2019-02-27

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Picturing the Border ANN ARBOR

Residents of 2 Picturing the border: A meet to discuss new memories of Ciudad tunnel plan

Juárez, México

DARBY STIPE/Daily

Kaaren williamsen, director of the u-m sexual assault prevention & awareness center, moderates the Sexual and Gender-Based Misconduct Awareness and Prevention in the Performing Arts event at the Moore Building Tuesday.

SMTD event raises awareness about sexual misconduct in performing arts

Panel discussion comes in light of allegations against various professors EMMA STEIN

Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance hosted an event on Tuesday to raise awareness about sexual and gender-based misconduct in the performing arts, and to explore potential

solutions to the problem. The event brought in a crowd of approximately 90 community members and featured a panel, audience Q&A session and a variety of musical performances.

This event comes in light of allegations of sexual misconduct this year against Music, Theatre

& Dance School professors Stephen Shipps and David Daniels.

Panelist Kaaren Williamsen, director of the U-M Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, began the event by discussing how sexual misconduct is both a personal

and community matter. She said she understands how challenging it can be to address these issues, but she advocated for creating a culture resistant to sexual assault through prevention and intervention.

See SMTD, Page 3A

Underpass would connect Huron River Drive and Bandemer Park ALYSSA MCMURTRY Daily Staff Reporter

Ann Arbor residents gathered in Forsythe Middle School’s cafeteria to discuss plans for a tunnel connection between Bandemer Park and Huron River Drive, as well as the non-motorized Border-toBorder Trail, Tuesday night.

The meeting was held by Peter Sanderson, senior park planner for the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, and Hillary Hanzel, park planner and landscape architect for the city of Ann Arbor.

The purpose of the meeting was to raise community awareness and collect general feedback and input at early

stages of project development.

The meeting began with a ILLUSTRATION BY SHERRY CHEN PowerPoint presentation detailing the plans of the tunnel and the Border-toBorder Trail.

Sanderson shared the intention of the trail, emphasizing the importance of community connection.

“The real goal is connecting our communities, connecting people to parks and places together,” Sanderson said.

We’re really connecting some of our large facilities together — we have almost 50 parks in the region. The goal of our project is to create a safe and legal connection.”

See TUNNEL, Page 3A

Poverty Solutions simulates experiences LSA course Ann Arbor pilots new of Americans living below poverty line top spot for

ACADEMICS

technology called Reef

App offfers improvements to original iClicker remote, allows for more questions ARJUN THAKKAR For The Daily

Since the beginning of the academic year, several LSA classes have been participating in a pilot program of iClicker Reef, a new student response system from Macmillan Learning, to ask a wider variety of questions than traditional iClicker remotes. This pilot program is being used to help the LSA Instructional Support Services weigh in on what advantages the system brings, as well as any problems that may arise.

Students in the pilot classes can access Reef through an app to answer an instructor’s prompted questions.

In addition to handling multiple choice questions, Reef allows students to write short responses and use a target picture to drop points on a chart — something the iClicker remotes cannot do. The app also confirms if the instructor has received the response and records the response feedback for later access.

See REEF, Page 3A

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BUSINESS

Research center aims to highlight causes, consequences of financial hardship in US BEN ROSENFELD Daily Staff Reporter

On Tuesday night, more than 50 undergraduate and graduate students gathered in the Ross School of Business’s Blau Colloquium for an event titled “Poverty Simulation: Making Sense of Making it in America,” gaining a perspective on the daily decisions and dilemmas of people facing poverty in the U.S. During the threehour simulation, student participants were organized into families, assigned demographic roles and were subsequently faced with a series

of socioeconomic obstacles, ranging from mortgage payments to childcare and daily transportation costs.

The simulation was organized and facilitated by Poverty Solutions, a research center at the University of Michigan launched in 2016, which aims to illuminate the causes and consequences of American poverty in search of viable solutions to socioeconomic concerns felt by millions across the country.

Trevor Bechtel, the student engagement coordinator for Poverty Solutions, elaborated on the mission of the University’s center, which is

based in the Ford School of Public Policy.

“Our goal is to find projects where we can understand what makes a material difference in people’s lives,” Bechtel said.

“We have a partnership with the city of Detroit. It’s the only partnership that exists between a major research university and a mayor’s office.”

According to Bechtel, Poverty Solutions put a great deal of work into creating a realistic experience for student participants.

“We partnered with the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice to do the event,”

Bechtel said. “They’ve been doing these for about 25 years.

They’re a group down in Missouri, but this simulation is customized to Washtenaw County. They collect volunteers from a whole variety of demographic groups.”

Chuck Warpehoski, the current director of the ICPJ and a former Ann Arbor city councilman, explained ensuring the reality of the situations posed to participants was a key factor in crafting the simulation. Warpehoski said many of the simulation’s volunteers provided a real-life perspective to participants.

See POVERTY, Page 3A

KELSEY PEASE/Daily

Participants of the Poverty Simulation in the Blau Colloquium gain a sense of barriers and injustices that people of lower socioeconomic status face Tuesday evening.

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INDEX

Vol. CXXVII, No. 81 ©2019 The Michigan Daily

female-led businesses

City first on list of hubs for startups founded by women that receive capital funding NIKKI KIM

Daily StaffReporter

Often hailed as Michigan’s Silicon Valley, Ann Arbor is home to a variety of entrepreneurs and up-and-coming tech firms.

Recently published research now indicates the city is a major hub for women-led startups.

A study published by the Center for American Entrepreneurship found Ann Arbor was one of the top cities in the U.S. for femalefounded startups. The study is based on the number of these startups — with a criteria of at least one female founder — raising initial venture investments over the past 20 years.

In recent years, there has been an increase in women-founded venture-backed startups in the U.S, according to the study. It looked at the number of startups in the U.S. that raised their first round of venture capital financing between 2005 and 2017. From this information, the researchers concluded the share of women-led startups that were able to raise a first round has improved from 7 percent to 21 percent of the total share.

See STARTUPS, Page 3A

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

SUDOKU.....................2 CLASSIFIEDS...............5 SPORTS....................7

News

2A — Wednesday, February 27, 2019

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY:

By Design

WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

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THURSDAY: Twitter Talk

FRIDAY: Behind the Story

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: BLACK STUDENTS ENTER CLASSES, READ DEMANDS refused to let the blacks speak. Other classes were more peaceful when the students were allowed to present their demands.

Most left after about ten minutes.

It was unclear last night what group, if any, organized the actions of the black students. Walter

Feb. 26, 1970 Disruptions occurred in several classes yesterday when black students attempted to read a list of demands for increased minority admissions.

A few brief scuff les broke out and classes were cancelled in at least four cases when the instructors

Lewis, of the Black Students Union, said last night that the actions were not connected with a teachin sponsored in the Union yesterday by the Black Action Movement (BAM).

The demands the black students read to the classes are part of BAM’s drive for increased minority

admissions - the same demands they presented to the Regents last week.

Tied to the goal of black enrollment in 1973 equal to 10 percent of the University’s total enrollment, is a call for increased counseling and supportive services to help minority students adjust to the University.

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MICHAEL BAGAZINSKI/Daily Dr. Max Wicha, a Madeline and Sidney Forbes Professor of Oncology, speaks about stem cell cancer research and treatment techniques at the 94th Henry Russel Lecture at Rackham Tuesday.

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ON THE DAILY: A2 AMONG MOST RESPONSIVE IN USE OF SEECLICKFIX REMY FARKAS Daily News Editor

Ann Arbor was named one of the top 10 most engaged and responsive local governments nationally, based on the use of a local app. The A2 Fix It app allows Ann Arbor residents to report public property concerns directly to the city to address.

Ann Arbor ranked eighth in most responsive local government nationwide, according to parent app SeeClickFix’s data.

SeeClickFix allows residents to submit requests

to local governments in 342 municipalities.

Residents report concerns such as potholes, abandoned bicycles, downed trees and sidewalk maintenance. The company also ranked Ann Arbor ninth in the number of requests sent in by residents, citing an average of 1,800 requests per month.

In 2018, the city of Ann Arbor closed out more than 12,000 of the 14,000 requests. SeeClickFix told MLive the data illustrates Ann Arbor’s devotion to their community and trust in their government. The City Council approved

a three-year contract to continue with the SeeClickFix service at a total cost of $40,000.

City Administrator Howard Lazarus told MLive some requests attempt to address issues out of the scope of the city’s jurisdiction such as animal removal, or express opinions about the city. In addition, residents may request unnecessary services such as pruning trees. Because not all messages submitted through the system pertain to specific city requests, the SeeClickFix data might be skewed.

“This interferes with the integrity of the data that is reported out of the system in that it doesn’t ref lect efficiency of city operations so much as it ref lects the desire of residents to have city-owned trees aggressively pruned,” Lazarus told MLive.

The city has convened a committee to draft recommendations for improving the app’s functionality for the city. It hopes to address improvements in data reporting and train employees to better use the system.

Departments collaborate on talk about future of climate change and health SPH, SEAS suggest multidisciplinary approach to responding to global warming JULIA JOHNSTON For The Daily

On Tuesday, The Michigan Center on Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease sponsored its annual “Climate Change and Health: What the Science Says and What We Can Do” Sudoku Syndication forum in collaboration with

the Environmental Health Sciences department of the School of Public Health and the School for Environment and Sustainability of the University of Michigan.

Trish Koman, University researcher in the Public Health School and School of Engineering, moderated the event. She had previously

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worked on the event and Institute of Environmental Sciences, echoed helped choose this year’s topic Health Bowman’s views on taking a of climate change and health.

“We wanted to talk about multidisciplinary approach to climate change and health climate change. He explained because there is a really strong that the University, with a connection between what large variety of programs and happens in the environment resources, has the capacity to and public health,” Koman create integrated solutions.

“We have to think about said.

“And we wanted to have http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ people understand the science solutions that are not just and understand what they focused on climate change, but are focused on real can do.”

The first speaker was F. communities and real people Dubois Bowman, dean of and think in an integrated the Public Health School. fashion,” Balbus said. “The Bowman emphasized the challenges that we face, and University’s historical especially the solutions that dedication to climate change need to be implemented, are and environmental issues, solutions that cut across every referencing a student- single program of this school, organized environmental whether it’s the engineering teach-in on the University’s side, legal side, social science campus in 1970.

He side and even the cultural introduced the theme of side.”

Kim Knowlton, senior an integrated approach to scientist and deputy director at solving climate change.

“Our University’s history the Natural Resources Defense tells us that the issue of Council focused on four key climate and health has diverse areas, each related been at the forefront of to climate change: science, our concern for over a half education, law and people. century,” Bowman said. She explained the health risks “The challenges and barriers associated with extreme heat, to effective management of and the impacts that legal climate change and public action can have.

“Detroit could see by the health are no longer purely environmental — in fact, 2080’s a 120 percent increase no longer purely scientific. (in heat-related mortality),” They’re ethical, social, Knowlton said. “That’s more than doubling, in heat-related political and economic.”

John M. Balbus, mortality, but if we go to lower-emissions carbon senior adviser for public a health at the National pollution scenario, if we put

Generate and solve Sudoku, Super Sudoku and Godoku puzzles at sudokusyndication.com!

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limits on our carbon pollution, we could cut that in half.”

Knowlton felt the current climate and health issues present an opportunity for reform.

“We might think of all this as opportunity … to move toward a smarter, more strategic, more equitable, healthier, more sustainable future,” Knowlton said. “It is our demand to move toward that future that is really going to push this boat forward.

It’s not going to happen as we sit back.”

Knowlton also highlighted the University’s efforts to decrease carbon dioxide, use more wind and solar energy and incentivize energy efficiency.

Questions varied during the panel session, ranging from the topic of floods to the limiting the carbon footprint of medical institutions. LSA freshman Ariana Mitcham asked the

panel about helping countries with fewer resources approach climate issues while managing environmental issues within the country.

“The U.S. thinks very, very differently about development and about development assistance than the rest of the world,” Balbus said. “As historically one of the larger polluters of the atmosphere, (Americans) need to address our own actions. The rest of the world frames this kind of a question these days, to a large degree, in terms of the Sustainable Development Goals, from a policy perspective. I think one of the important ways to address a complicated interrelated set of challenges in countries like Myanmar is through an institutional framework.”

See CLIMATE, Page 3A

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

POVERTY From Page 1A “Some of the people who are playing various community roles in the simulation are people who are formerly homeless, some are on public assistance,” Warpehoski said. “They bring a real-life experience to the role and to the simulation that can provide an authenticity and perspective that is difficult to bring in from just reading about it.”

During the simulation, each volunteer was given a specific community role to play, occupying the roles of policemen, employment officers and mortgage collectors.

REEF From Page 1A Statistics 250 is one of the classes participating in the Reef pilot prog ram.

According to Brenda Gunderson, who is a statistics professor and coordinator for Statistics 250, the class usually keeps up with new learning technolog y, as it was also an early adopter of the orig inal iClickers. Gunderson said she appreciates the way the app anticipates her questions.

“You can come up with some very good truefalse and multiple choice questions, but it also really does help to mimic sometimes the ways you’re going to ask questions in assessments or make them think and type up an answer,” Gunderson said.

Statistics 250 has been piloting Reef for two semesters. According to Gunderson, her students told her they found Reef to be more engaging than traditional remotes. LSA freshman Hannah Albee, a student in Gunderson’s lecture, said she enjoys the accessibility and wider variety of questions. “(Reef ) is pretty straightforward,” Albee said. “Honestly I don’t really have any complaints with it.

SMTD From Page 1A “I always think about this sexual misconduct, sexual assault, sexual harassment as an issue that impacts people individually, right?” Williamsen said.

“These are things that impact people personally in a traumatic way … but it’s also a community issue, and we know that.

Communities are impacted when something happens.

Communities are also places where we support things happening and traditions, where sometimes we don’t intervene when we see something happening because we think it’s not our problem, or we just look away because ‘that can’t be right.’”

Panelist Amy O’Neal, an activist and choreographer of Opposing Forces, a dance troupe expressing ideas around femininity and masculinity, shared a personal story of experiencing misconduct.

She said at the after party of her solo dance performance, an arts newspaper critic paid an attendee $20 to pull her pants down. O’Neal said she felt vulnerable and exposed, noting the power dynamics involved.

“I think there’s this power dynamic that

CLIMATE From Page 2A Mitcham ref lected to The Daily after the event on the opportunity to engage with the speakers.

“The speakers are the best in their field, so it’s the best knowledge you can get.”

Mitcham said she left the event feeling more educated about heat-related issues.

News

Helen Simon, one of the simulation’s organizers, has been volunteering in ICPJ simulations since the 1990s.

During the event, Simon managed “Quick Cash,” a location made up by the simulation’s organizers to give out food stamps and transportation passes to student participants.

According to Simon, volunteers were permitted, and in some cases, instructed, to make tasks more difficult for participants. For instance, several volunteers failed to provide work checks to participants due to long lines, or even cheated participants who were unaware of their rights.

“I think we try to make it as realistic as we can,” Simon said.

“I’m a Quick Cash person and I’ve never done this particular job before, but (the simulation guide) says that if you can get away with it, try to cheat the person. I’m too kind-hearted, I’m not going to try and cheat, but evidently it does happen.”

LSA freshman Nathalie O’Hernandez was a student participant.

According to O’Hernandez, the economic struggles faced by her simulation group were noticeably linked to factors of race and ethnicity.

“It’s something that I’ve noticed, especially with my identity — I’m Latina,” O’Hernandez said. “And our

family (in the simulation), we’re the Perez family. And how many times has a police officer come up to us and harassed us, asking us what we’ve done? Why are we singled out in that sense?”

O’Hernandez said her perceptions about the biases of law enforcement and other public resources were intensified by her participation in the simulation Tuesday.

“It’s just really striking how the stereotypes you have about these different systems are really apparent,” O’Hernandez said. “Although we have reached a time where we are able to talk about these things, nothing has changed them.”

It’s convenient.”

Albee added she hopes more classes use Reef. She was required to buy a remote for her comparative politics class last semester, but never used it because there were problems integrating it in the class. According to Albee, Reef seems easier to implement.

LSA senior and Instructional Consultant Anthony King approached Gunderson as well as other professors to offer the opportunity to participate in the pilot program. He explained how LSA started supporting iClickers 10 years ago and is cooperating with Macmillan Learning to test out Reef in 14 pilot courses within the Statistics; Biolog y; Psycholog y; Sociolog y; and Film, Television and Media departments.

LSA freshman Adam Ross’s biolog y courses this semester and last semester both used iClicker remotes.

Ross expressed interest in using Reef. “(Reef ) sounds like a great idea,” Ross said. “It seems more convenient instead of having to worry about the batteries forgetting the clicker device. I’d totally be down to try it.”

However, Reef also presents some challenges that could prove problematic

for learning environments.

Ross noted how Reef might disrupt grading systems.

“I had friends that would use Reef and not go to lecture and would just answer the questions from their computer when it was lecture time,” Ross said. “I could see why that might pose a problem in grading for attendance.”

Gunderson said Reef’s interface wasn’t too complicated, but some technical challenges came with its implementation last semester. Since the course is designed so students may attend any lecture during the week, Reef synced all students to the course rather than to each class section, creating some lag in the response system.

“In order for me to give good feedback, I want their thinking, and I want to see the results of the poll in real time, not after the fact,” Gunderson said. “There were a few glitches because of how big the course was.

Many of these glitches were fixed for the current semester.”

The pricing model also varies between Reef and remotes. Whereas students can buy a iClicker remote for $39 at the Computer Showcase or get one used for a lower price, Reef is available for use free of

charge in the pilot program.

King explained students would have to pay a oneyear subscription fee of $23.99 to use the app if it were officially integrated into LSA classrooms.

“The business model for the cloud-based iClicker Reef assumes students pay for the software they use on their own laptops, tablets, or phones — this means paying for both a subscription and needing to have a compatible device,” King said. “We are currently exploring with Macmillan Learning whether institutional licenses might be an option and what the financial impact could potentially be.

It’s premature to speculate on how much students might pay.”

King explained how LSA ultimately needs to weigh in on the different effects of student response systems before deciding if the system should be implemented.

“I want to be clear that there is no Universitywide ‘transition’ to iClicker Reef,” King said. “Individual schools and colleges determine what student response system is most appropriate for their faculty … for a variety of important reasons, some instructors may prefer to stay with the traditional iClicker devicebased version.”

sometimes happens with performers and audience members and administrators that they think they know us because of the things that we show,” O’Neal said.

“And in the place where I was supposed to feel safe, I don’t feel safe anymore.”

Panelist Eun Lee, founder of The Dream Unfinished, an activist orchestra, discussed her experience being inappropriately touched in a work setting.

She said she was talking to donors at a fundraiser for the nonprofit she worked for when an unknown man touched her without consent. Lee said instead of finding the man immediately, she continued her discussion with the important donors. When she told her coworkers, they were supportive but also prioritized the event.

No one told their boss until the next morning after the fundraising goals were met.

Lee said she often feels the goals of organizations are more important than people, and she discussed how this is something that needs to change.

“I myself wondered whether it was worth it to bring attention to what happened,” Lee said.

“But what kind of culture are we creating where organizational interests

are prioritized above the safety of people?”

Another audience member said he does not think there is a way to eradicate sexual predators or end this type of behavior.

He said it is inherently part of human nature.

“It seems to me that sexual predation has existed for thousands of years,” he said. “It seems like sexual predation has become embedded in human nature. We can enforce zero tolerance, but are we able to actually prevent it?”

Panelist Laura Fisher, co-founder of #NotInOurHouse, an organization for victims of sexual harassment in the theater industry, disagreed with the audience member and said all people have a choice in how they act.

She said claiming sexual predation is human nature is not an excuse.

“I do not think sexual predation is something to accept in the workplace, in any workplace,” Fisher said. “We know more than we used to, not only about how the body operates and how there are not two genders, how we actually can control ourselves if we would like to. I think as humans, what we have is both choice and control.”

Andrew Fyles, a Music, Theatre & Dance

sophomore, told The Daily after the event that he really appreciated the open discussion the panel fostered. He said there is a lack of opportunities to talk about the recent accusations, and he thinks students can learn from hearing others’ personal experiences with sexual misconduct in the workplace.

“I just t hink it wa s cool t hat t here wa s a way for people to have discussion about t his because it seems to be a ver y big topic of discussion lately, a nd t here doesn’t seem to be a ny act ua l discussion about it f rom peer to peer,” F yles sa id. “I t hink it ’s nice t hat Michiga n ha s t hese resources a nd t hese events for people to have t hese conversations a nd for people to sha re t heir stories about how t hey experienced t hese issues.”

Fyles also said he wished the panelists discussed more solutions, as he is unsure of what action to take moving forward.

“I think it was a little bit unclear as to exactly what the solutions are, honestly,” Fyles said. “But I think it was still helpful to be able to have a discussion about it even though I’m not sure what exactly to take away from it or what to do next.”

“It’s something that I never had thought about,” Mitcham said. “You can see Michigan doesn’t have as many heat stroke cases as other states. It really hits you, because you don’t really see that here, so it placed me in the position of those people.”

A reception followed the event featuring student and community organizations, including the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay program. Koman invited these organizations with the intention of encouraging attendees to take action following the event.

“I think that students, faculty and staff, and community members, everyone needs to be acting in their everyday lives to be thinking deeply about their carbon footprint, how

to make these changes,” Koman said. “We’ve got a lot of really exciting solutions coming, and we all need to be a part of them.”

Balbus echoed Koman’s emphasis on continued activism.

“You guys are citizens of the University, and you have a voice in decisions the University makes, and this is a big place with a lot of impact,” Balbus said.

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 — 3A

STARTUPS From Page 1A LSA freshman Rubani Walia, a member of MPowered, said she welcomes the results of the study, feeling empowered by the increased opportunity.

“I definitely have seen a gender disparity in the business fields,” Walia said. “But when I joined MPowered and started gaining exposure to venture capitalists as well as those working in startups, I began to see a potential for that gender gap to close. Though I have always been confident in my ability to succeed in business regardless of my gender, it helps to know that there are women in Ann Arbor that I can look up to and turn to.”

While female investors and women-owned businesses are still underrepresented on the venture market, the study found the climate was steadily improving. After examining how startups with female founders performed after their first round of capital compared with those that did not, the study determined most had raised a second and third round within three to five years, some eventually going public. Those who went public did so at about the same rate as other startups without a female founder.

According to the study, Ann Arbor is the metro area with the largest share of these “first financings” secured by female startups.

Among the 19 cities with aboveaverage shares of women-founded startup activity, Ann Arbor topped the list. Between 2005 and 2017, 29 percent of female startups secured a first round, compared to the national average of 16 percent. Holding 58 percent of first financings, Ann Arbor had almost three times the national average of 21 percent of women-founded shares between 2016 and 2017. Memphis, Boulder, and Honolulu had shares of about 40 percent and St. Louis; Providence, Rhode Island; Tampa, Florida; and New Orleans were all around 30 percent.

The cities identified in the study all had women-founded shares of startup activity greater than the country’s average percent and an average of at least four first financings each year from 2017 to 2016 or from 2017 to 2005.

The study’s author, Ian Hathaway, noted in the report the bigger cities benefited from large established startup communities.

TUNNEL From Page 1A The Border-to-Border Trail is part of a larger project, the Iron Belle Trail. The Iron Belle Trail spans over 2,000 miles and connects Detroit to Ironwood, in the upper peninsula.

The specific section of the trail in Ann Arbor would pass through Ypsilanti and connect with Dexter.

Sanderson also mentioned the county has teamed up with and received funding from Huron Waterloo Pathways. He believes by getting the approval from the community now, the county can apply for grants sooner.

Hanzel went over the details of the tunnel. She told residents a feasibility study had been done and would be updated for a better estimate for grant funding.

The city of Ann Arbor also worked closely with construction companies to create accurate dimensions.

“We were thinking for dimensions approximately 14 feet wide, 10 feet tall for the interior space,” Hanzel said. “We’d like to have lights on the interior. We’ll hopefully have the budget to improve the exterior.”

Construction may not start until 2020 or 2021.

Following the presentation, the room was open for discussion and community members voiced their concerns on the timeline.

Ann Arbor resident Kim Hill, who attended the meeting, told The Daily the city should put the issue on their list of priorities.

“I would like them to prioritize it,” Hill said.

“It’s something that’s been obvious for years. They studied it back in 2005.

They couldn’t get funding, is what they said. So now, you have this feasibility study already, you’re going

“Because these four cities are both large and gender diverse, they drive a substantial portion of women-founded startup activity overall,” Hathaway wrote.

Hathaway said this disparity could be because the number of female investors located in the region is much higher than a smaller city, or because the city supports industries that historically have had more companies founded by women.

Sectors like consumer products and services, health care and software are among the industries with a larger share of female founders with venture-backed financing.

Lucy Sanders, co-founder and CEO of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and author of the CAE report’s foreword, encouraged startup cities to create a more amenable community for female-founded companies.

“Technology investors and other leaders, both men and women, must perform as champions for female technologists and entrepreneurs,” Sanders wrote in the report. “They must be informed and equipped to pass along their guidance and encouragement effectively, with a clear understanding of both the values and unique challenges to gender inclusion embedded in our current systems and operations.”

According to Hathaway, mentorship programs or support groups to inspire young female entrepreneurs may be a way to start improvement. Business senior Hayley Rogers, co-president of Michigan Business Women, said a strong network of women is essential for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“Both the academic curriculum as well as the community in MBW push individuals to try and innovate,” Rogers said. “You feel like you can do anything, you are taught the basic skills of starting a business, and you have the resources and experiences of those around you — it makes starting a business seem like less of an obstacle.”

Rogers said it made sense Ann Arbor was one of the top places for women-led startups to prosper.

“I am not surprised by the findings of the study,” Rogers said.

“Ann Arbor is and will always be a hotspot for learning. Given this atmosphere and the support available from the University of Michigan, I understand why female entrepreneurs can succeed.”

to update the numbers, just concentrate on getting the money. I’m not worried it won’t happen, just worried it will take a little bit of time — longer than it probably should.”

Many residents were excited about the tunnel and trail. Ypsilanti resident Ashley Fox was especially excited about the trail connecting Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

“I just wanted to strongly endorse this project,” Fox said. “I think it’s a really important one and … I think it’s really important not just that this crossing would be there, but that we would have the path getting there clearer, especially coming from Fuller Road.”

Ann Arbor resident Valerie Shinebarger enjoys biking near the Barton Dam and looks forward to the idea of a bridge — part of the Border-to-Border trail — to help create a safer way to get to the park.

“I like what Peter Sanderson said: ‘It would be the gateway to Ann Arbor,’ because really there’s no way to bike to Dexter right now,” Shinebarger said. “I see people there all the time and I’m really excited to be able to do it safely because with MDOT putting more of these barriers to make people safer, it’s more dangerous because people are still doing it anyway, but now they’re having to jump over things and slide down a hill.”

Sanderson said he was pleased with the meeting, but understood there is always a possibility of opposition.

“I think the crowd seemed generally supportive of the project, but we’ll see what kind of comments we get back,” Sanderson said.

Read more online at

michigandaily.com

Opinion

4A — Wednesday, February 27, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ELLERY ROSENZWEIG | COLUMN

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AARON BAKER | COLUMN

M

Don’t let the humanities die

y sophomore year of college, I decided to major in history instead of political science. To me, the switch from political science to history was a minor one, because I had always thought they were similar.

But that was not the perception a lot of people I knew had. Some of my friends and family seemed concerned that I was majoring in history.

The impression I got from people was that political science was better than history because it was more employable, more relevant and more interesting. The concerns I encountered reflect broader trends in American higher education. These trends highlight two commonly held attacks on the humanities.

One is that declaring a humanities major is asking for unemployment. And two, that the humanities are inferior and antiquated when compared to the social sciences.

Since 2007, the number of history majors in the U.S. has fallen more than 40 percent.

There are even colleges that are getting rid of certain humanities subjects. Many look to the recession in 2008 to explain the dwindling interest in the humanities. Memory of the recession has made college students today deeply concerned about finding a stable job. So once in college, it makes sense that many millennials and Gen Z college students have opted out of the humanities, because in an economy often characterized as being in the midst of an information age, quantitative, data-based and technological skills seem more practical.

What use is reading hundreds of pages about the French Revolution, philosophy or the modern canon when all the best jobs require quantitative skills?

This trend of favoring quantitative methods and skills is also evident within the liberal arts curriculum itself. Having spent almost four years on campus, as I alluded to earlier, it’s clear the social sciences are widely held in higher esteem than the humanities. Again, my experience seems to align with the overall trend on college campuses, as the social sciences have not experienced anywhere near the drop in enrollment the humanities have. In the information age, those who have chosen to major in a liberal arts subject are also swayed by an academic and cultural ethos that emphasizes data and quantitation.

First, the idea that humanities majors are unemployable relative to STEM or business majors is not true. In 2015, 4.3 percent of terminal bachelor’s degree holders in the humanities —

meaning their highest level of education was undergrad — were unemployed, compared to 3.6 percent of all terminal bachelor’s degree holders, which is a minuscule difference. And while humanities majors do make less than business or engineering majors, many humanities majors report a high level of satisfaction with their salary and with their job. So the widely held claim that a humanities major is asking to spend years after college in a Starbucks or their parents’ basement is inaccurate and hyperbolic.

I’ve honed my ability to write, make an argument, analyze sources and so qualitative research Second, the humanities can offer immense value to your college education and they are not an inferior version of the social sciences. I chose to study history because I’ve found that doing so has allowed me to think in a critical and informed way about the institutions, politics, debates and social realities that I interact with on a regular basis. Taking classes on the origins of Nazism and the Nazi’s racial ideology changed the way I thought about race and forced me to reconsider my previously colorblind mindset. It also showed me how ideologies in general work in conscious and unconscious ways.

A bevy of European history classes gave me the tools to understand the pillars of political liberalism, communism and fascism.

They also taught me how liberal democracies can justify inequalities in the provision of rights that are ostensibly universal. A class on the history of media representation of Asian Americans allowed me to contextualize my mom’s family experience in America as immigrants from the Philippines. And a class on intellectual history exposed me to the influential ideas of 19th century Europe’s most important thinkers, which I found relevant to political and moral questions today. These are just a few examples of the history classes I have taken that have enriched the way I think. Overall, the lens of historical analysis has forced me to reconsider a lot of the

assumptions I had before starting college, leaving me happier, more open-minded and more informed. And while learning invaluable lessons and information, I’ve honed my ability to write, make an argument, analyze sources and do qualitative research.

The ability to think critically and historically about the pressing issues of our day is no less important today than it was a before the advent of the information age.

STEM is obviously highly valuable and beneficial to society. We have STEM majors to thank for the fact that our scientific capabilities, from life-saving medicine to the latest technology, are greater than they have ever been. But the moral progress of the humanities does not match our scientific progress.

The nature of the social and political problems we face are not fundamentally different from those of the past, despite the vastly improved scientific landscape we have today. It is this discrepancy, between moral and technological progress, that the humanities can offer unique succor and in which the social sciences fall short.

The social science classes I have taken have not only been interesting, but have also offered great insight into contemporary problems.

However, in my experience, they tend to rely heavily on quantitation and ahistorical theories. While you can make observations about the natural world through randomized, controlled scientific experiments, making similar scientific observations and conclusions about humans is much harder. Modeling human behavior in political, social or economic contexts is hard because of human complexity. Research tells us that humans are not as rational as we once thought and that emotions and reason often converge to make decisions in our brains, challenging the validity of rational choice theory prevalent in social science theories. While the social sciences can provide insight based on studies, quantitative analysis and models, they should not be seen as conclusive given the complexity of human behavior. This is where history and the greater humanities come in, to use critical and analytical qualitative skills to understand human society and the moral and political choices we have, in ways that a quantitative analysis or predictive model cannot fully explicate.

Aaron Baker can be reached aaronbak@umich.edu.

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L

Exercise competition is toxic

aying my mat on the ground, I look left and right observing those around me. I take a seat as I try to adjust to the hot temperature of the room. The instructor walks in and motions for us to begin in child’s pose. As I slide in, I can’t help but look at the woman in front of me. Is my butt supposed to be as low to the ground as hers?

We begin to hold long balancing poses, and I shake trying to hold mine longer than those behind me so they can see how talented I am. We reach the end of class in corpse pose, where you literally do nothing but lie on your mat, and my instructor reminds us that “you are exactly where you are supposed to be.” I repeat this in my head as I struggle to stay still for the next 5 minutes.

In yoga classes, on my own at the gym or walking in heavy foot traffic to my 10 a.m. class, I struggle to fight the competition and comparison I create between myself, friends and complete strangers.

Recently, after overcoming my fear of the gym, I realized these settings have a competitive atmosphere due to the way your workout is measured on the machines and the way people present themselves in the weight room. And overall, I have found this competitive energy and this mindset makes these physical activities extremely unenjoyable.

Now, I wouldn’t say I am the competitive type. My parents always tell stories of me playing middle school basketball where instead of focusing on the ball going down the court, I was preoccupied with playing with my hair. Looking back, all I remember was the joy of playing with my friends and physically feeling good after a practice. So, how come I really enjoyed myself in a competitive setting then, but when exercising today, I find this competition so unbearable?

In the past, when I used to go to work out, there was always an underlying goal to get as fit as possible or to lose weight. There were periods of time when I took

my exercise very seriously, and looking back, I would say it was particularly harmful. I hated the entire process of working out and how I felt before going to do these activities. During and even after, I never felt the endorphins rush the way others around me experienced it. Usually, I would do a particular physical activity every day for a few months and then fall out of it from injury, lack of interest or lack of results I wanted. There was no sustainability in the expectations I had for myself because they were so unattainable with this mindset.

I think I developed this way of thinking from how our society glorifies fitness, health and being athletic. We are socialized from a young age in physical activities and in school gym classes that to be healthy and fit, we should be active. But when particular children feel discouraged, targeted and uncomfortable in these programs, it should be a clear public concern. Last semester, when researching for a project on fatphobia, I found out when physical education teachers have a bias toward against fat students, these individuals begin avoiding physical activities, and this can impact their relationship with their bodies and ultimately their mental and physical health.

So, we receive messages from a young age that the only way to be fit and healthy is to work out, be active and do this as much as possible until we get the expected results of what healthy looks like.

But what if we never get the results we dream of because healthy looks different for each body? I think the influence of this education is where the comparison game begins and where we develop this competition between ourselves and those around us.

And this happens especially in environments like the gym or workout classes, where some become super fit and get the results they expect while others struggle to fit this norm because their bodies may not be able to get to the same point.

This competitive, comparison mindset in physical exercise is toxic and leads to people pushing themselves too far, thus hurting themselves physically, or avoiding these activities in general, which hinders them from gaining the actual benefits from physical activity. Last semester, with my busy schedule, I rarely found time to be physically active and did not think much about it until I found myself extremely stressed out.

Close to finals, one of my friends encouraged me to go to the gym with her to just sweat out all of our stress. I recognized, probably for the first time, how good it felt to sweat and feel the rush of endorphins.

From that point on, I decided I will not allow this competitive, comparison mindset to influence the way I engage in physical activity. It does not benefit my lifestyle because it turns out I actually like moving my body and the way it makes me feel. This means I am actively deciding to not care about what others are doing or think of me in an exercise setting. It has already been a challenge, but I have noticed that everyone is truly focused on themselves and do not care about what I am doing at all.

The people around me are not my competition. I try to find joy in physical activity because, ultimately, isn’t its purpose to make me feel better? Whether moving my body will make me fit or healthy, it makes me feel happy and gives me space to relieve myself from stress and clear my mind. I think we should all challenge ourselves to be kind, goofy and silly with one another and ourselves at the gym, in workout classes or on a quick walk running late to class. Because most of us are not training to become serious athletes and would benefit from the fun and joy of just moving our bodies as we please.

Ellery Rosenzweig can be reached at erosenz@umich.edu.

CHAND RAJENDRA-NICOLUCCI | COLUMN

P

Why no one quits Google or Facebook

eople don’t care about data privacy. This is the explanation of some analysts for why there hasn’t been a boycott against the big internet companies. If people cared, surely scandals like when Facebook leaked the personal data of 50 million Americans to Cambridge Analytica, or reports that Google secretly purchased financial data to track users’ purchases would’ve led to some sort of departure from these platforms by now.

The problem: It seems people do care. The Pew Research Center found that 80 percent of users were concerned about businesses and advertisers accessing the data they share on social media platforms. Furthermore, 61 percent of users said they would like to do more to protect their privacy.

So why haven’t people stopped using Google or Facebook?

Because there aren’t viable alternatives. Sure, there are a number of companies that aim to provide privacy as part of their product — Duck Duck Go for your search engine, Signal for messaging, FastMail for email. However, the costs of switching make it unrealistic for most people.

For example, if you want to use Signal for messaging, you would have to convince each person you message with on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, etc., to switch over to Signal in order to message them. To use FastMail for email, it costs $30 per year minimum. Additionally, there is the hassle of transferring contacts, photos and prior data to these new services.

Why aren’t there real alternatives? The nature of many tech companies means the value of their products increase as more people use them. This makes challenging the big tech firms a herculean task, as not only do you need a competitive product,

you also need to be able to overcome a massive user base disadvantage (almost a third of the world’s population uses Facebook).

Further exacerbating this situation is one from the the wide array of anti-competitive actions that tech companies employ.

For instance, tech companies often use acquisitions to snuff out potential competition and expand into new industries.

Many of Google’s central products such as YouTube, Android and DoubleClick (Google’s ad service) were acquired as start-ups. Forays into new technologies such as the internet of things and artificial intelligence were jump-started by purchases as well — Nest and DeepMind respectively.

Furthermore, companies that compete with Google’s products face challenges including Google wielding its product arsenal to place them at a disadvantage, like when Google manipulated search results to promote its own services and demote competitors offering similar services.

This pattern of anticompetitive actions can be found across the tech giants. Whether it’s Amazon purposefully hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars to force an acquisition, or Facebook purchasing potential competitors like WhatsApp and Instagram, anti-competitiveness is a core feature of the big internet companies’ business models.

These practices make it difficult for consumers to influence the marketplace, reducing their ability to hold companies accountable by taking their business elsewhere.

There are signs that tech companies’ bigness is starting to be noticed. In the European Union, Google faces two fines due to anti-trust violations — each with a price tag over $2 billion. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a presidential candidate for

2020, has introduced antitrust legislation that includes a ban on acquisitions for companies with a market capitalization above $100 billion (Facebook, Google and Amazon all have market capitalizations well above $100 billion). Lina Khan, an academic fellow at Columbia University and a former legal fellow at the Federal Trade Commission, has proposed a new legal theory, which contends that even when monopolies appear to benefit consumers by offering free services or low prices, they can still be deeply harmful. She argues that these monopolies can distort not just markets, but American life, through things like enormous tax cuts, commissioned studies and aggressive lobbying (Amazon’s HQ2 debacle illustrates this perfectly).

To put power back in consumers’ hands, the tech giants should be treated as the behemoths that they are.

Unrestrained expansion has made consumers powerless to inf luence the market with their choices, and now government must step in on their behalf with oversight and regulations that hold companies accountable.

The scale of the largest tech companies has given us free services and revolutionary products, but that scale has externalities that must be dealt with.

It’s a mistake to interpret consumers’ inaction in the tech industry as apathy.

People truly care about their privacy on the internet, but the current situation makes action unrealistic for many. Until the tech industry becomes a properly functioning market — or is regulated like a public utility — consumers will be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci can be reached at chandrn@umich.edu.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 — 5A

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW

‘Love and Information,’ for Vern Smith to visit Literati our own age of information BEN VASSAR

Daily Arts Writer

RYAN COX

Daily Arts Writer

We live in a society that seems to be facing an issue that previous generations probably would have never imagined: an overwhelming amount of information. With the internet becoming a central aspect in everyone’s life, the way we interact with one another has become different as well. In the School of Music, Theatre & Dance’s production of Caryl Churchill’s “Love and Information,” director Gillian Eaton asks the audience, “Can we resist the constant distraction?

Is paying attention the most profound expression of love? How much information do we need?” I think the production ref lects favorably upon these questions.

One of the unique aspects of “Love and Information” was the lack of characters — or, I guess one could say the abundance of them.

Each of these short scenes compares a different set of unnamed characters. For the most part, characters were given very little exposition, and there was very little time to explore the characters, as per the nature of the play. Each of the dozens of characters was distinctly different, and each was portrayed incredibly well by the talented cast.

The performance consisted of dozens of different vignettes, each about one to two minutes long with varying subject matters.

Sometimes, these scenes were accompanied by titles projected above the stage which would give the audience insight as to the subject of the different tableaux. One of the first scenes featured two teenagers that seemed to be smoking some sort of substance and filling out their census. If

I had not known that the scene was called “Census” I would have just assumed two stoners were talking about nothing and giggling. But because the context was provided by that title, the scene became more focused, and more lighthearted.

However, sometimes these titles were vague or just nonexistent.

As the show went on, different tones were introduced. There were multiple vignettes that centered around a character lacking the ability to feel some sort of emotion, from grief to

immersion for me. It felt out of place. Most of these vignettes conveyed emotions and experiences that felt timeless and relatable. I understand that the production was meant to analyze the current age of information, but having modern day songs and phones on stage took away this feeling that these scenes could be applicable to human emotion on a broader scale. The phones didn’t really emerge as a plot device in many of the scenes; they just seemed like they were there, and they were distracting. They felt like a red sock in a load of white shirts.

One of the aspects of the show I enjoyed the most was how love wasn’t always treated in a romantic sense. Sometimes it was a paternal love, or a close friendship.

There was a scene where one character argued with another about the legitimacy of an online relationship with some sort of A.I., taking heavy inf luence from Spike Jonze’s “Her.” This to me was one of the best vignettes that explored the concept of emotion while integrating technology.

“Love and Information” was a really weird play — in a good way. One of my favorite elements about theater is how real character development can feel in a live setting. And despite the premise of this play lacking any sort of character development, I enjoyed it. Even for the two minutes that a reunited couple returned to the stage, I almost felt like I knew every step of their relationship. Topics like memory loss really hit home with me with a family prone to dementia, but before I had a second for that sentimentality to kick in, the next scene would have me laughing out loud.

The Department of Theatre & Drama’s production of “Love and Information” wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t want it to be. It was human, and that’s all an audience could have wanted.

Each of the dozens of characters was distinctly different, and each was portrayed incredibly well by the talented cast

pain and everything in between.

More than once this was a child of some sort not knowing what it was like to feel a certain way, but also included adults watching television and failing to feel any empathy. I thought this element of emotional analysis was one of the highlights of the performance.

Each actor had a tough job to do in conveying the complex emotions of a character that the audience knew nothing about, but I took a lot away from the play’s commentary on human emotions, and how although some of them may seem to be dreadful, they all help shape us to be human.

I was not a huge fan of the usage of cellphones and popular music. Seeing two of the actors recite the entirety of “Man’s Not Hot” by Big Shaq (which I admittedly found pretty impressive) ruined the

Vern Smith’s “The Green Ghetto” is an urban western set in a fictional Detroit neighborhood where the protagonist, Mitchell Hosowich, freely grows and sells dope (ganja, weed, you name it) out of an abandoned drug-slinging paradise.

His paradise is shortlived, as the year is 2002, marijuana is legal nowhere, and consequently the DEA has come to town to take Hosowich on the cross-border drug chase of his life.

Vern Smith, a man who grew up with a close relationship to Detroit from across the river in Windsor, Ontario, will be visiting Literati this Thursday to do a reading from this humorously unadulterated look at life in post-9/11, war-ondrugs America and Canada.

Smith’s “Green Ghetto” was released to the public two weeks ago, and has since started his tour cross the the U.S. and Canada to publicize the book.

During a phone interview with The Daily, Smith spoke about preparing for his upcoming tour: “So far, so good,” he stated, remarking that he hadn’t yet left Chicago, his current place of residence, but was raring to hit bars across the country to hear how his book was being received.

Smith had previously worked at four newspapers and three magazines, as well as at CJAM 99.1, Windsor, Ontario’s local radio broadcast out of the University of Windsor.

It was here that he became “something of an accidental musicologist.” Working both

as a reporter and broadcaster had a strong influence on Smith as a fiction writer.

“I’m not coming at (the book) as an activist, but more as an old, hard-nosed reporter,” Smith said.

Having worked for years in the newspaper business (until 2002), Smith had little patience for the kind of hysteriaprovoking government

Fiction at Literati: Vern Smith Literati Bookstore Feb. 28, 2019 @ 7 p.m.

Free

policy and subsequent mass media coverage that came about in the years following 9/11. This kind of hysteria only supplemented the real everyday problems Smith and others experienced.

One uninvited effect of this was increased border security between the U.S. and Canada that would have likely rendered Smith’s secret trips over to Detroit to see the Tigers play when he was 11 impossible. Once he started making these trips, they hardly stopped until Smith moved out of Windsor for good.

“I found culture there, I had relationships there … I can’t tell you how many shows I saw there,” said Smith on Detroit

in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

And now more than ever hysteria reigns king.

This is why Smith chose to set the book when he did.

9/11 marked the beginnings of much of the illogical policy making and press hype that plague us today. Although the book doesn’t delve into detail on the war on terrorism, it’s understood that this war goes hand in hand with the war on drugs that the book so absurdly depicts.

And, although it may seem that in recent years certain parties have come around to acknowledging this war’s failure with the advent of legal marijuana in several U.S. states and Canada, Smith remains insistent that both federal governments are irrational as ever about it.

“Everyone’s so high on access at home they don’t notice there are 100 new ways to get arrested for it,” Smith said, citing that a 19-year-old in Canada could by law see up to 14 years in prison for passing a joint to a 17-year-old.

He also noted that just today on the front cover of the Canadian newspaper the National Post, a story broke on cannabis being the leading cause of road deaths in Canada. This was according to the CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada.

Marijuana policy is far from the only issue on the table here. For Smith, it seems more a metaphor for the larger picture. Plus, it makes for a hell of a story: drug-slinging cowboy rides the high of failed city policy only to high-tail it out of, not just the city, but the country for fear of losing his life to federal agency cronies for growing ganja. How does it end? You’ll just have to be there on Thursday at 7 p.m.

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

Bob Dylan vs. Lil Xan: A Is it improv comedy, or is generational showdown it simply the psychedelics?

DAILY HUMOR COLUMN

JONAH MENDELSON Daily Arts Writer

I talk about improv comedy constantly, so much so that people will actively tell me to stop talking about it. But I can’t help it, I’m obsessed. For those of you who don’t know, I do improv. I apply improv concepts to everyday situations. Yes, I “Yes, and” my way through life. Once my brother told me I sounded like I was talking about psychedelics when I was talking solely about improv, and thus spawned the birth of this listicle.

Because honestly, it changed my life. So whether you love tripping on magic mushrooms or have the hots for Jason Mantzoukas, enjoy these descriptions.

It’s OK alone, but much better in a group setting.

Some people even use it as therapy.

Your mom doesn’t get it.

It’s really popular in Chicago.

Your friend Tyler tried it once and won’t shut up about it.

It really taught me to trust myself.

It changed my life.

It’s a gateway drug.

It makes you really confident.

It makes you exceedingly annoying to be around.

I heard it feels like flying.

You had to be there.

It’s hard to explain if you weren’t there, you know?

Apparently it turns your life around.

There are so many books written about it.

It’s like an altered state of consciousness.

It’s illegal in some countries.

Frankly, it was a religious experience for me.

It does something to your serotonin levels.

There are podcasts dedicated to it.

It was really big in the 1970s.

It diminishes anxiety and depression.

I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time.

It helps you

BECKY PORTMAN unlock the unused depths of the human mind.

The experience itself is hard to explain.

Watching someone else do isn’t the same as doing it yourself.

The come-down is rough.

Robin Williams said, “sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but when it does, it’s like open-field running.”

Some would say it’s a sub-culture.

All my favorite celebrities have done it.

Most comedians start out by doing it.

Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are big fans of it.

I heard 80 percent of those who have done it said it was one of the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives.

And 50 percent said it was the most meaningful experience, like, ever.

The risks are incredibly exaggerated.

Nixon was not a fan.

It’s safer than alcohol.

Steve Jobs once said it was, “one of the most important things (I did) in my life.”

My dad said he tried it once in college.

About 1.31 million 18 to 25-yearolds admitted to trying it in 2017.

A lot of people have turned to it for comfort after the 2016 election.

People like that it takes you away from your phone for a while.

It’s easier to obtain now more than ever thanks to the Internet.

Women are getting more involved in it.

It helps you reconnect with people and the world.

If politicians did it, we would all be better off.

It’s a form of escapism.

It makes the world a bit more magical and beautiful.

There are three clubs for it at The University of Michigan.

You want to try it, but don’t know where to start.

You heard it’s only for people who listen to Phish.

It might make you feel a little dizzy.

It’s best to fast before your first time.

You should watch someone else do it before you do it yourself so you know what to expect.

You’ve seen posters for it around campus but don’t fully get it.

It’s mostly a college kid thing, like a Capella.

People don’t really enjoy it; they just say they do to make their friends who actually do it feel better.

“Yeah, ayy / And her pussy tastes like Skittles / What?

Yeah, ayy / You can really taste the rainbow.”

Who could have penned this work? Shakespeare? Dickinson?

Dostoevsky?

Nope. Just a humble guy named Lil Xan, spitting poetry over the gentle caress of a Bobby Johnson instrumental.

I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb to request for him to at least be considered for a Nobel Prize in Literature.

The only musician to have received this high honor to date is Bob Dylan, who, as far as I can tell, has written no lines about pussy. Dylan has been around for about half a century and released 35 albums, only like four to five of which are actually any good. None of them contain any Bobby Johnson beats. I checked.

It is hard to think of two artists more similar than Lil Xan and Bob Dylan, but that is not to say that they don’t have their differences. For example, Bob Dylan has yet to publicly condemn Xanax. One point for Lil Xan. Lil Xan was also once hospitalized because he ate too many Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, which is more self-destructive and interesting than anything Bob Dylan has ever done in his life (other than releasing

Knocked Out Loaded). Only one of these artists has released any terrible, preachy contemporary Christian albums in a bizarre mid-career pivot so far, every conceivable metric is coming up in favor of Lil Xan. Bob Dylan seems to think that good storytelling primarily consists of having a lot of different characters, whereas Lil Xan’s literary theory is

fans. Lil Xan, on the other hand, is so accommodating that he allows his fans to beat him up after his shows.

I will concede that Lil Xan does not have the edge on Bob Dylan in every category they are tied in both their singing ability and their primitive and strophic song structures. Bob Dylan’s voice was, at its best, nasally and challenging. At its worst, especially towards the end of his career, it is redolent of the howl of a dog whose tail has been stepped on.

Lil Xan is not much better, but at least he has put out less music.

Lil Xan has never been one for sacred cows, and Bob Dylan is just the latest of the old guard to fall at the hands of a new challenger. I cannot help but be reminded of the Percy Bysshe Shelley poem “Ozymandias”: “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains.

Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Legends always fade.

Although it might be difficult to imagine now, one day Lil Xan will fall from grace. Much like how he has rendered Bob Dylan irrelevant, Lil Xan’s great works will too be swept away by the sands of time.

It is hard to think of two artists more similar than Lil Xan and Bob Dylan, but that is not to say that they don’t have their differences

centered around drugs and sex, both of which are undeniably more interesting than railroad men or whatever. Dylan is considered “counterculture,” but all of his fans freaked out and called him “Judas” when he used an electric guitar.

He doesn’t even have any face tattoos (+1 for Lil Xan) — rebellion for Dylan consisted of wearing really ugly jackets and sunglasses while smoking weed and lying about having a heroin addiction. He is also a notoriously terrible live performer (to the point where some of his songs are unrecognizable) who deliberately antagonizes his

Arts

6A — Wednesday, February 27, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

TV REVIEW

Kuster on ‘Dune Acres’ ‘Desus and Mero’ breathes some life into late-night TV LAURA DZUBAY Daily Arts Writer

Not far south of the Michigan border, near the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, is a town in northern Indiana called Dune Acres. The town shares its name with the newest piece by composer Kristin Kuster, which premiered just this past week through the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Of course, this is no coincidence.

Kuster, the chair of composition at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, spent many summers in Dune Acres as a child, at her grandparents’ house. The new “Dune Acres” piece isn’t the first she’s written inspired by that setting — notably, her 2013 vibraphone solo piece, “Rain Chain,” was inspired by a rain chain there — and it marks a return to natural themes that have long formed important preoccupations in her work.

“I think I’m at my most calm and focused when I’m looking at trees,” Kuster said in a recent interview with The Daily. “Or looking at water, or looking at nature. It’s a real inspiration for me, because there’s so many things that are so beautiful.”

This practice extends to her work at the University, where she says she sometimes gives students assignments to set aside an hour, go to the Arb, and stare at a tree. The goal is to “notice the branches and the leaves and the way it looks, even if it’s winter and it’s got snow and there aren’t any leaves or whatever.”

“I think that it can rewire our brains away from the kind of chaos of the world,” Kuster said.

“We get an enormous amount of input as we walk through the day.

Even just people on the street, sights and sounds, conversations and things, to-do lists ... It works for me, anyway, to just relax. And kind of find stillness in looking at natural beauty around us.”

Kuster has long been accustomed to natural beauty, through her childhood growing up in Boulder, Colo., and her experiences later on living in San Diego and now Michigan.

This priority she mentions of escaping from the “input” and

stress of the world, she said, was a major element that affected her approach to “Dune Acres.”

“Part of what prompted me to go back to that space is that I’ve been pretty torqued up and upset with what’s happening in the world,” she said. “I wanted to get back to that kind of joyful, childlike wonderment at the world. This is the place where I really started writing music as a little kid, making up sounds, running around the house and running around on the beach.

I was so fond of the time that I spent there that I really wanted to tap back into that in this piece, as a way to sort of cope with the state of things.”

Many of Kuster’s goals — as a chair of composition and, it seems, as an active member of the composing community in general — align with this idea of addressing recent political developments in the world. She aims to advocate for underrepresented groups in composition, and believes that this is work that the entire classical music community needs to undertake, particularly in large and well-funded institutions such as orchestra, opera, film music and gaming music.

“All of those institutions have a problem with diversity of representation,” Kuster said. “And yes, it is better than it was five, ten years ago, but we still need these institutions to care, and to do the work. And it really only takes one person in an organization to care, and spend fifteen minutes Googling. It’s really not that much work, but someone has to care about putting forth art that represents composers of color, female composers, composers who identify as female, trans composers, composers with disabilities ... We are seeing a little bit of progress, and there are some organizations that are better than others. But until we do that, it’s just going to stagnate.”

Some of the social and environmental problems entrenched in the world are ones that find their way into Kuster’s music itself. When she wrote a different nature-inspired piece, “Devil’s Thumb,” in 2013, she was thinking about the devastation incurred by weeks’ worth of wildfires in Colorado, as well as

the 2012 shooting at the Aurora movie theater.

“We had been seeing this pain in Colorado, and yet there’s so much beauty around. So I guess when I approach that musically, you know, I can have sections that are sort of dark and heavy and powerful, with lots of percussion.

And then when there are beautiful things, it can be maybe slower and more lyrical, with longer melodies,” Kuster said.

The new piece, “Dune Acres,” also maneuvers through differing melodies and musical sensibilities.

The piece is in three movements, segmented by an imagined journey to the eponymous beach.

“The first movement is mostly about my memory of being really excited to go on this trip,” Kuster said. “My two older sisters and I would pile into the back of the old station wagon with no air conditioning, and drive for two days to the northwest part of Indiana, and just excitement and the anticipation, and also just watching the world go by through Nebraska and Iowa and Indiana.”

The second movement she describes as slower and sadder, with a long trumpet solo throughout to denote Kuster’s memory of “fog rolling in over the lake.” This is the movement where Kuster begins to incorporate more environmental preoccupations into the piece, mirroring her fascination with the natural world.

“We’re in danger of destroying these Great Lakes right now,” she said. “And Flint still doesn’t have clean water, and we’re surrounded by all this fresh water.

So it’s kind of a lament to the state that we’re in now, and in concern for where we’ll be in the future with these Great Lakes.”

The third and final movement brings the piece to a close on a faster-paced note.

“It’s just this really pulsing, happy, kind of wash of sound.

And that is, I think, just reflecting my memory of jumping in a lake.

Whether it’s cold or warm, you gotta get in there and splash around when you’re a little kid,” Kuster said.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

MAITREYI ANANTHARAMAN Daily Arts Writer

What were Desus Nice and The Kid Mero up to on the premiere of their new weekly late-night talk show on Showtime? Oh, a little of everything: comparing Barack Obama to a Dominican grandfather at a wedding, parodying “Green Book,” critiquing Vladimir Putin’s judo skills, taking a jab at New York sports radio legend-slashirritant Mike Francesa and talking marginal tax rates with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

So, no, it wasn’t a huge departure from what the duo has been doing for the last two years on Viceland, where their show aired four days a week. And that’s precisely what makes “Desus and Mero” a perfect, much-needed addition to latenight TV — a genre now sufficiently haunted with the ghosts of would-be revolutionaries who never managed to crack the code.

The late-night problem, of course, is that the format doesn’t allow for much creativity. The attempts at departures from the White Man Behind Desk Chatting With Guest on Adjacent Couch™ trope have all felt fairly tepid and uninspired: white man behind desk with no guests, white woman on couch with guests, white woman standing in front of a screen, brown man standing in front of a screen (no disrespect, Hasan, big fan).

Much of the appeal of “Desus and Mero” is that it

Desus and Mero launched their comedy careers as Twitter personalities and that rings true in their humor, which is biting and goofy, manic and irreverent all at once

‘Desus and Mero’ Showtime Pilot Thursdays @ 11 p.m.

isn’t explicitly promising to turn the medium upside down or to be completely experimental — the two just want to riff a little, laugh a little and maybe talk to some interesting people along the way.

The result is a show that’s completely free of gimmicks or pretensions, essentially just two funny people in freewheeling conversation. They’ve foregone the clunky monologue and house band.

Instead, the two begin the show in armchairs on a grunge-cool set, talking about the week’s news — a healthy mix of politics, sports and bizarre internet curiosities — with a few lively pre-taped bits sprinkled in between. Desus and Mero launched their comedy careers as Twitter personalities and that rings true in their humor, which is biting and goofy, manic and irreverent all at once. Clean, smart editing helps the half hour move along at a nimble but comfortable pace (though it does seem a shame this only airs once a week).

That Ocasio-Cortez was the first guest on “Desus and Mero” feels very fitting. The three of them are all up to the same thing right now: bringing their Bronx realness to stodgy institutions and conventions we take for granted.

The conversation with her was fun, but sincere and substantive. And with two comedians on either side of her, the congresswoman more than held her own in the laughs department. “How do you have a computer that runs both Windows ’95 and Twitter at the same time?” she wondered aloud about her antiquated meme-making Twitter critics. Later, they played a pre-taped segment of Desus and Mero’s visit to Ocasio-Cortez’s office in Washington D.C. The two came bearing gifts, some Fabuloso all-purpose cleaner, a copy of AM New York and the pièce de résistance: a giant Cardi B wall decal.

Classifieds

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

BOOK REVIEW

‘The Lost Man’ and ghosts SARAH SALMAN Daily Arts Writer

Early in her latest thriller, “The Lost Man,” Jane Harper introduces a legend about a stockman. It goes like this: In the 1890s there was a stockman, but he wasn’t exactly a stockman. He was a cattle rustler.

He would take his horses in the wide, empty space of the arid Australian land and round loose cattle to sell them for cheap.

One day, the horses go nuts. Instead of continuing to herd cattle, the stockman stays with the horses.

An hour passes and he’s gone. The campfire is still lit. The horse is still tied. A hundred kilometers south lies his body. Dead. No injuries, no water. According to the story, he was found the same day he disappeared.

In the stretches and stretches of hot, barren Australian land over a hundred years later, Jane Harper’s “The Lost Man” tells an eerily similar story. This time, it’s about three brothers: Nathan, the oldest, ostracized from the community and living threehours from the closest human; Bub, the baby of the family, separated by 12 years from his oldest brother and Cam, dead beneath their feet. Like the myth of the stockman, Cam had no injuries, no water and was found only nine kilometers from his truck.

Cam has breathed in the barren Australian outback air since birth. How did he die?

Nathan decides to return to his smaller-than-small hometown to investigate his brother’s death with his fifteen-year-old son in tow.

As Nathan examines his own regrets and past — his relationship with his family

‘The Lost Man’ Jane Harper Flatiron Books Feb. 5, 2019

and the pieces of his brother that were hidden in plain sight — he stumbles upon a disturbing string of family mysteries. “The Lost Man” never stagnates, the more that Nathan uncovers, the more it seems that the once inconsequential trivialities prove to wield deeper and darker implications. “The Lost Man” forces you to question parts of the story that you accepted unequivocally and, like Nathan, examine what’s true, what’s not and the blurred line between.

Jane Harper’s style is sticky with the thick, Australian heat. The sparse sentences mirror the stretch and length of blank and vacant land. The weight of each page feels heavy as if the heat was palpable. As

the tensions of the book rise, so does the temperature. Like Nathan sifting through more and more answers of Cam’s past, the reader must sift through tumbleweeds of red herrings. We’re parched for more details — more answers — and the book itself offers no reprieve. It’s not until the very last line that it feels like you can finally gulp mouthfuls of water. For a novel close to 400 pages, it’s easy to zoom through.

With each page, there’s a nagging thought that something isn’t quite right.

Was Cam’s death a murder, or was it suicide? Jane Harper artfully misdirects the readers so that by the very end, the twist is like a slap in the face. It’s easy to think: How could I have missed this?

As Nathan pieces together more clarity about Cam, the small-town becomes less stif ling. It ref lects Nathan’s trajectory from being a reticent and depressed man to a relaxed and receptive person. Instead of minimizing the mistakes of his past, Nathan is able to come to terms with his own life and mend rifts with his son.

“The Lost Man” is more than a mystery. It’s a story about family and the people that you think you know. By the end, you learn to appreciate how a family isolated in a blanket of nothingness manages to survive by holding onto their powerful thread of human connection.

HELP WANTED Release Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2019

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

ACROSS 1 Old Russian ruler 5 Landlocked African nation 9 Wedding registry category 14 Famous final question 15 “Ducky” Mallard’s alma mater, on “NCIS” 16 Support people 17 Prefix in juice names 18 Tends to the lawn 19 ’50s four-wheeled failure 20 Particular 23 Kitchen counter?

24 “__ thought” 25 Place to unwind 28 Hospital bigwig 31 Gig gear 34 Lessen 35 Tweak, as text 36 Some trucks 38 The North Pole, for Santa 41 Opposite of endo42 Flat-bottomed vessel 43 Daisy Ridley’s “The Last Jedi” role 44 Formally accuse of wrongdoing 49 Blue Jays’ home: Abbr.

50 Mimicked 51 Small lizard 54 Game played on a floor or table, and a hint to this puzzle’s circled letters 57 Fluffy-eared “bear” 60 Hair-removal brand 61 Vintage ski lift 62 Arouse, as wrath 63 Basic French verb 64 Theta follower 65 Tank fish 66 “Keep it __” 67 Provide job support for?

DOWN 1 __ support 2 Classic Fender guitar, for short 3 Arcade pioneer 4 “Walk This Way” rap trio 5 Many a D.C. landmark 6 Perched on 7 Good-for-nothing 8 Mini-maps 9 14-Across speaker 10 Go underground 11 Cards checked at the door 12 French word in bios 13 Syst. for the hearing-impaired 21 Giggle 22 Sun Devils’ sch.

25 Passover feast 26 Self-assurance 27 On pins and needles 29 Curvy letter 30 Berlin’s home: Abbr.

31 Showing mastery

32 Prefix with brewery 33 Rocker Frampton 37 Scrubbing brand 38 Unlike this ans.

39 Technically flawed comic poetry 40 Nerdy sort 42 Tragic end 45 Much of North Africa 46 PC brain

47 Noted bunny lover 48 Nova __ 52 Skewered meat 53 Give a political speech 54 Put-down 55 Turkey bacon?

56 “Well, shoot” 57 Modeling convenience 58 Tip jar bill 59 Perform

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

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SERVICES STUDENT SUMMER STORAGE Closest to campus, Indoor, Clean, Safe Reserve now at annarborstorage.com or (734) 663‑0690

THERE’S A CROSSWORD ON THIS PAGE. 02/27/19

DO IT.

By Bryant Shain ©2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

02/27/19

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Talent of freshman class apparent early in the season LANE KIZZIAH Daily Sports Writer

As the ball crossed the middle of the plate and the Louisiana State pitcher, Shelbi Sunseri, swung and missed, right-hander Alex Storako’s changeup closed out the inning without any contact with the ball.

Watching the pitcher throw four consecutive strikeouts last Sunday, with all the confidence of a veteran, you’d never guess Storako is one of the youngest players on the team.

From Storako to outfielder Lexie Blair to infielder Morgan Overaitis, the Michigan softball team’s (6-8) No. 14 per FloSoftball recruiting class features talent all over the field. And not all of the Wolverines’ freshmen have gotten the opportunity to show what they can do yet.

“We have a group of athletes,” said Michigan coach Carol Hutchins on Feb. 5. “They’re all very athletic. They’re all good softball players. Lexie Blair just walking in the door and is an outfielder and looks like she’s been on that outfield for her whole career. She makes everything look easy. She’s a heck of an athlete. You look at Morgan Overaitis and (infielder) Gianna Carosone: two good athletes who have just gotten better and better all year.”

Blair has not only proven herself in the outfield, but also as an asset in the batters’ box, boasting a batting average of .340, the second highest among the team’s starters. Blair’s power behind the plate has been a standout for a team that has struggled to get on base. Last Friday, Blair was responsible for three of six total hits for the Wolverines and has scored seven runs over the course of the season.

“Lexie has stepped up huge,” said junior outfielder Madison Uden on Feb. 5. “She doesn’t look

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Michigan coach Carol Hutchins has provided major roles to some freshmen.

like a freshman to me. She looks great in the outfield and hits the ball well.”

Michigan boasts young defensive standouts as well. One year after left-hander Meghan Beaubien burst onto the scene as a freshman, Storako has emerged as a strong pitcher. Storako made her collegiate debut in the first game of the season. Since then, she has been vital to the rotation, pitching as many innings as Beaubien.

So far, the freshman has outperformed her mentor, giving up fewer runs and allowing fewer runners on base. She currently possesses an ERA of 2.50.

Despite her impressive performance early on, Storako, like everyone on the team, has things to work on. For one, she has yet to pitch a full game, frequently being taken out after giving up several walks.

“Storako’s done a great job,” Hutchins said. “But we need her to sustain during the game and finish the game. You always do it one inning at a time.”

With many of their games being lost by one or two runs, the Wolverines have rarely been in a position to test out the fledgling players, leaving many freshmen with little-to-no time on the field.

Among these players is catcher

Hannah Carson, who has 10 at bats and stepped in for senior catcher Katie Alexander in two games.

“Hannah is an amazing player — she’s obviously been catching for a long time, and I see myself in her too,” Alexander said. “I’ve watched videos of myself hitting while she’s catching and I think, ‘Am I catching? Is that me?’ She pays attention to detail, and I think that she’s going to do really well because she already has the physical stuff. Now it’s about the mental game and getting in there, getting reps and knowing the speed of the college game.”

The transition from high school to collegiate play can pose a problem for some athletes with stark increases in the levels of pitching and the sheer pace of the game.

The upperclassmen have stepped up to ease this transition, preparing the novice players to take the reigns someday.

“They know they’re playing behind a veteran group and we’ve had some conversations,” Hutchins said on Feb. 5. “I just inspired them and you never know when you’re going to get your opportunity. You never know when you’re one pitch from being in the lineup to player forward every day.”

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 — 7A

Weiss adjusting to life in spotlight AVI RAJENDRA-NICOLUCCI

Daily Sports Writer

Freshman right-hander Willie Weiss was thrown into the fray in the second inning on Sunday against The Citadel. The Michigan baseball team turned to Weiss after the first inning struggles of redshirt junior pitcher Benjamin Keizer had put it down 2-0.

Three batters, eight pitches and three outs later, Weiss walked off the mound with the ship righted. The Wolverines never looked back.

Weiss calmly struck out the first batter swinging. The second struck out looking. The third was retired after a popup to first base on the opening pitch.

The right hander was not fazed throughout his 2.2 innings, only his second regular season appearance for the Wolverines.

Weiss got the first two batters he faced out in the third inning before he faced a mini-jam with runners on second and first after a single, wild pitch and a walk. Weiss escaped the inning unscathed after a line-drive out

by Bulldogs junior infielder Ben Peden.

“When you have some hitters that are facing really good pitchers and pitchers that are facing really good hitters on your own team, then the learning curve can get sped up a little bit,” said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “And be improved once you get into outside competition.”

Weiss has made a name for himself as the only freshman to have an early season impact for the Wolverines.

He was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for baseball in the state of Oregon for the 201718 high school season. Weiss was one of the most sought-after recruits in the nation and was a highlight of Michigan’s 2018 recruiting class. He was ranked the 22nd right-handed pitcher

by Perfect Game’s recruiting service.

Bakich was high on Weiss prior to the season.

“He’s a guy that — he’s a strong physical specimen. 6-foot-3, 220 lbs., throws hard, has a good slider, a good breaking ball. He’s got a chance to be a starter or a

closer for us. He’s really had a nice fall, a nice preseason, one of those freshmen that had a chance to make an impact no matter where he went.”

So far this season, he’s made that impact felt.

Weiss finished Sunday with no hits, no earned runs and four strikeouts after facing 10 batters. He also was awarded the first win of his career.

Weiss showed resilience after easing into his first start in which he lasted a single inning against Binghamton on Feb. 16th. Weiss provided a steady hand on the road when the Wolverines were down a run, which allowed the offense to kick into gear.

“Now, it’s a long season and we got a long way to go, he’s got a long way to go,” Bakich said.

“But, so far through the fall, through the preseason in the early goings of this season he certainly seems to have adjusted well and is pitching well. And that’ll be the challenge, like many of the freshmen before him, is to be able to be consistent and maintain that throughout the course of the next four months.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

Michigan coach Erik Bakich has led the Wolverines to an unbeaten 6-0 start in the early going this season.

Late run of goals displays Moyle’s ability to get to front of net BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer

Until late December, Nolan Moyle had just two points — and neither were goals.

But on Dec. 30, the freshman forward found twine for the first time as a member of the Michigan hockey team. The switch didn’t flip immediately — Moyle added another goal two games later but it took him eight more games to get his third.

The next time Moyle lit the lamp, it was the first multi-goal game of his career with two tallies against Michigan State on Feb. 9.

Since then, he’s added another multi-goal outing and has at least one goal in three of the Wolverines’ last four games.

Not bad for a freshman who didn’t have a goal until nearly the second half of the season.

“I saw (Moyle) last year score (in the USHL), and he has the potential,” said Michigan coach Mel Pearson on Saturday night.

“Sometimes it just takes a while until you feel comfortable with

it. Good for him. We’re gonna need that.”

On Friday night against No. 7 Ohio State, Moyle’s two goals came at crucial times for his team. One tied the game with 10 minutes left in the third period, and the second was the gamewinner. But for Pearson, the location of those goals was even better than the timing.

Both goals came in what Pearson calls the gritty area of the ice — the space below the faceoff circles and above the crease, just in front of the opposing goaltender. When players get to that space, scoring opportunities increase because there’s always someone in position to clean up a rebound and create extra chances.

“I think that’s a real good reminder for our players to watch that and see where Nolan got his goals from,” Pearson said Tuesday. “One was behind him, but the other two was — he’s going to the front of the net.

In this day and age, with teams playing so well defensively and having good goaltending, you’ve gotta get there.”

Moyle did just that on his first goal on Friday.

Freshman forward Garrett Van Wyhe pushed the puck up the right side of the ice and wrapped around behind the net.

His shot bounced off goaltender Sean Romeo’s pad which sent the puck out to Moyle, who was crashing down on the crease. It didn’t take much for Moyle to tap the puck home and tie the game.

The puck once again came from Van Wyhe on the gamewinning goal. This time, his pass from the left side of the net went across the crease to Moyle, who was waiting to shoot the puck into the open right side.

“Garrett made two really good plays, really strong plays to the net,” Moyle said Tuesday.

“I just happened to be in front and get a stick on it. Garrett and (sophomore forward Dakota Raabe) used their speed really well and did all the work and got the puck in front of the net.”

But as much as Moyle wants to deflect the credit, his goals were still largely the result of intelligent positioning and

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily

Freshman forward Nolan Moyle has scored in three of his last four games, providing a spark late in the year.

working to get to that area in front of the net.

After Friday’s win, Van Wyhe said that Moyle getting to the front of the net is something they’ve worked hard on in practice throughout the season.

The two goals from that area on Friday cemented that their work is paying off.

The myriad of drills Pearson puts the Wolverines through every day in practice largely focus on getting to the top of the crease. With four of his seven goals on the season coming from that area, Moyle is clearly figuring out that the system works.

“We have a number of drills

where the offense — and the main priority is to get to the net,” Pearson said. “We had to remind a few guys today that sort of get to an area and they stop skating and they’re still a long way (away from the net).

We’re trying to attack the net more. A lot of different drills we do, especially with our forwards to get to a certain point on the ice and in front of the net. … Just a lot of different drills that are structured to that point. To get to the net and then hang around the net and finish.”

This weekend, Michigan goes to Wisconsin, where the Badgers play on an Olympicsized ice sheet. The ice is 15

feet wider than traditional college or NHL rinks, which makes getting to the net more of a challenge. With so much extra space, it’s easy to stray away from the crease without realizing it and then have to work even harder to get back to the front of the net.

That could make Moyle’s knack to do so all the more important.

The Wolverines are one win away from hosting the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. And with five goals in the last four games, Moyle’s scoring ability may be what Michigan needs to get home-ice advantage.

Sports

8A — Wednesday, February 27, 2019

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wolverines set to wave goodbye to senior class Captains Munger and Thome among the seniors to be honored during Senior Day on Sunday at Crisler Center BENNETT BRAMSON Daily Sports Writer

On Sunday, the Michigan women’s basketball team will take on Wisconsin in its final game of the regular season, and Ann Arbor will say goodbye to one of the best senior classes in program history.

While the four seniors have taken different paths to reach the climax of their respective collegiate careers, they will all be celebrated together. There’s graduate student guard Taylor Rooks, who in her one season at Michigan has become just as much a part of the team as anyone else. There’s senior forward Samantha Trammel, who coach Kim Barnes Arico views as one of the program’s leaders. And then there are the team captains, senior guard Nicole Munger and center Hallie Thome.

Munger — who is just 31 points away from 1,000 career points — has started every game the last two seasons and has become the heart and soul of the Wolverines. Thome — 43 points shy of becoming the second most prolific scorer in program history — has started every game since she stepped on campus four years ago and has grown into the vocal leader of the team.

The two, who are roommates and co-captains, have developed a close relationship during their time at Michigan.

“We see new things with each other and learn new things about each other, which is really special because some people plateau,” Munger said. “But we just really play off of each other, both in the locker room and on the court.

She might be more vocal but I may be (more) reserved but lead by example. We just really complement each other both on the court and off the court.”

When Munger and Thome

walk off the Crisler Center floor for the final time, the Wolverines will lose two of the players who helped establish the team’s attitude and identity this year.

Even after starting 3-6 in the Big Ten season, and after Munger and Thome’s final season looked like it might be headed toward disappointment, the captains and the rest of the Wolverines never doubted their ability to recover.

Since then, Michigan has won seven of eight games and currently sits in fourth place in the Big Ten standings, largely on the backs of its two senior captains.

“I think they complement each other extremely, extremely well,” Barnes Arico said. “They’re very different, but they both want the same things and they have the same goals and they have the same dreams and aspirations.

But they both go about it in a very different approach. And I think when you have leaders you need that.

“You don’t need people that are all the same. You need to be able to attack the group in different ways and I think that both Nicole and Hallie have that balance with each other as roommates and as teammates.”

But as Barnes Arico reminisces with Munger and Thome about their careers, the trio has not allowed themselves to get distracted from the fact that they have a basketball game to play — and an important one at that.

Senior Day comes with the Wolverines in a fight for an NCAA Tournament berth and when every win matters. And

even though Munger knows her career is dwindling, she’s not willing to get caught up in all the talk, and wants to, as usual, leave everything she has on the court.

“I think people are realizing that kind of the end is near in a way, so just giving it all we have,” Munger said. “No one’s feeling a hundred percent at this point in the season on our team, or on any team in America, so it’s just a grind. It’s February, March and you just gotta have fun with it.”

I think people are realizing that kind of the end is near...

Still, though, Senior Day is bound to be an emotional time.

To send off players — who are sometimes even considered family — that have played with the same program and been with the same people for four years is a tough ask.

And even though Barnes Arico has seen her fair share of seniors graduate and players come and go, that doesn’t make the end of an era any easier.

“It’s hard and sometimes

I forget because it’s kind of what we do. And my children actually remind me because my own children are usually crying snots and tears because they have to say goodbye to them,” Barnes Arico said of past senior classes.

“They have been such a large part, our senior class has been such a large part of my life, my children’s life, our Michigan life for four years. And to not see them every day leaves a little bit of a hole.”

Our senior class has been such a large part of my life.

Now, as the season comes to an end, it’s time for the next step in the lives of each of Michigan’s four graduating players.

Where they may go and what they may do is yet to be seen. But, no matter what, Barnes Arico knows they are all prepared to move on.

“As I tell their parents when we recruit them here, they’re at a point in their lives where it’s time for them to fly and time for them to spread their wings and go off,” Barnes Arico said. “And as parents, you trust us as their coaches when you send them to Michigan and now it’s time for us to trust that they are ready as grown children to go and conquer the world.”

KEEMYA ESMAEL/Daily

Senior guard Nicole Munger will be one of four seniors honored at the Senior Day ceremonies on Sunday, capping off an illustrious career at Michigan.

Can Jordan Poole find consistency?

20 18 N O BE L P R I Z E IN PH YSICS

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for good.

Michigan coach John Beilein has bemoaned his team’s tendency to spot up for 3-pointers far outside the arc instead of stepping into a more makeable distance. Poole is one of the most frequent offenders — while his range is usually an advantage, it also can turn into a crutch, as he will often force long shots when all else fails.

But no matter how good the look, Poole simply couldn’t find his stroke — before his late outburst, he missed all six of his treys.

“I would love to figure out why Jordan Poole can have the same shots and they don’t go in,” Beilein said on Feb. 21. “ … We just gotta continue to try to get good shots and obviously the better the shot, the more chance it’s gonna go in.”

While Michigan State’s screenswitching, intended to create one-on-one scenarios, deserves its share of credit, one-on-one situations are not impossible to solve. As evidenced by Poole falling back on long 3-pointers, the Wolverines didn’t have the answer on Sunday.

“Our shot selection is better than what it was earlier in the year, but we gotta take good shots all the time,” Beilein said Sunday. “… We have certain habits that are not good for some one-on-one situations.”

A player can be effective without being consistent, consistent without being effective, both or neither. Poole tends to alternate between the first and

the latter. This is borne out by, among other things, his 3-point percentages: 40.6 in November, 58.3 in December, 26.2 in January and 32.0 so far this month.

It’s also on display from a gameto-game basis. At Minnesota on Thursday, Poole nailed five threes and scored 22 points, his most of any Big Ten game, appearing to shake out of the doldrums of conference play.

“We know how good we are of a shooting team,” he said then.

“Eventually they’re gonna fall like they did in the second half. We’re not really too worried, we go out there and just keep hooping.”

And therein lies the dilemma faced by Michigan. Poole has all the tools to be a go-to scorer for one of the nation’s elite teams. The Wolverines don’t have another player willing to take — and often hit — the same shots Poole puts up. On the flip side, though, his playing style and role as a toughshot maker inherently limit his consistency.

When those shots are finding the net, it’s an easy trade-off for Michigan. When they’re not, games like Sundays are often the result.

But what’s the difference between the Jordan Poole who torched Williams Arena and the Jordan Poole who has shot just 32 percent from downtown in conference play? The Jordan Poole of the first 39 minutes Sunday vs. the Jordan Poole of the final minute?

Right now, the Wolverines don’t know.

Jordan Poole’s eyes locked on the loose ball headed out of bounds. He grabbed it in the nick of time, took one dribble and pulled the trigger.

Bang.

A possession later, with 33 seconds remaining, Poole cruised around a screen, looking up to see the hoop 26 feet away and Xavier Tillman much closer. The Michigan State forward threw out his arm, but Poole had already made up his mind. He let fly.

Bang.

This is what Michigan and its fans expect from Jordan Poole — a clutch, cold-blooded killer with no conscience and no limit to his range.

But the Wolverines lost to the Spartans, 77-70, on Sunday, and Poole’s desperation 3-pointers were merely shots in the dark, aimed at a target that had long since escaped. And Poole was a main reason that the target got away in the first place.

Michigan couldn’t adapt to Michigan State’s unexpected, screen-switching defense and was plagued by questionable shot selection. When it did get good looks down the stretch, it missed them. Those problems affected everyone, but they didn’t obscure one of Poole’s worst performances — before the final minute, he had just nine points on 3-for10 shooting with two assists, a rebound and four fouls.

Poole has never been a defensive keystone, but the lapses he suffered against the Spartans were uncharacteristic even for him. He struggled against Matt McQuaid on the perimeter, often leaping far past him with overly aggressive closeouts and giving one of the Big Ten’s best shooters wide-open looks.

Three minutes after the Wolverines took their largest lead of the game at 51-45, Poole flew recklessly into McQuaid as he was shooting and sent him to the line. Poole was benched and McQuaid knocked down all three KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily free throws. Just over a minute Jordan Poole is shooting 32 percent from 3-point range in February. later, the Spartans took the lead

statement

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL

T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | FE B RUA RY 27, 2019

Picturing the border: memories of Ciudad Juárez, México

ILLUSTRATION BY SHERRY CHEN

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019 // The Statement

Managing Statement Editor Andrea Pérez Balderrama

Designers Liz Bigham Kate Glad

statement BlackBerry isn’t dead T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | FE B RUA RY 20, 2019

Deputy Editors Matthew Harmon Shannon Ors

Copy Editors Miriam Francisco Madeline Turner

Photo Editor Annie Klusendorf Editor in Chief Maya Goldman Managing Editor Finntan Storer

BY ROMY SHARMA, STATEMENT COLUMNIST

After arriving far too late to the touchscreen party, the company marked its turning point in 2016 with an exit from making its own cell phones, now relying on Indonesian partners for manufacturing the smaller mobile phone business segment. In 2017, BlackBerry saw a $940 million dollar windfall after winning a lawsuit against chip manufacturer Qualcomm for overcharging on royalties. With this momentum, BlackBerry followed behind IBM, Microsoft and others in pursuit of a critical pivot: from hardware to software. The difference? Chen took BlackBerry’s superior positioning in security from its cellphone heyday, and saw an alluring opportunity in auto.

Thus was born BlackBerry Technology Solutions. With a dire need to innovate in ILLUSTRATION BY NOLAN FELICIDARIO high-margin and emerging business areas, BlackBerry lockbuster, Borders, Brookstone, BlackBerry — created BTS, which is upheld by 3 main pillars: QNX licensone of these things is not like the others. What ing, Radar asset tracking, and Jarvis code scanning. This once was a household tech name is now a memory all is to maintain its edge on cybersecurity, radar tracking, of the past. But while BlackBerry is no longer considered a and the automotive industry in the race to driverless cars. competitor to moguls Apple and Samsung, it has moved on But what does that really mean? to a new audience: the automotive industry.

In 2010, BlackBerry acquired QNX Software Systems to Ten years ago, cell phone users nationwide were typing improve its operating systems. QNX was implemented in away on their mobile devices with a physical QWERTY the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in 2011 and in the Blackkeyboard. In fact, BlackBerry held roughly 20 percent of Berry 10 in 2013, and picked up by numerous car compathe smartphone operating system market share. It built its nies soon thereafter. In fact, in 2018, it was found that 125 own operating system from scratch, and made the unique million vehicles now use QNX technology for car infotaindecision not to have it be open source — unlike that of ment, competing directly against Microsoft’s Windows Android, which briefly became a security nightmare. For Embedded Automotive. this very reason, BlackBerry was picked up by businesses But what exactly is car infotainment? Your radio, USB and governments worldwide. But despite its recent switch and phone connectivity, rear parking assistance, handsto an Android-based operating system, it prides itself on a free Bluetooth capability, navigation system and fuel senvalue proposition of security — to the point of former Pres- sors are all powered by car infotainment software. QNX ident Barack Obama being permitted to use his BlackBerry is also being used to improve software for autonomous throughout both his terms, and El Chapo’s reliance on the cars. It can handle complex code needed to help drivermobile device to conduct his high-stakes activities. less cars absorb data, and help a car’s software prioritize But while blackberry jam reigns as a top-five preserves functions based on its environment and decision-making. flavor in the U.S., BlackBerry is taking strides to preserve While QNX doesn’t get in front of many people through itself. Pick any lens, and it will show BlackBerry on an the BlackBerry cell phone, drivers of BMW, Ford, General inverse hockey stick. Market share? Revenue? Shipments? Motors and other car companies use QNX without even All of the above reveal a steep decline. But while many knowing it. In fact, just over a year ago, Chen announced write BlackBerry off as the next company to file for Chap- that BlackBerry software powers 60 percent of connected ter 11 bankruptcy, CEO John Chen begs to differ. cars on the road today.

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The second pillar of BTS is BlackBerry Radar, which provides real-time data for the trucking industry, with the ability to track assets and manage fleets through dashboards for management. Radar is one example of the firm’s greater “internet of things” mission to combine real-time data with everyday objects. Investors’ biggest concern?

BlackBerry management has been concealing Radar’s revenue performance for two quarters now.

BlackBerry Jarvis, the third prominent asset of BTS, was released just over a year ago to fortify self-driving car software in order to prevent hackers from finding software vulnerabilities. Today, a majority of a car’s typical functions are controlled by software, from adaptive cruise control to anti-lock brakes, to the sensors that flash when you are near other cars. A hacker being able to manipulate these functions could mean the difference between safety and a major car accident. With dozens of industry players racing to achieve the first self-driving car, cybersecurity is on the mind for most automakers. As Chen envisioned, this is Jarvis’ sweet spot.

These components are the pillars of BTS, but it is important to remember that there is more to BlackBerry than just BTS. In fact, the division is only the third largest revenue driver of the firm. While BlackBerry’s company vision resides within BTS, there is significant room for improvement from a financial standpoint. However, it is headed in the right direction. In the last fiscal quarter, Chen stated that BTS revenue grew 23 percent over the last year, and QNX is taking the lead on this growth.

While BTS is functioning proof of BlackBerry’s new vested interest in automotive cybersecurity, its recent acquisition of cybersecurity firm Cylance for $1.4 billion is perhaps the most compelling stage of its blueprint. While it is a pricey one, the acquisition is said to rapidly grow the QNX arm of BTS, and perhaps initiate a cybersecurity consulting division, which Cylance originally offered as a standalone entity.

Interestingly enough, the market did not react significantly to the acquisition announcement three months ago. In fact, many Wall Street analysts’ price target for BlackBerry remained unchanged. Investors are evidently approaching BlackBerry’s transformation with caution, which is understandable considering the company’s relatively horizontal share price movement, and slow-moving pivot from its cellphone-associated brand to the auto industry.

Just last Thursday, BlackBerry announced that it had officially completed the acquisition of Cylance. As with any acquisition of a large firm, it will take a sizable amount of time before investors get to see tangible results. Until then, BlackBerry’s Enterprise Software, licensing and its 44,000 patents will take lead on keeping the company afloat.

While BlackBerry is by no means a company at the forefront of tech news today, it is far from having its epitaph written maybe because people don’t write their own epitaphs.

What’s your currency?

Wednesday, February 27, 2019 // The Statement

I

had a tough time in business school from the get-go. It was terrifying to walk into the Winter Garden for the first time and pass by juniors in suits passed out on couches or sobbing on the phone after an exam. The relief I felt to finally not be an undecided freshman quickly dissolved during my first weeks. Something about that building and the people in it put tremendous gut-wrenching, hopeless pressure on me.

Mostly, I was terrified because I had never felt so incompetent. As soon as I entered the Ross School of Business, I felt light years behind. Everyone was throwing around words like “beta” and “bonds” while I couldn’t tell you what a stock really was. I had spent the past year pining to get in, and now I wasn’t so sure I had made the right decision.

Somehow, during a time when I was questioning every life decision I’d ever made, I found my sure calling for film. It was a complete accident and one of those life happenings that makes you believe in destiny. I had been cautiously shadowing a friend at the Ross club fair when I decided to walk out of the event. It wasn’t a heroic choice, but more of an embarrassing dash because I was so overwhelmed by the term “alternative investments” and didn’t know what it meant to consult things. Instead, I applied as a producer to an student organization called Filmic Productions, got accepted, and fell in love with the creative world. I felt euphoric for the first time since the school year had started.

For a while, I felt like I was on the right path. I wanted to tell stories that capture the human experience through film. I want to make someone exit a movie theatre feeling a changed person, a better person.

Accounting didn’t give me the incredible feeling that making something out of nothing does. It’s so fulfilling to produce unique ideas and channel it into art that affects society and makes people feel understood.

So I dove into this world and gained internships in media. I was proud of my black sheep status at Ross and was not going to succumb to traditional career paths. I had found my fate and I was going to keep moving forward.

Inside though, the pressure was still mounting. My decision to go rogue felt like I had swallowed poison. My parents and friends were extremely supportive, but at the end of the day, I felt like I was falling short. While everyone around me was waking up early to make networking calls, studying prep material for cases, running between corporate presentations, and following their 5-year career plans, I was simply enjoying things and it didn’t feel right.

I, too, wanted to be exhausted and talking numbers. Corporate sounded fancy and felt like the pinnacle goal. I hadn’t actually gone to business school to have fun, had I?

3B

BY MICHELLE KIM, STATEMENT COLUMNIST

I’d joined for the recruiting rush, the power suits, the perfected presentation decks and the signing bonuses. Movies were what people watched to relax. I yearned to be part of the intensity.

I secretly recruited and got a finance internship at JPMorgan. It caused an uproar with my family and friends. They knew I was just trying to make a point. Now the point had been made and they wanted me to go back to where I belonged, but I couldn’t stop. I wanted to know what it’s like to be among the Wall Street veterans and early morning Upper West Side commuters. Films would always exist no matter what, and business school had taught me that the opportunity to be among the real stars — among highly successful corporate moguls — would be gone in a glance.

I had to grasp it immediately before it was too late.

You can already guess what a mistake that was.

I fell into the trap fed to me by the culture of business school on how to formulate the best career. It was exciting at first, wearing my freshly pressed suit, receiving my badge to enter 270 Park, and clicking my heels to the elevator that would take me to my new team. They gave me JPMorgan emblazoned gifts, provided a desk with two (two!) desktops, and set me up for coffee chats. I got to wear my JPMorgan banker bag in the subway, talk about how great Equinox is, and get Sweetgreen with associates.

I was constantly reminded that I was at a top firm and lucky to be in a team where I would do work for Jamie Dimon himself.

“We’re the best team on the street”, they repeated. So I filled my coffee cups and finished my Excel sheets. I printed the team agendas and researched the daily investment news. I stayed late just to stay late and I arrived early just to arrive early.

Then at my midpoint meeting, my manager said I couldn’t listen to music at work.

I wasn’t on a team where I ever communicated with others, so this confused me, but I obliged. I sheepishly slid back to my desk and went back to my PowerPoint. That’s when it hit me — there was no brain activity going on.

When I wasn’t listening to the Hamilton soundtrack or the latest Director’s Guild podcast, my brain was completely dead.

Without the distraction, the work I was doing at my desk was painfully mundane.

The summer felt like solitary confinement.

I sat at one seat for hours on end, doing mind-numbing work for the higher up who would be sending it to the next higher up, and so on until it got lost in the vortex of useless presentations and files.

The work wasn’t difficult but it was awfully boring, and that I couldn’t stand.

I feared ending up like Jackie in the office behind me, who wore the same Louboutin

heels every day and who seemed to find the most genuine satisfaction in being able to brag about her Columbia MBA. The seconds dragged to minutes, hours and days until finally my 10 weeks at the bank were done and I knew I would never go back.

When you frame your life decisions with happiness as the ultimate goal, it’s hard to choose to do what makes you happy. In current times, exhaustion is romanticized and risk must always be hedged. We’re told to suffer now and reap the benefits later after setting ourselves up for a prolific long-term career. Even my strategy professor once asked the class, “It’s time to get serious.

What’s more important to you, your grades or your friends?”

I think that the best decisions aren’t made based off pure happiness, but what you consider as the best form of payment for your work. For some people, money is the right currency. It’s what they may need or what they truly want, and that’s OK. I do hope these 25-year-olds find joy in $17 cocktails at rooftop bars and weekend trips to the Hamptons. For others, it’s monotony and structured organizations and tasks. I mean, hey, someone has to do the accounting.

My currency is time. I could feel my time left on earth declining with every piece of data entered in excel. I saw the world continue without me as I stared out the same window from which I couldn’t move because it was admirable to not leave your desk. Millions of people walked through those streets while I watched, wondering what their stories were. Sitting there, I realized my time was depleting and nothing I did impacted the people actually making their way through the New York City streets — actually living.

The film industry is notoriously difficult and demanding. It’s horrifyingly low pay and also requires painfully long work days. It takes a lot of grit to move up. The work can be unstable and the culture can be miserable. In my previous media related internships, bosses screamed at me, threw things at me and berated me. If I wanted to be happy, I probably wouldn’t choose a career in film. If I were fragile or wanted work-life balance, I definitely would run the other way. But I choose to do it because I know that the time I put into it is valuable for working toward a larger, more fulfilling goal.

The time I spend trying to connect with the world and the people living in it through this creative medium we call film is so rewarding and extraordinary to me.

When I turned my back on corporate, people thought I was so bold. I don’t think it’s that triumphant. My goal isn’t to be a wild card in society, but to be pursuing

something that is so exciting, encourage and challenging that I want to invest my time and soul into it and do the best job.

I don’t regret going to business school or any of the employment opportunities I’ve taken. In fact, I’ve learned that my personality is exactly in line with business school — high strung and a little neurotic, but insanely efficient, professional and obsessed with Google Calendar. At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide what’s best for yourself — something this past summer as well as the past 3 years of business school revealed for me.

When my best friend (whom I met at Ross, by the way) was angry with me for recruiting in traditional corporate paths, he slipped me a note during class that said: Dear Meesh, Please stop being dumb and wasting your time. Pursue your passion and ignore the noise.

Regards, Nick It was great advice and though I hadn’t taken it, I hope someone else will. I hope more people will start valuing their precious time. It’s the only thing we can eventually transform into the “happiness” we humans always seem to be searching for.

It’s the only thing that we can never really get back.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL

4B

Wednesday,February 27, 2019 // The Statement

Wednesday, February 27. 2019 // The Statement

Picturing the border: memories of Ciudad Juárez, México Andrea Pérez Balderrama // The Daily

5B

BY ANDREA PÉREZ BALDERRAMA, MANAGING STATEMENT EDITOR

I

have a vivid memory of an old photograph — I am 5 years old. I am in the park across the street from my house in my school uniform, clutching in my hands two Barbie dolls and laughing. Behind me, the metal playground stands tall and barren, too hot to the touch under the heat of the afternoon desert sun.

On the ground are sparse patches of yellowing grass, as if someone tried to make it grow but realized any attempt to shield it from the drought would be futile.

A vibrant Ciudad Juárez, Mexico surrounds me. Beyond the guard and gate that protect my neighborhood, there is a wide avenue that runs north to south.

It abruptly turns left when it runs into the basin of “el Río Bravo,” or the Rio Grande, as if acknowledging it is not welcome on the other side. Despite the apparent rejection from the “gringos,” a bustling business district dwells on either side of the street. Everything from restaurants and bars to costume shops and hair salons can be found there. Old American school buses that have been painted over and now function as public transportation drive up and down carelessly, a phone number labeled as “quejas,” or complaints, always written on the back just in case. People honk their horns at the jugglers who practice their art standing at intersections in hopes of receiving a peso or two from drivers.

At night, the avenue lights up in color, with strobe lights and smoke machines functioning at maximum speed until the early hours of the day. Occasionally, sirens can be heard in the distance, rushing to the site of the next robbery or homicide. Over 1 million people coexist around this avenue — some are up to no good, but most lay their heads on their pillows every night thinking about love, professional success or responsibilities.

The year is 2002. The average price of a USD is 9.67 MXN. Due to the implementation of NAFTA, there are 396 factories, or “maquiladoras,” operating in Juárez. The average “maquiladora” worker earns 6 to 8 USD per day. But they are finding themselves unemployed as factories gear up to leave the valley and outsource to China. Due to the factory exodus, 200,000 people are uninsured.

The justice movement “Ni una más,” or “Not One More,” is formed in response to an increase in women’s killings, or

“femicidios.” The mayoral election has been canceled due to fraud allegations.

I have a vivid memory of an old photograph, my mother standing behind the camera, capturing a perfectly uncomplicated moment in my life. My laughter echoes innocently up the avenue and into my neighbor’s houses, spilling onto the canvas of a complicated society, one forcibly delineated by what once was a flowing river, but is now an empty basin. Once the sound reaches the riverbed, it dips but then rises again and crosses freely onto the other side.

That freedom, the privilege, to laugh so sincerely and without preoccupation would soon be muffled by expectations. From a very young age, I was accused of curiosity. I was a “callejera,” or a girl who liked being out of the house, and a “jacalotes,” or a girl who always wanted to have fun. My curiosity was met with the realization that the more I learned about my society, the more I would be pushed to obey its rules. Close your legs when you sit. Smile at compliments from old men. Feel good when they say you look like a butterfly. Don’t object when their eyes follow you as you walk away. ight years later, the candor of my laughter has been replaced by a feigned, frustrated smile. Another memory of a photograph, except in this one I am 13 years old. I am surrounded by friends in the basketball courts of our “secu,” or secondary school.

We just performed in our school’s “fonoshow,” the Mexican equivalent to an American school’s talent show. This year, we banded together with a group of 9th grade students to choreograph a medley of songs. In the picture, a group of nine girls and two boys takes center stage. All of the girls, bare shouldered and wearing fishnet tights, don red lipstick and rehearsed smiles while the boys stand there with their hands by their sides and straight faces.

I am kneeling on the ground. My hair, made to look unnaturally big, shines a golden brown, sun-kissed color that contrasts with my fair, makeup-covered skin. The outfit makes me look at least 15. My black shirt displays two spray painted golden hands over my breasts, and a white bra strap peeks out from under one of the shirt’s black spaghetti straps. My hand is uncomfortably patting my black tulle skirt down, as if its length made me uncomfortable.

Some of the other girls also place their hands in strategic places. One covers her chest while pretending to touch her collarbone. Another crosses her arms around her waist, hiding her midriff from the camera. Some hide behind others, and some try to make themselves bigger. We are all dressed the same, but each of us wears the makeup and clothes differently.

Our school now runs drills in case of shootings, and the man who used to sell us popsicles from the other side of the fence has been banned. Security has been tightened –– parents now have to carry photo IDs of their kids to be able to enter the school grounds. Kids go missing for weeks — we are told they went on vacation, but rumors fly around that they crossed the border for safety. Their parents have been kidnapped. Their uncle was killed. Their brother was caught by “sicarios,” or hitmen, surrounded

E

by the wrong company.

Beyond us, the sunset, and the imminent darkness that is to follow it, dissolves plans and causes families to lock their doors and draw their curtains. The avenue stretches wider now than it did in 2002, but there are no cars to fill it.

Once in a while, a lonely driver appears on the horizon and finds themselves waiting at a red light in vain. There are no cars driving on the cross street. What was once a bustling business district is now plagued by boarded storefronts and broken windows. In some places, bullet holes can be seen puncturing old store signs and doors of businesses that are still open to customers –– there isn’t enough money to patch up or replace them.

Park benches and pavilions don’t serve their purpose anymore. They just tolerate the sun every day, their paint chipping and being eaten away by the radiation. The patches of grass that once existed in the park across the street from my house have long been forgotten, and now a layer of dust accumulates on our neighborhoods’ cars every time boys come out to play “fútbol.” Fences go up to block streets that once could be traveled freely, and cameras are installed at restaurants and stores.

On the north end of the avenue, the “gringos” have built an iron fence on the ancient basin of the “Río Bravo.” At night, Border Patrol SUVs station themselves at intervals to guard it. It is as if they have grown more scared and proud with the passing of time, each year broadening the chasm between self and other within which Border Patrol officers find comfort.

The year is 2010. The average price of 1 USD is 12.75 MXN. At least 3,000 deaths have been reported in Juárez, out of which 306 were femicides. Living in the metropolitan area are 1,332,131 people, making the city the eighth largest in Mexico. The Sinaloa Cartel and Juárez Cartels are fighting a “turf war.” During some months, Juárez reportedly experiences 10 murders a day. Some consider our city a war zone, so much so that the Mexican government has sent us military forces. Military checkpoints are common, but even more common yet is to see soldiers with their hands on the trigger of automatic weapons.

I am kneeling on the ground, and the innocent laughter that seemed so normal in 2002 has now vanished. Instead, I look uncomfortable. My smile appears wide, but my eyes say something else. The moment the camera managed to capture is no longer uncomplicated.

The laughter that once spilled unpreoccupied is now contained in a forced smile, kept at bay by the knowledge and the expectations that have accumulated with time. It is charged with years of bearing witness, years of seeing, feeling and hearing things that will never be forgotten.

The avenue and the river basin, as empty and broken as they may seem, are still my only landmarks. At 13, I am actively discovering my body and identity, but I can only build up from what I already know. I know women are never supposed to sit with their legs open. I know I am never supposed to admit that I wear makeup.

Instead, I need to apply the perfect amount, enough to enhance my features but still go unnoticed by other people. I know my friends are embarrassed to eat in front of men for fear that they will be perceived as fat or without manners. I know I always need to smell good and smile quietly in the background of a conversation. I know I am never supposed to go the bathroom alone. I know I should feel flattered when a man tells me I am beautiful, even if it is at the wrong place in the wrong time.

Even if I never wanted to hear it or do it in the first place.

I feel uncomfortable in my own body. Violence finds a way to circle around it like a vulture patiently waiting for its prey to die.

Violence circles my body in the “literal” way –– I always have to look back and make sure that a man is not following me when I am in the store without my mother. I look back the same way that I always do when my father is driving past dawn, making sure no car follows us home, out of fear of being physically harmed.

There is a park near my house. It used to be an empty lot, but the government found a way to transform one of the corners into a memorial for the victims of femicide. Its walls are painted white with bright pink trims and the ground is littered with black and pink wooden crosses.

In 2002, the sight of such bright colored walls and the presence of the crosses would spark me to ask questions that my mother never wanted to answer, but now I keep quiet. I know why the park is there now. I know what the crosses stand for. I understand what it means, and I have no reason to believe that I am exempt from that treatment. nother 8 years have passed since I knelt on the basketball courts of my “secu,” and yet another photograph has been taken. For this one, I am able to recall the exact moment when it happened. It was a humid summer day in Mexico City, and my family was visiting La Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s childhood home converted into a museum of her art. My cousin motioned me to pose for a picture, and I reluctantly agreed. It was a painless, fast moment. She kneeled, took the photo and stood up. I never imagined she would provide me with one of my favorite photographs of myself.

My smile is secure, confident, and I am look-

From a very young age, I was accused of curiosity.

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ing directly at the camera. I am wearing my favorite summer dress. Its cream color makes my skin appear sun-kissed, and the pattern melts into the background, as if Frida and I agreed to match our taste. The dress itself is heavy, made out of rayon, but it doesn’t seem to be bringing me down. My hands sit delicately on my sides, shoulders are relaxed, and I am leaning back slightly as if motioning to the sky.

In the background, barely there, is the window of Frida’s studio. Her garden blossoms around me, and the little sun that can escape the canopy of trees creates shadows that dance on my face. The photo was taken from below, so it appears as if I am towering over the frame.

Despite the exotic plants and colorful flowers and walls of the background, I am still the point of focus of the photograph. Every angle and line leads the eye to my face.

Out of the frame and surrounding me is a city that I barely know and a country that I no longer recognize. No sabes nada de la Ciudad de México, muchos se van y terminan regresando a sus pueblos asustados. You don’t know anything about Mexico City, many go and go back to their towns scared. That is what my grandma kept saying to me when I told her I wanted to move there.

The country, I don’t recognize because I left it. I have been living in the U.S. since 2011 and I now understand so much more. I am able to build my identity not only on the things that I see and experience, but also based on other people who are different than me but have some shared experiences.

The year is 2018. I have not lived in Juárez since I was 13 and I am now 20. The years have flown by without hesitation, and the girl in the photograph has learned how to reclaim herself.

I still look back in the supermarket to see if any man is following me, but have stopped trying to determine if the person driving behind me has malicious intentions. I no longer shave my legs, now eat in front of men and always go to the bathroom by myself.

Most importantly, I have found my voice.

I never knew it was possible to advocate for myself the way I have learned to do since 2011.

It is in the small things. The girl with golden hands over her breasts, red lips and unnecessarily big hair is now a part of a different, slightly more accepting society.

I now know my voice deserves to be heard.

I know that violence and fear may have prevented me from speaking before, but I am also aware that what I accepted as normal then would never pass as normal now. I am able to see everything that happened to me in Juárez as an outsider. I learn about my hometown from books and classes, from people who have never been there before. Their approach, the way they see my city may not be holistic, but I do think that it is valuable to study your experiences through an outsider’s role.

If it wasn’t for the University of Michigan, I would have not had the amount of education needed to process and deal with the remaining trauma left over from those last few years in Juárez.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019// The Statement

Thoughts on wealth in Ann Arbor

BY PHOEBE JOHNSON, STATEMENT CONTRIBUTOR

Evan Aaron // The Daily

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nn Arbor: liberal heart of the Midwest, is the place I call home. A beloved college town in which things like a deer cull can monopolize months of public debate. Ann Arbor, although filled to the brim with small town charm and regularly honored with numerous seemingly arbitrary accolades, is not a city without its fair share of problems. In particular, like many cities in modern America, Ann Arbor is plagued by an inequality gap.

This gap was something that I grew up in and around, implicitly aware of throughout my childhood, and explicitly disturbed by as I entered high school.

Unfortunately, however, Ann Arbor’s problems are far too often ignored — swept under the rug by a unique form of Ann Arbor elitism that uses extreme outward social liberalism to cover the reality of racial and economic homogeneity that is increasingly prevalent in this town.

My first experiences with this side of Ann Arbor culture began in elementary school. Bryant Elementary is located in one of the few low income neighborhoods in Ann Arbor, surrounded by multiple public housing projects and large, lowincome apartment buildings. The school welcomes a diverse student body, both racially and ethnically, among which a large percentage receive free or reduced lunch. My dad would often say that when he attended our school concerts, he felt as if he was sitting in a meeting of the United Nations.

My neighborhood was not originally included in the Bryant school zone, but it was added as a result of a citywide redistricting effort to bring about socioeconomic diversity. However, among the 10 or so children that lived on my block, my brother, my cousin and I were the only ones to attend public school. Instead, many of our neighbors, fearful of the behavioral issues and other distractions that their children may have encountered at Bryant, choose to send their children to a $20,000 a year private school at which they would be surrounded by classmates who, socioeconomically, looked just like them.

Reminiscent of the racial homogeneity used to protect the cultural integrity of white neighborhoods in postwar Detroit, my neighbors, though a diverse group of individuals, leveraged economic barriers to essentially achieve the same goal: produce an artificially created “safe” space, sheltered from change and the reality of the diverse outside world.

This attitude, however, is entirely paradoxical when considering my neighbors’ political affiliations and apparent core belief system. Though my neighbors, like many Ann Arborites, bleed blue on the outside, speak of how they cherish diversity and inclusion, and mourn the tragedies surrounding the demise of public education, their ideologies seem to be entirely lost in implementation. When given the opportunity to immerse their children in a diverse environment, like Bryant

school, they veered in the opposite direction.

This perplexing conflation of values is something that I perceive to be representative of the greater Ann Arbor community: Social liberalism is celebrated from a distance, but hardly practiced up close.

I wish I could say things got better when I reached high school, but unfortunately, the inequity that I witnessed in education frankly got worse. The diverse group of students that sat beside me all throughout elementary school seemed to disappear, especially as I transitioned into taking self-selecting advanced classes. I soon noticed that my classes felt less like a U.N. meeting and increasingly more like a Senate Republican conference (though of course very different in political leanings.)

This extreme racial homogeneity of advanced classes seemed to create a restrictive tradition for success at my school, a tradition that mandates whiteness as a prerequisite for admittance to the school’s high-achieving culture.

When students fall behind — a trend that often occurs along racial lines — they are isolated from the opportunities of academic success that have come to define my school statewide.

I didn’t have to look far to find evidence of this achievement gap. Photos hung in the entrance hall of my high school depicting great, (predominantly) white alumni. The idea of college for many of my classmates was an expectation, not an achievement. And when 87 students from my graduating class decided to attend the University of Michigan, almost none of them were African American.

My journey in public education continues at the University of Michigan. Here, I have gained a new perspective of life in the city, realizing that the Ann Arbor I grew up in and the Ann Arbor that I experience as a University student are remarkably different. Using the model of gentrification, it is almost as if the wealthy University students are a type of gentry, bringing a wave of investment that is in turn shaping and changing the culture of the city. Canada Goose jackets have replaced Birken-

stocks as the fashion piece of choice for people I encounter around town, Range Rover SUVs are beginning to threaten the hordes of Subarus in the parking lots, and New York City-priced apartments in high rises sprung up around town.

The culmination of these outward economic status symbols create a restrictive culture that uses high prices to maintain an exclusive and homogeneous community. As the high visibility of this elite class culture spreads across campus, students who can’t produce a certain look or lead a certain lifestyle are being excluded economically, socially and psychologically from what seems to be the dominant culture of the University community.

This cultural evolution strays far from the University’s founding value of providing a quality education for the common man, a place where you could get an East Coast education without belonging to the East Coast elite. However, trends at Michigan in both the high average income of the student body, and high prices of tuition and livingindicate the opposite.

Though the University has taken active efforts to attract low income students to its doors, this public institution no longer appears to be a place for the common man.

To be common at the University of Michigan is not to be from the 50 percent, but to be from a family who makes $154,000 or more a year — in other words, belong to the privileged elite.

Given the many changes to the city of Ann Arbor in recent years, both physically and demographically, the future of the city is unknown. However, what is certain is that if the city follows the trend of building an ever growing economic border around its limits, the inequality gap and its effect on city culture will continue to grow. Who Ann Arbor is really for is now the dominant question. Is it for the people who live here currently? The people who will be able to afford the increasingly high price of cost of living in the future?

Or is it for the cultivation of a diverse and multi-dimensional community that Ann Arbor voters demand, yet take no steps to enforce?

Ann Arbor is in the midst of an identity crisis — we preach one set of ideals yet practice another. We know who Ann Arbor was in the past, but until residents and the University decide to act on their beliefs and take control of who they want to the city to be and belong to in the future, the fate of the city is left to the trends of economic development. Until Ann Arbor can find a way to bridge the divide between theory and practice, the future of the city may be out of our hands.

Copy That: To whom it may concern

Wednesday, 27, 2019 2019 // // The The Statement Statement Wednesday,February January 16,

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y typical Ann Arbor weekend: I’ve made the trek down to Main Street to one of my favorite coffee shops and, before I get started on schoolwork, I sit with a fresh mug of black coffee and a crisp copy of the newspaper. That’s right: the news, on paper. Hard-copy news is still alive and well.

I joined The Michigan Daily on a whim when a friend ardently convinced me, and one year later, here I am in the position of senior copy editor. As part of the copy section at The Daily, I now spend each week fact-checking and editing the grammar of articles. Looking back, I realize I joined not for the enthusiasm of editing or even the chance to belong to The Daily community, but out of a subconscious passion for preserving the art of printed news — no app, email or Twitterverse sound-bitten form of news.

Today, society innovatively manages to stay informed and connected. However, it’s rare to see college students and millennials picking up and reading a physical newspaper like my grandparents do every morning at the breakfast table. For me, newspapers are the last true bastion of reliable information in an age of questionable online sources. As a copy editor, I understand the pertinence of not only grammatical editing but the absolute necessity of fact-checking for accurate information.

Ironically, I’m writing this article to an intended audience of college students and millennials who probably won’t actually read it. I’m sending a message in a bottle into the ocean hoping someone will eventually find it buried in the sand on a distant shore. This metaphor might be extreme, but you get the message (pun intended).

Most students, myself included, mindlessly scroll through their phones the way apps have trained us to do. A print newspaper forces us to stop and smell the roses. It distracts us in a wholesome way and forces us to reflect — even for just a minute of our day — on what else is going on in the world, without seeing these events through the unfocused lenses of social media sources. Though not impossible, it’s difficult to quickly and frantically skim the printed news in a rush to class or while walking through the crowds of State Street. A newspaper demands our full attention — a concept most of us reserve for binge-watching “Friends.”

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BY REECE MEYHOEFER, SENIOR COPY EDITOR

A newspaper says more than the words on its pages. The voice of established publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune all have specific styles that effectively reveal the inner truths of a location and subculture. The newspaper inherently conveys emotion and mood and has a personal effect on the reader.

When touring colleges as a senior in high school, I always picked up the colleges’ student newspapers to assess the campus vibe and to understand the voice of its students.

Not surprisingly, one of my favorite parts of my day during my summer internship experience in Washington, D.C., was reading Express, a free daily publication from The Washington Post, on the Metro every morning. It served not only as a source for the current state of the union and political shenanigans, but also became my personal guide to

the city. The “Weekend Pass” section highlighted destinations of interest, local events, upcoming concerts and the newest museum exhibits in a way no website or friend recommendation could do. I found myself ending up everywhere from the steps of the National Portrait Gallery for the free Fall Out Boy concert before the Capitals’ playoff game to the Hirshhorn Museum for the Georg Baselitz exhibit ¬¬¬— all of this as a result of reading the news.

If the news is so subtly transformative in our daily lives, then being involved with The Daily as copy editor is all the more transformative to my own life.

While working at The Daily (and in an effort to keep current for my political science classes), I have refined my newsreading habits and become inspired to declare an English major with a political science minor. Being involved so closely with the news introduced me to my own

curiosity and excitement for reading that transcends the confines of the classroom and the realm of academia. I came to appreciate a news article as an art form, much like that of great literature, poetry or lyrics.

Though not truly an aging dinosaur yet, newspapers just might have a comeback in our generation, much in the same way vinyl record players and Polaroid pictures have cluttered the dorm rooms of college students. I can only hope.

So as I finish my coffee shop session of weekend studying, I will leave behind my paged-through copy of The Daily with the intention that someone else might pick it up, take the time to read it, then leave it for the next person. Either that or it will end up on the bottom of their new puppy’s training cage. Regardless, I will continue to do my best to initiate a new reader — even if it’s just one hard copy at a time.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTINE JEGARL

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019 // The Statement

THE VISUAL STATEMENT

LITERATI

by Allison Engvist