ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, February 27, 2014
Ann Arbor, Michigan
B U Z Z E R - B E AT E N B O I L E R S
CAMPUS IMPROVEMENT
Pierpont café to close for major renovation North Campus venue will reopen in the fall with new offerings By IAN DILLINGHAM Daily News Editor
Upon their return from Spring Break, students on North Campus will have to change their daily routine with the closure of the Pierpont Commons Café for renovations. The former Commons Café will be overhauled and reopened as the Fireside Café in the fall. Administrators and organizers of the café renovation met in the current Commons Café Wednesday morning for a “renovation kickoff,” showcasing some of the new offerings that will be present in the revamped location. Students and staff sampled food from the new café menu and examined computer renderings of the proposed interior design. Commons Café is located on
the second floor of Pierpont and is similar to a food court or dining hall. Pierpont’s lower levels include restaurants such as Panda Express and Quiznos. University Unions Director John Taylor said the renovations are scheduled for completion before the start of the Fall 2014 semester. In the meantime, some vendors will move to the building’s ground floor and some food services will remain operational. While Taylor said while the closure could present constraints during March and April, the plan allows a significant portion of the construction to occur over the summer, when the number of students using the Commons is much lower. The Commons Café currently hosts a variety of community vendors, such as Ahmo’s Gyro and Deli and Jamaican Jerk Pit, which rotate during the week to provide more options for students than fixed venues. Taylor said this program will continue after the renovations. See PIERPONT, Page 3A
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» INSIDE PATRICK BARRON/Daily
Sophomore forward Glenn Robinson III hit a buzzer-beating leaner to give the Michigan men’s basketball team a 77-76 win over Purdue Wednesday.
THURNAU SERIES
Spanish roots inspire work Prof.’s childhood under dictatorship influences research By ALLANA AKHTAR Daily Staff Reporter
Spanish Prof. Alejandro Herrero-Olaizola’s accent isn’t immediately evident. The 49-year-old associate chair of the Spanish department, and one of the most recent recipients of an Arthur
Thurnau professorship, has lived in the United States for more than half of his life, making him more of a bona fide American than a foreigner. But his accent becomes discernible after a few minutes of conversation. The same can be said of his Spanish roots. Herrero-Olaizola’s heritage has been a defining influence on his coursework and research throughout his academic career. Herrero-Olaizola was born in Bilbao, Spain, a city in the North-
BUSINESS
Detroit study to examine effects of bad air quality
Taylor & Colt will offer many high end services geared toward students Daily News Editor and Daily Staff Reporter
Male Ann Arbor residents can expect a barbershop that does more than the wash-cut-style procedure opening its doors in the near future. Taylor & Colt, an upscale men’s barber-spa, is expected to open its first U.S. franchise location on East Liberty Street sometime this summer. The Canada-based company currently operates five other locations in the Toronto area. Inspired by old English barbershops, the company aims to incorporate the environment of a spa salon with a traditional barbershop into one business. The company offers “shave-cutwash-style” methods for men, hot towel services, laser hair See BARBER, Page 3A
a content remark — I said ‘I wanted to be a teacher because I feel that my teachers could be better,’ or something like that,” HerreroOlaizola said. Decades later, Herrero-Olaizola received the Arthur F. Thurnau professorship for his excellence in undergraduate teaching at the University. The Thurnau professorship is one of the highest honors available for faculty and recipients are also given $20,000 for classroom innovation. See ROOTS, Page 3A
RESEARCH
New barberspa location to open on E. Liberty
By IAN DILLINGHAM and AMIA DAVIS
ern Basque country. He had five siblings and was the youngest of the sons. In Spain, he attended a Catholic school for his primary education. Though he does not quite know where he made this realization, Herrero-Olaizola always knew he wanted to be a teacher. “One time, maybe when I was in the second or third grade, the teachers asked you to write what you wanted to be when grew up and I believe I wrote I wanted to be a teacher and I believe I wrote
School of Public Health profs. call for policy changes to limit particulates VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Antonia Abbey, a professor of psychology at Wayne State University, speaks about alcohol’s role in sexual assault at the School of Public Health Wednesday.
Lecture explores links in sexual violence, alcohol Professor reports half of sexual assaults involve intoxication By AMABEL KAROUB Daily Staff Reporter
On Wednesday afternoon, Antonia Abbey, professor of psychology at Wayne State University, gave a lecture on
the relationship between sexual aggression and alcohol at the University. While Abbey’s study focused on a broader age group, she said there have been many studies involving college students, as college is a time when sexual aggression is very common. Abbey attributed this prevalence to the social environment that encourages heavy drinking and casual sex. “You can imagine when you’re in an environment
where your peers are talking about how many sexual conquests they’ve had,” Abbey said. “There is going to be a lot more pressure to have sex.” During her talk, Abbey cited a number of studies that found roughly 1 in 5 men have committed an act of sexual aggression towards women. Studies show that about half of these instances involved alcohol consumption, either by the man or the woman. Abbey said See VIOLENCE, Page 3A
By ARIANA ASSAFF Daily Staff Reporter
As Detroit seeks to revitalize itself in the wake of bankruptcy, human health concerns such as air pollution are receiving increased attention. The School of Public Health has partnered with five other organizations to continue researching Detroit’s air quality and hopes to eventually recommend environmental policy changes. An announcement from the University last Tuesday said the collaborative group received a $2.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to support the research. Health Behavior and Health Education Prof. Amy Jo Schulz and Environmental Health Sciences Prof. Stuart Batterman
are co-principal investigators in the Community Action to Promote Healthy Environments project. They are working to understand why health problems like cardiovascular diseases and children’s respiratory issues are so prevalent in Detroit. About 15 years ago, University researchers began examining how and why poor air quality in Detroit can be linked to an increase in the likelihood of developing health problems, and how to find solutions. Batterman said the city’s uniquely high level of industrialization has played a role in reducing air quality. Large amounts of traffic that travel through Detroit on a daily basis also contribute to the problem. As a result, cardiovascular mortality rates and asthma rates are about 50 percent higher in Detroit than in the rest of the state, Schulz said. Infant mortality rates are also significantly higher. “All three of those health effects have been associated with poor air quality,” she said. See DETROIT, Page 3A
» THE B-SIDE
safe sex mission How one woman’s passion grew into an A2 landmark
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NEWS......................... 2A SUDOKU.....................2A OPINION.....................4A
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News
2A — Thursday, February 27, 2014
MONDAY: This Week in History
TUESDAY: Professor Profiles
SUPER SOUP
WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers
Enriching the college experience
Could you describe Beyond Bounds?
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
Beyond Bounds is a social venture founded in January 2013 by a group of University students and alumni. Our mission is to help students get the most out of their college experience. We do this through a yearlong program that helps undergraduates develop a framework to navigate the
ON THE WEB... michigandaily.com THE PODIUM
FRIDAY: Photos of the Week
ALUM BREAKS BOUNDARIES
Grant Schroll graduated with a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the College of Engineering in 2013. He is the president and co-founder of Beyond Bounds, a program created to help students get the most out of their undergraduate education.
LSA seniors Ann Paneral and Madison Kraus spoon soup at the Detroit Soup fundraiser Wednesday.
THURSDAY: Alumni Profiles
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
THE PODIUM
Ukraine policy Guys are better BY BOGDAN BELEI
BY JESSE KLEIN
In light of Ukraine’s recent political turmoil, Belei addresses issues that have challenged Ukraine’s allies and opponents, preventing both sides from negotiating a productive solution to the problem at hand. He believes Ukraine’s geopolitical structure will not foster an easy resolution.
Klein acknowledges the risk of making “every feminist in the world angry” as she writes from her studies abroad in Australia. She said she finds it easier to socialize with men while adjusting to a new place, adding that she “gravitates towards guys” after the girl-girl drama of middle school.
STORIFY
VIDEO
Midterms
Literary lense
BY ARIANA ASAAF
BY DAILY VIDEO STAFF
The Daily’s online team catalogued students’ tweets about this midterm season. Blurbs ranged from hilarious, wince-inducing and sometimes vaguely inspiring. “Procrastineating” was taken to a new level — pizza, fries and even healthy smoothies reigned.
Videographers teamed with Daily staff reporters and University students to perform selected pieces from the Statement’s Literary Issue. Four submissions can be viewed online. Read more from these blogs at michigandaily.com
resources and opportunities that universities have to offer in order to discover and pursue what moves them. Through a series of retreats, weekly events, mentorship and self-directed projects, students explore how their passions and strengths intersect to give rise to a meaningful academic, career, and life path. How did your time at the University lead you to founding Beyond Bounds? I realized that education is the only systemic entity we have as a culture that has the potential to unleash so much value to the world, but there’s plenty of room for improvement. As I tried to
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Jewish philanthropy
Spanish film screening
WHAT: Beth Wenger explores the topic of masculinizing Jewish philanthropy and discusses the role of Jewish men in philanthropic activity. WHO: Judaic Studies WHEN: Today from 12:15 p.m. - 2 p.m. WHERE: 202 S. Thayer
WHAT: The Argentinian box-office success Chinese Take-Away will be screened with English subtitles. WHO: Department of Romance Languages and Literature WHEN: Today at 7 p.m. WHERE: Room 2435, North Quad
Leadership discussion
CORRECTIONS A previous version of the article “Thurnau professor series: Sweeney promotes social justice through literature” did not clarify that Associate Prof. Megan Sweeney conducted research on female prisoners in North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Sweeney also received her Ph.D. at Duke University in 2002. l Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com.
WHAT: Retired public service Ambassador John Negroponte will discuss what makes a good leader and how leaders make good decisions by using examples from his own experiences. WHO: International Policy Center and Ford School of Public Policy WHEN: Today from 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m. WHERE: Weill Hall
figure out what I had to contribute to the world of education, I was introduced to the concept of social innovation. Here is a group of people who are creating organizational solutions to structural social issues. That’s real scale. That’s real impact. I was sold. I wanted to figure out how I could have a role in building an organization that could transform education to unleash more value into the world. What would you tell students looking to give back or volunteer in the community?
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CNN reported The General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments issued a ruling against a Mars mission. GAIAE believe the journey is a suicide mission and “the chances of dying are higher than living.”
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Arizona governor vetoes Republican anti-gay bill Legislation was designed to allow business owners to refuse service to gays
The bill backed by Republicans in the Legislature was designed to give added protection from lawsuits to people who assert their religious beliefs in refusing service to gays. But opponents called it an open attack on gays that invited discrimination. The bill thrust Arizona into the PHOENIX (AP) — Gov. Jan national spotlight last week after Brewer on Wednesday vetoed both chambers of the state lega Republican bill that set off a islature approved it. As the days national debate over gay rights, passed, more and more groups, religion and discrimination and politicians and average citizens subjected Arizona to blistering weighed in against Senate Bill criticism from major corporations 1062. Many took to social media to and political leaders from both criticize the bill, calling it an attack on gay and lesbian rights. parties. Prominent Phoenix business Her decision defused a national furor over gay rights and religious groups said it would be another black eye for the state that saw a freedom. “My agenda is to sign into law national backlash over its 2010 imlegislation that advances Arizona,” migration-crackdown law, SB1070, Brewer said at a news conference. and warned that businesses look“I call them like I seem them de- ing to expand into the state may spite the tears or the boos from the not do so if bill became law. Companies such as Apple Inc. crowd.” The governor said she gave the and American Airlines and polilegislation careful deliberation in ticians including GOP Sen. John talking to her lawyers, citizens and McCain and former Republican lawmakers on both sides of the de- presidential nominee were among those who urged Brewer to veto bate.
the legislation. Brewer was under intense pressure to veto the bill, including from three Republicans who had voted for the bill last week. They said in a letter to Brewer that while the intent of their vote “was to create a shield for all citizens’ religious liberties, the bill has been mischaracterized by its opponents as a sword for religious intolerance.” SB 1062 allows people to claim their religious beliefs as a defense against claims of discrimination. Backers cite a New Mexico Supreme Court decision that allowed a gay couple to sue a photographer who refused to document their wedding, even though the law that allowed that suit doesn’t exist in Arizona. Republican Sen. Steve Yarbrough called his proposal a First Amendment issue during a Senate debate. “This bill is not about allowing discrimination,” Yarbrough said. “This bill is about preventing discrimination against people who are clearly living out their faith.” Democrats said it was a veiled attempt to legally discriminate against gay people and could allow people to break nearly any law and cite religious freedom as a defense. “The heart of this bill would allow for discrimination versus gays and lesbians,” said Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix. “You can’t argue the fact that bill will invite discrimination. That’s the point of this bill. It is.” The bill is similar to a proposal last year brought by Yarbrough but vetoed by Brewer, a Republican. That legislation also would have allowed people or religious groups to sue if they believed they might be subject to a government regulation that infringed on their religious rights. Yarbrough stripped that provision from the bill in the hopes Brewer will embrace the new version. Civil-liberties and secular groups countered that Yarbrough and the Center for Arizona Policy, a powerful social conservative group that backs anti-abortion and conservative Christian legislation in the state and is opposed to gay marriage, had sought to minimize concerns that last year’s bill had far-reaching and hidden implications.
CARLOS OSORIO/AP
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is applauded by City Council members before delivering his first State of the City address.
First State of the City since bankruptcy promises change Using $20 million in escrow, Detroit will demolish over 70,000 vacant homes DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Wednesday that “strategic demolition” of some fire-damaged vacant homes will begin within 30 days. The announcement came at the start of Duggan’s first State of the City address and the first such speech since Detroit was allowed to enter bankruptcy. Duggan said his administration and the City Council are both working to improve the city. “The change has started and the change in Detroit is real,” he said. Duggan said the demolition will be paid for using $20 million in an unused escrow fund earmarked for burned houses. “If you drive through most of the neighborhoods today, you wouldn’t know there was a na-
tional recovery,” Duggan said in his Wednesday evening address. “People in this community see parts of the country doing well and even parts of the city doing well and others are left behind.” Duggan, a former medical center chief, was elected in November. His power is restricted while Detroit remains under state oversight, but blight removal and demolition of what could be 70,000 or more vacant houses and other buildings are under his control. Detroit is going through the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, and Duggan’s address came less than a week after state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr filed his plan to pay creditors while providing money for city services and improvements in the coming years. Under a deal with Orr, Duggan has charge over financial matters relating to day-to-day functions of city government. But most of the power once exclusive to the mayor’s office now resides with Orr, who has complete control over all city finances, how much is spent and what the money is spent on.
Orr’s blueprint for Detroit’s restructuring and debt removal calls for the city to spend $1.5 billion over 10 years to remove blighted properties, upgrade public-safety equipment and technology and make other improvements. Unlike his predecessors, Duggan will take on the monumental task of demolition with millions of dollars in focused support from the federal government and millions more set aside from bills the city won’t be paying to creditors during its historic bankruptcy. About $500 million of the $1.5 billion in Orr’s plan would be used to knock down up to 450 decaying, abandoned properties each week. The U.S. government also announced in September that it would direct more than $100 million in grants to help Detroit tear down vacant buildings and spur job growth. Orr has said Detroit should exit bankruptcy this year. His 18-month contract ends in the fall and control could return to elected officials, although a transition board could be put in place when the emergency manager leaves.
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PIERPONT From Page 1A
DETROIT
General Motors under investigation after vehicle recalls The U.S. government’s auto safety watchdog is investigating whether General Motors acted quickly enough to recall 1.6 million older-model small cars in a case linked to 13 deaths. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday night that it opened the probe “to determine whether GM properly followed the legal processes and requirements for reporting recalls.” The agency has the authority to fine GM as much as $35 million under legislation that went into effect late last year. The previous maximum fine automakers faced per incident was $17.35 million. Automakers must report evidence of safety defects within five days of discovering them.
CHICAGO
Chicagoan wears Breaking Bad shirt after meth lab bust A suburban Chicago man accused of operating a methamphetamine lab appears in his booking photo wearing a T-shirt from the television show “Breaking Bad.” Daniel Kowalski’s mug shot shows him wearing a T-shirt for the fictional Los Pollos Hermanos chicken restaurant depicted in the AMC show about a methamphetamine manufacturer. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office says deputies acting on a tip checked Kowalski’s home Monday. They found beakers, burners, chemicals and instructions for making meth in the house in unincorporated La Grange Highlands. Psychedelic mushrooms were also recovered.
WASHINGTON
With new findings, NASA boosts the total planet count Our galaxy is looking far more crowded and hospitable. NASA on Wednesday confirmed a bonanza of 715 newly discovered planets outside our solar system. Scientists using the planethunting Kepler telescope pushed the number of planets discovered in the galaxy to about 1,700. Twenty years ago, astronomers had not found any planets circling stars other than the ones revolving around our sun. “We almost doubled just today the number of planets known to humanity,” NASA planetary scientist Jack Lissauer said in a Wednesday teleconference, calling it “the big mother lode.” Astronomers used a new confirmation technique to come up with the largest single announcement of a batch of exoplanets — what planets outside our solar system are called.
KIEV, Ukraine
Putin responds to Ukrainian election, assembles soldiers Russia ordered 150,000 troops to test their combat readiness Wednesday in a show of force that prompted a blunt warning from the United States that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a “grave mistake.” Vladimir Putin’s announcement of huge new war games came as Ukraine’s protest leaders named a millionaire former banker to head a new government after the pro-Russian president went into hiding. The new government, which is expected to be formally approved by parliament Thursday, will face the hugely complicated task of restoring stability in a country that is not only deeply divided politically but on the verge of financial collapse. Its fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled the capital last week. —Compiled from Daily wire reports
Rackham student Isaiah Bailey, who is vice chair of the Pierpont Commons Board of Representatives and an executive board member for Building a Better Michigan, said the renovations seek to provide a variety of new food options while also making the new café a comfortable study space for students. “Teaching-learning environments are not just about the physical spaces,” Bailey said. “(They) revolve around communities of scholars.” The Pierpont renovation represents one stage of a series of campus-wide improvement projects, which also includes major upgrades and repairs to the Michigan Union, Central Campus Recreation Building, Intramural Sports Building and other campus locations. The University’s Board of Regents approved a $65-perterm student fee in April 2013 to fund the projects. Of the $173 million budgeted for these enhancements, $5.3 million will go toward the renovation of approximately 10,500 square feet of Pierpont Commons.
BARBER From Page 1A removal, teeth whitening, manicures, pedicures and nail fixes. The company also offers to its customers complimentary newspapers, iPads, flat screen TVs, Wi-Fi and a coffee and juice bar. In addition to more unique offerings, the barber-spa will offer many of the traditional hair-styling options students would desire. White said a standard “wash, cut and dry” treatment would likely cost about $35. “The premise is that it’s going to have a very upscale look to it,” John White, comanager of the Ann Arbor location and resident of Windsor, Canada, said. “It’s an upscale look without the upscale pricing.” White said he feels the shop will appeal to Ann Arbor’s dynamic population. He said the mixture of students, staff and community members creates a unique environment that suits their business plans. “We love Ann Arbor and we know it well,” John White said. “We think it’s a perfect market for what we’re doing … it’s a niche in the market that has never been filled.”
VIOLENCE From Page 1A women who faced sexual aggression knew the perpetrators, and were in a dating or sexual relationship. While it is clear from past studies that alcohol is implicated in many instances of aggression, Abbey said it is difficult to prove whether or not alcohol is a driving force behind the action. “You do find a lot of links between heavy drinking or drinking problems and sexual aggression,” Abbey said. “But most of those studies have that missing link in the logic.” Unlike past studies, Abbey’s study focused on the perpetrators rather than the victims of sexual aggression. With a survey of only males ages 18-34, she found 43 percent of responders had engaged in sexual aggression. In 47 percent of these cases, the perpetrator had consumed alcohol prior to the aggression. The study found men who were hostilely masculine, had misperceptions of women,
Students have played an active role in the campus improvement initiatives through Building a Better Michigan, a student campaign that prompted the regents’ decision to approve renovations. LSA senior Jacob Light, co-chair of BBM, wrote a viewpoint for The Michigan Daily urging students to take responsibility and advocate for their own needs on campus. “We want to give students a venue to work with the University to guarantee that our tuition dollars are spent to satisfy our needs,” Light wrote. Engineering sophomore Mauricio Guzman said he spends the majority of his time on North Campus, but rarely visits the Commons Café. After viewing plans for the Fireside Café, he said he felt it would provide a better option for students. “I think having a different variety of food will be a nice new option compared to the usual U-Go’s,” Guzman said. Guzman added that it was important that the new space serve its dual purpose as both a dining and study location for students. “If you can incorporate both, it’s really ideal for students.”
John’s business partner, Thomas White, is a resident of Birmingham, Mich. and a University alum. Sandy Notten, one of the owners of Campus Barber and Beauty Salon on East William Street, said the company will give male students an alternative option for spa treatment other than the Douglas J Aveda Institute on Maynard Street. “I think it’s a great idea,” Notten said, “They might do just fine.” LSA senior Cody Carey said he is apathetic toward the opening of the shop. He also said he is not pleased with the price for the standard “wash, cut and dry” treatment. “That’s pretty expensive. I wouldn’t pay more than $15 for a haircut,” Carey said. However, Art & Design freshman JJ del Rosario said the price for the standard haircut is reasonable. He said he would definitely visit the shop in the future. “I think it’s a good thing, since Ann Arbor doesn’t really have anything like this,” del Rosario said. White said Taylor & Colt is looking to spread to other locations around the United States in the near future, so the Ann Arbor location is an important stepping-stone for the company.
engaged in delinquent adolescent activity or enjoyed impersonal sex were more likely to commit sexual assault. The likelihood of these men to be sexually aggressive grew greater when these factors were combined with alcohol. Abbey said these correlations could be beneficial in reducing the prevalence of male sexual aggression. “We may or may not think we can change someone’s views about women now, but we can reduce their drinking,” Abbey said. “We can’t go back and change someone’s childhood experiences, but maybe we can change their attitudes about women … if they ultimately lead to sexual aggression, if we change some of those pieces we may be reducing rates of sexual aggression.” The University offers many resources for counseling and reporting for survivors of Sexual Assault. A listing of available services can be found here. In addition, the University’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center staffs a 24/7 crisis line at (734) 936-3333.
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ROOTS From Page 1A The professor’s dedication to his studies allowed him entry to the Exchange Student Program Fellowship at the University of Sheffield in England in 1987. There, he met exchange students from all over the world, including the United States. In England, he began to consider coming to the United States and pursuing a career in higher education. Although he left for the United States at 22, Herrero-Olaizola’s childhood memories from Spain followed him throughout his career. Herrero-Olaizola was a child during the regime of Francisco Franco, a dictator who ruled from 1939 until his death in 1975. His rule was characterized by military rigidity and an authoritarian concentration of power. Franco built concentration camps to imprison and do away with enemies and suppressed dissenting views through censorship and coercion. Herrero-Olaizola said he always felt a “presence of authority” growing up under Franco’s regime in the Basque region close to France. He remembers seeing upheaval on the streets and constantly hearing about bombings, terrorist attacks, kidnapping and other violence through the media. “In a way you sort of feel a bit, I don’t want to say numbed, but you get used to it because that’s what you’ve always seen,” he said. The lingering memories of Herrero-Olaizola’s childhood under the Franco regime are evident in the topics he chooses to research. In 2007, he published the book “The Censorship Files: Latin American Writers and Franco’s Spain.” The book investigates censorship during Franco’s authoritative rule and its effect on the Latin American Boom, a movement in the 1960s and 1970s that involved the proliferation of Spanishlanguage literature. One book he is currently writing, called “The Colombian Condition: Global Violence as Cultural Commodity,” explores Colombian cultural production and the implications literature manifests about drug cartels
DETROIT From Page 1A The studies included monitoring air quality on a daily basis for three years to measure particulate matter levels — harmful elements in air that result from pollution. The data showed that average blood pressure increased when air pollution increased. Other studies examined asthma outcomes and infant mortality outcomes in relation to air pollution levels. Batterman said observational methods are used to identify which people face more exposure and
Thursday, February 27, 2014 — 3A and violence’s influence on Colombian culture. Herrero-Olaizola’s fascination of the violence in Colombia is tied to the memories he has of his childhood in a time of civil unrest. “When people tell me, ‘Oh, you’re going to Colombia, it’s so dangerous,’ I’m like, well I had the experience of living in that kind of environment,” HerreroOlaizola said. “So, when I go to Colombia, I can see a difference between what is the day-to-day experience and what you see in the media. They’re just two completely different images.” Away from the challenges of growing up in a Fascist regime, Herrero-Olaizola found solace through reading. As a child, he read the popular Spanish comic-book series, “Mortadelo y Filemón”, a story following two detectives and their humorous adventures. For him, reading these comics “took him elsewhere.” When he was 16, he read what he considers the most influential book of his life, “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” The story depicts multiple generations of a Latin-American family in a fictional Colombian town. The narrative, underlying humor and magical realism genre — where magic elements are mundane and natural, and otherwise normal events are portrayed as supernatural — struck HerreroOlaizola as unique. “To me, that was very strange, it was a bit strange to read that and accept that reality that the book proposes, which is a kind of magical reality, you just go along with that like the characters in the book,” Herrero-Olaizola said. His love of storytelling is reflected in the types of courses he chooses to teach, as he tends to focus on cultural production in Spanish-speaking countries and what the books, films and letters reveal about the nation’s culture. His previous course subjects include Latin American Boom literature, violence depicted in Latin American art, and Spanish film and its themes of displacement or drug culture. Herrero-Olaizola said he tries to emphasize the effectiveness that narrative can convey the sense of culture. “I always tell my students
that literary training really helps you and provides you with a lot of skills in terms of writing and critical thinking and understanding how texts work and all that,” Herrero-Olaizola said. “That is something that I do emphasize in my classes as well.” In teaching, Herrero-Olaizola does not believe in using an unchanging pedagogy, but the need to adjust to the dynamic aura each classroom possesses. He listens to student responses to course work and assignments, which vary from class to class, and adjusts his teaching to suit each setting. “I try to position myself in the body of the student when thinking about the class,” Herrero-Olaizola said. “How it is that a student can be able to understand this film, or how it is that a student is going to be able to read 150 pages of ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude?’ ” LSA senior Amy Yu took two Spanish film classes with Herrero-Olaizola. “He has so much positive energy and passion for the material, that he was able to get everybody excited about it as well,” Yu said. “The class structure was extremely collaborative and interactive and everybody, no matter how well you spoke Spanish, felt comfortable sharing ideas and talking.” Herrero-Olaizola’s enthusiasm for teaching transcends the classroom. Spanish Prof. Juli Highfill worked with HerreroOlaizola extensively on curriculum reform for the Department of Romance Languages and Literature. She lauded the professor’s creativity and receptive teaching style, adding that she would hear students “clamor” to get into his classes. “It’s the whole package: being a creative teacher, being so engaging and enthusiastic, at the same time extremely efficient and dedicated and knowledgeable in all areas,” Highfill said. Herrero-Olaizola plans to remain in academia for the rest of his life and to continue researching new themes in Latin American cultural production and create new courses, including a study abroad course in Colombia.
how that relates to negative health effects. The researcher’s study is attempting to synthesize information about the adverse effects of air pollution to create a plan to lower pollution levels. Batterman said some specific policy changes might include putting controls on factories in an effort to decrease emissions and considering land use changes to create buffers to shield neighborhoods from air pollution. Trees and shrubs can also act as vegetative buffers by absorbing pollutants. However, sound evidence regarding their effectiveness is minimal. Part of the current effort will involve looking into what kinds
of buffers are most effective, and in what kinds of conditions are most conduvtive to implementing those strategies. On a household level, air filters can help improve indoor air quality by reducing the concentration of particulate matter. They have been used in homes as part of intervention studies, which involve changing an aspect of a person’s environment to test for health improvements. “We have to get policy people up to speed in terms of thinking that these are good options to consider to reduce air pollution,” Batterman said.
Opinion
4A — Thursday, February 27, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
DIANA BECERRA AND KEVIN YOUNG | VIEWPOINT
Negroponte’s war crimes
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FROM THE DAILY
Pushing past Prop 2 The ‘U’ must do more to raise minority enrollment despite legal barriers
L
ast Thursday, University President Mary Sue Coleman addressed the Board of Regents and discussed the campus climate, diversity and inclusion. Coleman implied that the University’s struggle began in earnest with the passage of Proposal 2 in 2006, which effectively banned the consideration of race in college admissions. Though it seems apparent that Proposal 2 has carried much of the blame for decreasing minority enrollment, the University shouldn’t use it as a crutch to deflect criticism, but should refocus on what options do remain to increase diversity. Many schools — such as the University of California, the University of Texas, the University of Florida and the University of Michigan — attempt to bypass court decisions prohibiting affirmative action by recruiting students in underrepresented areas, increasing enrollment and adopting a holistic review approach that takes into consideration the challenges students have faced, instead of just their academic performance. However, since the implementation of Proposal 2, Black enrollment dropped from around 7 percent of the undergraduate population in 2006 to 4.65 percent in Fall 2013. Additionally, other minorities such as Hispanic and Native American students have seen decreases in their undergraduate percentages during the same time period. With minority enrollment hindered by Proposal 2, the University has an even greater responsibility in finding new ways to increase enrollment. The University must counteract the effects of Proposal 2 by increasing its outreach program. The creation of the associate vice president position in enrollment management is a step in the right direction as this can help garner more applications from underrepresented minorities and better connect the admissions department with financial aid. However, the University needs to take further action and increase
the number of recruiters it physically sends out to economically disadvantaged regions which usually boast high minority populations. This process must start early as many students enter high school with the imbedded belief that a college education is out of reach. Encouraging students to overcome these preconceived ideas and apply to the University will create increase the number of applications from underrepresented minorities and will ideally lead to an increase in minority enrollment. The fundamental problem of lower socioeconomic statuses also needs to be addressed in order for the University to be more appealing towards minority groups. Many students don’t apply to the University due to the cost of attendance. The numerous financial opportunities offered by the University need to be more transparent and easily accessible for prospective students. However, the current financial system needs to be fixed first. It discriminates against lower income families due to specific financial aid packs given to certain economic brackets. The University must take action to further increase minority enrollment by considering inhibiting circumstances that affect minority populations in particular. By taking these steps, the racial climate at the University will seemingly improve and the pride for diversity may continue.
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U
Paying for happiness
p until October of 2011, I lived a privileged life. My father was an attorney in private practice making six figures, while my mom worked only because her job provided us with good health coverage. I grew up in a wealthy Detroit suburb, went to excellent public schools and was a member of not one, but two private clubs; one with a golf course, JAMES the other with a private BRENNAN bowling alley. I never had to work and I drove a new car that my parents paid for. Life was good. In October of 2011, things changed. My father, battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, suddenly passed away at the age of 58. As wealthy as we were, we hadn’t planned for this. Very quickly, my family’s finances collapsed and we were smacked across the face with reality. Money had never been a real point of worry, but all of the sudden we had lost our house to foreclosure and the cash available to pay for school, housing and even food started to dry up. Money has turned into a constant worry for me. I’ve been fortunate enough to receive large grants and scholarships to pay for school, as well as work-study opportunities to help subsidize further costs. This is great, and I’m incredibly thankful for it, but I still live in constant fear. I’m afraid that my family’s status for need-based aid will be revoked, and I’m nervous that every time state support to the University is cut, it’s my tuition money going out the window. When in the past I never had to worry about having a job, I now feel a need to maintain multiple sources of income to save up, especially in case my mom or my sister needs an emergency loan. I’m disgustingly frugal when buying food and filling my gas tank, and every time I eat out, go to a bar, or buy something I don’t absolutely need to survive, I’m overcome by guilt. As I begin planning a career of practicing law, it’s become increasingly apparent that the mantra “it’s not about money” isn’t quite so
simple. My goal since I was 17 was to become a civil rights lawyer, brushing away notions I had as a kid that I wanted to be extremely rich one day. Now, it’s hard not to notice my mouth water as I read about associates at the top firms who pull in upwards of $200,000 their first year. Having that kind of money would certainly be nice. While the younger me would see a six figure paycheck as a path to bespoke suits and driving a Mercedes, I now have much less exciting ideas about using my money. Former banker Sam Polk wrote an article last month about his time in finance, coming from a family that lived paycheck to paycheck. Upon receiving his first bonus of $40,000, he remarked that he was thrilled, writing, “For the first time in my life, I didn’t have to check my balance before I withdrew money.” Forget the expensive shoes, the nice apartment and the lavish meals — that’s what I crave. With that kind of money, I could eat out and fill my gas tank without justifying it to myself. I could afford to visit friends and family or go on vacation without saving up for months on end. Maybe I would even buy a nice watch for myself just to remember what I had before my dad died. But in all honesty, the thing I fantasize about most of all is the day when I’m “financially secure.” When my loans are paid off, I have a place to live, and my savings account is big enough to pay for any trouble my family may run into. I want to be able to eat Chipotle without feeling guilty, and I want to be able to afford health insurance and a house for my mom. As challenging and stressful as life has been the past few years, it has made me realize I will never be unappreciative of what I have. The lessons I’ve learned have been worth more than any paycheck, and I still live a great life with much to be thankful for. I may very well return the 1 percent one day, accepting a short stint as a corporate lawyer before trying to save the world. It kills me a little inside because I feel like I’m chasing money, but as my sister always reminds me, I’m not; I’m chasing a sense of security.
The lessons I’ve learned have been worth more than any paycheck.
— James Brennan can be reached at jmbthree@umich.edu.
There are few people who embody the terror of U.S. foreign policy like John Negroponte. He advised the puppet government in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, oversaw vicious counter-insurgency campaigns in Central America in the 1980s, advanced the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and was a central player in the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. And yet the Ford School of Public Policy has invited Negroponte to discuss how “leaders handle dissent” and to assess the “successes and failures” of foreign policy. Will his talk today mention his own role in the murder and torture of millions of dissenters in countries like Vietnam, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Iraq? Negroponte’s crimes are well documented in the online National Security Archive. During the early 1980s Negroponte worked as U.S. ambassador to Honduras, where he helped ensure the flow of aid to brutal regimes in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and assisted the Contra terror forces that targeted civilians in Nicaragua (where a progressive government had overthrown the U.S.-backed dictator in 1979). By the end of the 1980s, over 200,000 people were killed as a result of U.S. intervention in Central America. They systematically massacred, “disappeared,” tortured and raped students, labor organizers, peasant and indigenous leaders, priests and nuns, journalists and others suspected of “dissent.” Negroponte’s strategy for dealing with criticisms of his own record has been simple: just deny the facts completely. Confronted with revelations about Honduran death squads in 1982, for instance, he replied that the reports were “simply untrue” and that Hondurans enjoyed “liberal democratic institutions including full freedom of expression.” Negroponte’s oversight of the regime in neighboring El Salvador provides an indication of how he handled dissent. In 1980, after decades of state repression of peaceful protest, five Salvadoran peasant guerrilla
groups formed the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (in Spanish: Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional) to fight the U.S.-backed dictatorship. The United States provided the Salvadoran military with $1 million a day over the course of the 1980s to eliminate the potential civilian support base of the FMLN. In one 1981 example, General Domingo Monterrosa, trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, ordered the massacre of over 1,000 civilians in and around the village of El Mozote. In the early 1990s, forensic exhumations of El Mozote revealed that a single mass grave included the remains of 143 children under age 12. Concepción Sánchez, three days old, was the youngest victim, though death squads also cut out the fetuses of pregnant women. The El Mozote massacre was unique only for its size; countless other civilian massacres stained the Salvadoran landscape with blood in the 1980s. Virtually all were committed by U.S.-backed state and paramilitary forces, as a UN Truth Commission report confirmed. This savagery helped pave the way for the later imposition of neoliberal economic policies, which Negroponte himself advanced in places like Mexico and Iraq. Neoliberalism involves the privatization of public resources, the reduction in state spending on things like education, and, generally speaking, the removal of all barriers to corporate profits. It includes “freetrade” agreements like NAFTA and the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership, which seek to enhance the power and profits of U.S. corporations and banks overseas. Since this agenda is usually unpopular, military force is often necessary for eliminating dissent and “ensuring uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies and strategic resources,” in the words of Clinton-era Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Negroponte learned valuable lessons about exterminating dissenters from his time in Central America. As U.S. ambassador to Iraq, he helped develop what some officials and journalists at the time called the “Salvador Option”:
the training of Iraqi death squads to eliminate resistance to the occupation and the neoliberal model. The system against which many of Negroponte’s victims struggled is an extreme version of the system currently being imposed across the United States, including in places like Michigan. Under this system education budgets are slashed, tuition rises steadily, student debt skyrockets and working people are made to suffer in numerous other ways while money is funneled into military budgets and the pockets of the wealthy. The bulk of the population is effectively disenfranchised from the political system, which is dominated by corporate giants and the super rich. How might University students have been treated under Negroponte? If they denounced tuition hikes or demanded increased black enrollment, as they did in the 1980s (and currently), they likely would have faced torture or death. Religious students and leaders who advocated for social justice would likewise have been targeted (one slogan of the U.S.-allied death squads in El Salvador was “Be a Patriot: Kill a Priest”). Women who engaged in protest would have faced rape by military and paramilitary forces, who employed sexual violence as a key “counter-insurgency” strategy. Denouncing the University administration’s cover-up of alleged rape on campus would itself have been a crime punishable by death. By hosting a war criminal like John Negroponte, the University and the Public Policy School express utter contempt for his victims. Officials like Negroponte should be in prison, not invited to academic forums. Today at 6 p.m. at the Public Policy School, students, faculty and staff will be holding a vigil to mourn the victims killed under Negroponte. Diana C. Sierra Becerra is a PhD student in History and Women’s Studies and Kevin Young is an affiliate with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and has a PhD in Latin American History.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Barry Belmont, Nivedita Karki, Jacob Karafa, Jordyn Kay, Kellie Halushka, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Paul Sherman, Allison Raeck, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe
HANNAH CRISLER | VIEWPOINT
I’m proud of you
Flashing back to the moment of my mom sitting in her chair gathering her thoughts: I was afraid she would be ashamed of me. That it was my fault for what happened. I shouldn’t have thrown water on him. I shouldn’t wear low cut shirts or dresses that bring attention to the size of my breasts, and if I do, I should be prepared for the reaction of men, the eyes focused everywhere but my face, laser beam vision undressing me. I thought my mom was going to affirm that I reacted poorly, but she didn’t. I stood up for myself, against his vile sexual slurs, and my mother was proud of that. Until today, I felt humiliated and self-conscious for doing so. Today, I have regained my voice. Today, I told my mom that I was domestically attacked a year ago. I poured water on him for being verbally sexually abusive. He responded by pinning me against a wall with his forearm against my throat. My mom looked at me, glassy eyes, and asked the question that I have replayed in my mind like Beyoncé’s Drunk in Love radio craze, why didn’t you call the police? She then asked, why didn’t you knee him, or fight back? I spent 10 years of my life earning an array of rainbow-colored belts through karate lessons. At age 15, I earned my second-degree black belt. I sparred and grappled with adult men, and not to toot my own horn, but I could kick some ass. I was feisty, and still am. Yet, when his hand clenched my wrist and threw me against the cold plaster, while his other forearm landed at the base of my neck above my collarbones, I froze. He was not some stranger on the street, those squishy lips that screamed at me I had previously kissed. My mom sat in silent thought, as if she was remembering something from her youth that I wasn’t aware of, but that made her understand my experience. The silence was broken. I’m proud of you. I’m not proud of me. Why didn’t you call the police? I asked myself as you sat on the outside patio of the Black Pearl last summer. The heat lamp’s flame flickering against your face. You sat at a table of two girls, and two guys. I hid in the back of the
server area trying to catch my breath. Do you even remember what you did? Who are you going to attack next, the tall blonde or the short brunette? As the only busser that night I cleaned your dirty residue off the table. In the process of bending over to wipe away the contamination you attempted to grab my ass. I’m proud of you. February, 2014: Phone vibrates, loses train of thought and concentration, “New text message” Text: Ah I woke up so horny this morning wtf Me: Sounds like you’ll get a little arm workout Text: Send me a pic Me: Nope I’m good Text: Oh come on, that’s what snapchat is for Text: You’re no fun Me: Nah sorry Text: What do you think snapchat was created for? The founder is 24, and I guarantee that’s its intended purpose Me: Idgaf about the founder of snapchat. You haven’t even taken me on a date, and you’re already requesting pics Deletes conversation, returns to writing In our world of instant gratification, we are losing touch with reality. We meet someone at a bar; get their phone number, and the next day become Facebook “friends.” We are forgetting how to interact with one another, how to articulate thought and to speak up for what we believe, even if society tells you that it’s wrong. During my time studying at the University of Michigan, three of my friends have confided in me, telling their stories of rape. Out of those three, only one was reported. Out of those three, only one told their family. Out of those three, they all knew the attacker. I am one female in a body of 28,283 undergraduate students. The University has a 49-percent femaleto-male ratio, so there are about 13,859 undergrad females. If one in five women in the United States report sexual assault, on our campus alone, about 2,772 females would experience sexual assault. Why was I silent? Why are we so silent?
I wasn’t raped; a drunken jackass manhandled me, but these acts of aggression toward one another need to stop. We need to respect each other. We need to work on ourselves, to self reflect, and face our internal silence. “Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi My grandmother gave me a bracelet with that quote engraved on the front. On the inside, where the silver hugs my wrist, an area of the bracelet that only I am familiar with, hides “find the strength within.” I have the quote branded on the inside of my eyelids, and I wear the bracelet everyday. I know I cannot change anyone but myself. If I want to see change, I have to be change. If I want someone to hear me, I have to speak up. I know I am not alone, and you are not alone either. We are not alone. As individuals separated by sex, age, race, religion, gender and many regions around the world, if we strip away our exterior and leave the blood, bones and organs, we are not so different. We are humans, trying to understand this game of life. We make mistakes. We achieve great accomplishments. We undergo and overcome hardship. But why is it that we are pushing so hard against one another? We live in a fascinating time where our society has created glamorous, superficial guidelines on how to live. Social media overwhelms us by showing unattainable false realities. Instead of trying to become someone we are not, we should be comfortable with who we are, and try to be our supreme self. Find the inner voice and let it speak out. Let it scream. Early January 2014, shortly after expulsion of Brendan Gibbons’ media breaks. Four friends are sitting in a kitchen: three females and one male. They are talking about relationship advice, or in their case lack there of. The subject turns to two recent social media articles addressing rape. Out of curiosity the male asks the females if anyone they were emotionally involved with had ever physically harmed them. All three answer, yes. We can be the change. Hannah Crisler is an LSA junior.
Weekend Roundup
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Spring Break
Thursday, February 27, 2014 — 5A
Top Five Student Destinations A much needed By Tanaz Ahmed, Weekend Contributor | Photos by Adam Glanzman, Daily Staff Photographer
(spring) break
A view from the High Line park, in New York City.
Two people rest on a pier in Key Largo, Florida.
There’s only one day left before it’s officially spring break (Congrats! You made it.)! After weeks of frantically writing papers at the Fishbowl and studying for exams at the UGLi, everyone is more than ready to leave campus for a few days. The Daily asked around to find out where students were headed this week.
a gorgeous view of the ocean is not enough for you, but you’d still like to visit Mexico, Puerto Vallarta is the place to be. The scenic destination offers visitors more activities to do and a greater exposure to Mexican culture. The town has elaborate sand sculptures adorning its shores as well as art galleries and restaurants. “We wanted to explore a new town and a new culture,” LSA senior Sarah Gilberg said. “We’re going to spend a day propelling down a waterfall and after that we’ll go snorkeling.”
Florida With a record-breaking 26 million visitors last spring, Florida is one of the most popular vacation places in America according to Visit Florida, the business section of the Florida Commission on Tourism. Contrary to popular depictions in movies and on MTV, however, the state is more than just a sunny locale filled with clubs and bars. “Florida has things like the Harry Potter World, Disney World and warm beaches,” said LSA sophomore Fabiana Diaz.
“There’s just so much to do there.” It’s also one of the cheaper locations on this list according to Public Policy senior Erin Freeman. “We decided to go because we got good deals on Orbitz,” Freeman said. Cancun Cancun, with its pristine white sand and low (legal) drinking age, is the ultimate spring break destination for many college kids. Like Florida, Cancun is also more affordable for students, which was a big pull for LSA sophomore Catherine Uglietta. “Cancun is a good spring break destination because of its reputation for being a fun party destination and because of how many college students actually go there for their spring breaks,” Uglietta said.
The Bahamas Another popular tropical destination for spring breakers is the Bahamas. Comprised of more than 700 islands, islets and cays, the Bahamas are filled with gorgeous beaches, grottoes and lagoons to visit. “I’m hoping to explore Puerto Vallarta a little, eat some good food If endless tequila and and relax on the beach
5 THINGS So you’re not lucky enough to travel to Mexico or even take a weekend trip to Chicago over the break. No fear! The Daily is here with plenty of options for those of you who choose to relax on your parents’ couch or in the sanctuary of your Hill Street abode for the next week.
On your Staycation: 1. Watch the first season of “Orange is the New Black” With the Season 2 premiere just around the corner, use your spring break to catch up on this popular Netflix drama. As an added bonus, there are exactly enough episodes in the first season to watch one episode a day for the whole break. 2. Spend one day sorting through old clothes It’s almost spring, and you may have accumulated a lot of things you don’t need over the past few months. Sort thorough your old clothes and donate what you don’t need — fun, relaxing and charitable! Everyone could use a little spring cleaning. 3. Attend a cultural event in your city Chances are you’ve been very busy this semester and haven’t had time to see many cultural events. Find an interesting event in your city and attend with friends or family. Hangtime is a great resource to find events in your area. 4. Brush up on your foreign language skills Forgetting all the Spanish you learned in high school? Finding it increasingly difficult to hold a conversation in a language you used to be fluent in? Buy the Rosetta Stone program and brush up your reading, writing and vocab in almost no time. Or if you’re strapped for
to try over spring break
cash, download some music in the foreign language of your choice and sing along. 5. Read a classic book If SparkNotes is the only thing you ever read in high school and you feel like you missed out on classic American literature, revisit those old reading lists and spend the week with an English teacherapproved novel. The best part is many classics — ranging from Jane Austen to Jules Verne — are available to download for free on Kindle.
Institute of Art or the numerous restaurants and bakeries in Mexican Town. If you decide to make the venture on Saturday, don’t miss Eastern Market, the historic six-block long farmer’s market in the heart of the city. The market, which has been around since 1891, hosts over 250 different local vendors. 4. Enroll in a workout class at the CCRB The CCRB is hosting various workout sessions all week, which students can join for $5 each. Classes include Vinyasa, Pilates, Zumba and more.
— Maya Kalman
In Ann Arbor: 1. Partake in a poetry workshop and slam competition The Neutral Zone and InsideOut are hosting the event, Michigan Louder Than a Bomb Competition, where you can learn and practice poetry in a group setting on March 1st. The event will begin in the morning at the UGLi with various poetry workshops and end in the evening with a poetry slam at the Neutral Zone. 2. Go cross-country skiing in the Arb Cross country skiing is a great way get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful winter weather. But don’t fret if you’re not traveling to a ski resort over break — there’s plenty of winter sporting opportunities right here in Ann Arbor. You can rent cross-country skis and boots at Sun and Snow, located on W. Stadium Blvd. 3. Take a day trip to Detroit There are so many interesting places to visit in Detroit and Spring Break can be a great time to learn more about the city. A few places you may want to visit include the Detroit
5. Volunteer at the Arb on March 8th Nichols Arboretum hosts an Eco-Restoration workday twice a month during which volunteers can learn about the natural areas in Ann Arbor while helping restore the natural landscape. This is a great opportunity to give back to your community during your break. The event lasts from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. — Adam Glanzman
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with my friends,” LSA senior Chelsea Hoedl said. “We’re looking in to parasailing or maybe renting jet skis.” New York City Even though the pull of sunshine and the need to escape from Michigan’s hellish weather is strong, some students are more attracted to the glitz and glamour of the Big Apple. New York City is the perfect location for those looking for something different from the usual student-infested, boozy beaches. “I want to experience a big city and all the things everyone always says about New York City,” LSA sophomore Alice Hou said. “I plan on visiting Times Square, go shopping and experience the NYC nightlife.”
Finally: It’s the time of the year when we say our farewells to the cold weather, even if only for a short-lived amount of time. Many will take luxury trips to Florida, where they’ll be waited on at the best five-star hotel money can buy as they lie in BRAD bed watchWHIPPLE Daily Weekend ing televiColumnist sion. Other students will gather with friends to take that long dreamt-of trip to Las Vegas or Mexico, not wanting to get out of bed in the morning for other reasons — hope you youngsters like orange juice. As for me, spring break has been very low key the past two years. The last time I truly kicked back and made the most of my weeklong mental break was 2012, when I went to visit my sister, who had just graduated from Arizona State University and was still living in Scottsdale. For me, this trip represented everything good about spring break and why it is such a necessary hiatus My sister picked me up and brought me back to her place. Forget my family, because there was one thing on my mind: March Madness. As my sister’s boyfriend panicked at halftime — Kansas was tied with North Carolina at 47 — we thought the best course of action was to chow down at Buffalo Wild Wings. Well, it might have failed the Tarheels in their 80-67 loss that brought John’s head crashing down on the table, but that’s totally fine. We visited Oregano’s afterwards to eat some gaucatoni, pizza
bread covered in a guacamole and avocado dip. Whether or not you’re easing the failure of your March bracket, eating is central to the ideal spring break experience. After working hard throughout half of the semester, we deserve to kick back and eat without guilt. Eat everything in your path, even if your mom says, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.” Later that night, we visited Tempe Marketplace, full of a variety of shops. There was a sports clothing store, restaurants and a candy shop called “IT’SUGAR,” full of everything your inner child desires. By the end of the week, my checking account had hit an abysmal “0.” There will be temptation to buy a souvenir wherever you go, but try to limit how much you actually get. Next thing you know, you’re stressed trying to pack it all in a tiny suitcase. My sister wisely bought the game Dirty Minds, “the world’s cleanest dirty game.” You’re supposed to guess a clean and appropriate word based off of dirty clues. It gets interesting, but also a little weird if you’re playing with your sister and her boyfriend. The rest of the trip went exactly as expected. I spent a lot of quality time with my sister, who I rarely get to see throughout the year, and finally got her into the “The Walking Dead” (she now thanks me after initial resistance). This is the last greatest thing about spring break, and any break for that matter. You get to spend valued time away from school with your family and friends. This spring break, get your work done early and enjoy the rest of it. The week will go by fast and you’ll be back in the home-stretch for another two months before you can take a break one more time.
Sports
6A — Thursday, February 27, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Softball winning despite low offensive production By JUSTIN MEYER Daily Sports Writer
TRACY KO/Daily
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico could use her position coaching the national team to bring talent to Ann Arbor.
Barnes Arico nominated as national team assistant By LEV FACHER Daily Sports Writer
Michigan women’s basketball coach Kim Barnes Arico isn’t known for keeping light hours. And she won’t be getting much of a summer vacation, either — she now has another gig on top of her regular workload. Wednesday, Barnes Arico was named an assistant coach for the USA Basketball Under18 National Team, which will compete at the 2014 FIBA Americas U-18 Championship later this year. The tournament features teams from across the Americas and the Caribbean Islands and serves as a qualifying round for the 2015 FIBA U-19 Women’s World Championship. Barnes Arico joins a staff led by South Carolina coach Dawn Staley and featuring Lousville’s Jeff Walz. The new position is Barnes Arico’s first foray into international competition, but the appointment is hardly surprising. Barnes Arico has shown herself to be one of the country’s top coaches when it comes to developing young talent. Her three leading scorers — junior guard Shannon Smith, freshman
guard Siera Thompson and junior forward Cyesha Goree — are all averaging double-digit scoring figures in their first season playing regular minutes at the collegiate level. “It has always been a dream of mine to be involved with USA Basketball and represent our country,” Barnes Arico told MGoBlue.com. “It is one of the highest honors you can achieve in any sport. … I am thrilled to be teaming up with two of the brightest minds in the business.” Barnes Arico and Walz, whom she called “one of the bright and up-and-coming coaches in the country,” developed a friendship during their five-year overlap as Big East coaches when Barnes Arico was at St. John’s. While her relationship with Staley isn’t as personal, Barnes Arico referred to her as “one of the greatest players ever to play the game” and “also one of the best coaches of our generation.” Trials for the U-18 team begin May 23 in Colorado Springs, Colo., and will draw from a pool of players born in 1996 or later. The job is more than just résumé fodder for Barnes Arico, who recognizes that the opportunity to work closely with some of the nation’s top high
school talent is one presented to very few coaches. “Coaching USA Basketball is giving me the opportunity to work with some future Olympians, future AllAmericans and some of the best high school players in the country,” Barnes Arico said. “Any time you get to be surrounded by people who are the best in their sport, it is an amazing opportunity. I can’t wait to coach these kids who are passionate, hungry and willing to learn.” Players from the 2012 team ended up at Baylor, Penn State, Tennessee and Connecticut — all current top-10 teams — among other programs. While many of the 2014 squad’s players might already be committed to play at schools other than Michigan, Barnes Arico is fully aware of the longterm recruiting implications the position could have. “I am really looking forward to being around the best this summer and developing new relationships,” Barnes Arico said. “It is a great opportunity to build relationships and connect with those young kids, whether it be for future opportunities at Michigan or not.”
It’s the simplest math in sports: if your opponent doesn’t score, you can’t lose the game. After this weekend, perhaps no team understands that equation better than the Michigan softball team. Its lockdown fielding effort bailed out a slightly anemic offense in three straight games. The Wolverines shut out No. 5 Kentucky for a 3-0 win before holding off Kent State 1-0 in extra innings and grabbing another 1-0 win over Florida Atlantic. The three consecutive shutouts marked a new level of dominance for the pitching staff. Michigan (12-2) has a surplus of talent in the circle, with freshman Megan Betsa and juniors Haylie Wagner and Sara Driesenga all splitting
time. The Florida Atlantic Invitational, though, was the first time all three put together elite performances. “The pitching has really picked up their game,” said senior outfielder Nicole Sappingfield. “If they’re radiating that confidence, then we’re going to feel it, too.” The rest of the field backed up the pitching display, finishing the weekend’s five games without a single error. “(Michigan coach Carol Hutchins) always talks about it starting on the mound,” said junior catcher Lauren Sweet. “If they go out there and just attack, they set the tone for the game and get everyone going.” Sweet, who Hutchins pointed to at the beginning of the year as a key to the team’s success, has enjoyed a stellar defensive season. Starting 12 games at
“I’m so confident in our team.”
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Senior outfielder Nicole Sappingfield was part of a stellar defensive effort.
catcher, Sweet is still error free and is becoming a vocal leader. In her third season as the team’s backstop, Sweet attributed a lot of that defensive success to the variety of pitching looks opposing batters have had to face. Wagner, who missed the start of last season, has returned to prime form early this year. After Driesenga started the team’s first marquee matchup against current No. 1 Florida Feb. 8, Wagner got the nod against Kentucky and was up to the challenge. She gave up just two hits to a prolific batting team that entered the tournament undefeated. The decision to start Wagner was made partly because of the lefty’s favorable matchups against the Wildcats, but her 7-0 start and 0.76 earnedruns average also justified the decision. Though it’s still early in the season, that ERA is the best in the Big Ten. Betsa, with a 0.87 ERA, holds the second spot, and every other pitcher in the conference trails by a wide margin. “I’m so confident in our team,” Sweet said. “If someone doesn’t get the job done when they’re up there, someone else will do it. We pick each other up, and I really think that showed this weekend when we held people (scoreless).” Hutchins was also glad to see confidence radiate from Betsa. The freshman recorded 11 strikeouts in her win against Florida Atlantic. “She threw with a lot more confidence,” Hutchins said. “That’s all that kid needs.” The gritty performance at the Florida Atlantic Invitational showed Michigan can win even if one facet of its game falters, and that should give its upcoming opponents plenty to worry about. When sophomore shortstop Sierra Romero and her other three Californian teammates visit their home state next week for a full schedule of games, the bats probably won’t figure to be so quiet.
ICE HOCKEY
Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 27, 2014
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Bennett’s Saturday in uncertain limbo By ALEJANDRO ZÚÑIGA Daily Sports Editor
For two hours, Mac Bennett’s career as a Wolverine was over. It had happened on an innocent play. The puck went behind the net and Bennett, the Michigan hockey team’s senior captain, retrieved it and turned up ice. But it got caught between his skates, and the defenseman had to glance down to regain control. When he looked back up, a Penn State forward was about to level him. Then, Bennett recalled Tuesday, he was “fucking smoked.” That’s why he found himself, hours later, sitting in a hospital as doctors were explaining that he was done for the year. But the pain he had felt lying on the ice, so intense that he couldn’t keep his legs still, the hush of the Yost Ice Arena crowd and the worried look on his coaches’ faces had told him enough already. It was already a foregone conclusion, and the doctor just confirmed the inevitable. Bennett would miss the Wolverines’ last six regular-season games and would only watch as the team he led fought without him for an NCAA Tournament bid. “I was sitting in the room like, ‘Oh my God,’ ” Bennett said. But his career isn’t over. Two hours after the senior said a misread X-ray indicated that he wouldn’t return in time for the end of the season, a CAT scan showed otherwise. Those results suggested the captain will be able to suit up again this year. Monday, Michigan coach
Red Berenson announced that Bennett is week-to-week with an upper-body injury. “It was definitely a relief, especially after hearing the first time that my season was going to be over,” the senior said. For those hours, though, Bennett had to come to terms with the possibility of having played his last game as a Wolverine. He followed the end of his team’s game against Penn State on Twitter, “salivating at the mouth” for the stream of updates. After it ended, he congratulated them but then had to share the bad news. “You just ruined my life for two hours,” Bennett said of the incorrect prognosis. “It was very scary. Thinking that’s the last time I put on the block ‘M,’ the last time I step on the ice at Yost. It was a hard concept to grasp at the time. “I couldn’t wrap my brain around it in those two hours. Luckily, I didn’t have to.” Given Michigan’s struggles defensively this season, Bennett’s return to the ice will be eagerly awaited. The Wolverines will have to handle Ohio State’s potent forwards without him this weekend, but Bennett promises that he’ll travel to Columbus, even if he has to drive himself. It has been a long, frustrating week. At Tuesday’s practice, Bennett quietly stood by the north bleachers wearing a blue athletic jacket and blue sweatpants. After watching stoically for several minutes, he turned around and walked back into the locker room. For two hours, the captain’s season was over. But in a couple of weeks, he could be back.
“It was a hard concept to grasp.”
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, February 27, 2014 — 7A
Marissa Pollick: Michigan’s Title IX hero By ALEXA DETTELBACH Daily Sports Editor
Standing in the middle of a dimly lit room, surrounded by generations of Michigan athletes, Marissa Pollick can’t help but smile. Tables of modest food, per NCAA rules, surround her as the ‘M’ Club celebrates its newest members. Historical showcases and plaques honoring every former letter winner and championship team line the walls. Decades of athletic greatness fill the room, with memories of Bennie Oosterbaan, Barry Larkin, Charles Woodson and Cazzie Russell among the thousands of others who wore the block ‘M’ with pride. Bright-eyed freshman studentathletes fill the room taking in their newest community. It’s a diverse group, Caucasians and African Americans, Asians and Hispanics. But most importantly to Pollick, men and women. During the reception, Pollick begins to engage a student-athlete before a different conversation catches her attention. She watches as an older colleague of hers, a man who played football when her late father went to Michigan in the late 1940s, approaches a female athlete to congratulate her. “We’re so glad you’re here,” he says. “We’re really pleased you gals are here.” The comment takes the athlete by surprise, but not Pollick. She’d spent her entire career working toward this point as a tennis player, as ‘M’ Club president and as a professor. “They were like, ‘Why wouldn’t we be here?’ ” Pollick says. “It was just a completely different mentality. And of course, now they’re on a full scholarship, they were recruited, but the perception from the older generation is so different.” Moments like this transport Pollick back to her freshman year, a time so vastly different from today that she sometimes struggles to grasp it. And while she’d never say so, Pollick played an invaluable role in bringing Michigan and its legions of female athletes to this moment in the ‘M’ Room. But what’s even more impressive is what Pollick did for the University after the experience she had on campus. Because in the not-so-distant past, the situation was bleak, and Pollick found herself at the center of it all. *** Forty years have passed, but Pollick can still smell the building. It was large and made of brick, with big half-moon windows that had weathered panes. A track was just outside, and everything looked new and pristine when Pollick first saw it. In 1974, the University had just built a brand-new indoor track and tennis facility that had six lanes, a pole vault and long jump, and high jump pits in the middle. There were five tennis courts and locker rooms for all the teams. In typical Michigan fashion, it was a revolutionary addition to the athletic campus. So when Pollick arrived on
COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Marissa Pollick remembers having to compete with the rest of the women’s tennis team for a limited number of scholarships. She’s one of the few who earned one.
campus as a freshman that fall with hopes of playing tennis, she couldn’t wait to use the new facility. That year was the first in which the University offered varsity women’s athletics. With the passage of Title IX two years earlier, the vaunted Wolverines community was forced to accept the inevitable truth: it was time to include women. And — albeit begrudgingly — Athletic Director Don Canham created six women’s teams starting in the fall of ’74. The fresh smell of the athletic facilities could have symbolized a new start women were being given at the University. But the smell of promise and opportunity isn’t what Pollick remembers. No, she remembers the bathrooms. “So they built those new locker rooms, but they didn’t build any women’s locker rooms,” Pollick said. “We used the back bathrooms of the building, and I can literally still smell it.” In the bathroom, the pseudolocker room for the women’s teams, each player received a blue folding chair and one uniform. No cubbies or hooks, no showers or training space — just that blue metal folding chair. *** As a woman in the early 1970s, athletic opportunities were scarce. But Pollick, the daughter of a lawyer and outspoken from an early age, wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. Hailing from suburban Detroit, she started playing tennis at the age of 10 and added to her credentials by racking up tournament wins and rankings. When she got to Berkley High School (Mich.), the school didn’t have a women’s team, so she tried out for the men’s. Along with another girl, Pollick made the cut based solely on her performance. But despite the passage of Title IX, there was a law that barred mixedteam participation. And no one yet understood the true power of Title IX.
COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Marissa Pollick tried out for and made the men’s tennis team in high school.
Meanwhile at Ann Arbor Huron High School, the same situation played out: Two girls were barred from participating in men’s tennis. In response, they sued the school under the 14th Amendment. They won. The verdict allowed Pollick to play that year. “The impact was really unbelievable,” Pollick said. “People didn’t like it, and it got a lot of publicity, but the next year our school had a girl’s team as did hundreds across the state. … What’s ridiculous is the reasons these schools gave to not have programs included that there wasn’t sufficient interest in varsity tennis … which is just silly. “The interest is a function of opportunity. That’s always been the case.” That win for Pollick was just the first step. A few years later, she found herself in Ann Arbor with the hope of being part of the elite club of Michigan varsity athletes. She saw them as the storied group with the right to wear the block ‘M’ emblazoned on their jackets and having access to the top facilities and coaches. These were the athletes her own mother and father had cheered on when they were at Michigan. She dreamed of becoming a member of the group, and to eventually graduate and become part of the ‘M’ Club. So imagine Pollick’s surprise when she first saw her locker room. “When I got to Michigan, Title IX was in place, but it wasn’t enforced,” she remembered. “Our Athletic Director, Don Canham, was one of the leading opponents of Title IX in the nation and he made no secret of it. “A lot of major athletic directors thought the enactment of this law would lead to the ruination of college athletics.” Canham’s reluctance to open up athletics to women was evident. The women’s tennis team was allowed just three practices a week, typically at night during dinnertime. At any point, if a men’s team needed the track and tennis building, the women were bumped. During Pollick’s freshman year, her coach was a woman from the local community with nominal tennis experience. While the men’s team flew to matches, the women’s players took buses or, in many cases, had to drive themselves. In hotels, they slept four to a room, two to a bed. Female athletes received a per diem amounting to less than half of what the men received. “We didn’t even play a full conference schedule,” Pollick said. “The other schools far exceeded our resources. It was very embarrassing. Even Michigan State was farther along in terms of opportunities for women. “It was blatant discrimination.” But as the daughter of two lawyers, Pollick wasn’t going to accept the situation as sufficient.
So, as a freshman, she shared her story with The Michigan Daily. “The headline at the Daily read, ‘Facility lacks women’s locker rooms,” Pollick said. “Even at that point, there was recognition that this wasn’t right. Even if people weren’t aware of Title IX, they were still saying, ‘You’re not going to have locker rooms?’ “So it became a major story. I got called into see the Athletic Director — not the big guy, because he wouldn’t bother, but a woman who was lower down the totem pole.” She told Pollick she wasn’t permitted to talk to the press. And while that may have been her first scolding at Michigan, it certainly wasn’t the last.
“We used the back bathrooms. ... I can literally still smell it.”
*** Pollick next dealt with Title IX backlash at the end of her freshman year, when all student athletes were to receive their letterman jacket, emblazoned with the block ‘M’. The Athletic Department didn’t know how to handle the situation, because it was the first year women had varsity sports, and it didn’t want to give them the same jacket as the men. “Mr. Canham was vehemently opposed to giving women a block ‘M,’ ” Pollick said. “So he enlisted Bo Schembechler and John Orr, the football and basketball coaches, respectively, to join a national letter campaign through our ‘M’ Club.” Canham and both coaches sent out a packet of letters to all the ‘M’ Club alumni, including President Gerald Ford, hoping to recruit them to their cause. In letters held in the Bentley Historical Library, Schembechler ended his letter by saying, “I believe that if this comes to pass, we will very shortly petition to change the award for football, rather than give identical awards for football and women’s sports.” Orr expressed similar concerns, writing that the award would “minimize incentive” for his players because “the level of performance that the man has to exhibit are far above those of the woman.” But after significant ridicule and backlash, the Athletic Department decided that women would receive a block ‘M’ jacket. So Pollick was surprised when the women received a differentlooking jacket. Instead of the traditional leather sleeves, this one had wool, and the ‘M’ wasn’t the same. “The ‘M’ was smaller and it was sort of misshapen,” Pollick said. “It wasn’t the block ‘M’ that we know today, so I went into the same director I dealt with (after the Daily fallout) and I said, ‘What is this? This is an imitation, it’s not a block ‘M’.’ “And she said to me, ‘You girls should be glad with what you have. … It’s smaller because girls are smaller.’ I’ll never forget that as long as I live.” Several women at the University refused to wear the
jacket while others decided to transfer to other schools with equal opportunities for women. Though some were just happy to receive the jacket, many were upset with the inequity on campus. Two years later, during Pollick’s junior season, the University offered its first women’s athletic scholarship. For the tennis team, four scholarships were offered. But there were 10 players on the team. “So we had to play each other (for scholarships),” Pollick said. “It’s almost unbelievable in retrospect.” Pollick was one of the players to win one, making her part of the first class of women to earn scholarships at the University under Title IX. *** During Pollick’s years on campus, the environment slowly improved. The budget slowly went up, and the coaching became more prestigious. “But overall, the program at Michigan was so far out of compliance it was really shocking,” Pollick said. And it wasn’t just the studentathletes who faced inequities, but the coaches too. Female coaches received 10-month contracts, compared to the men’s 12. All women coaches received significantly less pay and were assigned other duties, such as organizing travel for the entire department or overseeing equipment. “Or take (Michigan softball coach) Carol Hutchins, for example,” Pollick said. “She was signed by Mr. Canham and had to (also) do graphic design, which is sort of hilarious.” For Michigan, the real change came in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s when the University hired Athletic Director Jack Weidenbach. Before officially taking the post in 1990, Weidenbach worked below the Athletic Director in associate positions. He worked under Schembechler, who held the position from 1988 to 1990. “They started by adding sports
and then supporting them, which was critical. It has to be the same quality of treatment, which was our biggest problem,” Pollick said. “We had no resources and no respect. Under Jack Weidenbach, things improved.” With Michigan moving toward compliance, Pollick graduated and attended Michigan Law School, where only 20 percent of her class was female. After graduating, she continued her work fighting for Title IX. In 1993, despite the University introducing women’s sports 19 years earlier, the ‘M’ club permitted women to join its ranks. In that same year, Pollick and two other women became the first female board members. Their first order of business: changing the bylaws to include women. Six years after joining the club, Pollick was elected president, the first female to hold the position. Today, Pollick is a professor in the School of Kinesiology, where she lectures on sports law and gender inequities in sport while constantly maintaining an eye on Title IX legislation. “There’s always work to be done,” Pollick said. “There’s no law in intercollegiate athletics that’s been more controversial or misunderstood than Title IX.” *** As Pollick stands in that room among ‘M’ Club members, both old and new, she can’t help but reflect. She recently reunited with her old tennis teammates — a great opportunity for the alumni to come back and mingle with former and current players. Celebrating how far women’s athletics has come is critical, but nothing surpasses the need to educate current athletes of why they have opportunities to play. “I make a point to always talk to the women’s teams to share the history,” Pollick said. “This didn’t just happen and it’s a function of many people, not just me, and the law. As a lawyer, I’m proud of that because you’d think these changes would’ve happened, but without the law, the Canhams of the world would’ve prevailed.” Pollick knows it will soon be their turn to continue the work she’s spent the last 40 years defending. “I love my experience as it was, but I recognize inequities,” Pollick said. “I continue to stay involved in spite of it, and I think I can do more of a service than being bitter. “Now Michigan women’s athletics is a premier program and is a great example of compliance.” The athletic budget, which once stood at $84,000 for women, has exponentially grown. In 2012, the Michigan Athletic Department spent roughly $19 million on women’s athletic expenses, according to the U.S. Department of Education. But a growth in money doesn’t always mean compliance, and if Pollick has learned anything, it’s that her work with Title IX is never done. The days of the blue folding chairs are over, but when she walks by the old tennis center, she still remembers that smell.
COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Marissa Pollick reminds student-athletes that the fight for equality isn’t over.
Sports
8A — Thursday, February 27, 2014
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Ex-Hail to the Victors: ‘M’ 77, Purdue 76 By NEAL ROTHSCHILD Daily Sports Editor
WEST LAFAYETTE — Michigan had another shot to win it, and this time, a miss would mean a loss. But Glenn Robinson III wasn’t about let that happen. The sophomore forward caught an 76 PURDUE over-theMICHIGAN 77 head pass from Caris LeVert, which sailed over the Purdue defense from the opposite side of the court. Robinson found himself in the corner, then chiseled his way toward the rim and put up a leaner off the glass as time expired. The ball hung on the rim, and with red lights illuminating the backboard behind it, it fell in to give the No. 16 Michigan’s basketball team the 77-76 overtime win. “We run that play a lot,” Robinson said. About every two weeks, according to Michigan coach John Beilein. He guesses they’ve practiced it about 10 times this year, and it has also been run in games in prior seasons. The play is meant as a misdirection — get the defenders moving toward the ball at one end of the court, and throw it over the top. “I think that’s a great play, especially when you have multiple athletes on our team who can go get that pass with a couple seconds left,” said Robinson, who scored a teamhigh 17 points along with eight rebounds. The win took longer than many would have expected, but the Wolverines slipped out of Mackey Arena with their most exhilarating victory of the season Wednesday night. After coming back from down 19 in the first half, Michigan forced a tie late in regulation and took its first lead in overtime. In the extra period, the Wolverines generated their offense through a series of dump-offs to fifth-year
center Jordan Morgan. But Purdue hung tough and took the lead on two made free throws by guard Ronnie Johnson to put the Wolverines in a do-ordie position, down 76-75 with the ball. Beilein opted against calling a timeout and the play failed, with sophomore guard Nik Stauskas missing an off-balance layup. Luckily for the Wolverines, there were still 15 seconds left. They fouled Purdue forward Kendall Stephens, and at that point, the Boilermakers had shot 17-for-17 from the foul line. But Stephens missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving Michigan another chance to win it. Sophomore guard Caris LeVert dribbled down the court, but Beilein didn’t like his positioning. He called the team’s last timeout with 2.9 seconds left, giving the Wolverines one final shot. “I seen him through my peripherals that he overran it,”
Robinson said about the ensuing play. “I just took one dribble and was at the basket.” Five minutes earlier, the Wolverines had another chance at a walk-off victory. Tied 65-65 with 31 seconds remaining, Johnson was called for a charge to give Michigan (12-3 Big Ten, 20-7 overall) the final possession. Beilein called timeout, but Stauskas was forced into a long 3-point miss to send the game into extra time. As Michigan pulled together its composure at the foul line, it gave itself a better and better chance to win the game as the buzzer neared. Wednesday night, it also brought the Wolverines one big step closer to a Big Ten title. “We’ve been through a lot of situations throughout the year,” Robinson said. “One thing that we learned is never give up on a game.”
A Robinson plays hero at Mackey Arena once again By SIMON KAUFMAN Daily Sports Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE — Glenn Robinson III was supposed to be the hero. It only made sense. He was supposed to catch the inbounded lob pass, take a dribble to the hoop and score as time expired. That’s what the Robinsons do at Mackey Arena. Robinson’s dad, Glenn Robinson Jr., played two seasons at Purdue and averaged 27.5 points per game before leaving to play in the NBA. Robinson’s younger brother, Gelen, recently committed to play football for the Boilermakers. The Robinsons are a Purdue family — one of them just happened to
escape to Michigan. So it only made sense that with the game tied in overtime Wednesday night, Michigan coach John Beilein implemented a play with the sophomore forward as the main target. And it only made sense that Robinson executed it perfectly, sending the Michigan men’s basketball team home with a 77-76 win. “Oh man, it was an awesome game,” Robinson Jr. said. “This is my school, so I root for both teams. I root for Purdue to play well, but you know, you gotta lose this one.” In the second frame, Robinson helped Michigan chip away at the Boilermakers’ lead. The 6-foot6 forward shot 4-for-6 from the field in the half and led the team with 17 points on the night. With 13:47 left in the game, sophomore guard Spike Albrecht tossed a pass up for Robinson, who finished it with
PATRICK BARRON/Daily
Sophomore forward Glenn Robinson III nailed a leaner at the buzzer Wednesday night to give Michigan a one-point win and bring it closer to a Big Ten title.
an alley-oop dunk, cutting the deficit to just nine and shifting the momentum away from Purdue. And just more than two minutes later, Robinson knocked down a jumper to pull Michigan to within two. Then, with less than two minutes remaining, he went to the free throw line and knocked down two clutch shots to tie the game for the first time since the opening tipoff. In the extra frame, the two teams traded buckets. After Purdue missed the front end of a one-and-one chance with fewer than 20 seconds left, the Wolverines brought the ball down the floor. Sophomore guard Caris LeVert had the ball at the top of the arc but looked around in a panic and saw no options, forcing Beilein to call a timeout. Then Beilein pulled out a play that the team had practiced for these types of situations — late in the game with fewer than five seconds left. “I don’t think we’ve run it yet this year, but it’s a last-second play,” Beilein said. “One of the options is just get (the ball) to Glenn, and Glenn just makes a play. There’s other options in it, but Caris saw the switch, saw the mismatch and just threw it up.” Robinson thought the ball overthrown, so he elevated as high as he could to get it. When he came down with it, he saw that his defender had tried to pick off the pass, leaving him a clear lane to attack the rim. He took one dribble and put up the shot. The ball hung on the rim, the scoreboard lit up red, and then the ball fell in, making Michigan winners, and a Robinson a hero at Mackey Arena — again. “My teammates know how much this game meant for me,” Robinson said. “Especially with my dad playing here, me being from Indiana. I thought (my teammates) did a great job of never giving up on this game.”
the b-side B
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, February 27, 2014
Safe Sex By Emily Pittinos
Daily Opinion Columnist
the b-side
2B — Thursday, February 27, 2014
FOOD COLUMN
American Hustle: Spaghetti & Meatballs, Salad and Red Wine What better way to celebrate a leisure suit-clad cast of mobsters and FBI agents than with an Italian-American classic — spaghetti and meatballs? We’re talking thick bucatini noodles, red sauce loaded with garlic and big, moist balls of beef and sausage. To round out this carband fat-heav y meal, throw together a side salad with a simple Italian vinaigrette and serve a bottle of a Sicilian red. J-Law would be proud. Captain Phillips: Ham & Bean Soup, Biscuits and Anything with Rum In the pre-refrigeration era, sea voyages’ delicacies were limited to dried beans and cured meats. And rum. Biscuits? What a treat. Feel free to bring this menu to 2009 by using butter that hasn’t even spoiled yet!
Any true Texan would die for a meal like this. In the state where everything ’s big and barbecue is king, go for the full rack. Also take note that baked beans require bacon and cornbread should be made in a cast-iron skillet for a truly authentic crust. And as far as the Southern iced tea, even a Yankee like me can admit ain’t nothin’ sweeter. Gravity: Macaroni & Cheese, Granola Bars and Juice Luckily for us earthlings, macaroni and cheese at the g-force of one doesn’t need to be rehydrated before consumption … though it is admittedly less fun to slurp apple juice from a straw than out of f loating blobs in the air. Break open the boxes of Kraft, Quaker and Juicy Juice and pretend you’re an astronaut yourself to fully enjoy Gravity. (I’m just now realizing astronauts eat like four-year-olds). Her: Nothing For this f lick, don’t eat actual food. Instead, use your iPhone to search for your favorite foods on Google Images. Then, fall in love with the pictures. Finally, trick yourself into believing that you’re actually experiencing the complex f lavors that eating these foods imparts on your taste buds. Virtual food is just as good as the real thing, right? Serve with a tall glass of technological delusion.
A plot in Ireland demands a few Irish staples: namely, disg usting soup, dried out bread and bitter beer. And that’s why I support Philomena’s journey: With a culinary tradition like that, I would ditch the homeland, too. The Wolf of Wall Street: Caviar & Crackers, Kobe Beef Carpaccio with Truff le Oil and Don Pérignon Champagne Only the best for Leonardo DiCaprio’s alter ego, Jordan Belfort — filthy rich, high life-living stockbroker extraordinaire: Beluga caviar straight from the Caspian Sea on dainty little wafers and thinly sliced beef from a cow who was massaged and given beer daily, washed down with the best bubbly you and I will ever be able to afford. But hey, at least you and I won’t end up in prison. (Whoops — spoiler alert.)
Will Leo ever win Best Actor? All we know is caviar’s great.
Nebraska: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, White Dinner, Rolls and a Glass of Whole Milk
I’m hungry … must be time for the after party. Cue the closing credits. .
I’ve never driven from Montana to Nebraska, but I can only imagine what one might
Wood is chowing down on caviar. To join him, e-mail natewood@umich.edu.
@MICHIGANDAILY
SINGLE REVIEW
d
Here’s the thing: I’ve never really “got” Napoleon Dynamite. I get that you’re not really supposed to “get” it, but I’ve never “got” what I’m supposed to “get”. But I haven’t seen this movie since I was in like 5th grade and I’ve gone through a serious improvement in cinematographic awareness AND I’ve got a solo cup and a half of cheap wine and a couple of bong hits in me (I’m the lightest lightweight there has ever been), so here we go. We’re probably half an hour in and DC has not stopped giggling like a small child since the movie started. But, this is totally understandable. The whole tots plotline absolutely killed me. Tina the pet llama. Who even thought of this. Every line of this movie is so brilliantly awkward and every person is just a caricature of a different kind of weirdo. The color scheme in this movie looks like a mid 1990s fast food restaurant, which makes me REALLY want fast food to fuel my drunchies. Kettle corn will do. (Side note: did you know that Google Drive recognizes “drunchies” as a real word? What a beautiful world we live in.) Napoleon’s “Vote for Pedro” election dance is the best film climax I’ve ever seen. Ok this movie is brilliant. “The people who directed this movie must have been on acid,” DC says, and while that could be true they could have also been drunk off ten-dollar wine.. —DAILY ARTS WRITER
Indifferent? Unenthused? Two unexciting words to parallel my unexcited state at the prospect of revisiting modern films’ favorite awkward friend, Napoleon. The screen lit up and failed to hook my attention. Give it a minute though, and suddenly my seat on the couch seemed a more comfortable place for the next hour and a half. Maybe it was the music in the opening credits, sounding a lot like a prelude to the “Juno” soundtrack, which struck a memory of pleasure. In all, it took me about four minutes to remember why “Napoleon Dynamite” became a legend. The camera lingers for too long in every shot, especially during mundane scenes, which become inexplicably funny. Point in case, Napoleon in a chicken coup, or Napoleon cleaning his glasses. It’s this kind of simple awkwardness that mostly rules comedy now, paving the way for actors like Michael Cera to take stage. A personal favorite scene of mine is Napoleon testing different glasses of milk for deficiencies: “This tastes like the cow got into an onion patch.” Who thinks of that stuff? The same goes for Napoleon’s interactions with Tina, the pet llama. I hate to say that Napoleon Dynamite has a kind of sophisticated irony (that statement has some annoying overtones), but there, I’ve said it. That’s probably why my mom liked it as much as my brother and I did when we watched for the first time, and probably why I laughed more watching it now. Other things to laugh at upon revisiting this gem: Pedro’s eyes don’t move, Uncle Rico selling a plastic bowl, the “medieval warrior” plastic doll head, Napoleon’s delicious sea bass. If nothing else, the dance scene is epic. We should all learn it as a party trick. And on the subject of parties, this one still works sober. — GRACE HAMILTON
MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW
YOUNG MONEY
rappers is still there. Over a stripped down beat with throbbing bass and cryptic chimes, Tyga namedrops Ben & Jerry’s, Nicki stays on her hot streak and ravages the track claiming “I got this shit locked tighter than a bear hug” and Wayne sounds surprisingly energized on the closing verse. Nonetheless, Nicki completely outshines her male counterparts, as she’s been doing for a while now, and Tyga is unable to escape his habit of face-palm
I smoked two bowls of Pineapple Express and played free association. Here it is, edited for length and clarity, but not decorum. “uncle rico, porno, mustache, suitcase, cockyx, bloody steak, see my video, hand on knee, dressing on arm, pedro, romantic, soulmate, happy ending, softcore porno, the sounds of chickens in cages makes my teeth hurt, circle of laugh, run the gauntlet, tooth is itchy, shading on upper lip — that’s what they call it these days, damn my teethy are itchy, hidden devil, suit its incredible, carrying cupcake? phallic symbol, where’s my bathrobe, skinny jonah hill runs down road to get skinnier, who invited the goth girl, Jon Hamm’s dick, napoleon chews tobacco, teeth are itchy, angelica from Rugrats seduces napoleon, napoleon secretary = typewriter, time travel machine looks like a sybian, this whole thing is an elaborate parody of porn parody, the sybian needs crystal, walter white, markers same as beer, looks like he’s chugging donkey semen, my teethy are itchy,nipple inspection is funny in of itself, its gettin’ hot in here, lets cut all our hair, higher, higher, i need to get higher….get the joke? A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs’ Court, one direction wigs, hands touch in popcorn, recess schools out theme music, Jonathan Safran Foer gets bullied, my foot is itchy, mexican standoff, monty python, I wish i had an army man on my VCR, your hair looks good today, i’m lafawnduh, take off those sweaty clothes, you’ve had practice, I don’t believe in soulmates, Monica Lewinsky’s blue dress, napoleon has breasts, she likes fish, fat kid in audience, chimneney changas, mrs. poppins?, he actually has pretty good moves, moon boots.” — DAILY ARTS WRITER
Philomena: Irish Stew, Soda Bread and a Pint of Guinness
STOP THE PRESSES!
In 2009, a still unproven Tyga, a just-about-to-blow Nicki Minaj and a golden age Lil Wayne teamed up for B the bombastic “Roger That,” Senile a highlight from Young Tyga, Nicki Money’s Minaj & Lil compilation album We Are Wayne Young Money. Five years Young Money later, the trio has reunited on “Senile,” the latest single from Young Money’s upcoming Young Money: Rise of an Empire. This time, however, the circumstances are much different. Nicki is a bona fide superstar, Tyga has his own career and Wayne has gone from “Best Rapper Alive” to meme-inspiring absurdity. Despite these changes, the chemistry between the three
Napoleon Dynamite
see while doing so: grass, grass and more grass. Boredom aside, this slice of Americana known as the Great Plains has one culinary trick down pat — a meal of good ol’ meat and potatoes. As these kind folks have already discovered, you can’t go wrong with meatloaf and ketchup, a mash, a green, a grain and full-fat dairy.
high
Dallas Buyers Club: Barbecued Baby Back Ribs, Coleslaw, Baked Beans, Cornbread and Sweet Tea
in this series, three daily arts writers in varying states of mind visit the same place and write about their experiences. this week’s destination:
runk
adies and gentlemen, I am not Ellen DeGeneres (though I was once accused of dressing like her — a compliment, I think?), and I have the backing of no academy. I have never been to Hollywood, the Dolby Theater or, NATE actually, WOOD anywhere west of the Mississippi. I’ve never even met a celebrity (save for a casual sighting of Jerry Springer exiting his limo on a seventh grade field trip to Chicago). And so it is with that unfortunate dose of reality that I present the Oscar musings of a food-obsessed mind: “The Perfect Food Pairings for the 86th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees.” Cue the opening credits.
baked.buzzed.bored.
sober
L
Dishes fit for Best Picture Oscar Nominees
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
worthy choruses. Instead of creating the sound as in years past, Wayne and Co. are now just adapting, and this beat could easily have been given to anyone from Sage the Gemini to E-40. Young Money is in a much different place in 2014 than it was in 2009, and while “Senile” is a fun banger that gives hope to the new compilation’s dreadful looking tracklist, the crew feels suddenly outdated. —JACKSON HOWARD
In his latest music video, “Addicted to You,” Avicii proves that his progressive electronic beats have Atheir due place outside Addicted the club. Stayto Love ing true to Avicii its title, the Universal fourth single off of his debut album, True, confesses a woman’s involvement in an uncontrollably addictive relationship. The video, however, tells a deeper story. In short-film fashion, the video moves through a series of coherent frames that detail the violent lifestyle of a homogenous couple. “Addicted to You” follows the adventures of an outwardly model waitress spellbound by a risky-yet-impassioned relationship with a glamorous
UNIVERSAL
female criminal. It justifies violence and a life of criminality in the face of love, and pitches danger as a complement to passion and romance. But the video also challenges the conventional image of a dominant male responsible for a couple’s lawlessness. Avicii’s musical style has its advantages. While still classifying as a dance track, “Addicted to You” relies little on its bass and more on its drops. The music renders per-
fect climactic plot elements, and the riotous aesthetics of the video perfectly blend with uncredited vocalist Audra Mae’s folk slurs. The video ends tragically, with the couple meeting their demise at the hands of a police squad. The lyrics justify every plot element, and once again, Avicii’s music video cements a tragic, yet convincing story onto his mesmerizing beats. —AMRUTHA SIVAKUMAR
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
the b-side
Thursday, February 27, 2014 — 3B
LETTERS FROM THE EDITOR
Vladimir Nabokov: I’m not actually an asshole
My First
Time
Daily Arts writers pop their proverbial cherries for some of pop culture’s biggest hits.
V
This week’s show:
HOUSE OF CARDS
I
like to think of myself as the princess of the pop culture party. Though I’m unfortunately not a TV-bot capable of watching every show worth a glance, I like to think I’m in the know about the status of most everything airing on TV today. And I’m choosy in the best way — I decide if a show is worth my time with perfectly calibrated algorithm based on my interests (and which friends are begging me to watch it). But we all have blind spot, and mine just happens to be the Netf lix original series “House of Cards.” For whatever reason, I have picked up exactly zero spoilers from Twitter and Facebook and Tumblr, and have only a passing idea of what the show is about. I know Kevin Spacey is in Congress, and he’s a pretty corrupt dude. He addresses the camera and gives his speeches directly into the lens. And his wife is a certified badass. But that’s it. I’ve avoided many a conversation since the new batch of episodes appeared on Netf lix this Valentine’s Day. Nobody can know about my embarrassing misstep in overlooking “House of Cards,” and of course I’m too stubborn to go back and actually watch the show from Chapter One. So here I am, jumping into the show halfway through to try and pick up some good conversation topics and stay relevant to all the cool kids. *looks into the camera* Welcome to Chapter One of my story. We begin with Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey and his TV wife (I assume, anyway) running in stylish black tracksuits. Helicopters blare overhead. I am guessing the helicopters aren’t actually chasing Kevin and his wife, because their jog seems to be pretty leisurely. Then, the longest opening credit sequence I have ever seen. And yes, I have seen “Game of Thrones.” The “House of Cards” credits seem to include every minor crew member, each with his own title card. I watch the minute hand of my watch tick past one minute, one hour, one year. I watch my hair turn grey. Washington, D.C. f lashes across the screen in time lapse. Night scenes. So dramatic. Finally the credits are over and we open on our peppy runners. Kevin Spacey’s character is apparently named Francis Underwood, and his birthday is coming up. But he’s grumpy and doesn’t want any presents. I can’t tell if he’s serious or just saying that to test if his wifey will get him a great gift anyway. Frank and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Robin Wright (I finally recognize her as the wife) enter their dark and impeccably appointed home. Frank stretches, treating the viewers to a qual-
NETFLIX
ity butt shot. I am suddenly 100 percent more interested in this show. Robin Wright’s character is apparently named Claire Underwood. She sassily remarks that she will not allow her husband to smoke, now that he’s going to be the Vice President soon. So I guess he’s not just a member of Congress? At work, Frank talks to his deputy, Jackie Sharp. He suggests to her that she try for the job of majority whip (his former post). She’s skeptical, since the praise seems to be coming from nowhere. I get the impression that Frank doesn’t speak this kindly to most of his coworkers. But he impresses her by giving her the files on her competitors, which he conveniently stores on his computer. Believe it. This guy has files on EVERYONE. But in his meeting with fellow political bigwigs, Frank doesn’t even mention Jackie’s name as a possible candidate for Whip. I’m not sure I trust this guy. He seems to be making promises he can’t keep … not the makings of a very good politician in my book. At this point, I take a break to go grab a handful of cereal from a box under my bed. The one handful quickly turns into what would probably fill a bowl, should I actually bother to use one. I glance over at the screen. Somebody is throwing a deck of cards into a trashcan. A reference to the show’s title? Now, an angry Mrs. Applebaum confronts a poor pregnant mistress at her home. I’m not sure who these people are or how they are relevant, but I’ll just assume that one of the Underwoods is manipulating them or that Mr. Applebaum is a politician. By halfway through the episode, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the plot. Apparently Rachel Posner (the waitress) is the last loose end in some scheme that Frank had concocted in Season One, and everybody wants to take her out. Journalist Zoe (Kate Mara, “Deadfall”) receives some strange texts and replies to them with nifty on-screen popups. She has a boyfriend (?) named Lucas, but she doesn’t seem too interested in spending any time with him or clueing him in on her own schemes. Nobody is helping me out with names, either. I still don’t know what to call Frank’s chief of staff. Rachel Posner is pretty scared when Chief of Staff comes into her home. She holds a knife to him as he claims that she’s in danger. But I’m not convinced he’s here to protect her. Also, nobody has addressed the camera yet or given any sassy speeches. I’m disappointed in you, show. Okay, so now I know why Zoe is relevant. She’s texting Frank, apparently talking about some guy named Russo. He was found dead in the passenger seat. Which begs a few
questions — who is Russo? How did he die? Who was driving the car that killed him? I think Zoe knows the answers to these questions (and probably the answers to a few too many questions). Frank wants her to delete her phone history and erase all evidence of context and a relationship between them. Frank and Claire do some political work in bed (no, actual political work). She talks about trying for a baby, but it’s all diagnostics and results. Something tells me she isn’t really interested in having a baby, either (#PowerCouple #NoTimeForRomance). Frank Underwood is literally eating ribs in the morning. And having a totally chill conversation with a guy about slow bleeding meat and killing without mercy. What a guy! Frank and Zoe are at the train station now, and that whooshing sound definitely doesn’t sound good. Those tense drums aren’t helping, either. Add Frank’s Heisenberg hat and mysterious shades, and … Was Russo in the passenger seat? Frank says he might have been halfway there. He was an alcoholic I guess, and either killed himself or was murdered by someone else. Again, Zoe brings up all the secrets she is definitely not supposed to know. Girl is really setting herself up for an Angry Frank Speech now. Wow. Okay. Bye, Zoe. Frank pushed her in front of a freaking train, because I guess that’s a logical thing to do when someone totally agrees to delete her phone history. I can’t believe that nobody saw and no cameras or security guards or Secret Service people were around to stop it. Apparently the future Vice President can just go wherever he wants and do anything without supervision. Whoever let him go alone definitely hasn’t seen “Homeland.” Frank is totally casual about Zoe’s murder on the news. Nobody suspects anything, except maybe Lucas. He paces around the room angstily. Oh. Frank got a cake for his birthday. And driver-guy got him some sweet cuff links for his gift, even though he specifically asked for no celebration. Oh, Chief of Staff, taking care of his man and threatening poor waitress/call girl Rachel Posner. All in the name of love. Finally, Frank is addressing the camera. Justifying his murder of Zoe, claiming that in D.C., it’s either hunt or be hunted. Close up on Frank’s cuff links, aptly featuring a sassy “F U” design. It’s funny because it’s his initials! And thus, the end of my first experience with “House of Cards.” It was pretty entertaining, and I’m probably going catch up over Spring Break. I’ll just have to pretend like I didn’t just spoil everything for myself. —CHLOE GILKE
ladimir Nabokov, Look here. I’m sitting on the toilet, reading a collection of short stories written by the modern literary “greats” — acclaimed MFA creative writing graduates from the University of Iowa and JOHN Columbia LYNCH that no one has ever heard of outside the self-serving microcosm that produced them — and I’m going to venture to say that the shit I’m currently taking has about as much inventive, exhilarating literary worth as the works of these authors. Now, before you dismiss me as a trash-talking charlatan, read the words that follow and judge me by them alone. You can always count on a naïve, dilated asshole for a fancy prose style. I once believed that it’d be impossible to create a great work of art without some form of enhanced enlightenment; I’m past that now. Presently, I realize that the drug I actually need is whatever natural prescription of Vigorous Life allowed you to write so ecstatically. I need to stop laying on my Tempur-Pedic bed like a depressed worm with no purpose and get up and look at how infinite the sky is and sleep with beautiful women and cry like a baby (preferably separate from sex) and write like the
truly insane person I am. See, I’ve sat in the dreaded writers’ workshop. I’ve felt my eyes wander from the “devastating” piece my classmate wrote about some problematic relationship — his style imitating the same short stories I’m currently debating wiping my ass with — and drift toward the window as I contemplated how I need to take my author headshots before I lose too much hair. Listen, Teach: I’m never gonna kill my darlings. I’m a writer, not a murderer. Oh sagacious Vlad, how your writing has plunged deep into the chasms of my temporal lobe, unlocked that perfect pattern of neurons and allowed me to create without inhibition or worry of repercussion. You are the reason I sit here spewing this spontaneous shit. You are the reason I’ve become possessed by this demon called Confidence into thinking that I can actually become one of the greats. Now look over there: it’s my poor Greek mother reading this article, mouth agape. She’s shaking her head and mumbling about how she’s failed as a parent. She’s joined a faceless Greek Chorus in a back and forth zeibekiko dance and started shouting at me about hubris and humility. Listen, Mommy: Hubris is detestable — of course it is — but it’s most definitely not when my pen is to the pad. If I’m not Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Vonnegut, Kerouac and Nabokov all in one, then I am absolutely nothing.
Of course, there is a chance I might not live up to my lofty ambitions! Of course there’s a chance! But since it’s equally possible that tomorrow I might slip on some good ol’ Michigan ice and instantly become a vegetable, I think I’d rather live in this world of solipsized arrogance and see where it takes me. Now, my word, here comes all the people that hated me in high school to sit me down and slowly coach me through some PowerPoint slides on how much of a douchebag I’ve been historically. “In the grand scheme of things,” they yell at me, “nearly no one in the world is going to read this column — except for maybe a brave psychoanalyst intent on deciphering your madness — just like no one is ever going to read the novel you someday plan to write, you selfabsorbed piece of shit!” Listen, Fuckboys: I say screw any literary world that exists without me in the center of it beaming like the balding, five-foot-eight gift from God that I am, worshiping all of God’s beautiful gifts on Earth and capturing them in prose so that people can laugh and love and make reading & bliss synonymous, before and after my heart stops beating. I hope you know that I’m not going to die with all of these words still in me. Best, A Fellow Lunatic Lynch needs to calm the fuck down. To help, e-mail jplyn@umich.edu.
TRAILER REVIEW Anybody who misses hearing Walter White’s voice spew with its characteristic force will no doubt find good B+ company in the new Godzilla “Godzilla” trailer. Warner Bros. It appears Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”) has returned to subvert government authority once again, but this time as a good samaritan looking to expose a conspiracy. With the grandeur of modern special effects on full display, we see immediately that something has wreaked havoc on human civilization. The government says it’s a natural disaster. Bryan Cranston says it’s not. Guess what it really is? The core piece of wisdom in the new “Godzilla” movie seems to be the words issued
WARNER BROS.
by Ken Watanbe’s (“Inception”) character: “The arrogance of man is thinking that nature is in our control and not the other way around.” In the trailer, the government appears to epitomize this arrogance. Admitting their impotency compared to nature would be unacceptable, so they stage a conspiracy. Except the conspiracy will only deceive the public
for a short while, as the fullfledged, human-hating force of nature that is Godzilla doesn’t care about politics. It will be exciting to see how the filmmakers will reconcile this conflict between humanity and nature, because, if nature truly controls us, how can we expect humanity to win its epic battle with Godzilla? —ZAK WITUS
EPISODE REVIEW For many comedies, season one serves as a way to test different versions of the show and find out what B+ works best. “Brooklyn Brooklyn Nine-Nine” Nine-Nine never really had to do this Tuesdays at because, from 9:30 p.m. the pilot, the FOX writers had a good idea of who the characters were and how to write for them — with the exception of one. This week’s episode made progress with solving that flaw, as well as giving the rest of the ensemble much to do. Since its inception, “Brooklyn” ’s biggest issue has been with Andy Samberg’s character, Jake Parelta, being immature to a fault. It was hard to laugh at his character when he was constantly acting in such a
FOX
deplorable manner each week. This week’s episode proved the writers are working on changing that, with a story about Jake collaborating with Gina (Chelsea Peretti, “Kroll Show”) to save him from being evicted from his apartment. And with his plan to have Gina buy the apartment, Peralta actually made a choice that would not just help himself. This is a huge sign of progress for the character, as the writers
work to tone down his immature tendencies. Elsewhere, “Brooklyn” ’s ensemble continued to click. Watching each of the little subplots, including the precinct’s self-evaluations, were highly amusing. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” still has a major problem to solve, but this episode shows that progress can — and will — be made. —ALEX INTNER
the b-side
4B — Thursday, February 27, 2014
SAFE SEX From Page 1B My first time entering the Safe Sex Store (S3) was on my 18th birthday. A group of other freshmen and I wanted to celebrate my new legality by doing something new and adult, so we stumbled through the glass door and into a wonderland of sexual delight. Rows of brightly colored vibrators in all sizes and shapes saluted us from their plastic stands. Giggling nervously, we ran our hands through a bucket of Magnum condoms, their gold wrappers glinting in the sunlight that poured in from the giant glass windows facing South University. We sheepishly eyed edible underwear. Varying versions of the Kama Sutra lined the bookshelves; they were mysterious to me, packed with secrets that felt forbidden in other places but seemed to proudly sing, “I’m sexy and I know it,” in this particular space. We didn’t stay long that day — beef stroganoff was waiting for us in the dining hall — but I continued to think of S3 as a place of adventure. I hardly returned, but I liked the idea of the store’s presence. It was exciting to be inside; it seemed like a place of silly fun. Whenever I walked by, I cracked a little smile. But S3 is actually much more than an emporium of dildos and flavored condoms. BethAnn Karmeisool, a vibrant woman in her early 40s with a new set of braces and easy passion in her voice, started the store in 1995. It was the tail end of the AIDS crisis, which began in the late 70s and killed hundreds of thousands of people before anyone fully understood how the disease was even spreading. Though hope was slowly approaching people were learning how to prolong the disease’s transition from HIV to full-blown, lethal AIDS with incredibly expensive and often harmful drugs — fear was everywhere. “People were afraid to hug each other. People were afraid to kiss each other,” Karmeisool said, her voice’s bright tone flattening into one of sadness. “20 years ago, when I’d be in a group of people and I’d say ‘What is your number one fear regarding your sexual health?’ They would say, ‘HIV,
contracting HIV.’ People were afraid to die.” Most of the hysteria came from a misunderstanding about the disease. People were getting bad information — many thought AIDS could be contracted from poppers, toilet seats and skin-toskin contact — which led to panic amongst even those who were low risk. At the time, Karmeisool was 23 years old with a job in corporate America. She was making plenty of money; she owned her own house and had two nice cars. But she was stunned that people were still contracting and dying from a disease that they could easily avoid if armed with the right facts. She wanted to help save those innocent lives, so she got involved. Karmeisool’s journey with sexual heath started at The Rainbow Connection, Michigan’s version of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where she worked with AIDS-infected adolescents. Eventually, with a little help from her proud and philanthropic parents, Karmeisool opened S3. Though the sale of adult toys and products are Karmeisool’s means of staying in business, she is adamant that a commitment to promoting sexual health comes first. In fact, under especially difficult circumstances she has gone as far as giving away condoms and products to people who could not afford them. She even went back for her Masters in Public Health after opening S3 to reinforce her commitment to the store’s mission, which was always to provide “consistent and correct information about sexual health, but do it in a way that was open, normalizing sex, reducing stigma and making the store available to all people regardless of age, race, sexual orientation, economic standing, religious values.” It’s crucial to Karmeisool that customers at S3 can ask any employee personal questions without feeling judgment, and get information that will improve their lives. To ensure that this approach to customer service stays consistent, S3’s hiring process is extremely rigorous and selective. According to Karmeisool, each applicant must have previous experience with sexual health and education before they are even considered for a position. Also, because the store’s employees are a close-
knit team, each applicant must be interviewed and approved by everyone who works there. If any worker has a bad feeling about an applicant like if they hesitated on the issues of transgendered people, or other non-normative lifestyles — they’re out; the team has to be certain and unanimous. Once someone proves that they have the right soul and attitude for the job, they have to go through a lengthy training process. This includes attending classes on sexually transmitted diseases, which are administered by the state of Michigan and paid for with the store’s budget. They also undergo intensive training on every product in the store. Billy, a member of Sexperteam who started working at S3 in August, said he had to memorize the details of all the merchandise, from the lubricants’ chemicals to the sizing and types of condoms. “There are five types of condoms, by the way,” Billy said with a smile, showing off the knowledge he worked hard to procure. Karmeisool explained that the process is so intensive because Safe Sex Store has more responsibility to its guests than other merchandise-moving businesses. If a salesperson at the mall convinces someone to buy a hideous shirt, for example, the worst-case scenario would be returning the atrocity or cutting your loses. But at S3, “if somebody makes a bad decision in buying something, or they use it incorrectly and something happens, that could harm their life,” said Karmeisool. “It could alter their path and completely change who they are.” This is why, at this rare type of business where safety and good information come before sales, having a well-informed staff is extremely important. This may be especially true for a place that offers a large range of services like S3 does. In 2010, Safe Sex Store added on-site HIV testing to its list of services. Each Thursday from 2-8pm, a test counselor from HIV/ AIDS Resource Center (HARC) conducts this free, confidential and even anonymous testing in the store’s private back room. All it takes is a finger prick, 15 minutes of your time, and courage to get through the door. As to be expected, S3 does their best to take the edge off of the otherwise nerve-wracking
NICHOLAS WILLIAMS/Daily
Safety is the golden rule.
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NICHOLAS WILLIAMS/Daily
Those Lollicocks look oddly phallic...
and clinical test. You can wait for your results by browsing the store’s collection of vibrators, chatting with one of their charismatic employees, chowing down on an Insomnia Cookie, or getting emotional support from Jake, the therapy dog — a golden retriever/ Labrador mix who can be found lounging in the sun by the front entrance. Mike Wallace, S3’s test counselor from HARC, said the most important asset to this test site is its many other functions. Someone could be coming in on a Thursday for a variety of reasons, from picking up a Valentine’s Day gift to replenishing their supply of Trojan condoms. Those who walk into S3 for an HIV test are hardly noticed by the outside world because the store doesn’t have the same stigma that may come with entering a clinic. When I joked about the HIVtesting being a “covert operation,” Wallace replied, “Yes, it’s covert. But it’s no back door operation.” And he’s right. The store is a fun cover for those being tested, but it is also elegantly professional and supplies support for issues I never would have imagined. While we talked in S3’s small, clean storage room, Karmeisool showed me a hand vibrator that fits onto the wrist and tips of the fingers. Usually, this product is used to increase sexual arousal, but apparently there’s more to it than that. “We have actually sold that to a customer whose daughter has cerebral palsy,” she told me, tapping on the box with a picture of a woman’s beautiful hand draped in white wires. “It’s an awesome way to get vibration to the muscles to try to get them to communicate with the nerves and do massage therapy.” S3 also has women coming in for a variety of gynecological issues. Brittany Batell, the store manager who was recently accepted into a dual masters program with the University’s School of Social Work and School of Public Health, told me more about the health side of the business. “We’ll get referrals from a lot of gynecologists, OBGYNs and sex therapists in the community,” she said, her eyes shining with intelligence and pride. “Women come in here because they have sexual pain so we can hook them up with a better lubricant and a vaginal dilator set.” Both Batell and Karmeisool
explained that it can be hard for women to tell their doctors about their chronic sexual pain. For one, doctors often only have about 15 minutes on average to spend with each patient, so if someone is shy about discussing their sex life, it can be difficult to cut to the chase. Secondly, it isn’t easy to physically point to a problem’s exact source. This is why S3 sells informational books such as Why Sex Hurts, which has the most comprehensive drawing of female genitalia I’ve ever seen, along with tips and exercises for over-coming pain. The Safe Sex Store even has a female social worker on staff to help field questions about sexual issues that may not be physical in nature. This woman is Alexandria Champagne, who recently got her Masters in Social Work from the University where she specialized in sexual and domestic violence counseling. As can be expected from the versatile employees at S3, Champagne’s knowledge is also multi-faceted. Her expertise extends beyond abuse and into the world of playful bondage. She is even releasing a book this March called “Knotty Time! A BDSM Safety Guide, ” which will help newbies explore kink in a fun and secure way. However, despite the good that disseminating all of this sexual health information does, its taboo and sensitive undertones can come with a set of social risks for those who work at S3. Batell and Billy mentioned that every once in a while disrespectful people come in asking inappropriately personal questions about what the employees use on their own time — inebriated sports enthusiasts wandering into the store on game day are the most likely culprits. Billy said that asking aggressive questions about his own experience with toys and condoms goes beyond unprofessional. It is actually a form of sexual harassment, and in the past he has reminded hecklers that he could report their behavior to the authorities if they pushed their luck too far. Batell added that some people just don’t immediately see that working in the Safe Sex Store does not make the employee’s sex lives up for discussion. “I can give you the specs on anything in here,” she said, “but (those questions are) personal.” Karmeisool sometimes runs into similar trouble when she’s in
social settings, like dinner parties where people are programmed to shake a stranger’s hand and instantly ask, “So, what do you do?” It’s not that Karmeisool is embarrassed about her profession; on the contrary, S3 seems to be her dream turned into a reality. It’s just difficult for the average person to see past the sex swings and latex at the front of her business and into the sexual activism and support she performs on a daily basis. “You’re always, always, always having to defend yourself, which is crap,” she said with a nervous laugh. “You know? It really is crap because sex is a part of who we are. We’re all sexual beings.” However, Karmeisool said that she doesn’t let these skeptics get in the way of her mission to help others with their intimate issues. At the same cocktail party, once handshakes are in the past and a few glasses of wine have been poured, near-strangers will often ask her questions about their sex lives. They wonder how to combat their dryness and chronically half-mast members; how to get their husbands to touch them in the spots that make them purr. And Karmeisool answers them — willingly, patiently and without judgment. And this commitment is really what it comes down to — S3 is brave about sex so that we can benefit from their knowledge and be comfortable solving serious sexual problems that would feel unmentionable in any other space. These passionate sex educators don’t let micro-aggressions or cocktail party judgment stop them from disseminating the clear and crucial information that could save people pain, and even save some lives. They will help anyone, no matter their gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religion or how much money they can spend, because they want us all to be happy, healthy sexual beings. Whether their guests are teenagers sheepishly investigating condoms for the first time, college students shopping for cake pans in the shapes of penises, 70 year old couples exploring lubricants, someone concerned about his or her HIV status or pedestrians just coming in to giggle about furry handcuffs, Safe Sex Store is meant to be a venue for open communication, reliable information and unwavering support.
JUST TO BE SAFE...
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