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Wednesday, July 27, 2022 - Weekly Summer Edition
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340+ UMich medical students sign petition opposing selection of anti-abortion speaker at upcoming white coat ceremony The current state and future of abortion care at Michigan Medicine What abortion access looks like at U-M
RILEY HODDER & SAMANTHA RICH
Summer Managing News Editor & Summer News Editor
The Supreme Court’s June 24 overturning of Roe v. Wade ignited rapid changes in state abortion laws, with eight states having already banned abortion and four more expected to do so over the summer. Abortion remains legal in Michigan due to a preliminary injunction against the state’s 1931 law criminalizing all abortions except to save the pregnant person’s life. The 1931 law was nullified by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision but never officially repealed. In light of the uncertainty surrounding abortion access in Michigan, a coalition of organizations created the Reproductive Freedom for All ballot initiative, a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive rights that received over 800,000 signatures in support. The draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was initially published by Politico in May, after which the
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University of Michigan announced the creation of a “Post-Roe Task Force” composed of individuals across various areas and occupations, including healthcare professionals, legal representatives and students and faculty working in relevant research areas. The task force is designed to mitigate the effects of a potential abortion ban in Michigan. Dr. Lisa Harris, a physician at Michigan Medicine who provides abortion care and a co-chair of the task force, said this task force covered a wide variety of topics that arose when Roe v. Wade was overturned. “There’s two broad buckets of work that the task force is doing,” Harris said. “One is campus work, so thinking about all the ways in which students and faculty and staff across all the different campuses and schools will be impacted. And the second bucket is around clinical care and treatment.” Harris described the task force’s sub-committees, which are working to address individual issues, such as which abortions Michigan Medicine could still provide if the 1931 ban, or a ban like it, were to take effect, as well Follow The Daily on Instagram, @michigandaily
as clarifying Title IX protections and student insurance policies. Following the official overturning of Roe v. Wade, Michigan Medicine released a public statement reaffirming its commitment to providing abortion care and resources, so long as abortion remains legal in the state. “U-M Health remains committed to providing high-quality, safe reproductive care for patients, across all their reproductive health needs,” the statement read. “This includes abortion care, which remains legal in Michigan while challenges to various state-law criminal statutes continue to proceed.” According to Michigan Medicine, many of the patients for whom they provide abortions are experiencing serious pregnancy complications or underlying health conditions. While they can provide outpatient medication abortions in some cases, they also outline various local clinics such as the Planned Parenthood Ann Arbor Health Center that do so more often.
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Current and incoming medical students oppose the selection of Dr. Kristin Collier SAMANTHA RICH Summer News Editor
Over 340 incoming and current University of Michigan medical students have signed a petition opposing the selection of Dr. Kristin Collier as the keynote speaker for the upcoming July 24 White Coat Ceremony, where incoming medical students will receive their white coats to mark their entry into the field of medicine. An additional 72 community members — including graduate students, alumni and Michigan Medicine residents and physicians — have also signed on. According to the petition, Collier has shared multiple anti-abortion posts on social media and made comments expressing her opposition to abortion in interviews. The petition calls on the University to select an alternative speaker, emphasizing that student opposition to this speaker selection goes beyond a difference in opinion and subverts the values of the University and the medical profession. “While we support the rights of freedom of speech and religion, an anti-choice speaker as a representative of the University of Michigan undermines the University’s position on abortion and supports the nonuniversal, theology-rooted platform to restrict abortion access, an essential part of medical care,” the
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petition reads. “This is not simply a disagreement on personal opinion; through our demand we are standing up in solidarity against groups who are trying to take away human rights and restrict medical care.” Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, the U-M administration and Michigan Medicine published statements affirming the University’s dedication to reproductive healthcare. In their statement, Michigan Medicine said they would continue to provide all necessary reproductive healthcare, including abortion care, as long as it was legal in the state of Michigan. “U-M Health remains committed to providing high-quality, safe reproductive care for patients, across all their reproductive health needs,” the statement read. “This includes abortion care, which remains legal in Michigan while challenges to various state-law criminal statutes continue to proceed.” The petition calls on the University to re-evaluate its choice of speaker and select someone who better embodies the values outlined in the aforementioned statements. “We demand that (the University) stands in solidarity with us and selects a speaker whose values align with institutional policies, students, and the broader medical community,” the petition reads.
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GOVERNMENT
Michigan Court of Claims restores 2018 petition initiative, increases minimum wage
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Summer News Editor
The Court of Claims restored two public acts (P.A. 368 and P.A. 369) from 2018 that sought to raise the minimum wage and increase paid sick leave on Tuesday. Judge Douglas Shapiro’s Mothering Justice v. Dana Nessel (2022) opinion reinstates the acts in their original form, removing amendments put in place in 2018, increasing the current $9.87 minimum wage in the state of Michigan to $12 an hour, with the tipped minimum wage increasing from $3.75 to $9.60. One Fair Wage is a national coalition of service workers which sponsored the minimum wage initiative, while the MI Time to Care coalition backed the paid sick leave initiative. One Fair Wage president Saru Jayaraman said the restoration is a victory for minimum wage advocates in a statement.
“Workers have been fighting this subminimum wage, which has been a source of sexual harassment and racial inequity, for decades …,” Jayaraman said. “Today, the courts in Michigan vindicated the rights of these millions of workers, and millions of voters, to demand that workers in Michigan be paid a full, livable wage with tips on top.” In Sept. 2018, two ballot initiatives, one for increasing the minimum wage to $12 and another mandating paid sick leave for employees, were passed to the state legislature after receiving 400,000 signatures from Michigan voters. Rather than passing the initiatives as they were, then-governor Rick Snyder and the Republican-led legislature preemptively adopted the two initiatives and went on to pass other bills that weakened them.
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Regents hold first meeting in UP to discuss research, appoint interim Dean of Public Policy Celeste Walkins-Hayes will serve as interim dean effective July 19, 2022 ANNA FIFELSKI & IRENA LI Summer News Editors
The University of Michigan Board of Regents met Thursday afternoon at Little Bear East Arena in St. Ignace, MI, marking the first time the regents have held a meeting in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Interim University President Mary Sue Coleman attended the meeting virtually after testing positive for COVID-19, an announcement she made at the beginning of the meeting. Regent Paul Brown related the location of the meeting to the University’s Inclusive History Project, which is focused on engaging and understanding the University’s history with diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We’re here today because all of the Regents are acutely aware of the debt that the University owes all of the citizens of Michigan,” Brown said. “For our 200 year history, we’ve been supported by the taxpayers, and because of that obligation, we’re here hopefully to present … the value that we create for your tax dollars, as well as listen to each of you in person from this region, what we can do to serve you better.” Adele Bromfield, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, shared a presentation regarding the Northern Michigan and UP admissions enrollment data, which showed an increase in students from Northern Michigan and the UP — 5% and 18%, respectively — graduating from the University over the past five years.
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Judge Douglas Shapiro restores two public acts from 2018, increases minimum wage and paid sick leave NIRALI PATEL
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Rent hike roils Ann Arbor South Grove community
Residents of suburban apartment complex in Ann Arbor affected by increased rent prices CHEN LYU
Daily Staff Reporter
Editor’s Note: The sources Ethan Jones, John Doe and James Leo, referenced in this article, have had their names changed in order to protect their identities and housing. The Michigan Daily has verified their identities and their stories. When Ethan Jones moved out of his apartment due to unaffordable rent and started searching for a two-bedroom unit over a decade ago, South Grove Apartments, a 1970s suburban apartment complex, immediately stood out to him. Sitting near the city limit with several major bus routes passing by, South Grove (formerly Pheasant Run Apartments) offered easy access to the University of Michigan, where Jones was employed. According to Jones, his monthly rent then was around $600, whereas the median rent in the city was around $900. “We were just looking around on Craigslist when we found this place, and it was cheaper than anything else by a couple of hundred dollars a month,” Jones said. “So we’ve basically been here the entire time, and the buses are just as convenient (as they were before).” Jones said he felt a sense of impending doom earlier this year. In recent years, the rents in many previously affordable suburban apartment complexes were adjusted to the market rate. South Grove recently switched their management from Hartman & Tyner to Village Green, a rental
company with one of the largest portfolios in Ann Arbor. Jones said the switch alarmed him. “I checked the website, trying to get an idea of what the rent increase for next year is going to be, and then I noticed that (our rent) went up to $1,350,” Jones said. “I’m thinking, ‘Holy cow, that’s like a $350 increase. That’s a big jump over (the) $45 (increases in past years).’” Village Green did not respond to The Daily’s request for comment. In interviews with The Daily, multiple residents of South Grove confirmed the rent hike; their rent increases ranged from 20% to 33% based on room types. In comparison, the city’s median rent increase is 13.6% from last year, according to the data published by Apartment List, a rental research website. The rent hike could potentially affect more than 800 people currently living in the community. John Doe, who has lived in South Grove for almost seven years, told The Daily he believed the rent increase was unjustified. He said the property’s rebranding effort with the name change seems inconsistent with its declining amenity and service quality. “Everything’s…expensive in this area, but it used to be like Pheasant Run was outdated,” Doe said. “Since (Village Green) took over, the outdoor pool hours have been reduced and indoor pool was done away with. The washer and dryer prices have gone up. So I kind of felt like it went from bad to worse.”
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Arts
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Wednesday, July 27, 2022 — 3
The Sunshine B-Side HANNAH CARAPELLOTI Daily Arts Writer
The sun has come to serve many purposes in our lives. It is a source of light and power, a symbol of joy and clarity. It heals us of our ailments, both physical and mental. After a year of isolation and another year of finding our way out of it, we need — and even deserve — that joy more than ever, and there’s no better time to get it than in the summer. My memories of past summer vacations are filled with drive-in movies, family reunions, stiff muscles from water skiing and listening to “yacht rock radio” on every car ride. The writers of this B-Side have shared their own summer experiences, the good and the not-sogood, and how the art they associate with these memories has stayed with them. These pieces are both fun and formative — everything a summer vacation should be. In the same way that the sun gives us life and energy, the art and media we consume help us discover who we are and make us shine. Daily Arts Writer Hannah Carapellotti can be reached at hmcarp@umich.edu. The concert, the sun and the holy spirit of Lorde’s ‘Solar Power’ by Daily Arts Writer Serena Irani I still have faint memories of my first concert. They’re fragmented
flashes of feelings more than anything: singing along to Bon Jovi while stuck in traffic on the way there, excitement and adrenaline running through my 5-year-old veins in anticipation of Aly & AJ as the opening act, purchasing the overpriced concert book I’d end up spending hours poring over religiously and wearing my bright pink Hannah
Montana T-shirt that would get shrunk in the dryer a week later. Miley Cyrus’s actual set was pretty much a blur, a null and void blind spot in my memory, but the feelings surrounding it have never quite faded. Four summer circumstances and the media I used to survive them by Daily Arts Writer Erin Evans
Summer comes with some inevitabilities. Change, for one. Going home to your parents, in my case. Either embracing the days when the outdoors turns into a pressure cooker or developing a hatred of the sun that may have made me think you were cool in high school. I have come to love this season, but it still brought
certain unfortunate situations, and getting through them (and summer generally) with joy and grace depended partly on the media I chose to set my mood and the tone of my summer to. These are four recommendations — vices, if you will — and what they have meant to me in the past few months. Perhaps they can be useful to you too. If not, reading about someone else’s slight misfortune is usually enjoyable. Seven songs that hit different in the summer by Daily Arts Writer Joshua Medintz Summer rocks. It’s the season of street fairs, park hangs, beach days, sausage from a street cart, dope tokes and sunburns. And it’s the season of music that hits different. This is a playlist for those days when you’re chilling in that park, toking that dope, slurping that sausage. This is a playlist that will hit different this summer. Baked Buzzed Bored: ‘Super Mario Sunshine’ by Daily Arts Writers The writers of The Michigan Daily do it all. On top of being college students with full course loads, they roll up their sleeves to consume media and write. For the entertainment of our loyal readership, The Daily has revitalized and revamped “Baked Buzzed Bored.”
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This is a repeat after me song MALLORY EDGELL Daily Arts Writer
When I was 8, my parents sent me to Girl Scout camp for the first time. The camp was in middle-ofnowhere western New York. The
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drive felt endless to an 8-year-old, trapped in a cramped car while your mom played Phil Collins and Elton John CDs. But when the scene in the front window changed from neverending trees to a wooden camp sign and hordes of girls heading in, my focus shifted. Maybe this drive was
leading me to somewhere new and important. I don’t know what my parents expected me to find in my camp experience, but I’m sure none of us were planning on me finding a place I never wanted to leave. Away from the social norms of third grade where pre-determined friend dynamics rule everything, camp was a free for all, a fresh start. From my twoweek session that first year, I made friends that I stayed in contact with over multiple summers. I’d call their parents each summer, back when each family just had a landline, so we could skim the camp catalogs and find sessions to do together. For a few years those sessions were horseback riding, then they transitioned to more adventurous things. I spent two weeks learning how to tackle a high ropes course, and another two weeks backpacking with six other girls in the Allegheny Plateau. Looking back, I always remember those camp years as simply an amazingly fun time in my life. I got to
go kayaking whenever I wanted, eat too many s’mores when my counselors “raided the kitchen” for us and soak in the sun doing arts and crafts outside the dining hall. Yes, there were rainy days, occasional homesickness and lots of complaints about bugs, but camp was my happy place. It wasn’t until recently that I realized camp wasn’t just a positive place for me, it was formative. In perhaps the silliest ways, I think it taught me who I needed to be and how to get to that ideal. For me, this becomes apparent when I think back on one of my favorite parts of the camp experience: the songs. I don’t know why I loved camp songs so much, but they were constantly stuck in my head. It must have been something to do with the community you felt a part of when 50 girls are screaming “Alive Awake Alert” (a song similar to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”) at 7 a.m., trying to be let into the dining hall. These counselors were smart,
knowing that a little bit of healthy competition to start the day was the perfect way to build energy in us sleepy-eyed campers. The songs gave me confidence I didn’t normally have. At school I was always shy. I still had a lot of energy, but didn’t exactly know what to do in most situations. Camp songs gave me an outlet for my energy that was never frowned upon. Instead, it was actually considered a good thing. If my unit of campers sang songs like “Little Birdies” loud enough, we got to enter the dining hall first, and I would do anything to get those cinnamon french toast sticks. I went from quiet and on the outskirts to singing “The Princess Pat” wherever we went, always wanting to learn more songs or teach them to other people. With a lot of Girl Scout songs come patience and perseverance. You see, songs like “Alive Awake Alert” are sung in repetition.
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STATEMENT
I know you hate me VALERIJA MALASHEVICH Statement Columnist
This is a tale as old as time, but when I was in high school, I — like virtually everyone else my age — was going through a lot. Mentally, physically, spiritually, psychologically and all the other -ly’s. I was planting a seed for my own future, which is a notoriously difficult task for someone so young and often ushers in plenty of unanticipated troubles. We start to put things that don’t matter before things that do or — as my parents say — we put the cart before the horse. Most of the decisions we tend to make as 15-year-olds end up being half-assed, inconsequential or just plain dimwitted. We convince ourselves we love people when, truly, we do not, we allow things to occupy our minds that do not deserve such real estate and, most importantly, we tell ourselves that the decisions we make now will withstand the test of time. We tell ourselves that we had choices in the first place, cemented in rock and resistant to decay. I made a lot of these so-called choices in my younger, and more vulnerable, years (if you want to call them that). I chose a profession that I had no interest in pursuing and failed to realize that medical school posed a dead end for me. It sparked no joy. Nothing. I chose to make my happiness contingent on certain individuals, and when they left, I let the pillows soak up my tears until there wasn’t any more space left on it to cry. I disregarded my parents and acted
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as if I could shed them like the skin of a lizard, simply because I had seemingly put on my big girl pants. I acted like I didn’t need them anymore. And that hurt them. But luckily, most of these decisions were the same: inconsequential. I received opportunities to re-envision my career path and frame it within a broader perspective. I’ve come to realize that while friends and lovers are things that come and go, my parents (and their love) do not. Their compassion is truly one of the only things I have witnessed withstand turmoil, troubles and time. The other thing that seems to remain grounded within me are the pinky promises I make to myself. The pledges I make staring into the mirror, telling myself that self-love is not finite and that it is possible to love yourself more each and every day. The laments to start doing more and overthinking less, to stop the meat organ in my skull from dictating all of the “do nots” and “why nots” and “should nots” that infest my stream of consciousness. And one of those pinky promises has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made in my life — and I committed to it during the most tender years of my life. I had to bite through skin and bone to know I wanted it for sure: I decided early on that, if nothing else, children would be an impediment for my future. I was only 15. I spent years and years grieving, sifting through articles titled “Top 10 reasons to become child-free,” hoping to find a slice of validation through anonymous messages on Tumblr and
upvoted posts on Reddit. At this point, my anger toward children fueled my pursuit for a childfree lifestyle. I wanted nothing to do with babies — they carry germs like 14th-century monks, wail like cicadas in the summertime and look more fragile than porcelain dishes. They are an incredible mix of everything I can’t seem to tolerate. I remember telling my parents and grandparents, with anger seeping through my teeth and revenge rolling off my tongue, that I would abstain from having children. It felt like a protest, to turn away from a role that (even now) many working, young, Russian women are expected to embrace. I was too young and hungry with power, and while I see that now, it seems wrong to deny how delicious my quiet rebellion tasted. It was a directed anger, and one I am not necessarily proud of anymore — but it was directed toward a real villain: A society that unabashedly assumes people with uteruses were born to be mothers. I was only 17. Being 17 was far from perfect, and it definitely came nowhere close to the expectations for a period that is often dubbed as “the golden years.” I grew as a person, for sure, but at a considerable cost — I sacrificed so much of myself for material achievements. Maybe it was wrong or maybe it wasn’t, but I started to value professional pursuits and hedonic interests over everything else. In my mind, I was in a coming-of-age partygirl movie, and while I was young and reckless, I was everything but stupid. Sure, I would attend those somewhat lame high school parties in those slightly smelly houses on streets with names I couldn’t recall because they all sound the same in Vegas, anyway. Hualapai Way. Oasis Cove. Sunset Boulevard. Tropical Parkway and Fort Apache Road. However, I wouldn’t dare leave my house without knowing I had submitted the Common App essays that were due that night. My parents had forgotten the words for how to tell me to do my homework, and they often didn’t know I had any.
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Bitches, sluts and other deviant women Jennie Vang/Daily
4 — Wednesday, July 27, 2022
AVA BURZYCKI
Statement Columnist
Content warning: Mentions of sexual assault and violent language Deviant women are a natural byproduct of a patriarchal society. Deviancy is not one-size-fits-all; instead, a woman can stray away from normality in a plethora of unique ways. By definition, “gender deviance” is any stray away from gendered and sexual social norms. Most often, deviancy in women is prescribed as a result of sexuality, emotionality, egoism, autonomy and demanding personhood. Essentially, having a personality and body that is anything other than submissive, small and docile holds an innate unruliness per the ideals held by the patriarchy. Additionally, any identity or behavior not approved by the homogeneity of power in the United States is at risk of deviancy. So at its very heart, America hates its women — especially women who dabble in deviancy. Rather depressingly, a large portion of girlhood is dedicated to avoiding the perils of deviousness. Girls, including my younger self, are taught how to center male attention, idolize emaciated bodies and enter competitions with any other girl in our vicinity. The link between this social education and misogyny is undeniable — girls are indoctrinated into patriarchy as early as possible. From the very beginning, we are taught by our environment to ostracize deviant girls, even if it just starts as refusing to invite a girl who
strays away from gender norms to an elementary school sleepover. As a young girl, only aged around 10 or 11, I already had a steady stream of this beginner’s misogyny directed my way. Friendly scraped knees on the blacktop and harmless playground taunts turned into gendered insults and the precursors of taught objectification. By middle school, I gravitated away from nearly all of my male friends, and the final few had only seemed to stick around to practice their prepubescent flirting. When I refused, I became just a bitch to them. My own bitchiness is just one of the many categories that deviant women can fall into — others include, but aren’t limited to, sluts, prudes and attention-whores. Each category has a unique blend of sexuality, autonomy and vulnerability, and acts more as a sliding-scale axis than strictly defined categories. Descriptors like crazy, stupid, ugly, dramatic and feminist can all be distasteful addons; after all, even misogynists can acknowledge some of the uniqueness in each woman. It is crucial to note, too, how racism, homophobia and transphobia contribute to the idea of female deviance. Women of intersecting marginalized identities are punished quicker and harder than their counterparts. And, like all moral panics, women who deviate from heteropatriarchal ideals receive every potential form of interpersonal, social and cultural punishment.
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Michigan in Color It’s OK to be average: thoughts after watching ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’
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ALLISON WEI Mic Columnist
Last month, I paid $10 to sit in a room full of 30-odd strangers and spend the next two-and-a-half hours laughing, crying and contemplating the meaning of life. In other words, I watched the movie “Everything Everywhere All At Once” (EEAAO), and let’s just say, I’ll never see hot dogs or everything bagels the same way again. The basic premise of EEAAO is that Evelyn, a very average, tired, Asian
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American woman, is suddenly tasked with saving the universe and must do so by traveling through multiple universes and embodying all of her multiverse selves. Watching EEAAO was a wonderfully absurd experience — it felt like being drunk on a rollercoaster while sitting next to your quirky aunt. But even if you haven’t watched EEAAO and experienced its amazing cast, original plot and witty dialogue, it’s still remarkable and relevant for one reason: the simple fact that an Asian American woman (even a very common one) can experience infinite
Wednesday, July 27, 2022 — 5
realities and storylines. Growing up, aside from my parents and immediate family, I never had any role models that looked like me. This didn’t strike me as strange or weird; I simply just accepted this as a fact of life. In the books and media I consumed, I readily projected myself into the lives of various characters — from Barbie to Ramona Quimby to the sassy white heroine in the latest young adult fiction novel — never noticing that we looked different. Their struggles were my struggles, their dreams were my dreams, their hopes my hopes. Until they weren’t. Somewhere around the age I became old enough for braces and realized that microaggressions were a thing (though I didn’t have the term to call them that, yet), I realized that the narratives between my life and the white characters I loved didn’t superimpose themselves onto each other so easily. I realized that, unlike them, my storylines weren’t infinite, that as an Asian American, the world demands you to play some type of role that you never even knew was expected of you. It is this exact experience of seeing infinite storylines around you but not being allowed to fully access them yourself that Jia Tolentino, a Filipino American author, writes about in her
book, “Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion.” In her essay, “Pure Heroines,” Tolentino reminisces on a childhood experience playing Power Rangers with her friend. While Tolentino wanted to be the Pink Power Ranger, her white friend insisted that she could only play the Yellow Power Ranger — the reasoning for which Tolentino simply couldn’t comprehend. Reflecting back on this experience as an adult, Tolentino writes that her “white friends would be able to fantasy-cast their own biopic from an endless cereal aisle of nearly identical celebrities, hundreds of manifestations of blonde or brunette or redhead selfhood … while (she) would have no one to choose from except about three actresses who’d probably all had minor roles in some movie five years back.” In a world where Asian Americans are either boxed into stereotypes or pedestaled for being the model minority, representation in the media is too often a luxury — not to mention representation in a way that is human. We either get caricatured (the geek, the shy kid, the fetishized Asian American woman) or glorified (the kid that scores a 1600 on the SAT, the brilliant activist we learn about once every year during
AA&PI Heritage Month) — there is no in-between. I want to recognize that East Asian Americans do occupy a certain degree of privilege in the Asian American community as a whole. Based on stereotypes, some may assume that as an East Asian American woman, I’m particularly “smart” or “studious,” but these tropes are still harmful. Sometimes, just sometimes, I get exhausted by the relentless pressure to either conform to cultural expectations or be unbelievably excellent, and I wonder: Why, why can’t I just be average? For most of my life, I’ve run from being average. From the “A is average” mentality instilled in me as a child to my own neurotic perfectionism, I’ve subconsciously held on to the belief that to be average is to be invisible. That no matter how hard I tried, no matter how many A’s I got or how nice I was to the other kids in class, I would still be just another “bright but quiet kid” on my report card. That I must somehow negotiate the terms and conditions of my visibility. Where did I learn this? Well, the representation within the media — where the terms and conditions of being seen are numerous.
“He’s an Oreo!” another student yelled. You were humiliated. Even though those words were spilled from adolescent minds, they still hurt because it felt as though someone stole something that was rightfully yours. In that moment, I saw the rage inch up your throat, ready to burst into a fit of words I’ve never heard you say before, but instead, you covered your emotions with a chuckle and shrugged an apology. I know you didn’t mean it. I’m sorry I didn’t speak up for you. I convinced
myself I didn’t need to say a word because you didn’t need to explain yourself, but that wasn’t true. At the time, I considered what people thought of me in the highest regard, that silence seemed to be the best solution when handling confrontation, but it wasn’t. This small, brief moment eventually led to countless other instances where people have deemed you “Black by technicality.” After a while, you listened and believed it to be true. You believed that because you didn’t conform to popularized Black stereotypes, you weren’t really Black. You didn’t listen to trap or hip-hop. You didn’t wear a pick in your ’fro or dress with your pants halfway down your legs like some people thought you should have. When you began to pick up on these small instances, eventually, an important part of your identity was internally questioned.
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Sincerely, COURTNEY CHISHOLM MiC Columnist
I wanted to say “I’m sorry” to you, but I didn’t know how. For a while, the phrase slipped off my tongue so often that I forgot what it meant. It seemed like it could cure anything. If I made a mistake, “I’m sorry” could render it inexistent. It put a bandage over the wound even though, more often than not, the pain was still there. I just chose to ignore it. Oftentimes, I was tortured by the anxiousness of saying what I really felt — to say why I did this or why I didn’t do that, but it seemed pointless to me. As I grew older, every time I sat in submission and mumbled an apology, Self-Deprecation tightened its grip on me. When I didn’t say sorry, I remained silent — I realize now that was when I wronged you most. It seemed easier to handle confrontation this way because I didn’t have to feel as though I was
being sensitive or problematic, like commented. people presumed me to be. Ever since “Yes,” you responded hesitantly. that day, every time I kept my mouth He laughed. closed when I should’ve spoken up, “No, you’re not. What kind of Black I prayed for a chance to do what I person listens to that? You don’t even should’ve done years ago. A cycle of act Black. You don’t talk like them insincerity became me. either. I’m Blacker than you, and I’m It happened during orchestra class white.” in grade school. You were a really timid person from what I could remember. All of the students were talking about composers as a part of our class discussion when you made the abrupt decision to say, “I love Yiruma.” Your comment was met with silent judgment and confused stares. “Courtney, aren’t you Black?” one of the students Courtney Chisholm/ MiC
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Opinion
6 — Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
Editor in Chief
QUIN ZAPOLI
Editorial Page Editor
Op-Ed
BRANDON COWIT Managing Editor
From The Daily: Now, more than ever, we need to stand up for abortion rights THE MICHIGAN DAILY SUMMER EDITORIAL BOARD
E
ditor’s Note: In the July 20 print edition of The Michigan Daily, this editorial was mistakenly printed with a paragraph from another, unrelated piece inserted into it. We apologize for this error and any confusion it may have caused. We are taking care to ensure that it is never repeated. *Content warning: rape, violence The recent overturning of Roe v. Wade has left United States citizens shocked and undoubtedly angry, considering most Americans do not support the outlawing of abortion. Overturning Roe v. Wade means disaster for women across the country. As a result of the 6-3 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, the legality of abortions is now determined by each individual state, not by the federal government, rescinding a nearly 50-year-old federal legal right. As of early July, only a few states have directly banned abortions, but countless others seem to be pushing to restrict access to abortions. This abolition of a constitutional right puts the health, safety and even lives of millions of people with uteruses at risk. Specifically, women of Color and low-income women are most harmed by this recent Supreme Court ruling. Twenty-six states are likely to ban abortion, most of them in the South — where over half of Black Americans live. Because Black women are almost four times more likely to have the procedure done than white women, the impact of this ruling on them is even more unjust. Indigenous and Alaska Native women seeking abortions, especially those in rural or remote communities, will suffer
compounded effects from reduced abortion access. Compared to white women, they are two to three times more likely to die in childbirth. In addition to these racial inequities, abortion is and always has been a class issue. In states where abortion is outlawed, poor women will be forced to have children — no matter the circumstances leading up to their pregnancies — due to the financial resources traveling to another state requires. Those unable to travel might engage in unsafe abortions. A nationwide abortion ban is projected to increase the number of pregnancy-related deaths by 21%. America has decided to infringe on women’s rights, imprinting sexism within our legal code. These women who are denied abortions in their home states are also four times more likely to live below the federal poverty line, assuming they survive their potentially deadly pregnancies. When two people might be in the same situation with an unwanted pregnancy, wealth could be the deciding factor between life and death. Though the idea may seem farfetched, this decision could be the harbinger of a government overtly influenced by Christian beliefs. This is the first time a constitutional right has been taken away by the Supreme Court, and Justice Clarence Thomas stated in a concurring opinion that the Supreme Court should also reconsider other legal rights not explicitly stated in the Constitution. This includes Griswold v. Connecticut (the right to buy and use contraceptives), Lawrence v. Texas (the right to same-sex sexual activity) and Obergefell v. Hodges (the right to same-sex marriage). While the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s
The University of Michigan must get a lead on monkeypox before it’s too late JOSH PETERSEN
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com
VANESSA KIEFER
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Health Organization decision and Thomas’s seeming indifference to fundamental civil rights might seem shockingly barbaric, they come as no surprise after the last six years of American politics. By electing Trump into office in 2016, America doomed itself. Trump explicitly stated in the 2016 presidential debates that he would appoint multiple conservative Supreme Court justices in order to overturn Roe v. Wade — and that was just the beginning. Throughout his presidency, he leaned on pro-Christian, conservative rhetoric to build and sustain his political base, creating room within the American political sphere for more radical, conservative, religious ideologies to affect public policy. This rhetoric led to a set of policies that includes (but is not limited to) the Muslim travel ban, revoking rules that allowed transgender kids to use their preferred bathroom and privileging federal COVID aid to religious organizations over secular ones. Clearly, and as stated in the U.S. Constitution, America is prohibited from establishing a state-sponsored religion. But, with the passage of these archaic antiabortion laws, the line between Christian churches and the state is becoming dangerously blurred. While the overturning of Roe v. Wade has often been referred to as a women’s rights issue, the impact of this decision will be felt — in varying degrees — by transgender men, nonbinary people and cisgender men as well. This is a decision that affects us all, and we must respond to it in a way that reflects its severity and breadth. With midterm elections coming up this fall, voting for pro-choice candidates is an integral part of the fight for reproductive rights.
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I
n the last six weeks, the United States has watched domestic monkeypox cases jump from one to over 2,000. This virus is already spreading throughout Michigan, and it shows no sign of slowing down. If powerful institutions don’t act soon, we risk repeating the same failures that exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic. Before monkeypox develops further, the University of Michigan and its leaders must develop a virus mitigation plan, communicate that plan to local stakeholders and fight to secure vaccines — our best tool for stopping this disease — for those most at risk. What is monkeypox? Like smallpox, monkeypox is an orthopoxvirus. This type of virus causes its host’s body to break out in weeping sores. These sores can occur anywhere, but they are often concentrated on the mouth, face, genitals, hands and feet. This virus’s characteristic blisters are extraordinarily painful, keeping people from eating, sleeping or even using the restroom properly for weeks at a time. When these sores heal, they may leave permanent scarring. Those with monkeypox will often display flulike symptoms: painful swelling of the lymph nodes, skin rashes, exhaustion and more. Monkeypox isn’t a short-lived disease, either. Its symptoms may last up to a month, during which time one must quarantine. This disease can be incredibly disruptive to one’s job, classes, social life and mental health. People can transmit this virus through primary contact (direct touching), secondary contact (touching something someone sick has touched) and bodily fluids (saliva or fomites). Experts currently believe that primary contact is responsible for the majority of cases, and while the media has focused on the link between sexual activity and monkeypox exposure, Dr. Robert Murphy, an infectious diseases expert at Northwestern Medicine notes that monkeypox is “not an STD in the classic sense.” Any form of direct contact with someone risks exposure — that includes hugging, kissing or even dancing closely with others on a crowded
dance floor. If the growing outbreak of monkeypox isn’t on your radar, I’m not surprised. To date, the University of Michigan has failed to make any university-wide communications about the spread of this disease. The University Health Service has no easily accessible information about its symptoms or how to report a case: in fact, searching “monkeypox” on the UHS website returns no results whatsoever. There’s only been one University affiliated blog post on monkeypox written in the last six weeks — a piece which calls the disease a “rare viral threat.” Except monkeypox isn’t rare. This disease is disproportionately harming queer communities across the United States. It’s spreading so rapidly that the health infrastructure of major US cities such as New York City, Chicago and San Francisco have completely failed to keep up with testing, vaccination and treatment. What’s worse, many clinics lack the capacity to test for the disease, so it’s likely that cases are vastly underreported. While a vaccine for monkeypox does exist, demand greatly exceeds the federal supply. Monkeypox is spreading throughout Michigan, and without intervention, it will affect our community soon. Only hubris could lead us to believe otherwise. While we may be collectively exhausted from COVID-19, we must not allow exhaustion to morph into apathy for the queer community and other medically vulnerable populations. There is good news: We know how to slow this virus. By combining mass vaccination, the use of antivirals and the implementation of common-sense community health measures (e.g., testing and tracing), we can stop monkeypox before it takes hold in our communities. But we cannot do this on our own. We’ll need the University of Michigan to work with state and federal politicians to secure vaccines. We’ll need U-M leaders to disseminate clear and decisive communication about this disease’s symptoms. We’ll need the University to work with community leaders to ensure that our public health response is fair and equitable. We need bold and decisive public health leadership, and we need it today.
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Opinion
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Wednesday, July 27, 2022 — 7
Let’s talk about Delia Owens and “Where the Crawdads Sing” OLIVIA MOURADIAN Opinion Senior Editor
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s the top-selling fiction book of 2019 — selling over 12 million copies by January 2022 — “Where the Crawdads Sing” has seen a degree of popularity that few books achieve. In addition to topping the New York Times fiction bestseller list for an astounding 153 weeks, Delia Owens’ first work of fiction was also selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club in September 2018 and adapted into a feature film that was released last Friday. Catapulting this novel to an almost hyperbolic level of attention, Taylor Swift even penned an original song for the movie adaption of what she describes as a “mesmerizing story.” Clearly, in the context of book sales and public attention, “Crawdads” is a major success story that has left millions of readers, including the likes of Swift and Witherspoon, with nothing but rave reviews. However, it only takes one quick Google search to see the thorny backstory behind this rose of the literary world. For context, Owens and her former spouse, Mark Owens, spent 22 years in Africa — traveling first to Botswana and then elsewhere — working as
conservationists, a period of time that Jeffrey Goldberg describes in detail in the New Yorker. The couple seemed to leave a trail wherever they went, earning “a reputation in the valley for their intolerance of local people.” They were expelled from Botswana in 1986 after attempts to rally international support against the conservation policies of the country’s government which is how the locally unpopular pair ended up in Zambia. In 1995, almost a decade after the couple arrived in Zambia, ABC did a segment on their conservation work. In the segment, which aired in 1996 on national television, an unidentified alleged poacher was shot and killed. The details of this shooting have remained incredibly vague: The body was never found, the shooter was never officially identified and, as a result, nobody has been charged with the crime. The discourse I’ve seen around this controversy has largely been sparked by cavalier questions about this murder. These questions are often subsequently met with claims that Delia Owens wasn’t involved or even less comprehensive responses arguing that it was her husband who was involved and that they’re now divorced. Regardless of these claims, Lillian
Shawa-Siyuni, Zambia’s director of public prosecutions, has confirmed that Owens — along with her former husband and stepson — are still wanted for questioning for the alleged televised killing of the individual. While some readers seem to take solace in the fact that Owens has not been legally implicated in this unresolved murder — she has denied her involvement numerous times — there are clear connections between Owens’ time in Africa and her famous novel — some that Owens herself seems to draw. In fact, the author even said in an interview with Amazon that “almost every part of the book has some deeper meaning” and “there’s a lot of symbolism in this book.” Considering the parallels between Kya Clark, the protagonist of “Crawdads,” and Owens, it is hard to separate the art from the artist in this novel. It doesn’t require too many liberties to read “Crawdads” — a story about a girl who’s accused of murder and actually did commit the murder out of self-defense — as a confessional tale for Owens and the allegations surrounding her time in Africa. Clark and Owens, both raised in the South, prefer nature to humanity and demonstrate reclusive personalities. When asked about her involvement in the shooting in an
interview with the New York Times, Owens even validated her struggles with these kinds of questions by saying, “It’s painful to have that come up, but it’s what Kya had to deal with, name calling.” There are also connections between this book and Owens’ time in Africa beyond the similarities between Owens and her protagonist. For example, the jailhouse cat in the novel, Sunday Justice, has the same name as a man who cooked for the Owenses while they were in Zambia. In “The Eye of the Elephant,” a memoir written by Mark Owens, he recounts a conversation Delia had with this cook. According to her, the real Sunday Justice had “always wanted to talk to someone who has flown up in the sky with a plane.” She describes him asking if you get close to the stars when you fly on a plane and how she so graciously explained how far stars really are from Earth. However, Owens’ retelling of this exchange doesn’t match up with Sunday Justice’s: When asked about this alleged conversation, Sunday Justice responded with a laugh. He had flown often, both as a child and as an adult, and went on to work for the Zambian Air Force after working for the Owenses. This discrepancy reflects
the kinds of biases about Africans that are littered throughout the Owens’ other memoirs, as well. Given the numerous occasions like this where Owens has unapologetically shown her discriminatory and racist colors, it’s peculiar — but unsurprising — that this story was picked up by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House. What’s even more telling than this book being picked up by a Big Five publisher is the success it was met with after being turned into a film. Raking in $17 million during its opening weekend, this movie clearly has not been sullied by the plethora of articles published by well-established news sources on the controversies surrounding Owens. There is plausible deniability that people who have read the book don’t know about its suspected backstory. However, I am doubtful that the publishers, Taylor Swift, Reese Witherspoon and the directors of the movie were unaware of the murky events during Owens’ time in Africa. And yet, when asked about “Crawdads’” connection to the murder in Zambia, the film’s screenwriter, Lucy Alibar, told TIME that she was unfamiliar with it.
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The eternal public health crisis LINDSEY SPENCER Opinion Columnist
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global pandemic has proved that understanding global health is paramount if we would like to preserve the existence of humanity. To many, the pandemic seems like it is over, with mandatory mask requirements dropped in public places and children as young as six months old now able to get vaccinated. But in reality, the two-and-a-half-yearold virus is still making its rounds, and people are still getting sick and being hospitalized. COVID-19 isn’t over, but instead has joined the dozens of other public health crises we have faced for years, some with solutions, others almost unavoidable. Public health is an umbrella term that covers a plethora of health-related issues, primarily those connected to disease prevention and everyday health. We often cite this term when discussing issues such as the global spread of infectious disease, the clean water crisis and healthcare
disparities, both in the United States and abroad. Typically, the conversation surrounding public health only covers the issues that directly relate to our bodies and physical health. More recently, though, its definition has come to encompass matters of health that are less biological and focus more on modern social issues. Public health isn’t all about vaccines and sickness anymore — it’s about everything. The American Public Health Association, the APHA, acknowledges the range of public health issues that we are currently battling, including substance abuse, public planning and overall mental health. Each of these fields is not commonly associated with issues related to bodily well-being, but they are nonetheless important and still fit alongside the subject of public health. The foundation of this term is that it is “public” — it has to do with communities and the matters that impact them the most. The public health crises of this day and age are much more urgent, divisive and impactful en masse than we’ve ever seen before,
and they fit a seemingly new definition of the term we’ve heard in previous conversations. The three largest and “new-age” public health crises that we face today, specifically in the United States, are gun violence, racism and climate change. Though not what we consider to be issues traditionally related to health, they tend to act just like infections: they spread where they are not welcome, and they are hard to eliminate. We are constantly surrounded by disease, but not ones that can be cured with medical diagnoses and immunizations. These diseases impact all of us and can only truly be solved with a concoction of collective action and policies. In 2020, the leading cause of death for children was no longer car-related incidents; it was gunrelated injuries. Gun violence is not only a political issue but a public health crisis. Guns are the cause behind thousands of deaths each year, and, just like infections, they deny once healthy individuals of their livelihoods. From incidents of domestic violence to homicide by firearm, gun violence threatens the
health and well-being of each of us — it is not only a crisis of violence but of various external factors. It is multi-faceted, impacting and impacted by socioeconomic status, race, health and politics. In approaching the epidemic of gun violence as a public health crisis, we may be better equipped to examine all of its related causes and effects, and in turn, we can provide both physical and emotional safety for all. Another multi-faceted issue that has plagued the nation throughout history is that of racism. Multiple cities and states, including Michigan, have declared racism a public health crisis, specifically within the realms of the criminal justice system, health justice and socioeconomic justice. Naming racism as a public health crisis, or “emergency,” acknowledges it as a problem that debilitates the livelihood of people of Color, depriving certain individuals of care and citizenship because of their race. Institutionalized racism is present in multiple social, political and economic circumstances. Public
health is not just connected to our general physical health but also to our education status and socioeconomic background — it is a crisis that requires action, especially when it comes to racial injustice. A crisis that has no known limitations, climate change is undeniably the most formidable challenge facing humanity today. Addressing global warming and the various impacts of climate change on the planet as a public health crisis is crucial — the health effects of its continued existence are a threat to all of us, whether we notice them or not. From our physical health to our mental health, rising temperatures and increased rates of natural disasters pose a threat to both social structures and our bodies. Due to lack of political action in recent years, climate change’s wrath is likely irreversible, and declaring it a public health crisis is a last attempt by climate scientists to get politicians and the general public to take the problem seriously.
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Sports
8 — Wednesday, July 27, 2022 ICE HOCKEY
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Michigan commits ready to take the NCAA leap
JOHN TONDORA Daily Sports Writer
PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Though the offseason still trudges through the dog days of summer, multiple Michigan hockey team commits started ramping up for the upcoming season. On Sunday, the Wolverines’ incoming freshman forwards Rutger McGroarty, Frank Nazar III and defenseman Seamus Casey commenced a 10-day United States National Junior Team camp in preparation for the rescheduled 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship taking place this August in Edmonton, Alberta. While the three commits are some of the younger competitors vying for a spot on the team, they remain undaunted in the face of a team with top NHL draft picks. And with many of those draft picks also sharing spots on Michigan’s roster, this isn’t the first time seeing their Michigan teammates. “This spring we were training with Michigan quite a bit,” Casey said. “So
I got to meet the whole team.” Casey, who was drafted by the New Jersey Devils with the No. 46 overall pick this month in the 2022 NHL Draft, competed alongside Nazar III and McGroarty on the U.S. National U18 team this season, with their final matchup coming against Sweden on May 1. That tournament ending gave the three an opportunity to familiarize themselves even further with the program after the U18 NTDP lost an overtime battle to Michigan earlier
this season. Although the Wolverines were short handed due to an absence of talent attending the Olympics, the three each flashed the skills that define why they believe they can make an instant impact at the next level. “Even last year, we played against teams that were college teams,” Nazar III said. “Obviously Michigan (was included), and I think we built a game to (the college level).” Nazar III speaks from experience as the last time he entered Yost, the ice
tilted his way. The future Wolverine centerman gave Michigan a glimpse of his signature wrist shot, netting two goals in a signature performance. McGroarty chipped in on the action too, grabbing an assist on Nazar III’s second goal of the day — a powerplay strike. The two will look to replicate that magic, albeit with different maize and blue sweaters on, for a Wolverines team that lost key contributors to its power play. Replicating that success for Michigan begins this week as the trio
GABBY CERITANO/Daily Three of the Michigan hockey team’s recruits are undaunted by the leap from the US National Team Development Program to college hockey.
will gain plentiful experience on a roster that boasts five other current and former Wolverines. And although the group may be ready to step into Yost familiar with their teammates, the adjustment to the college level will mean more than a faster game. “Schedule-wise, I’ve been asking some of the guys like Dylan (Duke) about the schedule of each day and classes,” Nazar III said. Like any incoming freshman, the transition to a major university will boast a bevy of new emotions and experiences both inside the classroom and out. After years of crossing counties and countries playing with the NTDP, the University of Michigan will provide a new chance for the three to settle down and play. But for this upcoming week, the three will have another chance to prove again why they feel ready to take on college hockey. As it seems, they’re up to the challenge. “I’m very confident going into next year.” Nazar III affirmed. Confidence, which they look to build upon as the three American commits — and the broader Michigan unit — take on the IIHF.
ICE HOCKEY
Nazar III, McGroarty and Casey expect to bring chemistry to Michigan COLE MARTIN Daily Sports Writer
PLYMOUTH, Mich. — For the Michigan hockey team, the US National Team Development Program (NTDP) has played a crucial role in the team’s core. And for the upcoming 2022-23 season, that trend is set to continue. Incoming freshman forwards Frank Nazar III and Rutger McGroarty, along with defenseman Seamus Casey will all make the transition to the Wolverines from the NTDP this upcoming season. And as they join Michigan, they also bring impressive chemistry that they have displayed. Nazar, McGroarty and Casey all played together on the NTDP U17 Team in the 2020-21 season and made the move up to the U18 team at the same time for the 2021-22 campaign. “Playing with people for that long obviously helps out,” Casey said. “There’s a lot of chemistry.” The trio has experience on the ice together in high-pressure situations — something that will
be beneficial for a young Michigan team with holes that need to be filled following the departures of forwards Matty Beniers, Thomas Bordeleau and Brendan Brisson, along with defenseman Owen Power to the NHL. McGroarty, Nazar and Casey all traveled to Germany for the U18 Men’s World Junior Championship in XX, representing the American team and propelling the team to a second-place finish. McGroarty demonstrated his strong leadership abilities by captaining the team and putting up nine points in six games. Nazar and Casey also were instrumental in the team’s success, tallying nine points and six points, respectively. And now after playing in Germany, the trio has reunited on the ice after a month-long break away from each other. “I just really relaxed … (and) was a kid,” McGroarty said. “And then now, dialing it back in, … this camp’s really good (to) try and put yourself out there to make the World Juniors Team and then get in shape for the season.” Nazar, Casey and McGroarty are a
part of a new group of NTDP products tasked following the impactful 2020 group of Beniers, Bordeleau and Jacob Truscott. In 2021-22, Beniers finished in the top 10 in Hobey Baker voting, and Bordeleau tallied 37 points in 37 games, playing a crucial role in the
Wolverines’ success, before departing to the San Jose Sharks. And for the new additions, following in the footsteps of past Michigan standouts is not a concern. “We’re not really trying to be like those guys,” Nazar said. “We want to come in and fill in a role like they did. And there’s no doubt that we’re going
to come in … and work hard.” And ahead of their debuts with the Wolverines, Nazar, Casey and McGroarty’s time spent together at the NTDP this offseason demonstrates their commitment to building off of a successful 2021-22 season and using their chemistry to fill in the gaps.
GABBY CERITANO/Daily Some of the Michigan hockey team’s new recruits will fill voids left by fellow US National Team Development Program alumni who left this offseason.