2020-02-12

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Climate Blue sends letter questioning ‘U’ decisions

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Executive order on anti-Semitism concerns students, faculty

Message delivered to Schlissel, Regents recommends carbon neutrality by 2030 ARJUN THAKKAR Daily Staff Reporter

PHOTO & DESIGN BY ALEC COHEN/DAILY

FRANCESCA DUONG & KRISTINA ZHENG Daily Staff Reporters

University of Michigan professors are worried that an executive order intended to combat anti-Semitism poses a threat to their ability to teach about Middle Eastern conflict and engage with students freely in the classroom.

The executive order, signed

by President Donald Trump on Dec. 11, 2019, designates Judaism as either a nationality or a race and prohibits anti-Semitism, declaring certain language painting Israel in a negative light as anti-Semitic and illegal under the Civil Rights Act. Universities that defy it risk potentially losing federal funding, but leaders in the

University’s Judaic Studies Department do not foresee any changes to their curricula and doubt the efficacy of the order.

Jeffrey Veidlinger, director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, said no alterations would be made in his department.

“We will not make any changes based on the Trump executive order,” Veidlinger said. “I think that’s the goal of the executive order, (which) is to have that chilling effect on the climate of teaching, to make professors afraid of things they would otherwise say.”

The order follows an increase in anti-Semitic harassment on college campuses across the country. According to the AntiDefamation League, an anti-hate group dedicated to protecting Jewish people, American

colleges and universities claimed an 89 percent increase in reported anti-Semitic incidents in 2017 compared to 2016.

This order follows a rise in attacks on Jewish people outside of academia, including a shooting that killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in October 2018 and a December 2019 attack in which a knife-wielding man wounded five people gathered to light candles for the seventh night of Hanukkah at the home of a Hasidic rabbi.

Order reminiscent of previous controversy on campus On Nov. 14, 2017, the University’s Central Student Government passed the #UMDivest resolution supporting divestment from companies operating in Israel

due to alleged human rights violations. The resolution aligned with values of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement, a movement started by Palestinian civil society groups in 2005, and initiated a wave of support from pro-divestment students, and conversely, dissent from many pro-Israel students.

Professor Victor Lieberman, who declined to be quoted in this article, was critical of the BDS movement on campus, accusing pro-Palestine activists of stifling political discourse. In an open letter published in The Algemeiner in 2017, Lieberman accused BDS activists of hypocrisy after he was blocked from speaking during the divestment debate at the Central Student Government meeting.

See ORDER, Page 2

Climate Blue, a student organization responsible for organizing the University of Michigan’s student delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference, sent a letter to University administrators on Monday outlining calling for carbon neutrality by 2030.

The letter ref lected on the delegation’s experiences at the conference in December 2019 and recommended actions for the University to pursue in order to approach the growing climate crisis.

The organization shared the letter on Monday in the format of an email to University President Mark Schlissel, the University Regents and the President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality. Climate

Blue thanked the University for the opportunity to send 13 delegates to the 25th annual Conference of the Parties, where 197 member countries come together to discuss preventing human interference on the global climate.

“However, despite being a part of such a stimulating and inspiring event, we feel disheartened by the lack of urgency in raising awareness about and addressing climate change locally, at UM,” the letter read. “As a top research institution globally, we have the capacity to be leaders on climate change initiatives, and should be using our resources to do what is morally right, not only for students, but also for the rest of the world. We strongly urge UM to implement the resolutions presented in this letter.”

See LETTER, Page 3

Activists, SAPAC host discussion on Campus Professor examines survivors’ healing, handling trauma switches TRANSPORTATION

CAMPUS LIFE

‘what ifs’ in history

Alumna Alisa Zipursky shares personal experience with overcoming assault SOFIA URBAN

Daily Staff Reporter

Fairfield University faculty member talks Jewish developments

Approximately 50 students, faculty and community members gathered in Weill Hall Tuesday evening for “Hope and Healing,” a discussion of sexual violence recovery.

The Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center hosted the event.

Alisa Zipursky, University of Michigan alum and founder of Healing Honestly, led the discussion.

Zipursky clarified her goal to create a safe space within the community to talk about healing after sexual assault trauma. The event focused

BRAYDEN HIRSCH Daily Staff Reporter

In his book “What ifs of Jewish History: From Abraham to Zionism,” professor Gavriel Rosenfeld discusses what life would be like if certain pieces of Jewish history hadn’t happened. Rosenfeld examined these speculations of Jewish history at his seminar Thursday afternoon with around 30 students and Ann Arbor residents at the 202 South Thayer Building.

Rosenfeld is a professor at Fairfield University and has written several books on Jewish history. Specifically, he poses hypotheticals, asking, among other things, what would have happened if Hitler had been assassinated and died prematurely. Rosenfeld read excerpts from his novel to help the audience better understand his ideas of how life would be if Hitler had been killed.

“We understand your father was highly conf licted about this evening with the assassination of Hitler as was reported in the newspaper,” Rosenfeld read from the book. “In the years after the assassination he was plagued by doubt … and made life worse rather than better for your excuse. And as a result, we adhere to his decision to see the life of exile and millions without the ref lective reluctance to be linked to an act.”

See HISTORY, Page 3

on debunking common myths surrounding the healing process. Zipursky said she hopes the event will inspire others.

“Tonight is more about the ‘what now’ and ‘what next,’ how to live full and vibrant lives (as) young people while we deal with the real impacts of our trauma on our lives,” Zipursky said.

At the beginning of the event, coordinators reminded attendees that SAPAC is a free and confidential resource for students, staff and faculty on campus.

The first myth Zipursky focused on was the concept of a “real” survivor. She explained how various

unique factors can lead survivors to feel silenced.

Zipursky said many survivors feel increased stigmatization due to internal guilt or lack of ability to immediately identify their trauma.

Zipursky also explained how survivors who delay reporting sexual assaults or do not have clear memories of their assaults often fear that their claims will be perceived as illegitimate.

“There are so many ways our survivorship is invalidated,” Zipursky said.

“For me, my survivorship was invalidated by the fact that I didn’t have clear memories of what happened to me. I have what I would describe as body memories

or sensory memories that are sometimes called somatic memories.”

The second myth Zipursky expanded on was the idea that college is supposed to be the best time of a person’s life. She explained how the pressure to have the perfect college experience leaves little space for survivors to make space for their pain and healing.

Zipursky said while college should be a time for fun and friendship, her experience at the University also included struggle and pain. She said she struggled with the discrepancy between these two feelings.

See SAPAC, Page 3

to Magic Bus app

University transitions to new bus-tracking system starting Feb. 29 FRANCESCA DUONG Daily Staff Reporter

After Feb. 29, the University of Michigan will switch to using the U-M Magic Bus and halt all DoubleMap support.

According to Senior Manager of Logistics Scott Babut, the transition to U-M Magic Bus app follows the expiration of the contract with the previous supplier system. Babut said after pursuing the University of Michigan’s contracting process, Clever Devices became the new supplier, and Magic Bus was included in their system.

According to the Logistics, Transportation & Parking press release, the new app will feature stop times, a realtime map, a trip planner, the ability to create an account and tracking by text message.

Babut said creating an account in the app has helped many passengers plan their trips around campus.

“Within these accounts, the passengers have the ability to create profiles with their favorite route and stops, allowing them to receive information that’s important to them based on those routes and stops,” Babut. “We also see that it provides us the potential to communicate service changes and detours to a targeted passenger base.”

RUCHITA IYER/Daily

. LSA alum Alisa Zipursky shares her experiences on the healing process at SAPAC’s Hope and Healing event in Annenberg Auditorium Tuesday evening.

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2 — Wednesday, February 12, 2020

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY:

By Design

WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

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FRIDAY: Behind the Story

Feb. 12, 1967: Study guides for those who don’t like to read As far as her French 232 teacher is concerned Connie Brown, ‘70, knows “La Femme Savant” cold. Miss Brown came through with a flat A in a recent exam on the French novel.

Only thing is Miss Brown never bothered to read the book in French.

Instead she simply read an English “pony” version.

Miss Brown reflects a long-standing college tradition that has suddenly come of age. At campuses across the country a growing number of students are plunking down $1 to $3 for study guides on everything from Falstaff to Symbolic Logic.

While local book merchants are ecstatic about the trend, teachers here view the matter with alarm.

The study guide issue has generated so much campus controversy that the University Activities Center is sponsoring a faculty-student panel discussion of this issue Saturday, Feb. 18, at the League.

Teachers fear student creativity is stifled by use of study guides. Prof. Bert Hornback of the English department says “the watered down masterplots are crutches, not study guides. They’re just things to learn facts from.”

He thinks a better university atmosphere would be created if money spent on study guides are spent on “beer and pizza” for a bull session.

Nonetheless bookstores here do a flourishing trade on the study guides.

One stroe alone stocks 350 study guides

under eight major titles. The review notes are “continuous good sellers” says a spokesman for Wahr’s bookstore.

One of the largest companies in the field, Monarch Press Inc, sold five million study guides and grossed over $3 million last year. To uphold their claim that “shakespeare was never easier,” Cliff’s Notes offers a $1 summary, text, glossary, and picture book of most of Shakespeare’s plays.

New companies regularly join the field. Hornback recently received an offer for a new series “complete with display rack” that promised 50 percent profit to the retailer.

Hornback says the study guides reflect “an absurd insistence on research” which “destroys the goal of

the university.”

But a junior coed laments, “It’s the only way” to manage work. Linda Lot, ‘68, complains that in history “you don’t get an overview when you have to read ten paperbacks a semester,” without some outline to follow. One freshman honors student uses the notes exclusively in Great Books 192 and feels he is able to do at least as well, if not better than, the students who read the texts.

However, many courses are being structured to decrease the possibility of this occurring. Prof. L. McNamara of the English department “unconsciously” constructs his exams so that a student cannot get a good mark if he relies solely on study aids.

Prof. Marvin Felheim of the English department realizes students can manage to get a ‘C’ by reading study guides, but he is confident that, by the nature of his assignments, he outsmarts the notes. History 101 and 102 teaching fellow Ronald Huch said essay exams limited the advantages that a purely factual study outline could provide.

The reliability of factual material presented in study guides is also questioned. Since the notes are often written by grad students for small fees, the information is sometimes inadequate or inaccurate. Rather than see students use Study Masters or Cliff’s Notes, which he feels are inadequate, Hornabck recommends 15-cent Classics Illustrated comic books.

For a “quick, factual reference” for a student with a poor background in a subject, Huch often suggests use of Littlefield Notes, which he feels are written by “reputable scholars.” But Huch fears that about one-third of his class probably use notes in place of the text.

McNamara “pities” students who spend money on courses and then buy notes to “do their thinking for them.”

Of study guides he states simply, “I wish there weren’t any.”

On the other hand, Asst. Prof. Walter CLark of the English department feels it is somewhat “comic” for a student to cheat himself by using a study guide independently of the text and pretend he is getting away with something.

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Editorial Staff ERIN WHITE MICHAEL BAGAZINSKI/Daily Gavriel D. Rosenfeld of Fairfield University discusses alternative timelines in Jewish history at the What Ifs of Jewish History lecture at 202 S Thayer Tuesday afternoon.

Central Student Government proposes resolution to end Delta Airlines contract Assembly talks terminating partnership with international flight company following ICE deportations JULIA RUBIN

Daily Staff Reporter

The University of Michigan Central Student Government convened Tuesday night in the Michigan Union to discuss asking the University to end their contract with Delta Air Lines and to revise CSG procedures in light of upcoming elections.

Medical student Whit Froehlich ran the meeting in the absence of CSG president Ben Gerstein, Public Policy junior.

Delta Air Lines made hundreds of deportation f lights for ICE in 2019.

The resolution sponsors recommend University staff f ly with airlines that have refused to participate in deportation f lights, including American, Southwest and United.

Delta provides discounted rates for University staff.

Rackham student Siddharth Singh Chaudhari raised

financial and convenience concerns about eliminating the contract. He noted Delta f lights are the primary way to get to Europe and Asia from Michigan.

“In proposing to suspend the contract with Delta, I wonder if, given the reality of Delta’s relationship with DTW actually, would it allow University employees to continue to purchase Delta tickets paying full price, actually give them more money in the long-run instead of taking the discount we have as a result of the contract,” Chaudhari said.

Social Work student Cecelela Tomi pointed out the greatest discount for University employees is about 10 percent. She suggested including rate information in the resolution.

“It might help to say that we don’t have that much of a financial stake in this, anyways,” Tomi said.

Later in the meeting, Rackham student Hayden

Jackson raised concerns about campaign finance and procedures ahead of the upcoming March elections.

Assembly members proposed raising finance caps — the maximum amount candidates for CSG can spend on their own campaigns — from $50 to $150 and removing the limit on CSG candidates from emailing listservs they do not control.

“A number of the members of the committee expressed hesitation in (lifting the listserv ban), in particular because of the impact we worry it will have on the quality of CSG elections, the engagement that students show in CSG elections if one CSG candidate can simply win elections by emailing as many listservs as they have access to,” Jackson said. “So, we worry about the effects of that on CSG’s reputation on campus and the good future of the organization on campus.”

Hayden also proposed changing rules surrounding

campaign speech. He noted past CSG rules restricting speech have been declared unconstitutional, citing Ann Arbor’s 15th District Court striking down the rule barring candidates from declaring false incumbency.

“We have a responsibility as a public institution of higher learning to keep restrictions on speech at a bare minimum,” Jackson said. “I don’t believe the rules on campaigning as they stand are compatible with this principle.”

All resolutions were returned to the Rules Committee after discussion.

The Assembly also confirmed Law student Meghan Patero as Student General Counsel.

Additionally, the CSG Executive Nominations Committee reported that she desires to stay apolitical as Student General Counsel and believes in interpreting governing documents regardless of her personal opinions.

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ORDER From Page 1 “Uncertainty is what makes intellectual life exciting,” Lieberman wrote.

“Unfortunately the tolerance that was on display on November 14 is part of the growing climate of intolerance that has led to the shutting down of speakers on college campuses across the country.

Irony of ironies: while student representatives spoke in favor of silencing me, UMDivest supporters in the audience waved signs that read ‘Do Not Silence Me.’” People have previously accused faculty members claiming academic freedom in their criticism of Israel

of anti-Semitism. In 2018, American Culture Professor John Cheney-Lippold and Graduate Student Instructor Lucy Peterson refused to write letters of recommendation for students studying abroad in Israel as part of a boycott against the alleged human rights abuses occurring in Palestine.

The move garnered national attention, including accusations of anti-Semitism and multiple death threats against Cheney-Lippold. The University issued disciplinary action, withholding his sabbatical eligibility and credits until the Fall 2020 semester.

In an email to The Daily, Cheney-Lippold stressed the importance of viewing the order in its geopolitical

context, citing the Trump administration’s relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognition of the Golan Heights as a part of Israel.

He also described the order as a push to silence pro-BDS conversations.

“Trump is using this re-definition of anti-Semitism, fairly explicitly, as a means to silence political speech that seeks to draw attention to human rights violations in Israel,” Cheney-Lippold wrote.

“Critique of a state — indeed, any state — must be protected and not be seen as a critique of the people of that state.”

New definition elicits national response, criticism The executive order sparked outcry from professors at higher education institutions across the country. The Jewish

Studies Activist Network, an organization that speaks out against policies that run counter to its members’ values as Jewish studies scholars, issued a letter on Dec. 19 detailing the concerns surrounding Trump’s executive order. The letter explained the dangers of adopting a definition that includes all “targeting” of Israel as anti-Semitic.

The executive order codifies the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism, but JSAN’s letter points out that the lead author of the definition, Kenneth Stern, publicly declared that the government should not adopt it, as using such definitions as a matter of U.S. policy was not the original intention.

See ORDER, Page 3

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ORDER From Page 2 JSAN encouraged scholars and educators from colleges and universities across the world to sign the letter in support of condemning Trump’s executive order. More than 100 names are attached to the letter, including faculty and staff at the University such as Veidlinger, Karla Goldman, Sam Shuman, Anita Norich, Rachel Rafael Neis and Shachar Pinsker.

Lila Corwin Berman, Temple University history professor and member of the JSAN coordinating committee, said the order specifically targets students who have origins tied to Israel, including Palestinian and Muslim students. Berman discussed the necessity of learning about the histories and the conf licts related to Israel, which she said will be hindered as the order is implemented in college and university campuses.

“Suddenly, there are people who feel like they don’t want to touch it, they don’t want to get involved,” Berman said. “You have this area of study that is incredibly important to think about historically, to think about politically, economically, in all these lenses that academia can bring, that people are going to feel like they can’t talk about it or they will face consequences. And that some people, by virtue of their identity, be seen as suspects already for this.”

National Jewish affinity groups have differed in their response to the order.

While critics question if Trump is using it as a political tool to lure in Jewish support, prominent organizations such as the Anti-Defamation Leag ue and American Jewish Committee have released statements supporting the order.

The AJC noted it will continue to speak out against any “rational criticism” of Israel, though it does not see this order as an attempt to stif le free speech.

“We trust that a careful application of this directive will enable university administrators to avoid running afoul of free speech protections as they seek to root out anti-Semitism on their campuses,” AJC CEO David Harris wrote in a statement.

Students, faculty split on potential impacts of order In addition to noting his department will not make any changes because of the order, Veidlinger said the order has no practical purpose, besides signaling to academia that they are being watched by the government.

“I think they recognize that universities promote liberal values of tolerance, diversity — and those values are an anathema to the current government,” Veidliner said.

LSA sophomore David Zwick, president of Wolverines for Israel, acknowledged that academic overreach by the federal government is a prominent concern but said anti-Semitism was a problem that many Jewish students face.

LETTER From Page 1A

In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald confirmed on Tuesday that the president’s office had received the letter and that Schlissel would respond directly to Climate Blue once he had time to review it.

In the letter, Climate Blue asks the University to drop its charges against the arrested climate advocacy

News

“Students feel frankly scared to walk around wearing symbols of Judaism publicly, like a yamaka or a Star of David, on some of the most diverse campuses that we have, not only diverse but one of the most prestigious college campuses in this country,” Zwick said.

Goldman, a professor of Judaic studies and program director of Jewish Communal Leadership who signed the JSAN letter, said the executive order may feel unsettling for many in the Jewish community because she believes singling out Jewish people may lead to increased anti-Semitism.

“We discussed this in class, this blurriness of what Jewish identity is in general,” Goldman said.

“It’s not just a religion, it’s not just a culture, it’s not just a peoplehood. But these things, like nationality or race, are just very clumsy fits, as well as religion.

Those are categories that our culture gives us that aren’t great fits for describing an identity that has lots of facets and means different things to different people.”

After the executive order was signed, students and activist groups on campus alternatively praised and criticized the move.

Social Work student Simeon Adler is currently in the first year of the Jewish Communal Leadership Program.

Adler said Trump’s decision may further alienate Jewish students.

“It singles out the Jews themselves, which I think a lot of Jews on campus and in general are really skeptical about, and a little cautious about,” Adler said. “This whole idea of labeling us as a nationality has people a little uneasy.”

Students also acknowledged that the order will inf luence the academic freedom of faculty teaching about Israel.

LSA senior Silan Fadlallah, who took The Arab-Israeli Conf lict in Middle Eastern Literature and Film, noted that the executive order could have a negative impact on discussions in the classroom, specifically for Palestinian students.

“Some Palestinian students, specifically, may feel a little less encouraged to be able to participate in these types of discussions for fear of being antiSemitic,” Fadlallah said.

“Personally, I have no problem speaking out about it and standing up for myself, but I know a lot of students would take a step back because of that.”

Deborah Dash Moore, Frederick G.L. Huetwell professor of history, currently teaches several courses related to Jewish history and culture. Moore said she will focus her classes more on the history and methods of combating anti-Semitism.

“That approach I will probably pay a little more attention to because those are efforts to dismantle the practice of anti-Semitic discrimination by explicitly calling upon American ideals, rather than grounding it in definitions of what constitutes as antiSemitism,” Moore said.

Moore’s classes examine the history of Zionism, which Israel’s Ministry

of Foreign Affairs defines as “an ideolog y which expresses the yearning of Jews the world over for their historical homeland — Zion, the Land of Israel.”

Similar to CheneyLippold, Fadlallah raised concerns that anti-Zionism could be considered antiSemitism when they are not the same.

“Just because you are against the state of Israel, that does not mean you are against Jewish people,” Fadlallah said.

According to Zwick, there are two main types of discussion surrounding Israel. The first is fair, just criticism of Israel similar to how any person could criticize the U.S. However, in Zwick’s eyes, the second type — criticism that disproportionately scrutinizes Israel — is unhealthy. Zwick thinks that pro-Palestinian groups are sometimes unable to disting uish between those discussions.

“Their claim that is that their free speech is being stif led, specifically disproportionately being stif led, I think that’s also ridiculous,” Zwick said.

“The reason I say that is because what they accuse us of doing is conf lating criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism, but really, it’s really they who are conf lating it.”

Education junior Diana Yassin has taken History 244: The History of the Arab-Israeli Conf lict and Political Science 353: The Arab-Israeli Conf lict. She said the courses were taught with a pro-Israeli focus.

“I really don’t agree with the ways these classes are taught often just because I feel like it really neglects a lot of the Palestinian perspective and really puts a lot of blame on Palestinians,” Yassin said.

Zwick, however, said he has not witnessed any bias in the Middle Easternfocused classes that he has taken. He noted antiSemitic teachings might not always happen in the topics strictly pertaining to Middle Eastern or Judaic studies.

“A lot of the issues of anti-Semitism come from classes that are completely irrelevant to this topic, oftentimes in departments that you wouldn’t even imagine this would come up,” Zwick said. “Go and ask so many pro-Israel students on this campus … they will be painfully familiar with instances on this campus and/or on other campuses of teachers using the classroom as a platform to promote anti-Semitic movements against Israel.”

Goldman said universities should be places for encouraging conversations and broadening perspectives, and this order undermines that goal. Because of this, Goldman said she sees the order as a threat to academic freedom.

“Most of us are here because we want to have access to voice, to financial security — these things that a university can help provide — to legitimacy,” Goldman said. “Our hopes — our ideals — are that it’s a place for opening discourse, rather than shutting it down. And that’s why this (executive order) feels bad.”

protestors who sought a meeting with Schlissel at the Fleming Administrative Building on March 15, 2019.

Rackham student Akash Shah, one of the co-directors of Climate Blue and a delegate at COP 25, said she does not feel the group’s requests are unreasonable.

“What we’re asking for is not unreasonable,” Shah said. “We’re asking for something that is important for us and for future generations. So, I think it’s wrong to punish us for making these demands. And I think that the University

should continue to provide a platform where we can express our views.”

According to Rackham student Juan Jhong Chung, who participated in the protests at COP 25, the movement was a peaceful demonstration led by activists who felt their voices were excluded, despite climate change having a disproportionate impact on them. Jhong Chung claimed the U.N. called security and the Spanish police to remove them from the conference as they were protesting how large oil companies had a

HISTORY From Page 1

Rosenfeld discussed his predictions of what would happen moving forward from Hitler’s theoretical assassination.

“And over the next few years, I argue two million Jews are going to be shipped to Palestine, largely thanks to the efforts of French German and Romania is the Navy’s of French France, Germany and Romania,” Rosenfeld said.

After Rosenfeld spoke, University professors Devi Mays and Jeffrey Veidlinger began a discussion that

APP From Page 1 Bill McAllister, general manager of transportation at the University, noted they also chose to partner with Clever Devices because many area transit agencies in southeastern Michigan use the same technology.

“It gives us a lot of synergy with these other organizations so we can pool our resources together to troubleshoot items, and also be competitive when we ask for new features and things that we want to see from Clever Devices,” McAllister said. “We are much stronger stakeholders being together like that.”

Michael Berg, a Music, Theatre & Dance and LSA junior, said he uses the bus almost every day, and the change to U-M Magic Bus has made planning trips to and from North Campus easier.

“Overall, the new bus app is an improvement,” Berg said.

“A greater proportion of blue buses overall are displayed in the new app versus the old one, which makes a big difference, because you can’t plan for new buses that you can’t see.

Also, the estimated arrival times in the new systems are much more accurate than in DoubleMap.” According to Transportation Senior Supervisor Michael Denemy, the increased visibility of buses on the map

SAPAC From Page 1 “I felt that t wo things couldn’t be true at the same time,” Zipursky said.

“I wish I could tell myself that the joy I was feeling was real, and just because I was having f un didn’t mean I wasn’t taking what I had been through and my pain seriously … We are allowed to feel all of it and to feel f ully alive, whatever that means for us.”

Zipursky said some sur vivors feel they are incapable of developing meaning f ul connections during the healing process, such as through friendship or a romantic partner. She said helping others is a communit y effort bet ween sur vivors and allies.

“Communit y is a source of resiliency and healing,” Zipursky said.

Zipursky said healing is different for each sur vivor due to a variet y of factors, including socioeconomic status, sexualit y, race and gender.

She said prescriptive advice can lead to a sing ular sexual assault narrative being accepted,

voice in the negotiations.

“It was really frustrating to see politicians bend over backwards to appease big polluters like Chevron, Exxon and BP and make them be a part of the solution to climate change when these companies have not even acknowledged that they are the main culprits of these problems,” Jhong Chung said.

Rackham student Alexa White said this was her third time attending the COP. She said the idea to write the letter to the administration came about during the

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 — 3 focused largely on the duty of historians to follow in Rosenfeld’s footsteps and consider alternatives to certain histories.

“I was very convinced by the case you made in the introduction to your book,” Mays said to Rosenfeld.

“There is something very valuable for historians in doing counterfactual history. There are multiple things that are valuable.”

When Ann Arbor resident Ted Beimoel heard about this seminar, he said he was interested in learning more about the “what ifs” of Jewish history and decided to attend.

“This seemed like an interesting alternative

history,” Beimoel said.

“Other than that, I don’t really know a lot about this topic.”

LSA senior Maya Tinoco is a Judaic studies minor and is taking the class “Jews in the Modern World: Texts, Images, Ideas.” Tinoco said the students in this class were encouraged to attend the event to learn more about Jewish history and what it could have been.

“I thought this topic would be really interesting,” Tinoco said. “‘What if’ is a really big topic in life in general, specifically, in this sort of history. It’s very interesting, like ‘what ifs’ could change a lot of the trajectory of history.”

is the result of drivers logging into the Magic Bus system for their shifts.

“In the current system, it’s a several-year-old tablet on a vehicle that doesn’t necessarily update in real time,” Denemy said. “So, if it’s not communicating correctly to the server, then your vehicle isn’t going to correctly pop up on the map. In the new system, it’s all handled internally, so we shouldn’t see many instances of that anymore.”

Denemy said the Magic Bus system utilizes a prediction algorithm that considers the route, schedule database and real-time vehicle location data, helping increase the app’s accuracy.

“In the past, DoubleMap did not consider the schedule information or the historical data,” Denemy said. “Now it’s tied in there. It knows what the trips are, it knows what bus is performing that trip, so it can better predict where the vehicle is going to be, where the vehicle is intending to be.

It also stores that information over the past 30 days or so. It’s a weighted average to make that even more accurate than it currently is, because it will take in real traffic patterns over the course of a month.”

Despite the perks, Berg still thinks the app has much to improve.

“The new app is still a bit clunky,” Berg said. “It doesn’t open directly to the live map, which I think for students,

that’s the feature they use most.

It’s not terribly responsive, and the bus positions don’t update terribly frequently, which makes it hard to tell if you’re viewing buses live or viewing buses that were there when you closed it hours ago.”

LSA freshman Rachel Himmel downloaded the app so she could familiarize herself with it before the official transition.

“I’ve definitely noticed some problems with it,” Himmel said. “Sometimes, I’ll check it whenever (the bus is) 12 minutes out. When I check it again five minutes later, and whenever I try to do it and load the exact same thing I had previously done, it will tell me that there’s an error and that they’re experiencing technical difficulties right now.”

Babut said when the U-M Magic Bus app was first released, many of the users’ difficulties were caused by planned system outages. Babut said he values the community input on the app.

“We do welcome feedback and acknowledge that all apps are different, and we continue to listen to feedback,” Babut said. “It seems like the most consistent feedback we’re hearing is improving the rate that the bus refreshes on the app to provide a more f luid experience. We’ve heard that, and we’ve recognized that feedback, and we’re working with the supplier to improve that frequency.”

and those who do not relate to that experience or set of identities can feel silenced.

“I am a cis white hetero woman from a g reat deal of f inancial and economic privilege, and I was harmed by a cis man,” Zipursky said.

“That follows a specif ic narrative of sur vivorship. This is the narrative that gets told most. I have friends whose stor y doesn’t follow this same narrative and feel ver y invalidated … Especially when it comes to people who are sur vivors who are queer and/or trans. There is this thing that happens due to homophobia and transphobia in our countr y, especially for child sex abuse sur vivors, people will patholog ize sur vivors.”

Zipurksy also explained how the #MeToo movement has impacted how sur vivors who are privately coping perceive their trauma.

“I see it a lot with sharing our stories and being a public sur vivor,” Zipursky said. “Especially in this moment in time, in this particular iteration of Tarana Burke’s MeToo

movement, we see a lot of public sur vivors who are being exalted as being courageous and brave, and it is having an unintended effect of having sur vivors who feel that doesn’t feel that is part of their healing journey feel less brave.”

In an inter view with The Daily af ter the event, LSA senior Nicole Ireland said she enjoyed the discussion about using sex as a method for reclaiming a sense of control over one’s body.

“I like to hear about how sex can be used in a positive way and to take back your bodily autonomy, just having that control over the choices you make and how that can be helpf ul for those who have felt their choice has been taken away in the past,” Ireland said.

LSA senior Celine Roest said events such as these are crucial to creating a supportive campus environment.

“This is something that is so prevalent in the news and the media that we get,” Roest said. “Bring ing in experts who can break it down for us and answer our specif ic questions is so helpf ul.”

second week of COP 25 when the member countries were struggling to make progress in the negotiations.

“Week-two delegates were very interested in what we could do on a larger scale,” White said. “So, most of the stakeholders and the things that we were doing were … not as impactful for the administration of the University … we just thought we want U-M to respond with urgency as it was presented at the convention.”

Jhong Chung said while the 13 delegates collectively wrote the letter, he said he

worked to include specific recommendations for the University to divest from all fossil fuel investments and to center carbon neutrality efforts around social justice.

“The connection between indigenous people and climate change is highly interrelated,” Jhong Chung said. “The fact that we have taken their land, the fact that so many construction projects of fossil fuels or other natural resources are in indigenous people’s lands are part of why we are currently in this crisis.”

Opinion

4 — Wednesday, February 12, 2020

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ANIK JOSHI | COLUMN

I

Consumers aren’t “meatheads”

’ve never been to Missouri, but I’ve enjoyed many things from the state like Kansas City barbecue and the river.

I assume Missouri, like the rest of the country, is filled with reasonably intelligent people. This is why I was flummoxed to learn that the state government in Missouri is regulating the use of the word “meat.” The legislation makes it illegal to call a product meat unless it was “derived from harvested production livestock or poultry.”

Punishments for breaking the law will include a fine of up to $1,000 and can bring a jail sentence of up to one year.

Proponents of the legislation claim using the term “meat” in reference to a product that does not come from an animal will confuse customers. But this is absurd ­ — when a consumer buys plant-based meat that is labeled as such, it doesn’t strike me as particularly outlandish to assume they know what they are buying. Indeed, the company that produces Tofurky brought a lawsuit to this effect and litigation was still ongoing as of October 2019. Tofurky argued against it primarily on First Amendment grounds, but also that it didn’t mislead consumers. Both of these are justified points. Meat is more than what comes from poultry — as the complaint says, meat has been used to refer to the flesh in fruit and nuts. In addition, if someone buys something labeled “plantbased meat” and are surprised by

the lack of dead animal flesh, no legislation can help them. At that point, neither can God. Missouri is not alone in this kind of bad behavior with meat labeling.

Arkansas passed a version of this bill that restricts the use of terms like “burger” and “pork” and others that have “been used or defined historically in reference to a specific agricultural product.”

Thankfully, this bill was stopped by a federal judge who decided to grant a preliminary injunction.

Again, it was Tofurky who sued, and although it worked out, costly litigation is not the answer to this kind of behavior.

Part of the problem is that this practice is not limited to the state level and is also not isolated to meat.

During his time in office, thenFDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., pushed to “modernize” dairy standards. This included a call to standardize definitions of words like milk. One such reason for this was things like almond milk. Government workers were worried about people being misled that almond milk was akin to milk from a cow. This was such a worry that Dr. Gottlieb went so far as to clarify that “an almond doesn’t lactate.” The good doctor was absolutely correct — almonds don’t lactate. However, this seems like a weird way to delineate what is and what isn’t milk. Coconut milk, for

ANIK JOSHI

example, is made by grating coconut — a practice which goes back hundreds of years. Because lactation isn’t involved, does this mean it’s not milk? Of course not.

These policies are all written in the language of protecting consumers, but it’s worth remembering former President Ronald Reagan’s famous maxim: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” None of these policies are actually about protection, because this isn’t something people need protection from. If you can be trusted to put your pants on in the morning without adult supervision, you don’t need the state or federal government telling you what you can and cannot call meat or milk. People and firms should not be allowed to request the government to attempt cheap protectionist scams for the sake of the cattle industry. That is exactly what these bills are doing and why they are being backed by big agriculture lobbying at every turn. Exactly like in this case, where the Missouri bill was backed by the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association.

The American public isn’t a bunch of morons. They don’t need their government to protect them from almond milk and tofu burgers.

They do need their government to protect them from predatory firms and industry attempting to capture the entire regulatory structure.

Unfortunately, if past policymaking is any indication, they won’t get that.

Anik Joshi can be reached at anikj@umich.edu.

SAM FOGEL | COLUMN

“Baby Nut” and the perversion of the relatable tweet

S

uper Bowl ads. People love them, and they’re a huge spectacle. I know a couple people who solely tune in for the ads, not caring for the game but fascinated with the corporate creativity on display.

I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of sporting events, but all the buzz surrounding the Super Bowl makes it nearly impossible to stay uninformed. I was unamused by most of the commercials, but one in particular really ticked me off. The commercial in question?

The Planters commercial, where they revealed their new mascot, “Baby Nut,” after their longtime mascot Mr. Peanut supposedly died. Killing off Mr. Peanut was a shameless move that embodies everything insidious and pathetic about corporate marketing. Planter’s first post on Instagram about the new mascot was literally a plug for merchandise, hinting at their intentions of monetizing before the day was over.

The move by Planters was obviously inspired by all of the theatrics surrounding Baby Yoda, the 50-year-old infant from Disney’s “The Mandalorian.”

Baby Yoda is suspiciously similar to a character in Disney’s other purchased franchise, Marvel’s Baby Groot. The Verge wrote an article summing up the various trends this decade that have been related to babies, showing the infantilization fever. Executives at Planters wanted to cash in on that trend, and they have no qualms letting the world know.

It’s uninspired and insulting that they think people are going to tolerate this drivel. But contrary to my assumptions, the Internet ate it up with a surprising fervor.

Some of the Super Bowl ads are avant-garde and break the mold, but others just play upon empathy to get you thinking

about their product.

An example of this would be this year’s Budweiser commercial.

The commercial plays on the stereotypical “typical American,” showing scenes of heroism and heartwarming reunions. A deployed soldier reuniting with his father. A firefighter putting out a fire in California. Sure, none of those images are inherently bad. But what do they have to do with Budweiser? They call themselves a “typical American” beer, as if those exceptional moments are uniquely tied to Budweiser’s product. It doesn’t change the low quality of the product they sell. Just like Baby Nut, it’s shameless and manipulative.

One commercial that’s even more insulting is Walmart’s, which attempts to evoke empathy. “We see united towns,” they say. They’re a champion for small town America, and they love all the communities there. Walmart loves you! Except they don’t.

It’s widely known that Walmart destroys local businesses, taking jobs down with them and causing even more destruction if they ever decide to leave. Such was the case for Edna, Texas.

After a Walmart opened up in 1982, they replaced the need for local retailers and pharmacists.

Out of nowhere, just last year, the store closed. It left people scrambling for places to get the goods needed. This isn’t an isolated case, either. In 2018, Walmart closed 63 stores after they raised wages, leaving workers jobless. Many of their employees have a wage below the poverty line, which adds insult to injury. If anything, Walmart is an enemy of small towns and their livelihoods.

The commercial is downright malicious in the way it tries to

convince the American populace that they are anything but corporate hegemony.

All of this is adjacent to how brands work on Twitter. Have you ever seen those tweets by a verified company that try to use a meme to get you to buy their product? Their tweets always make sure to be humorous, but tepid enough not to tarnish their brand name. The genesis of this trend seems to be the Wendy’s Twitter account, which in 2017 caught the social media network by storm when they began “roasting” people, insulting not only their competitors but individuals who dared question their hegemony.

Plenty of compilations have been made about their “epic roasts,” essentially giving the company loads of free advertising.

Personally, a corporation with such power and influence – more than I’ll ever realistically have in my life – punching down your average Twitter user rubs me the wrong way. Wendy’s has bigger problems to worry about, such as their violation of child labor laws.

This isn’t an issue many care about, but for me it’s hard to be complacent with the infiltration of focus-tested banal garbage that litters social media feeds. It’s downright insulting and I can’t even begin to imagine how many underpaid interns have been assigned to spitting the repugnant drivel that comes out of these accounts. Corporations are not people, and they’re certainly not a buddy you exchange relatable tweets with. They want your patronage, and will coax you into a Pavlovian relationship that can’t be reversed. Corporations are not your friend, and they never will be.

Sam Fogel can be reached at samfogel@umich.edu.

T

A guide to modern solar energy

he sun has captivated our hearts and imaginations for millennia. Every organism on Earth is powered by the sun.

Even our energy sources — coal, natural gas, wind, hydroelectric — are indirectly generated through solar power. But what really excites me is solar power itself. Humans have used solarthermal power to make fire or heat or pump water since the 7th century B.C. We figured out how to convert solar energy directly into electricity in 1839, with the first photovoltaic cell.

These three technologies have evolved and entered the market at wildly different paces and success rates.

Ancient hot-water solar panels evolved into rooftop hot-water solar panels, famously installed on the White House by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, and also into concentrated solar power panels (CSPs), first developed in 1968 by Professor Giovanni Francia. CSPs use sophisticated mirrors to concentrate sunlight to heat liquids to extreme temperatures.

Through additional processes, these hot liquids can be converted to electricity or stored for future use. Unlike CSPs, photovoltaics (PVs) convert solar energy directly into electricity. The most common type of PV is crystalline silicon, which dominates 90 percent of the solar cell industry. However, PVs raise the problem of intermittence — the amount of available sunlight varies with time of day and weather conditions. This means that PVs cannot meet electricity demand in real-time without

battery storage.

Battery chemistry further complicates this process, introducing additional barriers of costs, production and waste. It is for this reason that the photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) model is particularly exciting. PECs convert solar power directly into chemical fuels. The most common type of PEC cell is a hydrogen fuel cell, which converts water into hydrogen fuel. This hydrogen fuel can be stored and transported until needed to generate electricity. This process works by employing a hydrogen fuel cell: Hydrogen fuel passes through a platinum catalyst and mixes with oxygen to produce electricity and water. In this process, new complications emerge concerning the cost of catalysts and the design of safe, reliable fuel cells. Regardless, the PEC model eliminates the need for battery storage and overcomes the intermittence of PVs. Despite these exciting technologies, solar energy only makes up 1.5 percent of energy production in the United States. One of the biggest challenges has been the cost (which is measured in cents per kilowatt hour), with fossil fuels clocking in around five cents per kWh. However, solar energy is starting to compete with fossil fuels. Utility-owned silicon PVs have dropped in cost from 23 cents per kWh in 2010 to an average of six cents per kWh in 2017. The cost of utility-owned solar panels will typically remain lower than the decentralized alternatives — solar panels on residential or commercial buildings.

However, an attractive alternative is a power purchase agreement (PPA), where a utility company purchases electricity from a third party that owns the solar panels.

The cost of solar PPA has also dropped significantly over the years, to less than three cents per kWh in 2018 with some geographical variance. Every state has a unique energy profile, though none are dominated by solar power.

Of course, all is not lost.

Solar research has promoted rapid growth of solar capacity: The U.S. saw a 16 percent increase in installed PV capacity in 2018 to 626,000 megawatts. Globally, we’re projected to achieve a terawatt (or one million megawatts) of PV capacity by 2023. CSPs in the U.S. reached an installed capacity of 1,815 megawatts in 2018. PECs are not quite ready for commercialization due to strict material demands and limitations in hydrogen fuel cell technology. CSP, PV and PEC solar cells demonstrate benefits and limitations concerning energy storage, material input and waste production.

The market disproportionately favors silicon PV solar cells which does not accurately represent the wealth of knowledge and advancement in the solar cell field. Our ability to capture solar power is a marvel; it’s what makes us human. And we’re not slowing down anytime soon.

Desislava Dikova is a senior in the College of Literature, Science & the Arts and can be reached at ddikova@umich.edu.

CAMILLA MUNACO | COLUMN

Dismantling hidden sexism in contemporary media

I

n Sarah Boxer’s “Why Are All the Cartoon Mothers Dead?”, she highlights the injustice done to mothers in children’s animated films. Boxer’s analysis of cartoons, ranging from “Ice Age” to the Mickey Mouse universe, exposes the systematic social suppression of women and hidden misogyny found within seemingly innocent cartoons. Boxer is a cultural critic and writer, and her article has shaped the way I view all forms of media today. Her detailed unpacking of characters and plotlines in animated films inspired me to begin questioning women’s ultimate purpose in different types of media and helped me notice the oppressive and often sexualized way women are depicted in popular culture.

Growing up in a traditional household, the depiction of women by those around me was heavily influenced by the old-fashioned mannerisms of a typical Sicilian family. My father’s parents came to the United States as immigrants from Sicily, and therefore had a strict view on the role of a woman.

None of my aunts on my father’s side attended college or had much freedom when deciding what to do with their life. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as they all were content with getting married in their early twenties and taking up the tasking job of being a stay-athome mother. From a young age, I remember constantly questioning why I was always the one asked to clean the kitchen or vacuum the house, while my brother was never bothered with such requests. I quickly realized the inequality I faced within my own home, even with something as simple as chores.

This disparity both upset and interested me. What was the origin of these inherent stereotypes, and was women’s oppression in media an effect or cause of the continuation of this sexist nature?

According to feminist theorists, Western thought has been built upon the systematic and social repression of women. The attention on the portrayal of women in advertisements stems from the rise of feminist movements and the changing roles and perceptions of women in society. Specifically, the women’s movements in the 1960s propelled this conversation, with calls for equal opportunity and representation for women in society – touching on politics, sexuality, work and domestic life. Despite the social advancement evident in women from this time frame, the mainstream media lagged behind, continuing a hypersexualized

and misogynistic presentation of women. However, there currently seems to be a shift from the old female representation paradigm in advertisements toward a new one.

This shift is even being enforced in countries like the United Kingdom, which recently passed a legal ban on “harmful” gender stereotypes in advertisements.

I often question whether advertisers have a responsibility to consider gender norms and the potential harm they inflict on women. Typically, the “standard” or “old” paradigm of advertising promoted the representation of women as submissive, weak or in a constant state of requiring modification. This perception of women has influenced advertisements since the 1950s, even in those that seemed to be “liberating.” The shift toward

There currently seems to be a shift in the old female representation paradigm. a new paradigm, as discussed by attorney John Alan Cohan, is one that redefines female beauty to be natural, diverse and all-encompassing instead of unattainable. While advertising itself is not ethically wrong or right, the context in which it is used can often be harmful through the promotion of negative gender and racial stereotypes.

The shift toward a new standard of advertising reveals itself through historically sexist brands, like Axe, changing their marketing techniques in order to reflect societal change. The brand Axe notoriously released sexist advertisements for around 15 years, perpetuating gender stereotypes for both men and women. The main plot in each of these advertisements emphasized the Axe Effect, which is the idea that girls will flock to guys who use Axe. The structure of these advertisement featured the characterization of women as prominent sex objects and promoted unrealistic expectations for men. However, Axe’s “Find Your Magic” campaign, “Is It Ok For Guys?” campaign and the recent “Bathsculinity” campaign exhibit a new approach to advertising that

discards its stereotypical storyline and characterization of genders.

Now, sex is not the focus of the ad and individuality is praised.

These reject “must-have, must-be” fashion norms or body standards and embrace unique and distinct traits that make up individuals.

With the rise of social media, the questioning of and rebellion against societal and gender norms has become a major point in feminist movements. Body positivity and acceptance of all different types of people is an important trend and marketing strategy for not only Axe, but companies ranging from Dove to Gillette to Audi. Advertisements have a unique position in which they can be viewed as a cultural lens, revealing what producers perceive to be important to the culture at that time, because they believe it will result in increased sales for their company. While companies like Axe show the progression of society and a shift toward a new standard of advertising, there are still polarizing reactions to these advertisements. This was seen in responses to the 2019 Gillette “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be” commercial which discussed holding men accountable for issues such as bullying and sexual assault. While this advertisement is a cultural lens into the ongoing conversation regarding sexual misconduct and movements such as #MeToo, it is also a means for cultural progression. On Twitter, Piers Morgan responded “I’ve used @Gillette razors my entire adult life but this absurd virtuesignaling PC guff may drive me away to a company less eager to fuel the current pathetic global assault on masculinity. Let boys be damn boys. Let men be damn men.”

While many supported the positive message Gillette was sending, negative reactions like Morgan’s reveal the remaining hold on male privilege and stereotypical gender norms for many.

When viewing Axe’s shift in marketing strategy, advertisers may find it more appropriate with our social climate to shift toward more inclusive marketing techniques.

While this change is often slow, the number of recent advertisements that portray positive and nonbinding gender norms are growing, pushing advertisers that previously disregarded the effects of gender norms toward a socially acceptable, marketable and healthy way of advertising that we should all strive to support.

Camilla Munaco can be reached at cmunaco@umich.edu.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 — 5

FILM REVIEW

FILM REVIEW

Live action Oscar short Each of the 2020 animated films are perfecty nuanced Oscar short films, ranked EMMA CHANG Daily Arts Writer

My attention span has always been questionable — hour-anda-half lectures often send me scrolling through Twitter for a quick “break.” Even when I watch films at home, I have to be doing something to occupy myself for two hours. Focusing on a single story or set of characters for reviews is a weekly feat that I somehow manage to achieve. The 2020 Oscar Live Action Shorts, however, provided a haven that I didn’t know existed. Averaging around 25 minutes, each short developed wholly individual stories and characters in such an effective and efficient time frame that there was little time to be bored.

From the dangerously funny lines of “laundry detergent” in “NEFTA Football Club” to the devastating end of “Saria,” these shorts prove that niche concepts create better and more engaging stories than the more general, mainstream messages often seen in popular feature-length films.

Even the two more generic shorts, “A Sister” and “The Neighbor’s Window,” were able to create nuanced experiences for their audience.

Discussing the female experience in a patriarchal world has grown in popularity in the last few years. Though this conversation has been ongoing, it has yet to lose its emotional strength, especially when films like “A Sister” continually provide new and relevant perspectives.

Delphine Girard’s (“Caverne”) newest piece maintains an anonymous air — focusing on the

shared experience of an emergency services worker and a woman in danger — reminding her audience that it could be any one of us sitting in that perilous passenger seat.

The tension builds throughout the car ride — characters speaking in code, frantically searching for each other — creating an environment where, at this point, the audience really only cares about the woman’s survival. It’s a new take on an old fear that lends itself to a compelling story.

In contrast, “The Neighbor’s Window” does the opposite: Clearly identified characters are developed and defined by the confines of their adjacent apartment buildings. On the surface, “The Neighbor’s Window” is like any other film about marriage and relationships as we age. Jealousy flies, wives are envious of their younger counterparts while husbands are yelled at for lounging around the house. But what distinguishes “The Neighbor’s Window” from other family dramas is the relationship between the two couples: There is no direct contact between the two. The audience and the main characters only know about this second couple because of a lack of drapes, the windows of the building across the street creating small movie panels within the viewing screen itself. Eventually, as these two parallel lives unfold, it becomes clear that “The Neighbor’s Window” is trying to highlight an age-old idea: You’re just watching through a window, everyone’s life seems perfect, but in reality, we’re all going through it. It’s a timely message in this age of social media.

The other three nominated

shorts, “Brotherhood,” “Saria” and “NEFTA Football Club,” take us all over the world, spanning a series of extremely specific scenarios that are still perfectly capable of connecting with their audiences.

“Brotherhood,” for instance, looks at a family broken by ISIS. An estranged son returns home to a hostile environment, finding a disapproving father. The film asks us to consider what unconditional love means — would you forgive a child for abandoning family to pursue a cause? The story unfolds over a series of tense dinners and fun, brotherly activities. We see the relief of a mother who gets her child back and the excitement that a brother has returned.

“Brotherhood” examines this family’s complicated dynamic, ultimately leaving its audience aching for the fleeting nature of their reunion.

“Saria,” however, looks at what happens when someone doesn’t have a family at all. Based on the true story of the deaths at the Virgen de La Asuncion orphanage, “Saria” develops hopeful characters only to rip them away from the audience in a fire. The 2017 tragedy on which the film is based took 41 lives, all of which were listed in the credits following the film. With pointed hints at the timeline, “Saria” highlighted just how focused on America we can be. The fire occurred in January 2017, a month full of women’s marches and turmoil in the United States, ultimately resulting in a broad, baffling ignorance of the tragedies these girls faced.

Read more online at

michigandaily.com

KARI ANDERSON Daily Arts Writer

This year’s group of Oscarnominated Animated Shorts are not lighthearted. There’s death, illness and abuse packed into their brief runtimes. Yet the ability to convey a moving story in a short amount of time is an achievement that should not be understated. This year’s shorts are beautifully and artistically created by hard-working teams from around the globe, labors of love that packed an emotional punch into short runtimes. Here are the Animated Shorts nominated for the 2020 Oscars, ranked.

5. “Kitbull” — USA, Directed

by Rosana Sullivan Pixar has been consistently creating short films since 1984, many of which have received Oscars. “Kitbull” is the third film in Pixar’s latest “SparkShorts” series, a program where they give their employees six months and limited funding to create an animated short. For this film, the result is a heartwarming tale of a scrappy stray kitten and a pit bull who form an unlikely friendship. The pitbull, who is abused by his owners, is still kind and loving. Watching the kitten grow to trust the dog is uplifting. The story is told through a more traditional form of handdrawn animation, which gives it a pleasing and comfortable feel.

4. “Dcera (Daughter)” — Czech Republic, Directed by Daria Kashcheeva “Dcera,” Czech for “Daughter,” is emotional and visceral, telling the story of a daughter’s complicated relationship with her father, showing their estrangement before

their eventual reconciliation. The stop-motion animation style is different and tangible, with the two character’s faces covered with streaks of black that add a sense of grime and imperfection. Despite being the longest of the nominated films at 15 minutes, “Dcera” is silent, conveying the father and daughter’s emotions through the movement of their eyes and their body language as they struggle to figure out who they are to each other.

3. “Sister (meimei)” — China/ USA, Directed by Siqi Song “Sister” is narrated by a boy telling stories about his little sister in the 1990s — how they would fight over the remote or do silly things, like water a tooth to help it grow.

Yet, partway through, it’s revealed that the sister is a figment of his imagination as he wonders what it would have been like to have a sister, since the one-child policy in China forced his mother to have an abortion when he was younger.

The film’s team dedicated “Sister” to “the siblings we never had” from 1980 to 2015, while the policy was in place. Using carefully crafted stopmotion figures made of felt, “Sister” tells a story of what could have been.

2. “Hair Love” — USA, Directed

by Matthew A. Cherry “Hair Love” is an incredibly sweet story of a father-daughter relationship that made me tear up almost immediately. Zuri, a young African-American girl, is trying to style her hair by watching a YouTube tutorial and is failing impressively. When her dad walks in and tries to help her, he is way out of his comfort zone: There’s a hilarious sequence where her hair appears to take on a life of its own and the

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

dad has to literally fight it. As a daughter of a dad who’d sometimes tried — and often failed — to do my

This year’s shorts are beautifully and artistically created by hardworking teams from around the globe pigtails when I was younger, it’s a sequence that dads and daughters can understand, even as the dad persists through his struggle and emerges triumphant. The short is the shortest of the nominees (seven minutes), but “Hair Love” has a whole lot of heart.

1. “Mémorable” — France, Directed by Bruno Collet “Mémorable” is emotional and visually stunning, with an innovative use of animation.

The figures are heavily textured and painted with thick, visible brushstrokes, giving it a sense that art has been embedded into the reality of this world. As Louis (a painter) begins to forget, his mental degeneration is expressed through the ways the animation changes: People appear misshapen and disfigured, objects appear to be melting around him, and soon he struggles to recognize his wife.

It’s a heartbreaking depiction of a mind falling apart, told through a beautifully crafted medium as Louis’s artist’s brain morphs and shapes things into what they are not.

ALBUM REVIEW

From Musgraves to Shorr, an The weird and the fun intro to the women of country in Hayley Williams’ EP KATIE BEEKMAN

MADELEINE GANNON

Daily Arts Writer

Daily Arts Writer

A lot has been written about the mistreatment of female artists in the country music industry. But for all of the headlines about TomatoGate, brocountry and “rules” forbidding DJs from playing women back-to-back on their radio stations — nothing has changed.

So, instead of rehashing the same tired narratives that highlight men’s power in the music world, I figured I would shed some light on the artists who, in a more just and equitable world, should be dominating modern country music right now.

The Essentials It’s a shame, but even these legendary artists barely get any airplay.

Carrie Underwood — From the moment she stepped off the American Idol stage in 2005, Underwood has proven herself to be contemporary country music’s golden girl. She can play the revenge-hungry ex, all-American housewife and everything in-between with vocals that have an equally impressive range to match.

Miranda Lambert — The first time I remember seeing Lambert, she was setting a town on fire in her music video for “Kerosene.” She’s managed to keep up this rebellious image while tending to her softer side on some of her biggest hits like the vulnerable track “The House That Built Me.” Kacey Musgraves — Even before the internet fell in love with Musgraves after her 2019 Album of the Year win at the Grammys, Kacey was doing country music her way. Always lyricallyclever, instrumentally wholesome and thematically outspoken, Kacey’s no stranger to going up against the powers that be. Her LGBTQ+ affirming anthem “Follow Your Arrow ‘’ was banned from country radio in 2013.

Mostly Radio-friendly It isn’t shocking to hear these women on country radio, but it’s not quite normal either.

Maren Morris — Between her monster pop hit “The Middle” with Zedd and her membership in The Highwomen — you’ve definitely heard Maren’s powerhouse vocals before. Sonically, her solo work lives at the center of those sounds. She’s bubbly in love on her latest GIRL: A glossy but forceful display of

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

pop country.

Kelsea Ballerini — I discovered Kelsea when Taylor Swift tweeted her approval of her first single “Love Me Like You Mean It” in 2015. Taking it as a sign that the next princess in Taylor’s line of pop country royalty had been crowned — I dove right in, and I’m glad I did.

Ballerini’s music is fun, glittery and, as a student of Swift, very catchy.

Carly Pearce — Pearce’s music is addictive. Her first album Every Little Thing came out in 2017 and I’ve returned to it at least a couple times a month ever since. Her songs sound like Southern hospitality and her voice is like honey.

Fresh Pop Country A breath of fresh air in a snap-track, boom-clap world.

Kelleigh Bannen — Sometimes a song will stop you in its tracks and that’s what Bannen’s “Damn I Still Love You” did to me. She has a talent for simultaneously sounding playful and soulful, masking her heartbreak with word play.

Jillian Jacqueline — Like so many of these women, Jacqueline is a storyteller — the difference is that she has a way of sounding like your best friend while doing it. Whether she’s poking fun at her own drama on “Tragic” or narrating the crumbling of a relationship on “Sad Girls,” she gets what you’re going through.

Country that Rocks These women are badasses. That’s all.

Ashley McBryde —The songs released thus far from her upcoming album Never Will include a murderous, rocking warning to her Dad’s mistress “Martha

Divine” and a catchy “it is what it is” admission of her “One Night Standards.”

What’s more intriguing (or country) than that?

Kalie Shorr — Shorr is true to the title of her album Open Book. Addiction, depression, her sister’s death and her own eating disorder — it gets messy, but that also means it gets real.

Singer-Songwriters Maybe they aren’t officially “country,” but they’re so good I’m claiming them anyway.

Caitlyn Smith — Smith has presence.

Her voice is like liquid gold and with top-notch songwriting, the stories she tells are worth every penny. I still can’t get enough of her debut album Starfire.

Emily Scott Robinson — Listening to Robinson is like walking alongside a babbling brook. Her voice immediately grounds you in the present, but her storytelling takes your mind elsewhere.

She’s a wanderer and her clear, rootsy voice invites you with her.

The Almost Break-Throughs If they were men, things would be different.

Cam — Her song “Burning House” was a Grammy nominated hit in 2015 and her album Untamed is just that: Bursting with energy and unafraid to break boundaries into pop and folk.

Somehow Cam can do everything at once and still make it sound organic.

Read more online at

michigandaily.com

Hayley Williams’ Petals for Armor I EP is great. If the name is recognizable, some might recall Williams’ time as lead singer for pop-punk band Paramore. Her debut EP is short and sweet, five tracks in all. But Petals for Armor I isn’t simply Paramore’s punk-angst refashioned for a new decade.

Williams’ EP combines the signature highenergy of her trademark songs (think “Still into You”) with a dash of weird and a heap of fun.

My time spent listening to Paramore was largely defined by the characteristic angst of puberty, middle school insecurity and chihuahua-style yapping frustrations with the world. You know, that pre-teen phase spent staring emotionally out the car window, pretending to be in a Kelly Clarkson music video. Petals for Armor I manages to salvage something worthwhile from the aforementioned cringe-fest: the satisfaction of calling out the world, and revelling a bit in our anger. I’m not saying that Paramore isn’t cool –– but I know that my own previous Paramore-days were decidedly not cool.

Take the gut-punch opening lines of “Leave It Alone”: “Don’t nobody tell me that God don’t have a sense of humor / Cause now that I want to live, well, everybody around me is dyin.” The biting, morbid humor recalls that absolutely delicious “take that!” of Paramore’s hit “Misery Business” or “Brick by Boring Brick.” But “Leave It Alone” is quiet. The “umph” of the lyrics doesn’t come from the blasting of drums or scream of the electric guitar, as with Paramore.

Rather, Williams’ punch is as sobering as it is satisfying. The softly whispered confession finds catharsis in that fact that somebody finally said it –– no offense, God. Williams’ EP, however, isn’t just good because it strikes parallels to her classic hits with Paramore. In fact, Petals for Armor I is good because of how different it is. Williams has managed to fashion together sounds, feelings and styles in a Frankenstein manner that feels more alive than anything that came before it (or after).

Take, for instance, “Creepin,’” a song destined to become 2020’s “Monster-Mash.”

You know all the “Sexy Vampires” will be sing-shouting this song at the clubs come October 31st. The song is undeniably a bit weird, but refreshing. Williams’ imaginative, spooky lyrics and her deep drawl strikes a vague echo of Marina and the Diamonds (think “Primadonna”). Beneath her haunting lullaby Williams alludes to the parasites of

our lives that feast on our misery, “Oh just keep suckin’ on the memory of him.”

“Cinnamon,” strangely enough, can’t help but feel reminiscent of Frozen 2’s “Into the Unknown.” Don’t worry, they’re nothing alike –– except for William’s haunting siren call that acts as a wordless chorus. For those that haven’t seen Disney’s latest animated release, Princess Elsa has a mind-blowingly awesome duet with an ominous siren call of her own. The song narrowly balances between comforting and warm (like cinnamon) and a tinge hair-raising. Perhaps it’s the belly-deep laugh that chases after her voice, sitting out-of-sight in the undercurrent of the song.

The opening song, “Simmer,” is the most promising of what’s to come with Williams’ future solo work. The track starts off with

Williams’ punch is as sobering as it is satisfying

layered sounds, adding on top of one another, like an engine slowly warming up. Immersed throughout are breathy gasps, reminiscent of Serge Gainsbourg’s infamously bannedby-the-Vatican “Je t’aime moi non plus.”

Here, too, is Williams’ voice unmistakable as distinctly Paramore. “Rage is a quiet thing / you think you’ve tamed it / But it’s just in lying in wait,” the song shifting dynamically, whisper-soft then louder the next minute, mimicking the wavering control of the anger she sings of. The song features a unique calland-response structure, Williams’ singing answered by robotic-like voices –– emotion versus reason, an unending battle.

Petals For Armor I presents a seemingly irreconcilable contrast, one side soft and sweet, the other hard and unyielding.

Williams’ EP is as beautiful, soft and alluring as petals; her words are as biting, assertive and powerful as steel armor. Williams has a knack for presenting the unexpected, twisting and weaving songs that, while impossible on paper, take flight with the life she breathes into them. Undoubtedly, whatever Williams delivers next will be just as hypnotic and soul-clenching.

Whether it’s 13-year-old angst or the wacky misadventures of adulthood, I’m sure she won’t disappoint.

Arts

6 — Wednesday, February 12, 2020

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

TV REVIEW

Salvant and Diehl prove jazz is ‘Indebted’ is weak, still relevent at the Mendelssohn uninspired comedy with a warmth that I did not think could be mastered by someone at the age of 30. Salvant’s velvet voice shifted qualities effortlessly and with complete control. It wasn’t her standing and singing before us, her whole body contorted and shifted to compliment the sound.

Diehl matched her in artistic mastery, but was far more subdued in his performance. He only stood to bow once during the show when

NATALIE KASTNER Daily Arts Writer

There are few moments in our f leeting lives that lead us to be struck with gratitude: the birth of a child, true love, near death miracles, and for me, the concert of Cecile Mclorin Salvant and Aaron Diehl. There was a moment during a very beautiful étude that Aaron Diehl played, right after an acapella vocal section by Salvant, where I could not stop smiling, even in the middle of February, in the thralls of seasonal depression.

The young duo, exquisitely artisticlooking and effervescently endearing in their charisma, played two shows at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater Thursday night. This performance acted as a jam session elevated to its highest form. As I walked into the theater, a very jolly usher handed me a program and with a wink said, “The program is, there is no program.”

Diehl and Salvant riffed off of each other for which song they wanted to perform next. It was obvious how well the couple knew one another.

Within a few seconds of suggesting a song, the two were off and running with one fabulous arrangement after the other.

When I think of jazz, the first thing that comes to mind is not necessarily the storytelling. I think of smokey dark rooms with men crouched over their instruments all in rhythm with each other. With the performance by Diehl and Salvant I saw a new side of jazz. Each song was a story. Salvant was constantly making specifically informed choices with her voice to tell a story. It wasn’t just the lyrics. She would cry out one section and chew the words out in another. At her most passionate, her voice enveloped the Mendelssohn

With the performance of Diehl and Salvant I saw a new side of jazz.

Each song was a story

he modestly gave us a smile, but the rest of the show we only got to see his profile as he concentrated on the keys — this added to the enchantment of his sound. When the lyrics fell short as a result of their old-fashioned nature, Diehl filled in the subtext. In a song like Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Wives and Lovers,” which is obviously past its time, Diehl was able to reinvigorate the story through

his musical accompaniment. It made these beloved standards relevant again; his performance was not just a rote rendition but a commentary on the place of these songs in the world today.

Even though I am a lover of the “Great American Songbook,” I can’t help but cringe at how outdated some of the songs are. Diehl reworked these tunes into ones worthy of the 21st century again. By manipulating the music that backdropped lyrics about a cozy “cottage for two,” Diehl illustrated the coercive themes present in many of these songs, exemplifying how vocal jazz can survive the rapidly-changing culture.

The second-to-last tune they played was in honor of their friend who was a drummer. Salvant didn’t go into what happened, but it was obviously something tragic because the following performance was incandescent. Even with the f lu going around and people coughing throughout the night, there was not a single sound through the 10 minute segment. The room was silent in reverie.

The way Salvant set up the evening allowed for that sacred experience at the end. Throughout the show, she spoke to us as if we were a close friend she had just met at a coffee shop. She spoke about awkward romantic experiences, her favorite artists and her friendship with Diehl as if we deserved to know, and not like we all bought a ticket to see a Thelonious Monk winner. She was charming, endearingly innocent and authentic.

Both Salvant and Diehl are off to the next town, but their impact will stay with me. The good news is, Salvant was here last year too, so chances are she will stop by again.

Hopefully along with Diehl.

JUSTIN POLLACK Daily Arts Writer

It’s unfair to compare NBC’s new comedy “Indebted” to the recently departed “The Good Place” just because they’re both NBC comedies that air on Thursdays. These shows have little in common — nowhere are their differences more evident than in the execution of their respective premises. “The Good Place” took one of the most complex sitcom premises on network television and accomplished it with ease. On the other end of the sitcom spectrum, “Indebted” takes one of the most basic premises and struggles to give its audience a reason to care.

Dave (Adam Pally, “The Mandalorian”) and Rebecca (Abby Elliott, “How I Met Your Mother”) are excited to “get their closets back.” They are finally moving out of the toddler phase of parenting, and starting to reclaim their adult lives. Then Dave’s parents show up with unnecessarily complicated stories about how they are in debt because they love vacations and have no health insurance. Also, Dave has a sister (Jessy Hodges, “Barry”) who is nothing more than a pile of lesbian stereotypes with no characterization. “Indebted” is constructed around a simple narrative — a relatively young couple has to deal with the man’s socially unaware and clingy parents.

The whole episode should’ve raised the eyebrows of parents everywhere.

Filming in front of a livestudio audience makes multicamera television different than single-camera, as the actors must be more performative.

The parents, played by Steven Weber (“13 Reasons Why”) and Fran Drescher (“The Nanny”), seem much more comfortable than Pally and Elliot. But that doesn’t excuse what feels like relatively cheap dialogue. As misunderstood as technology

is by grandparents, dialogue like “the tweeter” and “airBLT” ha the sole purpose of getting uninspired canned laughter from Drescher’s character. The loudest laughs are reserved for anytime one of the parents makes a simple statement about sex, which the writers must assume is inherently funny simply because the characters are old.

It remains uncertain if the show will ever recognize the potential that “Indebted” has to contribute to the discourse about cost of healthcare in the United States and the parenting styles of Millennials and Boomers.

I couldn’t tell you how Dave’s parents moving in will affect their lives, why his parents have no concept of savings or what any of the characters do for a living. Simply put, the table-setting is just horrible.

I am hoping that the lack of characterbased humor in favor of repetitive gags could just be a symptom of it being the pilot. For the show to succeed, it must spend more time on building the histories of the characters, which the pilot spent zero time on. Based on this first episode, Dave seems to be relatively unaffected by the carefree lifestyle of his parents. The most successful version of this show would focus on how the parents spent their way into massive debt and how their efforts to spoil Dave and his sister impacted each of them respectively. Unfortunately, after one episode, NBC gives us no reason to care.

NBC

DAILY MIDWESTERN COLUMN

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WHISPER

Introducing the

WHISPER

“60 characters.

Bare your soul.

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The musical roots of the Midwest

Get featured in the Daily!”

WHISPER “Tara is just a rat backwards, who likes cheese anyways”

MAXWELL SCHWARZ

Daily Midwestern Columnist

The world would be a mighty silent place had it not been for Little Walter wailing on a harp with Muddy Waters egging him on in Chicago come 1950 or thereabouts. In that instant, the Chicago Blues were born — urban blues, electric blues. The sound filled Chicago and it came to define it. It was the moment when the music of the Midwest was born. This is to say nothing of the influence of other artists, such as Duluth-native Robert Zimmerman, better known as Bob Dylan, of course.

Which is all to say the Midwest has sound. It trembles.

There is music in these roads, nestled deep in these pines. It is folk, it is country, it is the great Americana backbeat pressing back against your tires as you cruise up I-94 through Madison, WI. From Minnesota’s own Jayhawks (who produced the masterpieces “Hollywood Town Hall” and “Mockingbird Time”) to Allison Krauss — the queen of Americana who hails from Decatur, Illinois. To those artists whose boots are dirty and sounds are rich, to those reclaiming country from Nashville and putting it back in the Heartland where it belongs, I do tip my hat.

We have a hillbilly-tinted concept of country music, dominated by fake twang and pop sentimentality. Country music may have been born in Bristol, Tennessee, but that kind of music was meant for folks all over every stretch of America to which a dirt road leads you.

The Midwest is dotted with rust towns and green towns and towns where the wheat swallows up old tractors and metal Tonka trucks. There are all sorts of Midwesterners to whom country music sounds like home. Take, for example, the guy who fixed my tire when I was stranded in Onaway. Or my dad, who walks his property on the weekends and checks to see how much maple sap collected

in the buckets for him to make maple syrup. Even this guy I once saw drinking a Budweiser and driving a tractor down 29 Mile. These are country folk.

You can see it in their eyes.

Michigan band Frontier Ruckus has been steadily putting out what I can only refer to as criminally-underrated folk-Americana since 2007.

I cannot recommend “Way Upstate & the Crippled Summer,” both parts 1 and 2, enough. Frontman Matthew Milia’s warbling, intense lyrics find a cozy nook in between the banjos and rusty chords.

Lord Huron — an LA-based indie folk crew made up of Michigan natives — produces some of my favorite music, by far. Their debut album, “Lonesome Dreams,” has just enough distant ambience to remind you of how beautiful the loneliness of nature can be.

“She Lit a Fire” is particularly striking, with dancing, sparkly chords that blend into the ambience. Their sophomore album, “Strange Trails,” plays heavy to a country-rock vibe.

Tunes like “Meet Me in the Woods” and “Love Like Ghosts” are spectral and haunting, buried deeply within the mythos of solitude peppering Michigan’s natural splendors.

Yet, the heart of Midwestern roots is Minnesota — specifically the Twin Cities.

For proof, grace your eardrums with Garrison Keillor’s folk spectacle “A Prairie Home Companion,” which played live from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. The show has since been renamed “Live From Here,” with Punch Brothers frontman Chris Thile taking over hosting duties. Essentially, the show features skits, music and performances by folk, blues and Americana artists of all kinds, oftentimes performing twangy impromptu renditions of newer songs.

Read more online at

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Sports

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, February 12, 2020 — 7

DeJulius growing through sophomore season Ciccolini out for year

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Sophomore guard David DeJulius will be key once Michigan eventually has to replace senior Zavier Simpson.

ABBY SNYDER

Daily Sports Writer

After the Michigan men’s basketball team upset No. 16 Michigan State on Saturday, 77-68, a photograph started to pop up all over social media.

In it, as the jubilant Maize Rage in the background celebrates the Wolverines’ statement defeat of the Spartans, sophomore guard David DeJulius embraces Michigan coach Juwan Howard.

DeJulius’ eyes are closed in some mixture of gratitude and exhaustion while Howard soaks up his surroundings in awe and relief.

Both men pause amidst the triumphant chaos around them, each taking in the moment, stopping to acknowledge their appreciation for each other.

“I saw David walking, heading toward the tunnel to go walk to the locker room,” Howard said. “I looked over to my right, and I just recalled throughout the game that David had affected the game in a lot of ways. “… David was a guy who gave us a big spark in the first half. I was just so proud of how he competed, and I wanted to acknowledge him, and let him

know that, as a team and a coach, thank you for all the hard work.

That hug was an embrace of — he knows it. I love him. That’s what that energy and what that hug meant.”

The shadow of Zavier Simpson is not an easy place to live. But that’s where David DeJulius has spent the last two years.

Watching. Learning. Growing.

It wasn’t always easy.

“You might get a few minutes at a time, so you’re trying to make sure that you make a basket or something,” DeJulius said in November. “(It) was really, really rough for me (last year), because I really spent a lot of time devoting my life to basketball, so it was really tough not playing.”

But the star senior point guard’s remaining days in Ann Arbor are numbered, and the specter of graduation has served as a reminder of the fact that one day in the not-so-distant future, Michigan will need to replace Simpson.

This season has made one thing clear: David DeJulius will be key in doing that.

After a freshman season spent largely on the bench, in his sophomore season, DeJulius has shown his worth off it. He’s averaging a little over seven points and two rebounds and seeing around 20 minutes a game. When the team traveled to Lincoln to take on Nebraska without the suspended Simpson, DeJulius started and played 34 minutes.

“To have a guy like David DeJulius step up and be more vocal, especially during times where the team was making a run, or we may have had a turnover, or we may have given up a shot, he came in,” Howard said after the Nebraska game. “At timeouts, holding guys accountable, holding himself accountable, it was good. It was good to see that.”

But even with Simpson in the lineup, DeJulius has been far from quiet. He’s had nine

I look at it as far as what he’s doing out there on the floor.

double-digit scoring nights this season, including a career-high 14 against Oregon in December and — perhaps most excitingly for a kid out of Detroit — 10 on Saturday against Michigan State.

“David has been rock-solid all year,” Howard said Tuesday.

“Yes, someone will look at the stats, look at the points. I don’t look at it from that point of view. I look at it as far as what he’s doing out there on the floor to help the team and affect the game in any kind of way to give us the best chance to win.

“I recognize in practice each and every day that David has that approach. He comes in with the right attitude to work, to improve.”

It’s a conversation DeJulius and Howard have often, a conversation they had Monday.

Before practice, DeJulius called Howard, saying “I’m all in. You can never ever second-guess or think that I’m not all-in.”

Howard’s response: “David, I have not once been afraid or have guessed or assumed that you’re not.”

As he gets more minutes, he’s growing more, playing better.

He’s taking every chance to make sure he gives himself more chances. He’s getting his shot, and he’s running with it.

With energy like that, it’s looking more and more likely his chances aren’t going to be running out anytime soon.

“David hasn’t once walked in the door and not competed, has not came in practice and bring that effort and that attitude of how can he improve,” Howard said. “So, if he continues with that type of mindset, which I know he will, I just see years to come — he has two more years, and we have two more years to teach him and develop him — that I see some really great things happening for David at the University of Michigan, and I know a big goal of his is to play on the next level.

“I would do everything I can to help him get to that dream.”

BAILEY JOHNSON Daily Sports Writer

Freshman forward Eric Ciccolini had shoulder surgery Monday and will miss the remainder of the season, Michigan coach Mel Pearson said Tuesday.

Pearson didn’t name the specific injury, but said Ciccolini came to Ann Arbor with it and has been playing through it all season. His shoulder has been subluxing — sliding in and out of socket, repeatedly dislocating — throughout the season, and it got to a point where continuing to play through it didn’t make sense.

“He was playing with it all year, and about a week and a half ago, it happened again in practice,” Pearson said. “Not a hit, just an innocent little play and it got to the point where it was hard for him to play. …

He could’ve played the rest of the year and had it after the season, but then it gets into your recovery time for the following year, because it’s a six to eight-month recovery.”

Ciccolini played in 26 of 28 games prior to his surgery and ranks seventh on the team in points with 11 total. His 10 assists are second on the team.

“I think you just saw a little bit of the player that he’s

going to be,” Pearson said.

“Having to play with that all year was — I give him a ton of credit. The mental toughness to have to grind it out through that, I mean just not knowing when it’s going to slide out on you.”

The surgery had been scheduled “for a while”, Pearson said, but even as recently as this past weekend’s series against Wisconsin, Ciccolini wasn’t completely certain he’d opt to end his season early. But after discussing it with senior forward Will Lockwood and associate head coach Bill Muckalt, both of whom have undergone similar surgeries, Ciccolini decided to go ahead and fix the issue.

With the six to eight-month recovery, Ciccolini projects to be back on the ice around the time the Wolverines pick up practice in the fall.

“I think this weekend (against Wisconsin), you could tell a little bit, he just played without that fear or trepidation that it might happen again,” Pearson said. “He just played, because he already knew the date and there was nothing that was going to mess it up. I give him a lot of credit. When your shoulder pops out, it’s painful. It’s not fun. But he’ll be ready to go next year, that’s the main thing.”

ASHA LEWIS/Daily

Freshman Eric Ciccolini had shoulder surgery Monday, ending his season.

Michigan seeks to replace pitchers ‘M’ falls to Iowa on Senior Night JACOB COHEN

QUINN NOLAN

Last season, only one lefthanded pitcher beat No. 1 UCLA. His name is Tommy Henry, and he did it twice.

Henry pitched 13 innings against the Bruins in two starts, one in March and one to send Michigan to the College World Series in June, allowing only four runs while striking out 16 batters with his sharp fastball and elusive slider. These starts were a microcosm of his final campaign, during which the lanky left-hander pitched like a true ace and earned a 12-5 record with a 3.27 ERA. Henry was paramount to the Wolverines’ success in 2019.

He and fellow starter Karl Kauffman combined to chew through over 250 innings in a season that entranced the college baseball world.

2019 was one of the most successful seasons in Michigan baseball history. But the dust has finally settled from that season, and the two workhorse pitchers the Wolverines rode to their duel with Vanderbilt in the College World Series no longer play in Ann Arbor.

Kauffman and Henry’s absence begs the question: What comes next?

Michigan coach Erik Bakich made it clear that many starting rotation positions are in question, but the approach to filling them is not.

“The way we approach the roles is that you look at who your Friday night guy is, and you’re looking for consistency and a guy that can go out there and make a quality start,” Bakich said. “A guy who’s got the best chance to put up as many zeros as possible. A guy who’s got three pitches for strikes. After that it’s the next best version of that and the next best version of that.”

To some, the solution is that the next wave of pitchers who sat behind Kauffman and Henry need to rise to the occasion to fill the open roles — to step up in lieu of the duo’s departure.

Despite No. 2 heavyweight sophomore Mason Parris’ pin over No. 3 redshirt freshman Tony Cassioppi, the No. 22 Michigan wrestling team (6-4 overall, 5-2 Big Ten) fell to No. 1 Iowa (11-0, 8-0), 27-9, on Senior Night.

Redshirt freshman Joey Silva secured one of two Michigan wins Saturday night, beating Iowa’s Paul Glynn, 7-5. Already down 3-0 heading into the second match of the night, Silva momentarily tied the dual at 3-3 in team score. Glynn managed to tie up the match at 5-5 late, but an escape by Silva secured the win for the Wolverines.

“Joey did a great job throughout the match,” Michigan coach Sean Bormet said. “One thing is continuing to manage weight control. He did a really good job managing his weight in weigh-ins. It’s really all about managing that recovery piece. I saw some great things offensively for him and he did a really nice job on top.”

However, things became grim for the Wolverines after Silva’s win, as they dropped the next seven matchups. Five of those matchups were within four points, but the rankings favored Iowa in nearly every matchup.

Daily Sports Writer

For The Daily

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Junior right-hander Jeff Criswell is a holdover from last year’s rotation.

Bakich disagrees.

“That (rise to the occasion) is exactly what we try not to say,” Bakich said. “This is something we stole from the Navy SEALS: ‘We don’t rise to the occasion, we sink to the level of our training, and we just hope that the level of our training is higher than the occasion.’ ” Junior starting pitcher Jeff Criswell is perhaps the best example of why the Wolverines prefer the latter mentality. The 6-foot-4 right-hander from Portage, Mich. has trained at one of the highest levels available to college baseball players; with Team USA. Having done so, he is the heir apparent to Henry.

“To have a Michigan baseball player go play for Team USA is pretty awesome,” Bakich said.

“The confidence that he got from that, in addition to the confidence from pitching both as a starter and a reliever, is important. He was very valuable for us last year, and he has gone from being maybe more of a thrower as a freshman, to a true pitcher with three-plus pitches, to a guy who’s regarded as one of the best amongst his peers.

“We’re glad to have him, and we’re sure glad he’s pitching for us on Fridays.”

With Criswell expected to be the pitching staff’s ace this year, the question remains as to who will fall in behind him, and the answer is currently

unknown.

“We feel like we’ve got some pretty good options in those two, three and four spots,” Bakich said. “That’s a competition that’s going on right now.”

Among those options is freshman Cam Weston, whom Criswell himself sees as impressive, and there are talented arms in redshirt sophomore Ben Dragani and redshirt freshman Steven Hajjar — both of whom seek to return strongly from injuries sustained last season. This is not to mention redshirt sophomore right-hander Isaiah Paige, who filled in many pitching roles last season, and junior right-hander Blake Beers whom Bakich cited as a player who could potentially play a prominent role this season.

The Wolverines may have only decided on one rotation spot heading into the week of their first game, but it is clear that they do not see their situation as dire.

“I feel exactly the same heading into opening weekend now as I did last year,” Bakich said.

And for anyone who watched Tommy Henry pitch seven innings of two-run baseball against No.1 UCLA to send Michigan to the College World Series, that sounds much more like a signal of confidence than one of worry.

Michigan came closest to another win when redshirt sophomore Jelani Embree faced off with Iowa’s Cash Wilcke.

With a score of 3-2 in Wilcke’s favor late in the third period, he strayed to the edge of the mat.

Embree attempted to wave him back into the circle, but even after receiving a stall warning, Wilcke remained near the edge of the mat.

“It was a situation where Jelani needed to have more match strategy and mat awareness,” Bormet said. “The Iowa wrestler was playing the edge a bit, and I’m not sure if Jelani realized the official had called the Iowa wrestler there for stalling when he was hanging and hovering around the edge of the mat. There were still 12 seconds left, and Jelani was walking back in trying to bait him to come into the center and he wasn’t coming back into the center.”

The headlining match of the night came last in the heavyweight category, as Parris faced off with Iowa’s Cassioppi.

It began evenly matched, with Parris and Cassioppi gaining

control over each other at different points. However, in the second period, Parris was able to pin Cassioppi to the mat in Michigan’s second win of the night, keeping himself undefeated on the season.

“It was a great confidence booster for me,” Parris said.

“I went out there with a lot of confidence already. He was my last high school loss, so I definitely wanted some revenge with him. I just wanted to go out there and beat him.”

Parris’ vengeful win was ultimately in vain. Regardless of his score, the Wolverines’ previous shortcomings already put the dual out of reach.

Still, against the best team in the country, Michigan’s wrestlers found an opportunity to test themselves.

“Every opportunity when you compete, you have to go into it to get better,” Bormet said. “We talk about how you wrestle a style where you’re constantly trying to get better and improve.

You can do that even in a loss and you can not do that even in a win.”

You wrestle a style where you’re ... trying to get better.

ALEC COHEN/Daily

The Michigan wrestling team fell short against Iowa on Senior Night, losing, 27-9, with just two wins between them.

Sports

8 — Wednesday, February 12, 2020

michigandaily.com

Photos courtesy of the Mann Family Design by Jack Silberman

and

TIEN LE Daily Sports Writer The first thing you should know about Strauss Mann’ Paleo diet is that it isn’t exactly Paleo.

When I found out, I was popping open three boxes of tupperware and unwrapping a large bowl. It was Day 30, and I had just finished my month-long self-initiated challenge of trying out the famed diet.

Earlier in the week, I met up with the sophomore goaltender for our weekly check-in on my progress and, feeling bold, I asked if he would be down for each of us to cook up something Paleo and swap — a celebration for the end of my trial.

He was happy to.

Three days later, I presented my masterpiece: A box of sliced chicken thighs, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts and a bowl of fried rice.

I started reading off the ingredients I used. Everything was tossed in olive oil and roasted except some chicken, which was coated with almond flour. As I went down the list, I realized the whole exchange flopped.

For one, he forgot to bring food. Maybe I didn’t think this through.

Second of all, he couldn’t eat a bite of anything I cooked that day. Yeah, I definitely didn’t think this through.

“You can’t just throw me in the deep end, say ‘Eat my food,’ ” Strauss explained.

“There’s details here!”

While his diet is closest to paleo, there’s a lot of small changes in between that make it his own. No olive oil for cooking. No nuts.

No plastic tupperware. He’s the master of his own diet. That’s the first thing you should know about his diet, and at the end of my 30 days, it was the last thing I found out.

Huh, I guess I just did it wrong. *** In Greenwich, Conn., there’s only one Buffalo Wild Wings. Two, depending on where you draw the city lines. Some days, before his junior year in high school, Strauss would walk in and order boneless wings.

Other times, he’d go elsewhere and get pizza and pasta. Sundays, he would make Bagel Bites. Mornings, he’d have a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. Before his diet, Strauss was like any other teenager.

But until that point, his role as a hockey player on his high school team was barely a role at all. He was the third-string goaltender and appeared in zero games.

Something had to change.

In past years, he tried different types of diets.

He tried cutting out meat, and he even attempted to eat less. While he lost a lot of weight, he lost a lot of muscle, too.

The summer after his sophomore year in high school, though, Strauss found out there was a gym in town where a lot of NHL players would work out during the off-season.

Strauss begged his mom, Sally, to go. But she wouldn’t let him.

Instead, a friend of his went and chanced upon a nutritionist who gave him an entire dietary meal plan. When Strauss saw it, he simply took it for himself. Hockey had become a commitment, and he had to go all in.

“Strauss made a decision for himself that he really wanted to take hockey as far as he could,” Sally said. “And I think he started recognizing at that point that wishing wasn’t going to be enough.”

Strauss cited that summer as a turning point in his career.

But he didn’t start all-in — instead cherry-picking what he liked from the base Paleo diet. Over time, he did more research and started pinpointing specifics he thought he could improve. He talked to as many people as possible and even met with the nutritionist who made the original meal plan for his friend.

“It was hard, but he kind of stairstepped into it at the beginning,” Sally said.

Because of the gradual start, Sally and

others had just labeled it a phase. His family was no stranger to unorthodox eating habits. One of his three sisters was a vegetarian; another had food allergies. So when Strauss declared he was trying out this new diet, they all just wondered how long it would last.

But it lasted, and the conviction showed.

When Sally went shopping, Strauss asked for ingredients aligned with what he could eat. And when it wasn’t made for dinner, he made it himself.

“It’s something that gives me discipline,” Strauss said. “I was the third goalie on my high school team, and then, everything started to change. So it’s like, you’re not gonna just stop doing it.” *** The problem for me was never stopping, it was starting. And honestly, I can’t say my reason for starting the diet was as inspired.

I’m someone that puts these routines over what people think of me

From the start, I knew I wanted to do it for an article — and also so I could get in better shape for spring break.

I didn’t have a bottom line. I wasn’t trying to improve my hockey skills. I was just … going to do it.

I kept pushing it off until January, and I had run out of excuses. That didn’t stop me from trying, though. Anything to get out of doing it.

Give up candy and chips? I ate those every day. Wings and pizza, too? Those two made up my dinner every day.

And not having a legit reason to do the diet made it that much harder to flip the switch. But tequila helped. Literally. I was at Skeeps on Jan. 7 when the fifth shot started to kick in.

Now is the time, I told myself, as beer

other gluteninfested drinks spilled all around me.

Tequila is technically Paleo, so I was off on the right foot. But I took my declaration seriously. I’m a man of my word.

I went in to media availability the next day and asked Strauss for tips. I wanted to do the diet right.

“You can’t just be eating like carrots for lunch or something,” Strauss said. “That’s just not enough for your body. I have to eat like a ton of food.”

I had, indeed, only eaten a bag of carrots — not for lunch prior to talking to him, but for the entire day. I hadn’t gone grocery shopping for the week yet, nor did I have the time.

So for the first 72 hours of my trial, I had three eggs, a bag of carrots and two bags of Clementines.

And to be honest, I was miserable. I was gassed doing the simplest things, tired all the time. My sight was a little blurry, I constantly felt like passing out and it was hard to think straight. So nothing changed, really.

But I stuck through it. Tough times make tough people or something like that, right? It didn’t help that I had to travel to South Bend on Day 4 and 5 to cover the hockey games. I packed an extra bag of carrots.

Luckily, my fellow writers noticed my famined state and brought me to a Paleofriendly brunch place. I ordered everything that I could eat.

“How do you cook your bacon?” I asked just to make sure it was Paleo-approved.

It was the final question from the long list of things I had to check off every time I ate out. She already noted they use sea salt and that the sweet potato fries were baked instead of fried.

“Not too crispy,” the waitress replied.

Perfect.

The start was by far the hardest part, and the adjustment period my body underwent — Days 1 through 5 — made me question my existence. But I started to actually feel change, effects that Sally listed off that Strauss felt too, like waking up every morning with a clearer head.

Maybe it was worth it after all. *** Strauss continued the diet throughout high school. It became easier with experience.

He realized he couldn’t just turn the diet on and off as he had the previous ones, because it would be too hard to start again. No more spending Saturday nights

snacking on chips. No more eating any refined carbs of any sort. No cheating for anything. But it wasn’t difficult — he grew to really like the Paleo palate.

“I think he finally realized that he kind of needed to be more focused about (the diet) if he was really going to do it,” Sally said. “It’s funny. It’s just kind of got to the point where it became what he liked to eat.”

There were still sacrifices, though.

Immediately after he chose to forgo processed food, gluten and dairy, he was tested that first summer. His birthday was in August, and his mom was adamant he have a cake.

“It’s his birthday,” Sally said. “I feel like, I’m a mom, I want to be able to celebrate his birthday. It’s just our tradition in our world to have a cake and candles. So it feels like the birthday’s a miss if you don’t have that.”

But he was unwavering with his diet, even though he had only started a few months prior.

So they compromised. She would make a gluten-free, dairy-free cake, using only a dash of processed sugar. And he would consider eating it.

“Just had like nothing in it, basically,” Sally said. “And I thought it was pretty disgusting, but I don’t think he really even felt like it was worth the quote on quote, ‘cheat.’ ” There was a long list of other things he chose not to conform to.

Eating and doing things with friends, for one, was a big challenge for him. His friends were at the age where they started drinking, and he just couldn’t join. When they went for pizza, he couldn’t have any.

But back then, his high school friends already knew him.

The only thing that changed about him to them was the things he ate. He was still the same old Strauss. It was still awkward at times, but after a bit of time, they got used to it and accepted it.

It was a different story when he graduated high school and headed to juniors hockey in Fargo, N.D. “He was thrusted into a team situation where nobody knew him beforehand at all,” Sally said. “And it was like, ‘Who is this? Who is this guy? What is he doing?

Why does he have all this stinky food on the bus? And why is he not getting off when we stop and grabbing a pizza with us’ ” He didn’t really know anyone — teammates or billet family. Fargo was a reality check from the bubble he had previously lived in. His billet family wasn’t prepared to cook around his diet, so he did all this shopping and all his cooking. His teammates learned about his diet before they learned who he really was, so he learned the extent of his commitment.

“He’s figured out a way to kind of take a deep breath and wait for everybody to start accepting that this is just who he is and get to know him past (his diet),” Sally said.

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