2022-05-11

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Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - Weekly Summer Edition

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TWO COMMENCEMENTS IN TWO WEEKS

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ACADEMICS

UMich celebrates in the Big House for first in-person commencement since 2019

IRENA LI & NIRALI PATELI Summer News Editors

The University of Michigan’s Spring 2022 commencement featured an aerial exhibit of the “Hail to the Victims” movement, the awarding of five honorary degrees and journalist Maria Shriver as commencement speaker — all within the confines of the Big House on Saturday for the University’s first fully in-person commencement ceremony since 2019.

Nearly an hour before the ceremony began, a banner reading “Hail to the Victims” flew above the stadium to

express solidarity with survivors of sexual assault. In an April 27 press statement obtained by The Michigan Daily, the coalition of U-M faculty, survivors and allies who sponsored the banner wrote that they wanted to signal support for survivors of sexual assault on the University’s campus.

Five members of the coalition jointly wrote the press statement: Art & Design professor Rebekah Modrak, U-M alum and Bruce Conforth survivor Isabelle Brourman, U-M researcher Jane Hassinger, U-M alum Cassie McQuater and Jon Vaughn. The statement alleged that Interim University President Mary

Sue Coleman was complicit in sexual assault crimes at the University, citing a 2020 report from the law firm WilmerHale that alleged thenPresident Coleman had been aware of allegations of sexual misconduct by former Provost Martin Philbert as early as 2010.

“Interim President Coleman is without question implicated in contributing to and sustaining the pattern of denial and cover-up of the crimes of sexual assault and harassment at the University of Michigan,” the statement reads. “Despite her claims that she is in dialogue with survivors, she has refused to meet with (Robert)

Anderson or Conforth survivors.”

In an interview with The Daily, 2022 U-M graduate Morgan Jonas said seeing the banner spread awareness about the “Hail to the Victims” movement was inspiring.

“It’s really empowering to see men taking a stance, taking back their life, protesting and taking action upon it,” Jonas said. “I feel for them, I feel for their story. I hope they are doing well and love what they are doing here.”

The ceremony kicked off at 10 A.M. with a rendition of Flor Peeters’ Entrata, followed by a performance of the national anthem. University Provost Susan M. Collins gave the

welcome speech, reflecting on the challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that the University and its graduating students have faced over the past few years.

“As we’ve learned over the past two years, persistence contributes to resilience and to innovation,” Collins said. “Through this very challenging time, you’ve kept working often in new ways, and we’re so proud of all you’ve accomplished: you adjusted to virtual education and welcomed ways that enabled you to connect with people around the world.”

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ACADEMICS

UMich welcomes Dr. Fauci and 2020, 2021 graduates for ‘Comeback Commencement’ in the Big House IRENA LI

Summer News Editor

The University of Michigan welcomed 2020 and 2021 graduates who missed out on normal graduation ceremonies due to the COVID-19 pandemic for Saturday’s “Comeback Commencement” in the Big House, featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci as commencement speaker.

Fauci, who currently serves as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to the U.S.

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president, has remained a prominent — and to some, controversial — figure throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regent Jordan Acker (D) presented Fauci with an honorary Doctor of Science degree, as recommended by the Board of Regents.

In his commencement speech, Fauci spoke about the extreme polarization and “normalization of untruths” that he has witnessed while working as a public health official in Washington, D.C. “What troubles me is that differences of opinion or ideology have, in certain circumstances, been Follow The Daily on Instagram, @michigandaily

reflected by egregious distortions of reality,” Fauci said. “Sadly, elements of our society have grown increasingly unfazed by a cacophony of falsehood and lies that often stand largely unchallenged, ominously leading to an insidious acceptance of what I call the ‘normalization of untruths.’

We see this happen daily, propagated through a range of information platforms, social medias and so-called news organizations. And sad to say, certain elected officials in positions of power.”

Fauci called on graduates to push back against these falsehoods

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and maintain a critical eye for the information they receive.

“Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths,” Fauci said. “Because if you do, lies become dominant and reality is distorted. And then truth means nothing. Integrity means nothing.

Facts mean nothing.”

Fauci closed with optimistic remarks about the future, encouraging the audience to embrace that which brings them joy.

“Allow yourselves to cultivate this joy as much as you do your professional accomplishments,” Fauci said. “Think

INDEX

Vol. CXXX, No. 76 ©2022 The Michigan Daily

upon your future as that stated by the American political theorist, John Homer Shaar, and I quote, ‘The future is not someplace we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.’”

The audience gave a standing ovation following Fauci’s remarks.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, 2020 graduate Austin Thompson said he thought the speech was “very inspirational.”

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NEWS................... 2 ARTS...................3 MIC......................5

OPINION................6 SPORTS..............7

2 — Wednesday, May 11, 2022

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ELECTIONS

2022 Michigan regular and special election results: Democrat flips seat in GOP stronghold IRENA LI

Summer News Editor

The state of Michigan held its regular election Tuesday to decide local millages and bond proposals, municipal office seats and four special state House of Representatives races.

Those elected to the House will fill vacancies left by former Michigan House representatives and serve partial terms expiring on Jan. 1, 2023.

In a historic win, Democrat Carol Glanville defeated Republican Robert Regan and write-in candidate Mike Milanowski Jr. in Michigan’s 74th House District, a seat that had been held by Republicans since 1993.

According to unofficial results, Glanville received 52% of the votes over Regan’s share of 40% in a district that former president Donald Trump won by 16 percentage points in 2020.

The seat was vacated when state Sen. Mark Huizenga, R-Walker, was elected to Michigan’s 28th Senate District in Kent County last November.

Regan made national headlines in March for making controversial comments about rape and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Regan’s

comments drew condemnation from GOP members such as Ron Weiser, a University of Michigan regent and Michigan Republican Party chairman. Despite this, Regan was still favored to win in the 74th District, making Glanville’s win an upset victory.

According to her campaign

in a May 3 tweet.

“West Michigan values of integrity, decency, and care for the common good won tonight,” Glanville wrote.

“The people of the 74th District have spoken, and I hear you. We are united in fundamental ways, and I will take our values and concerns to the Capitol to affect positive change.”

FILE PHOTO/Daily

website, Glanville currently works as a Walker city commissioner and previously worked as a teacher and administrator. Following the results of the election, Glanville expressed her thanks to West Michigan voters

Democrat Jeffrey Pepper, a Dearborn-based attorney, won in the 15th District over Republican Ginger Shearer, per unofficial results. Pepper will fill the vacancy left by former state Rep. Abdullah Hammoud,

D-Dearborn, who left the position at the beginning of 2022 after being elected mayor of Dearborn.

Republican Terence Mekoski defeated Democrat James Diez in the 36th District. The seat was vacated when state Sen. Doug Wozniak, R-Shelby Charter Township, won the state Senate race for the 8th District in Macomb County in November 2021.

In the 43rd District, Republican Mike Harris beat out Democrat Kent Douglas by nearly 2,000 votes.

Harris will replace the late state Rep. Andrea Schroeder, R-Independence Township, who passed away due to stomach cancer in October 2021.

Only one election occurred in Washtenaw County on Tuesday.

Residents of Ypsilanti Community Schools voted “yes” on a millage rate proposal to levy a millage rate of no more than 18 mills for the next decade and increase the rate by 0.5 mills each year over the next 11 years. Millage rates are used to calculate local property taxes, which determine how much is levied in taxes for every $1,000 of property value. School districts set millage rates after calculating the amount of funding they need from homeowners to fulfill their final budget for the year.

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GOVERNMENT

Michigan physicians condemn Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade SAMANTHA RICH Summer News Editor

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to protect the privacy of a speaker.

The Committee to Protect Health Care denounced the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, at a virtual press conference Tuesday evening.

The Committee is a national organization of medical professionals advocating affordable and “pro-patient” health care. Three physicians based in Michigan spoke at the event to express concern over the impacts of this opinion, if finalized.

The draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade was obtained by Politico and released Monday night.

Written by Justice Samuel Alito, the opinion holds that the restrictions around abortion access should be decided by individual states, not the Supreme Court.

The case being considered, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, centers on a 2018 Mississippi law outlawing all abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions for medical emergencies or “severe” fetal abnormalities.

Speakers at the press conference expressed concern over the impact harsher restrictions may have on the safety of pregnant individuals seeking abortions, stressing that pregnant individuals will continue to seek abortions but will face more barriers and greater risk in doing so.

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GOVERNMENT

Washtenaw Justice Project launches new program for juveniles in the justice system TINA YU

Daily Staff Reporter

The Washtenaw Justice Project, a new nonprofit attempting to improve the juvenile and adult criminal legal system in Washtenaw County, announced in a press release Thursday it will be partnering with the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office and Public Defender’s Office to establish a new restitution program for juveniles.

In the state of Michigan, juveniles involved in delinquency offenses are required to pay restitution, a court-ordered payment to compensate the victim for any losses that resulted from the crime. However, financial barriers to paying restitution often negatively impact juveniles under the justice system, as an unpaid restitution will prevent a juvenile’s

case from being closed regardless of whether they have reached the end of their probation period.

The new juvenile restitution program would decrease the likelihood of unpaid restitutions by giving juvenile offenders the opportunity to earn money when they follow the terms of their probation. The program would allow juveniles to earn up to $1,000 in restitution, which would be paid to crime victims through the court. Funding for the program will initially come from the Song Foundation, the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan and the Skillman Foundation.

In the press release, Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit said he believes this program would benefit both the juveniles in the justice system and the crime victims.

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Arts

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 — 3

Plotlessness paradoxically drives ‘The Candy House’ ERIN EVANS

Daily Arts Writer

Upon reading the words “a novel” on the cover of Jennifer Egan’s latest book “The Candy House,” one wonders whether this is true. When “novel” seems nearly synonymous with “story,” can this semi-plotless book be considered a story?

When does a story stop being a story?

The book’s opening pages take us to an alternate 2010 as seen through the eyes of Bix Bouton, who invented a technology that allows people to store their memories and upload them to a “collective consciousness.” Once fleeting and forgettable, experiences can now be permanent. Reviewing another person’s memories allows access to pertinent information in court cases or satisfies personal desires to see an interaction from another perspective. Life is shared and stored.

After being with Bouton for several pages, during which he is followed home by a young woman named Rebecca, we leave his perspective for that of Rebecca’s son, now a grown man. The book never repeats a perspective; instead, it is broken into sections between tangentiallyrelated characters with no real unifying plotline, spanning decades into the past and future. The connections are not always clear when we switch. We spend time with a young girl for many pages before realizing her mother is the author of a book that inspired Bouton in his invention. The transition from one perspective to the next is less a continuation and merging of a single

thread than a brief touch between disparate stories — each complete, if not fully detailed in the book, without the other. What unites these stories is this idea of a “collective consciousness,” which the book itself creates.

In literary fiction especially, a straightforward plot — if there is any plot at all — is not a requirement. Many books in this genre choose to focus more closely on characters’ psyches and relationships.

Joy Williams’s “The Quick and the Dead” comes to mind, lollygagging in its desert setting, showing us the depths of various characters without much actually happening. Sally Rooney’s “Normal People,” too, concerns itself with a relationship more than an exterior plot. But “The Candy House” doesn’t fit into the “character study” category, jumping as it does between such a large cast of characters. If anything, the book studies an entire society — a set of characters which, had Egan wished to continue writing, almost certainly could have included everyone in this fictional world who had and would ever exist.

A comparable work might be Richard Linklater’s 1990 film “Slacker,” in which we follow characters until they pass by or interact with someone else, at which point the camera holds on to this new subject and lets the original character walk out of the frame, never to be seen again. But where the switch between characters in “Slacker” is due to chance physical proximity, in “The Candy House,” the switch from one perspective to the next feels more pointed.

The relationship between adjacent characters, even if small, is of utmost

importance. They need never have met each other, but they have in some way influenced each other’s lives.

Despit the success of some works that reject linear storytelling in favor of mulling over a question, making a point or being experimental for their own sake, readers tend to like a story. When we get 100 pages into a book and realize we still aren’t sure what the point is or where it’s going, we tend to become uneasy. How, then, does “The Candy House” get away with having so many different characters and barely any plot? A part of the answer is Egan’s prose, which is endlessly descriptive and captivating. “You will be lodged too far inside the action to wriggle free,” says one character midway through the book. She is describing her dissociation technique as a spy, but the feeling is similar to what the reader feels when inside each vignette.

The characters tend to feel complete and quickly identifiable as well, and they are impressively different from each other. They think differently. An analyst, Lincoln, relates everything to probability and numbers, even when detailing a love story. Lulu, the aforementioned spy who has a weevil implanted in her brain to record her thoughts, narrates in the second person, as if instructing a future woman in her situation. Their eccentricities and senses of humor differ, as do their opinions of Bouton’s invention.

Despite knowing each character for only a short time, we care about them, and by the end of each story, they feel human — fully-formed lives that stay with us as we meet the next character.

However, what truly coheres the

novel into something that builds and evolves — basically, what makes it a story — is that, despite the development of each character only going so far as their individual sections, a singular idea is solidifying inside of the web of people, strengthening continually throughout the book and waiting to become clear to us. The collective consciousness, we realize, is not just an invention within the story but is the nature of the book itself.

As we see different people interact with the collective and revisit their and others’ memories, we feel it there, at the heart of the book, and each character adds something to it.

Near the end of the book, Bouton’s son, Gregory, now an adult, lies in a snowdrift and stares up at the snow flying down around him. In a moment of epiphany, he sees the snowflakes as “a galaxy of human lives hurtling toward his curiosity. From a distance they faded into uniformity, but they were moving, each propelled by a singular force that was inexhaustible. The collective.” This is much the same feeling the reader has upon finishing the book — those lives, rather than snowflakes, are the characters in whose stories they have been briefly submerged.

Being able to see the connectedness of humanity without needing to actually view everyone’s memories or store one’s own — basically, without technology — is what gives this moment so much power for Gregory. The manufactured “collective” exists as a way of making the reader see that such a thing already exists, and it doesn’t need to be manufactured — it is enough for our

connections and memories to exist in other people’s minds without needing every detail to be preserved.

Midway through the book, Roxy, a woman in her mid-50s in treatment for opioid abuse, uploads her memories to the collective and immediately feels their value vanish. She recalls a single memory as she uploads them, which she had been hoping to see again, but having remembered it herself, she no longer feels the need to relive her past more vividly. Instead, it is the present, currently unfolding without being stored anywhere — alive, unpredictable and temporary — that matters. This conflict is at the heart of the book: the pull between wanting control over every part of ourselves and the desire to live fully in the present. We can’t possess all of time at once, but if we could, the memories that comprise it might no longer matter.

Returning to the “what makes a story” question, memory’s ephemerality is what allows us to construct our own ideas of ourselves — the stories of our lives that would fall apart should everything be remembered equally. This comes up again at the end, when Egan writes that “knowing everything is too much like knowing nothing; without a story, it’s all just information.” She is aware that writing a story from the perspectives of every person possible, justified only by their often-minute connections, while perhaps effective in making a point, would render the story meaningless. It would be difficult to call that a story at all.

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U-M’s 2022 creative writing thesis writers: the novelists BRENNA GOSS Daily Arts Writer

All Creative Writing and Literature majors in the University’s Residential College have the option to write a thesis over the course of their senior year, where they work with a faculty advisor to produce a polished body of work. These theses can take the form of novels, novellas, collections of poetry, short stories or essays. The 2021–2022 school year saw eleven students take on the challenge, and The Michigan Daily interviewed them about their work.

First up: the five novelists.

Marlon Rajan, “Black Bird” Marlon’s thesis, titled “Black Bird,” is a 55-page novella. They were originally planning on doing a collection of short stories but said in an interview with The Daily that they realized, “My pieces all had a few through lines that I could use

to combine them and streamline my process. Throughout my four years, I exclusively did short stories in fiction, so it seemed like a more long-form piece would suit my style nicely, as well as give myself a challenge.”

They described their writing as “personal” and hoped that people who read their work “feel that it moved them or helped them understand aspects of their own lives.” While this is a common goal for writers of all sorts, Marlon’s

Design by Tamara Turner

style of storytelling is unique in that it “doesn’t have a clear trajectory, so it’s more about the process of reading it than the end result.” They focus in on the “small, mundane actions of everyday life,” rather than conforming to the emphasis placed on “having a beginning, middle and end that wrap up nicely and fit together into our idea of a typical story.” Marlon said that they “often got the feedback that my stories aren’t ‘about anything,’” but they like it that way.

Marlon also said they don’t feel compelled to share their writing like some writers do. Instead, they said, “I have a vision of the world that (I would) like others to interact with … I want others to see the world through my eyes and get to thinking.”

When asked about the future of their writing, Marlon broached the idea of putting writing on the back burner to focus on “the other ways I’ve learned to

tell stories through sculpture, graphic design, fashion, etc” instead. Writing, they said, “served as a platter for me to stack my other skills on top of and is the basis for my other ideas that follow it.”

However, they do acknowledge that writing is “a huge way to interface with our society and world at large,” and that literature can be a formative force in people’s lives. “We’re all a little bit like sponges that soak up the energy and knowledge of those around us,” Marlon said. “What you read has a huge influence on how our personalities develop.”

Even though the going was not always steady, Marlon is glad they took on the challenge of a thesis. “I struggle with endings and wrapping things up, so it feels good to have this story done.

It’s a testament to all the time and energy I put into my degree.”

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Arts

4 — Wednesday, May 11, 2022

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Haley Heynderickx talks music, honesty and change ROSA SOFIA KAMINSKI Daily Arts Writer

Seeing Haley Heynderickx perform live will change your conception of her music. You will realize that, all this time, she has not been trying to give you the answers: she is trying to ask the right questions. Even her tone — lilting, light, turning the ends of her phrases up in a comedic manner — often implies uncertainty. Heynderickx’s music allows listeners to be confidently uncertain, resting in a place of comfort with the unknown. This open-hearted approach and the honesty with which her songs flow in performance remove some of the mysterious sheen that accompanies only listening to an artist through earbuds. This connective experience can also be painfully stripping for the artist. In a phone interview with The Michigan Daily, Heynderickx spoke on this experience.

“Music has always been a therapy for me, which is why touring through 2018 to 2020 was pretty difficult for me because it’s kind of like putting my therapy on display every night,” Heynderickx said. “And now, writing comes from a place of meditation and gratitude.”

On a cold April night at the Ark, fans watching these raw songs performed were able to join together

in this gratitude. It is not at all lost on Heynderickx how her music, written as an extension of herself and her emotions, sometimes paradoxically changes the honesty with which people see her. “Sometimes, I feel (the audience) talking to me,” Heynderickx said. “They have more of an idea of me than noticing the person that’s in front of them.” Her music is clearly written from a place deep inside of her, one that she sees connecting to the very cores of other people. “I guess I’m beginning to see the changes (in) perception (of me by my audience) over time, but I also know it’s just reflections of how they’ve experienced music,” Heynderickx said.

“Honestly, when people come up to me, I see them talking to themselves, talking to ideas that they’ve had with music, and I get to view a weird medium vehicle of them reflecting back to themselves.”

She spoke with the audience in a friendly, shy, slightly practiced manner, watching their faces sitting in the dark just outside her stage circle of light.

Accompanied by her band of friends, with Abbey Blackwell on upright bass and Haley Freedlund on trombone, she seemed more at ease with herself and the crowd. “I don’t know how to write a love song, yet,” she joked at one point.

She’s right — there is no way to always know how to write about love. But the way she writes and plays often feels naturally imbued with love — love for

the subjects of her songs, love for the writing process, love for her guitar. Her songs are full of seemingly little things: pomegranates, park benches, bugs. This collection creates an image of attention to and care for the world. Her advice for musicians falls in line with this, as she finds wonder in “draw(ing) in as much as one can from the present and (from) the lessons at hand that kind of peek

music at the same time.”

This side of music-making is one she is slowly returning to. “Music was the only thing that made me feel sane,” Heynderickx said. “So I’ve just been following that ever since. But now it’s made an ironic turn of sometimes, music has been the thing that has not made me feel sane. And I’ve had to now turn again to other sources, and it’s kind of a

Photo and design credit Jeff Andersen, courtesy of Lucky Bird Media

out towards you.” Indeed, her biggest joys in music come from these small moments. “My favorite part of being a musician is when I somehow end up on a friend’s porch, and we are jamming,” Heynderickx said. “Drinking a beverage that matches the weather. We are getting to stare at nature and make

relief to catch myself in the cycle of life.

Life requires so many different types of balancing, tending to relationships and home and your body. I think I’ve just loved music so much. I wanted to pour my whole life into it, and it hurt me in many different realms outside of it. So now I turn again.” Her speaking voice

has a lilt to it; no matter the gravity of what she is telling you, there is always an undercurrent of hope.

This healing seems to be coming to her in the form of more communal music-making, as per her wish. “I’ve been a little too self-isolating over the last few years,” Heynderickx said.

“Sometimes by force of nature, which happens to all of us, but I feel like I’m coming out from the rock I put myself under, and I’m excited to collaborate with more people in the future.” This community she found in music is present in her newest project. “I’m very lucky that my friends of the Westerlies and I had a little writing residency in January of this year, and we were in Northampton, Massachusetts. They’re a brilliant four-piece horn section, and the four of them dissected some of my songs and transposed them. We worked on them for a couple of days and recorded them live to an audience, and I’m excited to have those songs be put out in the world later this year. I’ve been quite tired of myself. I was just singing too long with a guitar by myself.

So to have four talented horn players around me that are also my friends has been very healing and makes me excited for more collaboration stations in the future.” The joy with which she spoke was palpable.

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Natasha Lyonne gives time a run for its money on season two of ‘Russian Doll’ SERENA IRANI Daily Arts Writer

Time travel. What a concept.

It’s inspired countless iconic films and appears in everything from “Doctor Who” to “Back to the Future.” I mean, who can really resist the dual aesthetic appeal of a period piece and sci-fi thrown together into one? But perhaps more importantly, as a plot device, time travel holds the creative capacity to accomplish something we all fixate on from time to time: the elusive impossibility of somehow changing the past. In season two of Netflix’s “Russian Doll,” Nadia (Natasha Lyonne, “Orange Is the New Black”) gets the golden opportunity to do just that. Or so she thinks.

The question that drove Nadia’s existence in the first season was pretty much: “How do I stop dying?” But in the aftermath of escaping a time loop and the show expanding its horizons both

spatially and temporally, she’s left to tackle the resulting conundrum: “How do I go on living?”

Aligning with the show’s casually chaotic tone we’ve grown quite familiar with, Nadia randomly discovers a wormhole on the 6 Train that transports her back to 1982. An offhand remark she makes about being a “time prisoner,” rather than a “time traveler,” becomes frighteningly fitting once she realizes she’s not just stuck in the 80s, but also trapped inside the body of her mother, Lenora (Chloë Sevigny, “The Girl from Plainville”), who is currently pregnant with, you guessed it, Nadia. (Get it? Like a literal “Russian doll”? Yeah okay, I’ll stop.)

Unfazed as ever, Nadia’s escapades into the past begin to take on a mission of their own, even as she finds herself unable to control the train’s sporadic nature or the universe’s enigmatic agenda that sends her bouncing between the respective time periods and

geographic locations of her mother and grandmother’s life. She quickly resolves to recover the family fortune her mother lost in 1982 and effectively change the course of her life.

Although Nadia has undergone some serious character development by the end of the first season, no amount of premature grappling with mortality could’ve prepared her for the possibility of losing her godmother, Ruth (Elizabeth Ashley, “Stagecoach”).

There’s a passion to Lyonne’s performance, an inimitable energy that she carries (maybe it’s the hair, who knows?) that makes Nadia witnessing the inevitability of Ruth’s trajectory this season all the more heartbreaking. The addition of Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”) as a young Ruth in the 80s is practically the nail in the coffin.

In any decade, Ruth’s level-headed presence effectively offsets the whirlwind of chaos that seems to follow Nadia wherever she goes, a role that was previously held by

our resident voice of reason, Alan (Charlie Barnett, “Chicago Fire”).

Even though his appearances were rather infrequent, and his narrative felt rather sidelined and disjointed at times in comparison to Nadia’s, the few moments they did have together were pure magic. The stark contrast in their respective processing of paralleled events is a key aspect of the show’s brilliance.

At times, the weirdness of “Russian Doll” may come off as a purely aesthetic ploy to keep up with the ever-idiosyncratic Lyonne herself, but beneath the surface, there are so many layers contributing to the richly eccentric experience that is watching this show. Its narrative often reads like an intricate puzzle box of sorts, each word of dialogue meticulously chosen, every reference a double entendre to mull over. Horse (Brendan Sexton III, “Don’t Breathe 2”), for example, inexplicably refers to Nadia as “Nora” in 2022, well before she takes a joy-ride in her mom. The intentionality

of its soundtrack also works on multiple levels. The season opens to Nadia coolly walking to Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” like a deity resurrected, descends into the distorted cadence of Bauhaus’s “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” for her first warped venture into 1982 and closes out on Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” as she contentedly makes peace with her past.

Like all perfect things, this second installment of “Russian Doll” was never going to be able to top that first season, but at its heart, it’s still a darkly funny and ambitious show. As someone who’s rewatched it more times than I can count, “Russian Doll” is something of a rabbit hole that you can’t help but get lost in. I don’t know where (or when) the show is headed next, but I can rest assured knowing that Nadia’s got the survival instincts of a “cock-ah-roach,” and that everything Natasha Lyonne touches turns to gold.

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Michigan in Color

I’m not ready to graduate VICTORIA TAN MiC Contributor

Author’s note: I started writing for the Daily the winter of my sophomore year because I love to write — plain and simple. My main intention was never for my friends or family to read my work but instead to give myself a creative outlet and space where I could grow as a writer and collaborate with other writers. I’ve always been extremely self-conscious about sharing my work because I tend to write about deeply personal topics such as self-assessing my mental health and, more broadly, navigating the stresses of university life. My writing is a place for me to reflect on my life and decipher my most powerful, and sometimes ugly, emotions. For that reason, having people read my writing makes me want to hide away in a corner because it feels like I’m exposing the most vulnerable side of myself for everyone to judge and prod. That being said, this is one piece that I want people to read because I have some things to say that need to be heard. Thank you to Michigan in Color for giving me this space to work out these jumbled thoughts.

After months of dropping hints about this sentimental piece I have been working on, here it is: the article that sums up (or at the very least, attempts to put into words) what my senior year has meant to me. I don’t say these words lightly; this year has undoubtedly been the best year of

my life, and it’s one hundred percent because of the friends I’ve made. This piece is dedicated to those friends: the ones who accept me despite my annoying quirks, like my inability to show up to plans on time, the ones who check in on me when they know I am struggling with a highly irregular sleep schedule and the ones who make me want to cry tears of nostalgia when I look through my camera roll. When I entered the Big House at commencement, I wished this period of my life didn’t feel like a chapter coming to an end because I am simply not ready to graduate if it means leaving my friends, too.

After transferring schools at the beginning of my sophomore year, an entire year of online classes amid the pandemic and realizing that I was on track to graduate a year early, I feel like my time at the University has been cut short. I remember confiding in a close friend about how nervous I was to attend in-person classes at the start of this year because, although I had senior standing, I had never stepped foot into a University building, let alone felt like I belonged to any community on campus. Though I joined student organizations and clubs, it’s hard to feel close enough to make friends on Zoom when you don’t even know basic facts about them, like their height. I didn’t have a solid friend group and had spent the majority of my sophomore year in the sole company of homework and Netflix in my room. I wasn’t particularly close to my roommates either. And

VICTORIA TAN/MiC

on my birthday, I had dinner with my parents and a friend, then went to sleep at 9 p.m.

The majority of the year, I felt like I was simply existing inconsequentially. Did I even really go to this school? Part of me was indifferent to the start of winter term classes because I was unconvinced that this semester would be any different than the last.

I had dejectedly accepted the fact that the college experience depicted in movies and television, surrounded by new friends having wild nights out, wasn’t realistic. I never imagined that everything I wanted and hoped for could all happen in just a couple of months. If I had one piece of advice that I could give to my former self, it would be to not worry about still being in that “transition phase.”

(Special thank you to my high school friends for being there for me as I stumbled through this transition period. I don’t appreciate you exposing all the cringey things I did when I was 16, but I am so grateful that you have stuck by my side at two in the morning when I was stress crying. It has been an honor to grow up and blossom alongside you guys.

You haven’t gotten rid of me after all these years, and you’re not getting rid of me so easily just yet!)

Writing this piece is a way for me to capture all the details of this portion of my life that I am desperately clinging on to. I want to be able to reread this piece in 20 years and remember these crazy days. Core memories include, but are certainly not limited to: walking through the streets of Ann Arbor in below freezing temperatures in a crop top, eating microwave mac and cheese with a plastic knife and crying at the Law Quad with a bubble tea (because if you’re going to be sad, you might as well be sad while surrounded by pretty buildings). I laugh to myself thinking about how my university years are a distinct time period in which too many of my story retellings start with “It was 2 a.m.” or “We were at Rick’s.”

The smiles and quirky inside joke captions of my Instagram posts reflect some of those wild times, but my favorite part isn’t the pictures themselves — it’s the memories and feelings that weren’t captured in that single shot. And so, as best as I can convey, here are some of my most cherished memories from this school year, and the people I want to thank for helping me create them.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2022 — 5

Graduation: a firstgen’s reflection

GUSTAVO SACRAMENTO/MiC

GUSTAVO SACRAMENTO MiC Columnist

Surrealness.

That is the word I’d use to describe graduation. Prior to the Ross School of Business commencement, I miraculously smiled for pictures in various spots at the Winter Garden reception, commemorating my achievements in a place that always instilled a sense of uneasiness. In the weeks leading up to the ceremonies, I’d told others that I felt indifferent whenever they asked me how graduating felt. I’d subsequently clarify that I feel indifferent, but specific emotions arise whenever I reflect back on certain aspects and memories. For example, I am filled with glee as soon as I think about all the times I spent chatting with the Michigan in Color editors in the newsroom, but alienation is tethered to the Business School’s undergraduate culture.

Quite frankly, I didn’t really know how I was supposed to feel about this seminal moment. Was I supposed to take some “candid” pictures, adorn them with a glossy caption and filter on the ‘gram to highlight my rugged individualism? As a firstgeneration college student, higher education appeared amorphous and elusive for much of my life. But as a fresh graduate, I am suddenly part of this “educated workforce” cohort that economists and pundits often reference.

Graduation makes one stage of upward mobility feel very real and permanent. It’s as though I am a video game avatar that just leveled up, but I don’t feel any different.

My body and mind still ache from the poor dietary habits I adopted. I still come from a dilapidated house and my family network consists of industrious working-class laborers and service workers. Simply put, social class is about much more than just money.

For me, graduation marks a painful separation from the past.

All of the sacrifices and desolation culminate toward a life-changing piece of paper that serves as a conduit toward financial stability and overall wellness. The power shift is flummoxing. Some have noted that, not too far down the road, future students might reach out to me — ME? — for advice. I am a noob at dating, dancing, dining out and many other things. Although I am out of the loop on many things, I hope I can at least dispense some kernels of wisdom as an alum.

To gain some clarity, I’ve had insightful conversations with a mix of younger and older first-gens.

One recurring theme I’ve heard throughout these past few weeks is that the first-gen experience never ends. Some first-gen college graduates become first-gen professionals (FGPs), while others pursue advanced degrees. The feeling of remaining stuck in a gray area between different worlds and survivor guilt can persist. I might continue to dread updates from back home. These updates were generally grim throughout my undergraduate years, consisting of new health issues that stemmed from strenuous jobs.

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Opinion

6 — Wednesday, May 11, 2022

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

Editor in Chief

QUIN ZAPOLI

Editorial Page Editor

Opinion Columnist

BRANDON COWIT Managing Editor

Bipartisanship is dead — so why do we use the word so often?

SAM SCHMITZ Opinion Columnist

I

n politics, the word “bipartisan” is inescapable. Everywhere you go and everywhere you look, the word, the idea and the connotation of bipartisanship is there. Generally speaking, bipartisanship refers to members of the two American political parties working together to pass legislation or solve problems.

Widely regarded as a boon to our incredibly polarized political climate, bipartisanship has also been linked to more effective lawmaking in Congress. However, the way that the media portrays bipartisanship is disastrously flawed.

There exists a plethora of legislation that is overtly or covertly labeled bipartisan. Whether it’s in the title, or both a Republican and a Democrat co-sponsor it, bipartisanship is seen as a key method of winning legislative battles. According to Vox, as the margins in the Senate sit razor-thin — requiring every Democrat to vote with the party for a non-bipartisan bill to pass — bipartisan legislation has become a way for Congress to pass some legislation, even if only on less controversial issues. Countless times we have seen partisan efforts thwarted by individuals who feel that major legislation should be changed to appeal to a bipartisan audience, most recently Sen. Joe Manchin’s, D-W.Va., refusal to support the Build Back Better Act. With this being the case, garnering support from Republicans has become increasingly important to the successful passage of legislation under the Biden administration. The Senate’s filibuster rule complicates that goal by requiring 60 votes for legislation to pass, requiring at least 10 Republican senators to support a piece of legislation in the current Senate. Some Democrats, frustrated by their inability to pass

major legislation without Republican support, advocate for the abolition of the filibuster. This, in turn, angers pro-filibuster Republicans, further poisoning bipartisan negotiations.

Because of the importance of bipartisanship, in recent years, any bill that receives votes from the other party is labeled bipartisan, even if the number of votes is small.

Ranging from high-profile targets to things that oftentimes fall through the cracks, from omnibus legislation to stand-alone bills, “bipartisanship” is everywhere. One high-profile example, the crowning achievement of the Biden administration so far, is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law last year.

Although it was widely regarded as a bipartisan achievement, the bill only received 13 out of the 209 Republican votes in the House of Representatives.

Another congressional measure seen as a bipartisan achievement was the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which was included in an omnibus bill that received only 18 Republican votes in the Senate and 29 in the House. Finally, even though only three Republicans voted to confirm Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the White House still referred to it as a “bipartisan confirmation.”

Where should the line be drawn?

What makes something bipartisan?

Does bipartisan support have to come from both chambers of Congress? Surely the support of three Republican senators out of 50 is not enough to make something bipartisan. The real question is whether 100 Republican members of the House, nearly half, would qualify.

Misrepresenting these efforts as bipartisan diminishes the value of real, bonafide bipartisan politics, the likes of which we rarely see in today’s politics.

Take, for example, Supreme Court confirmations. Since the start of Bill Clinton’s presidency, 10 justices have

An undemocratic system for a democratic means of government DEVON HESANO

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

VANESSA KIEFER

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been confirmed to the high court.

The first of Clinton’s nominees, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an avowed liberal, received 96 votes in favor of her confirmation and 3 only votes against. Clinton’s second nominee, Justice Stephen Breyer — another liberal — received 87 votes. Chief Justice John Roberts, nominated by Republican former President George W. Bush, received 78. Comparing these Justices’ broadly bipartisan confirmations — despite their obvious ideological leanings — to the contentious, narrow confirmations of Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Amy Coney Barrett — who received 53 and 52 votes, respectively — we can see that partisanship has increased precipitously.

The most straightforward solution to the discrepancy between the ideal of bipartisanship and how it functions practically is to work against ever-increasing political polarization. It is easy to say polarization needs to be solved, but much more difficult to prescribe solutions.

One way to reduce polarization is to simply stop giving obviously partisan pieces of legislation the misnomer of “bipartisan.” Doing so sets the bar for bipartisanship incredibly low. Such a low bar allows legislators to negotiate less with the other party — without risking their ability to call a polarizing bill “bipartisan.” A collective effort by media outlets, lawmakers, writers and the public at large would have to be made to correct our habits.

However, eliminating the idea of bipartisanship would be difficult because, once again, “bipartisan” legislators are more effective at passing legislation, and any good politician wants to be seen as someone who gets things done.

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T

he Electoral College is an arcane, undemocratic and unrepresentative method of electing presidents. It is a system in which the will of the majority is often ignored, where a minority of voters can and, in the past, has elected a candidate. Recent elections have encouraged discussion about abolishing the Electoral College, and the topic seems as prevalent as ever.

To address the Electoral College, the United States should look to a national popular vote system, the same system currently used in all state and congressional elections.

Making such a systemic change seems impossible. Many assume a constitutional amendment would be required, which would certainly never be passed given large-scale opposition. However, a little discussed solution called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would help facilitate a functional popular vote system while still technically keeping the Electoral College. Under the NPVIC,

states would automatically send their electoral votes to the candidate that won the popular vote, regardless of whether the candidate won their individual state. The Compact would come into effect when the combined electoral votes of participating states exceeds 270.

There are numerous reasons to support the NPVIC over the Electoral College system, namely that it would increase voter turnout and that an Electoral College system is unrepresentative of the will of the people.

Because the Electoral College is state-centered, and a majority of states are dominated by one of the two major political parties, most states’ results are essentially predetermined.

This is why the media often calls the results of certain states early on election night, even when far less than 100% of the votes are in. When voters are aware that their home state is overwhelmingly Republican or Democratic, and there is little-to-no chance the race would be remotely close, they have substantially less incentive to participate.

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The social and political consequences of Elon Musk’s latest purchase, Twitter ANNA TRUPIANO Opinion Columnist

O

n Monday, April 25, 2022, Twitter agreed to sell its platform to Elon Musk for a whopping $44 billion. As the world’s richest person, Musk owns an extensive network of companies including, but not limited to, the electric car producer, Tesla, and the aerospace manufacturer, SpaceX. A few of Musk’s less recognizable enterprises are the Neuralink Corporation, which works to develop an implantable brainmachine interface, and OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research laboratory.

As a social media platform, Twitter stands out from the other companies Musk has traditionally invested in, which are typically aimed toward some sort of technological advancement.

Despite this difference, however,

it seems Musk may actually have a transformative plan underway for Twitter.

Musk has spoken at length about his intentions behind the purchase, stating that his “strong, intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.” He has touched upon Twitter’s potential to become a free platform for public debate — as well as his intention to unlock that potential — but has not given many details of how he plans to do so.

During a TED interview, Musk brought up the issue of free speech on social media, stating that he feels that our society needs an allencompassing place to speak our minds “within the bounds of the law,” and wants Twitter to become that place.

Read more at michigandaily.com

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Sports

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 — 7

Allen’s shaky Sunday caps off series loss

DAVID WOELKERS Daily Sports Writer

In his first three appearances since transitioning into the Michigan baseball team’s full-time Sunday starter, sophomore right-hander Chase Allen looked electric — giving up just three earned runs in 19.1 innings. With the fate of the series against Indiana still up in the air heading into Sunday’s game, the Wolverines expected more of the same.

Instead, they received a shock: a near-total collapse from their newfound starter, one that ultimately led to a 10-8 defeat at the hands of the Hoosiers.

“They made every base runner count today,” Michigan coach Erik Bakich said. “They got baserunners in more ways than just giving up hits, but when they got hits, they were big hits in big spots.”

As Allen let in six runs in six innings, all of which earned, he set a personal season-high and saw his earned run average jump from 3.24

to 3.85.

While extra-base hits played a significant role in the day’s result, Allen’s control of his pitches made the most visceral impact. Most notable stood his three hit batters, which tied

a season-high for any pitcher on the roster.

All three batters would end up reaching home plate in the contest, two of which came in the fifth inning alone. After Allen plunked back-

to-back batters, Indiana left fielder Carter Mathison blasted a ball over the right-center wall, turning a 4-2 Michigan lead into a 5-4 deficit.

“All the mistakes he made ended up costing him,” Bakich said. “At one point he had five runs on two hits. They made him pay for his mistakes with big blasts.”

Allen’s performance on Sunday capped a weekend series that saw less than stellar outings from all three of the Wolverines’ weekend starters — an unusual occurrence for a group that as of recent has consistently set the table despite an inconsistent GRACE BEAL/Daily bullpen to back Sophomore right-hander Chase Allen struggled to produce on the mound against Indiana, allowing six earned them. runs in six innings pitched.

On Friday, the Hoosiers took sophomore left-hander Connor O’Halloran deep for three home runs and an RBI double. On Saturday, junior right-hander Cameron Weston allowed eight hits in just 5.1 innings of work, giving up three runs.

With the difference between being in and out of the Big Ten Tournament sitting at just two games, Michigan needed a series win — and in turn, a strong performance from its starting pitchers.

Instead, they walk away with more questions than answers for yet another weekend.

“The biggest thing we need to do is just play — just play better,” Bakich said. “If we’re gonna be a team that has any chance of playing to our potential, then the execution behind the lines needs to be better. There’s just no way to sugarcoat that.”

After clinging to their weekend starters thus far, the Wolverines now find themselves precariously closer to a nightmare end of the season. A slump from Allen, O’Halloran and Weston could be the last straw for any hopes of a postseason run.

Wolverines prolong championship drought, fall in fifth-consecutive quarterfinal loss KELSEY RUFF

Daily Sports Writer

At their last home meet of the season, the Wolverines hoped to beat California — something they had failed to do in the previous two meetings.

And on Friday, they fell short once again.

In its final match-up of the year, the No. 7 Michigan water polo team (26-9 overall, 12-0 CWPA) fell to No. 3 Golden Bears (17-6) amidst hopeless “Let’s go blue!” chants.

The Canham Natatorium stands filled with fans in maize and blue as Ann Arbor hosted the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championship for the first time since 2011.

“We focus on our vision and we focus on the process which got us to our sixth championship in a row,” Michigan coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi said. “We made it to the year where we hosted the NCAA Championships — there’s pressure involved in that.”

Early game pressure amounted to success for California that never

wavered. In the two regular season games against the Golden Bears, the Wolverines found themselves at a loss against steady pressure in each quarter, unable to find or maintain a lead.

The same strategy was used to defeat Michigan, 10-4, in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship, ending an otherwisesuccessful season.

The Wolverines were in trouble from the first half. With a missed shot at an empty net as the end of the first quarter neared and three consecutive California goals to conclude the second, it was clear that Michigan was outmatched.

The second half began with a feasible three-goal deficit for the Wolverines, but previous strategies Michigan employed to find success failed to work. The Wolverines previously displayed strong defensive strategies to pressure their past opponents, yet the Golden Bears remained unphased. They had surpassed Michigan at their own game and used it to secure their own victory. California led the match with eight steals to the Wolverines’ four

and held them to four goals — the lowest of their season.

Although Michigan’s success in the CWPA has led to six consecutive NCAA appearances, none of those trips have brought home hardware — making it clear that dominating the CWPA is just not enough.

“Teams are coming in from different areas, venues and championships,” Leonardi said. “The key is timing when we peak.”

Peaking at the right time is a common key to success in most sports.

But, with national championship matches following CWPA championship results, it seems that the conference the Wolverines belong to leaves them woefully unprepared for their true competition.

During the regular season, Michigan regularly appeared outmatched against the teams that normally dominate the NCAA Championships. Early losses against California, Stanford and UCLA — top-four ranked teams competing in the championships — were evidence of this.

In order to find success in the NCAA Championships, it is

imperative that the Wolverines first find the key to victory against the three teams that have held a monopoly on the crowning achievement since the start of the tournament in 2001: Stanford, UCLA and USC. During the offseason, rebuilding will focus on the new players added to the roster in hopes of finally finding the right formula to put the Wolverines on the map against

higher-level opponents.

“It’s about training, playing and getting better,” Leonardi said.

“Expectations and standards are high, (players) want to come back and win a seventh championship in a row and qualify for NCAAs.” And if Michigan can excel at that, the Wolverines may finally have the opportunity to find success beyond the CWPA.

For the third time this season, Michigan lost to No. 3 California.

SARAH BOEKE/Daily

Sports

8 — Wednesday, May 11, 2022

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Noah Kingsley: Michigan blanks Oklahoma, will Michigan is resilient, if host Super Regional nothing else

TAYLOR PACIS/Daily Junior Ondrej Styler put up a strong performance against Oklahoma, clinching a 4-0 win in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

ABHIJAI SINGH Daily Sports Writer

Everyone huddled around the No. 1 singles court, anticipating that junior Ondrej Styler would clinch another victory for the Michigan men’s tennis team — just as he had in all three matches last weekend during the Big Ten Tournament.

And with all eyes on him, Styler did exactly that. Not only did he clinch Michigan’s (24-3 overall, 8-1 Big Ten) 4-0 sweep of the Sooners (15-10) in the NCAA Tournament’s second round, but he also locked up home court advantage for an NCAA Super Regional.

Styler didn’t wait to make his mark either.

On his first match point, he delivered an ace to win in straight sets, giving the Wolverines their fourth requisite point to best their second opponent in two days.

“At any point in the match, I feel that we can win at all (singles) positions,” Styler said. “(This feeling) gives me the confidence and time to focus on my own game.”

His feeling was certainly right: five of six Michigan players won their first sets.

Even so, the Wolverines didn’t need all five of those wins, anyway.

Instead, their polished doubles play opened a path to a dominant victory over an undermanned Oklahoma team.

Kickstarting Michigan’s 22nd earned doubles point this season, graduate student Nick Beaty and senior Patrick Maloney handily outplayed their Sooner opponents —

cruising to win their No. 2 doubles match, 6-0. Meanwhile, the other doubles courts held back-and-forth scoring affairs until Michigan’s No. 1 and No. 3 pairs posted 5-3 leads thanks to back-to-back unforced errors by Oklahoma.

Styler didn’t allow the Sooners to capitalize on their opportunity to break, serving an ace to win, 6-3, and giving the Wolverines their first point.

“We feel like our serving is a strength of our team,” Michigan coach Adam Steinberg said. “It’s really important (to grab) free points, and it takes the pressure off always having to grind every single point out.”

Serving truly bled through the Wolverines’ plan of attack against Oklahoma.

Before sophomore Jacob Bickersteth delivered an ace to finish his first set (6-2), sophomore Nino Ehrenschneider took the deciding point with an ace to stamp his dominating 6-0 first set victory. As the youngest Michigan players to be slotted into both the singles and doubles lineups versus the Sooners, they led the charge, and their teammates followed.

After Styler emerged victorious in his first set, 6-4, Maloney captured set point with an ace to win his first set, 6-4. Then Beaty carried the momentum of an ace to kickstart a 7-5 comeback win.

“I think I came out a little sloppy (because of the wind),” Beaty said.

“Once I got my feet moving … and trusted myself to swing out more, my confidence shifted by feeling more positive.”

The Wolverines’ confidence,

predicated on an aggressive style of play, continued into their second sets. Like his performance in doubles play, Ehrenschneider headlined this charge. “(Ehrenschneider has) had a lot of injuries to deal with,” Steinberg said.

“Now, he’s healthy, and, when he’s healthy and feeling good … his work ethic is unmatched.”

Ehrenschneider seized three consecutive break points to take a quick 5-0 lead — coming atop a 14-shot rally to win the first, striking a powerful return to grab the second, and keenly placing a backhanded shot to take the third.

Two games later, on his match point, Ehrenschneider attacked the net after three shots and forced Sooner Welsh Hotard to put too much into a return that sailed well out of bounds. Seconds after his 6-0 and 6-2 win notched Michigan its second point, Bickersteth expanded the Wolverines’ lead to 3-0 — as he also won in straight sets, 6-2 and 6-2.

Then Styler finished the job.

Between the Big Ten Tournament and its first NCAA Tournament weekend, Michigan has turned to Ehrenschneider for an early spark and to Styler for the closing finish.

“That combination of talent and hard work is what everyone sees,” Steinberg said.

Now, for only the second time since 2016, the Wolverines will advance to the Super Regional in hopes of continuing their seven-match win streak. “(These guys) play much braver on the big points,” Steinberg said. “Now, I see a totally different game style and confidence that we have been pushing for for years.”

With just three games remaining in the regular season, the No. 23 Michigan softball team finds itself in unfamiliar territory.

The three-game series sweep — typically a hallmark of Wolverines’ past Big Ten campaigns — has eluded them NOAH KINGSLEY thus far. Despite winning the series against all but two conference opponents, Michigan is yet to sweep any of them, outside of a two-game home-and-home series sweep against Michigan State.

But the past three weekends, a pattern has developed. The Wolverines drop the first game of the series, often struggling mightily and looking like the inferior team.

But then they quickly recover, taking the final two games of the series and escaping with a winning record.

There’s plenty of reasons that this pattern could be attributed to.

Maybe Michigan needs an external motivator, and that opening loss does the trick. Some members of the team joke about the Wolverines being cursed on Fridays. Others view it as a necessary step to learn more about their opponents.

“I don’t like to call it a slow start,” graduate second baseman Melina Livingston said after the victory over Minnesota last Saturday. “I like to call it gaining information.”

Still, it’s easy to take a negative outlook on this method. Other teams around the country sweep opponents, gaining enough

information through pregame scouting and early at-bats to start the series right. So if other teams can do it, what’s stopping Michigan from doing the same?

But even with the worries that the first games bring, the constant recovery demonstrates something positive about the Wolverines: This Michigan team is incredibly resilient.

And it shows in the games that the Wolverines have won over the past few weeks, microcosms of the entire series that they’ve played.

Start with, for example, the second game against Maryland.

Just a day before, Michigan lost the series-opener handedly to a team it has never lost a series to.

With a demoralizing loss like that, it would have been easy to fold over and let that loss define the series. But the Wolverines quickly rebounded, winning the next game on a go-ahead sacrifice bunt in extra innings before dominating the series finale.

A week later, that same resiliency was on full display against rival Ohio State. Despite blowing a lead in the top of the seventh inning in the second game of the series, Michigan started a rally in the bottom of the inning and won on a walk-off triple. The next day, the Buckeyes delivered a punch to the mouth in the form of four first-inning runs. But the Wolverines chipped away, eventually taking a 5-4 lead that never wavered and the series victory.

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SELENA SUN/Daily As the regular season nears its close, the Wolverines hope to use their resilience to facilitate success.