2016-02-11

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM michigandaily.com

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Ann Arbor, Michigan

GOVERNMENT

Snyder asks for increase in higher ed for FY2017 Governor calls for 4.3 percent funding bump for universities

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Ron Weiser, former U.S. Ambassador, in his office during an interview about his ultimately unsuccessful bid for University of Michigan Regent two years ago on October 9, 2014.

Former U.S. ambassador announces run for regent Ron Weiser, namesake of Weiser Hall, launches 2016 candidacy

By CAMY METWALLY Daily Staff Reporter

Former U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, Ron Weiser announced his decision to run for University of Michigan

Regent in a press release Monday.

Weiser, a Republican, highlighted issues of tuition as his main concern. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, he emphasized that his business background would provide him with an advantage in fulfilling the goal of reduced tuition rates. Weiser founded McKinley Associates Inc., a prominent real estate investment firm, in 1968. He served as chair and CEO until

2001.

“I think this is a great university,” Weiser said. “It’s well run, but there’s always room for improvement, and having a business perspective is an added perspective that they don’t have right now.”

Currently one businesswoman, Denise Illitch (D), serves on the Board of Regents — she is president of Ilitch Enterprises, owner of Denise Ilitch Designs, owner and publisher of Ambasador

Magazine.

Both regents whose terms are expiring at the end of this year, Ilitch and Laurence Deitch (D) have not yet announced if they will run for re-election on the Board.

In addition to focusing on tuition costs, Wesier said he opposes policies that provide in-state tuition to undocumented students.

Currently, the University provides in-state tuition to See WEISER, Page 3A

By EMMA KINERY Daily News Editor

After an initial 15 percent slash to higher education funding when he first entered office in 2011, Gov. Rick Snyder (R) announced he intends to return funding levels to pre-2011 levels in his 2017 2018 budget recommendation Wednesday.

Snyder’s budget recommendation included an allocation of $61.2 million to go towards higher education institutions, which equates to a 4.3 percent increase in funding.

The increase is over double the 2 percent allocated last year.

In his budget recommendation, Snyder said he aimed for a minimum of 60 percent of state residents to have a degree or credential by 2025. The 60 percent figure is one of several goals in a December report on Michigan’s workforce and higher education, released by a working group of

state legislators, nonprofits and colleges.

Dave Murray, Snyder’s press secretary, said the increase in higher education funds is important for both students and the state economy.

“Governor Snyder recognizes that Michigan’s institution of higher education play a vital role in our state’s comeback,” Murray said. “Every family wants their children to be able to graduate and get a job right here and not have to leave Michigan to find those great jobs. By increasing our investment, we’re helping students get the skills they need and also to help our industry create more, better jobs that they know there will be people graduating with those skills. That’s good for Michigan now, and long into the future.”

The University’s Ann Arbor campus will receive a 4.2 percent increase in funding equating to $299,975,000 for operational costs and an additional $12,718,500 for performance funding — the largest sum allocated by the state to a university — contingent on meeting cap on tuition increase levied by the state. The University’s Flint and See BUDGET, Page 3A

GRANT HARDY/Daily

DAVID SONG/Daily

Ford junior Thomas Hislop and LSA junior Cam Dotson, who are running for CSG president and vice president on Your Michigan’s ticket, at Java Blue cafe in East Quad on Wednesday.

newMICH members in front of the posting wall in Mason Hall on Wednesday.

Thomas Hislop and Cam Dotson to run for CSG president and vice president

Party platform goals include appointing a student to Board of Regents

Your Michigan highlights newMICH campaigns for transparency in party bid diversity of voices in CSG

By ANNA HARITOS Daily Staff Reporter

As the March Central Student Government elections approach, parties

are beginning to form for the upcoming election.

Your Michigan, one of two new parties to announce thus far along with New Mich, announced its candidacy for the upcoming Central Student Government elections Tuesday night. For the past two years, executive positions have been held by the Make Michigan party, which featured safety initiatives and pushes to increase diversity and

inclusivity on campus in their past campaigns.

On Your Michigan’s executive ticket is Ford junior Thomas Hislop, running for CSG President along with LSA junior Cam Dotson for Vice President.

Hislop and Dotson said their candidacy is centered on their desire to make CSG more approachable and transparent for students.

See YOUR MICHIGAN, Page 3A

By JACKIE CHARNIGA Daily News Editor

As elections for Central Student Government draw closer, new parties are emerging to take on the

prevailing Make Michigan ticket. newMICH, a platform aimed at increasing transparency and student voice on the assembly, is among the first to announce theircandidacy, along with Your Michigan. Leading the party’s executive ticket are LSA juniors David Schafer and Micah Griggs, both current CSG representatives, running for president and vice president respectively.

LSA sophomore Anushka Sarkar, who is currently on CSG’s

executive committee as the chief programming officer, will serve as newMICH’s campaign manager.

Sarkar said the newMICH platform surfaced through the reorganization and rebranding of both the The Team and Make Michigan, the top two rival platforms fromlast year’s election.

For the past two years, CSG’s executive positions have been held by the Make Michigan platform.

University of Michigan alum Bobby See NEWMICH, Page 3A

Modern love in Ann Arbor Exploring the ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Tree Town

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INDEX

Vol. CXXV, No. 71 ©2016 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com

NEWS......................... 2A OPINION.....................4A SPORTS......................6A

SUDOKU.....................2A CL ASSIFIEDS............... 5A B-SIDE ....................1B

News

2A — Thursday, February 11, 2016

MONDAY: This Week in History

TUESDAY: Campus Voices

WEDNESDAY: In Other Ivory Towers

PLAYING IN PIERPONT

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

THURSDAY: On The Daily

FRIDAY: Photos of the Week

ON THE DAILY

Hotline Bling invades inboxes

SINDUJA KILARU/Daily

Engineering sophomore Harriet Knapp folds origami during CAPS Play Day in Pierpont on Wednesday, an event designed to relieve stress and promote wellness among students.

If Drake hasn’t called you on your cell phone lately, maybe you should check your e-mail.

Wednesday evening, many University students received multiple e-mails from an address called “hotlineblingblingboi@gmail.com,” each e-mail containing a line from Drake’s famous song, “Hotline Bling” The messages were sent to individual University e-mail addresses, not a listserv.

The e-mails were sent over a span of a few minutes, with students taking to Twitter to share their reactions.

The Michigan Daily is cur-

rently running a Twitter poll, asking students if they’ve received e-mails from the source.

By clicking “show original” on a drop down box in the individual e-mails, more information about the source of the messages and the intended audience is made clear. The source is cited as “Michael’s Macbook Pro” and for “LSA Sophomore Initiative” The University does not authorize community members to assume another person’s identity or communicate via e-mail address with another person without truthfully introducing themselves,

SHOULD KNOW TODAY

How to be Better Career Crawl Gemini: Love WHAT: Learn about what than Average Songs it would be like to have a

No Fail E-Mail

WHAT: Learn about how to be a leader, identifying opportunities for leadership and discovering your inner strength. Learn how to recognize challenges and succeed when they arise.

WHO: Todd Brockdorf WHEN: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

WHERE: Administrative Services Building - LPD

career in the financial services industry. Meet with University alumni who work within this industry and learn about their work and experiences.

WHO: Career Center WHEN: 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: Michigan Union-Pond Room

WHAT: Learn how to compose clear and concise e-mail messages and effectively communiate via e-mail. Learn to recognize proper e-mail etiquette and use it in messages.

WHO: April Callis WHEN: 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: Administrative Services Building - LPD

NoViolet Bulawayo

Disruptive Behavior

WHAT: A Q&A session with the winner of many prizes for writing, including the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing.

WHO: NoViolet Bulawayo WHEN: 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

WHERE: Angell Hall Hopwood Room

WHAT: Discuss learning enviroments in which disruptive behavior in the classroom can be addressed and prevented.

WHO: CRLT-Engin WHEN: 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: Lurie Robert H. Engin Ctr - Johnson Rooms

Engineering study abroad mixer

-DAILY STAFF

THREE THINGS YOU

CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES

WHAT: Watch Gemini, a local folk duo, perform love songs at their pre-Valentine’s Day concert. They will sing both original and traditional songs and play instruments.

WHO: Gemini WHEN: 12:10 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

WHERE: University Hospital Main Lobby, Floor 1

according to Standard Practice Guide Policies.

“You may not communicate or act under the guise, name, identification, email address, signature, or indicia of another person without proper authorization, nor may you communicate under the rubric of an organization, entity, or unit that you do not have the authority to represent,” the SPG 601.19 guideline states.

Consequences for violating the guideline range from disciplinary action to dismissal and legal action, depending on the severity of the offense.

Penny Stamps speaker series

1

Crisis pregnancy centers in California are fighting for the right to deny abortion information, according to The New York Times. Clinics have been accused of concealing biases about abortions and giving women non-objective advice about handling pregnancy.

2

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Daily Arts Writers explore love, from non-binary relationships to a profile on the University Flower shop. >>SEE B-SIDE, PAGE 1B

WHAT: Hear Louise Fili, a director of a New York City design firm specializing WHAT: Meet with past in brand development for participants of International Programs in Engineering study restaurants speak about food, type and all things abroad programs and learn Italian. about their experiences.

WHO: International Programs WHO: Louise Fili WHEN: 5:10 p.m. to 6:00 in Engineering WHEN: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. p.m.

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A rare albino green turtle was hatched on an Australian beach, The Washington Post reported. Only about one in many hundreds of thousands of eggs that are laid yield an albino turtle, according to the Post.

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DPSS program manager wins Schlissel, city officals envision award for diversity leadership monorail to unite campuses Marlanna Landeros recognized by OIE for programming

By RIYAH BASHA Daily Staff Reporter

For Marlanna Landeros, the University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security’s program manager, public safety at the University is in her blood.

Landeros is one of 10 individual recipients of this year’s Distinguished Diversity Leaders Award, and was recognized last week by the Office of Institutional Equity as the force behind DPSS programs aimed at making the department diversity-concious.

The Distinguished Diversity Leaders Award celebrates University members working toward creating an inclusive working environment.

The award is made possible by the

Office of the Provost and Human Resources, and winners recieve money to use for professional development activities.

Though her position as student program manager is new in the department this year, Landeros is no stranger to campus safety and security. She has held multiple positions with DPSS since 2002, and noted that her mother and father were also involved in similar public safety work while she was growing up.

“My dad was director of public safety at UM-Flint,” she explained.

“I learned the importance and value of diversity; it looked a little different when they were part of policing. And I gained a passion for wanting to make a difference.”

Much of her work this year has been focused on implementing University President Mark Schlissel’s diversity initiative.

Every department and unit on campus has been tasked with developing a unique strategic

plan to address diversity that will ultimately be combined into one cohesive plan in the fall.

“The structure we’ve built is designed to encourage discussion, the sharing of successful programs and the development of new ideas,” Schlissel said at theintroduction of the initiative last September. “We want to encourage innovation to set broad parameters; not prescribed boxes.”

Landeros said for DPSS, implementing those instructions has meant orchestrating dialogues with other departments as well as creating safe spaces for students to communicate with University police. On multiple occasions, she said, she had to demonstrate DPSS’s presence in the planning initiative to other departments.

“With the call to action from the president, people know we must move forward,” she said. “And (the plan) brings together a lot of people that would not intersect and have a conversation on this subject matter. Verifying to other groups that we’re here has been very important.”

The intersection of diversity and policing is a sensitive one in many communities, including at the University, as minority students have voiced complaints of feeling unsafe on campus over past years.

The City Council’s Human Rights Commission recently recommended that the city institute a police review board after the death of Aura Rosser, a Black woman fatally shot by an Ann Arbor police officer in 2014.

In response to a question about similar programs on college campuses, such as Michigan State University’s recent creation of an Inclusions and Anti-Bias Unit and whether DPSS would consider instituting one, Landeros to the unit’s data collection as a part of the strategic plan.

“We’re still seeking data there before we make any decisions,” she said.

Ann Arbor project may be revived, but details remain uncertain

By ANDREW HIYAMA Daily Staff Reporter

Tuesday, University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel reintroduced the idea of creating a rapid transit system between Central and North Campuses, a project that had essentially been dormant since 2013.

“The city would probably contribute a modest amount, but not an amount that changes a $60 million project into something we don’t know how to do right now,” Schlissel said during the chat.

In 2010, under then-President Mary Sue Coleman, the University of Michigan began discussing plans with the City of Ann Arbor to build a new transportation system that would effectively unify the University’s entire Ann Arbor campus, stretching as far east as the East Medical Campus on Plymouth Road and as far south as Wolverine Towers near Briarwood Mall.

In 2011, the University and the city collaborated with the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority and the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to fund a study investigating the feasibility of such a rapid transit system.

The study considered light rail, bus rapid transit, monorail and streetcar as potential modes of transportation, finding that the current and projected levels of ridership justified high-capacity service in the “high demand core” encompassing Central and North Campuses, as well as “end-to-end connection” from the Briarwood Mall area to the East Medical Campus.

There were a series of public meetings in 2013 to discuss the future of the so-called Connec-

tor program, but the program hasn’t received any public attention since.

“That was the first I’d heard that idea surface in the last few years,” Ann Arbor City Councilmember Sabra Briere (D–Ward 1) said in an interview with the Daily.

Briere said she understood the demand for a rapid transit system, though.

“The biggest, most congested area of University transportation is between Central Campus and North Campus. A bus is en route between those two destinations several times a minute,” she said.

Engineering freshman Hossein Abdollahi, a resident of Bates Housing, knows this struggle all too well.

“Living on North Campus was particularly difficult with the current transit system as most of my classes had nothing to do with engineering and were located on Central Campus,” Abdollahi wrote in an e-mail.

“The commute to Central was awful because everyone would be trying to get to the same place and so buses would be packed.”

Schlissel said at his fireside talk that for North Campus to expand as he hoped, improvements in transportation would be necessary. Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor had similar sentiments.

“Traffic and congestion are important quality of life issues for everyone in Ann Arbor and the University community, and outside the University community,” Taylor said. “We all expect the University to continue to grow and expand and improve its educational and research and medical offerings, to integrate campuses and to provide the free and easy flow of persons from, broadly speaking, North Campus to Central to South Campus.”

Taylor said if the transportation project was to go through, the University, not the city, would be the recipient of federal

grants. Though no statement has been issued by the University on how the funds for this project would be raised, Abdollahi says bearing a tuition hike is a consideration he would make.

“I’d be willing to pay extra depending on how reasonable the amount he’s asking for is,” Abdollahi said. “However, I would first like to make sure that there is no other way to raise the funds.”

Engineering senior Anya LaRoche doesn’t think the time the transit system would save would be worth the cost.

“I think that a lot of people are already very financially strained with what they already have to pay,” LaRoche said.

Regarding its own involvement with the Connector project, Central Student Government issued this statement: “CSG has been working closely with Busing to adjust current bus routes and cater to North Campus Student’s Gameday transportation needs since the Fall semester. We have engaged in the long term plan conversation, focusing on innovative and clean energy transportation.

CSG understands the long-term nature of this plan, however is committed to maintaining a strong voice both in the present, and in the distant future.”

As far as the timeline for the project or its estimated completion date, things are very much still in the dark.

“We don’t have an estimated start date. This is nebulous and still in the planning stages. It’s not even in the proposal stage,” Briere said. “The last meeting I attended, we still didn’t have any sense of what would be created to service the transportation model.”

That meeting was in 2013. Eli Cooper, transportation program manager for the City of Ann Arbor, will meet with members of City Council to provide them with updates about the Connector project for the first time in years on Friday.

News

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

NEWS BRIEFS

‘U’ participates in blood donation challenge against MSU The annual Face Off Blood Challenge against Michigan State University is now underway and will run through Feb. 25.

To donate, faculty, staff and students can make an appointment to donate on the American Red Cross website using the code “goblue”.

Remaining campus blood drives will be in the Michigan League, Michigan Union, Pierpont Commons and the University Hospital throughout the next few weeks.

All donors will receive a Face Off t-shirt and food coupons, and will be entered to win free rides from Uber.

Those who want to donate should be mindful of the blood donation eligibility requirements as set by the FDA.

Companies seek out ethical behavior in employees A recent study found that companies and the government rely too heavily on only having an employee compliance program in the workplace, and do not depend enough on stopping bad employee behavior.

David Hess, associate professor of business law and the University researcher who did the analysis, found it is easy for researchers to focus on measurable variables of behavior, such as the number of employee audits done or the number of employees who received training on workplace behavior.

Companies often disregard offpaper, non-quantitative measures as these measures of behavior are harder to analyze.

“But to really have an ethical infrastructure you need the right culture, and that’s not easy to measure,” Hess said in a press release. “So over time, compliance and culture became these two separate things when they’re really two sides of the same coin.”

Ultimately, Hess suggests companies promote an informal system supporting the goals of the compliance programs set in place and assess employee perception of the workplace’s ethical climate.

BrightMatter technology to improve brain surgeries New technology developed by the University will allow brain tumor surgeons to combine two types of image viewing during surgery.

The technology, which is expected to be in operating rooms in July, will be incorporated with technologies already available in operating rooms and combines multiple imaging views a neurosurgeon would use as they complete a surgery. These two views include breadth, the view during the surgery focusing directly outside the surgical field; and depth, focusing on fine details within the surgical field.

Used to operate on brain tumors, aneurysms and other skull- or brain-based medical issues, the BrightMatter technology will improve the brain surgery process.

University neurosurgeon Daniel Orringer said in a press release the University is creating the “operating room of the future” with this technological advance.

BrightMatter has an automated arm linked to sensors in the surgeon’s tools that can provide detailed vision to surgeons and allow them to know where they are in the brain throughout the entire surgery.

This will inform surgeons what critical areas in the brain are to be avoided.

—ALEXA ST. JOHN

YOUR MICHIGAN From Page 1A “It’s about setting the tone,” Dotson said. “We want to give people a different taste of CSG and to understand that we are here for them. This is Your Michigan and we are here to help you express your opinions and views — you should feel protected and we want to empower you to say how you feel and what you want.”

LSA sophomore Patrick Mullan-Koufopoulos is also running with Your Michigan, and is doing community outreach for the party. LSA senior Alyssa Gorenberg is acting as the party’s director of representatives.

“Everyday I walk around this campus and think how can we make this better for the student body,” Hislop said. “What I realized was, the 10 of us, of course, can see a lot of things that could improve, but there are 42,000 other students on this campus and they see a lot of different things every single day, and we’d love those students to reach out to us and have their voice be a part of our platform.”

While their platform is still emerging — candidates said they will release a fuller list of goals and ideas in the next two weeks — Your Michigan said they’re planning on stressing the far-reaching backgrounds their candidates have through varying leadership positions on campus. Their core members have acted on four different student governments on campus, including LSA, CSG, Ford School of Public Policy and Rackham Graduate School.

They said they think their range will help to bring better communications and interactions with other student governments once elected.

“We’ve been actively participating in different student governments” Mullan-Koufopoulos said.

“Which really makes it a much more cohesive campus and plays into the idea of Your Michigan being your community and your school.”

Another strength the

WEISER From Page 1A undocumented students.

“If you’re not a resident of the state, why should you be entitled to resident tuition?”

Weiser said.

Weiser ran for a seat on the board in 2014, when he was defeated by Mike Behm (D) and Kathy White (D).

In December 2014, Weiser donated $50 million to the University, which motivated regents to approve renaming Dennison Building to Weiser Hall. He has donated $95.9 million in total to the University.

This year, Weiser is campaigning on a platform of conservative values. He has a firm background in the state Republican Party, serving as the chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 2009 to 2011.

Weiser has contributed to the campus and to the national and global stage in several ways throughout his career.

From 2001 to 2005, he served as President George W. Bush’s ambassador to Slovakia. Upon his return, Weiser established and funded the University’s Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, emphasizing the importance of freedom and democracy.

Weiser previously planned to run again for regent in 2012, a year after being elected to the Republican

group is citing in their campaign is their as of yet incomplete platform.

“To have a concrete and final platform at this point would be unfair,” Dotson said. “We’d really be overlooking all the other voices and opinions that we can still hear if we keep our ear to the ground.”

Your Michigan members said they’re seeking to engage with clubs on campus while campaigning, with the aim of establishing connections and communications with campus organizations that carry over into their term if elected.

“We want to leave behind a legacy where the executives are really listening to the students,” Hislop said. “You have to reach out to groups that only have 20-25 students because they matter, and there’s an echo effect there.

We also want to connect with student organizations on campus and ask them what they need, and what CSG can do for them. We want to make them feel like we are going to be their advocates in the long run and not just for the month of campaigning. We want to establish a sense of trust moving forward.”

As part of their goals for the year, candidates said they also plan to reconstruct CSG meetings to ensure students’ voices are heard and the meetings are as open and approachable to the public as possible. This approach, they said, helps further the party’s values of being inclusive and promoting equity.

“Something we’ve talked about a lot is that Your Michigan is not just the 40 representatives,” MullanKoufopoulos said.

“It’s so much more than that.

We want any student who wants to come to CSG to come — you can go, you’re welcome, you’re more than invited. We want people who might feel they might be ‘othered’ to believe that they can make a difference on campus...This party was created for us.”

CSG elections for the next year will be held on March 23 and 24.

National Committee as finance chairman. However, he said in a press release that because he was determined to prevent Proposal 2 from passing, he devoted his energy to the GOP’s national effort to challenge the measure instead.

Proposal 2, a proposal amendment to Michigan’s constitution on the state ballor in 2012, was widely favored among state unions, but was ultimately voted down by 58 percent . The measure would have made the right to collective bargaining for labor unions constitutional, reducing restrictions on union efforts to negotiate working conditions. Essentially, it would have removed legal barriers to join unions and bargain collectively.

In the process, however, approximately 170 laws would have been invalidated.

Weiser said he believes his experience in business and government, both locally and internationally, has prepared him for a position as University regent. He said he is proud of being a Wolverine and hopes to better serve the community.

“We really are a world university, and keeping our quality of education is really important,” Weiser said. “I mean it when I say I’m a proud alumni.”

No other candidates have declared for the two open seats. Both will be filled as part of the statewide elections in November.

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Thursday, February 11, 2016 — 3A

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Michigan Gov. Rick Synder (R), gives the State of the State address, speaking about issues such as the Flint water crisis, at the Michigan State Capitol building on January 20.

BUDGET From Page 1A Dearborn campuses will receive 5.1 and 4.8 increases in funding, with a total of $21.8 million and $24 million respectively.

In a press release, Cynthia Wilbanks, vice president of government relations, said the University was pleased with the higher allocation.

“This is a great way to start the state’s budgeting process and we look forward to getting additional details and working with legislators in the weeks ahead,” Wilbanks said. “We have long said that investing in higher education contributes significantly to the state’s economic well-being.”

NEWMICH From Page 1A Dishell, the 2014 CSG president, and current CSG president Cooper Charlton, a LSA senior, ran on campaigns featuring safety initiatives, increasing diversity and fostering cultural awareness across campus. In this past year’s election, Make Michigan promised to make transportation more convenient on campus and encourage studentled participation in initiatives pertaining to student life.

Sarkar said though they were inspired by previous objectives, newMICH will be focusing on student outreach in particular in an effort to break away from the flaws of the previous platforms.

“One thing that I’ve been very proud of this group for doing is really cold-call outreach, like reaching out to student groups that aren’t represented in CSG and finding out what they want,” Sarkar said.

For Schafer, deviations from the previous platforms stem from student input and what they want to see in CSG. “In terms of the inspirations for the platforms, I think a lot of it has been in the room and having these conversations with administrators and students,” Schafer said. newMICH’s manifesto hinges on four pillars: student voice, connection, well-being and opportunity. Griggs said the party’s goal is to place a student onto the Board of Regents, ideally in a voting capacity, a feature in multiple previous CSG platforms.

Because the makeup of Board of Regents is outlined in the state Constitution, creating a voting position specifically for a student would require amending it, which requires a statewide vote. As well, to get on the state ballot, the amendment would either have to

Under Snyder’s recommendation, the cap on tuition will also be raised, from 3.2 percent last year to 4.8 percent this year. The increased tuition cap comes in the wake of several higher education institutions breaking it over the past few years.

None of the University’s tuition increases have broken the cap since the practice was instituted in 2012, with increases ranging from almost exactly at the limit to a percent or more below.

Oakland University and Eastern University each surpassed the cap last year and had to testify to the Michigan House and Senate appropriation subcommittees earlier this year about it.

Oakland, who increased their tuition by 8.48 percent last year,

received the highest percent increase in state funding in this year’s budget proposal at 6 percent. $107.5 million in the governor’s overall budget request was also included in the budget to go towards financial aid services, with an additional $2 million was allocated to fund the state’s Tuition Incentive Program, which guarantees several years of college funding to specific populations of students as an incentive to complete high school.

Snyder’s recommenation will now go to the legislature, who will have to approve each item, a process that typically takes months and often results in amendments to the initial numbers.

be approved and collect a minimum number of signatures as a citizenled initiative, or be referred to the ballot by the state legislature.

However, universities in several other states with similar laws to Michigan have provided for student representation on their boards through the creation of a de facto, non-voting student member. newMICH candidates said even if the student were unable to have voting rights, their voice would be an invaluable source for the assembly.

“It would be important to have that non-voting member on (the) Board of Regents and various committees talking about diversity, equity, curriculum,” Griggs said.

Having a presence on the Board of Regents would satisfy one of the party’s goals, well-being, as a student present on the board would be capable of voicing support for the expansion and funding of CAPS and SAPAC programs across campus, Griggs added.

The party aims to attain their goal of connection by connecting students with the Division of Public Safety and Security through 24-hour chat and texting programs. On opportunity, the party plans on hosting awareness weeks during which CSG helps to educate students and remove stigma from issues on campus such as drug use.

LSA junior Shamaila Ashraf, a co-chair for the party, said each year candidates pitch plans to make CSG more diverse, yet the voice of the majority remains the same with each regime.

A 2015 Michigan Daily analysis found that some groups have been notably underrepresented among CSG top positions over the past 22 years in comparison with the overall student population, such as Hispanic and female students.

Ashraf said she plans to stop the

continued instigation of old ideas by requiring InterGroup Relations training, an organization that facilitates exercises and training regarding identity and inclusion for groups on campus, within the organization.

“Everyone says that they’re going to offer diversity, they’re going to offer an inclusive space to have those voices, but that doesn’t always happen,” Ashraf said.

Griggs echoed Ashraf’s sentiment, saying CSG requires diversity moving forward. She stressed that newMICH is making productivity and inclusivity of the student government a priority.

“In the past, CSG was and currently is homogenous. We really think that having a representative and inclusive environment is productive, and contributes to a holistic learning experience.”

Griggs said. “I think that’s what separates us from other parties.”

For Sarkar, addressing the root problems on campus can be accomplished by further distancing their platform from predecessors.

Recent candidates, she said, have had similar platforms, which she believes has lead to the continuation of the same problems each year regarding inclusivity.

In terms of transparency, the party plans to implement open Q&A sessions between CSG and the commission, not just between the assembly and students. Ashraf, who ran her freshman year with Make Michigan as a LSA representative, said open conversation is just one example of how they plan to increase transparency.

Overall, the candidates said they were looking forward to beginning the campaign season. This year’s CSG elections will be held on March 23 and 24.

“Students are tired of being quiet and feeling that the administration doesn’t hear them,” Schafer said.

Opinion

4A — Thursday, February 11, 2016

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

DAVID SCHAFER AND MICAH GRIGGS | OP-ED

From your newMICH candidates

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

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

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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.

Cultivating inclusive classrooms

I

n 2013, the Being Black at the University Interactions with professors are movement, which gained traction through some of the most intimate that students the #BBUM Twitter campaign, and the have with the University in general. A University of Michigan’s student’s satisfaction with their academic Understanding Race experiences is largely shaped by the classes theme semester — a blend they take and the professors that have of intellectual and cultural impacted their course of study. immersion of coursework, The University’s mission statement says lectures, exhibits, musical one of its goals is in “developing leaders and theatre performances citizens who will challenge the present and and so on, enjoyed by enrich the future.” A professor has the crucial the University and Ann responsibility of advancing this mission Arbor community at statement, promoting critical thinking and large — sparked a wave transmitting knowledge to students. Creating ALEXIS of discussions about inclusive spaces in the classroom is a perfect FARMER diversity, equity and opportunity to do this. inclusion within the In the process of developing leaders and student population at the University. Notably, citizens of the world, it is inevitable that the comments from these conversations uncomfortable and difficult conversations brought about a focused committee to will transpire, especially if we hope to concentrate resources on creating inclusivity make any meaningful change. In a learning within the classroom at the University. environment such as college, it is essential for In an e-mail exchange with The Michigan future leaders to know how to navigate these Daily, Dr. Marjorie Horton, the assistant dean conversations collaboratively, with respect for undergraduate education, who attended and dignity. Classroom environments that several events, said she was “personally install this framework build the foundations very disturbed and moved by what students for academic and personal enrichment. of color were saying about how race “Academic excellence can only happen impacted their academic when there are diverse experiences in and beyond voices at every table in the classroom.” In reaction the classroom space that to these discussions, 14 are actually able to be a Classroom individuals from the LSA part of these classrooms,” management tactics Maxwell said. Committees Undergraduate Education are essential to division, primarily like the Inclusive directors and senior staff of Pedagogies are imperative creating inclusive undergraduate programs, for students to show spaces. formed the LSA Climate their best selves in the Committee.

Since its classroom, enriching the inception, the committee university environment has grown to include five they occupy. subcommittees and has 50 active members, Classroom management tactics are including nine students. The general essential to creating inclusive spaces, committee aims to improve campus climate, but equally as important in transforming resources and outreach efforts to ensure that classroom spaces is the type of material from all students, especially those who belong to which students learn. A diversity of authors underrepresented groups, feel welcomed at and scholarly works need to be integrated the University. more frequently and intentionally in course Horton, Kelly Maxwell, the co-director of syllabi. Academic scholarship from a diverse the Intergroup Relations program, and Dr. array of authors is imperative in enriching Dwight Fontenot, associate director of the a diversity of viewpoints, experiences Comprehensive Studies Program, are three and cultures in the classroom. It is also of 12 members of the Inclusive Pedagogies encouraging and affirming for students to see Committee, which creates classroom content, their identity represented and acknowledged curricula and other resources to increase as notable work. students’ and faculty’s understanding of From my own classroom experiences, I social justice and intergroup dynamics. In the wish some professors knew how to handle summer of 2015, the committee filmed a group moments of tension and conflict in a classroom of students simulating classroom modules — how to encourage thoughtful commentary that would help faculty design inclusive from students without jeopardizing their classrooms that will be published next fall. safety or well-being. I have been fortunate to These videos, along with a record of comments have taken classes that have uplifted authors from previous focus groups, surveys and other and scholars of various races and ethnicities, resources will be compiled into a database for genders, socioeconomic backgrounds and faculty to access at any time. sexualities, though I do not know if the same All committee members I spoke with are could be said for the majority of my peers. pleased that the committee has developed I hope these videos will be widely the videos, and have high hopes for its utilized by faculty across departments and effectiveness and usability in transferring academic disciplines, and will not act as a pedagogical tactics. However, the committee static repository, but an evolving forum for still faces several obstacles. sharing the best practices, which improves “The largest challenge is to move from campus climate from the inside out. The theory to practice,” Fontenot said. “We have Inclusive Pedagogies Committee’s active to convince faculty that developing inclusive work to address diversity, equity and classrooms leads to better scholarship and inclusion is an honest, collaborative effort better classrooms. This is a very hard sell, to improve campus climate for everyone. especially in the STEM fields.”

Fontenot summed up how the University STEM fields are not immune to the effects community can support the DEI initiative of a shortage of diversity. If anything, the perfectly: “Having faculty, staff and undisguised gaps in diversity should compel students working together on these issues is STEM professors to ensure that there is the only way to build good solutions to the an environment where all students feel problems.” comfortable asking questions, participating in study groups, and have the tools to Alexis Farmer can be reached communicate with diverse identities. at akfarmer@umich.edu.

“

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

A significant fraction of students make it through their four or five years of undergrad without really taking advantange of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from each other.”

—University President Mark Schlissel said during Tuesday’s Central Student Government meeting.

Over the past year, we representatives in Central Student Government have dedicated ourselves to serving students.

The time we’ve spent in office has been filled with everything from the simple joys of talking with students on the Diag about their visions for a more inclusive university to meeting with faculty and administration about our school’s mental-health climate.

In spite of all these positive experiences on CSG, we must not overlook the criticisms of this body, namely that CSG is not representative of all students. We know this is a truth difficult to admit for many, and it is even more difficult to change. But we also know that complacency with this hard truth is unacceptable. It is with this inspiration to transform student the voice represented in CSG that we decided to form a new party — newMICH. Our presidential and vice presidential candidates, David Schafer and Micah Griggs, are wholeheartedly passionate about the work that lies ahead to bring forth new representation. CSG has long been a body that does not represent or serve all identities and students, and it’s time for a CSG that is representative, inclusive and productive. It is our hope that students of different backgrounds, experiences and organizational involvement will rally under the banner of newMICH and work together to champion the causes of diversity and inclusivity, and they will collaborate to expand opportunities for all Wolverines.

We hope to build a newMICH. However, we believe in more than buzzwords. We are running on a series of tangible, actionable goals and initiatives that we hope to prioritize next year. Our focus is on connection, opportunity, student voice and well-being and safety.

It’s time for a new connection between students and their representatives. We seek to create a leadership scholarship or stipend so lower income students can take advantage of the many different and rewarding extra- and co-curricular opportunities that currently exist at University of Michigan. We also hope to expand CSG support for student organizations by way of the Wolverine Consulting Group, started this year, which provides consulting services for student organizations. Our goal is also to increase the number of available study spaces during peak midterm and final exam time and to further game-day safety by hosting CSGsponsored alcohol-free tailgates that will have food and hydration stations on South State, Hill and Packard streets.

It’s time to create new opportunity for students. To make CSG a more inclusive, representative and educated space, newMICH will demand an increase in minority enrollment, always an issue of the utmost importance on campus, and work to improve the relationship between the University and Detroit Public Schools.

Additionally, we will work tirelessly to make all students feel at home by establishing non-traditional, transfer, first-generation and international student mentorship programs.

It’s time for CSG to play a big role in enhancing the voice of freshmen on campus. First-year students represent 25 percent of the undergraduate student population — more than 6,000 students — and yet they have no guarantee that their voices will be heard by their student government. As such, we hope to set a few seats aside that first-year students can run for in the November CSG elections each year. Additionally, newMICH will institute a CSG-sponsored

Academic Scholarship Fund so that some of the burden of expensive textbooks and coursepacks are lifted off students.

Lastly, newMICH will fight to both further and hold the administration accountable for students’ mental health, because it’s time for student well-being and safety to be front and center.

Not only do we plan to call for an increase in funding for both the Counseling and Psychological Services and the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, but we also seek to expand those invaluable resources to North Campus and the residence halls, where their presence is currently lacking. In addition, newMICH will fight to increase the training that faculty and staff undergo in the areas of mental health and diversity. Students’ relationship with the Division of Public Safety and Security must also be addressed and enhanced, and we hope to achieve that by creating an emergency texting and instant message system between students and DPSS. Together, by addressing connection, opportunity, student voice and well-being and safety, we hope to make your student government and the University as a whole more inclusive and welcoming. It is our belief that, at the University, everyone’s opportunities should be as limitless as their potential. If you would like to get involved with newMICH to either run as a candidate or be part of the “field team,” please visit newmich. com. Our mass meeting will be on Monday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Weill Hall Room 1110, Gerald Ford School of Public Policy. It’s time for change, and we’re excited.

David Schafer and Micah Griggs are LSA juniors.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Caitlin Heenan, Ben Keller, Minsoo Kim, Payton Luokkala, Aarica Marsh, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Jason Rowland, Lauren Schandevel, Melissa Scholke, Rebecca Tarnopol, Ashley Tjhung, Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe

I

Lectured into silence

n my last column, I wrote about the odd, pervasive silence with which we regard each other as we go about our days on this campus. Burying ourselves in our gadgets, we seek shelter from having to interact, from having to be vulnerable ISAIAH with our peers ZEAVIN-MOSS and colleagues, because of how tightly this environment makes us hold onto those whom we do consider dear friends.

In the time since that article’s publication, I have been pondering why this is the case, trying to locate precisely which aspects and areas of University of Michigan life help to foster this atmosphere most forcefully. It seems to me that the way classes and classrooms are structured plays an integral role in this cold, silent process.

I am talking specifically about lecture classes, which, as an LSA sophomore, I have found to be the most common format to educate University students. On a basic level, these classes foster little interaction between professor and student — one is rendered passive: a statistic, a filled seat.

On a more nuanced level, though, the physical structure of classrooms can inform these classes’ deleteriously ostracizing and desocializing effects on individuals, influencing the greater campus atmosphere. The seats are most often set up so students do not face each other; instead, looking forward at the only person worth seeing — the professor, who will proceed to plant information in your head — information that you are, by virtue of the classroom’s size and the bleary, dreary atmosphere, discouraged to question or to modify. It’s as if you have nothing to learn from your peers or from yourself, for you are just another student, a kowtowing student.

Instead, look at and learn from this

polished, handsome professor, for she is the only person worthy of your attention in this classroom.

These classes, at the beginning of the year, most often begin with the professor reviewing the syllabus with their students — a ritual I have always found confusing and oddly belittling, as if I am not able to read and comprehend such a simple, mundane document on my own.

In highlighting future deadlines throughout the term, the professor most often will discuss how one can go about getting a good grade — study for the exams, write a relevant paper. Rarely anything about participation. What kind of a long-lasting, real education can actually happen when the student remains dormant, seated, silent?

And in this classroom environment, introduced by an invitation to be a passive, disengaged student, I often find myself taking my computer out of my backpack, not because I want to, but because this is what my peers are doing; this seems to be the standard method. Inevitably, logging in to a computer means logging out of the conversation in front of me, as distractions of all sorts berate me as soon as I lift the screen. I know this long before I take out my gadget. I feel my stomach turning as I do it.

But I am torn because it’s as if the structure of these classes encourage distracting oneself, only prompting me to take notes when the professor begins a point with, “This will be on your exam … ” A student who does this, paying attention for just a few minutes every class, might very well get an A on their transcript. And in this world, that grade translates to an unmitigated success. Is this how to measure the value and effectiveness of education?

The attitude of conforming to the behavior of my peers represents the golden rule in these classrooms, where students seldom do the things that would make them, for a moment, stick out: ask questions of their professors, momentarily halting this monotonous and ineffective process of professor talking at student and student

feigning attention. But it is in these moments of vulnerability that we learn: about ourselves, about each other. It is in these moments of asking for clarification that professors are actually doing their job, which is to teach, not just to speak or to present slides to you, slides that you could just as well watch on your own time.

Is it a coincidence that students act with an Armageddon-like urgency to get out of the classroom at the ends of these classes? Who could possibly be stimulated and excited by this type of academic work? But this reaction, too, is an intentional element of the process.

For stimulation and excitement are not, in this context, the goal of these classes; the student, instead, ought to be obedient and silent, sitting at a computer tapping furiously, eyes on the end-of-term letter marking that will determine the success or failure of their time here.

In a social context outside of the lecture halls, our eyes similarly rest not on the present, not on the scores of students who roam around us as we walk along the Diag, and all the social possibility that lies there — no, no, no. Instead, we direct our focus only to those circles in which we are comfortable, those people who represent that end-of-term letter-marking — as long as those relationships are sturdy, I have not failed any social contract.

In both an academic and a social context, this is an exceedingly irresponsible way to inhabit our space. But it is the lifestyle that our University breeds and promotes; we are not taught to live presently — instead of engaging fully with our academic work, consider the exam, the final grade. Instead of striking up a conversation with any of the dozen peers sitting around you during Michigan time, sink into your phone, catch up on your friends’ GroupMe. The silence with which we treat each other begins in our lecture classrooms, where conformity and silence are the rule, and asking a question the exception.

Isaiah Zeavin-Moss can be reached at izeavinm@umich.edu.

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Thursday, February 11, 2016 — 5A

ON THE DAILY

SOFTBALL

Infield combines new and old faces Led by Romero, Wolverines boast strong group of returning players

By BETELHEM ASHAME Daily Sports Writer

As the No. 2 Michigan softball team prepares to open its season this weekend, it faces a challenge in blending the old with the new.

While the Wolverines retain the majority of their Women’s College World Series runner-up squad from last year, they must overcome the loss of two key pieces of their starting infield — catcher Lauren Sweet and first baseman Tera Blanco.

Though Blanco is still a member of the team, she will be transitioning to her preferred position at pitcher in her sophomore season, leaving the starting spot at first up for grabs.

Though question marks abound in regard to who will claim the position, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins faces no shortage of options to fill the void.

“Well, you’ve got (sophomore infielder) Aidan Falk who works over there,” Hutchins said.

“And really, (freshman utility player) Faith Canfield is somebody that’s very valuable. She is the most prepared to play this level out of really anybody on this team, and we’ve been looking at her.

So, I expect execution level to determine that.”

Sweet, on the other hand, graduated last spring. After serving as a security blanket for the Wolverines as a four-year starter, Michigan faces a tall order in replacing her leadership and productivity behind the plate.

Eager to find her heir apparent, the Wolverines took to the recruiting trail with purpose. Scouring the state for high-quality talent, Michigan found freshmen catchers Alex Sobczak and Katie Alexander, from Farmington and Ypsilanti, respectively.

“There’s a lot to be said for being a freshman and being a catcher,” Hutchins said. “It’s one of the toughest learning curves there is. (Sobczak) is ahead of where Sweet was at this time (in her career), but she’s now going to need the game experience to get better. I expect there to be a learning curve, which means maybe some gray hairs for me at times ... we have to let her grow.

“And a really pleasant surprise has been Katie Alexander, who I originally recruited to be a bullpen catcher. But she’s much better than a bullpen catcher, and she’s going to have some time for us and give us some depth there.”

Despite the transitions at first and catcher, the left side

of the infield remains relatively solid for the Wolverines, due in large part to the return of AllAmerican and 2015 inaugural espnW Softball Player of the Year Sierra Romero, a senior second baseman.

Romero has been nearly unstoppable throughout her college career, but last season, she took her dominance to a whole new level. With a .449 batting average, 22 home runs, 83 RBIs, a .909 slugging percentage and an OBP of .601 on the season, Romero played a pivotal role in guiding the Wolverines in their journey to the WCWS. Alongside her at third and short are juniors Lindsay Montemarano and Abby Ramirez, respectively. Ramirez, in particular, enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign, providing some extra firepower for Michigan from the No. 9 spot in the lineup with a .371 batting average and 24 RBIs. Together, Romero and Ramirez make a formidable duo on defense, combining at second and short to great effect. That should come as no surprise, given that both have experience playing each other’s position at a high level.

Romero played at short and Ramirez played at second before they flipped positions, which explains their harmonious relationship on the field.

“Oh, we’re awesome,” Romero said. “She knows my range so well and I know her range so well; we just complement each other. And we joke about it all the time, that we made some really cool plays. We know what each other is thinking. It’s nice because we both know what areas are hard to make plays at.

When she has a backhand throw and good spin on the ball, I know where the ball is probably going to go. We read each other and feed off each other very well.”

The stable presence of veteran leadership between the two and Montemarano will undoubtedly help ease the adjustment process at first and catcher. The experience of playing together for an extended period of time strengthens the infield unit as a whole despite the roster turnover.

“It helps a lot because in this sport, communication is key, especially when all hell breaks loose and the ball is going the other way and you need to just calm down and talk,” Romero said. “I think we do a really good job with that, and now we’re putting our new freshmen in and they’re kind of getting the hang of it. Having all those returners really helps make the whole transition a lot easier.”

The infield will rely on these returners to bridge the gap between the old and the new, and if they do, Michigan can expect its recent run of success to continue.

“There’s a lot to be said for being a freshman and being a catcher.”

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Senior shortstop Siera Romero looks to build on a stellar junior season.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh has ruffled plenty of feathers with his recruiting tactics in his time in Ann Arbor, including a pair of clashes with the SEC.

Harbaugh, SEC clash over spring practice trip to Florida, “whining”

By MAX BULTMAN Managing Sports Editor

No one ever said college football was cordial.

With Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh planning his second Southern invasion in two years, the criticism keeps on coming. This time, instead of satellite camps, Harbaugh wants to take his team to Bradenton, Fla., for spring practice over the school’s spring break.

“We’re going to work hard, and we’re going to have fun doing it,” Harbaugh said of the trip after his Signing of the Stars event last week. “We’ve already got some good plans to have swim meets. We’re going to have puttputt golf. We’re going to have football meetings. We’re going to have practice. I think it gives us a chance to win at a lot of different levels.

“Everybody’s going to get spring break. There’s no youngster who can’t afford to fly somewhere who won’t be able to enjoy his spring break. What better way to do that than by playing football?”

Not mentioned, of course, is the fact that the trip would put the Wolverines in a recruiting hotbed, practicing at talent-rich IMG Academy at a time when Harbaugh and Michigan are perpetually making headlines on the recruiting circuit.

The Southeastern Conference and its commissioner, Greg Sankey, want him to stay home.

Tuesday, CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd reported that the SEC is attempting to prohibit schools from holding spring practice during spring break.

The motivation behind the SEC request, publicly, was out of concern for increasing time

demands of players, in this case asking them to give up a week that is, by definition, a break.

Harbaugh, naturally, didn’t appear to take kindly to that.

Wednesday, the Michigan coach posed a question to his Twitter followers that seemed to reference the SEC complaints.

“Question of the day: Does anyone find whining to be attractive?

Just curious,” Harbaugh tweeted.

While attractiveness may not be what Sankey and co. are going for, the message was received loud and clear.

The recruiting significance of IMG Academy shouldn’t be discounted, as the No. 1 prospect in 2017, Dylan Moses, is a student there, along with six other prospects in the top 150 of the 247Sports composite rankings.

And while neither side has highlighted recruiting as a reason

Classifieds RELEASE DATE– Thursday, February 11, 2016

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

for their dispute, the coincidence is hard to ignore.

In response, Sankey rebuffed Harbaugh’s apparent subtweet, essentially declining to comment, but making his feelings known in the process.

“I’m not going to reduce what is an important conversation to some childhood use of Twitter,” Sankey said, via Al.com.

It’s not the first time Harbaugh and the SEC have butted heads, as some of the conference’s coaches took umbrage with his Summer Swarm camp tour last summer.

Harbaugh got his way then, and with the planned trip scheduled for less than three weeks from now, he likely will on this issue, too.

But this also isn’t likely to be the last time the Wolverines coach clashes with the SEC. And with every passing incident, it seems to only grow more tense.

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Sports

6A — Thursday, February 11, 2016

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

‘M’ holds off Minnesota for win Walton scores 26 MEN’S BASKETBALL

to power Michigan

By LEV FACHER Daily Sports Writer

MINNEAPOLIS — One of Williams Arena’s many charms are the steel girders that obstruct views in the farthest MICHIGAN 82 reaches of MINNESOTA 74 the gym’s lower bowl, a relic of the arena’s 88-year-old design.

For what they witnessed in each stage of Michigan’s surprisingly competitive 82-74 win on Wednesday, many of those who dared enter The Barn to watch the Golden Gophers, now 0-12 in Big Ten play, had cause at numerous points throughout the night to crawl into the corners and hide behind the stanchions.

The Wolverines began and finished with the same ineptitude they displayed in recent blowout losses to Indiana and Michigan State, as junior forward Zak Irvin finished a possession devoid of motion with a 14-foot airball and Michigan picked up an uncharacteristic five fouls in the game’s first six minutes.

Michigan also devolved into ugliness toward the end of the game, when they let Minnesota whittle their 19-point lead to as little as two. But the cushion was enough, thanks an impressive run of defensive chaos on Minnesota’s part earlier in the game that saw Michigan’s Derrick Walton Jr. put the Wolverines in control, dropping 19 points on a whirlwind of devastating fakes and step-back 3-pointers.

The junior guard, who finished with a career-high 26 points, left Minnesota forward Joey King grasping at thin air on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that gave Michigan (8-4 Big Ten, 18-7 overall) a 42-28 halftime lead, quieting a sparse crowd that, at the time, had little to celebrate besides free heat on a frigid Minnesota night.

But Michigan lost focus late in the game, committing three

By LEV FACHER Daily Sports Writer

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Junior guard Derrick Walton Jr. scored 26 points in the Wolverines’ 82-74 win over Minnesota on Wednesday.

consecutive turnovers to prompt a timeout from Michigan coach John Beilein that took a more positive tone than one might expect.

“I was more trying to give them confidence, say, ‘We’re going to win this game and we’re going to execute this play, and we’ve got to get a guy in the lane and play ball,’ ” Beilein said.

The Wolverines fulfilled that prophecy, as sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman came away with the type of “East Coast” play Beilein frequently exalts, bumping in the paint to draw a foul and finishing at the rim despite contact.

Abdur-Rahkman wasn’t whistled for the offensive foul, and it wasn’t the only controversial non-call he wound up involved in.

Minutes later, Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, on the precipice of a win that has evaded him since Big Ten play began in late December, found himself pleading with the referees for a travel call on AbdurRahkman, which would have been the fourth disastrous Michigan

turnover in a short stretch.

Almost inevitably, Pitino’s pleas and his team’s late-game charge yielded little in the way of a final result, as the Wolverines found their stroke from long distance and managed to avoid utter disaster in the form of a loss that might have damaged their NCAA Tournament chances irreparably.

“Those turnovers were really huge,” Beilein said. “That 19-(point) lead isn’t going to stay there. They’re not gonna quit.

They’re too quick, and they can score points.”

A team that lives and dies by the 3-pointer, the Wolverines did exactly what they couldn’t last week while the Hoosiers and Spartans embarrassed them on their home floor. Michigan made 14 treys on the night, helped in no small part by repeated defensive lapses that left redshirt sophomore guard Duncan Robinson alone on the wing on consecutive possessions.

“He hasn’t had a lot of looks like that,” Beilein said. “When you’re in transition, we hope we can get

that. He’s trying to figure out his pockets of what he’s got to do — a little harder cut, a little harder run.

He had some big baskets as well.

“Sometimes — you’ve seen it — when he’s too open, those are the ones he misses. That was a big make.”

Robinson, as he struggled to do in both losses, drained both attempts and finished 4-for-7 from the field. Sophomore guard Aubrey Dawkins did his part, too, with a run that came midway through the first half, just before Walton took the game into his own hands.

The bursts from Dawkins and Robinson ended up proving entirely necessary, as the Golden Gophers’ unexpected scoring flurry and Irvin’s failure to find his shooting stroke — he finished with four points on 1-for-8 shooting — turned a problem-solving win into a victory that, given the week it followed, wasn’t nearly as convincing as it needed to be.

“The last two games, you know — that wasn’t us,” Walton said.

“Tonight was all about getting back to how we did things.”

MINNEAPOLIS — Derrick Walton Jr. was unstoppable. Zak Irvin was unstartable.

But as Michigan flirted with disaster against a team making its 12th attempt at a first Big Ten win, the ball found itself briefly in Zak Irvin’s hands, then in MuhammadAli Abdur-Rahkman’s, and never in Walton’s.

Abdur-Rahkman drew contact, made his layup and calmly sank the free throw, making the play of the night to cap the game of Walton’s season.

“I’m equally excited whenever somebody makes a play,” Walton said.

Nobody doubted Walton’s excitement. But given the night he had, in which he scored a careerhigh 26 points, collected eight rebounds and dished out seven assists, it was simply surprising that the game-deciding play didn’t involve him.

Leading by two points, having just seen their 19-point advantage blown to pieces, the Wolverines needed a bucket to prevent the unthinkable — a loss to Minnesota (0-12 Big Ten, 6-18 overall).

Walton had shouldered roles of facilitator, distributor, scorer and even rebounder earlier in the game, but said afterward his takeover had little to do with Michigan’s early-game stagnancy on offense or some of his teammates’ shooting woes.

“I don’t think it was because the guys were missing shots,” Walton said. “I was just trying to get the offense flowing.”

The offense flowed, to be sure, but it flowed entirely through Walton, who did well to put a rough week behind him. Walton shot just 3-for-10 from the field in Saturday’s loss to Michigan State and in last Tuesday’s loss

to Indiana, both of which were blowouts and both of which were on the Wolverines’ home floor.

“Tonight was a fresh start for me,” Walton said.

It was no coincidence, according Michigan coach John Beilein.

Walton was told in explicit terms what he needed to do to help the Wolverines over the hump, and he went above and beyond.

“He responded to the games and he responded to some strong coaching the last couple games, too,” Beilein said, referencing a late-game play at the rim that helped seal the win. “He’s got more responsibilities. … He’s got to be able to do more and hang in there. And that was huge for him.

All those 3s were nice, (but) I loved his finish down the right lane.”

Walton’s performance proved all the more important in light of Irvin’s struggles. The junior forward, who drew attention for an impassioned outburst during a late-game timeout against Michigan State and openly questioned his team’s mental toughness following both losses, shot just 1-for-8 on the night, finishing with four points, two rebounds and three assists.

Abdur-Rahkman’s and-1 to seal the game was an unassisted play, but the play ran through Irvin, a surefire sign that Beilein’s confidence never withered.

“We were just trying to get Zak in the paint and find somebody,” Beilein noted, saying he thought Walton might have been suffering from fatigue late in the second half.

“I felt (Irvin) had the matchup. …

Zak had had a nice couple rests. I felt at that time that I wasn’t going to put it in Derrick’s hands, but he could play off of Zak. Lo and behold, Irvin got into the paint, and he found somebody.

“I know they were listening,” Beilein said, “because they did it well.”

Compher talks top line, ‘M’ seeks momentum haircuts from De Jong from Wisconsin visit Michigan captain part of potent trio with Connor, Motte

By LELAND MITCHINSON Daily Sports Writer

By JASON RUBINSTEIN Daily Sports Editor

Junior forward JT Compher is having his best season yet while donning the maize and blue.

Michigan’s captain has tallied 10 goals and 28 assists through 25 games, shattering his previous season high in points, 31.

Since Compher was paired with freshman forward Kyle Connor and junior forward Tyler Motte 14 games ago, he has netted nine goals and 18 helpers. His play both on and off the ice has been critical for the Wolverines.

And for all of these reasons, Compher was selected to be a part of this week’s edition of Quick Hits.

The Michigan Daily: Your line has been coined the “CCM line.” Tyler Motte didn’t know what that meant at first. Did you?

Compher: Yeah. I knew what it meant.

TMD: Are you surprised that Tyler couldn’t pick that up quickly.

Compher: I’m not going to comment on that (laughs). I’ll let him think about that on his own.

TMD: Do you like the name?

Compher: Yeah. We don’t pay attention to it that much.

It’s something you guys pay attention to much more than we do. For us, it’s just about playing well with each other.

TMD: Have you ever been on a line that has been as offensively gifted as this one?

Compher: I’ve been fortunate to play with some really good players, but the chemistry has

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Junior forward JT Compher has 28 assists in 25 games this season.

been great this year and the production has continued.

TMD: Have you ever made Red Berenson laugh?

Compher: A couple times, yeah. In some meetings, but we will keep that between us, the team and him.

TMD: What’s the meanest thing you’ve had to do as captain this year?

Compher: There’s nothing really that has been mean. It’s just like being one of the other guys.

TMD: Has any part of the job been a transition for you?

At this point in the interview, sophomore forward Niko Porikos tried to interrupt Compher’s thought process, but Compher yelled at him to get away.

Compher: I didn’t say I wasn’t mean. (laughs). With this group of guys, it’s been easy.

TMD: How does it feel that everyone on this team thinks

you are the most annoying teammate to practice against?

Compher: I think that is my goal as a player. Unfortunately, it shows up in practice and annoys some guys. I have a select few guys that I like to annoy and pick on a bit in practice.

TMD: Is Max Shuart one of those?

Compher: Yeah (laughs).

We’re roommates, so it depends if we were bickering earlier that day or the last night. And if I owe him one or not depends on that.

TMD: On road trips, who is the person you least want to be roommates with?

Compher: I can’t room with Shuart. I’m sick of him at that point, so if we were put together, I’d definitely ask to switch.

TMD: Would you let Nolan De Jong cut your hair?

Compher: I do. Only the sides, no clippers. For the rest of it, I go to a professional. … Too much of a risk there.

The Michigan women’s basketball team will look to build some momentum this Thursday as it hosts Wisconsin Wisconsin following a strong at Michigan conference win Matchup: Sunday.

Wisconsin The 7-15; Wolverines Michigan 13-10 defeated Illinois, 96-83, When: riding on Thursday big scoring 7 P.M. outings from Where: Crisler Center sophomore guard Katelynn TV/Radio: Flaherty and BTN Plus freshman center Hallie Thome.

The win was Michigan’s fifth conference victory of the season, and while the Wolverines (5-7 Big Ten, 13-10 overall) are in the bottom half of the Big Ten, any win at this stage of the season will help to avoid participation in a play-in game to start the Big Ten Tournament.

Flaherty scored her 1000th career point on the way to a career-high 36 points, while Thome took advantage of the Illini’s four-guard lineup to drop 25 points of her own.

Michigan will be looking to continue its successful ball distribution in a well-balanced attack. Junior guard Siera Thompson, who leads the team in assists, led the way in that category on Sunday with eight assists. Senior guard Madison Ristovski and freshman guard Boogie Brozoski, who logged the first start of her career, also contributed seven assists each in the Illinois game.

The competition level Thursday should be similar to Sunday’s. Wisconsin (3-9, 7-15) is in a three-way tie for the second worst record in the conference,

SINDUJA KILARU/Daily

Junior guard Siera Thompson has a team-leading 116 assists this season.

just two games ahead of Illinois.

The Badgers just snapped a seven-game losing streak with a win over Purdue on Monday.

Wisconsin has also particularly struggled on the road this season, unable to win a Big Ten game away from home this campaign.

“They beat Purdue, and Purdue was having a really outstanding season,” said Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico in her weekly interview with WTKA. “Wisconsin is led by a guard who averages about 20 points a game, they have a really great inside presence as well, kind of a onetwo punch, and they’ve been a little up and down but they’re coming off a really big win and it will be a great challenge for us at home.”

The Badgers are led in scoring by a pair of senior guards, Nicole Bauman and Dakota Whyte, who average 16.4 and 12.5 points per game, respectively. The two also average over three assists per game each.

The Badgers won last season’s only meeting, 63-53, in Madison on the back of a stout defensive performance. Wisconsin limited

Michigan to an abysmal 33.9 percent from the floor while shooting 57.1 percent from 3-point range. Leading the Badgers from beyond the arc was Bauman, who went 4-for-7. The combination of hot shooting and shutdown defense was enough to put away the Wolverines, and Michigan will have to look out for Bauman once again this season if it wants a chance.

On the flip side, Wisconsin, which give up an average of 71.6 points per game, will battle with the offensive prowess of the Wolverines. Michigan is eighth in the country in scoring offense, putting up 81.8 points per game.

“They probably are one of the top teams in the conference in terms of defensive field goal percentage or points against,” Barnes Arico said after Sunday’s game. “So that’s going to be interesting because we’re going from probably one end to the (other) end (of the spectrum) and we need to make sure we are still as efficient on the offensive end, even though we are playing a different style of team.”

the b-side The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | Thursday, February 11, 2016

Love Beyond the Binary DEMISEXUAL POLYAMOROUS

XO

TIC AN OM BIR

LUV

AS EX UA L

B

By Daily Arts Writer Sam Rosenberg “What is love?”

It’s more than just the ubiquitous hook of the 1993 dance-pop jam by Haddaway. To many, love has a plethora of definitions. It can represent a deep affection for another person, an intense liking toward a piece of art or, to put it more broadly, a strong bond between two or more people. However, in our society, love is often associated with sexuality, and the romantic aspect of love is frequently complemented with the sexual aspect of love. This upcoming Sunday is Valentine’s Day, which is known as the national day of celebration of our culture’s version of “love.” For decades, V-Day has commercialized “love” in advertisements, Hallmark greeting cards, presents and even film. People are motivated to spend money on loved ones, whether it’s on a thoughtful box of chocolates or on sexy gifts to spice up one’s sex life. And while the holiday can be rather heteronormative in nature, it is

gradually becoming more inclusive toward non-heterosexual couples. Nevertheless, it seems to underrepresent a largely unrecognized group of people: those who don’t identify with the sexual or romantic binary.

Let’s talk about sex (and romance), baby When it comes to love, sexual attraction and romantic attraction are often paired together, yet they have completely different implications. For people with non-binary sexual and romantic orientations, the concept of “love” doesn’t necessarily mean that sex and romance always go hand-inhand. University of Michigan freshman Allie Hodge, who identifies as asexual and biromantic, believes that love simply means being intimate with someone, but “in the way where you feel really comfortable with talking to them, where you can share yourself fully and not worry about judgment.”

It may seem unusual that asexuality, which defines a person who feels no sexual

attraction, can coexist with biromanticism, which involves romantic attraction toward persons of two or more genders. But Hodge makes a clear point that romance and sexuality don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

“I don’t feel the desire to have sex,” Hodge said. “It’s not something that I find appealing, but I can understand people who do find it appealing. At the same time, I do feel really strong romantic attraction to people, as well as platonic.”

Before Hodge discovered her asexuality in 10th grade, she identified as demisexual, a sexual orientation in which someone feels sexual attraction only to people with whom they have an emotional bond, which seemed more socially acceptable at the time.

But once she came out as asexual, Hodge received a range of positive, neutral and negative responses.

“When I do tell people (about my asexuality), I usually get questions like, ‘Have you

gotten your hormones checked?’ ” Hodge said. “It’s also a common thing where people say, ‘Oh, you just haven’t had experience yet.’ ” Regardless, Hodge believes she felt accepted and comfortable once she came to the University. In addition to receiving encouragement from her mother and sister, Hodge has found support at the University and in the “ace” community — “ace” is the abbreviated slang for asexual — particularly in the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), an online resource that strives to create open, honest discussions about asexuality among sexual and asexual people alike. She has also participated in Aromantic and Asexual Awareness Day, which allows people who identify as aromantic and/or asexual to share their personal experiences with their romantic/ sexual orientations.

See LOVE, Page 2B Design by Jacklyn Thomas & Scotty Hardin

the b-side

2B — Thursday, February 11, 2016

LOVE From Page 1B Similar to Hodge, University graduate student Kelly* also feels a certain stigma against her romantic and sexual orientations.

Kelly identifies as a lesbian in a non-sexual open relationship with a man. Even though her romantic relationship doesn’t correlate with her sexual orientation, sexuality still plays an important role in her expression of love.

“Even if I don’t want to have sex with anyone, that doesn’t change who I’m attracted to,” Kelly said. “My sexual orientation isn’t about who I sleep with; it’s about who I love.”

Kelly, who also works as a My Voice panelist at the University Spectrum Center, mentions that she entered her current relationship with no idea of what she wanted or even a full understanding of her own sexual orientation, but that she and her partner are both constantly changing as people, as well as the nature of their relationship.

“Relationships aren’t static,” Kelly continued. “I’m not interested in sex or many types of physical intimacy with my partner, but I still love him romantically.”

Love can be seen as multidimensional, especially in differentiating between sexual relationships from romantic ones.

According to Pharmacy student Kevin Sparks, who identifies as gay and gender-fluid and also works as a MyVoicepanelist and GPS Mentor at the Spectrum Center, romantic and sexual relationships each contain distinguishing traits.

“Simply put, a romantic relationship has sex within it, but a sexual relationship has no romance,” Sparks said.

Sparks went on to elaborate the romantic relationship, in that it “involves a deeper level of shared intimacy, even outside of the sexual relationship, and moves beyond companionship and into a shared desire for one another’s bodies and commitment.”

Love comes in many forms.

The notion that love comes only exclusively in a singular combination of sex and romance isn’t always necessarily true.

When love is specifically related to sex and romance, it doesn’t have to be both sexual and romantic; it can be “either/ or.”

Monogamy, polyamory, living in (somewhat) perfect harmony Monogamy has been the set standard of relationships for quite a while. But even though monogamy is perceived as “normal” by societal means, it really isn’t. Sure, we have been evolutionarily conditioned to attract, mate and live with one person for the rest of our lives.

But should that always be the case? For people who identify as polyamorous — being in love or romantically involved with more than one person at the same time — relationships are much more fluid. Hodge talked about the beneficial aspects of polyamorous relationships, since they involve a lot of honesty and rely on a lot of trust.

“Polyamory is often looked at

as cheating or being unfaithful,” Hodge said. “But it can also be super healthy, where all these people have this genuine love for each other.”

If you’re not convinced, try watching the 15-minute video made by Elite Daily, titled “A Polyamorous Couple’s Guide To Sleeping With Multiple Partners.” The clip follows Brooklyn partners Caleb and Tran, who both identify as polyamorous. They describe their journeys of having both sexual and romantic relationships with other people, while still retaining their own special relationship as “primary partners.”

Throughout the video, Caleb and Tran emphasize the key elements to maintaining a healthy polyamorous relationship, which are openness, honesty and communication.

They explain how they constantly discuss their anxieties about jealousy and their developing interests in other people to one another. And because of their relentless candidness, the two are able to maintain their own loving relationship and relationships with others.

It’s easy to just assume that this couple is using polyamory as an excuse to avoid commitment. But the video shows Caleb and Tran weighing in on the costs and rewards of polyamory, as well as their genuine, unconditional love for one another. This isn’t to say that monogamy is a limiting or bad thing (it can also be just as beautiful and dynamic). However, polyamory paves the way for people who don’t fit in the “normal” realm of relationships to explore their own identity and engage in developing strong relationships with people, whether platonic, sexual or romantic.

Embrace the ace (and other non-binary orientations) So how should our society and culture better represent people who don’t identify in the binary?

While LGBTQ civil rights and representation are increasingly becoming part of mainstream society, a lack of media representation and education still exists for the LGBTQ community and especially for non-binary communities. Over time, sexuality and romance have become prominent in our media — film, television, music, books and specifically Valentine’s Day — and a lot of those mediums often capture sexuality and romance through a heteronormative lens.

“A lot of our society is geared towards sex,” Hodge said.

“And even as an asexual, it’s sometimes hard for me to say that I really don’t want to have sex.”

Hodge said that the topic of not having sex is not widely discussed and that when it is, it’s said “in the way that it’s shamed, like, ‘Oh, you poor virgin.’ ” Moreover, media can be perceived as generating heteronormative content intentionally for the sake of maintaining the normal standard of what a “proper” sexual and romantic relationship should be.

Valentine’s Day, in particular, makes this struggle for recognition among the nonbinary community extremely difficult, since the holiday caters toward predominantly

binary-based relationships.

Sparks believes that the mediums and commercial outlets in our society all “knowingly promote themselves through idealistic, heteronormative, two-person relationships because they believe that will provide them with the most successful outcome and the most consumers.”

“It is not a lack of awareness that causes this underrepresentation,” Sparks continued. “But rather a choice on behalf of a cisgender, heteronormative, binaryseeking person to disengage an integral portion of the community.”

As someone who doesn’t conform to the romantic and sexual binary, Kelly also has to constantly deal with “the assumption that people like (me) don’t exist — whether that’s because you don’t want to be in a relationship, are in more than one relationship or in a relationship with more than one person, are in a nonsexualromantic relationship.”

While our society has yet to expand its inclusiveness toward people with nonbinary sexual and romantic orientations, education can be one essential component in reaching that goal faster.

This can pertain to breaking down LGBTQ and non-binary stereotypes, informing people about the variety of terms used to describe LGBTQ and nonbinary orientations and general inclusion of people who aren’t heterosexual, heteroromantic or cisgender.

Validity is particularly important, as Hodge points out, because “it recognizes that other people are different from you.”

Even the queer community, Hodge continued, doesn’t know much about non-binary terms because they’re not widely discussed. Sparks said he feels a similar way, since for him, it’s difficult expressing himself to others, as someone “whose sexual preferences far exceed the ‘vanilla’ standard that is societally acceptable.”

What’s love got to do with it?

Relationships, whether sexual or romantic, are not about always being in one fixed state. Rather, they are about embracing multiple feelings that transcend the binary.

“People aren’t always gonna be on this black and white scale, but rather be (part of the) rainbow spectrum,” Hodge said.

It’s true that our society is progressing in accepting and embracing the LGBTQ community with an emphasis on love and pride. A national milestone was made this past summer on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn several state laws and statutes banning same-sex marriage, including Michigan’s, legalizing it nationwide. Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime performance was another great example of this as well, as a multi-colored crowd spelled out “Believe in Love,” while Chris Martin of Coldplay, Bruno Mars and Beyoncé belted out a medley. But what our society must continue to strive for is acceptance of people who don’t associate with the traditional idea of love, and once we achieve that, then love can seen not as black or white, but for what it truly is: a rainbow.

SINGLE REVIEW “Avoiding Boys” is a song worthy of blowing out your speakers. It’s a dance-aroundin-yourunderwear, A confidencedemanding Avoiding track.

ROMP, Boys the group ROMP responsible for the tour Bad Timing de force, is Records expected to release its first full-length album, Departure From Venus, in early March.

The chorus of “Avoiding Boys” is undeniably empowering, with thrashing guitar backing up a voice telling you “I don’t care what you might say / This is gonna be a great

BAD TIMING RECORDS

fucking day.” In combination with this emboldening refrain, the song can read as a self-help guide for the apathetic millennial, toting lines such as “Last summer I could barely get up / Noting was easy.” Lines such as this hint at mental illness, a topic that is becoming more openly discussed, and presents it in

an approachable, normalizing way.

“Avoiding Boys” is mighty in soundscape, honest in its ideas and a pretty good standin for a good friend telling you that everything will be ok. Not to mention the title, which presents some great advice in and of itself.

- CARLY SNIDER

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW

Daviau to unleash her dystopian world

By NATALIE ZAK Daily Community Culture Editor

If you could go back in time to see any concert, who would you see and why?

“R.E.M. 1980. In Fiction at Athens, Georgia for Literati: their first Mo Daviau concert. Also, David Garza, Monday, when he Feb. 15 planted a big, Literati wet kiss on Bookstore my cheek at his concert in Free Austin,” said author Mo Daviau in an interview with The Michigan Daily.

Daviau, a graduate of Smith College and the University of Michigan’s coveted M.F.A. program, used this enthralling question as the premise for her debut book, “Every Anxious Wave,” set to release February 9. He will be giving a reading at Literati on Monday, Febuary 15.

Both an icebreaker and a cunning plot designed to silently judge an individual’s music taste, Daviau brought this innocent conversation starter to life in “Every Anxious Wave.”

Delving into the conundrum of time travel and the love, loss and inevitable misadventures it brings, Daviau’s debut novel documents the life of a burned out indie-rock guitarist named Karl Bender and the turn his mundane life takes when he discovers a wormhole in his closet.

That’s right, a wormhole.

A rip in the space-time continuum exists in Karl’s Chicago apartment, rests above his beloved bar, which houses alcoholic relief for its regulars and rock concerts for those willing to pay a hefty price.

“I was having a crappy evening of self-pity in 2010 when I had the idea that if I cranked up the song “Sally Wants” by the band Henry’s Dress loud enough I could break the space-time continuum and propel myself back to 1995 and make entirely different life choices,” Daviau said. “This obviously didn’t happen, but instead I sat down and began writing the book.”

This may have been the precise moment Daviau began writing her premiere work,

however the idea for it was churning in her mind for years before she first put pen to paper.

After losing her father at the age of sixteen, Daviau always dreamed of spending more time with him to compensate for the lost years of father-daughter bonding. Of course this was an impossible dream, but in her ambitious imagination there was one logical way of achieving it: time travel.

Although Daviau is unable to master the art of time travel herself, she is able instead to cultivate a landscape in which her characters not only master it but use it to correct the losses with which the universe has unfairly burdened them.

What’s most intriguing about this novel, however, is not the wormhole or side story of Karl’s best friend getting stuck in Mannahatta in the year 980.

No, what’s most fascinating is Daviau’s remarkable ability to weave a love affair starring the tough, prickly, determinedly independent Lena into a story already consumed by the inconsistencies of time.

It’s not narrator and protagonist Karl that dominates the story; it’s his love interest, Lena. She is dragged into Karl’s life by his desperate need for an astrophysicist to get Wayne, the aforementioned lost-intime colleague, back from the Stone Age. Lena hurdles into Karl’s bar and life with all the battle scars of a woman who has both endured sexual assault and fought her way to the top of a male-dominated field.

“Lena is an amalgam of various women I have known as friends and colleagues over the years — women who have been slightly beaten down by life, women who have received poor treatment in their careers and education in terms of sexual assault or abuse or any other number of things that happen mostly to women that affect their ability to succeed,” Daviau said.

She’s not just an amalgam; she’s an enigma. Lena and Karl enter into a relationship characterized by a reversal of gender roles and punk rock, but she refuses to continue to bear the burden of her past when an easy solution for her problems presents itself in the

form of Karl’s closet. Instead of disclosing her past to Karl, she takes matters into her own hands.

“Girls like Lena are underrepresented in literature,” Daviau said.

Modern heroines have presented themselves in the form of “The Hunger Games” ’s Katniss Everdeen and “Divergent” ’s Tris. They are simultaneously strong, unimpeachable, hopelessly beautiful and intelligent.

Their fatal flaws make them dynamic, appeal to mass audiences and have created a specific brand of toughness.

The women Daviau strives to convey through Lena are those that have been beaten down time after time by society but still rise up to meet a challenge.

The character of Lena isn’t strong because she has been thrown into a dystopian world and has to be, she is strong because brutal circumstances endured in reality have made her that way.

Time travel and sexual assault aren’t traditionally complementing topics broached in literature, but Daviau skillfully combines them to create both a world in which a 21st century Chicago landlord can engage in a heated affair with Freddie Mercury, and a woman can revisit the emotional trauma of a parent’s death.

“Life. Life is what gives this story balance,” Daviau said, for from her perspective, life is just as strange and inexplicable as the subjects she addresses in her book.

And thus, the astrophysicist and retired guitarist enter into a relationship that spans thousands of years and quite literally transverses the universe, moving from a time when language is in its early stages of development to the apocalypse.

For her debut novel, Daviau has certainly made a point to stand out. She champions feminism and science and esoteric indie rock bands over the course of 250 pages. “Every Anxious Wave” isn’t simply a romance. And it isn’t just a tribute to strong women. It is a science fiction, rock ‘n’ roll punk opera with a twist of fate written in the stars of 980 Mannahatta.

STYLE RECAP

What Donatella’s dreams are made of

By HANNAH SPARKS Daily Arts Writer

Cut outs, open backs and shiny leather are among us in the latest Versace collection. The first few models to walk the runway are dressed in stark white outfits that are coupled with neon details. The first jacket is slightly boxy, structured and has straps that look like a mimic of neon suspenders. The ever so talented rapper, Riff Raff would be all over it.

I’m currently reaching for the Tylenol because I sense a headache coming on. This first wave of neon is nauseating. It does come back to us later on. Fortunately it’s mixed in with blue and black pieces so it’s much easier on the eyes. In fact later on in the show a model walks out in a long sky blue dress. The top of the dress is quite incredible, as it looks like it’s made of PVC plastic. PVC is the same material that is used the make the “Jellies” sandals. It’s strung around the models neck, wrapped around her arms just below the shoulder, cut out around the ribs and finally it’s met with the blue fabric itself that makes up the rest of the dress. The colorful PVC runs down the sides of the

dress, which resembles dripping paint. It’s a bold look, one that I could see Taylor Swift trying to pull off, but failing in the process.

Five minutes into the show the most creative mini-dress I’ve ever witnessed comes floating down the runway. It’s what sexy and fun mini-dress dreams are made of. It’s the same color blue as the Crayola markers I would get so hype for when I was younger. The dress has somewhat of a blue and white checkerboard pattern, just enough to make you gravitate towards whoever wears it. There are circular cut out shapes around the chest and down the bodice that stop just before the hips.

The same goes for the back of the dress. I’m slightly obsessed with this piece and am curious to know how it would look on someone who could actually fill it out. *Coughs* me, please Donatella send it to me. Whether its your taste or not, it undeniably demands attention and has my vote for the best dress in the collection.

Somehow the next look (the worst look) was very unflattering, even on the 90lb model that wore it. It’s a white long dress, the left shoulder is held up by

a fashionable looking seatbelt.

There is a massive cutout right at the hipbone. This makes it look like someone put an oversized hole in the side of the dress.

Unfortunately this just makes the model look like she has a very round side, like her nonexistent fat is popping out.

So I’m all about the whole “Free the nipple” campaign, as well as ditching my bra, but let me tell you these last two looks embrace those ideas to the fullest. There are two dresses one short, one long and for both of them the chest area is completely see-through. Made of a very thin crystal-like material they leave little to the imagination.

It’s a super sexy look and I can’t wait to see which celebrity is bold enough to wear one of these dresses.

Donatella Versace knows how to make a woman look sexy and confident. This collection had a few questionable pieces but other than that it’s clean cut, colorful, and fearless. If I had to describe it in one word, I would say it was “Powerful.” I can’t wait until the day I can walk around in something labeled Versace. Until then I will channel my inner Versace vibes, no matter what I’m wearing.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

the b-side

Thursday, February 11, 2016 — 3B

How to fall out baked.buzzed.bored. of love in college A guide to ruining your very own relationship

By HANNAH SPARKS Daily Arts Writer

Disclaimer: That was not a sarcastic title. This is actually the perfect tool guide to ruining a relationship. Sorry to everyone who was hoping for a cute and sappy article right in time for V-day, because this is quite the opposite.

Unfortunately I recently succeeded in ruining a romantic relationship with a really great guy. You may be wondering, “Why would you do such a thing, Hannah?” To that I say, just because someone is “perfect” doesn’t mean they’re perfect for you.

Now I’m going to explain to all you lovelies out there how you to can ruin a relationship, just like I did (yay)!

The first step is obviously to meet someone you find genuinely interesting. Now, read carefully because what I’m about to say is a vital part of this process. Make sure to connect on a really deep level of consciousness. In other words, fall in love with their brain before their looks. Once you’ve done that, the two of you will naturally become something we all like to call BFFs. So now you’re in the BFF stage. During this time you need to: text everyday, hangout at least twice a week, get really drunk together (without hooking up) and meet each other’s families.

This part is really fun, so enjoy it while you can.

This next step is optional, but relevant to my personal experience.

Make the relationship an LDR (long distance relationship). When a friend transfers to a different school than the one you’ve attended together, it’ll be sad and the both of you will miss each other. Now you’ll be asking yourself — “Why do I miss them so much, is this more than a friendship, should I act on these feelings?” This is hard and a time where you’ll need to dig deep into your unconscious mind, to find the “right” answer.

After pinpointing how you really feel, hang out with them when they visit home and have a candid discussion about what the relationship means to the both of you. If it turns out the way mine did, you two will decide that dating each other is the way to go. How exciting!

Your new boyfriend or girlfriend will eventually go back to school. Don’t worry though — calling them everyday will take place. Make sure to talk for an hour or two, recapping each other’s days, and talking about mindless things that seem much funnier than they actually are. Gossip about your friends

and vent about your problems, they will prove to be a great sounding board.

The leap from friendship to relationship will be easy enough, and you will find that things are going super well.

You’re comfortable around this person — they lift you up when you’re down, they get along with your friends and family. Soon you’ll find that you both perform small (or really big) gestures for each other. Things like buying gifts for each other (even when it’s not a special occasion or holiday), surprising one another by coming home or going up to visit, you could even throw them a surprise birthday party (it was really fun).

This next part is a good test to whether or not you two can really stand each other for long periods of time. Do what I did (if

You think to yourself, we were so close to one year. you can find the time and funds) take a vacation together over a long-weekend. You’re essentially living with this person for three or four days. Sharing a single space for both of your things, deciding who gets to shower first and what you’d like to do on your mini-trip — all things that you both have to agree on. If you find yourself compromising, that’s okay! Compromising with your partner is key. Either way the memories you’ll make during this time will certainly be burned into your brain forever.

So now you’ve been with each other for around eight months.

Of course you’ve hit a few tiny road bumps along the way, but everything was solved and forgotten about with ease.

For some reason the once tiny road bumps slowly start to get a little bigger. Sometimes damaging the metaphorical vehicle you’re both driving in together. You try to brush it off and ignore the bigger underlying problems. This person is just so perfect, and you’re the center of their universe, so it’ll all be okay right? (Wrong) The holidays come around, so naturally everyone is happy around this time. A few issues arise as to where or with which family you’ll spend the holidays. Here comes our friend compromise again. After you’ve both made some compromises, you decide to be with both families for the holidays. Now things seem to smooth out once more.

Things are going well, but maybe too well? Start to question

yourself, your relationship, and your partner. Agony is what you’ll be feeling for a while now. Your partner will feel anxious; they may even start to project their insecurities about themselves and the relationship onto you. This causes quite a stir, but remember you started it.

The holiday break is over and it’s time to go back to being in an LDR. At this point you have a nagging voice in the back of your mind that keeps getting louder.

It’s telling you that you shouldn’t be questioning things, you should be sure, you’re too young to be so serious and finally, maybe you should just end it.

These are scary thoughts, but if you want to ruin a relationship the right way, you will succumb to them.

Tonight is the night, you two are together again but you aren’t feeling anything except for that you might vomit at any minute.

You made an executive decision that the breakup is going to happen now, you can’t question yourself any longer, its unfair to yourself and your partner.

This is the worst because you still care deeply for the person and you do still love them, but you’re no longer “in love” with them. Finally you say the words and things get emotional, like zero to 100 real quick. You beg with them to one day have the friendship you started out with, but you just hurt this person, so don’t expect them to agree with that. You drive home with a feeling like your insides are disintegrating, your heart physically hurts, your vision is blurred by tears and you think to yourself we were so close to making it to one year.

Now it’s over, you’ve successfully ended a relationship.

You may have even lost someone who was once your BFF. You will attract all the “feels.” Sadness, loneliness, confusion, happiness, relief and maybe even regret, but let me say this — it gets better.

Although your relationship has come to an end, you look back at it with such fondness that it can only make you smile. Maybe here and there you shed a tear but you know you’ll be okay. You also know your ex will be okay.

Eventually, one day you will talk to this person again. It may take time (maybe longer than you’d like) but you will come into contact again. You may never have the friendship that once was, but you two at the very least, will be friendly with one another.

This is life. We will all have this happen at some point, but if for now you’re “in love” and you aren’t questioning things — do not follow this advice. Either this information will help you during your breakup, or this can be used as the perfect “what not to do” guidelines. That’s all of my tips and tricks. Hope this helps!

Your above-average love-metaphor poem

By NATALIE ZAK Daily Community Culture Editor

Love is a field of dandelions Existing peacefully and uncontestedly between two amicable countries.

Love is a legume, a life choice for a vegetarian, Sometimes filled with the rotting black of seeds And sometimes not.

Love is the stuttering amber shards struggling to set logs aflame.

But there is no oxygen, no air,

And no vocal stylings of the great Jordin Sparks.

Will be filled with nothing but self-hatred for the next five to ten years.

Love is water, a lake speckled with the innards of fish

Love is sanity, the thwart of creativity

and the regrets of the couples who

It brings nothing but the stability of marriage

always failed to recycle their plastics.

Instead recycling the remains of their destroyed relationship On a two-person trip to Sandals Only to realize the empty seat next to them on the airplane

And an infant screaming In a gender-neutral yellow baby carriage.

Love is a chore, a mindless act of repetition, Never intriguing and never thrilling, Take me now, the lover yells, into boredom’s depths.

in this series, three daily arts writers in varying states of mind do the same activity and write about their experiences. this week’s event:

‘Valentine’s Day’ and Cupcakes OK Caro put olive oil in the V-Day cupcakes about .2 seconds after I laughed off the thought.

She’s sober and fucking this up. We started “Valentine’s Day.” My mom’s favorite song is the opener “Say Hey (I Love You)” by Michael Franti & Spearhead. I miss my mom. it’s her bday Thursday. hbd mom. I forgot every person was in this movie but it’s slowly coming back to me. I definitely saw this on a date during my formative years. Kathy bates just told Jamie fox she needs love from him. I’m not paraphrasing, I swear. this movie is absurd. OK let’s be honest, flowers don’t even smell good, right? How the fuck did Gary Marshall, the man behind “Pretty Woman” go for this shit. I’m pretty sure Patrick Dempsey plays a doctor in the movie and also cheats on his wife. (LIFE IMITATES ART @ShondaRhimes). #unpopularopinion: Derek Shepard was kind of a tool. if it wasn’t for the ganja and mood elevators this movie would have me in tears. topher grace looks like he kisses like a dead fish. no wonder Donna is playing for the other team on OITNB. it happened again. it’s #confirmed. if Anne Hathaway had a real-life phone sex company, what do you think her pricing and wait time would look like? email arts@michigandaily.com with estimates. Taylor swift’s cameo in this movie is by far the least feminist thing she’s ever done lols. flight attendants are assholes in rom coms. they’re also assholes in real life. these cupcakes need to be done. Ashton kutcher is #fiftyshadesofpink in this movie. if the universe was mine to rule, everyone wearing a fedora would be executed. the child buying flowers for his teacher would be done for. the cupcakes look better than expected. Valentine’s Day is so great if you’re single and know how to have a good time TBH. Eric Dane aka mcsteamy has always looked like a grandpa from the neck up. if this movie was even semi close to how humans actually interact my life would be hell. this movie’s savior is Julia Roberts. Julia Roberts is actually the world’s savior, I believe. poor ideas: telling everyone when you’re gonna lose your virginity. because it probably won’t be very good, and then you’ll have to lie about it. so then you’ll be a slut and a liar. who calls a penis a who who? I would love to be queen latifa’s personal assistant.

—DAILY ARTS WRITER

I’m only two shots and 30 seconds in and “Valentine’s Day” is pissing me off. First of all, the introduction song “Say Hey I love you” by Michael Franti makes me feel like I want to be on a beach and it’s currently 20 degrees out.

Thanks, I feel like shit right now because I’ll probably never have enough money to live somewhere that’s warm all of time.

George Lopez just made an appearance wtf. It’s time for the third shot. OK, now here is Jennifer Garner trying to be relatable and talk about how she was ugly in high school and how Valentine’s Day is so hard for a single women. 1) Have you fucking seen Jennifer Garner? I’m sorry Jennifer, I don’t think you don’t understand what it’s like to be an ugly person and unloved, OK? 2) I forgot the second point.

Update: Anne Hathaway just sex talked on her phone. I watched this movie once before when I went on a middle school date. I hate myself.

I’m probably six shots deep and Emma Roberts just told her gym teacher she was losing her virginity and expressed that she wasn’t eating lunch before she has sex. Does she understand how tiring having sex is? I’d probably eat four lunches before I had a planned sexual encounter. “Feels like the first time” is playing when Emma Roberts is about to lose her virginity. What?

I zoned out, but George Lopez just spit some fire by saying some people don’t think love exists unless it’s acknowledged by other people. That shit was saganaki (you know, the flaming cheese. The “Opa!” moment of your meal.)

I can’t watch this anymore. It’s making me think love will always work out and it’s creating shallow opinions in my brain, so I’m going to be finished with my bitter drunk antics. If you need me I’ll be waiting on my best friend to confess his undying love for me.

—DAILY ARTS WRITER

Valentine’s Day is cool I guess but I can think of 364 other days of the year I’d rather experience/drown in selfloating/self-pity/chocolate that I bought myself for myself. It’s 10:30 and I managed to fuck up the cupcake baking process all while staying sober.

In my defense, @baked, it’s a common mishap to mistake coconut oil for olive oil. But in your defense, @baked, you tried to help and I didn’t let you … oops I’m the worst. Buzzed is drinking crystal palace for the first time since welcome week … I hope she has a safe crossing over to the other side. Ah yes, here we go, “Valentine’s Day,” the show we’ve all been waiting for. Suddenly we’re all groovin’ to Stevie Wonder. I don’t hate this. OK lmao George Lopez! It’s George Lopez and a book! GL book club? Sign me up! OMG Jamie Foxx and Cathy Bates! Everybody is in this movie and I bet they hate themselves as much as I hate myself on this holiday.

Naturally, I stopped paying attention to this cinematic trash, but was reeled back in by the phrase “Neurotic hot mess,” which sounds like something multiple people have called me before. Suddenly it’s Anne Hathaway and the guy from “That ’70s Show.” I just heard another line I hate: “she thought you were gay and I set her straight” … wow I bet you were the star student of your intro to screenwriting discussion. OK well the entire Princess Diaries cast was in this. It’s 11 and I’m done with this movie. This Princess Diaries conspiracy drained me.

—CAROLINE FILIPS, SENIOR ARTS EDITOR

the b-side

4B — Thursday, February 11, 2016

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The power of flowers Remembering my COMMUNITY CULTURE

beloved maestro

By DAYTON HARE Daily Arts Writer

A month ago I wrote an obituary of sorts for Pierre Boulez. Now I find myself embarking on a similar task, but this time it’s of a far more personal nature. Boulez wasn’t really a part of my life — Leslie Bassett was.

Leslie Bassett wasn’t nearly as famous as Boulez; consequently, his death hasn’t affected the musical community with the same feeling of enormity as did the Frenchman’s. But within the community of the University of Michigan, its reverberations shook more than a few people.

When Boulez died I felt sad in a disconnected, abstract sort of way. When I heard of Bassett’s death I felt an actual poignant pang of grief, the sort of unpleasant twinge that seems to almost physically shoot through the body and land right in the stomach. He was the very first person to receive a DMA in Composition from the University, and — following a Fulbright Fellowship and a few years studying at École Normale de Musique de Paris and privately with the legendary Nadia Boulanger — he began teaching at the University in 1952. He remained in that capacity for nearly four decades, during which time he received the Pulitzer Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

I have heard it said in the past that Leslie Bassett built the Department of Music Composition at the University up from nothing into one of the leading departments in the country — and certainly his influence is still profoundly felt.

My own composition teacher studied with him when he was a student, and whenever he speaks of Bassett I see profound admiration glimmering in his eyes.

Bassett died on Thursday, but I didn’t learn about it until Friday.

During Composition Seminar — a class in which all of the students of composition come together to have discussions and share music — my teacher rose to say a few words about the man that had once been his own teacher.

I must paraphrase a small bit — and inelegantly at that — as I’m working from memory, but as he spoke my teacher seemed to have a certain amount of heaviness weighing upon him.

“Yesterday one of our predecessors passed away …

Leslie Bassett was a wonderful musician, but more importantly he was a wonderful human being. He was kind and caring

always, even as he struggled through the hardships of his own life,” he said.

In my composition lessons Leslie Bassett is always present.

Hardly two weeks go by without my teacher passing along some piece of advice — either musical or general in nature — from his former teacher. Bassett’s words even serve as a reliable answer to small musical questions. When discussing whether or not a period should be placed after an abbreviation of a musical term in a score, my teacher remarked “let’s see what Leslie Bassett says …” as he moved to look through a Bassett score on the bookshelf.

(Bassett agreed with me; a period should be placed after an abbreviation.)

I am connected to Leslie Bassett because of my musical lineage and because of the university I attend — but I am also connected to him far more personally. In one of the curious little ironies in which life loves to dabble, Leslie Bassett retired in the town where I lived. Not in some thriving metropolis with a robust cultural heartbeat — but a small town in rural Georgia whose cultural EKG has more or less flatlined. I could easily imagine that Bassett was the only composer within a 50 mile radius.

I didn’t really know him — he was one of those people in my peripheral, a figure on the fringes of my life — but I met him a few times. When I was much younger, first realizing that I maybe wanted to become a composer, he offered gentle encouragement to me. Whenever I would run into him, at some concert or other event, he would simply say to me “keep writing.”

Around my freshman year of high school I started taking cello lessons with a wonderful woman named Wendy Baker.

Her middle name was Bassett, and as I’m sure you can deduce, she is Leslie’s daughter. She was patient and kind, with a gentle sense of humor, and I appreciated her unfathomable ability to tolerate the hideous cacophony I produced with my beginner’s bow and cello in hand.

I didn’t stick with cello very long, because I simply didn’t have the time to give it the attention it deserved, but I stayed long enough to develop a friendship with Wendy and passively learn about her father.

When Leslie Bassett was just a couple years older than I am now, he went to war. As part of the 13th Armored Division during the Second World War, Bassett fought against Hitler’s Germany in the last years of the bloody

conflict. As Wendy recounted to me, somewhere in Southwestern Germany the 13th rolled up into an abandoned town, from which the Wehrmacht had retreated in some haste. Passing through the empty buildings, the young Bassett stumbled upon a band room — instruments were broken and strewn haphazardly around the room, deemed too unimportant to carry along with the fleeing army.

Somewhere in this musical wreckage Bassett noticed the mahogany colored body of a beautiful cello. Battered and more than a little worse for wear — the neck of the cello was completely broken — Bassett fell in love with it. He constructed a box out of miscellaneous materials he found around the town, and with tender care and delicacy he packed the cello inside and shipped it back to the states.

Many years later — after the cello’s origin in c.1848 Barcelona was known — the instrument found a new owner. When his daughter Wendy surpassed his own abilities on the cello, Bassett passed it to her, and she still plays it today.

This is not the first time I’ve written about that cello — in my junior year of high school I reflected upon a funeral I attended of a fellow cello student, at which Wendy played that instrument — but this time I have a very different point. Perhaps it’s just me indulging in a bit of hyper-sentimentality, but from what I know of what sort of person Bassett was, the anecdote about the cello is an apt metaphor for the way he approached life.

Leslie Bassett focused on the good things among the bad and approached everything in life with care and compassion.

And so that brings me back to the advice I received from him, the simple direction to “keep writing.” He had never heard my music and he really didn’t know anything about me, but it didn’t matter. He just seemed to genuinely want everyone to succeed at what they loved. I won’t pretend that Leslie Bassett is the reason I’m a composer, because that likely would have happened anyway, but what Leslie Bassett did do is provide a small bit of hope for a young boy who felt frustrated and trapped — artistically, intellectually, socially — by his surroundings.

He gave me one more reason to keep moving forward, one more dream to keep alive — and in the small, strangely interconnected way that the world is, I realize now that in a certain way he gave me my future.

EPISODE REVIEW Next to a certain glove that didn’t fit, perhaps the most iconic moment of the O.J. Simpson trial was the B+ infamous White Bronco American chase that Crime unfolded on June 17, Story 1994. Intense Season 1 and almost Episode 2 inherently cinematic, the Tuesdays event became at 10 p.m. a nationwide fascination FX as people (95 million, in fact) crowded around their televisions to watch the highway pursuit.

It’s no surprise, then, that “American Crime Story” devoted its entire second episode to depicting this event, capturing the frantic efforts on both sides of Simpson’s (Cuba Gooding Jr., “Jerry Maguire”) case alongside the almost perverse, yet unsurprising obsession of the general public.

Everyone scrambles to pick up the pieces in the episode.

By MERIN MCDIVITT For the Daily

Late one afternoon at University Flower Shop, a man stepped in from the cold air of Nickels Arcade. He stood a bit awkwardly at the counter, glasses all fogged up, until owner Danielle Vignos looked up and smiled. “Do you know what you’re looking for?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “Can you get, um, lilies? They’re a special kind of lilies … ” He fumbled and checked his phone for the name.

“Stargazer lilies.”

After placing his order, the man, glasses now clear, explained his strangely specific request. He had asked his girlfriend what her favorite flower was. Her answer?

You guessed it: stargazer lily. He told her, “I’m gonna get you that for Valentine’s Day.” She said, “OK.” Ladies and gentlemen, a love story for the ages.

All kinds of people, and the romances that follow them, make their way into this small storefront with its cheerful window displays and warm atmosphere. After all, that is the nature of a flower shop. Working here is about more than artistic arrangements and begonia shipments. People send flowers as an expression of love in all its forms, whether it’s the first kiss or final goodbye, regretful apology or blossoming friendship.

When everything from accounting to relationship advice is part of your job description, making everything run smoothly is no easy task. In little over a year, University Flower Shop has transformed from a quaint but struggling business into a fresh, welcoming space full of youthful potential. The woman responsible for this remarkable turnaround is 22-year-old Vignos, a recent University of Michigan graduate and newly minted small business owner. Vignos is also a former Michigan Daily columnist.

Walking into the shop on a freezing January day feels like a long exhale. Summer air rushes out for a moment as the door, emblazoned with University Flower Shop, est. 1959, swings open. Vignos, always busy arranging bouquets and tending shop, greets customers warmly as quiet music plays from the shop’s tiny loft balcony overlooking the arcade. Every surface of the cozy space is covered with living things — mauve, violet, green and colors that don’t even have names — a welcome contrast to gray downtown that many customers appreciate. A student with cheerful clothing to combat the February chill, stopped by for that very reason. “I just think flowers brighten up your day,” she explained. A chalk sign by the counter seems to agree, sharing a handwritten Emerson quote: “Earth laughs in flowers.”

With its old-fashioned air and cozy interior, sometimes it seems as though the shop sprung into existence fully formed. But like the flowers it carries, the process was slow and challenging, and Vignos continues to transform the space.

“Everything is kind of growing together slowly,” she explained.

The seeds of the business, however, were planted a long time ago. Vignos has loved flowers and plants for as long as she can remember.

“My dad had a big garden growing up; he had a bunch of

roses,” she said. “I had a little garden outside my bedroom called ‘Dani’s Garden.’ I remember in the summertime we’d always do our potting and repotting, we’d go to the nursery, and my brother and I would get to pick out all the flowers and decide what we were going to plant that season. ” When Michigan winter came around, she sought solace in her local flower shops.

“Something about it made feel so at peace and at ease,” Vignos remembered.

Flash forward to her graduation from the University. When she heard through the grapevine that a local florist was going on the market, she jumped at the opportunity to bring her childhood love of flowers and her adult business interests together.

“I had a kid dream about owning a flower shop, and I was interested in small business and entrepreneurship, more into brick and mortar spaces,” she explained.

In a time when more and more interactions from shopping to dating take place online, Vignos began to understand what an important role physical spaces play in town.

“I love community spaces,” she said. “Small businesses in general are just awesome, how a space can inform how you feel or what you’re thinking about, what you’re doing.”

After spending time getting to know the old shop and its owner, they reached a deal, and the shop was hers. Then the real work began. The shop was in need of a serious overhaul, something Vignos and her dedicated employees are still engaged in.

First order of business?

“Bettering our reputation, because this place has gone in and out of good times and bad times. So I just wanted to bring back our friendly nature and our history a little bit. We’ve been here forever, and so I feel like it’s a place that … ” Vignos paused.

“It can’t leave, you know?”

This meant transforming the inventory and renovating the space, making it more open and appealing to current tastes.

Even in a brick-and-mortar environment, Vignos knew she had to get the 60-year-old shop up to speed, including establishing a presence on social media.

“I had to get to know this space a little bit better, and figure out what was not functioning well in order to figure out what I wanted to change,” she said. “And I’m still very much in the process of doing that.”

No one, Vignos included, anticipated just how much work she and her employees need to pour into the shop every day. She said she has a new appreciation for the daily trials of small business owners, who form a supportive community in Ann Arbor to which she feels privileged to belong.

“I see it as so much more than a business, so maybe that’s how everyone sees it,” she said. “People just seem to put so much time and energy and extra 110 percent in all the time.”

But while the sheer amount of elbow grease the shop requires has been a reality check, the personal, touching surprises that come with owning a flower shop are a constant source of joy.

Vignos said she’s amazed at the breathtaking variety and uniqueness of her wares.

“You think you know a lot about flowers and plants, and then every day it has just been turned upside down,” she said.

The personal connections with employees, who are as passionate about the shop as Vignos is, have made her experience even more rewarding.

“It does mean a lot that I know the people who are helping make this place are having a good time,” Vignos said.

During our brief visit, Valentine’s Day was in the air, for customers and employees alike. A delivery person told Vignos about her Valentine’s plans to visit her daughter: “Give her a visit, make her some dinner, tell her I love her and that’s enough.”

And then, there are the romances, new and old, that sit at the heart of the shop. When customers come in, they’re looking for something beautiful, something tangible, that will express a feeling they can’t explain in words. Vignos’s bouquets are sent to people in every sort of relationship, from “just friends” to “just married.”

“It’s a riot; I love it,” Vignos said. “I see a lot of people evolving through their relationships.”

Some come into the shop for a single rose to ask someone out.

Months later, they come in for a full bouquet, sharing that now they’re happily dating the recipient of that first lonely flower.

Other times, the shop’s storied legacy means that Vignos encounters love stories older than her.

“It’s definitely a place with a history,” she explained. “I’ll have people come back who had their wedding flowers done here like 40 years ago.”

Things have changed, though, since the shop first opened in 1959. This Valentine’s Day, the boy-sends-girl-flowers trope continues as always, but other types of relationships, whether it’s a same-sex couple or a girl sending flowers to her boyfriend, have become common as well.

“We get a lot of couples coming in — boys and girls, and boyfriends of girlfriends, and girlfriends of girlfriends, (and) friends,” she said. “And they always — well, not always — but they’ll come and tell me how it went because I’m nosy and I ask what the occasion is.”

While we talked, a couple stood in front of the display case, staring and pointing and discussing in whispers for a good 10 minutes. Eventually, they order a bouquet of roses, “orangey-red” ones, to be exact, to receive this Valentine’s weekend.

“We decided to do our Valentine’s shopping together this year,” the woman explained.

His idea. “So we’re getting roses together, and buying chocolates together.”

Vignos smiled and wrote down their order, her old-fashioned notepad at odds with the iPad where customers sign their names. The couple strolled out into the cold, though they’ll be back in a few days for their roses.

The shop was quiet again for a minute, the only sounds the rustle of the plants and the broom on the tile floor.

“It’s always really satisfying and nice to hear people’s stories about why they’re getting people flowers. Sometimes it feels like a bartending job, people just come clean,” she said. “It’s rewarding every day, truly.”

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW FX

Robert Shapiro (John Travolta, “Pulp Fiction”) tries to salvage his reputation; the LAPD tries not to create an even bigger fiasco and Robert Kardashian (David Schwimmer, “Friends”) tries desperately to make sure his friend makes it out of the situation alive. Everyone outside of Kardashian is in damage control as Simpson himself fades to the background, not appearing on screen until more than 10 minutes into the episode.

While director Ryan Murphy (“The Normal Heart”) is able to capture the tension of the

chase throughout the episode, Simpson’s surrender being a particular standout; the episode most excels when it turns its camera on the public and how they decipher the event.

Foreshadowing the divisive nature of the trial, people interpret the pursuit through the lens of their own experience, the most profound being race.

Meanwhile, twisted captivation glues people’s eyes to the screen like a sporting event.

It may be warped pleasure, but the audience isn’t exempt from the same urges, as we realize the fascination that drew people

As my fellow writer Christian Kennedy so deftly pointed out, Queen has returned — and she’s edgier than ever.

A Beyoncé Formation dropped her latest Beyoncé opus and accompanying video, “Formation,” about an hour ago, and I’m probably on my seventh listen already. The whole shebang is completely off the wall — lyrical shout outs are given to Red Lobster, Givenchy dresses and the hot sauce in Bey’s purse.

Weird, bouncy synths permeate

the tune — if you could even call it that — while Beyoncé spits her quirky affirmations in that sloppy-sexy-whisper-command of hers. At its core, using the most virginal interpretation, the song is an origin story: B is paying homage to her roots: her “daddy and mama,” the South and her signature diva outlook.

The video is Louisiana bayou, NOLA goodness at its raunchiest — a fabulous collision of plantation life and thighexposing, burgundy couture onesies. Blue Ivy serves up some hand-on-the-hip realness; Beyoncé thrashes atop a sinking vehicle. And spliced into all that are various high-octane dance

numbers with the Queen and #squad.

“OK ladies, now let’s get in formation,” she sings. She’s beckoning those that eat out of the palm of her hand (me, admittedly, and pretty much all of Daily Arts) to pull it together, become their own Sasha Fierce’s and werk.

“Formation” is both an ode to where Beyoncé came fro m — where she formed — and a call to order. She’s telling us to prepare for the most creatively unruly version of herself she’s presented to her fans thus far. She’s letting us know she’s here. And she slaaaaays.

- MELINA GLUSAC