wolverines’ He kicks just three days per week — twice at practice and once during games — in order to maintain leg control, but those factors are closely monitored on game days. What never changes with the weather, strength and longevity. For the first three years of his career, Moody however, is Moody’s visualization of success. “I’ll be sitting up in bed, can’t fall asleep, just kind split time with fellow kicker Quinn Nordin. Moody struggled to establish rhythm after his freshman of thinking of those different scenarios,” Moody said. season, missing six of his 13 field goal attempts in 2019 “Like kicking a game-winner in the Big House against and 2020. But with Nordin now in the NFL, Moody Ohio State. Stuff like that. Going into every game, can take comfort in knowing he’s the Wolverines’ I like to think of different kicks. Could be a gamewinner, could be an extra point. clear No. 1 option. “I feel like once you visualize that kick in your “It feels good going into the games knowing it’s going to be you no matter what,” Moody said last head, once you get out there on the field, you feel a lot Tuesday. “I enjoyed having Quinn around. It made more comfortable since you’ve already kind of seen it both of us better for sure. But knowing it’s going to through your head.” On Saturday night in Lincoln, that dream of a be you and you’re the guy for every single kick, it’s a game-winning kick became a reality. pretty good feeling.” DANIEL DASH
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 — 11
LINCOLN — For a moment, as Cade McNamara walked off the field late in the third quarter, it felt like the same old Michigan. The junior quarterback had just thrown his first career interception, and as a whole, the ninthBRENDAN ranked Wolverines were reeling. ROOSE Moments before, they’d been sitting comfortably with a two-score advantage and a defense that effectively suffocated Nebraska’s dynamic offense. One throw and a two-point conversion later, it became a three-point Cornhuskers lead. The sudden momentum shift evoked memories of Jim Harbaughcoached teams of years past. Perhaps it reminded onlookers of Michigan’s 2019 loss against Ohio State, when the Wolverines scored on their first drive, then surrendered a touchdown on the next possession and never led again. Or the 2017 Outback Bowl, where a 16-point lead late in the third quarter devolved into a seven-point loss. Let’s be frank — the Michigan of years past would have lost Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium. The mistakes that allowed the Wolverines’ advantage to disappear would have compounded into more frustrations, more errors and, ultimately, a humiliating defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. But this isn’t the Michigan of years past. This team — which marched out of Lincoln with a 32-29 win over a much-improved Nebraska team — is different. The Wolverines of the last four years were almost extraordinary at finding ways to lose close games. This year’s team finds ways to win them. “I think overall that this team has decided to be different this year,” McNamara said. “And I think it’s not as much what you see footballwise, it’s the atmosphere that we’ve created, and really the mindset that
we’ve rebuilt this offseason, and I think it showed today.” McNamara exemplified that bounce-back mentality. By no means was he extraordinary on Saturday — he missed several open receivers throughout the night and often delivered the ball too late for his receivers to do much with it. The interception itself was ugly, thrown straight to a Cornhuskers defender. But after that throw, McNamara and the entire offense kept its collective composure. The very next possession, Michigan manufactured a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to regain the lead. When the defense surrendered it moments later, the offense responded again with a field goal to tie the game (Nebraska would never lead again). During those drives, it never seemed as if McNamara was pressing. He still
quarterback,” Harbaugh said. “After you throw an interception, do they have the ability on the next possession to drive the offense for points? Right there, in a nutshell, you can tell so much about any quarterback.” As with everything new about Michigan’s team, those changes didn’t stop with one player. They were visible in the defense, which somehow pulled out two stops at the end after looking helpless for most of the second half. It permeated throughout the sideline, which exploded with energy during Memorial Stadium’s post-third quarter light show — despite trailing for the first time all season at that point. And most of all, it shows in the Wolverines’ record midway through theseason:6-0.Saywhatyouwantabout
TESS CROWLEY/Daily Michigan junior quarterback Cade McNamara is playing with confidence.
made mistakes, but rarely were those the product of mental lapses. On plays where his first read wasn’t open, he didn’t force the ball and instead opted to find his tight ends over the middle. He displayed the poise and calmness that any team — especially one that’s certain to be in close games moving forward — needs out of its quarterback. That’s something the Wolverines haven’t had recently. “I’ve always thought that that was one of the huge tests for any
the competition, the inconsistency, the dumb errors on the road; despite all of that, Michigan’s entering its bye week exceeding all expectations and on the cusp of potentially competing for a Big Ten Championship. Somehow, the Wolverines are winning games. They’ve chosen to abandon the status quo of the Harbaugh era and embrace a new identity. For McNamara, the motivations behind that choice are simple: “We’re tired of losing.”
SportsWednesday: Michigan just proved it can be a contender this season Going into the season, 8-4 was a hopeful prediction for the Michigan football team’s record. Our own beat’s highest prediction was that. Washington, Wisconsin, Penn State and Ohio State smelled like instant losses. Michigan State and Indiana would push them, and winning both would be a sign of KENT progress after SCHWARTZ losses last year. This year was supposed to be a gap year — a year to let freshman phenom J.J. McCarthy mature and allow the new defense to settle in. But now, 6-0 and ranked in the top 10, this season is no longer a bridge to a brighter future, it is an opportunity for the Wolverines to be disruptive and play at a national scale.
Two weeks ago against Rutgers, the defense held strong and kept the Scarlet Knights from turning the table after an abysmal offensive second half from the Wolverines. A week ago, Jim Harbaugh won his biggest road win at Michigan. This week, the offense kept the team in it even as the defense floundered. Then, when it needed to, the defense forced a late fumble to set up a gamewinning field goal. “We didn’t flinch,” senior safety Brad Hawkins said. “We stayed composed throughout the whole game. We knew adversity was going to hit. It hit, and we didn’t flinch. I love this team, I love this defense, and I know we’re fighters.” Michigan teams of the past couldn’t have done any of those things. This year, the dominoes are falling the right way for the Wolverines. When looking across college football,
the traditionally top teams are struggling. Oklahoma has scraped by in five of its six games, Alabama lost to an unranked team, Clemson has plummeted out of even the top 25. Notre Dame has looked ugly in its 5-1 start and now Penn State has a questionable quarterback situation due to Sean Clifford’s injury. There is actually a path to the College Football Playoff. Which is, inherently, a ridiculous thing to write. But Michigan still has to face its biggest tests. Michigan State, the Nittany Lions and Ohio State are all top 10 teams left on its schedule, and each of them is finding its identity (Clifford’s injury aside). If the Wolverines lose just two of those games, this could be Harbaugh’s best season ever at Michigan. If they lose one of those games, they would be contenders for the College Football Playoff and
MASK UP
likely give Harbaugh his first Big Ten Title. And after the past three weeks, Michigan losing only one of those games isn’t a laughably absurd thought. Because unlike in previous years, the Wolverines have shown an ability to adjust and learn from their shortcomings. The abysmal offense from Rutgers’ second half hasn’t reappeared, and that game remains the only one in which Michigan failed to score more than 30 points. McNamara has improved throughout the season, and despite a few missed throws on Saturday he played well. The defense has made in-game adjustments, repeatedly shutting down teams after their first drive. There’s no reason to suspect it won’t learn from Nebraska’s second half. All that goes to show that this isn’t a gap year for Michigan — not because it’s biding its time for
STAY SAFE
BECCA MAHON/Daily Michigan junior quarterback Cade McNamara took ownership of this team.
McCarthy to take the starting job but because it won’t accept a loss. That’s why the team danced despite being behind at the end of the third quarter and why they continued to respond. “The grit they have, the fight they have, the mindset of not being denied,” Harbaugh said. “The way they prepare and they have fun
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doing it. It’s in the eyes. Practice and games.” Now, 8-4 would be a disappointing end. And Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State are winnable games and the Las Vegas Bowl a let down. So forget the gap year, the Wolverines have crashed the playoff conversation.
S P O R T S W E D N E S DAY
SHUCK OFF
Michigan escapes with victory, outlasts Cornhuskers, 32-29 JARED GREENSPAN Daily Sports Editor
LINCOLN — On Saturday night, deep into the third quarter and amidst a raucous sea of red, the Michigan football team found itself wading in unfamiliar territory. As Nebraska receiver Levi Falck waltzed down the sideline and into the endzone untouched, the Wolverines looked up to see themselves on the wrong side of the score. For the first time all year, in the season’s sixth game, they trailed. And yet, in the face of its first genuine bout of adversity, Michigan flashed an unshakable streak of resilience. Propelled by a last-minute field goal by senior kicker Jake Moody, the Wolverines (6-0 overall, 3-0 Big Ten) escaped the hostile confines of Memorial Stadium with a victory, edging Nebraska (3-4, 1-2), 32-29. Moody’s kick, a 39-yard chip shot that split the uprights with 1:24 minutes to go, came off the heels of a pivotal sequence from an embattled defense that surrendered 29 second-half points yet embodied that resiliency. Quarterback Adrian Martinez coughed up the ball on
a 3rd-and-1 rushing attempt when fifthyear safety Brad Hawkins punched it free, setting up Michigan’s offense at the Cornhuskers’ 18-yard line. “The atmosphere, the environment, it just showed a lot of poise and moxie by our guys,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game, a smile wrapping his face. “No doubt (the fans) wanted to storm the field, tear down the goalpost — not on our guys’ watch tonight. I’m proud of them.” Through the first half, it seemed as if the Wolverines wouldn’t need Moody’s heroics to secure a victory; a 13-0 halftime lead certainly had the makings of another blowout, the likes of which Michigan has certainly grown accustomed to. The defense held strong, flummoxing Martinez and the Cornhuskers’ patented rushing attack and, after slogging through the first quarter, the offense found its groove before Nebraska did. Yet across the third quarter, it looked as if the two teams had spent halftime swapping uniforms. Michigan’s defense, which has established itself as a consistent, reliable unit under first-year coordinator Mike
Macdonald, wilted in short order. On the half’s opening possession, a coverage breakdown left tight end Austin Allen alone streaking down the middle of the field; Martinez would find him for a 46-yard touchdown. The Wolverines countered, with junior quarterback Cade McNamara engineering a 91-yard touchdown drive, putting Michigan up 12 with 3:36 minutes left in the third quarter. But, less than three minutes later, they were staring down that very first deficit. Martinez found running back Rahmir Johnson wide open on a wheel route for a 41-yard touchdown pass to draw Nebraska within five. After a McNamara interception, Martinez capitalized immediately, finding Falck to put the Cornhuskers in front, 22-19. More than 87,000 upset-minded fans erupted into a tsunami of red; the imagination had been stirred a step closer towards reality. A marquee victory, absent from the first four years of the underwhelming Scott Frost era, was suddenly within Nebraska’s grasp. Michigan, seemingly overwhelmed and discombobulated, would be the casualty.
That narrative never came to fruition. “We responded,” fifth-year senior Brad Hawkins said. “We didn’t flinch, like I said. We came prepared and we stayed composed. You can’t look up at the score. You’ve got to just keep playing football. That’s what we did.” No Power-5 team had lasted longer than Michigan did without facing a deficit. And yet, the Wolverines proved masterful at handling the adversity confronting them; undeterred by the buzz of the crowd and a lightshow between the third and fourth quarter, the players jumped and danced along, spilling onto the field. “When we get punched, we’ve still got that plan,” junior defensive tackle Mazi Smith said, explaining the team’s relentless positivity. Their off-field actions only resonate because their on-field response spoke volumes. Sophomore running back Blake Corum punctuated a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a 29-yard touchdown run, an emphatic answer by a unit that spent the first half sputtering. After Martinez again found the endzone for his fourth touchdown of the game, Michigan remained composed, driving down the
field for a game-tying field goal with three minutes to play, setting the stage for the ensuing heroics. Even after the Moody field goal, Nebraska had a fighter’s chance; a 25-yard pass placed the ball at midfield with a shade over a minute remaining. Once again, though, the Wolverines matched the occasion; when Martinez’s desperation, 4th-and-10 heave fell to the turf untouched, a hush fell over Memorial Stadium. Michigan had indeed survived, scars and all. “We’re enjoying the incredible,” Harbaugh said, his eyes lit with enthusiasm, that smile still unshakable. “That was awesome. It’ll be a happy flight, I can tell you that.” Then, standing at the corner of a cramped, makeshift media room deep inside Memorial Stadium, Harbaugh gestured to the back. He looked towards Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel, sitting in a chair, dressed in khakis and a blue Jordan-brand Michigan polo, vociferously nodding along in accordance. “It’ll be a happy flight, isn’t it?” Harbaugh said.
Becca Mahon/Daily | Tess Crowley/Daily | Design by Sophie Grand
C OM P O S I T ION BOOK
Fever dreams and corporate schemes
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 // The Statement — 2
Design by Jessica Chiu Page Design by Sarah Chung
The store was cold and dark with figures appearing out of the minimal light offered by the piercing fluorescent bulbs — a less than ideal situation for someone with no recollection of where they were. Or what they were doing there. Or how they got there in the first place. I frantically searched for signs of anything that might answer any, if not all, of my questions. All I saw was a long, narrow hallway that seemed never-ending. The only image protruding out of the ongoing horizon was a faint neon sign that read “GROCERY.” Figures. A minuscule supermarket. I looked to my left and then to my right. Five rows of metal shelves lined the edges of both sides. There appeared to be indistinct products organized in a tight, tidy fashion. Nothing was out of place, and each product was in perfect alignment with the next. The arrangement was ultra-functional, yet the sense of order felt militaristic. I needed to know more. I began to walk down the aisle, one foot apprehensively placed in front of the next, directing my eyes to any image that caught my attention. As I began treading forward, the visuals surrounding me became progressively clearer. The once indistinguishable objects that sat on chilling, lifeless counters began morphing into unfamiliar products — ones that would not be in a standard grocery store. The first thing I could identify was a seemingly endless supply of machinery, including a plethora of interchangeable parts. Each item resembled one another, with identical ridges and nooks. As I peered my head in closer to read the item description, the advertisement’s words jumped out at me: “Why buy multiple parts when you could have one that does it all? SAVE TIME AND MONEY! MAXIMIZE EFFICIENCY!” Though I had seen similar marketing techniques before, this product’s plea for productivity and cost-effective shopping felt strangely out of the ordinary. Why did interchangeable parts — a staple invention of the industrial revolution — need to manipulate consumers into purchasing? I felt an unstoppable urge to continue moving forward. I didn’t see anyone behind me, yet I couldn’t ignore the feeling that people were waiting for me to continue. I felt I had no choice but to proceed. As I kept moving forward, the light in the store grew marginally brighter, yet all the more piercing. Its power illuminated the advertised items, making it significantly easier for me to distinguish what they were. Yet as these products became clearer, they simultaneously grew more foreign and bizarre. The department began with a section of over-the-counter “study drugs,” pharmaceuticals like Adderall, Vyvanse and
BY ANDIE HOROWITZ , STATEMENT MANAGING EDITOR
Ritalin — medicine I was almost positive you needed a prescription for. Study drugs contorted into the store’s book department, filled it with “must-read” literature such as “Productivity for Dummies,” “The Grass Is Always Greener: How to Compete With Your Neighbor” and an unnecessary amount of text dedicated to the “pull yourselves up by the bootstraps” theory. The sales section offered “UNBEATABLE DEALS!” — discounted prices of “The Communist Manifesto” and “Das Kapital,” both published and distributed by Amazon. Though these products were on sale, the inventory seemed virtually untouched, with dust collecting on the crevices of every copy. As I moved past the publication department, I stumbled into a segment titled “Games and Gimmicks.” Right off the bat, the region was dominated by an inordinate amount of Monopoly boxes, offering all themes and variations imaginable. Strangely enough, it appeared that Monopoly was the only board game the store sold, besides a one-off row of Hungry Hungry Hippos. Go figure. Unlike the game section’s lack of diverse offerings, the gimmicks this mysterious store offered felt right out of a fever dream. Suddenly, I was surrounded by products I couldn’t have dreamt up on even the most outlandish of nights. Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand. A brand of lollipops known as Boot Lickers. Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin bobbleheads. Globalization Globes, levied by an export tax. Tortoiseshells with Mitch McConnell’s head. X Æ A-12 baby dolls. Apple products with expiration dates. A life-sized idol of Jordan Belfort, with a voice box that declares “Sell me this pen” upon the pull of a string. Where did these items come from? Who could’ve manufactured them? And better yet, who’s actually purchasing them? I looked around with an eerie sense of amazement, racking my brain for answers. Suddenly, a ubiquitous female voice protruded through the walls: “Please proceed
forward to maximize customer experience.” I recognized the robotic, yet comforting feminine rhythm from somewhere, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I looked to the top of the walls for speakers, evidence of familiarity, and realized the store’s sound system consisted of rows of Echo Dots — the all-encompassing voice was none other than Alexa. I listened dutifully, motivated by an unshakable sense of fear, and continued on through the shop floor. Next came the health and food departments, kicked off by an abundance of Mark Zuckerberg-sponsored sunscreen, babyface anti-aging cream and Kardashian-endorsed diet pills. “LOSE WEIGHT FAST!” the bottles screamed out, leading me to question my body shape in a store devoid of critical onlookers. The supplements dwindled into top-shelf meats and produce. I marveled at the beauty of the shining kale, spinach and arugula, all supplied by Monsanto. The greens were regularly upkept by a misting sprinkler, set off every five minutes on the dot. The gorgeous array of vegetables was halted by the magnificence of wagyu beef and wild-caught salmon, all leading up to dry-aged ribeye garnished with gold flakes. I had never seen such stunning and nutritious food in one congregate area. Yet my amazement quickly dwindled as I read a small sign conveniently placed at the end of the section, preaching “PRODUCE AND MEATS RESERVED FOR THE 1% INCOME BRACKET. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED.” I let out a large sigh, characterized both by disgust and exhaustion, yet continued down the aisle hoping only to avoid trouble. Thank god I didn’t touch anything. The coldness of the store almost instantaneously morphed into a hot, desert-like climate, leaving me begging for sustenance. Unfortunately, the only products this area sold were White Castle’s cheeseburger sliders and Arby’s Roast Beef. I had to get out of here. I was uneasy, uncertain, uncomfortable and unwelcome.
I no longer wanted to explore my surroundings — I needed to locate an exit. The only way through is through. I picked up my pace, catalyzing an unprovocative yet steady jog, desperate to find the end of the perpetual grocery store. As I ran without an end in sight, I shuffled by the “exclusive items” department. Stock options. Financial loopholes. Congressional votes. Government access codes. Buy one, get one free TV networks. Jeff Bezos’ business blueprints. Donald Trump’s tax returns. All items were available only to those in .1% income bracket. And even with these high-profile, everdesired options, the most concerning was yet to come. The sign described them as exploited Workers. “LOW STOCK — ACT FAST! CAPABLE HUMAN LABOR! AVAILABLE FOR MAXIMUM HOURS NEEDED AND MINIMUM PAY.” My jaw dropped and my lower lip quivered with fear. How was this possible? How was this allowed? My body was shaking, eyes widened with terror. “Need any help?” I heard as a man touched my shoulder, and I was startled by the fact that someone else had been here the entire time. I turned around. It was the University of Michigan’s President, Mark Schlissel. I shook my head softly, attempting to disguise my frantic state of mind. I didn’t want to cause a scene. I didn’t want to be noticed. I had to escape. “Find what you’re looking for?” he asked with an off-putting cheeriness in his tone. He appeared to be a store employee, one that was particularly unbothered by the apocalyptic surroundings. I worked up the courage not only to speak, but lie my way out. “Actually, I’d love to be directed toward the exit. I have an emergency at home I have to tend to,” I explained weakly. “You’re in the right place then! The cash register is right ahead,” he gestured forward. I proceeded onward and was astounded by the sight of three identical, late-aged white men, each wearing black jackets, white shirts and red ties. Their wrinkles all tattooed the same areas of their faces and hands. The men appeared to be copy-andpasted, with robotic body languages similar to that of the Agents in “The Matrix.” “How can we help you today?” they said with a monotone, yet somehow condescending voice. “Can you please point me in the direction of the exit?” I asked politely, fronting a carefully constructed smile to hide my panic. “You have to purchase your items before you can leave,” the men explained in unison. I was perplexed. I had no items in hand to purchase.
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Strawberries and other growing pains 3 — Wednesday, October 13, 2021 // The Statement
Design by Megan Young Page Design by Sarah Chung
Claire had come to resent strawberries. The color, the taste, the way the seeds got stuck in her teeth — everything about them exhausted her. She stared down at the plant, nudging the stem with her foot. She felt like the berries were mocking her, peering up from under the thick, green leaves. Claire reached down and plucked one from the plant, dropping it into the bucket with more than a little hostility. By the end of the day, her hands would be red and raw from the scratchy fibers on the underside of the leaves, a feeling no amount of lotion would be able to soothe. When she’d finished one plant, she moved on to the next, following the row all the way to the other end of the garden. This wasn’t exactly what she’d envisioned for her summer — or her life for that matter. By the end of her senior year, she’d been unemployed and scrambling, looking desperately for something that would be as impressive as the jobs her friends had taken in New York and Chicago. That’s when she found La Ferme Tourrette. Claire had been mindlessly scrolling online when she found WWOOF, Worldwide Opportunities for Organic Farms. It’s a program that connects people to farms around the world where they work in exchange for room and board. She read the reviews posted under pictures of smiling twenty-somethings holding armfuls of produce. Claire had imagined herself at a quaint but tasteful cottage in the south of France, reading in the grass, swimming in ponds, learning to speak French and finding farmers markets that were très adorable. It was the kind of thing unique, interesting people did. She imagined herself saying things like “Oh, I just sort of hopped on a plane and went.” She’d come home with honey that she’d helped make on the farm, an amazing tan and stories of dates with French men on the back of mopeds. What she forgot to imagine was the whole farming aspect. In theory, she loved the idea of working out in the sun, being surrounded by plants all day. Once she had actually gotten to the farm, though, Claire quickly realized that her idealized vision was not grounded in reality. The lavender plants were spiky, it was impossible to get the carrots out of the ground and there was no one to talk to in the field. She had never done manual labor before (something that had seem-
BY LANE KIZZIAH, STATEMENT CORRESPONDENT ingly slipped her mind when applying for the program in the first place), and she was quickly discovering that it wasn’t her forte. As she pulled the berries from their stems, she thought of Cowbelles, a movie from her childhood about two spoiled girls forced to work in their dad’s dairy plant to learn the value of hard work. Following the lead of cinematic tropes, Claire had been expecting some life-changing, “Eat, Pray, Love” experience, but so far she didn’t know how much she was really learning about hard work — other than that she didn’t like it. She hated getting up early and going to sleep exhausted. The feeling of dirt under her fingernails made her skin crawl. Maybe she just wasn’t the type for “personal growth.” Maybe she was too shallow or maybe she just wasn’t trying hard enough. And after what felt like an endless number of strawberries, Claire got to the end of the row, putting her hands on her hips to take a breath. “Es-tu fini?” Maryanne, the farm’s matriarch asked. French fluency was one of the program’s few requirements — criteria that Claire definitely didn’t meet. So as soon as she’d booked her flights, she went rummaging through her parents’ library and found an old, beat-up French dictionary. Claire kept the dictionary tucked in her back pocket, keeping a mental list of all the words to look up when no one was watching. She’d picked up on the basics pretty quickly: Aller, go. Finir, finish. La ferme, the farm. “Non, j’ai deux en plus,” Claire responded. No, I have two more. Maryanne was nice enough but distinctly French. She was quick speaking and didn’t like explaining things twice. She would never hesitate to berate Claire on her poor attempts at the language. “J’ai deux de plus,” Maryanne corrected. Maryanne had two children — both boys ages 10 and 13 — and ran the farm on her own. She’d been divorced some years back, but rarely spoke of her ex-husband. Maryanne never shared any details, not even his name. The boys, Luca and Paul, were sweet yet rowdy, used to having free rein over the property while Maryanne was working or cooking or dealing with the vendors that worked at the markets. Claire had a hard time connecting with them. Even beyond the language barrier, the boys were a bit too old to see their new addition as an older sister, yet the age difference was a little too large for them to organically become friends. Not to mention that while Maryanne slowed down her speaking so Claire could keep up, the boys made no such concession, exchanging rapid-fire French between themselves all day long.
When Claire had finished plucking the last strawberry, she went inside to take a shower. Her room was small but nicely decorated with yellow walls, rustic wooden furniture and a vase of daffodils on the window sill. Maryanne had put the flowers there before Claire had arrived, but a month later, they were wilted and starting to lose their petals. She looked at the wrinkled stems, thinking about how much they had changed since her arrival and how she herself had not. She went over and started brushing the dry, fallen pieces into her hand as she looked outside. Claire knew the house must be very old by the imperfections in the glass window panes. New, manufactured glass all looked the same, but with old glass, when you look really closely, you can see a subtle pattern and tiny bubbles, blemishes from the way that it was set that cause the light to reflect just a little bit differently. Claire loved glass like that. As she looked out onto the fields, she thought about what she’d be doing if she were at home. Her mom would be cooking dinner. Her dad would have PBS NewsHour on too loud in the family room. Her mom would make a comment about how the TV was making too much noise but only quietly and passiveaggressively to herself. Maybe her brother would come over. Claire would be sitting on the window bench in her room, reading with the win- dows open so she could listen to the rain — it rained all summer in Seattle. She’d be debating how to tell her parents she was going to bars with friends, and she’d be out late. But instead, she was here. Exhausted and alone in the countryside West of Avignon. Yet as much as she hated the strawberries and wished her French was better, Claire wasn’t unhappy. She wasn’t all that happy either. She was just there. She would say she was content, a word Claire didn’t use often. At home, every day either felt like the best or worst she’d ever had. Some days, she’d go to the grocery store ecstatic about the week ahead. She’d plan elaborate meals and spend way too much money on clothes online and get two iced coffees because on a day as beautiful as that, how could she resist? It was on one of these ecstatic days that she’d booked the trip to France in the
first place. Others, she’d be in bed all day, completely unable to do more than the absolute bare minimum. But, on the farm, she didn’t have the highest highs and the lowest lows. She just had days. Sure, she wasn’t frolicking through fields to “The Sound of Music” soundtracklike she’d imagined, but things were alright. Claire didn’t have the slightest idea what she would do when her time on the farm was over. The end date was just three and a half weeks away now. She felt just the faintest prickles of anxiety creeping up whenever she thought of it. She’d always felt an undefined sense of excitement about her post-college 20s, never anything as concrete as a job or where she would live — just an amorphous inclination towards the exciting. At some point, she’d have to figure out what to do, but there were a lot of strawberries to pick in the meantime. When she was done showering, Claire went downstairs to help Maryanne with dinner. Even with her pocket dictionary, Claire only had an operational understanding of French, and Maryanne had made no effort to learn any English (almost as a matter of principle, Claire thought), so these downtimes passed wordlessly between the two. Over the summer, the two women had become accustomed to each other, developing something that wasn’t quite friendship. Camaraderie, maybe? Or was it simply a mutual understanding? Whatever their relationship was, it made the silence comforting. Claire and Maryanne moved around the kitchen in near synchronization, listening to the sizzle of shallots in hot oil and the satisfying snap of lettuce being torn. Luca and Paul came screaming through the kitchen, knocking a pile of napkins to the floor as they bee-lined their way to the backyard. “Casse-toi!” Maryanne yelled, long after they were out of earshot. Stop that. Every day as they made dinner, Maryanne poured a glass of wine for herself and Claire. As the light got softer and their shadows got longer, she grabbed the glasses. Claire handed her the bottle opener, and they both watched as the sun started to dip below the horizon. “Es-tu heureux ici?” Maryanne asked. “Yes, I’m happy.”
The incomplete book of origami
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 // The Statement — 4
Design by Megan Young Page Design by Sarah Chung
She loved the way the paper felt against her fingertips. She slid her thumb across the crisp edge, creating yet another fold — the blueprint for what was to take shape. Today was a record: Beatrix made 990 before dinnertime. Only 10 away before the job was done. Her hands were cramped and papercuts lined the webs of her fingers. The burbling of her stomach was a testament for the strenuous task. Paper cranes. This obsession was an attempt at reconciliation, first set off when she stumbled upon a how-to book at the local church sale. It was a 25-cent manual entitled “The Complete Book of Origami.” It sat with a broken binding and water-damaged pages. Much of the book was unreadable — the aged mildew cemented the paper together and faded the script. Luckily for Bea, the diagram instructions and history of the crane remained perfectly intact. Its rustic charm was in part why she liked the book. There was also the fact that it was to be her attempt at salvation. A guidebook for the lost. Despite the manual’s unruly condition, it had a sense of safeness about it. A sense that Bea had lacked for the past six years. December 5, 2015. The day her world ended, the day they walked out of her life. Not even a paper note was left for a final goodbye. Such lack of closure opened a new chapter in Bea’s life, a chapter that detailed her endless pursuit of paper. At first, she used receipts and old National Geographic magazines to craft her cranes — the only materials she could find on street corners or in recycling bins. The printed images and ink on the page made it difficult to make a solid, intentional crease, yet the vibrancy of the pictures made up for the medium’s poor composition. They were colorful creatures each with their own pictorial personality. The beaks pointed confidently upward; the wings slightly misshapen. An obsession. Something that consumed her day-to-day activities and spare moments. An endless pursuit of paper. Such obsession traveled with her everywhere she went. When Bea would go out to eat, she would unroll the napkin folder and create the first fold — all before the waitress could even greet her table. When Bea would get home from school, she would immediately take out her graded
BY JULIA MALONEY, STATEMENT ASSOCIATE EDITOR
tests and marked notebook paper to begin the craft — all paper birds, a not so helpful study tool. 1,000 of their faceless and nameless bodies joined her paper family each day. Though she had a multitude of nameless, identical birds, Bea had her favorites — namely the ones made from newspaper. She lingered around the newsstand each Sunday as a young boy refilled the box, catching its lid before the compartment clicked shut. The smell of the fresh press combined with the lightness of the paper made for a lively crane, one plastered with a variety of words and news about climate change or abuse scandals, all of which she couldn’t begin to understand. Paper cranes. Each had its own story, yet all possessed the same intent. Her paper family, now more like a paper army, were her remedy. The magic elixir to the world’s unavoidable afflictions. The cure to nature’s unknowable plan.
too little too late. Her work was never to be finished. The wish to bring them back. This was why she saw Dr. Lee each Thursday, completing her cranes before every appointment to make up for lost time. “How are you feeling today Beatrix?” he would ask. “I am feeling hopeful today.” Dr. Lee then proceeded to justify her grief, eventually asking, “Why don’t you tell me about your paper cranes?” Bea dodged the question each time, pantomiming the folds out of stress. The real reason was too painful to explain even to a trained professional. She creates cranes each day to forget her pain, to wishfully attempt to undo it. Not to bring it up to a stranger who she believed had no potential to ease her hurt. He was not made of paper. Dr. Lee diagnosed her with OCD and depression, remedied with prescription medication — a slip of paper signed with a messy signature that quickly turned into a paper bird.
She began to fold each morning until all 1,000 were made each night, the waterlogged manual as her origami Bible. “According to Japanese tradition, the crane lives for 1,000 years. Those who create these detailed folds and create 1,000 shall therefore be granted one special wish.” The short description located at the heart of the book was her guiding phrase, a statement that was to change the course of her life. An endless pursuit of wishes; wishes made of paper. Her one wish was never to come true. Despite her efforts, she was one paper crane
All 1,000 pointed faces and tails represented a chance at health and healing; a chance of continued beauty and grace. A chance that she fell short of taking; a chance she wouldn’t let slip through her fingers again. Each night when she went home, she would line them on her bedroom floor, creating a fleet. Although Bea was possessive over her paper creations, sometimes she would make a few extra to leave behind on park benches or headstones. She often felt selfish for hoarding so many wishes, therefore it was only right to potentially help
the next girl from taking on an unbearable load of grief. Maybe, just maybe, .001% of a wish would mean a difference for someone who experienced death and loneliness. A tangible sign from heaven that Bea was the deliverer of. Her role was like that of a spiritual intermediary, a role she wished someone would fill for her. On a day like this where she had made so many in so little time, she would write a note to them on the scrap page before folding it into shape. It was a painful process, yet a therapeutic one. Bea wrote in pencil, for her mistakes and loss for words were plentiful. Her eraser was worn to a mere nub. The tiny, rolled shavings brushed off the table formed a disorderly pile beneath her feet. To you. Erase. To the one I miss the most. Erase. Dear you, Your birthday is this week, as you know. I have been preparing and collecting extra scraps to celebrate you. I left one in our spot yesterday, one made of newspaper. I hope you don’t mind. As an update, I have made 2,187,000 wishes to bring you back to me. Three more sets of wishes until the big day. I hope you are proud of me. With love. Erase. Please come home. Erase. I miss you, Bea. Unsatisfied. She crumpled up the page. A crime. A death in the family. A waste of material and energy. She never could quite put into words what she wanted to say. She was so angry and confused at them for leaving, something out of her control that she is now so desperately trying to understand. They would never come back. If they wanted to, they would. 2,187,000 are surely enough wishes. Yet they are never enough. It took her six years and countless therapy sessions to realize this. Beatrix is a crumpled piece of paper with irremovable damage. No amount of flattening, pressing and pleading can undo a crisp crease. No amount of folding, wishing and creating cranes can bring them back. Too far gone, dead. She hated the way the paper felt against her fingertips. She slid her thumb across the crisp edge, undoing the folds — the blueprint for what was never meant to take shape. Paper Cranes. She destroyed every single one.