Communicator: Volume 34, Edition 5 by The Communicator

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THE COMMUNICATOR

Contents

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37 42

64 NEWS

FEATURE

05 TEDx Youth @ Ann Arbor

38 Username: Missy

Students take to the stage at Skyline High School to share their wisdom in TEDx.

Surrounded by a community that didn’t support her, Missy turned to the World Wide Web.

08 Prom Moments from Community High’s Prom on May 5 at the Polo Fields in Ypsilanti.

14 Ann Arbor’s March for Science Thousands join in the March for Science in downtown Ann Arbor on Earth Day.

18 Printing the Future The printers of the first floor bring student work into three dimensions.

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46 Cancer Treatment A new prescription for cancer: mental state, diet, and physical activity.

56 Senior Profiles Members of the class of 2017 share some words before they go.

OPINION 84 The Importance of Wifi-Free Environments A wilderness lover reflects on her time away from her phone.

89 Why It’s Okay To Be Offended Maybe the Democratic Party is becoming more sensitive, but that’s a good thing.

90 Yes, Let’s Go Ann Arbor students have made the same race-related complaints for decades.

Letter from the Editors Dear Readers, The easy way to write this letter would incorporate clichés such as “it feels like just yesterday we arrived at Community as a freshman,” or “our high school experience will stay with us forever.” We’ll save the default phrases, though, because a not-so-average school deserves a not-so-average letter. Unfortunately, as we sit on a Google Doc attempting to pull this letter out of our a**es the night before the 5th and final edition of Communicator that we will ever be a part of creating goes to print, we realize that a not-so-average letter is not just waiting somewhere to be discovered. So rather than waiting for divine inspiration to strike, endowing us with the most beautiful words ever to grace the page of any letter from the editors, we would like to take this opportunity to reflect on what this beautiful— despite gross underfunding from the state of Michigan—school, its beautiful murals, and its beautiful people, have given us. Over our four years at Community High School, we have forged friendships with teacher and peer alike, oftentimes bonding over happy moments. We remember hanging out the windows of our 5th block classes freshman year, the day that Obama came to visit Zingerman’s. We remember watching CET productions, anytime from fall 2013’s “Bob: A Life in Five Acts” to spring 2017’s “Fiddler on the Roof ”, and marveling at the talent of close friends. We remember eating at Kosmos and on the back lawn and playing frisbee and marveling at the exuberant, youthful energy that never seems to leave Judith DeWoskin or Tracy Anderson. Yes, we know that was a run on sentence, but we have so many wonderful memories that stopping the sentence every time we think of a new one seems impractical. But it is also true that not every memory at Community is a happy one. We remember staying up too late, stressing about projects or tests. We remember the sinking heartbreak felt anytime Stapleton Forum won tug of war. On a more sobering note, we remember losing three of our own Community students over the course of these four years. Yes, love and humor have shaped our high school years, but sorrow and grief have played their part as well. It is impossible to encapsulate Community in a single letter or single magazine (though we clearly tried our best, since this edition is probably closer in size to a book than any magazine we’ve ever read), but as the seniors have been the ones walking these halls the longest of the student body, we think it only right that each year, for our final edition, we focus on the them. Within these pages you will be able to read about memories and advice from the class of 2017. By capturing these memories, we hope to preserve what we have loved most about Community High School. And yet, while we wish to remember Community exactly as it has been, after we depart into the “real world,” it would be wrong to come back and find everything the same. It’s progress and change that make this school unique. Let’s not forget the day so many of our students rallied in support of our classmate and her father, that time the Community Jazz Band basically became the highest-ranked in the WORLD, or the very fact that there is a documentary being made about this school (and for good reason). There is always change around us. But one thing that often sets Community apart is that instead of fighting change, we embrace it. Our wish for this school is that this openness to change never changes.

Print Editors-In-Chief

Staff

Alexandra Hobrecht Josh Krauth-Harding Isabel Ratner Hannah Rubenstein Megan Syer

Jack Belden Sonja Benjamins-Carey Elena Bernier Ayisha Bhavani Terah Blakemore Vivienne Brandt Avani Carter Samuel Ciesielski Atticus Dewey Anna Sophia Dinov Elinor Duck Pagie Duff Ella Edelstein Michael Eder Brennan Eicher Ally Einhaus Ava Esmael Isabel Espinosa Kyndall Flowers Oliver Fuchs Abbie Gaies Madie Gracey Alex Hughes Zane Jones Ethan Kahana Camille Konrad Helen Kulka Zoe Lubetkin Oliver Mayman Isaac McKenna KT Meono Ava Millman Jacqueline Mortell Shea O’Brien Suibhne O’Foighil Omalara Osofisan Mazey Perry Spencer Rech Alec Redding Henry Schirmer Miles Schwarz Alex Shaw Kat Stanczak Andie Tappenden Ruby Taylor Cammi Tirico Eleni Tsadis Sacha Verlon

Web Editors-In-Chief Kate Burns Joel Appel-Kraut

Managing Editors Francisco Fiori Gina Liu Suephie Saam

Photo Editor Grace Jensen

Social Media Editor Mary DeBona

Mentors

Bella Yerkes Claire Middleton Sophia Rosewarne

Fun Editor Emily Tschirhart

Art/Graphics Editor Caitlin Mahoney

Sports Editor Shane Hoffmann

Web Content and Business Editor

Mira Simonton-Chao

Adviser

Tracy Anderson

With so much love, Your senior editors ALEXANDRA HOBRECHT, JOSH KRAUTH-HARDING, HANNAH RUBENSTEIN

Get updates instantly at CHSCOMMUNICATOR.COM

& DOWNLOAD THE APP! The Communicator @communicatorchs @chscommunicator may

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A TIME FOR ACTION

Kyndall Flowers is a senior and founder of Pionner High School’s Black Student Union. She also is an activist through her writing and poetry. BY STAFF

PHOTO: CAITLIN MAHONEY

Can you tell me about something you have done for the community? Well, when I moved to Ann Arbor three years ago, I was a sophomore, and I did not see many places for black kids in my school. I was at Pioneer and I didn’t really know any of them, and I was like “I want to start a black student union so we can have a place to come together and talk and know each other so black kids won’t feel as alone as I did my first year at Pioneer.” I restarted it [junior year]; they ended it because I think some people tried to sue on terms of reverse racism, so they tried to rebrand it as the diversity club, but it lost leadership. Are you a part of BSU at Community? Yeah, I have been dipping into a few meetings here and there. I’ll come hang out with Clarence and I love Janelle; they’re all amazing and I love them very much. I’ve been thinking a lot about the black student union and from my point of view, it seems to be more of an attempt to be a safe space. It’s a place for black kids to go and not think about whiteness and its insidiousness and how pervasive it is. But throughout the year, it sometimes feels like a response team instead of a place for us to go and chill out and do Soul Food Fridays and have fun. It’s just kind of come through the territory of us being black in a majority white space where racist things happen. Do you use your poetry to express your feelings on this? I started doing slam when I started writing, pretty much only writing about being black and I felt like I had to do that in order to score well, which is not untrue. Poems that kind of, I don’t want to say pimp out, but sort of deal with black pain and black trauma score really well because it’s relevant. And that’s not the poets’ fault, it’s not the scorers’ fault, it’s just society’s fault. While slams can be a healing space in that you talk about these issues that are very hard to talk about, and it’s sort of therapeutic to get it out on paper, it can be harmful when you put your whole heart out there and then you do it for a score, or you memorize it and you do it again and again and again. Anyway, I got to a point where I kind of realized that every single poem I write will be a black poem because I’m black. So if I’m writing about a boy I like, or a crush, or my grandparents, it’s coming from the voice of an 18-year-old black girl, and I don’t see that voice very often on television. I don’t see black girls falling in love on Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. I don’t see us tripping down the stairs. I don’t see us screwing up and failing classes or doing really well in classes. So I like being able to just write my own poems and not always think “well who is this helping or hurting, who is this giving a voice to, or a vision to?” If I’m just being myself, and if I’m being authentic in my voice and writing what I feel like, someone out there might feel recognized. I didn’t even have a poem about my eczema, but I have eczema, I’ve dealt with it for a super long time, it’s all over my arms, it’s on my face, it’s everywhere. Visibility is not going to save the world, but it starts something, it starts conversations, it makes people feel a little bit more safe in their skin. If my poems can make people feel more safe, if that’s just what happens, and even if they don’t, if they make me feel more safe, then I guess whatever work I’m doing or is done or is on it’s way to being done or is started or is in the process, that is all I can really ask for.

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NEWS

Ann Arbor students come together to present their TED talks.

BY ATTICUS DEWEY

n April 22, 2017, TEDx came to Skyline High School, located in Ann Arbor. The event would give the attendees a great deal of information through exciting presentations. As the crowd walked in, they were greeted by the soothing glow of red, given off by TEDx banners and merchandise, and were welcomed by the friendly speakers and helpers as they guided the attendees to the stage. The talks would range from business to education, from comical talks about flatulence, to serious talks about racism. As families of the speakers, students, and people craving information came into the dimly lit Skyline theater, they were welcomed by Meghan Gupta, who was the host of the event. As people took their seats, Gupta walked from the back of the theater to the stage to greet both the audience and people watching the livestream. As Gupta introduced the first section of the day, Spark the Change, the lights dimmed, and Mustafa Syed, the first speaker of the day, walked out. Syed spoke about his journey on trying to change the way shoes are designed. He talked about his current work with a Chinese producer regarding the making of shoes that automatically light up when the light of day reaches a certain point. He spoke of how people didn’t believe that he would be capable of achieving what he was pursuing. As he spoke, he talked about the importance of doing what you believe in, even if the path you will have to go down hasn’t been conceived yet. After Syed finished his talk, Catherine Nicoli, a junior at Community High School, came onto the stage to talk about the importance of solitude in people’s lives. Nicoli’s talk was about how intentional solitude can benefit people. Nicoli spoke about how when she went into intentional solitude, she was able to focus on herself and changing the things in her life that she wanted to change. “When I went on my three-day retreat to the woods last summer, I was able to sit, with only my thoughts and began to change the way I live my life from the inside-out,” Nicoli said. When Nicoli left the stage, Anna Dang entered the stage to talk about flatulence

awareness. Though she started with a few comedic puns about flatulence, she moved onto talking about the dangers of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). The danger is that if these gasses are not released through flatulence they can start to change your lifestyle. IBS is caused by the fear of flatulence and the person is so embarrassed by it, that they cannot commit flatulence even in private. After Dang’s speech, Rutger De Voer, a Community exchange student from the Netherlands, came onto the stage to speak about how moving around in your life can be a good thing. His talk was about the many different ways traveling can be beneficial. De Voer spoke about how stepping out of one’s comfort zone is very important for psychological, mental, moral, and social development. He told stories about when he came to Ann Arbor and how he has changed because of his experiences here. Soon after De Voer’s talk, Mecca Muhammad came onto the stage to speak about how it is living as a Muslim in America. She spoke about the meanings of the different kinds of mosques and spoke of how the stigma against Muslims affects her life. As Muhammad started to wrap up her talk, she spoke about ways of defeating the stigma. Muhammad spoke about teaching the people around her that, like every religion, there is a group that takes things too far. Unfortunately, the group that people stereotype with Muslims is this group that takes things too far. Muhammad also encouraged everyone to find a Muslim center and to go to an open house to learn more about the culture. Immediately upon Muhamma’s talk finishing, Kareem Shunnar took to it and spoke about furthering the notion that every kid is better than a study or statistic. He started by telling the statistics of people disliking the way you smell and the statistics of a kid with a slur, talking about himself, giving a TED talk. He moved to a poem where he revealed that statistics, while giving you data, don’t give all the information. Shunnar said that statistical numbers can be made up, and he exposed that the statistics that he mentioned in the beginning of the talk were false and that he made them up. He wanted the audience to know that

they are more than a statistic and they can break the norm. As Shunnar finished his talk, Brynne Hindle took the stage to talk about the stigma of suicide. She began her talk with a personal story about how her father committed suicide when she was ten years old. Hindle talked about how she was affected by her father’s death and how she began to fall into depression. Towards the end of her story, Hindle noted that had she learned about the signs of depression when she was younger, she might have been able to identify her father’s depression. Hindle spoke about how telling children about depression and suicide at a young age has benefits. She declared that by making the discussion of suicide taboo, we have doomed ourselves by not giving each other the knowledge of the effects of suicide. Hindle expressed her desire to make the subject of suicide present in education at a younger age. When Hindle left the stage, Phillip Crumm, the final speaker of the night, came onto the stage to talk about how to never work a day in your life. He began his talk by showing off his hobbies and interests. He stated how his interest in origami can benefit space stations with the proper materials. As Crumm finished his talk, he admitted that the statement “never working a day in your life” may be false, but if you go into something that you are passionate about, you won’t feel like you’re working a day in your life. As the speakers left the stage, the audience left with the knowledge bestowed upon them through the presentations the young speakers had shown them throughout the day. The 2017 TEDx was a year that young people showcased their talents. Though there may not be another TEDx talk coming to Ann Arbor this year, in 2018 TEDx will come back to Ann Arbor with new talks, new theories, and new ideas. As the audience left the theater, they spoke of how their interest had been piqued through the magnificent event.

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PROMPOSALS

Elaborate and public proposals to take somebody to a high school prom... BY GINA LIU AND ISABEL RATNER

BACK LAWN BODIES Makela Lynn & Ruby Lowenstein

“I totally wasn’t expecting something that big because I’d been dropping a lot of hints about her promposing to me. Right before the promposal happened we were in the bathroom, and there was a little packet of soy sauce on the ground, and I was like ‘Makela, is that your promposal to me?’ And she was like ‘Nope.’ So [after], we were walking down the front stairwell, and I guess I wasn’t looking out the window enough, because I was talking to someone else, but she was like ‘Hey! Look, Isabel, over there!’ I looked out the window, and all these people were laying on the ground, spelling out prom with their bodies. And then I ran down the stairs and went outside, and she was like ‘Prom?’ and I was like ‘Yes!’” - Ruby Lowenstein

UP, UP, AND AWAY

Jake Sorscher & Charlotte Borgers “So I was sitting in Hatcher Library and studying, doing my work as a studious student, and there was a big window next to me, and I thought to myself, ‘What if a drone flew up next to this window with a sign? That’d be weird, right?’ I was like, ‘that’s how I’m going to do my promposal. I’m going to put a sign underneath my quadcopter.’ So, I got to thinking and I made a drawing, and I planned out how I was going to do it, and I decided that I needed to use mesh material, rather than just paper. ‘Cause if I used paper, it could turn into a sail, and take my drone away in the wind, and I don’t want to lose that. So, I went to Jo-Ann’s Fabrics and I got some mesh and some iron-on letters and my neighbor helped me, and my mom helped me iron on the letters, and I decided ‘Will you fly to prom with me?’ I fastened it underneath my drone, I took it off, and it hung beneath it really nicely, and I collaborated with my girlfriend’s friend, Annie, and we brought her to Burns Park, flew up the drone that said ‘Will you fly to prom with me?’ and she said ‘Yes!’” - Jake Sorscher

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THIRST QUENCHING Adrian Huntley & Sadie Zinn

“Well, I had no idea what to do, and I kept bugging people, and everyone was useless. Then eventually my friend, James Nedelchev, said, ‘Sadie really likes Diet Coke, do something with that.’ So I just went with that theme and I just made that rhyme based pun poster. It said “no need to shop, for diet pop, I should stop, I’m out of rhymes, Prom?” And I also had a twelve pack of Diet Coke which I knew she really likes. I did give her the twelve pack because we were at like a bonfire at her house and she said like ‘oh, I’m gonna go get a Diet Coke’ and so I got the sign and the Coke then and it was like perfect timing.” - Adrian Huntley

GIRLS WITH GLITTER Grace York & Anna Dinov

“So, Anna and I are just really obsessed with sparkly things and we both really like glitter and everything that’s really extra. I thought of that pun and I was like, ‘I don’t know if that makes sense, but I’m going to do it anyway.’ I bought a bunch of glitter from the craft store, and it took me three hours to make that poster, but I brought it to school and I had another friend stall her as she walked down the stairs. Alexis had come out the same class, so I was like, ‘Okay, go find Anna, she’s in math right now, while I go down the stairs and get my poster, and get ready for her.’ I got a bunch of glitter in my hand and threw it at her, like a handful of glitter, and she was really surprised and I showed her the sign. She was very surprised. She didn’t know what was happening.” - Grace York

SMOOTHIE MOVES

Olivia Comai & Erin Harshberger “I’m usually the type of person who likes to do a lot of puns and stuff, so I thought I would kind of switch it up and do one more making fun of promposals in general. I had to drive straight from school over to Tropical Smoothie Cafe because it takes them a long time to make them, and then I drove all the way to Pioneer and grabbed my friend Leonié because I didn’t want to go there alone because Pioneer is scary. So I invited one my friends from Pioneer, Erin Harshberger, and she really likes smoothies, the Tropical Smoothie Cafe, so I just made a poster that said ‘I got you a smoothie.’ And then I got her a smoothie that said prom on it. She was excited, she gave me a hug, she said thanks for the smoothie. I think I’m going to Pioneer prom, but she hasn’t asked me yet. So hopefully, got my fingers crossed.” - Olivia Comai

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PROM Community High School juniors and seniors take on prom.

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NEWS

BY MIRA SIMONTON-CHAO AND ELLA EDELSTEIN

here were no kings or queens or limousines at Community High School’s prom this year. Still, without many of the details often associated with extravagant high school proms, CHS did what it does best: provide an alternative take on an American teen tradition. Upon arrival at Washtenaw Golf Club, prom attendees were greeted not only by Dean Marci, but by the opportunity to indulge in one of the more standard prom traditions: professional prom pictures. Then, they entered the dimly lit room filled with students of all grades. At about 9 p.m., most attendees had filed onto the dance floor. The DJ played songs from a range of eras and genres; oldies like “Come on Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners played alongside party classics like “Apple Bottom Jeans” by Flo Rida and new tunes like “iSpy” by Kyle. Students were not the only ones on the dance floor—art teacher Steve Coron and student teacher Matt Fields showed off some moves as well. Over 15 staff members dressed up, danced, and enjoyed the evening with students.

While the majority of attendees were Community students, many students took the opportunity to invite guests from other schools, creating a blend of new and familiar faces. For example, Community junior, Sean Parmer attended with Alana Offredi who said: “I met him at camp and now he’s my boyfriend.” Other students who brought along guests include Senior Natalie Lakin, who attended with her friend since sixthgrade, Skylar Jeason; senior Joel Appel-Kraut, who brought fellow Planned Parenthood peer educator, Grace Kent; and senior Griffin Hall with Community High alumna Ada Banks. Also in attendance was MLive reporter Hunter Dyke whose photographs of the event can be seen online. Throughout the night, students relayed from the dance floor to the refreshment tables—who knew there would be sweet potato fries and tabbouli at prom?—to taking goofy pictures in the photo booth. For all in attendance of this traditionally non-traditional event, one can only hope that Community’s prom lived up to its theme: “Out of this world.”

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2 1. Steve Coron and Camilla Del Giudice dancing. 2. Griffin Hall and CHS alumna Ada Banks. 3. Hawa Dicko and her date pose for a picture while in line for refreshments. 4.Sam Uribe, Suephie Saam, Kaleb Doughten-Priuska, Kasey Neff, Spencer Rech, and Jordan Tirico pose for a quick picture on the dance floor. 5. CHS students throw on glow stick necklaces, keeping pace with their â&#x20AC;&#x153;Out of This Worldâ&#x20AC;? theme. 6. Gabe Salas and Andrew Reynolds slow dancing to a nonslow song. 7. Ethan Ziolek on the dance floor.

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1. Clarence Collins III and Maddie Jelic pose for a picture while in line for refreshments. 2. “[I] met him at camp, now he’s my boyfriend,” Alana Offredi of her date Sean Parmer. 3. Joel Appel-Kraut and Grace Kent met while volunteering at Planned Parenthood. 4. Lydia Betz and Josie Stalmack hug for a quick picture. 5. Juliette Nanos and Jordan Tirico. 6. Henry Fuchs dances just feet in front of the DJ station. 7. Esther Priebe, Grace Newman, Yasmeen Shakour, and Sophie Haviland.

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5 1. Isabel Ratner dances with friends. 2. Camille Konrad and Zane Jones pose for a quick picture mid-song. 3. Cece Lloyd shows off her prom dress which she purchased from Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bridal. 4. Jenny Dean and friend Maggie Mihaylova pose mid-dance. 5. John Baughn prepares for what will be a crowd astonishing back flip, cheered on by classmates Suephie Saam and Juliette Nanos. 6. Gabrielle Poli stops mid-dance, her glow stick necklace in hand, for a quick picture.

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4 1. Chloe Di Blassio and Erika Chesky. 2. Will Carroll and his date pose for a photo before heading for the dance floor. 3. Viv Brandt and Eric Steinhauer on the dance floor. 4. Sophomores Jonah Eichner and Andrea Schnell, who got their tickets from a friend, dance in a tight group with fellow classmates. 5. Maggie Mihaylova, Callum Mein, and Ruby Lowenstein dance and laugh the night away. 6. Ethan Ziolek and Khalil Eljamal really get into their dance moves.

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NEWS

Ann Arbor’s March for Science Photos from the March for Science that took place on Earth Day—April 22, 2017. BY MADIE GRACEY AND MORRAINA TUZINSKY

1. Two kids in a stroller hold a sign that reads, “Save some [Earth] for me.” 2. Participants walked down S. University Ave. towards S. State St. carrying signs made of poster board, paper, sticks, and various other materials. 3. A young girl holds a sign made out of ribbons, paper, and cardboard.

4. A couple holds two signs that read “Climate change is not √-1,” and “Make American believe in Science Again.” 5. A red, blue, and green colored sign reads “Climate change we can believe in.”

6. A polka-dot sign is held above the march participants by a young woman. 7. A woman poses for the various photographers at th event. Her sign reads, “Science led us out of the cave.”

8. A woman holds a side with two messages, one reading, “We must respectfully and appropriately bring racial and environmental efforts together as the righteous cry of Mother Earth.” 9. A young man holds up a sign that reads, “come evolve with us,” on a blocked-off street in the middle of the march.

10. At the Neutral Zone B-Side, students from the Ann Arbor Public Schools skillet-fry pancakes, performs music, and are raising money for Youth Owned Records—where students have the opportunity to record music and create CD albums.

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11. A young man wears a solar backpack while participating in the Ann Arbor March for Science down S. State St., chanting “No hate. No fear. Scientists are welcome here.” 12. A dog walks around with a sign tied on his back that reads, “I am made of atoms and my cousin is a lab.” 13. After the rally, signs rise as people start making their way towards S. University Ave.—the start of the march.

14. A woman holds a sign in the air with photos of two famous scientists, Rachel Carson and Albert Einstein. 15. Two friends hold up a frame with their faces inside, posing for a third friend, taking the photo. 16. Homemade Truffula trees from the Lorax stand above the crowd. 17. A common hat worn at the march was a handmade brain hat with the cerebellum highlighted.

18. A spin-off of the viral video, “Damn Daniel, back at it again in those white vans,” is held up at the march.

19. A young girl poses for her mother and several photographers, who were walking around trying to get the best photograph opportunities. The girl’s sign reads, “The Earth needs Science.” 20. Rosewood—a student band from the Ann Arbor Public Schools—performs at the Neutral Zone B-Side while other students skillet-fried pancakes and raised money for Youth Owned Records.

21. Two signs in the march, one made with a sharpie marker made to look like oil and the other made up of elements from the periodic table of elements to spell out “Science not Silence.”

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PHOTO COURTESY: ROBBIE STAPLETON

Stigma Hurts, Awarness Helps A look into the peer-to-peer education program developed by the University of Michigan.

BY WM. HENRY SCHIRMER

mma Hoffman, a sophomore at Community High School (CHS), made the decision to join Community High School’s Depression Awareness Group (DAG). She was hoping to learn more about mental disorders in order to help both her friends as well as any others who need it. DAG is one of the several peer-to-peer education programs that has been developed in Washtenaw County. The peer-to-peer depression program began in 2009 with the involvement of the University of Michigan Depression Center. The program started with five schools located in Ann Arbor: Community, Huron, Roberto Clemente, Skyline, and Stone School, which has merged with Roberto Clemente to form Pathways. Stephanie Salazar works as the Program Coordinator for Outreach and Education at University of Michigan Depression Center. “We know that students are more 16

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likely to talk to each other than even well-meaning adults,” Salazar said. Their goal was to start educating students, because when it comes to issues surrounding mental disorders, they are more likely to talk to their peers. “There are many factors that influence depression and anxiety, including genetics and environment, but we know age of onset happens between 15 to 22,” Salazar said. She works with teens and young adults, because, according to Salazar, these are the ages where symptoms and signs of mental disorders usually form. This was another factor contributing to the formation of the program at Community. The peer-to-peer program has grown to be involved in 10 schools in the county, and will hopefully continue to grow. This year, the program received a grant to expand the program to middle schools. “The earlier that we can intervene and educate, the better the outcome is for everybody,” Salazar said. She hopes the

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program will continue to expand to both middle schools as well as other districts and colleges. “Right now our team is very small, so ideally, it would be great to get the program in position where maybe another health center could support schools in their own local area,” Salazar said. For her team, growing the program would benefit not only students that get involved, but also the community as a whole. “Every year we do a pre-survey and a post-survey about what people know about depression and stigma,” said Robbie Stapleton, CHS teacher and advisor for DAG. “Every year so far, the pre- and post-surveys indicate that there has been a huge level of increase and knowledge and awareness.” The surveys ABOVE: Community High School’s Depression Awarness Group. Left to right: Rutger de Voer, Emma Hoffman, Mei Somones, Brynn Stellrecht, Carter Schmidt, Robbie Stapleton, Fiona Lynch, Vivienne Brandt, Lia Kahan, and Samuel Uribe.

FEATURE are conducted at both the school level campaigns. a CHS junior who just finished her secand the district as a whole, and the data “This year, we decided to raise aware- ond year in DAG. One of the additions shows work done by the program real- ness and reduce stigma and go into all of to DAG’s campaign this year was prely does have a positive impact. CHS is a the forums during what we call our De- sentations done in each forum designed prime example of this. pression Awareness Month in March,” to teach students about mental disorCHS has been involved in the pro- Stapleton said. This year DAG’s cam- ders and reduce the stigma surrounding gram for eight years with its Depression paign included forum bulletin messages, them. Awareness Group. pins that read “Stigma Hurts, Awareness “It’s really important to raise awareness “Unlike the other clubs in our school, Helps” and “You don’t need to be sick about mental illnesses, especially in high we don’t necessarily set our own agen- to get better,” wellness breaks, presenta- school, because there is a lot of stigma da,” Stapleton said. “We have a very tions and activities performed in each fo- that surrounds it,” Semones said. Acspecific job to do and it requires a fair rum, posters, and the messages of hope. cording to Salazar, many won’t seek help amount of work, and if you join [DAG] At the end of the year, the students will when needed because there is a large in the fall, you really have to commit to attend a second conference. This confer- amount of stigma surrounding mental doing the work.” Their main goal is to ence is more of a celebration. disorders. reduce the stigma that “It is in your brain and surround mood disorit is not seen as much as ders. a broken arm or a broken “I felt like I didn’t leg, so it’s hard for peoknow enough to realple to understand if they “I think there has been a sense in the past that you ly help people, and it don’t experience it,” Salashould just pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get zar said. “I think there would just be a good idea to get more educathas been a sense in the over it, when really we know it’s a medical illness ed,” Hoffman said. “It past that you should just that can be treated.” puts me in this mood pull yourself up by the where I want to help bootstraps and get over and know I know I can it, when really we know help.” For Hoffman, it’s a medical illness that joining this program has helped her feel “The teams come back together and can be treated.” This is where groups more confident in her ability to help her they share a bit about what they did at similar to DAG come in. peers who may be dealing with depres- their school,” Salazar said. Here, each or“I think just talking more about it, the sion or other mental disorders. ganization talked about their campaign more it is just normalized and people Each year, students involved in DAG and how it worked in their schools. will be less afraid to speak up,” Salazar attend two conferences at the University “With our messages of hope, I feel like said. Stigma can be reduced by simply of Michigan—one at the beginning of I saw a great sense of community com- talking more about these medical issues. the year and one at the end. ing together and people really putting If the stigma surrounding these mental “The main focus of the conference at things up there that would help people disorders is reduced, it is more likely that the beginning of the year is to teach the and people not being afraid to take them students will seek out treatment. “Treatstudents about depression, anxiety, and if they felt bad,” Hoffman said. She felt ment is very effective and we know that related factors,” Salazar said. Here, they that these events have really helped to the earlier that people seek treatment the will hear from experts in the field as well bring the community together and to be better the outcome.” as presentation about how to design an concerned to others well-being. BELOW: Various hearts taken from “Messages of effective health campaign. From these “We learned about presenting in front Hope.” A large part of this year’s campaign, DAG conferences, the students will go back to of others, which is what we did for our based the board on a project done by The Univertheir schools and begin developing their campaign this year,” said Mei Semones, sity of Michigan. The idea was “take a heart, leave a heart.”

may

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Printing the Future BY MADIE GRACEY AND AVA MILLMAN PHOTO: ALEC REDDING

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ommunity High School students Giuliano Fonte Basso, Ned Capuano, and Keagan Messmann spend their afternoons in the first floor engineering room alongside teacher George Lancaster making their ideas come to life using one of Community High’s three 3-dimensional printers. Things can be made such as phone cases, figurines, and architectural models—the sky’s the limit. These students have mastered the art of 3-D printing; unbeknownst to most other Community attendees, all students have access to these new age learning tools. HISTORY OF 3-D PRINTERS

NEWS FEATURE Kulka’s classroom, room 105, and one is located in the engineering classroom, room 113. They are available to any CHS student with the permission of Kulka or Lancaster. Students currently have the ability to use these printers free of charge. It is recommended that students who wish to use the 3-D printers participate in one of Community’s engineering classes, but, if a student would like to use the printer with help from Lancaster, it is not required to be in the class. COST

The CHS engineering department has recently received a 30,000 dollar grant from Project Lead the Way, so Lancaster was able to purchase a 3-D printer purely for student use, and math teacher Kulka generously allows students to use his two personal machines. These printers are a powerful learn-

WHAT HAS BEEN MADE?

Fonte Basso has made several objects with the 3-D printers, including fidgets that have gone viral on social media with their spinning motion and mesmerizing features. It is a type of body with a center that holds a bearing. The bearing allows a finger to be placed on either side of it, giving it the ability to spin within your hand. “I have also built 3-D phone cases, models of animals, and a Trump-Pikachu or Trump-ichu, which is the body of Pikachu and the head of Trump,” Fonte Basso said. Outside of Community, things such as shoes, robotic fish, automobile parts, medical devices, and even tiny houses have been created using 3-D printers. Every day, these machines get pushed beyond their limits; the future of 3-D printing is very promising and is approaching faster and faster every day.

The first 3-D printer was built in 1983 in order to speed up the process of product prototyping. They are still used for very similar purposes today; however, the products are stronger and more functional now. From these original machines, IN THE FUTURE 3-D printers devel“If [you] can think about something, and it is Fonte Basso beoped into extremely lieves that knowing possible in a CAD model, and it fits into the expensive high-end this type of technoloprinters during the parameters of which the machine can build, gy will help him in in late 1990s and early the future. [you can] do it.” 2000s. In 2007, the “Especially in colfirst 3-D printer cost lege, if you go into less than $10,000 U of M, they have a and was released by lot of access to good a company called 3-D printers,” Fonte 3-D Systems. Since then the 3-D printing tool. As 3-D printers are becoming Basso said. “I think they have a machine ing world has grown, making it possible less expensive and more accessible to the to print with metal. It [would be] used to for schools like Community to purchase general public, having the skills needed 3-D print something [more sturdy], like machines for student use. to operate a 3-D printer will put Com- a camera mount.” munity graduates ahead of their peers Technology around us changes conHOW 3-D PRINTERS WORK when entering the workforce. As of stantly. With the advancements of 3-D The process starts off by using a right now Fonte Basso, Messmann, and printers, 3-D pens, and other technology “Computer-Aided Design and Drafting Capuano are just printing small toys, but like this, doctors and scientists are able Software” (CAD) to generate a virtual some day they may be printing things to create the technology it takes to save model of an object that can be built on like automobile parts or medical equip- lives and improve living. a computer. Later on, the model will be ment. Most 3-D printers range from 400 “A company is actually printing circuittranslated into coordinates on a graph. dollars to 5,000 dollars. The cost de- ry that is going to actually decrease the The data is then sent to the 3-D print- pends on where the printer is purchased production cost for electronics. It is goer where a nozzle heats up filaments— from and which model of printer it is. ing to be fascinating,” Fonte Basso said. composed of ABS plastic—to a degree New to the technology world is the at which the filament will become mal- 3-D pen. 3-D pens are the size of nor- WHAT THIS MEANS FOR COMMUleable. At the base of the 3-D printer, mal ballpoint pens, and the point heats NITY? there is a grid that graphs the coordi- up filament stored inside making it posCommunity students are given the gift nates and it is able to turn a CAD model sible it draw three-dimensional figures. of learning how to use this futuristic into an actual 3-D model. “If [you] can However, they are very expensive; cur- technology in a stress-free environment think about something, and it is possi- rently, the price for a 3-D pen ranges alongside talented mentors and peers. ble in a CAD model, and it fits into the from 500 to 1,000 dollars. Prices are sim- Students who wish to capitalize on this parameters of which the machine can ilar to the actual 3-D printers. special opportunity may talk to Ed Kulbuild, [you can] do it,” Fonte Basso said. “It is an easy way to solve a problem; ka (room 105) or George Lancaster instead of engineering hands-on, you (room 113). WHERE ARE THE PRINTERS? can use a machine to do it for you at a Two of the printers are located in Ed cheaper cost,” Fonte Basso said. TOP LEFT PAGE: One of three of CHS 3-D Printers on top of a cart, which hold the Afinia Printer when it isn’t being used with 3-D filament that sell for $35 dollars a spool and come in the colors red, blue, green, white, yellow, and black. BOTTOM LEFT PAGE: Two fidgets: the left fidget made of four metal bearings and a common 3-D body with three arms, and the right fidget made of 15 pennies and a metal bearing with a unique 3-D body. Both made by George Lancaster, an engineering and geometry teacher at CHS.

may

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5708: Zebrotics BY MADIE GRACEY AND AVA MILLMAN

PHOTO COURTESY: ALEC REDDING

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FEATURE

or six weeks, a group of Com- petition; the matches are between two munity High School students alliances which each consist of three designed, engineered, and built robots. Alliances are the random groupa fully-functional robot from ing of robotics teams whose scores are the ground up. Team Zebrotics—for- combined in competition with other almerly known as FIRST (For Inspiration liances. and Recognition of Science and TechIn the qualification matches, there is nology) Robotics Team 5708—became a round-robin format, where the teams an official FRC robotics team in 2014 play each other in randomly assigned aland since has grown into a well-oiled liances, and then each of the teams are machine made up of 23 Community stu- seeded into a bracket and drafted into dents. an alliance for the final stages of play. On the first day of the season, the team The high ranked teams have the ability was assigned a series of tasks that their to draft their own alliance. Zebrotics refuture robot must be able to complete: cently competed in a competition at Piopicking up and delivering “gears” to neer High School, where they advanced specific locations, shooting a ball into a all of the way to the quarterfinals before goal, and climbing a rope. Each of these being knocked out by the leading allitasks were worth a different amount of ance in the competition. Unfortunatepoints in the competition. “We decided ly, this year, they did not qualify for the to focus on gears,” said Giuliano Fonte State competition. Michigan is one of Basso, a sophomore Zebrotics engineer. the largest and fastest-growing robot“We made a spreadsheet calculating how ics states in the country, adding 50 new many points you could get with each match.” “[Our build spot is] near a company called Makerworks,” Christia West said. West “[Robotics is] not just about is the Zebrotics’ engineering and programming.” lead mentor and a science teacher at Community High School. Makerworks—a machine shop— is one of their sponsors. They have the teams last year alone. resources like large tools and equipment “[Robotics is] not just about engineerthat Zebrotics can’t afford to buy. The ing and programming,” West said. “We team is also able to utilize their shop have a lot of other jobs that go into runspace and students are able to go there ning the team that a lot of people get to with a mentor if they’ve had training. do. We have a website, so we have people “They have some really cool tools like that create our website and do fundraisa laser cutter, some large woodwork- ing. They run the business aspect of [the ing tools, and they have a metal shop team]. Right now I really only have like where we can actually do our own metal- two people doing that, and I could use at work,” West said. Team Zebrotics shares least two or three more because there is this space with the Pioneer, Huron, and a lot of work that goes into the business Dexter robotics teams. Having access to and marketing aspects of the team.” this space and these tools makes buildLike most other robotics teams, Team ing more efficient and professional, re- Zebrotics is made up of several smallsulting in higher quality robots. er subcommittees, specializing in cerFor Districts, each Michigan robotics tain aspects of the team such as meteam competes in two local competi- chanics, programming, or marketing. tions during the season; from there, they The mechanics team works on keeping may qualify for States, and then FIRST the robot moving. Meanwhile, programchampionship. Each team plays about ming works on developing the software, 15 matches over the course of a com- and marketing works on all aspects of

fundraising and managing the website, among many other things. The old robots are not reused in another season, but, on occasion, they take old parts from the robot that can be reused or fixed and incorporate them into the new robot. This helps cut down on costs that could help the team purchase other materials. During the season, each subcommittee meets individually during the week, and then the full team meets for several hours on the weekends. During the off-season, the team meets once or twice a month to discuss future plans or for general social gatherings such as going to the movies or hosting team game nights. Robotics is the idea of working as a team to create a successful robot that can score as many points as possible. It’s more than just about winning a competition; it is about building something from scratch and seeing it come to life as it competes in the pit. In 2015, their rookie season, Team 5708 named their robot after Charles Darwin. Darwin was an evolutionist and since the robot was always changing or “evolving,” the name had meaning. Darwin was made up of recycled parts and materials that included hockey sticks and bike parts. In 2016, they named their robot Achilles. With all its great strengths came all its smaller weaknesses. Achilles was built to scale obstacles and shoot a ball into tower openings. Currently, the Zebrotics are preparing for the 2017 FIRST Robotics Competition, getting ready to attend the Michigan Robotics Day at the University of Michigan School of Engineering, and building a new robot to drive in Ann Arbor’s Fourth of July Parade. They are sponsored by Ford, Makerworks, Plastomer Corporation, ZF Friedrichshafen, and Zingermans Mail Order. To visit the Zebrotics website, go to frc5708.org.

LEFT PAGE TOP: 5708 team member Zenna Hodgen lowers a gear into this year’s robot, Achilles, during a competition at Pioneer High School. Loading and transporting was one of the most popular ways of scoring points in this year’s competition. LEFT PAGE BOTTOM: Achilles sits next to another robot while a group of volunteers discuss on the playing field before the start of a match. may

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FEATURE Omaha, Nebraska Clout: noun To “have clout” is to be really cool, really trendy, have a lot of followers, etc. •”She’s got so much clout, everything she wears sets a trend.”

Rhode Island

Springfield, Illinois

Amp: verb Overdoing it •”She’s really amping it right now.” Do less: command Tone it down a little bit, calm down.

Muv: noun Someone •”What’s up muv.” •”She’s a painter muv.” Merch: interjection Synonym to bet; means I’ll do it, I agree. •”I bet you won’t talk to that guy.” “Merch.”

Los Angelos, California

Don’t trip: command Calm down, don’t freak out.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Ard: interjection Used alone as a response to something, used to show you heard or understand what was said. Similar to saying ok in response. •”The store closes at 5.” “Ard.” Jawn: noun An object • “Did I just knock over a jawn?” Anyone: noun Someone who’s irrelevant. • “She used to be cool, but now she’s anyone.”

Silver Spring, Maryland

San Diego, California

Sice: verb 1 : to give 2 : to be excited • “Sice me a pencil.” • “I’m so siced for the game tonight!”

Mob: verb To come, to go. •”We’re going to get sushi, you should mob.” Swoop: verb To slyly take or steal something. •”He just swooped your lunch seat!”

North Carolina

South Lake, Texas

Fixin’ to: verb To want to do (something.) •”I’m really fixin’ to grab a steak sandwich.”

Valparaiso, Florida

Fake Lettuce: noun Long hair on boys, especially surfer or hockey boy hair. • “Jake’s hat can’t hide his fake lettuce.”

Green: adjective Mean •”Stop acting so green!”

What’s the Word? Teenage slang varies around the country; here is some of the different slang defined.

BY ANDIE TAPPENDEN

n his essay, “A Defence of Slang,” published in “The Defendant,” G.K. Chesterton, a poet, philosopher, and journalist, said, “All slang is metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry. If we paused for a moment to examine the cheapest cant phrases that pass our lips every day, we should find that they were as rich and suggestive as so many sonnets.” Although Chesterton seems to view slang as poetry, slang is often seen as a more unsophisticated lexicon. The Oxford Dictionary defines “slang” as “a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people.” 22

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Slang is ubiquitous around societies and dialects, and has been for centuries: just how Shakespeare coined the word “fashionable” in his tragedy “Troilus and Cressida” published in 1602, Peaches Monroee invented the phrase “on fleek” in a vine in 2014. However, slang is used for different purposes. British lexicographer (a person who compiles dictionaries) Eric Partridge claimed that slang is used in 15 different ways. According to Partridge, people use slang to be “different,” to enrich their language, to seem friendly, or potentially to show that one belongs to a certain school, trade, social class, or professional, artistic, or intellectual setting, as well as other reasons he outlined. One thing that is for certain is that slang is not a universal language; the

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“Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language” says that “Slang is one of the chief markers of in-group identity,” which varies depending upon occupations, age generation, and especially locations. While maybe any one of the 42 million teenagers living in the United States right now could define the words “lit” or “exposed,” it might be hard to find someone outside of North Carolina who could describe what “fake lettuce” is, or someone not native to Philadelphia who could explain the meaning of “ard.” The graphic above highlights the different slang used by teenagers living in different American towns all over the United States as told and defined by teenagers living in their respective towns.

FEATURE

GRAPHIC: GINA LIU

Misconceptiones & Misrepresentations Muslim students talk about Ramadan in Ann Arbor. BY AVA ESMAEL

ay 26 is Field Day for students at Community High School, but for Muslims across the world, May 26 is when the holy month of Ramadan begins. “Not many people know what Ramadan is,” said Skyline sophomore Furqan Al-Zaiyadi. “It’s kind of unfair because no matter your culture, everyone knows about Christmas and stuff, but if you bring up Ramadan, no one knows what that is.” So what exactly is Ramadan? Beginning on the ninth month of every Islamic year, Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, and sinful behavior to attain ‘Taqwa.’ Taqwa suggests guarding one’s self from evil to have civility and decency. Muslims fast to learn self control, acknowledge their blessings, and be aware that many people around the world live with these conditions everyday. “[Ramadan] is putting yourself in a place that actual people live in every day,” said CHS sophomore Betoul Ajin. “Actual people don’t have food. Actual people don’t have water, and because we live these privileged lives, it’s really cool to look back and say ‘Wow, look what

I’m doing for 30 days.’” In the three main monotheistic religions, fasting, or abstaining from food, is a reoccurring theme. In Christianity, there’s Lent; in Judaism, there’s Yom Kippur. But because of terrorist groups such as ISIS, Ramadan, like many Islamic traditions, is commonly demonized by the media. “Ramadan is celebrated with big bombs and warm guns,” wrote journalist Zev Chafets on Fox News. ISIS and Al Qaeda are terrorist groups that enforce violence during Ramadan, which conflicts with the Muslim belief that violence is completely dissonant with the holy month. “ISIL is not Islamic,” President Obama said in September 2014. “No religion condones the killing of innocents.” But even when their religion is criticized, Al-Zaiyadi and Ajin both still appreciate the holiday. “I like how close it brings you to your family, and I love being a part of it,” Al-Zaiyadi said. “How we all do it together just makes us closer and you learn more about your culture and I really appreciate that. I am very happy and blessed to be Muslim and have these types of

holidays that make me learn more about the world.” But Ramadan has its difficulties as well. “Because [Ramadan] goes down 11 days every year, you end [up] having to do it during school,”Ajin said. “It’s really hard to watch people eat, and you can’t. You also can’t drink water which kind of sucks,” Ajin said. Both teachers and coaches have been critical of the holiday for depriving students of nutrition throughout the day. “I feel like [students who participate in Ramadan] shouldn’t have to be forced into taking tests that are very important,” Al-Zaiyadi said. “Or forced into talking and anything like that because stuff like that requires some energy that they don’t have. But I think they should still go to school, but teachers should be understanding of that because it is tough going through a day without food or water in your system.” With Ramadan exactly a month away, Muslims everywhere are slowly preparing for “not even water?” questions, feasts every night, and spending time with family.

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FEATURE

A Grant for Grace

PHOT:O: SAHR YAZDANI

How two U of M students are helping girls adjust to adulthood—over 8,000 miles away.

BY PAIGE DUFF

wo University of Michigan students sat at a table outside. The first was Sahr Yazdani, a rising University of Michigan senior majoring in neuroscience and evolutionary anthropology. The second was Maddie Caughey, a rising U of M junior majoring in elementary education and math. They’re close friends, but it was a special cause that brought these two vastly different girls together to write a $10,000 grant. That special cause was Grace Girls’ Home: a home for girls and a care center for senior citizens located in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. “The home is literally on the other side of the world, but there’s such a strong

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Ann Arbor connection there,” Caughey said. Seeing as Grace’s president—Dr. Naresh Gunaratnam—is a gastroenterologist in Ann Arbor, the connection between the two isn’t surprising. Caughey and Yazdani had both been separately involved with the organization for years. “I’ve known the president of the home, Dr. Gunaratnam, for a really long time. He was the one who brought me home

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ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT: Dineka, Tharshi, and Amasha pose for a picture. This picture was taken by Sahr Yazdani while visiting

from the hospital when I was born,” Yazdani said. “I remember we were at the dinner table, and he said ‘I have this really cool opportunity if you’d be interested. There’s a girl named Jesi who really wants a friend to be able to talk to, and she has a lot of potential and wants to develop her English skills, so would you be an English tutor for her?’ I was like ‘Yeah, that sounds really cool.’” Conversational English is an asset for the girls to know, especially when it comes to finding jobs in Sri Lanka’s growing tourist industry. The original goal was for the girls to strengthen their ability to converse in English by learning from Ann Arbor kids. After talking,

FEATURE however, Yazdani found herself connecting with Jesi on a deeper level. “At first, I was like ‘OK, I’m just Skyping with a girl in Sri Lanka,’ but over the years it’s become so much more than that,” Yazdani said. “She’s one of my closest friends.” “I got involved, I think my freshman or sophomore year of high school,” Caughey said. “My mom worked at the hospital with Dr. Gunaratnam, and they went to a fundraiser, and my mom came home and was like ‘Maddie, this would be a great opportunity for you,’ because I’ve always been interested in education. I started Skyping with students from Ann Arbor, once a week every Saturday, and we worked on helping them with their conversational English, and then we got involved with some other projects.” Both Caughey and Yazdani continued to work with the home, and bond with the girls living there. “At this point, if we just stopped being involved with Grace, stopped talking to all the girls and emailing with them and Skyping them, it would feel like there was something wrong,” Caughey said. “Something missing.” During the summer of 2015, Caughey and Yazdani met for the first time. They were both travelling to Grace. “We literally met at the airport,” Yazdani said. “I offered you some of my chicken nuggets!” “I have so many great memories from being there,” Caughey said. While at Grace, Caughey and Yazdani bonded with the girls, and learned more about their lives and pasts. But it was thinking about the girls’ futures that inspired Caughey and Yazdani’s idea. “I was talking to Jesi,” Yazdani said. “I was like ‘What are you planning on doing after you leave the orphanage?’ and she started crying, and was like ‘Please, don’t ask me that, I can’t even think about life outside the orphanage.’ Then Maddie and I realized—we were like, ‘Ok, something needs to be done, these girls do not feel comfortable going out in society.’” “When we were leaving the orphanage on the last day of the trip, we were all on the bus, and we had this idea,” Caughey said. “We were talking, like ‘There needs to be something at Grace, or something established with a connection to Grace that will help the girls after they are too old for the orphanage.’” The girls came up with a two part plan. The first part? Establishing a transitional housing complex on the Grace property to acclimate the girls to independent life. “I guess our goal for that is the girls can learn the skills they need to be able to live independently, like cooking, cleaning,” Caughey said.

“How to maintain a household in general,” Yazdani chimed in. “And taking care of themselves,” Caughey said. “But they still have that love and support that is so constant at Grace itself. So, although it’s a separate building, and they’ll have their own apartments, they’ll be still supported by their Grace family.” The second part, known as Mēmpāṭṭu Tiṭṭattiṉ, or ‘The Empowerment Project,” is a little more complicated. “This aspect of the program is focusing much more on the psychology of the girls,” Yazdani said. “We want to improve their financial literacy–essentially, one of the requirements for the girls to live in this complex is that they have a job and are able to pay some rent–learning how to balance those budgets and everything, how to have a bank account, and how to be responsible with money. Marketplace proficiency, so they can go to the markets and understand what to buy and everything. Basic things that might not seem glamorous, but are extremely necessary in life.” Another important goal of the project? Teaching the girls critical societal engagement skills. “One of the really important things we have noticed, and is completely understandable for the girls at Grace, is that because a lot of them have not had that constant family structure, they want to raise families of their own,” Yazdani said. “The problem is, they haven’t had a lot of interaction with members of the opposite sex, if you will. We want to make sure they know what to look for in a husband. These girls have not grown up in a very standard setting, and because of their backgrounds, and the fact that they’ve gone through so much in their lives, whoever their life partner is is going to need to understand how to properly deal with that.” Yazdani went on to explain how the girls would be eligible to bring their husbands to live with them while in the transitional housing. “Their husbands will be able to see the love they have received throughout their time at Grace, and really understand their surroundings. We also want to make sure that whatever we are providing the resources for is in line with Trincomalee society, so there’s this one girl, Karthika, and she recently finished school and found a really really nice guy. We’re going to be having her wedding when we go to Grace this July. It’s awesome. So, we are going to have her be the one teaching the girls ‘Here are the really good characteristics to look for.” However, finding a husband is not the purpose of the program. “We want to put as much emphasis,

if not more, on their futures and future careers as we do on them finding a spouse,” Caughey said. “They can be independent and successful on their own, without feeling like they need to rely on someone else.” “Absolutely,” Yazdani said. “We want to make sure that the girls know that they are fully capable of engaging within Sri Lankan society and absolutely shining. They’re all such incredible women, who have the strongest souls you’ll ever meet. Just making sure that they know that, and that they can completely take control of their lives is something that we’re really excited to see.” Caughey and Yazdani believed in their idea. So much so, that they decided to go looking for funding. “We weren’t really sure how much exactly, or what grants we wanted to apply for,” Caughey said. They spoke to someone at the University who pointed them in the direction of the Davis Foundation. “We went to the Ginsberg Center at Michigan, and met with Dave Waterhouse, and when we were first talking about our project, he stopped us and was like ‘You know the dates have already passed for this year,’ because it was in like April/May of 2016,” said Caughey. “We were like ‘No, no, we understand– we mean for the next year.’” Caughey and Yazdani worked on the grant for over a year. “We went through every single word of that grant together,” Yazdani said. “When we were done with it, we were so happy, because it captured exactly what we both wanted.” The grant was passed down the line, and ended up getting approved by the foundation. Caughey and Yazdani were ecstatic. “Applying for a $10,000 grant, and having a project this big is not easy by any stretch of imagination,” Yazdani said. “One other thing we really want to highlight is how grateful we are to the Davis Foundation, and of course the University of Michigan, for believing in us, and all the help we received along the way.” Caughey and Yazdani are returning to Grace this June, and continue to work on completing their project. As for a message to the public? “Step out of your comfort zone, and dream big,” Yazdani said. “That’s what we did! I’m sitting here, and we came up with this idea on the back of a bus. It’s crazy.” Both Caughey and Yazdani encourage the public to donate to Grace Girls’ Home, which can be done through their website, gracegirlshome.org.

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FEATURE

PHOTO COURTESY: ASHWIN BELLE Real-4me processing of physiological waveforms to recognize pa<erns and provide input to machine learning systems.

From Smart Cars to Smart Care Doctors working at the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care are developing machine learning systems to aid doctors in their care of patients.

BY ABIGAIL GAIES

rtificial intelligence (AI), per the Oxford dictionary, is defined as “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” You may not realize it, but AI is a major part of everyday life for most people: online shopping, mobile apps, and home devices are all often powered by AI. There are many things that you may or may not realize use AI and machine learning systems: virtual personal assistants (Siri, Google Now, Cortana); video games; smart cars; purchase prediction (Amazon); fraud detection; customer support; news generation; security surveillance; music/movie recommendations; smart home devices (thermostat, oven); ridesharing apps (Uber, Lyft); autopilot on airplanes; email spam filters; plagiarism checkers; mobile check deposits; snapchat filters; facial recognition programs; voice-to-text programs. 26

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Researchers are actively looking for ways to apply AI and machine learning to medicine. Dr. Ashwin Belle, Ph.D., Research Investigator of Emergency Medicine at the University of Michigan (U-M), uses AI and machine learning systems to help doctors at U-M and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital (Mott) improve the quality of care they deliver to their patients. In medicine, people who work with creating AI do not just use the data as is—they create systems that process the data to extract important features from it, “features [that] are often hidden amongst large amounts of lost data that is collected from patients,” Belle said. The systems can then match the current patient to a previous patient with similar symptoms, diseases, and treatments. From here, doctors have an idea of what might happen to their patient next based on what has or has not worked in the past. “Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term, but that term also carries, unfortunately, negative connotation around

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it as well,” Belle said. “That’s perhaps because artificial intelligence seems like we’re replacing humans in many ways.” For example, millions of factory workers have lost their jobs to machines, which are quicker, faster, and cheaper than working humans. Looking at it quickly, AI doesn’t quite encapsulate what Belle is doing at U-M; it has to be looked at more as machine learning. MACHINE LEARNING

“At the moment, if you use the word machine learning, it’s all about teaching the computer to learn,” Belle said. Machine learning is a type of AI where a machine gets taught how to learn without being explicitly programmed. “You have different buckets of data,” Belle said. “Each bucket looks different. We’re trying to throw all of this, or maybe a subset of this, into the machine learning aspect, and asking machines to ABOVE: This photo consists of images of three different screens. They show real time processing of physiological waveforms to recognize patterns and provide input to machine learning systems.

FEATURE learn from it. In one way or another, it prove to organizations like the Food and not normalcy, in medicine,” Belle said. learns from it.” After it gets exposed to a Drug Administration (FDA) that new “But if you think of the human brain, large amount of data, any new data that medications and devices are safe for the which is the true intelligence, it’s not that gets added is automatically processed majority of people. Over the last decade, simplistic. We are a lot more complex; we because the computer has learned how the FDA has started to understand that can evaluate several different elements at to do this previously. It just changes and the use of AI is crucial to the develop- the same time to come up with one deciadapts to fit this new information in with ment of medicine and care for patients, sion or one opinion or perhaps multiple its understanding of the old information. and they’ve started to develop ways to opinions on the same subjects, so there’s “Machine learning can help physi- prove the same for AI. a fuzzy logic to the way the brain works.” cians, clinicians, and all kinds of caregiv“If you look at the history of med- In medicine, fuzzy logic must be used to ers provide the best treatment possible icine, even just modern medicine so to completely assess the problem at hand in the quickest manner no matter where speak, and the history of where our arti- and come up with the proper solution. they are,” Belle said. Even if it is out in ficial intelligence has been so far, it’s still If developers can give machine learning the battlefield, where there are limited in its baby phases,” Belle said. The end more fuzzy logic, as opposed to the simresources and people may be in disarray, goal of AI in medicine is to be like the plistic logic it currently has, computers physicians have to try and help everyone. brain. In this regard, AI is still in its na- will be much closer to resembling a huFor each person, they have to quickly as- scent stages. It has a long way to go be- man brain in the way they solve problems. sess the injury, figure out what resources fore it can actually become something “That’s where fuzzy logic perhaps will are available, and try to save the patient’s that strongly resembles the brain. help,” Belle said. “You need to build life. “This may be centuries away,” Belle said. more complex thinking into these ma“Medicine is all of our understand- “Perhaps we may never attain it because chines so they can make the right deciing of how the body works, and there’s the brain is so complex. But we are defi- sion, perhaps closest to what we would no end to the amount there is to un- nitely taking baby steps at the moment. have done in the same scenario. But this derstand,” Belle said. “Machine decision will be better because learning can get us there—at we make those decisions unleast partly there—in helping der stress and pressure, whereas “If you think about medicine, it’s in the us understand how to decipher computers don’t have those addwhat the human body does and ed factors.” In the scenario prolast decade that we really started how it malfunctions.” With the posed earlier, simplistic knowlthinking about data as a commodity, help of computers fit with maedge is not sufficient; you’d need chine learning AI, it will be much fuzzier logic to make the best deas something that we need to store, to easier to get a full understanding cision. While applying fuzzy logic value, to cherish, to learn from.” of the human body. to machine learning remains the “In all honesty, I think there goal, applications with simplistic are some surprises it brings us,” logic can still advance medicine, Belle said. Sometimes machine learning It’s a field that is growing and has poten- at least in this day and age. computers will point out a particular ele- tial to continue growing for the next few Imagine another example, this time in ment or factor that the doctors may nev- decades.” a medical scenario: an intern is trying to er have noticed before. “The computer The main difference at the moment be- perform a task, for example starting a points out that it’s likely this piece of in- tween AI and the brain is simplistic ver- central line. A senior resident or attendformation will be useful in the care of a sus fuzzy logic. ing may correct their technique, tell them patient.” to do it a different way. The intern usually SIMPLISTIC VERSUS FUZZY will trust their superior and change to doA BABY BRAIN Fuzzy logic is the ability to take several ing it the way they say. Artificial intelligence is a field that has factors and form an answer or solution “That’s because of the gestalt that their been used in the last 30 or 40 years. It to a problem based off of all these fac- superior has accumulated over years of was used to predict stocks and even fly tors put together. In contrast, simplistic experience and having seen numerous airplanes using autopilot long before it logic has two options: yes or no, more or similar cases,” Belle said. “Just having was ever used in medicine. Although AI less, black or white, for example. ‘been there and done that’ can lead to a and machine learning hold great promFor example, imagine a person driving fuzzy logic decision. In many cases, you ise to revolutionize the way medicine is in a self-driving car. In the middle of the don’t need to question that because you practiced, applications are still in the ear- road is a pole. They could swerve around know that person has done these things ly stages of development. the pole, but crossing the street from one before, so you go with it.” “Medicine has been reluctant to adopt side is an old woman, and from the othAn intern can completely trust a senior artificial intelligence so far, partly be- er a dog is running into the street. The resident or an attending physician because it’s lives at risk,” Belle said. “How car has four choices: it can save the driv- cause they’ve done this many times and could you justify a computer making a er by slamming on the brakes; swerve to have built a good foundation of fuzzy mistake to the family of an extremely the left, hitting the old woman; swerve to logic. The same would not be true if a ill patient?” A main reason that AI is so the right, hitting the dog; or keep going computer were to tell a senior resident new in medicine is that it’s hard to mea- and smash into the pole. This is not an or what to do. The resident or attending sure the quality of AI programs. easy decision to make for a human, let physician may question what the com“If you think of a new medication alone a car. puter is recommending due to the fact coming to market, it takes about a de“At the most fundamental level, ma- that our society doesn’t have complete cade sometimes because they do all chine learning is still trying to decipher, trust in computer software at this point kinds of clinical trials to prove that this for lack of a better phrase, between black in time. medicine truly helps a majority of the and white: simplistic differences between people, while some might suffer from objects, simplistic differences between BARRIERS TO SUCCESS side effects that will be there no mat- scenarios, and simplistic differences beThere are many barriers to successfully ter what,” Belle said. Trials are done to tween disease cases or normalcy versus applying AI in medicine, but three

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FEATURE main obstacles predominate: 1) proving a few more years down the line we’ll to make their decisions. that machine learning systems work well, have perhaps enough data where we can “I think being part of the University of 2) getting physicians to trust and adopt confidently claim that machine learning Michigan, which is a phenomenal school machine learning systems, and 3) getting is working to it’s best.” In the state of for both medicine and engineering, I get enough data to train the computer and Michigan alone there are several hun- to really be in the medley of two fields, prepare it for any form of any disease. dred community hospitals; the num- and I get to interact with both sides As previously mentioned, there is the ber of patients seen at U-M is far less very equally,” Belle said. Especially at issue of proving that these machine than they see. But so much data is lost MCIRCC, physicians are an intricate part learning systems are working well. To because community hospitals can’t col- of the design and development of their prove this, computers learn from histor- lect and store all of the data they receive products. Ultimately, these products will ical data and then try it on new patients from their large amounts of patients. be used by physicians, so Belle and his to see if what has been learned works. “If you think about medicine, it’s in the colleagues want to make sure that they “That makes sense logically,” Belle said. last decade that we really started thinking do not end up developing solutions that “But in the field of medicine, each pa- about data as a commodity, as something will not help. tient is different. You can learn from a that we need to store, to value, to cherFrom the get-go, physicians are worklot of different patients, but then when ish, to learn from,” Belle said. “Unfortu- ing hand-in-hand with the software deyou apply it to a single patient, the out- nately, even if they’d thought of this ear- velopers at MCIRCC to fully understand come might be slightly different than lier, there were no capabilities of doing the problem, find a solution, and design what you thought it would be because that.” If there was a way to collect data and develop that solution. Along the way, there are certain nuances, certain com- from every patient that went to a hos- they are constantly checking and correctplications with that patient ing the developers if they are that are different from what it doing it wrong. The physicians had learned previously.” “Machine learning can help physicians, clini- also act as beta testers and help The second main obstacle the final user interface cians, and all kinds of caregivers help provide design is creating physician trust in to make it feasible in a clinical these computer programs. environment. “So yeah, every the best treatment possible in the quickest “Convincing physicians that step of the way they’re there manner no matter where they are.” even though it’s a black box holding our hands,” Belle said. in nature, it’s doing well. And them trying to decipher the black box is pital for anything in the United States, THE FINAL FRONTIER one big issue,” Belle said. In this context, there would be the capability to learn The classic TV show Star Trek illustrata black box just means any process where much quicker. ed a concept of what medicine would be the contents and processes are mysterious Still, it won’t be easy. Especially for rare like in the future: the tricorder. It looks to the user. diseases where only a small percent of like a small, portable radio that gets held It is often in a physician’s nature to the population will ever come to a hos- up in front of a patient. It’s detachable want to fully understand everything they pital, getting enough data to teach com- “sensor probe” scans patients to collect are using. This is usually very good, and puters how to predict what will happen bodily information and diagnose diseases. can lead to being a better doctor. But next for someone with that disease will Belle thinks that though the future of sometimes they must work with things take a very long time. “In order to de- AI may not be a fancy tool like the trithat are very different from what they cipher and unearth patterns that we’ve corder, but “it still is something that we usually do, and for someone to under- never seen before within that data, we need to strive for,” Belle said. “If we can stand what is happening in this black need to wait for a great enough num- quickly diagnose problems, quickly figure box would require years of addition- ber of these cases to accumulate, get the out what the best solution is so that the al training. Even then, doctors like Belle quality data to accumulate for [a specific caregivers can do their appropriate thing cannot understand machine learning sys- disease],” Belle said. in a timely manner, I think that’s amaztems to their full magnitude. ing.” This trust concern leads to adoption is- COLLABORATING WITH Belle considers the “final frontier” of sues; physicians who are not convinced, PHYSICIANS medicine to be never falling sick, never getor who are skeptical in some ways, or The negative connotation related to ting injured, and even never aging. So while want to learn more about it, may not replacing jobs carries over to replacing AI and machine learning may not be the adopt it right away. “Even though it’s doctors as well. While it is commonly be- “final frontier” of medicine, Belle believes working—and working well—they lieved that AI and machine learning pro- that something like a tricorder is possible, might not start using it,” Belle said. grams are starting to take over the work which could greatly increase the quality of It’s harder to prove that it’s functioning of doctors in the hospital, this is false. care physicians provide for their patients. correctly if it doesn’t work the exact same The point of AI, when used in a hospital way for every single patient. The reason setting, is to aid physicians with their de- BELOW: A graphical user interface for providing for differentiation may not be the patient, cision-making process. Often times, the caregivers a continuous assessment of the patient clinical decision support. At U-M, there’s an AI it may be that the patient’s form of the decisions made in hospitals are critical for system for storing all of this continuous data flow. disease is slightly different from previous and time sensitive, and many ones, or that the machine learning system factors need to be considered just doesn’t have enough data to work the when making those decisions. same every time for every patient. The hope of the doctors working at the Michigan CenTHE MISSING PIECE ter for Integrative Research in “Machine learning as of today needs Critical Care (MCIRCC) is that to learn from huge amounts of data in their machine learning devices order to be accurate, and that data does can quickly grab and translate not exist,” Belle explained. “Right now, the necessary information to we have started collecting it, but I think make it easier for the doctors 28

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A graphical user interface for providing caregivers a con4nuous assessment of the pa4ent for clinical decision support.

FEATURE

The Michigan Daily creates new digital archives.

BY ISABEL ESPINOSA

eople from across the University of Michigan (U-M) gathered at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library on March 30, 2017 to celebrate the digitization of The Michigan Daily archives. Since January of 2014, members of the Bentley Historical Library (the Bentley) and the U-M Library Staff have worked to digitize roughly 316 volumes of The Daily dating back to 1890, including 200,000 editorials written by the staff. Many attending the event had worked on the digitization itself, while others were current and past employees at U-M. The first part of the celebration was a presentation that recognized most of the people who worked to digitize the archives. This presentation was followed by a dinner held at the Bentley on U-M’s North Campus. Among the large crowd of guests present were the members of the Board for Student Publication, employees of the Bentley, and members of the University Library System. They acted as just one piece of the large, complicated puzzle that was the digitization of the archives. This project would not have been possible without a generous donation on behalf of The Kemp Family Foundation. John Kemp spoke about why he felt it was important for his family to help out the university. “I really appreciate the opportunity to play a small role in this with the rest of the members of my family,” Kemp said. “When you think of this night, I don’t want you to think of the Kemp family or whatever we’ve done. I want you to remember this night for the discussion we had about the greatness of this university. I want you to think about the 125 years of excellence in journalism. Finally, I want you to think of all the creativity, energy, and effectiveness of the people who have preserved The Michigan Daily, and the wealth of information that is in it.” Emma Kinery was one of the many students and staff members present. She joined the staff of The Daily during her freshman year at U-M in 2014 on a whim, because it looked fun. Currently a junior at U-M and the editor-in-chief of The Daily, Kinery feels that the staff is able to express the pulse on campus to the entire world. Recently, The Daily

added an online database that is helping to spread news to the rest of the world. Kinery feels that it is important that people are able to communicate with others, and The Daily helps her to do so. “I think that [journalism] has really allowed me to pursue my passions,” Kinery said. “I was a political reporter before I became Editor-in-Chief, and I was able to travel the country and meet all of the presidential candidates and really report on how national issues were affecting us on the campus level. I think that it’s overwhelming, the amount of opportunities that The Daily gives you, which you could not get anywhere else.” The Daily is able to cover most major music festivals, the Cannes Film Festival, and every major sport at U-M. Kinery feels that it is remarkable that the staff of The Daily is able to cover all of these events and still be students. Kinery majors in History and English, since U-M doesn’t have any journalism majors. In addition to her classes, she works five days a week from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. “None of this would’ve been worth doing without the long and distinguished history of The Michigan Daily itself,” said Terry McDonald, Director of the Bentley who acted as the moderator for the presentation portion of the night. “It is important to remind ourselves that The Michigan Daily’s editorial independence, daily publication schedule, and journalistic ambition has made it one of the truly great—if not the greatest— student newspapers in American history. This has, in part, been maintained by the hard work of the student staff of the newspaper, but also the long term commitment of the board for student publication that has been around for more than 100 years and has helped bring student run organizations to life.” Mark Schlissel, U-M’s current president, worked on his high school’s newspaper as a student reporter. Due to his history with journalism, he considers the establishment of the digital archives an extraordinary and important accomplishment. “I’m proud that we’re making information about the great history of our university more accessible now and forever more,” Schlissel said. Schlissel feels that the digital archives will make the jobs of current journalists

easier. “[Now they are] informed by the tremendous context that comes with the Daily’s more than 125 years of editorial freedom,” Schlissel said. The new archives provide a tool that help others to learn about the history of U-M. They help to inform about the students, the faculty, and the staff who have helped shape U-M into the university that it is today. According to Schlissel, the digital archives represent an important milestone in the history of University of Michigan’s student journalism. “They’ve helped us to demonstrate that the finest universities are a dauntless laboratory of ideas,” Schlissel said. “They provide a testing ground for diverse concepts and teach us to evaluate different perspectives. They raise and debate issues that are important to society and they document the best and the worst of human life. Now, thanks to the commitment of members of our community and the work of its journalists, it is available for all to see.” McDonald, along with everyone attending the event, feels that the digital archives are a wonderful edition to U-M. “A great university has to have a great history,” McDonald said. “A great university has to know that great history, and a great university has to work hard to get its great history out to others. It’s not enough to have a great history that’s relatively known to your own community if the rest of the world doesn’t know about it.” These new digital archives of The Michigan Daily are a way for people from around the world to learn more about the great history of the University of Michigan. Hundreds of students in 25 courses being taught as part of the university’s bicentennial celebration are using the new archives constantly and have discovered more about many topics in the university than had been known before. “This was an extensive project that is going to give back to U-M for years to come,” McDonald said. Want to view the digital archives? Visit them at https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/midaily.

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FEATURE

Gubernatorial /ˌɡo͞obərnəˈtôrēəl/

The presidential election may be over, but the gubernatorial races have just began... BY MIRA SIMONTON-CHAO

The first hundred days of Donald Trump’s residency in the White House have finally come to a close as April 29 has come and past. But while Trump’s first few months in office—following his campaign and electoral win against opponent Hillary Clinton—have been filled with golf and executive orders, politicians across the country have just began preparing their own campaigns. Little more than a year from now, voters will once again find themselves at the voting booths for the 2018 gubernatorial elections, which will take place in 20 states across the nation. Going into the elections with a Republican-dominated White House, Senate, and Supreme Court, the results of the upcoming race will play a huge role in the balance of the U.S. government: either shifting power back to the Democrats or further establishing the U.S. as a conservative dominated country. With both a Republican-controlled Senate and Republican governor, Mich-

Attorney General Bill Schuette

igan has seen tremendous cuts in business taxes, education funding, and business regulation in the past few years. A Republican win in this upcoming election will cement the longest streak of Republican governors Michigan has seen since 1933. Gretchen Whitmer, one of the first to declare in Michigan to replace term-limited incumbent Rick Snyder, has had a strong start to her campaign while other highly anticipated Democratic candidates are yet to declare they are running. Picking up a high profile endorsement from Emily’s List—an organization supporting pro-choice Democratic women running for office—Whitmer is currently the only female candidate in Michigan, and if elected, would become Michigan’s second female governor following fellow Democrat Jennifer Granholm. On the Republican side, the most notable of currently declared candidates can be surmised to Jim Hines, as Attorney General Bill Schuette and Lt. Gov. Brian

Kentiel White

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel

Jim Hines Dwain Reynolds Independent, Green, etc. Democrat Declared Democrat Potential Republican Declared Republican potential

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Calley are yet to declare, although both are highly expected to. Schuette and Calley, both prominent Michigan politicians, have worked under the administration of Governor Snyder for the last eight years, although Schuette and Snyder have had contrasting views on numerous issues through the years. Schuette, a staunch Trump supporter in retrospect, has praised policies such as Trump’s immigration ban as well as the newly-elected head of the Department of Education– Betsy DeVos. When asked of his intentions to run in the upcoming gubernatorial race at a press conference in January, Schuette replied simply that he intended to be “part of the conversation”— a very ambiguous answer considering the race is already heating up with more declarations expected from both sides in upcoming months.

Todd Schleiger

William Cobbs

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee

Ingham County Prosecutor Gretchen Whitmer

Health Officer and Executive Director Abdul El-Sayed

FEATURE

Know Your Candidates Gretchen Whitmer

Jim Hines

Former Minority Leader for the Michigan Senate, Whitmer is a Democratic party member and Michigan local who grew up in the East Lansing, Michigan area and received her law degree from Michigan State University. Following five years in the Michigan House of Representatives, Whitmer became a member of the Michigan Senate from 2006 to 2015. Whitmer then went on to act as Interim County Prosecutor in Ingham county. Her time there came to an end on Jan. 1, 2017.

A member of the Republican party, Hines coins himself as “not a politician,” but as a medical missionary doctor. In the past, he has run mission hospitals, as well as urgent care facilities in the Central African Republic. He is currently the owner of a thriving medical practice and the national president of the Christian Medical and Dental Association.

Fighting both homophobic and Pro-Life legislation during her time in the Michigan Senate, Whitmer is a self-proclaimed fighter, saying that she is “no stranger to fights.” Running on a platform to fight and protect, Whitmer has main goals of protecting worker’s rights, eliminating discriminatory legislation, and supporting small business – all while increasing the number of jobs in Michigan.

Some of Hines’ top priorities, if elected Governor of Michigan, include reducing taxes, claiming that the raising of taxes in Michigan is “hindering Michigan recovery,” and protecting the Great Lakes from things such as invasive species, sewer overflows, and the possibility of oil spills. He also wants to put a larger focus on the maintenance of Michigan roads. Hines is the proud husband and father of seven sons and considers his core value to be “family first.”

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OPINION

Pocket Points at Community: productive or pathetic?

BY GINA LIU

“I’m in second place!” sophomore Betoul Ajin said. “I’m winning!” While it is no track meet or awards ceremony, the app Pocket Points is just as competitive a game for Community students like Ajin. Pocket Points is an app that rewards students for turning their phones off. The more time the student is off their phone, the more points they earn. Points earned from the app can be redeemed as discounts and free gifts at local businesses and stores like Insomnia Cookie, as well as online stores like Lulus. Students can only earn points if they are on campus from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. The app and its rewards has spread across 200 cities in the United States, as well as Canada. The initial idea for Pocket Points began in Chico State University in California. “We thought to ourselves...What would incentivize students to stay off their phones more than free food?” stated on the Pocket Points website. “By partner32

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ing with local businesses who were willing to offer discounts through the app, Pocket Points was born.” Business owners and students can apply for their stores and schools to be on the app. Other high schools like Pioneer and colleges like University of Mich. beat Community to getting an official Pocket Points location. “Because I dual at Pioneer, my friends [at Pioneer] were using it, and my friends at MSU and Michigan were using it,” CHS senior Lydia Jones said. “I downloaded it, and there wasn’t Community on it, so I could only use it half the day.” Unsatisfied with the minimal points that she was earning only at Pioneer, Jones went through the process of getting a high school on Pocket Points. She emailed the address given on the website on March 28, and on April 6, Dave Panzer, the Director of High Schools for Pocket Points, responded that it was possible under one condition: Jones would have to spread the word about Pocket Points around the school.

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Jones agreed, and Community was officially registered with Pocket Points on April 7. Only two weeks after Jones finalized Pocket Points at Community, 91 CHS students were active and using the app. However, some CHS teachers like Christia West argue that Pocket Points is exploitive of the minors who download it, using their location and data, as well as forcing students to stow away their technology instead of teaching them how to use it correctly. “There are legitimate uses for phones in the classroom, such as using it for a calculator, using your calendar to put assignments.” West said. Even with the downsides, the Pocket Points storm doesn’t seem to be stopping, as there are Community students downloading the app and earning points every day. “I guess the only downside is that people will be talking about it all the time in class,” Ajin said. “And that’s all they’ll be talking about.”

OPINION

“The v olence that exists in the human heart is also manifest in the symptoms of illness that we see in the Earth, the water, the air, and in living things.” - Pope Francis

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OPINION

The American Climate Change Debate University of Michigan Professor Andrew Hoffman discusses the social psychology behind the climate change debate. BY SAM CIESIELSKI

Ninety-seven percent of scientific papers published between 1991 and 2012 on climate change and upwards of 200 scientific agencies including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science are in consensus that climate change is real and predominantly human-caused. But to advance policy initiatives, the climate change debate must shift from just a scientific consensus to a social consensus. Recent data published by researchers at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication uses opinion maps of 17 different questions to delineate American beliefs and opinions towards climate change topics. The questions are divided into four categories: beliefs, risk perceptions, policy support, and behaviors. The data shows that 71 percent of Americans somewhat or strongly trust climate scientists about global warming. However, only 49 percent of Americans believe that most climate scientists think global warming is happening. If there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is an imminent threat caused by human activity, how can so many Americans trust climate scientists while oblivious to scientific findings? Andrew Hoffman is the Holcim Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment, and serves as the Education Director of Graham Sustainability Institute. His research focuses on how businesses adhere to implications of climate change. Hoffman published his book “How Culture Shapes The Climate Change Debate” in 2015. The book, just 110 pages long, is a part of a series called “Stanford Briefs” published by the Stanford University Press. Hoffman’s book sets out to explain why, with such overwhelming evidence that climate change is a pressing issue, we are so polarized in our views about climate change. “I think that academics need to do more in terms of making their work accessible to the general public,” Hoffman said. “We should do rigorous work, but 34

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there are no incentives for bringing all of the work together and saying ‘What does it tell us?’” Hoffman begins the book

discussing his fear of over-specialization among academic work. “The more something becomes cemented the harder it is to undo,” Hoffman said. “Once someone takes a really hard stance, you’ve got a problem because it’s very hard for them to shift.” Hoffman suggests that someone’s stance on climate change is usually a result of their deeper-rooted moral values—or “tribal” values, as Hoffman uses in his book—that that person holds. “If you listen to NPR or if you listen to Fox News you get a different diet,” Hoffman said. “People are able to see events and issues in completely different ways.” For example, if someone typically gets their information from notoriously liberal news sources and politicians like Bill Mahr or Al Gore, they will likely develop a biased view towards new issues that they encounter; they will develop a partisan lense. In other words, our environments corrupt our ability to analyze issues objectively. “Others are members of multiple

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tribes,” Hoffman said. “People can say the scientific review process is corrupt and I’m going to trust Rush Limbaugh on this one. But if they get [ill], they’re going to turn to the National Institute of Health and to a doctor; they’re not going to go to Rush Limbaugh.” Al Gore is a prime example of our cultural lenses in action and is referred to often in Hoffman’s book. Gore’s 2006 documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” follows Gore’s campaign to further educate the country about climate change. Directed by Davis Guggenheim, the film grossed $24 million at the US box office and won two Academy Awards. “An Inconvenient Truth really did present the issue in an accessible form in a medium that was engaging and it made people aware of it,” Hoffman said. “The climate change issue, in their eyes, got tied to him. Anyone who steps in the debate gets attacked; he just became a really convenient lightning rod for those who oppose the science.” The just-world hypothesis is the idea in psychology that people rationalize the level of danger and lack of justice in the world around us. Hoffman uses the justworld theory in “How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate” as another reason for why people reject the consequences of climate change. “You think that the world you see today is the world you’re going to see tomorrow,” Hoffman said. “When people put forward these doomsday scenarios—”The Day after Tomorrow” shows Manhattan underwater and glaciers floating down Madison Avenue—people just roll their eyes and that it’s nonsense. It’s very hard for us to conceptualize that because we actually think the world is a nice place.” Serious policy initiative would require EPA taxes or limitations on greenhouse gasses. “It calls for a carbon price which is a pretty intrusive government policy that would harm some and help others,” Hoffman said. “Some people see that as the government tampering in the market; choosing the winners and losers.” The Tragedy of Commons is a famous paper written by Garrett Hardin—a 20th-century American philosopher and ecologist—that addresses the overpopulation crisis. Hardin suggests that, to

OPINION solve the tragedy of commons, society economic efficiency of fossil fuels, it be- people fundamentally reject construcmust undergo a fundamental change in comes a logical economic decision to in- tive conversation methods when a conmorality. Hoffman believes that a simi- vest in alternative energy as opposed to versation presents itself because climate lar cultural shift is necessary for climate fossil fuels. Of course, people already in- change has become an emotional issue. change to go from a scientific consensus vested in the fossil fuel industry will op“Try to understand where people are to a social consensus. pose change regardless. coming from,” Hoffman said. “A lot of “I think at the root of it this is a cultural According to the Yale Program of Cli- people are out there to win, not to win question which inhearts and minds. herently becomes If you do what a moral quesmany people do tion,” Hoffman when they’re faced “If we developed tomorrow a source of energy that said. “It’s whethwith this scenaremitted no CO2 and is extremely cheap, people would er the morals lead io, start to whip the change or the out their powerbelieve in climate change in a second.” change leads the point deck and morals. If we destart to throw sciveloped tomorrow ence and data at a source of enerthe other person, gy that emitted no CO2 and is extreme- mate Change Communication research, well they’ve seen the science and data ally cheap, people would believe in climate only 33 percent of American adults say ready; they’re just seeing is in a different change in a second because it wouldn’t they discuss global warming at least occa- light. You can start to work at it but all change anything.” sionally. Constructive conversation is in- the while make sure that that person has The threshold for an economic shift dispensable to advance the social accep- a safe way out because if their back is in the energy industry occurring is the tance of climate change, yet the research up against the wall they’re not going to economic efficiency of fossil fuels. Once suggests that we are hardly discussing back down.” alternative energy sources achieve the the issue at all. Hoffman suggests that

Notable U.S. Scientific Orgaizations In Consensus About Climate Change American Association for the Advancement of Science

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

US National Academy of Sciences

American Physical Society

American Chemical Society “Comprehensive scientific assessments of our current and potential future climates clearly indicate that climate change is real, largely attributable to emissions from human activities, and potentially a very serious problem.”

American Medical Association “Our AMA... supports the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s fourth assessment report and concurs with the scientific consensus that the Earth is undergoing adverse global climate change and that anthropogenic contributions are significant.”

“The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society.”

“The evidence is incontrovertible: Global warming is occurring. If no mitigating actions are taken, significant disruptions in the Earth’s physical and ecological systems, social systems, security and human health are likely to occur. We must reduce emissions of greenhouse gases beginning now.” US Global Change Research Program “Observations show that warming of the climate is unequivocal. The global warming observed over the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. These emissions come mainly from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), with important contributions from the clearing of forests, agricultural practices, and other activities.” American Quaternary Association “Few credible Scientists now doubt that humans have influenced the documented rise of global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution,” citing “the growing body of evidence that warming of the atmosphere, especially over the past 50 years, is directly impacted by human activity.”

“The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century... There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.”

American Geophysical Union

“Human induced climate change requires urgent action. Humanity is the major influence on the global climate change observed over the past 50 years. Rapid societal responses can significantly lessen negative outcomes.” United States National Research Council “The IPCC’s conclusion that most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations accurately reflects the current thinking of the scientific community on this issue.” National Assoc. of Geoscience Teachers “NAGT strongly supports and will work to promote education in the science of climate change, the causes and effects of current global warming, and the immediate need for policies and actions that reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.”

“The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify taking steps to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”

American Meteorological Society “It is clear from extensive scientific evidence that the dominant cause of the rapid change in climate of the past half century is human-induced increases in the amount of atmospheric greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), chlorofluorocarbons, methane, and nitrous oxide.”

The Geological Society of America

“The Geological Society of America (GSA) concurs with assessments by the National Academies of Science (2005), the National Research Council (2006), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) that global climate has warmed and that human activities (mainly greenhousegas emissions) account for most of the warming since the middle 1900s.” may

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Homeless not Hopeless

PHOTO: ALEC REDDING

LaShawn Courtright, a Groundcover vendor, shares her story along a rocky road and how she got back on the right path. BY CLAIRE MIDDLETON, SOPHIA ROSEWARNE, AND BELLA YERKES 36

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FEATURE

n Ms. Mullen’s ninth ployer that day. ing released from prison, Courthole at The CounThat was not the only time wright went to see a psychiatrist try Club of De- Courtwright was sexually assault- by recommendations from a troit, she landed the ed. She was molested and abused close friend. golf ball in a sand trap. A young by family members on several ocCourtwright grew up loving woman named LaShawn Court- casions as well as other men she to write and still does. “I like wright was her caddy for the day. trusted and felt close to. She re- to write about things that chalThough caddies at the Country members being raped with two lenge me and make me think outClub of Detroit in Grosse Pointe guns to her head and in front side the box,” Courtwright said. Farms, Mich. were not supposed of a group of people. “Some- She wrote a poem called “Who’s to talk to the golfers, Courtwright times it’s hard to remember that Plea Bargain No Deal” about the decided to anyway. “You can do stuff because your mind sort of criminal justice system. “I’m disit! You can do it Ms. Mullen,” she does what it wants to do with it,” appointed with how the criminal said. Ms. Mullen was able to hit Courtwright said. Her traumat- justice system works and how the ball out of the sand trap and ic experiences also left her with people have to, when they don’t right into the hole, jumping joy- PTSD. have a lot of resources to pay ously off the ground in celebraAt 13, Courtwright was thrown for a paid attorney, end up taktion. Courtwright described this out for staying out late at a par- ing pleas for stuff that you didn’t moment as “one of the greatest ty and returning home after her do,” Courtwright said. highlights of golfing.” curfew that her mother had givCurrently, as Courtwright is Courtwright grew up in De- en her. She knocked on her door working on publishing her first troit. She was an avid member and her mother was outraged. poetry book, she is also workof church, did well in school, “B***h, I don’t know where you ing to meet financial challenges. and participated “I like my poetry in extra curricuto reflect my exlars. Courtwright periences,” Courttalks highly of wright said. “I her achievewrite about things ments in her because I want to youth. “During “I write about things because I want to be able to be able to use my my elementause my experience to help somebody else, that experience to help ry years, I would else, maybe they don’t have to fall into some of the somebody receive handthat maybe they writing awards don’t have to fall pitfalls that I fell into.” and penmanship into some of the awards,” Courtpitfalls that I fell wright said. “I into.” One of her used to score favorite poems very high in she wrote is called, comprehension. When we took been, but you go back where you “Homeless not Hopeless.” the Michigan Equivalency Apti- been,” her mother said. CourtCourtwright also still attends tude Proficiency Exams, I was in wright had been at a party with church, though she hasn’t been about fourth grade, and I would two girls from her neighborhood, recently. She found a church in score eleventh grade comprehen- both of whom were 15 and had Ann Arbor that she likes. Church sion.” She was also on the swim already had one and two kids re- has taken a large part in Courtteam and trained to be a life- spectively. Courtwright, who had wright’s life. She was the junior guard. lived a sheltered childhood, had choir assistant at her church At school, especially in middle never seen a party like this: peo- during her youth, which she school, Courtwright was bullied. ple were smoking marijuana and went to with her “Great AunShe would have to run to the cigarettes, drinking, and dancing tie.” “[Church] teaches me how bus and to her locker to avoid sensually. At the party, Court- to forgive people,” Courtwright the tormenting. “I talked to my wright did nothing illegal; she said. “I don’t have to like them, grandma often and she told me was just intrigued and lost track but it taught me how to forgive, it sometimes people only do what of time. After being thrown out, gave me a lot of strength through they know to do to, so sometime Courtwright did not know what bad times. It teaches me to be maybe people don’t know any to do or where to go. The mini- spiritually grounded.” better than some of the things mal help she received as a youth For her future, Courtwright they do,” Courtwright said. left her with a tainted view of so- hopes to become a renowned When Courtwright was 14, she cial workers. writer, take a business math began seeking work. After receivCourtwright now also suffers class, and work with adolesing an offer from the owner of from anxiety, depression, an un- cents. Courtwright has worked at a local bar to begin cleaning his specified mood disorder, and Washtenaw Literacy to improve space, she accepted with no hes- cluster B personality traits. Pre- her math skills, and wants to start itation. But when she arrived for viously unaware of her disorders, again. She believes her experiencher first day of work, she didn’t Courtwright began to self-medi- es as a youth would help her work start with a broom in her hand, cate with alcohol, which she be- with adolescents who’ve had simbut rather with a knife at her lieves contributed to her legal is- ilar and traumatic experiences. throat. sues when she found herself in She was raped by her new em- prison around age 30. After bemay

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Missy* was sitting in her 7th grade math class, glancing discreetly at another girl. She did not pay attention to the teacher; she did not pay attention to the lesson; she paid attention to her graphing calculator, where she began to type, “I AM A LESBIAN AND I HAVE A CRUSH ON HAILEY,” the name of the girl at whom she was staring. She typed it again, then again. This was the first time Missy had admitted to herself that she was a lesbian. Soon after, Missy started dating a boy. She started dating a boy because she was in denial; she started dating a boy because what she had confessed in her calculator that day could get her family deported; because getting deported was a best-case scenario. Missy’s family moved from Texas to Saudi Arabia in Feb. 2014 for her father’s work. At first, Missy—who was heading into 6th grade—was devastated. To leave her familiar school, town, and country would force Missy to start a new life. Stories and stereotypes about Saudi Arabian culture was not helping either. “I personally had heard horror stories of ‘Oh, women are beaten on the streets,’ which, for the most part, wasn’t true,” Missy said. “I also admittedly was kind of racist back then. I would see a woman in a hijab in the grocery store and like my first reaction would be kind of fear. Now it’s excitement.” That excitement, in large part, derived from the education and experience she received at the international school she attended. This was in an Americanized compound to which her family ended up moving. In many ways the compound sheltered Missy from the harsher realities of Saudi law, such as the fact that women were permitted to drive inside the compound, whereas outside they were not. The international school’s student body was made up of about 40 different nationalities. She estimated that, of her closest friends in the Saudi school, about half of them were Muslim. Ironically, Missy found that moving to a country she thought would be so oppressive ended up opening her “mind and heart” to other people, cultures, and customs. But that did not change the fact that Missy was living under a government that has been known

to fine, torture, or execute LGBT+ people living in the country. In recent months, political leaders have been working on legislating the internet more strictly since they have started to believe that it increases the homosexuality of its users. For Missy, the homophobic government and their policing of Saudi internet was particularly concerning because, as she began to realize she was a lesbian during her years living in Saudi, the internet was the only place she felt that she could find a community of like-minded people she could discuss her sexuality with. So she began a routine; almost every day after school, she would use a VPN (virtual private network, a way of connecting to a remote network, often used for anonymity by hiding the user and their activity) that routed to New York City rather than Saudi Arabia. The reason for this change was a simple one: censorship. “We didn’t want to have to deal with the censored stuff in Saudi,” Missy said. “Saudi has this weird limit, instead of building more infrastructure to allow more people to use the internet, they limited the usage of the internet. There’s [an] amount, like X amount of data per week, so my family had like four internet routers. And only one of them routed to New York, so when [we] ran out of data [on that one], I just avoided all the dangerous things.” “Dangerous things” meant websites that offered “sexuality advice,” blogs, and message boards of people in similar positions; it meant social media, on which Missy would express herself, and online games that Missy would play with friends. Visiting any of these websites made Missy anxious every time, and for a good cause: she was risking her and her family’s security. Should the Saudi government see some of what she was searching, any number of them could get deported. The punishment for an official Saudi citizen would have been even worse. But seeking blogs and message boards were critical in her path to coming out, and it was not as simple as typing her sexual orientation into a calculator. And—as mentioned earlier—the path included a boy.

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FEATURE

“He made me uncomfortable,” Missy said, referring to her boyfriend from seventh grade. “[He made me uncomfortable] whenever he even put his hand on my shoulder. My female friends did that all the time and I was fine with that, but him putting his hand on my shoulder or flirting with me, using cheesy pickup lines, it just made me really uncomfortable. And all the guys talked about the guy as being really cute and I guess I [could] see it. He was mildly attractive I suppose, not ugly. It was just the fact that I was repulsed by him, because I’m very gay.” So with the thought of a boy on the backburner of her brain, she turned to the internet, where, appropriately enough, she first publicly admitted she was gay. Deep inside of an internet chatroom, where Missy was a moderator at the time, she hesitantly came out with a quick keystroke, announcing to the world that she was a lesbian. “There were some people [who said] ‘Oh that’s cool’, some people who were like ‘hey have you dated any girls?’” Missy said. “I had some younger friends on the server that weren’t staff and I remember one of them was like ‘oh my gosh you’re a tomboy,’ as if that’s equivalent with a lesbian.” “It was probably the craziest night of my life,” Missy admitted. “Everyone kind of just flipped out. It felt like I wasn’t there, floating [and] watching myself do that.” That was what got the ball rolling. A few months later, Missy came out to a few of her friends while on a trip to Amsterdam. Not long after that, she turned to her sister, who had come out as bisexual to their parents shortly beforehand. While her sister accepted Missy immediately, she knew her parents would not be as welcoming to her news. Both were “conservative,” her father more than her mother. But during the summer of 2016, on a trip in America, as Missy and her mother drove from her grandparent’s house to the boarding school she now attends in Ohio, Missy worked up the courage to tell her mom, who she knew from past interaction believed “same sex love is a sin.” This was an opinion that her mother credited with the religious beliefs with which she had been raised. While her mother did tell

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her that she supported Missy when she came out, she also attempted to convince her that she might still fall in love with a man. “I was glad that she didn’t react terribly, but I was just wanted her to take me seriously,” Missy said. “She [told me] that it was a phase.” To this day, Missy has still not told her father; she is worried about how he will react, as well as what her being actively “out” might mean for her family’s safety in Saudi. That concern, however, is present either way. It is a consequence she faces for being openly out in several internet communities. Missy worries about what the Saudi government will do if they research her when she attempts to re-enter the country this summer. And it is for exactly this reason she goes by Missy. It has been her nickname since a young age and she can’t even remember how it originally started, but when she starting searching for an internet pseudonym, it was the natural choice. Having now been attending the Ohio boarding school for almost a year, Missy has finally started to find a community at school where she can openly be who she is. She has come a long way, having started the school year referring to her now ex-girlfriend with gender neutral pronouns. Appropriately, she had met this girl on the internet. Missy has come out to her roommate and most of her friends. She has even joined her school’s Gay-Straight Alliance club. Still, the fact that she has a place to be out in her daily life does not take away from her internet safeplace. In fact, since returning to America, Missy admits she’s used the internet even more than before. “Honestly, other than interacting with these people on a daily basis, being in classes with them and such, I don’t actually feel that it’s all that different,” Missy said. “I’ve always sort of treasured internet relationships at the same level as real life relationships. “I would go home in Saudi, and I did have friends in Saudi, a couple, but I would go home and not really go out. [Internet friends] really gave me actual friends. It’s a very nice experience.”

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FEATURE

A Burning Pursuit of Love

PHOTO: MEGAN SYER

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Veteran James Ross defines the courage and fear that comes with following your heart.

BY ALEC REDDING

cold night outside an exu- Beach, Virginia, before coming to Ann packs of cigarettes in two days. Despite berant Buffalo Wild Wings Arbor, Michigan. He quickly got a job at how much she was burning through, reflects a calm silhouette off the Rendez-Vous Cafe on South Univer- James still graciously bought her anoththe restaurant’s black glass. sity. James worked there until 2005 when er carton. The silhouette reveals a friendly man he decided he wanted a change. James and Violet kept talking throughwearing John Lennon glasses, holding a “I literally said ‘f*** this I’m going out his time at Eastern. He later on got plastic cup, while selling colorful woven to join the Marine Corps,’” James said. a job at General Motors in Detroit. But hats. His name is James Ross. “So I did that, went to the recruiter, told during the summer of 2015, he was takJames is 33 years old and from Dear- him, ‘I want to be a Marine.’ Save your en by a surprise when his job came to born, Michigan. After growing up in bulls*** for the people that don’t want to an end. During that time he had just fiDearborn, he moved to Canton, Mich- join the military, for those types of peo- nanced a car that he could not pay withigan. ple. I already know that I’m going to do out an income. James was also already a He then spent a summer in Long Beach this, so you can help me have the best ex- month behind on his rent. Shortly after Island, New Jersey. perience, because I want to do it right.” his unemployment, he no longer could “It was 78th Street right on the beach, James stayed in the Marines for four support himself. night time,” James said. “You could hear years and ended as a sergeant working as “I wasn’t ready for it,” James said. “It the surf ’s booming in the background. a Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction Liaison just threw me through a whirlwind, and And it was my last night out there. In Officer. His primary focus was interna- then one day it was just official. I was about a couple of weeks I was probably tional law and dealt with treaties between without a place to sleep.” going to be starting classes at Oakland the U.S government and the Japanese James quickly realized that Ann Arbor University as a freshman.” During his government. had a good reputation with the unemtime on the beach he met a girl named After the Marines, he started studying ployed. He came back to Ann Arbor and Violet. at Eastern Michigan University in 2009 started sleeping on the porch of First “That’s the most beautiful woman I and majored in film and minored in phi- United Methodist Church on Washinghave ever seen in my life,” James said. losophy. He had a incredible professor ton Street. As cold winters went by, he “Why am I not trying to do something named Dr. Aldrich who heavily influ- made an effort to stay with friends and about this? I had only a few hours left on enced James’ writing. Aldrich was quick- acquaintances. James contributed the this island. I may never see her again for- ly acquainted with his flaws but also en- scarce amount of money he received on ever! And I’m going to regret it if I don’t visioned his potential in writing. the streets to his roommates while exkeep her in my life. I knew that in like During his time at Eastern he got a pressing his gratitude. a millisecond. “I’d really love to have I woke up for my own place again,” the first time in he said. “I’d love to my life. I was on the other side “I wasn’t ready for it. It just threw me through a whirlwind, and be awake. I was of that, where I could aware. I was then help others. I tried then one day it was official. I was without a place to sleep.” like,“Damn. to do that when Violet Wow.” I can’t called for help. I tried make mistakes to give her all the help I with this. And people ask me well did spontaneous text from the love of his could.” James is currently staying with a you hook up with her? And that’s not life. friend in a two-bedroom apartment and what it’s about, that’s irrelevant. There’s “One night in Violet’s time of crisis, often comes to downtown Ann Arbor. more than that to life. ” James and Vi- I got a message from her.” James said. “All these people out here, we are on olet exchanged emails and attempted to “And it’s basically like, ‘Hey I feel weird the streets for one reason or another.” stay in touch. She was going to study at asking, but something tells me you’re the James said. “I probably got the story that Temple University in Philadelphia, Penn- only person that can help me. Call me makes me look like the biggest Chewsylvania, while James was going to study ASAP.’ And I am elated, because I’m go- bacca because essentially I gave away my at Oakland University. The distance being to hear a voice for the first time in 10 wealth to somebody who wasn’t even tween them didn’t make it easier, and years. I can’t get to a phone fast enough geographically near me.” unfortunately communication between so I call and I talk to her really quickly. Despite the circumstances James deals them fizzled out. And I’m like, ‘What can I do to help you, with, he still has no regrets with what he “I don’t know how many relationships if I can help you?’ She told me she need- had given Violet. I didn’t get involved in because that girl ed me to send some money. So I sent her James tries to talk to her and occasionally had my heart,” James said. “Like wow, some money. Then sent her some mon- gets a positive response from her. James what kind of college experience should ey again. Pretty much I did that everyday believes she’s also trying to survive in start off like that? That’s life, but you for five years and then I just ran out. So this world, but at the same time wishes know, everyone else is going to parties, things started getting stressful.” him well. getting drunk, getting laid, and they’re Shortly after, James visited Violet in “It’s like writing this epic love letter on just having a good time. Meanwhile I’m Philadelphia for 10 days. When he got a piece of paper, and rolling it up, and like punching walls because I’m just so there he bought her a carton of ciga- shoving it into a glass bottle and then upset at my life.” rettes, which is 10 packs. Two days later, throwing it in the ocean,” James said. He studied at Oakland University for she was out of cigarettes. Violet claimed “You’re then just hoping it gets to the two years before realizing he wasn’t in she had lost a pack and also had given a right person. There are many of those the right state of mind. That summer, friend a pack. James was astonished, as bottles floating out there somewhere.” he worked for a short time in Virginia that meant that she had smoked eight may

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Care. No Matter What. The facts and reality of what defunding Planned Parenthood really means. BY CAMMI TIRICO AND RUBY TAYLOR

here are 2.5 miles separating Planned Parenthood of Ann Arbor and Community High School, but the connection is much more direct than that. Planned Parenthood serves everyone in need, regardless of age, gender or sexual identity. There are 0.5 miles separating Planned Parenthood of Washington DC and the White House, but they could not be farther apart. With President Donald Trump in office, Planned Parenthood and other health related services are at risk. On May 4, 2017, the American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed through the House of Representatives. For the AHCA to be enacted, it still has to be passed through Congress and be signed by President Trump. 44

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According to congress.gov, the American Health Care Act states the following: “For one year, certain federal funds may not be made available to states for payments to certain family planning providers (e.g., Planned Parenthood Federation of America).” That means that the government will no longer allocate any federal funds, Medicaid, to any Planned Parenthood organization. “They are not defunding Planned Parenthood, they are defunding low income people, they are defunding patients,” Ricky Bicknell, Planned Parenthood Community Outreach Coordinator, said. Medicaid is a complicated process in which taxpayer dollars go to help and support low income people with health care costs. Medicaid can be broken down to four simple steps:

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“

THEY ARE NOT DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD, THEY ARE DEFUNDING LOW INCOME PEOPLE, THEY ARE DEFUNDING PATIENTS.”

NEWS ANALYSIS “Now more than ever, I think it is important to talk about what’s at stake, not just from people in positions of power, but legislative that can actually take things away from people.” The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that defunding Planned Parenthood for one year will eventually decrease federal spending by 234 million dollars throughout the next 10 years. Though the government will save money, they will need to spend an extra $77 million on medicaid over the year. There are 39 “health care providers” in Michigan. Planned Parenthood is one of the 39 providers with 19 locations in Michigan. Planned Parenthood serves over 65 percent of the Medicaid patients in Michigan. According to Bicknell, they chose Planned Parenthood because they “know we do reproductive health care the best” and trust Planned Parenthood for “nonjudgmental, compassionate care.” A common misconception is that all of the other “health care providers” perform the same services as Planned Parenthood. “For every Planned Parenthood, there are 20 federal community health centers,” Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said. What Speaker Ryan failed to mention is that these health centers include dental clinics, food shelters, and many other locations that do not provide the same services that Planned Parenthood does. The Ann Arbor Health Center – like all Planned Parenthood – serves women, men, and teens with their sexual and reproductive health needs. Services Planned Parenthood offer include: providing birth control, HIV testing, LGBT services, men’s health care, Morning-After Pill (Emergency Contraception), pregnancy testing & services, STD testing, treatment, vaccines, and abortions. Planned Parenthood does not only perform abortions. In fact, the most common services they perform are STD screenings, providing birth control, and administration, according to patient statistics provided by Planned Parenthood of Michigan. Planned Parenthood devotes its time not only to health services but also to educating young people. The Peer Education program focuses on teaching teens about Planned Parenthood and reproductive health. Ricky Bicknell coordinates the Peer Education program in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan’s Peer Education program, founded in the 1980’s, is one of the oldest in the country. Lia Kahan, a Community High junior, joined the Peer Ed program in 2015. “The main reason [I joined] is that I am really passionate about reproductive jus-

tice and the education surrounding sexual health,” Kahan said. “I think that people don’t put an emphasis on how fun it is.” Kahan thinks that having Peer Eds teach fellow peers about sexual reproduction reduces the stigma around Planned Parenthood and sexual health. “Our main goal is to make it more of a conversation than a lecture,” Kahan said. She believes that Health is the most important class you take in high school. Employees of Planned Parenthood also are on the Sexual Health Education Advisory Committee, the district’s component of the school board, the committee oversees all of the content in sexed for all of the schools K-12. Committees like the Sexual Health Education Advisory Committee adopt and approve anything that is taught about sex-ed in all Ann Arbor Public Schools. It is a state law that every district — if they teach anything about sex ed—has to have a committee. Some committees meet once a month, others once a year. The Ann Arbor Public Schools’ committee meets once a month. Though Planned Parenthood does all of these things, the only thing that the government cares about is the abortion services Planned Parenthood performs. “The abortion services, which as a national organization accounts for less than three percent of all of the services we provide,” Bicknell said. “Which usually blows people’s minds because they think that ‘Oh well, Planned Parenthood is known for abortions so they must do a lot of them.’ But in reality, we are doing way more to prevent people from being in that position where they have an unplanned pregnancy, 97 percent of what we do is arguably preventative health care.” According to Advocates for Youth over 80 percent of all adolescent pregnancies are unplanned. Teen pregnancies can be the result of a range of things from sexual assault to the breaking of a condom. In 2013, there were just over 660,000 abortions. That is nearly 1.25 abortions per 100 women aged 15 to 44. However, Medicaid does not cover abortions beyond cases of rape and life endangerment to the mother. Therefore, the argument that taxpayer dollars are going to abortions—in most cases is a false claim. President Trump has offered to continue funding Planned Parenthood if they stopped servicing abortions. According to Bicknell is “never something that we, as an organization, would have considered” and that their answer to the GOP has been and always will be: “We provide a full range of reproductive health services. No matter what.” may

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A C NC E R FEATURE

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FEATURE

A new prescription for cancer: mental state, diet, and physical activity.

BY MAZEY PERRY

row of occupied chairs line the walls in a circle, all facing each other. Patients sit in every other chair, almost avoiding sitting close to one another. IVs are positioned next to every chair, plastic bags each filled with a different type of poison waiting to be pumped into the next patient’s bloodstream. Chemotherapy and radiation are common treatments for most types of cancer. Although they are very different types of treatment, they both have the same common effects on the body. Weeks of these treatments wears down health and compromise immune systems. Fortunately, there are a variety of different ways people can go about trying to prevent cancer, or recover if they have already been diagnosed. A GOOD MENTAL STATE

Joy and happiness make a difference when someone is trying to recover from an illness. According to the psycho-neuro immunology field, laughing genuinely for 10 minutes a day has up to 21 positive effects on the body and laughter improves immune systems, and helps mental health. “The data is so powerful that they believe that when doctors ask the opening questions of a check up, they should ask ‘how many minutes a day do you laugh?’ And if they don’t, you as a doctor need to encourage them to laugh more in life, just the way you would tell them to not smoke. if they don’t know what to do you can give them suggestions about joining a laughter clubs,” Dr. Jay Sandweiss, a board-certified osteopathic physician said. There are now several different types of activities people can do to help induce laughter and joy. Laughter yoga and workshops are just a few of the new kinds of things people can get involved in. “I think support groups are a really good thing,” Sandweiss said. “Studies show that if you aren’t isolated and alone, and if you talk with people that are going through the same thing you’re going through it can be very helpful.” Stress and sadness can be contributors to cancer because they inhibit adrenaline and release cortisol (inflammatory substances). While these hormones prepare the body for a potential injury, they also act as a fertilizer that helps tumors grow. The first emotions that are common when people find out they have cancer

are fear and panic. People are often ill informed on how to go about treatment, and simply do what an oncologist recommends because that is the most common route. What people don’t know is that there are activities they can be doing on the side to help the recovery be easier and faster. A WELL-BALANCED DIET

According to “Anticancer: A New Way of Life,” by David Servan-Schreiber, before World War II the way that food was grown and produced was much more organic and plant based than it is today. Today we use many harmful toxins and pesticides on our produce. The saying “you are what you eat” is a prominent part of how nutrition has changed. Before World War II, the animals that we ate were fed mainly grass, and had a balance of Omega 6 and Omega 3 in their diets. Now animals eat all types of steroids, antibiotics, and GMO’s, and have much higher levels of Omega 6. High amounts of Omega 6 have been shown to lead to cancer growth. “There are also natural substances that combat tumor growth and one of those is Turmeric and it has really high anti-inflammatory properties,” said Jim Perry, a cancer patient. “If you develop or are prone to developing a tumor, one of the characteristics is inflammation. The other one is starting its own blood supply with blood cells. Green tea increases the available amount of blood vessels. So I have been drinking a lot of green tea and taking Turmeric supplements, and staying away from high omega 6 foods and concentrations of high omega 3 foods.” It has also been proven that eating food that is whole, fresh, and in a natural state can take a load off your immune system. When artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives build up in the body, it can lead to more health problems. Refined sugar also suppresses your immune system which has been proven in multiple studies. A traditional western diet contains large amounts of carbohydrates and red meats. This type of diet inhibits immune cells, and ultimately ends up having negative long term effects on health. A Mediterranean diet usually contains a lot of fruits and vegetables, olive oils and more fish and poultry. A Mediterranean diet is known to activate immune cells which helps fight off infection and illness. Therefore, eating a more whole-

some and fresh diet will have better long term effects on a person’s health. DAILY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

“Studies from researchers at the University of Michigan have shown that the more time you spend in nature with plants, and just outside the better,” Sandweiss said. “I think you need to get a lot of fresh air and exercise, As long as it’s not a crazy exercise that defeats your body. I think yoga of any kind is great.” Being active, but not over doing it is important when getting healthy. After surgery, it is even more important to be active, because blood needs to pump in order to get better. After a surgery the body needs time to recover. Usually, whatever part of the body that was operated on is sore and stiff for a while after the operation. Physical Therapy is great way to increase range of motion and flexibility after a surgery. Simple exercises that don’t fatigue the body are very effective. “My recommendations for patients undergoing chemo are what I would recommend for any patient, and that’s to do their home exercises to work on their range of motion,” said Andrew Squire, a certified physical therapist. “I would recommend walking after stretches, and light exercise.” Taking small steps at a time is important, because there needs to be a starting point. Going on a four mile run right after a surgery or right after the end of chemo treatment is usually not possible, because physically the body can’t handle that intense of a workout. “Time makes a big difference, and it takes chemo six to eight months to totally wear off, but when I did start to feel better and I could eat, I started going to the gym,” Linda Kidder, a Colorectal cancer survivor said. “I feel like I’m strong again and I can do all those things.” “My mom died from Colorectal cancer so I spent my whole life worried I would get it,” Kidder said. “If you read about it, they tell you not to eat a lot of meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables. I spent my life doing that and look, I got it anyway. I guess there’s a genetic component that I don’t have any control over. But the fact that I did eat like that my whole life, and exercised regularly probably helped me out. Maybe I would’ve gotten it sooner. Maybe I would’ve died from it.”

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BEFOREthe BREAK

For patients predisposed to schizophrenia, treating symptoms before a psychotic break is key.

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FEATURE are watching them, when in fact they are not. Some patients experience mild hallucinations from any of the five senses: from the smell of a burning match to the feeling of insects crawling on their skin. Another symptom is disorganized thinking, or finding it difficult to speak on a subject without frequent distraction. This early stage is referred to as “Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome” (APS), and while not considered an official diagnosis by the DSM-5 (the widely-accepted guide of psychiatric conditions), it describes patients who have never experienced a break. Instead, APS patients usually search treatment for general lack of mental health or high anxiety first, as such symptoms can cause intense anxiety and confusion. After seeking help, they are evaluated and placed in a program for appropriate treatment. Treatment for APS patients, in theory, is designed to

be around someone with schizophreBY SUEPHIE SAAM AND ELLA EDELSTEIN nia than somebody without it.” While a At 18-years-old, one might find themyoung adult might have trouble opening selves pacing the unfamiliar hallways of up about their depression or chronic illtheir new dormitory, unpacking their beness, schizophrenia is so stigmatized that longings, and waving goodbye to their patients suffering with it risk being aliensniffling parents, filled with anticipation ated by their peers. of the next four years. For others, the “We deliberately kept [PREP’s name] transition from teen life to adulthood vague though because the word ‘psycan be much more complicated. Of the chosis’ is so stigmatizing and we didn’t 1.1 percent of Americans diagnosed want people who had these symptoms with schizophrenia, many begin to exto be afraid to reach out to us,” Stchur perience symptoms around this period said. Because of such stigma, people ofof their life. Instead of a dorm loft, they ten wait years after a break to seek treatmight find themselves sleeping in a psyment, by which time their illness will be chiatric hospital. more difficult to treat. “If [someone has] a predisposition to Without immediate treatment, the risk a psychotic illness and this major life of additional illness-related challenges stressor develops, sometimes stress can only increases. cause a psychotic break,” said Laura St“There are a lot of substance abuse chur, the research manager at the Unidisorders that occur with psychotic disversity of Michigan’s Program for Risk orders,” said Dr. Stephan Taylor, PREP Evaluation and Prevention (PREP). director and professor of Psychiatry. In A psychotic break—a loss fact, almost half of of contact with reality— schizophrenia pamight present itself as haltients experience a lucinations such as hearing lifetime substance voices or delusions like beabuse disorder, aclieving that someone is trycording to The Naing to contact them through tional Center for their television or that they Biotechnology. are being watched. How“The most sigever, if the beginnings of nificant danger that “It is not any more dangerous to be around pre-psychotic symptoms people feel is from someone with schizophrenia than somebody are detected early—and suicide and suicide most importantly, before a attempts, because without it.” break occurs—treatment people often get deoptions can be more effecpression along with tive and rely less on medipsychosis,” Taycation. PREP is a recently lor said. “If they established program created get depressed and with the main goal of treatscared because of ing psychosis before it even all the weird experistarts. ences they are havOnce a person experiencing, sometimes suies their first episode of psychosis treat- prevent a psychotic break from ever occur- cide will look like a viable option, like ment, options change dramatically. ring. A treatment known to be particular- an escape.” According to the Psychiat“Once you have had one psychotic ly effective in preventing the progression ric Times, 20 to 40 percent of people break, you will always be considered psy- of psychosis is cognitive-behavioral thera- with schizophrenia will attempt suicide chotic,” Stchur said. “The idea is even py (CBT), which is also used to treat other in their lifetime; five to 15 percent of pawhen you are stable on medication, you conditions like obsessive compulsive dis- tients will end their life. are always at risk of having another one. order and post-traumatic stress disorder. These sobering statistics prove how If stress levels go off, if you go off your CBT works to prevent psychosis teaching crucial the work of Taylor and Stchur meds, you are always at risk.” patients techniques for dealing with delu- really is; by providing preventative treatAfter a break, a patient may be diag- sions and hallucinations by giving them in- ment, the challenges down the line can nosed with schizophrenia or another sight into their condition; it is important be eliminated. PREP offers insight into mental illness of which psychosis is a that patients identify when they hear, see, a grossly misunderstood illness and supsymptom. They may be hospitalized and smell, and feel something that is a “percep- port for teens who might otherwise wait prescribed anti-psychotic medications tual distortion,” not a reality. much too long for the treatment they that come with a plethora of possible For patients already dealing with the need. For the young adult lying in the side effects. challenge of mental illness, it doesn’t psychiatric hospital and all other paMany teens—mostly between the ages help that the words “psychosis” and tients, one can only hope that in comof 14 and 24, when most patients begin “psychotic” are so often associated with ing years psychotic illness will be more to experience symptoms—do not enter horror and danger, both in media and in widely viewed as what it really is: an illthe clinic with the knowledge that they daily language. ness which—like many other illness— are at risk of psychosis; symptoms can “People think of people with schizo- can be treated and prevented, not a life be vague. One might sense that some- phrenia as being these violent psy- sentence. thing is hovering just outside of their cho-killers and that’s not true,” Stchur sight or raise suspicion that their peers said. “It is not any more dangerous to

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Birthday Bucket List Visit any of these stores in downtown Ann Arbor on your next birthday and cross these free treats off of your wish list. BY ABIGAIL GAIES AND AVA MILLMAN

Place: Cafe Zola Treat: free banana nutella crepe Reqs: must purchase another meal

Place: Panera Treat: free bakery item of choice Reqs: must be a MyPanera card holder

Place: Tropical Smoothie Cafe Treat: free 24 oz. smoothie Reqs: must join the Tropical Email Club Place: Ben & Jerry’s Treat: free scoop of flavor of choice Reqs: none

Place: Iorio’s Treat: free piccolo gelato of choice Reqs: none

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**You must have proof of birth date with either a photo I.D. or passport.

Other places in Ann Arbor with birthday treats: - Afternoon Delight - Angelo’s - Applebee’s - Argiero’s - Argus Farm Shop - Ashley’s - Bagger Dave’s - Baskin-Robbins - BD’s Mongolian Barbeque - Big Boy - Biggby - Blue Tractor - Buffalo Wild Wings - Cardamom - Carlyle Grill - Chili’s - Chop House - Cinnabon - Cold Stone Creamery - Cottage Inn - Culver’s - Dairy Queen - Denny’s - Dunkin Donuts - Grange - Gratzi - Great Harvest - Grizzly Peak - Godiva - IHOP - Jersey Mike’s

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Place: Frita Batidos Treat: free churro Reqs: none - Jolly Pumpkin - Juicy Kitchen - Knight’s - Lunch Room - Macaroni Grill - Mediterrano - Metzgers - Nicola’s Books - Noodles and Co. - Olga’s Kitchen - Pacific Rim - Paesano’s - Palio - Palm Palace - Pizza House - Pretzel Bell - Qdoba - Quarter Bistro - Real Seafood Co. - Red Lobster - Red Robin - Ruby Tuesday - SaladsUp - Schakolad - Stucchi’s - TeaHaus - TGIFriday’s - Ulta - Vinology - Weber’s - Zingerman’s

Place: Cupcake Station Treat: free mini cupcake of choice Reqs: none

Place: Roos Roast Treat: free drink of choice Reqs: none Place: Bruegger’s Bagels Treat: free bagel with cream cheese Reqs: must join eClub in advance

Place: Starbucks Treat: free drink or bakery item of choice Reqs: must be a Starbucks Rewards member at least 30 days in advance Place: Bubble Island Treat: free medium bubble tea Reqs: none

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Senior Map MICHIGAN

Wayne State University Alexis Atkins Nadia Johnson Oakland University Emily Fishman Kalamazoo College Britta Carlson Henry Fuchs Alexandra Hobrecht Western Michigan University Sophie Haviland Nate Genyk Rebecca Papp College for Creative Studies Josh Krauth-Harding Michigan Technological University John Baughn Sam Millman Cam Palmer Esther Priebe Northern Michigan University Zach Cameron Adrian College Sergei Harvey Emily Letke Albion College Heather Shafer Northwestern Michigan College Teairaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Majors University of Michigan Natalie Bullock Kate Burns Tyler Davis-Kean Noah Dworkin Eastern Michigan University Phoebe Engel Enrique Ayala Adrian Huntley Ally Einhaus Lydia Jones Henry Jones Mira Kaufman Kyle Radant Sean Kiel-Locey Miles Schwarz Gabe Kleer Tristan Shah Maggie Mihaylova Mike Stauder James Nedeltchev Washtenaw Community College Surya Palavali Vincent Barlow Nick Porter Ayisha Bhavnani Jordan Roberts Nathan Campain Yasmeen Shakour Calire Colvin-St Cyr Alex Shaw Lilo DiGiovanni Matt Vetort David Estes Seve Williams Olivia Freeman Tawiah Yalley Cece Lloyd Michigan State University Jordan Marr Jack Belden Jaleana Pace Michael Cadigan Evan Phillips Noah Dean Alex Pufahl Sophie Jones Ella Sylvester Emily Ojeda Jada Wilson Alex Raschke Sam Windsor Sophia Swan Chelsea Winkler Jared Utsunomiya 52

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ILLINOIS DePaul University Kelsey Albig Ronan Clague Jack Grande-Cassell School of the Art Institute of Chicago Olivia Comai

IOWA Grinnell College Isaac Nation

INDIANA Indiana Institute of Technology Kim Pieske

NEW YORK

PENNSYLVANIA

OHIO

Sarah Lawrence College Makela Lynn Barnard College Hannah Rubenstein Pratt Institute Jasper Anderson Eastman School of Music Lucas Atkinsmith

Dickinson College Jamie Norton University of Pittsburgh Khalil Eljamal Sydney Lee

College of Wooster Ella Ruderman Case Western Reserve University Katy Stegemann Oberlin College Ella Mosher Bowling Green State University Colleen Frantz Lindsey Williams University of Cincinnati Paul Steiger Taylor Tucker-Gray University of Toledo Kayann Berger Denison University Alex Hughes Xavier University Graeham Guindi-Bright

MAINE College of the Atlantic Gabrielle Poli

KENTUCKY University of Louisville Collin Stroud

NEW JERSEY Fairleigh Dickinson University Cheyanne Anderson

VERMONT Bennington College Ruby Lowenstein

NETHERLANDS University of Amsterdam Rutger de Voer

CANADA McGill University Helen Kulka University of British Columbia Antoni Alvarez

GAP YEAR/OTHER

WEST VIRGINIA West Virginia University Casey Roy

MASSACHUSETTS

LOUISIANA

Tufts University Jake Sorscher

Tulane University Sean Tichenor

COLORADO

MARYLAND

University of Denver Theo Heimann

Johns Hopkins University Noah Frassrand

Keelan Abbott Joel Appel-Kraut Quinn Cleaveland Isaiah Crisovan Jenny Dean Mateo Deas-Morales Camilla Del Giudice Brennen Diaz Jack Douglass Kyle Eversole Rachel Felkey Kyndall Flowers Kathryn Garcia Griffin Hall Shashe King Natalie Lakin Annie Noffke Areej Othman Dylan Pelton Ella Ridge Patrick Wellman Sadie Zinn may

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COME TOGETHER, AND THE WORK IS DONE Approaching graduation, Ruby Lowenstein talks about change, Judith DeWoskin, and imagination. BY ISABEL RATNER PHOTO: ALEC REDDING

How are you doing? I’m doing well. The weather’s really nice which I’m really happy about. I just decided what college I’m going to which I’m really excited about. Everything’s kind of coming together. It’s weird. I mean it’s been a horrible year in a lot of ways, but also a lot of really good things have also happened this year. I’m happy right now, which is good. What do you feel like is coming together for you in this time in your life? CET is kind of—we’ve done the two shows and now Just Desserts is about to happen, and that’s kind of like the—it’s not the end—but it’s kind of the end of what I’ll be doing with CET. I have a bunch of projects at the Neutral Zone that are also coming together. I’ve been planning this interfaith dialogue potluck that’s trying to bring together a bunch of different teens from different religious organization and places of worship around Ann Arbor to like eat and talk and celebrate their religions. And all of the things I’ve been thinking about with college are coming together, in ways I totally didn’t expect, and if you had asked me three weeks ago where I’d be going to college, it would be a very different answer from where I am. I just got a job, which I’m also really excited about. I feel like I’m growing up a little bit. Did your senior year go in any ways you thought it would, or did it go more off the track? I think it went off the track a lot. Like in every way possible. I don’t think if you had asked me what I thought my senior year was gonna be like at the beginning—or really at each point in the middle also—what was gonna happen, I would be very wrong. The first semester went off track in a lot of bad ways that I could have never seen. Then the second semester just went off track in weird ways that I would have never guessed. It sometimes went offtrack in good ways too. It was just like, you could never predict what gonna happen I guess, at all. How do you feel like you’re doing in terms of that? I still think about Justin [Tang] like every day. But there’s less disbelief in thinking about him, and more remembering things about him that make me laugh. I’ll be doing something and someone will say something that will remind me of something he said, and then I’ll be happy, and then I’ll be sad. So that’s kind of like a daily thing. I had a pretty hard time in the middle section of the year, with all of that tragedy and also the stress of not knowing what my future was going to look like. But I guess I’ll never know what my future’s actually gonna look like. In terms of this year, what helped heal you, if anything did? What do you think helped you make it to the end? I think, just time. Just the love of everyone. I feel like I’ve really seen this year just how much love everyone has. In

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Q&A

CET, in Community, but also just everyone. I feel like everyone is just filled with so much love and that we don’t really look at it a lot. I guess that is what has helped me in this year. Who comes to mind for you? It’s more just like everyone. Quinn is incredible, and my parents and my sister. But everyone. There’s no specific person who is more than everyone else. It’s just like everyone existing together. I feel like right now as a graduating senior, I’m about to leave all of the places, all of the things I have that aren’t people. In terms of distance and stuff, I’m leaving people too. But the people are what will stay with me forever, I hope. Every person who’s ever said anything to me has totally changed something about me. And I wouldn’t be who I am without every single person who I’ve ever interacted with. And no one would be. We’re all individuals but we’re really not. It’s like this big mash of people all a part of this same thing, even when we don’t think about it. And I guess CET really has helped me realize that too. It seems like being president of CET this year, you had a lot of people leaning on you. And Quinn said that he didn’t know what we would’ve done without you this year. Was it ever difficult for you to be in that position when you were also hurting? I think that sometimes people think that I do more than I actually do. I think I am good at bringing people together, but that’s really all you need to do, and at that point, if people are together, they lean on each other. I did feel really stressed about a lot of that , but if I wasn’t here, I think it would be fine. All people need is an opportunity to be together and then all the work is done and everyone just has each other. That wasn’t me. That was the whole group doing that. So I’m honored that Quinn feels that way and that maybe some other people feel that way but it was really the whole group coming together and leaning on each other, which I did a lot. There were a lot of times too where I felt like, this is my responsibility to have people leaning on me, but I just can’t. And then everyone was there for me. Then there were times when other people needed someone to lean on and I was there for them. But it never felt out of balance. What are going to miss the most about Community? I really haven’t thought about that. I feel like I’ve been so forward-focused, like I’m gonna do this and then I’m gonna do this, that I haven’t looked back. I think I’ll miss walking through the hallways and just being able to wave at everyone, and having everyone be waving at each other. I think I’ll miss that. Just looking at everyone and being like “Oh! Hi!” I think is something that I’ll really miss. That level of comfort. It’s a huge group of people to feel so close to, but I do feel so close to so many people at Community. And I’ll miss the teachers, a lot. I’ll miss Judith, and Jason. Can you talk about them? Judith I’ll miss so much, because she’s my Forum mom. She’s been there for the past four years, and she’s my role model in so many ways. She so fiery and nothing can stop Judith, ever. Things don’t sway her. She knows what is right and what she’s gonna do, and she does it, and that’s something that I really really admire. And also her dancing. That is something I’ll miss. It’s so good and I can never hope to be as good of a dancer as Judith DeWoskin. And I’ll miss Jason. He’s the teacher I’ve seen the most over the last four years because I’ve had Latin. He’s also been there for me through everything that has happened in the last four years. With Jason, I feel like he’s someone who you really need to earn the respect of, but when you have his respect, you really don’t want to lose it. Because he’s so loving and cares so much

about all of his students. There have been so many times especially around when Justin died, when I would not be doing my best work, or I’d like be late to class or something and I’d expect Jason to yell at me and hate me and be like “Leave and never come back!” and he didn’t and he’d just hug me and be like “It’s gonna be okay.” And coming from him, who has this reputation of being so tough or something, it just meant so much more too, having his support. I don’t know who I’d be without Jason. In what ways do you think you changed and grew since your freshman year? I’ve always kind of had this theory that no one ever changes. People are always like, “I changed. I can’t believe who I was back then. I’ve changed so much.” and I’m always like, “I’m the exact same person.” But recently during this year, I don’t think that’s actually true. I have changed. I feel freer or something in myself. I feel like I know who I am more. I feel like I’m less smart in a lot of ways. I’m probably more smart in a lot of ways. I feel like there are a lot of things I knew when I was really young, that kids just know, that I don’t know anymore. That I miss. Like what? Just the imagination that I had when I was a kid. I think I used to be much more empathetic than I am right now, not to say I’m not empathetic right now, but I think kids, when you’re young— I’m still young—but when you’re really young, your mind is just so wide open, and I feel like as I’ve gotten older it’s kind of narrowed down, which is good in some ways. I’m probably more focused and I get more stuff done now. I’m more responsible. But in terms of thinking about big ideas, I think I was better at it when I was really young. I think in the last four years, I’m more relaxed. And also, I’m better at writing an essay. Tracy, in Intro to Lit, really taught me how to write an essay. That is something that I’ll always have with me from Community. I’m definitely a better writer than I was. I wish I remembered more. My regret of the last four years. Freshman who are reading this, this is my advice to you. My regret is not taking a journal every day. Which I tried to a lot of times over the course of not just these four years but my whole life and I just always fell off the wagon. It never lasted more than like a month or two. but that is so valuable to have those memories written down I think, because just to be able to look back at them and see what I was thinking at each point, every little point in my life, or in recent life. I would love to be able to do that. It’s all so precious to be able to have—thoughts are almost I think better to have, because the way you think changes overtime so much. Another way that I’ve changed over the last four years is I don’t even try to be good at social media anymore. I tried when I was younger. I’m so disconnected, which is good in theory because I’m not constantly on social media, but also like that’s how people communicate now, like a lot of it. It’s how they kind of process feeling but also how people talk and stuff. And I feel like I’m probably missing out on a lot of things. Right, because you’re also gaining so much from not being a part of that. That’s also scary to me. I don’t like how communication is becoming so much less about face to face. How do you know what someone’s saying if you’re not looking in their eyes? You know what I mean? I don’t have that skill, to be able to read something and know what someone means through it. I mean, I can superficially, but I feel like social media really dehumanizes people. Because you’re not talking to people, you’re talking to words and pictures.

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SENIOR PROFILES

MAKELA

ADRIAN

“[The thing I would tell my freshman self is] stop straightening your hair because it looks bad. I did that every day freshman year. That’s it. Other than that, I was perfect freshman year. That was a joke. Just to be clear. I was really quiet freshman year and I didn’t really have much of a voice or an opinion on much, I think. So I think that I gained that and I learned how to talk to people. That’s so sad. The perfect day would be: to start the day, somebody would be like, ‘Hey Makela, it’s so good to see you. Here’s a Sweetwaters coffee that I bought for you. Because I love you.’ So then I start the day with my coffee. Then I go to Steve’s class, ideally, and Steve sings in Italian which is always fun. And then probably eat lunch on the back lawn because that always feels nice when the sun’s out. And then I sip my free coffee because it’s free. It could be raining actually. It’s kind of nice when it’s raining. [My favorite classroom in Community?] Does the theater count? Then the theater. I’ve spent so much time there. I remember when I was donating blood the other day I was so glad that it was in the theater because I was very anxious to do it because I’d never done it before but then it was in the theater and I was lying there and I was looking up at the ceiling and I was like ‘I can breathe.’ It was really peaceful. I was like, it’s okay, because I’m here.”

“[Advice I would give to my freshman self is] probably just that a lot of people are a lot nicer than you actually may think they are and that people want to be nice to you. So as long as you’re just not really mean and you try to meet people, you try to get to know people, it’s all gonna be fine. I think I had a tendency to overthink things a lot. I think I’m a lot more mellow. I’m just calmer with dealing with problems now and I think just better equipped to handle things when they come up now. I always wanted to be a lawyer. I knew even before I got to Community I wanted to do Mock Trial here because I knew about it and then I just kinda of dropped the ball freshman year. Honestly, it’s been huge. It helps with public speaking, it helps with acting, it helps with just communicating with people. It’s ridiculous. You honestly can’t explain how fundamental and how foundational it’s been for just every aspect of my education. I realize now that for most of the years that I was at Community I didn’t really realize that this was a formative experience and that some of the experiences I was going through at the time were things that was going to learn from. At the time I had a whole bunch of teenage angst, I was like “This is the worst thing ever, everything is bad,” but now looking back on things you realize these things happened as an educational opportunity. They happened so you can learn from them and so you can become a better person in the future.”

LYNN

THE COMMUNICATOR

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HUNTLEY

SENIOR PROFILES

ENRIQUE

OLIVIA

“[I would tell my freshman self to] don’t be so hard on yourself when it comes to grades in school and do CET earlier than I did. It’s worth it. Getting a lead on my first production ever, that was probably the best thing. Other than that, just the general experience. The tiredness was worth it. [On the perfect day at Community High School] all of my classes decide to go outside because it’s nice out. Maybe it’s the week before finals so we don’t really do much of anything. We just kind of get review packets and relax. I’m going to EMU. I’m not necessarily leaving Ann Arbor, I’m living at home still and commuting to EMU. I feel like I’m ready [to leave Community]. It’s going to hurt for a little bit but it’s definitely prepared me for the next step. I’m not sure [what I’m going to miss most] because college and Community feel so similar at this point. But, I mean the one difference would be the people. Teachers wise, Matt Johnson and Chloe Root, definitely biggest impact on my life in general. Friends wise, just everyone really. I don’t have anything specific against anyone, so I’m just going to miss the faces I see every day.”

“My favorite class was last year. I took Advanced Art Portfolio all year with Steve and it was just a lot of fun. It was a really open-ended class. Steve gave us direction and gave us prompts but we could kind of just do whatever we wanted, whatever art we thought would speak to what was important in our lives at that time. [During the perfect day at Community], it’s really nice outside, everyone’s out on the back lawn eating lunch. I really like lunch because I get to hang out with my friends. I probably have a test toward the end of the day so I can get out kind of early and, you know, go downtown. Maybe start a new project in art class. I’m going to School fo the Arts Institute of Chicago. I’m pretty nervous [to leave Ann Arbor] because I’ve never really traveled that much besides Florida and Chicago, so living somewhere else will be completely weird. I’ve been living in the same house all my life. A lot of my friends are going places in Michigan. But I also have made a few other friends who are going to the same school with me. [The thing I’ll miss most about Ann Arbor is] probably the trees. There’s a lot of trees in Ann Arbor, not so much in Chicago so that’ll be sad. [Advice I’d give to my freshman self is] don’t stress out too much about little things, like 10point homework assignments. You’ll get them done, and it’s not worth losing sleep over. I feel like I’m more confident than I was freshman year, definitely. A lot more, I don’t know, easy going, less stressed out.”

AYALA

COMAI

may

THE COMMUNICATOR

SENIOR PROFILES

ISAAC

ESTER

“Going somewhere new, it’s going to be a getaway. The new place is going to be, I don’t know I’m thinking about starting to maybe, sort of, maybe transition in college? It’s not exactly well known that I’m gender queer but I am. Hi. Maybe I’ll start to transition. Probably I won’t. But maybe I will. New place will also mean, I don’t know, I’m not excited about making new friends and living with someone I don’t entirely know, I’m very nervous about that, because I’m not good at making friends. I’m really not. But I’m also excited about a new setting and college in and of itself is great. You learn what you want to learn and that’s great. In the gender queer aspect, Community is the thing that made me figure out that entire thing. It’s the thing that kind of made me figure out my own gender. I don’t think I would’ve had that at any of the other schools so it probably would’ve been a longer time coming. Community also helped me take my place in leadership roles which I’m really not as comfortable with for the remarkable amount of them as I seem to take. I prefer someone else to be the leader, I’ll be the organizer. I kind of regret not starting a transition now because I know people are accepting and yet I just can’t. I just can’t. I regret not doing CET but at the same time I couldn’t have done that with Mock Trial. But they’ve got such a community going on over there. There’s a certain disconnect when some of my friends start talking about CET or even when they don’t that there’s sort of just CET culture that I just can’t know.”

“[I would tell my freshman self] to not slack off too much but don’t be too hardcore. Find a nice happy medium. [I regret] not preparing as hard as I should have for the SATs. I feel like I could’ve gotten a better score. I’m not a good test taker. I guess I just [want a better score] for me at this point. A fun memory is throwing pennies at the ceiling and then finally getting one up there. This was two years ago because I’m still proud of myself. It’s my big accomplishment. I was with Sophie [Haviland]. She didn’t get one up there. But not all of us can be stars. So I’ve been trying to think of cheaper ways to get my hair dyed. It’s really expensive and I only have like eight dollars in my bank account. I’m not good at saving or anything. I’m trying to find people to bleach my hair but it’s really thick and takes a while. I think I found somebody who’ll bleach my hair for me. So it’s been fun to try to find cheaper and cheaper ways. At this point [the spork] is just kind of routine. I don’t notice it anymore, it’s just my hand. [If I got out], considering it’s so close, I would be so pissed. I’ll take 20 bucks at this point.”

NATION

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PRIEBE

SENIOR PROFILES

NATHAN

LILO

“I’ve gotten a lot sadder [since freshman year]. I also have managed to figure out a way to deal with a lot of stuff which is good but at the same time I don’t really feel like I’ve changed all that much. Which is unfortunate, but that’s just the way some people are I guess. Graphic novels, first semester, I really enjoyed that class. Mainly just because I was able to do what I do best and just get to be a nerd about stuff. Although only one of the comics that we ended up getting for the class was one that I really enjoyed, I still enjoyed the class as a whole. [I have] kind of [been able to be a nerd at Community]. It’s been weird. I’m able to do what I like but at the same time it’s limited to a very select population and I’m not really the best at opening up to people. So I mainly just end up hanging out [on the 1st floor]. With some people I can get pretty heated about certain topics and that’s not something that I’ve ever enjoyed doing, getting heated about stuff. I’m just going to be going to Washtenaw [Community College] for two years and then I’ll be going to Northern, probably. I’m not sure at this point. [I’m] scared. So many people around me already have an idea of what they want to do in their life. Like being an art teacher or being an English teacher or going into mechanics or smithing or biology and chemical studies. It feels like I’m the only person that doesn’t know which I know is not the case. It’s still just kind of pressuring in a way. [Final thoughts?] Goodbye high school, hello life! I’m not looking forward to any of it.”

“My favorite teacher would have to be Anne Thomas. I had her freshman year. She made math fun. She always came to school with a smile on her face. I passed that class. I worked hard to pass it. I’m planning on going to WCC for two years and them transferring out. I’m going into graphic design. And I’m not quite sure which area of graphic design but I hope to find that out at WCC. I feel good about [leaving Community], but I think it’s going to be really awkward when my friends are going other places. I think maybe I’m going to have a hard time dealing with that. But I obviously am happy for them. But I feel good. I think Community prepared me and I’m just ready to use all that I learned in college. My favorite class was Harlem Ren with Matt Johnson. He opened my eyes to many things. He taught me how to write, pretty much. The way he set up his class, everything led up to certain thing and he just prepared us really well. I still use stuff that he taught me. And then Judith’s American Lit class was also super fun just because it’s Judith and she’s wacky. I’ve been thinking a lot about prom and I guess poetry. I’m taking poetry this semester and I haven’t really been exposed to it so I’m just learning stuff and I think I’m okay in it. I like the class. It’s a lot of work and it’s a lot of independent stuff and I like that way more than just the teacher always talking. We get a lot of time to get stuff done in that class and I think I learn best in that kind of setting.”

CAMPAIN

DIGIOVANNI

may

THE COMMUNICATOR

SENIOR PROFILES

EMILY

JAKE

“[I would tell my freshman self] definitely to be more outgoing. My freshman self was very closed in and didn’t socialize very well. Over the years, just opening up to people has definitely made a difference in how school is. Matt [Johnson]’s classroom is so colorful and full of posters. It just makes you feel very welcome. Matt is a very interesting character. When I go into his class I don’t know what to expect that day. Each day he does something different for his classes. One of my favorite memories was just sitting down with Matt after I found out that one of my martial arts instructors that I’d grown very close to was moving away. So I just sat down with Matt and talked to him about what was going on in my life. Matt was very intrigued because he actually cared because he had been through something like that. Definitely one of my favorite memories is just sitting there being very open and honest with him. I have some regrets in terms of what classes I took. I wish I could’ve stayed in Communicator longer. I regret not being in all the CET plays. There are so many [funny memories from Community]. There was this one fundraiser where people would go and put money in the jars, I think for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I thought it was just hilarious seeing people getting pied in the face. There was also this one time I was at production for Communicator and one of the seniors that year was doing Eliza Vs. Food. I thought it was just hilarious, everybody just standing there, watching Eliza just chow down on a big thing of noodles.”

“My favorite classroom in the school was probably freshman year when I was in Ed’s room because he had these cool trapezoidal tables that were fun to work at with other people and he made them himself. He made pancakes a couple times. I would tell my freshman self to hang out with the seniors. That’s what I did as a freshman and I think I made a good decision. I liked them. I would tell my freshman self to take fewer art classes so that you can take them senior year. I regret not taking photography because I think it would’ve been really cool to learn and Steve is such a cool guy. My group of friends has changed the most [since freshman year]. I think I found friends who I like throughout my time at Community. I’m friends with different people than I was during middle school and even when I was an underclassman than I have as a senior. I feel like these friendships are going to last because the people here are so supportive and fun to be around. I will be going to Tuft’s University in the fall for Engineering. It’s sad [to leave Ann Arbor] but I’m excited to meet new people. I am going to miss the beautiful parks and the people. There are beautiful parks in Boston, but I really liked running through all the parks in Ann Arbor in my high school career. During cross country we would run all over Ann Arbor and I’m probably going to miss running around Ann Arbor. My favorite run probably is “river run” and it goes through Bandemer park and it’s always fun to run through it and see the crew team practicing because I got to see my friends who are on crew as I ran through the park.”

OJEDA

THE COMMUNICATOR

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SORSCHER

SENIOR PROFILES

JAMIE

KIM

“[During the perfect day at Community, it’s] nice enough weather so you can go outside during lunch. Extra free time between classes so I can just relax. Fun, interesting times in classes. I don’t know, I’m just naming random things here. Having a great practice in jazz, or just having fun playing songs. Learning about some cool part of history in Latin. Either this year or last year [was my favorite grade]. Sophomore year there was just so much weighing on me. Last year was mostly a good year for me until the end. This year, I’ve had more fun classes and I don’t feel as stressed. [I regret] stressing too much over little things. For example, small homework assignments I didn’t need to stay up late doing. To my freshman self, [I would say] learn how to reach out more, be more comfortable around people. I kind of opened up but it took four years. [My favorite classroom] is the jazz room. You can have fun playing with your band in there and there’s all the pictures of all the great jazz artists on the walls. I spent all four years in that room. [Jazz] has partly helped me open up. Being forced, at first, to solo and then realizing I have fun soloing helps you get out of your own little bubble. So it helped me kind of break out more, so to speak. [If I keep doing jazz in college] it won’t be studying it in classes, I’ll just do it for fun.”

“[Advice I’d give to my freshman self is] don’t take Government freshman year. That was not a good idea. I took Government, Econ, and U.S. History all freshman year and history is my worst topic. So it wasn’t the best idea. I didn’t do too well. George, the engineering teacher, is one of my favorite teachers. He’s really great at explaining things and helping. He doesn’t like the lecture very much so he likes to keep the lecturing to a minimum. We do a lot of activities in the Engineering class. I’m going to Indiana Tech University, it’s in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for Mechanical Engineering. I’m nervous [about leaving Ann Arbor]. I’ve been in Ann Arbor basically my whole life so it’s gonna be weird. [‘m going to miss] the people, all my friends here. Not all my friends are seniors so there are going to be weird not seeing them. And the teachers. And some of my friends are going to other colleges, like Kayann [Berger] is going to University of Toledo. I’ve known her since 6th grade, so it’s going to be weird not going to school with her. It was really fun when, at the halloween dance this past year, Kayann, her younger brother, and Jack Cassel and Alexis Atkins, we all went to Starbucks after the dance and that was a lot of fun. We walked all the way down to the Starbucks by Mongolian Barbeque and then walked back and that was fun because we were just hanging out and goofing around and got coffee. I think I had a little too much sugar and coffee that day. I had a frappe at Sweetwaters and a then coke and then a shake and Steak n’ Shake and then another frappe so I was a little jittery.”

NORTON

PIESKY

may

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LETTER HOME

Community Alumni look back on the past year and give advice to the class of 2017. BY SUEPHIE SAAM

Avery Farmer “I would kind of say my choice was a little bit arbitrary. I didn’t do much research in the college application process. I had a pretty strong sense once I had seen the colleges I had gotten into. And honestly throughout the process Amherst would have been a good fit for me. I would say don’t put so much pressure on it because it seems like a really big decision at the time but the only way you’re gonna know how a place is is once you get there and start being a student there. And it’s okay if things don’t work out. It’s six months to a year of your life— that’s not too much. You always have time to go back in and figure if it was a right choice for you and make a different 64

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choice, whatever works. I just think all the pressure put on is a bit too much and we have to give ourselves permission to make whatever choice feels right and be okay with the fact that that choice won’t work out. I have two friends I actually went hiking with over spring break, one named Zeus and the other is named Harith who are from Kenya and Pakistan respectively. They are international students here. I think for a lot of people college is a time where you get to really meet people who’ve had different life experiences ,,and you begin to realize just how lucky you are. You know obviously I’m this straight white dude, everything is easy

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for me. They really helped me understand that the things I take for granted, I really shouldn’t take for granted, and beyond that, it’s my obligation to not take those things for granted. In many ways the same things we take for granted oppress other people, and we benefit by the same systems that screw other people over. I know kids who didn’t go to college who are ten times smarter than some of the students here. The idea that going to college, and especially going to an elite college, makes somebody smarter or more “worthy” is complete bull****, and Ann Arbor needs to change the way it talks about college.”

Eva Rosenfeld “I decided to take a gap year initially when I was working in Canada the summer after my junior year, I was leading a canoe trip. It just gave me this really deep sense of self-sufficiency living in the outdoors. I guess I always have kind of craved more free time in my days focused on my own projects and my art. So why not give yourself that gift? I spent the first few months working in Ann Arbor as a bike mechanic to save some money and then I still didn’t have that much money so I got a job. It was more of a traveling job which was working for AmeriCorps doing conservation work on federal lands of the southwest United States. Looking back on it, it kind of feels like a dream. I got to see these gorgeous parts of the country and I spent so much time just road tripping around the national parks of the southwest in between work. Then after that, I went to South America, I went to Colombia specifically where I had been wanting to go for a long time. It was just a place that was calling to me in a way that places call to you. I ended up also going to Ecuador by a freak accident. Eventually, I got this gig working for

PHOTO COURTESY: EVA ROSENFELD

the city of Quito in a public park in the city. The agency for public spaces of the city asked me to do something with a historical base. There’s a ton of street art in the city, Ecuador in general is a phenomenal country for street art but there are no women represented except in these vague generic images. After finding a single list online, I found this one woman Hermelinda Urvina she was this really bad*** female pilot, she flew with Amelia Earhart and in the 99’s which was an organization for female pilots. I don’t think that’s a problem unique to South America, many South American countries have had far more leadership that the United States. I think it’s a problem of the world. I committed to college on May 1 and then freaked out and extended the two schools I was thinking about and decided this past January. [I decided on Harvard], it was really just that I went and visited an old friend who goes there. I met his friends, they were super welcoming. I just had this wonderful feeling biking around Cambridge and I just said “I’d love to be here!” [You should] never do something so

you can put it on a list. By the time you get to making this list you’ll have enough to put on it. What you want is to be able to do is look at it and say, “Wow that was amazing, I loved doing that” and if you just do the things you enjoy and do the things you feel you’re urged towards, it will come out looking the way you want it to look but first just do the things you love. [It’s important] to recognize the way that your teachers and your friends right now have become a community for you. That you can share in everything you care about with your friends and your teachers. They become these people in your life that push you and teach you and show you new ways of caring about things that you care about. [It’s important] not just to appreciate that now, but to bring that into the next parts of your life because you always want the people around you to be people who you can look up to and also be partners who play off of each other in love, friendship and in work. When you can find that equilibrium where all those things circulate together in a relationship, that’s so beautiful.” may

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Rose Lewis

“It’s definitely hard [to balance crew and school]. It’s the one thing that I’m involved in, it’s my thing. It’s hard for sure. One of the hardest things to do in high school was balancing rowing and school and you get to college and both of those things are so much. Yes, it is less class hours but the amount of time you have to put into understanding the material and actually studying is so much more than high school. Balancing rowing and school is definitely difficult but I don’t think that people who quit rowing and focus more on school end up better in the long run. My team is a lot of engineers, people studying really hard sciences, and people studying Econ. It’s people who aren’t just trying to get by in school. Crew has made me better at managing my time honestly because it takes so much time and you have to plan around it. It’s also just this group of really motivated people so like everyone goes to practice, eats, and goes right to the library. It’s just a good group of student athletes. It’s hard, but it ends up working out in the long run. With the rowing we’ll have practice at 4:30 and it will go until whenever our 66

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PHOTO COURTESY: ROSE LEWIS

coach wants us to leave, so it can be anywhere from one hour to three hours, sometimes four if we’re loading the trailer. It’s not really predictable. I had practice at six this morning and I didn’t know until last night. The other day we were going through M-14 and I was just thinking, it was 6:45 in the morning, it was kind of cold, it was a little rainy, it just wasn’t great conditions. I have been through the bridge so many different times, with so many different boats, with so many different people, with so many different coaches following me. There are days where we go out and it’s ninety minutes of steady state and I’m like, “Why is this happening? Oh my god, get me out of this boat.” My coach always says, “If you don’t want to quit crew sometimes you’re doing it wrong.” It’s really hard when you’re told you have to be a student first and an athlete second and then here at this regatta and you’re outside maybe in the pouring rain for 13 hours racing and there’s just no way you’re going to get any work done. There’s a sacrifice to be made there. I would much rather have a less than a perfect grade than to not experience what I’m experiencing being on

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that team. It’s really special. Wherever you go you can make it your own and you can make it the experience you want. There may be a school that really isn’t for you but for the most part wherever you go if you take chances in finding new opportunities then things will come into you. What you put into college you’ll get back what you want. Especially going to Michigan, I wasn’t anticipating much of a transition. It was a lot harder than I anticipated, the first year was definitely difficult for me, I didn’t think it would be much different than being home. You’ll meet so many cool people from so many different places, and so many walks of life. Put yourself out there. What you give to the experience it will give back to you. I have so many fond memories and positive things to say about people that I knew [at Community] and the teachers that I had. Especially Anne Thomas who was my Forum leader. If I’m having a hard time, if school is really stressful, if rowing is really stressful, I found that it’s really helpful to think about the things that have grounded me in my life and she’s definitely one of them.”

THROUGH

THE

LENS A look into photography by graduating seniors Taylor Tucker-Gray and Phoebe Engel. BY MEGAN SYER

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“August Sunset” “The nature shot I took was on August 24, 2015. I think it was probably 6 o’clock in the morning when the sun was slowly starting to set, but there was still enough light that it was still bright out. I used to really like to take nature shots and I decided that the sun looked nice, so I pulled out my camera and then I just started to go around my back deck—which is raised up on stilts, so it’s off the ground—and I thought it’d be cool to crouch down and look through the plants to get some lens flare. I didn’t want too much lens flare so I moved the camera so that the sun would still come through [the plants], but not enough that there would be lots of lines from the sun. I took the photo with a Canon T3i. I took this photo because I’m really into nature photography and I feel like it’s a nice subject to photograph. You can do a lot with nature photography and I love photographing the sun. A lot of times, it doesn’t work out, so I’m proud that I got sun and nature in the shot.” -TAYLOR TUCKER-GRAY

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“Lenten Rose #1” “I took this photo April 21, in my garden. It’s a picture of a lenten rose, which comes out around the time of lent, which has passed. They tend to be in greener colors; I got this one with green with hints of pink, which I really liked. I took it on my phone but I had a special macro lens that I had ordered, so it makes the image 10 times bigger, so I was able to get a nice close-up picture without having it be too grainy, seeing that it was taken on my phone. I really like this photo because of the contrasting colors of the pink and light green. I take a lot of photos of flowers because they are my favorite thing to photograph because they are really pretty and I always like to take them at a bit of an angle. In this case, towards the upper right side. I took this photo in Steve’s digital photography class.” - PHOEBE ENGEL

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James Nedelchev

Ella Ruderman

Natalie Bullock

Ruby

Senior Mock Awards

Based on 53 student survey responses BY KT MEONO AND GRACE JENSEN

Anti-Community spirit award wears shirts from other schools Sean Tichenor Most likely to forget about forum snack and buy it from BP Sophie Swan Most likely to roll into class 20 minutes late with Sweetwaters in hand Sadie Zinn Never stops talking politics award Kyndall Flowers Most likely to sing in the hallways Ella Ruderman Most likely to spend a free block watching Netflix Taylor Tucker-Gray 72

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First floor DJ award Henry Jones Best senior sneeze Adrian Huntley Over-achiever award (if your project has a note from the teacher saying “can I keep this?” that’s a sign) Natalie Bullock Best bromance award Cam Palmer and John Baughn Most likely to park in a spot that’s not a spot Helen Kulka Biggest lifter at the Y (you lift bro?) Ronan Clague

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Worst dunker on the back lawn basketball court James Nedeltchev Most likely to eat out every single day of the week Enrique Ayala First floor gaming champion Theo Heimann Most likely to come back and teach at Community, or the Chloe Root award Hannah Rubenstein Best back-lawn frisbee player Kyle Radant Most selfies in the first floor girls’ bathroom mirror Britta Carlson

Spork Game champion

N R O N A N

Kelsey

Taylor Tucker-Gray

Helen

imann Theo He

Sadie Zinn

Kulka

Never grew out of the freshman “Teriyaki Time every day” phase Vincent Barlow

Most likely to win the spork game Kelsey Albig

Future John Boshoven/best cheesy jokes Adrian Huntley

Always has fries and will guard them with her life Sophie Haviland

Least prepared, or doesn’t have a pencil but “here, do you want some gum?” Nate Genyk

President of the most clubs award Isaac Nation

Most free blocks (“he goes here?” award) Antoni Alvarez School spirit award Ruby Lowenstein Finishes tests first award and spends the extra time in the hallway Ronan Clague Forum Spirit award: wears those shirts no one else understands Gabe Kleer

Aux cord queen Kyndall Flowers

The most time spent in line at Kosmos award Jada Wilson

CHS Jock - doesn’t get winded running up the staircases (a true accomplishment) Sam Millman

Club Addict - can only talk about CET award Phoebe Engel

Most quoted in the Communicator Emily Fishman Most competitive at registration Natalie Bullock

Most likely to sleep in their car during a free block Ally Einhaus Most likely to show up to school not wearing shoes Ruby Lowenstein

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then&now

How have seniors changed since freshman year?

“I have gotten way more into Chance [the Rapper], groups like The Internet, Phony PPL. There is an artist named Berhana that I’m obsessed with.”

Mostly Drake,: “Headlines”, “The Motto”etc. US History with Cindy

Social Justice with Cindy and Janelle

“JK!”

Then

Now

“I definitely have said ‘blessed’ a couple too many times that I’m not proud of.”

MIRA KAUFMAN “I just listened to the radio because I didn’t have Spotify or anything like that.”

A lot more indie and rap.

“Me and all my friends would always stand in Kerrytown and take up so much space. All the people would look at us, like they thought we were stealing or something.

Then

U.S. History with Cindy

“I don’t go to Kerrytown as much. I’ll go to places people don’t know as much like the Co-op and places that aren’t as crowded.”

Now

Film Photography with Steve

JASPER ANDERSON 74

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Lots of musical theater music. A bit of Panic! at the Disco.

More indie, still some musical theater.

“I do use the term ‘chill’ a lot.”

“Hella”

“We did a show called ‘Bob: A Life in Five Acts’ for our fall play. It’s still one of my favorite shows I’ve been in because it was my first.”

Then

“During Fiddler, the last show that we did, I was thinking ‘Wow, this is my last proper show here with Community, I need to savor this and enjoy it while it lasts.’”

Now

ALEXIS ATKINS “I listen to different types of genres. Currently I’m listening to more K-Pop music.”

A lot of Fall Out Boy. “Spring Forum Day, when Marci was still my forum leader. It was really nice to sit around the campfire, talking with everyone.” T-shirts, basketball shorts, jeans.

Then

“[Prom] is going to be one of the top reasons I love being here.” More hoodies, jeans and khakis or capris: “I change it up a bit more.”

Now

JORDAN MARR

key:

Favorite Memory Fashion Taste

Frequently Used Word

Favorite CLass

Favorite Music

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ANTONI ALVAREZ UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUPPLEMENT Prompt: Describe something outside of your intended academic focus about which you are interested in learning. There are few languages more important and universal than computer code. Technology affects every aspect of modern society, and the advancements made in computer science continue to stand at the forefront of innovation. Recently, I attended an exhibit at the University of Michigan where a photographer recounted his visit to Jakarta, Indonesia, to document the increasingly adverse effects of seasonal flooding within the city. Traditional solutions, like building seawalls and drainage systems have failed in the wake of unprecedented

mass urbanization and climate change, but new innovative computer technologies are making a difference. Engineers and developers alike have been working on a website that crowdsources social media posts, picking out keywords and phrases, as well as GPS data, to create real-time flood maps that provide potential life-saving information to individuals and emergency responders. Modern day problems demand the use of computer science. Jakarta is just one of the few examples of creative use of computing. Satellite imagery is

being processed by computers to map out roads and houses to connect people to hospitals and relief organizations. Google is planning to launch a fleet of balloons into the stratosphere to connect remote communities in developing countries with high speed internet. Video games rival the movie making industry, and artificial intelligence paves the way for an autonomous future. I am interested in studying computer science because it is at the center of our day-to-day life, and essential for creating a better future.

JOSH KRAUTH-HARDING COMMON APPLICATION Prompt: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. On the first day of my freshman year of high school, someone asked me (in front of 40 other students) what my name was. As any panicked, closeted guy might do, I stuttered: “hi, I’m gay.. Josh! I mean, I’m Josh.” It was a rocky start to the year. The initial plan had been ‘don’t tell anyone you’re gay ever.’ I had drafted other plans as well, but this one was my favorite. It was safe and it was comfortable. My two favorite adjectives. Impressively, freshman Josh managed to throw that plan out the window within the first 18 minutes of high school. Ensuing day one of the school year, I sat in my room, teary-eyed and overwhelmed. I dragged myself off of my bed and turned to the black-framed mirror dangerously balanced on my dresser. I glared at it, and acorn-brown puffy eyes glared back. The eyes closed tight in determination, and then opened. The reflection took a deep breath. It was time to problem solve. “Alright me,” I said outloud, “how’re we going to fix this one?” I grabbed my laptop, quickly navigated to Google, and inputted: “gay”. I frowned, not specific enough. I tried “why am I gay,” which yielded some interesting Youtube videos, but also not 76

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what I was looking for. Lastly, I googled “how to be gay.” An interesting mistake. Freshman Josh began exploring the world of gay stereotypes, how I had to dress nicely, get my voice to be as highpitched as possible, be good at arts and crafts, etc. The list went on. I was overwhelmed. I lowered the lid of the laptop and stared at the ceiling as I fell back into my comforter with a satisfying ‘poof.’ Sure, my voice was a little higher than normal, and I’d always really loved art… the fashionable wardrobe wasn’t quite there yet, but a lot of these qualities sounded like me. For a second, I was okay. But then I was furious. Firstly, how DARE someone set a list of guidelines for me, and secondly, WHY did I fit them? I didn’t want to be ‘the average-gay’ as the webpage had been titled. I wanted to be unique, I wanted to have unique ideas. Average wasn’t in my vocabulary. The weeks after that were tough. I tried lowering my voice whenever I spoke, refused myself the joy I got from designing and crafting, and went out of my way to mismatch socks and wear shirts backwards. Ripping down the design work I’d taped to my bedroom walls, I

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did anything and everything I could to not be the average gay. Hoping to feel special and unique again, I found myself disappointed. This wasn’t working. This wasn’t me. I walked home in the cool autumn air, taking my frustrations out on a rock that tumbled down the road as I kicked it with me. I felt broken, not only could I not be me, but I couldn’t be the opposite of me I wanted either. I couldn’t win. I stopped walking, I took a deep breath, and I shut my eyes tight. For the second time that Fall, something clicked. A spark of determination illuminated once again. Heck.. if I couldn’t be the opposite gay, I was going to be the gayest gay kid I knew. I was going to embrace the stereotypes that I belonged in, but I wasn’t going to let them define me, because I was STILL Josh, whether or not that Josh was ‘average’. As freshman Josh turned to sophomore Josh, to junior Josh, and eventually to senior Josh, he embraced what made him, him. Just recently I was accepted to be the design editor for the school’s premiere magazine. I bought new clothes, and I accepted that my voice was pretty high. I was the gayest gay Josh I knew, and I was fine with that.

NATALIE BULLOCK UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: SCHOOL OF KINESIOLOGY Prompt: Describe the unique qualities that attract you to the specific undergraduate College or School (including preferred admission and dual degree programs) to which you are applying at the University of Michigan. How would that curriculum support your interests? I hear my heartbeat pulse loudly in my ears and feel my calves loosen from the previous day’s soreness every time I go for a run. While beads of sweat roll down my face, I fantasize about the ice cold glass of diet coke I can drink when I get home. To distract myself from the discomfort, I go through a list in my head of bones in my legs: the tibia is connected to the patella, the patella is connected to the femur, and so on. The organization of human anatomy helps me get through this extreme exertion of energy. The second thought that gives me the motivation to keep running is how fortunate I am to have this privilege of going for a run. The complexity of the

body, and how every muscle and bone work together just to take a few steps, can be taken for granted. It is often forgotten that not all people have the luxury of going for a run down the street. Some people never get to experience this physiological gift that humans have been given. For example, typically at the start of my runs I go past a dog who tries to bite my head off, and my neighbors’ house. A little boy who has cerebral palsy lives there. He may never walk, let alone run. When people see him, they notice his disability immediately. In contrast, when people see me run down the street they do not think anything of it. But, that little boy does because he understands that

is it a blessing to be able to run. I aspire to help the people who do not have physical freedom and cannot perform everyday tasks like walking. The ability to run is imperative to me because exercise brings me immense joy and strength to get through each day. I run on Christmas and Thanksgiving morning every year because I adore the feeling of wind flowing through my hair and the pavement pounding underneath my feet. The sweat clears my mind and body of stress and worry that I have. In a way, running is how I express gratitude to my heart, lungs, and legs for doing their jobs for me every day. The least I can do is keep them vigorous and appreciate their durability.

MAGGIE MIHAYLOVA COMMON APPLICATION Prompt: The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? “Molia te!” The Bulgarian border control officer shouted over my mom’s protests. “I’m sorry, but your daughter cannot leave the country.” I looked into the officer’s cold, narrowed eyes and began to brainstorm getaway routes. I could see our gate behind the glass doors. A couple of strides, and we would be home free. Much to my dismay, the border police were not interested in making exceptions or easing the already difficult situation. That is the Bulgarian way: bythe-book decision making. I began to cry from a mix of sleep deprivation, disappointment, and a last attempt to trigger the guards’ emotions. Similar to how I had felt for most of the trip, I yearned for the sugary sweetness of American courtesy. “I’m sorry,” the officer said with no trace of remorse in his eyes. “Next!” My mom and I were led past the winding security line to the entrance of Sofia Airport as I considered possible silver linings. I looked up at Vitosha mountain, thinking maybe we could pass the time with a hike – then remembered our tennis shoes were en route to Detroit, along with the rest of our luggage. It felt like Bulgaria was rejecting me, but it didn’t feel like America was welcoming me either. Frustrated and confused, we

climbed into a taxi and headed back towards the city. As a first generation American with two Bulgarian parents, I often feel uncertain about which heritage I identify with the most. I love my grandmother’s traditional cooking, but also enjoy a Big Mac. I celebrate Baba Marta in March but set up Christmas lights in December. I write poetry in English and text my parents in the Cyrillic alphabet. But by the time I turned sixteen, I had only visited Bulgaria a handful of times. I wanted more exposure to a very significant side of me. So for my seventeenth birthday, I asked to spend a month in Bulgaria. Growing up, life at home and at school remained separated. At school, I was American, embodying the spirit of Shirley Temple with my blonde curls and jittery dance moves. But as the other first graders chattered away about the latest episode of Sesame Street, I sat quietly, confused about who Elmo was; I was more accustomed to the large, clunky VHS tapes my parents had brought over from Europe. During lunchtime, my friends would pull out their staple PB&Js, while I would open a thermos of palneni chushki, eliciting cries of: “Eww, Maggie, put that smelly puke away!” These interactions were the basis of

my confusion. Feeling like my Bulgarian characteristics stood out in America made me wonder if my identity really did reside overseas. However, on my first day in Bulgaria, I realized I may have overestimated my belonging. As my dad’s best friend Veso picked us up from the airport, he smiled and leaned over to me, lips puckered and ready to greet me. Terrified, I pushed him away with a yelp. Although Veso was simply going for the classic double-cheek peck, I was so unaccustomed to this Bulgarian greeting that I literally shoved my godfather away. Paradoxically, being in Bulgaria strengthened my pride for the United States. Whenever we spent time with family friends, the adults led the conversation and it was deemed odd if I piped in. It was unheard of for “children” to be opinionated, and I missed the youthful empowerment I felt in America. When I finally made it back to the States, I felt dispirited. I had spent weeks in Bulgaria in search of myself, and had emerged with nothing but a paradox. I traveled in hopes of discovering the beauty of dual identity, but instead found frustrating complexity. Although I hoped discovering myself would be simple, I realized it’s not as easy as a couple of strides past a border control officer. may

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Executive Order 101 T BY SAM CIESIELSKI

he executive order is an enumerated the country is faced with an urgent need, it may power of the president. Each order take too long for congress to pass legislation on begins with “By the authority vest- the matter. For example, following the 9/11 tered in me as President by the Con- rorist attacks, President George H. Bush passed stitution and the laws of the United States of various executive orders coordinating the acAmerica, I hereby direct as follows...” Article II, tions of agencies involved in response. PresiSection 1 of the text broadly states that “The dent Franklin D. Roosevelt signed more execexecutive Power shall be vested in a President utive orders than any other president (3,728 of the United States of America.” This line jus- executive orders) while implementing a plethtifies the constitutionality of the executive or- ora of New Deal programs. Those programs, der. As the head of the executive branch, the including the Social Security Act, significantly president uses helped stabilize the executive the economic order to instruct state of the US “By the authority vested in me executive agenamid the Great as President by the Constitution cies on how to Depression. enforce legislaThe executive and the laws of the United States tion passed by order is also of America...” congress. often the manIt is importner by which a ant to note that, president orders while they do carry the force of law, executive force by the national defense as the Commandorders cannot withdraw from funds not pre- er in Chief. viously allocated by Congress as they control As of May 1, President Trump has signed 33 the national budget. For example, an executive executive orders, some more controversial than order may direct the EPA to create a new set others. However, it is important to understand of regulations on the production of red meats the whole picture. The next page displays a few but cannot finance a new program to campaign important orders he has signed so far. Many of against the negative effects of red meat produc- these provide relatively broad messages. Exection. utive orders like these are designed to establish The executive order has served many vital pur- his agenda for the executive branch; they are poses throughout history. An advantage of the signed towards the beginning of a presidency. executive order is that it is a unilateral action. If

Article II, Section 1

1: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows: 8: Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:-”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” 78

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Article II, Section 2

1: The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Article II, US Constitution Article addressing the executive power of the US federal government. Enumerated Power A power of the president that is explicitly granted by the constitution. Executive Agency Individual beaurocracies that compose the executicve branch of government (ex. EPA, FCC, DOD, etc.). Executive Order A legal means by which the president tells the executive branch how to execute legislation passed by congress. National Defense The collection of executive agency that deals with use of military force. National Defense The collection of executive agency that deals with use of military force. New Deal Set of programs enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s with the goal of easing the poor economic state of the US during the Great Depression.

NEWS ANALYSIS

Notable Executive Orders Signed by President Trump “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” The infamous “travel ban” placed a plethora of restrictions on immigration to the United States. It suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program, indefinitely suspended the entry of Syrian refugees, and variious other indirect restrictions on immigration with case-by-case exceptions. “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs” For every new executive-enforced regulation, two standing regulations are subject to review for elimination.

“Border Safety and Immigration Enforcement Improvements” Instructs relevant brder control agencies to to stricten their border security procedures since they were previously legislated to do so. “Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals for High Priority Infrastructure Projects” Reduces environmental “agency processes and procedures” necessary to execute new infrastructure projects in order to maximum the efficiency of federal infrastructure decisions.

“Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal” Directs executive departments with power under the Affordable Care Act to grant states further flexibility in implmenting healthcare programs. “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” Strictens the enforcement of citizenship laws and instructs the federal government to play a larger role in doing so (as opposed to the states).

Notable Executive Orders Signed by Presidents Throughout History Desegregation of the Armed Forces Signed by President Harry Truman in 1948, Executive Order 9981 abolished racial discrimination in the US Armed Forces. Desegregation of Schools Signed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1957, Executive Order 10730 sent US army troops into Arkansas to ensure nine black children could safely attend school after the Arkansas National Guard refused to cooperate.

Emancipation Proclomation Signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, it granted upwards of three million slaves in 10 slave states the legal status of a free citizen. Equal Employment Opportunity Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, Executive Order 11246 took affirmative action and set non-discriminatory requirements for federal government hiring.

Works Progress Administration Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Executive Order 7034 established the WPA which gave more than eight million americans jobs in the height of the Great Depression. WWII American Inernment Camps Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942, Executive Order 9066 authorized the Secretary of War to establish military zones that made the internment of Japanese, German, and Italian Americans. may

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Working Women in America BY SONJA BENJAMINS-CAREY

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the gap has narrowed in recent years, but women still make about 78 cents to every dollar that men make.

Women make up slightly less than half of the nation’s labor force, yet there is still a significant gap between men and women’s wages.

It’s important to remember that women of color are often at an even bigger disadvantage.

Women of color make up about one-third of the female workforce.

But Black, Native American and Hispanic women tend to have much lower salaries than their White and Asian/Pacific Islander peers.

In fact, Hispanic women make only 54 cents to a White man’s dollar.

If the same trends continue, the gender wage gap in the U.S. won’t close until 2058.

And even though women are more likely to have higher education degrees, they struggle to succeed in high paying positions.

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North Korea’s Nuclear Capabilities SHEA O’BRIEN

Early this April, North Korea attempted launching a missile in celebration of the birthday of their country’s founder, Kim Il Sung. Though the test failed, the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons has become a worldwide problem. The isolated Communist nation has been testing missiles and nuclear bombs since 2006, but has never truly been considered an imminent threat to the United States until now. Vice President Mike Pence issued strict warnings toward North Korea while visiting U.S. ally South Korea, and President Trump held meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping to talk about a possible answer to the national security issue. Trump also threatened to send an armada of war ships to the area, that arived just last week With all this chaos happening around us, many Americans are left wondering, what exactly are North Korea’s nuclear capabilites? If this conflict boils over into war, what can they do to us?

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BY ISAAC MCKENNA AND ELENA BERNIER

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THE IMPORTANCE OF EDITORIAL

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OPINION

WIFI-FREE

ENVIRONMENTS BY MARY DEBONA

It had been two years since I had last been to summer camp and spent part of my summer living in a cabin in the woods. With summer camp came living independent of wifi—something that I had not done since I had last gone. Although my desire to be separate from the world that I was constantly connected to through my phone had only grown since, my connectedness to the world had grown too. Perhaps my desire to be in the wilderness—where my phone wasn’t within reach—had increased because I had become so intertwined in the invisible web that my phone connected me to. The last time that I had gone to camp, I didn’t have a smartphone. The only part that I struggled with while living “unplugged” was trying to find a wall outlet to charge my camera battery. This time, embarrassingly enough, I felt uncomfortable living free of my phone. I had become so adjusted to instantly finding someone to talk to or something to do whenever I had my phone with me that I no longer knew what to do when I did not have it. This left me reaching for a book or my journal instead, things that soon replaced my phone. It was not long before I forgot about a world with my phone. I would wake up early and stay up late with just my camera and wait for the sun to reach just the right place in the sky. I would sketch landscapes that lay before my eyes; I would watch waterfalls flow without ever getting bored. I felt completely comfortable without my phone and without any contact with the outside world. These were all things that I likely never would have done if it had not been for the fact that I was living away from my phone, social media, and Netflix. Social media isn’t all bad; platforms like Instagram have obvious attractions: they enable their users to see friends and family everyday who they would not otherwise see. But being free of my phone did not make me miss my friends and family any more or any less than if I would have had my phone while I was away from home. For me, my phone would not replace the distance that was in between my home and me. I did not flee to the wilderness only to be away from my phone, although as I neared my departure, I longed to get away from the persistent presence of social media that existed in so many social situations. Outside of camp, my phone was almost always on me. If my phone wasn’t interrupting almost every conversation that I had—or did not have—someone else’s was. Before this summer, I had wondered what made being away at camp so special. After meeting up with my camp friends away from camp, I got my answer. At camp, all we had was each other; we did not have our phones that we could use to slip away at any given moment. We were forced to be with each other and—as awful as that might

sound—it was wonderful. I was able to be present in every moment, except sometimes when reading letters that I received in the mail: my only tie to the outside world. Conversations usually ended up with us laughing until we were sore. Outside of camp, my friends were not the same, and conversations with them were never as good. Sure, part of it could be because we were no longer stranded in the wilderness and instead were all caught up in our own everyday lives, but I knew that for the most part, it had to do with our phones. Every time the conversation slowed, someone was back on their phone. I only noticed it with my camp friends because I had become so accustomed to what our conversations had been like without our phones that I had never noticed it. But with my friends back home—because that was always how it was—I never paid it much attention. Over time, we all ended up owning smartphones, and the constant interruption that they often created had gradually become normal. Camp made me hate my phone for taking me out of so many moments that I would never get back; moments that I could have met someone new or admired the world around me, I had instead spent passing the time staring mindlessly at my phone. I did not want to be on my phone as much as I was, but when everyone else is on theirs, what would I do rather than go on mine? Since the iPhone was released in 2007 and since having a smartphone has become “the norm,” the way that most people live their lives has forever changed. Everyday life, growing up, learning, and working have all been permanently altered in environments where phones are used. Places that are devoid of phones or other devices with access to wifi and cellular data are rare. Children are being raised with technology in their hands, unaware of a world without a consistent wireless connection. We live in a world where the internet is always with us, and because of that, how will we ever be able to see the world around us or meet the people around us? It is necessary now more than ever that we and future generations are able to retreat to environments absent of phones. If we never remove children from environments where they have unlimited access to the internet, they will never be able to truly experience the world around them and create connections with other people. We cannot continue to raise generations that are uncomfortable being without their phones. When I recall the best experiences that I have had in my life, I can’t even remember where my phone was at the time. I can, however, remember where I was and who I was with. I know that if I had been distracted by my phone, those moments would not have been so good. I want others to be able to experience what I experienced while I lived isolated from the outside world.

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The Dangers of Clickbait and Fake News

Clickbait and fake news have been part of American news for over a hundred years. Now, there needs to be a discussion about the effects these have had and how to put an end to them.

BY ATTICUS DEWEY

lickbaiting has become an issue that is one of the most commonly talked about and most common themes in television and online media. Coming up with overthe-top, hyperbolic, and extreme headlines in the attempt to get people to click on them has become the social norm. This issue is nothing new, but what used to be just a mild annoyance has taken on a very sinister tone. As clickbait has be86

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come more common, it has given birth to a far more dangerous relative: fake news. Websites and newspapers have started blatantly lying and passing it off as fact just to get a click, one of the largest times this has occurred is the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election. After the election, the news was blamed for swaying voters, suppressing voters, creating scandals, and outright lying about

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simple facts such as which candidate got more votes. For weeks after the election, people didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know which candidate won more votes, simply because on different news outlets the results would flip back and forth. However, to understand the media of today, it would be beneficial to go back to when clickbaiting was first used. In the mid-1800s, when newspapers were sold on street corners to get people to

OPINION impulsively buy, newsboys had to shout tainment, stories that may or may not, be the release of the iPhone. The blog Enout the headlines, which meant that the real to get your attention and sell some gadget reported on authority that the iPheadlines had to be catchy. Once peo- commercial breaks in the process. hone’s release date was getting pushed ple realized that exaggerated headlines The real danger that clickbaiting and back from June to October, and potenwould sell more on the streets than cut- fake news holds is not the articles them- tially later. A graph provided by Tech Diand-dry news stories, the age of yellow selves, but instead, clickbaiting and fake gest showed that in less than 15 minutes journalism began. Yellow journalism news articles do an exceptionally good after the blog post, Apple’s value as a is classified as ‘news’ that is badly re- job at making people share the fake company dropped by four billion dollars. searched. It consists of mostly guess- news. They do this by playing with the Luckily Apple was able to clarify the situwork and is supported by very large emotion that is the most powerful for ation and recover most of its lost money statements with very little evidence. Yel- fake news: anger. An influential study of by the end of the day, but it just goes to low journalism tends to cover political 200,000 Twitter users in China, conduct- show how dangerous this stuff can be. scandals, corruption, and racist covered by MIT, showed that angry posts on Especially when it’s influencing the canage. Once the paper had been bought, or social media are three times more like- didates we vote for, the way we choose in the case of modern media had been ly to spread through shares or retweets to spend our money, and the way we feel clicked, it didn’t matter what the content than any other emotion. When look- about people in other cultures. was. In fact, some companies favored it ing back through news posts from the The dangers of clickbait and the fake if the story was false because then the past year, the top stories that dominate news it generates have only proven to be paper could run an exposé, followed by headlines are racial tension, senseless vi- dangerous. So how do we deal with the an argument, drawing out a clickable olence, and people’s rights being threat- issue? Newspapers have been dealing headline for more with this problem and more papers for a long time, but on those clickable when yellow joursubjects. These nalism was a probsubjects kept lem, one of the first people on top big answers was deof the scandal signing a system that would nevthat wasn’t based er have existed on selling papers at “No one wants to face the reality if the newspaper street corners anythat this is an advertising company had done their remore. It was based search in the first on, of all things, with a bunch of hobbies.” place. This raises subscriptions. a question: Why When subscriptions do we have this started the newspaproblem? It’s bepers and had a subcause these comscriber base they panies don’t make could count on, money off of the they didn’t have to articles they write. worry about whethThese companies make their money off ened. These are the posts that are getting er their headlines were attractive enough of the advertisements on the page. They the most shares, not reasoned arguments to sell to the same customers every day. report on current content to get you to and analyses. The anger from these arti- They had a consistent source of income watch or read just so you’re there when cles prompts immediate action. In your that they could rely upon. That, in turn, the next ad slots itself in. mind, there’s no time for fact-checking let the journalists relax a little bit and enThe way fake news will be conquered because the immediate response is to hit abled them to print more normal-lookis going to take a change of mind. The retweet and to tell everyone we know ing stories, and maybe even spend some first step will be to stop thinking about about this so that everyone can be as en- time fact checking them. Meanwhile, the the blogs of people’s opinions as news, raged as we are. subscribers were supporting a product because they’re not. Their product isn’t We’re in an age of ripple effect enter- they believed in and they trusted to denews, it’s advertising space. Take this line tainment where one small post or sto- liver regular content. Lots of newspaof thought to its logical conclusion and ry can escalate and grow into a much pers still have a subscribership model you get something that makes a whole bigger, much more dangerous thing. In and it is exactly because of this. If you lot of sense when you consider it. Goo- a world where one person posts a fake are financially supporting the paper, it gle? It’s not making a whole lot of mon- story or manufactures a fake news im- shouldn’t have to rely on sleazy tactics ey off of its search engine, or the new age on Twitter, it picks up momentum, to stay afloat. tech it’s producing. Its profit comes from gets some shares or retweets, and sudAs the world moves into a new era of the ads. According to Bloomberg Busi- denly smaller blogs start picking it up communication, we, as people, deserve nessweek 76.1 billion dollars (or around and larger accounts start to talk about to know a way to combat clickbait and 90 percent) of Google’s income comes it, until it’s all the way up to mainstream fake news. The easiest way of combating from Google’s ad business. A previous media and big time news outlets. By the fake news is to support the news outlets executive of the company, who has cho- time it reaches mainstream media it is that you trust. By giving these compasen to stay anonymous, has said, “No almost impossible to find the original nies financial support you create a bond one wants to face the reality that this is source. Since no one has gone back to between the company and yourself, and an advertising company with a bunch of that source to fact check, it we rely on because of the bond you receive more hobbies,” therefore they create products the posts of others. Bandwagoning has accurate information. The world is where ads can then be placed. News is made fake news what it is today. One ex- changing so find the groups you support just a fancy word for a genre of enter- ample of this happening is in 2007 with and stick with them. may

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OPINION

The Ann Arbor Bubble

BY EMILY TSCHIRHART

“I live in one of the safest and most accepting towns: Ann Arbor.” As a student at Community High School, I hear this turn-of-phrase frequently. When you think safety and acceptance, you think of few crimes, of those no hate crimes, and a diverse group of individuals. Ann Arbor is far from this. The oft-heard expression “Ann Arbor Bubble” is similar to that of a plague. In an ever-changing world, it is impossible to categorize a liberal town as a bubble. To some, the “bubble” may be positive: a beacon of unquestionable acceptance acting as a shield from potential xenophobia and hatred. For others, it means that the actions that they take may not have consequence. To call a city a bubble is to call it impervious to hatred. And while Ann Arbor as a city may seem relatively safe, that isn’t the case for everyone. “Liberal” doesn’t mean “free of hatred and ignorance.” There are many people who believe that Michigan itself is a liberal state due to the fact that the Michigan governor position has had a fluctuation in its “republican-ness.” And in Ann Arbor alone, there have been Democratic mayors since 2000, both John Hieftje and Christopher Taylor. Yet in the 2016 election, the majority of Michigan voted for Donald Trump, a Republican. Even though there were 2.26 million people in Michigan that voted for Hillary Clinton, the 2.27 million who voted for Trump voted for bigotry and intolerance. 88

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While, according to MLive, Ann Arbor hate crimes have depreciated exponentially over the past few years, that trend may be in serious trouble. After Trump was elected on Nov. 8, hate crimes rose from six per week to roughly 30 in Michigan. It quickly became apparent, after reviews of the cases, that the incidents in Michigan were almost entirely motivated by race. The Michigan Incident Crime Report completed their 2015 report and discovered both major increases and decreases in different kinds of crimes reported to the University of Michigan Police Department. For example, there were seven major damage-to-property offenses in 2014 but only two in 2015. Reported disorderly conduct decreased from two major offenses in 2014 to none in 2015. There have been spikes in recent crime as well. Non-aggravated assault rose by 100 percent in the year between 2014 and 2015, and larceny rose from 23 offenses to 37. Michigan, in its entirety, had a total of 495 hate crimes in 2015. Of the 495 offenses, many of the incidents—about 70 percent—were motivated by racial prejudice. Anti-black crimes made up 187 of these. There has even been an upwards trend of fake hate crimes. In March 2017, a 21 year-old woman named Halley Bass admitted that she made up an entire story of assault by a Trump supporter on the University of Michigan campus. Typical-

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ly, these occur once in a blue moon, but dishonesty has become wildly more apparent. But fraudulent crimes make up about six percent of all reported crimes, so is it fair to assume that most hate crimes are accurately reported? An overarching theme in Michigan is a lack of diversity. Ann Arbor especially, in its uniqueness, cannot place itself in the uppermost reaches of diversity. Ann Arbor, according to Niche’s 2017 Most Diverse Places To Live, doesn’t even breach the top 25 cities in Michigan alone. In fact, it ranked 60th. Diversity increases tolerance, acceptance, and brings about the sharing of cultures. Whether that diversity comes from race, religious preferences, or economic differences. To deny that Ann Arbor has a lack of diversity is to deny the impact that diversity can have on a community. It is more important, now than ever, to encourage cultural diversity and create a sense of family. Participate in marches and demonstrations and help your community become a better, more inclusive place. Cooperation comes from tolerance and education based on the differences between races and we owe it to those who have been persecuted based on their differences to be a voice, a resource, and a helping hand.

OPINION

It’s Okay to Be Offended

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: SACHA VERLON

Maybe the Democratic Party is becoming more sensitive, but that’s a good thing. BY ANDIE TAPPENDEN AND GINA LIU

“I don’t like when people say ‘you can’t say that,’” said Sawyer Dupree, a 10th grader who argues that society may be too sensitive at times. “How do you feel when people say ‘triggered?’ Because I think that’s hilarious. I think it’s really funny. But I’ve met people like ‘you can’t say that, that’s making fun of a real issue,’ but a lot of comedy is making fun of actual things. I think people just want something to fight against.” According to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, a significant percentage of Americans have a stance similar to Dupree: 78 percent of Republicans, 37 percent of Democrats, and 68 percent of Independent voters feel that “too many people are easily offended these days over language.” A part of the 78 percent of Republicans who seem apathetic to the issue, former Republican talk-show host Tomi Lahren has mocked “liberal snowflakes” who are so sensitive that they might “melt on the sidewalk” if anyone dares make some joke suggesting some human beings are inferior to others, and what’s the harm in that? Just some jokes, just some fun, right? However, what these jokes do is sprinkle fuel into a fire of prejudice and inequality that is currently raging in society and further isolate marginalized people at the expense of a few laughs. Being offended by jokes that might poke fun at mental health, transgender people, and other categories all wrap into identity politics, an issue that the Democratic party is becoming more and more divided on. After Hillary Clinton’s loss, a huge

amount of the liberal American population spiraled into an upset frenzy. Who and what is to blame for Donald Trump winning the presidential election? In an effort to answer the latter, Mark Lilla of the New York Times wrote that the Democratic Party had been too focused on minority rights, causing White middle-class Americans to feel excluded. “In recent years, American liberalism has slipped into a kind of moral panic about racial, gender, and sexual identity that has distorted liberalism’s message and prevented it from becoming a unifying force capable of governing,” Lilla said in “The End of Identity Liberalism,” published in the New York Times on Nov. 18, 2016. The message is clear: the Democratic Party must focus on support from those in ‘the middle’ rather than minorities to win future elections. And who exactly is ‘the middle?’ White working-class citizens who are constantly highlighted as the reason why Hillary did not win. Lilla’s Neo-Liberal lense of the election becomes very problematic after analyzing his true ideals from the article. Saying that the Democratic Party is too focused on “others” insinuates that the core of the party is white, heterosexual and cisgender males. Lilla is annoyed by this intersectionality because he can afford to be annoyed. He prioritizes the rights of himself and others like him over the rights of the marginalized. To Lilla, fighting for minority rights requires too much time and effort. However, many Americans can’t afford to give up that fight because their lives depend on it. Lives like Eric Garner’s, a

44-year-old black man who was strangled to death in 2014 by the NYPD, who claimed he had been selling cigarettes illegally. Lives like the 258 black Americans who, according to the Huffington Post, were murdered by the police in 2016. Lives like Jojo Striker, a transgender woman who was killed on Feb. 8, 2017, at first misgendered by the media following her death, and like the six other trans women who were murdered within the first two months of 2017. It would be impossible to list all the lives lost stemming from prejudice. Nothing can be done to bring these individuals back to life, but by changing the way we treat minorities and by not allowing the blatant disrespect of certain groups of people we will begin to alter the idea that some lives are less important than others. One correction at a time. Becoming more politically correct does not harm anyone–maybe except conservatives and evangelicals who ironically oppose safe spaces. It gives support to transgender individuals, people of color, those who feel on the lowest of priorities to even liberals. Instead of focusing on how to stay away from POC, LGBT+, and disabled rights for the benefit of white working class conservatives, the Democratic Party—and frankly, everybody else—should pay attention to those who have felt excluded from society and make them feel like a part of this democracy. Whether it is a politician using a slur or a peer who makes a joke, all factor into the feelings and thoughts of marginalized people. It is okay to be offended.

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OPINION

Yes, Let’s Go.

Ann Arbor students have made the same race-related complaints for decades.

BY KYNDALL FLOWERS

“This publication has no connection shouldn’t be taught as a knee-jerk reme- off track, or they didn’t really want to foto the administration or any administra- dial reaction to racist incidents. Black cus on the issue. They just wanted to go tion-sanctioned publication. We are an students also shouldn’t have to feel to- around it which was really disappointing. independent student voice— if Mr. Sch- kenized in their classes because they’re A lot of work went into that and it was a reiber doesn’t like what we have to say— often used as a primary source to talk really great opportunity to have a discustough shit… We know our capabilities about race. sion,” Dicko added. and rights, however, and we WILL voice “As far as learning about race and While days like the day Community our opinions.” This is the lead of a con- talking about race, that’s just not a good High School went to see Selma are imtroversial opinion portant, if the dipiece, published in alogue meant to “There are a few teachers who try to Ann Arbor High happen afterward School’s independoesn’t happen, be dedicated to the work, and try their hardest, dent newspaper in the day is wasted. but I feel like it’s not enough.” May of 1968. The It also can’t compiece went on to pensate for the highlight some all lack of Black histotoo familiar grievry taught in school ances. time,” said Hawa Dicko, a junior at that’s been brought up in the Ann Arbor First, they talk about grades. The writ- Community High School. “The teachers Public School system since 1968. ers bring up the irony of how the pun- don’t feel comfortable. They don’t know There is no reason Community High ishment for skipping school is a “forced how to talk about it. And then it’s just students should be dealing with the same extended vacation.” They write that the you being the one of one or two Black issues of representation in their curricupolicy gives students a warped idea of students in the class and everyone looks lum as students did in 1968. The reality reality outside of school, and the true to you and you feel uncomfortable and that we are dealing with the same issues meaning of education. you don’t know what to say.” is reminiscent of the absurdist 1953 play, “The whole grade scene is repulsive,” “And you don’t want to say the wrong “Waiting For Godot” by Samuel Beckthey write. thing,” Olivia Freeman, a senior added. ett. While the fact that the Pioneer WestTheir last grievance is slipped in at the “And then they’re like ‘none of the ern Humanities Class covers obscure abend of the article. Black students are talking,’” Dicko said. surdist plays before any Black literature “American History students are not “It’s not our job to educate them, is irksome, the ending somewhat reflects given a representative picture of Black though. It’s not our job,” Freeman fin- the progression of administration on Americans’ contributions.” ished. race issues and race representation in This sentiment still echoes through It is the job, however, of our teachers our curriculum. school hallways, nearly 50 years later. to provide us with a well-rounded educaThe two main characters, Didi and Throughout this school year alone, tion. Some handle race education better Gogo, wait on a country road, day afCommunity High School has dealt with than others. ter day, by a tree for a character named two anti-Black macroaggressions: first, “There are few teachers who try to be Godot, who never arrives. They enterthe loaded announcement that Black stu- dedicated to the work, and try their hard- tain themselves with trivialities, like putdents belong at Pathways by a student in est, but I feel like it’s not enough,” Dicko ting a boot on and off, and frustratingly the hallway earlier this school year; sec- said. repitive conversation. At the end of the ond, the infamous Ides Of Trump deba“I feel like some do it mostly because play, when night falls, they decide to stop cle, when Mira Kaufman saw a postcard they have to, not because they want to,” waiting for Godot and leave. However, to Donald Trump where a student wrote Freeman added. they stay exactly where they are. The last “I hate niggers, too,” and words of sup“It’s kind of feels like they’re doing it three lines of the play are, port for President Trump. Kaufman to keep up the facade that Community is “‘Well? Shall we go?’ tore the postcard up. Meanwhile, every so diverse, so accepting. Just like the lit‘Yes, let’s go.’ day and under the radar, Black students tle project that we had, like the race card They do not move.” face microaggressions. While these inci- project,” said Dicko. And the curtain closes. dents sparked necessary dialogue, particFreeman brought up the school wide While Community students know some ularly in the joint Black Student Union “march” to see “Selma” and the discus- teachers work within the curriculum to and Forum Council meetings, the major- sion that happened after. educate their students about Black culity of Community students don’t go to “During Selma day,” Freeman said, “it ture, a curriculum change from the disthe BSU/Forum Council Meetings. In was hard to get the ball rolling. We heard trict is necessary. It often feels like our addition, those meetings are not histo- what other forums had said after Not teachers are Didi and Gogo, waiting for ry lessons, so even students who do at- School As Usual Day, and it seemed like either a racist event to move and make tend may not be informed about Black some forums got [to have good discus- progress, or for administration to change history. sions about race] and others were kind the curriculum. Instead of another racist The need for better representation of stuck or lost.” occurance, it’s time for AAPS adminisstill stands. Black history and culture “I was really looking forward to the tration—our metaphorical Godot—to shouldn’t be, and can’t be, fit into one- discussions, but it sounds like a lot of show up. It’s been 49 years. day-long events or elective classes. It also the forum leaders let the discussion go may

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senior songs CAITLIN MAHONEY AND GINA LIU

what to listen to

listen when you’re

Summertime Ella Fitzgerald

reminiscing on past summer memories

Island in the Sun Weezer

taking a nap after your last final

Temptation Joey Bada$$

happy that you graduated!!

Paradise Clementine and the Galaxy

on summer drive

Sunshine Rye Rye (feat. M.I.A)

walking through the Arb

Interstate Love Song Stone Temple Pilots

road trip with your friends

Take a Picture Filter

trying to remember high school memories

Going Down Watsky

moped ride around the parking lot

Molly’s Lips The Vaselines

swinging on the front lawn

Baby Say Good-Bye Wavves

senior celebration day!!

The Freshmen The Verve Pipe

on your first day away at college

Season 2 Episode 3 Glass Animals

it’s one of those lazy summer days

R.I.P. 2 My Youth The Neighbourhood

it’s your 18th birthday

LISTEN ONLINE!

Les Cactus The Last Shadow Puppets

not missing the fakes

http://spoti.fi/2oXwYX0

Stay Young NE-HI

not wanting to grow up

Goodbye Best Coast

living away

Say Yes! to M!ch!gan! Sufjan Stevens

missing Michigan

Bashful Creatures Hippo Campus

leaving Community

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Back Lawn Thoughts “What are you thinking about right now?” BY CAMILLE KONRAD AELENA BERNIER

3) Jonah Eichner: “I’m thinking about that tree over there. It looks like some sort of willow. It doesn’t have leaves yet. I’m excited for the leaves, that will be fun.” 4) Billie Adams: “I honestly was thinking about this song, it’s called “Location” by Khalid. I really like it and I was thinking about doing a dance to it.”

5) Ola Dornoff: “I’m not thinking about anything. My mind is just blank.” 6) Olivia Comai: “I want to do a new design for the new banners on the front of the school, so I’m trying to come up with some ideas.”

1) Andrea Schnell: “I was thinking about the sky because there’s no clouds.” 2) Francesca Olgario: “I am thinking about when my parents are going to get here, because I have to eat lunch.”

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HUMANS OF COMMUNITY

humans of community MEET THE FACES OF COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

SAM URIBE BY SACHA VERLON AND ALEC REDDING

“I think they just want me to put myself out there [in the world] even if I don’t go to a top college.“

“I would probably describe myself as…a hard worker, but still relaxed and open minded. I see myself at university [in the next five years]. I don’t know what to do yet, but I definitely want to go into something [in general]. My parents didn’t go to college here in the United States, so they don’t really know much about how the system works here, because it’s very different from where I’m from, Colombia, South America. They [my parents] went to college there. And the system is very different [in Columbia], so I think they just want me to put my-

self out there [in the world] even if I don’t go to a top college… I don’t think they’re really worried about that, they are just worried about me going into some profession or something like that. I hope that I’m able to find a good job. I’m really into music so maybe for a producing company or something like that. That would be a lot of fun. I started playing piano in fourth grade? And I started playing saxophone in 7th grade. Actually, I taught myself [saxophone]. I had a teacher for piano, but I taught myself how to play saxophone.”

NANAKO FUJIOKA BY JENNI KRZECZKOWSKI AND ALEC REDDING

“I experienced multiple things for the first time.” 94

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“My dad works in Japan, so my mom takes care of us. My mom has been the biggest influence in my life because she’s always been there for me when I needed her. I have many happy moments in my life, but if I had to choose it would probably be the time I got to visit Costa Rica. When I was

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there I experienced multiple things for the first time, a monkey stood on my head, I saw a live crocodile for the first time, and I went parasailing. I remember loving all the outdoor activities that we got to do on a daily basis.”

HUMANS OF COMMUNITY

IAN KELLER BY ALLY EINHAUS

“I was really proud whenever my brother was happy with me.”

“When I was younger, I was really proud whenever my brother was happy with me because he was a really big role model in my life. He’s a lot older [than me], he’s 26 now. I was just really happy whenever he was proud of me. When I was really little he would take me to the woods behind our house and we would wander around there for a little while. It was fun. He’s real-

ly successful now. He is a video game programmer, and we would fix up some of the old computer stuff that he had. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but he did, so that was fun. We were close when we were younger but now he’s across the country so it’s harder. Whenever he comes and visits, we hangout a lot, but I don’t really see him outside of that.”

NATALIE LAKIN BY MIRA SIMONTON-CHAO

“He’s always been someone that I’m just comfortable with.”

Kit Bennett [has definitely been my biggest influence]. It’s weird to think because he’s such a jerk, but he’s a lovable jerk, and I don’t have any men in my life. Like I had my dad growing up, but he’s actually transitioning to female now. So, I would consider [myself] to never have had any male role-model and I don’t really have any trust for men either. But he’s always been some-

one that I’m just comfortable with. I know I can tell him things and I can put my trust in him with like all academic and mental instability and stuff. He’s always gone to bat for me and tried to just make the best of any situation that I got myself into. He’s always been there to support me. I’ve never had a good coach before, so it’s such a change.”

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ARTIST PROFILE: KAYANN BERGER

BY WM. HENRY SCHIRMER

Kayann Berger is a senior at Community. She is hoping to pursue a career in engineering. She hopes to design things that are both functional and appealing. What was your inspiration for this mask? Our assignment was to do what we felt spiritually, like what we connected with. I connected with the creator archetype. I [think] that a lot of artists, we always express what we are feeling in art and we can’t necessarily say what we want to say, so we have to show it, whether that be in paintings, music, or drawings. That is what the mask represents. The flower represents creativity and the flower that is rotting from the mouth represents what we can’t say. Do you enjoy more sculptural works or paintings and drawings? That is really hard. I don’t really have the ability to create sculptures at home, so my media tends to stay two dimensional. At school I love to create sculpture, because it is something I can do outside of my house and [I] get to use all these different materials to build something. What mediums do you tend to work with? I usually just use paper, pencils, paint; I love all kinds of paint. The only paint I haven’t used is oil paint. I love watercolors. Are there any mediums that you want to work with? I’ve always wanted to try chalk, just because I love chalking on pavement, but I’ve never actually done it on a piece of paper before. It just gets really messy, so I haven’t had the proper technique to do that.

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When did you first start creating art? Before I was even in kindergarten and preschool I remember we had this plastic table and it was just full of art and materials. We would have paper, paint, those weird water color pen things, which I would squirt all over the place and make a huge mess, but it was just what I loved doing. We would have glitter; I am banned from using glitter. It has always been a part of my life. Now that you are in high school, what has motivated you to continue with art? I just love how it makes me feel. I love seeing my ideas actually take shape. It’s always calming, because I can focus on something and it can take me away from everything else that is going on for a while. I can just be myself and express myself. Are there any artists that you really admire? Ever since I was younger, my parents have always had Monet around the house, so I’ve always looked at his art and seen all the beautiful aspects of it. All the brush strokes, all the colors, so I’ve always looked [up] to him. I also really like da Vinci, just because he was an inventor as well as an artist. What do you hope for the future of your art? I want to be an engineer, and because I love art so much, I’m looking more at the design aspect of it. I’m really looking forward to designing things that can be used in real life and that other people will use. I’m looking at just the creative aspect of it, so it will be useful, but it will also be appealing to look at.

Q&A

We Are All Immigrants BY MADIE GRACEY

SARA PISANELLI (Green Square)

RIVA SZOSTKOWSKI (Red Dot)

DANIEL PASQUANTONIO (Blue Star)

What ethnicity are you? I am Chinese.

What ethnicity are you? I am Polish-German.

What ethnicity are you? I am half Italian, 25 percent Luxembourgian, and possibly Native American.

Are your parents from China? I was adopted actually. What ethnicity are they? My mom is Irish and my dad is Italian. Have you ever been to Italy, Ireland or China? No, I have not. What are some family traditions? My mom has a really big family, so we try to get together a few times a year. We used to have a big house up in New Hampshire, but now we get together at someone’s house at least once or twice a year. I used to play hide-and-seek with like 14 of my cousins, it was really fun. It was very comfortable.

Where is your family from? I’m fourth generation Polish-German. My great grandparents came over from Poland. Have you ever been to Poland? No, but I have been to Mexico, Canada, Spain, Italy, and Greece. Half of it was for school and the other half for a deployment in the military. What are some family traditions? When I was growing up, my mom, her six brothers, and their families would get together at my grandparents house and we would have a celebration on Christmas Eve. It’s a Polish tradition with a big wafer called a “oplatek,” you wish somebody a Happy New Year and break off a piece of the wafer. It is an old polish tradition my grandparents and parents continued.

Where is your family from? Both of my grandparents on my dad’s side were from Italy and my mother was 50 percent Luxembourgian and it was believed that her father was Native American. Have you ever been to Italy or Luxembourg? Or ever wish to visit them? No, I have not been to either. I would like to go to Italy to see where my grandparents grew up and many of my friends have said that it is a place you need to go. What are some family traditions? Going to church with my family on holidays like Christmas and just in general. Getting together with the family for Thanksgiving and Christmas for dinner.

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10 QUESTIONS

Taylor Tucker-Gray

Taylor Tucker-Gray talks about flying out of tubes and winning tug of war. BY TERAH BLAKEMORE PHOTO: BRENNAN EICHER

What was the weirdest thing to happen to you during your four years at Community? One of the weirdest things would have to be going into Robbie Stapleton’s forum and just wanting to speak to her, and seeing her twin sister because they look identical. They literally look like the same person. I’ve definitely said “Oh, hi Robbie” and then her twin is like “That’s just not my name” and I’m like “Okay I’m sorry have a nice day.” What’s your favorite forum memory? One of my favorite forum memories would be going to Jack Belden’s lake house and riding jet skies. That was really fun. I was thinking ‘I’m definitely not going to control one I’ll just ride on the back,’ but then I did end up driving one, and it was pretty sweet. We also went tubing and I was thinking ‘oh gosh this is gonna end poorly,’ and then I fell off the tube, and flung into the air, and hit the water. I was definitely sore for two days after, so that was a fun memory. Why did you choose University of Cincinnati? I wanted to be in a very urban setting, and I wanted to be able to have a lot of different major options if I wanted to switch. Cincinnati gave me both of those options. Right now I’ve chosen communications, but I’m looking at trying to double major in communications and urban planning, or communications and interior design. What’s the scariest part about graduating for you? The scariest part about graduating is also the most exciting. I’m kinda scared to leave all my friends, and I know I’ll see them when I come back and visit but things do change once you leave high school. It’s up to you to really maintain friendships that you know you put a lot of effort into. I think that’s really scary, but I also think that it will be really cool to meet new people who have very similar intrests as me. Because we live in Ann Arbor and it’s very liberal, kind of a bubble as people say, so it will be interesting to go to Ohio and really see different viewpoints from sides I may have not interacted with on a daily basis. What is your current passion? Now that Mock Trial is over, I’ve kind of picked up [ultimate] frisbee. I enjoy fris98

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bee, although I am still afraid of flying objects. I can catch the frisbee easiest out of any flying objects. It’s valid to be afraid, but when push comes to shove and you see that flying object coming at you, you either run away or put out your hands and hope you catch it. I can actually catch and throw a frisbee so I’m trying to be on the ulitmate frisbee team next year at Cincinnati. We’ll see how that goes. What are you looking forward to most about summer? Spending time with my family and friends before I leave, that’s definitely it. I don’t think I’m going to get a job this summer because I really want to focus on just staying in touch with all my friends and really making the most out of summer. My friends and I are trying to pick up poker. I think it’s going to go horrible, but we’ll see. We’ve really gotten into playing pool, frisbee, and bowling, so I’m excited. What makes you laugh the most? I laugh at a lot of things. My cats make me laugh, Hannah Rubenstein does this one voice that makes me laugh a lot, and dad jokes make me laugh a lot. The reason why dad jokes are funny is because they’re so bad that you have to laugh. “If you see a robbery at an Apple Store does that make you an iWitness.” That one is funny. What is your goal currently in life? To make it through senior year, and to have a really good summer. Also have a good attitude going into my freshman year of college, and as well to win tug of war with my forum. What is some advice you would leave for any underclassmen at Community? Learning how to build really healthy relationships is important. Because learning how to maintain a healthy relationship with someone is key to lot of things that will come down later on in life, whether it be interacting with people in a job or a classroom, or talking to a professor. I just think learning how to communicate and how to have a good relationship with someone is important. What are you going to miss most about community? The teachers, because I created really strong bonds and relationships with a lot of them. I’m super grateful for all of the great times, and memories, and things that my teachers have taught me, especially with my forum leader, Robbie. If it seems like I’m having a bad day or I’m having a really good day she’ll just ask if I want to talk about it. She comforts me if I’m feeling down that day. I just really appreciate that acknowledgement and how much she really cares about all her forum members and students. I know that where I’m going to college, it’s definitely going to be a different type of relationship that I’ll have with my professors.

BOOKS THAT CHANGE LIVES

BOOKS THAT CHANGE LIVES BOOK AUTHOR Rick Riordan

REVIEWER

Kim Piesky

DATE PUBLISHED

GENRE

7.01.05

Greek Mythology

“

BY VIV BRANDT

In seventh grade, when I was 11 or 12, I read the first book in the Percy Jackson series. It has been so long since I read it. It’s about Demigods and Gods. It is a lot of Greek Mythology. [Percy Jackson is] a demigod because his dad is Poseidon and he has to get Zeus’s lightning bolt back from the things that stole it. I didn’t actually start “reading reading” until I read that book. [It changed my life] because I liked to read but I was not a huge fan of reading. I didn’t read constantly until I got into that series. Then I started reading and I really liked it. Now I read a lot. [The book] was really interesting and I had a lot of fun reading it and I really liked reading it. I would recommend it to someone else. It’s been so long since I’ve read the book so I am not quite sure what my favorite part is.”

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SIGHTS & SOUNDS of

BODENSEE BY MADIE GRACEY

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Pfahlbau Museum

This is a museum for stilt houses in Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, Germany. The pile dwellings of Unteruhldingen are some of the largest archaeological open-air museums in Europe. The Pfahlbau Museum features 23 reconstructed homes from the Stone and Bronze Age. It is open to the public, and you are allowed to walk around the reconstructed wood-built walk ways over the water.

Mainau

Mainau is a flower island in Lake Konstanz that inhabits 700-1000 butterflies, depending on the season. The island hosts the largest butterfly house in Germany and is 1000 square meters. The ground is covered with flowers including tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, pansies, forget-me-nots, primroses, and about 500 rose varieties. They also have a peacock enclosure, a petting zoo, dining options, and historic buildings like the Schloss Mainau, Schlosskirche St. Marien, and the Gärtnerturm.

Der Bayerishe Löwe

Affenberg

The lion is Lindau’s most striking landmark; it is a proud symbol of Bavaria. It stands at 20 feet and is carved from Bavarian marble. The lion looks across the Lake Konstanz from a massive plinth.

This is a 50-plus-acre park with more than 200 free-roaming Barbary apes, deer, aquatic birds, gray herons, ducks, coots, and white storks. You are able to interact with these animals and see how they live in the Atlas mountains.

Altes Schloss

Germany’s oldest inhabited castle in Burg Meersburg was founded in 628 by Dagobert, king of the Franks. It has 10-foot-thick walls. The bishops of Konstanz used it for summer residence until 1526 when they moved in permanently and stayed until the mid-18th century. Baron Joseph von Lassberg turned it into a home for like-minded poets and artists. Now it is privately owned, but the majority of the castle is used for public visits.

Imperia

Imperia is a statue on the harbor of Lake Konstanz. It is displayed at the end of the dock in Hafenstraße, Germany on the shore of Lake Konstanz. It stands at around 30 feet and weights 18 tons. Its purpose is to commemorate the Council of Constance that took place there between 1414 and 1418.

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Girlmetal BY KYNDALL FLOWERS

I am the toughest girl here I got carbon blood and iron skin I got steel capped fists and titanium teeth I hang barbed wire on my hips like it’s my best skirt let it scratch my skin and draw blood and let it drip red down my leg so everyone can see how much I bleed before I scream In my hair I’ve hid a machete I have butterfly knives under my tits a tazer tucked into my sock around my leg I’ve wrapped a whip I walk and I am clashing metal and leather I am an entire army a one woman apocalypse The 11th plague is my name with “That Bitch” before it

I say “leave her alone” and today I am a hero who isn’t afraid to kill

and my flinch stay trigger ready eager

eat fried oreos and let the powdered sugar paint us sticky and we eat more, anyway we were full of saltwater and everything sweet the gun blows and it sounds like too many oceans and giggles we are multiplicities of every girl before us we are completely our own we wash the sand out of our hair in the shower we call the radio station to hear party in the usa we are brown skinned and all legs

I flinch and slash and throat jump and a break a shin twist an arm till it cracks kick a knee in and I say sorry but I don’t mean it can’t blame my blood for how quick it recoils have you ever seen seen a dead body? either its lack of blood pulse and excess of silence THE COMMUNICATOR

I stay packing, locked and loaded I hide my gun well I named it after all my baby girl cousins and let them decorate it

we used to squat under the tide and snap sand out of our bikini bottoms

today he wishes he was wearing as much armor as me wish he came prepared for war like me

or a dead body not yet dead just dead-adjacent just bloody and beaten and breathing and barely there can you blame me for decking myself in chrome

the gun blows and sounds like summer before 8th grade at seaside heights before Sydney and I began to worry about how we looked coming out of the heavy ocean

I say “Don’t touch me” and I am lightning bright, hot, deadly

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we are too often tragically alone the gun blows the only blood we’ll ever spill will be that of whoever tries to drain us

Honest And Unafraid

Q&A

An interview with Carlina Duan, a Chinese-American poet from Ann Arbor on girlhood. BY KYNDALL FLOWERS

What are you like when you’re at your best self? I’m really honest. And unafraid to be joyful and also unafraid to be petty and mean. I don’t know if I have that relationship with a lot of other people in my life other than my sister and my mom. The two very strong female characters in my life. My sister listens to all the little things that I say and that I deal with and that I question which makes it okay for me to talk about the big things and love all the big things, in that way. She’s open and generous to me and forgiving of me and even of the ways in which I can squash myself down or those around me down. Tell me about a time you felt the need to protect a woman in your life. My sister used to walk home alone at night from her architecture studio to my apartment when she got done with projects, regardless of whether it was 2:30 a.m.—which it often was—or just nine p.m. I would end up meeting her halfway. I would leave my apartment. Even if I already slept, I would set my alarm or turn my phone up really loud so when she called me or texted me I’d be like, “Okay, where are you? I’ll meet you.” I didn’t want her to walk alone. Sometimes when I think about that it seems like such a cheesy thing, but it’s so real when your sister is walking home. It’s your little sister and it’s a far walk and there’s not a lot of lights. I feel really fiercely protective of

my sister. She’s the most important person to me. I used to get really protective and defensive of my mother, especially in public at like, the library or a grocery store. She would have questions and try to communicate something in English and people wouldn’t be able to understand her at first. Or, they’d ask her to repeat things and I’d get angrily defensive, like, “She wants to know when these books are due,” and I would say it in a way that was kind of sassy. I felt a need to protect my mom. But, in recent years, the more I think about it, my mom is not helpless at all. I think a part of me thinking that she was helpless, or kind of even a girl-figure, because of her lack of fluency in English was a product of the media making me believe that about immigrant women. Immigrant women are so strong. So unbelievably strong and have done so much and sacrificed worlds in a way that I will never be able to understand because I’m not an immigrant. What’s a moment for you that affected or changed how you think about girlhood? The first one for me that I can think of was actually an experience with my cousins. Everyone was on a different level of the stairs and we were singing a Hilary Duff song because we were putting on a concert, and the song was like, “this is what dreams are made of,” and my cousin, Cheng… Both my two cousins are immigrants. They’re origi-

nally from Japan and my aunt is from China. So, they’re trilingual. We were standing on the steps and singing this song and that point Cheng and Yue, my two cousins had just moved from Japan and their English wasn’t as good as ours. My cousin Cheng asked a question. She was trying to ask “What does this song mean?” but my sister took that as “What is a dream?” It sparked this conversation between us, and we were probably between the ages of seven and eleven, about dreams as little girls. Because my cousins didn’t have a solid grasp of the English language at that point, I think they said at one point “dreams strong.” They were trying to come up with vocabulary and everything they were saying was maybe not making linguistic sense. I think as a person who loved imagination when I was younger and thinking about poetry even at that point, when I was 10 years old, it was really interesting to be thinking about dreaming as girls and what those dreams looked like, and that those dreams could be strong and they didn’t have to be bound to an alphabet and they didn’t have to be bound to a country, even. Carlina Duan’s poetry explores the complexities of her hyphenated,Chinese-American identity in startling, honest, and precise language. Duan’s chapbook, “I Wore My Blackest Hair,” will be published in 2017.

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SONG OF THE DAY

“IT’S ON US” AJR When thinking about inspirational songs, “It’s On Us” by AJR is definitely one that comes to mind. The indie-pop group, formed by Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met, created their band back in 2006 in their New York apartment, starting with their first “big” single “I’m Ready.” AJR’s newest song “It’s on Us” was made to support Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s organization that goes by the same name, which campaigns for women’s rights and changing the conversation on sexual assault. When AJR first heard of this organization, they knew they wanted to be part of the conversation, as stated by MSN’s interview with the group. So the group began to help in the only way they knew how: writing a song. They have been crafting this song since 2014, and debuted it on Jan. 14, 2017 at President Obama’s Final Star-Studded Party. However, the group decided to hold back on the release of the song until March 31, the final day of the group’s tour, tantalizing fans with sneak peaks of the song. Over the three years the AJR has spent crafting the song, they met with sexual assault survivors and made their song for these people. In the verses, the group takes an approach of apologizing and as the song moves to the pre-chorus, the lyrics talk about trying to fix the past and moving forward; “Nobody knows what you’re going through / Come out of the cold, we’ll take the load / And if they hurt you with words so cruel / Here’s what we’ll do, we’ll all fight for you.” AJR, who broke onto the scene as a pop group, has slowly moved into the electronic pop world. However, on this track, you can feel their roots of pop music and the respect they have for not only the song but for the people listening to it. AJR’s newest song “It’s On Us” talks to the listener about changing the way sexual assault is perceived in our society. This song achieves SOTD status for one reason and one reason alone: It gives hope to victims of sexual assault and makes people who have not been assaulted want to do everything they can to stop it. Since my vocabulary will not give this song justice, have a listen to it for yourself.

- Atticus Dewey

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“ADD THE BASELINE” JORDAN RAKEI

“SPASTIC MAX” EDWARD SCISSORTONGUE

It only takes the first two chords for this song to catch your attention. And then, by the time this singer’s sweet vocals hit your eardrums, you know you are hooked. He is the type of singer that makes you go “damn!” after singing only one line. Once the drum line drops, you can’t help but bop to the beat and ask yourself: “Who is this man?” That sexy voice you are listening to belongs to Jordan Rakei, a musician born in New Zealand. His music contains elements from jazz and funk and is often described as Neo-Soul, a genre that fuses the soul sound of the 70s with contemporary hip-hop. Rakei started making beats in his bedroom as a high schooler by writing songs about his idol Tiger Woods for his friends. He then decided to write an EP, writing six songs in his bedroom and taking them to a studio to record. The EP, titled “Franklin’s Room,” was released via the music website Bandcamp for free purchase in Sept. 2013, and helped Rakei kick off his career as a musician. According to his website, it even brought him to a random fan’s beach party in Miami. After moving to London, Rakei dropped another EP and an album, titled “Groove Curse” and “Cloak” respectively. “Add The Bassline” is featured on “Groove Curse,” which was released in Aug. 2014. The song is an overall jam, with a simple but bumping bassline and a loop of two dissonant yet funky chords. Not only can you enthusiastically dance to this song in your room when no one is home, but you can also lay back and let Rakei’s smooth vocals mesmerize you. This is a song that is appropriate to listen to on almost every occasion, whether it be studying for that big history test or driving downtown with your friends. So if you ever feel that your day is lacking in funky vibes, turn on this song, move your head back and forth, and get your groove on.

Beginning ominously, a heavy beat the prelude to the song’s first line “It was 1999,” Edward Scissortongue’s “Spastic Max” builds anticipation in the listener as a story slowly unfolds through their earbuds. Off of his debut album “Better. Luck. Next. Life” released in 2012, Scissortongue brings an intense listening experience with his heavy voice and a pounding beat that reverberates through your ears. A British rapper all the way through, Scissortongue is an expert storyteller as he spins a story of drug abuse, struggle, and ultimately death. A thick accent clouding over the majority of Scissortongue’s words to the point that, in your American head, they are basically gibberish. “Spastic Max” takes you on an experience of dark alleys and mystery— a downright thriller as you nod your head to words you can barely understand. If you listen deep you’ll catch the severity, the true darkness and sadness of the song, but otherwise it’s just an all around viber for the real British rap lover, or even maybe just the somewhat real British rap lover. Either way, Scissortongue’s words really do cut like scissors.

- Mira Simonton-Chao

- Sacha Verlon

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IN MY ROOM

with

JACK GRANDE-CASSELL EMILY TSCHIRHART

1. “My little sister Savannah lives with her mom but when she’s here, she lives with her dad. I don’t get the chance to see her that often but she’s so much fun when she comes over. She loves to play hide-and-seek with me and would write me these little notes. She also draws little pictures. She stuck this one under my door. She’s got this short, bouncy brown hair.” 2. “I’ve been playing piano since I was in first grade. I love it more than almost everything. My favorite song to play is this one from ‘Love Actually.’ I just played it at my grandpa’s funeral last week. He was the one who gave it to us, actually. It’s made out of chickory.”

3. “My mom painted this when she was in art school. She doesn’t do it anymore. It’s made out of paper mache and [she] painted over it with acrylics. She used to be a real artist but she stopped doing it. She’s a dietician now. It wasn’t sustainable for a job but now she does it when she has free time for fun. ” 4. “This busted, old trumpet is from a play I was in called ‘Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.’ It was for a skit called “Five People Push Things Across The Stage And Hit Them Three Times.” I push it across the stage and just smack the s*** out of it. Destroy it. It was definitely my favorite skit pretty theraputic. I think I kept it because I think I’m going to give it to Clarence as a gift. He cringes every single time he sees it.”

5. “I don’t have a bookshelf so I just leave everything out. These are pretty much all of the books I own. That white one is just a fact book. I think I only got it because my name is Jack. And then ‘Onion Book of Known Knowledge’ is so funny. It’s kind of like a dictionary but all of the definitions are fake. Like, for the word chainsaw, it says “A tool too big to fit inside your briefcase so you get to work early and hide it under your desk. Then at 3 p.m., it begins.” It’s from the fake news source called The Onion.” 6. “I fell off of a trampoline my sophomore year. I broke just the one finger but they gave me a whole wrist cast for some reason. My finger was turning and spinning so they secured my entire hand. It is my one and only broken anything so I wanted to have it.” 7. “This was a gift from my grandpa for when I was in ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’ It’s a vinyl of the original cast recording which is funny because I don’t even have a record player. Right now, I just use it as decoration. I played Motel the tailor in the live performance. It was my first big, big role so I was overjoyed, really. I learned ‘Miracle of Miracles’ quickly, but I accidentally mixed up the words on the last two nights of the show.”

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WHO IS THE LAST PERSON YOU YELLED AT?

I yelled at Yasmeen today. It wasn’t a big deal but we had this little disagreement in Italian Art and Culture. We had to make domes out of pasta and marshmallows and I wanted to make a stabilizer thing for the base but Yasmeen thought that we shouldn’t because it was ugly but she actually yelled at me, I didn’t yell at her.

WHAT WAS THE LAST PHONE CALL YOU MADE? Callum Mein called me today during lunch because I asked him to bring me a blanket from his car so I could watch the basketball game. He wanted me to walk with him but I didn’t do it because I wanted to keep watching so he had to walk with like three blankets by himself and I didn’t even end up using them.

WHERE IS THE LAST PLACE YOU ORDERED FOOD FROM?

one

Olivia came over a while ago and I ordered us a Little Caesar’s large cheese pizza.

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING THAT MADE YOU HAPPY?

This is cheesy but when I got accepted into Western, I was really happy because I was talking with my mom and we were talking about how stressed I was because I auditioned for the acting school and they only accept twenty out of like a thousand applicants. So we were talking about it, and I kept refreshing my email, and then they called. I was like “oh my gosh they’re calling me what the heck” and then the guy was really sneaky about it. He was like “How’s your day? I hope it’s about to get better.” I said “What?” And then he said “You’re accepted!” And my mom was just watching me talk on the phone, jumping up and down. It was like a cheesy movie moment.

last thing WHERE WAS THE LAST PLACE YOU FELT UNCOMFORTABLE? Usually family dinners, because most of my family are religious Trump supporters, and my parents are Buddhist Democrats, so that’s always uncomfortable.

WHAT WAS THE LAST BOARD GAME YOU PLAYED? I go up north with my friend Taia every summer and we always play board games there. There’s this one called Masterpiece and it’s really fun. It’s this auctioning game where you have all these paintings and then there’s some that are frauds and some that are worth millions of dollars. [Also] it’s shaped like a circle. Whoever has the most money at the end of the game wins. It’s pretty cool.

sophie haviland WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU GOT COFFEE WITH? Well that’s gonna be hard because I don’t like coffee and I always get tea. Sometimes Jasper tries to convince me to get coffee with him but I don’t usually do that because he always goes during a really bad time like during class. Though earlier this week, me, Jasper, and Yasmeen went to Mighty Good Coffee and we got hot chocolates and they were super good and we got one for Steve because they messed up one of our orders and let us have the extra one. That was good because we were late and he was mad at us but [the drink] made him not mad anymore. may may

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108 ELLA | THE COMMUNICATOR SENIOR | www.chscommunicator.com ART THROB: SYLVESTER,