The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, September 29, 2014 - 3A
ROBERT DUNNE/Daily
Engineering graduate student Rachel McLoughlin talks to interested onlookers about MBURST at Weatherfest in the Diag Sunday.
NUNS
From Page 1A
conservative grassroots organiza-
tion, - and other similar corpora-
tions, labor unions and nonprofit
organizations - citing them as an
infringement of First Amendment
rights. The nuns warned that this
lack of transparency can endanger
democracy by indirectly influenc-
ing voters with money.
"Money can affect politics, but
only people have the vote," Camp-
bell said, "What we're trying to do
is wake people up ... They buy ads,
they try to confuse us and so many
of us are getting depressed, so I
realized that if we don't vote, we
are going to lose our democracy."
The tour hit Michigan's major
cities, including Kalamazoo, Flint
and Ann Arbor, and the sisters will
be in Detroit on Monday. In their
10 state tour, they kicked off in Des
Moines, Iowa at an event in which
Vice President Joe Biden, who is
also Roman Catholic, offered his
support to the sisters and organiz-
ers.
Following the opening event,
the New York Times reported dis-
cord among bishops and the Vati-
can concerning the strategy and
actions of the sisters involved in
the Nuns on the Bus movement.
While the sisters stress social
justice and political action, they
spoke little about church teach-
ings.
Despite holding support from
Biden, there is disagreement over
whether the organization has
official support from the Vati-
can. Pope Francis, the head of the
worldwide Catholic Church, has
not clearly articulated his stance
on political action undertaken by
members of religious orders.
This year's tour has been orga-
nized to include sisters from each
state they are touring. These nuns
are particularly active in their com-
munities, and ride with the group
during the extent of the tourof their
state.
Sisters from Michigan in atten-
dance included Sr. Nancy Sylvester,
president of the Leadership Confer-
ence of Women Religious;;Sr.Linda
Werthman, University of Detroit
Mercy Board of Trustees member;
and Sr. Carol Coston, the first direc-
tor of Network, a national Catholic
social justice lobby group thatorga-
nizes Nuns on thefBus.
"I feel very passionate that we
have to get out and encourage
people to vote," said Sr. Mary Ellen
Gondeck, a justice coordinator for
the Sisters of St. Joseph of Caron-
delet. "They have to learn, under-
stand the issues, and vote for the
person they believe best will carry
forward what is best for the com-
mon good, and then they have to
hold them accountable."
Political action and mobilization
is and has become more prevalent
amongsisters, despite the reported
pushback by some Vatican officials.
Many congregations have cre-
ated "justice teams," which often
address political and social equity
and to offer hope, and some of the
sisters in attendance participated
in a movie titled Band of Sisters,
which follows sisters fighting for
the rights of immigrants, among
other political and social issues.
The Nuns on aBus tour will con-
clude in October, completing more
than 60 events throughout the
nation.
WASHINGTON
From Page 2A
tiatives throughout
the semester. She is also
currently working on
ONE's Trillion Dollar
Scandal campaign, which
raises awareness about
financial corruption
that affects the flow of
funding to developing
countries.
"If people just took
a minute and help to
make change with their
voices they can really,
really make a difference,"
Shaw-Obasogie said.
"Everyone has a chance
to make an impact."
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VIDEO
From Page 1A
As Danielle, Markowitz chat-
ted up other potential new mem-
bers, discussing everything from
fashion to parties.
"Did you guys go to splash
bash?" Danielle said. "I went to
splash bash and I woke up in the
morning and I was all red and I
call it the splash bash rash."
Rho omegas, the sorority sis-
ters who help facilitate rushing,
told Danielle to leave the prop-
erty during the rush process.
"I'll call the police," one said in
the video.
"I'll call my daddy," Danielle
retorted. "Do you know how
wealthy he is? We are upper mid-
dle class."
Markowitz came up with the
idea after talking to friends in
Greek life last semester.
"I always thought that guy rush
is very relaxed and allows you to
focus more on meeting the broth-
ers and being yourself, but with
girls, at least in the beginning, it's
almost like putting on a show and
it seems very fake," Markowitz
said. "Maybe that's not fair to say
because it's not completely like
that, but that's how it seems from
an outside perspective."
While many wondered if he
was using this video as part of a
larger social commentary regard-
ing the Greek community, Mar-
kowitz said the only motivation
behind this project was to have
fun.
"I really just wanted to mess
with people and have some fun
with this whole idea," he said.
"When we went into this, I
thought, 'if no one likes this at
least we'll have fun doing it,' but
fortunately people have liked it."
Nevertheless, his jokes about
sex, socioeconomics and the dra-
matic antics of rush have drawn
some controversy. In the video,
people had mixed reactions, with
taking offense to Markowitz's
comments, while others played
along or fought back laughs.
"Some people flipped out and
were going crazy about it, which
I thought was funny because it
shouldn't be such a serious pro-
cess," he said. "It's supposed to be
about fun and meeting people and
joining a sisterhood that's going
to last for the next four years, but
people do and that's where you
get these funny reactions."
Markowitz noted one comment
in his video that pokes fun at
the Kappa Kappa Gamma soror-
ity, when he said he heard it was
nicknamed "Visa Visa Master-
card." He said it was written as
part of Danielle's character, who
he portrayed as "an oblivious
freshman girl who only knows
the stereotypes."
"I think some girls got mad at
first because they thought I was
attacking them or their soror-
ity specifically or that I was only
doing this to them," he said. "By
going to all the houses, I just
wanted to get a reaction from
everyone altogether, and not
make any generalizations."
Despite enjoying the pro-
cess, Markowitz said there was
a moment when he thought he
might have gone too far.
"I had a breakdown before we
got to the last house that no one
knows about," he said. "I was real-
ly afraid of making people mad, if
people had been mad I would have
felt really bad, and all my friends
there (said) you have to finish this,
so I'm really happy I did."
It was Markowitz's first video
and first time using a body mic.
Most jokes were improvisational,
and others were collaborative. He
credits his fellow ComCo mem-
bers for a scene where he hand-
cuffs himself to a sorority fence.
After drawing much ire from rho
omegas about his presence, he
starts to chant "Let me rushl"
while sitting on the ground hand-
cuffed.
Markowitz said he plans to
make more videos in the future,
but is keeping his ideas to himself
for now. Danielle, he said, will
probably not be making any more
appearances, though he cannot
say for sure that she is done for
good.
"I don't plan on putting on a
dress that many more times," he
said. "I knew that if this whole
thing didn't go well, then I would
just be that weirdo in a dress."
BIRTHDAY
From Page 1A
Through the best of Michigan
Athletics' accomplishments and
through the worst of defeats, the
Daily has been on campus.
The paper has grown from 8.5
inches by 11.5 inches to our cur-
rent broadsheet size of 11 inches
by 20 inches.
So pick up a Daily, grab a cup-
cake from a Daily staffer on the
Diag today and read the paper
in print and online. Here's to the
next 125.
In the spirit of this milestone,
The Daily reached out to a host of
notable alumni to talk about their
experiences working for the paper.
These include Stephen Henderson,
Detroit Free Press editorial page
editor; Jeremy W. Peters, New
York Times Washington bureau
* reporter; and David Shepardson,
Detroit News Washington bureau
chief.
What was the best part of
workingfor the Daily?
Peters: "It was something that
I, and all the other people who
worked there at the time really
had a great sense of institutional
pride about. It felt really good to
be part of a product that came out
every single day that we helped
shape and were ultimately respon-
sible for. I think that when you're
20 years old, that's something that
most 20- year-olds don't really
have. It was really formative in
that way."
Shepardson: "The friendships I
developed with the people at The
Daily. You have this experience
you share with everyone there. It
is hard enough for professionals to
put on a newspaper every day. The
fact that kids, who are basically
unsupervised, who really don't
have lots of experience ... it is a
miracle that it gets out every day."
Did you have a favorite moment
or story you covered as a Daily
staffer?
Shepardson: "While I was
working for The Daily I was also
working as a freelance writer at
The Detroit News, where I work
now. I was trying to balance sleep-
ing, not sleeping and classes and I
had to cover an event at the front
of Angell Hall. I had been sitting
there taking notes for a while and
was so tired I started to close my
eyes. Long story short, my room-
mates were flipping around the
channels and saw me on the Uni-
versity Public Access channel,
they ended up seeing me asleep."
Henderson: "The divestiture
from South Africa was a huge
deal on campus, the diversity of
the student body was a big deal,
the University was just starting
to move in the direction of things
like a speech code that they were
trying to institute and the code of
non-academic conduct...I think it
was sort of the sum total of all of
those issues, having to deal with
them day in and day out, havingto
make lots of decisions about how
to handle them, it's the sum total
of that experience that I think I
remember the most."
Peters: "The year 2000, when
Bush and Gore were running
againsteach other... Michigan was
even more of a swing state than it
is right now. (Bush) and Gore were
returningto Michiganalot,so that
gave me the opportunity to, for the
first time, as a20-year-old, cover a
presidential campaign. That expe-
rience stayed with me. One of the
great things about the Daily was
that ... the editors always tried to
be very generous in sending you
out on assignments around the
country, if warranted. One of the
things I got to go do was go down
to the Supreme Court during the
first ... the case that was actually
right before Bush v. Gore. That
was one of the things that, again,
I never really expected being able
to do at 20, and definitely gave me
a taste of what I thought I wanted
to do with my career."
What impact did The Daily
have on your career?
Henderson: "The Daily was the
reason that I was able to have the
kind of career I've had now. I pret-
ty much have the same job today at
the Detroit Free Press that I did at
The Michigan Daily 23 years ago.
And I don't think that's a coinci-
dence. The things that I learned
there and the sort of momentum
coming out of the paper because
of that opportunity are what sort
of pushed me into every position
that I've had in professional jour-
nalism."
Shepardson: "I had so many
experiences from covering the
inauguration, to interviewing Dr.
Ruth (Westheimer), covering stu-
dent protests and the presidential
search, really covering an unbe-
lievable amount of news on cam-
pus. It really inspired me to want
to be a journalist when I really
hadn't thought about it before. It is
a wonderful institution that really
no class could ever replicate."
What advice would yougive to
the Daily and/or Daily staffers
moving forward?
Henderson: "I think that
technology is key to The Daily's
future, and actually is a way to
enhance the paper's relationship
with, and the experience of the
students on campus. The Daily
has the opportunity to be much
more engaged, over longer peri-
ods of time, with the students
on campus because of technol-
ogy. I think concentrating on
it - I mean, I think the paper's
done a good job so far - moving
in that direction, that's the right
instinct. That's what will help
them survive for another 125
years."
Peters: "I would say stick with
it ... There's no doubt that I got
more out of The Daily than I did
any class. And that's not to dis-
parage any of my professors, or
the education that I got at Michi-
gan, but again: it was ours. We
really felt this sense of ownership
over what we produced every day.
And I think that staying with it,
as hard as it was - you know,
you're putting in 30 or 40 hours
a week when you're an editor, and
that's not easy to do when you
have class and ot her responsibil-
ities as a college student. I think
it's often tempting for people to
cast it aside. But I'm glad that I
stuck with it for as long as I did."
C-SPAN's ~q@
is coming to
University of Michigan!
The C-SPAN Bus is on the road visiting the schools of
the Big Ten®, spreading the word about C-SPAN's
educational and political resources along the way.
Monday, Sept 29
C-SPAN Bus Location: Washington Street
in front of Rackham Auditorium
9:15 - 10:00 am ET: Watch University President
President Mark Schlissel on C-SPAN's Washington Journal,
LIVE from the C-SPAN Bus.
11:00 am - 1:00 pm ET: Step aboard the C-SPAN Bus
to learn more about C-SPAN programming and
resources on an interactive tour.
CREATED BY CABLE
c-span.org
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