2014-02-03

ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Monday, February 3, 2014

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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TECHNOLOGY

MHacks champions push ahead Winners to launch “WorkFlow” in Apple Store later this month

By WILLIAM LANE

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily

Former Gen. David Petraeus discusses using physical activity as a way to adjust to civilian life during a speech at the sixth annual Student Veterans of America dinner at the Union Friday.

Former CIA director talks veteran support, fitness Petraeus inspires Student Veterans of America chapter

By MICHAEL SUGERMAN Daily Staff Reporter

Former CIA Director David Petraeus touted physical fitness as an outlet for both physical and mental health Friday at the

fifth annual dinner held by the University’s Student Veterans of America chapter in the Union ballroom.

During his speech, Petraeus commended the University for the work it has done to accommodate veterans by providing in-state tuition and preferred registration to all former soldiers. He added that that Michigan maintained a “rich tradition of military service” since the

Civil War, when Michiganders were some of the first to volunteer for the Union army in Virginia.

Petraeus said soldiers returning from war feel that they have left their brothers and sisters behind, and that many veterans have both physical and mental wounds from their time in service. Both of these issues, he said, mean veterans have a hard time assimilating back into their

home communities.

Petraeus said group fitness can be therapeutic for veterans, as it parallels the pack motivation used in combat. He added that, as a paratrooper, he felt that for individuals to be physically and mentally tough was essential to the pack’s success.

“Exercise not only trains the body to be physically resilient, it also helps our hearts, lungs and See CIA, Page 3A

Snyder leads opponent in campaign fundraising

By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily Staff Reporter

Campaign finance reports released Friday reveal Republicans have a fundraising edge for the upcoming Michigan guber-

natorial election with higher campaign funds.

According to the report, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder currently has four times the amount of campaign money at his disposal than his Democratic challenger, former congressional representative Mark Schauer.

Snyder started 2014 with around $4 million in donations, according to the report. Some of these funds went towards an

The winners of MHacks are coming to an app store near you.

The overall winners of Mhacks — a 36-hour programming competition hosted in Detroit this month —are preparing to launch “WorkFlow,” an app allowing task automation on the iPad. While iPad users are traditionally confined to working on only one app at a time, WorkFlow aims to make working on multiple apps feasible.

The developers have created about 40 actions in the application, including opening a URL, editing a photo, sharing a message or sending a text message.

Users have the ability to select actions from a list in the interface and drag them into the workflow.

Once the play button is pressed, the app will automatically complete the various actions in order

STROLL OFF

GOVERNMENT

Governor has $3 million more than Schauer in warchest

Daily Staff Reporter

of how they were selected.

Veeral Patel, a high school junior from Bergenfield, New Jersey, was a member of the four-man development team that worked on the app. Since the competition, he has been expanding it through the development of a wireless printing option.

The team intends for the app to eventually unify other apps and provide more cross-system integration.

“We started out at the Hackathon building all of these actions ourselves, but the next step before we launch is to create a way for other apps to make their own specifications,” Patel said.

Nick Frey, a high school student from Iowa who also worked on the development team, said the group-was inspired by the ability of computers to manage multiple programs and wanted to bring that functionality to tablets. Ari Weinstein, a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who worked on the team, said the largest challenge was creating a data model to make each action work.

See MHACKS, Page 3A

advertisement during Sunday night’s Super Bowl game, which can cost millions of dollars for a single 30-second slot.

Schauer has garnered $1.6 million in contributions since entering the race in June and currently has $1 million in his war chest.

His biggest donors were the Service Employees International Union Michigan Council and the Michigan Laborer’s PolitiSee SNYDER, Page 3A RUBY WALLAU/Daily

Members of Phi Beta Sigma perform at the Annual Blue and White Stroll Off hosted by Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority at the Great Lakes Room in Palmer Commons Saturday.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Students and alumni cash in on global bitcoin ‘gold-rush’ Science Learning Center art CAMPUS LIFE

Cryptocurrency craze draws new business growth

By ADAM GLANZMAN Daily Staff Reporter

The bitcoin craze is often equated to the Gold Rush of 1849, when hundreds of thousands of fortune-seekers flocked to Cali-

fornia to test their luck and strike gold. Those who actually found riches were the ones selling the gold mining equipment, food and resources the miners needed.

At the University, however, bitcoins are the target of the modern gold rush. Bitcoins are a digital currency, or cryptocurrency, that can be traded from person to person. It was invented in 2009 and has since grown in prominence among techies. It’s

now beginning to enter mainstream commercial and financial spheres.

However, bitcoins are available exclusively online and are not backed by a central bank like the U.S. Dollar. These qualities have raised speculations about how stable the currency is and many lawmakers are displeased by bitcoins’ history of being used for illegal activities.

See BITCOINS, Page 3A

contest merges many disciplines Competition brings in artists to explore multidisciplinarity

By ALEX DITOMMASO For the Daily

Left brain, meet right brain.

The Science Learning Center hosted the its first ever Sci-

ence As Art Exhibition Friday, giving undergraduate students the chance to through express their creativity through sciencebased art.

The contest received 27 submissions from students with backgrounds ranging from neuroscience to biomedical engineering to art to economics, Claire Sandler, director of the Science Learning Center, said.

“Science is in and behind everything, and what we were hoping to do with this contest was encourage students to stop and think about that and consider the science in their own life,” Sandler said.

Five judges oversaw the contest. Deirdre Spencer, senior associate librarian at the Fine Art Library, said her academic backSee SCIENCE, Page 3A

Badger beatdown » in overtime Stauskas stymied at » Assembly Hall INSIDE WEATHER TOMORROW

HI: 23 LO: 15

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News

2A — Monday, February 3, 2014

MONDAY: This Week in History

TUESDAY: Professor Profiles

WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers

THURSDAY: Alumni Profiles

Dylan performs amid convtroversy Forty years ago this week (February 3, 1974)

Twenty-five years ago this week (February 7, 1989)

Ten years ago this week (February 3, 2004)

Bob Dylan performed in Crisler Arena two days after an investigation by The Michigan Daily revealed an Ann Arbor scalping ring was connected to the concert.

Dylan’s tour promoter made a public appeal at the event for fans to help break up the scalping ring.

He announced that he would be conducting an investigation of the scalping accusations.

The Daily had previously reported that in a survey of ticket holders in Crisler Arena Section B, not one person had reported buying the tickets through legitimate means.

Philosophy Prof. Peter Railton proposed that LSA graduation requirements should include a class on race, ethnicity and racism at a monthly LSA faculty meeting. The class, tentatively called University Course 299, would go into effect for all undergraduates entering the University after the fall of 1990.

The course was created by a drafting committee of 20 faculty members from various disciplines. The meeting also created an oversight committee for the course, with membership including seven faculty members and two students.

The newly formed student coalition Our Voices Count had their first meeting in response to changes in University sexual assault prevention services.

Those changes included moving the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center’s two designated counselors to full time roles at Counseling and Psychological services and transferring the center’s crisis line to SAFE House, a county provider for sexual assault services.

All shook up WHERE: East Ann Arbor Medical Center WHEN: Thursday at around 12:10 p.m.

WHAT: Two individuals were involved in argument that escaleted to one person shaking the other, University Police reported. The two were seperated without further incident.

— SHOHAM GEVA

LILY ANGELL/Daily

Folk-pop songwriter Ingrid Michaelson performs at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival at Hill Auditorium Saturday.

WHERE: East Ann Arbor Medical Center WHEN: Thursday at around 9:50 a.m.

WHAT: A pair of headphones were taken from a room sometime between Jan. 29th and Jan. 30th, University Police reported.

WHAT: Yale Prof. Heather Gerken will dicsuss the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.

WHO: Ford School of Public Policy WHEN: Today from 4:305:30 p.m.

WHERE: Annenberg Auditorium, Weill Hall

WHERE: Lot SC-10 WHEN: Thursday around 5:20 p.m.

WHAT: A University vehicle accidentally hit a pole in a parking lot, University police reported. The vehicle’s side mirror suffered several scrapes as a result of the incident.

WHERE: Northwood 1 WHEN: Thursday at around 7:15 p.m.

WHAT: A burst pipe caused severe flooding in the apartment, University police reported. Apartment residents will be temporarily rehoused elsewhere while repairs occur.

MORE ONLINE Love Crime Notes?

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WHAT: The interactions between religious values and the secular court system, especially as it pertains to shifting ideas of gender and sexuality, will be discused.

WHO: Institute for Resarch on Women and Gender WHEN: Today from 9:00 a.m to 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Assembly Hall, Rackham Graduate School

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WHAT: The 42nd Dance on Camera Festival, the oldest dance film festival in the world, will be screened live from New York.

WHO: School of Music, Theater, and Dance WHEN: Today at 6 p.m.

WHERE: Helmut Stern Auditorium, Musuem of Art CLARIFICATION: Athletic Department spokesman Dave Ablauf clarified his comments in a Jan. 31 article “Gibbons fax sent Dec. 19 came from ‘U’ football,” saying he could not confirm a Dec. 19 meeting between Gibbons and Athletic Department officials.

His clarification was sent by e-mail on Jan. 31. l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.

THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW TODAY

1

A sudden volcanic eruption on Saturday in Indonesia has caused the death of at least 15 people, the New York Times reported. Over 30,000 people have been evacuated from the area since the start of volcanic activity there in November.

2

The Michigan men’s basketball team suffered its first loss of Big Ten play at Indiana on Sunday, 63-52, moving into a tie with Michigan State for first place in the conference. >> FOR MORE, SEE SPORTSMONDAY

3

Philip Seymour Hoffman, a famous actor and 2005 Academy Award winner, was found dead in his apartment Sunday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported. The exact cause of death has not yet been determined.

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Presidential hopefuls begin campaigning in Afghanistan As NATO forces withdraw, elections will test Afghan political stability KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Campaigning officially opened Sunday in Afghanistan’s presidential election, with 11 candidates vying to succeed President Hamid Karzai in polls seen as a crucial test of whether the country can ensure a stable political transition.

The April 5 presidential vote will be held in a climate of uncertainty as NATO combat forces ready their withdrawal at the end of 2014. If successful, the election will usher in the first handover from one elected president to another in Afghan history.

Security is a major concern in the election, as is potential fraud after allegations of vote-

rigging marred the 2009 polls.

The eventual winner will face the tough task of continuing to fight the bloody Taliban insurgency, overseeing the end of the international coalition’s combat mission and possibly deciding if any residual foreign forces will remain next year.

Karzai — who has more or less led Afghanistan in the 12 years after the intervention to oust the Taliban’s extremist Islamic regime for sheltering al-Qaida’s leadership after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. — is constitutionally barred from running for a third term.

On a cold and rainy Sunday morning in Kabul, campaign workers hastened to hang posters on lampposts and plaster their candidates’ faces on billboards. Several political heavyweights including opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani held rallies in local wedding halls, while security forces with machine guns guarded the

venues.

The specter of violence hangs over the election season, with the Taliban vowing to disrupt the polls and two political workers killed in western Afghanistan on the eve of the campaign launch.

The government provides each candidate three armored vehicles and three pickup trucks, plus 35 armed policemen as protection.

There is no clear front-runner, though opposition leader Abdullah arguably has an early advantage in name recognition and campaign experience, having gained 31 percent of the vote as runner-up to Karzai in the 2009 elections. He is popular among Afghanistan’s Tajik ethnic minority, but it is unclear if he can attract votes of enough Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group, to win office.

Abdullah voiced support Sunday for Afghanistan entering into a security agreement with the U.S. that would allow a few thousand foreign forces to remain to train and equip Afghanistan’s army and police, saying the country still needs outside support.

“God willing, with the signing of this agreement, today or tomorrow, the concerns of our people would be over,” Abdullah told supporters.

Karzai has refused to sign the agreement, and none of the other candidates has addressed the issue.

The lineup of other candidates illustrates that patronage and alliances among the elite still form the bedrock of Afghanistan’s politics, where tribal elders and warlords can marshal votes.

The contenders include Ghani, a Pashtun former finance minister who oversaw the transition of security from foreign forces to the Afghan army and police, and who ran and lost in the 2009 elections. He promised that if elected, he would strengthen stability across the country, where insurgent attacks and bombings are a daily reality.

“This campaign is for the people, and starting from here, I believe that there will not be any fraud this time,” Ghani said.

GENE J. PUSKAR/AP

Punxsutawney Phil is held by Ron Ploucha after emerging from his burrow Sunday on Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., to see his shadow and forecast six more weeks of winter weather.

Pennsylvania groundhog foresees extended winter Thousands watch as groundhog gives gloomy 2014 prediction PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Emerging from his lair on Super Bowl Sunday, groundhog Punxsutawney Phil couldn’t predict the winner of the big game but his handlers said he was sure of his weather forecast: There will be six more weeks of winter.

Pennsylvania’s famed groundhog was roused from slumber at 7:28 a.m. Sunday and, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, directed handler Bill Deeley to a scroll that contained the prediction — along with a Super Bowl reference.

As usual, thousands of fans turned out on Groundhog Day to see the furry rodent, the most famous of a small group of groundhogs said to forecast the weather.

Legend has it that if the groundhog sees his shadow on

Feb. 2, winter will last another month-and-a-half. If he doesn’t see it, spring will come early.

In reality, Phil’s prediction is decided ahead of time by a group called the Inner Circle, whose members don top hats and tuxedos for the annual ceremony on Gobbler’s Knob, the tiny hill in the town for which he’s named about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The prediction fell on Super Bowl Sunday for the first time.

The closest the game previously came to coinciding with Groundhog Day was in 2009, when the just-down-the-road Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 the night before Phil’s forecast.

This year’s NFL championship pitting the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., will be the Super Bowl’s 48th installment, while Phil has been predicting the weather since 1886.

In a nod to the game, Phil’s forecast came in the form of a Super Bowl-themed poem: “A Super Bowl winner I will not predict, / But my weather forecast, you cannot contradict, /

That’s not a football lying beside me / It’s my shadow you see / So, six more weeks of winter it shall be!”

This year’s Groundhog Day celebration marks a winter that has brought extreme cold to vast stretches of the country, including areas of the South wholly unaccustomed to severe winter weather. A snow and ice storm paralyzed Atlanta and other Southern cities last week.

Phil has now seen his shadow 101 times while failing to see it 17 times, according to the Inner Circle. There are no records for the remaining years.

The National Climatic Data Center has put Phil’s forecasts to the test and found them sorely lacking, declaring the groundhog has “no predictive skill.”

“It really isn’t a ‘bright’ idea to take a measure such as a groundhog’s shadow and use it as a predictive meteorological tool for the entire United States,” the data center says on its website, helpfully if somewhat obviously.

Other prognosticating groundhogs include Staten Island Chuck in New York and General Beauregard Lee in Atlanta.

News

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MHACKS From Page 1A While developing the app was not an easy task, the whole team was grateful for the support of the other developers at MHacks.

Weinstein said once people understand how the app could benefit them, they expressed greater interest in its development.

CIA From Page 1A muscles learn to cope more effectively with the tension and emotion of particularly stressful times,” Petraeus said.

For this reason, he always tried to set aside a time to go running during limited downtime in combat. He would often run with captains and majors to get their perspective on issues at hand.

Later on, as the director of the CIA, he established the “Run with the Director” program as means to meet his staff.

“If you want to get the truth, run with someone for five, six or seven miles, during which candor increases with each passing mile,” he said.

Petraeus added that Team RWB’s group dynamic is a recipe for success because it allows for individuals to set goals and the group to monitor each individual’s progress.

“To live as fully as we might, we must constantly challenge ourselves to make the most of our Godgiven talents,” he said. “We have to set ambitious, albeit achievable

SNYDER From Page 1A ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily

Engineering junior Daniel Bloch participates in the first official Michigan Bitcoiners meeting at the on Jan. 15.

Bitcoins at the ‘U’

BITCOINS From Page 1A

Nevertheless, a small community of bitcoin users at the University have created their own business to cash in on bitcoin’s rise in popularity.

Engineering junior Robert Greenfield is in the process of creating an online cryptocurrency firm with a few friends where people can trade currencies for profit.

“The really crazy thing about cryptocurrency is that you can recreate anything and everything that is already used for regular money and have a great start up from it,” Greenfield said.

University alum Kinnard Hockenhull became interested in bitcoin in 2011 during his junior year. He later left school to pursue his bitcoin business, but like many, Hockenhull was skeptical when he was first introduced to bitcoin.

“I didn’t really understand it at first,” Hockenhull said. “I kind of thought it was either going to be a fad or some sort of abstract scam.”

Hockenhull’s business, BitBox, started out as a platform for users to trade currencies, but is now expanding its operations to enable faster transactions of bitcoin similar to the Facebookmeets-Paypal app Venmo.

BitBox has over 8,000 users and has coordinated over $300,000 in transactions, according to Hockenhull.

Engineering and LSA junior Daniel Bloch is working with Hockenhull to expand BitBox. He is also starting his own bitcoin-based non-profit organization called Coingive that aims

SCIENCE From Page 1A ground gave her a unique perspective as a judge.

“One of the great things about studying art history and the visual arts and also as an art librarian is how it can really change the way you see the world and the way you find beauty and complication in the visual world around you,” Spencer said.

The pieces were judged on their artistic value, quality of artist’s statement and blend of science with

to benefit local charities. Bitcoin donation websites already exist, but Bloch hopes to grow this platform through Coingive while making bitcoin payment more accessible to local charities.

“Charities would very rarely not accept money, but it’s not easy for them to accept bitcoin,” Bloch said. “They don’t have the time to learn how to do it, and they’re not going to pay somebody to do it.”

Bloch believes that in order for bitcoin to become a universally trusted and used currency, more commercial retailers must start accepting it as a form of payment. Websites such as Overstock.com, OKCupid, and Wordpress are currently accepting bitcoin.

In the Metro Detroit area, there are a few merchants who have recently begun accepting bitcoin. However, there are currently no Ann Arbor businesses that accept bitcoin, Bloch said.

The Bronx Deli in Farmington Hills has been accepting bitcoin since November 2011.

University alum Scott Goci, developer at Alfa Jango, a webbased consulting company in Ann Arbor, agreed with Bloch that the spread of bitcoin depends on more brickand-mortars retailers accepting it as a form of

payment.

“I want Ann Arbor to become an area where we’re one of the first cities to have 1 percent of our businesses accepting bitcoin,” Goci said.

However, many remain skeptical about bitcoin’s future. Since bitcoin’s soaring popularity and media coverage, many more cryptocurrencies have been created.

Economics Prof. Miles Kimball believes that electronic currencies will be vital in the future, but investing in bitcoin now is unwise.

“Bitcoin has no long-run future because government-sponsored electronic money will displace it,” Kimball wrote in an e-mail.

Goci also said bitcoin may eventually be replaced by a different cryptocurrency.

“I think bitcoin is just a stepping stone to a different cryptocurrency that will finally become the one that’s accepted in the marketplace,” Goci said. “The next one will be the one that’s accepted by the masses.”

AMY MACKENS

art.

“It’s great if they can use science to think in terms of artistic vision, and I think it can help them enjoy and understand in another way what they do,” Spencer said. “I’m hoping some of the contestants will continue to create and exhibit.”

LSA senior Trisha Paul won the grand prize for her collage, titled “I Will Wear My Heart Upon My Sleeve.” She said she created the work, which detailed four different samples of tissues, all resembling hearts, before she was aware of the contest.

“What I love is the whole idea of expressing your emotions openly

and freely, and I think my collage demonstrates that the heart shape—the shape we commonly associate with the heart – can exist elsewhere in the body,” Paul said.

“Love and passion are things that exist throughout the body, not just in the heart.”

Paul added that her experiences in both humanities and science have complemented each other at the University.

“Studying English has helped me to better understand science, and studying science has helped me to have a better vocabulary and to better communicate what I’m doing in English,” Paul said.

cal League. In a press release, he reported 6,300 of his contributions were of $100 or less — over three times the number of small-money contributors to Snyder.

In his press release, Schauer said he did not believe his smaller campaign funds would hinder his chance of winning, suggesting Snyder’s larger campaign account indicates that he is favored by the wealthy and is not in touch with the middle class.

“We fully expect Governor Snyder will have strong support from billionaires like Dick DeVos,” Schauer said. “But no matter how much money the Governor spends, he can’t whitewash his cuts to education and the job-killing Snyder Retirement Tax. Make no mistake, we will have the resources we need to win this November.”

The report is the first that includes the effects of a new cam-

Monday, February 3, 2014 — 3A The team received the top prize at MHacks — $5000 in prize money split between the four members. The app also won “The Best iOS Award,” sponsored by Apple, for which each developer received an iPad Mini.

The developers are currently working on making the system more logical, so that different actions can happen depending on the causal result of the previous action.

However, WorkFlow is also not the only project that they are working on. Weinstein and Conrad Kramer, a high school student from South Jersey, are the developers behind “DeskConnect,” an app that moves web pages, documents and pictures, among devices in one tap.

Users can expect to see WorkFlow available in the Apple App Store in late February.

goals, and importantly, we need to share them with friends, family, colleagues and bosses and then do our best to achieve them.”

He said this mentality is applicable everywhere — for exercise, academics, relationships, faith and even the workplace. At the end of Petraeus’ speech, Erwin awarded him with a special, Team RWB bitcoin.

Prior to Petraeus’ speech, LSA junior Tim Nellett, SVA treasurer, said the organization is an outlet for student veterans to bond and push each other to be great. He added that SVA has helped him transition from soldier to student.

“Don’t do it alone,” Nellett said.

“In this way, the SVA has been instrumental in connecting veterans together to find that sense of camaraderie we were all missing.”

Team Red, White & Blue, a nonprofit organization that employs veterans to facilitate fitness, received the funds raised for the event. University alum Mike Erwin, a US Army Major, created the foundation and was one of the opening speakers for Petraeus on Friday.

“Physical activity has been engineered out of life over the past 20 to 25 years,” Erwin said. “We need

a segment of our population that wants to take that challenge and help fix it. That’s where we’re looking long term. Veterans are leaders. Veterans have more training in physical fitness than any other segment of the population. In due time you’re going to see us continue to develop that leadership in our chapters.”

Engineering senior Josh Simister, SVA chapter president and former Marine, opened the event by announcing the group’s next president, LSA junior Will Kerkstra.

Although the night’s main agenda was to celebrate the importance of physical fitness and its importance to student veterans, there were also some somber moments.

As part of his introductory speech, Simister pointed to an empty table in the front of the ballroom. The table represented troops who are prisoners of war or missing in action.

Simister held back tears as he explained how each component on the table represented something: a lemon to symbolize these soldiers’ “bitter fate,” roses to symbolize their bloodshed and a candle that stood for the “light of hope that lives in our hearts.”

paign finance law that Snyder signed in December. The law doubles the caps on individual donations and donations from political action committees, increasing individual donations to $6,800 and political action committee donations to $68,000.

The new law also requires candidates to file two new campaign finance reports before the election and that automated telephone calls and other political ads identify their sponsor. In a news release, Snyder said the bill will “bring an unprecedented level of transparency and openness to the state’s political system.”

“Our democracy thrives and our government is at its best when there is openness and accountability, all while our freedoms of speech and association are protected,” he said.

The bill’s detractors believe it serves as a way for large donors to give candidates more money — and increase their influence. Public Policy Prof. John Chamberlin, one of its critics, called the bill “very partisan” and Snyder’s justification of it, to

increase transparency, “nonsense.”

“If you believe, as I do, that money shouldn’t drive politics but citizen participation should, the old campaign contribution limits were just fine and they were more constraining on a couple hundred people — most people don’t make contributions at all,” Chamberlin said. “The citizens of Michigan are not well served by covering up who gives the money and allowing big contributions to influence outcomes of elections.”

With regard to the upcoming mayoral election in Ann Arbor, Chamberlin said he believes it is too early for funds to make a difference in each candidate’s campaign.

Though money does matter in politics, he said, how much of it a candidate has at a given time does not.

“I’m not sure that being able to run Super Bowl ads is all that important, it’s flashy and it let’s people know you’re running,” Chamberlin said. “But I think in the long run it matters if one candidate has significantly more money than another candidate.”

Opinion

4A — Monday, February 3, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

CARLINA DUAN | MICHIGAN IN COLOR

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com PETER SHAHIN EDITOR IN CHIEF

MEGAN MCDONALD and DANIEL WANG EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS

KATIE BURKE MANAGING EDITOR

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s editorial board.

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

FROM THE DAILY

Opening the door to Detroit Snyder’s plan to issue 50,000 visas will help Detroit grow

D

etroit’s population peaked at 1.86 million residents in 1950 and has been decline ever since. Today, Detroit’s population is about the same as it was in 1910, before the auto boom began.

Consequently, the city lacks the necessary tax base to cover its vital services and the highly trained workers needed to fill positions in hightechnology industries. Gov. Rick Snyder has announced a plan to bolster the population by issuing 50,000 visas over a span of five years to highly educated immigrants in an ambitious effort to boost the city’s population and economic growth. While the plan would likely aid economic recovery by stabilizing the housing market, providing human resources to companies and broadening the tax base, the effort could effectively marginalize the current population. Aiding Detroit’s recovering economy is a must for the state, but Snyder must be sure not to alienate long-term residents in the process.

The proposed visas would be issued to approved workers in increasing numbers over a five-year period, beginning with 5,000 the first year and ending with 15,000 in the final year. Snyder’s plan would use five-year EB-2 visas which are intended for immigrants with a master’s degree or superior, and “exceptional ability” in the arts or in a professional field. Snyder’s plan mandates that they live and work in the city of Detroit. However, the five-year validity of the EB-2 visa highlights the temporary nature of this solution, and the question remains about what may happen to the immigrants after their visas have expired.

Snyder should not bring in foreign talent without adequately preparing for their arrival in the city. Adequate housing must be built, a support system must be implemented and the city must prepare for this sizable influx of new, culturally diverse residents. Additionally, a program should be created within the framework of current immigration law to help interested and qualified workers obtain citizenship after their visas expire. Doing so will help permanently establish communities in the city, providing a long-term objective for this temporary fix and preventing these new employees from being treated like transient workers.

Furthermore, the plan will necessarily cre-

ate communities of highly paid professionals within a city that is already dealing with class disparities, crippling poverty and unemployment. The city needs these kinds of workers, but programs should also be created to train and equip the existing population with skills that employers are seeking. Detroit’s unemployment rate sits at nearly 18 percent, and the city’s population is being excluded from the increasing number of high-technology fields. If the city’s unemployment is not first addressed, this plan will simply exacerbate the income inequality that already exists.

There must be advanced job training available to these residents in order to make it possible for them to join the tech-age workforce that Snyder’s plan is attempting to bring to Detroit.

The economy is changing, and Detroit must change to keep up with today’s fast-paced information economy. Snyder’s plan to bring immigrants into the city will aid in growing the population and tax base of Detroit, but any plan to bolster the economy must take into account the current residents. Increased vocational training and job assistance must be provided for unemployed or underemployed Detroiters, preparing them for fulfilling careers in the new-age economy Snyder is attempting to grow within the city.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Barry Belmont, Rima Fadlallah, Nivedita Karki, Jordyn Kay, Kellie Halushka, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman,Paul Sherman, Allison Raeck, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe

When I was eleven, I was called a Chink by three boys at a water park.

I was wearing my favorite blue Nike suit, had just gotten my first period a month before, and adored my fish tank of silver guppies, which swam mercilessly back and forth through a sleeve of cool water each night.

I didn’t understand race, and I didn’t understand love.

What I understood was that on Multi-Culti Day in the sixth grade, my mother had made six containers of dumplings for my class. The moisture had condensed on the Tupperware lids in shameful, wet circles; Casey had wrinkled his nose and asked, “What’s that smell?”

What I understood was that I smelled differently. I wasn’t allowed to shave my legs, I didn’t know how to translate “deodorant” into Mandarin, and my favorite meal involved pouring cheddar cheese Goldfish crackers on top of a bowl of rice.

Still, I waved the American flag. Still, I loved comic books and strawberry popsicles. At home, my mother spoke to me in Mandarin and I responded back in English. As an American-born girl of eleven, we had a system. In public, I became the mom — checking out our library books, enunciating English words for her at Kroger’s, translating Mapquest directions so she’d swerve left onto Newport Road. I was the one who taught my mom how to make macaroni and cheese.

I told her what to write to my teachers when I was sick and couldn’t come to class. We fell into familiar rhythm. Eventually, she stopped using her Chinese-to-English dictionary and started resorting to me: “You’re the expert,” she’d say, “I don’t know anything.”

At some point along the way, I lost my Chinese.

Chinese, my first language, gradually became my lost language.

Born in Seattle to parents who had emigrated from China, I attended preschool in Ann Arbor with almost no knowledge of English. I was placed in a toddler’s ESL class, where we bound picture books in sparkly pink wrapping paper, and I learned the language through flashcards: A IS FOR APPLE, M IS FOR MILK. At home, then, the rules were softened. As a kid, I’d persuade my mother into buying us “normal” food: vanilla wafers drenched in icing, chicken nuggets, wide hunks of pepper jack cheese. I reprimanded her for braiding my hair with Hello Kitty elastics. All the white girls at my school used simple hair bands of neon blues, pinks. My mother went to Meijer and bought me a jumbo pack of black hair

scrunchies the next day. I called my mother a bitch when we fought, mostly out of cruel spite. I knew she wouldn’t understand the curse word. After all, I was the wise, cultured American. She was just the Chinese mom who listened out of love, out of a desire to see her kid not get bullied in a school system that was predominantly white. In retrospect, the games I played as a kid must have been humiliating for my mother: a brilliant woman who’d studied agriculture in college, mastered Japanese, loved butterflies and the smell of lavender perfume.

With my mom, I cultivated a sense of authority that I couldn’t fully grasp in the classroom. Placed next to my all-American friends with mothers who understood that mustard was not a salad dressing, but a condiment; that hot dogs were not literally heated animals with tails; that tampons were more popular than pads … I’d never be the expert.

In school, I was shy. Ate white breads, tossed dumplings in the trash can, raised my hand only when I was sure I could pronounce unknown words exactly right. Played it safe, partly because I was afraid to lose the wicked sense of authority I’d cultivated at home.

Growing up as a minority, I found independence in these mottled, urgent ways. At a water park, at age eleven, being called a Chink was just another new occasion for me to disassemble and learn the English language. To claim it in all its pricking points of ugliness. To be bullied and loved, relentlessly, by the alphabet. Chink, Chigga.

Banana. Twinkie. F.O.B. What my Chinese mother could never teach me, I had to learn and seize on my own. What’s more, I felt fiercely protective and embarrassed by her.

In the U.S., she was vulnerable, sometimes timid, girlish. Couldn’t hold the language. My job as her American-born daughter was not only to teach, but to also defend.

In middle school, “Yo Mama” jokes infuriated me. My mother was so Chinese she couldn’t eat a hamburger without pinching her nose.

She was so Chinese she wore bamboo slippers, pickled sea cucumbers, fried rice. But she was also a badass. Mowed our lawn every week, fixed the broken roof herself.

Knit scarves, baked bread. Climbed ladders. Sacrificed her Chinese citizenship for an American passport — not out of duty to the country, but out of duty to my sister and me. “I want to live in the same country as you when I’m older,” she said. At my high school graduation, she recited the Pledge of Allegiance with her left hand over her chest, beaming.

I’ve often been told I’m a part of the “nice” race, the “model minority.” At times, it’s assumed that what I do well, I do because I’m Asian — not because I was raised by one of the strongest, most intelligent women I know. It’s frustrating when I find myself settling into these expectations. Annoying when I find myself hyper-aware when breaking out of them. I am a daughter of immigrant parents, and I am infinitely dimensional, in-love, inpain, exhausted, roaming. Growing up. Chinese is my blood, and in a way, it defines many of my decisions and my movements through this world. But it does not lay the entire groundwork for what I choose to chase, demolish — what I choose to give, or give up.

At Pizza House last year, I was told half-jokingly, “You’re like our token Asian friend!” Pepperoni circles swam in rainbow grease, and I sizzled. I’m not — and will never be — anybody’s token anything. I’m my mother’s daughter, and I’m my own brain, my own bossy heart. In high school, I was encouraged to pursue a career as an English professor because “You’ve got that whole Asian thing going for you. You stand out!” As a Chinese-American woman, I have been exoticized, categorized and stereotyped by friends, peers, strangers, teachers, co-workers, crushes. My Chinese mother has been called “cute” when she stutters in English.

We’ve both been sliced up.

Being angry about racial inequality is easy. Navigating, processing, and articulating race — that’s hard. It’s a project I don’t know how to undertake without stammering, fearful to offend … even as a woman of color, talking about my race feels bulky and terrifying. As a Chinese-American, I feel frequently caught in liminal space, floating in-between myth and a self-inflicted series of rules.

I am frequently asked, “Where are you really from?” and I’m always quick to respond, almost heatedly, “Here.” I was born on American soil. I love this country, with its chocolate creams and dirty politicians and bodies of saltwater. But I am also indebted to my mother, and to her country, which both is and isn’t my own. As my mother’s daughter, I am built with her history of red stamps, her girlhood during the Cultural Revolution, her brick walls. Our sacrifice, our shame. I am American, plus Chinese. That identity is plural, stretched. Beautiful weight. And that love. It’s plural, too.

Carlina Duan is an LSA senior and the Statement editor.

LINH VU | VIEWPOINT

ALEXANDER YALDO | VIEWPOINT

Support for the ‘Victors’ campaign When I reflect back on my time as an undergraduate student at the University, my experience has been characterized by the work I have completed with several student organizations on campus, particularly the time spent with Medical Educational Service Opportunities.

MESO is a nonprofit student organization on the University’s campus that helps undergraduate students participate in healthrelated and educational service events. We provide workshops, health-related volunteering and foreign service clinics to aid students in understanding their niches as future medical professionals. In the past five years, we have grown to support a large number of students on campus and continue to share our goal of providing health-related service and educational opportunities. Hundreds of our members have worked with underserved communities in the greater Ann Arbor area, as well as populations in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Panama.

As one of the presidents of this organization for the past two years, I would be lying if I said there were not times that I questioned if the countless hours spent working to further MESO’s mission were worthwhile. Student organization work can sometimes feel like a burden on top of an already hectic academic load at this University. From planning and budgeting events to overseeing the activities of an executive board, the mission of our work can sometimes get lost. But then I ask myself: why am I doing this? Why do I give up countless hours per week for such a taxing responsibility?

Why am I in the office sending e-mails when I could be at Charley’s enjoying a fishbowl with my friends? The answer is simple: I believe deeply in the cause that my student organization represents. During the times of frustration, I recall my own trip to Costa Rica and how

Our sacrifice, our shame

much I grew as person from being able to serve others. Those memories push me to continue to run MESO because I want all of the members of this organization — both present and future — to experience the joy that comes from the philanthropy that I experienced two years ago.

I am not the only student on this campus that gives up hours of sleep, studying and social events to ensure my organization’s success. There are thousands of us on this campus who choose to donate time to the student organizations about which we are passionate because we remember the indescribable feeling of making a contribution to our cause.

Student groups provide a different perspective on the criteria of donors to the University. Although most current students are unable to provide monetary donations to better the institution, many of us give our time to serve the University. Students are able to take the knowledge and skills that we gain to further the University’s impact worldwide. The University’s outreach is bettered by the time that our volunteers donate in the greater Ann Arbor area and abroad. In short, we represent the University through service work abroad and outside the University’s network. As a leader of an undergraduate service organization, I wholeheartedly believe that current students have the ability to catalyze change both on campus and around the world.

This instance is a drop in the bucket of impressive philanthropic contributions that Wolverines are making everyday. Student involvement is at the heart of this University’s success. A University that champions and values its students provides a lasting impact on the global community. We are all called to be Victors for Michigan.

Alexander Yaldo is an LSA senior.

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints.

Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550-850 words.

Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.

Treating mental illness like a wound He took his own life.

After all of the existential questions he asked in class, and after all of the hypersensitive dialogue we shared, he left me nothing but a note. “Linh, you’ve challenged me like nobody else ever has. I’ve learned so much from you.” These were his last words to me. It’s funny because I wrote something similar to him. “You’ve inspired me to take on new perspectives. Let’s keep in touch, okay?” I thought he disliked me for the longest time. I pray he read my note so that he knew I admired him too.

He had taken his life with no vestige of his last moments, thoughts or feelings. From all of my encounters with him, he seemed like he wanted so much out of life.

He had always appeared to be a happy-go-lucky kid with a thirst for knowledge. Little did many of us close to him know that he was experiencing severe depression.

Not too long after, on Jan. 17, 2014, Madison Holleran, University of Pennsylvania freshman athlete, also took her life. She exhibited signs of depression and was prescribed antidepressant medication prior to the tragic incident. She had been dealing with the disorder since high school, but many of her friends were unaware of her condition and shocked that she even possessed one. Her mother, recounting Madison’s tumultuous journey, expressed that she once felt an odd notion that her daughter didn’t fit the mold of a psychiatric patient. She then noted that regardless of what she believed, the truth was that her daughter was in danger and that she did indeed need help.

I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that seemingly jubilant

people like him and Madison had the capacity to conceal such dark and deeply embedded emotions.

There had to be a reasonable explanation for their ability to live “alternate” lives. I just couldn’t put my finger on it until now.

In 2011, the National Institute of Mental Health reported American College Health Association statistics that asserted that 30 percent of college students felt “so depressed that it was difficult to function” in the previous year. Another study conducted by the Anxiety Disorders Association of America stated 80 percent of college students said they sometimes or frequently experienced daily stress. With these shocking statistics in mind, why does it seem as though mental illness is not as prevalent as studies have shown?

The reason is because mental illness is stigmatized. On a larger scope, millions of people in this nation are suffering from an “invisible” disorder. Lack of recognition for mental illness is even apparent in the military, in which we award a Purple Heart to those injured in battle but none to those affected by post-traumatic stress disorder.

In Madison’s case, her family kept her instability under wraps because depression was too much of a taboo topic to broach. “It’s not the kind of thing that you want shared in the halls of your high school, in fact, the fear was that it would be whispered behind her back if everyone knew,” Madison’s mother said.

The concerns of the Holleran family are not uncommon to those affected by similar disorders. Mental illness is rising and simultaneously being buried. Schools, like the University of Michigan, need to prioritize mental health resources to ensure

that students are given an outlet to a seemingly inescapable situation. The University’s Counseling and Psychological Services should work to improve appointment wait times, provide more free individual consultation and most importantly, advertise mental illness as a commonality. Like we would assist students with physical injuries, we must similarly support students dealing with mental illness.

Life for us college folks is deceivingly simple in the eyes of our elders. Some even claim that they would rather trade in their humdrum routine work for our youthful carefree fun. From the outside looking in, it seems as though we have it fairly easy. A flexible class schedule followed by weekend drinking escapades is the quintessential depiction of a college lifestyle. On the contrary, what people may not realize is that there are numerous external and internal pressures present on a university campus. On the summit of higher education, many students who are afforded a position here feel obligated to prove that they deserve this privilege.

Juggling academics, work, sports, extracurricular activities and social events is a modern-day expectation.

In a sea of students, it’s still too easy to drown in a whirlpool of responsibilities — overwhelmingly alone.

The stress we face on a daily basis can unnoticeably transform into depression, and suicidal thoughts are no stranger to this disorder. In honor of my friend and other students facing the latent adversity of mental illness, I plead that the University takes immediate action in enhancing our counseling services.

Linh Vu is an LSA sophomore.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

News

Immigration reforms raise citizenship cost

NEWS BRIEFS BIG RAPIDS, Mich.

Man arrested for shooting college student Michigan authorities announced Sunday they have charged a 20-year-old man with shooting a Ferris State University student at his off-campus apartment, while police continued searching for a man they say killed one Michigan State University student and wounded another near that school.

DeCory D. Downing is charged with attempted murder and having a firearm in a felony, said Ferris State University Public Safety Director Bruce Borkovich.

Downing is from Macomb County in suburban Detroit, isn’t a student at Ferris State and has an “extensive criminal record,” Borkovich told MLive. com. Downing was being held in the Mecosta County Jail and expected to be arraigned Monday in district court.

SEATTLE

Seahawks fans celebrate Superbowl win With shouts, cheers and fireworks, Seattle residents celebrated a dominant victory in the Super Bowl — the city’s first major sports championship in more than 30 years.

Scores of people took to the streets throughout the city and Seattle police planned an increased presence throughout the city Sunday night. They sent a tweet on the department’s widely followed Twitter account saying, “Officers will be out and about citywide making sure everyone is celebrating safely.”

The Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8. The last time a major Seattle sports franchise won a championship was in 1979 when the Supersonics took the NBA title. The WNBA’s Seattle Storm have won two championships, in 2004 and 2010.

TRENTON, N.J.

Republicans support Christie after bridge scandal High-profile Republicans were adamant Sunday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie should not resign from his post as chairman of the Republican Governors Association following a former ally’s claim that there is evidence Christie knew about an apparently politically motivated traffic jam earlier than he has said.

The support from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan put Republicans on the offensive and the Democratic chairman of a state legislative committee investigating the September lane closures near the George Washington Bridge on the defensive the day Christie’s state hosts the Super Bowl.

KIEV, Ukraine

Leader returns from sick leave in midst of protests Ukraine’s president will return Monday from a short sick leave that had sparked a guessing game he was taking himself out of action in preparation to step down or for a crackdown on widespread anti-government protests.

Viktor Yanukovych’s office made the announcement about the president’s return the same day as protesters seeking his resignation held one of their largest gatherings in recent weeks. About 20,000 people assembled at the main protest site in Kiev’s central square on Sunday.

—Compiled from Daily wire reports

Monday, February 3, 2014 — 5A

Citizenship application price may rise with passage of new laws

MATT ROURKE/AP Police are seen outside the home of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in New York. Hoffman, who won an Oscar for best actor in 2006 for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote in “Capote”, was found dead Sunday in his apartment. He was 46.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman found dead from overdose Oscar winner was discovered Sunday in his apartment

NEW YORK (AP) — Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Oscar for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote and created a gallery of slackers, charlatans and other characters so vivid that he was regarded as one of the world’s finest actors, was found dead in his apartment Sunday with what officials said was a needle in his arm. He was 46.

The actor apparently died of a drug overdose, said two law enforcement officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case. Envelopes containing what was believed to be heroin were found with him, they said.

Hoffman — with his doughy,

everyman physique, his oftendisheveled look and his limp, receding blond hair — was a character actor of such range and lack of vanity that he could seemingly handle roles of any size, on the stage and in movies that played in art houses or multiplexes.

He could play comic or dramatic, loathsome or sympathetic, trembling or diabolical, dissipated or tightly controlled, slovenly or fastidious.

The stage-trained actor’s rumpled naturalism brought him four Academy Award nominations — for “Capote,” ‘’The Master,” ‘’Doubt” and “Charlie Wilson’s War” — and three Tony nominations for his work on Broadway, including his portrayal of the beaten and weary Willy Loman in “Death of a Salesman.”

Hoffman spoke candidly over the years about his struggles with drug addiction. After 23 years sober, he admitted in

interviews last year to falling off the wagon and developing a heroin problem that led to a stint in rehab.

“No words for this. He was too great and we’re too shattered,” said Mike Nichols, who directed Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Death of a Salesman.”

The law enforcement officials said Hoffman’s body was discovered in a bathroom in his Greenwich Village apartment by his assistant and a friend who made the 911 call.

For much of the day, a police crime-scene van was parked out front, and technicians carrying brown paper bags went in and out. Police kept a growing crowd of onlookers back. A single red daisy had been placed in front of the lobby door.

On Sunday night, a black body bag was carried out on a stretcher, loaded into the back of a medical examiner’s van and driven away.

Israel returns remains of 30 Palestinian suicide bombers Families recieve remains over a decade after death BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — When 18-year-old Ayat al-Akhras blew herself up outside a busy Jerusalem supermarket in 2002, killing two Israelis, her grieving parents were unable to bury her and say their final goodbyes because Israel refused to send her remains home.

More than a decade later, after appeals from human rights groups, Israel is handing over some 30 bodies of Palestinian assailants, including that of al-Akhras, enabling her family to arrange a funeral.

Israel has returned the remains of Palestinian

attackers from time to time during the decades of conflict, sometimes as part of prisoner swaps, but the current round involves the most recent suicide bombers and gunmen and has revived painful memories for families and friends of some of the victims.

In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the teenage bomber’s parents, Mohammed and Khadra al-Akhras, expect an easing of their grief.

“The pain will end,” said Mohammed al-Akhras, 67, who chain-smoked while he talked and rested his hands — gnarled from years of manual labor — on top of the cane he uses to walk with. “At any time during the day, during the night, we can go and visit her,” he added.

In Israel, the return of the remains of attackers from the

second Palestinian uprising a decade ago has provoked some anger.

“Those who killed civilians should be treated like people who committed war crimes,” said Meir Indor, head of Almagor, a group that speaks for victims of attacks by militants. “Eichmann’s body was not given back,” he added, referring to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi who was executed

by Israel in 1962 for his role as one of the architects of the Holocaust.

The Israeli rights group HaMoked appealed to Israel’s Supreme Court in 2011, seeking release of the remains of 31 assailants. The group said that the court didn’t rule, but that Israel’s Defense Ministry decided late last year to hand over about 30 bodies.

California drought may result in unemployment increase Lack of water strains agriculture industry, jobs

MENDOTA, Calif. (AP) — Amid California’s driest year on record, the nation’s leading agricultural region is locked in drought and bracing for unemployment to soar, sending farm workers to food lines in a place famous for its abundance.

One-third of the Central Valley’s jobs are related to farming. Strains on water supplies are expected to force farmers to leave fields unplanted, creating a ripple effect on food processing plant workers, truck drivers and those who sell fertilizer, irrigation equipment and tractors.

No place may be harder hit than Mendota, a small farm town where unemployment rose above 40 percent at the

height of the economic recession in 2009, also a dry year.

Mayor Robert Silva said he fears this year could be even worse.

“We’re supposed to be the cantaloupe capital of the world,” Silva said. “But we’re the food line capital of the world.”

Residents of Mendota late last year began seeing tough times on the horizon when little rain fell in the valley and snow didn’t blanket the High Sierra.

This marks the third consecutive dry year for California, and Gov. Jerry Brown has declared a drought emergency.

This past week, the snow pack’s water content was measured at 12 percent of normal.

State officials announced that they would not be sending water to California’s agricultural customers. U.S. officials are expected in late February to announce they will allot only a fraction of the federally

controlled water that farmers want, if any.

If that scenario plays out, Silva estimates the lines they saw outside a Mendota food bank five years ago could run three times as long this year.

His town’s unemployment today is at 34 percent — the highest in Fresno County — and interim City Manager Don Pauley figures it will top 50 percent.

Officials at Mendota’s City Hall aren’t the only uneasy ones. Steve Malanca, general manager at Thomason Tractor in Firebaugh, said farmers have already told him that digging deeper wells and buying irrigation water are higher priorities in 2014 than investing in new The researchers gave Vitamin E, in a range of supplement doses, or an antioxidant drug named N-acetylcysteine to mice engineered to have lung cancer.

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — Hilda Vasquez squirreled away the money for her U.S. citizenship application by selling batches of homemade tamales at South Texas offices. Carmen Zalazar picked up extra babysitting jobs at night after caring for kids all day in Houston.

The women scrimped and saved for months to pay for the $680 application, but for other applicants in the future, it might not be enough.

As President Barack Obama renews his quest for immigration reform, some proposals would impose fines of $2,000 on top of application fees, making the financial hurdles much taller for people who are here illegally.

“You have more rights when you are a citizen, like to vote,” said Zalazar, a legal resident.

As soon as she started a citizenship class, “I started to save because I knew otherwise it won’t be possible.”

The struggle is familiar to millions of immigrants. A 2012 survey by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that only 46 percent of Hispanic immigrants eligible to become citizens had done so. The top two reasons were lack of English skills and lack of money to pay for the application.

Manuel Enrique Angel made learning English his first priority upon arriving in Houston from his native El Salvador two years ago. He now speaks English clearly and deliberately and plans to apply for citizenship as soon as he becomes eligible later this year.

Trained as a lawyer in El Salvador, the 28-year-old works as a cook in a Houston burger joint. His wife, an American citizen, is a hair stylist. He estimates it will take him up to eight months to save the money for the citizenship application.

“It’s really hard when you have to pay rent around $600, when you have car notes for $300 and $500,” Angel said.

Republican supporters of the proposed fines say penalties are necessary to defend against any appearance that creating a pathway to citizenship amounts to amnesty.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank that supports tighter immigration controls, said if immigrants who are in the country illegally are allowed to seek citizenship, they should have to pay the costs, which will increase if millions of applications need to be processed.

However, he said, the costs should not be so high that people can’t afford them.

“It’s stupid to price people

out of the market,” Krikorian said.

Angel plans to take advantage of a program at a Houston credit union that offers small low-interest loans specifically to help clients become citizens.

The Promise Credit Union partners with Neighborhood Centers Inc., a nonprofit network of community centers in the Houston area that cater to immigrants.

Credit union President Randy Martinez said the program began as a pilot in 2012 and only officially started last fall.

“We don’t want that to become an obstacle for them not to become citizens, just because they don’t have the entire fee to pay,” he said.

The credit union’s $455 loans include $380 toward the citizenship process plus a $75 processing fee for the loan application. They carry a fixed 5 percent interest rate for a 12-month term, so the monthly payments work out to about $38.

Applicants must contribute $300 of their own money. They are all pre-screened by the Neighborhood Centers legal team to make sure they qualify for citizenship and have all the necessary documentation.

The credit union has already discussed expanding the loans if Congress approves a reform package that offers people in the country illegally a costlier path to citizenship, Martinez said.

An immigration reform bill passed by the Senate in June did not set the costs of the proposed 13-year path to citizenship. Lawmakers left that up to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, with the idea that fees would make the system self-sustaining.

While the fees remain unspecified, the Senate bill lays out penalties totaling $2,000 to be paid at various steps along the way. The legislation would create a new status called “registered provisional immigrant” and require anyone with that status to pay taxes.

During the 13-year wait, immigrants would be “working on the books, and you will hopefully be able to make a better income and be progressing in your life,” said Ellen Battistelli, a policy analyst with the National Immigration Law Center, who has argued against making the process too costly.

“There are so many requirements and financial burdens, this is a very rigorous path to go,” especially for low-wage workers, Battistelli said.

In previous crackdowns, a court order had already barred Al-Jazeera local affiliate from broadcasting in Egypt since September, accusing it of endangering national security.

The channel, Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr, has continued to broadcast using its studios in Doha, Qatar, collaborating with freelancers and using amateur video.

News

6A — Monday, Feburary 3, 2014

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Light humor, emotional ads dominate Super Bowl

Thailand elections without violence, but crisis not over

Shocking, salacious commercials in past years were panned by public

ment in December in a failed bid to defuse the crisis. Protests intensified, and Yingluck — now a caretaker premier with limited power — has found herself increasingly cornered. Courts have begun fast-tracking cases that could see her party removed from power, while the army has warned it could intervene if the crisis is not resolved peacefully.

Fears of violence Sunday rose after a dramatic gunbattle erupted in broad daylight Saturday at a major Bangkok intersection between government supporters and protesters who were trying to block delivery of ballots.

Seven people were wounded.

Late Sunday, gunmen opened fire on several vehicles that mistakenly drove onto an empty overpass in the city center controlled by demonstrators who have blocked the road off with a large sand-bagged bunker. The shooting, which shattered one vehicle’s windshield and left bullet holes in another, wounded a man and a woman, according to the city’s emergency services.

The protesters are a minority that cannot win through elections, but they comprise a formidable alliance of opposition leaders, royalists, and powerful businessmen who have set their sights on ousting the government. They have waged that fight successfully before — by ousting Yingluck’s brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, in a 2006 army coup, and by forcing two Thaksin-allied prime ministers who followed to step down through controversial legal rulings.

Most now believe another socalled “judicial coup” will bring the government down.

Analysts say the courts and the country’s independent oversight agencies all tilt against the Shinawatra family, and Yingluck’s opponents are already studying legal justifications to invalidate Sunday’s vote.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban publically assured followers the ballot will be nullified, and Verapat Pariyawong, an independent Harvard-educated lawyer, said there was “no doubt” the Constitutional Court will end up hearing a case to annul it.

But he said it would be “absurd” to expect judges to “to stay strictly within the limits of the law ... (because) history has shown that this court is willing to play politics from the bench.”

If the ballot is nullified, Verapat said there will be “more blood on the streets,” a reference to the expectation that government supporters in the north are unlikely to sit idle.

Before Thaksin was deposed in 2006, the Constitutional Court nullified a similar vote won by his party about one month after it had taken place.

The ruling was based partly on the argument that the positioning of ballot booths had compromised voter privacy.

Chuvit Kamolvisit, an independent candidate who served as a lawmaker until Parliament was dissolved two months ago, called the crisis gripping Thailand “a game of power” and accused Suthep and his supporters of falsely characterizing their struggle as an anti-corruption fight.

Graft “has been a part of Thai society for a long time,” said Chuvit, who made a fortune operating massage parlors that doubled as brothels before turning to politics. “It’s a real problem, but now it’s being used an excuse for politicians to take power.”

Suthep was a lawmaker for more than three decades, he said, “and what did he do to end corruption in all that time?”

The burly, outspoken Chuvit was one of many in the capital who were unable to cast ballots Sunday. He was physically assaulted by a group of protesters in confrontation that devolved into a knock-down brawl.

“I have to protect my rights,” Chuvit said. “Thai society has to learn that to get rights, freedom, liberty, you need to fight. But the fight should take place within the democratic system, not on the street.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Advertisers played it safe in Super Bowl ads this year.

There were no crude jokes.

Sexual innuendo was kept to a minimum. And uncomfortable story lines were all but missing.

And in their place, much more sedate ads.

From the light humor of RadioShack poking fun at its image with 80s icons like Teen Wolf and The California Raisins to a Coca-Cola ad showcasing diversity by singing “America the Beautiful” in different languages, it was a softer night of advertising.

With a 30-second spot costing around $4 million and more than 108 million viewers expected to tune in to the championship game, it’s was crucial for advertisers to make their investment count. The shocking ads in years past have not always been well received (Think: GoDaddy.com’s ad that features a long, up-close kiss came in at the bottom of the most popular ads last year.)

So this year, advertisers out of their way to be more family friendly themes: socially conscious statements, patriotic messages and light humor.

“Advertisers are getting attention but they’re not trying to go over the top,” said David Berkowitz, chief marketing officer for digital ad agency MRY. “A lot of brands were going with the safety from the start.”

The safer ads had a mixed reaction among viewers. Keith Harris, who was watching the Super Bowl with friends and family in Raleigh, N.C., said he appreciated the safer ads. “The ads are less funny, but it’s easier to watch the Super Bowl with your family,” he said.

Protesters want voting process suspended, reforms in electoral law

HUSSEIN MALLA/AP

A Lebanese woman, Ghadeer Mortada, 18, who was wounded along with three members of her family, holds her one-year-old boy, Mohammed, in a hospital, after a deadly car bomb exploded Saturday evening.

Syrian air raids kill at least 36 Assad has expanded his aerial campaign in recent months BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government helicopters and warplanes unleashed a wave of airstrikes on more than a dozen opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, firing missiles and dropping crude barrel bombs in a ferocious attack that killed at least 36 people, including 17 children, activists said.

Aleppo has been a key battleground in Syria’s civil war since rebels swept into the city in mid-2012 and wrested most of the eastern and southern neighborhoods from the government. Since then, the fighting has settled into a bloody grind, with neither side capable of mounting an offensive that would expel its opponents from the city.

But over the past two months, President Bashar Assad’s air force has ramped up its aerial campaign on rebelheld areas of Aleppo, pounding them with barrel bombs — containers packed with explosives, fuel and scraps of metal — that cause massive damage on impact.

On Sunday alone, Syrian military aircraft targeted 15 opposition-controlled neighborhoods, said an activist who goes by the name of Abu alHassan Marea.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the Tariq al-Bab district on the eastern edge of the city was the hardest-hit, with at least eight barrel bombs raining down on it Sunday. Marea said one of the air raids in the neighborhood struck a vegetable market and another landed near a mosque.

The Aleppo Media Center activist group said the strike near the Abdullah bin Masoud Mosque killed more than 10 people.

The Observatory put the day’s death toll in the air raids at 36, including 17 children.

Marea said that more than 50 people were killed in the airstrikes, although he did not have an exact count.

An amateur video posted online showed a helicopter circling in the blue sky, and then a barrel plummeting from the aircraft until it slams into buildings on the horizon, sending a pillar of smoke and dust into the air. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other Associated Press report-

Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Thursday, January 30, 2014

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Like many abbreviated terms in footnotes 6 “Hurlyburly” playwright David 10 Beer 14 __ ballerina 15 “Foaming cleanser” of old ads 16 Champagne Tony of ’60s golf 17 Biblical peak 18 Confused state 19 Plodding haulers 20 Emulate the successful bounty hunter 23 Halloween creature 26 Three NASCAR Unsers 27 Part of D.A.: Abbr.

28 __ Fáil: Irish “stone of destiny” 29 “To the best of my memory” 33 Chem lab event 34 A.L. lineup fixtures 35 Baby powder ingredient 36 Siesta 38 Missal sites 42 Grind 45 Start of a green adage 48 “Shalom aleichem” 51 Adolphe who developed a horn 52 “Do the Right Thing” director Spike 53 Intraoffice IT system 54 Attach, as a codicil 55 Devious traps, and a hint to surprises found in 20-, 29- and 48Across 59 Mechanical method 60 Open and breezy 61 Initial-based political nickname 65 Touched ground 66 Govt.-owned home financing gp.

67 Made calls at home

68 Chest muscles, briefly 69 Early temptation locale 70 Mails

37 Mitt Romney’s 2012 running mate 39 “The Celts” singer 40 Stacked fuel 41 Poker game 43 Bruins’ campus: Abbr.

44 Like most new drivers 46 Hot springs resorts 47 Strengthened

48 Prisoner’s reward 49 Strikingly unusual 50 Trailing 51 Purse part 56 New York team 57 “Him __”: romantic triangle ultimatum 58 Bout of beefy battlers 62 ER vitals 63 “However ...”

64 Product promos

DOWN 1 12-in. discs 2 Bush spokesman Fleischer 3 Sardine holder 4 Colorful Apple 5 Finger painting?

6 Hilton rival 7 In __: stuck 8 Cairo market ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE: 9 Pushed (oneself) 10 Explode 11 Store name derived from the prescription symbol 12 “Bam!” chef 13 Film fish 21 Second half of a ball game?

22 Cut with acid 23 1984 Olympics parallel bars gold medalist Conner 24 Out of port 25 Nonstick cookware brand 30 Seaport of Ghana 31 Bowled over 32 Tree with quivering leaves xwordeditor@aol.com 01/30/14

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ing of the events depicted.

This is not the first time that Assad’s air force has waged an intense campaign over Aleppo.

In December, military helicopters pounded rebel-held districts of the city with barrel bombs, leveling buildings, burying people under the rubble and killing more than 500 people over a two-week stretch.

The misery in Aleppo was then compounded in early January by an outburst of rebel-on-rebel fighting, which has weakened the opposition’s grip on parts of the city.

Over the past two weeks, Assad’s forces have slowly chipped away at the rebels’ hold on neighborhoods in southeastern Aleppo. While the advances have been small, they still mark the most significant government gains in the divided city since opposition fighters seized the areas in mid-2012.

As intense as the airstrikes have been, the rebels’ position in the city and across northern Syria has been undermined to a greater degree by the bloody bout of infighting that pits the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant against an array of ultraconservative brigades and more moderate factions.

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BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand held nationwide elections without bloodshed Sunday despite widespread fears of violence. But the country’s bitter political crisis is far from over, and one of the next flash points is likely to be an effort to nullify the vote.

Although balloting was largely peaceful, protesters forced thousands of polling booths to close in Bangkok and the south, disenfranchising millions of registered voters. Not all Parliament seats will be filled as a result, meaning the nation could stay mired in political limbo for months with the winning party unable to form a new government.

The struggle to hold the vote was part of a 3-month-old conflict that has split the country between supporters of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and protesters who allege her government is too corrupt to rule.

The crisis, in which demonstrators have occupied major intersections across Bangkok and forced government ministries to shut down and work elsewhere, overshadowed the poll’s run-up to such an extent that campaigning and stump speeches laying out party platforms were virtually non-existent.

Rather than “a contest among candidates, it was about whether the election itself could happen,” said Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch. “That in itself says a lot about the fate of democracy in Thailand — it’s hanging by a thread.”

Television stations, which normally broadcast electoral results, were reduced to projecting graphics not of party victories and losses, but of which constituencies were open or closed.

Official results cannot be announced until a series of byelections are held and all districts have voted. The first will take place Feb. 23.

In Bangkok, protesters surrounded government offices housing ballot papers, preventing them from being delivered.

They also pressured electoral officials not to report for duty, and in some cases physically preventing people from voting.

Infuriated voters cut the chains off polling stations that had been locked, futilely demanding that they be allowed to cast ballots. In one downtown district, they hurled bottles at each other and one demonstrator fired a gunshot after several people tried to push past a blockade.

After authorities called off voting there, angry crowds stormed into the district office.

“We want an election. We are Thais,” said Narong Meephol, a 63-year-old Bangkok resident who was waving his voter identification card. “We are here to exercise our rights.”

Ampai Pittajit, 65, a retired civil servant who helped block ballot boxes in Bangkok, said she did it “because I want reforms before an election.”

“I understand those who are saying this is violating their rights,” he said. “But what about our right to be heard?”

The Election Commission said poll closures affected about 18 percent of the country’s 48 million registered voters, although many of them may not have cast ballots anyway following a boycott by the opposition Democrat party, which is calling for political and economic reform first.

The protesters want to suspend democracy and are demanding the government be replaced by an unelected council that would rewrite political and electoral laws to combat deep-seated problems of corruption and money politics. Yingluck has refused to step down, arguing she is open to reform and such a council would be unconstitutional.

Yingluck called Sunday’s vote after dissolving Parlia-

Arts

7A — Monday, February 3, 2014

EVENT PREVIEW

Science, culture collide in ‘Cowboy’ Cowboys and Astronomy? Color me interested!

By KATHLEEN DAVIS Daily Arts Writer

Somewhere deep in the Wild West, a cowboy unleashes his wisdom about the The Cowboy night skies — which he’s Astronomer learned over Feb. 8 and many years Feb. 9 of living in the open air Saturdays and — to a group Sunday at 2 p.m. of eager lis- Museun of Natural teners.

History Planetarium He trans- $5 per person ports his audience to a world of Native American star tales and sprawling galaxies, combining the two seamlessly.

From now until March 30, UM’s Planetarium will be showing “The Cowboy Astronomer,” a full-dome experience that combines Western folklore with astronomy education.

Planetarium Manager Matt Linke said he is eager to bring the show to audiences around Ann Arbor.

“It’s a very different and all-encompassing look at the concept of astronomy and the nighttime sky with the scientific, the mythological and the cultural,” Linke said.

Originally created in the early 1990s, the show has been beautifully reformatted to mesh with more recent Planetarium technology. The 37-minute film features narration by Baxter Black, an American cowboy and poet, as well as a radio and television personality.

UM’s Planetarium is located inside the Museum of Natural

History and prides itself on being the source of astronomy information for the community.

Most Planetarium shows include a “star talk” by Linke or another expert, which educates the audience about what planets and constellations are present in the current night sky, and how to identify them.

Although the Planetarium is located on campus, it’s open to the community and caters to a large audience outside the university.

“I wanted to do (The Cowboy Astronomer) because it’s a neat blend of topics for my different audiences,” Linke said.

“At the same time the funding was available to do it.”

Linke added that the show will be back after the closing date.

“It’ll come back in the future, and groups that’ll want to see it can request it,” Linke said.

MOVIE REVIEW

PARAMOUNT

Let’s bone.

Implausible ‘Labor Day’ a labor to watch

By CARLY KEYES Daily Arts Writer

When Frank Chambers (Josh Brolin, “Gangster Squad”) escapes from prison and forces a chronically depressed single moth- Cer, Adele Labor Day Wheeler (Kate Win- Quality 16 slet, “Movie and Rave 43”), and her Paramount grew-upway-too-fast son, Henry (Gattlin Griffith, “Under the Bed”) to give him a ride, it becomes an unexpected “Labor Day” weekend, where bending the rules fosters a mending of emotions.

Based on a novel of the same name by Joyce Maynard, director Jason Reitman (“Young Adult”) also adapts the story for the screen in this effort, but despite his able direction and the talented performance, the story itself is just too unbelievable and unconventional to have any shot at all of being taken seriously in a dramatic interpretation.

Adele and Henry first meet Frank when they come into town for their monthly trip to the grocery store. Adele doesn’t get out much, and later we learn why. When Frank randomly appears and asks them for a ride, Adele objects, but as soon as he places his hands suggestively around Henry’s neck, she caves and does as he wishes. No gun. No serious threat.

No sign of imminent danger.

Even someone with severe depression has the ability to yell “Help!” in the middle of a public place when her child is threatened.

Of course, when Frank gets in the car, he no longer just wants a ride (Clearly, Adele never read Henry that infinitely wise children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”), but to stay at their house until nightfall when he can make a run for the train tracks and try to hop the first one out of there. Then, it turns out that due to the holiday weekend the trains aren’t running. It’s simply a lame logistical excuse for him to stay in the picture longer, and maybe that’s how it happens in the book, but if so, then that’s pretty lame, too.

Script, not strong cast to blame for movie’s failures.

But it becomes a moot point, because in the course of 36 hours of fixing a few things around the house and teaching Adele and Henry about the joys of cooking, Frank has transformed from a gruff, scary escaped convict and now cemented himself as a new love interest for Adele and a new

dad-like persona for Henry.

When we learn that Adele’s depression derives from an impossibly tragic history of trying to get pregnant with her former husband — a series of miscarriages and then a stillborn daughter — it’s easy to understand why she might cling to the first man in years who’s shown her kindness. And without his dad in his life, playing surrogate man of the house for years, it’s even easier to grasp why Henry would welcome the attention of a middle-aged guy who falls for his mom and authentically wants to teach him how to hit a baseball, but this brings me to possibly the largest flaw of the narrative.

A majority of the moments meant to warm us up to Frank’s character and root for him occur … outside. But, isn’t Frank a hotly pursued fugitive on the run in a small town?

Wouldn’t it be suspicious if this seriously wanted man were to be constantly outside fixing things around the house and playing baseball with a notoriously depressed woman and her young boy? It was impossible for me to enjoy these moments; My brain was too busy staring at the gaping plot holes in Reitman’s script.

In a well-written film, the audience naturally sympathizes with characters who struggle to get what they want, but in “Labor Day,” these struggles are just too pathetic and extreme, and it makes for an unfamiliar scenario too riddled with holes to relate to.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

TV/NEW MEDIA COLUMN

The relationship in ‘Her’ didn’t seem foreign to me When I was home for Christmas this year, something was missing. Well, someone rather. While the rest of my family gathered for the holidays, my dad was over 7,000 miles away in Dubai, where he currently lives. It didn’t feel KAYLA like he was UPADHYAYA completely absent, though.

As I ate a bowl of cereal and my mom hurried around the kitchen, my dad’s face glowed from the screen of a Mac desktop perched at the end of the counter. He wore his crooked reading glasses and a t-shirt from his latest race.

This was all part of my mom’s new daily routine, which I adopted for the few weeks I was home for break: Skyping with my father every morning when we woke up (when he was getting ready for bed) and every evening when we were about to go to bed (when he was waking up).

When my mom first told me she has done this pretty much every day since he left for Dubai this past summer, I couldn’t believe her. My dad is famously a man of very few words. I have some friends who still haven’t heard him speak. What on earth could they possibly talk about over the Internet every day, twice a day?

They talk about the big things, my mom’s decision to close her business and work for a new company, my grandparents’ health, the looming financial preparations for my sister’s imminent first year of college. But they talk about little things, too. Seemingly meaningless things.

Or, sometimes they don’t talk at all, as was the case that morning when I ate my cereal. The conversation had lulled, and my dad sat silently in his hotel room in downtown Dubai. But we didn’t end the Skype call. We went about our mornings. I crunched on my cereal. My dad started rif ling through papers. And honestly, it felt like he was right there with us, like we were all existing in our home together as we would on any reg ular morning.

It’s not the first time my dad has lived far away for long periods of time. He’s a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, and military orders have taken him to Iraq, Afghanistan, Thailand, Germany, Bosnia ... all over the world. But this time feels different. This time, I’ve talked to my dad more than I could for any of his other deployments, because Google

Hangout allows my mom in Virginia, sister in Norway and me in Michigan to video chat with each other all at the same time. And I have Skype and iMessage and Facetime apps on my phone. And my dad finally fig ured out Facebook chat.

When my friends and I saw Spike Jonze’s “Her” a few weeks ago, many of them walked out deploring our attachment to technolog y. For them, the thought of a man falling in love with an operating system was a nightmarish, not-too-distant future.

For me, “Her” wasn’t a cautionary tale of technological doomsday. Jonze’s script isn’t cynical about the ways screens take over our lives, nor does it romanticize or glorify the wonders of technolog y. It belongs somewhere in the middle, like me.

Full disclosure: I’m basically a poster child for every New York Times article about too-plugged-in millenials.

I never go anywhere without my iPhone (and when I accidentally don’t, I reach into empty space for it out of instinct, out of habit). I have so many apps that every time I want a new one, I have to delete an old one. I have a very long history with social media and Internet communities, starting with my tenure on the WB message boards (RIP). Even now, as I write this column, I have a Chrome tab open to Facebook, where I’m chatting with my grandma about soap operas, and another tab for Twitter, where I’m checking Chelsea Peretti’s tweets. I just texted Sophia and Emily and Akshay and Kendall.

Yeah, I’m “plugged in” The post-“Her” conversation with my friends turned into one about presence.

One friend lamented the toll smartphones take on presence. She echoed the words of our professor: “Why can’t people just enjoy being present with the people they’re currently with? Why do they always have to be texting the people who aren’t there?”

For me, it’s a really big deal that I can text the people who aren’t there. With my family spread across three different continents right now, just knowing that I can reach all of them pretty much whenever I want and almost always for free isn’t just comforting; it’s powerful.

And then there’s my friend LaToya. LaToya is my close friend, the only person I willingly admit knows more about television than me.

LaToya knows I slept with my

lights on for a week after the first time I saw “Scream.” She knows I can’t spell “Hayden Panettiere” without Googling it. She knows E.T. is one of my worst fears. Here’s the catch: I’ve never met LaToya in person. We “met” on tumblr in 2010, and became fast Internet friends. The group of girls I went to Comic Con with this year? We all met on the Internet four years ago.

My writing partner, Aly? The inspiring, funny woman who I hope to one day take Hollywood by storm with? We met on Tumblr, too.

That’s why the relationship in “Her” didn’t seem that foreign to me. For one, Jonze has constructed a very believable, familiar depiction of love and relationships. For most of the film, Theodore and Samantha’s courtship resembles that of a modern-day long-distance relationship. Long distance friendships aren’t all that different. Yes, my Internet friendships are different from my “real life” friendships, but not on an emotional level.

I care about them and they care about me. I ask them for advice and complain to them about upcoming exams. I can’t physically cry on their shoulders, but I can cry with them over Skype.

I get what my friend is saying about presence. When a bunch of friends are together at dinner and everyone’s on their phones, it looks like no one is connecting, like everyone is lost in the glowing world of iOS 7. Technolog y isn’t necessarily driving us apart. A several-year-long study led by Rutgers professor Keith Hampton showed that our smartphones are actually making us more connected. Plugged-in people could recognize three times as many of their neighbors as unwired people could.

When older, buttoned-down columnists write heated denunciations of my generation’s addiction to their iPhones, they over-romanticize the past. “Back in your day,” people weren’t on their phones all the time, because the technolog y simply didn’t exist.

I can sit at a bar with my friends and also “be with” my dad in Dubai through Facebook mobile, my sister in Norway through Snapchat and Aly in Los Angeles through iMessage. Screens don’t make us more antisocial or disconnected; they change the ways we connect.

So yeah, I love my iPhone with the kind of attachment many think should only be reserved for other humans.

But my iPhone keeps me close to those other humans. Even when they’re over 7,000 miles away.

Upadhyaya is Skyping with her dad. To join in,

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Arts

8A — Monday, February 3, 2014

FILM COLUMN

MOVIE REVIEW

A broken heart’s eulogy for Blockbuster FOCUS

“Can you brush your teeth first?”

‘Awkward’ too awk

By JAMIE BIRCOLL Film Editor

That awkward moment when the movie’s title doesn’t actually have anything do to with the movie.

That awk- D+ ward moment when tal- That ented actors deliver what Awkward can only be Moment described as Quality 16 supremely and Rave unfunny, uninspired Focus jokes.

That awkward moment when the film embraces the very formula it tries so hard to mock. That awkward moment when I agreed to review this movie.

I thought “That Awkward Moment” might have real promise, that it might be a romantic comedy for guys that subverts the clichés of the genre while being, you know, funny. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be, as “Moment” fails to break free from a predictable plot and throwaway jokes.

Michael B. Jordan (“Fruitvale Station”) plays Mickey, a doctor whose wife announces she wants a divorce. Searching for solace, he turns to his friends

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Jason (Zach Efron, “Parkland”) and Daniel (Miles Teller, “The Spectacular Now”), book cover designers. In response to their companion’s predicament, the three friends decide to swear off relationships and stay single to avoid — you guessed it — that awkward moment when one must evaluate a relationship.

Immediately though — later that day, in fact — Jason meets the girl who changes everything, and Daniel discovers he’s falling for an old friend.

It is through this premise that the film digs deep to raise such important, philosophical questions as: is it better to lie to your friends or your girlfriend? And is stealing okay and without repercussions as long as it’s committed as a romantic gesture?

‘Awkward’ lives up to its name.

The three leads are way too talented for this film — even Efron. The actors carry a certain charm that really makes one hope that the film might rise above its unoriginality and, one could argue, slights of misogy-

ny. I’m all for crass humor, but there’s really no reason for any movie to spend a solid few minutes discussing whether or not a woman is, as they affectionately say, a hooker. Get’cha head in the game, guys.

But it’s not the actors’ fault by any means. Blame rests solely on first-time writer/director Tom Gormican and his incredibly lackluster script. Admittedly, there are a couple mild laughs here and there, mostly delivered by Teller, but certainly not enough to sustain, let alone warrant, an entire movie.

And through it all we are expected to forgive the tackiness and misogyny when our protagonists realize what it really means to be in a relationship, which includes the obligatory “I was a jerk, but now I love you” speech.

And what of the titular awkward moment, you ask?

It’s more like a one-time gimmick that is introduced only to be ignored a third of the way through the movie. But the most awkward moment will be when you have to explain to your significant other why you thought “Moment” would be a good date movie. And I’m talking Tom Brady failing to score a high-five or watching “Black Swan” with your grandparents levels of awkward.

I remember pulling as hard as I could, little 11-year-old fingers digging into little plastic grooves on either side of the videotape case. That yellow-blue ticket stub mocked me, egging me on. It was calling me fat, weak — undetermined, AKSHAY even — in SETH its own, inanimate way, but no matter how hard I heaved, I couldn’t weasel the damn tape out of its pliable shell.

That was the first time I said “fuck you, Blockbuster” out loud.

Pause. Before dismissing middle-school Akshay as yet another surprisingly foulmouthed Indian child, let’s get one thing straight: Jim Carrey and “The Mask” were hiding behind the plastic confines of that godforsaken Blockbuster ticket stub. Anyone would’ve been upset. To make matters worse, it was Saturday, and I knew scrutinizing my father’s unwieldy attempts at hurling a bowling ball in the vag ue direction of 10 unsuspecting pins could never top the sensation that accompanies watching a putty-faced psychopath going chick-chicky-boom on top of a police car (it’s very nice … so full of spice!).

I digress.

Like Blockbuster, the stubborn videotape case is gone — adrift behind an everexpanding cloud of technological advancement, and a eulog y for listless evenings spent trying to sneak glimpses at the nonexistent adult video section is long past due.

Growing up, my family didn’t have much. Most weekends were spent at home, and though it never really mattered what we were doing — whether it was playing videogames or crowding around our bulky TV for NBC’s latest miniseries version of whatever Stephen King story they deemed worthwhile — I lived for trips to the local Blockbuster.

I loved films. No other form of art made me sit, mouth agape, and think the way movies did. The first time I remember crying with

a smile on my face was after watching “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and seeing the melancholy triumph in Roy Neary’s eyes as he left Earth, and his mundane life behind to stake his existence on abnormality.

All those shelves, lined with uniformly-dressed videotapes and DVDs, were challenges. I was only allowed to check out one, maybe two, a week but even if it ended up being the last thing that ever happened in my life, I was determined each and every one of those tapes would see the whirring insides of my VCR. There was a romantic anticipation in strolling through this labyrinth of cinema, eyes darting from one ledge to the next, looking for those perfect two hours of Saturday night. There was more anticipation in knowing I’d be back in a week, able to tick another entry off of the imagined bucket list of titles in my head.

You brought it on yourself.

Before long, I transformed into the obnoxious cretinchild who enjoyed screaming things like “YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH” when asked how a math test went. Ezekiel 25:17? No problem. Horrible Henry Callahan impressions? Check. “Braveheart” level declarations of freedom? #YOLO. In a blur of mag netic tape, my cinematic schooling was well underway, and Blockbuster was the cool young professor smoking joints between lectures/screenings.

Then it all changed.

One fateful Sunday afternoon at the local McDonalds, between mouthfuls of McRib, I spotted the strange red contraption. It could’ve passed for a weirdly f lamboyant ATM, but the wall of movie titles next to it screamed otherwise. Could it be? Did I not have to beg my parents to take me to the Blockbuster anymore? Was Ronald McDonald Jesus?!?!?

If I could’ve had it exactly my way, another, blue-yellow version of Redbox would

have sprung up out of thin air that very moment. Or more realistically, teleportation technolog y would finally be tweaked to let me zap over to the closest Blockbuster. But alas, we live in an imperfect world. Casually walking through shelves of titles was soon replaced with standing stone-still in front of a glowing red interface, quietly mouthing arg uments about which movie was most worthwhile.

I thought about Blockbuster less and less, until finally, it faded from my conscience altogether, and the only person to blame was Blockbuster. The stupid company refused to compete with the new kids on the block, exposing the chinks in armor that would eventually lead to its inevitable demise. I missed the cool young professor, but the coolness had long disappeared. Age had taken its toll and embarrassingly, he wasn’t even attempting to hide the marijuana usage anymore.

For the second time in my life, I said, “fuck you, Blockbuster” out loud, only this time, there was an added interjection of, “get your shit together.”

Blockbuster never got its shit together. Soon, Netflix would forever change the game, and even though the old man attempted to throw his hat in the ring with Blockbuster Now, it was too little, too late. After bankruptcy-plag ued years of irrelevance, the video store wheezed its last breath and keeled over, DV Ds and videotapes bleeding out of its bloated corpse.

It was a slow, ugly, cancerous death, but I’ll never forget you, Blockbuster. You were my first teacher — the first medium for my appreciation of film. Without you, I probably never would have felt the need to learn how to ride a bike. Without you, I wouldn’t be writing this column. Without you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

So for the third and final time in my life, I’ll say it out loud: “fuck you, Blockbuster.”

The added interjection? “ You lived a good life.”

Seth is cursing out Blockbuster. To join in, e-mail ake@umich.edu.

MOVIE REVIEW

Timeless ‘Polar Bear’

By KAREN YUAN Daily Arts Writer

“Infinitely Polar Bear” is a deeply personal movie – not really in the way when someone whispers a secret in B+ our ears, but more in the Infinitely way we stum- Polar Bear ble upon their stash of VHS Sundance home videos, Screeening each marked Comedy Central with a cryptic yet relatable white label – when dad took us fishing, when mom left for NYC, Faith’s mermaid dress, the night we cried together.

The film is director Maya Forbes’ feature debut and based on her childhood with a bipolar father.

Maggie Stuart (Zoe Saldana, “Star Trek: Into Darkness”), determined to lift her family out of poverty, leaves for graduate school in New York City and appoints her husband Cameron (Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are Alright”) to look after their two children, Amelia (Imogene Wolodarsky) and Faith (Ashley Aufderheide), in their Boston apartment. But there’s one little thing: Cam is manic-depressive, at one moment rabid in a red Speedo streaking across the yard

and another moment quietly cutting kiwis into flower shapes for a flu-ridden daughter. So why the hell did Maggie marry him, asks Amelia?

Well, it was the ‘60s. Everyone was having a mental breakdown.

“Infinitely Polar Bear” is fastidiously period-conscious. The film is set in 1978, and at every moment it reminds us with flared pants, race and gender issues and Ruffalo in Day-Glo booty shorts.

Despite all the details, the messages still resonate in 2014. Perhaps it’s the gender issues, still relevant in the 21st century, or the dialogue, which revolves around events in the Stuart microcosm of four and never

Movie exists beyond the ‘70s. quite acknowledges other news beyond their little world. The result is, again, an intimate and oddly timeless feeling.

Throughout the movie, Forbes throws in Super 8 home-movie footage, grainy and beautifully handmade, with close-ups of Faith’s laughing face or birds in summer trees. It toes the line but never enters Instagram territory.

Although we’re peering deep

into Forbes’ past, the film somehow feels restrained. Wherever a heavy blow could be dealt, instead Forbes introduces a quick and saccharine caress to smooth the scene over. Cam’s manic depression feels watereddown and never as dangerous as the film initially insinuates through Maggie’s concern over leaving the children in his care.

A welcome effect of this is that “Infinitely Polar Bear” doesn’t only follow Cam’s illness. It’s not a mental health PSA. Or rather, it is, but at the same time focuses on a slice-of-life dynamic within a whole family, not just Cam being ‘infinitely polar bear’ – the nickname Forbes’ own father gave to his illness.

The slice-of-life tone may be at the expense of Ruffalo’s incredible acting, however. Ruffalo pulls out all the stops and gives a truly nuanced performance as a loving yet tormented father. The scenes in which we can visibly see him build up in a volcanic rage are some of his best as an actor. But his intensity is let down by the film’s stubborn domesticity. Mount Ruffalo never erupts. The movie isn’t about his character’s torment – it’s about a happy ending for the Stuarts, which may leave some in the audience confused, since the Stuarts never seemed to completely despair in the first place.