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2B- The Statement // Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A Ury 20, 2010 The Statement
ABOUTCAMPUS

statement
Magazine Editor:
Trevor Calero
Editor in Chief:
Jacob Smilovitz
Managing Editor:
Matt Aaronson
Deputy Editor:
Allie White
Designers:
Sara Boboltz
Corey DeFever
Photo Editor:
Jed Moch
Copy Editors:
Erin Flannery
Danqing Tang
Cover photo:
Jed Moch
The Statement is The Michigan
Daily's news magazine, distributed
every Wednesday during the
academic year. To contact The State-
met e-mail calero@michigandaily.
cam

THEJUNKDRAWER
random student interview

Hello?
Hi, is this Demetrius?
No.
Oh, who's this?
His father.
Who?
His father.
Oh, OK. We're calling from The
Michigan Daily. It's the student
newspaper at U of M and we're
conducting a Random Student
Interview and we were gonna
interview Demetrius but we're
wondering if we could interview
you instead?
[Pause]
Is that ok?
Yeah.
My name's Trevor Calero and I
normally conduct the interview.
But one of my co-workers wants to
do it. His name is Jake Fromm.
Jake: So whats your name?
Du-Juan.
We just kind of wanted to ask you
about robots. And we just wanted
to know your feelings on robots.
[Click]

Jake: I think he hungup.
Trevor: Yeah, he definitely hung
up. Let's call someone else.
[Ring, ring, ring]
Hello?
Hi, is this Elizabeth?
Yes it is.
Hi Elizabeth, my name is Jake
Fromm. I'm from The Michigan
Daily and I'm conducting this
week's Random Student Interview.
Do you mind taking a couple min-
utes to answer some questions?
Sure, yeah.
Ok,great. First ofall, what year are
you?
I'm an MBA 2.
Where did you get your undergrad-
uate degree?
At the Naval Academy.
Oh, the Naval Academy, I have a
friend there. He's a sophomore. I
don't know what the term is but...
Yeah, he'd be a'youngster.'
How was your experience at the
Naval Academy?
It was tough but definitely worth the
experience and I actually cross-corn-,

missioned to the Coast Guard and I'm
still there, they're sending me to get
my MBA. I love it.
So let me ask you, were you a Nick-
elodeon fan as akid?
Yeah, definitely.
What would you say your favorite
showwas?
I used towatch 'HeyDude' with Mela-
nie and Brad and all the others.
'Hey Dude,' I don't know, I think
that was before my time. Maybe I'll
check it out online.
Yeah, it's pretty old school, but it's
really lame. I would call it really lame
if I had to see it again.
That's fair. OK, so what about any
special skills that you learned at
the Naval Academy. Judging from
the sound of my voice do you think
you could beat me up?
I thinkI'd havea pretty good shot at it.
Yeah, I would probably have to
agree with that.
I learned how to kill people silently, so
that might be a useful skill.
I'm sorry, did youjust say you know
how to killpeople silently?

Yes.
And if I asked you to elaborate
on that, would you have to kill me
silently after telling me?
Yes.
So, as an MBA student, what do you
do on campus?
Well, I pretend like I study a lot, so
that's good.
You pretend like you're studying,
but really you're killing people
silently.
Actually, that's exactly what happens.
I didn't want to spell that out explic-
itly, but you guessed it.
I'm becoming more and more
frightened during the course of
this phone call.
Well, fortunatelyfor me, Ihave friends
that can find out where you live.
And how do I know you're not out-
side the window watching me right
now?
Actually, you don't.
- Elizabeth is an MBA 2 in the Ross
School of Business. Demetrius wishes
his father never answered the phone.

GOODBYE FACEBOOK
BY LIDIA JEAN KOTT

I noticed agirl frommy class walking
my way and decided I could talk to her
instead. It turned out she lives near my
dorm in a church that was converted
into an apartmentbuilding. She invited
me over for dinner sometime. With-
out technology, I was forced to talk to
someone right there, in the flesh and
blood, rather than spend the walk home
chatting into an electronic box.
I didn't set an alarm for Sunday
morning, planning to wake up when
the sun hit my face. But without the
familiar wake up call of my cell phone,
I woke sometime in the late afternoon.
My roommate, Cassie, and I decided to
go to the cafeteriatogether to eat.
"Wait, let me get my cell phone,"
Cassie said as I began to closed the door.
Looking at me with realization on her
face, she said in solidarity, "Nevermind,
I don't think I need it."
As we walked down the hall, both

THE STATEMENT IS CURRENTLY TAKING SUBMISSIONS FOR ITS ANNUAL LITERATURE ISSUE.
If you would like to submit original works of poetry or fiction, please e-mail calero@michigandaily.com.

college student devoid of mod-
ern technological advances,
things my peers and I believe to
beutternecessitiesofdailylife, is ascary
thought. So when I told my friends that
I'd been assigned to write a story that
required me to live without technol-
ogy for the weekend - no cell phone, no
computer, no iPod - their response was
predictable: "Oh, my God! Why would
you take that assignment?" With their
reactions in mind and apprehension
about the upcoming few days gnawing
at me, I spent Friday night in ResComp
trying to finish anything I might need
the Internet for over the weekend.
Descartes once said, "I think there-
fore Iam." But does it count as thinking
if you don't text it to someone or post
it as a status update on Facebook? As I
literally logged out for the entire week-
end, I thought to myself, "Without the
Internet, do I really even exist?"
As I walked to an all-day retreat for
my theater and social change class the
next morning sans iPod, I noticed the
sound oftcrows for the first time outside
of East Quad. I told myself I was con-
necting to nature, but really the dispa-
rate "ca-caws" created an atmosphere
even more ominous than the mourn-
ful songs of Elliot Smith I'm usually
plugged into every morning.
For the first time in my life, I was on
time. Without my cell phone, I had no
idea what time it was and just assumed
I'd be late. Thanks to my lack of a digi-
tal clock, I had half an hour to sit and
wistfully think oftironic text messages I
could send my friends about how miser-
able I was and howI wished I was back
in my dorm room.
But it ended up being a good thing
that I didn't have my phone as a dis-
traction. The retreat turned out to be
an incredibly moving experience as
everyone explained their reasons for
taking the course, and the stories they
shared about aboutwhythey were com-
mitted to social change were unforget-

table. When I wasn't distracted by a
constantly blinking phone, I was able to
learn how to look at people differently
through a clear, unadulterated lens.
Still, my fingers itched for a phone
out of habit. I discovered that while
10-minute breaks don't exist solely for
flipping through cell phone contacts,
I missed sliding my phone open and
closed and its obedient vibrations in my
hand when I pressed certain buttons.

Without that, I was forced to linger by
the food table and eat barbeque potato
chips.
The retreat ended at 5 p.m., and,
thrust out into the cold street corner of
South State and Huron, I yearned to call
someone and deconstruct my experi-
ence. I felt shaken up bythe day's events
and wanted to talk to one oftmy friends
from home to sort out what I was feel-
ing.

Global Policy Perspectives Symposia
Key Issues in Southeast Asian Development

Friday, January 22, 2010
4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Reception to follow.

free oftechnological constraints, Cassie
said, "that was liberating."
Sitting across from Cassie in the
cafeteria, I felt liberated too. But I also
felt a little anxious. Worries kept flying
through my head. What if I had work
today? Did my boss e-mail me? How
could she call me? What if I'm fired?
When was my French essay due again?
After breakfast, Cassie and I parted
ways to study in different places with
different people, but planned to meet
again at 7 p.m. for dinner.
"How are we going to do that,
though?" Iasked with genuine concern.
"I guess like in the olden days, with
a time and a place," Cassie said after a
moment of quiet reflection. And so we
decided to meet at a coffee shop in Ker-
rytown later that day.
I walked to the library where I was
planning to study in the interim with an
extra bounce in my step. My backpack
was lighter without my laptop and I felt
good about our plan. It seemed moie
concrete than our usual "call me" vari-

Emmanuel Jimenez, Panelist
Sector Director for Human Development in the East Asia Region, World Bank
Linda Lim, Panelist
Professor of Strategy Ross School of Business. Univest oMihgn

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ety.
But at 6:45 p.m., the friend I was
studying with received a call. It was
Cassie. She wanted me to know that
the place we had planned to meet was
closed, and that she'd meet me back in
our room instead. Even though I hadn't
used the phone directly, I still felt the
guilt of cheating.It served as a reminder
of the undeniable conveniences oftmod-
ern communication.
When I woke up Monday morning,
the first thing I did was turn on my cell
phone. It was not overflowing with
vital information and desperate "where
are you?" questions like I'd expected.
Though I admit I was slightly disap-
pointed my phone didn't explode with
an overflowing inbox, I realized, more
importantly, that while I was removed
from technology for the weekend, I did
not cease to exist.
I went on with my life. It may not
have been "normal" as I've always
known it, with immediate access to
a phone, music and computer, but it
allowed me to be where I actually was
for once.
Like that I'd noticed the sound of
the birds outside my dorm on the first
morning, my lack ofmodern inventions
gave me a chance to really look at tiR-
world around me and take it in without
distraction. And, best of all, I inadver-
tently trained myselfnot to jump every
time I hear something vibrate.

Ford School of Public Policy------------"" - ' ---',I--
Annenberg Auditorium John D. Ciorciari, Panelist
1120 Weill Hall Assistant Professor, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University oftMichigan
Info: www.ipc.umich.edu Kristine Chong, Moderator
MPP '10 Candidate, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
The International Policy Center's Global Policy Perspectives Symposia (GPPS) series, itiated in 2008, brings together
distinguished visitors and U-M faculty for a discussion of current issues in international policy.
eansnalPOl(er Sponsored by: International Policy Center, International Policy Students Association (IPSA), and the Center for
atxadRPd&~fVIPY Southeast Asian Studies.

earn more about tne Peace Corps.
Attend an information session.

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F.
: s

Wednesday, January 20th
6:30 p.m.
U-M International Center, Room 9

GRADUATING THIS YEAR? WHAT'S THE ONE THING YOU'D LIKE TO DO
WITH THE TIME YOU HAVE LEFT?
The Statement is taking suggestions for its first ever Bucket List issue.
Tell us what you'd put on your bucket list. Send your suggestions to calero@michigandaily.com.

800.424.8580 j www.peacecorps.gov
Life is calling. How far will you go?