UMich
A new Student Org Funding website provides funding directly to student organizations that are not yet receiving funding from CSG
funding decreases the accessibility of club sports.
The University of Michigan Central Student Government has not yet passed a budget. This comes after the election of 23 representatives from the SHUT IT DOWN party, whose platform aims to stop all CSG activity until the University administration divests from companies profiting off the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Without a budget, CSG is unable to provide funding for more than 1,700 U-M student organizations.
In the absence of a CSG budget, the University has provided a temporary route for student organizations to obtain funding, sponsored by the Dean of Students.
The new Student Org Funding website allows student organizations to apply for funding directly through the University, rather than the traditional method of applying through CSG’s Student Organization Funding Committee. Previously, the organization funding committee awarded more than $500,000 to student organizations every academic year. It is currently unclear if the University plans to adhere to this precedent or provide a different amount.
Hayden Jackson, a CSG assembly Rackham representative and vice director of the CSG Student Organization Committee, explained his role in the University’s temporary funding infrastructure and the way the system works in an interview with The Michigan Daily. He said they built the University’s temporary funding system to be similar to CSG’s.
“The application system is exactly the same; the deadlines are exactly the same; the requirements are exactly the same,” Jackson said. “I even have organization leaders still referring to it as CSG funding because there’s not really a meaningful difference from there, and that’s by design. It’s not intended to be this entirely new structure.”
Jackson noted that the University’s temporary funding program will be repaid with the $11.19 fee on every student’s tuition, once the CSG budget is passed.
“The intent is that the money is going to be funded with the student fee,” Jackson said. “That said, currently we’re not pulling directly from the student fee. We’re pulling from funds that are being used to make sure that this program is operational while CSG finds itself. Once we do get back on track CSG-wise, then the intent is that everything’s going to be, accountingwise, balanced out.”
Club sports typically receive CSG funding through U-M Recreational Sports, but that method of funding is currently on pause. LSA senior Sanil Mittal, co-president of the University of Michigan Fencing Club, told The Daily that not receiving
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LSA reduces GSI allocations by 8% for fall 2024
THOMAS GALA-GARZA Daily Staff Reporter
“A lot of funds actually go to just making sure that we have enough equipment for all members because we don’t require people to buy their own equipment, as a way to make sure that people don’t feel that they have a barrier to try fencing out,” Mittal said.
Mittal said the lack of funding has created uncertainty about whether the team will be able to compete at the same number of competitions that they have in previous years.
“So far, we’ve been using what we have from last year, but it’s been pretty difficult trying to plan for future tournaments,” Mittal said. “We had a tournament (at the) end of September that we could not go to just because of the funding issues.”
Mittal said in addition to uncertainty, the lack of funding places an increased workload on the executive board members of the club.
“The executive board members have had to spend a lot more time than they were intending to plan for the club because now we have to devote more time for not just planning out practices, planning out social events, planning out tournament travel, but we also have to now plan out fundraising, reaching out to sponsors, doing other outreach events, just so that we can compensate for a lot of the funding that was lost,” Mittal said.
LSA sophomore Alison Kisiel, treasurer for Léim Irish Dance, said in an interview with The Daily that the organization typically requests funds from CSG following their winter showcase, so the delays associated with the budget have not really affected them. Kisiel plans on requesting funding again in the winter through the University if CSG has not approved a budget, and she expects to operate just as the club has in past years.
“We don’t always get (funds), but we always like to try,” Kisiel said. “We were going to try again this year in the winter once we have the receipts.”
Jackson said despite the change in the funding process, there has not been a significant decrease in funding requests. Jackson said he does not know when the University will stop providing the temporary funding infrastructure, but it remains available to support student organizations for the foreseeable future.
“There is, to my understanding, not an end date on when the University is going to say we’re not going to do this temporary funding infrastructure,” Jackson said.
“As soon as CSG figures things out, then that’s what’s going to happen. … I don’t have a whole lot of confidence at this point, based on what I’ve seen at meetings and everything. And that’s unfortunate, but you know, it’s where we are and until then, we’re going to just keep chugging along with this funding.”
The University of Michigan College of LSA began its fall 2024 semester with a reduced number of Graduate Student Instructors, LSA spokesperson John Lofy said in an email to The Michigan Daily.
The reduced number of GSIs reflects the implementation of a new policy for LSA graduate student allocations released Feb. 29. The policy adds several requirements for a course section to receive GSIs, including that the full course must have at least 50 enrolled students and two sections. The requirements also state that discussion sections must have a minimum of 25 students. This minimum was previously as low as 18 for some discussion sections, like those for LSA Honors core courses.
The policy also outlines a new hiring priority for GSIs, which prioritizes Ph.D. students over masters and professional students.
Master’s and professional students also require individual approval by LSA to be hired, whereas Ph.D. students do not.
According to Lofy, the total number of GSIs in LSA was reduced from 1,300 in fall 2023 to 1,194 in fall 2024, an 8.2% decrease. Daniel Weaver, GSI in the English Department and head steward of the University’s Graduate Employees Organization, wrote in an email to The Daily that the decrease in jobs led the GEO to file two grievances against the University for contract violations.
One grievance, filed on April 24, centered on the University’s responsibility to notify GEO about LSA’s new policy, according to Weaver. Another, filed on May 9, was related to the policy’s new hiring priorities. Weaver said in an interview with The Daily that LSA’s changes to hiring priority allow it to prioritize Ph.D. students, who already receive guaranteed tuition upon enrollment, rather than other graduate students who receive guaranteed tuition upon being hired as GSIs.
“Master’s and professional students tend not to have the kind of guaranteed funding that a Ph.D. student like myself has,” Weaver said. “Whether the University gives me a GSI position or not, they’re obligated to fund me somehow, but if I’m, for example, a law student, there’s no obligation. When a law student gets a GSI position, they not only receive wages for teaching; they also receive a tuition guarantee. The University pays their law school tuition because that’s guaranteed in the contract that governs GSIs, but the University saw that as a place where they can cut costs by hiring fewer law students.”
While the policy does not explicitly prioritize hiring students the University already covers tuition for, Weaver said that is what is happening in reality.
“(The policy) doesn’t say the University has to place people it would have to pay tuition for at the bottom priority,” Weaver said. “But in practice, that’s what it’s doing. That is a contract violation, so one of the responses within the union was to file grievances.”
According to Weaver, the University denied GEO’s first grievance on May 28 and their second on June 13. An arbitration hearing between GEO and representatives from the University’s Academic Human Resources department is scheduled for Oct. 24 and 25.
Archivist of the U.S. Colleen Shogan visits
ISABEL HOPSON Daily Staff Reporter
Colleen Shogan, the 11th archivist of the United States, visited the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library Wednesday afternoon and spoke to about 30 Rackham Graduate School students about her professional journey and how the archivist profession has changed over time.
Shogan first discussed her career path, noting her start as a political scientist. She emphasized the unpredictability of her career and how her role as a professor at George Mason University led to an internship on Capitol Hill, which then led to jobs in the Senate, the Library of Congress and the White House Historical Association. Those roles eventually resulted in her accepting a position as head of the National Archives and Records Administration.
“I’d actually taken all those steps but I never had put it in my head that it was going to lead me to actually run a federal agency,” Shogan said. “But that’s the great part about your career that you have ahead of you, that sometimes these opportunities will be in front of you and you’ve taken those steps to prepare and then you’re ready to really take that leap and that plunge.”
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Rackham student Peyton Rundell said hearing about Shogan’s personal experience made her optimistic about her own future.
“Hearing how it was all this series of incidental things, where she just kept pursuing what she was interested in only to find herself in this totally unexpected place decades down the line, it definitely offered some sort of comfort as a grad student who knows that the path isn’t always clear, especially when it comes to jobs and funding,” Rundell said.
Shogan also mentioned talking with University President Santa Ono about increasing student involvement and collaboration with the Ford Library.
“I was with your president, President Ono, earlier this afternoon,” Shogan said. “We had a terrific conversation with myself and the director of the Ford Library, Brooke Clement, and we’re cooking up a whole bunch of different ways in which the University of Michigan community can be more integrated with what’s going on at the Ford Library and vice versa.”
As the National Archives works toward digitizing all of its records, Shogan said archivists may have to start using artificial intelligence to find and sort through billions of documents in the archives.
“We’re going to have to use artificial intelligence in order to help us search for records that are available because there’s just going to be way too much information to be able to do on the scale that we’re doing right now,” Shogan said.
Rackham student Katie Chamberlin told The Daily she was curious about the ways AI could be implemented into the archives.
“I was also really interested in (how) she’s talking about bringing AI into the archive,” Chamberlin said. “There can be good things with that obviously — that there’s more accessibility — but also potential pitfalls. I’d also be interested in how that AI would work and maybe potential environmental impacts and things like that.”
Alex Orji leads improved, but still lagging passing offense against Minnesota
A week ago, in the No. 12 Michigan football team’s victory over then-No. 11 Southern California, junior quarterback Alex Orji wasn’t asked to do very much in his first start as the team’s leader. Orji threw for just seven completions, a meager 32 yards and no touchdowns in the win.
And so as the Wolverines prepared for their first drive this Saturday against Minnesota, the expectation was rightly that Michigan would run — over and over.
Instead, on his first play and on five of the Wolverines’ 10 that drive, the plays were designed as throws. For most teams, a 50/50 run pass split wouldn’t turn any heads on a drive. But for Michigan, it signaled an attempt to get Orji more comfortable in the passing game and get a better assessment of where that facet of the Wolverines’ offense stands.
At the end of the afternoon, with slightly improved numbers — 86 yards as opposed to 32 and a touchdown to boot — Orji displayed some additional comfort throwing the ball, but still couldn’t provide a downfield threat. And with a pick and a stagnant offense in the second half, Orji did little to challenge the notion that Michigan will have to rely very heavily upon its run game.
“I think we all have to get better,” Moore said. “So he thinks he has to get better, we think we have to get better as a group, and we’ll just continue to progress.”
In some respects, the throws that Orji made on Saturday were different from the ones he had relied upon a week before. With more midrange and deep shots, Orji expanded his repertoire with some success, but that mostly flowed through his safety valve options. Of his 10 completions on the day, only three went to wide receivers. The other seven were distributed to his tight ends and running backs, primarily through junior tight end Colston Loveland.
This limited Orji’s longest completion of the day to just 16 yards, but it also allowed him to build some rhythm and assist in moving the chains.
“Having Colston on the field is like jumping in the water with a life vest on,” Orji said. “Having him on the field, always knowing that he’s a big body target but also a smooth receiver … his presence changes the ball game.”
Orji’s sentiment rang true against the Gophers, as Loveland kept the Wolverines afloat He led the team in receiving yards and all four of his completions went for first downs. But it was senior wide receiver Tyler Morris who put Michigan on the board in the second quarter.
On a one-play drive starting at the 11-yard line, Orji threw a routine screen pass to Morris. Morris punched the Wolverines into the end zone and gave Orji his third passing touchdown of the season. However, while he got into more of a rhythm with Loveland and tossed his first touchdown as a starter, Orji’s main deficiencies came in the form of missed throws that hemmed Michigan’s offense in. On multiple third
downs throughout the game, Orji sent passes towards the sidelines for receivers on out routes that skipped off of the ground well before reaching their targets. And with enough errant throws and missed reads, Orji eventually got stung early in the fourth quarter.
On a deep shot to Loveland in space, Orji misread a safety and put the ball into harm’s way, handing Minnesota a possession that they turned into seven points.
“At the end of the day, (senior running back Donovan Edwards) was open,” Orji said. “Just gotta be better in the quarterback position right there. Definitely owe him one. But a better ball would have been a completion to Colston. Just gotta stay true to my training and find (Edwards) on that one.”
The decision making, the throw and the presence of a wide open Edwards on a wheel route made the pick ugly. But through two games as the starter, having only one lapse in ball security doesn’t make Orji’s misfire especially concerning. The main focus for Orji and the receiving corps was to meaningfully contribute to moving the ball, and sustain drives. Orji was asked to do a decent amount more this Saturday than he was a week before. And with the opportunity, Orji facilitated a faster, more consistent offense for the first half. But it wasn’t dynamic, and so far, Orji has yet to prove that that’s something he can offer.
Kalel Mullings keeps going steady in first offensive start with 111 yards, 2 touchdowns
Kalel Mullings didn’t change anything.
Told by Michigan running backs coach Tony Alford that he would start on offense for the first time in his career on Saturday, the graduate running back prepared the exact same way he does for any game. Mullings didn’t fret at the fact that he would take the first snap, or that he might get an increased workload.
“For me, I keep everything the same,” Mullings said. “I’m always preparing like I’m going to start, like I’m going to be playing every single snap of the game. So nothing really has to change, for me it’s just continuing to do the same thing I do every day.”
By not changing anything before the game, Mullings made sure he didn’t change anything during it, either. He rushed for 111 yards and two scores — his thirdstraight week with over 100 yards and two touchdowns — guiding the 12th-ranked Wolverines to a narrow victory over Minnesota. Mullings also touched the ball 24 times, compared to 11 touches for senior running back Donovan Edwards, stepping into a true lead-back role for the first time.
Mullings first drive as Michigan’s starting running back wasn’t perfect, but it got the job done.
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SEAS and Michigan Climate Action Network host 2024 Climate Summit
The
The Michigan Climate Action Network and the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability hosted the 2024 Michigan Climate Summit in Ann Arbor Thursday. This year’s theme was Climate Civics, and the all-day programming featured keynote speeches from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) and Bill McKibben, author of “The End of Nature” and founder of 350.org. Attendees from across the state could visit tables from more than 50 sustainability organizations, participate in an art build and attend panel discussions featuring experts. The summit also coincided with the University’s annual Earthfest, which featured more than 45 student organizations tabling on the Diag.
The “Getting out the Climate Vote” panel brought together representatives from multiple environmentalist and pro-voting organizations to focus on strategies encouraging people to vote with the climate in mind.
LSA senior Maurielle Courtois is the co-president of Turn Up Turnout, a nonpartisan student organization working to educate potential voters and increase participation in elections. During the panel, she discussed ways in which Turn Up Turnout reaches out to students on campus.
“We table all the time, regularly, all around campus, and we try to partner with different groups to try and elevate our goals,” Courtois said. “But obviously not every
student is as passionate about certain issues such as environment and climate, and so meeting them where they’re already at, such as in the classroom, is one way that we’ve been trying to push out voter turnout.”
LSA junior Marwan Mikdadi, a panelist and volunteer with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Higher Education and Youth Action Teams, used Michigan as an example of why every vote counts.
“The election in 2016 in Michigan, the presidential one, was decided by about 10,000 votes,” Mikdadi said. “There are 1,100 people registered for this summit. If 1,100 people at this summit talk to just … five people and … do that for five weeks up until the election, you would easily clear that number.”
Mikdadi concluded the panel by calling on the audience to vote and encouraging others to vote, regardless of their opinion on politics or the environment.
“Don’t rest on your fear, don’t rest on your optimism, do something with it and actually make change,” Mikdadi said. “And you do that not just by voting, but by getting other people to vote.”
A panel called “The Fourth Estate: The Role of Media in Climate Democracy” featured a collection of Michigan journalists who spoke on their experiences covering the climate and related issues.
Panelist Jena Brooker, an environmental reporter for BridgeDetroit, spoke about the direct impacts of her reporting on public opinion and public policy.
“Last year with the Canadian wildfires … I collaborated on a story about how the air quality of
Detroit was hazardous and there weren’t any alerts from the state or from the city health department about it,” Brooker said. “I feel like, because of our reporting, for the future days where the air quality was bad because of the wildfire smoke, they did send out alerts.”
Sheri McWhirter, a panelist who covers environmental issues for MLive, said one of the most important things she has learned about reporting on the climate is the value of centering her stories on people rather than concepts.
“I have discovered that the raw science alone is not enough to get people to pay attention,” McWhirter said. “We’ve got to tell the stories of how people are interacting with their environment, how people are responding to climate change.”
According to McWhirter, climate journalism provides opportunities to write fun and interesting stories but also requires engagement with bleak subject matter.
“We have to take the time to tell
the grim stories too because they matter as well,” McWhirter said.
“I wish that hope would solve the climate crisis, but hope is not going to solve the climate crisis, and sometimes you have to point out the grim realities to inspire action.”
LSA junior Emma Thomson said she attended the summit because she is studying environmental science and wanted to support environment related organizations on campus, which include the Campus Farm and Common Cycle in an interview with The Daily.
“It’s a good way to get the community involved,” Thomson said. “There’s people out there helping each other. The Common Cycle (is) out there helping people with their bikes. The Campus Farm is out there selling their delicious products at the farm and food stand. It’s a great way to learn more about different environmental movements and different organizations that are supporting environmental issues on campus.”
spreading foreign malign influence covertly, hiding in the shadows of social media — those are new things that we’ve only encountered in very recent years,” Abbate said.
concern and threats — the things that we protect against today, the potential for voter ballot fraud, voter suppression, civil rights violations, campaign finance violations — that was the focus back then.”
The Weiser Diplomacy Center hosted FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate Tuesday afternoon for a conversation with Javed Ali, associate professor at the Ford School of Public Policy. The event explored the evolution of the FBI’s approach to safeguarding elections with local governments and enforcement agencies. Abbate also touched on increasing collaboration with international actors, including U.S. allies, in front of a crowd of about 50 U-M community members and former FBI employees.
Abbate spoke about how election interference during the 2016 presidential race changed the sphere of election security and how the FBI addresses concerns of domestic and international threats.
“When we get to 2016, the attacks that came at our country from Russia — specifically in that instance via cyber means, hacking operations,
“That’s been a very rapid evolution, and we’ve had to adapt having been caught off guard as a government by that and move very quickly to identify future threats, fill the gaps under what’s happening now and work to protect our elections and our democracy in an urgent fashion.”
Abbate said the changes that the FBI has made to their election security procedures align with the increasingly digital world.
According to Abbate, election security concerns have been front of mind for federal law enforcement for decades, but the nature of the threats have changed as technology has advanced.
“You go back to the early ’70s, and even then, we had what was an election program — or election protection program — in conjunction with the Department of Justice, but it was much more rudimentary,” Abbate said. “Real-world types of
Abbate also discussed the growing collaboration between the FBI and local agencies to enforce stronger security measures around elections. Abbate said expanding these partnerships has helped them establish a set framework for effective communication between attorneys, representatives and FBI agents.
“It’s essential, (what) we are doing, that the entirety of the information necessary to stop the threat is shared with everybody across the board, at every level: federal, state and local,” Abbate said. “I can assure you that that is happening today. It’s been happening for a long time, and it’s in part based on the lessons that we’ve derived from some of the failures of the past.”
Abbate particularly emphasized the development of the partnership between the FBI, the Cybersecurity
and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. According to Abbate, CISA is primarily engaged in protecting voting machines, balloting and assisting local governments during election seasons.
“We’re working together every day to collect information intelligence from a variety of sources and then synthesize that and then share it with potential victims so that they can put themselves in the best position to protect whatever is received to protect, and that applies in this realm to election security, and then beyond that …” Abbate said.
After the 2016 election, Abbate said the FBI increased its communication with social media platforms to inform them of suspicious online activity. According to Abbate, while the federal government has no jurisdiction over the activities of these social media platforms, they wanted to ensure platforms were aware of misinformation on their sites.
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Erika Cheung, a critical whistleblower for Theranos, delivers a speech at the Stamps Auditorium about her story as part of the College of Engineering’s
Common Reading Experience Thursday.
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UMich community learns how to get involved with sustainability at Earthfest
The festival celebrates Ann Arbor’s environment and sustainability initiatives while providing education and involvement
sustainability and learn how to get involved.
Live music and overlapping conversation filled the University of Michigan Diag Thursday, while students weaved between folding tables and posters at the University’s 29th annual Earthfest.
With more than 45 organizations tabling on the Diag, Earthfest celebrates Ann Arbor’s environment and sustainability initiatives and aims to promote involvement and education. This year, the event collaborated with the Michigan Climate Summit, hosted by the School for Environment and Sustainability and the Michigan Climate Action Network, to ensure attendees could get the most out of both events. Nicole Berg, Office of Campus Sustainability program manager, said Earthfest had interactive opportunities like a Nature Rx walk and tree planting in the Diag at 1 p.m. in an interview with The Michigan Daily. Berg said Earthfest’s central location gave more students the opportunity to explore the different facets of
“I love it being here in the Diag because you get so much traffic from people that didn’t even know Earthfest was happening,” Berg said. “It really exposes students, even if they’re not studying sustainability or it’s not something they want to delve deep into.”
LSA junior Malachi Cassels was one of the students who stumbled upon the festival, initially drawn by kale chips offered at the MCatering table. Cassel told The Daily that after exploring the festival some more, he enjoyed getting exposed to new sustainability resources and communities on campus.
“I think the biggest thing is getting to know what is actually available at the library table. I didn’t even know we had a seed vending machine,” Cassels said.
“A lot of the sustainability stuff isn’t (at) the forefront. I think having an event like that got me to see how many things are actually available for people with environmental and nature interests like myself.”
Organizations at Earthfest ranged from student-run clubs like the Michigan Solar Car
team to University departments like the School of Education, all aiming to raise awareness about sustainability.
To promote campus involvement, the Student Sustainability Coalition advertised their grant programs at Earthfest. LSA junior Katelyn Jasmin, SSC communications member, told The Daily that SSC has a small, short-term grant and a large, long-term grant.
“The Social and Environmental Sustainability grant is $2,500 per project for more short-term impact,” Jasmin said. “One of our past examples is that we funded a couple of plays last semester — one was called Dog Fight and they incorporated sustainability. Then there’s the Planet Blue Student Innovation Fund. … It’s up to $50,000 so it’s a really big one so we want to make sure it has a long-term impact on UMich.”
There were also several volunteer and internship opportunities advertised at the event. The Huron River Watershed Council, a local nonprofit that works to protect and restore the Huron River, has volunteer opportunities including a river roundup, where volunteers collect bugs from
streams across the Huron River watershed.
LSA senior River Wright, an Ecology Center employee, said it was his first day on the job and he was happy to be there.
“Well, we’re here trying to engage and educate the local community in proper ways for waste management, particularly
recycling,” Wright said.
“There are many, you know, niche discrepancies that the community doesn’t really know about.”
Jasmin said the event helped emphasize the importance of student engagement with sustainability around campus.
“Even though we work for the University, we are students and our job is to help students and support them,” Jasmin said. “(Everything is) entirely student-driven. It’s student ideas, student participation, and student engagement. I really like this whole group that’s dedicated to helping students and their sustainability ideas.”
Annual survey-based study finds improvements in mental health of college students
Poor mental health in students — while still an issue at universities — has been found to be less prevalent
In the latest edition of the Healthy Minds Study, which surveyed the mental health of more than 100,000 college students at 196 institutions during the 2023-24 academic year, researchers found that though mental health continues to be an issue at universities, the prevalence of mental illnesses and other negative wellness factors has declined. Run by the Healthy Minds Network, an organization based out of the University of Michigan and Boston University, the study found decreases in categories such as depressive symptoms, eating disorders, suicidal ideation and anxiety compared to the previous year’s survey.
The Healthy Minds Study was initially developed in 2005 by Daniel Eisenberg, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who formerly taught at the U-M School of Public Health. First released in 2007, the study has since grown to survey more than 800,000 students from more than 600 institutions in total.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Justin Heinze, a principal investigator for HMN and an associate professor of health behavior and education at the U-M Public Health School, said the study was created to measure mental health in higher education and to allow institutions to tailor wellness services to their students’ needs.
“The goal was to understand the prevalence of things like anxiety and depression on college campuses, and to see if there was an alignment with the availability of services to support those students,” Heinze said. “Much of the utility of the study was to not just create awareness, but then also help schools recognize this is where we have a disconnect between what students need and what we have to offer.”
Comparing the most recent HMS data to the year prior, the study found that the percentage of students experiencing severe depressive symptoms decreased from 20% to 19%, moderate depressive symptoms decreased from 42% to 38% and anxiety decreased from 36% to 34%. Nonsuicidal selfinjury and eating disorders also decreased in prevalence, among other categories. Positive mental health, measured
using the Flourishing Scale’s eight questions on a person’s self-perceived success and fulfillment, increased from 36% to 38%. Heinze said that although future data would be needed to ensure that these concerns are on the decline, he was happy to see that this year’s results were more positive than the last.
“It’s hard to tease out in the way that this survey is conducted what might be driving these changes, but we’re certainly happy and hopeful that we’re seeing a peak,” Heinze said. “As more and more schools are recognizing that mental health is an intricate part of students’ learning experience, more and more schools are trying to put mental health professionals in place. … It all could be playing into why we might be starting to see a tip in a very positive direction here, but we’ll have to wait for the next couple of years to really understand, ‘Is this just a flip, or are we starting to see a sustained decrease?’”
The researchers theorized that the decrease in mental health concerns may be due to the additional emphasis on wellness that colleges have placed on their campuses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with
The Daily, Erin Voichoski, a research area specialist at HMN, said this increase in resources could improve overall health on campus.
“I think there’s like more research that needs to be done to confirm, but we suspect that hopefully this is because there’s been greater attention paid to student mental health concerns, probably as a result of COVID19,” Voichoski said. “Hopefully, in turn, that means that schools have been investing more in their mental health services and resources for students on their campuses, and that all of that is contributing to a better climate for mental health … and then better outcomes for students.”
In an interview with The Daily, LSA senior Jack Weinberg, the executive director of the Wolverine Support Network, a student organization that leads support groups and advocates for positive mental health at the University, said WSN also experienced an increase in activity during the pandemic but that student demand for their services has declined in recent semesters.
“We’ve actually had similar results in our organization,” Weinberg said. “We’ve seen decreasing group sign-ups over
the past few semesters. … One of the big reasons I think we had a big increase in group assignments a year or two ago was because of COVID and people coming out of COVID feeling isolated, more lonely. As people have come to just get out of the pandemic … (they) have been able to readjust and solidify their lives again.”
COVID-19 may not be the only factor responsible for mental health concerns on campus. Students’ mental wellness has been on the decline in years prior to the pandemic, according to Heinze.
“We actually, prior to this year, had experienced about 10 straight years of increases (in negative mental health outcomescategories),” Heinze said. “Explanations like, ‘Oh, this must just be the pandemic or something,’ don’t really hold up because we’ve been seeing this since about 2015 now.”
Between the most recent study and the data from a year prior, percentages rose in students’ utilization of mental health and wellness treatments, with increases in the percent of students with mental health concerns using counseling, taking psychiatric medication and having a diagnosis of a mental disorder at some point during
their lifetime. Heinze said the decade of mental health decline found in the HMS data may be due to more open conversations about mental illness and higher percentages of students seeking treatment for such symptoms.
“Is it really that we’re seeing an increase in the prevalence of some of these challenges, or are we perhaps just getting better at recognizing it, better at asking for help with less stigma around mental health, and therefore we see more treatment?” Heinze said.
According to the researchers, interested institutions can administer the study on a rolling basis during the academic year.
While schools receive individual data sets specific to their institutions, HMN also compiles the year’s complete data into the HMS aggregated report. In an interview with The Daily, Brenda Vyletel, a HMS coordination lead, said she hopes external researchers and institutions use the data to influence their policymaking.
“We gather the data and we provide it to the schools, and it’s up to the schools to use their strategies to interpret it and apply it in ways that would help the students,” Vyletel said. “We do serve our participating schools
in that way, but it’s also really beneficial to the larger research community because it does provide national data sets that are then open to other researchers.”
Aside from asking about mental health, the HMS surveys students on topics such as substance usage, racism, athletics, financial situations and lifestyle choices. To tailor the study to their student bodies, schools electing to conduct the survey on their campus can also add additional subject modules and school-specific questions to the questionnaire. Heinze said the process of generating the annual survey was a balance between consistency and adapting to new issues.
“(The survey) has been around now for about almost 20 years, and we try to keep some measures consistent,” Heinze said. “These measures for depression, anxiety, etc. have been in the survey since the beginning, and we try to keep them the same so that we can document changes in prevalence … but there are often new topics or emerging topics that we work as a team to develop here at the University of Michigan, or we’re pulling in scholars from around the country who are experts in this area.”
Voichoski said she believes the work of the HMN is important to students because of how pivotal the college experience is to personal development.
“College students are in this very developmental phase of life,” Voichoski said. “I think colleges and universities have a really unique opportunity to intervene or even prevent mental health concerns in the first place, developing a culture where it’s okay to talk about mental health and seek treatment, if needed.” Weinberg said he hopes that mental health continues to be addressed on campus and wants to see additional progress in destigmatizing the topic among students.
“I hope to see it a lot more openly talked about and a lot more destigmatized,” Weinberg said. “That’s the main goal of our organization, to destigmatize talking about mental health across campus. I think there’s been a lot of progress in that over the recent years, just as people have become more aware of their own mental health and how important it is to talk about it. But I just hope that it becomes an issue which has obviously absolutely no stigma … the closer we get, the better.”
AVA CHATLOSH & EMMA SPRING Daily Staff Reporters
MARISSA CORSI Daily Staff Reporter
Ruby Klawans/DAILY
Matthew Prock/DAILY
The University of Michigan Central Student Government met in the Wolverine Room in the Michigan Union Tuesday evening to discuss resolutions related to the cost of textbooks and class materials, Counseling and Psychological Services for students and standing rules for the assembly.
CSG heard executive reports from its different committees on the past week’s activities and achievements. During the report, Law School student Tyler Watt, CSG general counsel, questioned CSG Vice President Elias Atkinson about what he and CSG President Alifa Chowdhury, who was not at the meeting, have been working on. Watt told The Michigan Daily in an interview that he questioned Atkinson because he felt the Assembly was not sufficiently informed about the actions of the executive branch.
“We have not received what I would describe as a normal executive report ever since this administration took office this past April,” Watt said. “Now, that’s highly unusual because typically an executive report, as we’ve seen in past administrations, details who the president has been meeting with that week, what projects they’re working on, what legislation they’re working on and perhaps even what folks from other schools or admin they can come with.” Watt said he believes executive reports are important as they hold the executive branch accountable for actions they take while representing CSG. “It’s highly important for the
CSG passes resolutions improving CAPS
The Assembly also passed a resolution on standing rules and on the cost of textbooks and class materials
Assembly to know what folks up front are doing because they’re doing it in CSG’s name,” Watt said. “They represent all of us when they’re out in the world, and if we don’t have reports, then we kind of are lacking accountability, which is why I think it’s healthy to politely, though firmly, ask questions about what our leaders (are) doing. I think every student has a right to do so.”
Later during the meeting, LSA sophomore Amr Brown, CSG representative, introduced The Textbook Transparency Act, which would allow students to view required materials for
Pinball Pete’s to
begin
classes before the semester starts in order to plan their finances. In an interview with The Daily, Brown spoke about his hopes for the act.
“We came to the idea through a conversation with executive leadership at U-M Dearborn for their Senate on how this was an issue on their campus and how we can relate it to Ann Arbor and Flint as well,” Brown said. “We want to lessen the financial burden on students because let’s face it, they’re already paying tens of thousands of dollars for tuition and those costs add up, especially when you buy those materials for classes.”
The Assembly then passed two resolutions — Improving CAPS Part 1 and Creation of Assembly Standing Rules — with unanimous consent.
AR 14-027 is a resolution to increase accessibility to the mental health services offered by the Counseling and Psychological Services at the University, with a focus on improving quality of and access to care for Black students. The resolution formally requests that the U-M administration increases access to services tailored to Black students through funding and staff training on cultural competence
and sensitivity. AR 14-030 establishes six standing rules for the Assembly. The rules addressed decorum in the meetings’ Zoom chats and established a precedent of reading a Land and Labor Acknowledgement immediately preceding the first roll call to establish quorum. The rules would also implement DEI table talks during meetings, or discussions in which CSG invites an affinity-based student organization to present and answer questions from the Assembly during a meeting.
The rules committee also discussed AR 14-031,
a resolution to refine the process in which ex-officio members are selected. The resolution clarifies the duties of the Executive Nominations Committee, which reviews all nominations by LSA senior Mario Thaqi, CSG speaker of the assembly, and holds hearings to deliberate nominations before reporting recommendations to the Assembly. The resolution passed with 22 votes for the resolution, 6 against and 4 in abstention.
Erin Neely, Rackham representative and vice chair of the rules committee, said in an interview with The Daily that students who qualify for the ex-officio seats are selected because their unique backgrounds add important perspectives to CSG’s discussions.
“They are first year undergrad, first year grad, transfer, international students, non-traditional students and someone who is Pell Grant eligible,” Neely said. “Because of these more specific qualifications, it’s easier logistically to have appointed rather than elected seats. The ex-officio members cannot vote, but they can speak and introduce legislation.”
While the Assembly has not received nominations from the speaker so far this year, Watt said the resolution was created to ensure that CSG nominations are properly deliberated and include conversation among multiple assembly members.
“Another part is the general concern about investing too much power into one person, the idea instead is to have a group of assembly members with more diverse backgrounds, perspectives because there’s more of them,” Watt said.
construction at new location on East Liberty
Now that the City Planning Commission approved the demolition of the complex the arcade is currently housed in, construction will start in the next two months
In the next two months, Pinball Pete’s will begin construction at a new location after the City Planning Commission approved the demolition of the complex housing its South University location in August. The arcade signed a new 20-year lease at 500 East Liberty St. in the Carver-Gunn Building and expects to open in 2026.
The establishment’s original location will be demolished and replaced by a 17-story high-rise apartment building.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Pinball Pete’s President Ted Arnold said
construction is set to start in about 30 to 60 days as plans are submitted to the city.
“Right now we’ve received contractual construction bids and we are just about ready to submit plans to the city and begin construction in the new space,” Arnold said. “(The start date) depends on the planning process with the city. I’m going to say 30 to 60 days, hopefully.”
Scot Greig, the Carver-Gunn Building manager, reached out to Arnold after hearing concerns that the new development on South University would close down Pinball Pete’s permanently. The arcade will replace a former hair salon in the Carver-Gunn Building, utilizing both the street-level floor and the basement.
“(Greig) reached out to me and gave me a tour of the space because he thought it was an ideal fit, and he was right,” Arnold said. “When I told him I was interested in the basement space as well, it was a perfect match because the landlord had never rented that space. It was just sitting there used for storage, and I’ll be able to utilize every inch of it. It was a win-win situation for the landlord and myself.”
Arnold said he hopes Pinball Pete’s will be able to quickly transition from the current location to the East Liberty location after construction is finished.
“We’re being told by the new owners that it should be early 2026, or possibly halfway
through 2026,” Arnold said. LSA junior Uziel Pinarrieta is a Pinball Pete’s customer and told The Daily when he heard of the planned demolition in the spring, he was disappointed that students might lose such an important community space near the University of Michigan’s Central Campus.
“I was really upset,” Pinarrieta said. “It’s really meaningful. It’s an area where we can have fun apart from school. Michigan is very rigorous, and people are always stressed out. Just knowing there’s a place where we can have fun is meaningful to students.”
The current Pinball Pete’s location is underground and accessible by a flight of stairs.
Jay Harrison, a long-time
Pinball Pete’s arcade attendant, said moving to the new groundlevel location will brighten the arcade’s atmosphere.
“There’s going to be more windows, which would be a lot different from what we’re used to because we’ve been underground,” Harrison said.
“That should change the atmosphere.”
Arnold said the new space will have old-school carnival games, keeping with Pinball Pete’s signature retro theme.
“We’re also going to bring in some old-school carnival games,” Arnold said. “Some oldschool games that nobody’s seen since the late ’60s. It’s going to be decorated with a lot of antique advertising, like neon signs, so it’s going to be really eye-catching.”
Harrison told The Daily he recognizes the nostalgic value of the current location and is expecting the transition to a new location to be difficult for some customers.
“Our business is based on nostalgia and games that come from a different era,” Harrison said. “So you can’t really just buy those things, they’re things that have accumulated over time. We would definitely want to be able to bring those things over to the new location, but people are attached to walking in the doors they walked into when they were younger and bringing kids in the same doors they walked into. Going over to another store, it’s going to be different.”
CHRISTINA ZHANG Daily Staff Reporter
Josh Sinha/DAILY
GRACE LEE Daily Staff Reporter
This fall, two relay teams of four Daily Arts staffers will train for and run the Probility Ann Arbor Marathon. But as writers, we can’t just run the race — we have to write about our past experiences with running, how we are preparing for the marathon, what we look forward to and what we are afraid of.
Throughout my time at the University of Michigan, running has been a constant. It has been instrumental in my love of Ann Arbor — the early morning jogs and evening runs have fostered a newfound appreciation for my second home. There is a certain level of satisfaction that comes with learning the habits of a city: what the good routes with little road traffic are, when a good time to avoid students walking to and from class is and where the flattest sidewalks are. The hidden beauty and many quirks of Ann Arbor have always been most apparent with my running shoes on and music volume halfway up.
But sometimes the feeling of pavement becomes repetitive. Sometimes dodging cars becomes a hassle. Sometimes you want to run surrounded by trees, birds and clear water and not the constant — but comforting — sound of city life. My midwesternness might be showing here, considering how green Ann Arbor is: Its label of
“Tree Town” indicates a far cry from a metropolis like New York or Chicago. The Nichols Arboretum and Barton Pond are all within walking, much less running, distance within Ann Arbor. But even in the many parks and natural areas within Ann Arbor city limits, you can’t escape the hallmarks of urban life. Cars and trains can be heard at all hours of the day, no matter where you are; the whole world is always within reach with a simple phone call. Green space is valuable for the livability and mental health of people in metropolitan areas, and during a typical school year, running by the Huron River more than satisfies the deep yearning for nature I feel every year. However, I got to live in Wyoming for two months this summer — the longest time I’ve spent somewhere that wasn’t in southeast Michigan. I lived in a cabin sandwiched between mountains in a winding valley. I was a 40-minute drive from the nearest town and 20 minutes from reliable cell reception. When I went on morning runs on the hiking paths behind my cabin or on the nearby dirt road, seeing deer, cows and even bears was within reason; thankfully, my worst encounter with animal life while in Wyoming is tied between a slightly too friendly cow and the neighbor’s ranch dog scaring me with loud barks. I was fully immersed in nature, breathing in crisp
mountain air with every step I took. For the first few weeks, I struggled to maintain my typical pace and mileage. I like to chalk it up to the 6,000-foot elevation change, but I admittedly hadn’t been consistently running during weeks prior. This meant the first few runs would be more aptly described as half-walks and halfjogs, but on the bright side, I got to appreciate the most beautiful
scenery I’d ever encountered. The shadowed mountain streams and valleys contrasted by stark peaks and sun-exposed ridges made me stop not just to breathe but also to take pictures. Once I did get back into the rhythm of my morning runs, I was melancholic about having to stare at the path for roots and rocks. I had to settle for the sounds, smells and feelings associated with nature: bird songs, cold wind and the sadly constant stench of horse poop. But even these characteristics and their negative side effects (The smell of poop made me hold my breath a shocking amount of times) are preferable to the annoyance of running on pavement and dodging cars. Constantly being surrounded by nature was comforting and the pain in my feet lessened. I love my runs in Ann Arbor, but a change of scenery was
refreshing. Nature has always been a meaningful part of my life and I’m glad I got to experience it in a new light. In my head, running is an urban pursuit — the most wildlife I expect to see is a squirrel. But when in Wyoming, the
The Michigan Daily Crossword
at a
"Seems
Rejections
French 56-Across
"___ you!" (winner's proclamation) 34. Land of pyramids 36. Be in agreement with someone, or a hint to the circled letters
39. Up and at 'em
41. Finished off
42. Michele of "Glee"
43. Annoy
46. Soccer player's uniform
47. It may appear in a flash
50. Discount bucket
53. Restaurant list
54. "So what ___ is new?"
55. Wii avatar
56. You can't live without it
57. Strike two?
59. Fruity mixed drink with a tart twist, informally
62. Something one may perform at a party
63. "This meeting could've been an ___"
64. 56-Across in solid form
65. Something you may miss when cleaning
66. Leaf under a petal
67. Jason Kelce's position: Abbr. DOWN
1. You read a 53-Across when you do this
2. Relaxed
3. Biblical body of water
4. What Simon does
5. Flow's counterpart
6. Lincoln, for one
7. Adjust one's target
8. Damascus native
9. Plant production: Abbr.
10. Online financial lending company
11. Good-looking person?
12. Syrup before it's syrup
13. Embarks on a mission
18. Pulled off
22. "Where did ___ wrong?"
25. Cold drink found in a convenience store
26. "What more can ___?"
27. Spotter's words
29. Spain's peninsula
32. "E___O" (letters in "Old MacDonald" refrain)
33. Inspirational talks?
35. OB/___
36. Sci-fi transport
37. Torch type
38. Thor's dad
39. Banff's home
40. Certain basecoats
44. Salted part of a margarita glass
45. Sharp tools
47. Like grams, but not pounds
48. Type of short play
49. Hot top?
51. Insurance company with a reptilian spokesman
52. Ecosystem
53. Cheese partner
56. Humpty Dumpty fell off one
58. Box office purchase: Abbr.
60. Handshake alternative
61. Soul seller?
‘Gravity
Falls’ and the end of childhood
ISABELLE PERRAUT Daily Arts Writer
From 2012 to 2016, Disney aired a mystery thriller series featuring horrifying shapeshifters, sadistic interdimensional demons, government conspiracies and the apocalypse. It was instantly clear that “Gravity Falls” would push the boundaries of children’s television and Disney’s strict censorship. The show, aimed at a wide audience of kids, teens and young adults alike, was unafraid to be spooky and weird.
Mystery-obsessed members of Gen Z, including myself, were enraptured by showrunner Alex Hirsch’s (“Inside Job”) endless plot twists, hidden messages and cliffhangers that resulted in a massively popular and exceptionally unique show. Beyond the mysteries and dark themes, the show also tackled the uncertainties of growing up. I saw myself mature alongside the two main characters, grappling with the same insecurities and worries about leaving behind your childhood imagination and being forced to change with age. Like other young fans of the show, “Gravity Falls” became intertwined with my own coming of age across its four-year run. When the finale aired, it felt like the end of much more than just a series — it was the end of an important period of my life.
“Gravity Falls” follows 12-yearold twins Dipper (Jason Ritter, “Joan of Arcadia”) and Mabel Pines (Kristen Schaal, “Bob’s Burgers”) as they spend the summer with their great uncle “Grunkle” Stan (Hirsch) in the fictional town Gravity Falls, Ore. The twins quickly begin to uncover the supernatural secrets of the town, discovering that nothing is as it seems. Charmed by the humor and adventure of the show, it was clear to me even then that “Gravity Falls” was special. The show never talked down to its young audience. Hirsch spoke to young viewers like equals and never assumed kids were incapable of understanding darker themes. In doing so, it joined a growing number of shows written for both children and adults to enjoy.
Notably, the show challenged its contemporaries by showing the importance of quality and intentionality in children’s media.
While it’s easy to assume kids don’t know any better and slap together a show with a few cheap jokes and trite lessons, Hirsch approached his work with the care and passion frequently reserved for adult programs. “Gravity Falls” featured clever clues, foreshadowing and character-driven arcs unparalleled by other shows on the Disney network at the time. In contrast with the money-grabbing trend of renewing shows well beyond their
expiration dates, Hirsch had the beginning, middle and end of the story planned out from the start. He was quick to assure viewers that when the show ended after two seasons, it was on his terms — not on Disney’s — and that “Gravity Falls” came to a natural end. The focus on quality storytelling led to the series becoming both a cult classic and a critically acclaimed program. “Gravity Falls” made me realize that TV was not just entertainment — it could be an art. By the time “Gravity Falls” was wrapping up, I was 12 and beginning to feel too old to still be watching Disney shows. I was just starting to pick up on the adult jokes, hints of LGBTQ+ representation and themes in the show that previously went over my head, deepening my appreciation for the series. Suddenly, “Gravity Falls” wasn’t just about mysteries and the supernatural, it was about self-discovery and growing up. The show had always put its character development first, something I didn’t notice until close to the end of its run. As the twins approached their 13th birthday, the story delved into the uglier parts of getting older. Mabel in particular faced unfair backlash from audiences as she acted selfishly in fear of change and growing up. In the episodes “Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future” and “Weirdmageddon 2: Escape from Reality,” the plot lines center around Mabel’s fears about growing up and the end of their summer in Gravity Falls, both symbolizing the end of an era. While Mabel at first tries to live in denial that things are changing, she discovers that running away only makes things worse. Both twins are uncertain about the future, but they know that summer can’t last forever. The scariest thing in Gravity Falls isn’t the ghouls, curses, monsters or even the apocalypse – it’s the fact that leaving is inevitable. Throughout its run, the show pairs a sense of adventure and curiosity with fear of uncertainty. The Pines twins and I had reached the age where the ultimate unknown was the future, but the show tells viewers that the best way to deal with change is to accept its inevitability. Despite the show’s success, summer had to come to an end. When the twins finally boarded the bus back home in the last minutes of the finale, it felt like losing an old friend. “Gravity Falls” has been with me since I began the transition from childhood to adolescence. It shaped children’s TV, influencing successors and proving that shows made for kids could be beautiful, intelligent and meaningful. The end of the show was scary for me, but Hirsch reminds us in the final moments that there’s always next summer.
Avery Nelson/DAILY
To read or not to read: Does COVID-19 belong in our books?
BROWN
As is the case for many, reading for me serves the purpose of escaping reality; there is nothing better than curling up with a book and forgetting everything on my to-do list for a few hours. When lost in a good book, it’s easy to forget the pains of day-today life. Instead, you swap for a reality that might very well have its faults, but whose problems I don’t have to carry with me. This ability to escape into another world is an essential requirement for me to like a book — when I am reminded of my own reality that escape is often broken. During the years following the height of the pandemic, there was nothing worse for me as a reader than being halfway through a book I was enjoying to realize that it was set between 2019 to 2021. Having an author write their characters into our reality felt like a clumsy grab at relevancy, a misguided attempt at relating to readers through the event they most wanted to escape. I was exhausted from living the daily reality of COVID-19 — I didn’t feel any desire to read about it.
The 50 or so pages of pandemic email flirtation in Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Romantic Comedy” was, to say the least, an unwelcome reminder of what trying to get in contact with loved ones was like during 2020. Reading about a love story getting upended by a global
pandemic was too real for me but also seemed to have no place in a novel that was previously focused on the budding romance between a famous singer and comedy writer; I was left wondering what is it that’s so romantic or funny about COVID-19. Although the novel technically falls under the category of contemporary romance, I much preferred the setting of the book, which, in my mind, existed in a nondescript year that could be applied to any prepandemic reality. A reality that had no concern with the deadly stakes of a pandemic, but rather one in which the protagonist only had to think about true love and their one annoying coworker. In one of my favorite books, “Beautiful World, Where Are You” by Sally Rooney, the abrupt jump to a COVID-19 timeline gave me whiplash. The novel is structured so it can flow seamlessly into the social distancing mandated by COVID-19 through the letters sent back and forth between best friends Alice and Eileen. While I would argue the novel is a bit more introspective than the romance of “Romantic Comedy” (not to say those two facets are mutually exclusive), I was still put off by the inclusion of COVID-19 in the novel when so much had not been about the pandemic up until that point. To that point, my distaste for the inclusion of COVID-19 in so many novels is due to its lack of centrality to the stories it shows up in. In both of the aforementioned books, COVID-19 appears
as an afterthought to the actual plot of the novels, almost as a bridge between the unmarked time of the stories and our present-day timeline. Reading about COVID-19 in these novels first served as a stark reminder of what had been, but also as a frustrating read when not adequately representative of the agony that those months of confusion and waiting held. Reading about the pandemic in these novels without the context and tension of the world it brought with it feels as if we aren’t doing ourselves justice in remembering what we’ve been through. The pandemic wasn’t just sending emails and staying home with family — it was stockpiling dry goods and toiletries, agonizing over the upcoming presidential election in the U.S. and waiting week after week to see if the lockdown would finally be lifted. These novels scratch the surface of this tension, but they just don’t feel like enough.
Up until recently, reading about COVID-19 frustrated me for both the lack of escapism it provided as well as the willful misrepresentation of a reality we all experienced — now, however, I’m finding myself more and more willing to read about this topic so long as it’s given a fair focus.
“Sea of Tranquility” by Emily St. John Mandel is one novel that does a particularly good job of incorporating COVID-19 into its plot. The novel jumps back and forth between centuries and characters, exploring the humanity that is lost and found when
‘Twilight of the Gods’ swaps character development for sex scenes
MORGAN SIERADSKI
I’m a sucker for a great revenge plot. Revenge can be a captivating character study, revealing just how far a character would go to get even. Watching characters lose themselves in their quest for vengeance is an intense, emotional experience for viewers. That is when viewers care about the characters and their plight, or at least understand what’s happening.
=When I started “Twilight of the Gods,” I had high hopes for the series. A Norse mythology retelling with Thor (Pilou Asbæk, “Game of Thrones”) as the villain sounded like an interesting premise. The story follows Sigrid (Sylvia Hoeks, “Blade Runner 2049”), a half-giant warrior whose family was massacred by Thor on her wedding day. To avenge her family, Sigrid vows to kill Thor, subsequently allying herself with Loki (Paterson Joseph, “Wonka”).
From the get-go, “Twilight of the Gods” stuffs its runtime with as much action as possible. In the first episode, viewers are introduced to protagonist Sigrid and her fiancé Leif (Stuart Martin, “Army of Thieves”), who are planning their wedding. The pair travels to Jötunheim, Sigrid’s homeland so her clan can be present at the ceremony. However, the ceremony takes a dark turn when Thor arrives, demanding the giants hand over Loki. A fight ensues and Thor slaughters the entire clan besides Sigrid and Leif. Loki, who was present at the wedding in the form of a lizard, then appears to Sigrid and offers to help her kill Thor. All of those things occur within the first 30-minute episode, with little time to breathe between
scenes. The show establishes the necessary context — who Sigrid is and what her motivation is — but it neglects to include any substantial reasons to make viewers care about her. Other facets of her character are brushed over in favor of additional fight sequences, leaving her without a real personality. Viewers learn about Sigrid as a warrior but never as a person. When the show does discuss these facets, like Sigrid’s feelings of isolation as a half-giant in a giant clan, the show either speedruns a resolution or drops the issue altogether. The pacing only continues to worsen throughout the series. Episode two is a particularly horrific offender, cramming five major character introductions into 27 minutes. Loki allows Sigrid and Leif to choose five warriors to aid their fight against Thor. Why they can only choose five is never explained; it’s an arbitrary box for the cast to fit into. Still, limiting the cast is a good way to raise the stakes and give each character ample chance for development. Despite its overabundance of story threads, the series still feels empty. I sat in front of my screen, weary-eyed, begging for scraps of character development that never came. Of the five warriors recruited for the journey, each is allotted a maximum of one personality trait and one scene to describe their backstory. Hervor (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, “Pitch Perfect 2”) is an impulsive warrior whose three sons died in battle, Andvari (Kristofer Hivju, “Game of Thrones”) is a stubborn blacksmith who wants revenge on Loki for turning his close friend into a dragon and so on. These backstories are conceptually compelling, but their execution falls miles short of their potential. It doesn’t
help that conversation between characters is minimized, preventing an exploration of relationship dynamics beyond a sexual context.
Sex scenes can be a useful tool for characterization, depicting characters in their most intimate and vulnerable moments. However, “Twilight of the Gods” uses sex scenes as a substitute for character development. Rather than discussing the relationship dynamics within the main cast, sex scenes are shown as the culmination of some off-screen relationships viewers never get to see. These relationships feel unsatisfying because viewers don’t know the characters individually. You could slap two pieces of cardboard together for three minutes straight and achieve the same effect. If half of the screen time “Twilight of the Gods” devoted to sex was instead devoted to casual banter between the cast, the quality of this show would skyrocket. Even better, I wouldn’t have to hear the words “lust limb” ever again.
“Twilight of the Gods” suffers from pacing issues far too common in shows produced by major streaming services. With only eight, 30-minute episodes, the series is forced to sacrifice quality for quantity of content. However, the overemphasis of sex scenes compared to other forms of character development suggests larger issues than lack of time. Boiling down character dynamics to who’s fucking is not an adequate substitute for development, it simply neglects the exploration of other platonic and familial relationships. Thus, the emotional beats don’t hit, and viewers are left underwhelmed. “Twilight of the Gods” serves as a valuable warning to other series: There is no payoff without proper buildup.
confronted with the sickness of a pandemic and the possibility of human connection across time. Discussion of a pandemic mirrors current realities and future predictions. While COVID-19 is not the novel’s main focus, the pandemic is interwoven with the struggles of the characters we are reading about; it isn’t written about in passing but rather deeply entangled with the novel itself. If I were to take COVID-19 out of “Beautiful World, Where Are You” and “Romantic Comedy,” the reader would be left with a reality that makes sense — in “Sea of Tranquility,” not so much.
The COVID-19 pandemic was the first thing I’ve lived through that I knew would be written about in history books forever — this is a part of our lives that will be discussed for its hand in molding the generations that experienced it. But reading about the pandemic in novels of all genres is a distinct reminder that the definition of what we deem “normal” is evolving. It’s possible that reading about it in books published so close to the years during which COVID19 upended our lives made the effects of the pandemic seem too final, as if we had already moved on. Maybe I’m just not ready to
see COVID-19 being used as a literary prop to move a story along. While there are certain books I did not enjoy seeing COVID-19 thrown onto the pages of, I now find myself opening up to stories that incorporate an accurate representation of the events we all lived through. Maybe I will never fully be satisfied with the way COVID-19 is written about in books because it will never perfectly mirror the way I lived it. But this is just my first taste of what it feels like to read about the history I’ve lived as
Green Day didn’t show their age at Comerica Park
Green Day, like all things poppunk, will always remain a critical nostalgia-inducing component in the development of many alternative fans. It’s why I didn’t initially find the celebration of Dookie’s 30th anniversary strange. But witnessing Green Day perform one of their defining albums at Comerica Park felt like something I should have been envious of — it’s the stuff of a rock documentary, not an event I should have gotten to witness personally. With a headliner surrounded by fans old and new as well as three opening acts, the six-hour show was a surreal experience, a sort of homage to the punks Green Day used to be. As a personal rule, I don’t go to arena shows — I prefer the brutal physicality of an unexpected pit and the ring in my ears that lingers for days. That being said, if you shove Rancid and The Smashing Pumpkins on the same ticket, I’ll happily squeeze through sweaty crowds and sit, smiling, with my overpriced beer. With these two pinnacles of alternative music — along with new riot grrrl pupils, The Linda Lindas — all opening for Green Day, the lineup at Comerica Park seemed perfect to entertain a simmering crowd. Unfortunately, thanks to the insane congestion funneling into Detroit on the way to the venue, I didn’t manage to see The Linda Lindas’s set, but presumably they, like Rancid, gave an incredibly high-energy show to a crowd still finding their seats. For the entirety of Rancid’s set, crowds of people were still wandering to their seats and talking over whatever crowd interaction the band
could manage. Thankfully, there was at least some movement closer to the stage, even if it was on the sluggish side for a circle pit. Still, maybe the audience’s lack of energy and hesitance to swirl themselves into some ungovernable mass was justified considering the show was scheduled from 5:30 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. By the time Rancid was done playing, the war of attrition had really just started. Even The Smashing Pumpkins played to a relaxed and sitting crowd, but their set received noticeably more engagement. With three guitarists and a back-up vocalist who occasionally picked a guitar up herself, the band had an unblemished, confident sound that radiated through the stands and electrified the audience. There was a wave of prickling anticipation as the group started “1979,” and the set felt nearly cinematic as the sun set over Detroit, leaving a dusky filter layered over the stage. Billy Corgan and James Iha talked earnestly with the crowd, offering some selfaware comments about their age and the insanity of performing off and on since the ‘80s. Their hourlong set felt authentic and embraced the devil-may-care energy their fans have enjoyed the last 40 years. It almost didn’t feel like enough time for the audience to absorb the lamenting choruses and rebellious riffs the group has come to be defined by, but all good things must come to an end. After an impressive set that guided the crowd through their older material as well as their more popular songs, The Smashing Pumpkins ended the night with “Zero,” a final reminder of the group’s counterculture ideology.
Once the sun had fully set and pink neon accented the stage, the audience finally jolted to life, standing and cheering wildly as
some stagehand in a jersey-clad bunny suit ran drunkenly around the stage. Immediately after, Billie Joe Armstrong ran out playing “The American Dream Is Killing Me,” the only song from their new album, Saviors, that they would play the whole night. The rest of the two-hour set was dedicated firstly to Dookie and then American Idiot. Playing both albums completely was an impressive decision for Green Day, and the commitment to such a long performance demonstrated these 50-year-olds’ dedication to the genre. Still, such a long set is uncommon, and Green Day knew they’d need to use more than pyrotechnics and loud pop-punk to entertain a crowd that had been waiting four hours to hear them play. Between the massive inflatable plane that dropped palmsized inflatable “bombs” onto the crowd, the multicolored edited big screens and an entire set change once they finished Dookie, Green Day’s stage show was equally as impressive as their musical one. The drone fiasco was just as entertaining, of course, at least for the wilder fan. After an unauthorized drone flew above the arena, Green Day was rushed offstage mid-song out of fear for the group’s safety. For the full 15-minute pause, however, neither the band nor Comerica Park staff did anything to assure the safety of the crowd. Whatever the reasoning behind leaving the audience in the dark, there was luckily no panic or mass hysteria, and after the break the show continued seemingly as normal. Green Day maintained their rambunctious fun energy, with plenty of jokes, snide comments and updated political commentary, and even inviting fans onstage.
Haylee Bohm/DAILY
MIVICK SMITH Daily Arts Writer
NGHI NGUYEN MiC Senior Editor
Odette stands in the spotlight of the “Swan Lake” ballet, a ballerina who is cursed to remain a swan. To be stuck in an animalic form, albeit one of beauty, is not a blessing. Deception and malice lace her tale with tragedy. A pure heart has transformative power, but the true question is whether it can overcome vulnerability and emerge as a force to be reckoned with.
***
Act I: danse des petits cygnes
My childhood bedroom is a palette of pink. It would be plastered on the front page of a girly teen magazine as the everyday princess’s dream. A porcelain music box rests upon my bed frame, a pristine ballerina at its center. With some elbow grease, she spins in place, accompanied by an eerie, off-key rendition of “Swan Lake.” I have always entertained the idea of being a ballerina: Nothing makes me feel more like myself than embracing girlhood, and I saw the ballerina as a perfect symbol of femininity. I give all my plushies female names and paint them as independent women. Their quintessential fairytale ending is simply achieving their dream job, becoming rich and living happily with their best friends, reflecting my own conception of paradise. Being a girl is all I have ever known how to be and I never feel the need to entertain an alternative.
Con ơi, come help Mom!”
My mother’s voice wrenches the door of my fortress of solitude open. I smooth out my blush pink nightgown and cast one last look at my porcelain ballerina before I shut the door behind me.
***
As a child, I was obsessed with frilly dresses — the more ruffles and layers, the better. Embedded in each ruffle was my childlike optimism in the frivolity of being a girl. The younger me fell in love with all things traditionally feminine and opted for strictly girly characters to fixate on. It was very much a “no boys allowed” type of existence, albeit unintentionally. I never had a tomboy phase and am a product of the “unconsciously heteronormative ally to realized queer woman exploring gender expression” pipeline. As I got older, I stepped away from viewing archetypically feminine clothing as synonymous with my personal gender identity. My appearance can help me embrace my identity as a woman, but it is a state of
mind more than anything. Testing the waters of androgyny has been my safe haven for examining how I want to flourish in my girlhood. Androgyny is not an alternative to femininity, but rather an avenue for exploring gender expression without sacrificing my identification of being a woman. Playing dress-up is not just a childhood pastime, it seems.
***
Pure white feathers adorn my figure. My pointe shoes are spotless and reflect a shine resembling smooth, unmarred glass. I stare fixedly at the mirrored wall surrounding me on all sides. My eyes are calm and bright as I polish off each assemblé and pirouette. Sweat creeps onto my skin and my brows furrow as I coerce my muscles into completing my choreography. I cannot discard the paranoia that clings to me like a shadow. I know I am far from perfection and being cognizant of that flaw is the fuel that I depend on to feel alive. ***
Act II: odette’s curse To be an eldest daughter is to sacrifice your childhood. You’re not really a little kid as much as you are an adult-in-training. You’re actually growing up too slowly. You should have already known everything since you were in the womb; you just needed to inhale your first breath to set the chain of dominos in motion. Sometimes you find yourself haphazardly applying your own bandaids, preparing dishes that barely resemble a meal, bearing the pounce of discipline aimed to hit their target and holding your own hand through every child’s simultaneous greatest fear and shiny playground: the unknown. Nothing to bat an eye about. These are simply tenets of a modified childhood on a fast track to proving that you are useful, that you deserve the life you exhale from your lungs.
Mom remains the reigning matriarch and I am purely her successor, trying on the invisible crown, sometimes against my will. I live and breathe to be a lady, whatever that means. My tone of voice is light, my speed of speech is controlled, my every movement the epitome of grace. However, to be a lady does not mean to be naive. Never that. I’m a lady, not an idiot. I’m supposed to know how to solve life’s every problem and never succumb to pressure from anyone or anything. This wisdom is unspoken and meant to be inherited instinctually. Live and learn, pursue perfection and always know my purpose. Time is not meant to be wasted and each
Pas De Deux
minute is an opportunity to do something of value. Read those books, learn those skills, make mom proud, be my own guardian. Never let a tear slip, read mom’s mind, avoid the consequences of any innate foolishness, anticipate every mistake so that I simply do not make them. Who has the time to waste on relishing in youthful indiscretion? “Earn your place” is the mantra I cannot get rid of. ***
Swans protect their babies fiercely. Kill their unhatched eggs and the mother dies from grief. The parents mate with the goal of staying together until death, making swans the perfect nuclear family. Swans are animals of flight, although they are often seen on land, and they teach their young how to stay alive. This warmth is physical and metaphorical. They live for their children unconditionally; simply their existence is enough to create life-sustaining joy. The swan’s beauty and grace is depicted by Tchaikovsky in his renowned “Swan Lake.” Being a swan is a cursed existence in the play, and the black swan is a symbol of evil while the protagonist remains the innocent white swan.
I like to think that my own mother embodies a swan-like love and protectiveness over me, our beautiful existences sustaining each other. However, flight and warmth were learned from scrounging for clues and adhering to instinct rather than affectionately taught. The nuclear family image is shattered in its fragile frame. My heuristics eliminated the second-nature
impulse to seek mom for help.
I bend and spin and twirl and leap, and yet the heart of my choreography yearns for my existence to be enough. Who do I live for, and could it be that it’s not for me?
Despite my everlasting existentialism, I have established my place as the man of the house. Standing at 5 feet 2 inches tall with nonexistent upper body strength and no “masculine” credentials to my name whatsoever, I am a fountain of knowledge, the bodyguard, the conqueror. I played it by ear and did what I could: Documents I somewhat made sense of by setting aside my 5th grade math homework, scrubbing each kitchen floor tile spotless, washing all the dishes, rearranging the furniture when mom felt like it, shoveling the snow, mowing the lawn, translating for mom as she stood behind me. Just me and mom. I mentally collect gold stars for every success in making my mom’s life easier, as it translates to making my life easier. When I pause my Sisyphean task for a moment, I realize that it is sort of strange how I feel a sense of power from this role. It does nothing for me to be the self-ordained “man”. My mom always remarks on the necessity of having a male presence, implying that a family simply cannot function without one. It doesn’t matter how much I help or what I accomplish, as I will never be anything more than a daughter. When it is time for bed and the house is silent and I can hear my mom’s soft breathing that signals
her slumber, the reflection I see in the mirror changes from mighty patriarch to just me. It feels like I am removing a costume that is three sizes too big and hanging it on the hook situated by my bedroom door, going to bed and waking up to the same responsibilities I bestowed upon myself. Past all my gold-star successes, I imagine that when my mom looks at me, she no longer sees a white swan but a black one, sleek black feathers framing eyes of red.
*** I am scared to love. I am destined to perform. I face my audience and put on a brave face, betraying none of the fear that overpowers my consciousness. It feels like I am splitting at the seams. How can I be sure that I am not cracking at the surface like a porcelain doll, irreparable damage that is not sensed before the point of destruction? My mind must be playing tricks on me as I see blood dot my white feathers and stain the pure white of my gown. I scan the crowd for familiar faces. I begin my dance, and the blood continues to flow, ever so slightly. ***
Act III: odette and siegfried Holding hands becomes quite scary when the hand you are holding is your girlfriend’s and you are surrounded by people you don’t know. I feel the most like a woman when I am with other women: Womanhood keeps me tethered to sanity. I feel safe and free to own my individuality and express my idiosyncratic version of being a woman. Therefore, I should feel elated and free when I am with my partner, but there is
The University of Michigan is Islamophobic
Disclaimer: While Zionism inherently affects Palestinians and Arabs of all religions, the use of anti-Muslim bigotry is a weapon that doesn’t necessitate a Muslim religious background in order to harm. Islam, especially post Sept. 11, has been racialized and in an orientalist society that fails to recognize the reality that the Middle East is a multi-religious society, Islamophobia is not solely targeted towards the Muslim population, but the Arab and Middle Eastern world more broadly. Accordingly, this piece uses that understanding of Islamophobia as a basis.
As a Muslim Arab growing up in America, I watched the occupation of Iraq pass without Bush behind bars as the Middle East was made a murderous chess match for politicians who did not care that their checkmate cost millions of our lives. In that, my people were made lesser and I always felt that no one genuinely cared about antiMuslim bigotry, let alone antiPalestinian and anti-Arab racism.
After all, domestically, our mosques were surveilled, our men detained without due process, our finances questioned as material support for terrorism and our deportation made the basis of a politically viable policy and slogan. To me, it was selfevident — Muslim, Palestinian and Arab lives are made meaningless when it’s politically palatable as per American default.
Despite this reality, when I stepped foot on this campus as an undergrad, I naively believed that its liberal-leaning population
would act as a shield where I’d feel safe, far away from the bigotry surrounding the nation. Quickly, I fell in love with Ann Arbor and despite the lack of people who looked like me, I felt that I could voice myself comfortably and did so as a typical over-involved student. Years later, as I have dwelled on campus and seen its ebbs and flows as a double wolverine finishing my law degree this upcoming May, I can earnestly proclaim the University of Michigan is an intrinsically anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab institution. University President Santa Ono, the Board of Regents and the administration have quite frankly turned dormant campus Islamophobia and racism into an institutional weapon against their students and I no longer feel safe
— let alone welcome — on a campus that is about to be the academic home of two degrees. It’s not just a personal feeling but an overwhelming community concern. After all, the only Arab lounge on campus is facing increased surveillance, security guards are everywhere campuswide to surveil students to the end of limited protest activity, Ono trashes our protests as “a series of troubling events” while the police remain armed to the teeth in eager anticipation of arresting, pepper spraying, assaulting (even pulling off the hijabs of two protesters) and taunting student protesters advocating against the University’s investment into the state-sponsored murders of tens of thousands of Palestinians. The University has also chosen not to empathize with the plight of Palestinians in Gaza or the
West Bank– who by every human rights organizations’ account are facing acute humanitarian crises, mass bombings, massacres, and an apartheid regime– in the culmination of the current genocide as Ono practices genocide denial through his purposeful, convoluted use of “the Israel-Hamas war” in his countless emails. Moreover, the University has also emphasized the importance of antisemitism, purposefully painting proPalestine protesters as bigoted zealots rather than people caring for the human lives erased by the Zionist regime. Islamophobia, if ever mentioned, is always a throwaway comment and never addresses the authentic roots of it on this campus. For example, student protesters wearing hijabs were attacked online and the University stayed silent. Law School Dean Logue contacted and
met with the Jewish Law Student Association to be a resource for them while choosing not to do the same for the Muslim Law Student Association or even the Middle Eastern and North African Law Student Association and their members. Students with Israeli flags, the same flag posted in obliterated Gazan homes, are protected while student protesters with Palestinian flags are surveilled and given trespass warnings, if not prosecuted by the state attorney general with the help of the University. Anti-Palestinian graffiti remains uncondemned while the taking down of pro-Israel posters is labeled as antisemitic by the University. The building of an institute to counter antisemitism is promised while the University ignores the lack of resources for Muslims on campus or an institute to counter Islamophobia, which is especially striking in a state
with a dense Muslim population.
Less than twelve hours after a vigil mourning Palestinian lives, University staff gleefully powerhosed bereaved students’ chalking commemorating lives lost in a shocking show of disrespect for Palestinian life and death. Statement after statement is released mourning Oct. 7 but each bombing and killing in Gaza and Lebanon are only referred to as “stoking deep division.”
These flagrant hypocrisies are but a small series of examples of the University’s persistence to treat religious minorities with strikingly different empathy as they purposely deprive their Muslim students of the same humanity. By conflating violence with protest and appealing to outsiders with the racist, Islamophobic implication that Muslims and Arabs are violent, the University has flatout chosen to ignore a subsect of
an undetachable anxiety that a tap on the shoulder brings me face-toface with … with who? God? My mom? A homophobe (are all three the same … )? Paranoia turns me ice cold and I wait for the hidden cameras to appear. Ignorant bliss is a sedative and I cannot say that I am sober. It is hard to fathom why happiness always remains somewhat contingent on all that is not within my control. Life is one never-ending performance and my synapses feel singed. The wall of mirrors has managed to lose my reflection in the flurry of facades I have carefully created. Unsurprisingly, being a daughter, sister, partner, student and artist all contain multitudes that intersect but are not identical. Maybe I have let pieces of me escape into the ether in exchange for slipping under the radar and avoiding scrutiny. My security in being a woman feels fictitious when queerness is scorned and equated to debarment from heaven. My wings feel clipped, my hands feel unclean, my performance feels sloppy. Even if I adhere to a perfect act, I never stop feeling like I am fraudulent despite mastering assimilation. Sometimes I slip into feeling less than a woman, and therefore less than a person. My cocktail of guilt, anguish and exhaustion propels me to continue the masquerade without touching upon the territory I have decided to ignore. My fingers are scared to be scorched and I shamelessly admit that I choose to flee rather than fight.
its community — the University’s Palestinian, Arab and Muslim community. This fact only becomes more insidious when considering that the Ono administration’s disdain towards the University’s own Palestinian, Muslim and Arab population facilitates its funneling of our money towards the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.
Seeing the reality of our tuition dollars at play, protesters, including myself, have filled the streets of campus demanding that the University stop funding the bombing of babies. I don’t mean this as a straw man argument, nor is it an attempt at pathos as this assumes people care about Palestinians, Arabs as well as Muslims and quite frankly, the media and political class do not seem to. Rather, it is the truth of the University’s sworn commitment to maintaining our finances in Israeli investments and the military-industrial complex. Accordingly, what I, and a majority of students, see from the University is the policing and incarceration of student, faculty, and staff dissenters. As their tongues espouse “free speech,” “democracy” and “debate” the University canceled a student election and changed school policies to unilaterally prosecute students to suppress them for meaningfully engaging with the University’s actions of funding the killing of our Palestinian siblings. They have not done this to other marginalized students and comfortably rely on the racist image of violence that is projected onto Muslims, Palestinians and Arabs to justify their bigoted uneven approach.
NAGA
Courtesy of Eman Naga
Vivien Wang/MiC
Celebrating 134 years of discourse in The Daily
JACK BRADY, SOPHIA PERRAULT
This past summer, the Editorial Board received an email from the daughter of a World War II veteran containing a letter to the editor her father had written to The Daily in 1941. He’d heard Adolf Hitler speak while studying abroad and urged the United States to take an active role in the quickly expanding conflict. His daughter found the printed article cleaning her attic, and she sent it to us in light of mounting global tensions.
We’re glad she did. The Michigan Daily’s just celebrated its 134th birthday, and she inspired the Editorial Board to investigate our archives for other prescient opinion journalism. We learned what generations of Wolverines before us were advocating for — oh, and that Philip Morris cigarettes don’t cause hangovers. What we examined was simultaneously fascinating, terrifying and exciting. We found ourselves intrigued by how much The Daily’s old coverage mirrors the present and how much we relate to the old college students who wrote it. Some of them went on to die in the very wars they were writing about. Others went on to make scientific breakthroughs or define American culture. Years later, similarly monumental discoveries are being made. In these ways, we felt a sense of temporal kinship with our predecessors. Now, the Editorial Board would like to share that history with you. Below are 12 editorials that discuss one event from every decade since The Daily’s inception in 1890. As you read them, remind yourself that these were college journalists going through what they felt was insurmountable. Remind yourself that they got through history in one piece. Remind yourself that you can do the same.
1890s: “Is the Daily paper a go?”
Before its name change at the start of the 20th century, The Michigan Daily was called The U. of M. Daily. In its inaugural issue, the paper’s first editorial can be found — an unsigned, unencumbered opinion of The Daily’s editorial board, asking “is the Daily paper a go?” Advertising The Daily as an affordable option for students that was “so wide-awake and progressive, and withal so impartial,” the board boasted the following sentiment: “Yes, the Daily is a go.” And so, The Daily went.
1900s: “IMPORTANT!”
With the turn of the century came a turn for The Daily. In a 1904 editorial, the Board’s members discussed the student-centric aims and nonpartisan sentiments of the paper’s writers. Here, The Daily clarified a key element of its journalistic future: its status as the voicebox of the student body. After deliberations by the University’s “Board of Control,” the Board concluded that the paper was as free as the campus’ students. It is at this moment that The Daily’s Editorial Board was fully noted as separate from the University, one that could advocate for students unabashedly.
1910s: “TAKE IT SERIOUSLY”
In 1918, paranoia swept through campus and the nation as reports of a new disease, soon to be called the Spanish flu, emerged. One editorial on the subject called for students to obey the lockdown orders and to wear face coverings. It criticized the authorities who failed to take the pandemic seriously sooner. Sound familiar?
1920s: “Speculative Sprees”
Yet another tragedy struck in the fall of 1929. In an editorial titled “Speculative Sprees,” the Editorial Board discussed what would soon come to be known as the Great Depression. It noted that this crash, unlike those that came before, didn’t discriminate between big business and working-class Americans. The same sentiment is true today. Throughout times of economic peril, such as the recent “Great Recession,” it is always those with the least financial security that bore the brunt of the fallout.
1930s: “The New President: A National Asset…”
The Daily has never shied away from involving itself in national politics — in any capacity. In 1932, in an editorial written before the first election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was confirmed, the Board made a rather lackluster endorsement: Either Roosevelt or Herbert Hoover would do a fine job as president. Perhaps it was a sign of the times, but as we monitor the polls of the upcoming presidential election, there’s something deeply humorous about the assertion that “either candidate would work.”
1940s: “U.S.-Jap Break Began in 1931…”
In 1941, the United States was called to action when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. The Editorial Board, shocked as the rest of the na -
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
tion was, remarked on the tragedy in the greater context of the second World War. With the U.S.’ entrance into the fighting inevitable, one thing was clear: It would be people the age of those Editorial Board members that would be on the frontlines. The stress of student journalism aside, a potential draft hung over the heads of collegeaged men everywhere.
1950s: “The
Supreme Court Ruling On Segregation”
Reporting on diversity in education isn’t new for the Daily. In 1954, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, declaring racial segregation in the public school system to be unconstitutional. The Editorial Board commented on this unprecedented opinion, declaring it to be a victory of racial equality and the future of schooling. More than 50 years later, the University would become subject to its own Supreme Court case in Grutter v. Bollinger, which decided the University could no longer use racial preferences in its application decisions.
1960s: “Teach In: An Opportunity”
On March 24, 1965, U-M faculty held a Vietnam War teachin on the Diag. This was the first protest of its kind to happen in the entire country, and the University continued to act as a pillar of opposition to the fighting in Vietnam. A group of editors from The Daily came together and wrote a piece encouraging students to attend. At the time, these editors likely didn’t know that their antiwar endorsement would be so impactful. But, years later, it is these exact moments in student journalism that are solidified in history: students encouraging students to educate themselves and engage in campus-wide dialogue about the issues of the day.
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com
SAMANTHA RICH AND DANA ELOBAID Co-Editors in Chief
SHANIA BAWEJA AND ABBY SCHRECK Managing Editors
ZHANE YAMIN AND LINDSEY SPENCER Editorial Page Editors
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Lindsey Spencer Audra Woehle Zhane Yamin
Unsigned editorials reflect the of f icial position of The Daily’s Editorial Board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
1970s: “Abortion reform at last”
In 1973, history was once again made on the floor of the Supreme Court. In a crucial case for the furtherance of women’s rights, the Court decided that abortion should be legal in Roe v. Wade. At a time where there were a slew of anti-abortion policies across the country, this decision was much needed and highly celebrated — especially by The Daily’s Editorial Board. In an editorial, the editors celebrated the reform to abortion policy. This joy didn’t, however, last forever. In July of 2022, The Michigan Daily Summer Editorial Board released “From The Daily: Now, more than ever, we need to stand up for abortion rights,” which discussed Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In one fell swoop, the progress of the century before had been destroyed.
1980s: “A losing investment”
Protests remained fervent on the University’s campus throughout the 1900s, particularly through antiwar demonstrations. Over the course of five years, The Daily’s Editorial Board released multiple editorials calling on the University to divest from South African apartheid, a cause that many U-M students supported. In a huge success for student organizers and protesters, the University did eventually divest from South Africa. Today, similar calls can be heard from students requesting for the University to divest from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Student movements encouraging the progressive spending of the University endowment have remained wildly outspoken — a pillar in the campus’ commitment to free speech.
1990s:
“Common sense answer”
Many of the issues our Editorial Board comments on are older than the paper itself, but on May 4, 1999, the Board discussed the terrible advent of a distinctly new issue — the mass violence that has come to define the gun-control debate. In late April of that same year, two gunmen walked into Columbine High School and killed 15 people. Twenty-five years later, such tragedies have only become more common. On college campuses, in supermarkets and in churches, the fear of gun violence remains just as palpable as it was at the time of the Columbine massacre. Even still, it feels as if nothing has changed: Little has been done to quell these concerns, despite its continued reign of terror.
2000s: “A necessary leader”
While it may seem that the Editorial Board has spent 134 years discussing primarily bad news, there was absolutely some good to be read on the left side of that print page. In the fall of 2008, the Board proudly endorsed Barack Obama for president, praising both his policy agenda and his hopeful personality. His subsequent victory in November marked a turning point in America — a fact not lost on our writers at the time. Looking back on the election of the United States’ first Black president, it is all the more clear that we look forward to the possibility of another step for our country: the first female president to be elected to the Oval Office.
2010s: “It’s about time”
In 2015, yet another long-awaited decision was made by the Su -
preme Court. That year, the Court legalized gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges, a widely celebrated opinion that continues to be protected. The Editorial Board also celebrated in its coverage of the case, praising the justices for their principled decision and looking toward the future of equality for LGBTQ+ folks. But not even a decade ago, the makeup of the bench looked very different — as did their decisions. Today, as we look at the composition of the Court, this kind of liberal decision making seems impossible.
Our message to the future
Our message for this decade is twofold. First, we’ve been in similar situations before. Second, we’ve come out the other side intact. To those that believe current conditions will hold, they never do. Something good is there for us in the future if we work hard enough to get there. The talk we hear today echoes the talk we read in our archives from before every catastrophe of the 20th and 21st centuries. When we hear bad news, our first instinct is to jump to the worst possible conclusions. That’s a problem, and shouldn’t be true. After the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression and Pearl Harbor, we ended segregation in schools, cured Polio and landed on the moon. The present seems hopeless because we don’t yet know how it ends. After examining 134 years of coverage, we realize that this feeling is not unique. The antiwar protesters calling for an end to Vietnam could never have known that the Cold War would end before the century was out. The civil rights demonstrators staging sitins across campus had no idea that they’d see a Black president within their lifetime. Those students that urged the University to divest from South African apartheid didn’t know that years later, the administration would make the same decision about fossil fuels. The lesson of history is that creating a better future is possible, but it takes work. In our current state of affairs, it will take a lot of work. But we have reason to be optimistic. Despite what many would have us believe, these times are not, in fact, “unprecedented.” Tumult is not exclusive to the present, and triumphing over it is not exclusive to the past. So, as you read the words of the previous generations of student journalists, realize that you aren’t alone: We’ve gotten through the hardship before, and we will again.
Maximilian Schenke
Squirrel mugging
Election or academics? Students shouldn’t have to decide
It’s almost impossible to not feel the buzz surrounding the upcoming presidential election, whether you’re on the Diag, State Street or just about anywhere on campus.
Tables line the sidewalks around academic buildings, populated with students asking if you’ve registered to vote. Even in my classes — which, admittedly, are policy and politics related — it seems that I can’t go to a lecture without jumping into some form of discussion regarding the election. Needless to say, the excitement and anxiety that comes along with election season have most definitely made their way onto the University of Michigan campus.
For much of the University’s undergraduate student body, including myself, this will be the first presidential election we are old enough to vote in. However, just because most of us finally can vote doesn’t mean all of us will vote — and the reason why isn’t necessarily up to us. When looking at reasons why people did not vote in 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau found that conflicting responsibilities and schedules were among the most common explanations.
Looking at past election days at the University, it’s not surprising that people found themselves “too busy” to cast their votes. In 2022, some U-M students waited for six hours outside the University of Michigan Museum of Art to fill out their ballots and vote in the midterm elections, causing
many to miss class, work and extracurriculars.
The University has both a politically and academically engaged campus, and many students are deeply committed to their coursework. It’s understandable that these students don’t have six hours to sacrifice on a Tuesday during midterm season and weeks before final exams. While it’s invigorating and motivating to be a part of a student body so passionate about both their politics and their academics, it can be frustrating when those priorities come into conflict with each other.
To solve these conflicting goals, the University must take a more active role in making it easier for students to vote. This could involve canceling classes or opening more voting centers on Central Campus and the surrounding areas.
While there are voting centers around Ann Arbor, the UMMA is the only location available to students on Central Campus. Opening additional centers would diffuse the concentration of students waiting to vote at that one location, saving students the hours they may otherwise have to sacrifice homework and other work for. The struggle with this suggestion, however, is that UMMA and these additional locations are primarily staffed with volunteer poll workers. Often, these volunteers are U-M students, meaning that to open new centers,
Instructors should embrace technology, not ban it
LARA TINAWI Opinion Columnist
For the past several years, technology has become an integral part of the educational sphere. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly half of all K-12 public schools in the United States now provide internet access and digital devices to students who need them. My hometown school district provides students with a free laptop or iPad that will eventually be returned. Additionally, many colleges offer free laptops to their students. Technology in education is here to stay, yet many educators have resisted it. This semester, I have three courses with some sort of technology ban in the classroom. Two of these classes ban computers but allow tablets that lay flat down on the table. The other class bans technology altogether, requiring students to buy physical copies of all the books we have to read and to take handwritten notes. However, all these classes still utilize Canvas for submitting written assignments and distributing information and resources, which makes their technology policies somewhat hypocritical. I understand the distaste for technology, especially when studies that show physical books and hand-written notes are better for comprehension than their digital counterparts. Technology is not always conducive to a good learning environment, especially when younger students do not know how to use it effectively. The improper use of technology can lead to distractions and toxicity among students, which has spurred a nationwide movement to ban cell phone use in K-12 classrooms. Technology bans in lectures are different. We are no longer elementary, middle or high school students who cannot control our impulses. Part of maturing is developing the self-control to make the decisions that are best for us. For many students, technology is a tool that supports learning, not undermines it. If I were to handwrite my notes for a class that often has up to 50 PowerPoint slides worth of information, I would miss key points of the lecture. If I were to print those slides to take notes on, I would very quickly run out of my $24 per term allowance from the University.
Not allowing phones to be used in a college classroom is reasonable — there’s hardly anything that warrants the use of a phone in class beyond scanning a QR code to fill out a form.
banning computers is that they create a “wall” between them and the students, which students can hide behind or get easily distracted by. There is some validity to this argument. I will admit to using my computer to do the daily Wordle or The Mini. I’ve watched my peers online shop or watch a TV show in the middle of class, distracted by the riveting plot happening on their screens. But the truth is distraction in the classroom occurs with or without technology. In my technology-free classes, I find myself doodling on the side of my notes, daydreaming or just falling asleep.
Banning computers and technology in college classrooms is not the right solution to any of the problems college classrooms face. Higher education is meant to serve as a stepping stone for professional development. I have often found that my humanities classes, which I love, insist on these technology bans as if they do not have a place within our scope of study; this is unrealistic in our time. A recent study analyzed a variety of jobs and found that 92% of them require digital skills. When professors allow technology in the classroom, they help students develop the skills needed in our current job market.
Another plus of technology in the classroom is that it serves as a catch-all for everything you need. With most classes utilizing Canvas, materials are easily accessible to directly look at what a professor is referencing. All your notes are in one spot. You do not have to worry about carrying several notebooks for different classes or forgetting your reading materials. With everything all in one spot, it is much easier to keep track of your work and remember to bring it to class, simplifying the learning process and, therefore, making it more effective.
Technology has shifted the landscape of education and learning and teaching techniques must adapt accordingly. There are problems associated with technology in education, such as the cost of acquiring technology and concerns about data security. But banning technology won’t solve these issues — only embracing and integrating it will.
more students would have to miss their classes for Election Day. Unless, of course, the University were to cancel classes. Other universities have already taken this step. Loyola Marymount University closed their classroom doors for the midterm elections in 2018 after months of student organizing efforts and saw an increase in student-voter turnout. Universities across the country are following in LMU’s footsteps and it’s not just to play hooky. A 2017 poll taken at Rutgers University showed that 95% of students would be more inclined to vote if classes were canceled on the day of the presidential election. Requesting that U-M administration consider studentvoter accessibility is not outlandish. Members of the University’s Board of Regents have pledged to uphold and support the values of the United States Constitution — this oath includes supporting the right to vote Even if the effort to cancel class on Election Day would take too long to pass through Central Student Government and U-M Administration, professors could reconsider their attendance policies on Nov. 5 and allow their students to engage in democracy.
At the individual student level, it’s on us to take the time to research and become familiar with different state voting policies.
Banning laptops, however, is unreasonable. Not everyone has a tablet that they can lay flat on the table, along with a computer for written assignments. If a device is necessary to access online resources for class or to take notes, it is not fair for professors to dictate what that device must be. The argument several of my professors have made about
To start, instructors with strict technology rules in the classroom should be willing to listen to students about the ways technology can benefit them in the classroom. Instructors can also loosen restrictions to allow technology at certain points in class, especially when it comes to looking at material the instructor is directly referencing. Instead of banning computers in classrooms altogether, professors could instead implement time during class where students must put away their technology to have discussions. There is a space for technology now in every aspect of our current lives, and it will play a crucial role in our future professional and personal lives. Stop banning technology. Embrace it.
Vivien Wang/DAILY
MARGOT BARRERA
Opinion Cartoonist Layla Salaheldin/DAILY Matthew Prock/DAILY
Campbell Jewell shines in intense matchup against No. 11 Ohio State
The matchup between the Michigan women’s soccer team and No. 11 Ohio State was a battle from start to finish, and sophomore defender Campbell Jewell made sure it was one that neither team will soon forget. Though the Wolverines ultimately fell 2-1, Jewell’s contributions were pivotal in keeping the game close until the final whistle.
From Ohio State’s first possession of the ball, Michigan’s defense was put under pressure. Just minutes in, the Wolverines left their goal exposed, and it looked like an early lead for the Buckeyes was soon to follow. But Jewell stepped in at the right moment to block Ohio State’s first shot on goal — the first of many crucial defensive plays she made. By making an early stop, Jewell sent a message that Michigan was not backing down. Soon after, Jewell intercepted a key pass around 10 minutes
into the game that again kept the Buckeyes off the board. Her field awareness and ability to play strong defense kept Ohio State from finding an early rhythm. And being from Eaton, Ohio, that meant keeping people she knew personally from scoring.
“I’m actually from Ohio,” Jewell said. “I know five of their ten starters that were on the field. So for me, it’s a little bit more personal. For the team, it’s just like any other game. We come out, we prepare, we compete, (and) put the ball in the back of the net.”
Despite being a defender, Jewell proved that she isn’t just a defensive powerhouse. Part way through the first half, she made her presence felt on the offensive front as well. Jewell connected with junior forward Kali Burrell, who set up junior defender Taylor Brennan for the Wolverines’ only goal of the match. Jewell’s assist showcased her ability to shift gears, and act as an offensive spur when necessary.
“Half the time you have to be thinking about offense,
Michigan’s
but the other half the time you have to be thinking about defense as well,” Jewell said. “So you play cat and mouse a little bit with their wide forwards, and if they go forward, you drop back a little bit, but you also push high, so that way they drop off just a little bit.”
Michigan carried its one-goal lead into halftime, but the Buckeyes made necessary adjustments in the second half that the Wolverines couldn’t control.
However, after Ohio State tied the game, Jewell proved to still be relentless, knocking the ball right out from a Buckeye forward at the goal line within the last five minutes of gameplay, in an effort to keep the game tied.
With her defensive prowess and offensive work, Michigan’s head coach Jen Klein was quick to praise Jewell’s growth this season. Only a sophomore, Jewell has been a key playmaker in each game this season. Sunday was no different, as Jewell showed her grit and growth while making key plays against Ohio State.
“She did a really good job, showed some good composure and has shown some more maturity in the way that she’s defending against some very good forwards,” Klein said. “ … She’s maturing and growing into her role, and that’s a great thing. Her being a sophomore, and just learning and getting better each game so it’s going to be helpful for us not only to finish out the season strong but looking into the future as well.”
Though Michigan came up short against the Buckeyes, Jewell’s tenacity and skill proved that she can keep the Wolverines close when she is on her A-game.
men impress, women seek to improve at Nuttycombe
Invitational
Ohio State prevails over Michigan after an explosive second half
After ending the first half up one goal, the Michigan women’s soccer team was poised to upset its rival, No. 11 Ohio State. But following an explosive second half, featuring 10 shots and two goals, the Buckeyes hammered their way to a win.
Coming off a loss to Rutgers, Michigan (2-9-1 overall, 1-4-0 Big Ten) was in search of its third win of the season — this time against Ohio State (8-1-3, 3-0-2). However, in a tight 2-1 game where the Wolverines commandeered the first half, Michigan failed to handle the Buckeyes’ relentless pressure in the second.
In the defensive half, Michigan stood tall. The Wolverines played strong man-to-man defense, pressuring the Buckeyes into making mistakes on offense. In Ohio State‘s two opportunities, a badly placed pass and a strong tackle from Jewell, respectively, kept Ohio State scoreless.
“When you have slip ups like that, the worst thing to do is let it snowball,” graduate defender Erin Junkmann said of the mistake that led to Jewell‘s goal-saving tackle.
“So we came together, and we were like, ‘Okay, take a breath. We can’t let that happen again.’ And I feel like we did a good job of staying in the moment, not letting past mistakes create future ones.”
The Nuttycombe Invitational this year proved to be one thing for both the Michigan men’s and women’s cross country teams: a test. Being the first large-scale meet of the year with 25 schools entered, the rolling hills and thick woods of the Wisconsin landscape provided an assessment of everyone’s offseason preparation.
And it was a challenge the men were ready for. Wolverines junior Caleb Jarema came in 20th out of 180 athletes in the men’s 8k with a time of 23:54 and junior Luke Venhuizen and sophomore Trent McFarland were not too far behind, crossing the line at 24:15 and 24:16, respectively. The entire top five scoring Michigan men all finished in under 25 minutes and produced an exciting result on the score sheet
“We probably came in as the 17th or 18th-ranked team and to finish sixth in that field was pretty impressive,” Wolverines men’s coach Kevin Sullivan said. Impressive as it was, it was not unexpected by the team.
“We’re the ones that are in
everyday practice and putting in the work every single day,” Jarema said. “…
None of these people that come up with these external rankings know what’s been going on behind the scenes.”
The Wolverine men were able to turn their offseason grinding into a belief system founded on the trust of their own training and the training of their teammates. They blocked out the noise and pulled off upsets over teams such as Princeton, Eastern Kentucky and Portland. It was something Michigan has been waiting for all offseason, something it had counted on to help put the program on the map where the Wolverines thought it should be.
“We really believed that this is where we belonged all offseason,” Jarema said. “…This is the most bought in this team has been since I’ve been here.”
As for the women, a few solid performances on the front end were not enough to help Michigan pass this test as a unit. Graduate Mary Carline Heinine had finished in 55th in 21:02, a time very close to her personal best, and sophomores Penelope Gordon and Brooke Johnston followed
closely with a 21:14 and 21:22.
Txhe remaining four women out of the Wolverines’ top seven all finished within 10 seconds of each other, beginning with Senior Samantha Hastie coming across at 21:36. This consistent back half proved to be a little too far behind when results were tallied up. The 15-second gap knocked Michigan back to 19th place out of 25 and led to a middling result.
“In this type of meet if your gap opens up by fifteen seconds a person that’s thirty or forty points,” Michigan women’s coach Mike Mcguire said about the effect of a split top five in such a large meet as Nuttycombe. “They do a good job of pushing and pulling each other along… We just gotta execute a little more across the board on race day.”
The first large invitational of the year yielded different results for the men’s and women’s teams. While both know what they are capable of achieving as a team this season, the men unlaced their spikes with a sense of gratification while the women walked off the course determined the strike back as a more complete unit the next time around.
Utilizing sophomore defender Campbell Jewell in the back and junior striker Kali Burrell along the wing, the Wolverines were constantly pushed the ball up into the offensive zone. With quick passes in the attacking third, Michigan found the corner several times, raining crosses down into Ohio State’s box. Eventually, Michigan converted one of those opportunities into a goal. Following a ball played overtop from Jewell, junior forward Taylor Brennan easily slotted in a goal from the top of the box, giving the Wolverines a one-goal lead.
As Ohio State and Michigan switched sides, they also seemed to switch roles. With Ohio State’s first shot coming five minutes into the half, the Wolverines quickly found themselves on their back foot.
“I thought the first half we played really, really well, and we moved the ball and forced them to adjust,” Michigan coach Jennifer Klein said.
“And then in the second half, we just weren’t prepared, we just didn’t deal with their press as well as we should have.”
With an offense centered around launching the ball over top, the Buckeyes founL -
success by overwhelming the Wolverines’ defense. Ohio State forwards Kailyn Dudukovich and Amanda Schlueter spearheaded this long-ball offense, receiving the ball at the top and then firing shots or crosses into Michigan’s box. Against this frontal assault, the Wolverines’ defense quickly began to break down. After getting the ball to the top of the box yet again, Schlueter found some space on her right and placed the ball right past Michigan graduate goalkeeper Stephanie Sparkowski’s fingertips. The Wolverines tried to retaliate with counterattacks, finding Brennan and junior striker Jenna Lang up top for some quality shots. However, the Buckeyes’ constant pressure on offense and lockdown defense limited these opportunities, holding Michigan to just four shots in the second half. With five minutes remaining, Ohio State‘s relentless offense found Dudukovich at the top of the box who found the back of the net with her third shot of the half, dashing the Wolverines hope of victory. Michigan started strong: strong defense, strong offense and strong coordination. But ultimately, Michigan could not hold on to their early lead in the face of the Buckeyes‘ unabated offensive pressure.
As the Michigan field hockey team stepped onto the turf of Ocker field Sunday, it was ready for a fight.
The Wolverines came into the game carrying a sixgame winning streak, including a win against their rival Michigan State. They weren’t planning on letting Miami University spoil their run.
In an intense game against the RedHawks (5-5), No. 8 Michigan (7-1) fought through the physicality of the game to score goals in spite of penalties, and walk away winners.
Throughout the first quarter, the ball didn’t seem to stop moving between the ends of the field. Wolverines redshirt junior back midfielder Claire Taylor and redshirt senior back midfielder Pilar Oliveros made tight passes, playing a crucial role in giving Michigan’s offense a chance to score. And their efforts were finally rewarded when Taylor assisted graduate midfielder Erin Reilly on a penalty goal, putting her team up early, 1-0.
“It was awesome, especially because we’ve been working on corner reps so much during practice,” Reilly said. “Claire Taylor is an awesome stick stopper, and she pushes it out for me the same way every time, so all I needed to do was
take a deep breath and hit it in.”
The Wolverines’ good vibe continued into the second quarter, with a penaltycorner goal from Oliveros, assisted by sophomore stopper Abby Burnett. Michigan was up 2-0 going into halftime, showing its grit and skill amid the action of the game.
Pressured after Reilly’s and Oliveros’ goals, the RedHawks played with urgency, forcing Michigan turnovers that gave them chances to score. With both teams playing under a sheet of tension, penalties on both sides were a defining characteristic of the game. This took a toll on Michigan when graduate forward Lora Clarke received a 10 minute yellow card penalty, putting her out during the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third.
“I have to keep my emotions even keeled, and I’ll take responsibility for that,” Clarke said. “Moving forward, I think it’s a good lesson, we need to maintain our composure throughout the remainder of the game.”
With the penalties continuing on into the third quarter for both squads, a yellow card was called on Miami forward Henriette Schlueter, and a green card was issued to Wolverines sophomore back Abby Burnett.
In this moment, Miami found the momentum it was looking for. Coming off of a penalty shot, the RedHawks scored,
cutting their deficit to 2-1. While both teams played with increased energy for the remainder of the third quarter, Michigan regained its two-point lead after sophomore forward Juliette Manzur netted her second goal of the season, making the score 3-1. In a final attempt to even the score, Miami received a yellow card. However, it didn’t phase the RedHawks one bit as they scored a goal off of a penalty shot right after, forcing the Wolverines to remain competitive going into the fourth quarter. Both teams took things to another level going into the fourth. Miami frantically attempted to catch up, but Michigan’s defense held strong, keeping the score at 3-2. Both teams fought hard towards the end, resulting in a few frantic plays, and frustrations with the referees. As the clock ran out, Michigan was relieved to have earned a victory.
“This team is a bunch of fighters,” Reilly said. “We fought hard all 60 minutes and never let up. We played through every bit of adversity and came out on top.” Through the penalties and physicality, the Wolverines proved they can hang in a dog fight. They pushed through to win with impressive assists, working together to move the ball past the RedHawks’ fierce defense and keep their win streak alive in the process.
FIELD HOCKEY
KATIE ROSE Daily Sports Writer
XAVIER CHOUSSAT For The Daily
Lila Turner/DAILY
CROSS COUNTRY
Lila Turner/DAILY
Alum Tess Crowley/DAILY
DREW LENARD For The Daily
GINGER JOHNSTON For The Daily
LYS GOLDMAN
Ernest Hausmann, a fourth-down touchdown and taking his time before going all in
Under the lights on a Friday night in Columbus, Neb., Ernest Hausmann and the Columbus High School Discoverers huddled up.
With just 40 seconds left on the clock, Columbus trailed the statewide perennial powerhouse Kearney Bearcats by three points. The Discoverers had one more shot — fourth down on Kearney’s 11-yard line — to tie or take the lead.
Hausmann, then a senior middle linebacker and wide receiver, was Columbus’ go-to guy on both sides of the ball. He had already caught a touchdown pass and recorded multiple tackles that night against the Bearcats.
It was almost three years ago now, but Patrick Clark remembers that huddle like it was yesterday.
The Discoverers’ defensive coordinator at the time, Clark and the rest of Columbus’ coaching staff were at a play-calling crossroads. Should the Discoverers attempt a field goal, shooting for a tie and giving Kearney a better chance to storm back, or should they try to jump ahead with a touchdown?
Defensive coach Mark Brown, described by Clark as his codefensive coordinator, offered an answer.
“Throw the ball to f-ing Ernest, and let’s win this f-ing game.”
Sure enough, that’s exactly what Columbus did. Hausmann ran a fade to the corner of the end zone and hauled in a contested 15-yard pass. He put the Discoverers up 35-31, a lead they took to the final whistle to snap an 18-game losing streak against the Bearcats. Brown was right.
And although Brown sadly died in late August, scenes like those became defining moments for Columbus coaches and players alike. A meaningful mentor on and off the field, Brown left a lasting impression wherever he went.
In that huddle, Brown and the Discoverers’ coaching staff had full trust in Hausmann. On the precipice of a win nearly two decades in the making, Hausmann trusted them too — but it took him some time to get there.
Born in Uganda and legally adopted at age 2, Hausmann moved to Nebraska when he was 5 years old. His early football memories trace back to fourth grade, the first year he could play tackle football. He remembers putting on pads for the first time and wondering how in the world players on TV could run fast in that heavy uniform.
Flash forward about eight years, and Hausmann had exactly
the type of speed his younger self couldn’t quite understand.
“I remember one (play), him coming from the backside — he was playing defensive end for us,”
Columbus head coach Craig Williams recalled to The Michigan Daily. “He comes on the backside, runs 47 yards across the field and stops a kid for no gain on a sweep play. Just a relentless effort all the time. And it seems so smooth for him … He’s fast, he covers ground with pads on and he’s just smooth on the field.”
Hausmann dabbled in a variety of sports, but he kept coming back to football. He loved playing on teams that invested so much into a relatively small number of guaranteed games. For him, there was just something special about the level of team-wide commitment.
Growing up, Hausmann was usually the best athlete on the field. It wasn’t until his freshman and sophomore years of high school that he started to consistently encounter bigger and stronger opponents. While that sometimes caused frustrations, it also gave Hausmann just the push he needed to reach the next level.
“As a sophomore, he had to grow mentally and see how much harder he had to work because he couldn’t rely on his athleticism every time,” Williams said. “But he caught onto that very quickly, which is why he was so committed to the weight room and his diet and those things. And I think that changed the way he looked
at things and drove him to be the best.”
A credit to both his mental and physical development, Hausmann made a big jump between his sophomore and junior seasons. With renewed confidence, he was ready to fully commit to football.
“In his junior year, that’s when he decided, ‘Okay, I’m going to be a full-blown football player, and I’m going to go after this dream,’ ” Clark said. “So when the mental side of it caught up with the physical God-given talent that he had, all of a sudden, bam, the rest is history.”
It might’ve taken some time, but once Hausmann was in, he was all in.
The “most driven athlete” Clark has ever coached, Hausmann did just about everything he possibly could to set himself up for success. He paid close attention to what he was putting in his body, hydrating constantly and fueling himself with healthy foods. He got up before sunrise to lift by himself, in addition to both his weights class during school and football practice every afternoon.
He also tried to learn anything and everything he could. Hausmann didn’t want to just listen to his coaches blindly. He wanted to know the why. So he asked questions, and he used the answers to continue getting better — and, perhaps even more importantly, to build the mutual trust that culminated in that gutsy fourth-down play call against Kearney.
Michigan’s formation cracks under pressure in Rutgers loss
Defeating a knight takes bravery. It requires the confidence to counter every strike.
However, the Michigan women’s soccer team was unable to counter the Scarlet Knights’ strikes on Thursday, and as a result, got slayed.
The Wolverines demonstrated significant improvement to their overall control of the field and ability to create scoring opportunities against Rutgers. However, Michigan’s newfound collaboration under the 4-4-2 configuration cracked at the first sign of pressure, and was ultimately not enough to defeat the valiant Scarlet Knights.
The Wolverines came out Thursday night with high energy and a strong offensive push, keeping the ball moving with five shots in the first half. The key to this newfound offensive strategy was the coordination between defensive backline and strong midfield players.
“Overall, our communication to the midfields, and then the midfield communication to the forwards is how we were able to keep shifting the ball and keep shifting the defense,” senior defender Avery Kalitta said.
Michigan played a fairly consistent double pivot with junior defender back Aniyah League and Kalitta as standout 90-minute players in this configuration. They continuously moved the ball down the field in conjunction with their supporting midfield players — juniors Abby Zugay and Jenna Lang. Simple push passes between Kalitta and League allowed for the execution of assertive through balls for Zugay and Lang.
“I think tonight, you saw what a collective performance can be when everybody’s working together and starring in their role,” Michigan coach Jennifer Klein said. “That’s something that we have to keep moving forward, when we do it together there’s so much power in our team.”
However, a clean back-of-thenet goal from Rutgers a mere 18 seconds into the second half was enough to shake up this seemingly well-oiled configuration.
Although the Wolverines were effective at keeping the Scarlet Knights at bay, Rutgers found a crack in their defense — fracturing Michigan’s confidence.
“For the back line, when the ball gets played through, the only thing that you’re looking for is just to get the ball out,” Kalitta said.
“When the ball got played behind us, or in the air, or on the ground, we were just sprinting back, making sure that they didn’t score.”
With the Wolverines’ confidence rattled, they were unable to follow through on offensive opportunities. Compared to the five shots in the first half, Michigan tallied just two in the second. While the defensive back line regained their composure and prevented Rutgers from scoring on an additional five attempted shots, the strong offensive press that was evident in the first half of the game fell apart after the change in momentum. The forwards were unable to connect with midfield and defensive players to follow through on scoring opportunities.
“Anytime that you play a very good team like Rutgers, there’s going to be a change in momentum,” Klein said. “It’s just now we have to find a way to capitalize when we have momentum, for as much as we created in the first half, we’ve got to find a way to get a goal. … We fought until the very end, but I think it’s now finding that bit of bravery to finish it out.”
The Wolverines demonstrated that if they keep their cool under pressure, they can maintain a coordinated shape that allows them to create offensive pressure of their own. However, the real test was maintaining shape against adversity and finding the bravery to make offensive pressure count, and instead, they cracked.
“What we learned is that Ernest will run through a brick wall for you if he trusts you,” Clark said. “That’s why he wants to know the why. ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?’ Because once he understands why we’re doing it, he’s going to give you every absolute ounce that he has.”
Throughout his last two seasons with the Discoverers, Hausmann played nearly every position on defense. Opposing offenses began calling plays with the intent of avoiding him — so, naturally, Clark and Brown responded by rotating him around. Hausmann would play the SAM linebacker one series before flipping to the WILL linebacker the next, sometimes even slotting in as a defensive end or high safety. Wherever he lined up, he wreaked havoc.
Hausmann started turning heads as an inside linebacker during his junior season, racking up offers from schools around the country. After self-imposing a deadline, electing to commit before the summer of his senior season so he could focus fully on his last year of high school football, Hausmann chose Nebraska.
The decision wasn’t much of a shock to his coaches, given that most homegrown talent historically funnels into the Cornhuskers’ program. Hausmann didn’t even need to visit anywhere — Nebraska just felt right.
And when he got there, despite not coming in with expectations of starting, he kept doing exactly
what he was doing in those final two years at Columbus. He prepared like a starter, putting in 100% effort toward each and every aspect of his game.
“What I always remember,” Barrett Ruud, Hausmann’s linebackers coach at Nebraska who now coaches the Atlanta Falcons’ inside linebackers, told The Daily.
“One of our starters got hurt in the middle of the Purdue game, so Ernest had to come in and play every snap. … And he didn’t miss a beat. As a young player, when you can stay ready when you don’t know if you’re going to play or not, that’s always a good sign of how somebody prepares, how somebody works.”
Later that season, Hausmann became only the fifth true freshman linebacker to start a game for the Huskers in 30 years.
Amid Nebraska’s coaching overhaul the following offseason, however, Hausmann decided to enter the transfer portal in December 2022. He was looking for a place where he could maximize his potential, and he found exactly that in Michigan.
But just like he needed time to fully invest in football and build mutual trust with his coaches, it took Hausmann a few months to call Ann Arbor home.
“I think to call a place home, it takes time,” Hausmann told The Daily. “It’s not an immediate thing that you can just go somewhere and be like, ‘Oh, this is home.’ I think it took, for me, after the first
Michigan’s
spring ball. Then I could be like, ‘This is my home.’ ” Ernest Hausmann slides across the turf in pursuit of a member of the opposing team.
Last season, his first as a Wolverine, Hausmann joined a linebackers room including the winningest player in Michigan’s program history alongside a future third round NFL draft pick. As such, he slotted into a reserve role. He kept preparing like a starter, though, and he contributed heavily throughout the Wolverines’ historic championship season. Returning to Michigan this year as the elder statesman, Hausmann garnered high praise and expectations. So far, he’s lived up to them. Now a junior and starting linebacker for the 12th-ranked Wolverines, Ernest Hausmann is rarely the loudest guy in the room. He has a calm presence, and he comes off rather reserved when you first meet him. He’s soft but well-spoken; serious but friendly; noticeably thoughtful in his words and actions. When he has free time, he likes to read thriller books.
Hausmann also likes to take his time. He thinks through decisions carefully, assesses situations as a whole and evaluates all courses of action before taking his next step. So it might take him a bit longer to go all in. But when Hausmann does decide to do so, he truly goes all in.
“The one thing I would never do is bet against Ernest Hausmann,” Clark said. “Because when he sets his mind to something, he’s going to get it.”
Hausmann cracked a sheepish smile when he heard that characterization.
“I try to be the most humble way possible,” Hausmann said. “I don’t like to talk about myself a whole lot. But I think how my mind works, I really try to make sure that whatever I do set my mind to, I’m gonna find a way to get the job done. Whatever way possible, whatever is necessary to get done, I’m gonna find a way to get it done.
“I’ve always been about that, always been a firm believer. It might not be the first try, it might not be the first idea that comes to mind. … But I’m gonna go back to it, I’m gonna review it, I’m gonna think about it and I’m not gonna shy away from it, either.”
Just about three years ago, on an early October evening in Columbus, Hausmann certainly didn’t shy away — he stepped up. With a season-altering win and an 18-game losing streak hanging in the balance, the unwavering dedication and drive that came to define his game paid off.
inability to finish leads to 1-0 loss to
Rutgers
The matter of a minute can change it all.
After giving up an early goal in the second half, the Michigan women’s soccer team (2-8-1 overall, 1-3-0 Big Ten) suffered a 1-0 loss to Rutgers (8-1-1, 4-0-0) on Thursday. Although the Wolverines operated as a connected unit, they consistently came up short when it came time to get the ball in the back of the net, allowing the game to be decided by one moment.
Starting the game hot, Michigan kept a high offensive press on the Scarlet Knights. There was an early sense of confidence in the Wolverines’ play, recording five shots in the half. Michigan may have come out swinging in the first half, but never to any success as both teams entered halftime empty handed. While the Wolverines weren’t planning on taking their foot off the gas, and Rutgers wasn’t either.
“The big thing we talked about was just believing in what we’re capable of, believing in our ability, and then believing in the power of our team,” Michigan coach Jennifer Klein said. “I think tonight, you saw what a collective performance can be when everybody’s working together.”
What started as a hopeful second half for Michigan was quickly diminished by a Scarlet Knights’ goal in the first minute of play. Rutgers forward Ashley Baran drove down the right side, cut back to the corner of the box before ripping a long shot toward the far side of the net to give the Knights a 1-0 lead. Although the Wolverines may have started with energy, this goal set the tone for the rest of the half, forcing Michigan to react and quickly adjust to its new deficit.
“It’s something that we’ve had experience with this season, in terms of giving up goals,” Klein said. “Anytime that you play a team like Rutgers, there’s going to be a change in momentum. And I thought we handled the changes in momentum quite well.”
Michigan’s play shifted from very confident and energetic to a conservative group — looking to merely maintain its position. In the second half the Wolverines totaled three shots and zero on frame. Much of the game consisted of the Wolverines building up from the back and utilizing all players on the field before taking an aimless shot or losing it to a Rutgers defender. When it came to putting up goals, there was a lack of urgency from the Wolverines.
“For as much momentum as we created in the first half, we’ve got to find a way to get some production and get a goal,” Klein said. “It doesn’t need to be pretty, it just
needs to be in the back of the net, and that’s the part we have to get. So I think we responded well and we fought until the very end, but I just think it’s now finding that bit of bravery to finish it out.”
The defense took much of the burden on, as their consistent, strong performance is what kept Michigan in contention for a win. Senior defender Avery Kalitta led the defensive line, coming up big in key defensive plays and demonstrating the fight wasn’t over until the final whistle.
“Especially for the back line, when the ball gets played through, the only thing that you’re looking for is just to get the ball out,” Kalitta said. “And so I feel like that’s what we did when the ball got played behind us or in the air on the ground; we were just sprinting back, making sure that they didn’t score.”
Kalitta’s efforts to keep communication up was a key point in the Wolverines’ efforts to remain a strong force to be reckoned with. The defense’s consistency led by the center backs created a sense of security in spite of the forwards’ performance, promoting a gritty, active group who fought hard for every ball. Yet, a win is not possible without the offense capitalizing on the opportunities the defense provides. It can only take a minute to shift a game out of Michigan’s hands, and against Rutgers, that’s exactly what happened.
Lila Turner/DAILY
LUCY LANGERVELD
SOPHIE MATTHEWS For The Daily
SOCCER
SOCCER
MICH 27 | MINN 24
Michigan rides hot start to narrowly overcome Minnesota
Sherrone Moore said. “We played really well in the first half and not as good in the second half.… We just didn’t execute at the level we needed to.”
Michigan put the ball right back in Mullings’ hands three straight times, letting him push through contact and hammer his way into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.
(saw) the wide receiver’s eyes get big. And I turned around, ended up catching the ball, sticking the landing on the sideline.”
allowing Minnesota to beat it through the air and on the ground for that touchdown.
because their offense stalled, and Minnesota’s ended in a touchdown because Michigan’s defense crumbled.
On three consecutive plays, with three different sets of personnel on the field, the No. 12 Michigan football team smacked Minnesota. The Wolverines blocked a punt, scored a touchdown and intercepted a pass, all within the span of 23 seconds in the second quarter.
In the second half, the Golden Gophers smacked Michigan right back, scoring back-to-back touchdowns, supported by staunch defense and a long punt return. Going from hot to cold in all three phases, the Wolverines (4-1 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) barely scraped by with a 27-24 victory over Minnesota (2-3, 0-2) on Saturday.
“It was just really a tale of two halves for us,” Michigan coach
The Wolverines’ offense started strong, driving 79 yards straight to the end zone on its first possession. Graduate running back Kalel Mullings capped off the drive running 27 yards untouched into the end zone, putting Michigan up 7-0. Early in the second quarter, the Wolverines’ defense had a moment in the spotlight. On the Gophers’ 19-yard line, Minnesota wide receiver Daniel Jackson completed a catch, and sophomore cornerback Jyaire Hill quickly swarmed him. Junior defensive back Zeke Berry then flew in and wrestled the ball out of Jackson’s hands, forcing a turnover and handing the ball to his offense in the red zone.
Already cruising, the Wolverines swung the momentum even further in their direction with their three-play punch.
First, senior edge rusher Kechaun Bennett blocked a Gophers punt, and senior linebacker Christian Boivin recovered it and returned it to the 11-yard line. Then, Orji followed that up with a touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Tyler Morris to take a 21-0 lead. On the next play, Hill intercepted a deep pass and just managed to keep his foot in bounds.
“He was running the fade,” Hill said, proudly clutching his interception ball. “I was just guarding him. I didn’t think he was gonna throw it for real till I just
With a nifty toe tap, Hill completed the turnover. But this time, the offense couldn’t capitalize — the first sign of Michigan’s downward spiral.
Right before halftime, Minnesota snuck in a last-second field goal after completing a Hail Mary pass to the 1-yard line. Wolverines junior kicker Dominic Zvada answered with a 53-yarder coming out of the break, but he was only on the field in the first place because Michigan’s offense sputtered out well before the end zone.
Orji then sunk the Wolverines even further, throwing an interception that led directly to a Gophers touchdown drive. Defensively, Michigan cracked,
Then, offensively, the Wolverines went 3-and-out. And on special teams, they proceeded to give up a 60-yard punt return that led to an easy Gophers touchdown. All of a sudden, Minnesota was in business, narrowing its deficit to 24-17.
“The field position we’re putting our defense in wasn’t helping the defense,” Moore said. “ … For our defense, I thought there were a lot of really good things to build on, but from a special teams standpoint and offensive standpoint, we got to do things to make sure that we don’t put them in those bad positions.”
As the fourth quarter wound down, Michigan and the Gophers each had a final scoring drive. The Wolverines’ ended in a field goal
Trailing 27-24, the Gophers went for an onside kick. At first they recovered it, but an offside penalty forced a rekick. Mullings pounced on the ball, not allowing Minnesota’s special teams to have the final say. Even after the lucky break, though, the Wolverines could hardly run out the clock without an almost-fatal mishap, as Orji recovered his own fumble on the second to last play of the game. Michigan allowed big plays in all three phases all over the field, making the game closer than it would have liked. But ultimately, it made enough big plays of its own in the first half to pull out the win.
REKHA LEONARD Managing Sports Editor
immersion edition
Designed by Leyla Dumke and Annabelle Ye Lila Turner/DAILY
I suck at pottery, but that’s not the point
LUCY DEL DEO Statement Deputy Editor
This past summer, I waited in line for three hours to see arguably one of the most famous sculptures in the world. The first hour was blisteringly hot. The second, it monsooned. During the third, a creepy man tried to hit on me as I pointedly ignored him by rereading the terrible book I had already finished on the train ride there. I began to debate whether it was even worth it to stay in line. But I did, perhaps due to the sunk-cost fallacy; or maybe I just felt particularly stubborn that day — I had made a point of visiting the most important art museums in every city I traveled to, so why stop now? Unfortunately, that mindset did not serve me well, because when I finally got inside the museum, I was soaking wet and deeply frustrated.
And I suppose some of that annoyance carried over, because as I looked 16 feet up in the air at the face of Michaelangelo’s David, the only thing I felt was disappointment.
“It’s literally just tall,” I texted my dad, halfway through my third trip around the statue, hoping that looking at it from different angles would unlock that aha moment for me. He, along with pretty much everyone else in my life, had been telling me for weeks that I couldn’t leave Italy without seeing the Renaissance masterpiece. It was a marvel: so lifelike and yet fantastically exaggerated. It represented the artistic culture of Florence, the city I so loved and admired for all its artistic masterpieces. Replicas could be found all throughout the city on magnets, tote bags, postcards and T-shirts.
I wasn’t surprised I didn’t agree with popular opinion, though — for all my love of art and architecture, I have never been particularly interested in sculpture or ceramics.
My elementary and middle school art teacher, on the other hand, loved clay. For seven straight years, my class was shuffled in and out of
the art studio, learning how to roll out and “score and slip” the clay. For their part, my parents were wonderfully encouraging. Every terrible pinch pot, 3-pound soap dish and misshapen “animal” was proudly displayed in our dining room for most of my childhood. For a long time, I’ve been wanting to try a pottery class, hoping that it was the sculpting that was the problem, not the medium itself. So, despite my previous dislike and obvious lack of skill, I had enough misplaced confidence to reach out to Yiu-Keung Lee, head instructor at Clay Work Studio, who invited me to join a pottery class.
Clay Work Studio resides in the back of a strip mall off Plymouth Road, where dusty plants line the walkway from the parking lot and you can hear rain falling on the (also dusty) skylights. But tucked away in the corner is an artist’s haven. It’s a cozy, clean and efficient workspace, with sculptures and pottery in varying stages stacked on shelves, and within two minutes of walking in, there’s a sense of quiet anticipation. There’s a large table across the back with clumps of red clay drying on wooden boards, like hundreds of little drip castles.
Lee introduces me to the instructor of the class I’ll be participating in, Kaylon Khorsheed. Khorsheed directs me to fill a bucket with water and grab my tools for the day: a claystained sponge, a rag and a wire. She speaks with the practiced cadence of someone following an ingrained routine. I tie my apron tightly around my waist and follow her instructions.
First, Khorsheed says, we have to wedge the clay. The four other class participants and I cut off 1-pound chunks and begin to wedge using the ram’s head technique. Imagine you’re kneading dough, but instead of folding air into the dough, you’re pushing it out. I end up with a wonky-looking T, the corners rolled inwards like horns.
“Do it until you’re out of breath,” Khorsheed says.
She deftly shapes the wedged clay into a smooth cone, no more than
3 inches tall. We make several lumps, some more conical than others, and bring them over to the wheels.
Maybe it’s just my algorithm, but I’ve been seeing pottery throwing all over the internet recently. Every influencer and internet artist makes it look easy enough to create a shape at the very least. Sure, giant pots will flop over on them, or they’ll attempt something fantastical and the clay will fly right off the wheel, but I’m not there to make something whimsical and ginormous. I’m there to make a cylinder. Khorsheed makes that very clear.
“If you ever take classes consistently, your instructor is going to put you in cylinder boot camp,” Khorsheed says.
She shows us cylinders cut in half so their walls and bottoms can be evaluated. Do they meet at a 90-degree angle? Is the bottom in that sweet spot between too thick and too thin? This takes practice, she says. You have to throw more than 100 cylinders before you can even think about moving onto a bowl.
The class watches as Khorsheed runs through the different steps firmly and efficiently. First, she centers the clay, raising the cone up and flattening it back down to get rid of any “wobbling” around the edges. When she’s created a small puck of level, centered clay, she locks her thumbs together, nail to nail, and begins to drill into the middle. Khorsheed then sticks her left pointer and middle fingers into the hole her thumbs have created and begins lengthening the walls of the cylinder, compressing the lip of the pot as she goes. The cylinder rises almost magically before our eyes, seemingly appearing out of thin air. It’s perfectly round, with perfectly thin walls and a perfectly thick bottom.
During my senior year of high school in the height of the pandemic, when my classmates and I were still confined to our bedrooms, I routinely went for walks around my neighborhood during my lunch break and even sometimes during remote class — I mean, really, what’s the point of Zoom P.E.? On one of these walks, I was joined by a friend who had recently gotten into his early decision school to study film, which is probably why he
felt justified in telling me: “If you don’t do something creative with your life, I’ll kill you.”
A joke, obviously, but it was easy for him to say. He was off to California in eight short months, to a school with long, loping lawns, perennial blue skies and José Clemente Orozco’s fresco on the dining hall wall. A compliment, then, attesting to his faith in my abilities, but I can’t for the life of me imagine why he felt that way. I didn’t create anything of substance in high school. I wrote a music review for the school newspaper and a poem or two a year for the literary magazine, but it wasn’t a real part of my life — my identity. I never considered myself to be an artist because I could never put paintbrush to paper and have the idea melt from my brain and onto the page. And trust me, it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
Both of my parents studied art and art history in college. Every time I visit my grandparents, my grandmother shows me her latest painting, which I admire as she critiques imperfections I could never even dream of spotting. My other grandmother owned a dressmaking shop, and my great-grandfather wove baskets that line the cabinet tops of our kitchen. Even as young kids, my brother ran circles around me creatively, designing elaborate structures out of Magna-Tiles or, at the very least, bringing home a slightly less-misshapen pinch pot. Clearly there’s some sort of art gene that’s thrumming in my body, if only I could figure out how to tap into it.
Unfortunately, I don’t think pottery is my path to becoming a famous artist.
I made six bowl-cylinder hybrids during the two-hour class at Clay Work, and — despite Khorsheed’s patient instruction — I couldn’t really get the hang of it. I would “hug” the glob of clay with my hands, imagining the perfect pot that would come out of it and leaning into the gritty discomfort that comes when skin meets spinning granules of sand. If there was no pain, I clearly wasn’t putting enough effort into it, right?
Wrong.
Meeting the neighbors
AWMEO AZAD Statement Contributor
Four weeks into the semester, things are already getting a little dicey. How did I spend the last few days? All I remember are the 4 a.m. nights and locking myself in my room to read “Jane Eyre” while choking on a nasty cough. Overwhelmed by it all, I retreat to Nichols Arboretum. One step away from a world of luxury mid-rises, I find a sanctuary from time. In every direction, a concert of birdsong envelops the trees. Standing at the edge of a colossal drop, I pick through the cluttered branches with binoculars. I spot flashes of blue and hear woodpeckers whittle wooden wormholes. How many birds do I know? How many specific and local varieties could I name? I can’t reliably distinguish a crow from a raven or a
robin from Michigan from a robin in California. In her essay, “Returning the Gift,” botanist Robin Kimmerer interrogates this ignorance of the natural world.
“Our great grandparents were fluent in natural history,” Kimmerer wrote.
Conversely, the modern American school child can recognize “... more than a hundred corporate logos, and can name about ten plants which include such categories as ‘Christmas tree,’ and ‘grass.’”
Bird-watching — or really any effort aimed at observing and naming the inhabitants of the natural world — may seem like a trivial, pedantic exercise or something to be reserved for the earning of Boy Scouts merit badges. And it is true that being able to identify a common grackle by its vague blue sheen won’t help you with taxes or homework or dating. But why should
I know the names of three dozen clothing companies headquartered a thousand miles away and not the creatures who visit me in my backyard? How many all-nighters have I pulled and how many nights have I wandered depressed and weary through the Diag, only to be revived by the music of a hidden songbird? Why shouldn’t I know the name of the singer?
Our ancestors had heavens full of stars and a skyline full of aspens and maples and oaks. They navigated the earth and told stories about a scorpion chasing a giant huntsman across the sky. They knew which trees yielded which saps and which woods made the most buoyant boats. Now, our skies are ruled by the logos of chain stores; from Ann Arbor, you must drive at least four hours to see a truly clear night sky.
As Kimmerer writes, our dwindling knowledge of the natural
world represents an “intellectual hijacking,” reflecting the efforts of corporations to turn our eyes toward profit, consumer goods and capital.
Birdwatching was my first step in reacquainting myself with my neighbors in nature. But it’s not an instantly gratifying activity. In the Arb, I watched as masses of birds darted across the sky like little black smudges in the background of a Monet. Catching them still was the tricky bit. I darted around the paths trying to juggle the movements of birds, fumbling with the binoculars.
Grace, The Michigan Daily photographer accompanying me, seemed to have no such problem, showing me a camera roll full of woodpeckers and robins. She offered me one piece of advice: Sit still and wait for the birds to come to you.
PHOTOS: Grace Lahti/DAILY
Home away from home: Saj-baking in my friend’s garage
AYA FAYAD Statement Correspondent
A couple of singed fingertips and a flour mishap later, I am slamming sticky bread onto the scathing hot iron of the saj — not too badly for it being my first time doing it, if I do say so myself.
The saj, pronounced distinctly with a deep, velarized “s,” denoted by the Arabic letter ص, is a dome-shaped iron griddle heated atop a natural gas stove that is attached to the bottom. The contraption is used to make saj bread, a thin, crispy unleavened flatbread popular in the Levant. Dating back centuries across the Middle East, the saj is both a family pastime and a means of livelihood in rural villages, with family-owned shops usually littered across Lebanese towns.
Popular saj bread toppings include meat or chicken shawarma, yogurt, cheese and zaa’tar, kishik and ground meat. This then transforms the bread into a man’oushe al saj — a beloved Levantine breakfast item consisting of the flatbread with some type of spread spooned onto it while it’s still on the griddle. The bread can also be eaten plain, or torn up into smaller pieces to dip in or grab other dishes. The uniquely thin, delicate and chewy texture of the bread makes it ideal for wrapping around fillings and scooping up stews.
In Lebanon, the saj is often the center of whatever it touches. Special family breakfasts revolve around saj bread — Ramadan nights that stretch into mornings are spent bread-baking on the little black dome and small shops throughout the countryside are dedicated to making and serving saj bread and man’oushes. Though I haven’t visited Lebanon in years, I can still distinctly picture myself walking into one
of the maybe 20 saj shops in my village, the smell of raw dough and flour hanging thickly in the air and a large saj pushed into the corner. Its heat veils the entire room in a still warmth and a grandma, or a young son, or a dad or a mom pounds the sticky dough onto the hot iron.
When I thought about what I wanted to immerse myself in for this piece, I couldn’t stop thinking about wanting to slow down. And though I’m definitely not one to cook, nor am I good at it (I was scared I was going to burn myself while working the saj the entire time), to me, Lebanon, the shops in my village and kneading dough with my grandma were always moments when time slowed down for just a while. Like the stillness of the warmth in the little bakery, I didn’t have to worry about how much time had passed, or how many days I had left to do some mundane task, or what I looked like or how old I was getting. And that’s what I think immersion is about.
I was weeks into my first time being away from home and my second year as a college student, feeling the most stressed and the least like myself I have ever felt. I couldn’t think of or do anything else but assignments and work and school and stress, and all the while, I couldn’t stop shuddering at the thought that this would be my life for at least the next three years. So, in the softness of the night, in the few hours stolen away from the long day of usual work and stress, I did some soulsearching. After hours of lying awake and staring at the ceiling (partly because I’m a borderline insomniac), I realized what I wanted, more than anything at that moment, was something that would let me stop thinking for just a little bit.
Photos courtesy of Aya Fayad
I immersed myself in furry culture. You
don’t understand them.
LIAM RAPPLEYE Statement Correspondent
Walk with me.
We’re going to wander up to the third floor of Mason Hall — up those evil stairs — on a Sunday afternoon and stumble into room 3427. We’ll find a happy crowd of a few dozen students, picking their way over a spread of colored pencils, scissors and other art supplies. Someone is drawing. Someone else is streaming a football game on their computer. It is Sunday, after all.
Oh, also, I should mention: You might see fuzzy, dismembered, anthropomorphic animal heads on tabletops around the room. That’s because we have discovered the furries of the University of Michigan, officially known as the Anthropomorphic Art Association.
On the day I walked into Mason 3427, a few minutes late, I was greeted warmly by Dante Garetto, a stylish, mulleted LSA junior from Singapore and the president of the AAA, who proceeded to introduce me to his audience:
“Liam Rappleye, an awardwinning student journalist, will be here today working on a story about
us,” Garetto said. I scoffed at the aggrandizing introduction, but sat down and took my place nonetheless. The two hours I had arranged for this interview have since turned into three enlightening weeks.
A politician from Oklahoma planted a seed in my mind that festered for months before sprouting this fall. Justin Humphrey, the representative of Oklahoma Legislature’s 19th District drafted House Bill 3084, which is something more akin to a joke than legislation.
It reads, in full: “Students who purport to be an imaginary animal or animal species, or who engage in anthropomorphic behavior commonly referred to as furries at school shall not be allowed to participate in school curriculum or activities. The parent or guardian of a student in violation of this section shall pick the student up from the school, or animal control services shall be contacted to remove the student.”
While Humphrey later made it clear that this was a political stunt and not a genuine attempt at persecuting furries, the sentiment was clear to me. Humphrey, like many Americans and perhaps like you, sees furries as off-putting, questionable and cringe. Maybe, there’s
a chance, you’ve heard some rumblings about the deviant, twisted sexual acts they partake in. Maybe your buddy once knew a furry who was accused of some real yucky stuff.
For years, I, and perhaps you, too, would scoff at furries. Rumors swirled around in middle school about so-and-so who seemed to be wearing that cat-ear headband a lot. To me, they weren’t normal. They were cringe.
But something changed when I first saw this bill.
Despite harboring a slight sense of hesitance toward furries — perhaps confusion is the better word — my opinion changed after seeing the arm of the state leveled at a group of kids. Kids, who, while I might have considered them cringeworthy, just want to kick it with their friends who understand them — kids who like animals and might not like themselves. I wanted to see for myself: Do these people deserve animal control?
I’m telling you, loud and clear: no.
For the last three weeks, I have been immersing myself in furry culture. I’ve gone to meetings. I’ve learned about fursonas. I’ve met the furries, human eye to human
eye, and even donned the big fuzzy masks we’ve all been conditioned to wince at.
So, who are they?
Garetto, the president who heaped an embarrassing amount of praise on me, runs a tight ship for AAA, and he does it easily. He’s well dressed and charismatic, seemingly friends with everyone in the room.
The first meeting I attended was simple. There was some information about club finances (interestingly, the AAA is in the process of registering as a non-profit with the IRS), a few reminders about the semester’s events and an agenda for the day: For all the new club members in the room (Garetto will later tell me that this is one of the largest crowds the club has ever drawn, largely composed of new furries gained by their recruiting at FestiFall), the day will be spent drafting up a “fursona” — the alternate identity tied to a costume donned by a furry.
Garetto takes the club seriously, but not too seriously. The slides he presented were decked out with usual silly-slideshow fare: “The Simpsons” memes, “SpongeBob SquarePants” photos, a warning in the safety slide that read “NO BARKING!” You know, the normal stuff.
PHOTOS: Lila Turner/DAILY
After sending the club members off to begin working on their fursonas, Garetto spoke with me about his time as a furry.
He’s been involved in the scene for years, he said. He makes all of his own suits by hand, in part as a matter of creative expression and doubly as a matter of saving money. With some commissioned fursuits soaring well over $1,000 on sites like The Dealer’s Den, it makes sense to build them yourself.
“There’s no way I’m going to pay the price of a used car for a fursuit,” Garetto said. “I don’t even have a car yet.”
As president, Garetto has seen the AAA grow quite a bit. When it began a year ago, eight or 10 folks were showing up to meetings each week. They started recruiting a little more intentionally this fall, posting flyers around campus — although they were quickly ripped down in protest, Garetto said.
“I think people saw it at first as, like, ‘Oh, the weird kids got a little novelty club.’ But we’re here, you know?” Garetto said.
And as for the ripping down of the posters and online hate the furry community — and AAA specifically — might receive, Garetto doesn’t mind.
“Sometimes it’s nice to have a hater on your back,” Garetto said. “If what I’m doing isn’t making
somebody uncomfortable, then what I’m doing isn’t making a difference.”
Garetto explained how furries have been historically misrepresented and therefore misunderstood, which was precisely the reason I was there with him.
“There’s this gap between the understanding of the community and the general public. There was that one CSI episode about a furry who —” He gets cut off by someone else with a pink dog head in their lap.
“Not the CSI episode!” Ery Millican, Art & Design senior from Grosse Pointe, said.
“That set us back years,” Garetto said.
Season four, episode five of the crime-drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” is hilariously titled “Fur and Loathing.” The funny title is all I will give it credit for (I may be a furry sympathizer, but I also think Hunter S. Thompson is cool).
The episode tells the tale of two investigators who discover a dead man in a fursuit on the side of the road outside of a Las Vegas furry convention. They follow the tracks, joking endlessly about how perverted furries are. They apprehend the culprit by busting in on a furry orgy, interrogating combative, sassy, outrageous characters and revealing the motive of the crime to be fursuit sex — or “yiffing” — gone wrong.
It’s a stifling representation of the furry community. It’s everything I thought they were when I was younger. In some great irony, it’s actually everything they’re not.
“People look at furries and they see, like, they see this weird thing, they think of people in fursuits having sex,” Millican said when I asked them about their interjection later. “It’s — that’s not the point.”
“When you’re on the outside, you just don’t understand why people want to do things,” Millican said. “Everyone on the outside only sees that (sex stuff).”
Look, before I go any further: Yes, there are probably a few furries who do weird sex stuff. There are also a few students in your math class who do weird sex stuff. There are professors of yours who do weird sex stuff. Hell, who are you to define what constitutes “weird sex stuff”?
For further evidence of how commonly students at Michigan practice kinky sex, consider The Daily’s 2023 Statement Sex Survey (which Millican aptly criticized when I told them I worked for Statement because it failed to draw a line between being and furry and doing “pet play” in the bedroom — a stark difference).
But more to the point, it seems we only relegate a group of people into an outsider identity when it’s easy to do so; when
they are outwardly different, literally wearing a costume that sets them apart, we pin more badges of eccentricity onto them.
The kids jumping around in a fuzzy suit and throwing up peace signs with their paws might be an easy target, but what if I asked you to consider the furry not as a strange deviant, but as an artist?
Millican, for example, is literally a practicing artist. They are a senior at the Stamps School of Art & Design, and the reason they’re drawn to the furry community, they said, is largely because of art. And, perhaps, because they love animals. With bright-orange hair, two dog bone hair clips and a variety of necklaces with dog bone pendants hanging on two of them, Millican explained what a labor of love it is to make fursuits.
Almost all fursuits are made by hand, Millican said. It begins with crafting foam, which the artist sculpts with a turkey carver into pieces that are meticulously assembled with glue and a lot of tact, before being covered in faux fur. The fur is methodically placed, with scattered easter eggs hidden in each fursuit, like little hearts or hair patterns representing the person inside of the suit.
Grab a friend, start a fire!
I, having never lit a match in my life, decided that this week I would start a fire.
Now, I wasn’t planning on doing anything too crazy. I mean, hell, if I can’t even light my rose- and coconut-scented candle, I’m certainly not equipped to conduct a roaring wildfire. Or perhaps my inaptitude lends itself better to the creation of such infernostyle accidents — hopefully, I’m not tempting fate here.
Regardless, I decided that this week I would create a very special kind of fire. A fury fire. I know what you’re thinking: “Oh brother, we already have a wack-job on the loose and now some idiot’s gonna teach her how to light a match.” So I ask that you kindly remove 911 from your speed dial lest you be included in this fury fire of mine.
A fury fire is, in essence, a small handcrafted fire that is used to burn one’s grievances. In more specific terms, a person may sit down, write out a few letters laced with anger, negative
emotion, or dare I say fury, and then burn them in a fire to release negative emotions — specifically, ones harbored toward those who had the pleasure of getting a letter addressed to them. Are the merits of the fury fire empirically proven? By no means. But if enough Quora users swear by its healing properties, that’s certainly good enough for me to give it a try.
I’m not a person who walks around with a veritable knapsack of fury strapped to her back. No, I like to think that any baggage I carry with me comes in a more subtle form, like a handbag or pocketbook of sorts. But I think that we all — unless you’ve reached a level of enlightenment that I personally can only aspire to — harbor some resentment or hurt toward others in our pasts. And we all have different ways of dealing with this pain. While some may scream into pillows and curse out ex-boyfriends’ names, or find very creative ways to etch their car keys into others’ motor vehicles, I find that my pain and resentment turns inward more often than outward.
Anger is not a frequent visitor in my pocketbook of baggage. I am more often visited by self-blame and hurt feelings, which makes it harder to let go of unresolved pain in interpersonal conflict. I’m not able to just get mad and get over things: I sit and I wallow and I ruminate and I play things over tenfold. And, of course, I cry tears the size of Texas.
Despite my skepticism at the supposed healing properties of setting my personal grievances aflame, I certainly have some people from my checkered past that haunt the back of my mind, so why not try to get angry and burn these qualms? It couldn’t make things any worse, right?
Regardless, before I set matches to the lighter (or however the hell I’m supposed to do this), I had to set pen to paper first and write some honest-togoodness hate letters.
I sat down a few days ago with the empty, cobweb-collecting journal that I’ve had since my sophomore year of high school and felt … awkward. I waited for the anger to arrive like a farmer trying to coax his prize-winning
hogs toward a balanced breakfast. C’mere, fury! Heeeere, fury fury fury! Yet, none arrived, neither oinking nor squealing. I squinted hard, trying to think about my severed relationships, the times where I’ve felt the shock of betrayal or the sharp slap of someone’s words on my cheek. But I couldn’t conjure up anything past slight frustration at my inability to just get mad, dammit! Needless to say, I opted to try again another time, hopefully with fewer swine-related metaphors.
To spare you the sappy details, let me just say that once I got things going, it was a pretty emotional and snot-filled experience (I did tell you I cry a lot). My letters ranged from the classic and somewhat expected “Dear Mom” to a big ’ole “Up yours!” to that one boy in high school who was just … needlessly difficult. I resisted any urge for selfblame or rationalization; these letters were supposed to be nothing short of character assassination, and far be it for me to break the rules.
Then came the fun part.
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