2020-03-11

ANN ARBOR, MI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020 | MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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MI confirms first coronavirus cases amid US outbreak

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LEAH GRAHAM, LIAT WEINSTEIN & ALEX HARRING | Managing News Editor & Daily News Editors

Two cases of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 disease have been diagnosed in Michigan.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night.

Whitmer discussed the cases at a press conference with Joneigh S. Khaldun, Michigan’s chief medical executive and chief deputy director for health at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and Capt. Emmitt McGowan of the MSP Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division.

“I’ve signed an executive order declaring a state of emergency in order to maximize our efforts and assist local government and officials to slow the spread.” Whitmer said. “It’s crucial that Michiganders continue to take preventative measures.”

One case is a woman in Oakland County with a history of international travel, while the other is a man in Wayne County who had traveled domestically. Both individuals are middle aged and both are hospitalized.

Specimens from both patients were collected and sent to the MDHHS Bureau of Laboratories, where they tested positive for coronavirus and were sent to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for verification.

To prevent the spread of the virus, Whitmer said people should wash their hands for 20 seconds, replace handshakes with elbow bumps and cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze.

“It has moved into Michigan and I urge all Michiganders to take these recommendations very seriously,” Whitmer said.

Khaldun said the state government will continue to monitor the situation and warned people that the coronavirus is likely to spread across Michigan. Hundreds of people in the state are currently being monitored for the coronavirus.

“It is very likely that we will see more cases and that there will be community spread,” Khaldun said.

Khaldun urged all Michigan businesses and schools to develop plans to slow the spread of the disease and protect the community.

Former VP takes primary

SARAH PAYNE | Daily Staff Reporter Jasmin Lee & Julia Forrest contributed reporting

F

ormer VP Joe Biden won the Michigan primary by more than 10 percentage points over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, on Tuesday.

Multiple sources called the race at about 9 p.m. with 32 percent of precincts reporting.

Biden’s win in Michigan follows a near sweep of Super Tuesday states last week.

The former Vice President spoke in Pennsylvania after winning Michigan, Missouri

and Mississippi.

“To all of those who have been counted out, left behind; this is your campaign,” Biden said. “We need you, we want you, and there’s a place in our campaign for each of you. And I want to thank Bernie Sanders and his supporters.

We share a common goal and together we will defeat Donald Trump, we will do it together.”

See BIDEN, Page 2A

See VIRUS, Page 2A

ASHA LEWIS/Daily

VOTING

GOVERNMENT

Same day registration leads to lines at City Hall

Michiganders contribute more to other candidates

STUDENTS FACE LONG WAITS BIDEN LAGS IN A2 DONATIONS

ALEC COHEN/Daily

ALEX HARRING, EMMA STEIN & BRAYDEN HIRSCH | Daily News Editors & Daily Staff Reporter In the first major election since the passage of Proposal 3, which allows same-day voter registration, hundreds waited in line for upwards of two hours to cast their ballot in Tuesday’s presidential primary.

City Hall was the only location in Ann Arbor where people could change their voting registrations. Those who register at City Hall were allowed to vote there as well, whether or not it was their designated polling location.

Residents first became eligible for sameday registration when Proposal 3 passed in 2018. Prop. 3, in an effort to increase voter

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turnout and accessibility, included provisions for automatic voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting.

Engineering sophomore Ranadeep Mitra waited in line for two and a half hours, and though he said it was a “pain,” he’s glad he voted.

“I feel like it’s my civic duty,” Mitra said. “I honestly probably wouldn’t have voted if I had known it would take this long, but by the time I had gotten halfway through, I decided just to stay because I had already wasted so much time here.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a candidate in See LINES, Page 2A

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JULIA FANZERES | Daily Staff Reporter The 2020 Democratic primaries, which started off with 28 candidates, narrowed down to two major contenders – former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., with Biden winning the Michigan primary on Tuesday. Money in politics has played a divisive role in the election, with candidates differing in their methods for raising money.

Grassroots campaigns such as Sanders’s garnered an average donation of $18.53, while other candidates such as Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg relied on their personal wealth to catapult them onto the national stage.

When comparing all campaign donations from across the state of Michigan, Ann Arbor was the city that donated the most money to presidential campaigns, according to the Federal Election Commission. In total, Ann Arbor donated $480,943 in 2019, with each donation averaging $63.66. That’s more than two times as many

donations as Grand Rapids, the second-highest donating city in the state, whose donations equaled $245,181. The city with the third most donations was Detroit, with $183,974. All of these figures were recorded from July 1, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2019.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., received the most money from University of Michigan employees, raising $30,854. Following closely in second and third place for most contributions was Sanders, raising $28,357, and tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, raising $25,090.

The considerable amount of money Warren raised prior to her departure from the race last week is consistent with polls that showed the candidate in first place standing among white college-educated graduates. Warren also received the most donations from Democrats who have advanced degrees.

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News

2A — Wednesday, March 11, 2020

MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers

TUESDAY:

By Design

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WEDNESDAY: This Week in History

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FRIDAY: Behind the Story

March 11, 1965: University officials announce plans for closure of admissions gate for freshman applicants

Spike in applications from prospective first-year students leads to earliest end to admissions period Universit y of Michigan off icials announced yesterday they are no longer accepting freshmen for next fall.

A 32 percent increase in freshman applications over last year caused the earliest closure of admissions in Universit y histor y.

Approximately 12,300 high school seniors

applied to the Universit y for admission next fall.

Off icials expect the total number of applications to exceed 13,000. Despite an increase of 20 to 25 percent in the number of state high school seniors, the Universit y received an additional increase of only 10 per over last year in the number of applicants.

The Universit y is increasing next year’s freshman class by 600 above the number admitted for the last fall term. The freshman class for next year will total 4,800, an increase of approximately 1400 over t wo years ago.

The enrollment will total approximately 30,900, as disclosed by

the Off ice of Academic Affairs in December. The out-of-state students will number about the same percent of the student body as last year.

The effect of the additional 600 students on classroom and laborator y crowding, as well as on the hiring of new facult y for next fall, depends on the budget

this time.

The increase in the number of applications from Michigan residents and out-of-state students has been about equal.

All qualif ied Michigan residents who applied to the Universit y before Feb. 1, have been admitted.

Those who apply now are being placed on a waiting list.

still undetermined by the state leg islature.

An increase in the freshman class of 600 and the subsequent increase in applications was anticipated last fall by the admissions off ice, Br yon L. Groesbeck, assistant director of admissions, said. The added increase in applications caused the closing of admissions at

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Editorial Staff ERIN WHITE ALEC COHEN/Daily Students and Ann Arbor residents wait in line to register to vote as volunteers offer water, pizza and other snacks outside of the Ann Arbor City Hall Tuesday afternoon.

VIRUS From Page 1A “All business, employers, hospitals and schools and universities should be making plans and appropriately preparing for this disease,” Khaldun said. “We’ve been working very closely with our partners across the state for several weeks on these preparations.”

At least eight states including Washington, California and New York are declaring states of emergency in response to local outbreaks.

When asked if schools across the state would be closed down, Whitmer said no decisions had been reached yet. Several dozen colleges across the country have canceled in-person classes in response to the virus, including Harvard University and Ohio State University.

A petition circulated on Tuesday calling on the University of Michigan to follow suit. As of 11 p.m. on Tuesday, the petition has nearly 4,000 signatures.

“Why are we being reactive instead of proactive?” the petition reads. “We should not wait for the first confirmed case of 2019-nCoV in Ann Arbor to take action. That’s the kind of mistake that’s put many areas in a dire state. This is a plea for the University of Michigan to move classes online now.”

The University’s Office of Public Affairs did not respond immediately to request for comment.

In an email to students on Tuesday, the Center for Global and Intercultural Study’s senior health and safety adviser Rachel Reuter said there is a “strong possibility” that CGIS will cancel its spring and summer study abroad programs

BIDEN From Page 1A Michigan has 125 delegates, the largest number of all states voting Tuesday, which includes Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Idaho and Washington and will be divided proportionally between Biden and Sanders. The former Vice President was also declared the winner of both the Mississippi and Missouri primaries early Tuesday evening.

To win the Democratic nomination, a candidate needs at least 1,991 of the 3,979 pledged delegates.

due to concerns over coronavirus.

University of Michigan officials will decide whether to cut the programs by the end of the week, according to the email.

Reuter noted the spread of the virus to more than 100 countries and the rapid increase in the number of cases.

“As a result many countries, including the US, are considering or have already implemented responses that include restrictions on mobility, cancellation of public events and the temporary closure of educational institutions to help slow the spread of the virus,” Reuter wrote. “As a result of the rapidly evolving situation, officials from across the University of Michigan are meeting to determine whether or not to cancel spring/summer study abroad programs, and we fully expect to provide you with a decision by the end of this week at the very latest.”

CGIS offers more than 140 programs in over 50 countries and allows participants to fulfill degree and language requirements while studying abroad.

The continued spread of the virus has led to a series of cancelations and restrictions of University programs abroad for countries with a Level 3 Travel Health Notice from the Centers for Disease Control, which urges avoidance of all nonessential travel. In January, the University issued a travel restriction for China, discontinuing University-affiliated travel to the country and only allowing graduate students to travel with an approved safety plan. The school followed up with a travel restriction for South Korea in late February, expanding to include Iran and Italy.

In an email sent to LSA students

on March 8, LSA Dean Anne Curzan noted the disruption caused by the travel restrictions.

“Winter study abroad programs in countries with a CDC Level 3 Notice have been canceled, and we will be working with affected students to try and arrange completion of coursework through alternative means,” Curzan wrote.

“We will continue monitoring the situation so that we can make appropriate arrangements if additional countries rise to CDC Level 3. We will send out updates as soon as possible about spring/ summer study abroad programs.”

Reuter also warned students to refrain from buying airline tickets.

“I know how difficult and frustrating this is, but given the gravity of the situation regarding COVID-19 and our dedication to providing students with a healthy, safe and academically enriching study abroad experience, the University needs this time to gather relevant information and consider many factors in order to make as judicious a decision as possible,” Reuter wrote.

Students have struggled to adjust their plans in response to the travel restrictions.

LSA sophomore Hanna Smith was signed up for the Spanish 230 program in Granada, Spain — which allows students to complete their final two required semesters of the LSA foreign language requirement — but now the fate of this program is uncertain. Smith said while she understands the need to take precautions, she needs the credits from the program.

“It would be unfortunate because myself and a lot of people have to fulfill a language requirement, besides the fact that

it would be an amazing experience to be able to go,” Smith said. “But also I do recognize the severity of the situation and while it is really unfortunate that I might not be able to go, I understand it’s more important to take precautions.”

LSA junior Rayna Shamah was planning on studying abroad in Costa Rica during the upcoming spring term and Turks and Caicos for summer term to complete the language and natural science requirements. Shamah, who said she also planned to graduate a semester early in order to save on tuition costs, now doubts that she will be able to graduate early due to the CGIS cancellations.

“If the programs were canceled I would definitely not be able to graduate early, because I would need those 12 credits to graduate,” Shamah said. “I was extremely disappointed. I think the main reason is just because it’s kind of early. I know the University wants to take care of its students, that’s the main priority, but we don’t know anything about the virus, if it’s a seasonal virus. It’s just really early.”

Shamah said she hoped the programs would not be canceled but also said she understood the precautions the University is taking.

“They’re once in a lifetime experiences,” Shamah said. “We’re not going to be able to live with a host family again, especially during college.”

Managing News Editor Leah Graham can be reached at leahgra@ umich.edu. Daily News Editor Liat Weinstein can be reached at weinsl@umich.edu and Daily News Editor Alex Harring can be reached at harring@umich.edu.

Following Super Tuesday, a large number of endorsements from Michigan political figures endorsed Biden, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Players on the national stage once included Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. All suspended their presidential campaigns and endorsed Biden. Shortly after CNN declared Biden the winner in Michigan, Missouri and

Mississippi, former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang endorsed Biden’s campaign.

Business student Jeh Mory was at the Students for Biden watch party on Tuesday and spoke about the former vice president’s chances of winning the Democratic nomination.

“I feel pretty optimistic about the future,” Mory said. “These wins are important and going ahead, I think it bodes well for Biden’s chance of getting a delegate majority and getting the nomination.”

Kinesiology junior Courage Ekwonye was also at the Students

for Biden watch party. He noted Biden’s appeal to Republicans as well as Democrats.

“I’m a conservative.

I traditionally don’t agree with the majority of Joe Biden’s views, but there’s something about Joe Biden that separates him from the Bernie Sanders wing,” Ekwonye said. “Even though he has ideas outside of the American tradition, he still cares very much about this country. It seems that the Bernie Sanders campaign comes off as not

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News

Teach-in looks at impact of climate change in prisons

Green Decarceration subject of event hosted by PCAP CALDER LEWIS

Daily Staff Reporter

Mary Heinen, co-founder of the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan, spoke from experience at “Green Decarceration: The Intersection of Environmental Justice and Criminal Justice Reform” on Tuesday. When Heinen was incarcerated, prison guards told her that properties 100 miles around the prison would not sell because the water was toxic.

“If you got a cup of water and tried to make a cup of coffee, you can see oil on the top of it and little white crystals in it,” Heinen said. “And there were warnings in the visiting room: don’t drink the water, and if you’re pregnant, really don’t drink the water. But you knew, I’m drinking this, I’m bathing in this, my clothes are being washed in this. You knew you were in trouble.”

About 30 students, faculty and community members attended the event as a part of Earth Day festivities taking place at Michigan League Tuesday afternoon.

Nora Krinitsky, Interim Director of the Prison Creative Arts Project, led the teach-in, and speakers included Heinen and Josh Hoe, policy analyst for the non-profit Safe and Just Michigan. Krinitsky said the climate crisis and the carceral system are critical issues facing society and younger generations.

“Those are two very big, complicated problems that can feel really overwhelming when you’re kind of looking at them as an individual,” Krinitsky said. “What that means is that both of them are going to require big social movements in order to make really significant change.”

Heinen spoke about her experience going through Michigan’s prison system for decades as she served a three back-to-back life sentences.

As she was transferred from prison to prison, she said poor conditions were a common theme. In the now-closed Florence Crane Correctional Facility, Heinen said women often died from obscure medical conditions related to the toxic water.

“As time went on, lifers that I was friends with had really severe headaches. You’d have a period for two months,” Heinen said. “They had women who had strokes, they had

BIDEN From Page 2A in America, but I think Joe Biden believes in America. I think we need a president who is going to be the reset button in our American discourse.”

University alum Efos Idusuye also attended the Students for Biden watch party and spoke about his support for Biden and the need for unity within the Democratic party.

tumors, they had rare cancers.

The generation before me, who were there when I arrived, one by one by one those women died.”

LSA senior Taylor Luthe came to the teach-in with a personal connection to the criminal justice movement.

Luthe said her mother was incarcerated when she was a child, and she had to step out of the room for a moment after Heinen shared her emotional experiences.

“These people, like she was saying, were her sisters and the people that she essentially grew up with while she was inside and were her family,” Luthe said. “Just the blatant disregard for humanity and seeing that come through in what she was speaking about, and also imagining my mom in that situation, imagining these horrible things happening to the people that I love was hard.”

Hoe spoke to specific connections between the criminal justice movement and climate movement. He said heat, diseases and poor water quality, in particular, affect prisoners disproportionately.

“Prisons are the zero point of a lot of this climate change stuff,” Hoe said. “Mobility is what allows you to adapt to climate change, and you can’t adapt if you can’t move, and you can’t adapt if you can’t build or do any of the things that are necessary to protect yourself.”

Engineering senior Charlie Gerard told The Daily after the event that he appreciated learning more about the criminal justice movement from Hoe, but said the connection with environmental justice felt like a stretch.

“Obviously, there are unfortunate cases as well, but generally if you’re in prison, you did something wrong and you’re there for punishment,” Gerard said. “Maybe the climate has an adverse effect, but I don’t think that’s a reason to remove people from prison.”

As an example of the direct impact climate change has on prisoners, Hoe told the story of Shawna Lynn Jones, one of many California prisoners paid low wages to fight wildfires.

Hoe said Jones became the first firefighter to die in 2016 when a boulder hit and killed her.

“She was 22-years-old and only three months from

“Bernie Sanders and Biden supporters are on the same party. I think it’s time for us to unite,” Idusuye said. “At the end, we’re all fighting for the same issues against poverty, against oppression, and other issues.”

LSA junior Arden Shapiro attended a watch party hosted

by Students for Bernie 2020. As polls began to report Biden’s large lead Tuesday night, Shapiro reacted to the results of the Michigan primary.

“I’m just utterly devastated for the organizers who

release, and she was getting paid basically nothing to go out and risk her life to fight fires for a state full of people who didn’t want her to be part of their community,” Hoe said.

Luthe said she was angry when she heard Jones’s story, particularly because she said formerly incarcerated people often cannot apply the skills they learned in prison once they are released back into society.

“I think (Hoe) was absolutely correct when he called it exploitation,” Luthe said. “It’s just blatant disregard for human life. … I think it’s absolutely horrendous that you could put your life on the line so that other firefighters who have not been incarcerated don’t have to do that. And yet you are not welcomed in … you have these skills, but you’re not able to use them.”

Matthew Lassiter, assistant history professor, said he’s noticed racial disparities between the student environmental and criminal justice movements in his 20 years at the University.

“Environmental activism has largely tended to be white students,” Lassiter said. “They’re really good on issues of environmental racism, environmental justice, environmental sustainability, but it’s often centered around PITE and the School of Environment and Sustainability … It’s a different crowd than when you go to a mass incarceration event and see a lot more African American students and people of color there. To me, these issues are very intertwined and that’s something this teach-in can emphasize.”

After the event, Krinitsky commented on the broad impact of criminal justice and environmental justice.

“These are both movements that touch you even if you don’t know it yet,” Krinistky said. “In some ways, it’s a little bit easier to see that when it comes to climate justice just because of where we imagine the climate to be. One thing that I say to folks who haven’t yet worked on decarceration is that I guarantee you that you or someone you love is not that far away from being involved in the criminal justice system.”

Daily Staff Reporter Calder Lewis can be reached at calderll@umich.edu.

poured everything into this movement … It’s really frustrating and indicative of how fundamentally f lawed our system is,” Shapiro said.

“I know it’s not over, I’m so you know, I will make sure our members are fighting and phone banking and doing everything we can. Drive to Illinois you know next Tuesday. We’re gonna do everything we can until you know the very very, very end.”

Daily Staff Reporter Sarah Payne can be reached at paynesm@umich.edu

DESIGN BY JONATHAN WALSH

LINES From Page 1A Tuesday’s primary, issued a statement in a press release condemning long lines to vote.

“At a time when Democrats correctly attack Republicans for voter suppression, it is disappointing to see people standing in long lines for hours today waiting to vote in Michigan and around the country,” Sanders said in the statement. “People should not have to miss a day of work to exercise their right to vote.

This is an outrage. Election officials must address these problems immediately, and if necessary, keep polling places open longer.”

Mitra said he wished there were more locations to register in Ann Arbor to reduce the length of the lines.

Many University of Michigan students in line said they were willing to wait because they feel their vote matters more in Michigan than in their home state, given its status as a swing state. The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor has an out of state population of nearly 15,000, as of 2019.

President Donald Trump won Michigan by just over 10,000 votes in 2016.

Engineering senior Viktoriya Kovalchuk had been waiting in line to register for more than an hour by the time she got inside the building. She said those in line were given the registration

DONATIONS From Page 2A Ann Arbor has been named the most well-educated city in the country, with the highest percentage of people with high school, associate’s, bachelor’s and graduate/professional degrees, data that suggests that Warren would likely have found a captive base of voters in Ann Arbor.

LSA senior Martha Abrams said she believed Warren appealed to a lot of students due to her blend of progressive politics like those championed by Sanders and pragmatic policy initiatives modeled by Biden.

“Bernie for a lot of people, I think, especially in the early months of his campaign … seemed more like a radical progressive than I think a lot of people were prepared for,” Abrams said. “I think Warren was a more … palatable candidate. I also definitely think that having a female candidate, especially one who’s so deeply experienced in the political arena, and so consistent, and a front-runner always, was really appealing to a lot of people.”

When analyzing the amount of individual contributions in Ann Arbor and by U-M employees, Sanders finished in first in both categories. He received 2,859 contributions from Ann Arbor residents and 521 contributions from U-M employees, whereas Warren received 1,685 contributions from Ann Arbor residents and 311 from U-M employees.

Sanders’s campaign has made a point of relying on smallerdollar contributions since 2016.

Professor Richard Hall of the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy discussed how individual contributions often come from the most extreme ends of each political party.

He explained how Sanders’s grassroots campaign contributions could have significantly helped Sanders in the Michigan primary.

“I think one thing we know is that the activists in a party and including the individual donors to candidates tend to be at the extremes … and (these) tend to be the people who turnout in primaries,” Hall said. “There is some reason to think that that bodes well for Sanders.”

Rackham student Nathan John was standing outside the Union on primary day campaigning for Sanders. He said the spirit of Sanders’s campaign appealed to him.

“I think that Bernie is running a very grassroots oriented campaign, and he’s

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 — 3A

forms so they could begin filling them out.

Kovalchuk emphasized the importance of voting and said she wanted to change her registration to Michigan because it is a swing state.

“It’s worth it,” Kovalchuk said. “I know Michigan is a swing state, and I’m from Arizona, and it’s not a swing state. So, I’d rather vote here. …

(The wait time) is not ideal, but I think it’s worth it in the end.

It’s a priority for me to vote, and I just became a citizen recently.”

Business freshman Grace Manella recently turned 18 and voted for the first time on Tuesday. She said she chose to register in Michigan instead of her home state of Kentucky.

“I think it’s important to vote because it’s exciting that, when you’re younger, everyone’s voting and you can’t really participate,” Manella said. “I feel like once you can, you have this kind of civic duty where you feel like you should.

It’s exciting to kind of feel like you’re a part of the system.”

LSA senior Danielle Boilen previously voted with an absentee ballot from New York but chose to register in Michigan for this election.

“I did absentee when I voted in the last election, and I think it’s awesome that I can register here on the day of,” Boilen said.

“I think that’s a great thing that Michigan does.”

Rackham student Amanda Peiffer said she originally got

in the line to register to vote but only needed to vote. She said she wished there were more workers at City Hall to help the large crowd navigate.

“I think that everyone should be able to vote, but I think that this is nuts that the line is astronomical. It’s just another polling place that does not run correctly. I think this is why a lot of people don’t vote. … We need more staff,” Peiffer said. “There’s just clearly not enough people working. People are talking about online voting.

I think that’d be awesome.

I think about the people getting sick and stuff with the coronavirus. How are they going to vote?”

LSA senior Teddy Kiernan came to City Hall to change his ballot from Independent to Democrat. This is the second presidential election he has been able to vote in.

“My first election I voted in was the general election 2016 for the president,” Kiernan said. “Beyond that, I haven’t participated in any other elections. … Between the two options (in 2016), I wasn’t thrilled with either. I’m hoping to vote for one person here that can stand a fighting chance in the general election.”

News Editors Alex Harring and Emma Stein can be reached at harring@umich.edu and enstein@umich.edu. Reporter Brayden Hirsch can be reached at braydenh@umich.edu.

for me. The reason why I’m so passionate about him is that he does not accept money from billionaires,” John said.

“I think it says that he’s a man of the people and someone that people are willing to get behind. It shows that we can change politics by focusing on individuals or not corporations.”

According to a Michigan Daily analysis of campaign finance records, in comparing Ann Arbor to the state of Michigan overall, the trends shift slightly, as the overall Democratic candidate with the highest contributions is Sanders with $802,595.66 in 2019, and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who received $730,651.04 in 2019, before dropping out of the race in early March. Then, Warren came in third place with $462,177.22 and Joe Biden came in fourth with $408,175.22, both in 2019.

Hall noted that money from the political establishment has been f looding into Biden’s campaign since Super Tuesday. And with moderates such as Buttigieg, Biden and Klobuchar raising a total of more than $1,270,091.51 in Michigan, it was unclear which way the results of the primary would lean up until the polls closed Tuesday.

Money doesn’t always translate to electoral success. If it did, Sec. Hillary Clinton would have won the Michigan primary in 2016.

Clinton raised almost triple the amount of what Sanders raised.

At the time, polls predicted that Hillary Clinton had a 25-point lead over Sanders in the Michigan Primary. Polling website FiveThirtyEight went as far as predicting that Clinton had a 99 percent chance of winning Michigan.

Yet, Sanders won the Michigan 2016 Democratic Primary with 49.8 percent of the votes compared to Clinton, who received just 48.3 percent of the vote.

As an expert in campaign finance, Hall noted that money doesn’t tell the whole story. While funding is necessary to enter a national presidential race, Hall explained that past elections show throwing money at a campaign simply isn’t enough to win.

“It is true that Bloomberg made a run because he spent all that money. But in the end, he lost, you know, pretty handily,” Hall said. “(Trump was) outspent by … three or four of his competitors and super PACs are spending on behalf of … Bush and Rubio in a way they weren’t for Trump.”

Hall argued that money doesn’t lead to the big wins that people imagine.

“It’s not obvious that the money has a big effect,” Hall said. “Obviously, you have to have some money to get in the race but you know, it’s not clear how much it matters.”

Additionally, the momentum and circumstances that helped Sanders win in 2016 are not as evident in the 2020 primaries against Joe Biden. In a New York Times interview, Brandon Dillon, a former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, stated that Sanders is no longer the “novelty” he was four years ago.

“I know people personally who voted for Bernie because they wanted to send a message to Hillary,” Dillion said in the interview.

Dillon said people are more worried about a candidate’s electability and ability to beat Trump now.

“People just want to win because we know who our opponent is and what he can do if he gets another four years,” Dillon continued.

After Warren suspended her campaign in early March without endorsing Sanders or Biden, her voters were torn. In a rally in Ann Arbor three days before the primary, Sanders stated Michigan was the most important state on the March 11, primaries, urging voters that the only way to beat the political establishment was to vote on Tuesday.

“I understand that Joe Biden has the support of the entire political establishment.

I got that,” Sanders said. “But we have the support of some of the strongest grassroots movements in this country, and I would 100 times over prefer to have grassroots support than establishment support.”

Hall adds that similarly to Trump, Sanders is raising a significant amount of money from individual donors. “(It’s) just not clear how much … difference and that’s going to make (or if ) it’s going to be enough to help him carry the day … like it did in Michigan for him four years ago,” Hall said.

Tuesday’s results affirmed Hall’s argument.

Despite his massive campaign push in the final weekend and his hundreds of thousands of individual contributions, Sanders’s grassroots campaign was not enough for a victory in Michigan.

Daily Staff Reporter Julia Fanzeres can be reached at julfan@umich.edu

Opinion

4A— Wednesday, March 11, 2020

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EASHETA SHAH | COLUMN

S

Political Comedy is not a joke — but it should be

ince Hasan Minhaj’s release of his talk show “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj” in 2018, the former Daily Show correspondent was met with high praise for his perfect blend of catharsis and criticism. Every Sunday, Minhaj conquers a new pressing political issue, from his first episode on affirmative action to his internationallycontested one on corruption in Saudi Arabia, all while maintaining a strong level of relatability with his predominantly young audience of first-generation millennials and members of Generation Z. Patriot Act is undoubtedly one of the most successful comedic talk shows on Netflix, but Minhaj’s humor isn’t the reason. Political comedy has wandered into an era of condescension and selfrighteousness that ultimately rewards anyone who fuels this attitude, showering them with endless views and retweets. In today’s age of cancel culture, rampant moral outrage and the never-ending need to “out-woke” the next person, political comedy is slowly losing its footing. A genre that once served as a form of catharsis from serious issues in political discourse has deviated into superficial posthumor activism where each punchline searches for applause instead of laughs.

Transformative moments in American politics demand a method for coping, but that becomes more difficult when every joke seems to be followed by solemnity. This was first witnessed after the tragic 9/11 attacks when The Daily Show host Jon Stewart delivered an overwhelmingly emotional monologue that was far from comedic, and again after the 2016 presidential election where Late Show host Stephen Colbert confronted his own genre of entertainment saying, “I’m not sure if it’s a comedy show at this point” — and he’s right. Talk shows endure a grieving period to console viewers on recent devastating events. But apart from this collective recovery, what was once considered a method for coping has turned into mockery and overt contempt that further intensifies and reinforces extreme partisan views. As a 2017 study might suggest, this genre’s current dry cynicism and induced confirmation bias creates and fortifies these attitudes.

While Minhaj’s show might have

more informative content to pair with the entertaining ridicule of politicians, his and others’ preachy activism isn’t improving politics in any way — it’s just making comedy worse. It’s a noble goal for comedy to try and make up for where proper political representation and resolution is lacking, but effective activism is not going to be found in an industry where the first priority is comic relief. What should be two distinct professions has melded together into a new role: the cometician. The “cometician” serves as the middle ground for both the comedian and the politician, making up for where the other lacks in either seriousness or humor.

Minhaj played the “cometician” when he was asked to testify before Congress about the student debt crisis last September, but when his testimony is received as “cute” and disingenuous by some politicians on account of a few pop culture references, this role begins to fall apart. And comedians aren’t the only ones trying to dip their feet into two pools: Politicians are taking on a more comedic persona.

During his two terms, former President Barack Obama gained a reputation for his exceptional humor in delivering the traditional joke-filled monologues at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. But supporters adored his wit for more reasons than his self-aware and relevant punchlines. President Obama struck a skillful balance between the conventional self-deprecation that accompanies presidential humor and the more assertive subgenre of weaponized comedy. The latter is a strategy that comedians often use in order to further their own political sentiments by delivering punchlines that not-so-subtly strike a chord among a politically aligned audience.

While the Obama administration found success in aspects of this approach, other politicians are still figuring it out. Former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg launched the Meme 2020 project as part of his campaign in order to reach a wider, younger audience and to gain credibility online. For obvious reasons, Mayor Bloomberg’s publicly sponsored memes were illreceived by online culture, and his attempt at self-aware humor left him at a disadvantage. And it doesn’t seem

to help that he is arguably the spitting image of President Donald Trump in terms of public persona — but at least in Trump’s case, he’s not paying millions of dollars to be made fun of.

While politicians are having trouble navigating the field of comedy, comedians aren’t necessarily dominating politics either. It seems that outside of his Manhattan production studio and the cyber realm of Democratic Twitter, Minhaj’s content is met with scattered laughs and weak applause. And that’s because his content isn’t for everyone. Today’s political comedy is directed toward a closed-off audience of people who are either looking for their next opinion or for another way to fuel their selfrighteous moral outrage. Apart from this audience, no one really reaps any benefits from political comedy.

Instead, the same jokes attacking the Trump administration or mocking the 2020 presidential candidates are recycled over and over again within the Comedy Central network. And it’s not funny anymore.

It’s time to reevaluate how comedy fits into politics, because let’s be real, it’s counterproductive and repetitive.

Today more than ever, politics is constantly intertwined with everyday issues, and it’s important to advocate for what we believe in. But there’s a lot of noise and misinformation surrounding any real conversation for change, and part of that is our fault. We demand entertainment and drama while refusing to acknowledge the advantage of a more critically constructive approach to political activism. We’ve given comedians the opportunity to stand before Congress and crack jokes to politicians who refuse to take them seriously. We’ve allowed for moral anger to be the status quo — where the only views that exist are under extremism or ignorance. Although indifference is the enemy to progress, perhaps our woke factor needs the night off once in a while. And political comedy can once again become the biting but good-natured means of relief. our woke factor needs the night off once in a while. And political comedy can once again become the biting but good-natured means of relief.

Easheta Shah can be reached at shaheash@umich.edu.

Continuing Challenges to Suffrage in Michigan in 2020: Who Still Can’t Vote?

PANELIS T S:

March 16, 2020 4:00 pm Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy Annenberg Auditorium, 1120 Weill Hall 735 S. State Street Free and open to the public. Reception to follow.

Info: fspp-events@umich.edu Livestream: fordschool.umich.edu

DANIELLE ATKINSON STEPHANIE CHANG (MPP/MSW ‘14) DESSA COSMA SHARON DOLENTE (MPP ’04)

MODER AT OR: MICHAEL STEINBERG

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Co-sponsors: CEW+ Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund, and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

C

Survivors Speak: Me too

ontent warning: This piece contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault.

It’s not something I talk about. It’s not even something I think about if I can avoid it. But I think it’s time for that to change.

Last year, just a few months into my freshman year, I became a victim of sexual assault.

It was mid-November, and I was at a mixer my sorority had with a couple of fraternities we have events with. I won’t name the fraternity I was at, because the truth is it could’ve been any fraternity on this campus — and at some point, it probably has been.

A couple of weekends before, I had gotten set up for the date party of one of the fraternities we were mixing with. I really liked my date, but I hadn’t spoken to him since the night of the date party (more accurately, he hadn’t responded to my text or added me on social media), and the realization was dawning on me that he was just going to be someone I had been set up with once.

So, I decided I needed to move on. “I need to kiss a boy tonight,” I remember telling my friends. I remember putting on an outfit that was a little bold for me, a little more skin than I was used to showing, and I remember starting to feel the buzz from the pregame and the boxed wine I had upon arriving at the mixer. I remember feeling confident. Feeling like the night was going to be a success.

I remember looking around the fraternity’s basement, searching for my date, trying to see if he was there. Maybe he was just busy this week; maybe it wouldn’t have been just that one night with us.

Or maybe — and I’m not proud of this — he’d see me with someone else.

I don’t know if the boy from the date party ever showed up that night. But about an hour into the mixer, I found the someone else.

He was standing on an elevated surface and noticed me dancing with my friends. He grabbed my hand, spun me around. It was fun.

I felt pretty. I felt noticed. He pulled me up onto the elevated surface with him.

We started dancing, introduced ourselves. He was a year older, and I remember looking down at my friends and getting a look of approval back. “He’s cute,” one of them mouthed at me. We started making out. It was a normal fraternity party experience.

And then it wasn’t. Or maybe — unfortunately — it was.

I felt his hands on my chest, then inside the band of my underwear, and this was too far for a guy I had met 10 minutes ago. I tried to move his hands away, but he had a foot of height and probably 50 pounds or more on me, and he shook me off easily and kept going. He pulled me off the elevated surface and I tried to look for my friends, but couldn’t find them in the crowd.

He started pulling me toward the door, toward the nebulous “upstairs” where I knew enough to know his room was up there somewhere. I knew what he thought was going to happen.

Luckily — so, so luckily for me — I wasn’t as drunk as he thought I was. I dragged my feet as he pulled me along. I started with the typical excuses. “I have a 9 a.m. tomorrow.”

I didn’t. “I have to be up early.” I didn’t. “My friend is so drunk, I have to make sure she’s okay.” The friends I was with that night had all had less to drink than I had, and we were all holding up just fine.

He didn’t buy it and kept pulling me upstairs. He stopped for a second in a corner, and I was relieved.

Maybe I’d gotten out after all. And then his hands were back, inside my underwear again, inside of me, and I couldn’t get him to move his hands away.

“Stop,” I said. “No, stop, please, I just met you —” “Come on,” he said and started pulling me toward the door again.

Every single day, I’m thankful for what happened next. We ran into a girl who lived in my hall. She and I were friendly, and had even gotten a few meals at South Quad together, but we joined different sororities and had never been all that close.

But she saw us, saw enough to guess what was going on. She came over to me and started talking. To his surprise, the boy let go of my hand, and that girl from my hall led me away from him and put me in an Uber back to West Quad.

We all know what would’ve happened if I hadn’t run into her right then.

The state of Michigan defines what happened to me that night as criminal sexual assault in the third degree, but I knew I wasn’t going to press charges or report it. The system is too broken. No matter what I did, nothing was going to happen.

I knew what people would say.

I had been drinking, had been

wearing revealing clothes — never mind the fact that I was barely tipsy, just a couple drinks in, and while, what I was wearing was bold for me, it was still pretty standard fare for a fraternity party, and not at all revealing by my friends’ standards.

That night I had done everything I’d been taught. I didn’t get too drunk, I stayed within my limit, I came with friends. It was a fraternity I knew well, a fraternity I felt comfortable at.

It still happened.

What I wanted — what I still want — is to move on, not to let it affect me. I still go back to that fraternity, still have a drink or two (or more) on occasion, even still wear that outfit. That boy doesn’t get to take any of that away from me.

But not every girl is so lucky.

Not every girl has the luxury, the luck of getting out like I did. Not every girl can move on as I’ve tried to.

And for all of us, the system is broken. So, so beyond broken that I knew from the moment that I walked out of that fraternity house that I wasn’t going to do anything about it — that I couldn’t do anything about it. Not when this University has a history if instutional sexual misconduct.

That’s how broken the system is. Not just generally, but at the University of Michigan.

So broken that I knew from the moment this happened to me that I knew there was nothing I could do about it but keep moving forward. So I did.

I don’t know what I expect to happen as a result of this article coming out. I certainly don’t expect anything from the University; I’ve learned I can’t expect anything from the University in this arena.

But with all this going on, I need to speak up. Need someone — anyone — to hear me when I say: me too.

Editor’s note: The author’s name was omitted to protect their identity.

This piece is a part of the Survivors Speak series, which seeks to share the varied, first-person experiences of survivors of sexual assault. If you are a survivor and would like to submit to the series, please see our guidelines for submission ar https://tinyurl.com/ survivorsspeak2020.

MICHIGAN DAILY OPINION DESK | OP-ED

From the Opinion Desk: Moving on from Michigan Primary

T

he results are in: Former Vice President Joe Biden has taken Michigan. His strong support from populous counties like Wayne and Oakland, as well as an endorsement from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have no doubt contributed to this outcome.

On Feb. 23, before the Michigan Primary, The Michigan Daily Editorial Board endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for Democratic presidential candidate.

Following a long, in-depth discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the possible candidates at the time, the Editorial Board came to the conclusion that Sanders best represented the interests of our student body and remained the only candidate who was uniquely equipped to defeat President Donald Trump’s incumbency. The senator’s policies regarding climate change, universal healthcare and forgiveness of student debt are the main factors that led to this conclusion.

In the weeks following this endorsement, the Opinion Desk stands by the Editorial Board’s decision. Within Washtenaw County and especially the University of Michigan, it appears Sanders enjoys a great amount of support. As demonstrated by his heavily attended campaign rally on the Diag this past Sunday,

the senator maintains a passionate stronghold among voters in the Ann Arbor area. The results of Super Tuesday, while undoubtedly disappointing for the Sanders campaign, greatly narrowed the playing field of potential nominees. With only Sanders and Biden emerging as viable contenders, it was clear that Sanders remained a strong option for Tuesday’s primary in Michigan.

In a county that was comparatively supportive of Sanders last night, it is important to refrain from demonizing Biden moving into the general election. In endorsement discussions, no member of the Editorial Board ultimately put their support behind the former vice president. However, we were able to discuss as a group his streng ths as a candidate, such as his long-standing experience in governmental affairs, history of reaching across the aisle to work with republicans, name familiarity and high polling numbers in the South and among racial minorities.

At this time, it appears as though Biden will be the Democratic Party’s nominee come the general election.

With that in consideration, it is important for Democrats to rally behind Biden should he win the nomination and keep the characteristics that may allow him to win

the presidency in mind. For example, Biden appears to be the most capable candidate to win in areas previously won by Trump in the 2016 election. Additionally, former candidates including former Mayor of South Bend, Ind., Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Former Representative Beto O’Rourke, Andrew Yang and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., have all endorsed Joe Biden. With the formation of such a coalition, Biden has streng thened his base of supporters going into the general election.

While the Editorial Board’s endorsement did not match up with the results of the state of Michigan, they should not discourage all U-M and Ann Arbor voters from staying passionate about the election.

Voter turnout is expected to rise in the 2020 elections compared to previous years, and we encourage our community to participate in the heightened political engagement. And even if you won’t be voting for your ideal candidate in November, the only thing worse than that is not voting at all.

Author’s note: This piece reflects the opinions of the Editorial Page Editors and Senior Opinion Editors of The Michigan Daily, not those of the Editorial Board.

CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds.

Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 — 5A

DAILY DIY COLUMN

ALBUM REVIEW

Ryan Cox: COVID-19, the live music epidemic RYAN COX

Daily DIY Columnist

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Soccer Mommy on the rise GIGI CIULLA

Daily Arts Writer

Sophie Allison — or as the music world knows her — Soccer Mommy, has spent the last year and a half since the release of her debut album Clean on the rise. In 2019, Allison performed at some of the most prominent music festivals of the year, including Coachella and Governors Ball.

She released the single “Lucy” in early November 2019, and then followed it up with single “yellow is the color of her eyes.” On Feb. 28, 2020, Allison released her sophomore studio album, Color Theory. Soccer Mommy’s fans were eager for more of her signature style, with her sweet, airy vocals that sometimes go rough during the climax of a song.

The two aforementioned singles were perfect predecessors for the release.

Where Clean was Allison’s edgy, powerful and raw entrance into the world of popular alternative music, Color Theory is the album that shows how comfortable she has become in the industry. Songs like “Lucy” and “bloodstream” channel even more of an alternativerock sound than what was present on Clean. Instead of overloading the project with slow ballads, Allison uses songs like “night swimming” and “crawling in my skin” as the deeper cuts. While these tracks are certainly emotional, they’re not slow and sad.

Though the album as a whole is almost perfectly unified, there are spots where the album drags a little, which diminishes the effect of other songs.

For example, “stain,” a song that has a guitar pattern that sounds just like the beginning to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,”

Clean is the perfect album to listen to when you need a good hourlong cry. Color Theory is the album for your recovery.

does not fit in with the feelgood sounds of the rest of the album. Having this song second to last slows down the album in a way that doesn’t give the last song, “gray light,” the justice it deserves. While “gray light” is slower, it’s an almost uplifting song, but following in the dark, unnecessarily sad shadow of “stain” makes it less powerful.

While “yellow is the color of her eyes” is a beautiful song and was a great choice as one of the album’s singles, its length is a little excessive. Fortunately,

Allison follows it up with “up the walls,” a short and bouncy song clocking in at just over two and a half minutes.

Allison took her sadness and pain and made it into an album that (miraculously) isn’t a huge bummer. Clean is the perfect album to listen to when you need a good hour-long cry.

Color Theory is the album for your recovery. Though much of the subject matter isn’t happy, like heartbreak and distance, I still somehow leave listening to the album feeling at peace.

Allison creates a distinct sense of hope on even her saddest songs off of Color Theory. The best example of this comes at the end of her last song, “gray light.” While it’s definitely a sad song, it rapidly culminates to an ending that then cuts out prematurely. Closing the album on a perhaps unfinished note leaves the ending open, conveying an indistinguishable feeling of hope for the future. I truly don’t know how she does it, but maybe that mystery is what makes Soccer Mommy so damn good.

Loma Vista Recordings

WARNER

Tackling climate change in Jenny Offill’s new novel Daily Arts Writer

About a third of the way through Jenny Offill’s second novel, “Dept. of Speculation,” the unnamed narrator gives a brief account of Manichaeism: “The Manicheans believed the world was filled with imprisoned light, fragments of a God who destroyed himself because he no longer wished to exist,” the narrator notes dispassionately. Like a good deal of the other fragments that make up the novel, this anecdote is never explicitly explained or tied into a thematic concern

food. However, with the fear of large public events that COVID19 has instilled in a growing percentage of the world’s populous, touring bands may not be able to depend on these shows as much for support. This also presents a larger issue for more established bands that use music as their full-time career and depend on touring revenue as income.

Many travel-based industries,

Soccer Mommy

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

— it just stands as-is for the reader to interpret how they would like to. Sometimes these anecdotal pieces come back when something else reminds the narrator of it.

Offill doesn’t coyly include passages that state the aims of her game, but this passage works for an encapsulation of her method and its place in the history of the novel — she scatters fragments of a Realist god that no longer works for the narrative aims of contemporary authors. In lieu of a quest, we have crate-digging and rumination, the movement of ideas in a mind. Each little fragment is a premise the narrator is testing, a moment

The SXSW crisis also signals another issue the coronavirus could potentially lead to: concert attendance.

like airlines, are already seeing a significant decline in profits in just the past few weeks, and I believe we will see similar trends in the entertainment industry. Especially in the age of streaming, artists rely heavily upon the money made from touring — to lose that source of income could be devastating to many musicians.

I’m not sure how basement shows will be affected by this outbreak, but I doubt it will increase attendance. Though I’ve definitely seen a small increase in attendance at local shows recently, I’m fairly certain that being in a dark, damp and crowded basement probably will not help to prevent the virus’s spread. Not only could this cause a decrease in the amount of shows around town, but also discourage outof-town bands from coming into a town containing a large population of college students who just returned from spring break.

That being said, now is a more important time than ever to support artists through purchasing albums and merchandise. I know some local Michigan groups, like Shadow Show and Dogleg, were planning on heading down to SXSW after gaining a considerable amount of popularity in the past year.

Supporting these local artists, even just a little bit, could make a huge difference, especially as we enter a time where live music could suffer a significant loss in attendance.

Color Theory

BOOK REVIEW

EMILY YANG

One of the biggest weeks of the year for many DIY bands is the week of South by Southwest, a week-long arts festival in Austin, Texas that features independent films, musicians and other artists.

Groups often plan week-long tours on their way to Austin in hopes of promoting their music and expanding their audience at the festival. This year, however, there’s been a change of plans; due to the over looming threat of COVID-19, the city of Austin has decided to cancel the festival.

This is the first time in the event’s 34-year history that anything like this has happened, and bands are not thrilled.

Many of these bands use South by Southwest as a yearly opportunity to gain exposure from different publications, websites and music fanatics at large. With the announcement coming less than two weeks before the festival was slated to begin, the hours of preparation and effort these groups put into planning their trips has gone out the window, with many scrambling to find any and all opportunities to play around the city.

The city’s decision to cancel the festival comes at the recommendation of Austin’s Public Health officers. After declaring a local disaster,

Mayor Steve Adler canceled the festival. SXSW, in a statement, said they were devastated, but they would “faithfully follow the City’s directions.”

The SXSW crisis also signals another issue the coronavirus could potentially lead to: concert attendance. DIY musicians fund their tours through small door fees which allow them to pay for tour expenses like gas and

to consider and weigh in the mesh of the whole. Historical anecdotes and quotes from writers have the same weight in the narrator’s mind as the literal events of her life. All of it is evidence. There’s no real quest for an Offill narrator, there’s just a lot of casting around, like a person after a shipwreck grabbing for pieces of driftwood.

It’s a useful form to depict a crisis with no easy answer.

In “Dept. of Speculation” this crisis was a woman considering separation from an adulterous husband who she clearly still cares for. In her new novel, “Weather,” Offill’s narrator is a deeply empathetic person

trying to reckon with climate change, a problem that doesn’t really have any solutions on the level of the individual.

The title is apt — the word “weather” can be thought of as the phenomenological experience of climate on a dayto-day basis. You might notice that it’s getting warmer earlier in the year or that it’s raining more, but all you’re really doing is being anecdotal. You’re not talking about the climate.

The outside citations in “Weather” are a little more focused than in “Dept. of Speculation.”

Lizzie, the failed grad student and current librarian was writing a dissertation on comparative religion when she dropped out of school and is married to a similarly failed classicist. The fragments that Lizzie culls to look at her own life are frequently considerations of ethics and morality. She seems to share the ambivalence of a lot of millennials and younger Gen-Xers, an aversion to unqualified earnestness that dovetails with very real concern about the direction society is moving. Her commitment to compassion stands out — she takes a car service run by a man named Jimmy who lost the rest of his drivers (she says she does it “because I’m ridiculous”). At one point, Lizzie finds herself repeating a mantra in the shower — “Sentient creatures are numberless. I vow to save them.”

Lizzie’s porousness, the way things tend to get under her skin, makes her unsuited for the job she starts at the beginning of the novel — she works for her former dissertation adviser, Sylvia, who travels around for a series of TED-like lectures

and maintains a podcast about the end of the world. Lizzie’s job is to respond to the emails listeners of the podcast send in. Lizzie gets swept up into the world of the weirdos and doomsday preppers who ask Sylvia questions — even as Lizzie makes fun of them and maintains a kind of

In her new novel, “Weather,” Offill’s narrator is a deeply empathetic person trying to reckon with climate change

critical distance, she starts to participate in their world, to read “prepper” blogs and start stockpiling lighters and first-aid equipment. In the meantime, she is taking care of her brother, a former addict who is engaged to a woman Lizzie doesn’t like (she describes her as “a weird mix of hardedged and hippie-minded”), taking care of her son Eli and negotiating life as a working mother in Brooklyn. Her life continually intersects with her work in strange ways, and part of the pleasure of this novel is the sense of total immersion in someone’s mind that Offill’s atemporal narrative methods

allow for.

This novel is more thematically compact than “Dept. of Speculation,” which tended to sprawl a little. It’s also more f luidly organized: instead of the chapter breaks in the earlier novel (what are those for exactly?) “Weather” is split into six long sections of continuous movement. It plays to the advantages of the form, driving home the freefall quality. Offill seems to have a better grasp on the different uses of the fragment form here.

“Dept. of Speculation” was pretty consistently all-overthe-place; in “Weather” there are moments that resemble the paragraphs of traditional fiction and there are moments that resemble the discontinuity of a Twitter feed. In all respects — the development of the thematic concerns, the skill with which the form is used — this novel feels like a graceful, organic progression from the earlier book at a moment where the form Offill helped inaugurate is at risk of being reduced to a cliché or a stock method.

Weather Jenny Offill Knopf Publishing Group Feb. 11, 2020

Arts

6A — Wednesday, March 11, 2020

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FILM REVIEW

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

‘Bright Places’ manages to break from gender tropes JACOB LUSK For The Daily

BAYNK

Annie takes me to a rave GRACE TUCKER Daily Arts Writer

“There’s, like, two people here.

Oh my God, this is hilarious,” my friend, Annie, said in between forced chuckles of disappointment. The two of us were standing in an endearingly short line for an EDM concert outside of Detroit’s Magic Stick Theatre.

We had been anticipating this concert ever since Annie sent me a manic string of texts last semester, exclaiming in all uppercase that one of her favorite EDM artists, BAYNK, was performing in Detroit the first weekend of spring break, and that we “NEED TO GO!!” Though I never really enjoyed EDM music, the idea of checking out a rave-ish scene and visiting Detroit for the first time seemed exciting. So I obeyed Annie’s frenzied text messages and bought a ticket.

Annie spent the few weeks leading up to the big night talking me through her crash-course on EDM/rave culture. She passed on many a disclaimer, preparing me for a colorful concert crowd of rave-junkies decked out in spandex and fishnets mixed in with your classic, more basic-looking EDM connoisseurs. Fashioning herself

as a kind of expert on all things EDM, she was quick to warn me that the crowd would be high on drugs of all kinds and we might have to stand our ground should moshing ensue. She was hoping for a packed venue to give me a sufficient first impression of EDM concerts, which have always been one of her greatest loves.

Finally, the night came. We found our way to a street in Midtown Detroit flickering with the neon lights of clubs, theatres and bars, all pulsing with the spirits of intoxicated Michiganders. Annie let out a nervous giggle as we approached the theatre just a few minutes before the doors were supposed to open; there were a mere two people waiting outside.

“BAYNK hasn’t been discovered yet. So only, like, true EDM people will be here tonight,” she assured me as a big guy with lots of tattoos made his way down the line checking people’s IDs. He gifted the small group of concertattendees in front of us with neon wristbands while Annie and I got big black “X”s marked on our hands with a fat Sharpie.

Soon, the doors opened and we made our way upstairs to the concert venue. We spent the next thirty minutes or so before the show started observing the other hyper-punctual concert-goers.

Those milling about Magic Stick that night were a funny mix — there were couples sipping on canned beers and frat-looking guys in their usual sweatshirtand-jersey-uniforms and, just as Annie promised, there were the token rave-kids who didn’t seem to catch the memo that BAYNK’s sets are more low-key than other EDM artists. The ravers quickly marked the far right side of the venue as their territory as they unpacked their circus toys and light-up trinkets. Annie, I, and the frat boys all looked on in wonderment as the nearly-naked bunch assembled their own minirave in the corner, meticulously wrapping themselves in neon ropes like they were practicing an art form.

“Guess we’ll just stand here and watch them like it’s the show,” Annie said. I couldn’t help but laugh at how this whole night was turning out; it’d probably be another hour or two before BAYNK actually came on and all of Annie’s build-up would come into fruition. Though, for now, we were stuck in a nearly-empty venue, entertaining ourselves by observing the ravers like they were animals in a zoo.

As I settled into the new Netflix original drama “All the Bright Places,” directed by Brett Haley (“Hearts Beat Loud”) and adapted from (and co-written by) Jennifer Niven’s popular YA novel of the same name, it quickly seemed like it would be another mawkish romance populated by tired gender tropes.

Starring Elle Fanning (“20th Century Women”) as Violet, a teenage girl who recently lost her sister in a car accident, and Justice Smith (“Detective Pikachu”) as Finch, an eccentric loner labeled a freak by his peers, the film follows the relationship kindled by the two high schoolers after Finch talks Violet down from jumping off a bridge, griefridden after the death of her sister. Nothing’s sexier than grief and fresh trauma after all! That the story did a gender-swap of another trope and made Finch into a sort of Manic Pixie Dream Boy didn’t entirely help either.

At first, this “meet-cute” seemed to establish yet another tale of a sad girl with sad problems

who really only needs a boy to swoop in and set things right for her. But “swooping in and setting things right” isn’t quite so simple.

The film delicately navigates themes of mental health, suicide and teen angst in a way that doesn’t betray reality in the usual saccharine and sanguine way of many teen romances. It’s quick

All the Bright Places Netflix Now Streaming

to sunder the cliché it seemed to be settling itself into: Finch is not there to fix everything, as he has a lot in his own boat, possessed by dark moods and childhood trauma that compel him to disappear for days at a time.

But this also isn’t a story of broken people finding that they fit each other like two serendipitously-fractured puzzle

pieces — neither is it some ode to the mystical medicinal properties of love. That would not do justice to the sort of baggage that people like Violet and Finch carry, or to the lived experiences of any given person. Love is great and all, but even in love (maybe especially in love) people say the wrong things, do the wrong things — try to help when they shouldn’t and don’t when they should. Finch is pushy and doesn’t seem to think about context or boundaries all the time; Violet isn’t prescient enough or as helpful about Finch’s ordeals as she probably should be.

Solace is found together, some growth is made, but it isn’t a cureall.

The story is punctuated by idyllic scenery as Finch and Violet explore this solace, biking along Indiana trails, dancing in country fields, swimming in secluded lakes. Those looking for the cute antics of a burgeoning couple will be satisfied by the many sweet moments brought to life by the light, awkward and natural chemistry shared by Fanning and Smith.

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michigandaily.com

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Release Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2020

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28 French summer 31 “Snowy” bird 33 Black shade 36 Houston NBA team 37 “Try me” 38 Cochise followers 39 Instagram overlays 42 Like some lions 43 Rifle handle 44 Good times 46 Brain scan inits.

48 Costume spangle 50 Fritter away 51 They may be drawn 53 Country duo Brooks & __ 56 Bandleader Artie 58 Rock producer Brian 60 DOJ division 61 Bikini half 62 Some NFL linemen

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Sports

FIRST PITCH

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 — 7A

A preview of the 2020 Michigan softball team

Roster Breakdown NICHOLAS STOLL Daily Sports Writer

The No. 18 Michigan softball team leapt out to a hot 10-0 start before cooling down and arriving at a 15-8 record. Entering their first series in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines will look to reacquire their early season success, starting with Ball State on Saturday.

A relatively inexperienced roster has led to shuffling at every position and a lineup that has not fully settled in. For Michigan to make a run similar to the 33-3 one it had after returning home in 2019, it will have to rely on all levels of its roster.

The Daily breaks down the Wolverines’ lineup by position for an in-depth look at where they have found stability and where they haven’t so far, as they look to replace last year’s graduated starters and reclaim the Big Ten title.

Pitchers: Michigan’s pitching success, along with the success of the entire team, stops and ends with its returning top two: junior left-hander Meghan Beaubien and sophomore right-hander Alex Storako.

Beaubien is coming off of a year where she posted a 1.87 ERA and finished with a 30-6 record — a seemingly strong sophomore performance that, in reality, was seen as a regression from her first team All-American freshman campaign in which she touted a 1.16 ERA and 0.67 WHIP. This year, Beaubien has performed at a high level game after game, and although her statistics are not quite those of her first year, she holds an impressive 1.52 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. In Beaubien, the Wolverines have found consistency, a rare commodity so far this season.

Storako, the second punch in Michigan’s pitching attack, does just that — attack. Storako throws strikeouts at a high clip, dishing out 141 so far and averaging 1.88 per inning. At the same time, Storako’s punishing approach has led to 34 walks and a 2.43 ERA. Developing more consistency and control will be key to whether Storako can reach her ceiling as a lethal pitcher by eliminating walks and big plays.

In the early stages of her development is freshman right-hander Chandler Dennis. While currently posting a 7.00 ERA in just four appearances and one start, it’s hard to tell to what degree Dennis will be involved in the rotation as the season progresses. Despite the glaring ERA, Michigan coach Carol Hutchins believes Dennis is “capable of some great things.” Expect to see Dennis more involved as a relief pitcher as the season progresses, with a possibility that she makes it into a limited role in the starting rotation.

Catchers: Sophomore Hannah Carson has claimed the catcher position as her own. After filling a backup role in her freshman year behind nowgraduated two-year captain Katie Alexander, Carson has started behind the plate every game this season for the Wolverines, and she hasn’t shown any signs of relinquishing the position.

Carson is currently batting .284 and at the top of the team with 10 RBI. Backup responsibilities, if Carson were to fall to an injury, are assumed to go to senior Abby Skvarce, who is currently nestled in at the designated player spot.

First base: First base has proved to be a shared position thus far, being split between juniors Lou Allan and Taylor Bump.

Allan, coming off of freshman and sophomore years plagued with injuries, has seen the majority of starts at first.

It’s difficult to argue with her .403 slugging percentage and team-leading 10 RBI that she shouldn’t get them.

Allan’s drawbacks stem from her lack of speed on the basepath, not helped by her previous injuries.

Bump, while sometimes getting the start, fills her role at first more often than not midway through the game — usually after Allan is pulled for a pinch runner. Bump, holding a .171 batting average and .310 on-base percentage while also having the range to play multiple positions, slots herself as a versatile infield utility player but not a consistent starter. This can place her on either of the corners, leading to playing time split between first and third.

Middle infield: For two years, junior Natalia Rodriguez has been Michigan’s starting shortstop. Through 14 games this season, that remained true. Then, Hutchins did something unexpected and switched Rodriguez with freshman second baseman Julia Jimenez. Through the past nine games, it has remained like that — Jimenez at shortstop and Rodriguez at second.

Rodriguez has struggled at the plate, holding on to a lowly .188 batting average, but the slap-hitter has never been in the starting lineup because of her batting. It was her fielding that held her there, and it’s not like Hutchins has removed Rodriguez from the batting order by shifting her over to second.

The freshman, Jimenez, has been impressive so far. Starting all 23 games this season — 14 at second, nine at shortstop — she’s racked up 12 runs, seven doubles, seven RBI and a home run while holding a .263 batting average.

Three weeks ago, she was moved into the leadoff spot for her performance at the plate.

Rodriguez and Jimenez have similar fielding statistics and only one error each. Hutchins hasn’t answered why the switch took place, but in her world, no position is permanent. Currently, Jimenez is the starting shortstop and Rodriguez the starting second baseman, but it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Rodriguez won her spot back and the two swapped positions again.

Third base: Third base, like first, has been a shared position for Michigan.

Bump, who plays first and third, along with senior Madison Uden, have been the two Wolverines holding down the hot corner. Both are hitting on the lower end, and their overall offensive production is best described as lackluster. But so is the majority of the team’s — Michigan holds a collective .258 batting average — so although both are below the team average, neither are out of range of starting. The only player either is likely to lose playing time to is the other.

Who is the face of the team?

T

ake one look at Alumni Field, the home of Michigan softball, and you’ll be reminded of the program’s success. Hanging directly behind the first base ABBIE seats is a giant TELGENHOF poster of the 2005 National Championship team holding their trophy.

Walk inside the Donald R. Shepherd Softball Center clubhouse and take a stroll up the stairs to the conference room.

You’re immediately greeted with a life-sized painting of a past team with the famous quote from Bo Schembechler — “The team, the team, the team.”

Take a step back from the door and you’ll see the boards that hang next to it with the names of All-Big Ten and All-American Michigan softball players.

While each is a reminder of the greatness of the Michigan softball program as a whole, to me, the focus is much clearer.

It’s the faces that stand out.

Looking at the 2005 poster I see Samantha Findley — the freshman who hit a three-run homer to win the 2005 World Series. On the boards next to the conference room door, I see Sierra Romero’s name, among Tera Blanco’s and Faith Canfield’s and the image of their faces immediately comes to mind.

In the life-sized picture of a past team, I see Megan Betsa screaming as she’s running to her teammates to celebrate a win.

Samantha Findley, Sierra Romero, Tera Blanco, Faith Canfield, Megan Besta.

They’re the players I followed on Instagram in seventh grade when I decided I wanted to be a Michigan softball player. They’re the girls I dressed up as for Halloween.

They’re the older sisters I never

had. They’re the role models I followed and aspired to be.

They’re the faces of Michigan softball and the legacy it boasts.

But this year, it’s undetermined who that face will be.

Flash back to the start of the season, when a roster was first being determined. One can only imagine what flew through Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins’s head as she crafted her starting lineup. With the absence of five key seniors from last year, there was room for older players to finally get their shot, or for younger players to step up and shine.

For many years the Wolverines were typically managed by one standout athlete. They’re the players you list off the top of your head. The ones Hutchins pencils into the lineup or trusts in the circle without hesitation.

While no one has emerged to carry that mantle this season, many have made their case.

After outfielder Lexie Blair’s breakout freshman season last year, it seemed straightforward to deem her the face of the team. But after a sophomore hitting slump that’s left her with a .307 batting average, a slip to second in the batting order, and just 11 runs scored over 23 games so far — compared to her .406 and 42 runs, it’s hard to clearly determine that she’s the favorite for the role.

Junior left-hander Meghan Beaubien also seemed like a clear choice. In years prior, Michigan has been known to have one ace — a pitcher that does the majority of the work, and controls the defense.

Since 2004 (the furthest back stats go), with the exception of two seasons, Michigan has had a pitcher over 200 innings and below 2.00 ERA. Instead, this year, Beaubien and sophomore right hander Alex Storako have been tag-teaming it, working together. Earlier in the season, Hutchins likened them to “co-aces.”

MORE AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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Thorough recruiting defines Hutchins’s philosophy LANE KIZZIAH Daily Sports Writer

When it’s 8 a.m. and freezing cold, there’s one person Donny Dreher can count on to be in the stands of a weekend tournament: Michigan coach Carol Hutchins.

Some college coaches don’t come out until 11:00 or noon, but when Hutchins is recruiting a player, she’s there for the first game. She wants all the information she can get.

Dreher is a coach for Michigan Finesse — the top club team in the state — and knows how thorough Hutchins and the rest of her coaching staff like to be. “Thorough” is a word that’s thrown around a lot in reference to the Wolverines’ recruiting practices.

They’re thorough in their search for prospective players, thorough in watching them develop throughout high school and thorough in making offers to the ones they really want.

Usually, the process starts in the middle of June when the coaching staff — Hutchins, associate coach Bonnie Tholl and assistant coach Jen Brundage — start traveling to massive, national tournaments to see the best players from across the country. There’s tedious online research of rankings and statistics. From there, club coaches try to identify the future Michigan players on their teams and point them to the

Wolverines.

Everyone has a different idea of the stereotypical Michigan recruit: big, strong players that can hit home runs; strong pitchers and defenders; athletic shortstops; a kid that can handle tough love.

In Tholl’s perfect world, though, eight out of every 10 recruits would be a shortstop — the position she played for the Wolverines. They’re typically the most athletic on the team and can be easily moved around the field.

According to Chez Sievers, a senior editor at FloSoftball, that’s common for the top collegiate programs.

“They’re a five-tool athlete that can play multiple positions,” Sievers said.

“They’ve got some speed. They’ve got power. They’ve got some versatility.

They can also hit for average. For the top teams, they try to collect as many of those players as possible.”

At the same time, the Wolverines have to look at the team’s needs on a larger scale. Some years they’ll decide they need more speed. Others they’ll realize they lack power at the plate. The coaches keep a board in their office that lays it all out: what the team has and what positions it needs.

After the team identifies what it’s looking for, the coaches start visiting the club facilities and contacting the players and their families, starting in the state of Michigan.

The strategy makes the logistics easier for the Wolverines — they have stronger relationships with the clubs and can easily see players in person.

Seven of the 20 players currently on the roster are in-state.

Bill Conroy, the head coach of the Beverly Bandits, has sent nine players through Michigan’s program. Between all three Wolverine coaches, they’ll come down to watch a player on his team an average of 12 times a year.

“They do their due diligence more than most schools,” Conroy said.

“Michigan wants to make sure they’ve got the right kid.”

Sometimes, Tholl will meet kids that just seem destined to be Wolverines, like sophomore catcher Hannah Carson.

Carson is from Weidman and played club softball for Michigan Finesse.

Tholl and the rest of the coaching staff watched her progress through high school, seeing her at tournaments and softball camps in Ann Arbor. When Carson started the recruiting process, she was sought out by several colleges, including other top programs like Florida State. In the end, though, she didn’t even visit. Tholl was right — she was meant to be a Wolverine.

“I’ve always wanted to play here,” Carson said. “I grew up coming to the games, coming to all the camps and I really looked up to a lot of the players that played here before me. I would

say in middle school, I started to get recruited by Michigan and then my freshman year is when I decided to commit, and it was the best feeling in the world.”

Carson committed in 2015, before NCAA regulations were put in place to stop early recruiting. Now, coaches can’t have direct contact with players until Sept. 1 of their junior year. Before the new regulations, teams felt like they had to make offers earlier and earlier to secure the players they wanted, and kids felt pressure to commit early or risk missing out.

But as recruiting occurred earlier and earlier, Michigan held its ground.

“I would say Michigan in particular has really embraced the thorough process of evaluating their players,” Sievers said. “They didn’t really cave into the early recruiting. They waited, they wanted to see which kids really wanted to become Wolverines and would really fit their program.”

To some extent, Hutchins had to participate in the system. Several current players — including Carson — were recruited in ninth grade. But Hutchins was outspoken against the early recruiting practice and missed out on some top players.

“We were able to make verbal offers to your firstborn that was six months old,” Hutchins said.

She believes that when players were

recruited in ninth grade, they lost the incentive to keep improving.

“It’s not because they don’t care,” Hutchins said. “Because they don’t know better. It doesn’t matter who’s the best in ninth grade. It matters who’s the best in college.”

Even though Carson was part of the early recruiting wave, she’s sure she made the right decision. But not everyone’s path is so linear.

Sometimes, there are surprises along the way. Tholl didn’t first hear about sophomore right-hander Alex Storako on a rankings website or at a national tournament. It was in a text from her brother.

You should take a look at this pitcher — she’s really good.

At the time, Storako was playing on a high school team in central Illinois with Tholl’s niece. She’d already been recruited to play at DePaul, but Tholl still took an interest, following her and keeping tabs when her name showed up in The Chicago Sun-Times or the Chicago Tribune. Her name kept coming up, and it was fun to track her progress.

One day, Tholl was running a camp in Peoria, Ill. when she got another text — this time from an unknown number.

Alex Storako, class of ’18 pitcher, has just decomitted from DePaul.

MORE AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM ALEC COHEN / DAILY

Sports

8A — Wednesday, March 11, 2020

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FIRST PITCH

LEXIE BLAIR

And a turnaround hinged on confidence JARED GREENSPAN Daily Sports Writer

Todd LaNeave had a question.

It was the 2017 FHSAA Class 9A Florida softball state championship game and LaNeave’s West Orange team was locked in a scoreless pitchers’ duel with Palm Harbor. With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, West Orange’s most prolific hitter, outfielder Lexie Blair, was due up.

LaNeave trusted his pitchers to keep Palm Harbor’s offense at bay through the next few frames. All his team needed to take home the title, he believed, was a run of its own.

Starved for a baserunner to put the offense into motion, LaNeave pulled Blair aside and posed the question: Want to bunt?

Asking a .500 hitter like Blair to drop down a bunt defies convention. In her first two at-bats, though, Blair looked far from her usual self. Each time she rolled over the top of the ball, weakly grounding out to first. Her tremendous speed, meanwhile, made bunting an appealing option — not only could she beat the bunt out, but also steal second to get into scoring position.

Bunting, in that sense, presented itself as the easy choice for a scuffling player.

But Blair never considered it.

“I was kinda laughing on the inside,” Blair recalled. “I was like, ‘No, I’ll get it done.’ I was confident.”

Steady and self-assured amid the stakes of the moment, Blair stepped to the plate to make good on her word. She stroked the pitch into the right-center field gap for a triple. On the next play, she tagged up on a fly ball, bringing home what would prove to be the game-winning run.

“I’ll always remember that brief conversation I had with her,” LaNeave said. “She goes, ‘Coach, I can do this. I’ll extend through one.’ And then she does.”

Blair has long possessed a steadfast belief in her own ability, the confidence she showed in this moment being an attribute she has rarely lacked.

This season, though, has marked a trying junction. The challenging first month to Blair’s sophomore season at Michigan has revealed her inner confidence to be truly indispensable. *** At the beginning of the season, Michigan softball coach Carol Hutchins spoke candidly about how Blair would handle expectations in her second go-around as a Wolverine.

“Sometimes, it’s just like, ‘I was really

good last year and now I’m supposed to be good,’ ” Hutchins said. “They put a lot of pressure on themselves. They get caught up and they’re not in the moment. You know, she’s not going to be a secret when we face other teams now.”

As a freshman, Blair wasn’t necessarily a secret either — it’s hard to hide when you’re batting at a .406 clip. But, by batting in the three-spot, she had the luxury of hitting behind two potent seniors in Faith Canfield and Natalie Peters. Last year, the opposition’s gameplan centered around containing Canfield and Peters. This year, it was bound to revolve around Blair.

The transition, 13 games into the 2020 season, wasn’t going swimmingly. Blair was struggling, her batting average having dipped to a sluggish .175 following an 0-for-10 stretch. She lost her claim to the leadoff spot, tumbling down to eighth in the batting order for Michigan’s game against Liberty on Feb. 23.

“She’s having a cold spell,” Hutchins said two days later. “It’s a hard thing. I think she’s struggled with that, trying to find her way out of it. It’s really common for a kid who has only known success when, at some point, the expectations become greater than the actual performance.

Basically, for lack of a better term, it gets in her head. And she’ll tell ya, ‘I’m in my head.’ So she’s got to get her mind cleared out.”

In Blair’s case, as someone who found unprecedented success as a freshman and hit north of the .500 mark all four years of high school, prolonged cold spells are foreign. But she knew that emerging from this slump first required repairing her confidence — which has been “a little up and down this year.”

She’s not shy about admitting this, in part because she knows the importance of its maintenance. Confidence has always been intertwined with her performance. *** When Blair was a freshman at West Orange, the school had an oversized student population, making tryouts for any varsity sport uber-competitive. Firstyears going out for the softball team found the coveted spots even harder to come by; LaNeave, based on prior experiences, believed freshmen were better suited for the junior varsity squad.

Blair knew she belonged at the varsity level and quickly proved so, LaNeave describing her as “like a rockstar.”

Bypassing JV, though, meant Blair again found herself in an unfavorable situation.

The first five years of her softball career were played out alongside lifelong friends.

Now she would be the youngest on a team of predominantly unknown upperclassmen, seasoned veterans in the circuit, who were two, three years older than she.

Blair set out once more to prove her worth to teammates and coaches alike, jostling for playing time. She went about her work modestly and patiently, but not without her backbone.

“I didn’t really learn what her personality was like yet, to realize that she was just a quiet person,” LaNeave said.

“I later learned it wasn’t because she was nervous or because she didn’t think she could hang. That wasn’t it at all.”

As a bench player, in-game opportunities were scarce. Yet whether it be a call to pinch hit or pinch run, Blair attacked every assignment with an unwavering confidence that she could deliver. She made the most of every chance she was given and, by the season’s 13th game, had cemented a spot in the starting lineup.

From pinch-hitting to pinch-running, Blair made the most of every opportunity she was given. By the season’s 13th game, she had cemented a spot in the starting lineup.

With the premium of a starter’s designation, so too came a greater spotlight and high-pressure situations.

None of it fazed Blair.

“There were times where I would ask her after the fact, ‘Were you nervous?’ ” LaNeave said. “And she’d say, ‘Oh yeah, definitely.’ Well, she didn’t show it. She just has a certain level of confidence about her. Whenever she had an opportunity or the team needed her to come through, she always seemed to come through.

“She never looked like she didn’t want to be in that situation. She just carried herself with this confidence that, ‘OK, my team needs me here and I can get this done.’

There’s not many of those like her.”

Saying that Blair is immune to nerves would be naive. All athletes, at any level, fight bouts of nervous energy, and she is no exception. What separates the most successful ones from the rest of the pack is an ability to subdue any unease, not allowing it to impact performance. Blair has worked that serenity into her routine seamlessly.

“Personally, I feel like if I’m not nervous, then something’s wrong with me,” Blair said. “I feel like nerves are a good thing to

CONTINUED BELOW

ALEC COHEN / DAILY

CONTINUED FROM ABOVE have, just sort of normal. Typically, when I’m not in my head, I just kinda push the nerves aside and try to be present, try to come through in the moment.”

During her four-year stint at West Orange, Blair amassed a reputation as a clutch player. In the regional championship as a freshman, she homered to snap a scoreless tie. A year later, she drove in the only two runs of the game on a single. A year after that, she doubled in the only runs of the game. Then two games later in the state championship, she hit the triple.

“I don’t know what it is about me, I just feel like if I’m getting too high then that makes me anxious,” Blair said. “I just feel like staying calm is what helps me do well under pressure. And I enjoy being under pressure, because I like producing for my team.”

In high school, while a decorated player, Blair hadn’t faced adversity brought about by situations like prolonged slumps. College, though knocked on the doorstep. The next step in her softball career eventually figured to include roadblocks that would test her confidence in the process. *** When she enrolled at Michigan, Blair left behind her high school eminence and again readied to start anew, the same worries resurfacing

to stare her in the face. How would she fit in as a newcomer on a veteran-laden team? How would she acclimate to the higher-level competition? Beyond softball, she had other adjustments to fret about — transitioning from high school to college is a beast in its own right.

Thrust into a cauldron of apprehension, Blair relied on what got her this far in the first place.

“I just didn’t want to make it bigger than what it was,” she said. “That was just my mindset. I didn’t want to be so anxious about things like overpowering pitchers.

I’ve swung a bat for 10 years now.

Eventually I’ll catch up.”

It didn’t take long.

Blair got into Michigan’s batting order for the season opener and never left it, becoming an All-Big Ten First Team selection. She was the first Michigan freshman in over two decades to hit .400. She led the Wolverines in hits, doubles and RBI. All the while, her confidence not once fluctuated drastically, largely remaining steady from the beginnings of nonconference play into the NCAA regional.

Success, though, can be a doubleedged sword. The bar would be raised for the encore, Blair’s sophomore season, which is where the most admirable aspect of Blair’s confidence comes into play.

Her confidence is just that — nothing more. It’s genuine and not cocky, unaccompanied by brashness

or arrogance, which lends itself to a certain self-awareness. When Blair needs help, she recognizes it, and isn’t hesitant to seek it out.

Immersed in her slump, Blair did just that. In mid-February, she picked up the phone and sought the advice of a former teammate and mentor.

“I thought that just showed great initiative,” Hutchins said. “She just understands what she needs to do to manage this. You can talk to her and she doesn’t go, ‘Ugh, somebody’s telling me what to do.’ She works hard. She’s a positive kid. She’s grateful for her opportunity and boy, I’ll take a kid like that anyday.”

Blair didn’t stop at the phone call. She worked tirelessly with the coaching staff to tweak her swing.

She consulted teammates and mentors alike for tips on the mental side of slumps, absorbing advice like a sponge. On her own, she took extra cuts in the batting cage.

Slowly, she began to see tangible results. At the Judi Garman Classic the weekend of Feb. 28, she registered nine hits and four doubles across the five game slate, finding her footing in the two-hole.

It was a performance punctuated by a four-hit game against No. 25 Texas Tech. Last weekend, she continued her turnaround with six hits in five games, raising her average up to .293.

MORE AT MICHIGANDAILY.COM

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Primary election edition ILLUSTRATION BY MAGGIE WIEBE

statement T H E M I C H I G A N DA I LY | M A RC H 11 , 2020

2B Wednesday, March 11, 2020 // The Statement

statement T H E M I CH I GA N DAI LY | FE B RUA RY 26 , 2020

Managing Statement Editor Magdalena Mihaylova Deputy Editors Emily Stillman Marisa Wright

Designers Liz Bigham Kate Glad Copy Editors Madison Gagne Sadia Jiban

Associate Editor Reece Meyhoefer

Photo Editor Keemya Esmael Editor in Chief Elizabeth Lawrence Managing Editor Erin White

The topic no candidate wants to talk about

BY MEGHANN NORDEN-BRIGHT, STATEMENT COLUMNIST

O

n Feb. 6, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., made headlines when she announced she would not be attending the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), conference in Washington, D.C. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., followed suit a few weeks later, citing concern “about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.” In late February, these candidates were also joined in their boycott by candidates Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg.

AIPAC advertises its mission as to “strengthen, protect and promote the United States-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.” Its conference, held each year in D.C., provides a space for speakers from around the world to speak, largely in defense of Israeli policies and U.S. support for Israel.

Democratic candidates saying “no” to AIPAC is a big deal. The mainstream Democratic party has not historically taken strong viewpoints regarding Israel/ Palestine policy — the default stance for prominent Democratic politicians has been to affirm American support for Israel and to support the establishment of a twostate solution. In general, the Democratic party of the past two decades has branded itself as a primarily pro-Israel party.

This election cycle, however, progressive Democratic presidential candidates are breaking out of this mold. Warren and Sanders have both criticized Israeli military actions over the past few years; following a wave of violence in November of 2019, Sanders and Warren spoke out against the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Both candidates have also called for conditioning American military aid to Israel. And as the Washington Post reported, 2020 is the “first time top contenders — Sanders and Warren — have boycotted the massive American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference.”

This decision was wildly unpopular among many Jewish Americans. But it was also applauded by many, significantly by the liberal Jewish movement IfNotNow, which had done a lot of the organizing work through their #SkipAIPAC campaign that resulted in candidates boycotting the conference.

I fall into the latter camp of Jewish Americans, those who are happy to see candidates saying no to blind Israel support. But I didn’t always identify this way.

I grew up attending a reform synagogue in Southern California, with a circle of leftyish Jewish family friends. My community didn’t talk about Israel/Palestine very much — my only concrete memory of anything vaguely controversial is my Rabbi making some general comment about the importance of peace and justice for all.

The general understanding seemed to be that Israel was important, our connection to it as Jewish Americans was important, but we didn’t need to get too much into the weeds of the matter.

Therefore, I came to the University of Michigan not really having an idea of how I felt about Israel. I went to University of Michigan Hillel for Shabbat a few times.

I heard my Jewish peers talk about how important Israel was to them, about how Palestinian student activists were motivated primarily out of anti-Semitism, about how it was necessary to shut down criticism of Israel at any possible opportunity.

This is what it meant to be Jewish, I figured. Being Jewish equated with supporting Israeli politics unequivocally, wholeheartedly, unabashedly.

But something didn’t sit quite right with me. I’d read some articles on Palestinian movements, taken a class on the history of the Middle East. I couldn’t quite get behind the idea of supporting Israel at all costs, even at the expense of others — which I was deeply ashamed of. I thought to myself, I must just not be Jewish enough to fully get it.

My Jewish upbringing had been unconventional, this is true. My father was raised Catholic, and my mother, despite being ethnically Jewish, was raised almost entirely secular. It wasn’t until later in life that she started actively practicing — formulating a Jewish community around her, hosting Passover Seders, lighting the candles for Shabbat on Friday nights. So, I didn’t grow up with passed-down recipes for matzo ball soup or a traditional challah cover. My family learned traditions from our Jewish family friends, adopting new ones, slowly recreating a sense of Jewish identity for ourselves.

For a long time, this was something I

was immensely insecure about, especially when surrounded by my peers who had attended Jewish day school their whole lives, and who had grandparents and great-grandparents sitting around the table with them at the Seder table every year.

It wasn’t until I met other young Jewish students who felt uneasy about Israeli politics that I realized I wasn’t alone. The realization that there were young people out there who both cared deeply about being Jewish and felt uncomfortable with the unconditional support of the state of Israel was huge for me. Sophomore year, an organizer from J Street — an organization that promotes itself as simultaneously supporting Israeli and Palestinian rights — asked me to grab coffee. When she told me about her views on Israel/Palestine, and how for her, being Jewish made her want to make the state of Israel better — I cried.

I realized that having doubts about Israel didn’t make me less Jewish. In fact, perhaps my Jewish values were the very reason I harbored doubts about unconditional support for Israel. My Jewish community taught me to think critically, to ask questions, to not accept stories at face value. The history of Judaism is a history of arguing and questioning; about how to interpret the Torah and how to live one’s life.

My Jewish community also taught me to value empathy and support for other people. One of my strongest memories of Hebrew School growing up is the emphasis on tikkun olam, or “repair the world.” To be Jewish, I was taught, was to make the world better for everyone, not just the Jewish people.

This is why I’m glad that by mainstream candidates denouncing AIPAC, the Democratic Party seems to be moving in a new direction — a direction that acknowledges the American Jewish community is by no means a monolith.

A direction that can at once take into

KEEMYA ESMAEL/DAILY

ILLUSTRATION BY NOAH FINER

account the significance Israel carries as a stronghold of Jewish identity for many Jewish Americans while also calling out the nation when it enacts policies or takes military actions that threaten Palestinian human rights.

As of Warren’s exit from the 2020 presidential race, Sanders remains the lone Democratic candidate willing to bring these conversations to a national stage.

He is also a proud Jewish American — something he doesn’t hesitate to talk about.

Seeing Sanders simultaneously defend his Jewish heritage and his support for Palestinian human rights gives me hope for the future of the American Jewish community and the Democratic party.

I still think the Democratic party has a long way to go. I would love to see politicians explicitly calling Israeli presence in the West Bank and Gaza occupation and vocally opposing settlement expansion (a campaign that J-Street affiliated students are working on across the country). But I’m happy that we seem to be making some progress, however small it might be.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2020 // The Statement

Bernie, Biden and America abroad O

ne of the most dangerous ideas in (Washington) is that Donald Trump is a break from the status quo, rather than a product of the status quo,” said Matt Duss at the Foreign Policy-Quincy Institute Forum a few weeks ago. Duss, the current foreign policy advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has become an increasingly well-known figure in the United States foreign policy establishment. His unconventional rise to a top aide of a serious presidential hopeful fully embodies the grassroots direction of Sanders’s politics.

Moreover, Duss’s positioning of Sanders as a maverick foreign policy candidate sets him apart from previous Beltway outsiders like former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, who rode his speechwriter position with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama to a senior role.

Rhodes served in an administration that, to many progressives, perpetuated many previous foreign policy excesses. Sanders, on the other hand, has plainly called for a reimagining of the traditionally realist foundations of international relations.

At a rally five months ago, he challenged the very idea of nationalism and sovereignty when he asked the crowd, “Are you willing to fight for that person who you don’t even know as much as you’re willing to fight for yourself?”

But Duss is not just an interesting character who distinguishes Sanders from Obama or the apparent successor of Obama’s legacy, Democratic front-runner and former Vice Presi-

ASHA LEWIS/ Daily

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BY ETHAN KESSLER, STATEMENT CONTRIBUTOR

dent Joe Biden. He helps visualize the radically different way of governing Sanders has in mind for America. But, through Sanders’s and Biden’s fight for the chance to beat President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election, many are making the mistake of viewing Sanders as merely a further-left version of Biden.

Even more off-the-mark are those who compare Biden and Sanders as recurring characters in a political play, the Democratic versions of the Republican Party establishment and Trump, respectively, in 2016.

The reality contains much more contrast and nuance. Looking at Sanders’s and Biden’s respective approaches to foreign policy can help understand their perspectives on the international role of the U.S. for America and their respective appeals to the electorate. he establishment has tended to view Trump’s approach to the world as anomalous. Sanders breaks with that by deriding current U.S. foreign policy as more of the same. Trump came into office talking a big game about reducing America’s military footprint, but time and time again he has ramped up military involvement and assistance. Likewise, progressives have often critiqued Obama for inspiring hope as a candidate, promising to disengage from Iraq and roll back the post-9/11 security state, only to expand America’s military footprint as president.

In this view, this status quo of inertial military overreach stretches back further to Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Sanders would approach his own presidency as an overhaul, not a reform, of this status quo. He wants to walk the walk where others have failed.

Biden, meanwhile, is mostly comfortable going back to what is tried and tested. And that pitch has its appeal.

Trump has gutted the State Department, held longstanding alliances and security arrangements at gunpoint, exited or threatened to exit crucial agreements and otherwise damaged U.S. standing.

Biden aims to convince voters that going back to the status quo — no matter how flawed it was — would in most respects be a welcome relief.

To be sure, Biden has explicitly disavowed the neoliberal trade policies proved politically toxic by the 2016 election. But his support for increasing the military budget and maintaining troop deployments in the Middle East is, to many disillusioned progressives, an Obama foreign policy redux.

To them, Biden simply recalls Rhodes, who represented the anti-establishment promises of Obama, only to justify drone strikes that killed innocent

T

civilians and push progressives to question if he was really that different from the establishment. Those progressives find their faith in Sanders.

Talk to some of his strongest supporters, and you come away believing that Sanders’s end goal is a U.S. foreign policy completely remade in a humanitarian, socialist mold. University of Michigan sophomore Noah Streng, vice president of Young Democratic Socialists of America at the University and a campus organizer for Sanders’s campaign, said he is drawn to Sanders in part because of his vision for a compassionate and diplomacy-centered U.S. foreign policy. There is nothing radical about those premises at first glance: George W. Bush paraded the idea of “compassionate conservatism” on his campaign, and before Trump, diplomacy was a near-bipartisan centerpiece of postwar U.S. foreign policy.

But fully employing these premises, or changing their definitions, would be radical. Compassion, when called on to help faraway peoples or topple brutal regimes, has often led to political disaster and so been disavowed when convenient by presidents from Clinton to Obama. And diplomacy, while sorely lacking under the current administration, has been traditionally employed to serve national interests only. Sanders wants to change all that.

Streng strongly believes this concept is as much a pillar of Sanders’s domestic promises, such as universal healthcare and an increased minimum wage, as it is a call to the workers of the world to unite. If the Michigan auto worker and Iranian oil worker realize they have more in common with each other than with their respective billionaire compatriots, the thinking goes, then they have realized

their “common humanity.” From that, a more peaceful, prosperous future is possible.

If Sanders had reached the presidency and was able to see that promise through, it would be nothing less than a full transition to a socialist foreign policy.

Discerning the two candidates’ foreign policies helps dispel misconceptions about their promises for America

more broadly. On the world stage, Sanders wants to approach what has long been a nationalist global order through a materialist lens. Common interests of working people, not interstate competition, would animate his foreign policy. At a rally in the Diag on Sunday, he said, “Maybe instead of spending $1.8 trillion a year on weapons of destruction, killing each other, (we should) fight our common enemy, which is climate change.” For him, foreign policy is less a separate venue for pursuing parochial national interests, as it would be for a staunch non-interventionist than it is a way to generally promote human welfare — and not just for Americans.

This is apparent not only in Sanders’s past support for humanitarian military intervention where American vital interests were not at play, but also in the words of his endorsers. State Rep. Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor, who spoke before Sanders at the rally on Sunday, endorsed a decidedly socialist foreign policy when he exclaimed “I want a president who will stand up for people all over the world.”

That reflects Sanders’s larger desire to do away with existing assumptions about the world — not just tackle crises on an ad hoc basis. That is either incredibly brave or foolishly cocky, depending on where you stand. Fellow progressive and Sanders endorser Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., captured this systematic aspiration when she said “Our priority is not only defeating Donald Trump. It’s defeating the system of which he is a symptom.”

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MichiganDaily.com

ALLISON ENGKVIST/ Daily

4B Wednesday, March 11, 2020 // The Statement

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 // The Statement 5B

‘Tell your grandparents to vote for Bernie’: a call left unanswered

BY MAX MARCOVITCH AND FINNTAN STORER, STATEMENT CORRESPONDENTS

S

enator Bernie Sanders lowered the microphone from his mouth to his hip, meandered over to the right side of the podium and looked out over the crowd packed into the Diag.

The sun was just peeking from the tops of the Hatcher Graduate Library.

Sanders stood there, holding his voice and his body still for nearly 10 seconds.

He lifted his right arm, paused again, and unfurled one of his favorite lines: “Nelson Mandela, one of the great heroes in modern history, said something that was very profound and appropriate for today. And he said, ‘Everything seems impossible until it is done. Everything seems impossible until it is done.’ ” He continued: “In other words, if we were here 70 years ago and somebody said, ‘You know what? The day will come that we’ll have an African American President, people would’ve said ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Don’t be crazy, it’ll never happen. America is too racist a country.

The day will come when gay marriage will be legal in America – ‘Don’t be crazy. That will never happen.’ The day will come when we have women governors and Senators all over this country — ‘Don’t be crazy. That can’t happen.’ ” The crowd gained energy with each repetition.

Sanders went on to name major hurdles in this contemporary struggle for equality: Wall Street, insurance companies, drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, among other regular punching bags on the campaign trail.

“But, you know what, they are not the major impediment to progress,” he said. “The major impediment is the limitations of our own imagination.”

Sanders’s voice bellowed with a trademark fervor. The moment marked a tenuous one in the Sanders campaign, mere days after the axis on which his candidacy rested turned on its head. The Michigan primary, to be contested three days later, had suddenly heightened in urgency.

His speech came on the heels of an unexpected blow on Super Tuesday — one which saw former Vice President Joe Biden, perhaps improbably, lift his campaign from its depths to win

10 of 14 states. Biden won seven of those states by double-digit margins, including Virginia and Alabama, which he won by 30 and 47 points, respectively.

Those margins helped boost his lead

a wage that they can live off of, if they work a full 40 hours a week. So he just speaks to me on basically, you know, all kinds of levels, that he is somebody who can run the country the right way.”

a Dictator”. Clad in a top that said, “The Anti-Socialist Social Club”, he engaged some rally attendees in debate.

Many Republicans today liken Sanders to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, pointing to their policies in Cuba and Venezuela.

Among Democrats, the fear of electoral repercussions ignites a craving for pragmatism — a trait antithetical to Sanders’s zerosum approach.

In a July 2019 speech at George Washington University, Sanders likened his democratic socialist vision to that of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s. In doing so, Sanders tried to counter the Republican portrayal of “socialism” as taboo, a tactic that’s been used for decades.

Roosevelt did not define himself as a socialist but Sanders has self-identified as a democratic one for the majority of his career. During his speech, Sanders referenced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor” a line used to dispute the depictions of him as a radical and emphasize the class disparity central to his campaign. Still, the long negative connotation of socialism in the United States begs the question as to whether Sanders can win the presidency — let alone the nomination — as a democratic socialist.

Whether the stigma alone is too much to overcome.

But, perhaps spurred by Sanders’s national rise over the past five years, the tides of that perception are changing.

In 2018, more Democrats had a positive view of socialism than had a positive view of capitalism according to Gallup, with 57 percent of Democrats holding a positive view of socialism and 47 percent holding a positive view of capitalism. But this shift in opinion among Democrats doesn’t translate to a shift among the public as a whole. In a 2019 poll, the Pew

Seemingly, it’s the label alone that’s holding him back. in total delegates to 82, and spurred his projection in the FiveThirtyEight Democratic Primary Forecast to an 89 percent chance to win a majority of pledged delegates.

Sanders spent the days prior to Tuesday’s primary careening around the state, from Flint to Dearborn to Grand Rapids. It was announced only late Saturday evening that Sanders would be joined in Ann Arbor by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., undeniably his most popular surrogate among the Gen Z crowd. Together, they spent much of Sunday speaking to their plan: to reconfigure what is and isn’t possible in American politics through a resurgent, energized base of younger voters.

The symmetry of that relationship — the youngest member of Congress aligned with one of its oldest — conveys a degree of clarity about the democratic socialist movement and the sanctity of its moral convictions. It weaves a tale of resilience and longevity, perseverance and vision.

We hope this is the present, but it’s most definitely the future. Get on board or be left behind. “(Sanders) stands for what I think (is) right ... both politically and morally,” LSA freshman James Aidala, a leader among the Students for Bernie organization at Michigan, told The Daily. “I think that everyone should have health care. Everyone should have

What’s left unsaid in Sanders’s invocations of Mandela is that in order to truly reconfigure the structure of American society, Sanders — or someone of his ideology — must first ascend to those positions of power like the presidency. Idealism without requisite authority can only go so far.

Through that lens, Sanders’s 14-point loss three days later to Biden in Michigan, a bellwether state in both the primary and the general election, reflected an electorate increasingly unwilling to take those leaps. According to exit polls in Michigan, Biden won a majority of white voters and a majority of Black voters. He won among voters with an advanced degree and he won amongst those without a college degree. Ninetyfour percent of voters said they’d trust Biden in a crisis. He won union voters.

He won voters who said healthcare was their most important issue. The win was diverse and thorough.

And one statistic told the tale of the night and the entire cycle: Among voters under 30, 82 percent supported Sanders.

Among voters 65 and over, 73 percent supported Biden.

The former category accounted for just 15 percent of all voters. The latter made up 23 percent. n the cool Ann Arbor air on Sunday, a protester walked around the Sanders rally holding a large sign reading “Every Socialist is

I

Research Center found that 55 percent of Americans overall have a negative view of socialism, with 42 percent having a positive view. However, this is an increase since 2012, when 60 percent had a negative view of socialism and only 31 percent had a positive reaction — an increase likely owed to Sanders and his rise.

The classic 18-29 age group has the most positive view of socialism, with 50 percent labeling socialism as either “very positive” or “somewhat positive.”

This is the group Sanders courts most often. LSA sophomore Anna Nedoss, a leading organizer with Students for Bernie, detailed Sanders’s operation: a summer and winter school for training students in the art of campaigning. Both schools were aimed at teaching students how to organize their college campuses and build support for Sanders. The program was the only one of its kind in the Democratic field.

As mentioned, Sanders leans heavily on those who buy into his brand of democratic socialism the most: millennials and the Gen-Z generation.

Aidala chuckled when asked what democratic socialism means to him.

“Sorry, it’s just everyone keeps asking that,” he followed. “It’s to make people’s lives better. It is to help our most vulnerable wherever we can … you can call it what you want, but a lot of people could use health care and education right now. So if that’s socialism, or that’s bananas, either way. I like both.”

In each interview with a Students for Bernie leader, Marx and Lenin were not brought up. Socialism in Venezuela and Cuba was not held up as shining examples — no expropriation of land, no nationalizing of oil companies, no price controls. For LSA freshman Alex Nobel, another leader in Students for Bernie, it was simple and succinct: “My view of democratic socialism is government helping people, instead of corporations, putting working people ahead of the rich.” These descriptions of democratic socialism and its policies sound akin to Roosevelt’s New Deal policies — which Sanders would be happy about — rather than policies of politicians like Chavez and Castro.

But this heavy lean on young voters to advance the ideals of democratic socialism to the White House is unstable.

During Super Tuesday, turnout among voters under 30 didn’t top 20 percent across the 14 states voting. That’s unworkable and is likely a major factor behind Sanders’s tepid Super Tuesday result. Sanders needs to add more voters over 50 to the bandwagon — voters that consistently turn up and vote. But that demographic isn’t too positive about socialism: 38 percent of 50-64-year-olds and 35 percent of those over 65 think positively about it.

Seemingly, it’s the label alone that’s holding him back. The democratic socialism umbrella of policies includes such trademarks as Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and free college.

Those policies are widely popular among Democrats according to a Marist poll. Sixty-four percent say Medicare for All is a good idea, 86 percent say the Green New Deal is good and 76 percent like free public college, too. Yet Sanders, who is the only candidate left touting these policies, lost 10 states on Super Tuesday to Biden, who supports none of these policies. Ray, a longtime Ann Arbor resident, made plans to vote for Sanders: “I don’t think Bernie’s about socialism at all. I really, I very much doubt it. There’s no way Americans would do socialism.” While Ray sees through the stereotype of the word and supports single-payer healthcare and free education for those who want it, the Democratic establishment doesn’t seem to think the rest of the public can — at least in numbers that could win an election.

But that generational disparity still represents the central chasm in the Democratic Primary, a numbers

The latest poll from Quinnipiac highlighted that gulf between older and younger voters. Nationally, 80 percent of those over 65 support Biden and 71 percent of those under 35 support Sanders.

game that leaves Sanders’s bet to turn out young voters in unprecedented, revolutionary numbers increasingly flimsy.

The latest poll from Quinnipiac highlighted that gulf between older and younger voters.

Nationally, 80 percent of those over 65 support Biden and 71 percent of those under 35 support Sanders. Based on turnout numbers, Sanders’s lone hope at reclaiming momentum and any feasible path to the nomination requires bridging that gap.

As rally-goers and pedestrians filed in and out of the Diag, some heading out of the chilly evening before the end of Sanders’s remarks, a voice yelled out above the fray with one parting message: “Tell your grandparents to vote for Bernie.” fter all the pomp and circumstance of the last week — Sanders parading around the state for days, staking the future of his campaign on an upset in Michigan — NBC News called the state for Biden shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday night.

Neither candidate offered a speech, precautions taken to combat fears over Coronavirus.

Many prognosticators used Michigan as the final nail in the Sanders campaign’s coffin, some pronouncing the nomination of Biden a foregone conclusion.

It also offered an indirect indictment of Sanders, who defied the polls to win the Michigan Primary in 2016.

In some ways, the bleak outlook makes the dynamics of Sunday’s speech on the Diag even more pertinent.

Ocasio-Cortez, likely the future of the democratic socialist movement, preempting Sanders’s speech.

Standing near the steps to Hatcher Graduate Library, Ocasio-Cortez referenced a 1984 speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had recently endorsed the Sanders campaign. The younger cohort of students stood closer to the stage. Many of the older attendees held back beyond the fence, listening from afar.

“Michigan, we have goliaths in our country today,” Ocasio-Cortez said, amid fervent roars. “The goliath of the fossil fuel industry. The goliath of big pharma. The goliath of the role of big money in politics. These are powerful, powerful forces. And we are David. We are David. David, all of us, the little guys.”

Then she offered a warning to the movement, one which superseded the here and now of Bernie Sanders and the presidential race.

“What David had to do before he confronted Goliath was to shed his unnecessary clothes,” she said. “...

Because in order for us to grow, well rather in order for us to win, we have to grow. We have to grow. We must be inclusive. We must bring more people into this movement.”

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Wednesday, March 11, 2020 // The Statement

Extremely white and incredibly male

BY MARISA WRIGHT, DEPUTY STATEMENT EDITOR

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t events across the country, from Iowa to Arkansas to Nevada to California, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., ends each night by taking a selfie with every person who wants one, often snapping hundreds of photos — which, including a moment to talk to each supporter, runs for several hours. Each time a little girl reaches the front of the line and walks up to take her selfie, Warren bends down and says, “My name is Elizabeth, and I’m running for president because that’s what girls do,” then offers her pinkie so they’ll promise to remember it.

When asked about these now-famous pinkie promises, Sen. Warren recalls her first run for the United States Senate: People encouraged her to run, but admitted they thought it was unlikely a woman could win against a male incumbent. Feeling frustrated with sexist remarks about her hair and her clothes and her voice, she began making these pinkie promises with little girls. She said, “It matters a lot to me that little girls see themselves as future presidents of the United States.”

Every time I see a picture of Warren down on one knee, pinkie promising another young girl that running for president is what girls do, I feel a combination of affection, tenderness and I’ll admit, a bit of jealousy. How I wish I could be one of those little girls, intertwining my pinkie and promising to do what girls do with Elizabeth Warren.

My first memory of an American presidential campaign is from when I was

right hand raised, swearing an oath to the Constitution and becoming the President of the United States.

My anger then may have been a little misguided, but the place it came from wasn’t wrong. Look where we are now: It’s 12 years later and the two front-runners in the 2020 Democratic primary are two rich, heterosexual, able-bodied white men in their 70s, to say nothing of the traumatic, decisive misogyny that was rampant in the 2016 election.

At 21 years of age, I’ve only ever voted for a woman for president of the United States. It meant so incredibly much to me, and to millions of young women across the country, to cast my firstever vote for president for a woman candidate — not just ILLUSTRATION BY TAYLOR SCHOTT because she is a woman but because she was an incredibly about their age. It must have been early qualified, smart and passionate nominee. I June 2008 because then-Sen. Barack imagine it felt similar to how Black people Obama, D-Ill., had just secured a major- felt casting their vote for Obama for presiity of delegates to become the nominee. dent or how LGBTQIA+ Americans felt In the spring and summer of that year, I casting their vote for former-South Bend would have been about to turn 10 years Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the first openly-gay old. I remember sitting in our living room presidential candidate.

The 2020 Democratic primary began as while one of my parents was watching cable news, which, by that point, was plas- the most diverse field of candidates to run tered with coverage of the Democratic for president ever, which was made possiprimary. Though I knew little about the ble, in part, by both Obama’s and Clinton’s candidates or their policies at the time, candidacies. We had Kamala and Julián I can still recall the visceral anger I felt, and Cory and Amy and Kristen and Elizared hot right in my belly, when someone beth and Pete and Andrew. For the most explained that this meant Hillary Clinton part, it wasn’t just tokenism — there were multiple candidates of color and multiple would not be president.

I wasn’t old enough to know anything women filling various different ideologiabout the policy differences between cal lanes. Of course, Buttigieg was the Obama and Clinton, and I was sheltered lone gay candidate, but it seems likely his enough that I didn’t realize that Obama’s historic candidacy will open the doors for nomination was also historic and what it many after him.

Now, though, the field has been whitwould mean to a lot of people — including me. Down the line, I could understand tled down to two candidates who offer the how important Obama’s presidency was least diversity and hold identities with the for the forward progress of our country most social power and privilege. We can and how his legislative accomplishments and do talk about their policy positions or would directly affect my life (by expand- their experience or their age or their abiling healthcare to millions of Americans, ity to do the job, but for just a moment, we banning insurance companies from deny- should reflect on the candidates theming coverage to those with preexisting selves, particularly their identities.

Of course, all Democrats want to beat conditions and allowing young people to stay on their parent’s health insurance Donald Trump in November, but when the until 26, he personally improved my life as conversation about how to win revolves a person with a chronic illness). All I knew around how to appeal to some imaginary then was that it really, really mattered to white male conservative voter in Wisconme to see someone like me gain the con- sin, this framing of electability — which is fidence of the nation and ultimately stand based on the same biases that elected the on the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol, first 44 white male American presidents

— has deeply hurt every candidate who is not white and not male. It is profoundly disappointing and frankly disheartening to see so many people retreat to their comfort candidate — i.e., a heterosexual, white male — when things get tough. It indicates the weakness of so-called allyship and demonstrates an easy willingness to abandon non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual candidates when it comes down to the wire. It is not the progressivism we’ve been promised.

When making the argument for a woman candidate, a woman of color candidate, a gay candidate and so on, many will toss accusations of playing identity politics (something that somehow only applies to people who aren’t heterosexual white men). If you support a woman candidate and like the fact that she’s a woman, other candidates’ supporters will call you a “vagina voter”. To some, it is unimaginable that anyone identifying as female might be capable of making a rational choice, even when it results in choosing someone who looks like them, and that holding a marginalized identity might actually be a valuable quality when running on a platform of working for those who have been left behind by the status quo.

In my case, my support for Elizabeth Warren in the primary was not based on the fact that she’s a woman (though it wouldn’t be bad if it was!). While I see the fact that she’s a woman as an incredible bonus, I supported her primarily based on the fact that she committed to getting rid of the Senate filibuster, something which Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has and says he will not. The filibuster requires 60 votes, which the Democrats don’t have, to pass any form of universal healthcare. As a chronically-ill person in desperate need of accessible healthcare, I want the candidate who not only has the best policy, but also the best plan to get it passed.

Alternatively, others will accuse you of prioritizing representation instead of actual progress. Beside perpetuating a foolish brand of tokenism, this idea that increased representation — having women, people of color, disabled people, indigenous people and queer people at the table making decisions — doesn’t matter is simply wrong, for two major reasons.

Marisa Wright is a junior in LSA studying Political Science and Women’s Studies and is a Statement Deputy Editor. She can be reached at marisadw@umich.edu.

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7B Wednesday, March16, 11,2019 2020////The The Statement 7B Wednesday, January Statement

When will America be ready for her?

BY ELI RALLO, STATEMENT COLUMNIST

I

n 2016, I voted for President of the United States for the first time. I remember walking to my polling place in Ann Arbor, Michigan as a freshman in college, and waiting in line with a feeling of thrill in my chest. As I walked toward the booth I felt a bit of hesitance — almost as though I didn’t have the agency to cast my own vote, and thought back to the times my brothers and I would file in after my mother to watch her vote in the town hall in our hometown of Fair Haven, New Jersey. I thought back further to the women who fought for me to have this privilege today, how it wasn’t always given at the age of 18. I looked down at the ballot for the highest office in American politics, old enough to make my own vote, all alone, and had the privilege to see a woman’s name printed clearly on the ballot alongside then-nominee and current Republican President Donald Trump.

In plain writing, there it was: history.

Seeing a woman represented on a major political ballot shouldn’t have to feel surprising, exciting or exhausting, but it does — it did. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who faced harassment and targeted gender attacks throughout her campaign, beat Trump in the national popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes, but ultimately lost the presidency by 77 votes in the Electoral College. Clinton had numerous qualifications for the presidency, such as her Senate seat, position as U.S. Secretary of State and her work as First Lady, but in the aftermath of the election, many argued that despite her popular vote win, America wasn’t ready for Hillary — or any female president.

Perhaps it seems like a no-brainer that most women gravitated toward Hillary Clinton as their choice in 2016, but this was not the case. According to an Edison National Election Poll run in 2016, just over 50 percent of white women with a college degree voted for Clinton in 2016 — not really an overwhelming win. This is in large part due to white women, as 61 percent of non-college educated white women and 44 percent of college-educated white women voted for Trump.

Among women of color, only 3 percent of non-college

ILLUSTRATION BY DORY TUNG

educated African American women and 25 percent of non-college educated Hispanic women voted for him. 77 percent of nonwhite percent of college-educated women of color voted for Hillary Clinton — much more than college-educated white women.

The support for Trump from white women has been analyzed as arising from the white woman’s historic loyalty to the right, their privilege in being able to support a male, Republican president, and the power their whiteness has. Moreover, and among women and men alike, there was the underlying anxiety of trusting a woman in power, regardless of her qualifications. For some women, electing a female president is secondary to winning the election — beating Trump comes first. Others simply cannot see a woman in such a high position of power. In 2016, studies showed that Clinton’s gender had a huge impact on her loss, with people going so far as to say “she doesn’t have a presidential look.”

Structural gender bias and the Clinton campaign’s steady uphill battle against gender discrimination and sexism made it ridiculously difficult for a victorious election. By way of analyzing slogans like “Trump that Bitch,” the criticism Hillary faced for not smiling (or smiling too much) and a fear of the subordination of Trump by a woman, it is clear that Hillary’s gender was used against her throughout the 2016 election, and Trump’s was not.

This led to a stark double standard. Clinton was berated for matters that Trump was not: While people criticized Clinton’s use of private emails, they barely questioned Trump’s involvement in utilizing a private email for work himself. The bias deficit made it immensely more difficult for Hillary, or any woman, to be elected over a straight man.

Despite all the possibilities to Clinton’s 2016 loss, there befalls a valid and important question, arguably the most telling one: Would those who voted for Donald Trump have been more likely to vote for Hillary Clinton if she were a man?

Following the election, there was a deflated feeling among Clinton’s supporters and those who hoped for the first female president to dismantle the historical norm

and superior electability of male presidents. Despite the hope for many that a woman would make her way into the White House in 2020, All in Together’s 2019 poll found that both Democratic and Republican voters predicted a male Democratic nominee — not a female one — would win against Trump in 2020. They saw hope in the prospect of a male Democratic candidate and feared another apparent expected loss by a Democratic woman. Now, with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, as the last woman in the race and polling extremely low, it’s apparent the next President will indeed be a man.

As America readjusted in the weeks after Trump’s election and subsequent inauguration, I wondered when Americans would vote a woman into office — with both a popular vote and overwhelming support of the Electoral College — if Hillary Clinton, a woman with accolades and throngs of experience, who many thought was a shoo-in, didn’t beat Donald Trump. I wondered if the fact that Hillary Clinton almost reached the Oval Office would ignite a fire in Americans to truly strive for a female presidency, or introduce a lackadaisical attitude about promoting a female president, coming off of the sting of Clinton’s loss.

Despite the fact that the Democratic Party saw many women campaign throughout the 2020 Democratic primary election cycle, they also saw these women slowly drop out, due to lack of support or exhaustion of expenses.

With the stakes high for the Democratic Party to defeat Trump in 2020, the mainstream conversation in the media has become less about breaking the White House’s glass ceiling, and more about getting a Democrat — any Democrat — in the Oval Office. The priority for Democrats is turning the White House blue again, and both Democrats and Republicans alike have commented they don’t think a woman is the person for the job. *** As Americans watched all six women face defeat, they have begun to analyze how these politicians’ shared identity as American women affected their likeability and campaign success during the primaries.

I wondered how college-aged, left-leaning women consider their gender identity when selecting a candidate to vote for. And more specifically, how the candidate’s policies on women’s issues affect how young women voters consider them as viable options when voting.

In the weeks prior to Super Tuesday, I spent time interviewing college-aged, left-leaning women from the University of Michigan. What I found, in talking to them, is that the rhetoric of candidates and their stances surrounding women and minorities is overwhelmingly important when selecting a politician to vote for — issues like a woman’s agency over her body, equal pay and foundational human rights. Voting, for these women, is extremely subjective based on their needs and preferences, yet all of them had astute opinions on Warren — the strongest female contender — her struggle for the nomination, and how her gender stood in her way.

Theatre & Dance junior Emerson Smith voted for Bernie Sanders on March 10, and leans strongly on policy when making a decision about who to vote for. I asked her what communities she identifies with within society, and how these groups affect her voting choices.

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Wednesday, March 11, 2020 // The Statement

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