2014-07-31

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PITCHFORK 2014

HOUSING

‘U’ move-in shortened in on-campus safety push

NEWS

Solar car University team wins national title for fifth consecutive year >> SEE PAGE 2

OPINION

Freshmen seen as vulnerable to alcohol consumption trends

Endorsement From the Daily: Support Sally Petersen in Ann Arbor Democratic primary

By SHOHAM GEVA

>> SEE PAGE 4

Managing News Editor KATHERINE PEKALA/Daily

See our coverage of the Pitchfork Musial Festival in Chicago on page 6.

ARTS

Pitchfork 2014 Get the rundown of the artists, food and people at this year’s festivalw >> SEE PAGE 6

SPORTS

Football outlook The Daily’s sports writers travel to Chicago for the Big Ten Media Days >> SEE PAGE 11

INDEX Vol. CXXIV, No. 117 | © 2014 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com

NEWS .................................... 2 OPINION ...............................4 ARTS ......................................6 CLASSIFIEDS.........................8 CROSSWORD........................8 SPORTS..................................9

Thursday, July 31, 2014

ELECTIONS

Dem. mayoral candidates talk University, finances Pre-primary expenses and donations released

By EMMA KERR Daily News Editor

In first time in 14 years without an incumbent running, as the Ann Arbor Democratic mayoral primary approaches on August 5, both the price tag for the race and the stakes for the University are higher than ever.

Campaign finances Among the four Democratic

candidates running for the position — Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1), Sally Petersen (D–Ward 2), Christopher Taylor (D–Ward 3), and Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3)—, an unprecedented pre-primary sum of 154, 847 has been raised in total, not counting other nonmonetary donations of goods and services, according to campaign finance reports released July 25.

Taylor’s campaign was the most costly, raising $75,698. According to campaign finance reports, the bulk of his campaign expenses come from monthly campaign consulting amounting to $20,000 and website expenses of about $2,195, not including the $3,870 he spent on Google and Facebook

promotions.

Some notable donors included several University LSA and Law School professors, as well as University Regent Mark Bernstein (D).

Petersen has taken a more selfreliant route, contributing $11,684 of her own money to the campaign along with $16,000 from family members for a total of $44,495.

She also incurred a few University affiliates’ donations, including several University professors in the Ross School of Business and the Medical School, as well as Jenifer Martin, director of government relations for the School of Public Health. Petersen spent See PRIMARY, Page 3

Freshmen and others students living in the residence halls this coming year will see several changes to move-in this August as part of a University initiative to increase on-campus safety.

Most notably, move-in, which has run over four days in the last week of August in years past, will take place only Aug 28 through 29 this year, with hours extended to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.

Groups that typically move in early will instead be housed temporarily in East Quad until the 26, when they will move in to to their permanent dorms, with the exception of Move-in Makers, who will move immediately into their home buildings. MIMs are a group of students who volunteer to assist with the move-in process.

Wolverine Wellness Director Mary Jo Desprez said the change attempts to address the increased anxiety and vulnerability freshmen often feel on campus in their first few weeks, while still providing the necessary amount of time for first-year students to get accliSee MOVE-IN, Page 2

2 NEWS

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Solar car team wins nat’l title Despite challenges, Quantum carries team for second year of success

By MICHAEL SPAETH Daily Staff Reporter

The University’s Solar Car Team won its fifth consecutive national title in the American Solar Challenge, continuing a legacy of first place victories in the competition.

The eight-day, 1,700-mile race began July 21 in Austin, Texas. The 23 teams of college students raced across seven states before crossing the finish line in Minneapolis, Minn. on July 28. The race is held every other year.

This year, the University’s team entered a three-wheeled car called Quantum, which led the team to a first-place finish in the 2012 American Solar Challenge and a third place finish in the 2011 World Solar Challenge in Australia.

However, the team had to over-

come several setbacks to win the American Solar Challenge this year.

During a practice run just days before the race began, the car ran over a pothole, causing a suspension component to break off of the chassis. The team considered whether they would have to use an older car in the race, but engineers at Roush, one of the team’s sponsors, helped the team quickly repair the damage.

Engineering junior Pavan Naik, project manager for the team, said even though the break was a big setback, it helped bring the team closer together.

“In the end, through all these failures, we were able to bond together as a team and work together to potentially win the American Solar Challenge,” Naik said.

The team encountered another challenge at the beginning of the competition when the motor did not function properly, causing the team to drop from first place to sixth place in the first few minutes See SOLAR, Page 3

MOVE-IN From Page 1 mated to campus, a problem she added wasn’t unique to the University.

“I think every college campus is trying to find the sweet spot,” she said. “What is the time necessary for people to come in and sort of get settled, and not have so much time that that anxiety of ‘who should I talk to, ‘where should I go’, doesn’t sort of fester?”

When it comes to on-campus safety, Desprez said while new students at the University arrive with many different relationships to alcohol — some never plan to drink, some already do drink, and others have already experienced damaging effects from consumption — that anxiety and vulnerability can lead to heightened drinking incidents.

“One of the things that can happen is if they’re not careful, they can believe the hype,” she said. “ Beer commercials sort of make it sound like beer is sort of like lighter fluid, if you just add it to it everything’s hotter, better, faster, quicker. And if you’re not careful, and you have increased anxiety, you can believe that.”

The University will monitor several metrics, including the number of people transported to the hospital in emergency vehicles, to determine the success of the program.

“Do I think that condensing move-in is going to solve all our problems?” Desprez said. “No way. Because the problems are so different along the continuum. But could it help us reduce a vulnerability spot for those early few weeks? I sure hope so.”

University Housing spokesman Peter Logan said the endeavor was an important one for the University and Housing was pleased to be able to support it.

“Housing did not have any particular motivations beyond the larger University desire to try a schedule that that would promote, perhaps, safer behavior and still provide a nice, open welcome week for the incoming students,” he said.

In terms of logistics, Amir Baghdadchi, University Hous-

ing’s assistant communications director, said for the first time this year, Housing is offering students time slots to sign up for when they’ll move in, in an attempt to reduce potential congestion.

“What this allows us to do is it allows us to limit the number of people who are coming, trying to get in at the same time,” he said.

“So we can ensure that Thursday, at 9 a.m. at Markley, we know that there are this many cars coming so we’ll have help there, and spots for the cars to stop and unload.”

The University has implemented several other programs over the past few years to address the issue of alcohol consumption on campus with incoming students, most notably an education program freshmen take before they arrive on campus, titled AlcoholEdu, which was implemented in 2010. University-sponsored events such as a late-night trip to Meijers with raffles and other events, resident adviser-planned activities and programs like Artscapades also take place during the break between move-in and classes as sober alternatives.

Desprez said this year’s change in move-in was spurred mostly by a new focus on four areas of collective impact for the University, including health and wellness, championed by the office of student life and E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life.

In the coming year, she said overall University’s efforts around alcohol consumption will also undergo a change, shifting more towards a message of holistic wellness, as well as an emphasis on collaboration between groups like Greek Life, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, Wolverine Wellness and Rec Sports on campus wide issues surrounding alcohol use.

“A lot of times we talk to students about what not to do, or don’t do this or it could hurt you, and all that kind of stuff,” Desprez said. “The other thing that you’ll hear coming out this year is really sort of a wellness frame. Not not what to do, don’t do, but these are all the ways that you can achieve your full potential.”

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Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

CITY

A increases push for sustainability 2

City moves to next phase of threeyear rental energy efficiency project

By MATT JACKONEN Daily Staff Reporter

This summer and fall, Ann Arbor is stepping up its sustainability efforts.

City officials have recently commenced a survey designed to improve energy efficiency among rental properties, many of which students hold leases to, over the course of the next few years. The effort is part of a three-year project spurred by the city’s receipt of a grant in the beginning of 2012 with the goal to increase energy efficiency in existing rental houses.

The project places the city in a partnership with 14 other cities, led by Bloomington, Ind. across the country known as Rent Rocket. Rent Rocket’s goal is to crowdsource energy data to create more efficient housing.

Through the survey, Ann Arbor renters are being encouraged to share their energy bills on the city’s website. Based on the costs and energy usage in accordance with the property size, project members will then gauge the efficiency of rental properties.

Jamie Kidwell, an Ann Arbor sustainability associate, said one of the hurdles in the city’s research is gaining an accurate overview of the city’s rental properties, which is why the city is asking those responding to the survey to directly upload their electricity bills from DTE Energy.

“The accuracy of getting data on utilities through a simple survey is very difficult, and that’s one of the reasons we’re trying to do the direct upload,” Kidwell said. “That

way we will at least have a lot of historical data that we know is accurate.”

Kidwell said the survey has yielded about 30 responses in the past month, with reported costs that were “all across the board”.

While the survey officially was opened in late June, there will be another period in which renters can respond to the survey early this fall, through September and October.

Kidwell noted that due to many students currently being away from the city for the summer, the data that has been collected so far has been scant, but they hope to get at least over 100 responses by the end of the fall round of data collection.

“It’s a tough time of the year to gather data given that a large portion of our renters are student renters,” she said.

However, she said the team will publicize the project heavily this fall, and will use avenues such as the Earthfest, postering and making announcements in University classes, with the hope of getting more input from students.

The project’s goal is to result in both energy-efficient improvements to existing properties as well as an expansion of education for renters within the city about the efficiency ratings of certain properties.

Kidwell said one of the ways of educating renters, if feasible, will be in the form of a mobile application and website that will essentially provide potential renters with information on the energy efficiency of rental properties.

“If we could plot the energy efficiency on a map when you’re looking for your rental housing, you could see the historical energy use, that might lead you to pick a more energy efficient house,” Kidwell said.

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PRIMARY From Page 1 about $5,886 on campaign consulting, $1,288 on Facebook and Google promotions, and thousands on local advertising, including $2,414 for advertising from MLive and other media groups.

“That was intentional, we decided at the get-go that we were going to fund this about 50%,” Petersen said. “We didn’t hire a professional staff to work day by day like other candidates, we relied on a small group of volunteers who work full time. It’s been a lot of time focused on the messaging. My time is more important, rather than doing the fundraising, spent with the voters.”

Briere raised about $26,680, $1,000 of which was from a family member, and the rest of which was from various property companies, University affiliates from LSA and other community members. Notable donors include Sava Lelcaj, owner of local restaurants Sava’s and Aventura and Dennis Dahlmann, owner of Dahlmann Properties in Ann Arbor.

Kunselman raised $7,474, most of which was from fellow city council members and other local community donors.

“You have candidates that are raising lots of money from the

SOLAR From Page 2 of the race. However, by the time they reached the first checkpoint, they were back in first place and held the lead for the remainder of the race.

“It’s not hard to build a very aerodynamic and very efficient solar car,” he said. “It’s very hard to build a very successful team.

And thankfully, we’ve had 25 years of experience building a very successful team, and I think that’s what sets us apart from any of our competition in the United States and in the world.”

Business junior Mikhail Gorelik, a member of the team’s business division, said organization, efficiency and speed also set the team apart from its competitors.

“Some of the other teams, they would be coming out and they would be walking towards their array and they might not be rushing as much, whereas I’ve had some people tell me that you guys ran out to that car so fast, I thought it was on fire,” he said.

wealthy, and I think it is hypocritical for someone to raise a lot of money for a campaign to win an election while promising to provide for government subsidies and affordable housing, it just doesn’t add up,” he said of the reports.

Relationship with the University Though the August primaries occur a few weeks before most students return to campus, and typically, student votes in the primaries are low, along with finances the University’s relationship with the city has also been a major theme leading up to it.

Candidates are quick to admit the importance of a positive relationship between the University’s president and Ann Arbor’s next mayor, but University representative Rick Fitzgerald said the future for University and city relations is still up in the air, especially as President Schlissel enters the first year of his presidency.

“I don’t anticipate a dramatic shift, but at this point, he is still getting to know the campus and the Ann Arbor community, and Ann Arbor will have a new mayor, so we will have to wait and see exactly how that takes shape,” Fitzgerald said.

When it comes to the city’s posi-

“So it was just everybody knowing that as soon as the car stops here, my job is to sprint to it and do this, and just having that ready to go was, I think, what gave us a large advantage on the competition.”

Engineering senior Ian Larson, who serves as the team’s crew chief, said this victory is particularly exciting because the team was able to overcome its ninth place finish in the 2013 World

NEWS 3

tion, land ownership is the name of the game, an issue that has often left the University and city at opposites with each other on major purchases. Whenever the University purchases a property, it is removed from the city’s tax rolls.

Though all of the Democratic candidates have some history with the University, be it Taylor’s four degrees from the University or Kunselman’s ten years as the University’s Environmental Conservation Liaison, none see exactly eye-to-eye or necessarily have a clear solution when it comes to diffusing University-city tensions.

In January, Taylor said the possibility of requesting a payment in lieu of taxes from the University was both appropriate and reasonable, but all of the candidates for mayor seem to be singing the same tune on the possibility of voluntary payments to the city.

“As much as I would like a payment in lieu of taxes, no, that is not something I would bring to the table at this point,” Taylor said.

Petersen said that any conversation of a voluntary payment from the University to the city would negatively affect the city’s relationship with the University.

Read the rest of this article at MichiganDaily.com

Solar Challenge and multiple setbacks before and during this year’s race.

“That, I think, showed to everyone, both at home and abroad, that the University of Michigan Solar Car Team is going to be back in 2015 and we’re going to be doing everything we can to finally win the World Solar Challenge,” Larson said.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Engineering senior Ian Larson shines the team’s first place trophy next to their car, Quantum, at the Wilson Center Wednesday.

4 OPINION

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

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

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

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

I am committed to finding avenues for shared interests with University of Michigan leadership and I believe economic growth is one of them.”

— Ann Arbor Democratic mayoral candidate Sally Petersen on city relations with the University.

FROM THE DAILY

Vote Petersen for Democratic Mayoral Primary The editorial board endorses Sally Petersen due to her vocal support about improving relations with the University

T

he Ann Arbor Democratic Primary election for the Democratic mayoral candidate will be held Tuesday, Aug. 5. Currently, there are four candidates running for the Democratic spot on November’s ballot: Councilmembers Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1), Sally Hart Petersen (D–Ward 2), Christopher Taylor (D–Ward 3) and Stephen Kunselman (D–Ward 3). The winner of next week’s primary will face independent candidate Bryan Kelly Nov. 4 in the election for city mayor, where a democratic candidate — John Hieftje — has won the election for the past seven terms. While many University students pay little attention to city politics, the upcoming mayoral election is important for everyone residing in Ann Arbor whether they live here permanently or temporarily, like many students.

Each of the four Democratic Primary candidates have served on the Ann Arbor City Council, ranging from two to seven years.

Similarly, current mayor John Hieftje supports each of the candidates to varying degrees.

Sabra Briere has been active in the Ann Arbor community for more than thirty years and has served on City Council since 2007. Briere’s platform emphasizes general improvements to the city. She also supports increased inclusivity, and creating stronger transparency between residents and city officials. Incorporating inclusivity isn’t a surprise for Briere, a candidate well known for listening to residents’ issues within the city.

While open communication is desirable, her communication skills haven’t efficiently translated into

fruitful solutions to issues. Briere hasn’t provided tangible solutions for improving unity between the University and the city.

Furthermore, The Michigan Daily noted in 2009 that her housing viewpoints differ from the notion that students need more affordable housing. While Briere stresses her listening skills, she hasn’t always listened to student needs.

Stephen Kunselman has been a big proponent for off-campus student housing by promoting increased options and decreased costs. He also wants increased public safety by adding more police officers to the Ann Arbor Police Department. Being an Ann Arbor native and a University alumni, he has a strong understanding of both the city and the University.

However, Kunselman has stated

that he sees no distinction between students and Ann Arbor residents.

While this statement is likely an effort to reflect neutrality, it instead indicates that Kunselman fails to see the difference between students and residents, despite the reality that both groups have different needs.

Christopher Taylor has provided consistency in increasing transportation for all city residents by being the only candidate to give support for the expansion of Ann Arbor Transit Authority bus lines.

He has been a strong advocate for creating methods to keep University graduates living and working in Ann Arbor. Taylor, along with Peterson, believes reaching out to the student population about their needs falls on the responsibility of the city rather than students.

Unfortunately, Taylor, like Briere, has no solid plan for improving relations between the Ann Arbor and the University.

Graduating with a Harvard business degree, Sally Hart Petersen emphasizes solutions to problems by viewing them with an economic frame. She’s emphasized more affordable housing, and one of her biggest concerns is improving the city’s revenue problem. She’s also opposed policies hurting the University, like a University payment outside of taxation bounds.

Instead, Petersen emphasizes creating more open communication between the University and the city to discuss important issues.

While Petersen’s economic focus is oftentimes beneficial, prioritizing the city’s finances can sometimes be cause for concern. She voted

against fossil fuel divestment due to its negative influence on citizen’s pensions, suggesting the city invest in green energy instead. While this vote reaps economic benefits, it subsequently brings to light other concerns. Petersen also has the least experience out of all the candidates, finishing her second term on City Council in November, but, if elected, will have twice the experience of current mayor John Hieftje when he was elected.

This year, The Michigan Daily’s editorial board endorses SALLY HART PETERSEN for the Ann Arbor Mayoral Democratic Primary. Given the intricate balance between the University and the city, Petersen prioritizing Ann Arbor’s finances proves an effective bridge to unify both forces acting on the town.

Interested in talking about your opinions and then subsequently having them shut down?

Join The Michigan Daily’s opinion staff for the Fall 2014 semester. Email tothedaily@umich.edu for more info.

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Learning to say ‘bye’

M

y standard answer for telling people how this summer went has become, “It’s just as important to learn what you don’t like as learning what you do like.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve certainly HARLEEN had positive KAUR experiences in D.C. My internship on the Hill has given me more insights into federal work than I could have imagined. I met new and wonderful people, and I learned how to brave the 80 to 90 percent humidity and 90 degree weather while walking 40 minutes to work in business professional attire. All incredibly important in my opinion.

However, it still left something to be desired. Last summer, I had an internship and living experience that would be my dream to recreate as my post-graduation plans. I loved every second of it and was incredibly disappointed when the last day finally came, sending me away from New York and back to Ann Arbor. This year, with a countdown going since the day I got here, I worry that I may have blocked my own ability to have a good time with my excitement for senior year and things to come.

But as I prepare to leave D.C. and return to Ann Arbor for the fourth, and final, time, I do know that this summer has been an important one.

Leaving junior year, I felt burnt out, overwhelmed and uncertain.

I knew that I had bitten off way more than I could chew. So much so that my boss told me that if I didn’t return in the fall with a significant decrease in my level of involvement in extracurricular activities, we would have to have a more serious conversation about it. I spent this summer reflecting, making lists, choosing and unchoosing. How does one decide which love is greater than another? With one or two exceptions, I have never quit something before out of choice.

Even in high school, I only really “quit” because I graduated. In college, it had happened because of inevitable conflicts or things out of my control. But to willingly leave an extra-curricular? I was baffled.

I’ve never really liked to say that I’m “moving on to bigger and better things.” In the back of my mind, it

always felt like I was saying that the things I was leaving were just stepping stones, nothing more. For me, all my involvements are more like a journey than a staircase.

I may come back to something, I may realize how much I enjoy an activity and find another way to pursue it or I could learn that I don’t like something at all.

However, regardless of which result it is, each is just as valuable of a learning experience. No matter what it may be, each job, internship, extracurricular or class that I have pursued has made me who I am and has shaped my aspirations in life.

Some have made things more clear while others have confused me more than I was before I started.

And yet, each is valuable. Each is significant.

However, it’s still important to know when to let go. Just because something is good for you, doesn’t mean that it always will be, or that it will be the best possible option at that time. In part, that’s why I’ve decided that this will be my last article for The Daily. Though I’ve loved the conversations I’ve been able to have and the people I’ve been able to meet because of my time as a columnist, I also recognize that my intentions I had when I joined have been fulfilled.

Though journalistic writing may certainly be something I return to later in life, I have realized my need to spend more time on other ventures and pursue those avenues, as well, to see how fruitful they may be.

As senior year approaches (quicker than I’d like), I’m hoping that most of my goodbyes will actually be see-you-soons, and though it will be hard to not live down the hall from my closest friends or be able to see familiar faces in the dining hall, in lecture, or on the Diag, I know that the friends I made here will be some for the ages. My four years at Michigan will always be some of my greatest, but I know that they will also lead me to new and great adventures for the rest of my life. Saying goodbye is hard, but saying hello to something else can make it a little easier. In the end, I know I’m not replacing my experiences and relationships that I made in Ann Arbor, but actually adding to them.

And so, for today goodbye, for tomorrow good luck and forever go blue!

— Harleen Kaur can be reached at harleen@umich.edu.

N

ormally I feel compelled to write, often jumbling my prose as I decide how to focus my arguments regarding a topic I find complex and interesting.

The problem I normally JAMES find myself BRENNAN having is too much to say or too many topics I feel driven to comment on. This week, I’m at a loss.

I’ve gone over my notes labeled “Potential Column Ideas”, scoured my favorite newspapers and magazines in search of ideas, and listened to a half dozen TED talks. I can’t come up with any ideas that I consider legitimately creative and dismiss commenting on current events for lack of passion.

The last three years have been leading to this.

While I’ve felt the rest of my life coming apart — my mood, my motivation, my school work — I’ve still been able to write. But now, it’s all come to a head. I have been so emotionally drained and numbed that I can’t even do one of the few things that give my life purpose and enjoyment.

In my search for a topic, I began reading through The National Society of Newspaper Columnists’s 15 greatest columns of all time. These were all crafted by outstanding writers, no doubt, but the core of greatness that each of these pieces holds comes from experience. It comes from life; most often, life that the writer has actually lived rather than read about. The last four months — especially the last two — I have lived very little life.

I attribute most of this loss in my humanity to the intensive language classes I’ve been enrolled in, spending 8 to 10 hours a day, four days a week, learning and studying a language I have no interest in. This is a scenario

The fall I no doubt brought on myself, having spent three years putting off my language requirement — a requirement for graduation that I have concluded to be an unjust, personal attack crafted by the administration solely to make my life harder. Outside of class, the majority of my time has been spent writing a pair of longform essays, watching every episode of “Louie” on Netflix and reading news. I’ve had the occasional night out drinking or cup of coffee with friends, but the overwhelming majority of my time has been spent either in a classroom or alone. While class time is required, the loneliness has been a deliberate choice caused by apathy and anxiety.

A few weeks ago, it seemed like the entire world began to implode. Destruction continued its horrific march of death through Iraq while Detroit ordered water shutoffs to neighborhoods. Gaza exploded into war, with an equally bitter battle being fought in the opinion sections of every major news organization. New York Police Department officers were caught on video killing Eric Garner and another lethal injection was botched. In my solitary existence, my gaze was glued to the outpour of horrendous terror refreshing itself on my Twitter feed. If I wasn’t reading about the world’s great tragedies, I was usually alone thinking of them anyway.

I’ve always prided myself on the fact that I care more deeply about “meaningful stuff” (politics, helping poor people, important books, etc.) than frivolous “meaningless stuff” (sports, partying, girls, etc.). It gives me satisfaction that I’m so deeply invested in issues to spend hours stressing over and contemplating current events as if they were personal problems.

However, this obsession with the “meaningful” has led me to abandon everything that makes me human.

It has been well over a year since my last semi-meaningful

OPINION 5

romantic relationship, one that ended too quickly, with too little explanation and too much scathing pain. The year prior, I had experienced crushing heartbreak from girl I loved and considered my best friend. Two years earlier, I began the worst grief of my life when my father died — grief that is still largely unsettled.

As I’ve spent my college years pushing these emotional burdens aside, trying to use them to fuel my work ethic and commitment to “meaningful” endeavors, I’ve isolated myself from one of the only ways to cure my pain: other people.

While I’ve made friends over the past year and seen girls here and there, I’ve closed myself off almost completely at any signs of love — romantic or platonic. I fear getting hurt again so much that I refuse to ever create a situation where hurt is even possible for me. I’ve abandoned pursuing potential relationships and alienated friends, generating excuses to avoid the dangers of attachment.

It all backfired.

Instead of a dignified and solitary commitment to “meaningful” things, I’ve become completely empty, numbing myself with politics and anger. I’m constantly sad, troubled to remember the last day where I felt truly happy.

As I’ve thrown myself into my classes this summer, I’ve watched the last slivers of my humanity start to disappear, becoming increasingly isolated, unhappy and, now, barely able to write.

As Joan Didion once said, “The element of discovery takes place, in nonfiction, not during the writing but during the research.”

The only research, and hence the only discovery, I have done as of late is in loneliness.

By my first column in the fall, I hope for that to change.

— James Brennan can be reached at jmbthree@umich.edu.

Love watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart? Check out their feature on the Michigan Daily originally aired Wednesday, July 30 on Comedy Central to witness awesomness at work.

6 ARTS

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FESTIVAL REPORT

PITCHFORK 2014 Indie’s most influential tastemakers put on Chicago bash

By JOHN LYNCH Managing Arts Editor

Before I heard any band play at Pitchfork Music Festival 2014, I took one lap around Chicago’s Union Park and already knew that I was in for a weekend of bizarre sights, sounds and tastes.

Lining the boundaries of the festival grounds were countless food options — stands giving out free Twinkies, next to stands giving out free goat milk ice cream bars, next to stands selling Philly Cheesesteaks for nine dollars. There were grown men and women walking around holding pink tickets (Pitchfork’s currency for alcoholic beverages), looking like children at the prize counter of a Chuck-E-Cheese. There

was a typewriter next to a board called Missed Connections, where romantic festival-goers had begun to advertise their anonymous affection for one another, typing up and posting sweet messages such as “dear friend, i am gypsy that likes to get wild in the back of the church van. now listen close, I have euros. i will trade them for a good roll in the hay. xoxo, sonia the lioness.”

And, of course, there was the music and everything that came with it: 3 stages, 43 acts, one jampacked Union Park and countless moments of crowd-induced claustrophobia.

Saturday began with a performance from Twin Peaks, a young Chicago band whose lead singer was wheelchair-bound with a cast on his leg and whose music sounded like a distant cousin of Elvis Costello circa My Aim Is True. Halfway through the set, the band’s bassist acknowledged a fan-made sign that said “Thank You, BasedGod” — marking the first of many appearances by the

physically absent, yet somehow ever-present Lil B. Later, Pusha T showed up 35 minutes late to his set, of course prompting the crowd to chant “We want BasedGod” repeatedly while they waited. Unfazed, Pusha came on stage and ran through a 15 minute-long slew of featured verses from Kanye West songs and tracks from My Name Is My Name, boasting “Greatest rapper alive, I know who’s living!” and signing off by shouting “BasedGod my dick!”

I saw St. Vincent do her best impression of an android rock star before leaving early to check out FKA Twigs, a rising enigmatic R&B star, who slithered around the stage and told the crowd, “I didn’t go to university, so I’m in the university of life.”

The most notable performances of the day, however, were Detroit rapper Danny Brown, who showed up on time and really got the crowd moving (re: moshing) with energetic tracks from his most recent album, “Old,” and

Neutral Milk Hotel. Jeff Magnum’s still-crisp and powerful voice led the band as they closed off the night by playing almost all of “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea,” and since they had requested that there be no recording of any kind during the set, the jumbotrons next to the stage were black and all I could see was a mostly bearded band that looked eerily like the cast of Duck Dynasty, but nonetheless, I was quite content.

On Sunday, I realized that I could use my press pass to get into the pit for the first three songs of each act, so I used this to my advantage and got close-up to Deafheaven, a shoe-gazey metal band that shifted between subtle instrumental lulls and screaming, thundering breakdowns from their seemingly demonic lead singer.

The highlight of the day, and probably the festival, for me was Earl Sweatshirt, who had previously stated that he was canceling all of his summer festivals due to mental health reasons, but nonetheless showed up and provided

Pitchfork with some much needed comic relief. In addition to being perhaps the best performing rapper at the festival, he was also the most entertaining. Earl came out to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” attempted to get a reaction out of a dude with a “dress shirt and aviators” that he insisted on calling “Brent,” and questioned the crowd about whether or not Chicago had a weird historic meat district.

The festival closed out with Kendrick Lamar, who I have now seen four times and continue to be incredibly disappointed by. His live band was fantastic, but he still struggled to command the crowd, forcing us to repeat the words of his choruses until every last person became disinterested. I had tried to get into the pit again for the first three songs and somehow got escorted to the area behind the stage, where I ran into Young Chop, a famous Chicago producer, and then proceeded to cap my weekend at Pitchfork off with a celebratory free Twinkie.

KATHERINE PEKALA/Daily

LEFT: Detroit-based rapper Danny Brown perfoms on Saturday, July 19th at Pitchfork Music Festival 2014. RIGHT: Festivalgoers relax at Chicago’s Union Park, where the festival was held.

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ARTS 7

FILM REVIEW

Bittersweet final performance ‘A Most Wanted Man’ features everything that made Hoffman great

By AKSHAY SETH Managing Arts Editor

The worst part about sitting through Philip Seymour Hoffman’s last major performance is how quickly one realizes that the Agenius actor was at the peak of his A Most career in those final months Wanted leading up to his Man death. Playing aging German Lionsgate spymaster Gun- State Theatre, ther Bachmann, Rave and he tackles the Quality 16 role with the familiar, grim insight we’ve come to expect.

He stares off in pensive thought.

He drags away on cigarette after cigarette, mutters a terse “good” to convey any sense of approval, and when the time finally comes, uses that bulking frame to prop up those moments of outraged physicality — a physicality which so often transforms his portrayals into such memorable tests of strength.

What’s uniquely apparent from

Anton Corbijn’s “A Most Wanted Man” is the way it can be viewed as a darker carbon copy of the kind of characters Hoffman has been bringing to life his entire career. Gunther Bachmann is a tortured man. Partly because of the horrors he has witnessed in his tenure as an intelligence officer in the post-9/11 West, but mostly because he’s acutely aware he represents a fading way of doing business, an idealism that’s no longer permissible in a world of suicide bombers and electronic espionage. So it becomes clear minutes after Isaa Karpov, a halfRussian, half-Chechen Muslim with past ties to terrorist organizations, shows up on the streets of urban Hamburg that things won’t end well for anyone involved.

But Bachmann doesn’t turn away. Karpov, the only son of a dead Russian crime lord, has arrived in Germany to claim a 10 million Euro inheritance left in his name. To get here, he’s had to escape Turkish and then Russian prisons, both places where he faced brutal torture for his involvement with extremist religious sects, the specific natures of which are left unexplained.

The first people he reaches out to are an innocent family living in a quiet Muslim neighborhood that in turn makes further contact with a young lawyer (Rachel McAdams, “Sherlock Holmes”) who then tries to help Karpov

secure his wealth with the help of a shady banker (Willem Dafoe, “Out of the Furnace”).

Here, Bachmann steps in with his team of black ops officers tasked with singling out and eliminating possible threats akin to Mohammed Atta, an al-Qaida affiliate who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks from the safety of Hamburg. The veteran German spy eventually hopes to use Karpov’s wealth to draw out a terrorist financing cell headed by an outwardly moderate Muslim intellectual, though his team’s efforts are closely monitored a group of American officials. This melange of departmental politics and its diluted arguments about jurisdiction serve to inflate the ultimate question we’re meant to consider: is all the planning, chasing Corbijn uses to tighten his thriller at all significant in the grander scheme of things? Are Bachmann’s labored efforts, further emphasized through Hoffman’s labored, brooding performance, at all relevant?

As Bachmann iterates in a crucial scene, it is all, at the end of the day “to make the world a safer place. Whatever that takes.” The real answer, of course, is much simpler. The Americans always win. In the film’s powerhouse final act, Hoffman again uses those that outraged physicality to convey helpless rage. It’s an empty, hollow scream of anger

LIONSGATE

Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Gunther Bachman

more human than the trails of icy formalism flowing through the rest of the movie, and above all, a reminder why the late actor will always be remembered as a man who only opted for roles which pushed him to explore new depths through the darkest of characters.

Like many of the other people Hoffman brought to life, Gunther Bachmann’s only real flaw is that he’s naive enough to think the world is willing to accommodate his desires. In “Capote” and “Boo-

gie Nights,” it was unattainable love. In “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” it was the freedom wealth and power can afford. In “25th Hour,” it was sex. In “A Most Wanted Man,” it’s some sort of confirmation that what he’s doing will have weight in the world.

And it does — the man Bachmann seeks is wanted, hunted by his peers. But the cruel irony, and this film’s brilliance, is in realizing it’s for the wrong reasons, always for the wrong reasons.

ALBUM REVIEW

Shabazz Palaces’ stellar ‘Lese Majesty’

New Hip-Hop album brings an exciting, unique sound

By ADAM DEPOLLO Online Arts Editor

After the 1995 dissolution of the innovative alternative hiphop group Digable Planets, Ishmael Butler, known as ‘Butterfly’ in the trio, largely disappeared from the music industry until his triumphant return as the leader of the Seattle-based outfit Shabazz Palaces in 2009. As a member of

Digable Planets, Butler helped A open Hip Hop up to a whole new Lese realm of sonic possibilities by Majesty fusing jazz and Shabazz rap into a style Palaces that would eventually give rise Sub Pop to a number of influential artists, ranging from J Dilla and Mos Def to Flying Lotus and even Kendrick Lamar.

As leader of Shabazz Palaces, Butler once again took Hip Hop down an entirely new path on

the group’s masterful 2011 debut album Black Up, following a path paved with samples stretched to their breaking point, hauntingly minimalist rhythmic arrangements and echo-laden verses filled with stream-of-consciousness imagery and challenging aphorisms.

Shabazz Palaces’ latest release Lese Majesty — an anglicization of a French term referring to offense given to a royal — retains some of the elements that made Black Up so innovative, but is altogether a different animal.

The new LP opens its first suite, ‘The Phasing Shift,’ with a

slow-building ambient drone on the track “Dawn in Luxor,” leading into an exposition of spaceage metaphysics that would seem perfectly at home in a Sun Ra monologue: “The light hath names, just like the heavens and the stars / Reclaim us to further along the spaceways.” Snatches of cryptic imagery evoke ancient African kingdoms and druginduced ecstasy within the same line. Lustrous melodies reminiscent of Indian ragas float over pounding bass drums and cavernous, droning synthesizers. The beat flows effortlessly into the next song, “Forerunner Foray,”

and you’re carried inexorably along the album’s 18 tracks until you emerge, accompanied by the sound of dripping water, at the end of the closer “Sonic Myth Map For The Trip Back.”

While the production on Lese Majesty — provided by Catherine Harris White of THEESatisfaction, Erik Blood and Thadillac — is consistently stunning, listeners hoping for the sharp imagery and innovative rhyme schemes of Black Up will likely be disappointed by a number of individual tracks on this new release. Butler’s lyrics occasionally become See PALACES, Page 8

8 ARTS

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

PALACES From Page 7

Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Thursday, July 31, 2014

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incomprehensibly abstruse, as on “#CAKE.” His similes on “Solemn Swears” are largely nonsensical, and his vocals throughout the album are often accompanied by so much echo and reverb that they become unintelligible.

But this isn’t an album to be torn apart track by track; more than any other LP I’ve heard this year, Lese Majesty is a cohesive sonic unit that needs to be considered in its entirety to be fully appreciated.

Each of the album’s seven suites features repeated elements — like the airy, bittersweet chords on ‘Touch & Agree’ or the water droplets sprinkled throughout ‘Murkings on the Oxblood Stairway’ — that give each section its own unique character while flowing logically and organically into the next. A sense of brooding, throbbing darkness builds across the whole album as Butler combines hazy Old Testament imagery with futuristic axioms, making the whole project seem like the soundtrack to a space-age Sodom and Gomorrah.

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of Lese Majesty, however, is its systematic subversion of the egocentrism of modern Hip Hop. In a recent interview with NPR, Butler described the album as a “sonic attack on the ‘me-mania’ that’s sweeping over our culture of late,” and in that vein he consistently avoids references to himself. The only time he says “Ishmael” is in a literary allusion to “Moby Dick,” and, like that enigmatic narrator, Butler occasionally fades from the picture entirely. He deliberately makes his lyrics unintelligible by use of heavy reverb and delay while letting the occasional phrase slip through for the listener to interpret for him or herself.

Like Melville’s white whale, then, Lese Majesty is an open text that reflects the mania of its reader. It’s an opportunity to ponder the infinite, to look into the abyss and see what’s staring back. And, like Melville’s novel, Lese Majesty is a masterpiece ahead of its time. Just as he did as a member of Digable Planets, Butler and his collaborators have boldly entered uncharted waters in Hip Hop, both on a sonic and philosophical level, and there’s no one I’d rather have at the helm.

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The Brand: Michigan Stadium not just about football

L

et’s be honest: The International Champions Cup match between Real Madrid and Manchester United at Michigan Stadium is a money grab for the Athletic Department, and it’s a way for Michigan to keep building the brand ALEJANDRO that Dave ZÚÑIGA Brandon so dearly cherishes.

On Saturday, the world’s largest collegiate stadium will welcome legends of the world’s most popular sport. The game will be showcased on national television.

It will likely break an attendance record for a United States-based soccer match.

It’s fútbol, not football, and it’s certainly not part of any longstanding Michigan tradition.

From the Athletic Department’s standpoint, it’s an event whose merit can be justified almost entirely in economic gain.

The International Champions Cup joins rising seat donation requirements, alternate uniforms, and weddings and proms at the Big House as additional means for profit. And for that reason, it has been subject to criticism.

But for those willing to dive into the history books, the event — or any that might follow — isn’t so unusual. Fielding Yost, the mastermind behind Michigan Stadium, built the venue for the enthusiasm it could bring, but also the financial impact it would have on the University.

Profit-based decisions are nothing new.

How’s this for breaking tradition? In 1929, 1930 and 1931, Yost approved doubleheaders at the Big House to boost revenue.

Before Michigan Stadium opened in 1927, the Wolverines competed at Ferry Field. Despite regular bumps in capacity, increasing demand forced the University to turn away thousands of hopeful spectators, leading The Michigan Alumnus, the Alumni Association newsletter to wonder about a replacement.

“We shall soon need a stadium like the one at Harvard,” they wrote in a 1905 editorial.

After Yost became Athletic Director in 1921, he shared plans for a successor to Ferry Field that could act as the permanent home of Michigan football. He imagined that the Athletic Department would profit and that revenue would help create facilities for all University students.

In a 1922 issue of The Michigan Alumnus, Yost wrote that “good years financially have put athletics on a sound basis” for new stadiums elsewhere, and the editors of the publication were enthused about the Athletic Director’s vision.

“We believe in the new University stadium,” they wrote.

“They are designed, in fact, to pay for themselves.”

But the Board of Regents disagreed and rejected Yost’s idea.

A committee appointed by interim President Alfred H. Lloyd in 1925 detailed why University administrators were ambivalent about upgrading the football facilities. Unlike Yost, who thought that athletics taught valuable lessons in character, the committee warned that sports distracted from academics.

“Intercollegiate athletics, notably football, have been so largely developed, that other interests — athletic as well as scholarly — have fallen behind,” they detailed in the “Report on University Athletics” in January 1926. “Intercollegiate athletics appear to have grown out of all proportion to the importance of the purposes which they serve.”

But the five-man committee agreed that Ferry Field was unsatisfactory and unsafe, and urged the commencement of a new stadium.

Yost had his approval but needed funding, so he headed Michigan’s original seat donation program. In exchange for purchasing a $500 bond at 3-percent interest, interested alumni and residents of the state could buy season tickets between the 30-yard lines.

After significant prodding, enough people invested, and in 1927, Michigan Stadium hosted its first game. The Wolverines

finished 3-2 in the Big Ten that year, but Yost boasted publicly about the earnings.

“So far as I can see the dollars of football are providing funds for plant and equipment to all the non-football competitive teams … and also are providing opportunity for all members of the student body,” he wrote in a commentary titled “Football Profits Defended” to the Associated Press on Dec. 9, 1927.

“If this is commercialism in sport — if this is high finance in football — I am glad to be numbered among those who have some part in its development.”

Yost envisioned Michigan Stadium as a necessary solution to a growing sport, but he also understood it as a money-making tool.

In 1930, he implemented in Michigan Stadium the first electronic scoreboard used to keep official time at football games. In the late 1960s, thenAthletic Director Don Canham began slapping the block ‘M’ on merchandise in a successful effort to expand Michigan’s brand. In 2011, the Big House toppled an attendance record, hosting its first official night game.

And in 2014, it will welcome Real Madrid and Manchester United during the International Champions Cup. Yost knew Michigan football and Michigan Stadium would sell, and he used the resulting profits to his advantage. His vision resulted in the Intramural Sports Building (opened in 1928) and the Michigan Golf Course (1931).

More than 50 years later, the Athletic Department will again maximize revenue from Yost’s Big House, this time leveraging International Champions Cup earnings to provide academic scholarships for students and fund improvements to the Wolverines’ soccer facilities.

The rest will help the Athletic Department record a 13th consecutive year with a surplus.

That’s commercialism in sport, and Yost would be proud to have made his contribution.

— Zúñiga can be reached at azs@umich.edu or on Twitter @the_zuniga.

SPORTS 9

WEEKEND R O U NDUP

EUROPEAN POWERS SQUARE OFF AT MICHIGAN STADIUM

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2 AT 4 P.M. LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM $75-189 (GAME ON FOX) Michigan Stadium is set to break another record.

The nation’s largest college-owned stadium already holds records for largest crowd at a hockey game (the 2010 “Big Chill” between Michigan and Michigan State) and largest crowd at a football game (the 2013 game between Michigan and Notre Dame).

Now, Associate Athletic Director Dave Ablauf expects Saturday’s sold-out International Champions Cup match between Manchester United and Real Madrid to break the record for fans at a soccer game in the United States.

But the hype surrounding the event could be matched by the game itself. Manchester United and Real Madrid, two of the world’s top soccer clubs, will wrap up pool play Saturday. Real Madrid has already been eliminated with losses to Inter Milan and AS Roma, while Manchester United sits atop Pool A. Manchester United can advance to Monday’s championship match with either a win or tie against Real Madrid or a tie between AS Roma and Inter Milan.

Less than a month removed from the spectacle of the World Cup, all eyes will be on Ann Arbor.

Real Madrid and Manchester United will hold open training sessions at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Friday, respectively. Tickets to the sessions are available to the public for $35. The Ann Arbor Convention and Visitors Bureau will also host a welcome celebration from 3-11 p.m. Friday in downtown Ann Arbor. The kickoff includes live music from 3-11 p.m. at Main Street and Washington Avenue and from 5:30-11:30 at Ashley Street and Liberty Street.

BY JAKE LOURIM

10 SPORTS

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Catching up with Amanda Chidester

By KELLY HALL Daily Sports Writer

In Brighton, Michigan, a 2012 University alumna helps young girls hone their softball skills when she’s not off winning the World Cup of Softball. For former Michigan softball player Amanda Chidester, the future of the USA Softball Women’s National Team is bright, and the game of softball is a lifelong passion.

This summer is Chidester’s third straight with Team USA, and she has learned a great deal about being both a teacher and a teammate since graduation.

In her spare time, she also holds local softball clinics in her hometown of Allen Park, Michigan, but right now, she’s with the national team. Team USA won the World Cup of Softball on July 13 in Irvine, California, but is currently preparing for the most important competition of the summer — the World Championships in the Netherlands starting Aug. 15.

Though Chidester was never able to play for the U. S. in the Olympics (the International Olympic Committee cut baseball and softball from the Games in 2012), she believes that she’ll be playing in the 2020 Olympics.

And who knows? Maybe some of her students will be as well.

Chidester spoke with the Daily recently to discuss her time with Team USA, her outlook on the future of softball and the constant support she receives from the Michigan softball community and coaches.

The Michigan Daily: What has changed for you since you

TERRA MOLENGRAFF/Daily

Amanda Chidester was a two-time All-American at Michigan and is now in her third summer of playing for Team USA.

were first on Team USA in 2012?

Amanda Chidester: I was out of college so I, myself, changed a lot. For me, I love softball, so I decided to continue with softball. Being a part of representing Team USA was huge, but coming from the University of Michigan helped me too. All of the opportunities I was given through Team USA and the University of Michigan have been awesome.

TMD: Have any of Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins’ mantras really stuck with you and helped you during your time with Team USA? AC: Oh yeah, there are so many. “Leave the place better than you found it” is a huge one

for me. She says that one a lot, and everywhere I go, I want to leave a mark and be an important part of whatever it is that I’m doing.

Never settle for anything less than your best and give it your all. One hundred percent effort.

That’s something I carry with me with my work, with whatever I’m doing, and with dealing with people. It goes a long way.

TMD: How often do you get to talk to Coach Hutchins about your game and how has your relationship with her developed over the years?

AC: I was able to be an assistant after graduation and saw a whole different side, the coaching side, of the game with (Hutchins) and

saw behind the scenes. There’s so much that goes into it that we don’t even know about as players.

Going through that whole year was pretty awesome.

Last year, I was able to go to games and stuff, but I was kind of on my own. I didn’t get a chance to see (Hutchins) as much as I would’ve liked to, but when I did, we always had great talks. She was right there to congratulate me when I made the USA team again. I was able to go in and talk with her a little bit on one of my breaks. She’s always there for me — for all of us — which is awesome, absolutely awesome. She always says, “You’re a Wolverine forever.” That’s what makes her so great.

TMD: How has the culture of Michigan softball impacted your career?

AC: Those people that were around me during my four years in college have continued to support me through my time with USA. There’s a big family that continues to stick around and when I go back and watch a game, everyone’s there to ask me how I’m doing and to tell me they miss me. It’s just a great, great family with everybody. To go back and be a part of that family is pretty awesome.

TMD: You and your teammates posted a 7-0 record during the World Cup of Softball Championships. You had five RBI and

batted .385. How were you feeling throughout the tournament and what was the energy like?

AC: It was good. The whole team had great energy the whole time. The team is just so deep.

Any of the 17 players could be on that field at any point in time, which is pretty awesome. The last couple of years, we didn’t have that. This year, the event is a lot deeper, and I think that’s great.

We just feed off of each other.

TMD: What have you and your teammates been focusing on as the World Championships get closer?

AC: This year there are some returners, but there are also some new players, so just growing together and continuing to get to know each other more, working together more and just growing as a team. I think that will be our biggest thing, just continuing to get that experience with each other. We’re not used to playing with each other all the time so it’s a growing process for us, and I think we’ve come a long way. USA has given us the opportunity to play a lot of different teams and continue to grow.

TMD: What do you see yourself doing after the World Championships this year?

AC: I work in a facility in Brighton so I’ll be back there again and training little girls to become softball players and do the best they can. I’ll be doing camps with some of my USA teammates as well.

TMD: Though your dreams of playing Olympic softball were stolen from you when the IOC decided to get rid of softball and baseball, you’ve still been able to travel the world with Team USA. What’s the message you send to the girls at your softball clinics that just love to play the game?

AC: We’re fighting to get it back. In my mind, it’s coming back in 2020 and I’m going to play in 2020. While giving lessons and doing camps, we just tell these girls that we’re fighting like heck to give you guys the opportunity to do this, but just because it’s not an Olympic sport doesn’t mean that they can’t have their passion in college and continue to play after that. There are still opportunities, but it’s everyone’s dream to play in the Olympics. We’re going to do everything we can to get it back.

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SPORTS 11

Media Day Notes: Hoke Optimism aplenty deflects talk of hot seat as ‘M’ opens camp FOOTBALL

By ALEJANDRO ZÚÑIGA Managing Sports Editor

CHICAGO — After consecutive letdown seasons, Brady Hoke may be sitting squarely on the hot seat entering his fourth season in Ann Arbor.

But at Big Ten Media Days on Monday, the Michigan football coach deflected questions about the pressure he will face this fall, instead discussing the Wolverines’ off-the-field accolades.

“The only pressure is every day preparing those guys for life after football,” he said. “Competition, hard work and all that, that’s part of it. But socially and academically, that’s a big part of it. So when you talk about that, that’s the only pressure as a coach that I’ve ever felt — making sure we’re doing it for the student-athletes.”

Hoke added that all 69 of the seniors he has coached at Michigan graduated.

After winning the Sugar Bowl and finishing with 11 wins in Hoke’s first year at Michigan, the Wolverines went 8-5 in 2012 and 7-6 last season — including losses to Michigan State and Ohio State.

This fall, the Wolverines will play in what, on paper, is a more difficult Big Ten East division. The conference schedule includes games on the road against the Spartans and Buckeyes.

Because of the offseason Big Ten realignment and the conference’s addition of Rutgers and Maryland, Michigan will visit Michigan State for a second straight year.

“So what? Who cares?” Hoke said. “You’re going to play 12 football games. … Embrace it. If not, you’re going to make excuses. And we rightly don’t believe in excuses.”

Hoke on Peppers: ‘Let’s anoint him when he does something’ Jabrill Peppers may be one of Michigan’s highest-rated recruits in recent program history, but Hoke is doing his best to temper expectations.

“He is an unbelievably grounded young man,” Hoke said of the defensive back. “Are we excited

Hoke, players maintain hope, relish clean slate to come in fall

By ALEXA DETTELBACH Daily Sports Writer

PAUL SHERMAN/Daily

Frank Clark has big dreams for Michigan this season, including the Rose Bowl.

and glad that he’s a Michigan Wolverine? No doubt about it.

Are we excited about what we’ll be able to see in the next couple of weeks? No doubt about it.

“Am I going to be up front with him and shield him from the pressure that he could put on himself? No question.”

The plan remains to play Peppers at nickel, Hoke said. The freshman is talented enough to play a number of different positions, including on offense, and the coach said he’ll entertain anything that will help the Wolverines win. But in the meantime, Hoke will try to keep Peppers level-headed by making him focus on one position and withholding the freshman from the media when possible.

“Let’s anoint him when he does something, right?” Hoke said. “I mean, let’s see what he can do.”

Hoke not speculating on Ty Isaac ruling There is no timetable for the NCAA’s ruling on running back Ty Isaac, Hoke said Monday.

Isaac, a former five-star recruit, transferred to Michigan in the offseason after his freshman year at USC. The Wolverines hope the NCAA will grant a hardship waiver request, which would allow the running back to play immediately instead of sitting out a year.

Isaac will report to and partic-

ipate in fall camp, which begins Aug. 3.

“I’m not going to speculate on it, because I have no clue,” Hoke said of the NCAA’s ruling.

Isaac is from Shorewood, Illinois, which is farther than the 100-mile radius the NCAA generally considers to grant a hardship waiver when a player transfers.

The running back rushed for 236 yards with two touchdowns in 2013 and played in all 14 games with the Trojans.

Funchess named to Players to Watch list As a freshman and sophomore, wide receiver Devin Funchess received acclaim for his 6-foot5 frame and soft hands, making him an appealing target for his quarterbacks.

Monday, that promise earned him a spot on the Big Ten’s 10-man Players to Watch list. He is the only Wolverine to receive the recognition this year.

Funchess, who was listed as a tight end through last year, set a Wolverines single-season record at the position with 748 receiving yards in 2013, though he lined up out wide for the majority of plays.

He was named the 2013 Big Ten Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year and was one of eight finalists for the John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding tight end.

CHICAGO — Everyone is optimistic at Media Day. Listening to Purdue coach Darrell Hazell, one would think the Boilermakers were ready to make a run for the Rose Bowl. Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald tried convincing the room that the Union controversy didn’t cause even a blink in his locker room this off-season.

Illinois coach Tim Beckman’s secondary sounds like it’s the second coming of a Nick Saban defense.

And Michigan coach Brady Hoke was no exception.

Questions of Big Ten championships and trips to Pasadena aren’t dismissed.

Fifth-year senior linebacker Jake Ryan was asked about holding a rose in his mouth three times over the course of the afternoon.

“I’d love to do that, of course,” he said. “How could you not?”

Immersed in optimism, it’s easy to forget Michigan’s lackluster 7-6 record, but as Hoke said on numerous occasions throughout the day, it’s a new season.

Hoke pointed to depth at every position and the vast leadership that has emerged out of last year’s disaster. He spoke of this season’s revamped offensive line as strong despite the struggling unit losing its two stars to the NFL. He even managed to put a positive spin on questions of him being in the “hot seat.”

“The only pressure is every day preparing those guys for life after football,” Hoke said. “Competition, hard work and all that, that’s part of it. But socially and academically, that’s a big part of it. So when you talk about that, that’s

the only pressure as a coach that I’ve ever felt — making sure we’re doing it for the student-athletes.”

And while questions of Hoke’s hot seat turned into big picture goals that only intensified the optimism in the room, the players responded with similar enthusiasm.

“I want to take us to a place where we haven’t been, and that’s to Pasadena,” said senior defensive end Frank Clark. “You know, all I think about is seeing the sunset (and) having a rose in my mouth at the end of the day. I watch videos all the time of Charles Woodson … I watch Charles Woodson holding a rose in his mouth with his hands in the air. That’s what I want to do.

“I want to be in Pasadena in the West Coast, see the mountains and the sunset, that’s what I want to see.”

Clark’s dream of driving off into the Pasadena sunset fits the Media Day optimism that moved from goals of Rose Bowl victories to all of the players being asked about Michigan State’s success versus Michigan’s struggles. And all three players — Clark, Ryan and fifth-year senior Devin Gardner — managed to sidestep them.

“We’re both great programs, both great coaches,” Ryan said.

“It’s just where we are on the map, it’s not who’s better and who’s not.”

It’s easy to say that on Media Day, when no one wants to ruin the mood until there’s a reason to.

But interestingly, the one area where Hoke was cautiously optimistic was on the topic of freshman defensive back Jabrill Peppers, the highest-profile freshman the team has had in the Hoke era.

“Let’s anoint him when he does something, right?” Hoke said. “I mean, let’s see what he can do.”

But Peppers aside, the optimism was abundant because, hey, it’s July, and everyone can hold a rose in their mouth.

“I want to take us to a place where we haven’t been.”

12 NEWS

Thursday, July 31, 2014 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

PHOTOSTAFF ABROAD: FACES OF FES

This summer, I lived in the city of Fes, Morocco for seven weeks to study Arabic at a local language institute. As my first time leaving the country, I traveled to the city alone, knowing no one and not knowing whether my tuition money had even been received. I took a leap of faith into my surroundings. After a day of panicked culture shock, feeling horribly alone and out of place without being able to communicate with anyone, I realized I had made the best decision of my life. Throughout all of the hardship and daily struggles, I grew to love the city that straddled the old and new world. We lived in the old Medina, a maze of crumbling walls, bustling shops, and tiny alleys. It is the largest area in the world without cars, and once entering it is almost impossible not to become lost. You must

be constantly on guard, watching not to step on a stray cat and listening for the men who would yell “Balak!” as a warning for an oncoming donkey or cart. In the midst of the chaos, I attempted to photograph the colors and beauty of Fes’s walls and people.

Throughout my stay, I was constantly overcome by Morocco’s hospitality. Despite my obvious status as an outsider, I found myself welcomed into the lives of the people I met without question. I will miss saying “La Bas” to the milkman or laughing with my host family as I struggled to understand the evening TV show. Thank you Morocco for teaching me so much about myself and the world. I can’t wait to return one day.

— RUBY WALLAU