2018-11-09

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Friday, November 9, 2018

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Tip-off

The Michigan women’s basketball team will start its 2018-19 season tomorrow against Mount St. Mary’s

» Page 1B

Daily, film forum launch database for Nassar survivor statements

Survivors, journalists share stories of Nassar case at In Our Own Words launch event

CAMPUS LIFE

Alpha Sigma Phi kicked off campus due to hazing

This is the fourth fraternity to close this calendar year at the University REMY FARKAS

Daily Staff Reporter

DANYEL THARAKAN/Daily

Jessica Smith speaks about her experiences as a survivor of Larry Nasser’s sexual abuse at the In Our Own Words event in the Ann Arbor Downtown Library Thursday evening.

SAYALI AMIN

Daily Staff Reporter

The Heartland Independent Film Forum, in partnership with The Michigan Daily, hosted a launch event Thursday night at the Ann Arbor Public Library for an online database containing every impact statement of the survivors of Larry Nassar. The database is intended to aid students, families, educators and journalists in understanding this

decades-long pattern of abuse.

About 25 students and Ann Arbor residents were in attendance.

Larry Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexual abuse of young girls and women in January.

More than 160 women came forward in court earlier this year to testify against him.

The event featured two panels — the first with survivors sharing

their stories and another with journalists who covered the trial and proceedings — sought to reflect on the scandal and educate the audience to prevent similar patterns of abuse in the future.

Roger Rapoport, director of the Heartland Independent Film Forum, purchased the records for the database, which included 1,400 pages of accounts from survivors. Rapoport, a survivor himself, said this project would allow the truth to be shared.

“When I heard about Larry Nassar case and the courage of these women … I was so amazed by what they were saying in court that I bought the trial transcripts (with help of donors),” Rapoport said.

Michigan Radio reporter Kate Wells was also present at the event. Wells worked on the podcast “Believed,” which shares many stories of survivors in depth. The podcast has already See NASSAR, Page 3A

The University of Michigan’s Interfraternity Council voted Wednesday to remove the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity from campus, the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life said in a press release. Members of the IFC voted unanimously to terminate Alpha Sigma Phi’s Theta chapter following an investigation by the Hazing Response Team regarding allegations of hazing during their new member process.

The termination came after the Student Organization Advancement and Recognition review process was carried out by the Greek Activities Review Panel. The Hazing Response Team investigation revealed extensive evidence of hazing violations, leading to their removal. The IFC also specified the fraternity will be unable to recolonize on the University campus for at least five years.

“These sanction result from a Hazing Response Team investigation that

found substantial evidence of dangerous recurring practices within the Alpha Sigma Phi’s new member process, including forced alcohol consumption and violent physical hazing,” the IFC statement reads. “As a result, Alpha Sigma Phi has been removed from the University of Michigan and the Interfraternity Council for a minimum of five (5) calendar years, effective immediately.”

The removal comes amid controversy in the Greek life community over the past year, including the Nov. 9, 2017 suspension of all social events for the remainder of the fall 2017 semester following sexual assault and hazing allegations. While the suspension was self-imposed by the IFC, the council cited three near-death incidents and 30 hospitalizations during the weekend of the football game against Michigan State University.

Social activities resumed during the winter 2018 semester.

See HAZING, Page 3A

Stop Trump rally protests Sessions 2 A council LGBT vets firing, supports Mueller investigation discusses talk of their Hundreds of students, residents march across campus after Trump fires Jeff Sessions

ANN ARBOR

CAMPUS LIFE

effects of Proposal A

identities, military life

Council also talks possible deportation of Guinean man with kidney disease LEAH GRAHAM Daily Staff Reporter

Ann Arbor City Council discussed the implications of a ballot measure requiring the creation of a public park in downtown Ann Arbor as well as the regulation of Bird scooters at its meeting Thursday night.

Alan Haber, a community activist and vocal proponent of Proposal A, spoke during public comment about the creation of a public park on the land next to the Ann Arbor District Library following the ballot measure passage on Tuesday night.

Proposal A, which requires the city to hold onto the parcel of land See CITY, Page 3A

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ZACK BLUMBERG Daily Staff Reporter

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to dismissformer Attorney General Jeff Sessions, more than 400 students, faculty and city residents marched through Ann Arbor streets Thursday night to protest the president’s announcement and show support for special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

On Wednesday, the day after the midterm elections, President Trump replaced Sessions with Sessions’s former Chief of Staff Matthew Whitaker.

According to national news outlets, Trump had reportedly been disgruntled with Sessions for numerous months, after Sessions recused himself from the Department of Justice investigation into See PROTEST, Page 3A

Panelists discuss their challenges, experiences in the army and marines HENRY SMITH For the Daily

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Students, faculty and Ann Arbor residents march through Ann Arbor to protest the recent dismissal of former Atorney General Jeff Session.

For more stories and coverage, visit

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INDEX

Vol. CXXVIII, No. 28 ©2018 The Michigan Daily

As part of a series of public events on veterans’ issues in the lead up to Veteran’s Day, the Veteran and Military Services Program at the University of Michigan held a panel on LGBTQ people in the military on Thursday. Speakers included Marine Sergeant Jackie Kelley, a student at Eastern Michigan University, and LSA senior Necko Fanning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army.

Anna Schnitzer, event organizer and a University librarian, asked the panelists if their sexuality was an issue during their time in the military.

See VETS, Page 3A

NEWS.........................2 OPINION.....................4 ARTS......................6

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2A — Friday. November 9, 2018

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

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Every Friday, one Daily news staffer will give a behind the scenes look at one of this week’s stories. This week, LSA freshman Zack Blumberg discussed his experience covering the Stop Trump protest against Trump’s firing of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Previously, I had only covered events so it was a lot more chaotic in the sense that there wasn’t an order where I could just interview people like 1, 2, 3 and then find the organizer. You had to be a lot more diligent on your own. I had to take people aside during the protest which they weren’t super excited about and when the event was over, I had to be very perceptive so I could get an interview with organizers right away.

Other than that, it was much colder than a normal event because it was outside so my hands were kind of numb by the end but overall, it was a fun experience.”

LSA freshman Zack Blumberg, “Stop Trump rally protests Sessions firing, supports Mueller investigation”

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Roundtable talks lack of education resources in refugee community aid Around 25 students went to the event hosted by Michigan Refugee Assistance Program president of External Affairs for MRAP and one of the event’s organizers, said the organization’s purpose goes beyond solely supporting refugees in Southeast Michigan.

Rather, Kutmah said MRAP hopes to teach the community about the diverse set of difficulties affecting refugees.

She, as well as the rest of MRAP, said they hoped these roundtable events would help fulfill that goal of educating the student body about issues related to refugees like education, as well as dispel any inaccuracies regarding the refugee crisis.

“Our speaker series, in general, arose from the need to look at intersectionality, not just looking at refugees as people that just resettle or that you donate to,” Kutmah said. “We are looking at the things that they struggle with

both institutionally in the United your education. That’s something JULIETTE SIBLEY States and globally, so one of those that you have with you from the For the Daily things is education.” moment that you get it until the She explained there are moment that you die.”

The Michigan Refugee dangerous assumptions about Not only is education Assistance Program, a studentthe refugee crisis, particularly important for creating and led organization dedicated to regarding the fact that people fail shaping citizens into intelligent, assisting recently resettled to consider the issues that impact impactful individuals of society, refugees in the greater Detroit and refugees beyond just resettlement. Khoja argued, but being educated Ann Arbor areas, held the second “When people think of is directly related to a variety of of their four-part roundtable refugees, they don’t think of other parts of our society, such as series Thursday night examining education and they don’t think having immensely better health, the intersectional issues within of the barriers of education,” a longer life expectancy and a the refugee crisis. This particular Kutmah said. “They don’t think lower potential for abuse and speaker event was focused on about the intersectionality of exploitation among many other examining educational barriers different things.” potential side effects. faced by refugees as well as the LSA and Art & Design “Education is the one thing that response, or lack thereof, from freshman Gabe Consiglio really has the ability to lift people refugee communities, nonprofits echoed Kutmah’s sentiments out of poverty, has the ability to and students. The event was held about the student body’s make people healthier, to make at Syndication Weill Hall and was attended problem of overgeneralizing and people productive members of Sudoku http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ by about 25 undergraduate and misunderstanding issues related society,” Khoja said. graduate students. to refugees.

Despite the overt importance LSA junior Ayah Kutmah, vice “We’re in a climate right now of education, Khoja said refugees where it is really important face extreme obstacles to getting to talk about this just an education. Khoja attributed this because people are ignorant,” because of a few specific reasons.

Consiglio said. “It is important She argues that educational HARD to get talking about this to barriers within primary and have people understand that … secondary schools exist because (refugees) are just like us and of little to no funding. they’re not a threat like a lot of Furthermore, Khoja said people would think that they these obstacles are exacerbated are.” by language differences and Lilah Khoja, a Public unfamiliar education systems Health graduate student that exist between different focusing on medical issues countries and school systems. affecting refugees and female Beyond primary and secondary reproductive health, lead education, there are barriers that the roundtable discussion exist within tertiary education — about the importance and only 1 percent of them have access intersectional impact of to tertiary school. education on the refugee Access to higher education is crisis. Though Khoja did not seen as a luxury, not a fundamental understate the number of right like it is the U.S., Khoja problems affecting refugees, stated. Only those with a lot of she focused her presentation money will have access to higher on education because she said education because it is expensive. she believes it to be the most However, Khoja said refugees withstanding problem. are not even inclined to invest in “Education is a really it because it will not guarantee valuable asset,” Khoja said. them a job afterward.

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Friday, November 9, 2018— 3A

BLOOD DRIVE

HAZING From Page 1A Earlier this semester, multiple fraternities disaffiliated from University IFC. The five current unaffiliated fraternities are still recognized by the University but they have not completed

PROTEST From Page 1A

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily Red blood drop cutouts stand are placed around campus advertising the “Blood Battle” between Michigan and Ohio State University on the Diag Thursday.

CITY From Page 1A next to the library in perpetuity and develop a public park, passed with 53 percent of the vote on Nov. 6, despite opposition from Mayor Christopher Taylor. The mayor said in an email to constituents prior to Tuesday’s elections that the ballot measure was “unfunded and unwise.”

Haber said he envisioned turning what is now a parking lot into a public commons for the people of Ann Arbor.

“The notion of the commons is that it is for everyone,” Haber said.

“A majority did say they wanted it, also a significant minority said they didn’t want, or wanted something else, and the task of the creation of the commons, is that while we invite ourselves to this, we invite everyone. And this is now the opportunity of the community that we are doing this commons to put your best vision, ideas (on) how to make a beautiful place in the center of the city that will be a destination for all around.”

Proposal A derails a Chicago developer’s plans to build a 17-story high-rise on the lot. The proposal is in direct conflict with City Council’s decision in April 2017 to sell the Library Lot to Core Spaces and its later approval of a $10 million purchase agreement in June 2018 to allow the company to build a complex that would include a hotel, apartments, office and retail space. Half of the proceeds from the sale — which amounts to $5 million — was allocated to providing affordable housing in the city.

City Councilmember Chuck Warpehoski, D-Ward 5, said the implementation of Proposal A would be a challenge for the next City Council, warning that the ballot measure’s passage will be a challenge for the new council members to wrestle with — and one that could result in legal complications.

“I was grateful and intrigued to hear Mr. Haber talk about his vision of the commons as a place that nobody is excluded from,” Warpehoski said. “Certainly the challenge that Mr. Haber left us with at the end of how do we include people who are experiencing homelessness in not just this space but our broader community is a big challenge (because) the loss of the $5 million from the sale of the price will impair our ability to be an inclusive community.”

Following Haber’s comments, Assistant City Administrator John Fournier discussed a resolution to approve an interim agreement with electric scooter operator Bird regulating the use of the scooters in the city. The agreement would last for 90 days, but could be extended for up to one year.

Fournier said to his knowledge there had only been one scooterrelated accident reported to law enforcement since they were introduced earlier in the year.

“What we have is a record of the scooters operating in the city rather safely, but still, even with that knowledge, the agreement gives the city quite a bit of leeway with the operator,” Fournier said. “The operator has to provide educational material to users that the city can approve.

The agreement requires that the operator take financial

responsibility when scooters are used inappropriately or parked inappropriately.”

Fournier said the city had been active in seizing scooters when they were parked inappropriately, charging $150 per scooter impounded. In the first 10 days of the scooters’ introduction, 30 were seized, but Fournier said since then only 10 have been seized.

He noted that compliance with city ordinances had “increased substantially.”

City Councilmember Jane Lumm, I-Ward 2, criticized Bird for launching their scooters in Ann Arbor without warning city officials.

“It’s hard for me to get past the fact that I think it’s irresponsible for Bird rides just to show up in Ann Arbor unannounced and drop off their scooters, forcing the city and the University to jump through hoops,” Lumm said. “I mean, that to me demonstrated zero concern for safety.”

Additionally, City Council unanimously approved amended bylaws to a citizen-led police oversight commission, clarifying that city council liaisons will appoint members to the oversight commission among other procedural details. Taylor noted the contentious path surrounding the drafting of the commission, including a competing proposal from a citizen task force convened by the city’s Human Rights Commission.

“This brings the prelude of the commission to a close,” Taylor said. “It’s been a long process. It’s been a difficult process, but I think the substance of what we have, the substance of the ordinance, the substance of the commission is going to be, I believe, good for everyone.”

While he said he did not plan to address the ordinance’s preamble during the meeting, Taylor mentioned he had heard from law enforcement officers that they found some of the implications about racism in policing to be hurtful, especially to officers of color.

“I’m going to look to us to how we can address this problem going forward,” Taylor said.

The council also unanimously passed a resolution requesting immigration authorities stay the deportation of a man from Guinea who has taken refuge in a Quaker house of worship.

Mohamed Soumah, who works as a custodian at the University, is residing in the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting House to avoid deportation. Soumah has a genetic kidney disease that requires frequent dialysis, and says he will die if deported because he will no longer have access to adequate medical equipment.

Soumah came to the United States in 2002 and has regularly applied for and received U.S. work visas. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement declared him a fugitive alien for overstaying his allotted term.

Warpehoski said ICE had a policy against apprehending people in sensitive places, such as houses of worship or medical facilities.

“This resolution is a show of support for him by the council … Because his doctors and other medical professionals who have reviewed his case do believe that for him to be deported would be a death sentence,” Warpehoski said.

VETS From Page 1A Fanning spoke about the struggles he faced as a gay man in the armed forces.

“I didn’t think (being openly gay) was going to be as big of an issue as it was — it wasn’t in my training years, when I was in military intelligence it wasn’t an issue, but then I got stationed in an infantry unit … I got hate mail, especially, put under my door for a few months and then people got used to the idea, actually,” Fanning said.

Kelley, however, spoke quite differently of her experiences.

“I mean, for me, my experience was really positive,” she said. “And I know that there is some gender expectation from our society, I can definitely understand how a gay man would have a harder time in the military than a gay female. If anything, for me, I was just able to bro out with the other guys.”

Fanning spoke about the LGBTQ support group he joined at his base.

“There was no rank, no limitations, so we ended up having a lot of juniors enlisted and senior officers who were in this safe space and could talk about their experiences,” he said.

The U.S. military maintained an official ban on all LGBTQ persons in the military from the time of World War II until the passage of the “Don’t Ask,

NASSAR From Page 1A gained recognition for its work in exposing the abuse.

“It’s really exciting, our goal with the podcast too, is the same goal as this project — to have as many people understand as wide of the story as possible and what the background and depth (is),” Wells said.

Each of the panelists shared their backgrounds and how they came together to form this network of survivors.

Trinea Gonczar, another survivor, now works for Wayne County SAFE, which forensically examines sexual assault and provides resources to survivors.

Gonczar said education on the Nassar case and other instances of sexual assault is important to help prevent future abuses.

“Our strongest mission is to educate the community,” Gonczar said. “The more conversations we’re having, whether it’s 30 people in a room or 300, they’re just as important.”

For survivor Christina Barba, she did not realize she belonged to this cohort of women until the first news came out about the trial.

“I was around 14, but my story is different in that I did not realize until this year January,” Barba said. “I’m

Don’t Tell” policy in 1993. The policy, signed by President Bill Clinton Clinton, prohibited LGBTQ members of the armed forces from disclosing their sexuality while also prohibiting official questioning regarding sexuality.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed in 2011, allowing gay, bisexual and lesbian members of the military to serve openly. This has also allowed the experiences and struggles of LGBTQ servicemembers have come into focus.

Nursing freshman Adam Dobry, ROTC member, attended the event to try to improve his own awareness of issues LGBTQ people might face in the military.

“I felt like (this panel) would be a bit more interesting than a lot of the other ones, it seemed like it would be a bit more informative, especially for becoming an officer, to know how to treat certain individuals and be aware of certain things,” Dobry said.

VMSP Director Phil Larson elaborated on the purpose of the event.

“In the media and pop culture, there’s a lot of stereotyping, the military is a monolith, but it’s made of individuals,” Larson said.

After the event, Fanning told The Daily about why he joined the army and how he reflects on his time in the service.

Read more online at

michigandaily.

listening to all these women with tears rolling down my face and the realization that this is my story.”

Survivors Larissa Boyce and Jessica Smith also spoke on the panel.

Detroit News reporter Kim Kozlowski later shared her experience covering the stories of these women and said the survivors deserve the recognition for bringing Nassar to trial.

“Even though it was the media that made it an international story, we had nothing to do with it,” Kozlowski said. “What really happened was these women came forward and they were brave.”

Eastern Michigan University freshman Georgia Nagel attended the event.

With an interest in studying women and gender, Nagel said she’s hoping to work in nonprofits relating to that and wanted to directly hear the experiences of survivors.

“I wanted to hear exactly what they had to say,” Nagel said. “I’m so used to hearing it secondhand.”

Many of the survivors reflected on how being a parent affected their perspective on what they’ve been through. Gonczar said she won’t have the same level of trust in coaches and doctors that her parents did.

Read more online at

michigandaily.

Trump’s potential ties to Russia. Sessions’s recusal had left Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein in charge of the investigation. Rosenstein was responsible for appointing Special Counsel Robert Mueller to the case.

The march was organized and led by Stop Trump Ann Arbor, an organization created in the wake of the 2016 election to protest against Trump’s policies. Thousands of other protests were staged across the country in a display of solidarity with Mueller’s investigation.

The Ann Arbor march started at the Federal Building on East Liberty Street, before crossing the Diag, around in front of the University Museum of Modern Art and back to the Federal Building.

The protest began with a number of speakers outside of the Federal Building in front of a crowd packed with antiTrump and pro-Mueller signs.

Most of the speakers touched on issues relating to Trump’s perceived misuses of power or his hostility toward women, minorities and immigrants.

After the speeches concluded, protest organizers lead the group to the Diag and back, f lanked by police cars. Once the march made it back to the Federal Building, the organizers held an open mic, allowing any of the protesters to come and speak before the event concluded.

Adam Nash, one of the leaders of Stop Trump Ann Arbor and a march organizer, said he thought the march was a good start to opposing Trump’s actions through organizing. However, he also said there was still more to do, and going forward, this wasn’t simply about voting in the 2018 midterm elections or participating in one march.

“I feel like people are realizing that we can’t just vote in the right people and trust them to do the right thing,” Nash said. “That was ref lected in the open mic, when people came up, and the spontaneous chants people started, like ‘Let Mueller do his job, or we’ll give Trump his angry mob,’ that’s pretty good. I don’t know if it’s radical, but I feel like people are waking up.”

Nash continued on to say he knows a single protest wouldn’t reshape anything, but numerous marches and innovative new tactics could be extremely effective in creating change.

He also stressed how it is more difficult for the government to ignore large demonstrations, as opposed to a single march.

He additionally commended the role University of Michigan students and faculty have taken in past protests and said he called on them to continue protesting innovatively.

“The entrenched power structures have learned how to weather one day of protests, they’re good at that,” Nash said.

“The unprecedented-ness of this will wake a lot of people up and the unity of the people who came out will motivate them to continue resisting …

Historically U-M students and teachers have lead the way in resistance. The teach-in was invented here at the U-M campus and I want to see more of that … If there’s something new, entrenched power structures won’t know how to respond to that. We need diversity of tactics.”

March leader Jessica Prozinski said she felt the march was a success and a win for democracy.

“I think that we did exactly what we needed to do when we needed to do it,” Prozinski said. “I’m looking forward to going home and seeing what the protests looked like all

necessary paperwork and social standards in order to join and be recognized as a member of the IFC. However, Alpha Sigma Phi joins the group of seven “rogue” fraternities who are not recognized by the IFC or the University, and are deemed closed. Alpha Sigma Phi will be the fourth fraternity to close this calendar year.

across the country. I think that this was a good protest because it was very democratic, we had the open mic at the end. I feel like people in Ann Arbor got a chance to have their voices heard.”

She also likened the methodology of the movement to that of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, saying she felt voting was not enough and protesting was also essential to fighting for progress.

“We need to keep this movement going,” Prozinski said. “And people keep asking, ‘What’s next,’ or ‘What’s tomorrow?’ To be honest, to a certain extent we don’t know.

But we know that we need to stay active and we need to keep coming out into the streets.

Voting is not enough … We are trying to build a mass direct action movement, to change things beyond the ballot box, not within the confines of the approved, strictly voting-based system.”

LSA sophomore Zac Kolbusz said he came to the protest because he felt it was important to stand up to injustices, and the best way to do that was through protesting. He also called upon other students to join the movement as well.

“We live in a nation where our laws and our constitution have been compromised by a complicit (Republican Party),” Kolbusz said. “As students, we have a responsibility to stand up for our future, and to stand up for people marginalized by this campus, and the only way we can do that is through mass mobilization. I’d like to call on students to mobilize, to participate in something bigger than they are, and to protect what they can while they still can do it.”

In addition to organizers and students, Ann Arbor residents joined the demonstration to convey their thoughts about the president’s decision to effectively fire Sessions. Ann Arbor resident Dave Schlenker said he felt Trump was a fascist, and people needed to prevent Trump from weakening the investigation against himself.

“I’m with the anti-fascists

The entrenched power structures have learned how to weather one day of protests, they’re good at that. The unprecendentedness of this will wake a lot of people us...

and Trump is a fascist,” Schlenker said. “He’s blatantly and f lagrantly abusing his power to try and appoint crony people who will do his bidding, essentially. He’s trying to defend himself from investigation but we’re not going to let that happen.

Hopeful,ly Whittaker recuses himself or resigns, obviously.

Best case scenario, the laws in place as they are written, Rod Rosenstein gets put in the attorney general position and continues the investigation.”

After the first protest Thursday, the organization announced they have a second protest planned for 12 p.m. on Friday at the Diag.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

DAILY CLASSICAL MUSIC COLUMN

Andrew Norman & the intensity of ‘Play’ The first time I heard the name Andrew Norman was the day I met him. It was the summer of 2014, and I was spending six weeks in rural New England studying composition at a music festival by the name of Walden. Sometime in the middle of the program, those of us students able to find the time in our schedules took a field trip away from our quaint Dublin campus to the MacDowell Colony, an artists’ retreat located just outside of Peterborough, N. H. In a lovely, wooded location, MacDowell supports a range of artists — from writers to composers to architects — with a space for them to live in creative isolation, materially provided for and removed from the quotidian troubles that can distract from creative work. As part of our visit, the composers in residence at the time gave short presentations about their work and ideas, playing excerpts from pieces of theirs and answering questions.

Now Norman’s name is everywhere. But that summer was the first time I encountered either him or his music, and it changed the way that I listened, opened my ears to musical possibilities I had never considered before and still influence me today. A blond 30-something from California who seemed practically brimming over with exciting ideas, that summer Norman was standing on the threshold of the classical music stardom he would find himself thrust into in the intervening years between then and now. As far as I can tell, he was first quoted in The New York Times a few months later — by now he has been profiled and reviewed and previewed in its pages more times than the vast majority of composers active today. Before all this, in 2012, his string trio “The Companion Guide to Rome” had been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in music, but that was nothing compared to the acclaim that would be directed towards him following the wildly enthusiastic reception of his large-scale, rip-roaring orchestral composition “Play.”

This Friday and Saturday the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will take up “Play,” performing it on a program which also includes Dvorák’s “Carnival Overture” and Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 1,” played by Emanuel Ax. When I interviewed Norman over the phone this week, he talked about some of the ideas behind writing “Play,” which — at around 45 minutes — was his longest composition at the time of its writing, though by now he has been commissioned to write numerous concertos, an opera and a wide

variety of large-scale projects.

“It’s kind of unusual because, most of the time, when we get a chance to write for orchestra it’s usually for a very limited amount of time, for a short piece,” Norman said. “10 minutes, you know?

12 minutes. And this was for a 45-minute-long thing.”

DAYTON HARE Norman wrote “Play” in 2013 while he was composer-inresidence for the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, an ensemble founded and directed by Gil Rose in order to champion the work of contemporary composers and to explore the connections between their music and modern society.

Having a professional ensemble of this sort — one dedicated to playing new music — was immensely liberating for Norman, as he could feel free to make use of a variety of non-conventional playing techniques which would give more traditional players pause. For his part, on a more conceptual level Norman was interested in the new ways that people think in our fastpaced, interconnected world, and about how he could reflect that through the medium of music.

“I was thinking a lot of the idea of rupture, and interruption, and how in my writing I could suggest that an idea has been cut short, that it has some future or potential that was not reached,” Norman said.

Often, this effect was achieved by Norman borrowing concepts from other types of media. From video games he appropriated the notion that an action can directly cause a response somewhere else — like pressing a button on a video game controller causes your character to act a certain way, Norman assigned specific gestures in the percussion section to certain musical reactions in the rest of the orchestra.

“I’ve also been thinking about systems of control, wherein instruments control other instruments, and instruments turn each other on and off,” Norman said. “The idea that a piece can be a system of rules and control, that the piece would be about the exploration of that system, almost like a game has rules a piece can

have rules.”

More than just that, Norman lifted non-linear narrative from film and TV, embracing a kind of eclecticism of plot that gives the piece a freewheeling intensity, an edge-of-your-seat type of feeling.

“It’s a little bit like thinking of plotlines or narratives or stories that all have particular goals, and then chopping them up and arranging them, sort of collagelike,” Norman said. “But it only works in my mind if no one knows what the goal of each story is or where it’s headed and where it’s all trying to go.”

But when it works, it really works. Part of what makes “Play” such a fascinating piece is how it changes character on a dime, flashing between disparate musical scenes like the flipping of light switches to different rooms. At one moment ferocious chords bombard you with noise, the next is a tranquil stillness — a second later scratching glissandi in the strings run up and down at a breathtaking rate.

Whole stretches of the piece careen from idea to idea, tripping over themselves, spinning head over heels as each successive moment is interrupted by the next in a chaotic display of fireworks. But it’s this off-kilter enjambment of identities that gives “Play” its sense of self.

It’s a work that embraces both this ferocious complexity and, in later movements, gives voice to concentrated, passionate emotions, as long, straining brass lines seem to reach ever higher, yearning to break free from the gravity of the orchestra beneath them during the climax of the piece.

But for a composer whose work tends to exhibit such rambunctious eclecticism, Norman also has a propensity to form years-long fixations on musical ideas. One of the most fascinating things about listening to “Play” is how you can hear the evolution of ideas from his previous work — traces of “The Companion Guide” or “Music in Circles” or “Try” (which Norman called a “beta version” of “Play”) are all to be found here. Unlike many contemporary composers, Norman doesn’t feel the need to reinvent his voice with each new piece, and is comfortable revising and recycling material in order to bring it closer to what he is really trying to say.

And perhaps this is why he’s one of the most interesting musical voices heard today: It would be wrong to call it a clarity of vision, because it’s constantly being reassessed and reformed, but Norman has a rare dedication to his ideas. He follows his thoughts as far as they go, returning again and again until he has played them out to the end.

Friday, November 9, 2018 — 5A

FILM REVIEW

NETFLIX

‘The Holiday Calendar’ is a perfectly fine romcom EMMA CHANG Daily Arts Writer

The holiday movie season is here, and Netf lix hasn’t forgetten.

The streaming service’s recent release “The Holiday Calendar” follows Abby Sutton (Kat Graham, “The Vampire Diaries”), an aspiring photographer whose grandfather (Ron Cephas Jones, “This is Us”) gives her an advent calendar that, instead of chocolate, seems to give clues to whatever will happen in Abby’s love life that day.

Magical intervention, indirect or direct, is typical of any holiday movie and “The Holiday Calendar” is no different. Abby’s calendar inf luences her decisions and is the source of her major revelations, both about her life and her relationships. While the movie relies heavily on the reveal of what’s behind each little door, “The Holiday Calendar” makes good use of upbeat Christmas music and montages to establish Abby’s newfound relationship and the decline of her older friendship.

The movie’s two eligible bachelors allow “The Holiday Calendar” to explore the tried-and-true problems that come when a main character is ignorant to the fact that

their best friend is in love with them. The first half of the movie is spent f litting between shots of Abby enjoying herself with her childhood friend Josh (Quincy Brown, “Street”) and being swept off her feet by the too-perfect doctor Ty

“The Holiday Calendar” Netflix

(Ethan Peck, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”). Other than the inner turmoil of forcing the audience to choose between two great guys, there isn’t a lot to “The Holiday Calendar.” But this lack of depth is the reason why people gravitate towards holiday movies in a time when family drama is high, and temperatures are low.

Double the love interests, though, means double the drama, and when Abby’s relationship with Ty gets in the way of her friendship with Josh, she’s forced to evaluate her life. The movie comes to a climax when Abby loses her job, her best friend and her new relationship all in the span of two days. The predictable nature of the way

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Call: #734-418-4115 Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

Release Date: Friday, November 9, 2018

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

TV REVIEW

‘Homecoming’ is sublime worked for Geist, a pharmaceutical MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN company turned defense contractor Daily Arts Writer operating a top-secret civilian re-entry program for veterans. But What’s in a memory? On years later, when a Department television, they’re often distorted, of Defense investigator (Shea impressionistic constructions Whigham, “Boardwalk Empire”) of the human brain. But in tracks Heidi down with questions “Homecoming,” a superb new about her former job, Heidi can’t drama from Amazon Prime Video, quite make sense of what really it’s the present that is faint and happened in her time there.

It’s a subdued role that doesn’t incomplete, desaturated and boxed in a squarish aspect ratio, while the past is rendered wholly and lucidly, in crisp widescreen.

Season 1 It’s one of the more inventive ways director Sam Esmail (“Mr. Amazon Prime Video Robot”) translates the aural tension of the show’s source material — the popular scripted podcast from give us much of Roberts’s signature Gimlet Media — into the year’s most show-stopping smile, but she brings visually striking television. He has plenty of warmth to it nonetheless. also made the very wise decision And her foray into TV — in line to keep “Homecoming” roughly with the addition of Meryl Streep to as long as its podcast predecessor the “Big Little Lies” cast and Amy — at 10 briskly-paced, half-hour Adams’s turn in “Sharp Objects” episodes, it’s practically designed to — confirms that we’re in an age be consumed in one long watch. where prestige TV is as attractive a “Homecoming” and “Mr. project to Hollywood megastars as Robot” share both a director and big-budget film. Roberts is joined similar themes, namely an interest by an excellent supporting cast — in the fallibility of memory and the Stephan James (“Race”) as Walter extent to which corporations have Cruz, a Geist test subject (ahem, their claws in all of us. For months, client) who develops a rapport social worker Heidi Bergman with Heidi; Sissy Spacek (“Carrie”) (Julia Roberts, “Pretty Woman”) as Heidi’s concerned mother; and

“Homecoming”

Bobby Cannavale (“Third Watch”) in the ultimate Cannavalian role, Heidi’s sleazy, fast-talking boss Colin, who’s in line for a promotion at Geist.

The elements that the podcast format requires — simple, character-driven stories and meaningful dialogue — already make for excellent television.

What’s left for Esmail to do is what he seems to do best: elevate and augment the storytelling with stylish details and artful camerawork. With “Homecoming,” Esmail solidifies himself as one of the best directors working in television. His style here projects a kind of refined paranoia, evoking Hitchcock in hypnotic staircase shots, trippy zooms and spectacular long takes.

It sounds like a guaranteed recipe for indulgence: big streaming service meets noted TV auteur meets star-studded cast. But “Homecoming” is some of the smarter, more disciplined Amazon fare of late. The half-hour format keeps it compact and tightly written, watchable from the first episode and never a slog. It’s easily a model for what streaming shows could (and should) be: television that makes the most of its creative freedom but keeps itself grounded.

the movie ends, with Abby holing up in her room and ending up with her best friend, feels like leaving the Macy’s gift-wrapping station with everything neatly tied up.

One of the shining characteristics of this movie, though, is the cast. Typically, holiday movies follow a predominantly white cast with the occasional person of color thrown in to achieve “diversity” and please a network representative. But “The Holiday Calendar,” instead, has a mixed-race main character with a focus on her relationship with her AfricanAmerican grandfather. Her best friend, and one of the key love interests, is also AfricanAmerican, along with the comedic relief in the form of a Latinx third wheel in their relationship. The film even goes so far as to include a Latinx mayor — talk about diversity and gender equality.

Though the plot, the acting and the cast were leagues better than any of the Hallmark movies, “The Holiday Calendar” was still lacking in that one, unknown quantity that makes a movie a holiday classic, like “Love Actually” or “Home Alone.”

Instead, it’s the kind of movie watched while baking holiday cookies, wrapping presents or decorating the tree.

HELP WANTED

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

ACROSS 1 Bad cut 5 And 9 __ Ababa 14 Natural skin soother 15 Good earth 16 Datum in a forensic database 17 Impediment 19 Neighborhood gathering 20 Outcasts 21 Boiling point?

22 “No seats” sign 23 Score after deuce 25 Beach application 28 Billion-dollar pharmaceuticals 34 More than suspect 36 Early 20th-century touring cars 37 Part of a joke 38 Lingering effect 39 Not as dotty 41 Colorado tributary 42 Massey of old films 44 Thoroughbred’s dad 45 “Git!” 46 One with a lot to learn, perhaps 49 Obstruction 50 Pushed the doorbell 51 Night school subj.

53 Scandinavian bar exchange 57 Corrode 61 Local anesthesia effect 62 Device with pulleys 64 Words in some English resort town names 65 Major fit 66 First name in homespun humor 67 Word aptly represented by four black squares in this puzzle 68 Watched carefully 69 Exchange jabs DOWN 1 [You can’t mean that!]

2 Wasatch Mountains resort

3 __ grapes 4 Some Chrysler engines 5 Around-the-clock 6 Half a Daily Planet byline 7 __ Antonio 8 Texting interjection 9 Tacks on 10 “Phooey!”

11 __-cheap 12 Like some JFK flights 13 Lid issue 18 Verbal jab 21 Cassis apéritif 23 Penitent 24 Mirage site 25 Knitter’s coil 26 Family reunion attendee 27 At all 29 A pass may cover one 30 Brief rules?

31 City in New York’s Mohawk Valley 32 Stalin-era prison 33 Dramatic outpouring 35 Policy __ 40 Readied, as leftovers

43 Puncture consequence 47 Court figures, for short 48 Ensenada pronoun 52 Velcro alternative 53 Nose-in-the-air sort 54 __ Ration 55 Guesstimate phrase

56 With, on le menu 57 Do landscaping work 58 Dr. Johnny Fever’s fictional station 59 Soprano Gluck 60 Sommelier’s concern 62 “__ you out of your mind?”

63 “All opposed” reply

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

11/09/18

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By Bonnie L. Gentry and Victor Fleming ©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

11/09/18

Opinion

4A — Friday, November 9, 2018

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

KIANNA MARQUEZ | COLUMN

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

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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.

FROM THE DAILY

N

Reflections on the midterms

o matter how you slice it, the 2018 midterm elections were historic.

The next Congress will include the most women ever elected to the House of Representatives and the Senate, including the first two Muslim-American congresswomen. Early turnout estimates suggest that Tuesday’s turnout blew all previous midterms out of the water, an encouraging sign of rising voter enthusiasm and waning political apathy. Here in Michigan, voters approved two pro-democracy ballot proposals by wide margins that will prevent partisan gerrymandering and make voting easier for all Michigan residents. All of these are encouraging signs of a healthy electorate, despite President Donald Trump’s continued attacks on democratic values.

Yet Tuesday’s elections also showcased the dark side of American democracy in 2018.

Voter suppression served as a major overtone throughout the Georgia gubernatorial race, where Republican candidate Brian Kemp also served as the chief election official for his own race in his role as Georgia secretary of state.

Refusing to step down from his position during the election, Kemp slashed voter rolls using an exact match law that predominantly removed Black, Latinx and Asian voters from the rolls — echoing the state’s dark history of suppressing Black voters.

But these barriers to casting a ballot were not specific to Georgia.

Across the nation, long lines, insufficient equipment and general chaos plagued polling centers, potentially serving as a deterrent for those with a busy schedule seeking to cast their vote. Even in Detroit, some would-be voters left polling places after waiting hours for outdated voting equipment to receive maintenance. A healthy democracy requires maximal election participation. The hurdles placed in front of

voters Tuesday only suppressed democratic ideals.

Though these obstacles to voting were widespread, Democrats still managed to fare quite well in many of the districts won by Trump in 2016.

By ignoring Trump’s racist dog-whistling about a caravan from Central America, they achieved success by focusing on a consistent message of improving health care and policies that would benefit all Americans. This tactic worked favorably for Democrats, especially those seeking to f lip suburban communities.

However, they still have ways to go in appealing to working-class voters in rural areas. Given Trump’s overall popularity, and the impact his trade policy has had on rural communities, we would have hoped Democrats could have turned many of these districts blue. Despite this, Democrats should not abandon these districts and instead strive for a more unifying message that plays well in both suburbs and rural areas before the 2020 campaign. Further, the barriers to voting revealed during this election call for a

EMILY WOLFE | CONTACT EMILY AT ELWOLFE@UMICH.EDU

more fervent push from the new Democratic House to put election reform at the top of the agenda. We hope that prodemocracy measures, such as proposed packages to mandate independent commissions to draw congressional districts and reforming the congressional ethics code become priorities for both newly elected lawmakers and incumbents. Efforts to combat voter suppression as well as a strategy to listen and take into account the needs and sentiments of rural America are vital for Democrats.

Though this election cycle has concluded, the energy we’ve seen cannot dwindle.

We hope voters do not let the mixed results of 2018 discourage them from voting in the future. We’re thrilled to see the enthusiasm this election turned out on campus, and hope that it keeps college students permanently engaged. As many close elections this cycle have shown, every vote counts. Don’t let complacency get the best of you. Continue to stay educated on the issues confronting our nation and ensure your voice is heard at every opportunity.

I

Defending the legacy of the Michigan native

f you have never been to or do not plan on visiting Northern Michigan during the summertime, then you have never lived, nor do you truly ever plan to. I have experienced the timeless, suave waters of Michigan that are extraordinary in their own respect and are only a part of Michigan’s breathtaking nature that keeps its inhabitants here year-round. I recall the crystal blue water that you can see shimmering within the vast expanse of Lake Huron, while standing only steps away from the shore on the rocks surrounding Mackinac Island. You can feel the chill of Lake Michigan just viewing it from the sand dunes, remembering the Legend of the Sleeping Bear as you see the silhouettes of the North and South Manitou Islands contrasting the setting sun. You can feel the essence of a land defined by water. It’s never going to be the place for everyone, but it will forever be the roots of those lucky enough to call it home.

We stay here because we’ve been raised to appreciate the natural beauty Michigan gives throughout each season. This beauty has been prioritized and maintained by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Department of Environmental Quality — agencies of the state of Michigan that manage the use of natural resources within state parks, for recreation and in industry. Specifically, the protection of Michigan’s water resources has been the subject of the Michigan Water Strategy, a 30-year plan created by the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes in collaboration with other departments to sustain Michigan’s globally unique water heritage. The plan addresses several demands from the government and the people, some of which include restoring and protecting aquatic ecosystems, investing in water infrastructure and building governance tools to address future problems that surface with

Michigan’s water resources. While this strategy specifically aims to address the forefront environmental and economic concerns we have for the Great Lakes, it also pertains to the quality of Michigan’s remaining water bodies by nature.

Though the Office of the Great Lakes is responsible for carrying out the objectives of the water strategy, the actions of this group within the Department of Natural Resources is influenced by the department’s director, which is appointed by Michigan’s governor. With a 53.3 percent majority, Democratic candidate Gretchen Whitmer was elected Michigan’s newest governor on Tuesday. As a person who is wholeheartedly invested in using practical methods to improve the environment and ensure its quality remains at the forefront of our lifestyles, I am elated to know that she has assumed this government position that directly influences the workings of the department with the capacity to progress our environment.

While there are always logistics of a politician’s stance that are questioned by opponents or skeptics, her general mindset for the environment should be argued as our best ticket to a brighter future for the Great Lakes and other encompassing natural settings.

In particular, Whitmer has expressed her dissent toward the continuation of Enbridge’s Line 5 in the Great Lakes due to the potential risks that it poses to water quality. Several recent cases have demonstrated the pipeline’s questionable durability and its susceptibility to the mechanisms of other methods of water transportation.

For instance, a vessel that contributed to the mineral oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac due to an anchor strike in April 2018 is believed to be the same vessel that created three small dents in Enbridge’s pipeline, forcing it to shut down until it could withstand sufficient pressure after repair.

While no catastrophe occurred in

this scenario, Whitmer sees that it is only a matter of time before the risk of an oil leak or spill in the Great Lakes becomes reality and that the people who are served by the pipeline are not exactly the ones who will suffer the consequences. She has also expressed dedication toward finding solutions to Michigan’s other water crises, admitting the reprehensible failures of the government that led to the crisis in Flint and failures of managing contamination sites that led to the outbreak of polyfluoroalkyl substances.

In addition to her intention to address the broad goals outlined by the water strategy, Whitmer also plans to focus on innovative freshwater transportation and infrastructure, statewide education on water economies and natural resource conservation with the EPA’s Department of Great Lakes and Freshwater and the U.S. Climate Alliance. She believes in the sheer power of collaboration when it comes to accomplishing the necessary steps toward protecting our waters and our ecosystems: “We can’t unilaterally control the federal government, but what we can do is get every congressional member and every governor of all the Great Lake states and all the states that rely on the Great Lakes and create a caucus that will have some might. Because every time Donald Trump introduces a budget that cuts oversight funding for our Great Lakes, we need to be active, rolling up our sleeves.” With Governorelect Whitmer showing determination and focus on the quality of our water, I trust that her intentions for the Great Lakes will translate to the various other environmental components that make up our gift of a home, and we will stay because she will uphold these values that define us.

Kianna Marquez can be reached at kmarquez@umich.edu.

ALANNA BERGER | COLUMN

W

The gender gap of academia

hen colleges first began to go co-ed about the time of the Civil War, higher education was still very much a man’s game. It wasn’t until 1980, nearly 100 years after the start, that women and men began to attend college at similar rates. Soon enough, women began to outpace men in terms of attending college and earning degrees. As of 2015, 72.5 percent of women who recently graduated high school were enrolled in college, compared to 65.8 percent of men of the same demographic. Furthermore, women who are enrolled in two-year or four-year institutions tend to be more successful in their academic and extracurricular endeavors.

It is now apparent that American women have unprecedented access to a college education that was never afforded to women of past generations.

However, despite this access, women are still woefully underrepresented in academia and beyond. This infuriating fact raises the question of why women continue to fall behind in leadership roles while they earn more degrees.

Historically, attending college was largely reserved for typically economically privileged young men looking to pursue careers in the fields of ministry, medicine or law. As women were usually excluded from such careers, a college education wasn’t practical. As the workforce began to diversify, so too did college educations.

Furthermore, women began to enter the workforce in then-unparalleled numbers as American society underwent the rapid transformation of social norms that began during World War II. From this point forward, women began to work outside of the home at much more regular rates.

Eventually, a college degree became essential to be competitive in the workforce. This reliance on college degrees coincided with the onset of second-wave feminism. Also referred to as the “women’s movement,” this uprising of feminist ideals focused largely on gender equality for women in work and education. Shortly thereafter, women began to attend college in rapidly increasing rates, eventually rising to the rates they are today.

It is wildly apparent that women today are more able to attend college than ever before. Female college students now are more likely to have higher grade point averages than male students, both when they begin and when they finish their higher education. Women in college also tend to schedule themselves more aggressively in terms of extracurriculars, spend more time studying and participate in schoolrelated activities. However, unlike

their male counterparts, female college graduates are not as likely to encounter striking success in their careers of choice. For example, despite similar levels of education, the gender wage gap still persists, with women earning between 70 and 90 percent of what men do on average in their respective fields.

The dearth of female leadership in business and politics extends deep into other spheres. While women are much more likely to be teachers in primary and high school settings, this trend does not continue into higher education. In American universities, slightly more than a quarter of full professors were women in 2013. In terms of leadership positions, women fall behind even more so. Women are extremely underrepresented among senior faculty in many universities.

A lack of female academics holding positions as college deans or university provosts contributes to the fact that just over 25 percent of university presidents were women in 2012. This statistic is undoubtedly not representative of college student body populations as a whole. In colleges and universities nationwide, women represent nearly 60 percent of students. Even in higher education, where women are continually making gains in terms of attendance and academic success, they still remain woefully underrepresented in the leadership of their own universities.

In many cases, elite universities are among the worst offenders. The University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, which often boasts its status as among the world’s most ancient of institutions of higher education, did not appoint a female vice-chancellor until 2016. The University of Pennsylvania became the first Ivy League institution to appoint a female president in 1994.

The University of Michigan did not have a female president until Mary Sue Coleman assumed the role in 2002 — 185 years after the University was founded.

Aside from leadership roles in universities, female professors and other educators still fall behind male colleagues in terms of respect within their positions. This is most evident in an examination of the academic positions women hold within colleges and universities. As of 2015, women held nearly half of all tenure-track positions within universities, but only accounted for 38.4 percent of actual tenure positions. Similarly, women working in academia are more likely to hold lower-ranked positions. Female academics represent more than half of assistant professors and 44.9 percent of associate professors, yet also account for just 32.4 percent of full professors.

Of instructor positions, which are

typically among the lowest ranking in academia, women account for 57 percent. Furthermore, at all faculty levels from instructor to tenured professor, male academics out-earn their female peers. In the 2016-2017 school year, male full professors earned an average salary of $104,493, compared to $98,524 for women at the same level.

The reasons for these disparities are clearly not because women are less intellectually capable than men, or any less hardworking. Yet, these disparities persist nonetheless and permeate into fields outside of academia. Women are continually underrepresented in a multitude of professional leadership positions. Just 4.8 percent of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are women, a number that has fallen from 2017’s alltime high of 6.4 percent. In the political realm, just 23 current U.S. senators (soon to be 24) are women. Despite this low number, this is still a record high for women in the Senate. In the U.S. House of Representatives, just 19.3 percent are women, though the percentage is expected to grow after the midterm elections. Historically, there have only been 39 female governors in the U.S. As a demographic, women, who comprise 50.8 percent of the U.S. population and who are more highly educated than they have ever been, are still represented by governing bodies that are overwhelmingly male-dominated.

In the 21st century, women are undoubtedly experiencing fewer obstacles in the educational field than ever before. However, what are the tangible effects of this increase in higher education? Women as a whole have proven they are capable of success beyond college, yet few women are ever able to obtain such success.

Women still lag behind men in terms of pay, political representation and leadership in business and education.

Women now attend college more often than men do, yet they are less likely to be taught by female full professors or be led by female university presidents.

This reality, though, is one that may be rapidly changing. In the 2018 midterm elections, a surge of female candidates launched campaigns and are changing the political landscape.

Women continue to attend college at unprecedented rates, earning a record number of degrees. No matter how many women enter office after the midterms, or how many female university presidents are appointed in the near future, women deserve a much louder voice in the conversation than what is currently being afforded to them.

Alanna Berger can be reached at balanna@umich.edu.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Friday, November 9, 2018 — 6A

BOOKS NOTEBOOK

FILM REVIEW

BTBU: Chiang’s ‘Stories Of Your Life And Others’ EMILY YANG

Daily Arts Writer

WALT DISNEY

‘Nutcracker’ is so bonkers it almost works (almost) JEREMIAH VANDERHELM Daily Arts Writer

If Tim Burton and Sam Raimi had a child, and they raised that child on nothing but LSD and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, that child could feasibly grow up to direct “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” a film so wild in its every creative decision that it almost succeeds through sheer ridiculous force alone.

At different moments, it recalls any number of films, from “The Chronicles of Narnia” to “The Wizard of Oz” to “The Santa Clause 2,” but it more often than not dances away to another lunatic sequence before you can put your finger on what it’s causing you to remember.

If we were to judge the film on the number of jaw-dropping “WTF” moments alone, this newest “Nutcracker” might earn a pass.

Unfortunately, we must also judge it by the characters and their uniform flatness, the underdeveloped story and performances that are, more often than not, memorable for all the wrong reasons. This doesn’t include star Mackenzie Foy (“Interstellar”) who leads the film as Clara, a young girl who finds herself whisked away to the magical land of the Four Realms while trying to unlock a mysterious box left to her by her late mother. Where so much of “The Nutcracker” relies on strange gimmicks and visual splendor to keep its audience’s attention, there’s genuine emotion and charm to Foy’s performance that keeps her watchable.

The rest of the cast, however,

is best summed up by Keira Knightley’s (“Collateral Beauty”) turn as the Sugar Plum Fairy, the leader of the Land of Amusements. As with the rest of “Nutcracker,” Knightley’s performance is so bizarre that it nearly works — at the least, you’re kept wondering why she thought that voice was a good idea in the first place and why

“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” Ann Arbor 20 + IMAX, Goodrich Quality 16 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures no one stepped in to tell her she sounds like Moaning Myrtle on helium — but as with the rest of “Nutcracker,” there’s nothing underneath to keep it interesting. She’s not funny or complex, and the dramatic turn her character winds up taking is completely unearned.

Similarly weak writing abounds, as even Clara falls prey to an arc that doesn’t change her so much as it affirms what we already knew about her. She begins “Nutcracker” as an inventive young woman confident in her mechanical skill, and for all the story’s talk about using what makes her special, she never wavers in that confidence. If she is meant to be recovering from her mother’s death, the closest thing to an

alternative arc we’re given, then there’s no focus lent to that goal. It’s a forced “believe in yourself” lesson that’s never convincing for all Foy’s talents and is communicated in the same way as “Kung Fu Panda” virtually verbatim.

The one stalwartly good aspect is the visuals. While the effects will likely date themselves within a few years, the production design is breathtaking from top to bottom and there are a couple smart visual homages to other films, including a beautiful send-up to the “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” segment of “Fantasia.” Some of the costumes are sillier than others — Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze worked him over with a lead pipe and Eugenio Derbez (“Geostorm”) looks like a Fox News anchor’s idea of what will happen if you smoke pot even once — but for the vast majority of “Nutcracker,” they’re ravishing.

The rest of “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” must rely on its oddness to make it work, and while scenes of Keira Knightley eating the cotton candy that grows in place of her hair are certainly interesting, they hardly make it watchable.

For that, it must rely on what actually counts — the story, the characters, the themes — yet in all these areas, the film is lacking. Maybe younger audiences will gravitate towards the bright colors and quirky characters, but that kind of surface-level enjoyment only lasts until the next movie that relies on those exact same things.

STYLE NOTEBOOK REFORMATION

It’s time to start caring about sustainable fashion SOPHIA HUGHES Daily Arts Writer

Sustainable clothing. The term isn’t something you hear too often and when you do, you may feel ignorant — has the item been made with organic cotton? Is it compostable? Patagonia and Reformation, two of the most renowned sustainable clothing companies, are known most for their style and high quality.

Considering how important reversing (or slowing) climate

change is to the preservation of our way of life and lives, sustainable clothing should be widespread and become a household term.

The textile industry is the second largest polluter in the world after only oil. Fashion’s carbon footprint includes the pesticides used in the production of cotton and other fabrics, the toxic dyes that are used and then incorrectly discarded, as well as the significant amount of pollution generated in the processing and shipping of garments. In

basic terms, the cotton t-shirt you’re wearing from whatever unnamed retail store played a role in melting an ice cap.

It is time that other clothing companies take note of what sustainable brands are doing to help the environment.

Reformation was created

by Yael Af lalo, who embarked on her journey in the fashion world in 1999 by working at her first brand, Ya Ya. She was devoted to this job until she learned how the industry was detrimental to the environment and the horrible

One side effect of coming late to everything is that I have a lot of submerged influences; my past resembles a neglected attic.

I’m always surprised when my friends can see themselves as somehow continuous with who they were at age 14, like they haven’t experienced the kind of abrupt, dizzying turnaround I did when I left adolescence and stumbled into adulthood. I still sometimes remember vague hints of my experiences, but my memories usually feel like they happened to someone else. My conception of my past is both gallingly calcified and shifting, amorphous, as if hidden behind a curtain blowing in the wind.

One thing I can clearly remember from my childhood and preteen years is how much I read. I was not precocious, and my taste was conventional. I read the “Eragon” trilogy, every “Harry Potter” book, “The Lord of the Rings,” et cetera — the kind of narrative fiction that the reader lives in, at once comfortingly Manichean and vibrant. I think it was this desire for built worlds that led me to also spend a great amount of time immersed in popular science books, especially the large, illustrated coffee-table kind, usually about space. The workings of faraway stars felt both fantastical and fundamental, grounded in some kind of self-consistent celestial logic. I didn’t really understand anything I was reading, I just wanted somewhere to go.

My mom, a science fiction author and editor, lent me her autographed copy of Ted Chiang’s 2002 anthology “Stories of Your Life and Others” when I was somewhere in middle school.

She might have been prompted by my entirely aesthetic interest in science and technology, but I also recall that she mentioned the book on more than one occasion as one of her favorites.

The stories were unlike anything I had ever read before, and I remember being shocked by their energetic, yet concise structures.

As I grow into what she calls “literary fiction,” I find that the collection is one of the only books we still have in common. When I revisited it a few weeks ago, I was just as surprised by it as when I

working conditions that factory workers in China were susceptible to. In an interview with Racked, Af lalo said, “I also went to China to visit a factory, and I had this moment where I realized this is really a polluted environment … I started to make the connection: This is me, I’m making clothes and I’m a big part of this.” She soon left Ya Ya and started Reformation in 2009. In the beginning, the company practiced sustainability by solely refurbishing vintage dresses they purchased.

However, as they expanded, they were able to buy sustainable materials to make their own original clothing.

Now, Reformation prides itself on making sustainable clothing out of previously produced deadstock (clothing that was never sold or used by customers), carefully selected fabric and repurposed vintage.

The company itself is very transparent about the clothing they produce. Each piece online provides information regarding its carbon and water footprints so customers truly get to see the difference they make in the environment by purchasing reformation versus clothing from a standard retail company. For example, the RefScale for the Barb Top is labeled as having 9.0 pounds in carbon dioxide savings, 1.0 gallons of water savings, and 1.1 pounds of waste savings.

Patagonia is another sustainable clothing company that stands out in the transparency they exercise

had first read it. For a moment, I seemed to be seeing out of my younger self’s eyes, experiencing the stories’ wonder anew.

Chiang’s day job is a software engineer, which is arguably the cultural role that the Medieval monk and later the Renaissance alchemist occupied previously — the universal chroniclers, arbiters and discoverers.

Software engineers now create entire worlds from scratch, building the Borgesian map over our shared reality. More than one story invokes ancient engineers, alchemists and scholars as standins for the cultural role of the creative programmer. One story, “Seventy-Two Letters,” places the ancient Jewish myth of the Golem — an automaton that is activated by a slip of paper with a “name” on it — in a rapidly industrializing 19th-century context. Chiang’s stories operate by the logic of the Golem — his stories read like little literary automatons, put into play by their own mechanical logic. He juxtaposes the tower of Babylon myth with contemporary cosmological speculation, he uses a specific linguistics problem to investigate free will, he brings a parable about attractiveness and charisma to jarring conclusions.

In his laser focus on extremely specific ideas, he doesn’t lose the capacity to surprise. If anything, it’s his relentless drive to reach the logical conclusion of his assemblages that, more often than not, makes the stories feel so strange and surprising.

Rereading the anthology reminded me of my past fixation with technology and logic as ends in themselves. Chiang creates with his stories a feeling I usually associate with finally grasping a complicated math problem — the joy of consistency (perhaps sharing an affinity with the German term Funktionslust).

I frequently forget that I came close to majoring in computer science — I used to be so much more attracted to this feeling of completeness, of making things work. The more subtle, incomplete affects I revel in now came later. Chiang’s stories serve as sort of a bridge between those two versions of myself, rendering my past mental life in terms that I can understand now.

The anthology also gave my present self two stories that reminded me of what I

dislike about this mentality.

“Understand” and “The Evolution of Human Science” both have an unfortunate fixation with superhuman intelligence that posits a positivist, quantifiable vision of intelligence, and even of personality, that I now find narrow-minded. “Understand” follows a brain-damaged patient treated with a neuroregenerative drug. When he finds himself mentally “enhanced” beyond the capabilities of ordinary humans, he spends the rest of the story basically marveling at the “gestalts” he is able to grasp that “ordinaries” don’t.

It’s frustrating to read lines like “The quotidian patterns of society are revealed without my making an effort,” and it’s a little embarrassing to think of what the 16-year-old version of me would have thought of that line.

It’s hard to deny that even the better stories exist in the cultural space also occupied with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, TED talks and XKCD. This affinity was invisible to me on first read but painfully obvious when I revisited the collection.

Even so, Chiang manages to hover over the self-satisfaction of the other fabulists of STEM, using speculation like a wedge to crack reality open in unexpected ways rather than falling into received notions of progress and the universal utility of science. The true connection between Chiang’s work and the contemporary culture of STEM lies less in tone than content — Chiang is satisfied with a working concept rather than a working plot, and his stories primarily serve the ideas they grow from rather than their characters. It’s this, rather than his ability to interrogate through fiction, that I think I have outgrown since the first time I read it.

I think what I ultimately learned initially from the collection was that fiction was capable of changing the way I thought about things. In speaking the language I then understood and then breaking it apart, the anthology changed the way I thought about writing in general in a way that I wouldn’t realize until much later. I now ascribe the ability to create and destroy worlds to language, and this belief has its roots in this unlikely collection of stories.

with their customers. On their website, Patagonia openly discusses the journey that their company has taken regarding their transitioning

Patagonia’s sustainability efforts are initiated by their customers’ existing passion for nature. This is why they also actively play a role in environmental campaigns that the company itself is passionate about, such as protesting dams in the South American region of Patagonia. Furthermore, the website provides information on grassroots campaigns all over the country that Patagonia supports, which work to alleviate the damage of climate change.

Beyond Reformation and Patagonia, there are other companies that are also wellknown sustainable options such as Alternative Apparel, Amour Vert, DL 1961, Eileen Fisher, Everlane, PrAna, Threads 4 Thought and Tribe Alive.

With sustainability comes a higher price. But, if the amount of sustainable clothing options are increased, the demand will decrease and price will fall.

Therefore, in the meantime, we must support sustainable brands and purchase vintage when looking to save money.

We are all guilty of sustainable ignorance and steps must be taken to deter the irresponsibility revolving around the fashion industry.

Clothing companies should feel inspired by the widespread success of Reformation and Patagonia and look to these companies as an example to model themselves after.

Climate change is not waiting and neither should we.

Sustainable clothing. The term isn’t something you hear too often and when you do, you may feel ignorant — has the item been made with organic cotton? Is it compostable?

to increasingly sustainable materials. In their clothing, Patagonia solely uses recycled polyester and 100% organic cotton that they produce themselves without pesticides.

NOVEMBER 9, 2018

2B

Friday, November 9, 2018 // TIP OFF 2018

MICHIGAN BASKETBALL

PREVIEW

TIP OFF 2018

SCHEDULE 2018-2019

Nov. 9

Mount St. Mary’s

Nov. 15

at Western Michigan

Nov. 19

Detroit Mercy

Nov. 23-25

Gulf Coast Showcase

Nov. 29

at NC State

Dec. 2

at Marquette

Dec. 6

LIU Brooklyn

Dec. 9

at Oakland

Dec. 15

Morgan State

Dec. 21

Southern

Dec. 16

Fort Wayne

Dec. 28

at Nebraska

Dec. 31

Minnesota

Jan. 5

at Purdue

Jan. 8 Jan. 12 Jan. 17 Jan. 20 Jan. 24 Jan. 27 Jan. 31 Feb. 3 Feb. 7 Feb. 4 Feb. 10 Feb. 14 Feb. 17 Feb. 21 Feb. 24 March 3

Northwestern at Maryland at Iowa Ohio State at Indiana Michigan State Iowa at Wisconsin Nebraska at Rutgers at Penn State Indiana at Illinois Rutgers

at Michigan State Wisconsin

3 4 6 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Michigan should not try to replace Katelynn Flaherty this season.

Nicole Munger has grinded to become a key player for Michigan.

The Wolverines will have to overcome Maryland and Iowa in the Big Ten. Inside the Wolverines’ 2018-19 roster, broken down by position.

STAFF PICKS The Daily women’s basketball writers do their best to predict what will happen in the world of college basketball this season.

Michigan regular-season record Big Ten champion Big Ten second place Big Ten third place Big Ten Tournament champion Big Ten MVP Big Ten Coach of the Year Big Ten surprise team Michigan MVP National Player of the Year National Freshman of the year Michigan’s season ends here NCAA “Bracket Buster” NCAA Final Four

Bennett Bramson

Connor Brennan

Teddy Gutkin

Rohan Kumar

20-10 Maryland Michigan Iowa Maryland Kaila Charles, Maryland Brenda Freese, Maryland Indiana Hallie Thome Katie Lou Samuelson, UConn Charli Collier, Texas First Round of NCAA FGCU UConn Notre Dame Baylor Tennessee

21-9 Maryland Michigan Iowa Iowa Megan Gustafson, Iowa Brenda Freese, Maryland Rutgers Hallie Thome Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State Emily Engstler, Syracuse Round of 32 Yale UConn Baylor Notre Dame Oregon

21-9 Maryland Michigan Iowa Maryland Megan Gustafson, Iowa Brenda Freese, Maryland Northwestern Hallie Thome Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame Charli Collier, Texas Round of 32 George Washington UConn Baylor Notre Dame South Carolina

23-7 Iowa Michigan Maryland Iowa Megan Gustafson, Iowa Nancy Fahey, Illinois Rutgers Hallie Thome Arike Ogunbowale, Notre Dame Charli Collier, Texas Sweet Sixteen Dayton UConn Notre Dame Louisville Stanford

Friday, November 9, 2018 // TIP OFF 2018

I

3B

This year shouldn’t be about replacing Flaherty

t definitely felt odd.

Last week, the Michigan women’s basketball team defeated Findlay in an exhibition.

And for the first game in a long time, the name Katelynn Flaherty wasn’t announced emphatically, over and over again throughout Crisler Center.

But as odd as it was, it might not be a bad thing.

Entering this season, there’s been ample talk about how and if the ROHAN Wolverines KUMAR will be able to replace Flaherty, who graduated last spring. Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico brought this to light just a few minutes into the team’s Oct. 10 media day.

“I’m sure the question of the day will be, you know, where do we go without Katelynn Flaherty?”

Barnes Arico said. “And how is our team going to look without the program’s all-time leading scorer?”

It’s an understandable question to have. After all, Flaherty led the Wolverines in scoring the last four years. She was a true playmaker and certainly wrote a chapter of the school’s history.

Players like Flaherty rarely come around, and to be frank, the Wolverines don’t have what it takes to replace her right now.

Yes, they have a talented point guard in freshman Amy Dilk, who’s ready to contribute right away.

And while she may develop into a dominant, Flaherty-esque player down the line, right now she’s only a freshman. Thus, it’s naive to expect her to be Michigan’s savior this season.

But maybe the Wolverines don’t need a savior; maybe they don’t need to replace Flaherty. In fact, I’d argue that they shouldn’t try to replace her.

Even with Flaherty — and all of her dominance — the program only qualified for the NCAA Tournament once in the last four years, just to get trampled in the second round by then-No. 2-seed Baylor.

Now I’m not saying that the team accomplished nothing with its star player, because it certainly found success. Two seasons ago, Michigan won the Women’s

RUCHITA IYER/Daily

Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico believes her team has “a tremendous amount of depth” — something the Wolverines have lacked in past seasons.

National Invitation Tournament and hung its first banner. The team frequently spends time in the top25 rankings. Last season, it even notched signature wins against then-No. 8 Ohio State and then-No. 13 Maryland.

However, let’s not forget about the bludgeonings this team took against top teams last season.

Against then-No. 5 Louisville, Michigan went into halftime with a five-point lead only to lose by 25.

The Wolverines had no answer for then-No. 3 Notre Dame — who went on to win the National Championship — or Baylor either, and suffered similar fates.

Let’s not forget Michigan held a 16-point lead against an average Purdue team, only to lose in overtime, and how the loss spurred a bad stretch in which the Wolverines lost four out of five games. Although they did end up making the NCAA Tournament, that slump significantly jeopardized the team’s chances at the time.

And let’s not forget the Big Ten Tournament disappointment, when the Wolverines got bounced in

their second contest by Nebraska.

Yes, the Cornhuskers were a better seed, but it was a game Barnes Arico’s squad could have and should have won.

All this is to point out that even in Flaherty’s senior year, the program was far from perfect. That shouldn’t be the standard. That shouldn’t be Michigan’s ceiling.

This program still has far more to accomplish. It has yet to truly establish itself as a national contender — as a force to reckon with.

But now, the Wolverines have the tools to do so.

A quick glance at the roster is all one needs to recognize the potential of this program.

Michigan has seniors Hallie Thome and Nicole Munger — a duo that has already proved itself and will be key this season.

Then there are players such as junior Akienreh Johnson as well as sophomores Hailey Brown and Deja Church. They all flashed glimpses of their talent at various points last season and could make big strides moving forward.

But to top it off, Michigan has

one heck of a freshmen class — on paper at least. Composed of a fivestar recruit in Dilk — as well as three four-stars and a three-star — the group was ranked No. 12 by ESPN. It’s the program’s all-time best recruiting class.

Lack of depth has been an issue in the past, because when a team only has a small rotation, the season becomes more physically demanding and takes its toll. It’s one reason the Wolverines often face the end-of-season slump.

But depth shouldn’t be an issue this year.

“I think the thing that we have, that we haven’t had since I’ve been here,” Barnes Arico said, “is a tremendous amount of depth.”

Fans can’t blame Michigan’s offense too much for revolving around Flaherty the last four years.

When a team has top-caliber talent, it has to use it to its advantage.

That said, an offense becomes predictable when it uses only one weapon. This season, while many players have potential to contribute, none are set to garner all the attention like Flaherty did.

Thus the Wolverines can use a

more diverse attack, which may fare better against opponents.

“Definitely missing Katelynn is a huge — I don’t know what to call it — but it creates a huge deficit for the points. I mean, she averaged a lot and she contributed a lot to our scoring,” Brown said after practice on Oct. 22. “But with our team, I think now the floor will be open more because we have more people that are scorers.”

There’s a saying that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’d like to create my own saying: if it ain’t perfect, don’t replace it.

The mindset for this team should not be about replacing Flaherty; that’s too tall of a task, and the team wasn’t flawless with her.

Instead, the program’s focus should be about taking the next big step and competing with the powerhouses.

And with a roster filled with potential, Barnes Arico has the threads to strengthen the underlying fabric of the program and take it to the next level.

Kumar can be reached at kumarrp@umich.edu

4B

Friday, November 9, 2018

Friday, November 9, 2018

TIP OFF 2018

Long before former Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie asked his devout fan base and the inquisitive media to “trust the process,” Nicole Munger had already been applying that mantra to her basketball career.

Just an hour north of the Wells Fargo Center, Munger was entering her freshman year at Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown, Penn. Despite having a local reputation for being athletic, she was merely 5-feet tall. But what might have been a disadvantage in most people’s eyes was a source of motivation.

“She was about 4-foot nothing,” said her dad, Rick. “Most kids, when they’re playing sports, develop a skill-set once they’re comfortable with their body. Nicole didn’t have that opportunity. She had to develop a skill-set and let her body grow into that skill.”

Added her high school coach, Terry Rakowsky: “You could tell from the very beginning that she was special … and just how hard she worked and how serious she took what she was trying to accomplish.

And again, she was just tiny. But her energy and just her commitment — she just played one way, which was 100 percent all the time.”

During her time as a Lady Buck, Munger worked tirelessly to improve her game. She blossomed into one of the state’s best all-around players, quickly enhancing that local reputation into something much more. Her height was finally catching up to her skill and effort, and colleges around the country began taking notice.

As Munger would soon find out, the eventual transition to the college game posed even more challenges. Thanks to her Philadelphiabred mentality, though, she would be up to the task. *** Rick Munger had always been an avid Philadelphia sports fan. But becoming a father for the first time to newly-born Nicole meant that his fandom would have to take a backseat. Or did it?

“When Nicole was born,” Rick said, “I used to watch the Flyers, the NHL hockey team, and my wife made a comment to me like, ‘You know, once this baby comes, you’re not going to be able to watch this all the time.’ And to my wife’s dislike, Nicole would actually lay on my chest and watch the hockey games with me and would just love it.”

It turns out Rick didn’t have to sacrifice any of his fandom for Nicole.

She was as big a sports fan as he was.

Nicole’s love for watching sports quickly turned into a love of playing them. Her and her younger brother Ryan would take to the streets of their cul-du-sac to join in on games of pick-up basketball, baseball, football and even hockey with their neighbors.

Though these games were played for fun, they also served as an incubator for Nicole’s competitive nature.

No sport seemed off limits to her growing up. Munger participated recreationally in everything from softball to football, and she was good at them all.

When her football and soccer schedules conflicted one year, in order to keep her on the team, the soccer coach told the Mungers that Nicole could forgo practices and just play in the games.

Despite excelling in multiple sports, she really began focusing on basketball in sixth grade.

“Basketball kinda just weeded itself out,” Munger said. “I mean, it was the sport I was best at. I knew I couldn’t keep playing football with the guys and baseball with the guys. Basketball just won out and that’s how it became my favorite sport.”

From that moment on, Munger devoted all her time outside of school to getting better. It was at this time that she started developing her skill-set.

She joined a top-notch AAU program, the Philadelphia Belles, during middle school, but was told she’d have to play on the “B-team” that season due to her height.

Munger wasn’t satisfied with that. “She said, ‘No, I want to play on this team,’ ” Rick said. “ ‘If you don’t want to play me, that’s okay, but I’m going to practice with these kids who are better, because I want to get better.’ ” *** The Wolverines offered Munger during her sophomore year of high school.

Michigan’s reputation preceded itself, but going into her official visit, Munger and her parents were somewhat wary of how far Ann Arbor was from southeast Pennsylvania.

She had never been away from home for an extended period of time, and the 10-hour drive from Doylestown meant her family wasn’t exactly accessible.

If it’s meant to be, though, it’s meant to be.

Munger loved everything about Michigan — the campus, the academics and the athletics as a whole.

“I remember that Friday we were just walking around on campus,” Nicole said. “I hit my brother on one side, my dad on the other side and said ‘This is it.’ Walking on campus there was just a feel. It was a football game weekend … it was just different. You could feel the tradition. Every building was just beautiful, obviously highlyrenowned academics were something I was looking for … and that’s not even talking about basketball.”

Of course, basketball had to be a consideration too. Her tour of campus culminated in her visit to Crisler Center, where she sat down

with Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico. The two hit it off.

“I mean besides how gorgeous this place is, I was sitting in coach’s office, and she was the only coach talking about getting back to Final Fours,” Munger said. “It wasn’t just like, ‘Let’s make the tournament,’ it was like ‘Let’s get to Final Fours.’ ” The admiration was mutual. In Munger, Barnes Arico — who was just beginning her coaching career at Michigan — saw a hard-working and talented prospect.

To Barnes Arico, Munger was a player who could only be an asset to whichever program was lucky enough to get her.

“You need players like Nicole Munger in your program to be successful,” Barnes Arico said. “And I have valued and appreciated that from day one. She’s a special kid.”

The love affair had commenced. After a tremendous senior season, in which Munger earned All-State first team honors and led the Lady Bucks to a 32-2 record and a runner-up finish in the state championship, the four-star recruit packed her bags for Ann Arbor.

Her freshman year, Munger struggled to adjust.

Academically, assignments were coming fast and furious.

On the basketball court, she was no longer the best player in practice. And on top of it all, her support system was 580 miles away. Doubt over whether she belonged at Michigan swirled around her head.

“Because it’s Michigan,” Munger said. “I never — I just had the thought coming in that, ‘What if I don’t make it?’ I don’t think I had the confidence that I could play here until partway through my freshman year, when I realized, ‘I can do this. These kids are better than me, but I’ll get there.’ ” Munger, having learned from previous experiences, embraced the process all over again.

Her mindset switched to making the team better in whatever way she could. In practice, she frequently played on the scout team, where her main job was pestering star sophomore point guard Katelynn Flaherty. Just like before, Munger worked her way up the depth chart with grit and commitment. As a top-100 recruit coming out of high school, the talent was clearly there, but without her unwavering devotion to improvement, her freshman season would not have gone as well as it did.

She appeared in 34 games that year, primarily coming in to play

pressure defense and hit the occasional outside shot on offense. She may have averaged just 4.7 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, but her contribution went far beyond the numbers.

“She’s a fan favorite,” Barnes Arico said. “From the first time she’s ever stepped onto the court, people have grabbed me immediately after the game, ‘Oh my gosh that No. 10, oh my gosh, she will just do anything to help your team win. She will dive for the ball. She will take the charge. She’ll be bloodied and try and get up to get a stop.’ ” *** Fast forward to present day, and the 5-foot-10 Nicole Munger is one of Michigan’s go-to players heading into season.

Having lost Flaherty and

Jillian Dunston from last year’s team — which made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament — Munger and senior forward Hallie Thome have assumed leadership roles, both on the court and off it.

“Hallie and I have really been working with the team just on the culture,” Munger said. “And making sure everyone is on board. It’s going to be a really big year. It’s a really important year for the growth of this program and I think we have the pieces in place to do something special, which is really cool.”

If anybody is suited for a leadership role, it’s Munger. Her unbridled effort coupled with the fact that she’s earned Academic All-Big Ten honors her past two seasons has made her a model example for her younger teammates.

On the court this season, her role will be to complement Thome’s interior dominance

with a threat from the outside. Munger shot 40.4 percent from three last season and will be looked to even more to provide that threat beyond the arc.

“She can shoot the basketball better than I believe anybody in the country,” according to Barnes Arico. “I have to continually remind her of that, because she doesn’t shoot the ball enough for my liking, but she is an incredible, incredible shooter.”

If she and Thome can successfully mesh this season, while also bringing along some of the younger stars on the team, the Wolverines will be a major factor in a relatively unknown Big Ten Conference.

“Going towards the end of the year, one of our big things is Michigan (women’s) basketball has never won a Big Ten Championship so I think that’s one of our biggest goals,” Munger said. “It would be great to raise a banner.”

TIP OFF 2018

*** Munger’s story is not one of an underdog.

She had been blessed by unusual athletic ability at the outset. Instead, her story is one of hard work and trust. Without those qualities, she wouldn’t be in her current position — a valuable player on a Big Ten contender.

There is something about Nicole Munger and Philadelphia that go so well together.

As Rick explains, Philadelphia is a unique sports market: one where the only thing the fans care about is effort.

“Whether you make a mistake or not is fine, as long as you’re giving it your all,” Rick said. “And I think Nic has sort of picked up on that — that’s the way she plays.”

5B

6B

Friday, November 9, 2018 // TIP OFF 2018

Big Ten Breakdown: Iowa and Maryland the teams to beat After winning the conference last season, Ohio State seems to have taken a step back entering this year BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer

With football season dwindling, there is only one thing that can fill the void that will be left in the hearts of Big Ten fans across the country: basketball – and maybe a little bit of hockey.

Coming off its seventh straight 20-plus win season – the sixth straight under coach Kim Barnes Arico – the Michigan women’s basketball team is primed to continue its recent success in what should be a wide open Big Ten race. If Barnes Arico achieves another 20-win season this year, she will become the first Wolverines basketball coach, men’s or women’s, to record seven-straight 20-plus win

seasons.

Michigan, which went 10-6 in the Big Ten and 22-9 overall last season, is coming off of a sixth-place finish in the Big Ten and a second-round exit in the NCA A Tournament. To reach their goal of the first Big Ten title in school history, the Wolverines will have to get through the likes of defendingBig Ten champions Ohio State, perennial powerhouse No. 9 Maryland and an up-and-comer in No. 13 Iowa.

Ohio State Last season: Big Ten champions (13-3, 27- 6) Coming off its conferenceleading fifteenth Big Ten championship – its second in a row – Ohio State will be in a different position from last year. It is going to be hard for

the Buckeyes to move on after losing all five starters from last season to either graduation or transfers, including threetime Big Ten Player of the Year Kelsey Mitchell. In fact, just four players return from Ohio State’s 2017-18 campaign: Waterman (3.5 points per game), senior g uard Karlie Cronin (0.1 points per game), junior g uard Jensen Caretti (2.4 points per game) and sophomore forward Savitha Jayaraman (0.5 points per game).

The Buckeyes, though, will not lack college experience; they bring in a plethora of graduate transfers – five to be exact. Graduate g uards Carmen Grande and Carly Santoro should have the most immediate impact – they have combined for over 150 starts

in their collegiate careers and scored 11.5 and 12.8 points per game last season, respectively.

Santoro also averaged 8.7 rebounds per game, and Grande was second in the nation with 9.2 assists per game last season.

Another likely contributor, graduate g uard Ashanti Abshaw, who averaged 17.1 points per game in her three seasons at Cleveland State, injured her ACL in late October and will be out for the season.

Ohio State beat Michigan 96-87 in their lone matchup last year and will travel to Michigan this season on Jan. 20.

No. 9 Maryland Last season: Second-place f inish in the Big Ten (12- 4, 25-7) Since joining the Big Ten ahead of the 2014-2015 season,

the Terrapins held at least a share of the Big Ten title in each of their first three seasons before finishing second in the conference last year.

Maryland coach Brenda Freese, who has been with the team since its days in the ACC, has led the Terrapins to the NCA A Tournament in 14 of her 16 seasons in College Park – including all four seasons since Maryland joined the Big Ten. While last year may have been seen as a step down for the Terrapins, Freese’s squad will look to bounce back in a big way after losing just three players – only one of whom was a consistent starter.

Similar to last year, Maryland will place a heav y workload on

See ROSTER, Page 7B

RUCHITA IYER/Daily

The Ohio State basketball team finished with a 13-3 Big Ten record last season, winning the conference for the second straight year. But the Buckeyes lost much of their production heading into 2018-19.

Friday, November 9, 2018 // TIP OFF 2018

BIG TEN BREAKDOWN From Page 6B junior g uard Kaila Charles, who averaged 17.9 points per game to go with 8.1 rebounds per game in 2017-2018. In addition to Charles, Freese brings in the fifth-ranked recruiting class, per ESPN. Highlighted by fourth-ranked recruit forward Shakira Austin, and another fivestar recruit in g uard Taylor Mikesell, the Terrapins will look for early contributions from their freshmen.

This year’s Maryland team is set to be an improvement on last year’s team as the Terrapins come into the season as the early season favorites to capture yet another Big Ten championship.

In last season’s bout, Maryland beat the Wolverines 83-70 and will host Michigan on Jan. 12.

No. 13 Iowa Last season: Fourth-place f inish in the Big Ten (11-5, 24-7) After a disappointing first-round exit in last year’s NCA A Tournament, the Hawkeyes head into the 2018 season full of motivation and experience. Iowa returns four of last season’s starters, including the preseason Big Ten player of the year, senior g uard Megan Gustafson, and junior g uard Kathleen Doyle, another preseason all-Big Ten selection. The Hawkeyes, however, will play the first month of the season without Doyle, who suffered a fractured left hand in practice a week ago. In her place, Iowa will rely on senior g uard Tania Davis, who is coming off of an ACL injury which sidelined her for the majority of last season.

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder is in her nineteenth season at the helm of the Hawkeye women’s program and has a record of 367-210. Seeking her third Big Ten championship, Bluder has Iowa in the preseason rankings for the first time since 2014, when it debuted as the No. 19 team in the country.

The Hawkeyes defeated Michigan in their one matchup last year, 82-72, and will host the Wolverines on Jan. 17 and visit Ann Arbor on Jan. 31.

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Roster Breakdown: ‘M’ replacing Flaherty with strong recruiting class and experienced forwards Five-star guard Amy Dilk will lead the way in the frontcourt for the Wolverines, but seniors Nicole Munger and Hallie Thome bring back experience to the team

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

The Michigan women’s basketball team has a talent-laden roster, with a top-15 recruiting class and an experienced frontcourt returning this season.

TEDDY GUTKIN Daily Sports Writer

After advancing to the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament last year, the Michigan women’s basketball team returns a seasoned and experienced bunch.

Of course, the Wolverines will be without Katelynn Flaherty for the upcoming campaign.

Flaherty scored 2,776 points in her career, the most ever in school history — including the men’s program — and 27th alltime in NCAA history. She was also one of just two women in NCAA history to hit over 400 3-pointers in her career (410) and she led the team in scoring

last season with 22.9 points per game on 42.3-percent shooting from beyond the arc.

Simply put, Michigan has a lot of production to make up.

However, coach Kim Barnes Arico recruited the 12th-best class in the nation (the highestranked class in program history), infusing exciting young players into a lineup that also features experienced veterans.

While last year was the Katelynn Flaherty show, this team has more of a feel of an ensemble.

So, you may ask, who are the women that make up this year’s squad? The Daily breaks down Michigan’s roster for the upcoming season: Guards: Looking to replace Flaherty’s

Who are the women that make up this year’s squad?

presence, 5-star freshman Amy Dilk appears to be more than up to the task. Out of Carmel, Ind., Dilk has shown tremendous poise on the defensive side of the ball and possesses fantastic vision and a deadly stroke from deep. In high school, Dilk averaged 17.8 points and 6.7 assists per game and was named Indiana’s Gatorade Player of the Year and Miss Basketball.

Joining Dilk in the backcourt is sophomore shooting guard Deja Church, who has returned to her natural position after spending time as Michigan’s backup point guard last season. Church does a great job at getting to the basket and seems like a surefire bet to improve on a freshman

campaign that saw her average 7.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

Fellow sophomore Priscilla Smeenge should also be in line to see extended minutes, and she should continue to make an impact with her 3-point stroke after knocking down 40 percent of her attempts last season in limited action.

Junior Akienrah Johnson also figures to make an impact, especially after she scored in double figures in three of Michigan’s final six games of the season to help clinch a tournament berth.

Rounding out the guards are freshmen Danielle Rauch and Ariel Young. Young is a 6-foot1 guard from Tallahassee, Fla., See ROSTER, Page 8B

The Daily breaks down Michigan’s roster.

8B

Friday, November 9, 2018 // TIP OFF 2018

ROSTER BREAKDOWN From Page 7B where she helped her high school to a 22-2 record and the first Final Four appearance in school history. Rauch, while small at 5-foot-8, showed tenacity on the glass during her high school career at Bishop Ludden in Syracuse, N.Y. Rauch averaged 7.1 boards per game and should be a force on the defensive side of the ball as well, evidenced by her 4.5 steals per game average last season.

Forwards: While the guard spot features an inf lux of youth, many of the Wolverines’ veteran leaders can be found patrolling the frontcourt. Starting at forward is senior co-captain Nicole Munger.

After shooting 40.4 percent from deep last season, Munger returns as Michigan’s top threat from

deep and should be one of the team’s top offensive options. Last season, she averaged 9.1 points per game, and she emerged as a leader on the defensive side of the ball, averaging 1.1 steals per contest.

Joining Munger in the frontcourt will be sophomore Hailey Brown.

Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Brown was a key contributor last season as a freshman and should return strong after having her campaign cut short by a lower leg injury. Before she was sidelined, Brown was one of Michigan’s key contributors, averaging 9.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and shooting

46 percent from the field.

Junior Kayla Robbins also figures to be a fixture despite coming off the bench, bringing impressive hustle and tenacity on the defensive side of the ball. While Robbins only played 11.8 minutes per game in her sophomore season, she should see more playing time this year.

Michigan will also see two freshmen slot in at forward, with Emily Kiser and Naz Hillmon likely in line to earn minutes early.

Kiser averaged 21 points and 13.4 rebounds as a senior, while Hillmon won a gold medal with the U18 USA basketball team at the FIBA Americas Championship, where she shot

Munger returns as Michigan’s top threat from deep.

67 percent from the field.

Rounding out the forwards are senior Samantha Trammell and graduate transfer Taylor Rooks, who previously played at Stanford and Harvard.

Trammell should provide a solid veteran presence as a senior, and Rooks’ successful stint with the Crimson, which saw her earn AllIvy honors in her senior year with averages of 12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, should be a solid addition to the Wolverines’ front line.

Center: Michigan only has one center on its roster, but she’s arguably the team’s most important player.

Senior Hallie Thome will hold down the middle after coming

off a season where she averaged 17.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game and earned All-Big Ten first team honors. Thome will likely be the focal point of the offense, and she should be a consistent scoring threat after scoring over 20 points in 13 games last season, reaching double figures in all but three contests.

She’s also an incredibly efficient shooter, converting 61.6 percent of her field goals and 77.5 percent of her free throws last season.

Thome will also be taking on more of a leadership role this season, and will serve as the Wolverines’ captain along with fellow senior Nicole Munger.

Thome will likely be the focal point of the offense.

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico has a deeper team than she has had in the past, with a talented group of freshmen from the last recruiting class and a bevy of returning talent in the frontcourt.