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Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Meet Victor ‘The Frisbee Dog’

Victor’s owner Bruce Lee recounts Victor’s road to catching the frisbee in the Big House RACHEL MINTZ Daily News Editor

On any given Saturday at the University of Michigan in the fall, students flood to the Big House for a game of football, filling the Ann Arbor streets with a rousing chorus of the University’s fight song, “The Victors.” But during media timeouts, fans can hear calls for a different type of victor: Victor The Frisbee Dog. Victor has joined the Wolverines on the field at every single game so far this season, catching frisbees seamlessly and effortlessly.

Though the 4-year-old black Labrador has quickly become a canine celebrity on campus, many students do not know who Victor is when he’s not being ‘The Frisbee Dog.’ U-M alum Bruce Lee is Victor’s owner and the man who throws the bright yellow frisbee across the field to Victor every game day. Lee told The Michigan Daily that he has a long history with U-M football.

Beginning when he was 12 years old, Lee said he started going to the Big House to watch games with his family, many of whom graduated from the University.

Since 2007, Lee and his family have had football season tickets, but in 2020 Lee wanted to start

bringing his young, energetic pup to campus for game days.

At that time, Lee said he and Victor would play with a frisbee in front of Lee’s house near Traverse City several times a day. They didn’t have a crowd of over 100,000 people watching them back then, just Lee’s wife and children, who would watch Victor chase the frisbee back and forth across their yard.

“I was throwing for him (twice a day), which is kind of a lot of time to be standing there doing that,” Lee said. “I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if U of M would ever want a dog involved with catching frisbees at any of their events.’ So, I looked up, on the internet, phone numbers in the Athletic Department. I found a likely phone number. I thought it was sort of a silly idea to call, but I thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll give it a try.’ ” Once he got into contact with the University Athletics Department, Lee decided to send videos of Victor performing his frisbee routine on a local high school football field to the Fan Experience department, who got to decide whether Victor could join the Wolverines on the field. That was where Victor hit his first obstacle — artificial turf.

“I went to the local football field … to get some video and

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found out immediately Victor did not like artificial turf,” Lee said. “But with short throws and a little time, he got over that real quick.”

After Victor got used to running on turf, the University invited him to make his Big House debut during the 2021 pep rally for new students.

Lee said Victor was not fazed by the 4,000-person crowd or

the large stadium and caught almost every frisbee that was thrown his way — much to the excitement of the crowd.

However, the Athletic Department did not have a spot for Victor and Lee during the 2021 football season. The University reached back out in 2022 when Victor’s presence was requested at the University of Connecticut versus Michigan

Lt. Gov. talks climate policy, tech jobs, higher education access

The Michigan Daily spoke with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist about increasing employment for young people and reducing higher education costs in Michigan Daily News Editor & Daily Staff Reporter

The Michigan Daily sat down with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II while he was in Ann Arbor Thursday afternoon to deliver the keynote speech at a School of Information event on using technology to strengthen water infrastructure. In the interview, Gilchrist discussed adapting to the effects of climate change, increasing employment opportunities for young people in the state and reducing the cost of higher education. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Michigan Daily: Recently, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the creation of the Growing Michigan Together Council. In addition to that, what initiatives are you working towards for young people in this state? What are the incentives for University of Michigan graduates to stay here?

Garlin Gilchrist: First of all, I think where you decide to go after college is a decision that has many factors. Some of it is personal, some of it is professional, some of it is familial — there’s a lot of things that weigh in. We do think that as a state and the state government, we can do things to make Michigan more attractive than other places. Especially this calendar year, we think we really put Michigan’s best foot forward — up to and including things like adding to our state’s civil rights law to have explicit protections for the LGBTQ+ community by expanding the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. In an era where there are states that are literally doing everything they can every day to hurt, harm and threaten transgender people, Michigan is going in the opposite direction.

Also, the work that we did to

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build on the passage of the 2022 Reproductive Freedom For All act, which voters passed overwhelmingly to get rid of our abortion ban, and on the Reproductive Health Act right now so that these people who are pregnant know that they will have full access abortion care services or whatever your reproductive health calls for. We’re working right now to make sure that can happen without any anti-science, overtly political, misogynistic stuff. That matters because, again, we have states that are going in the exact opposite direction.

This is also about creating economic opportunity. The reason I left Michigan is because I wanted to be a software engineer in 2005 and I thought that I needed to go elsewhere to have the software career I wanted to have. We’ve worked to grow that industry here in Michigan. We have five Michigan companies that have reached unicorn-level status. Detroit is the number one emerging startup ecosystem in the country.

Really, this is about making sure that people know they can be their best, be safe, respected and protected, and they can connect with the kind of high-growth opportunities in an industry that for years has been associated with other parts of the country, but that is now absolutely part of Michigan’s identity going forward.

TMD: With President Biden’s student loan plan up in the air and tuition costs rising, how do you plan to financially support young people seeking higher education in the state?

GG: Well, let’s talk about the different types of higher education.

If you’re a person who is interested in going to a two-year college or getting a professional training certification, we have something called the Michigan Reconnect program that we established, which is a tuition-free pathway to

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community college and professional training. There are almost 200,000 people in the Michigan Reconnect program today, and we’re seeking to grow that aggressively. In this last budget year, we expanded the Michigan Reconnect eligibility age from 25 down to 21.

For those who are applying to any kind of college in Michigan and are high school seniors, we established the Michigan Achievement Scholarship last year. For that scholarship, all you have to do is fill out a FAFSA form and the state of Michigan will contribute to the cost of your higher education, whether that’s a two-year or four-year, public or private institution. Just in this first year of implementation — this fall was the first year people got the Michigan Achievement Scholarship — four out of five graduating high school seniors last year were eligible to get money from the Michigan Achievement Scholarship.

Two out of three entering college freshmen in the state of Michigan were able to go to college tuition-free when that was compiled with Pell-eligible support.

So we have aggressively looked at college affordability in the state of Michigan.

We have made the choice to make

student loan debt forgiveness from the federal government available tax-free in Michigan. Only a few states have chosen to do that. That is again because, since you’re not putting the money into student loans, we want you to put that money into other investments that you choose or however you want to spend it and not have to suffer a tax burden because of this windfall that you got from the federal government.

We think that whether it’s the loan forgiveness — and we’re looking at things we can do at the state level on that — as well as just college affordability on the front end and tuition-free pathways to higher education, we think that we are truly making higher education more affordable and, therefore, more accessible to people.

TMD: The climate crisis is an urgent threat for everyone, but particularly for young people who are growing up experiencing its effects. What are your plans to help Michiganders adapt to the effects of climate change? And what does your government coordination look like, whether that be with other states or on the federal level?

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LILA TURNER/Daily Lieutenant Governor of Michigan Carlin Gilchrist II sits down with the Michigan Daily Thursday afternoon.

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program for the day as far as what they need to have in their media timeouts. If they say, ‘This is a good game for Victor, we can fit him in. Would you like to come?’ We say yes every time. Last year it was only three games, but this year they said they could take Victor every game.”

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football game, which became Victor’s first chance to impress a full crowd of Wolverine fans.

Based on the reaction at that game, the Athletic Department would ultimately decide whether Victor would return to the Big House.

“So we did that Connecticut game, and then it was up to the Athletic Department,” Lee said.

“It’s (about) what fits in their

INDEX

Bodega Bros opens on North University

Bodega Bros brings the iconic New York City corner store to Ann Arbor REBECCA LEWIS Daily Staff Reporter

Hoping to create an “authentic New York Bodega”, Bodega Bros opened Saturday on North University Avenue and is excited to engage with the University community.

The bodega’s operating hours are currently 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. but hope to eventually expand their hours to 24/7 to emulate the NYC essentials corner store.

Esam Almulaiki, owner of Bodega Bros, told The Michigan Daily that customers at his New York locations inspired him to open a store in Ann Arbor.

“We have locations in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and we always see Michigan gear out there,” Almulaiki said. “(The customers) kept telling us, ‘You guys should have one in Ann Arbor’ … and we took a leap of faith, and that’s why we’re here today.”

The bodega houses a deli and convenience store items such as snacks, drinks and groceries.

Though the menu features a variety of sandwiches, omelets and smoothies, Almulaiki said they can make anything on or off the menu as long as they have the ingredients.

“In the deli, we can make anything your heart desires,” Almulaiki said. “What you see on the menu is not (it). If you want something that’s not on the menu, you let the guy know (and) he can cook it for you.”

Almulaiki grew up in Hamtramck, Mich. before moving to New York City after high school to live with his extended family.

His family owned what Almulaiki called “old-school bodegas,” where he said he was able to meet and create a community with people from different cultures. Almulaiki said he hopes his bodega will bring the same sense of community to

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customers in Ann Arbor as it does in New York.

“In New York, we have the community vibe,” Almulaiki said.

“We have (regulars) that walk in and we know what they want before they even make it to the deli case … We’re trying to remember the faces of the people that have been in here. This is our third day so far, and we already know what they want.”

The bodega is located near the Diag, making it easy for students to gather in the space or get a hot meal. Ann Arbor resident Tonya Huffman told The Daily she’s excited about the bodega opening because it gives U-M students more options close to campus to get fresh groceries or whatever else they need.

“It’s great because the students I know need something closer than Kroger … to come get just little things for the dorm,” Huffman said. “The selection that they have is all sorts of different stuff, so I think that it’s different than what we (already) have here on State Street.”

LSA sophomore Elicia Chatman told The Daily they appreciate the bodega because it opens up their food options.

“I think it’ll be a comfortable space for people to come and shop, especially if they’re from different backgrounds and (if) they’re used to city life,” Chatman said. “…

I think this is very resourceful because I can have food that’s not in the dining hall.”

As an out-of-state University of Michigan student from New York, LSA junior Niko Papaioannou told The Daily he feels the bodega brings a touch of his home to campus.

“I’m from the New York City tri-state area, so my whole life … growing up, every time I’d go to lunch, I’d go to a bodega,” Papaioannou said. “Now that they have one in Ann Arbor, it’s very cool … Walking in just feels kind of like home.”

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Erika Cheung, a key whistleblower in the Theranos scandal, speaks on professional ethics at Palmer Commons Friday.

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U-M Flint and U-M Dearborn to join Michigan Assured Admission Pact

University of Michigan’s Flint and Dearborn campuses will participate in agreement to guarantee admission for in-state students who earn a 3.0 GPA or above

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On Sept. 19, the Michigan Association of State Universities announced that the University of Michigan’s Dearborn and Flint campuses will participate in the Michigan Assured Admission Pact, an agreement between 10 of Michigan’s 15 public universities to guarantee admission to all in-state students who earn a 3.0 GPA or above. The pact aims to boost enrollment among participating schools and open up the opportunity for more Michigan students to attend college.

University President Santa Ono wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that U-M Flint and U-M Dearborn will participate starting in the 2024 admissions cycle.

“UM-Flint and UM-Dearborn (are) among the 10 Michigan universities that will accept any state high school grad with a GPA of 3.0 or higher as part of the Michigan Assured Admission Pact (MAAP), which will begin guaranteeing admissions for qualifying students during the fall 2024 admission cycle,” Ono wrote.

Joe Vainner, U-M Flint director of admissions, wrote in an email to The Michigan Daily that their admissions team hopes the MAAP will provide motivated high school students with the confidence to apply to college.

“Our hope is that qualified students who may have assumed wrongly that they aren’t admissible to UM-Flint will now have the confidence to apply, and ultimately, enroll,” Vainner wrote.

In an email to The Daily, Melissa Stone, U-M Dearborn vice provost for enrollment management, said Dearborn’s campus hopes the MAAP will help them achieve longterm enrollment goals by showing prospective students that college can be accessible and that the criteria for admissions are clear.

“MAAP may assist with enrollment goals but it is not a quick solution to grow enrollment,” Stone wrote. “It is a way to clearly communicate with prospective students about college accessibility and be transparent about the admissions process.”

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In an interview with The Daily, U-M Flint junior Sami Kotob said amid rising enrollment at U-M Flint, he thinks MAAP will keep enrollment rates from dropping in the near future.

“Flint received its first increase in enrollment in the past 10 years after undertaking admissions policies similar to the direct admissions pathway,” Kotob said. “(MAAP) should have a positive effect on enrollment at U-M Flint and this would be very helpful in combating current challenges in enrollment at colleges throughout Michigan. U-M Flint is serving as a counterexample to this narrative of decreasing college population.”

According to Vainner, one of the goals of joining MAAP is to help more students from underrepresented backgrounds apply to and attend college.

“There’s good evidence that students from underrepresented backgrounds are less likely to apply to college and, if they do apply, are more likely to do so with fewer schools,” Vainner wrote.

“My expectation is that more underrepresented students will view UM-Flint as an option and feel that they belong on our campus.”

Similarly to U-M Flint, Stone wrote in an email to The Daily that

U-M Dearborn is participating in MAAP to create a more accessible pathway to college for in-state students and help the state reach its goal of 60% by 2030. The goal, set by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, is to have 60% of Michiganders have a skill certificate or college degree by 2030.

“UM-Dearborn elected to participate in the MAAP because it aligned with our mission to make a Michigan degree accessible to qualified students with varying financial means,” Stone wrote.

“Participating shows our support for the state’s 60% by 30 initiative to close the skills gap by increasing the college-going rate of students in our community.”

Jacob Lederman, U-M Flint associate professor of sociology, wrote in an email to The Daily that, while he agrees that MAAP is a good opportunity for increasing access to higher education, he believes U-M Flint and U-M Dearborn need to provide additional access to financial support for new students as well.

“The MAAP sounds like an excellent opportunity to increase access to higher ed across our state,” Lederman wrote. “Access, however, is also about financial support. As currently implemented on the Flint

and Dearborn campuses, incomeeligible students would not qualify for the Go Blue Guarantee if they have the minimum MAAP GPA. Our institution should strive to improve access both in terms of admissions and financial support.”

Currently, there is a minimum requirement of a 3.5 GPA to qualify for the Go Blue Guarantee, a program for need-based financial aid for in-state students, meaning that MAAP students who have between a 3.0 and a 3.49 would not be able to qualify for free tuition at U-M Flint and Dearborn. Lederman wrote that the University’s financial aid programs should accommodate students’ financial circumstances as much as possible.

“For that financial support to reach students, we need programs like the Go Blue Guarantee to be well-funded and take into account the academic challenges faced by students from less advantaged backgrounds,” Lederman wrote.

Kotob said he feels MAAP is overall a positive policy for prospective college students and the participating schools.

“I think (MAAP) is a very positive thing,” Kotob said. “Or at least it won’t hurt U-M Flint. It can only bring positive change to (the campus).”

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Former lecturer sues UMich

A former EECS lecturer filed a lawsuit against the University for alleged retaliation after she reported sex discrimination THE MICHIGAN DAILY NEWS STAFF Nicole Hamilton, former lecturer in the University of Michigan’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, filed a lawsuit against the U-M Board of Regents Monday for alleged retaliation after she reported sex discrimination, according to a press release from Hamilton’s

law firm, Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter.

According to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Michigan Daily, Hamilton alleges that she faced discrimination on the basis of her identity as a transgender woman throughout her employment, which began in 2017. Hamilton then reported the alleged discrimination to the department. The complaint alleges that the department

then unfairly denied her a promotion in the spring of 2021, simultaneously ending her employment as an EECS lecturer.

In response, Hamilton claims she filed a Title IX complaint with the University’s Office of Institutional Equity in September 2021, alleging sex discrimination and retaliation for her initial complaint.

Following the Title IX complaint, the EECS 440 class

that Hamilton was supposed to return to the University to teach was canceled for the winter 2022 term.

In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen said the University has not yet received any official communication from Hamilton’s lawyers.

“We have not yet been served on this matter, and will review once we are served,” Broekhuizen wrote.

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Original Cottage Inn location for sale

UMMA exhibit showcases historical pottery from Black artists

After 75 years of operation, the original Cottage Inn Ann Arbor location is listed for sale JI HOON CHOI & BRONWYN JOHNSTON Daily Staff Reporters

The original location of Cottage Inn Pizza in Ann Arbor has been listed for sale after 75 years of operation on East William Street.

According to an MLive article, Cottage Inn owner Jim Michos is selling the restaurant as he approaches retirement. Michos said he has yet to decide on who will be using the space in the future.

“We’re holding out for the right

person,” Michos said. “When someone has a real offer then that’s when we will entertain it. It’s got to be the right offer to the right person.”

The 11,200-square-foot building is listed for $3.4 million or $23,000 per month. The listing emphasizes the location’s proximity to the University of Michigan campus as well as to downtown Ann Arbor.

“This property is available to become a new home for an aspiring chef, restauranter, or entertainment investor looking to tap into the thriving Ann Arbor community,” the listing advertises.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 — 3

Cottage Inn has long been popular among U-M students in the Midwest. Known for its menu of Greek and Italian dishes, the restaurant has won The Michigan Daily’s “Best Pizza” category in Best of Ann Arbor multiple times.

The Michos family has owned the original establishment since 1961.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Michos invested in a remodel and refurbishment of the restaurant to update its dining area and kitchen utilities.

Though its original location is up for sale, the four other Cottage Inn locations in Ann Arbor will continue to operate.

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UMMA opened its “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield California” exhibit featuring pottery created by 19th century Black artists JOSHUA NICHOLSON Daily Staff Reporter

In collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the University of Michigan Museum of Art is currently hosting “Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina” until Jan. 7. The exhibit, which opened at the start of the fall semester, features pottery created by 19th century enslaved African Americans from the Old Edgefield region, which is located between Columbia, S.C. and Augusta, Ga. Associate history professor Jason Young helped curate the exhibit over multiple years alongside Adrienne Spinozzi, associate curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Ethan Lasser, Art of the Americas chair at the Museum of Fine Arts. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Young said the exhibit is intended to challenge preconceptions about American slavery based on the relationship between slavery and agriculture in the South.

“Typically, when we think about slavery in this country, we’re imagining agricultural slavery,” Young said. “We’re imagining enslaved people who are working on tobacco plantations, or cotton or rice or sugar. Here, we have an example of what is really industrial-scale slavery, where people are involved in creating ceramic materials on an industrial scale. That really changes the way we think about American slavery.”

In an interview with The Daily, UMMA Director Christina Olsen said the exhibit represents the

museum’s commitment to being an anti-racist institution. The UMMA currently highlights its commitment to amplifying the voices of Black and Indigenous people of Color on its website, in addition to its commitment to developing exhibitions in partnership with BIPOC artists and communities.

According to their website, the UMMA is also establishing a process to review all current and future UMMA programs through a lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, anti-racism and social justice.

Olsen said the “Hear Me Now” exhibit aligns with the museum’s mission by bringing light to a part of American history that is often left in the dark.

“This exhibition is the first national exhibition showing works of art by the most disenfranchised people that you can imagine, and that’s people who were enslaved,” Olsen said. “We’re working very hard to uplift and amplify the voices and perspectives of people who have been entirely written out of history.”

While the exhibit features works from enslaved artists of the 19th century, contemporary pieces by artists Simone Leigh and Adebunmi Gbadebo are also displayed alongside historic pieces.

Leigh’s piece in the exhibition, a large white ceramic jug, symbolizes the influence of older artists on the current generation. Young said it was important to include modern artists who have built off of the original works created in the Old Edgefield area.

“There are a number of artists who have looked to this Edgefield material and found inspiration in

it,” Young said. “You’ll note in the (exhibition) that the artists who are engaged with this material are thinking really seriously about Edgefield, but they’re also making brand new works of art out of it, and moving the legacy and tradition forward in some really fascinating ways.”

Various ceramic works created

by David Drake, known as just “Dave” prior to emancipation, are centerpieces of the exhibition.

As an enslaved potter, Drake engraved lines of original poetry into his works, even though writing poetry was illegal for slaves in the Antebellum South. Young said the combination of pottery and poetry makes Drake’s works particularly impactful for viewers because they are encouraged to think of specific images and metaphors when viewing the art.

“Dave is a tremendous figure as a potter, he’s making incredible pieces of pottery, (and) he shows himself to be a really remarkable poet at the same time,” Young said. “He writes himself into the traditions of 19th century African-American literature and letters, and he also is writing himself into the history of 19th century visual art.”

Storage jars made by Drake sit upon pedestals strewn about one half of the gallery dedicated to the exhibit at the UMMA. While it’s difficult to make out all of Drake’s poetry directly on the pottery, the exhibition includes a label with the full verses beneath the pieces so viewers can still read them.

Young said poems like Drake’s acted as a resistance to the system of slavery.

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Join Vision 2034 and Campus Plan 2050 at an upcoming open house to preview the U-M of the future! View planning scenarios for campus land use and share your thoughts on how they connect to the university’s strategic vision.

Help build U-M’s future — Attend an Open House

October 10 NCRC Building 18, Dining Hall October 11 Michigan Union, Rogel Ballroom October 12 Pierpont Commons, East Room October 19 Pierpont Commons, Fireside Cafe

Sessions run 4-8 p.m. and registration is required. Reserve your spot now! myumi.ch/Mr2mP

Arts

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Pulitzer Prize winning author, Anthony Doerr, on writing, teaching and the future KATHRYN HEMMILA Daily Arts Writer

On Sept. 12, in the hustle and bustle of the University of Michigan Museum of Art Café, I sat down with acclaimed author Anthony Doerr. Doerr, whose novel, “All The Light We Cannot See,” won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is a DeRoy-Graff Memorial Visiting Professor teaching a half-term Honors Seminar at the University of Michigan this fall. I spoke with him to find out more about his course, titled “A World in a Grain of Sand: Examining the Formulaic and the Unfamiliar in Creative Work,” his journey and experience with writing, upcoming projects and more.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The Michigan Daily: What brought you to the University? I see you are a DeRoy-Graff Memorial Visiting Professor; how did you find out about this? What made you want to take on the role?

Anthony Doerr: So, (my wife and I) have twin boys. Last year, they left for college in September — we live in Boise, Idaho. Our house was so fun and busy, and their friends would always come over and lots of times, we would be hanging out with the parents of their friends. So, for that first month after they went to school, I had to do a bunch of promotions, I had to go to France a couple of times — but the house just felt so quiet and empty. And I was like, “I think I need some more action; I just need life and youth around me.”

So, I think it was probably October when (the University) reached out last year. It just sounded like a cool adventure. It’s just half the term, and I get access to the library — exciting!

And I kind of wanted the challenge of designing a new class. I love the idea that I get to work with honors students who are majors, not just in writing, but in molecular biology — I think it’s about half science majors.

You know, there is a Spanish major.

So, I’m thrilled getting to design a class that’s not just for writers about fiction writing, that’s a great challenge. The whole class is kind of about breaking your habits and recognizing your habits in all kinds of different ways. So, in some ways, this whole adventure is an exercise in that. It’s like getting out of a town that I know really well and learning all the new systems here.

TMD: I was looking at your course description and, like you just said again, it’s on breaking habits.

Do you want to expand more on what the class exactly is like? What are you hoping to achieve in it? What is the course covering?

AD: The really clumsy word that I’m using all the time is

defamiliarization — you take the familiar, you take things that are the familiar or the habitual. The key is to try to recognize them with things in your life. Or, in your studies, what have you seen so many times you can no longer see them really clearly anymore? And then think, how can you renew and revitalize your sensations of life so that you can see them more clearly? The easiest examples — like the first time you’re in your dorm room versus the thousandth time you’re in there.

Everything’s new the first time you show up at University. That’s when things are new and different. Versus today, you probably just walk to the café — you’ve been here before. You know how to do it.

I want my work to feel like you’re not sleepwalking through life or like you’re sleepwalking through sentences. And so I hope (the course) is useful for everybody. You really only get 70 or 80 years on earth, if you’re lucky, and I think it’s really important to make sure you find time in your life to wake up to all these astonishing things that are around you all the time.

TMD: I saw the William Blake quote you had, the one where it was like seeing a world and grain of sand, and it’s just like what you’re saying: recontextualizing the normal. What made you find that quote? Is it what you based the class around, or did you already have the concept for it?

AD: The concept I was thinking about was what I can title it. But of course, I was looking for all kinds of examples like that. Poetry, in particular, is so good at isolating something that we take for granted, something ordinary, and noticing the miraculous inside of it. In the eyes of the poet, nothing is normal — everything is interesting.

TMD: Of course. The class is seminar style, correct? How have you liked the small size for this class?

AD: Thirty-six (students) is enough there. My students have been so awesome because they’re so curious and creative. And they’re almost all willing to speak up. So, I think that’s it. I mean, I think learning is active. Of course, you can learn a lot in a lecture hall. But that’s more the sage on-stage kind of style of learning. I think it’s great when a student’s mind is active, even sometimes, if their bodies are active.

Especially over a two-hour class, you can get blood flowing, and you get conversation going. I think they’re learning a little more actively when you’re at risk of being called on, and it is super fun! Like, last week, I had all these electron microscope slides up. I had them guess, because I was playing with scale, if it was a banana, or an ant, or a grain of pollen or a piece of chalk. Under an electron microscope, everything became totally strange and beautiful and

Cover art owned by Scribner. Photo courtesy of Ulf Andersen.

weird. Like even a human eyebrow gets crazy and strange. So, it’s super fun to have them guess what everything is. I guess you could execute that in a larger class, but it’s much more fun (in a small seminar).

TMD: That’s great — everyone building off each other. What kind of stuff beyond that have you been doing in the class? Is it mainly writing?

AD: The final project is written, although I’ve told them they don’t have to. I am really interested to see if some will choose art projects or maybe even like some kind of data study. We’re analyzing lots and lots of pieces of writing. For me, the most comfortable place to talk about defamiliarization is when you look at sentences, and you ask what choices the writer is making word-by-word.

What is she relying on? Habit? Are we able to predict what words are going to come next in a sequence of words? Do you get pleasure when the word that you don’t expect coming comes? Sometimes for me, the great joy of reading is when you realize the patterns of language are being changed a little bit and are played with, versus familiar expected language. It’s all about how much effort do you want to put into perception? I think that’s true of life itself. I want to make sure I’m paying attention when I’m in the world. I think that’s true in writing and reading, for sure. I’m drawn to writers who are breaking your expectations and resisting your expectations.

TMD: So, how do you try to apply that to your own writings?

AD: ​​I’m sure you do the same thing. Every time you’re writing a sentence, you have to make a number of decisions that are based on habit.

So, if you said, “I sat with Anthony outside, and the sun glinted off the table,” you’ll have probably seen “sun and glinted,” paired together a bunch of times before. And it’s up to your brain to decide — do I want to kind of resist that? Do I want to make this sentence maybe a little more interesting but harder to read, by saying “reflected” off the glass? I always think in terms of the huge, large scale of a narrative of a novel, and also at the micro scale of each sentence. What is the reader expecting? How can I either meet or frustrate those expected expectations?

TMD: Applying that to “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” your most recent work, where there are so many different and interconnected storylines, did you sort of develop each story individually, or was it more simultaneous?

AD: No, they kind of grew all at the same time because I’m trying to make them all reflect back and refer to each other in a way so that the central “Cloud Cuckoo Land” myth is somehow, as that unfolds, reflecting back on what’s going on in each of the characters’ lives at the time. It was this huge puzzle.

I was trying to mimic the way in science, all these things that we think are unconnected actually

are. For example, the Gulf Stream: It is this big current of warm water that flows through the Atlantic and keeps temperatures stable in places like London and Miami. We are just now learning that it’s slowing down, kind of suddenly, and that we think it’s tied to the melting of ice in Greenland. All this freshwater flooding into the ocean is changing densities in the ocean water, and that’s what’s slowing down the Gulf Stream. It’s just one of a trillion examples of how, like the weather in London is connected to the weather in Miami, which is connected to the ice in Greenland, which is connected to us using cars in Detroit and using air conditioners in Ann Arbor.

That’s what I’m trying to do. How are these characters connected? You may start, “I don’t get this, why is he telling these stories,” but hopefully, if you trust the book and keep going, you start to feel these connections between them. And I think that’s kind of what’s ailing us right now is all this polarization in our society.

Sometimes we forget there are visible connections between us and people. Loving the neighbor we don’t understand and voting for a candidate we don’t like. It’s also through time. The grandchildren of our grandchildren that we will never meet — we’re connected to them. And our decisions that we make in our lives will affect them.

TMD: You were writing so many different characters, I was curious about the process of writing the voices for each character, and how

you maintain your own creative voice in it, but at the same time, take on the different voices of characters?

How do you do that? Does this tie in with defamiliarization and having to take yourself out of the picture?

AD: Step out of your own self. For me, research is a big part of it. Before coming to you, I just spent four hours in the library. I was reading journals from the 1700s of French sailors and just started getting into that world. In the class tomorrow, we’ll talk about electricity, and how hard it is to even imagine life before electricity. You have to forget that fire departments didn’t exist, candles were really hard to light, candles weren’t really made of wax — beeswax was really expensive, so you made it from fats. And they smell bad. Lots of times poor folks would eat the candles when they would run out of food. All those things get lost. So I guess, to get to the voice of a character, especially characters from the past, it’s a real exercise of forgetting the things you think.

Trying to enter their worldview is like stepping across culture and stepping across time. For me, it’s like you get to live multiple lives.

TMD: You seem pretty inspired by connections, especially our connections to the past and future — how do you come up with a lot of your ideas and develop them? What processes do you go through to know which idea is one that’s worth writing about?

Read more at michigandaily.com

At UMS season-opening show, Snarky Puppy pushes jazz to its limits and electrifies Hill Auditorium NICOLE APPIANI & JACK MOESER Daily Arts Writers

Hill Auditorium is widely renowned for its impeccable acoustics. Each year, many of the world’s best classical musicians and ensembles make the trek to Ann Arbor to play in a concert hall where soft, sensitive music sounds just as crisp from the top of the balcony as it does from the front row. Such a setting might seem like an awkward environment for Snarky Puppy, a jazz-fusion band whose members play with nonstop soloistic energy, but at their Sept. 10 concert, the band electrified Hill Auditorium with a show that was both sonorous and musically tasteful.

Unlike other bands, Snarky Puppy operates as a “collective of sorts” with a staggering 25 members in rotation. The group, formed in 2004 in the University of North Texas Jazz Studies Program by bandleader, bassist and primary composer Michael League, has been touring and recording for more than a decade. Genre-wise, Snarky Puppy is infamously difficult to pin down — League once used the phrase “instrumental pop” to describe his band’s style of music, a generic yet

unambiguously true description that incidentally captures the band’s extreme musical diversity. Snarky Puppy makes instrumental music in the truest sense; it’s easy to forget the band doesn’t have a vocalist because each of the instrumentalists are so engaging as soloists and adept as accompanying voices.

And while the band frequently uses dense textures and complex meters, their music is still surprisingly accessible thanks to its easy-to-latch-onto rhythmic grooves.

Regardless of how one chooses to label Snarky Puppy, it is a must-see live band, which was evident at their Ann Arbor show. To open the show, the band performed “Portal” from their most recent studio album Empire Central. After a serene opening statement by the winds, the band quickly pivoted to the groovy and energetic jams that would define the rest of the show. They opened a portal from a calm, pastoral landscape to a high-energy jam session.

The rest of the song highlighted f lugelhorn and saxophone solos above driving piano rhythm, reggae-esque percussion and raunchy electric piano chords that sounded straight out of Bitches Brew.

After the first few songs of the night, League chimed in to

explain the concert’s objective: to explore and popularize pieces from their 14th and newest album Empire Central.

Following the September 2022 release of Empire Central, the album was met with positive critical reviews and won Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 65th Grammy Awards. In his introduction, League explained that the album was an homage to Texas’ diverse music scene. He cited Texan musicians like Erykah Badu and RC Williams, as well as Dallas’ Gospel and R&B scene as inspirations for the piece.

With smooth transitions between songs, seamless communication between members and complete musical synergy, the group was able to generate a powerful undercurrent of musicality that kept the audience animated and on the edge of their seats.

This excitement was apparent in band members like violinist Zach Brock, who excitedly filmed some of his bandmates’ solos.

It would be easy to read from Snarky Puppy’s uber-casual attire and propensity for fusing loud noises with catchy beats that the band is content to just be another jam band, an amorphous and eclectic novelty, a lowest common denominator

source of entertainment for a Sunday afternoon. Such a reading couldn’t be further from the truth: Snarky Puppy is artistically unified by a sincere reverence for their legion of genre-spanning inf luences.

The band used two of their songs to pay tribute to their mentors: Roy Hargrove, who was beautifully eulogized with a silky f lugelhorn solo on “Cliroy,” and Bernard Wright, the wunderkind keyboardist and onetime Snarky Puppy collaborator who the band memorialized with their rendition of “Take It!” In its f lute-led ambient jazz introduction, the song felt like the band’s open-invitation meditation on Wright’s life; with its convoluted final progression to a powerful major ninth chord resolution, the song felt like a celebration of his life.

Nicole’s thoughts: I went into the concert as a fan of Snarky Puppy — an avid listener of the group and megafan of their song “Shofukan.” Like many others, including the stranger who sat next to me at the concert, I was introduced to Snarky Puppy through my high school jazz band teacher. For young musicians, the super-band is often cited as a testament to the power of instrumental

music. Their discography is employed to push students to listen to more “jazz.” High schools across the country learn tunes like “Lingus” and others composed by League. For young jazz musicians and seasoned music educators, Snarky Puppy’s commitment to musical innovation is palpable — one that solidifies them as a breath of inspiration in the music scene. Relative to their recorded albums, their live performance was more experimental, with edgier grooves, longer and bolder solos and a more amplified percussion section.

During the show, saxophonist and f lutist Chris Bullock created high-pitched trills far beyond the scope of traditional instrumentals, while trumpeter and keyboardist Justin Stanton frequently opted for whimsical synth sounds.

Having enjoyed the dynamic, genre-bending show, I was happy to hear my beloved “Shofukan” as the group’s encore. The piece, which I studied and performed in high school, now boasted a new, funkier percussion groove.

The tune’s nostalgia in tandem with an infamous Snarky Puppy experimentation was the cherry on top of an explosive concert, a night of great music and a reminder of the importance of

ongoing musical creativity and exploration.

Daily Arts Writer Nicole Appiani can be reached at nappiani@umich.edu.

Jack’s thoughts: What makes Snarky Puppy so good — what is their secret?

How are the 10 performing musicians able to combine to form something so much greater than the sum of its parts? Every listener will have a different answer to this question (and maybe that fact alone is the answer to the question). But for me, and without minimizing the importance of the band’s other members, keyboardist Justin Stanton is the band’s keystone piece.

Sitting behind an imposing array of keyboards and synth modules that look more like the cockpit of an airplane than a musical instrument, Stanton acts as a magician, a spell-caster of sound able to make any noise on the spot. No song better demonstrated his importance to the group than the encore, “Shofukan,” which featured a lengthy breakdown and buildup led by Stanton’s soloistic prowess and timbral wizardry. The fruit of his and the band’s labor was the entire Hill Auditorium crowd singing along to the funky melody of “Shofukan” as the band finished their show.

Arts

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 — 5

Solving the girl math equation ANNABEL CURRAN Senior Arts Editor

“Girl math” is pretty big right now. The tag has amassed tens of thousands of videos on TikTok. If you take a simple Saturday afternoon scroll through your For You page or even, God forbid, your Instagram Reels, you’ll be sure to encounter any number of videos featuring Gen Z and Millennial women excitedly sharing news of their most recent purchase with girl math money, be it tickets to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, a Dyson Air Wrap, Starbucks or a fun vacation.

“Girl math” — coined in the trending tradition of affixing the word “girl” in front of an everyday term or action to connote an extra sprinkle of fun and frivolity — is in right now, another one of social media’s many comings and goings. The now hugely popular trend consists of women bonding over their purchases, spending habits and financial rationale, all while adhering to a unique money-spending mindset that has thus been named “girl math.”

With the immense popularization of any trend comes its inevitable exit from the purely virtual realm of Instagram and TikTok as it trickles into public consciousness through news and media coverage.

The girl math trend’s entrance into the “real world” has far exceeded the typical trickle, however — it’s a tsunami.

With popularity comes criticism. Media coverage of the girl math phenomenon has been quick to judge, voicing concerns about the trend’s perpetuation of stereotypes about women and money: Women can’t be trusted with spending, women can’t budget and, the old classic, “girls can’t do math.” The comments, concerns and complaints are many, and outlets from HuffPost to Fortune to the Washington

Post have thrown their hats in the girl math ring. Even business publications like Business Insider and Forbes have attempted to analyze the economic and financial implications of the viral TikTok trend.

It is exhausting to scroll through the unnecessarily negative takes on what seems like a playful social media fad. Most outlets position themselves as well-meaning, seemingly wanting to help women save themselves from unnecessary stereotyping and being made to look foolish. Other coverage of the trend is just plain rude, claiming young girls don’t understand the meaning of money. In the Forbes article, author Pattie Ehsaei states that the trend “involves girls illogically justifying their purchases and spending habits” and serves merely to create “excuses to promote frivolous spending.” With this one social media trend, according to Ehsaei, women are setting society back almost 50 years. When I read those words, I feel just as belittled, devalued and infantilized as the writer claims girl math should make me feel.

When I consumed the slew of articles bashing a trend embracing fun and femininity meant to bring women together during times of economic challenge, I did not feel enlightened or educated; I felt angry. The overarching message from the media is this: Girl math is infantilizing, reductive and risky, both for your bank account and for the reputation of women everywhere. In actuality, nothing could be further from the truth.

At first, the anti-girl math argument that’s circulating may seem logical. A piece from Glamour Magazine labels the trend a guilt-trip tool that forces women to justify perfectly valid purchases simply because they are traditionally feminine.

Pieces in this vein land some hits derived from perfectly reasonable

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arguments. Women are often guilted for splurging on a nice purse or top — things seen as nonessential and superficial — even if the buyer makes good everyday use of their Coach bag or cashmere sweater and has the room in her budget to make that purchase without guilt. It is also true that hobbies, behaviors and preferences that are associated with femininity within the social consciousness — like the desire to buy a forever purse, a cute outfit or nice jewelry — are typically devalued. While purchasing a high-end pantsuit or dress for a serious job interview might be considered a “splurge,” a man who spares no expense on a suit for the same purpose would be “investing.”

Stereotypes that paint women as unreliable, financial liabilities are harmful and difficult to tease out from the twisted mess of the collective consciousness. But they have nothing to do with girl math.

The girl math trend seemingly originated from a segment of the same name on New Zealand radio show “Fletch, Vaughan & Hailey.”

Listeners call in to share a bigticket purchase, and the hosts help them justify the splurge, walking them through the cost-per-use or per-wear of the item, breaking that credit card charge down to the last dollar until every cent is justified.

Social media quickly picked up on the terminology, and the rest is history.

Now, the origins of the girl math trend may be dubious, as is Glamour’s point — two of the radio show’s hosts are men, and the segment that preceded TikTok’s girl math, intentionally or not, implies that female interests and purchases require justification.

But while this radio show may have originated the girl math terminology, the popularized version we see on TikTok today is an evolved version of the original — adapted by women, for women.

The trend on everyone’s For You

Design by Claire Jeon

page is — sorry Forbes — a positive one, made to assuage the fears of women — and everyone — during times of financial stress through the accessible framing of simple economic principles.

We could easily replace the term “girl math,” which so many media outlets find demoralizing, with a name that is universally accepted and applicable: behavioral economics. This combination of psychology and traditional economics seeks to understand the reasoning behind human economic behavior, which economics alone cannot do. Behavioral economics accepts that people will not always make the most rational financial choices, and while that sounds negative, it’s completely okay.

Both behavioral economics and girl math show us that people aren’t perfect, that having fun won’t ruin your life, that most financial “errors” or risks cancel out in the long run. Girl math shows women separating sunk costs from relevant costs, a managerial accounting method

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WHISPER WHISPER “Ask them out, You only live once”

carefree, unserious nature and the perfectly stable economic legs on which it stands makes them hypocritical, to say the least.

Girl math is a social media trend adapted, if not originally created, by women, for women.

It’s an expression of solidarity, an allowance of the feminine and the frivolous without heavy implications. Just like a celebratory TGIF frappuccino or a cute new dress to wear for a girls’ night out, girl math is pure fun — a way to connect with other women online through shared interests and experiences. It’s a trend that flips the script on the convoluted and often confusing world of financial literacy and economics, taking a language and field that is traditionally dominated by men and giving women — and any other social media user without a bachelor’s in finance or an MBA — the tools to use, understand and enjoy it in a way that encourages positive online interaction.

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See it to believe it: ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ and visual storytelling

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used frequently in business. Girl math shows women understanding what makes them happy; it shows them taking into account what will and won’t bring shortand long-term satisfaction and weighing that against economic costs and benefits. Girl math is a strategy to avoid buyer’s remorse and to maximize the enjoyment derived from a purchase. It shows an understanding of cost-perwear and how to best measure a garment’s value. Cost-per-wear is hailed as a formula for more sustainable fashion and shopping — so why don’t critics realize that same logic applies to girl math?

The women participating in this trend understand that the purchases they share with the world are wants, not needs, and they have the capacity to use rational thinking and budgeting techniques to make their purchases possible. Critics claim they want to warn girl math participants against perpetuating misogyny and sexist stereotypes, but their inability to see the trend’s

“You are the only person that remembers your embarrassing moments”

With the promise of expert animation offered by the first Spider-Verse movie, the sheer degree to which “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” surpassed expectations for cinematography and visual storytelling — the dedication put into each individual frame of the film — is unfathomable.

The recent digital release calls attention to the film’s visuals more intricately than before.

The directors’ — Peter Ramsey (“Rise of the Guardians”), Bob Persichetti (debut) and Rodney Rothman (debut) — dedication to breathtaking visuals not only catch the audience’s attention but contribute to the saga’s overarching story. The film stretches the possibilities of visual storytelling beyond its great expectations to depict the complicated emotions and brilliant color symbolism found in the Spider-Verse narrative.

Similar to the first movies, the trilogy’s second installment involves a team of new Spider-Heroes from different dimensions who come together, their unique animation styles indicating their respective universes.

When SpiderPunk’s (Daniel Kaluuya, “Nope”) character is on screen, the frame rate consistently changes, and the character changes colors throughout the movie. This makes his presence more collaged than continuous, alluding to the DIY aesthetics of his moniker. By ensuring that every character had a different style, the mix of multiverses is more obvious throughout the movie, allowing each character to shine independently through their unique designs.

When introduced to Mumbattan, Pavitr Prabhakar’s (Karan Soni, “Deadpool”) home, the vibrancy in the misaligned colors of the city is reminiscent of Indian comics like Amar Chitra Katha, the Devanagari

sound splashing along with Pavitr’s slick and calculated bangle-braiding animation style. Other universes are also shown a lot of love, from the intricacies found in the neonnoir green and purple scheme of Earth-42 to the simplicity found in the pristine blue cityscape of Nueva York. The homage to the urban beauty found in the landscapes and people of Mumbai, Manhattan and Brooklyn are portrayed through the animated lens (ba-dum-tss) of our SpiderHeroes, showing the nature of each place and the significance of symbolism in the scenery.

The spectacular introduction of Spidey-HQ generated an information overload with the sheer amount of spiders present; you never quite get a grip on everyone who roams the grounds of Earth-928B, regardless of how many times you watch the movie. I imagine that’s also how Miles Morales (Shameik Moore, “Dope”) felt.

A scene I fervently need to read as a comic spread, laid in bed with legs kicking the air behind me, is when the camera pans over a sea of spiders as a wave of comic text tags wash over them, describing their personas.

Knowing about the infinite possibilities for Spider-Heroes is one thing, but getting to see a massive sample of heroes, names, costumes and backstories attached is something else entirely. I immediately felt excitement for the upcoming digital release that would allow me to itch a completionist scratch, followed closely by a deep thankfulness to the crew who so carefully spun this majestic web. There are several more fun instances of style mixes, from hiring a teen fan to create the Lego Spider-Man scene to Donald Glover’s live-action cameo.

“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” does nothing but improve on the first movie’s dynamic nature.

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Students host annual Black Homecoming Gala ANCHAL MALH MiC Contributor

Students gathered in front of the University of Michigan Museum of Art in their finest attire to attend the 23rd annual Black Homecoming Gala hosted

by Sister 2 Sister and Here Earning a Destiny Through Honesty, Eagerness, and Determination of Self. Students snapped pictures and hyped their friends up as they arrived looking glamorous in sleek evening gowns and sharp suits. The light from “Behind The Walls,” the sculpture located in front of the UMMA, served as the perfect backdrop for photos before students enjoyed a night of joy, fun and celebration.

Known for its glamor, prestige and regal style, the Black Homecoming Gala has become a renowned yearly event where students show off their talent. One student danced Bachata, another group of students performed a choreographed dance and a fashion show was a nod to the exquisite fashion sense present at the gala. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Antwane Maddox, H.E.A.D.S. executive board member emphasized that Black Homecoming helps Black students find community, share creativity and welcome one another back to the University for another academic year.

“Black UMich in comparison to the entire University is entirely two different things,” Maddox

said. “We have to do a lot to provide a safe space for ourselves and it’s only around 4%of us on campus.”

Alexandria Smith, Sister 2 Sister executive board member and a senior in the School of Public Health, said the gala also welcomes new students to a new phase of adulthood.

Smith discussed the greatness of Black prom send-offs and wants homecoming to serve as a reminder that the celebration of the transition to adulthood doesn’t have to end in high school. Smith also expressed the grandeur of homecoming at HBCUs and wanted to recreate that experience for Black students at the University.

“Bringing that (tradition) to college just seemed like a very natural thing to do,” Smith said in an interview with The Daily.

Smith then spoke about her experience as a Black woman at the University and why it’s important to cultivate a space for Black students to find community.

“I wish I saw more of us,” Smith said. “I wish I saw more people in my (STEM) classes because I’m pre-med. When I walk in the room and I’m the only Black woman, it messes with (my) head a little bit.”

According to U-M Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, 5% of the student population is Black.

This is only a 1% increase since the last school year. However, the culture and influence of Black students can be felt across campus. For example, the

Courtesy of Nicholas Love

Trotter Multicultural Center, founded as the Trotter House, was originally a space for Black students on campus to safely meet, study and find community.

LSA senior Myori Reeves said she wants students to recognize the significance Black activism has had on the opportunities the University has to offer students of Color.

Reeves is correct.

The Comprehensive Studies Program was formed when the Opportunity Program (created in 1964) and the Coalition for the Use of Learning Skills merged.

CULS was established in 1970 in response to the requests of Black student demands in the first Black Action Movement Strike in 1968.

“I think people don’t recognize that a lot of those programs like the CSP wouldn’t be around without those Black students who are fighting for those things,” Reeves said in an interview with The Daily.

Engineering senior Devyn Griffin highlighted the hard work this generation of Black students put into setting themselves and those who come after up for success.

“We’ve got a great group here, (a) group of leaders,” Griffin said in an interview with The Daily. “Not just within H.E.A.D.S and Sister 2 Sister, but we have members of our e-board representing other (student) organizations too. We just have so many great people who really work hard.”

Students laughed as they exited the UMMA and gathered with their friends to coordinate ride homes, how to keep in contact with new friends or how they were getting to the afterparty.

“I just want the community to

keep thriving,” Reeves said. “I feel like this is a beautiful event where all these beautiful Black people are coming together in this wonderful space. It’s a comfortable space. Just keep thriving and keep getting together.”

You can support Sister 2 Sister and H.E.A.D.S. by following them on Instagram @s2s_um and @ heads_um. The Black Student Union’s More Than 4: The 4 Point Platform can be found here. The history of Black student activism at the University can be found here.

“I Don’t See Color”: Affirmative Action and our broken Constitution KUVIN SATYADEV MiC Columnist

This summer, the Supreme Court continued one of its longeststanding legacies: upholding White Supremacy.

In 1857, Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled that enslaved peoples were not American citizens and upheld slavery as a legal institution.

In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson accepted “separate but equal” as constitutional, leading to 100 years of Jim Crow. The decision aligned with the belief that Black Americans, although no longer enslaved, were still lesser citizens.

In 1987, McCleskey v. Kemp determined that statistical evidence of racial discrimination under a law was constitutionally acceptable.

Within a decade, the number of minorities in prison was greater than the total number of all people incarcerated during the year preceding the case.

In 2013, Shelby County v. Holder gutted the federal government’s ability to protect voting rights. What has followed are the shamelessly discriminatory voting policies we see in many states today.

The Harvard v. Students for Fair Admissions decision on Affirmative Action is the Supreme Court tradition’s next iteration, as well as a prime example of White Supremacy’s modern hood of choice: color-blind racism.

My terminology, color-blind racism and subsequent definitions are heavily based on the recent academic work of Eduardo BonillaSilva, Tyrone Forman and Amanda Lewis. The concept, to be discussed, has yet to reach the widespread political or public conscience; however, it accurately and pertinently describes the current racial reality. Color-blind racism — or color blindness — is an ideology that upholds White Supremacy’s dominance. It is built on five main principles: (1) most people don’t notice or care about race anymore; (2) racial equity has mostly been achieved; (3) persistent racial inequality results from individual or cultural — rather than structural — shortcomings; (4) the United States functions as a meritocracy; and (5) therefore, there is no need for institutional remedies — such as Affirmative Action — to redress persistent racialized outcomes.

The summer’s Supreme Court ruling and color blindness’s widespread reach highlight the Constitution’s deficiencies and reveal the need for a dramatic structural change, a new constitutional amendment.

Whether you have realized it or not, you’ve already seen color-blind racism around you. Likely, you have heard a politician, family member or classmate say: I don’t see color.

The tagline, while seemingly inane, is a manifestation of color blindness. But the quip is just the tip of the iceberg. To see below the surface, we must ask, how did colorblind racism come to the forefront of White Supremacy?

The question shares a common answer with other important civil rights questions, such as, “Why did Jim Crow replace slave codes?” And, “Why were eugenics and scientific racism replaced with cultural stereotypes?” The unifying reason: Once a system of dominance’s methods become ineffective — often when the methods become unjustifiable — they are replaced by more effective means.

America’s system of racial dominance — White Supremacy — is founded on protecting and expanding Whiteness: a term representing social, economic and political privilege, among others.

When White Supremacy had to adapt to the Civil Rights Movement, it turned to color-blind racism.

The Civil Rights Movement effectively shifted the country’s social and public morality. Tolerance of racial violence and discrimination plummeted. After experiencing atrocities — such as Emmett Till and the violent reactions to the Birmingham protest — and learning from Civil Rights leaders — like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Angela Davis — it became harder and harder for Americans to justify a system that explicitly discriminated based on race.

In the legal sphere, the Supreme Court ruled segregation and explicit discrimination unconstitutional across many cases, including Brown v. Board of Education, Bailey v.

Patterson and Jones v. Mayer Co. The federal government codified the end of de jure — legally explicit — discrimination by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Public approval of the Civil Rights Act totaled nearly 2-to-1 (58% to 31%).

A year later, the Voting Rights Act garnered a 76% support rate. While prejudice was still rampant, explicit racial discrimination became increasingly taboo in public spaces and indefensible in the courtroom.

To continue to uphold Whiteness’s dominance and codify it into the law, White Supremacy would now have to avoid the appearance of racial discrimination.

Color blindness offered the ideal

channel for White Supremacy to adapt.

The transition to color-blind racism can be summarized as a move from explicit racial discrimination to an implicit and subversive entity.

The ability to deny race as a factor allows discriminatory actions and outcomes to be legally defensible and morally justified, both to society and the self. It enables color-blind rhetoric users to believe they are exempt from repudiation — free from the label “racist.” This mental gymnastics is easier to see when deployed in discourse.

The police didn’t stop the man who was simply walking down the street because he was Black. It was because he was suspicious.

Why do people still talk about slavery? It was so long ago.

Generational wealth didn’t affect my acceptance to college. I proved my superior merit by scoring higher on the SAT. We are not passing strict voting laws to restrict Black and Brown voters. We are doing it to prevent election fraud.

Maintaining Whiteness requires more than just ideology — it also needs strategy. Color-blind tactics can be boiled down to four main approaches: justifying racism, undermining belief in structural racism and justice movements, de facto discrimination and preventing restorative policy.

Using this framework, we can see color-blind fabric weaving across multiple spheres.

We hear media sources utilize racially coded language. The usage of “thug” to villainize Black and Brown men and “rioters” to delegitimize Black Lives Matter protesters sits in the front of my mind. These exemplify how those who hold positions of power — whether political, legal, social or in media — ingeniously utilize colorblind ideology to ensure others genuinely believe its tenets.

We see historical erasure in education, as states like New Hampshire, Florida and Idaho eliminate critical elements of slavery and Jim Crow from public school education. Actions intended to prevent future generations from knowing about enduring racial trauma and inequalities.

We have experienced the War on Crime and the War on Drugs dominating the political landscape since the late ’60s and ’70s. These “race-neutral” policies started after essential rights — voting rights, education, job opportunities and housing — couldn’t be restricted explicitly based on race. These “wars” justified the disproportionate restriction of these very rights in Black and Brown communities.

De facto discrimination follows this model, using neutral language while maintaining and aggravating existing inequalities.

The result of color-blind strategy and rhetoric is oppressive and violent actions, with the perpetrators denying racism and White Supremacy as factors and supporters intrinsically believing these defining factors are irrelevant.

By challenging Affirmative Action this summer, Students for Fair Admissions — the golden boy of color-blind racism — has become the restorative policy’s newest opponent. SFFA’s founder, Edward Blum, on the other hand, is no rookie at all. Blum has a long history of legally challenging restorative policy, engaging in efforts to repeal voting rights protections since the ’90s — culminating in the Shelby v. Holder — and funding the failed attempt to repeal Affirmative Action in Fisher v. University of Texas in 2016. Blum and SFFA’s goals are synonymous with Color Blindness.

SFFA’s argument in the Harvard case centered on the claim that Affirmative Action programs discriminate against Asian Americans. The facade that they are fighting for equity launders SFFA and Blum’s discriminatory efforts. Their fight was never about Asian Americans’ rights. SFFA’s board consisted of Blum, Abigail Fisher (the plaintiff in Fisher v.

University of Texas) and Richard Fisher (Abigail’s Fisher’s” father).

As previously mentioned, White Supremacy is adaptable, and after their failed attempt in 2016, the group found a more effective strategy to achieve their goal: using Asian Americans.

During the trial, SFFA also challenged the use of racial classifications, highlighting the inconsistencies and inaccuracies in Harvard’s and the University of North Carolina’s race classification.

SFFA is right; racial categories used at these institutions and nationwide are woefully inadequate. The “Asian” category doesn’t accurately capture the numerous ethnicities and historical backgrounds included under the label. There is no specific category for any Middle Eastern Americans; institutions included them under “white.” However, just because institutions haven’t reached an acceptable standard doesn’t mean that considering race itself is incorrect. Without the ability to consider race, inequalities formed based on race cannot be remedied.

But what made these strategies effective was not just their moral suasion, but also their constitutional grounds. SFFA utilized a tool colorblind activists have been targeting for years: the Constitution and its

14th Amendment.

Yes, one of the Reconstruction amendments — the same amendment that the Civil Rights Movement used as its constitutional basis to end Jim Crow, and led to the vast expansion of rights.

The 14th Amendment states, “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,” and it gives Congress the power to enforce these provisions. It is this last clause, the Equal Protection Clause — “nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” — that has become the battleground between restorative policy and color-blind racism.

The Supreme Court’s judicial review power has allowed it to set precedents defining the Constitution. The Court’s Equal Protection Clause precedent on race-based college admissions, set during Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) and upheld during Fisher, allows for Affirmative Action programs under “strict scrutiny.” Strict scrutiny means all programs need a “compelling government interest,” and there is no more “narrowly tailored” way to achieve that interest.

The current Supreme Court overturned over 40 years of precedent with their Harvard decision. Much has been said about the justices who voted to do so.

Justice Clarence Thomas’ history of taking improper gifts from a conservative billionaire and his staff receiving payments from lawyers have captivated public attention.

Many people have griped about conservative justices turning their heads at decades of precedent.

However, the discourse obscures the more significant issue. Like many other inequitable situations, it is not bad apples, but an oppressive system.

Civil rights have relied on precedent instead of constitutional codification for too long. While these decisions that established the various precedents at the time were huge victories, stopping at those wins has made fundamental rights temporary, existing at the Supreme Court majority’s whim.

The recent decisions on abortion and affirmative action both highlight this weakness. It’s true — the Court often operates on past precedents. However, as we have seen, precedent is changeable, and a strict constitutional requirement is not.

Color-blind activists seized this opportunity.

They realized that Affirmative Action was built on weak ground.

They realized the 14th Amendment was written in race-neutral words — “nor deny to any person.” And while it prohibits explicit discrimination, it does not mention rectifying racial inequalities. They realized that addressing racial disparities, on its face, is technically an “unequal” act since the policies only benefit certain specific groups — especially if you don’t take into account historical contexts. This argument fit perfectly into the ideology they had been building among the U.S. public, and now they had a Supreme Court sympathetic to their beliefs.

A painful reality is, following the Constitution to the letter, the SFFA and other color-blind activists have a solid case. Given the historical context, it seems likely that those who adopted the 14th Amendment didn’t intend for it to allow restitutive policy.

To me, the most shocking evidence comes from the defense for Affirmative Action in Harvard and other Affirmative Action cases.

The most effective legal argument under “compelling government interest” is that diverse student bodies benefit the school’s learning environment. The construction of the 14th Amendment doesn’t allow advocates of Affirmative Action — or any restitutive policy — to defend such programs by proving they rectify historical discrimination.

It forces them to show that the program benefits everyone.

But what if a diverse environment didn’t benefit all students? Would that mean there was no basis for Affirmative Action? The Court’s precedent conveys the message: Restorative racial policy is only acceptable if it benefits whiteidentifying individuals. The issue is currently irrelevant as the Harvard decision deemed the learning environment argument unconstitutional, yet if we do return to the former Court precedent, as many advocates are calling for, the status quo will still be insufficient to amend racial inequalities.

This reality brings me to the conclusion that to truly attain equality, the United States needs a new constitutional amendment.

The 14th Amendment made explicit oppression unconstitutional; now, we need an amendment that specifically allows for restorative policy and outlaws de jure discrimination. In a world where the Supreme Court, the government and the public recognized the differential impact of race and allowed for fully restorative policy, maybe the 14th Amendment would be enough. Unfortunately, we do not live in that world.

Read more at michigandaily.com

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MiC

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 ­— 7

A note on summer, language and envy

Design by Francie Ahrens

AYEYI ASAMOAH-MANU MiC Columnist

The word of the day is summer. I miss summer. The season when the world seemed to come out from hiding and everything sat a little higher, for a little longer: the sun in the sky, the ice cream scoops on breaded cones, jeans shorts on exposed thighs. For me, summer was characterized by music festivals, spur-of-themoment travels, pool parties, picnics and garden dates.

Through one of the math and science camps that the University of Michigan hosts every year, I also had my first taste of summer counselor life — an extraordinary experience, if not for the long hours and terrible pay. Still, as someone who’s shared my own stories under the comfort of wooly duvets and wooden summer bunkers, I could not wait to extend the space to the kids as well. On the first night of camp, they introduced themselves over the crackle of the campfire.

I listened to their stories of where they came from — vivid descriptions of Latin America, Southeast Asia, Europe, Australia … Ohio, which left me bright-eyed and eager to learn more.

While listening to these stories — brimming with color, breadth and fullness — I noticed an interesting pattern in the conversation of my campers.

For one, I quickly found them falling back on their first language. They would begin with the briefest question — “Wait, where are you from, again?” In response, I would hear a gasp, followed by a “No way, me too,” and, before long, they became engulfed in a whole other language and, effectively, a whole other world.

Their conversations were colored with the same vividness of the stories they told. Their conversations were saturated with color, and its vibrance provided them a greater sense of solace. I fell in love with that color. From their gleaming smiles and giddy nods, I could immediately tell how freeing it was to speak their language with their people, and strip the level of formality English tends to have.

As I bore witness to these conversations, so rooted in specific languages and specific contexts, I could not help but feel an intense joy for them.

I watched as they giggled harmoniously at jokes only they could tell because of contexts only they could understand.

And even when I attempted to translate it into English, a language often limited in expressing humor and emotion, I quickly realized that the zest was simply in their respective languages. It allowed them to be who they were and say what they wanted, without any fear of judgment for their difference.

As my admiration for their collectiveness rose and settled

in my heart, it was unexpectedly interrupted by another emotion — a feeling that too began in my throat and reverberated in my chest. A feeling of profound shame.

Shame. A shame in my own inability to speak as f luently as they did. A shame in my incapability to communicate beyond what formal education had imposed on me. A shame for not being able to carry my language as authentically as they did theirs.

It’s interesting. I often prided myself in saying I could at least understand my native language, Akan Kasa or Twi (pronounced chwee). I could watch local movies from Ghallywood (Ghana’s very local version of Hollywood), listen to iconic Highlife songs littered with Twi words and phrases, and even read stories in the language (albeit with much effort). But whenever I actually attempted to speak, to respond to my parents in the language they instructed me in, I often stumbled. When I opened my mouth to speak, I found nothing more than a mouth left ajar and unspoken words. These quickly became frustrating moments, where I often knew what I wanted to say, but never how to say it — an indescribable block lodging itself in the back of my throat, stubbornly refusing to fade away.

Observing the children speak their language so effortlessly became a reminder — and then a reprimand — for my inability

to speak with the same ease.

What was so different about their upbringing that left them bilingual and me bitter? Why could I not connect with my people as they did with theirs?

These ref lections were difficult to have, seeing myself as merely a listener of my language — a bystander — and not the active participant I had hoped to be.

In asking these questions, my mind drew even further back to my childhood — a journey that unraveled in countries I was not native to but places I grew to call home. I thought of conversations in my native language, used by my parents to subtly indicate that the conversation no longer warranted my attention. I thought about how I grew up, perpetually on the receiving end of my language (hence my ability to understand) but rarely on its offering end (hence my inability to speak).

My parent’s push to have me speak good English brief ly crossed my mind too, enrolling me in schools and filling our home with books, which expanded my imagination beyond measure. But, with this imported vocabulary, I slowly shifted my reliance onto English. I stopped dreaming in my own language, and only saw my experiences through English’s all-imposing tint.

Growing up brief ly in Ghana, an English-speaking country surrounded by Frenchspeaking neighbors, taught me to prioritize speaking French over my own language.

I thought about the years I spent in French classrooms, French embassies and Alliances Françaises, wondering why there was never a push to learn my own language in the same way.

These thoughts then extended to my schools, where there was an even stronger reserve towards local languages. As a child, this had a subconscious impact on my perception of language itself: English was reserved for academic settings, where one aimed to appear learned, while my native language was relegated to the recesses of my mind. To be considered literate, and therefore valued, quickly became a condition that was limited to reading and writing English (and only English).

“You’re an African, you don’t owe anyone good English,” reprimanded a Tiktok I stumbled upon this summer.

And while I agree that even the whole notion of “good English” feels like a compliment-lacedsnark, I also found myself rebutting. Of course, I speak “good English” — in many ways, it’s the only language I’ve ever known. In many ways, the only language that escaped my lips was a foreign one, refined by years of British education and international schools. In many ways, the only thing I can confidently present is a tongue that differs from my mother’s or her mother’s.

As I delved into these questions and allowed a wave

of emotions to surface and subside, a resolution arrived.

I argue to myself that my language was never too late to learn and that understanding it was an achievement worth celebrating. Yes, it is ironic how I became more f luent in French, another colonizing language to grace my lips, than in my own native tongue. Yes, it’s a little disappointing that I spent more years learning English, composing essays and delving into poetry, but never once stepping foot in an Akan Twi class.

Undoubtedly, there’s a certain privilege in this journey, which has broadened my global opportunities and connected me with a wider array of people to engage with and learn from (or at least, that’s what I consoled myself with while grappling with this internal conf lict).

Deep down, however, I will always wish I could extend that f luency to my own language, tapping into that sense of home it provided for others.

So for now, I’ll even leave my summer reminiscing at just that. Perhaps pondering and ref lecting forms my first step toward reconciling who I am and who I want to be. Perhaps the next time I see my campers, I will have more of my own stories in my own language to share with them. Perhaps by unearthing these intricate layers of my linguistic identity, my shame will turn over pride, even as summer turns over to fall.

‘Shattered Bodies’: Building futures through glitch Bleached by the song of barren hearts, their cries turn to currency.

SONIA XIANG & AKASH DEWAN

MiC Contributor & MiC Director of Photography

They are broken beyond salvation, as hands find empty necks.

“Shattered Bodies” aims to explore various speculative futures as a tool of resistance through a tangible representation of the glitch.

Its purpose is to push back against techno-orientalist tropes through the refusal of the binary body, embracing the “error” as a symbol of revolution. The piece employs a visual convergence of human and machine, utilizing the constructed garment and its interactions with Asian diasporic bodies to become a tool for re-imagination. This depiction aims to abstract the gender binary and human body– paving paths for autonomy through transhumanism.

They beg, betray, burn each other to dust.

The motherboard shatters.

But from shatter we rise.

Embracing a uselessness who births a revolution, we weave our soldered veins paving paths from fused vessels.

We build, We amplify fractures. becoming a beautiful laceration we reimagine futures beyond.

Mutating our bodies to refuse erasure

They are birthed from ash.

They bow to the shadows of a two-headed creature, who with epoxy fingers splits their bodies They are bound to dust.

we become the error.

Reimagining through disruption rewiring to worlds beyond.

To become nothing. Everything, all at once.

They are imprisoned.

They bleed of a hurt that haunts punctured souls.

Watching plastic shrapnel pierce their flesh; they melt, mold, return to ash.

They are muzzled.

We burn life into brick.

We blur our bodies.

Scene from “Shattered Bodies: Building Futures Through Glitch” Video

We burst, we break, and we become the glitch.

Opinion

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

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JULIAN BARNARD AND QUIN ZAPOLI Editorial Page Editors

A note to elderly politicians: Please retire JAMIE MURRAY Opinion Columnist

JULIE VERKLAN AND ZOE STORER Managing Editors

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Ammar Ahmad Julian Barnard Brandon Cowit Jess D’Agostino Ben Davis Shubhum Giroti Devon Hesano

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 — 8

Jack Kapcar Sophia Lehrbaum Olivia Lehrbaum Olivia Mouradian Siddharth Parmar Rushabh Shah Zhane Yamin Nick Rubeck

Nikhil Sharma Lindsey Spencer Evan Stern Anna Trupiano Jack Tumpowsky Alex Yee Quin Zapoli

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board.

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

Adverse Conditions

Design by Layla Salaheldin

A

s college students, we must consider a number of factors before deciding what career path to choose. There’s the money, the power and the prestige. Maybe you consider the impact you could have on the world, or the employability of different sectors in a post-pandemic economy.

There’s tremendous pressure on us to find the right fit, but the factor we may not consider is a career’s expected retirement age.

I would assume that most people hope to retire as early as possible and enjoy the rest of their years outside the workforce. That’s all anyone could ask for, really. Why is it, then, that politicians don’t seem to feel the same?

The average American expects to retire at the age of 65, but the median age of retirement is actually three years younger, based on the findings of a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. There are 198 members of the 118th Congress, or 36.6% of the entire body, that are over the expected retirement age of 65. The median age in the Senate is 65.3 years, a number that has been steadily climbing each year. Conversely, the average American this body is said to represent is 38.9 years old.

There is a perceived notion that elderly lawmakers care only about their own power and interests, instead of effective governance. That argument would explain why elderly lawmakers choose not to step down and retire. Individual members of Congress could be choosing not to retire for the same reasons as any other person.

A study published in BMC Public Health found the factors that most contribute to retirement timing are demographics,

health, social participation, work characteristics, financial pressures, retirement preferences and overall macro factors.The age of our representatives has been the subject of debates all over the United States recently. In an effort to make legislatures more representative and responsive to their constituents, term limits have emerged as a possible solution. Opponents of term limits argue that the election process is enough to dictate what ages are acceptable for representatives, and that experience among members of Congress is necessary for legislative efficiency. Some argue for age limits rather than term limits, concerned less about years in office and more about years on Earth. A CBS poll found that 73% of people think that there should be age limits for elected officials, with there being little difference in responses between political parties.

I do not plan to give my two cents on either of these topics.

My contention, rather, is that the advanced ages of our elected officials indicate a flaw in the U.S. system of governance.

Addressing this flaw could pave the way for more effective measures.

When lawmakers do retire, members of their party often greet it with concern. When older and more experienced members step down, they take their years of experience and institutional knowledge with them, creating fears of gridlock in the legislative process. It makes sense — in any work environment, the most senior employees will have experience that makes them more efficient at the job than someone just starting out.

These newly elected officials — on top of trying to get legislation passed — have a lot on their plate: learning

the rules of the road, creating relationships and building a network, figuring out who to talk to and who NOT to talk to, trying to navigate relationships with their constituents, building a reputation to make a good impression and so many other factors that go into being a newly elected official. All this while also trying to get legislation passed.

The Congressional Management Foundation is the go-to resource for incoming members of Congress. It offers webinars in a training series specifically tailored to freshman Congresspeople, as well as general workplace training programs. While many elected members have some sort of experience before assuming the role, this training doesn’t offer insight on interpersonal relationships that occur in Congress that someone who has been working there for years would have insight on.

A study done by the Center for Effective Lawmaking found that new members of Congress enjoy plenty of benefits when they hire experienced legislative staff right from the beginning, and the authors argue that providing these new members with an experienced staff is the best way to help new members succeed.

Beyond a possible webinar that a member can attend, being surrounded by people who actually know what they’re doing and who help the new member adapt and learn seems like the best possible option.

Having experienced people around new members could also include senior members of Congress who have stepped down from their positions. They should use their experience to aid the new member in taking their seat.

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Oct 12 I Stamps Print Media Studio

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Survival and Resistance with artist & author Janie Paul

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Opinion In favor of shutting up about Coffee, Cola or Celsius: You decide virginity how to caffeinate

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

LILA DOMINUS Opinion Columnist

I

entered high school thinking that the greatest stigma around sex would be getting shamed for having it, as was informed by my middle school media consumption.

In the shows and movies I watched, sex was readily available in high school, but the girls that had it ended up with the word “slut” spray painted onto their lockers or on the receiving end of cruel whispers as they walked through the hallways.

By the time I graduated high school, however, I would find the exact opposite to be true.

A combination of the media I consumed, conversations I took part in and the greater cultural context I was situated in made it so that by the time I left high school, with my virginity still intact, my lack of sexual experience was a source of embarrassment — a humiliating, heavy secret.

I’d say some of the feelings that came with that embarrassment are unavoidable. High school is a time of life rife with insecurity and comparison, and sexual experience is an easy benchmark with which to compare yourself. I didn’t know how to not apply my lack of experience to make larger judgments about myself, and particularly as virginity functioned for me as a straight, cisgender girl, sex felt inextricably linked to being chosen and wanted.

But whatever internal struggle my lack of experience left me with, the experience of having to divulge that information about myself to others was all the more mortifying.

Both over my gap year and during my freshman year at the University of Michigan, inquiring about one another’s sexual experience felt integral to getting to know one another. Games such as “Never Have I Ever” and “Hotseat” along with comparisons of Rice Purity scores somehow always came up, and what you had to share wasn’t neutrally received. While my insecurity exacerbated my peers’ reactions in my head, sexual experience seemed to inform how we were making sense of one another: sexual experience being socially favorable and a lack of it being awkward and isolating.

The problem lies in these

extrapolations of virginity.

People constantly divulging their sexual history in social settings and subsequently using others’ histories to make judgments creates significant pressure to have sex. The pressure isn’t about sex; it is about fitting in.

There isn’t a right or wrong time to first have sex, but there are certainly right and wrong reasons.

The choice to have sex should be motivated exclusively by personal desire and should only happen in safe and comfortable environments.

Whether or not someone is a “virgin,” a term that unto itself is already outdated and problematic, should remain neutrally connotated.

Otherwise, the social element of sex becomes more important than the personal, setting people up to opt into having sex before they’re ready or to do it in unsafe conditions.

We exist at a moment when casual sex is championed. The advent of dating apps made casual sex all the more immediate and accessible, not just because that’s what the apps can be used for, but also in the messages conveyed by accessing the app entirely. Almost all of my friends had made Tinder accounts by the time we graduated high school, despite us all having little to no sexual experience.

Many of our first encounters with sexual language being thrown our way were from older strangers on various dating platforms.

An example of the sexual attitudes I was taking in during high school is Call Her Daddy, a viral sex podcast initially hosted by Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn (Cooper is now the podcast’s sole host). The podcast claimed to be feminist, but its ethos revolved entirely around the hosts championing women cultivating the same toxic and impersonal relationships with sex they saw men having. One of the podcast’s most famous moments is their coining of the “gluck gluck 9000,” their moniker for their particular technique on how to give the best and sloppiest blowjob.

This podcast is just one example of cultural phenomena that helped shape an understanding that casual sex was cool, fun and feminist.

Understanding sex as something intimate and special was lame or prudish. If you genuinely enjoy casual sex, then that’s something

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 — 9

you should be able to partake in freely and without fear of retribution or judgment. However, when casual sex becomes the norm or expectation, the same societal pressures I discussed in the context of “virginity” are replicated.

While open discourse around sex is vital, and talking about sex with peers in contexts where you feel safe and comfortable should be encouraged, talking about sex in unfamiliar and new groups shouldn’t function as a social lubricant. It inevitably leads to a comparison culture that fosters insecurity and socially incentivizes sexual participation. This is felt most acutely particularly as it relates to virginity, as the word itself creates a powerful binary, dividing the world into people who have had sex and those who haven’t.

When I eventually had sex for the first time over my gap year, I wrote in my journal, “Losing your virginity is just like having a birthday. You think you’ll feel different, but you don’t.” Before I’d had sex, the fact that I hadn’t was an omnipresent, looming rain cloud. On the other side of it, I was able to gain an immediate clarity about the insignificance of whether or not one has had sex that was inaccessible to me under the weight of societal pressure. Now, on the other side of the “virgin” binary, I feel no judgment when I encounter someone who’s yet to have sex, but the internalized judgment you feel when you haven’t is real and acute.

I frankly feel lucky that my experience having sex for the first time happened in a space where I felt comfortable, with someone I knew and trusted. I had been so desperate to rid myself of the label that had a more impersonal, or even unsafe, opportunity presented itself, I likely would have taken it.

The social conditions and norms we create around sex matter. The choice to have sex, particularly for the first time, is deeply personal, and we should respect that both as it applies to ourselves and to others.

The casual discussions and games around sex that can feel light and impersonal are actually weighted and important. If not to you, then very likely to someone else. Don’t inadvertently contribute to the internal pressure someone feels in relation to their sex life. I promise, there are other things to talk about.

TÉA SANTORO Opinion Columnist

A

s dawn breaks on college campuses across the country, a familiar ritual unfolds: the desperate quest for caffeine. From early-morning lectures to late-night cramming sessions, students have developed a love affair with their chosen energy elixirs. There are two contenders in this arena: energy drinks and good old-fashioned coffee. I always have been, and always will be, a coffee girl, but lately, I’ve noticed many of my friends trading in their mugs for brightly-colored cans.

Coffee, once the lifeblood of college campuses, is facing stiff competition in the hearts of young adults. Enter the energy drink, sporting flashy logos, calling from convenience store shelves and promising an electrifying shock to power through all-nighters. In 2021, the energy drink market was valued at $86.35 billion. Between 2022 and 2030, that number is expected to increase by a compound annual growth rate of 8.3%.

Coffee, beyond its caffeinated allure, has historically been a symbol of introspection and community. Its roots trace back to centuries-old traditions and cultures that valued the slow, deliberate act of brewing and savoring each sip.

Whether you’re waiting for your French press to steep or for the drip coffee to fill your pot, there’s a pause ― a moment of anticipation.

Coffee encourages us to slow down, to savor and, oftentimes, to share.

The first coffeehouses in Europe, whether in Venice or London, were dubbed “penny universities” because with a single penny, you could buy a coffee and engage in hours of rich conversation. How many friendships, business ideas or romances have bloomed over a warm cup?

Contrast this with the sharp, electric jolt of energy drinks. They are products of a new age, aligned with extreme sports and overnight work marathons. Energy drinks are all about immediacy — a quick fix.

They answer a modern problem: How do I cram more into an already overflowing day? With an assured dose of caffeine, added vitamins and a concoction of other “energy-

boosting” ingredients, energy drinks promise a sustained release of vitality. Many college students believe that promise, associating the consumption of these beverages with heightened alertness and prolonged stamina.

Yet, the allure of energy drinks for the college demographic isn’t solely in their caffeine percentage or taste — it’s in the culture they’ve created. Companies aren’t just selling a drink; they’re selling an identity. By drinking these products, students feel they’re aligning themselves with a certain lifestyle — one that’s vibrant, active and energetic. The very spirit of energy drinks stems from the idea that college is a phase of life where sleep is optional and burning out is almost a rite of passage. As they gain popularity, they threaten to normalize an unhealthy pace of life for students.

At first glance, these stimulants may seem like a natural evolution in our increasingly fast-paced world. Coming in an easily transportable can, they are undeniably more convenient than a freshly brewed cup of coffee, and with a wide array of flavors, they cater to the ever-changing preferences of Gen Z. More than the physical aspects, energy drinks are marketed with a clever touch that reaches the demographic that’s consuming them. Their advertising campaigns often feature young adults leaping from planes, skiing down mountains or dancing until dawn. For example, in 2016, Red Bull released a series of ads called “World of Red Bull.”

The marketing strategy featured professional snowboarder Travis Rice and Olympic surfer Carissa Moore claiming drinking Red Bull “gives you wings.”

Companies have also started entering brand deals with celebrities and social media influencers, capitalizing on the enormous outreach of these wellknown figures. The amount of sway that social media has cannot be understated. If, suddenly, a popular TikTok influencer starts telling her viewers to buy Celsius, a brand of energy drink, people listen. Maybe we think that drinking the same drink as our favorite influencer will make us more like them, or maybe it’s just a contemporary form

of social persuasion; either way, consider us influenced.

Regardless of the underlying reasons for our susceptibility to persuasion, today’s society is undeniably driven by the desire for quick fixes and immediate rewards.

In a world of instant gratification, energy drinks promise prompt and powerful results.

Coffee, with its ritualistic brewing and slower consumption, represents a more deliberate and paced approach to life. It evokes scenes of cozy coffee shops, old friends catching up or a mystery girl reading a book. It provides not just a caffeine kick, but also a reason for people to come together.

However, for students scrambling to meet deadlines, juggling parttime jobs and managing social lives, the promise of immediate energy is enticing. But it’s essential to pause and ask: at what cost?

This shift threatens hundreds of years of discussions shared over a cup of coffee. Coffee shops have long been hubs of social interaction and intellectual discussion. They provide a space to pause and engage with the world.

Conversely, energy drinks encourage consumption on the go, often in isolation. They’re not about savoring but surviving.

Marketing schemes often revolve around pushing yourself to the limit, and even the design speaks of immediacy — pop open a can, chug it and go. There’s no ritual, no brewing time, no communal experience.

Rising consumption mirrors the growing trend of the relentless hustle and the race against time that many students feel. It’s a sign of larger societal shifts and changing values. While energy drinks may be gaining ground on college campuses, it’s vital to consider the broader implications of this choice, both for individual health and for the fabric of college life.

As we navigate our way through these transformative years, we need to weigh our choices carefully, recognizing that sometimes, the allure of the new and the flashy might come at the expense of timeless charm. So, next time you find yourself reaching for a Celsius, consider texting a friend and visiting M-36 or Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting Company instead.

From The Daily: What the UAW strike means for college students THE MICHIGAN DAILY EDITORIAL BOARD

T

he United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America are making history. For the first time ever, UAW struck against the “Big Three” automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — at the same time. Founded in 1935, UAW represents 400,000 active members across North America, is made up of 600 local unions and boasts a record of successfully bargaining for the first employerpaid health insurance plan for industrial workers. As of right now, 13,000 of the union’s members are withholding their labor, with more likely to join them down the line.

UAW initiated their “Stand Up Strike” on Friday, Sept. 15, after they couldn’t reach an agreement with the Big Three automakers. Both on

the picket line and at the bargaining table, union members have made their intentions clear; the union’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years, a benefit pension plan for all employees, increased time off, family protections and health care for retired employees.

This strike comes after decades of complaints from the union about plant closures and offshoring.

UAW joins a number of unions currently striking across major industries. A tightening labor market and a confluence of expiring contracts after an extended pandemic-era postponement have created the market conditions for unions to reassert their bargaining power. While it may seem like the issues that auto workers are fighting for don’t mean anything to the average college student, you’d be sorely mistaken. The principal concern of UAW is that of economic equality and stability,

matters that mean something to workers everywhere, whether they be part-time Starbucks baristas or Hollywood actors and writers. A rising tide lifts all boats; University of Michigan students should realize that — whether you graduate in two months or two years — unions are in a very real sense fighting for you, too.

Following the 2008 recession, many auto workers were forced to give up pay raises in order to help their employers survive the economic downslide. More than a decade later, amid the pandemic, auto manufacturers were out of work as plants shut down and wages were greatly reduced. The Brookings Institution estimates that the pandemic disproportionately harmed low-wage workers. As the economy continues to recover after COVID-19, the time is now for action.

Industrial organizing to mitigate the excesses of technology is not,

of course, a new phenomenon, and has been a significant motivator in many labor moments. As automation progresses, the workers that once worked manufacturing jobs are increasingly being replaced by specialized machinery. Despite its increasing prevalence in other union movements, UAW’s demands have little mention of the rise of artificial intelligence. As the shift to electrical vehicles gains speed, the likelihood of automation in the auto sector becomes all the more realistic.

Initial attempts to manufacture electric vehicles via automation have been wildly successful, increasing efficiency and reducing production time. The workplace is changing to a tech-led environment, but with AI comes fewer job opportunities for manufacturing workers and difficulties in achieving professional growth.

Through bargaining and collective action, striking workers

today can protect the job security of later generations from the threat of AI employees.

The prevalence of large strikes in recent years shows a growing trend: Americans are more and more uncertain about the future of their labor. Artificial intelligence and automation are continuing to evolve, and they threaten to make a large portion of our entire labor force obsolete within the next several decades. Couple that with wages that have been dramatically affected by inflation and a global pandemic, and you have the perfect setting for a dramatic rebalancing.

While many young people were not directly affected by the last two major economic downturns, they will not be immune to future economic stress. Recent college graduates are filled with uncertainty about the economy and job market while college graduates have a higher unemployment rate than the

national average. Students also face an economy with a middle class that has been shrinking since the start of the pandemic, along with the looming threat of another recession.

Reckoning with the implications of this shake-up isn’t just for those on the picket line or at the bargaining table. The changes rippling through the working world are bound to reach all of us, and some already have. As college students searching for summer jobs or graduates looking for full-time employment, we must recognize that the world isn’t waiting to change: it already is. Whether you’re graduating with a mechanical engineering or computer science degree, just know that your future career trajectory isn’t going to be the same as it was 10 years ago. Pay close attention to the UAW strikes, and not just to support those on the picket line: They’re fighting for your future labor rights, too.

Tuberculosis is curable. Corporate greed might be too.

NICK RUBECK

Opinion Columnist

L

ast week, activists and patients won a breakthrough in the fight against the world’s deadliest infectious disease: tuberculosis. Cepheid, a medical equipment manufacturer owned by the multinational conglomerate Danaher, agreed to slash the price of their multi-drug resistant tuberculosis tests after lobbying from organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and Partners In Health — and the novelistphilanthropist-YouTuber duo Hank and John Green.

Adding to an increasingly large body of work spreading awareness about tuberculosis, John Green’s video compares Cepheid’s business model to those of printer, razor and coffee-pod companies: sell an effective base device at a relatively accessible price, but offer the essential and replaceable component at a high mark-up.

Cepheid’s equivalent of the printer is the GeneXpert, a machine which can test a sample for genetic markers of countless infections and their variations — including COVID-19, HIV, influenza and, of course, tuberculosis. The machine is game-changing for diagnosing tuberculosis, which is still most commonly done through the 130-year-old process of microscopy.

Scientists and doctors manually scanning a sputum sample for tuberculosis bacteria under a microscope miss more than half of all cases and cannot determine if a bacterium is drug-resistant.

Multidrug- and extensively drugresistant tuberculosis infections — MDR and XDR tuberculosis, respectively — require specialized, incredibly rigorous treatment plans, involving a cocktail of two to four drugs (or more) taken on a strict schedule for six to nine months.

If treatment is missed or delayed, the tuberculosis can develop a resistance to one or more drugs and, catastrophically, stop responding to

treatment.

Thankfully, the GeneXpert is able to quickly and accurately scan samples for tuberculosis and determine if the bacteria is drug resistant. This minimal turnaround is critical for a timely response and has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives around the world, especially in the low-income and middle-income countries where tuberculosis is most commonly transmitted. However, the printer needs its ink: The GeneXpert uses test cartridges, which now range from about $8 for one MDR tuberculosis test to $15 for an XDR test.

Cepheid had sold the MDR cartridge for $9.98, a price which Doctors Without Borders estimated was a 20% markup. In a press release, Danaher officials reported that Cepheid would sell their MDR tests at the cost of manufacture, $7.97, and forgo profits on the product. This is still $3 more than organizations like Doctors Without Borders had hoped for, and XDR cartridges remain at

their high price, but it is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.

A $2 difference between a marked-up and break-even cartridge might seem miniscule, but it’s crucial to consider the target demographic of tuberculosis tests.

While tuberculosis is certainly still a problem in the United States and other wealthy countries, the highest risk falls on citizens of poorer countries. Clinics in South Asia, Southeast Asia and across Africa are often already spread thin, with minimal resources and higher incidence of infectious disease.

Coinfection of tuberculosis and another major illness, such as HIV, is a major concern and can spell disaster for patient prognosis.

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Denise Kirschner, professor of microbiology and immunology, said that tuberculosis doesn’t get enough attention simply because it doesn’t directly affect the developed world as much as a disease like COVID-19, which briefly overtook tuberculosis as the

world’s deadliest infectious disease between 2020 and 2021.

“TB is a Brown disease,” Kirschner said, referencing a panel held by the World Health Organization on World Tuberculosis Day, March 24. “It is in countries that are predominantly people of Color and of low socioeconomic status.”

Kirschner also shared concerns about the increase in drug resistance as tuberculosis infections persist and lie dormant as latent infections.

While we don’t know what the next pandemic will be, we can be assured that tuberculosis will play a role in the health outcomes of countless patients around the world.

In the wake of a modern pandemic, as COVID-19 settles as an endemic disease, the healthcare industry will have to consider its priorities. Are hand-over-fist profits worth the people inherently placed out of testing and treatment?

World governments have the ability to subsidize healthcare companies, especially in widespread

emergencies. While government subsidies could threaten competition in the industry, competitive grants could still incentivize the development of effective tests and interventions at low-to-no cost to patients.

More than that, we as citizens, patients and people need to understand the threats to vulnerable communities around the world.

With empathy comes compassion, and with it solidarity. Even beyond the threat of tuberculosis or other diseases spreading in the U.S., we should be worried about how people are experiencing those diseases now — and how they are being actively taken advantage of.

There are plenty of differences between the large-but-unequal health care system in the U.S. and the smaller (and also unequal) systems in poorer countries. The key, however, is giving voice to the people in the face of explicit corporate greed. Given a choice between patents and patients, there is no contest.

Opinion

10 — Wednesday, October 4, 2023

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

War and PCs: How AI will change the face of modern warfare TATE MOYER

Opinion Columnist

John Badham’s 1983 blockbuster film, “WarGames,” served as an early warning about the growing connections between technology and warfare. Its vision of a world where artificial intelligence wields an alarming level of power offers a glimpse into the dangers of entrusting AI with control over military technology. Fast forward four decades to 2023, and this once seemingly distant future has become ominously closer to reality.

The mid-2010s marked the emergence of a new type of arms race between global

superpowers, focusing on AI as opposed to the development of physical weaponry.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and autonomous drones, for instance, are programmed to perform surveillance and can execute entire combat missions and drone strikes with minimal human input. The U.S. Air Force’s experimental AI fighter jet, the Valkyrie, took f light for the first time last month with no humans aboard. The technologies are quickly beginning to outperform humans, as was the case with the AI algorithm that easily beat multiple human F-16 pilots in dogfighting trials back in August.

Many experts have expressed concerns about the moral

implications of these developments. Mary Wareham, one of the leading activists in the fight to restrict AI weaponry, expressed such sentiments in an interview with the Center for Public Integrity. Wareham’s primary argument revolves around the fact that machines lack compassion. As a result, they are unable to sort through difficult ethical alternatives — using AI controlled machines to kill crosses a moral threshold. The deployment of these autonomous weapons could lead to unintended casualties, as AI is entrusted with making life-and-death decisions without proper oversight.

These AI-powered military systems are especially vulner-

able to cyberattacks as well.

Data poisoning and hacking allow malicious individuals to infiltrate and disrupt AI algorithms, rendering them useless or even turning them against their operators. Such was the case in 2016, when a team of hackers successfully hijacked Jeep’s digital systems. After tapping into the system, they were able to remotely disable the car’s brakes, accelerate the vehicle or even bring it to a complete standstill on the highway. The demonstration prompted Chrysler to initiate a recall for 1.4 million vehicles, shedding light on the grave danger to civilians if AI-controlled machinery systems are compromised.

The rapid progression of AI in this sector has brought many of its developers to a moral tipping point. Many CEOs of leading AI companies have come forward, voicing their growing concerns over the risks that the technology could pose. It was these very concerns that prompted over 33,000 technology leaders and researchers to sign an open letter calling for a six-month moratorium in AI development.

“AI systems with humancompetitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity,” the letter reads.

“Not even their creators … can understand, predict, or reliably control (them).”

The situation has been unset-

tling, with Dr. Geoffrey Hinton publicly announcing his departure from Google in May of this year. Known as “The Godfather of AI,” Hinton’s decision was frightening for many. Upon his resignation, Hinton said that AI may pose a threat.

“The alarm bell I’m ringing has to do with the existential threat of (AI) taking control,” Hinton wrote. “I used to think it was a long way off, but now I think it’s serious and fairly close.”

His words serve as a reminder of the urgency and magnitude of the risks posed by the rapid advancement of AI in the military realm.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

2023 WALLENBERG MEDAL & LECTURE

The Fight for Fair Food and the Future of Worker-driven Social Responsibility

Lucas Benitez TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2023 Co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers

7:30PM • RACKHAM AUD. INFO: WALLENBERG.UMICH.EDU

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Sports

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 — 11

FOOTBALL

SportsMonday: Roman Wilson is brilliant, but it’s time to get someone else involved CONNOR EAREGOOD

Managing Sports Editor

It’s not really a secret — J.J. McCarthy has a favorite receiver in senior Roman Wilson.

And why shouldn’t he? Wilson has burning speed and an uncanny catching ability. He showed that once more against Nebraska when he quite literally hauled a touchdown off of a defensive back’s helmet. Anything the junior quarterback could want from a target, Wilson provides it. That’s why McCarthy has called his name eight times for touchdowns.

But there’s a problem with favorites: they’re predictable.

As much as Wilson’s archetype can dominate against lesser skilled teams — Nebraska, UNLV or East Carolina — he might not do that against tougher competition that

focuses coverage on him. I’m talking about Penn State and Ohio State, but also any teams that the No. 2 Michigan football team might face on a probable College Football Playoff run. Those teams play strong defense, and they’ll surely hone in on Wilson.

Now it’s time to get someone else going, too.

So far, the Wolverines have struggled to find the same type of production down the depth chart.

Graduate receiver Cornelius Johnson has 15 catches and averages an almost identical 17 yards per reception as Wilson, but he has only scored a lone touchdown. No other wideout has more than four catches, and five other receivers share two scoring catches between them.

Who exactly carries the ball to the end zone doesn’t matter as much as the outcome, but Michigan has put a lot of eggs into Wilson’s basket.

Other teams know that every time he steps on the field, he’s the primary read out wide from a scoring sense. There isn’t another wrinkle for them to worry about.

That all showed on Wilson’s spectacular catch. Breaking into open space, a defender from across the field spied him open. As McCarthy forced a throw to Wilson, that defender had a chance to make a play on the ball. No matter how heroic the play looks in hindsight, in the moment it was a risky play akin to the ones that have already cost McCarthy on the biggest stage against TCU last year.

Even he recognized the risk of Wilson’s heroics: “We had a double move that play, and I was looking towards Cornelius Johnson side and the DB played a good job,” McCarthy said Saturday. “… Then I looked back across the field and I saw Roman wide

FOOTBALL

Roman Wilson gets it done in more ways than one in win over Nebraska CHARLIE PAPPALARDO

Daily Sports Editor

LINCOLN — Roman Wilson doesn’t usually need much help.

The senior wide receiver entered Saturday’s game against Nebraska tied for the most touchdown receptions in the nation by using his speed to create separation. He doesn’t usually need to help himself out by making a physical play on the ball, rather he opts to just dust his defender.

Junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy thought Wilson had done that yet again in the No. 2 Michigan football team’s opening drive against Nebraska. With his eyes downfield, McCarthy saw Wilson open in the endzone. Little did McCarthy know, Cornhuskers defensive back Isaac Gifford has impressive closing speed.

Little did Gifford know, he was about to be put on a poster.

Gifford was draped all over Wilson by the time the ball got to him, an unusual sight for a receiver usually a step or two ahead. But facing Wilson and not the ball, Gifford gave Wilson a chance. So he leapt up and broke character — he got himself some help.

He got that help from the defender trying to stop him. Skill-

fully pinning the ball on Gifford’s helmet as he came down, Wilson somehow held on for a miraculous catch to open the 45-7 onslaught’s scoring. In the process, he showed he can get it done in more ways than one. Sure, Wilson can use his speed and get free. But just ask Gifford — if Wilson needs to make a physical catch on a well-defended play, he can do that too.

“I saw Roman like wide open, so I just threw it to him,” McCarthy said. “And then I see number two running and getting over there and I’m like, ‘oh shoot.’ I thought it was (pass interference) at first, I didn’t even know he caught the ball. And then when I saw him running, and Karsen (Barnhart) threw his arms up, I was just like, ‘man, that was god (helping) right there. And Roman Wilson.”

Maybe Wilson got a little help from divine intervention too, as McCarthy quipped, but whatever happened — however it happened — it showed Wilson coming to form as an all-around receiver and Michigan’s no-doubt No. 1 option. Yes, he can get open through his speed.

Sure, that speed can keep him separated for plenty of yards after the catch. All of it looks flashy on the field, it looks nice. But if he needs to get gritty too, he can.

And that looks nice too. So nice,

it had people thinking twice.

“I just saw the ball go up in the air, and I was like, ‘There’s no way he caught that,’ ” senior running back Kalel Mullings said. “But Roman makes plays like that all the time. It’s just a tribute to how good of a player he is. … Week by week he’ll keep making crazy plays, you’ll see.”

It’s “crazy plays” like that one that keeps defenses scratching their heads with Wilson. Achieving the difficult task of catching up to the speedster isn’t enough to stop him. If he needs help, he’ll make sure he gets it, even if that means exploiting a defender to get it.

Most of the time, however, Wilson is helping others out.

After the play, he helped McCarthy process the play and celebrate it by jumping into his arms in elation. By nature, his success with receptions helps diversify the offense McCarthy leads.

But just because Wilson pulled out a new trick on that touchdown doesn’t mean he can’t rely on the plethora of old ones already in his bag. As the game progressed, it was still Wilson’s quickness that put him ahead en route to his team-leading 58-yard, two touchdown outing.

When McCarthy needed help as his pocket broke down in the second quarter, it was Wilson who got ahead of his defender streaking across the flat. He got so much space that the only time Nebraska surrounded him on that route was when his momentum after the catch sent him into the Cornhuskers’ sideline. Later that drive, Wilson got free running across the back of the endzone, and McCarthy found him to cash in for six and boost Wilson’s touchdown mark on the season to eight.

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FOOTBALL

Michigan defensive line produces more than just highlight reel interception against Nebraska

open. So I just threw it to him. And then I (saw) number two running, getting over there and I’m like, ‘oh, shoot.’ ” McCarthy didn’t have much to wallow about. Wilson made his crazy grab, and McCarthy sprinted down the field to jump up and chest bump him. But in another world, it might instead have been an interception. McCarthy might’ve walked to the sideline with his head down.

If McCarthy feels the impulse to chuck it toward Wilson if his primary read is covered, that’s a larger concern. While crazy plays often get the benefit of the doubt, heroics shouldn’t be needed to score a touchdown against Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers bled 252 passing yards per game before the Wolverines passed for 187 yards themselves. It’s on other receivers to get open against their competition and McCarthy to find them, not for Wil-

son to make a highlight catch to bail him out.

Because while McCarthy can get away with risks against Nebraska, the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes won’t let them slide. The former boasts the best pass defense in the NCAA, and the latter ranks fifth.

They’ve got corners who play sticky coverage, not to mention better components around them. If the Wolverines don’t have secondary options to supplement Wilson, they might run into trouble.

None of this is to suggest that Wilson scoring is a problem. The concern is how much he is being leaned on. Last season, McCarthy showed he could make more than one lone receiver a scoring threat.

He handed out six scores to Johnson, four to Ronnie Bell and three to Wilson. But there is no balance in one player scoring 80% of the Wolverines’ receiving touchdowns like

Wilson is right now.

There’s a reason McCarthy loves targeting Wilson — it’s the crazy catches like his first touchdown against Nebraska. That’s why McCarthy called Wilson one of the most special players in the country after week one, something Wilson has only backed up since.

That’s why I’m not suggesting McCarthy should brush him off and force throws elsewhere. Rather, he should try to disperse the workload.

Hit Johnson more in the red zone.

Maybe utilize the third-down capabilities of sophomore receiver Tyler Morris. Or tap the athletic abilities of freshman receiver Semaj Morgan. But the more Michigan relies on Wilson now, the easier it might become for opponents to shut him down.

So for Wilson’s sake — and for the Wolverines’ — it’s time to get someone else involved, too.

FOOTBALL

Michigan running game powered by Mullings’ breakout performance JOHN TONDORA

Daily Sports Editor

LINCOLN — Walking into Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nebraska’s rush defense ranked first in the country. Stifling opponents at the line of scrimmage, the Cornhuskers allowed just 46.2 yards on the ground each game.

It took the No. 2 Michigan football team two drives to raise the average.

On their first nine rushes, the Wolverines gained exactly 47 yards and — in less than half of a quarter — put the best statistical rushing defense in the country to bed.

Time and time again, Michigan ran roughshod on a Cornhuskers defensive line that prided itself on swallowing up running backs.

Nebraska’s plan initially appeared simple. Eyeing bellcow, senior running back Blake Corum and slow-starting, junior running back Donovan Edwards, the Cornhuskers had the No. 2 Michigan football team’s leading rushers in their sights. Yet, rising to the top was senior running back Kalel Mullings. “(Mullings is) just really putting it all together,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said postgame. “Putting the leg cycle together, putting the downhill running together, being able to lower his pads right at the line of scrimmage, keep the legs going.”

Harbaugh’s high praise was not simply fluff. Mullings finished the day with 43 yards on five attempts — nearly reaching Nebraska’s average allowed yards himself. That was good for 8.6 yards per carry, more than doubling Edwards’ 3.4.

As the much maligned start to the season has generated negative buzz about Edwards, Mullings has taken his opportunity and ran with it.

A converted linebacker recruited to play on defense for the

Wolverines out of high school, Mullings made the partial switch back to running back this past season. It wasn’t necessarily a clean transition.

It saw highs, such as Mullings’ improbable jump pass to thentrue freshman tight end Colston Loveland to convert a third down against Ohio State. It saw lows though, too. Mullings received the lion’s share of backlash for a goal line fumble during the College Football Playoff against TCU. Harbaugh’s staff had seen enough to make a decision, though.

Mullings converted to offense fulltime over the offseason. Now, after some months practicing dodging linebackers instead of trying to be one, the senior finally has his legs under him.

“These past couple weeks I’ve been feeling really good about running the ball again,” Mullings said.

“Just transitioning to full-time offense this offseason. I’ve just been feeling more and more comfortable as time goes on. Right now I feel the most comfortable I’ve felt.”

It’s a comfort that almost seems perplexing at first glance. Mullings stands at 6-foot-2, 239 pounds — hardly the makeup of a nimble back. But, while he may not have the moves of Corum, Mullings

flexed his rushing ability on limited opportunities Saturday.

Despite those five attempts, Mullings “can write the book on what a big back is supposed to be,” according to Harbaugh, as the once-linebacker sliced and diced all day. Exerting northsouth speed, coupled with quick feet, Mullings best run of the day came on a 20-yard touchdown scamper. Knocking off arm tackles left and right, Mullings momentarily shucked his supposed-powerback role against the Cornhuskers.

“It didn’t even look like those arm tackles were there on the 20 yard run, but there was probably four to eight arms that he ran through on that run,” Harbaugh said. “Like an arrow through snow is what it looked like to me.”

Touted earlier in the season as the third back in a run-focused Michigan offense, Mullings did indeed elevate himself from a simple power-back role. Yet, he still found success with his bread and butter.

The Wolverines eclipsed a 60 percent third down conversion rate against a porous Nebraska run defense. Largely due to Mullings’ bumping and bruising.

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ICE HOCKEY

New faces impress in Michigan’s 8-1 win against Simon Fraser ELLIE RICHARD

CONNOR EAREGOOD

Managing Sports Editor

Daily Sports Writer

LINCOLN — Everybody loves a big man interception — especially the No. 2 Michigan football team.

In what’s becoming a trend for the defensive line, the Wolverines earned a highlight-reel interception as sophomore defensive lineman Kenneth Grant snatched up a tipped pass. Similar to the pick by senior defensive lineman Kris Jenkins against Bowling Green two weeks ago, Grant wanted to return the ball but was tackled by a slew of opponents.

“I heard the ball get tipped, but I didn’t know where it was,” Grant said. “And then I turned around and looked at (senior defensive end Jaylen Harrell).

He’s looking up in the air. I was like, ‘What is he looking at?’ I just looked up and I was like, ‘Oh, I gotta go get that.’ ” As much as that lone play shows the talent of Michigan’s defensive line, the unit’s success shined in other facets of the game in a 45-7 blowout. Not only did the unit force an energysapping turnover, but it executed the Wolverines’ defensive pillars

Rocking new white sweaters to start the season, the No. 5 Michigan hockey team entered the new season in style.

Not only did the Wolverines beat Simon Fraser 8-1 in their first exhibition game of the season, but also they saw contributions from a variety of freshmen new to the team.

“I thought we did a lot of good things,” Michigan coach Brandon Naurato said postgame. “Everyone came back and had big summers. We are just seeing what we have with some of the freshmen and transfers, and we are just trying to put guys in spots where they can show their value.”

The Wolverines peppered Simon Fraser goaltender Kolby Matthews early and often to start the game. Between shots from the point and one-timers from the slot, Michigan’s hunger to score was evident from the start.

It was only a matter of time before Michigan capitalized on one of its many opportunities — even if that opportunity came shorthanded.

Pouncing off a Red Leafs turn-

LUCAS CHEN/Daily

to shut down Nebraska’s highlytouted run game.

Since August, the Wolverines have thumped the four pillars of their defense like scripture. The four are block destruction, ball disruption, obnoxious communication and shocking effort.

For Grant, his interception embodies the latter, but it wouldn’t have been possible without a well-timed tip by senior defensive end Braiden McGregor, who learned of quarterback Heinrich Haarberg’s low passing angle this week and wanted to exploit it. And Grant wouldn’t have known where the

ball was without forewarning from Harrell.

Those seamless actions utilized the ball disruption and communication tenets to a silencing effect. As Grant cradled his pick to the ground amid an onslaught of hardhitting opponents, the energy inside Memorial Stadium dampened less than seven minutes into the game. The Wolverines effectively silenced the crowd, reducing Nebraska’s home field advantage to a minimal impact.

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

over during a first-period penalty kill, freshman forward Garrett Schifsky confidently took the puck in stride the length of the ice. With sophomore forward Jackson Hallum waiting patiently on the wing, Schifsky sauced the puck to Hallum who finished the play for his first goal of the season.

After scoring their first goal of the game, the Wolverines never looked back. Michigan received contributions from throughout the lineup, including from new additions like freshman forward Nick Moldenhauer.

With just under six minutes

left in the first period, junior forward Dylan Duke stormed the net and fired a shot from the top of the right circle. Sitting on the doorstop, Moldenhauer buried the rebound within seconds to secure his first goal of the season, the first of his collegiate career and the 3-0 lead.

“It was surreal,” Moldenhauer said about his first collegiate game. “I’ve been waiting for this day for a while now, and to finally grab a hold of it — it was awesome. I couldn’t have asked for a better debut.”

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Wednesday, October 3, 2023

ROMAN Michigan overwhelms Nebraska with 45-7 offensive outpouring; Wilson scores twice

CHARLIE PAPPALARDO Daily Sports Editor

L

INCOLN — As the No. 2 Michigan football team crowded in its tunnel and prepared to run onto the field for its first road game of the season, the Wolverines were delayed for just a few moments. While the entire capacity of Memorial Stadium clapped along to Nebraska’s introduction song for two minutes, Michigan waited in neat formation and watched as the Cornhuskers burst out of their tunnel on the opposite corner of the field and were met with raucous cheers.

For those two minutes, Michigan saw a chaotic, roaring environment organized in opposition to it for the first time this season. But six minutes later, the crowd was silent. By halftime, it was half-empty.

On Saturday, in its most complete game of the year, Michigan (5-0 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) consistently and repeatedly

overpowered Nebraska (2-3, 0-2), 45-7, in an all-out offensive onslaught.

“Collectively, yes I believe it is,” junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy said of whether the contest was the Wolverines’ best game to this point. “Being on the road, being able to execute on both sides of the ball and on special teams, it was just tremendous. … I’d say we executed very, very, very well.”

Whether it was on the ground or through the air, the Cornhuskers had no answer for the Wolverines’ offense the entire game. They were overwhelmed, and quickly Nebraska broke down.

On the first drive, the Wolverines showed no deference to the Cornhuskers’ highly touted run defense. They spent six minutes storming down the field with a 75-yard, 11-play drive, engineered around efficient runs. To cap the drive, McCarthy lobbed a 29-yard touchdown pass that leaping senior wide receiver Roman Wilson caught

by pressing the ball against the defender’s helmet before pulling it towards his chest.

“At first I didn’t even know he caught the ball,” McCarthy said.

it took the Wolverines just two plays to get the ball back on a tipped interception. And it took just three more plays for them to break through with a 20-yard

“At first I didn’t even know he caught the ball,” McCarthy said.

“Then when I saw him running and (graduate lineman Karsen Barnhart) threw his arms up I was like, ‘Man that was God right there — and Roman Wilson.’ ” “Then when I saw him running and (graduate lineman Karsen Barnhart) threw his arms up I was like, ‘Man that was God right there — and Roman Wilson.’ ” Up seven after the first drive,

touchdown run from senior running back Kalel Mullings.

Then again, early in the second quarter, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy conducted an 88-yard touchdown drive. Then

once more, just for good measure, McCarthy foundWilson again just before the half — this time he was wide open.

One half in, already up 28-0, Michigan’s offense was rolling and nothing the Cornhuskers defense did the rest of the game could stop it.

On the ground, senior and junior running backs Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards and Mullings consistently broke through to move the chains and extend drives. And in the air, McCarthy was precise and stretched the field — finishing the day 12-for-16 with 156 yards and two touchdowns.

“J.J., he makes it go,” Harbaugh said of the offense. “Probably one of his best games. The third down conversions, the degree of difficulty on the throws … and he continued to do it with his legs.

Bottom line, he makes it go.”

And in the second half, the onslaught continued.

On the first drive, Corum punched in a one-yard touchdown, and just midway

through the third quarter already up 35-0, Michigan took its starters out of the game.

The game was over. And even though the Wolverines managed another 11 points — nothing changed.

Because Michigan’s offense had already decided the game.

With methodical, grinding drives, the Wolverines had broken Nebraska’s defense. And in the process, they had silenced a crowd that had once been so loud that — according to graduate lineman Trevor Keegan — had caused him to line up incorrectly for his first play.

On the strength of an offensive outpouring, Michigan had completely overpowered Nebraska with all facets of its offense. By the time the Cornhuskers finally broke through to make the score 45-7, it didn’t matter — and there were very few of the once-raucous fans left to see it.

RILEY NIEBOER, LUCAS CHEN/Daily Design by Lys Goldman

EMPIRE SPORTSWEDNESDAY

The Michigan Daily — 12

WHEN THE

CLOCK STRIKES design by leyla dumke illustration by grace filbin

2 — The Statement // Wednesday, October 4, 2023

No time to wonder SRIMATI GHOSAL

Statement Correspondent

On my desk, right by the table clock, lies a black and white print of the Mona Lisa on an A4-sized sheet of copy paper. The banality of this print copy of a magnificent painting appears strangely incongruous with the rest of my desk, especially since I am neither an art nor history student. My interest in the painting derives from the simple fact that it took Leonardo da Vinci 15 years to complete. If you do a Google search on famous people who were known procrastinators, a myriad of dubious listicles display da Vinci’s name. That even the celebrated Renaissance polymath, da Vinci waited till the last minute provides solace when the clock beside my monochromatic Mona Lisa is ticking dangerously close to 11:59 p.m. — the submission deadline for most of my assignments. Knowing that I share my habit of pushing assignments to the last minute with da Vinci helps me breathe through the panic and deliver my assignment — although sometimes a minute late and with an ominous red mark on it. Often, as I hit the submit button and slump back onto my chair, exhaling hours of panic-driven work, I am tempted to reevaluate the chokehold that

11:59 p.m. has on my academic life — a life almost entirely organized around these submissions. The consequences of deadlines have been feverishly contested in academic circles, but if I were to summarize the opposing arguments, they boil down to praising deadlines for increasing productivity or condemning them for the exclusionary practices they generate.

The pro-deadline idea, in short, is that multiple short-term deadlines help breakdown coursework into bite-sized pieces and thus students assimilate them better than a long-term deadline at the end of the semester. Multiple 11:59 p.m. time stamps may help students work more efficiently on assignments and papers by spreading the pressure over a longer time frame, ensuring a productivity-boosting discipline. I find irony in the notions of productivity and discipline — a pair of words I associate with the factory line and a flash of frames from the “Modern Times.” My liberal arts classroom should, ideally, not harbor such an astonishing resemblance with Chaplin-esque comedy, but perhaps it’s impossible to escape the time discipline of a post-Industrial society.

As historian E.P. Thompson theorized, the advent of the exacting mechanical clock in the indus-

trialized society is when the economy began to value (and therefore pay) by the number of hours put in rather than the quality of the work produced. This theory supports a complicated Marxist analysis that could be translated into the more contemporary adage of “time is money.” Conversely, one could technically “steal” time, taking longer to produce the same quantity of work but with poorer quality. This is where the need to encourage a general culture of ever-increasing productivity arises. This is exactly what the Apple Watch promises it can do, arising half a century after Thompson. The Apple Watch seems to be able to guilt-trip people into using their time extremely productively by telling them exactly what they’ve been doing with their time — even calculating how much or how well people slept, so they are refreshed and recovered to take their place in the factory line (or cubicle or Zoom room) the following morning again! Sometimes I am tempted to take my own Apple Watch off and declare with the tenor of poetic melodrama, “I refuse to be handcuffed by time!” taking my place among the greatest creative and free minds in history. But most of the time, my Apple Watch is a good reminder that I am a com-

mon student, and my raison d’être lies in fulfilling the productivity expected from me.

It is natural for academic spaces to embrace this logic of productivity. After all, university is the education that helps prepare you for the “real” world outside and not really the education that helps you re-imagine it. In essence, you are a node in a long line of operations included in this mechanistic transfer of knowledge. A professor delivers a lecture; you grasp it and regurgitate it with a small tweak of perspectives.

The professor proceeds to provide feedback, sometimes assigning the value of a letter or number, the cumulative of which is the transcript that helps the world of employers assess your value. In other words, my 11:59 p.m. deadline is a workstation on a large conveyor belt and must be treated accordingly — mechanically, but with dutiful attention.

Students have often shared a general irritation about the arbitrary nature of 11:59 p.m. No professor could want to begin grading assignments at midnight! Sometimes, these deadlines are for classes as early as 9 o’clock the following day, and the deadline seems to be set simply because that is the last clock minute for a particular day. With student procrastinating patterns as they are,

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 // The Statement — 3

the midnight deadline does little to change them. When a student has the opportunity to work into the wee hours of the night, it’s inevitable that they’ll end up working with a tired mind and produce an uninspired assignment, focused more on the act of submitting than engaging with the content of the course. This is a situation further aggravated by the fact that we live not only in an industrialized society, but also in a digitized one. Thirty years ago, the deadlines for handwritten papers perhaps would have been 5:00 p.m., at the close of professors’ workdays. But mine is 11:59 p.m., a late-night hour that manages to interfere with my leisure, dinner and sleep. Caffeinepowered and guilty of procrastination, I soldier on, in the darkness, to finish the assignment that was meant to break down the course work into digestible portions.

It is true that a high speed internet should allow me to access a wealth of information across the internet and an infinite capacity to complete high quality work. But, it is simultaneously true that I often end up only barely finishing the readings assigned in class for the assignment.

In fact, the extreme dependence on the internet has only further complicated deadline matters for many.

Environment and Sustainability graduate student Gupteswara Padhy recalls his plight as an international student living in Munger Graduate Residences during the 2023 University of Michigan internet outage.

“I had no American sim card and no access to Wi-Fi, and my class had a deadline for a quiz on the first week of classes. It was a disaster as I ran pillar to post, trying to figure out internet access, reading material and how to answer the quiz for the class,” Padhy said.

What could have been a wideeyed moment of wonder, the beginning of a journey of exploring new knowledge, was reduced to a panicstricken scramble to finish an assignment.

While the internet outage was a rare event, hurriedly finished as-

signments are, unfortunately, less ephemeral. Sometimes, I feel like the whole point of my week is reduced to chasing different deadlines for different classes, often with an utter disregard for the greater purpose of the course itself. The focus becomes less about what I am learning and more about the grade that the assignment is going to give me — after all, that is my valuation in the “real” world. I’m almost never left with a moment to breathe and rethink this reality.

Rackham student Shmeelok Chakraborty had similar thoughts.

“The assignment in the very first week of classes for this course I was taking was particularly challenging,” Chakraborty said. “Not only was I juggling multiple logistics of moving across continents, but I was also expected to understand and deliver according to the expectations of American academia. I came from the U.K. but still wanted to do my best.”

Often, we end up playing to the pavilions. Instead of thinking for ourselves, assimilating the information and looking for newer meanings in them, we do what requires the least effort for the best grade. The grade then, like in Thompson’s industrial U.K., is more a reflection of the hours of work put in rather than the quality of the result. Of course, there are also many students who are simply not equipped to do what is projected as the “bare minimum”: nontraditional students, students with care-giver responsibilities or students facing ranging mental and physical obstacles, all have different needs and must navigate their college experiences based on varying circumstances. Deadlines are simply not suited to accommodate everyone’s needs. And the added pressure and guilt of “falling behind” does little to help.

Keeping up with the burst of consciousness across universities to make academics more accommodating, the University of Michigan has established its own Services for Students with Disabilities. I was informed over a quick telephone call to

their front desk that the accommodation for deadlines seems to be treated on a case-by-case basis. However, there was a blanket refusal to comment on anything specific. Tellingly, the website for the SSD provides a disclaimer, “Accommodations put in place to mitigate disability-related barriers in regards to attendance, participation, and deadlines are not designed to support a substantial number of missed classes, lengthy assignments extension, or lengthy delays in performing essential components of a course (i.e. course exams or projects).”

This is not to accuse the University of not trying hard enough. It is merely to suggest that within this structure of pedagogy, little can be done to accommodate those nontraditional needs. A larger structural problem exists, which leads to an exclusion of a vast majority of students from the corridors of higher education across the globe.

Rackham student Fiona Wu, a first-year graduate student in the History Department, refuses to pander to her guilt. “Oh, that is a problem from my undergrad days!”

She said. “I no longer worry about deadlines; it is not the smartest idea to let the looming deadline bother you or take away from the joys of the academic work.”

Rackham student Rukmini Swaminathan, in the same history cohort, agreed: “I would really like to read a book, word for word, without worrying that it is a luxurious waste of my time. I have fallen into the habit of skimming and now it is almost the only thing that I do!”

These students’ refusals to allow the 11:59 p.m. deadline to govern their lives feels simultaneously like a criminal offense and an act of rebellion. These girls defy their guilt to enjoy what is rightfully theirs. My mind stretches the metaphor of the worker on a factory line to its history of unionizing, dissenting and being repressed with criminal procedures.

Except this time, the act of protest is quietly sitting under a tree and enjoying a book. The police is their

own guilt. May their tribe grow and often an apple (different from the one strapped to my wrist handcuffing me to time) fall on someone else’s head and be the birth of a revolutionary idea. For ideas are born out of creative thinking. The wonder of the human mind lies in its ability to imagine, to be creative, to engage with the world and ask the questions that matter. I don’t think any of this can be accommodated by the 11:59 p.m. deadline. Neither can the possibility arise of connecting the small packets of information, picked up through this incessant cycle of weekly assignments, to see larger patterns.

Da Vinci was not an unproductive procrastinator — one can call to witness the numerous diaries in which he writes, sketches and struggles with complex scientific possibilities to exonerate him. He was engaged in the production of original work, the creative instincts for which may only be nurtured by actively thinking rather than continuously needing to demonstrate results. Ironically, the results of his work remain relevant and valuable to generations nearly four centuries later; mine do not seem relevant the following morning. Of course, this is not to claim that I share his genius or that his generation and its flourish of artistic and scientific progress was any less dependent on the more banal mechanism of production that is a core sustenance for all societies.

It is simply to suggest that the pursuit of an education should be less geared toward output than a factory line in an automobile industry. Education is only of value if it teaches one to think critically and creatively, both of which are severely compromised in the sleep-deprived situation of an 11:59 p.m. deadline.

The linguist in me had to look up the etymology of “deadlines,” if only to procrastinate on another assignment. Apparently, it was once used to refer to the last fence on the prison compounds, which, upon crossing, a prisoner was shot dead.

Read more at michigandaily.com

4 — The Statement // Wednesday, October 4, 2023

1:00 a.m.: Peak hours for an insomniac OLIVIA KANE

Statement Columnist

When the clock hands complete their tireless circuitous journey, forcing time forward and delivering 1 a.m. the panic sets in.

Ironically, I spend most of my days waiting for time to move. With every new hour, I am free to leave class, walk home, cook dinner. As time ticks forward, so do I — the rhythm of forward propulsion is comfortable, something familiar and inviting. But, at evening time, when I am reminded by the yawns of my roommates that time progresses even through the night, I’m no longer comforted. Even late at night, the 12 a.m. hour still contains the hopeful possibility of falling asleep before 1 a.m. During the 12s, I can convince myself that it’s okay that, even though my body is heavy, my mind so desperately refuses to sleep. But when the clock changes from 12:59 to 1 a.m. I feel as though I’ve officially left the previous day behind. I am consistently awake to greet the new day. Already, I know how the hours ahead will be spent.

Already, I know that when sleep finally does come, I won’t be in any state of relaxation.

My own insomnia presents as a difficulty falling asleep, but others with insomnia might experience trouble staying asleep or getting good quality sleep. Insomnia is also not uncommon; more than 3 million Americans are affected by the sleep disorder every year, and stress is one of the most likely reasons that people face this sleeplessness.

In high school, I was comforted by the idea that anxiety was likely responsible for my poor sleep.

My mind was endlessly preoccupied with math test studying, essay writing and my constantly moving extracurricular schedule. Unfortunately, even though these days were filled with activity, I was often left with a feeling of emptiness in the evenings. As I laid in bed, almost suffocating between my weighted blanket and racing thoughts, I would realize that much of what I had done that day was not done for myself. I enjoyed doing well on a test that I had spent hours studying for, and I liked spending time with my friends while taping up fliers for a club. But these positive feelings were a result of activities that I had to participate in. I severely lacked any sort of free time. Lying in bed,

when sleep was already far from being an option, I was finally presented with hours and hours unfilled by scheduled commitments. As high school progressed, I began to use this latenight free time to read or watch endless episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

While making the choice to click “play next episode” seemed like a good idea in the darkness of 2:30 a.m., it proved awful the next morning. As I dragged myself out of bed after hitting the snooze button one too many times, I would vow to try to go to sleep earlier the next night. I felt the effects of my routine during the day — I fought brain fog, sagging eyes and low energy-levels.

But each night, as the hours slipped by, my mind seemed to re-awaken.

The coming days, all filled with tests and papers, began to feel more real than they ever did during the haziness of my sleep-deprived days. So, without fail, I continued to reach for my phone as I lay in bed awaiting sleep, desperate to avoid thinking about anything school-related.

Read more at michigandaily.com

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 // The Statement — 5

Turning Darkness into Sunshine JENNA HAUSMANN Statement Columnist

This past May through August, I spent most of my evenings performing the same sacred ritual.

Starting at 7 p.m., I would swallow two melatonin pills, lay out my work uniform on the right side of my bed, coat my eyelashes with mascara, set a bowl of Apple Jacks on my bedside table and triple-check that my iPhone alarm was set. Finally, I’d crawl onto the left side of my bed and grudgingly toss and turn, knowing a shrieking alarm would summon me at 4:15 a.m. for my summer shift at my local bakery.

I’ll admit that this seems like a ridiculous set of nighttime tasks, but I swear there was a method to my madness. In theory, I’d just roll out of bed and go to work.

Unfortunately, even though I went to the greatest of lengths in preparation, I somehow still managed to run late almost every morning.

Truth-

fully, I don’t think any amount of extra effort could have overridden my shockingly sluggish functionality in the morning. Nonetheless, I stuck to my over-the-top routine throughout the entire summer, feeling somewhat comforted by the thought of trying to help out my future 4:15 a.m. self.

Being awake at such an early hour was certainly a bizarre experience; sometimes, when I got ready for work, an unshakeable, ominous feeling would come over me. Maybe it was from waking up to complete darkness, with only bits of moonlight seeping through my curtains. Or perhaps the culprit was my eerie morning commute on lifeless streets. I felt as if I was trapped in a post-apocalyptic world, and I was a sleep-deprived zombie on her way to sell donuts to other miserable nonhumans.

However, the moment I stepped foot in the bakery, smelled the fresh bread and greeted my co-worker — who was thankfully not a zombie, but an animated middle-aged woman — my feelings of strangeness would vanish. Over casual chit-chat, we began by setting out all the fresh donuts and

pastries. At 5 a.m., the bakery’s “Open” sign illuminated, and we’d serve regulars who were grabbing a cup of joe on their way to work.

Around 8 a.m., the large waves of customers ensued, and I’d spend the rest of my shift rushing around behind the glass counter, making double-doubles and handing out apple fritters.

Although this wasn’t my first summer working at the bakery, it was my first summer working the morning shift — an entirely different animal than my previous, casual 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. slot. Since most people aren’t craving breakfast sandwiches and coffee at 4:15 p.m., the afternoon shift passed way too slowly for my liking; I couldn’t stand the quietness. So, when this summer came around, I requested morning shifts, reasoning that my hours on the job would fly by. I would have the rest of the day to do as I pleased. It seemed like a winwin situation: A quick shift and plenty of free time! My plan was logically sound, except that I failed to realize how immensely difficult it would be to wake up at 4:15 a.m. and still be a functioning human throughout the day.

When I first began my summer shift, my lack of proper sleep mixed with the hours of customer interaction left me completely drained; the most I could do after work was nap and scroll on my phone. I quickly became stuck in an endless cycle of fatigue, with no energy or willpower to escape. My life revolved solely around work. When I wasn’t working, I was either decompressing from my previous shift or preparing for my next one. Eventually, as I found myself crawling into bed on a sunny summer day at 2 p.m., I became fed up with how monotonous my life had become. I decided it was time to make some changes.

I started by going to the gym after work, which was a big step for a girl who could barely make it into her car after her shift. But going home to binge-watch “Gossip Girl” was no longer acceptable. Maybe if I got into the habit of exercising, it would be something I’d look forward to.

Read more at michigandaily.com

6 — The Statement // Wednesday, October 4, 2023

6:45 a.m.: My time to simply exist ANANYA GERA

Statement Columnist

Every morning, I’m jolted awake by the harsh sound of my alarm, ringing incessantly until I am forced to leave my deep, dreamless sleep for the cool, dark air of the day.

I can feel the imprint of pillow creases on my face, drool sticking to my cheek and sleep trying its best to pull me back in as I blindly grab for my phone. And every single morning, a glaring 6:45 a.m. stares back at me.

6:45 a.m.: the time I’ve woken up every single morning for the past month. Rain or shine, weekend or weekday, 6:45 a.m. awaits me at the end of my night’s rest like a score awaiting you after you’ve taken the worst exam of your life. Waking up at 6:45 is not easy. Waking up consistently at 6:45, every single day no matter what, is even harder. But I do it every single morning, partly because of the bathroom schedule my roommate and I have created due to both of our morning classes and partly because, even though it’s mentally and physically grueling, I crave the routine that comes with opening my eyes at the same time every day.

In order to maximize my productivity within my newfound morning hours, I drafted a domestic routine that I’ve begrudgingly come to love. Some highlights include emptying the dishwasher, packing my lunch and watching my current Netflix obsession while I eat my breakfast. As mundane as these tasks are, they’ve come to determine the success of my day. Mornings give me the opportunity to calibrate who I am before I jump from personality to personality throughout the day. In every space I exist within, whether it be class, club meetings or studying with friends, I have a personality curated to serve the specific aspects of that space. And while I choose to spend my time in a state of constant transition, it gets exhausting to change who I am and how I feel throughout the day. My mundane

routine gives me a few moments to myself — moments where I don’t have to pretend or overthink or exist in a state of anxiety. I am free to be me and complete tasks that don’t require me to be at my best. It’s the only time of day where I’m not in a class or in a club or doing something that takes immense energy from my social battery. Those moments — where I am allowed to breathe and not feel pressure to put my best foot forward yet again — let

more and more, making it extremely difficult for me to actually get up. I guess waking up early, for me, is like running a mile. Finding the motivation to run can be difficult on its own, and even when you do start to move your body, the act can be physically, mentally and emotionally painful.

But you push and push until you hit a quarter, a half and then one whole mile. After it’s over and you’re catching your breath, having gulped down water

me welcome each day without becoming overwhelmed by the long day awaiting me outside of my apartment door.

But, as simple as my morning duties are, the acts of waking up, completing them and feeling good about myself are wildly taxing. I’m really not a morning person. Waking up — gathering the strength to pry my eyes open and peel myself out of my bed — is one of the hardest parts of my day. No matter how much sleep I get, my body begs for

and taken a moment to stretch, you can really appreciate how far you’ve come. Running that mile might have been painful and you may not have wanted to do it at all, but you did, and you’re better for it. Waking up at 6:45 is hard and a little miserable, but I push through and force the sleepiness from my head as I get ready for the day. And as I watch the sunrise from my window, cereal bowl in hand and “Gilmore Girls” playing in the background, I truly appreciate taking that time and effort to wake up.

Last semester, I think the earliest I woke up on any given day was 10 a.m., and while I got three more hours of sleep, I never felt half as good as I do this semester. When I woke up later, I barely had any time before I had to walk out the front door and get started with my day.

Within 20 minutes of getting out of bed, I would be sitting in class, taking lecture notes. That brutal and hurried transition was a lot for me and really affected how I saw each day: Instead of looking forward to the simple things, like emptying the dishwasher or making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I would dread the moment my eyes fluttered open after a night’s sleep. I never had any time to myself throughout my entire day; I was bouncing from class, to the library, to meetings and back to class again. There was no time for me to sit with myself and do things that I loved or do things just to do them, free from obligation. Instead, I spent the entire day checked out, existing in a state of perpetual dread as my mind spun over all the work I had to complete and how little time I had. I existed in a cycle of negativity, of continuous anxiety, that motivated me to make a change to my morning routine this semester.

In adjusting to the early morning wakeup, I came to the firm belief that to have a good morning routine, one must have a good night routine. I go to bed at exactly 11:00 p.m. every single night, although the consistency of this can be challenging. I tend to work up until 11:00 most nights, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for myself. But, the missed time I don’t get at night is made up for the way I utilize the early hours of the morning, so as difficult as it can be, I stick to my strict schedule. I do my skincare, sometimes read for five minutes and then settle peacefully into my blankets knowing that I have a buffer before tomorrow’s madness commences.

Read more at michigandaily.com

Wednesday, October 4, 2023 // The Statement — 7

3:00 p.m.: Time to nap out

ELIZABETH WOLFE Statement Columnist

“I’m passing the phone to someone who naps more than she studies.”

My roommate passes her phone to me, and I continue the chain of light jabs for the TikTok we’re making. Nothing offensive but, at least in my case, not a complete exaggeration of the truth either.

My habit started in high school with a quick half hour nap at 3:00 p.m. — nothing major, just a light snooze. While quarantining in 2020 and 2021, however, my rest patterns grew more extreme. I’d wake up 10 minutes before my Zoom classes started, sleep for another couple hours between classes, stay up late into the night and sleep more the next day. Ever since forming this toxic routine during the depths of the pandemic, I’ve struggled to nap for less than two hours a day.

I knew my habit of napping had grown really extreme when it became central to my reputation among my friends. If they need to get a hold of me, they call instead of text, knowing the single ping of my phone won’t be enough to rouse me. When ​​ my

roommate is unable to find her cat, instead of panicking, she assumes he’s in my room, being held hostage (sorry, Bear) amid my slumber.

“You’re young; you should have more energy,” my mom said to me once, as I complained to her about my constant exhaustion. I see the signs of my abnormalities; the ideal amount of sleep for college students is at least eight hours per night. With my nap schedule during the day, I’m usually looking at six to seven a night.

I agree with my mom on the basis of Yes, I need to do more to stay awake, and I wonder if my exhaustion is normal for someone my age. Right now, I’m unsure if I’m speaking nonchalantly about a serious issue or ostentatiously about a relatively common experience.

According to the internet, these deviations are not uncommon. Most college students sleep for about six to 6.9 hours per night. My habits might not be so healthy, but evidence suggests I’m not completely alone in the throws of exhaustion. In fact, my 3:00 p.m. slump is biologically proven.

To simplify the science, two factors control our sleep process: sleep/ wake homeostasis and the circadian biological clock. The sleep/wake cycle suggests that the longer we go

without sleep, the more tired we are.

Therefore, one would think we would be more tired around 9 p.m. than 3 p.m. However, our circadian biological clock, or circadian rhythm, causes spikes and dips in energy throughout the day.

Circadian rhythm is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which responds to light and darkness to tell us to wake up or sleep respectively.

For the average adult, energy tends to peak around 9:00 a.m. through 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. through 9:00 p.m. Our energy then falls off between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. So while the sun is still up early in the afternoon, “we experience a miniature (dip in wakeness) between 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.,” a time and concept often referred to as the afternoon slump.

The reasons behind this pattern are not completely clear, but according to lab research at Baylor University, our body clocks aren’t dependent on the 24-hour day cycle but rather function on a 12-hour cycle.

Researchers found that “(12-hour rhythms) occur regularly and autonomously in the cells, and their oscilla-

tion can be synchronized by certain external stimuli.”

The slump does not begin and end like clockwork. While an innate process, circadian rhythms are also responsive to aspects of our physical environment such as light and temperature. Individual choices such as sleep patterns, diet, exercise, stress and other biological factors will also affect the flow of individuals’ circadian rhythms. For myself, a sleepy, dehydrated, popcorn-snacking woman in college, an alarm sounds in my body at 3:00 p.m., saying Sleep.

Now. I’ve played around with multiple techniques for schooing away sleep when 3:00 p.m. comes knocking. The best strategy is to get out of the house; having a class during this time, while agonizing fatigue-wise, forces me to stay alert. Otherwise, scheduling office hours or running errands are sufficient replacements.

If I stay at home, I try to separate myself from my bed as much as possible; I sit outside with my laptop, a notebook, drinks and snacks. I can’t let my tea get cold or let flies land on my fruit. This activity helps me delay giving into my sleep urges.

Read more at michigandaily.com