I 4 - Friday, November 12, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.co Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu JACOB SMILOVITZ EDITOR IN CHIEF RACHEL VAN GILDER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MATT AARONSON MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. Trash the tickets AAPD and students must cooperate on game day ame day at the Big House is an experience unlike any other. But for many students, football Saturdays start down the street at friends' pre-game parties. This tra- dition is especially strong in the University's Greek community and the 900 block of State Street. But recently, students have claimed that the Ann Arbor Police Department is unfairly tar- geting them with noise and trash citations. A meeting last week between AADP and students aimed to curb the number of tickets issued. AAPD and the student community must work together to ensure proper compliance with city ordinances. _TTe percentage by which Conan O'Brien's viewership decreased from his first to second show this week. - According to figures from TBS, as reported by Reuters on Wednesday. JEFF ZUSCHLAG E-MAIL JEFFAT JEFFDZ UMICH.ED "A b eta bainstoan sb sabdnpisshagas o res t cad.oonaless *g*eensshaexbenplledr whale ed oft e, nih dcade ,etsit'ssnear the bnarytrutd ton. hi thithekdangerwith the minotn ar b p witintthesepsortsof chemcals in children's milk cartoons l a s itamW, thas iteestin, bat "Ad atac r in Palsdsdgn still a ditrdepngsing..- w rSitomin yieldstas eavs 15tdead ' poaably 'Sighaa d eat. Fantastic. ch easperatio as it holdt tuse that dos itpiatio. Discover Detroit A the end of Octobr, an article But it's not the only truth. town. And everyone knows that th in The Detroit News reported A friend of mine, Brittany Bar- best packi on Mardi Gras rcome that a small town in Oregon lse, recently started an organization from Hamtramck. named after Mich- called Save Detroit. Just last month it All this classic culture hastur igan's largest city acquired 50 (c) 3 status, meaning it vived, but there's fresh circulato had called for a is a federally recognized non-profit as well. There are new restaurants ballot vote on a and donations are tax deductible, such as Slows. There are the car name chmange AS- The beauty of its current infancy actor-filled music venues - the Fill- eral denizens t stage lies in its simplicity - Save- more, the Magic Stick and the Lage the tiny, less-tha- Y N Detroitnet sells eco-friendly wrist- House - that have concerts rang a-square-mile bands inscribed with the group's ing from classic rock to indie start Detroit Oregis name. All revenue from each pur- ups to electronic dance. Detroit ha were concerned chase funds publicity and education places like the Cadeux Caf, wit that thedir nominal VANESSA to further fundraising, while dona- the best palm-frihes in town, and the connection to our tions go toward the final goal - buy- Russell industrial, a mixed business city would reflect RYCI yINs. y -og an abandoned warehouse for the community that fosters artists and badly on their purpose of turning it into am urban architects. Like Ann Arbor, there are lakeside tourism farming center. There are actually several characters around that you business, no chain grocery stores within city could get to know a little. There's It's true that people are often limits. The idea is that people will Mikey, who used to panhandle for ignorant, but it seems like all ansyone not only have a source of fresh and years onthe 7 Mileexit off the Lodge, wants to d wsen theyeatr"Detrocit" affcrdable produce ut that this proj- and Little Foot, the homeless rapper is jump on the bandwagon full of ccw ill eventually be sustainable who hangs out on Woodward, free- moaners about how bad the city is. year-round, styling for anyone that will listen. It's a shame that this behavior per- Brittany started the organiza- sists even in people who actally live t ion after she had been doing some in Michigan. Recently, I was talking Detroit-based phocgraphy that with so theone from the west side of focused on the decaying, graphiized Detroit is a blank Michigan who was repeatedly knock- and unfortunately often historic log Detroit until I finally asked him buildings. She soon learned that her canvas for creating if he'd ever actually been there. He grandfather actually used teskown had not. A let of peeple form their one. She decided to take actio on something great. opinions on shcrcuts, thinking that the grounds chat she has a "personal because they watch the news occa- responsibility" not only to her grand- sionally that they know the score. father, but also to the entrepreneurs As a Metro Detroiter whct has spent of Old Detroit to restore what they The history, the culture, the quirks a gocd deal of time in the city frcm spent years building. Our genera- - this is the rest of the truth that you childhood field trips to jam-packed tnnis actually lucky to have Detroit don't see on the eleven o'clock news. years of high school theatre - Id like because we have the opportunity There are people who take pride and to correct the tally a bit I could use oy to take it back and make it our own. have hope - people like Brittany, stu- column space to fume about educartien As Brittany said to me, why try to fix dents who go to Wayne State Univer- in Detroit, because it's an outrage that sonehing like the Mona Lisa when sity and Detroit's College for Creative so manychools are failing. I could talk we have a blank canvas? Studies and our peers here who vol- about the crime, because it's insane This canvas has potential - and unteer or spend a semester in the city. how the rates have earned Detroit the some fine brushstrokes already. As for Detroit, Oregon, let's get lab el "the murder capital of the world." Detrcit is home to the Detroit Insti- serious: A small piece tf our city's I could express anger abou the corrupt tte of Art and the Detroit Symphony best is better than whatever they public officials or the levels of poverty, orchestra; the Fox, Masonic, and have over there, and every bit of our ecause both situations feed into each Fischer theatres; the wonderful Si- worst has a story. ther viciously. I could talk ahout ence Center and Comerica Park and what's wrong with Detroit all day mung, Joe Louis Arena. We have Greek- - Vaessa Rychlinsk can be because it would be the truth. town, Mexicantown and Hockey- reached at vanrych@umich.edu. On Nov. 5, AAPD Deputy Chief John Seto met with members of the Michigan Student Assembly and the Interfraternity Council - the governing body of campus fraternities - to discuss what constitutes legitimate cause for police presence at game day parties. Students sought to find ways to stem what they allege is a recent increase in ticketing and to determine how their parties are being assessed for noise and trash violations. A common complaint among students is that they are not given sufficient time to clean up before being ticketed. Peri Silverman, the vice chair of the Greek Relations Select Committee, said in a Nov. 7 Daily article that "people aren't able to gauge the situation." It's in the best interest of city residents for students to follow ordinances, rather than giving them tickets to create easy cash flow. A crucial step to solving the problem of tickets is for students to under- stand Ann Arbor city ordinances. Students have an obligation as Ann Arbor residents to follow city laws. But student turnover is constant on campus, making it difficult to be knowledgeable on all laws. The police should also work with students to educate them on city rules. Students and AAPD should strive to cre- ate a spirit of cooperation and compliance. Police should permit students a reason- able amount of time to clean up their yards rather than immediately issuing tickets. AAPD could warn students that their party is getting too chaotic and give them an opportunity to correct this problem before writing them up. A loud and busy environ- ment on campus is the reality of a college town. AAPD needs to be understanding of that and work with students rather than hastily penalizing them. Of course, there will always be students who, even when granted sufficient time, fail to clean their yards. Since the major- ity of students rent their homes, they don't feel as much responsibility for their prop- erty. But this mentality is unacceptable. Students have an obligation to respect and follow Ann Arbor laws. Cooperation is a two-way street. Students can't expect leni- ency or understanding from AAPD or Ann Arbor residents if they won't obey laws and work with the city. While AAPD must enforce the rules, maintaining a cooperative relationship with the student body is in everyone's best interest. AAPD should work with the IFC and MSA to clearly establish guidelines for reasonable enforcement of city ordinances. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Jordan Birnholtz, Will Butler, Eaghan Davis, Michelle DeWitt, Ashley Griesshammer, Will Grundler, Jeremy Levy, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Emily Orley, Harsha Panduranga, Tommaso Pavone, Leah Potkin, Roger Sauerhaft, Asa Smith, Laura Veith, Andrew Weiner ANDREW WEINER I A reason to buy American Take a look at the big picture i "Hey c'mon! We're all going to buy Buicks in the alley behind the school!" "Well, gee, my mom told me that's kind of dangerous, and it usually makes my nose bleed..." "Whoa. Everyone's doing it. You don't want to bea loser, do you?" And we don't want to be losers, do we? For the past couple decades, peer pressure to buy American cars, especially in suburban Detroit, has been high. We went and shot up Chevys instead of hanging out with the new Asian kid who was kind of boring but always did well on tests or the sexy European exchange students who didn't play by anyone's rules. But because we caved into the pressure, American automakers have suffered. After the bottom fell out several years ago, however, the Big Three (Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., and Chrysler) are finally giving consum- ers real reasons to buy American again. In the 1990s and early this decade, consum- ers bought American. Because sales were good, the Big Three evenly motored on without much pressure to innovate or improve engineering, manufacturing or design. They did, however, make cars bigger. They also sold nearly iden- tical .cars through different brands (referred to as brand engineering). The GMT-360 plat- form, for instance, has been sold as different models through six GM brand - most notably as the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy and Oldsmobile Bravada. These aren't efficient or sustainable business practices. The Big Three rode high on sport utility sales (fuel-gulping SUVs like the Jeep Chero- kee and Ford Explorer) and were too content swimming in profits and buying up random companies to look in their rear-view mirrors. If they did, they would have seen Asian rivals looking ahead and leading in the types of vehi- cles that are selling in spades today - small, fuel-efficient and green. The story from the late 1990s to the early 21st century is a sad one. Oil prices shot up to as much as $5 per gallon in some places and that whole economy thing sort of collapsed or something. Americans, realizing that cars that cost less to purchase, fuel and maintain was the way to go, fully embraced East-Asian and European automakers and Ford and GM real- ized they didn't have the resources or skills to run niche automakers they had purchased. -Sales drastically dwindled. Companies mar- ried and then had ugly divorces. Everyone began to doubt the future of the Big Three. I Several years and a bailout later, I'm endors- ing something I never thought I would: buying American. Nope, this isn't out of some hyper- nationalistic epiphany or even sympathy. It's far simpler: Ford, GM and Chrysler now have the strongest model lineups in the indus- try. The automakers finally rethought the entire way product development is handled and their new approach is working well. The new Chevrolet Volt is one such example. Long after its concept was revealed in 2007, the electric vehicle is just hitting the streets in North America and Europe. There is much to praise. On Oct. 11, GM finally released long- awaited details about the Volt. This press release included an acknowledgement that at high speeds, the engine, rather than the elec- tric motor, directly powers the wheels. This means that in official terms, the Volt is not a pure electric vehicle. Angry blog posts, Tweets and a hailstorm of bad press immediately fol- lowed. I'm not sure why so much emphasis was put on the Volt's classification instead of its accom- plishments. Just because the Volt doesn't fit the exact definition of electric vehicle doesn't change the fact that Motor Trend saw 126 MPG while testing it. or that Popular Mechan- ics named it a Breakthrough Product. A slew of other American products are class-leaders and that trend continues to grow. The Ford Fiesta and Chevrolet Cruze are cur- rently leading the small car revolution. The Dodge Ram is constantly lauded as the num- ber one pickup on the market. Six out of Popu- lar Mechanics's 10 Best are American. Motor Trend's Car of the Year was a Ford. Americans, along with Europeans, Canadi- ans and Asians, are buying - and should con- tinue to buy - American cars not because they feel they need to, but because the Big Three are finally giving us cars we want. Andrew Weiner is an LSA freshman. J 's Monday night and the Law Library is in full swing. The usual crowd is all there: the pre- tentious law stu- dent all too proud of his Stanford t-shirt and match- ing sweatpants who's reading about contracts, the girl who N types so loudly it sounds like she's using Morse codeT to communicate TYLER with her friend JONES on North Cam- pus, the guy who thinks that just because he has headphones on, I can't hear him listening to Taio Cruz. And then there's me - somewhere underneath the Arabic notes and psy- chology pages, I'm diligently chipping away at my workload. It's been an unusually awful week for me, as it has been for most of my friends. So you can imagine my displea- sure when 1 checked the calendar and discovered I had a column due this week. I don't have time to feed myself, yet I'm expected to put together a thought-provoking social commen- tary? Quickly, my mind looks for an easy answer. Maybe I'll just write about Andrew Shirvell - there's plen- ty of good material there. With time ticking away, I needed a topic. But in my quest to write a column, I was able to put my current situation into some much needed perspective. When I need to pull a quick col- umn idea out of my hat, I look to CNN. com. Surely among the world's latest buzz there is an idea just waiting to be developed. First, there's the story of the Carnival Cruise ship stranded in the middle of the ocean. After a fire broke out in one of the engine rooms early Monday morning, the Carnival Splendor lost power and operated on auxiliary generators until it was towed into port yesterday. But while still stranded 130 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico, with no air conditioning and with plumbing only recently being restored to the boat, numerous cruisers checked into the infirmary after suffering panic attacks. The only thing I can imagine more unbearable than an obnoxious cruise-goer complaining about the runniness of his Eggs Benedict is a cruise-goer with no buffet or running water. Truly, things could be worse for me. But then there was the story of the Somali pirates who attacked a Spanish warship with their stolen Japanese freighter. Intent on attacking a ship carrying peacekeeping supplies to Somalia, the pirates instead engaged in a skirmish with the Spanish Navy. According to the European Union Naval Force public affairs office, the warship only used "minimal force." This makes sense, as I imagine the Somali pirates were heavily armed with sharp stones and dirty insults. Needless to say, the pirates scurried away as quickly as their freighter could take them (which is still proba- bly fasterthan the Carnival Splendor). Truly, things could be worse for me. So no, I didn't discover a well- packaged column idea that I could crank outin 15minutes. And I walked out of the Arabic midterm Tues- day morning feeling degraded and embarrassed. I have no doubt my pro- fessor will get a few laughs out of my attempt at an essay. But somewhere between read- ing about those stranded vacationers and those desperate Somali pirates, I gained a little perspective on life. Sure, the test wasn't a total success. But things in my life could certainly be worse. Having a little perspec- tive, especially around this time of year, is important. We're all busy now. With midterms slowing down and finals gearing up, it's hard to believe things could be worse than 2 a.m. Law Library sessions followed by 10 a.m. Arabic midterms. But see- ing life clearly, especially in a time of year when it's difficult to see anything clearly, is necessary. Being able to study at the Univer- sity - renowned for making smart people feel stupid - is an honor. Studying under some of the most brilliant minds in our nation is a gift, even if their lectures sometimes make no sense. Sitting next to some of the future thinkers and doers of our generation is inspiring, even if these thinkers and doers make long-winded comments during discussion sections. Arabic exams are trivial in the grand scheme of things. I'm not trying to say that doing well in your classes isn't important, or that pulling consecutive all-night- ers isn't a drag. But I've found that we tend to lose perspective when we cease to see the big picture. No single test will define your college career. These four years are about the accu- mulated experiences and lessons that will shape the next steps of our lives. Turning one test or one paper into the be-all end-all is the surest way to lose sight of the big picture. As exam season gears up and it starts to seem like every professor is judging your worth based on a Scan- tron exam, keep in mind why you are here and the value of every experi- ence. Don't lose sight of that big pic- ture and remember that life could certainly be worse for you, a student at an elite university. -Tyler Jones can be reached at tylerlIj@umich.edu.