The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com ANGELOU lem Writer's Guild, acted in Jean Arom pageGenet's Off-Broadway produc- tion, "The Blacks," and wrote and performed in a "Cabaret for Free- "It is one of the kinds of glori- dom." In the early 1960s, Angelou ous things that happen at this Uni- served as editor for "The Arab versity that would be less likely to Observer" in Cairo and instructed happen at a smaller place," Eng- at the University of Ghana's School lish Prof. John Whittier-Ferguson of Music and Drama. Angelou said. returned to the United States in Born Marguerite Annie John- 1964 to aid Malcolm X with his son April 4,1928 in St. Louis, Mo., Organization of African American Angelou and her brother Bailey Usity. She never got the chance. were raised by their grandmother He was assassinated shortly after in Stamps, Ark. following their her arrival. parent's divorce. During this time, Maya has taught modern dance Angelou experienced racial dis- in Israel and Italy, appeared in off- crimination, which she recounts Broadway productions, wrote the in her 1970 best-selling autobio- Pulitzer Prize-nominated screen- graphical work "I Know Why the play for the film "Georgia, Geor- Caged Bird Sings." Angelou was gia" (1972) and published more molested by her mother's boy- than 30 books including 12 best- friend at age 7. When her uncle sellers. killed the man that raped Angelou, Angelou served on various com- she was haunted by the pervasive mittees for Presidents Gerald Ford guilt that her words resulted in the and Jimmy Carter and read her man's death. She didn't speak for poem "On the Pulse of Morning" five years, except to her brother. at President Bill Clinton's 1993 While attending Mission High presidential inauguration. School in San Francisco, Calif., Angelou's work advocates self- Angelou dropped out and became acceptance and serves as a medi- San Francisco's first African- um for promulgating diversity in American cable car conductor. She culture, race and identity. later returned to high school and Prof. Keith Taylor, the direc- graduated prior to giving birth to tor of the LSA Creative Writing a son, Guy. By her 20s, Maya had Program, said that Angelou's pub been a cook, waitress, dancer and lic role as a supporter of the arts single mother. She was married allows for art's connection to larg- for five years in her 20s, but she er audiences. eventually got divorced. While a "She has a moving story to tell nightclub singer, Marguerite took that is important for many reasons on the professional name Maya - an African-American experi- Angelou, fusing her childhood ence, the life of a woman, an artist, nickname "Maya" with her ex- and a public intellectual," Taylor husband's last name. said. "All of those things are not In the 1950s, Angelou settled only of interest, but necessary to in New York, joined the Har- hear." the Centers for Disease Control. MEASLES The sample has now been sent to From page 1A the Centers for Disease Control's Atlanta headquarters for further drink. testing. Reedy said the department has So far, there has been one con- adequately responded to the cases. firmed case of the measles, from "An appropriate public health a student at Angell Elementary response to a public case of School in Ann Arbor. The stu- measles involves a notification dent was quarantined and the to those who could be exposed," student's period of transmission Reedy said. "We've not held has passed. back." As the situation now stands, The Burns Park Elementary four other tests have come school case was initially reported back negative and four more as a positive test, but it was later are still awaiting lab results. discovered that two samples had The nine cases involved ele- been mixed up, said Ann Schuchat, mentary school children in the the director of the National Immu- Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area, all of nization Center for Immuniza- whom had already received the tion and Respiratory Diseases at measles vaccine. Shiites disillusioned with militia in capital Presents opportunity "Everyone knew who the killers were," said a mother from Topchi, for U.S. military whose neighbor, a Shiite woman, was one of the victims. "I'm Shi- ite, and I pray to God that he will By SABRINA TAVERNISE punish them." TheNew York Times The feeling was the same in other neighborhoods. BAGHDAD - In a number of "We thought they were sol- Shiite neighborhoods across Bagh- diers defending the Shiites," said dad, residents arebeginningtoturn Sayeed Sabah, a Shiite who runs away from the Mahdi Army, the a charity in the western neigh- Shiite militia they once saw as their borhood of Huriya. "But now we only protector against Sunni mili- see they are youngster-killers, no tants. Now they resent it as a band more than that. People want to get ofstreetthugswithoutideology. rid of them." The hardening Shiite feeling in While the Mahdi militia still Baghdad opens an opportunity for controls most Shiite neighbor- the American military, which has hoods, early evidence that Shi- long struggled against the Mahdi ites are starting to oppose some Army, as American commanders parts of the militia is surfacing rely increasingly on tribes and on American bases. Shiite sheiks, local leaders in their prosecution the militia's traditional base, are of the war. beginning to contact Americans, The sectarian landscape has much as Sunni tribes reached out shifted, with Sunni extremists early this year, refocusing one largely defeated in many Shiite entire front of the war, officials neighborhoods, and the war in said, and the number of accurate those places has sunk into a crimi- tips flowing into American bases nality that is often blind to sect. has soared. In interviews, 10 Shiites from Shiites are "participating like four neighborhoods in eastern they never have before," said Maj. and western Baghdad described Mark Brady, of the Multi-National a pattern in which militia mem- Division-Baghdad Reconcilia- bers, looking for new sources of tion and Engagement Cell, which income, turned on Shiites. The works with tribes. pattern appears less frequently in "Something has got to be not neighborhoods where Sunnis and right if they are going to risk call- Shiites are still struggling for ter- ing a tips hot line or approaching a ritory. Sadr City, the largest Shiite JSS," he said, referring to the Joint neighborhood, where the Mahdi Security Stations, the American Army's face is more political than neighborhood mini-bases set up military, has largely escaped the after the troop increasethis year. wave of criminality. "Everything is' changing," said Among the people killed in the Ali, a businessman in the heav- 0 neighborhood of Topchi over the ily Shiite neighborhood of Ur, in past two months, residents said, eastern Baghdad, who, like most were the owner of an electrical of those interviewed, did not want shop, a sweets seller, a rich man, his full name used for fear of being three women, two local council attacked. "Now in our area for the members and two children, ages first time everyone say, 'To hell 9 and 11. with Mahdi Army.' It was a disparate group with one thing in common: All were Reporting was contributed Shiites killed by Shiites. Residents by Ahmad Fadam, Kareem blamed the Mahdi Army, which Hilmi, Qais Mizher and Johan controls the neighborhood. Spanner in Baghdad. Friday, October 12, 2007 - 7A Dan Cutler, a People's Food Co-op mernber, speaks against the proposed boycott of Israel at a meeting of the co-op's board last night. The board announced that rnerr overwhelmingly voted against imposing the boycott. Co-op votes downboycott CO-OP From page 1A expect that to end. "If someone would like to chal- lenge the vote, I will be in touch tomorrow," she said. Another boycott of Israeli goods could still be proposed in the future, said Kevin Sharp, the co-op's marketing and member services director, in a phone inter- view yesterday. The audience at the meeting was amixofBoycottIsraeli Goodsmem- bers and opponents of the ban. Although he was satisfied with the outcome, Stephen Pastner, a vis- iting associate professor of anthro- pology at the University, clenched his fists during the board meeting. Pastner said he was furious at the motivations of the boycott's sup- porters. ,"I'm very angry at these people because they represent a perversion of everything I believe in," Pastner said. "I consider myself a political progressive: they have co-opted the name of being progressive. They call themselves Jewish, witnesses for peace, but they're anti-Semites, and they're not for peace." Ann Arbor resident Elaine Rum- man, who said she is Palestinian, spoke against the outcome of the vote when addressing members of the board. She said the Israeli gov- ernment uses its power over the, Palestinian people unjustly. "I'm not happy at all for sure because they can do anything with power," she said. "The Gaza is real- ly shut off from all ways, I mean - why're they doing that?" Some members of Boycott Israeli Goods said the outcome was skewed by the way the voting and balloting were organized. During a question- and-answer session, audience mem- bers repeatedly asked questions the possibility of ballot fraud. Ed Morin, a Boycott Israeli Goods member, said the ballots could have affected the outcome because they were confusing, but he said there were other factors in play. "It wouldn't have been this lop- sided if that were the only cause," said Morin, who ran unsuccessfully for the University Board of Regents in 2006 on the Green Party ticket. "I think a bigger factor is that we had opponents who were clearly supporting Israel unconditionally - in other words, Israel was.their chief value, and they weren't going to subject Israeli behavior to any moral criteria." He said many people were likely influenced to vote against the pro- posal by the members of the board who were concerned about the co- op's image. "If the ballot passes, we'll losea lot of members, we'll lose business, and we'lllose money,"hesaid, imag- ining the board's rationale. "It's not good for the co-op, and therefole this sort of thing shouldn't be hat pening here." AD: Crisler arena needs overhaul CRISLER From page 1A currently take turns using the are- na's court. Martin said a practice court could be built into a hillside attached to the southeast corner of Crisler. The Athletic Department could also expand the wrestling practice facility to include a third wrestling mat. Martin said it's too early for a cost estimate because the ultimate cost of the project will depend on what the final plans look like. He said he doesn't yet know how the Athletic Department would pay for the project but said he expects the University to supplement Ath- letic Department funding "in one form or another." Martin plans to speak with University President Mary Sue Coleman and Chief Financial Officer Timothy Slot- tow before moving forward with the project. Although the University doesn't usually provide funding for athletic buildings and programs, Crisler Arena is a special case. Because the construction of the arena was funded by the University's general fund operating budget, the Univer- sity administration gets first prior- ity for use of the arena. Martin said the Athletic Depart- ment has spent decades making small stopgap changes to avoid an expensive renovation project. The lighting, for example, needs a full overhaul, he said. Crisler's basketball court is darker than most, in part because the large scoreboard and speak- ers are mounted above the middle of the court, blocking some of the light from the ceiling lamps and creating, a shadow at center court. Although changes to the light- ing have made the shadow less vis- ible, it's still there. Using varnish to lighten the color of the floor wasn't enough to solve the lighting prob- lem either, Martin said. Wolters said poor lighting is his. primary problem with Crisler's atmosphere. "The concourse just feels cold," he said. "Not the temperature, but it's dark, it's dingy. You shouldn't be walking into a basketball arena feeling like that." Martin said he wants to add a curtain that could be closed around the upper level of the arena. The curtain could create a more inti- mate atmosphere for wrestling and women's gymnastics meets, which are occasionally held in Crisler but draw fewer fans than basketball games. Other likely changes include wider aisles with handrails, new chairs, more wheelchair-accessible seating for disabled fans and more concessions stands, he said. Martin said the University will meet the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 when fixing up the arena. The project to renovate Michi- gan Stadium has drawn fire from disabled fans because it doesn't provide the number of wheelchair- accessible seats required by the ADA. The University has argued that the project is a repair, not a renovation, and therefore isn't bound by ADA regulations. A group called the Michigan Paralyzed Vet- erans of America has filed a lawsuit against the University demand- ing that the University meet ADA requirements. "When we renovate Crisler, we will certainly work with the'ADA folks to be compliant," Martin said. The changes to the seating areas could lead the Athletic Department to remove some seats from thy arena. Martin said he's not opposed to lowering Crisler's capacity, which is currently 13,751. Because Michigan rarely sells out sporting events at the arena, it wouldn't usually make it harder for fans to get tickets. It might make what is already a relatively small venue even smaller, though. Crisler Arena holds the sec- ond-fewest people of any Big Ten basketball facility. The smallest is Northwestern University's Welsh- Ryan Arena, which holds 8,117 people. Value City Arena at Ohio State University is the largest with a capacity of 19,500. Wolters said he's not worried about a possible drop in size. "Having a person in every sin- gle seat means more than having a 15,000-seat arena," he said. "I don't want to see them come under 11,000 seats, but if they lost 1,000 or so, I don't think anyone would really notice." S.C. Dem bigwig wants Clinton off Mich. ballot Former state party chair says Clinton's refusal to withdraw would hurt S.C. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A for- mer chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party wants presiden- tial contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to take her name off Mich- igan's presidential primary ballot, claiming her refusal to do so could undermine South Carolina's role in choosing the next president. Former state party chairman Dick Harpootlian, who supports sent a letter yesterday to the state party Chairwoman Carol Fowler, asking her to pressure Clinton to pursue "every legal resource to have her name removed from the Michigan ballot." "This strikes us as a parsing, cyn- ical maneuver that could do great harm to South Carolina Demo- cratic primary voters, who could be ignored in favor of larger states like Michigan who may also try to jump the line," said the letter, also signed by David Adams, who is backing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardon's campaign. Harpootlian supports Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's candidacy. Democratic presidential candi- dates had pledged not to campaign in Michigan because the state had broken Democratic National Com- mittee rules by scheduling its pri- mary ahead of Feb. 5. The rules ban states from holding their 2008 contests before Feb. 5, except Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Rivals Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden took their names off Michigan's Jan. 15 primary ballot this week, ending Michigan's big for power in the nominating process. Clinton, however, has refused. Yesterday she said taking her name off that ballot would sacrifice her chances against the Republican nominee. "It's clear, this election they're having is not going to count for anything," Clinton said during an interview on New Hampshire Public Radio. "But I just per- sonally did not want to set up a situation where the Republi- cans are going to be campaign- ing between now and whenever, and then after the nomination, we have to go in and repair the damage to be ready to win Mich- igan in 2008." Harpootlian admitted his call for Clinton to pull her name from the ballot was partly a partisan move. He said Clinton's refusal to take her name off the ballot strikes him as part of a pattern from the New York senator akin to her once voting in favor of military action in Iraq, but now voicing her opposi- tion to it. "The constant theme that we've seen with her is avery careful pars- ing of words so she can have it both ways," he said Thursday night. "This is too cute, too calculating. And I would suggest a part of the problem with her campaign." Clinton is slated to campaign in South Carolina today. Zac Wright, her spokesman in South Carolina, said Clinton pull- ing her name from the ballot is "unnecessary" because she won't be campaigning in Michigan and won't snub voters here. "Hillary recognizes and honors the unique role that our four early states play in the presidential nom- inee selection process," Wright said. Fowler, a member of the Demo- cratic National Committee's rule committee, said last night she hadn't seen the letter from Har- pootlian and Adams but considerel the request "pointless" because Clinton won't take an active role in seeking a win in a Michigan pri- mary. "I don't see that it has any impact on South Carolina," she said.