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Wednesday, Febru-ary 24, 2010 // The Statement 7B
ABOUTCAMPUS
the
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 illustration:
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.
com
THEJUNKDRAWER
random student interview
Hi. Is this Ben [Last name
redacted]?
This is.
Hi. This is Dani from The Michigan
Daily. I'm conducting the Random
Student Interview...
Uh, sorry, what's your name?
Dani.
I'm scared shitless of these interviews.
I don't want to do it.
Oh please just do it. I'llbe really nice
toyou. I promise.
OK, let's do it.
Are you going anywhere for spring
break?
I am.
Where are you going?
I'm going to Cancun.
That's cool. Have you been to Can-
cunbefore?
Not that I can remember.
[Laughs] Does that mean you've
been and you just don't remember
anything?
Ihonestlyhave no idea. [Pause] I'mjust
kidding. I've never been there before.
Hey, so, people normally ask in this
interview 'How'd you get my number?'
Please don't tell me it was Facebook.
It was Facebook. Are you going to
take your number offnow?
Um ... well I'm more concerned about
my picture.
Oh, I'm looking at your picture -
you have a microphone and a cup.
OK. Yeah, that was karaoke night in,
Windsor, or no, not Windsor, shoot, it
was ... I don't know. It was a Canadian
city.
Ben, I think your memory needs a
little help.
[Laughs] It... it was Niagara Falls actu-
ally. I ended up on that night doing
karaoke with, uh, she was, like, 55
years old, a woman who was in Niagara
Falls for a wedding party.
Oh my god.
And it was kind of awkward because
she was divorced. It was, like, it was
her kid's wedding. She had divorced
her husband but her husband was re-
married, so she was kind of there all by
herself.
Was she a cougar?
I think so. I didn't seal the deal to be
honest, but ...
Should have, man.
Yeah, I know.
What's your favorite song to kara-
oke to?
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."
"Don't Stop Believin.' " That's a
good one.
No, no, no, no, no. "Don't Stop 'Til You
Get Enough." Michael Jackson.
Oh...that's also a good one.I person-
allylike one's you can really belt out.
"Don't Stop Believin"'is a cliche.
It is. But Ilike it when he talks about
Detroit.
Yeah, my other favorite karaoke song is
"Born In The U.S.A." when I'm doing
karaoke in Canada.
So why do you go karaoke in Cana-
da?
Well, we were doing a trip to New
York in the summer. So we just sort of
stopped over.
So you're just going to Cancun with
your friends - does that mean you
just aren't going 'with your girl-
friend, or you don't have a girl-
friend?
No. I don't have a girlfriend. I'm just
going with my friends because...
It's fun.
Yeah.
Are you gonnalook for agirlin Can-
cun to have some fun with?
More than one.
More than one, huh? So you're that
kind of guy.
I'm just kidding.
I don't think you are.
Um, yeah.1I like my women how I like
my coffee...
Strong?
... the only thing is I don't like coffee.
How do you like your coffee?
I don't like coffee.
You don't like coffee? So you don't
like women?
Something like that.
You don't like women?
I don't know, it's just a funny joke I like
to tell.
Do you tell that to a lot of people?
Only close family members.
- Ben is a Businessijunior. Hecan
be found at Charley's every Tuesday
night. Cantina on Wednesday.
INTERNET CAR RENTAL
BY HANNAH WAGNER
I completed a
tion and receive
a day later.
My first atte
the night before
- was a failure
able car was pa
away.
LSA sophom
fellow Zipcar u
into similar pro
vice.
"Whenever I
there would u
or two left," sr
always people u
us."
Given the ch'
to Kerrytownfr
andpaying$42.
ing another fori
Detroit, I chose
to feel as if my
IP C Igan ad P R E S E N T S
~iArbar
t@
nA 0F.
tQ
27 ix
n high school, sophomore year
meant sweet 16's and, for most of
my friends, a new car - but not
me.
My carbon-emission minded par-
ents, for what at the time seemed
to be completely illogical reasons,
were of the strong conviction that a
car was not necessary for navigating
our two-mile-radius town. My house
was one half block from school, two
blocks from the modest area known
as "downtown" and less than a mile
from my friends.
Despite the walkability of my town,
my peers drove their Jeeps, Hondas
and BMWs to school and then to the
Panera 20 minutes away for off cam-
pus lunch.
Because of my lack of transporta-
tion - and resolution to participate
in all popular high school culture and
activities - I soon perfected the art of
catching a ride.
Given my high school experience,
adapting to life in Ann Arbor with-
out a car wasn't exceedingly difficult.
Everything a student really needs is
available at Village Apothecary or
White Market, and if a new pair of
boots is absolutely necessary, online
shopping is one click away or the Bri-
arwood Mall is just a quick trip on
the number six bus.
So when I registered for RCHUMS
334: Community Empowerment
Through the Arts - a course that
requires students enrolled to travel
to Detroit once a week to experience
community-based art - I thought
the professors would have already
lined up some form of transportation
for the trips.
But my assumptions were wrong,
and as I scrambled to find a way
to travel between Ann Arbor and
Detroit each week, I recalled a friend
at school in Maine who had raved
about something called Zipcar.
When her small college became
claustrophobic, she could reserve
a set of wheels and drive to nearby
Boston for a change of scenery. It
seemed so simple.
And soI registered with Zipcar - a
national company that allowsindivid-
uals or organizations to buy member-
ships and rent cars for hourlyblocks of
r
,i lA
time - assuming all of my problems
would be solved with a hybrid and a
tank of gas.
As a student, I was able to register
through the University, lowering my
annual membership fee from $50 to
$35 and eliminating the initial reg-
istration fee. Drivers must typically
be 21 years old to use the service, but
when signed up through the Univer-
sity, that number is lowered to 18.
brief online applica- stylish than practical.
d approval via e-mail ThoughIwashesitanttotakeadvan-
tageofmypurchase, I feltempowered
mpt to book a car - knowing ifI really had to get off cam-
I needed it, of course pus, I could. I began to offer to pick
, as the closest avail- people up from the airport, take my
rked more than a mile neighbor to Walgreens and drive a
group of friends to yoga.
ore Belle Cheves, a For $8 an hour - $9 on weekends
ser, said she's also run - I had the power of 180 miles of
blems using the ser- mobility. After a week or two of con-
templating the possibilities of my
I tried to reserve it, expensive purchase, I finally booked
sually only be one a car.
he said. "There were Friday afternoon, I trekked
sing it before or after through fresh snow to a Zipcar park-
ing lot tucked behind South Quad,
oice between walking and after six failed attempts to swipe
om East Quad at 8 a.m. my membership card over the sensor
93 for a Zipcar, or find- on the windshield, the Scion xB auto-
m or transportation to matically unlocked.
the latter. ButI began I climbed in, adjusted the seat and
investment was more found the key dangling below the
steering wheel. And then, I was off to
yoga class.
Normally, getting to the studio
involves waitingfor abus and crossing
the un-crossable street that is Washt-
enaw Avenue, but with my trusty Zip-
car, my friends and I parked just five
stepsfromthedoor.Afterclass,Iwant-
ed to complete my afternoon with a
trip to Whole Foods, but my reserva-
tion was almost up.
I faced a tough dilemma: organic
mangos and a possible late fee, or
leave the strip mall empty-handed
but return the car on time. Ulti-
mately, I decided to risk the fee, and
though I pulled into the specified lot
seven minutes late, no late fees were
charged.
Though my first experience was
ultimately a success, I haven't booked
a Zipcar since. Its inconvenience and
price don't seem worth it when, in
reality, there's not much a student
can't access within a few blocks of his
or her home.
When everything is so accessible
on foot, it's difficult to find the time
J Vto take advantage of a set of wheels
that have an hourly rate that is high-
er than most students' hourly wage.
It is certainly liberating, however,
to know that if I ever have the sudden
impulse to get out of the Ann Arbor
city limits for an afternoon, I'm just a
SSTRATIONY R (ATIF FEBRTS click away from the open road. M
SUBMIT WORK TO THE
STATEMENT'S ANNUAL
LITERATURE ISSUE.
We're taking original works of poetry, flash
fiction, creative nonfiction and short stories
up to 2,500 words.
Deadline to submit is Sunday, March 7!
SEND AN E-MAIL TO
THELITERATUREISSUE@GMAIL.COM
.. ,, F .
SICK OF
THE DORMS?
CAN'T FIND A
PLACE TO LIVE?
Visit michigandaily.com/classifieds to see
all of the groat houses and apartments
Ann Arbor has to offer on a convenient map!
Also be sure to check out the Classified
Pages for other great properties.
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.