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Daily Investigation finds decades of allegations of unprofessional conduct by musicology professors Faculty members accused of verbal abuse, creating hostile learning environment

JULIAN WRAY & VANESSA KIEFER

Managing Investigative Editors

I

n January 2020, the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School provided musicology administrators with a department review based, in part, on a survey of doctoral students. The report revealed multiple concerns of musicology faculty engaging in verbal abuse, contributing to a “troublesome climate and culture” and significantly below average graduation rates for over two decades. A copy of this review has been obtained by The Michigan Daily.

“Students indicated a sense of belonging … (that) is the lowest of all programs in the humanities and the arts,” the report said. “Your students painted an alarming image of (the) program climate.”

The report noted that these scores had dropped in the four years since Rackham’s previous review in 2015 of the musicology department.

Anonymous comments from individual graduate students were also included in the report.

“A dozen comments in the openended responses described instances of the following: (1) faculty publicly calling into question the intellectual and scholarly ability of students, especially female students; (2) faculty openly discussing issues of disability, health, and other protected personal information of students; and, (3) faculty openly insulting and demeaning students,” the report said.

A Daily investigation into the musicology department climate found

Design By Erin Ruark

“We take very seriously the experience of U-M students at SMTD, and prioritize climate and culture at the school,” Gier wrote. “While I cannot comment on personnel matters related to faculty and staff, I am sharing the steps SMTD has taken to address areas of concern outlined by the 2020 Rackham Program Review of the Musicology Department.”

Gier wrote that the Music, Theatre & Dance School’s response to climate concerns included the creation of a handbook for the musicology department and the implementation of anti-racism and equity-focused training for faculty.

Gier did not comment on the allegations against Stein or Borders.

In interviews with The Daily,

‘These people don’t care about me at all’

numerous previously undisclosed allegations of unprofessional conduct against musicology professor Louise Stein and the department’s current chair, James Borders.

These allegations span from the 1980s to the present and range from grade manipulation to insensitive comments targeting students’ socioeconomic backgrounds.

This investigation also found the Music, Theatre & Dance School

and Rackham administrators were repeatedly made aware of concerns regarding Stein and Borders. It is unclear if these administrators have taken any actions to address these concerns outside of the review.

The investigation conducted by The Daily is based on interviews with 16 current and former students along with emails, documents and the internal Rackham review.

In an email to The Daily, Borders commented on the allegations against him.

“Should the University open an investigation, I would cooperate fully,” Borders wrote.

Stein also commented on the allegations against her in an emailed statement to The Daily.

“The allegations … are deeply concerning to me because I remain

dedicated to supporting students and promoting their success at all levels,” Stein wrote. “If the University decided to investigate, I would certainly cooperate fully.”

In an email to The Daily, David Gier, dean of the Music, Theatre & Dance School, explained the actions administrators have taken in response to the 2020 musicology department review.

seven current and former musicology students of the 16 total interviews spoke of allegations of unprofessional conduct against Borders. These students allege that his conduct is an open secret among students and faculty.

A former student who enrolled in the doctoral program in musicology in the early 2010s spoke of Borders’s unprofessional conduct at department events. The student asked to remain anonymous out of fear of professional repercussions. In this article, they will be referred to as Emma.

See DAILY INVESTIGATION, Page 3

U-M students Diag display of Color talk raises awareness community of solitary empowerment, confinement experiences at pitfalls for predominantly Open MI Door white institution campaign Speakers assail poor representation at University, highlight value of POC-oriented organization VANESSA KIEFER

Managing Investigative Editor

Students march down the streets of Ann Arbor at the annual Take Back the Night rally to celebrate survivors and end sexual violence April 7.

HANNAH TORRES/Daily

Ann Arborites, campus groups march against gender-based violence at 44th Take Back the Night rally

Activists, survivors share stories, local leaders express support for sexual assault prevention EMILY BLUMBERG Daily Staff Reporter

Content warning: sexual assault The 44th annual Take Back The Night Ann Arbor rally and march took place in both the Michigan Union ballroom and the streets of Ann Arbor Thursday evening.

Take Back The Night is a collaboration between the Ann Arbor-based organization Standing Tough Against Rape Society and the student organization United

Students Against Rape (USAR). The rally featured multiple local officials as well as survivors of sexual assault who spoke about their personal experiences.

The rally was led by activist Nicole Denson and USAR’s student volunteers.

It also featured student organizations, such as the Wolverine Support Network, Roe v. Rape and WORTH, as well as campus and local organizations, such as DPSS: Special Victims Unit, Planned Parenthood of Michigan and the Safehouse Center.

U.S. Rep. Debbie

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Dingell, D-Mich., shared her own experiences with gender-based violence and recounted instances of gun violence in her childhood home. She also explained a time when a former coworker had persistently stalked her.

“Too many women experience this,” Dingell said. “If you say something at work or you say you’ve seen it, the Me Too movement is taking it back for women.We are standing up for each other, having each person’s back, believing people. You need to believe people

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when they come to you.”

Dingell also said she is proud about the reinstatement of the Violence Against Women Act, which was signed into law two weeks ago

by U.S. President Joe Biden after four years of rejection from the U.S. Senate. She also noted the significance of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation Thursday afternoon as a step forward for womens’ voices in the government.

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University of Michigan students of Color in student organization leadership positions met virtually on Monday to discuss their experiences finding and advocating for communities of Color on campus.

They also spoke to their experiences as people of Color at a predominantly white institution (PWI). The Center for Campus Involvement’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) team organized the panel event.

LSA senior Adetola Ojo, Black Student Union co-programming chair, spoke on the culture change she experienced coming to the University from a mixed race household.

“Coming to Michigan was a little bit of (what) I like to call a reverse culture shock,” Ojo said. “I didn’t think so hard about the fact that I was Black growing up because it

INDEX

wasn’t important to my family … So coming to Michigan was a little bit different because it was very much almost my entire identity to a lot of the people around me.”

In 2018, the University received an F grade in representation of Black students on campus from a study done by the University of Southern California.

According to Data USA, currently 52.2% of the student population is white and 4.26% of students are Black or African American.

Additionally, Asian students make up 13.3% of the population, 4.01% of students identify as two or more races, 0.152% identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.03% identify as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders.

LSA senior Indeya Lawrence, vice president of Mixed at Michigan, said it was difficult for her to find a community at the University when she Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Vol. CXXXI, No. 72 ©2022 The Michigan Daily

Advocacy effort allows passersby to experience confines of prison cell, aims to abolish isolated incarceration MARLEE SACKSNER

Daily Staff Reporter

On Tuesday, the University of Michigan Project Outreach collaborated with Citizens For Prison Reform to host “Solitary: The Family Experience,” an event aimed to spread awareness and support for the Open MI Door campaign.

This campaign is focused on ending solitary confinement and helping advance more safer, therapeutic alternatives.

Project Outreach is a psychology, service and action-based program for U-M students. The Citizens for Prison Reform is a familyled and statewide organization focused on assisting and supporting families with incarcerated family members in Michigan.

Lois Pullano, the executive director of Citizens For Prison Reform and the coordinator for

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the Open MI Door campaign, discussed the purpose of the campaign and the greater impact of solitary confinement in the state of Michigan.

Standing on the Diag, Pullano explained to passers-by the harm that those in solitary confinement experience as well its impact on families and staff members. “(Solitary confinement) not only impacts the person that is living in it — so it’s very detrimental to their mental health, often even their physical health — but it also impacts all of their family members,” Pullano said.

“It impacts the staff and the officers that are working inside. When people are placed in this small of a space, it’s where often there is greater misuse of power.”

LSA senior Mikayla BergWood, a student in Psychology 211, part of Project Read more at MichiganDaily.com

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GOVERNMENT

Whitmer asks MI Supreme Court to strike down state’s abortion ban

Executive action targets controversial law unilaterally restricting termination as Roe v. Wade comes under fire KATE WEILAND Daily News Editor

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging Michigan’s 1931 ban on abortion. This announcement comes in the wake of rumors that the U.S. Supreme Court may overturn or weaken the 1973 landmark abortion ruling Roe v. Wade, which protects a woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government intervention.

Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban criminalizes the act of providing an abortion — including for instances of rape or incest — but was rendered unconstitutional by the Roe v.

Wade decision. If the Roe v. Wade ruling is overturned, the ban will be enforceable again.

According to Whitmer’s lawsuit, the ban violates the Due Process Clause of the Michigan Constitution, which provides a right to privacy and bodily autonomy and violates Michigan’s Equal Protection Clause.

Whitmer filed in the Oakland County Circuit Court and is using her executive authority to seek immediate intervention by the Michigan Supreme Court. Whitmer is the first governor to

file a lawsuit to protect abortion rights since the Supreme Court signaled the possibility of overturning Roe v. Wade with the appointment of justices Brett Cavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

“If Roe is overturned, abortion could become illegal in Michigan in nearly any circumstance—including in cases of rape and incest— and deprive Michigan women of the ability to make critical health care decisions for themselves,” the press release read.

“This is no longer theoretical: it is reality. That’s why I am filing a lawsuit and using my executive authority to urge the Michigan Supreme Court to immediately resolve whether Michigan’s state constitution protects the right to abortion.”

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said abortion rights are fundamental rights that all people in Michigan should have.

“The right for women in Michigan to make their own choices about their healthcare––to have a right to privacy, to be empowered, to choose what’s right for them, with their family, with their healthcare professionals, and not with politicians meddling––we believe it is a fundamental right here in the state of Michigan,” Gilchrist said. “The governor is using powers

that are unique to her, that the voters of Michigan bestowed upon her as governor of Michigan, to take this question all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court –– the court that settles and interprets state law –– to affirm that … the right to an abortion exists in the state of Michigan and is protected by our state constitution.”

Gilchrist said the right for a person to get an abortion is essential to economic freedom. According to a study from the Washington Educational Journal, families with infants can be expected to pay $11,000 a year for childcare and only one in six children are eligible for subsidies under the federal program.

“We think this is a matter of fairness and privacy of choice, and we think it’s also a matter of economic justice and security,” Gilchrist said.

“Oftentimes, for many women, the choice to have children or not to have children is one of the single biggest economic decisions they will make and it will have a huge and lasting economic impact on them for a lifetime. To have that choice is to have … control over your future and to take that choice away is to hamper your economic freedom, so we think that this is an issue of economic justice as much as an issue of access to abortion,

choice and privacy.”

In the press release, Whitmer said banning abortion could also keep families in poverty.

“If a woman is forced to continue a pregnancy against her will, it can have devastating consequences, including keeping families in poverty and making it harder for women and families to make ends meet,” the press release read.

The lawsuit asks the court to recognize the right to abortion as a constitutional right under the Due Process Clause of the Michigan Constitution and asks the court to stop the enforcement of the 1931 ban.

Gilchrist said the goal of the lawsuit is to establish the right to abortion for Michigan residents so that the outcome of Roe v. Wade will not impact their rights.

“We hope to affirm and assert that women have the right to choice, the right to privacy and the right to access and have an abortion here in our state, and establish this protection at the state level so that women in Michigan … will have this right regardless of what happens with Roe versus Wade,” Gilchrist said.

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RESEARCH

Alzheimer’s data highlights need for increased understanding of mild cognitive impairment Worker shortage, lack of awareness surrounding MCI

JINGQI ZHU

Daily Staff Reporter

The Alzheimer’s Association released its “2022 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures” report, highlighting challenges for the public and healthcare professionals to understand mild cognitive impairment (MCI), an early stage of memory loss or other cognitive ability loss. The report also includes statistics on Alzheimer’s prevalence, mortality, cost of care and dementia care workforce in Michigan and nationally.

Alzheimer’s prevalence According to the report, 190,000 Michigan residents aged 65 and older had Alzheimer’s in 2020, and the estimated number in 2025 will be 220,000. There were 4,467 statewide deaths from Alzheimer’s in 2019.

The report also includes data on the dementia-care workforce, suggesting a workforce shortage in most states.

In Michigan, the number of practicing geriatricians needs to triple to meet the demand in 2050.

Jennifer Lepard, the president and CEO of the Michigan chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, said the prevalence of Alzheimer’s in Michigan is due to the higher proportion of the aging population in the state compared to other states.

“We tend to use the phrase that the greatest risk for Alzheimer’s is aging,”

Lepard said. “One of the challenges for Michigan right now is that Michigan is an aging state.”

This year’s report examines the public and primary care physicians’ (PCPs) understanding of MCI nationally. The report finds low public awareness of MCI, with fewer than one in five Americans familiar with MCI. The biggest challenge faced by PCPs is difficulty in differentiating MCI from normal aging.

Dr. Bruno Giordani, professor of psychology in psychiatry, neurology, and psychology and associate director for Michigan’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center, explained that MCI is a middle stage of dementia where symptoms are not severe enough to have adverse effects on daily life.

“You don’t just turn on the switch for Alzheimer’s disease,” Giordani said.

“What happens is this middle stage where somebody begins to develop signs and symptoms of problems without a marked significant effect on daily life and then eventually becomes very apparent that somebody has problems associated with daily life and then that becomes a whole another question. So mild cognitive impairment is this in between time.”

Giordani also said diagnosing MCI is critical because it alerts people of the risk of it developing to a more severe stage of dementia. According to Giordani, not all individuals with MCI will develop Alzheimer’s disease, but

the diagnosis of MCI and biomarkers in the brain can suggest a higher risk of developing dementia. Biomarkers such as beta-amyloid and tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are strongly linked to Alzheimer’s and can be detected by PET scan.

“MCI is important because if somebody is just beginning to have memory problems, and if you could tell if they had amyloid in the brain, you could tell there was really a risk,” Giordani said. “It’s an alerting stage. It’s important to diagnose it so that people are aware of it. So they can begin to do things.”

Giordani also said research has been done to try to find predictors of MCI and dementia so people know how to reduce the risks. The earlier people can catch the predictors, the earlier they can intervene. “(There are) studies looking at a lot of predictive factors and trying to intervene early,” Giordani said. “They are trying to say, as you get into middle age or older age, you should be doing cognitive training to keep your brain alert. You should check your heart disease problems. You should check your diabetes … you (should) know to eat a better diet and look at the stress …

But all that research also tells you about risk groups that may be there.”

Caregiver burden According to the report, there are 466,000 Michigan residents serving as unpaid family caregivers and the

total value of unpaid care is $8.6 billion. Lepard said caregiver burden can cause a significant amount of stress emotionally, physically and even financially.

“One of the facts that gets glossed over a lot is the stress on the caregivers,” Lepard said. “This is a 24/7 (job), especially in later stages of the disease, and the amount of stress that it can cause especially when you’re talking about an older person living with disease and potentially their older spouse … There are people that have reduced their hours or left the workforce due to (caregiving) and that certainly is a financial strain.”

Giordani also said caregiver burden exists for patients with MCI as much as for patients with Alzheimer’s and the burden often causes caregivers to forget about taking care of themselves.

“And then you have the problem of creating this large group of people who are constantly under stress,” Giordani said. “One of the things that contributes to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease is stress. So you’ve got older unpaid people who are in stress, who might be depressed themselves trying to deal with all this you’re creating another whole group of people with potential problems. And many caregivers of mild cognitive impairment tend to stop caring for themselves … This is kind of a vicious circle.”

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CAMPUS LIFE

SMTD premiers first in series of 10 compositions by Black composers School commissioned pieces to make classical music more accessible and inclusive CARLIN PENDELL Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance premiered “Tethered Voices”, the first of 10 compositions of the Michigan Orchestra Repertoire for Equity (MORE). The project aims to increase equity in classical music by commissioning 10 Black composers in the next 10 years.

Music, Theater & Dance professor Kenneth Kiesler began the MORE project in 2020. He was motivated to commission “Tethered Voices” after reading its namesake poem which was written by his colleague and friend Kalena Bovell.

The poem is a reflection on the protests and racial anxiety following the death of George Floyd in May 2020. Kiesler said he knew the first piece of the MORE project would

involve Bovell’s work after reading “Tethered Voices.” Kiesler reached out to U-M alum James Lee III (’99, ’01, ’05) shortly after to write music to accompany the poem.

In addition to her poetry, Bovell is involved in the music industry, serving as the assistant conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Kiesler and Bovell met over 10 years ago at the Conductors Retreat at Medomak.

The performance took place at Hill Auditorium and featured the University Symphony Orchestra.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Kiesler said Bovell’s poem and Lee’s eponymous composition are a powerful combination, living up to his expectations for the first piece of the project.

“Kalena sent me her poem, which she had just written, and

when I read it, I immediately was moved by it,” Kiesler said. “I knew that this would be the first piece, so I contacted her right away and told her how I felt about the poem and asked if we could go ahead and have it set to be a piece for orchestra. She agreed later that day, so I asked James (to write the music) and we reached an agreement and the next day he started working on it … it’s an incredibly great piece and the two together — the music and the poem — really have the moving and inspiring impact that I had hoped the piece would have.”

Lee said equity in the music industry is extremely important, and there is always room for improvement. While writing the composition for the MORE project, he tried to emphasize meaningful words in Bovell’s poem and vocalize the emotions felt by many Black people today.

GOVERNMENT

Pulitzer winner Anne Applebaum discusses challenges to democracy at Ford School event Writer discusses declining trust in government, conspiracy theories, emphasizes agency of citizenry IRENA LI

Daily Staff Reporter

The Ford School of Public Policy hosted Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Anne Applebaum at the Michigan League on Monday to discuss challenges to democratic institutions and the role of the press in a conversation with Dean Michael S. Barr.

Offered in both an in-person and virtual format, the event titled “The Twilight of Democracy” drew hundreds of attendees for the culmination of the Ford School’s “Democracy in Crisis” series.

Beginning in March, the series hosted four acclaimed journalists to speak on threats to democratic systems in the U.S. and around the world. Applebaum, who specializes in geopolitics and the contemporary political landscape, is currently

DAILY INVESTIGATION From Page 1 Due to the small size of her class, Emma asked that the years she was enrolled in the program not be identified in the investigation.

According to the 2015 Rackham report, the average enrollment cohort between 2004 and 2014 was four students.

In her first month at the University, Emma was warned of Borders’ behavior toward graduate students. She was specifically advised by another student not to speak with him at the annual department party hosted at Borders’ house. “(An older student) clearly mapped out (the house): This is the layout of the kitchen, this is the layout of the living room, this is probably where the professors will be,” Emma said in an interview with The Daily. “‘Don’t hover.

Don’t try to make small talk. Don’t think that this is going to be a pleasant experience.’”

At the party, Emma watched Borders allegedly approach an Asian student to talk to them about “Japanese ritual suicide.” She alleged Borders then pretended to perform such a suicide. “‘So when you want to commit suicide, let me know because I can help you or I can tell you how to do it,’” Emma alleged Borders told a group of students at the party.

Another student who attended this party independently corroborated Emma’s account.

In an interview with The Daily, Alyssa Wells, a current student enrolled in the musicology doctoral program, recalled her time in fall 2017 as a graduate student instructor (GSI) for one of Borders’ classes.

On Nov. 1, Wells learned that her mother-in-law had been moved into hospice care due to a decline in her health. She called a fellow GSI and made arrangements for them to cover her

a staff writer for The Atlantic.

Barr began the conversation asking Applebaum about her book “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism”, which explains how the appeal of nationalism and autocracy has paved the way for a new wave of authoritarianism around the world.

Applebaum said her book explored the rise of right-wing nationalism in Poland following the fall of the Soviet Union as well as a similar phenomenon being found in countries such as the U.S. and the U.K. “A part of the right (in Poland) in particular, had come to different conclusions and had decided that the system that was built after 1989 didn’t reflect their views,” Applebaum said. “A part of the Republican Party became disappointed with modern America. A part of the Tory party became disappointed with Britain, that the country

duties before that day’s 8:30 a.m. lecture.

She emailed Borders at 6:58 a.m.

“I woke this morning to the news that my mother-in-law has a very short amount of time left. I will not be in class today,” Wells wrote. “Right now I am still too much in shock to make the judgment about whether or not I will be in for the rest of the week.”

After a lengthy discussion over email about plans for Wells’s sections, Borders wrote that Wells had failed to communicate clearly in her earlier emails. The email exchanges between Wells and Borders were obtained by The Daily.

“Your personal situation, as emotionally challenging as you find it, neither reduces your responsibility nor the reasonable expectation of clear communication so long as you are a UM instructor,” Borders wrote to Wells on Nov. 3, 2017.

Borders included Associate Dean Jason Corey, one of Wells’ colleagues and two musicology professors in his response, which Wells told The Daily she felt was inappropriate because the emails “revealed sensitive personal information.”

Wells said she asked other faculty members for their advice on how to handle Borders’s complaint. In one email, a different department faculty member suggested that Wells “de-escalate.”

“The urgent thing you need to do at this point is to de-escalate the situation,” the faculty member wrote on Nov. 4 in an email obtained by The Daily.

Wells recalled speaking to other faculty members about Borders’s complaint. They all had the same response, Wells claims. “‘Apologize to him,’” Wells said.

“Apologize to the person who had tried to initiate disciplinary action against me in my job because I took a total of four days off … that I’m legally entitled to.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Family and Medical Leave Act

was not what it had been or not what they imagined it should be … So they attached themselves to new, radical political movements.”

Applebaum went on to explain how conspiracy theories such as birtherism — the belief of any discrediting claims that former U.S. President Barack Obama was not born a U.S. citizen — have fueled public distrust of the government in Western democracies around the world.

“Each country has its different version of this: in Poland, there was a terrible plane crash involving one of the former presidents and a huge set of conspiracy theories were built around the plane crash,” Applebaum said. “The use of conspiracy theory to undermine public trust … in democratic institutions, was

Read more at MichiganDaily.com of 1993, one reason employees can take time off is “To care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a qualifying serious health condition.”

Wells told The Daily she later met with her advisor, who told her that Borders had criticized Wells during a faculty meeting. “(The advisor) said that I had done something to make him think that I was not serious about the subject … that I had abandoned students,” Wells said.

When she returned to teaching after Thanksgiving Break, Wells said she attempted to apologize to Borders to de-escalate the situation. During their conversation, Borders allegedly told Wells he had complained about her in a faculty meeting and spoke for so long that two faculty members left the meeting.

Tara Browner, a graduate of the musicology doctoral program from the late 1980s, alleged Borders’s behavior created an intimidating and hostile classroom environment.

“It was just awful,” Browner said of her time in Borders’s musicology bibliography class. “He’s one of these people that finds somebody in the class and picks on them.”

Another student who took this class independently corroborated Browner’s characterization of Borders’s classroom conduct.

After Browner decided to confront Borders about his teaching style, she alleged Borders retaliated by lowering her grade to a B. She recalled calling Borders after the end of the semester to discuss her grade. “‘I gave (the grade) to you because of those things you said to me,’” Browner alleged Borders said. “‘You had a bad attitude.’”

Browner said her grade was allegedly raised after that phone call. The Daily has obtained a transcript listing Browner’s final grade as a B+.

Eight years later, while attending the American Musicological Society

Design by Abby Schreck

“It’s this idea of being tired of the situation, tired of tears, tired of feeling hopeless, that kind of thing,” Lee said. “The very last line says ‘I’m tired of not being seen’, so it’s this kind of tiredness, of not being seen as equal — not being given equal opportunities.”

Bovell said she knew many people in the Black community shared her frustration and anger, especially following the death of George Floyd. She said Lee was able to convey her emotions in a meaningful piece of music.

“It’s a really powerful piece,” Bovell said. “Musically, when

you take the words away, there’s such a darkness and depth to it. I think (Lee) really was able to pull out the emotions that I was feeling when I wrote those words.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

CAMPUS LIFE

Backpacking, parkour and quidditch give UMich community chance to get out and play Unconventional, niche sports fill gap, keep students active, engaged in novel ways

MEGHAN KUNKLE & EMILINE FAHMY Daily Staff Reporters

As warmer weather comes to Ann Arbor, students are yearning for opportunities to spend time in the long-awaited spring sun. After being cooped up inside avoiding Michigan’s harsh winters, time outside is a precious thing for many Wolverines.

Outside of many traditional D1 sports like football, hockey and basketball, some students at the University of Michigan have found hobbies and talents in other sports teams.

The Quidditch team has had much success since it was introduced to Ann Arbor in 2010. This past fall, the team won awards at multiple tournaments, including being named Michigan State University Starting Rush Cham-

conference in Baltimore, Browner alleged that during dinner one night Borders made a toast about her in front of some graduate students and faculty. “(Prof. Borders was) drinking and drinking, and people started doing toasts,” Browner said. “And he stood up and … his toast was, ‘Fuck you, Tara Browner.’”

Browner was shocked at Borders’ behavior, particularly given that she was no longer a University graduate student.

“What was shocking is that he treated a professional colleague — me — the way he did,” Browner wrote in a statement to The Daily.

Browner described feeling a lack of support from the musicology faculty while she was a student at the University.

“I kept thinking, these people don’t care about me at all,” Browner said of the department. “They don’t care about my career. All I am is I’m something that’s here, that’s on a fellowship … they just simply do not care about me.”

The Daily’s investigation also found numerous allegations of unprofessional conduct and academic bullying against Professor Louise Stein, a member of the musicology department since 1987.

These allegations come from interviews with 14 current and former students of the 16 total interviews and a review of emails, assignment feedback and other documentation.

Stein has previously drawn attention in the “Overheard at umich” Facebook group for a threatening and aggressive email she sent to Information and Technology Services in 2016. In an April 2021 Facebook thread, multiple students who took Stein’s courses expressed concern over her conduct in class and in emails.

The Daily spoke with one of Emma’s classmates, who also requested anonymity out of fear for professional repercussions. In this article, they will be referred to as Noah.

In their first semester at the University, Noah and Emma enrolled in

pions, Penn State Nittany Invitational Champions and Great Lakes Regionals runners-up. This semester, they have also been awarded Miami University Quaffle House Cup Champions. The quidditch team will be heading to the national championship on April 23 and 24.

Rackham student Mara Hill, an MSE student in the mechanical engineering department, spoke to The Michigan Daily about their experience on the quidditch team. The rules of the game reflect those of the rules in the book, including keeping a PVC pipe between your legs as you would a broomstick and using deflated volleyballs and dodgeballs as Quaffles and Bludgers.

Hill said her favorite memory for the team was regionals during their sophomore year.

“At that time we had such a

Musicology 509 with Stein. They allege that Stein repeatedly offered feedback that was insulting and unproductive. “‘You all write like you have absolutely no graduate experience,’” Emma alleged Stein said.

Emma took another class with Stein the next semester. In this course, students began work on their third term paper, an essay the department used to determine which students would continue in the doctoral program.

Stein returned one of Emma’s papers with comments written in all caps and red text. The Daily obtained a copy of this essay.

“I feel like I can’t breathe when I look at those pages,” Emma told The Daily. “I can’t tell you how often I cried over emails and feedback from her.”

In her application to the University, Emma wrote a diversity statement in which she described growing up below the poverty line. Emma alleged Stein repeatedly brought up Emma’s statement to critique her work. The Daily was not able to independently verify that Stein had access to these documents.

“She actually weaponized details from my diversity statement against me,” Emma said.

The Daily obtained an email containing feedback on a presentation Emma gave in class in which Stein commented on Emma’s socioeconomic background.

“Sometimes I have to say things that are not as ‘nice’ as the things we exchange in social discourse,” Stein wrote. “You come from a very different world than the one we are training you to enter (academe!!).”

Despite her concerns over Stein, Emma said she never filed a complaint about Stein’s behavior for fear of retaliation. “(I heard) that other people had complained in the past … and that nothing had ever happened,” Emma said. “All that could really happen was

deep team, with talent and such, that we actually had two official teams at regionals … both teams did really really well …. it was just a full weekend of Quidditch and it was just so much fun,” Hill said. “It was the first time in my college career that I had a weekend where I wasn’t home, and I didn’t think about school the entire time, and I was just surrounded by that found-family sort of environment.”

The Michigan quidditch team also strives for diversity, equity and inclusion on the field, according to Hill. Quidditch teams across the world follow gender inclusivity rules, which state that no more than four of the six players on the field (less the seeker) can be of the same gender.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com that it could make Stein have more reason to attack.”

Emma alleged that Stein’s recurring negative feedback prevented her from progressing on her third-term-paper.

She was later cut from the doctoral candidate program because of problems with this paper, according to a letter from the department obtained

by The Daily.

“Two years at Michigan set me back five years in my career,” Emma said.

Wells is a first-generation college student. When she enrolled in one of Stein’s classes, she alleged that Stein repeatedly made comments about her family background. In one instance, Wells mentioned that her mother was taking a college music appreciation course.

“From that point on, (Stein) made comments about me sounding unrefined,” Wells alleged.

Wells alleged Stein once held the class overtime for 15 minutes to criticize how Wells presented a mock lesson for a piece based on a Spanish poem. One other student, who was in the class at the time, independently corroborated Wells’s account.

“She held the class over to interrogate me about my knowledge of Spanish and my inability to translate the poem and (to) truly know what the poet was getting at … other classes were waiting to get in,” Wells said.

In interviews with The Daily, multiple current and former students alleged Stein created a hostile environment in class by asking aggressive questions during presentations.

A former graduate student who entered the program in the fall of 2007 asked to remain anonymous out of fear for professional repercussions. In this article,theywillbereferredtoasLauren.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Arts

4 — Wednesday, April 13, 2022

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The Queer B-Side

My gay girl playlist starter pack, from the new to the nostalgic

KATRINA STEBBINS Senior Arts Editor

“QUEER” IS A powerful word, and to be Queer is a powerful thing. For so many, art and Queerness are inextricably linked.

The art we were exposed to growing up informed the way we came into our Queerness, and now our Queerness informs the way we consume and make art. In almost everything I watch, read and listen to, I look for refractions of this part of myself in order to understand myself better and feel understood. Queerness means community; it means self-knowledge; it means anything that those who claim it want it to mean. I am unbelievably proud of and grateful for these writers and their willingness to tell their stories for this B-Side, for their shaping of it into a fitting reflection on the infinitely diverse array of experiences Queer people possess, for defining their Queerness on their own terms.

EMILIA FERRANTE Senior Arts Editor

Design by Jennie Vang

A Queer girl’s guide to ‘Jennifer’s Body’ AVA BURZYCKI Daily Arts Writer

NEEDY LESNECKI (AMANDA SEYFRIED, “A MOUTHFUL OF AIR”) put it best: “Hell is a teenage girl.” Her own teenagehood is defined by fawning and fumbling over her lifelong best friend, Jennifer Check (Megan Fox, “Dakota”).

Jennifer is cruel, controlling and, by the end of the film, a literal man-eater.

Even more importantly, she represents the bisexual monster in the closet. Her dynamic with Needy is messy, and it provides a shockingly dimensional look at the raw and repressed sides of Queer teenagehood.

To introduce Jennifer, narrator Needy word vomits a stream of compliment upon compliment, only to have her daydream interrupted by a classmate saying she’s “Totally lesbi-gay” for her attractive, mean and cooler friend. This is in the very first scene and sets the almost ironically Queer tone for the rest of the film. It almost feels embarrassing to admit this scene in “Jen-

nifer’s Body” is what introduced me to the possibility of a woman being Queer. My own digital presence aside, it indirectly introduced the word “lesbian” into my prepubescent dictionary. Queerness was a completely abstract concept at this point.

As a sixth grader, I didn’t yet know any gay family, celebrities or friends. There wasn’t any blatant homophobia in my upbringing, especially from my immediate family and close friends, but rather a glaring absence of anything deviating from heterosexuality. Young and unknowingly Queer, this was a complete absence of self.

The plot of “Jennifer’s Body” is exquisitely absurd — an unsuccessful indie band, Low Shoulder, attempts to sacrifice a virgin to Satan in exchange for unparalleled success. Unbeknownst to the band, their target virgin, Jennifer, is not quite a virgin, and she refuses to die in peace.

Instead, she is turned into a succubus with an appetite for (mostly) boys. From this point on, she eats a variety of men to sustain herself, often choosing her prey based on their proximity to Needy.

After the Satanic ritual, she seeks out

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Needy. Blood-drenched and delirious, Jennifer saunters around Needy’s kitchen looking for a meal of meat. A terrified and naive Needy repeatedly asks what’s wrong and tries to dissuade Jennifer from eating her mom’s thawing chicken. Jennifer ignores her and vomits a black, tar-like liquid all over the kitchen. Before leaving, Jennifer pulls Needy close to her and breathes down her neck, slowly moving to a gentle kiss and biting Needy’s throat.

There is a brief f licker of temptation — to eat her friend and occasional sweetheart — before she asks if Needy is scared and throws her into the wall.

Horror aside, my own experiences with Queerness feel more similar to the intense friendship between Needy and Jennifer than other pieces of media representing relatively-realistic teenage love. Lucy and Amy sleep with the enemy, Megan and Graham run away together and Esti and Ronnit find each other again in adulthood.

But those weren’t my experiences, and I will never get to have that type of story.

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SOMETIMES I WISH I had gotten the gay college experience I thought I would have – “experimenting” with girls until I figured out that, hey, they weren’t experiments at all. Instead, I figured out I was bisexual while sitting in my childhood bedroom during the deep quarantine of the early pandemic. It would be great if I could paint my quarantine as a beautiful, introspective time of self-reflection and challenging my internalized compulsory heterosexuality. And it was, to some extent — but mostly, I have to admit, I really just had a lot of time on my hands. Time to think and ponder and take “Am I Gay?” tests. (At some point I realized that if you take enough “Am I Gay” tests on the internet, it probably means you are gay.)

Most people can’t pinpoint the exact date they realized their own Queerness. As my own realization came during the internetsteeped pandemic summer of 2020, I guess it makes sense that I can. Specifically, my Spotify history indicates a slew of sapphic love songs, all liked on July 6, 2020. This includes gay girl classics like girl in red, Kehlani, Clairo, dodie and King Princess.

Looking back, I can’t remember having one big revelatory moment where I decided that yes, I was Queer — but clearly, there was a day when I proclaimed (to my Spotify, at least) that I was.

So why were these songs so important to my Queer awakening? Music is obviously crucial to a lot of personal moments and revelations, so it’s not like this was special. However, given the quarantine, they were the only way I could connect to a larger community. I couldn’t go to Necto or hang out at the Residential College. I couldn’t go to the Kerrytown Markets and buy nothing but still soak in the Queer energy of other 20-somethings with tote bags. I was in my bedroom, the same bedroom in which I had considered myself “straight” for so many years. I felt like an outsider in my own life, unsure how to reconcile my Queerness with the purple walls of my childhood sanctuary.

This was where I listened to Taylor Swift and One Direction — staples of my tweens, teenagedom and current playlists — but in that music, there was no space for Queerness. The heterosexuality was overwhelming. When I played back “Love Story,” I remembered believing that — although I never dreamed of a big white wedding — the person I ended up with would unequivocally be a man. I never thought to think otherwise. Other people were allowed to be gay, and I wanted so badly to be one of them; but I thought because I liked men, there was no other option. There was no room for bisexuality until I got to college.

In high school, even in my pro-

“Final push of the year! Good luck!”

04/13/22 04/06/22

what I needed when labels felt so suffocating.”

gressive college town, even if you were bi — you were gay: There was no space for any flexibility in identity. And flexibility was what I needed when labels felt so suffocating.

But even though that long list of sequentially-liked Gay Girl™ songs felt affirming, it wasn’t what I had always listened to. It was a freeing and exhilarating experience to sing “girls” by girl in red with the windows down in my mom’s car, driving along-

side New Jersey farmlands. I felt seen by the longing Queer angst of “Ain’t Together” by King Princess. These all felt like me. But One Direction’s (albeit, strangely Queer coded) “They Don’t Know About Us” felt like me too. So did “Hey Stephen (Taylor’s Version).” I wanted to feel unified, not like there were disparate parts of me separated into disparate Spotify playlists.

But then there were two things: former 1Der Harry Styles’s Fine Line and Taylor Swift’s re-records. First, Styles was morphing seamlessly from boybander to rainbow-adorned popstar. After One Direction disbanded in 2015 and with the release of his debut selftitled solo album in 2017, Styles began coming into his own as a star. With 2019’s Fine Line, he embraced a campy, colorful musical and visual aesthetic.

His songs used overwhelmingly gender-neutral pronouns. He released “Lights Up” on National Coming Out Day, complete with a music video featuring a shirtless Styles being touched by people of all genders. “Treat People With Kindness” is an explosion of joy and love that feels unequivocally Queer. Styles himself refuses to label his own sexuality, in a freeing expression of flexible sexuality that felt freeing for me — he could feel comfortable in his own skin without putting a label on that feeling for anyone else.

Taylor Swift, too, was reclaiming her old self and transforming it into something both entirely new and sweetly nostalgic. She

“Music is obviously crucial to a lot of personal moments and revelations, so it’s not like this was special.”

released sister albums folklore and evermore several months apart in 2020, leaning strongly into the indie/folk genre and steering away from her previous pure-pop persona. On folklore, Swift sings “betty” near the end of the album, a song about a girl that uses feminine pronouns — one that still makes me shed a little gay tear if I’m in the right mood. After her indie-girl pivot, she began re-recording her old albums in order to take back control of her masters from Scooter Braun. The re-records include tracks “From the Vault,” which are songs that didn’t make their original albums, and recreate album covers in a way that is tactfully reminiscent of the original covers without being direct copies. Each song includes a (somewhat cheeky, very cute) “(Taylor’s Version)” addendum after every track title on her rerecorded albums. Swift stays faithful to the soundtrack of my youth while still feeling true to who she is now, years later.

Both Styles and Swift claim their past proudly; Styles consistently sings “What Makes You Beautiful” on tour and Swift faithfully re-records every song she put out when she was 18.

There was room in both of these childhood playlist staples to grow into someone with a more flexible and informed identity, and I could grow with them. If Harry Styles still sings his big One Direction hit on stage with a pride flag around his shoulders, why shouldn’t I enjoy a little “Midnight Memories”? If Taylor Swift didn’t think it was embarrassing to re-record “White Horse,” why shouldn’t I listen to it to get a little weepy? There was room for me, all of me, on my playlist of music, both past and present.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 — 5

‘Bend It Like Beckham’ isn’t a queer story, but it’s part of mine SARAH RAHMAN Senior Arts Editor

OKAY, TIME FOR a confession.

Long before I began to unpack my internalized misogyny and unchecked ego, I was just another girl who clung to wearing weird clothes and an interest in sports in the name of being “not like other girls.” Since then, I’ve embraced how beautiful and complex being a woman is, and how I can be perfectly myself and similar to a lot of other women — a truly lovely thing.

But before I could come to terms with such a concept, I needed to uncover the missing piece of myself that was ardently telling me I was different and could never fit in with the girls around me. This, I would realize, was my

unrecognized Queerness.

When people ask me now about being bisexual and whether it was something I always knew about myself, I chuckle because the answer is no, but I totally should have. My journey to recognition required a series of key moments, spurned on by passing touches, lingering feelings in my stomach and encountering a pivotal piece of media at precisely the right time. For me, this was “Bend It Like Beckham.”

It’s no secret that the film is a Queer allegory, though not a Queer story. It explicitly depicts Jessminder (Parminder Nagra, “The Blacklist”), or Jess — a tomboy who is forbidden from playing soccer (or football) because it isn’t proper for a girl, according to her parents — and implicitly depicts her secret desire to be herself much in the same

way many experience Queerness. All the while, she is encouraged to follow her passion without inhibition by her narrative foil, teammate and other half of an incredibly homoerotic friendship, Jules (Keira Knightley, “Anna Karenina”). Ultimately, it was the undeniable chemistry between Jess and Jules, from their shared passion for soccer to their easy banter and mutual disdain for boys, that made me realize maybe my aching desire for a relationship like theirs wasn’t based in friendship — I already had plenty of valued, close friendships with women — but was instead fueled by something more romantic.

There is plenty of analysis out there that gets into the nitty gritty of just how sapphic Jules and Jess’s relationship really was, including the abundance of

Nothing is really ‘Straight Up’ M. DEITZ

Senior Arts Editor

“WHAT IF I’M not gay?”

This may not be the first line of James Sweeney’s feature film debut “Straight Up,” but it may as well be. Todd (Sweeney, debut) sits in a diner across from his friends, model Meg (Dana Drori, “Freaky”) and competent gay Ryder (James Scully, “You”), trying to convince them that he’s straight. In his current rationalization, Todd is only gay because everyone else deems him as such — he embodies the idea of “gay,” therefore he is. Desperate to not be alone, he believes that giving heterosexuality a shot will magically find him a partner, and it miraculously does in the form of aspiring actress Rory (Katie Findlay, “Man Seeking Woman”).

Let’s be clear — the relationship between Todd and Rory is about as cisgender-heterosexual (cishet) as I am, which is to say: not. On account of Todd’s intense hatred of bodily fluids and Rory’s past sexual trauma, sex plays no part in their connection; they instead have hours-long conversations about grammar and idioms, or they bond over dinner and a weekly documentary. If it weren’t for their deep emotional interdependency, you could almost mistake them as best friends who kiss sometimes. From the outside, it seems a bit Queer, but is there anything wrong with that?

Todd and Rory remind me of myself and

my previous partners. In fact, it was with my most recent partner that I first watched the movie. Snuggled up together in my bed with the laptop resting above my waist, we viewed the film as a cishet couple. We laughed at Sweeney’s clever wordplay and slick jokes, we held our breath during the climactic break-up and we smiled sweetly

my relationship faced the same dilemmas.

Long before I came out, the sexual pillar of our relationship was crumbling; whether it was the constant long-distance or our mental states is anybody’s guess. The time we spent together was experiential: We’d bake treats, cook meals, watch movies, finish one another’s sentences. I knew her idiosyncra-

lingering gazes and their Queer-coded aesthetics (their hatred for bras isn’t exactly subtle). From start to finish, it’s glaringly obvious that the film is laced with Queer-coded elements. There is the character of Tony (Ameet Chana, “Unhallowed Ground”) who explicitly comes out as gay, as well as direct references to Queerness, like when Jules says, “Being a lesbian isn’t that big of a deal.” In a moment of unchecked legend behavior, Knightley even remarked during an interview that Jules and Jess should have ended up together and that she wants a lesbian sequel.

So you can imagine young me’s disappointment when the film decides to run with a lukewarm romance between Jess and her soccer coach, Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, “The Tudors”) instead. (To this day … ew.) To the

film’s credit, it does put genuine effort into building a developed relationship in which both characters are vulnerable with each other; Joe opens up about his relationship with his father, and Jess describes her relationship with her parents and her insecurities.

Yet even during my first watch, I got the sense that their relationship was one of mutual emotional support, certainly, but not one with any romantic chemistry. I felt betrayed by the forced run to the airport scene at the end, because Jess had never shown any serious interest in boys prior, and even if the film didn’t depict Jess and Jules in a romantic relationship, why would a relationship with a man be the narrative’s cathartic moment?

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

A conversation with my therapist about my gender identity ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTOR Editor’s Note: The author of this contribution has requested anonymity for safety. In accordance with our ethics policy (which can be found in full in our bylaws), the Editor-in-

fine, I suppose.

But the problem is there are not a ton of places halfway through a school year where it makes sense to introduce yourself with your pronouns. And just the whole concept

identity.w

Design by Jennie Vang

at the neat and joyful resolution. In essence, we missed the entire point of the film.

Watching it now, one year of being single and a tangled mess of gender and sexuality, it’s impossible not to recognize that

sies and she knew mine — you could almost mistake us for best friends who kissed sometimes.

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today, I wonder if you maybe want to talk about your gender identity a little bit?)

YEAH, ACTUALLY I do. I didn’t even realize it, but I actually have been thinking about this a lot lately. So, yeah, let’s talk about it.

Here’s where I’m at with the whole gender thing: One of the reasons I first wanted to go to therapy was because of some new gender dysphoria I started feeling a year or so ago. And after a lot of struggling and wrestling with the concept and the feelings, I feel like this semester I was finally more confident in where I landed. Which is why we haven’t talked about it yet. But lately, I have been questioning again.

Basically, I thought I was nonbinary, like yeah for sure I don’t feel super like a woman but I also don’t have a penis, so like, what do I do with that? And this semester I finally just bit the bullet and started introducing myself with they/she pronouns. And that felt

Design by Grace Aretakis

of sharing and defining pronouns, in general, makes me squeamish. And I was not about to announce my “new” identity to the world. Because I still was not sure that those were good words to use for me. So yeah, everyone was basically still using she/her pronouns for me because, unfortunately (?), that is the most obvious assumption.

(Well, I actually think you look pretty androgynous in my opinion.)

Thank you! Thank you! And it always feels like such a compliment when people don’t assume my gender! Which I suppose is a confirmation of these nonbinary feelings.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most widely recognized scholarly honorary society in America. Founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary, it celebrates excellence in the Phi Beta is theThe oldest most Alpha widelyofrecognized scholarly honorary in America.

Founded in 1776class at the of William Mary,An it celebrates excelliberal arts Kappa and sciences.

UMand chapter, Michigan, was founded in 1907society and inducted its hundred and eleventh intoCollege membership on Apriland 7, 2019. invitation to join lence in the liberal arts and sciences.

The UM chapter, Alpha of Michigan, was founded in 1907 and inducted its hundred and fourteenth class into membership on April Phi Beta Kappa requires a history of impeccable academic performance that reflects not only grades but breadth and depth of intellectual engagement. Membership as a junior is arguably the highest honor that an undergraduate in liberal arts and sciences can achieve. The Executive Committee of the Alpha of Michigan Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa recognizes and engagement.these Membership as aofjunior is arguably the highest honor that an undergraduate in liberal arts and sciences can achieve. The Executive Committee of the Alpha congratulates new members this venerable society.

of Michigan Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa recognizes and congratulates these new members of this venerable society.

Juniors

2022 Juniors

Anna E. Argento Sydney Czako Evan M.Maria Binkley Lauren Doyle Sarah E. Elise Broner SteveCao Dunne Troy Eliza JoyH. Feinberg Benjamin Charlson Evan Ferry Daniel S. Cluxton Evan M. Dennis

Zofia M. Ferki Noah AshleyBaratz FrancisGross Gretchen Skye Heidebrink Anna Claire Golitzin Nameer Stephen Mahmood N. Jasina Hirschkind Eric Wilson Huang Natalia Marie Jenuwine Christopher Lawrence Kolb Ella Jermyn Razeen Karim

Brett E. Kellett Olivia McMullan Madison Kent Jonah Allen Nan Monica Kim Jacob Bennett Nielsen Sebastian Elijah Leder Macek Oscar Nollette-Patulski JennaMatthew L. Manske Hunter Michael Petz Erika Ouchi Takahiro Ouchi

Cameron B. Pawlik Julia Rhiannon Anshul VinodPlawker Puli Amelia Catherine Popowics Jordyn M. Richman Allison Renee Sabb Rachel B. Schwab Benjamin Shuart Peyton Charles L. Sternfeld Nicole M. Tooley Craig I. Tarnopol Jeremy P. Tervo

Annika Marie Topelian KylieMatthew Jean Schache H. Ward Grace Erin P. Tucker Nicole Xu AllyJennifer Rose Weingarden Yang Lucy Yang

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2022 SeniSeniors ors

Michigan in Color

6 — Wednesday, April 13, 2022

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Not enough white people in Trotter Multicultural Center, white student claims students of Color are actively engaging in some sort of modern ‘reverse segregation’.

For context, a Black graduate student submitted a letter to the University of Michigan Administration expressing his frustration at

STEPHEN BUCKLEY & KAILANA DEJOIE MiC Columnists

A recent article published in The Michigan Review left many Michigan students appalled yet unsurprised. After digesting the manipulative and hateful content of the piece, we felt that it was necessary to address the author’s poor interpretation of American racial dynamics and recycled conservative talking points in order to debunk some fundamental issues that appear in common discourse. We need to talk about “reverse racism.”

Reverse racism is first and foremost a myth. The concept also referred to as reverse discrimination, is the backward notion that color-conscious programs such as affirmative action that seek to address racial inequality are a form of anti-white racism. Not only is this concept completely ludicrous, it is also an immensely harmful ideology that actively sets back racial progress.

The current battleground of this discussion is the Trotter Multicultural Center here on Central Campus. In an attempt to drum up controversy, the author of the piece grossly mischaracterizes the purpose and history of the building in order to perpetuate the harmful narrative that marginalized

“white student organizations kicking Black and brown students out of spaces within Trotter because their white organizations reserved the space.” Instead of understanding the historical and societal context of these events and coming away from the situ-

ation with reflection or understanding, the author proceeded to react to the letter with an air of indignation and disgust.

“It has become almost a cliche to say it at this point, but if a white advisor to CSG

and is only a small example of the “reverse racist” rhetoric that permeates the article.

The author’s apparent “gotcha” moment highlighted in this quote only serves to show how hopelessly delusional his perspectives on racism and race relations actually are.

His purposeful ignorance of the historical context of segregation and domination of Black Americans at the hands of the white race is as disgusting as it is shallow.

To no one’s surprise, the author has not and will continue to not have any repercussions for his racist assertions against the students who find a safe haven in Trotter.

We do not mean to imply that the University should necessarily take action against this student for practicing his freedom of speech.

However, we do mean to say that neither he nor other white students at this university have to deal with the emotional anguish that comes from the public release of such tonedeaf, insensitive and historically inaccurate information.

How did we get here? How does the dominant racial group get to play the victim?

For some, the concept of racism is very Courtesy of Kailana Dejoie easy to grasp. Throughout our lives, we are wrote a letter to the administration articu- taught that discrimination against another lating his discomfort that there are too many on the basis of their race is a practice that black students in a campus space, he would should be denounced and outright abolished. be deemed unfit for office,” the article states. We hear about and learn of the historical This is a demonstrably disingenuous per- figures who fought against racist oppression spective of the events taking place in Trotter and paved the way for our modern society.

We hear of their virtue and undying loyalty to social justice and humanity and celebrate their memory. Many historical figures, particularly of the Civil Rights Movement, are rightfully lauded as heroes.

We all know of the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Charles Houston, Harry T and Harriette Moore, among many others. Yet, for some reason, the author felt the need to twist the words of Dr. King in order to portray himself, and white students by extension, as the victims of systemic racism. This is gross. We shouldn’t need to explain why this is problematic, but we genuinely don’t think the author understands. So let’s engage in basic modern social theory.

Racism and discrimination are not the two-way streets that the author implies. The historical domination, oppression, enslavement, rape and perverted bastardization of Black culture by the white race is the foundation of this country. The vestiges of that cultural dynamic permeate throughout every modern institution. Black students cannot segregate white students. This is simple. To insinuate that the author and other white students can be the victims of targeted racism is tantamount to claiming Black students have any sort of profound institutional authority.

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A summer in the construction boots of my father IRVING PEÑA MiC Columnist

It was a ceremonial and cinematic day in Santiago Papasquiaro, Durango. The streets were flooded with families observing the ceremonies taking place throughout the city. At every angle of our peripheral, there were bandas playing corridos, food trucks selling elotes and raspados and a desfile full of mariachi bands accompanied with young women dressed in folklórico attire. We were making our way to the feria, which for many was the main attraction of the festivities.

Though the cloudy weather may have discouraged many from being outside, there was no denying that the people of Santiago Papasquiaro were not going to miss the first day of their esteemed and most anticipated fair.

Since I was in the sixth grade, my family and I traveled to my parents’ hometown in Mexico every year. The month of July attracted not only a lot of domestic visitors, but a lot of other Mexican-American families that had ties to the state of Durango. I felt immensely joyous to be standing on the soil where generations of my family had grown up.

Except in 2016, I wasn’t really there. I was in the middle of nowhere Montana.

The date was July 16. The frightening noise of my phone’s alarm jolted me awake at 4:30 in the morning. Reality quickly sank in, and I was upset that I was not a part of the vibrant crowd marching down the streets of Santiago Papasquiaro. Rather than spending the summer in Mexico visiting my abuelitas and primos, my dad insisted that my brother Oscar and I spend a couple of months with him in Montana to work at his construction site—the very opposite of Durango. The wind blew loudly

through the many valleys and mountaintops of America’s ninth least populated state. Within those blue, green and gray valleys was scattered, sparse and rundown infrastructure. The very limited civilization seemed so insignificant when contrasted to the vastness of the state’s nature. People displayed classic American cordiality, of course, but rarely the hospitality and colors I had witnessed in Mexico just a year prior.

At 15 years old, the thought of making my own money seemed promising and offered some financial freedom my peers were not afforded. After doing my own research on the up and coming state, I learned that many other construction workers ventured to the Great Plains state of Montana and made really good money. Hell, I was excited! Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

After two months of working with my dad, I somehow failed to get used to the monotonous routine he went through every morning. The pesky alarm, pungent smell of the drywall and joint compound boxes scattered throughout our temporary apartment competed with my overwhelming drowsiness from my lack of sleep. We had returned home from the construction site at 1:30 a.m., a few hours prior, so it was extremely difficult for me to find some sort of motivation to keep my eyes open.

On the other hand, my dad had no problem with getting less than three hours of sleep. He somehow managed to wake up in a radiant mood every morning. Every other day, he would wake up earlier than the rest of the crew and buy us all donuts from the nearest 7-Eleven.

It annoyed me so much in my tired grumpiness. How the hell did he do it? He urged Oscar and me to hurry because he did not want us to be late on our last day of work.

My dad has worked in construc-

tion for more than 30 years. In those three decades, he has mastered the craft of drywall finishing. Construction workers who specialize in this are referred to as tapers. Though the task of a taper is considered by many other construction workers to be one of the least physically demanding, the monotonous task of smearing joint compound across hundreds of different units still felt extremely strenuous. I had no idea how my dad, at the age of 54, remained poised through these conditions.

Although my dad is nearing the age in which he becomes eligible for the plethora of benefits all elderly Americans are entitled to, my dad’s citizenship status deems him ineligible of receiving these perks.

Both of my parents are lawfully permanent residents. My dad first came to the United States in 1988. One of my uncles, who had migrated to the states before my dad, was in Chicago at the time and informed my dad of the rapidly expanding employment opportunities. Eventually, my dad returned to Mexico and got married to my mom. My parents both agreed that if they wanted to start a family, moving to the United States was the right thing to do because of the seemingly limitless upward mobility and the ultimate allure of the American Dream. In 1997, both of my parents crossed the Mexican-American border and headed back to Chicago.

One year later, my parents moved from Chicago to Las Vegas because my dad was aware of the surplus of jobs available for construction workers there. But when the boom subsided in Las Vegas, my dad was forced to leave his workers union. Because of this, for a very long period of my life growing up, my dad struggled with keeping a stable job. Since I was in elementary school, my dad has traveled to other states expe-

riencing similar booms to that of Las Vegas in order to find work. I can still remember the first time he went away when I first started the first grade. We were all weeping because, for the first time, my dad was going to be so far from us

entire family on his back. Growing up, my mother had to watch over me and my four siblings so it was very difficult for her to go out of her way to contribute to my family’s income. Because of this, my family relied solely on my dad to

slipped on my murky brown Wolverine work boots, stained white Dickies, ripped white Hanes T-shirt and headed straight to my dad’s white 2001 Chevrolet Astro van to wait for the rest of the crew.

The skies remained gloomy from

and we wouldn’t see him until the next summer.

Neither of my parents were aware of the struggles they would blatantly face in trying to start a new family in a new country.

Because of their citizenship status and lack of English proficiency, my parents have been hindered from the opportunity to live the life akin to that of the model white American family. Even to this day, my parents struggle with understanding mainstream American lingo and etiquettes and thus have rarely formed relationships with anyone else that didn’t experience the same immigration experience as them.

Nonetheless, my dad has put our

put food on the table. Although my dad would continuously get his checks postponed, work in the coldest and most rural states in the nation and work an arduous amount of time every day, he never overtly displayed his exhaustion or dismissed us as a result. He was truly inspirational. My time working with him made me think of all the sacrifices he has made for the literal survival of my family.

The location of our worksite was in Bozeman, but the apartment the rest of my dad’s work crew and I were staying at was in Belgrade. It takes 30 minutes to get from one city to the other and we were expected to arrive by 5 a.m.

As brain fogged as I was, I swiftly

the night storm’s heavy showers.

Though it was the middle of the summer, it felt as if I was stuck in a time loop in Montana and every day was replicative of that one overcast morning. My dad, dressed in his all-white work uniform, briskly maneuvered his way to the van. His silhouette, despite the backdrop of somber surroundings and nasty weather, maintained rhythmic footsteps trotting toward the van. Though my dad was noticeably older than the rest of the crew, there was something about his upbeat demeanor that made everyone else come off as downhearted.

Design by Zoe Zhang

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

The beauty of wilted flowers ROSHNI MOHAN MiC Columnist

Oversized jackets, jumbled chargers, weird wall decor and half melted candles clutter my roommates’ and I’s already small apartment. A high-rise building stands tall outside our large living room window, blocking off any daylight from flooding the apartment. Sitting among the clutter and the gloom is an orange-tinted vase. Growing out of the vase are soft, bright petals flowing from the stems of a set of pink carnations. The floral aroma fills the tiny living room it sits in, but in a subtle way. It is not strong enough to smell when you walk in, but noticeable as soon as you sit down on the old, dark couch right across from it. When you don’t directly look at them, the flowers easily blend into the clutter, but once you do, they catch your eye. They brighten the entire dark apartment, bringing in that touch of brightness the living room desperately needs every morning and afternoon. They add a layer of freshness that our dry, closed-off apartment can’t bring

in since the windows are sealed shut. The freshness hits our faces when we come back from class later in the day, comforting us.

Growing up, I never cared for flowers. If anything, I disliked them. I disliked how expensive bouquets from the florists were. I disliked the bees that came with them. I disliked how much effort people put into growing them, and I disliked how mad they’d get when my ball rolled into their flower patch. I disliked their names, since I could never pronounce them. I disliked how much work maintaining them was. But the biggest of all, I disliked how they’d always die so soon. My mother would always say they were a waste of money because of how quickly they would fall.

When my family would buy her flowers, she’d get mad, telling us not to waste money. She’d only let us buy flowers to use when doing poojas as offerings to God. But for the personal decoration aspect, she would refuse to buy them.

Instead, she brought up the idea of artificial flowers. She’d say they were just as pretty, and they last forever. So now our home is filled with tall glass vases hold-

ing fake roses and fake tulips and fake hydrangeas and fake peonies, every fake flower the local craft stores had on sale.

As I got older, I started disagreeing more with my mother, especially with her stance on flowers. I always kept my opinion to myself because I understood costs add up. The only times I got to pick out real flowers were for our poojas. We would rush to Nino’s on our way to the Bharatiya Temple, and I would follow quickly behind my mother into the store, since we were already late to the scheduled pooja. We’d speed to the flower section. They always had a variety of beautiful flowers, every color that you could think of. They’d sometimes have roses, jasmine, sunflowers, lilies and mums, but they always had carnations, usually the pink ones. Carnations were our staple — the flower we would get almost every pooja. They were always the cheapest ones at the store and the most readily available. My brother and I would sit there in the car, cutting them off of their stems in preparation for pooja. If we did the pooja at home instead of the temple, we would sit at the

dining table taking turns cutting them. I’d do the first half, and he’d do the second. Once pooja began, we would pick each petal off and offer it to god. I would sneak one of the flowers in my pocket or put it under my leg until after pooja.

After coming home or leaving our pooja room, I’d keep it in my room until it almost completely disintegrated, because I didn’t know how to properly preserve them (and still don’t), or until it got lost.

Eventually, my father took up gardening during quarantine.

He’d buy packets and packets of seeds and plant them under a grow light, then transfer them outside once it got warm. He’d take me to Bordine’s, the nearest flower and plant shop, and let me help pick out the flower plants I liked. He never bought the ones I picked, but he let me give my input on the colors of the flowers he liked. We’d get hydrangeas, hibiscus, zinnias and three different colors of roses. No carnations.

Moving out of the house, I was given real flowers for the first time instead of the fake ones my mother loved, for my apartment.

I came home all excited to put

them in our vase. An instant smile grew wide on my face from how pretty the flowers were. Coincidently, they were pink carnations, my favorite. They reminded me of when I was younger and would sneak a few flowers from the bunch to keep in my room.

The flowers did everything artificial ones could never do. They brought in a calming aroma into the room, a feeling of fresh life, a splash of subtle color, brightening the room in every way fake ones couldn’t. But within two weeks or so, they died.

Day by day, another flower would droop over to the side. A petal would fall, laying next to the vase on the black table. The feeling of freshness left the room along with any life left in those pretty flowers. They wilted and were done for. But I’d leave them in the vase, because I can never get myself to throw them out. To throw out something so beautiful and selfless felt wrong. The tiniest amount of life left in them still brightened the room, at least in my eyes. And thinking about it, there was something equally beautiful in the pile of fallen petals and drooping stems. How

they still shine even with a pale hue that takes over each petal.

How the pretty flower smell would remain even though it was so subtle. How they still caught everyone’s eyes once they saw the vase, but in a are they saving dead flowers way. There was something beautiful in the way they’d fall after holding on for so long once they were cut from their plant, how they selflessly held on for so long just to make our lives more beautiful. How each flower would fall after giving every bit of life it had left, until it couldn’t hold on or give any more any longer.

The wilted flowers added some things to my life that the fresh ones couldn’t. It dropped petals for me to keep as a pretty collection. It made my roommates laugh a little every time they’d see it, filling our room with laughter which, in turn, brightened up the room. It was an incentive to go buy more flowers. And it was a reminder to appreciate the things in our life in the moment because eventually, they will wilt. And it was a message that the end itself is just as beautiful as the flowers first blooming still on the plant.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan in Color

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 — 7

A farewell to my -teens YASMINE ELKHARSSA MiC Columnist

I’ve always loved birthdays, whether they were mine or somebody else’s. The thought of gathering to celebrate the life of somebody you love has always been an exciting part of every year. But when my own birthday creeps its way around the calendar, I always find myself reflecting on my life experiences.

When I realized that on March 22, 2022, I would be turning 20 years old, I was almost shocked. Of course, I knew that it would happen eventually — one more year around the sun calls for turning one year older — but turning 20 always seemed so distant. This year, my birthday didn’t feel as exciting as it used to before — instead, it felt daunting, and I dreaded leaving behind the shelter that came with being a teenager.

Turning 20 made me anxious. To some, leaving the “teen years” feels like emerging into adulthood with open arms. For me, dropping the “-teen” at the end of my age felt like the clock had sped up too fast for me to catch up to. I try to reflect on my teen years with a certain fondness; not to say that they were all painless, but they allowed me to harbor a great deal of wisdom and growth at such young ages. I remember turning 15 and hardly being able to wait for my 16th birthday, the birthday that society harps on as being an emergence into your true teenage years. I remember feeling nervous, but eagerly awaiting the expectations of newfound independence, like driving (even though I didn’t do much of it), staying out later and being taken more seriously by the adults in my life.

While my younger self had thought that

this would be the peak of my young adulthood, I had merely entered a year filled with the insecurity and stress that came with being an emerging junior in high school.

At the time, I was entangled in the all-consuming feeling of not being good enough — whether that be over my top choice college (which, spoiler alert, I now attend), or the friend group I was floating through, or the courses I was taking. I felt as though I was in constant competition with a standard that I could never reach: perfection. Everybody seemed to worry about being “popular” or getting the best grades or test scores.

As a generally anxious person, I always felt as though these superficial standards were impossible to meet. Nobody is liked by everyone, and not everybody can receive straight As or a 1600 on their SAT. And certainly, people can’t always acquire all three of those traits. Even while being well-aware of this, I had tried my hardest to climb to the top of every ladder. Although I wasn’t a perfectionist, I was constantly surrounded by the stress of being perfect and doing more than what was expected in order to soar far beyond the walls of my small high school. Little did I know, feeling like I am “not enough” is a battle that even my 20-year-old self struggles to overcome long after graduating high school.

I want to say that since coming to college, my imposter syndrome has gotten both better and worse. Although I am more mature and secure in myself, I still battle with the ever-present fear of not being where I “need to be.” Coming from a high school that is composed of an overwhelmingly Arab student body, where most students are not met with the opportunity of moving away for college or even attending a university like the University of Michigan, I face a new struggle

of assimilating into a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) as an underrepresented

on to much more. Even though I didn’t get straight As in high school, or anywhere near

Design by Grace Filblin

student of Color. Dealing with these complicated, ever-present experiences has shown me that the journey of growing up is not a straight road. The complex twists and turns of turning older are bittersweet, and they make learning and reflecting on my identity that much more important.

Quickly, I learned that being 16 was no match for turning 18. I would go on to graduate high school at the top of my class, attend college at my dream school, move onto campus and leave the town I had worked so desperately to escape. Because I came from a school as small as my own — with a graduating class of 88 people, which I attended from kindergarten throughout my senior year — I was eager to leave the familiar walls and go

a 1600 SAT score, it taught me that my goals are obtainable if I am passionate or dedicated enough to a cause. I learned that perfection isn’t always expected and that “perfection” is taught as a fear response to “not being good enough,” a struggle that I have since then learned that most people are battling. Even though my 18th birthday was two years ago, that year defined what I set out to be for the rest of my life: entirely my own. Since then, I consider the last two years to be my most pivotal years of growth. I would hold the world in the palm of my hands and stare at it through my rose-colored lenses, marching through the streets of Ann Arbor as if nothing in the world could get in the way of my goals, passions or self-proclaimed expecta-

tions. Although I continually deal with anxiety around self-assurance, becoming 18 was remarkably important to shifting how I view myself and developing my identity.

Over this last year of being 19, the foundation of confidence and security I had begun to build was met with the weight of trying to proudly showcase my Lebanese, Muslim identity at a PWI. This created a different level of emotional turmoil that I had never experienced before in my sheltered, small town of predominantly Arabs and Muslims. I also held the fears of not being able to achieve my academic and personal goals, not only because of my own barriers but because of barriers that were placed upon me by systems and people who may never even know me. While I had some experience with being “othered” prior to this, I channeled my anxiety into becoming more introspective; I allowed my hardships to drive me to be passionate and loud about causes that were important to displaying my identity.

At 19, I realized that every year of life comes with its own set of ups and downs, but instead of trying to escape them, I have learned to embrace them for what they give me in return. Experience. Maturity. Gratitude. Empathy. When I look back at my 16-year-old self — the anxious teenager who worried so much about what her life would become, if her friends truly liked her, what college she would go to — I see a girl who stressed too much, who worked to please the people in her life, who gave herself up to help others, who worked herself more than her capacity. I think of myself, who still does these things, and feel so much love for the girl who tries so hard to just be.

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Suck my clock KARIS CLARK MiC Columnist

You see the title. You see the text.

And if you’re busy, move onto what’s next. You might brief ly skim, scan or scroll as many of us pay thousands to do with our college coursework.

Nonetheless, if you do decide to read, for whatever sake, how long will it take? How closely will you try to comprehend, and to what end?

Our world is ravaged by an unyielding sense of urgency. So much so that reading four pages of text can feel like running four miles. But, then again, perhaps we are running. Running out of time, as we often claim to be. Yet how can you run out of that which you cannot see? Nor fully conceive? A myriad of machinations has led to this modern-day sensation of haste yet ultimately it is the forces of late-stage capitalism and their spiritually deficient demarcations that have damned us to a life of hurry and hustle.

Time and time again, the clock has been a ticking tool of capital. It is nearly impossible to envisage a time before modern mechanized clock time. From birth to death, we clutch tightly onto our clocks — our timepieces and wristwatches, calendars and

schedules. According to philosophy scholar Teresa I. Reed, the uniformity of clock time, aside from enabling the measurement of natural scientific processes, has allowed for the synchronization of a series of human endeavors from school and labor, politics and religious affairs, sports and

service to labor. To Reed, against the terrifying ticking of the clock it is evident that Capital becomes our God when “efficiency is the greatest virtue.” In our over-productive secular society, there is simply no time for the sacred which entreats us to contemplate the eternal. The competitive,

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entertainment and beyond. In today’s time, the clock’s all-encompassing objectivity orders us to live a life in

commodity-fetishizing nature of latestage capitalism and its ever-increasing imperatives to shorten labor time

of production create ongoing conf licts and crises in the name of profit.

Even our interaction time with each other is centered around commodity consumption. Our social lives are filled with costly commercialized entertainment: driving, dining, drinking and drugs. As Cuban-French revolutionary Paul Lafargue claims, capitalism has manufactured within us as consumers an “excitement of appetites” and “creation of fictitious needs.”

Of course, mechanized clock time does have its basis in the seasonal and biological changes of celestial and human bodies and the rhythms of day and night. The system of days, weeks and months is derived from the many ancient creation myths of the seven-day periods which correlate with celestial orbit and lunar cycles.

As this orbit is eccentric (not always uniform) and subject to deviation, it becomes clear that our standardized system of time measurement is far from fact, far from exact. Yet it is not the function nor within the scope of clock time to accurately ref lect the natural universe. Instead, it is largely used in society as a social mechanism to enact structural homogeneity.

Historian J. David Lewis and sociolog y scholar Andrew J. Weigert

assert that social time, as it’s been structured by clock time, carries with it a certain quality of “embeddedness, stratification, and synchronicity.” It is embedded in the sense that we have a general expectation for how we interact with others during different time frames and the disruption of these expectations (transportation delays or transaction mishaps) can carry drastic implications. This sense of social time is embedded insofar as it is imposed upon us by the organizational structures of today which adhere to rigid patterns and procedures.

To Lewis and Weigert, the immense schedulization of our daily activities (such as school and work) with precise time frames which ignore social and psychological realities stif les creativity and spontaneity and restricts us from living with f luidity. With clock time’s shortened finite units, we are constantly racing against the clock, running out of time. Lewis and Weigert state that “we not only expect rigorous temporal control of events but positively value it, as is evident from the anger and frustration felt when scheduled events are delayed, postponed, or cancelled.” Clearly, we remain suckers of the clock.

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My father, my king SMARANI KOMANDURI MiC Columnist

Let’s get one thing straight: Serena Williams is the greatest tennis player of all time. This is a hill I’ll stand tall on any day.

She broke barriers in her field, winning 23 Grand Slam titles and four Olympic gold medals. Not to mention, she won the Australian Opeejlesr social lives. Similarly, my father pushed my brothers and me to be academically successful, to keep in touch with our culture and to always have fun.

He understood the importance of keeping the balance in life, navigating work and fun. In addition, he encouraged us to find fun within our work. When we were in elementary school, our father encouraged us to play outside and hang out with our friends every day. He also made sure we spent time during the day practicing and memorizing our multiplication tables. My father turned these multiplication tables into games to play in the car. A memory my father shares of him and my older brother is that every time they would drive somewhere together, my father would ask a random multiplication question like “what’s six times seven?” and see how quick my brother could answer, turning our academic work into a game we could have fun with.

Richard Williams did the same for his children. The film shows that he made sure his children practiced tennis every day and got their homework done every night for school. During matches, he reminded his daughters that the only thing they were there to do was to have fun. Outside of tennis and school, he encouraged them to watch movies, sing together and, at one point in the film, he even took them on vacation to Disneyworld. He allowed his children to be children and have a fun

childhood while also pushing them to be academically and athletically the best.

Richard Williams made it clear in the film that all he wanted was for his children to live a better life than he lived. He told his daughters that he was never respected growing up, but that they would be respected. My father has the same aspirations for his children, in that he wishes for us to live a better life than he did. My father moved to the United States from India, leaving behind his family, his friends and the life he grew up knowing. He migrated to a country in which he knew no one and had to overwork a job he would get underpaid for, all while learning to speak a brand new language. He made countless sacrifices just to ensure his children would have an easier time navigating the world.

In the film, Richard brought Venus and Serena home from a rainy night practice one night. They were welcomed by police cars outside their house and officers inside.

The officers explained that their neighbor had filed a complaint that the family was being too rough on their daughters. During the scene, one official asked Richard, “Isn’t it too late for practice, don’t the kids have school work?” Brandy, Richard’s wife, jumped in and said, “They do their homework,” and explained how her daughters are first in their class. Richard explained to the officers that they’re hard on their kids because they “have to be to keep them off these streets,” referring to their poverty-stricken and crime-ridden neighborhood in their hometown, Compton. I’m privileged enough to say that I’ve never had to interact with the jarring and audacious police force in the same way that the Williams family had to as depicted in this film. However, the notion of a third party over-stepping into their family’s personal lives and decision-making felt a bit familiar, although in a different context.

There was an incident where a teacher at my middle school called my parents one night. This particular teacher was leading an information session on standardized tests.

I nervously walked into the room where the information session was being held. I caught the glances of all the other older students in the room and immediately felt my body shrivel up. There was a teacher at the front of the classroom with a stack of papers on a desk, and a line of students in front of her. I quietly stood in line and twiddled my thumbs, avoiding eye contact with the other students before I eventually made it to the teacher and her desk.

“Hi there, what’s your name?”

“Smarani.”

The teacher immediately looked puzzled. I could feel the students behind me in line becoming impatient as the teacher squinted her eyes, shuffling through her papers before eventually pulling them closer to her. I tried to look over to see what the papers were and caught a glimpse of what looked like a roster of some sort, showing a list of a bunch of students’ first and last names.

“The last name is Komanduri, K-OM-A-N-D-U-R-I,” I added. I figured the roster was alphabetized by last name and hoped I could speed up the process for the teacher.

She still looked confused, and I felt my palms clam up more and more.

“Alright, go ahead and have a seat.”

I quietly let out a sigh of relief and made my way to the back of the classroom and allowed my heartbeat to return to a normal pace after having it beat out of my chest.

As the session wrapped up, and I frantically gathered my things to leave, the teacher stopped me.

“Oh, sweetie, could you hang back for a sec?”

I slowly paced over to her desk as all the other students made their way out the door, taking a final quick glance in my direction hoping to also hear or see why the teacher asked me to stay back.

After what felt like ages of waiting, the teacher finally asked, “so you’re in sixth grade?”

“Yes.” Even with just my one word response, I heard my raspy voice tremble with fear.

“Hmm, okay, so that’s why your name isn’t on the roster here. This is a list of all of the eighth graders.”

I was instantly relieved. I let out a soft nervous chuckle before turning to leave.

Before I could do so, the teacher followed up with one last request.

“Could you just give me your parents’ phone numbers?”

My eyebrows furrowed, and my mouth slightly opened.

How often do teachers ask for your parents’ phone numbers? And either way, don’t they have access to them already?

Isn’t there a directory for this sort of thing?

Although I was hesitant, I didn’t want to pick a bone with a random teacher I’d never met.

“Like, our house phone number?”

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

I proceeded to monotonously recite our house phone number as the teacher scribbled it down on some white space at the top of the roster she was clutching onto before the meeting. Later that evening, my parents told me that they had received a call from that teacher.

My parents didn’t go into detail about the conversation that transpired, but they gave me the overview: They exchanged pleasantries before the teacher jumped right into the meat of the conversation. This teacher said right

away how she was confused as to why I was attending the information session as a sixth grader. My parents explained that they believed – and I believed – that I was ready to take a standardized test just for the experience. There was nothing in it for me other than the fact that I felt that I was ready. She immediately started to explain to us how she thought our parents were pushing us too hard. She said something along the lines of: “I don’t know why your people push your kids so hard.” And then continued, “my parents never pushed us that hard, and look at us — both my brother and I are extremely successful in our lives. I’m a teacher, and my brother is in the Army.”

My parents thanked her for calling and sharing her thoughts. They couldn’t help but simply laugh off the call. We didn’t even know where to start when she referred to our family as “your people,” insinuating a more sinister meaning. It’s a common stereotype — misconception, rather — that Desi parents force their children into certain activities. In my case, this couldn’t be further from the truth. My parents have never forced me to do anything, let alone force me to go to an information session on standardized tests. To have a fully-grown adult woman use these microaggressions against our family is something I still have a difficult time processing. She thought that she had the right to dictate how our family runs things in our house. My parents have aspirations for us that they’ve made countless sacrifices for, and for someone on the outside to come tell us that this shouldn’t be the way we run things was infuriating.

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The Michigan Daily

8 — Wednesday, April 13, 2022

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

s Cameron B. Pawlik

Annika Marie Topelian

Jordyn M. Richman

Nicole P. Xu

CONGRATULATIONS TO THEMatthew UM PHI BETA KAPPA CLASSES OF 2020 and 2021 Anshul Vinod Puli H. Ward Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest and most widely recognized scholarly honorary society in America. Founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary, it celebrates excelSchwab Jennifer Yang lence in the liberalRachel arts andB.sciences.

The UM chapter, Alpha of Michigan, was founded in 1907 and inducted its hundred and twelfth and hundred and thirteenth classes Peyton L. Sternfeld Lucy Yang into membership in the midst of Covid 19 in 2020 and 2021. We were not able to congratulate them publicly then. An invitation to join Phi Beta Kappa requires a history

Craig I. Tarnopol

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that an undergraduate in liberal arts and sciences can achieve. The Executive Committee of the Alpha of Michigan Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa recognizes and congratulates Jeremy P. Tervo these recent members of this venerable society.

Elise Anne Odell Michael Robert Orrange Mohamad AwadaBobak Movaghar Ossareh Bellina Juniper Gaskey Nicholas M. Baumel Dilyn Grabell Tristayn McKee Owen Alyson Besecke Chatterjee Christopher Curtis Hafke Christian Corpuz Paneda Olivia Clair Drlik Mohammed Sami Hamid Reena Pang Kyra Nicole Fichman Alice Rose Hill Catherine Garton Olivia Ross PerfettiCole Brody Kauffman Camille Victoria Phaneuf Allison Sarane Poles Quinn Michaela Powell Courtney Drucker Jabir Ahmed Ceren Ege Shaelyn Joy Albrecht Pallavi Arvind Prabhu Jack Eichman Kalana Athukorala Jasmine Marie Purtell Kaitlin Marie Ford Abby Lynn Austin KorsunskyAmanda Bachand Rachel Savits Rabinovitz Hallie Fox Friedman Adela Baker Gregory Raskind Zachary Claire Pamela Galligan Yuxuan Bao Jordan Miller RichLiam Geduldig Jenna Barnes Mathew Gibson Allison Eileen BatkaCaroline ElizabethJacob Richburg Allison Elissa Goldstein Nathan Michael Baylis Samantha Rachel Goldstein Jacob Garrett BeckerGrace Katherine Ridings Dorothy Z. Goldstein-Stahl Pareenaz Behbahani-Nejad Grace Perille Riordan Jillian Shea Gordner Dana Berkowitz Kendra Deanne Robbins Samuel Earl Greenberg Jessica Bernard Kyle Andrew Robertson Samuel Wiley Groh Adrienne-Denise Vea Bilbao Zoya Gurm Emily Bloom Emma Laine Robinson Colleen Hadley Olivia Agnes Bloomhuff Larissa Jean Etta Robinson-Cooper Katherine Clifford Hadley Kevin William Bollinger Zachary Hampel Alexander Joseph Bolstrum Allyson Jaymes Rodriguez Venesa Haska Zoe Boudart Alexandra Katharina Rogers Brenna Rose Hattler Stuart Thomas Brabbs Liza Morgan Rosenbloom Kendall Hecker Zachary Philip Breininger Lillie Heyman Philip Emmerman Caldwell Jason Ellis Rowland Adam John Hilu Meryn Grace Campbell Elizabeth Ann RoyJonathan Hochberg Eva Caston Holly A. Honig Soverno Chen Malika Singh Sachdev Philipp Paul Huettemann Jacob Thomas Chludzinski Irene Hwang Hannah Chosid Brennan Mark Schilling Samantha Kinsella Ilagan Natalie Cieslak Noah M. Schlachter Ruchita Iyer James J. Clarke Madeleine Elizabeth Schmitter Zekun Jia Samantha Bryn Cohen Sumrah Jilani Hunter Ryan Cohn Jamie Erin Schneider Alfred Y. Kalantar Adriana Navigato Coke Serena Scholz Anna Kang Sheridan Cole Schwartz Michael Karpman Heather Paige ColleyWilliam AlexanderColton Ranganath G. Kathawate Jacqueline P. Cope Eric Donghyuck Seo Mary Josephine Kelly Patteson Rose Delk Madeleine Filia Setiono Eric Brandon Sherman Nicole Sara Silberman Jordan Alexander Silverman Nathan Sim Evan Richard Sirls Aliza Joelle Sitrin Aaron Joseph Small Rachel Elizabeth Sokolov Alana Rachel Spellman Griffin Teresa St Onge

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Opinion

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Don’t let the “vibe shift” warp your economic outlook

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From The Daily: What to do about high gas prices THE MICHIGAN DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD

T

hanks to the compounded negative effects from multiple recent events, gas prices have surged across the country — averaging more than $4 a gallon as of April 10, 2022 — which has been cataclysmic for the average worker and the economy alike. Efforts by the United States and its allies to halt purchases of Russian oil to reprimand their invasion of Ukraine have been largely to blame for the skyrocketing prices. Most gas stations around the country have only two to three days of product in stock, and are therefore forced to charge customers what it will cost to refill their reserves, a concept known as “replacement cost.”

However, gas prices have been steadily increasing in the United States since the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic, when costs plummeted so much that they even briefly turned negative. As families sheltered in place at home, the average family’s driving was cut in half, according to AAA. This plunging

gasoline demand resulted in OPEC and other oil-producing nations reducing production by 10% of the world’s supply. Once restrictions eased and families returned to work and school, demand for oil once again increased but could not be satisfied after significantly diminished production. Thus, gas prices began a steady upswing, rising to the extreme levels we are facing now.

When President Biden took office in January 2021, prices had already reached $2.38 a gallon. Now, crude oil averages around $100 a barrel. While many have tried to point to Biden’s policies as a source for this surge, there is little to no evidence for this. As soon as he took office, Biden terminated the Keystone XL Pipeline, a decision that not only gained him his fair share of criticism but also signaled hostility to the oil industry. However, even if the Keystone Pipeline were in place today, the impact on prices would be measured in pennies. Prices would have continued to rise nevertheless.

Biden’s staggeringly low approval ratings have necessitated lowering gas prices on a bipartisan level.

While some politicians have called for suspending gas taxes, this short-

term solution would not only serve to be ineffective but would also betray our climate goals, as well as take away funds from Michigan’s transportation fund. As economists explain, “a full suspension of the gas tax would not lower the price of gasoline by the full amount of the tax because producers bear some of the tax burden.” What’s more, during past gas tax holidays in Indiana and Illinois, “researchers found that consumers don’t get the full benefit of the gas tax suspension; (rather,) some of their savings flow to oil producers.”

A more effective short-term policy, proposed by Illinois, would instead freeze the gas tax at its current rate, allowing consumers to save millions of dollars while simultaneously honoring our country’s carbon neutrality commitment for 2050.

Another short-term solution would be applying pressure on our country’s largest oil companies to incentivize drilling. Currently, around 9,950 issued drilling permits are unused by oil corporations. Biden has accused these corporations of “sitting on”

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ALEX YEE

Opinion Columnist

I

n July 2020, I purchased a pair of generic white New Balances. I loved those shoes. They fit right in with the rest of my modest wardrobe, and I was sad to throw them out this month, after almost two years of their distinguished service to my feet.

I am not a fashionable person.

I couldn’t even begin to describe what makes “good” or “bad” fashion sense. And yet, it appears that my seemingly inconsequential shoe choice coincided with the decline of a mid-2010s fashion trend, “normcore.” Popularized by “trend forecaster” Sean Monahan of the K-Hole collective, “Normcore, as it came to be understood, was about embracing the banality of plainness, of not being alternative, and of not seeking difference to affirm your individuality,” writes Donovan Barrett of Highsnobiety. By wearing New Balances, I had accomplished each of these goals — even if I did so without much grace.

Unfortunately, I am still behind the curve. A year after I purchased those shoes, Monahan predicted on his Substack and in The Cut that American (read: millennial New Yorker) culture is already experiencing another “vibe shift.” Goodbye, he postulates, to Jerry Seinfeld’s bulky jackets and chunky sneakers. Welcome to the renaissance of Effy Stonem, indie sleaze and the end of the hyperdigital, hyper-“cancel culture” era.

After the profile in The Cut, the term “vibe shift” began to take shape in the media as an idea that extended beyond just fashion trends.

Buzzfeed columnist Elamin Abdelmahmoud argues that “vibe shift” can also function as a framing device to analyze broad changes in American culture. In his opinion, the pandemic, anti-establishment

Trump politics and now the war in Ukraine have all contributed to a decline in social trust. America’s democratic institutions are being challenged, and foreign countries are demonstrating that autocratic regimes will not easily capitulate, rebuffing political scientist Francis Fukuyama’s bold prediction that stable, liberal democracies would become the dominant world order.

The “end of history” argument arose in response to the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1989.

America believed, after the Cold War, that the project of liberal democracy had been vindicated as the supreme form of governance.

However, as we have seen over the past two decades, efforts to democratize in other parts of the world have been overwhelmingly futile. It is amusing, therefore, that Generation Z would revitalize the late ’90s-Y2K-early 2000s aesthetic in which that optimistic spirit was born.

America then is unlike America now. In the late ’90s, the internet and other technological progress spurred an economic boom.

Productivity soared, wages grew, incomes rose and, at the turn of the century, the unemployment rate dropped to 4%. In 2018, Neil Irwin of the New York Times wrote that the modern economy might be on a similar track towards ’90s-level growth. The labor market was (and still is) “tight,” which means the ratio of job openings to job seekers is high, and a persistently low interest rate has kept investors confident enough to keep pumping money into the stock market.

Then, the pandemic happened.

Investors remained optimistic and the stock market flourished, but the effects of the pandemic were not felt evenly among Americans. If positions could not go remote, people lost their jobs or were forced to put themselves at risk of contracting COVID-19.

Fiscal stimulus measures from the Trump and Biden administrations helped keep people afloat, but

now, after a little more than two years since the start of the pandemic, inflationary pressures have forced the Federal Reserve to begin raising the interest rate in an effort to prevent the postpandemic economy from spiraling out of control.

It remains to be seen what effect raising the interest rate will have on the economy. Rate increases, if they happen too fast, can cause a recession. A potentially troubling development is that the yield curve, a measure of investment in U.S. government bonds, has inverted. This means that either investors are less confident in the U.S.’s long-term economic prospects, or, a more benign cause, the Fed’s decision to end its program of purchasing bonds is starting to affect the bond market.

Even if the economy does not enter a post-pandemic recession, the economy will still be a vibe killer. Gen Z’s nostalgia for the turn of the century is harmless, as long as we simultaneously maintain a sober perspective on the economic direction of our country. When we leave the University of Michigan, we will not enter a housing market as hot as it was in the ’90s, especially if we don’t build more homes.

And, if the precarious, stunted experience of the millennial generation is any indicator of what Gen Z will face as we lurch into adulthood, unabated optimism is not how I feel about life post-graduation.

So, go ahead and buy that outfit you’ve saved on your Pinterest Y2K moodboard. Maybe don’t start smoking cigarettes again, something that I witnessed a group of assumedly freshmen do over the weekend. But as you ride the vibe shift’s wave, keep an ear to the ground (as I know we all do) and plan your economic future with prudence. It does not yet appear that the vibes of our time are spilling over into a speculative fervor on Wall Street, but we should be careful to not let that become our reality.

Prisoners of modern technology CLAUDIA FLYNN

S

Opinion Columnist

amsung has become what some would call a “meme” to Generation Z today. No matter how many new models come out, no matter how amazing their cameras are, no matter how easy their user interface becomes, they will never be able to infiltrate the technological culture of today’s youth. This is for one reason: Apple didn’t make themselves better than their competitors — they made it impossible to leave their web of interconnected products.

The second you stop using an iPhone, you lose a world of capabilities as well. You can’t join a group chat with over 10 people. You can’t receive AirDropped pictures or send pictures to iCloud. Say goodbye to Apple Pay, iMessage, Apple Wallet and more. Good luck transferring your contacts and data with no iCloud and a new interface. There may be a million reasons that a new phone company transcends Apple, but they will never be able to hold a candle to Apple’s digital army.

This quite literally captivating nature demonstrates the ways in which technology and social media companies have trapped us.

As a young adult, it is impossible to live without an assortment of technology tools that have become as essential to us as food and water. In high school, I was the last of my friends to get Snapchat.

A seemingly insignificant plight in today’s world, this one detail proved to be a large impediment in communicating with my peers.

The modern world of flirting takes place increasingly online, and especially over Snapchat (ask any girl the last time a guy asked her for her actual number; I can guarantee she will have a hard time remembering). I watched as my friends “snapped” their love interests, made group chats and posted stories. All the while I watched from afar, in the social media-less jail I felt I was in.

What people don’t tell you, however, is that this spectacular world of social media, led by the confines of Snapchat and Instagram, isn’t so glamorous after all. Those “guys” my friends

were talking to were really just asking for nudes. Instagram wasn’t about promoting confidence, but instead tearing it down. This life was a numbers game: how many followers, how many likes, how many streaks, etc.

So why do we do it? Why do we feed into a system that continually hurts us, tears us down and takes away from our face-to-face human connections with others? The answer isn’t in the allure of what these companies have to offer, or the factors — addictive colors, algorithms and even notification sounds — that keep you in. It’s in the reality of being unable to leave once you’ve entered.

The way technology companies market, whether it be hardware (Apple, Samsung), cell service providers (AT&T, Verizon) or social media (Instagram, Snapchat), is making it harder and harder for you to leave. They’ve taken over communication. iMessage, Snapchat, Instagram and Tiktok

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Opinion

10 — Wednesday, April 13, 2022

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Op-Ed: No tears Op-Ed: The necessity of supporting — just Charlie’s self-determination for Ukrainians, racist fears! Palestinians and all oppressed peoples BYRON BROOKS Opinion Contributor

Charles Hilu was contacted for comment in advance of this Op-Ed’s publication. ruth,” “accuracy” and “objectivity” are the pillars of journalistic ethics. Sadly, it is clear that Charles Hilu, and The Michigan Review as a whole, do not uphold these cornerstones. In his article, Hilu took it upon himself to personally attack, misrepresent and degrade me, as a means to push his own racist agenda, all without ever once contacting nor reaching out to me. Hilu was supposedly responding to a letter which I addressed to the University’s Board of Regents, but it is clearly apparent that Hilu did not read my letter, or rather, his white privilege blinded him from seeing anything other than his fallacious interpretation of it.

It’s one thing to utilize the power of the pen to uphold facts, and bring forth positive change within society, yet it is another to abuse said power to attack, defame and weaponize words against someone with whom you were not even bold enough to confront and have an actual conversation with. Many who have read the fallacious article attacking my character, most definitely have a few words in mind to describe Hilu: A cowardly racist student hiding behind their white privilege.

Unfortunately, cowardly racism, white privilege and misleading quotes are far too common on this campus. One thing that was accurate within the article is that yes, I am a Black man. However I fear no man — in fact it would behoove Hilu to name one white student upon this campus whom I’m threatened by, seeing that in his article he stated that I was “threatened by white students.” In response to that fallacious statement, I quote one of my favorite scriptures: “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” Utilizing racist undertones, Hilu has compromised my safety as a Black student on this predominantly white campus.

To that, I say I will not waiver nor fold, and I will continue to stand and fight for equity and dismantling racism of all forms, especially on this campus!

In the article, Hilu begged the question: “If there are too many white people in a certain place, the solution is to remove them.

How does the University do this?

Should it release a statement saying white people are unwelcome in a campus space that their tuition and tax dollars fund?” The Trotter Multicultural Center, as it is known today, began as “Trotter House,” a Black Student Cultural Center. African American students united under the Black Action Movement

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(BAM) to help students who experienced obstacles within their educational process.

“Trotter House” was birthed out of this movement, founded at a rambling old house on the corner of South University Avenue and East University Avenue and named in honor of William Monroe Trotter.

As Hilu writes, yes, Dr. King did in fact have a dream, but I can assure you that his dream was not to be misrepresented, nor to have his words weaponized by cowardly racists trying to tear down a Black man. Since he likes quotes, however, here is one from James Baldwin: “I am not your negro!”

“As Hilu writes, yes, Dr. King did in fact have a dream, but I can assure you that his dream was not to be misrepresented, nor have his words weaponized by cowardly racists trying to tear down a Black man.

JARED ENO

Opinion Contributor

R

ussia’s invasion of Ukraine has rightly generated international outcry and condemnation.

The war is clearly an imperial action, with Putin denying the very existence of the Ukrainian people and explicitly attempting to make Ukraine a part of Russia. The consequences are horrific.

Russian forces have killed or injured thousands of civilians and have committed a number of atrocities that are likely war crimes, including destroying the maternity and children’s wards of a prenatal hospital, cluster bombing a preschool, dropping landmines on a civilian escape route and executing civilians.

As of March 24, the invasion had displaced 10 million people, “the fastest and largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II.” A wide variety of groups have rightly demanded that Russia immediately end its attack and completely withdraw its forces. Afterward, Russia must be held accountable for its actions.

The vital attention to and support for Ukrainians comparatively highlights the widespread lack of such a stance toward Palestinians’ decades-long fight for selfdetermination.

The world largely stands by as Palestinians are bombed, murdered, imprisoned, evicted and

maimed; as Palestinian human rights groups are banned as “terrorist” organizations; and as Palestinians are forced to live under apartheid — a crime against humanity according to international law. The primary Palestinian liberation movement — the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement — has been falsely labeled, by The Jerusalem Declaration On Antisemitism, as inherently antisemitic and therefore oppressive.

To many, the situations in Ukraine and Palestine are so different as to be incomparable.

And clearly, the situations have many differences, including the fact that Ukraine is a member state of the United Nations, whereas the State of Palestine is a non-member observer state.

However, this legal difference has nothing to do with the basic right of all peoples to self-determination. In fact, Russia’s denial of Ukrainian statehood underscores how recognition of this right is ultimately political. If we accept that all peoples have the right to choose their own destinies, then we must be as insistent and urgent in our support for Palestinians as we are for Ukrainians.

The University of Michigan’s actions demonstrate that it is not committed to respecting the right of all peoples to selfdetermination. On March 15, the University announced that it would divest from Russia after Ukrainian students submitted an open letter calling for divestment (as well as aid to

displaced Ukrainian scholars and students and support for students and employees from Belarus and Russia).

By contrast, the University has long refused to divest from companies that violate Palestinian human rights, despite decades of advocacy by the Palestinian solidarity group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality and its allies.

When Central Student Government passed resolution A.R. 7-109 in 2017, asking the University to appoint a committee that would simply consider divestment from companies doing business with Israel, the University refused, saying that the purpose of the endowment was “to generate the greatest possible income.”

This was an explicit statement that the University values profit over people, which remains the University’s position on divestment from Israel to this day. And yet it took less than three weeks for the University to announce an explicitly politically-motivated divestment from Russia.

None of this is to attempt to minimize the atrocities being perpetrated against Ukrainians. Rather, this is a call to recognize that the urgency we rightly feel to support Ukrainian self-determination must also be applied toward the liberation of Palestinians and other oppressed peoples. We must fight as passionately for Palestinian self-determination as we fight for Ukrainian selfdetermination. Indeed, we

need only look to Palestine, the Native American lands now known as the United States and other colonized regions of the globe to see what Ukraine might look like if Ukrainians’ right to self-determination is not defended and upheld.

Fortunately, Palestinian, Native American, Black, Latinx and Asian students have already done significant work to identify concrete ways that the University can support the liberation of all peoples. The Students of Color Liberation Front, composed of a variety of racial justice organizations on campus, has articulated a unified set of antiracist demands addressing pedagog y, curriculum, faculty hiring (including a demand for the creation of a Palestinian Studies Scholar/ Chair), student support and recruitment, divestment, policing and more.

Nineteen campus organizations and over 200 individuals cosigned these demands, but the University has yet to implement or take meaningful action toward most of them. Ukrainian students are also currently identifying ways that the University can support Ukrainian students and scholars through remote education, emergency admissions and material support. By implementing these plans, the University has an opportunity to become an institution that respects the human rights of all people and peoples. The only question is whether it will.

Life’s a beach

His colorblind theory solidifies Hilu’s racist nature, and the fact that he most definitely skipped his Race and Ethnicity Class requirement. Not only that, but it disappointed me that after coming to him as an adult, face to face, following the release of his article, his energy completely changed, thus further solidifying the cowardice that comes with attacking an individual behind a pen. The next time that you plan to weaponize words against me or anyone on this campus, at least have the gall to reach out to those whom you are attacking.

Trotter Center would not be here without the activism and contributions of Black students on this campus.

To the readers, I would also let it be known that I did not shed one tear in this incident, as Hilu himself confirmed when I personally addressed him about said remark. Funny how racists’ energy changes when those whom they attack confront them.

Design by Tamara Turner

Organ trafficking is not getting the attention it deserves — here’s why ANNA TRUPIANO Opinion Columnist

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ith its 2022 release, the satirical horror movie “Fresh” follows a young woman, Noa, through her newfound relationship with a supposed plastic surgeon, Steve. The relationship turns into a nightmare when Steve takes Noa to a remote house he owns, drugs her and locks her in a cell with other women who have fallen victim to Steve’s alluring nature.

He proceeds to surgically remove her body parts piece by piece in order to keep the meat fresh, and subsequently sells them on the black market for purposes including anything from medical use to cannibalism. This practice has become commonly referred to as organ trafficking or the red market, where human body parts including organs, blood, bones, eggs and more are traded.

As I watched this movie, I found myself shocked and horrified to learn about this.

Because the human organ market is an underground market, it is difficult to make any definitive estimates of its value. Journalist Scott Carney supposes it could be worth billions of dollars. There are estimates that 10% of all organ transplants are performed using trafficked organs.

Similar to the events in “Fresh,” selling body parts as a commodity is often involuntary and typically preys on society’s most vulnerable populations.

In 2008, for instance, 17 people were freed from India’s “blood farm.” The scheme began with the luring of poor migrants to a house with the promise of employment, but the promised job turned out to be $7 per unit of blood they gave. The victims initially participated willingly, but when they wanted to leave they were so weakened by the

blood loss they could not. The migrants were then beaten and kept in cages in the house for two and half years, being forced to give blood multiple times a week with no benefit or payment. The Red Cross recommends waiting at least 8 weeks between blood donations, which further proves how exploitative this behavior was.

While many transactions on the red market are involuntary, there are times when people voluntarily sell their body parts.

However, this is often because they are in situations of great financial pressure.

Carney describes these markets as taking health and resources away from the poor and funneling them upwards through social classes. For example, after a 2004 tsunami in India, an emerging Indian refugee camp quickly gained the nickname of Kidneyville because of the high proportion of desperate refugees who sold their kidneys.

Despite often being aware they were being scammed, the refugees proceeded with the surgeries because it was their only option. I am left to wonder, are voluntary organ sales truly voluntary if the seller is in a situation of desperation?

In light of these involuntary and voluntary organ sales, the similarities between organ trafficking and human trafficking are not absent. In fact, most countries include organ trafficking in their definition of human trafficking.

The United States and Canada, however, do not.

In both forms of trafficking, the perpetrators prey on society’s most helpless members.

For either form of trafficking, participation is typically involuntary. Additionally, the perpetrators are the benefactors in human and organ trafficking, not the victims. These markets flourish because the economics of organ donation support such

activities, as there is a low supply of organs and high demand for the much-needed commodity.

The ability to stop organ trafficking is difficult — if not impossible — because there is not a substantial amount of evidence to work with regarding the topic. As a result, the problem of organ trafficking does not get the attention that human trafficking does.

The information that does exist rarely reaches the hands of those able to act, such as judicial authorities and law enforcement authorities. Many times these crimes are not even reported or known to have occurred.

There is a great web of criminal networks, collusion within hospitals and manipulation of medical insurers that must be further investigated before any productive action can be taken.

In order to end these crimes against humanity, society must develop a better system for monitoring and tracking

organ donations. This could take the form of following the money path, implementing more severe punishments for these crimes and increasing the amount of funds spent on research and prevention. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime asserts the need for a strengthened response, which would include increased evidence-based knowledge, raised awareness amongst target groups and improved legislative and non-legislative measures.

For me, it took watching the horrors of organ trafficking in action through the movie “Fresh” to realize how very real the problem is. This only goes to show how simple it is to increase awareness, whether that is through a movie or even the words you are reading right now. Whatever way you choose to gain insight, remember it is never too late for change and action.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 — 11

SportsWednesday: Frozen Four Wolverines flaunt singles loss marks the end of an era strength, advance win streaks LANE KIZZIAH

Daily Sports Writer

You can call it a squandered moment, a string of unlucky bounces or being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Whatever you want to call it, Michigan’s Thursday night Frozen Four loss marked the end of an era.

Going into the beginning of the season, the Wolverines were hailed as one of the top contenders for a national championship.

Michigan had four of the top five NHL Draft picks on its roster. It was ranked third in the USCHO preseason poll.

And, for the most part, the Wolverines seemed poised to live up to those high expectations. They finished the season with a 16-8 conference record and a Big Ten Tournament title. Michigan skated past American International, 5-3, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and dropped Quinnipiac, 7-4, in the second.

“When you fast forward the tape here, in five or seven years, when you can see this thing play out, you may be looking at one of the best college hockey teams ever assembled,” American International coach Eric Lang said after losing to Michigan in the first round of the Tournament.

You might not have to fast forward all that far to see how rare — and fleeting — this team’s talent really was.

Following last season, speculation arose over whether sophomore forwards Matty Beniers and Kent Johnson would come back to Michigan, along with sophomore defenseman Owen Power, who would become only the second No. 1 draft pick to defer the jump to the NHL since 2000. But all

three returned, helping build one of the most lauded college hockey teams ever assembled.

Now, all three have signed NHL contracts. Though next year’s roster could still feature a wealth of NHL-level talent, it won’t be the same generational lineup that took the ice this year.

Even beyond that roster shakeup, the Wolverines stand on shaky ground this offseason. Michigan coach Mel Pearson’s five-year contract expires on April 30. Overshadowing the contract negotiations is the pending investigation for toxic workplace culture, gender-based discrimination, retaliation against a student athlete and COVID-19 deception.

Despite Pearson’s impressive resumé — which includes two Frozen Four appearances and a Big Ten Tournament win — the allegations may prove too serious to overcome.

“I work under the direction of the athletic director (Warde Manuel) and the Board of Regents,” Pearson told the Daily. “So if

Mel Pearson’s contract expires April 30.

they’re willing to have me back, that’s the plan.”

The investigation, which began in October 2021, didn’t seem to impact the team’s performance this season, but it remains to be seen whether the controversies — or Pearson’s potential departure — will have an impact on players’ decisions of whether or not to stay with the program. None of the drafted players were made available after Thursday’s loss.

There are certain Michigan teams that set the bar for all to follow: the Fab Five in 1991, the softball team in 2005, the 1997 football team, last season’s women’s gymnastics team.

When you fast forward notso-far down the line, you’ll likely be adding the 2021-22 Michigan hockey team to that list. Despite the fact that the Wolverines failed to live up to their mile-high expectations — expectations they undoubtably had the talent to meet — they’ve still set a bar unlikely to be met by the currently shaky program anytime soon.

TESS CROWLEY/Daily

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

Michigan dominated in singles play.

KELSEY RUFF

Daily Sports Writer

Though the No. 6 Michigan men’s tennis team started by winning the doubles point, the true start of Sunday’s match was highlighted by sophomore Nino Ehrenschneider.

The Wolverines have been steadily gathering winning streaks throughout the season, including five of their top players have rising streaks of five or more singles matches. It’s safe to say that their preparation for the Big Ten Tournament is progressively reaching its culmination, and their matchups against Indiana are proof of that.

The Hoosiers learned how dangerous it is to lose the first singles match to Michigan. The Wolverines gathered three team points within minutes of each other and rolled through the majority of its individual matches to dominate Indiana, 6-1, just weeks before the Big Ten Tournament.

“Clinching the first point, getting on the board, it’s a big confidence boost for the whole team,” Styler said. “On the other side (of

the court) too, seeing it on the board — it helps everyone.”

This accomplishment is made possible because of the Wolverines’ depth, which is illuminated by the bountiful win streaks surrounding the team. Ehrenschneider and senior Ondrej Styler were perfect examples of the high-level competition. It was these two wins that truly set the team on the path it needed to clinch the win against the Hoosiers, elevating Michigan’s winning streak to 13 matches.

Ehrenschneider, who won the first match, was playing off of the momentum of Styler from the start. Side-by-side, the two of them swept through their first sets. Of the two, Ehrenschneider (with a six-game streak) was the first to finish with a decisive 6-2 set, which paved the way for the rest of the match and set the stage for Styler (with a 10-game streak), who found victory in his match mere moments after.

With the two individual winning streaks elevated once more, they were able to gather the momentum they needed to uplift the rest of the team and guarantee success against the Hoosiers, only losing the one singles match.

“It’s not a surprise to us that we have a winning streak,” Styler said.

The Wolverines are confident in their ability to dominate their opponents, and have found a large amount of success doing exactly that throughout the season. No matter what opponent they have faced, they have undoubtedly shown that they are prepared to find postseason success.

The ability to gain confidence off of each other has led Michigan to multiple triumphs over highlevel competition. Its wins against No. 1 Texas Christian and No. 2 Ohio State are a testament to that.

Coach Adam Steinberg believes that the current team is stepping up its game. Following the wave of achievements, there is no reason to change the formula. Instead, the Wolverines need to keep moving forward one game at a time.

“Every match in the Big Ten is like a tournament,” Steinberg said. “Now, we’re in the seventh round.”

And as the rounds get deeper, Michigan’s singles winning streaks continue to grow longer.

Michigan cruises to 4-0 victory over Purdue COLE MARTIN

Daily Sports Writer

Since 2000, the Michigan men’s tennis team has posted a 20-4 record against Purdue. And on Saturday, the Wolverines’ winning ways over the Boilermakers continued: They dominated.

For over a month, that word has described the Wolverines who entered Saturday having won 11 straight matches. And from the match’s very start, it was clear that that description would remain the same.

Extending its win streak to 12 matches, No. 6 Michigan (15-2 overall, 5-0 Big Ten) defeated Purdue (8-10, 1-3), 4-0, behind a solid all-around effort that left little doubt surrounding the outcome.

Yet despite their impressive accomplishments on the court, the Wolverines are taking it match-bymatch.

“We don’t talk about a win streak,” Michigan coach Adam Steinberg said. “We talk about just playing for each other and taking this individual sport we have and making it a team sport.”

And by playing as a team against Purdue, the Wolverines were able to enjoy great success in all aspects of Saturday’s match.

In doubles play, Michigan set the tone early thanks to a strong effort from fifth-year senior Nick Beaty and freshman Will Cooksey. Behind their impressive volleys at the net, Beaty and Cooksey imposed their will on their opponents, defeating them, 6-1, to earn the Wolverines the first of two wins necessary for the doubles point.

“We put Nick with (Cooksey) to lead him and show him the way,” Steinberg said. “It gave Will a sense of comfort.”

The tandem of junior Ondrej Styler and sophomore Gavin Young continued the Wolverines’ ferocious pace at the net, clinching a victory through an impressive overhead shot by Young that left their opponents helpless.

Young and Styler’s victory clinched the second requisite match for Michigan to win the doubles point, the team’s 15th of the season. And the Wolverines, yet again, got off to a fast start with a 1-0 lead.

In singles play, the thread of dominance never faltered.

Styler quickly dispatched his opponent, led by an impressive shot out of his opponent’s reach to win the first set, 6-1. In the second set, Styler trailed, 2-1, before propelling himself to a five-game winning streak, clinching his ninth straight victory and opening up a 2-0 lead for Michigan.

Beaty, fresh off of a decisive doubles victory, captured his 11th consecutive win in straight sets over his opponent, controlling the pace throughout the match. Beaty’s opponent won three games total over the two sets, and the Wolverines jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead.

To cap off Michigan’s outing, sophomore Nino Ehrenschneider emulated his teammates’ success.

Ehrenschneider made quick work of his opponent in the first set, blanking him, 6-0, before pulling away in a closer second set for a 6-3 victory. That win earned the Wolverines the 4-0 victory and their eighth shutout of the season.

But even throgh all its individual success, Steinberg is adamant that Michigan’s hot streak is in part due

to its identity as a team.

“We play the Michigan way … (we) play for each other,” Steinberg

said. “And when we … play together (as) a great team, we’re very, very tough to beat.”

Michigan continued its strong season with its win over Purdue.

And with the postseason fast approaching, the Wolverines have a chance to prove that all the more.

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

Bench-powered comeback falls short as Michigan loses to Ohio State LIZA CUSHNIR

Daily Sports Writer

Riding a three-game losing streak, the No. 14 Michigan women’s lacrosse team was looking for a chance to end its skid Friday night against rival Ohio State.

After a slow start that led to a four-goal deficit at the end of the first period, the Wolverines needed a spark. And with two captains out with injuries, they found energy from their bench.

But the comeback led by freshman midfielder Jill Smith and senior attacker Claire Galvin fell short as Michigan (9-5 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) lost to the Buckeyes (9-4, 2-1), 9-7.

After a disappointing loss against Southern California last weekend, the Wolverines were hoping to play four periods of consistent lacrosse — something that has been a bit of a struggle lately.

“You can’t expect to play 45 minutes and win in the Big Ten,” Michigan coach Hannah Nielsen said. “Last game we started fast and ended slow, this game we started slow and ended OK. The message is to figure out what you got to do to maintain a consistent level, whether it’s mental lapses or if it’s physical fatigue.”

That slow start was a scoreless first six minutes until Ohio State broke the game open and Michigan, looking lost, couldn’t match the Buckeyes’ production. The Wolverines were outshot 11-5 in the first period and they needed someone to step up.

That appeared to be Smith and Galvin.

After a goal from freshman midfielder Julia Schwabe got Michigan on the scoreboard, Smith added one of her own, waking up both the crowd and her team as momentum started to shift.

But down 5-2 going into the half,

the Wolverines needed more.

Smith scored her second goal three minutes into the half, and after Ohio State answered, Galvin chipped in with two of her own, trimming the Buckeyes’ lead to one.

As the Wolverines narrowed the

gap, the tension on the field amplified and players started getting chippy. In the final six-and-a-half minutes of the third period, each team had a yellow card while trading a total of five fouls.

A Buckeye goal with 90 seconds

SELENA SUN/Daily Missing two of its captains, Michigan’s comeback fell short against Ohio State despite strong bench play.

left before the break brought Michigan’s deficit back to two heading into the final period of play.

Intense Wolverine defense kept Ohio State at bay for the first few minutes of the fourth period, but the Buckeyes scored another goal, widening the gap Michigan was hoping to close.

Just three minutes later, Galvin scored her third goal of the game, her second hat trick of the season and her first during conference play, bringing the deficit back to two. As yet another key goal from a bench player gave the Wolverines a muchneeded spark, Ohio State called timeout, fearing a momentum shift.

Out of the timeout, the intensity of both teams increased as they traded shots, defensive stands and fouls.

The Buckeyes struck next with a man-up goal after a Michigan yellow card, but the Wolverines answered two minutes later with a goal from senior midfielder Kaitlyn

Mead, a consistent force for Michigan all season.

The Wolverines played the final 100 seconds of the game with an intensity that had been lacking earlier. They got a couple of good opportunities out of the free position, but they just couldn’t capitalize.

As Michigan hopes to get back to the dominance it started the season with, its bench production provides a potential blueprint. “(Galvin) does really well against zone; she’s a very smart player, a great off-ball player, sees lanes and had a great day shooting today,” Nielsen said. “Jill (Smith) as well, really in one of her first games playing two-way midfield, for her to step up in the absence of some key players I thought was a positive sign.”

But for the team to get back into the win column, the Wolverines will have to get back to playing four consistent periods of lacrosse.

SPORTSWEDNESDAY

FROZE P U

Michigan falls to Denver in Frozen Four overtime thriller

PAUL NASR

Daily Sports Writer

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OSTON — As the Michigan hockey team’s skaters lined up along the goal line prior to the game, each one exuded a calm about themselves. Standing side by side, their relaxed auras made it seem as though they were about to play any other game.

And just as throughout the season, one-by-one, the starters were called to skate forward.

But this time, they were being called to something greater. Called to compete for a spot in the National Championship.

Called for a chance to write their names into the history books.

Upon hearing their names called, each skater sprinted to the blue line before lifting up the front end of a skate, slowly bringing them to a stop — hoping their season wouldn’t come to a halt as well.

Already lined up on the other blue line, Denver heard a similar — but opposite — call.

Called to thwart Michigan’s season.

Called to propel themselves into the championship.

Called to send the Wolverines’ stars into the NHL emptyhanded in the process.

And it was the Pioneers

Tess Crowley/Daily Design by Lys Goldman

who answered the call.

In the Frozen Four, the Wolverines (31-10-1 overall) fell to Denver (30-9-1), 3-2, in a down-to-the-wire overtime bout, ending their Big Ten and NCAA Regional Championship season short of their ultimate goal. Michigan failed to reach a National Title, and was left standing in TD Garden able to do nothing but look up towards the summit of college hockey. “(Denver’s) just structurally really good defensively,” Michigan coach Mel Pearson said. “Everybody thought that this might be a high-scoring game, but both teams played solid defensively. …

They really made it difficult on us.”

That defense kept the game tight, forcing an overtime session to decide the victor. Overtime transitioned from tactful neutral zone battles to track-style highspeed chases down the ice that created multiple grade-A chances.

With six minutes left in overtime, the Wolverines got their best chance to send the Pioneers packing. Freshman defenseman Luke Hughes used his

ditch effort to get back in the crease from the splits. “(Michigan) had a couple really good shifts there in that overtime,” Savoie said.

“I think our whole group did a really good job weathering it, not giving up that next goal. And then we found a way to put that one in.”

Just as the goal finalized Denver’s control, it was the Pioneers who took early control of the high-stakes affair, striking first and holding the Wolverines without a shot on net throughout the first 16-plus minutes. Michigan, though, got itself settled in as the second period began.

And four minutes into the second, the Wolverines broke even. Although the Pioneers’ effective net-out poke checking continued to give Michigan fits, Chrona’s poke check on a Wolverines attack ended up back in Michigan’s control, setting up a Lambert goal.

The game-tying goal quickened the game’s pace, and as Denver continued on its first-period offensive aggression, the Wolverines followed suit.

No matter how talented a team is, the Frozen Four brings out the best of the best. signature speed to create a 2-on-1 attempt, but was rejected by goaltender Magnus Chrona from point-blank range.

Only a minute later, that missed opportunity came back to haunt Michigan. Senior forward Jimmy Lambert and sophomore defenseman Jacob Truscott both went for the puck near their own blue line to try and spark yet another breakaway off a blocked Denver shot. They hesitated slightly — unsure which one would take the puck — leading them both to miss it and allow the Pioneers to regain possession.

From there, the puck ended up in the corner, where a pass into the slot found forward Carter Savoie. Savoie launched the puck at sophomore goaltender Erik Portillo, who slid to his right to make the initial season-saving stop.

But it didn’t matter.

The save depositioned Portillo, allowing Savoie to secure his own rebound and pop the game-winning goal into the net, beating Portillo and his last

The Wolverines’ bounce-back response from the first period to the second was reciprocated in the third.

Just as the Pioneers looked like they’d skate towards victory with a redirect goal by forward Cameron Wright six minutes into the third period, Michigan responded only four minutes later with sophomore forward Thomas Bordeleau’s goal setting the scene for the dramatic overtime ending.

“You have to be good, and you need a little bit of luck,” Pearson said, reflecting on his past postseason runs. “We just didn’t seem to have any lady luck on our side tonight.”

No matter how talented a team is, the Frozen Four brings out the best of the best.

Each team is good enough to win it all, but only one can. Michigan made mistakes, and so did Denver. The Pioneers were lucky enough to make one less mistake in a game with no margin for error.

So on Thursday, the Wolverines ran out of luck. And on Saturday, while the Pioneers take the ice, Michigan will watch the National Championship from home.

x Photo

Immersion Edition In this special edition, we’ve challenged the Statement writers to ‘dive’ in and immerse themselves in new experiences on campus. The result: a collection of testimonials shedding light on the campus’s less-explored marvels, from pole dancing to fencing to architecture hunting. And the Daily’s Photo team was there to capture it all.

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 // The Statement — 2

To our readers: In last week’s the Statement edition, the design featured under the “Our Uncanny Reality” piece involved a piece of text that made the ableist insinuation that prosthetic hands carry an unsettling connotation. We apologize for our negligence in overlooking the printing of this piece of text. The Daily wholeheartedly condemns ableism in all of its forms. The design has been updated accordingly on the digital version of the “Our Uncanny Reality” piece found on our website.

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PHOTOS BY SARAH BOEKE/DAILY

and reached my right arm high above me. I grasped the metal bar and nervously, excitedly awaited our instructor’s guidance.

And then we began. *** I have had a complex relationship with my body throughout my life. As a former competitive volleyball player, I constantly pushed it to its limits in terms of what athletic feats it could accomplish, how perfectly it could execute whatever movement I needed it to do.

Before settling on volleyball, I had tried my hand at nearly every sport popular in America: soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse and skating. This excitement about physical activity hasn’t wavered since entering college. I constantly seek out new athletic opportunities as I’m confident in my body’s ability to adapt and excel — and I’m proud of my dedication to honing its abilities.

As a result of my intimate relationship with my body, I’ve experienced equal amounts of frustration and insecurity. It’s a common assumption — and simply an accurate statistic — that volleyball players are generally supposed to be tall, lean and toned.

Many of my teammates throughout my life have possessed these features, traits that contrast with my average height, my curvy and more muscular build. So standing next to my teammates, I always felt I was lacking.

The dichotomy of appreciation and distaste for my body for years prevented me from creating a peaceful relationship with it. My insecurities followed me to the University of Michigan, and while I outwardly owned my curves, my mind was always at war with itself, never able to decide if I was being truthful about my outward confidence or not.

f t he p

Content warning: Restrictive eating habits “Now let’s get acquainted with that pole.”

After completing several warm-up exercises — wide-leg squats, downward dog, plank shouldertaps, anything to bring our heart rates up — we had arrived at the long-awaited activity, the reason we were all in that room on a dark Wednesday evening.

We were there to dance.

At the direction of our instructor, Sophia, each of the dozen people in the room approached the silver bar before them. From my position at the back right corner of the room, I had a clear view of the rest of the class, how each person neared their pole with different levels of comfort and familiarity depending on their level of experience.

Everyone had on the layers of clothing they were comfortable with: biker shorts, tank tops and sports bras were the most common pieces, mirroring my own spandex shorts and tie-up Michigan tank. The long mirror at the front of the room reflected everything I was seeing before me, giving us the chance to analyze our moves and our bodies should we dare to look.

The room was dark, especially in my corner of the studio — the black skies just beyond the wall of windows directly to my right provided little light.

But there was a bright glow from the light fixture shining from the sloped ceiling at the center of the room, shining directly over the tallest pole extending up into the peak of the roof above us. It was enough to illuminate the space, the resulting shadows simply added to the alluring, thrilling atmosphere.

I wiped my pole down with a small black towel, preparing myself for the real work we were about to begin. Following Sophia’s example, I stepped to the left of the pole, stretched on the tips of my toes,

T he

BY SARAH STOLAR, STATEMENT CORRESPONDENT

Then the pandemic reared its ugly head into our lives. Where I had previously been used to intensive, daily three-hour practices, I had to decide on my own how I would remain active while attending Zoom University. I exercised every day with HIIT or strength workouts. I felt guilty for eating anything unhealthy, as though eating one cookie would completely change my physique.

But this year, my second year at the University, my mindset has shifted. I’ve been able to explore more of college life as the pandemic slowly eases, alleviating some of the mental health challenges of COVID19. I’ve engaged more with the ways I can display my body to the level that I’m comfortable with. I’ve experimented with more revealing clothing on nights out and bared more skin during my workouts.

I’ve been able to go out and attend social functions that have allowed me to get to know myself and my image.

I’ve never known the confidence I have in my body now, and it took years to arrive at this point.

I still experience insecurity, as everyone does, but these dark thoughts are much rarer than they were when I was younger, comparing my physique with that of my volleyball teammates.

In college, I seek to celebrate this pride in both my body’s abilities and its appearance. I still consider myself fairly modest, but in a way that reflects my own desires and choices instead of those forced upon my mind by the perceptions of society. I still seek

new ways to remain active and challenge myself with physical activity. When I learned of the pole classes offered near campus, I saw an opportunity to continue this journey into confidence, into sensuality, going against the limits set by my adolescent insecurities. *** At the end of March, I was finally able to attempt this activity I had seen as a pinnacle of all of the mental and physical work I had put into my body: pole dancing. I signed up for a Level 1 class at Polarity, well-known for its prominent position above South University Avenue. Its wide wall of windows allow rowdy South U pedestrians to glimpse into the polestudded studio, making it an unmistakable storefront as you walk by.

Standing close to the windows, I had a constant view out onto the bustling scene of South University Avenue as I made my movements. After a few exercises, I glanced outside to the street below. Sitting at Lan City Noodles, a group of three people were looking up, pointing at those of us twisting around our poles. Though the darkness made it feel like we were in our own cocoon, we were on full display. Spandex, sports bras, gyrations and all.

From the moment the class began, I was focused

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3 — Wednesday, April 13, 2022 // The Statement

Accidentally Wes Anderson, On purpose

BY OSCAR NOLLETTE-PATULSKI, STATEMENT COLUMNIST

PHOTOS BY LILA TURNER/DAILY PAGE LAYOUT BY SARAH CHUNG

It’s winter, and it’s cold, so I resolve to make some hot chocolate. I’m alone in my house’s normally bustling kitchen. My socks glide me across the floor to the pantry, and I grab cocoa mix and slide back to grab a mug. As I open the cabinet, a thought strikes me: what if this sock-skating scene was a Wes Anderson film?

I close the cabinet, and when I touch my fingers to open it again, the imaginary camera starts rolling. Action! This time, I swing both doors open with calculated velocity, and my left and right limbs mirror each other precisely. I pause, and my hand confidently grabs a mug with some French words on it, placing it squarely on the counter in a continuous motion. I let the porcelain plunk resonate in my ears and the room, before taking soldier steps to the cylindrical tin of cocoa mix.

I let my eyes become the camera — I arch my head over the golden container so that its symmetrical geometry can be in the foreground of the shot. I twist off the lid with gusto, and straighten my arm to its fullest extent to set it back down. I take out the measuring spoon, and mechanically rotate my wrist to scoop, and again to spill the powder into the mug. My eyes watch the brown powder softly clump at the bottom. I repeat this action, and then lift my arm up to be perpendicular with my torso to pour milk into the cup.

I pick up the mug, place it into the microwave, extend a single finger to press the “2” button — a detail shot — and then the machine whirs to life.

I stare at the digital countdown clock intently as it descends 1:59 to 1:58 to 1:57, because this might mean something important later on. I walk away from the microwave and sit down, with my elbows forming a right angle between my forearm and the rest of my limb. Cut. Scene! *** The most recent Wes Anderson movie, “The French Dispatch” (2021), profiles a European outpost of a fictional midwestern newspaper, the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun, and the various articles the reporters write out of their fictional French town, Ennui-sur-Blasé. The movie presents three vignettes, all concerning different topics and magazine sections (art, protest and food) that are played out for viewers as its respective reporter narrates.

I watched this movie a few days before my dramatic hot cocoa making scene, where I felt compelled to mimic the shots and movements of the characters I saw in the theater.

For those unfamiliar, Anderson is a director and screenplay writer who is widely recognized for his visual and narrative cinematic fingerprint.

Distinctive aspects of his films include their satisfying color palettes, symmetrical shots (often overhead), long panoramas across a scene and

Lookout mom, I’m a pirate now My mother has been bugging me lately about finding an activity to get my blood pumping and my endorphins f lowing.

She says it will be “good for my mental health” and will “help me sleep better” or whatever. She works as a full-time nurse and part-time teaching Zumba and Group Fight at four different g yms — of course she would say that.

My sister echoes this philosophy.

She was pulled up to varsity soccer as a freshman and works out all the time.

They both have been on an indoor rock climbing kick this month, and the last time I visited home, they were so excited to f lex their new and improved biceps.

Of course they want me to exercise.

They do it every day of the week.

But I, on the other hand, am what you might call the couch potato of the family. The “indoors enthusiast” if you want to be a little nicer about it. When my family invites me to go climbing with them, my typical response is “I don’t want to get sweaty today.”

Here at school, when my friends are arm wrestling, I like to volunteer for a

benefits to my being more physically active, it’s just that I typically can think of a zillion other activities I would rather engage in: a new book, practicing the piano, baking a beloved recipe.

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BY DANIELLE CANAN, STATEMENT CORRESPONDENT

Running feels good sometimes, I’ll admit, but it’s better in theory than it is in practice. The energ y it takes to change into the proper clothes and get out the door is greater than the energ y it takes to not do any of that.

The annoyances don’t stop at just getting ready and leaving the house.

If I listen to a song that’s slower than the tempo at which my feet are hitting the ground, then that’ll be super annoying. And I’ll have to take a shower after I get all sweaty, I hate getting sweaty, and then there’s the matter of carrying my phone to play music on in the first place. The cost of running music is a solid rectangle thudding against your leg with every step. Have fun with side cramps and monotony! I’m going to go make cookies.

My sophomore year of high school, I PHOTO BY SELENA SUN/DAILY

match purely to demonstrate just how swiftly my arm is felled (I lose quite immediately). When I attempt one single pushup, my body sinks from the isosceles triangle position to that of a gravity stretch, and no amount of effort from my pasty, noodlelike limbs will push the ground away. I can do a pullup, though.

If I jump.

It’s not that I don’t believe there are

profile shots in the center of the visual.

The visual satisfaction this style achieves has become popular enough to the point where Anderson’s name has become synonymous with his style, morphing from a proper noun into a descriptive adjective: “This train station is so Wes Anderson!”

A few days after my kitchen interpretation of the Anderson aesthetic, I drove to Michigan’s west side with two friends, making tourist stops on the way to my parents’ home. Upon seeing a bright white church, its double doors painted a fire-engine red, my friend walked up the steps, touched the brass handles and pantomimed opening them simultaneously. She looked back and exclaimed, “It’s like I’m in a Wes Anderson film!” The rest of us laughed, looked up at the historic spire and agreed. If we squinted, we were on a movie set, playing ourselves, putting on a show for the world to see.

It’s this combination of the visually satisfying and the publicly popular that allows the Instagram account @accidentallywesanderson to flourish. Abbreviated AWA, its profile is full of centered foregrounds and symmetrical rooflines, colorful walls and coordinated landscapes,

had to look my doctor in the eye and tell her that I averaged zero hours of physical activity a week, including walking. A bit embarrassing, but 100% true. I am delighted to report, however, that I am writing this with sore leg muscles and a small bruise on my right shoulder, because your friendly neighborhood hermit went sword-fighting.

My breath heaves in and out, in and out as the point is called and the duel takes a pause. I had forgotten what it was to feel my lungs rapidly expand like a parachute and def late like a balloon.

My body runs like a decently oiled machine, propelling life-giving oxygen from the shoulder-width spread of my feet to the fingertips holding the hilt of my epee. With a twirl of the sword and a return to position, I’ve recovered enough to spring back in the fray.

For those of you who don’t know, there’s a competitive fencing club on the University of Michigan’s campus.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Mixed strategies at Scorekeepers PHOTOS COURTESY OF TAYLOR SCHOTT/STATEMENT PAGE LAYOUT BY SARAH CHUNG

BY TAYLOR SCHOTT, STATEMENT DEPUTY EDITOR However lame it makes me to say so, I don’t like going out. It is, to put it simply, a lot of work. It’s physical work — the walking to, the dancing at. Constantly adjusting my bad posture. It’s mental work — the middling conversation, if it could be called conversation, the scheming involved in getting a drink, or cutting the bathroom line.

Needless to say, ‘going out’ is not a game I’m good at playing. The dusty, blue-vinyl book I checked out from the library titled “Studies in Game Theory” suggests that the type of game played at a place like Scorekeepers — affectionately referred to as “Skeeps”— can be “non-cooperative” (a competitive social interaction, each player aiming toward their own goals) or “cooperative” (non-competitive, with unknown payoffs).

But if Skeeps is indeed a game, who are the players, their ranks? What defines a win, and what defines a loss?

I don’t have social anxiety, I always begin with as some sort of disclaimer — my mental and physical faculties, though strained by socialization, typically remain intact. But I am easily worn down by long stretches of talking, navigating large groups and maintaining an approachable attitude. I have to force my mouth out of its slack, draw back my shoulders and, well, act.

Breaking my introverted habits by going out to Skeeps, then, required some planning — not just the outfit I should wear, but the personality, too. What kind of things should I say? What kind of tendencies should I adopt? How high should my eyebrows arch, how wide should my smile stretch? There was a long list of choices for the kind of player I could be, each with their own taxing responsibilities. I had no idea what the payoff of playing would be, though I imagined it would resemble something like enjoying myself.

The night arrived. Briefing a trusted band of close

friends with my plan to adopt extroversion for the night, I downed a shot and fumbled to lace my shoes.

It’s so much easier when I drink, I whisper to my roommate, to say whatever’s on my mind. She eyes me and laughs. Our other friend across the room laughs too, her vocal chords animating her silver pendant inscribed with the word fuckoff.

We arrive downtown at the fashionable hour of 11, taking our place in line. As we wait, I cannot stop thinking about the French word for stranger — l’étranger, phonetically lay-tchron-jay — that stifled gargle so specific to its pronunciation. I play with the word’s letters on my lips and in the back of my throat.

How else am I supposed to entertain myself? I stand, fiddling with my rings, asking my friends in random intervals how much longer they think we’ll have to wait under the oppressive, but welcome, overhead heating system. Rain fell.

Once admitted inside, I marvel at the vaulted ceilings as my wrist is pulled towards the coat check table. I shed my jacket, revealing my bare shoulders and a borrowed top. There is no “right way” to be a woman, but it is in these sorts of spaces that I begin to feel as if my shapeless sweater, albeit low-cut, isn’t exactly following dress code. Leather pants swish past me. Tight, animal-print tops populate the dance floor. I eye them all with hardly any subtlety, each returned look an appraisal of my own appearance.

Refreshing ourselves at a countertop, the bartender smiles at my roommate. Was that attraction or charity? I smile at my roommate. “Remember your notes!” She turns to remark, her long hair skimming the top of her drink.

Draining another cup of rum and coke, I find myself declaring loudly, with a few misplaced verbs, about how the word fish is an overgeneralization — we say many animals are fish when they are in fact not fish: jellyfish, crayfish, starfish, cuttlefish, despite their names, are not fish. Which me is saying

this completely unessential fact? My mortgaged personality is worn out already. In the refuge of a text conversation, I slink toward the nearest wall. My phone buzzes again: “No wallflowering,” my roommate nags, lovingly.

Might my introversion be a genetic facet of myself that, no matter how much I pretend, I cannot reverse? Research into temperament and personality as innate traits suggests that I could be right.

Jerome Kagan, one of the great developmental psychologists of the 21st century, conducted a longitudinal study in which he exposed 4-month-olds to an array of new stimuli: balloons popping, colorful mobiles, foreign scents on cotton swabs. The babies, based on their reactions, were then divided into two groups: high-reactive and low-reactive. Kagan held that the high-reactive group would grow up to be classically introverted, and the low-reactive group classically extroverted. Kagan was determined to follow these children well into development, testing his theory on temperament as an innate reaction to stimuli.

In the throes of their adolescence, the no-longerbabies were brought in for interviews. Did they prefer a few close friends or a large band of them? Were they eager to introduce themselves to people they didn’t know or would they wait for an introduction to happen? Amazingly, Kagan had predicted the temperaments they would develop with incredible accuracy: the low-reactive babies who displayed little concern with the new stimuli were more likely to become calm, assured extroverts, while the highreactive babies who cried and pumped their tiny limbs at the stimuli were more likely to become reserved, cerebral introverts.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 // The Statement — 4