Thursday, June 20, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Bonnaroo (the venues are named as follows: That Tent, This Tent, The Other Tent, Which Stage and What Stage. Yeah. Confusing.). We wasted no time on Thursday night, going to see Haim, Deap Vally and Alt-J at a variety of tents. Thursday night is always fun: Not as many people are there, and more up-and-coming bands usually play. The two girl groups, Haim and Deap Vally, both put on great shows, with Haim running through a fun set of '80s-infused, harmony-laden pop-rock and Deap Vally shred- ding through a ferocious, sexy, White Stripes-esque hour of music. We arrived at Alt-J to find This Tent overflowing with fans, and we fought to get even a decent look at the group (that's another thing about Bonnaroo. There are always more people.) The band played songs from their incredibly catchy and well-exe- cuted debut, An Awesome Wave, and though their often-mumbled lyrics were pretty difficult to make out ("I dare you to under- ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily stand one word" Sofie whisper- shouted), their tight grooves and dedicated fans made for a great 40 show, climaxing with the "I love you so" chants of "Breezeblocks." 'IBy the end, my knees were already shaking with fatigue, which wor- ried me considering we had only been at the festival for five hours. I went to bed at 1 a.m. both excit- ed and nervous for the next day. Bonnaroo festival goers cool off in the fountain between musical sets. Four days of mu 7heat and Bonnai Stone, a hippie-looking white guy who sang some of the best soul I'd heard in years, then to Passion Pit, who covered the main stage in huge white balloons during a set of their usual dance-pop num- bers. Stopping for a quick snack at a food truck (you have to eat about seven times per day in order to stay awake for nearly 15 hours of music), we headed over to Big K.R.I.T., who absolutely took the roof off of The Other Tent. Wu-Tang Clan was next, and they ran through a greatest-hits set complete with a lot of middle- finger raising and reminders that the Wu-Tang Clan is indeed still nothing to fuck with. Then came one of the high- lights of my concert-going life. To be honest, I did not expect to love Paul McCartney. He's a Beatle and a legend in his own right, but to be frank, I thought he'd be boring. I could not have been more wrong. Sir Paul ran through a three hour set - yes, three - of hits ("Come Together," "Baby I'm Amazed" and "Back in the U.S.S.R."), slower numbers ("Blackbird," "Yesterday") and two touching tributes to John Lennon and George Harrison, the latter punctuated by an awe- some rendition of "Something." He made a crowd of around 80,000 feel tiny, telling hilari- ous and insightful stories about Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton while looking more than spry at 70 years old. Sure, there were a few missteps here and there - his voice isn't what it used to be -but everything was accounted for by two roaring encores and three hours of more than memorable music. We wrapped up the night by stopping by The xx (fine as usual, though it was too sleepy at that point for me) and ZZ Top (abso- lutely incredible, played to a packed tent complete with match- ing purple coats and trademark beards - Billy Gibbons even had someone come onstage and light a cigarette in his mouth while he soloed). The best part was that the weekend was only half done. DAY 3 Saturday began with Beyonce's little sister Solange, who provided a somewhat-entertaining, short set of electro-funk to a surpris- ingly large audience. Nas came next, and though I'd seen him twice before, I was incredibly happy to be watching him again. Backed by an energetic and tal- ented band - most of whom wore gnore what Edward Snowden has shown the world. Really. Ignore that the National Security Agency has court- approved access to the records of every single call made by Veri- zon, AT&T and Sprint customers in the U.S., along ERIC with the ability FERGUSON to obtain records - of online activity from both American citizens and foreign nationals. You can ignore this dragnet operation because you're a Democrat, and during a Democratic presidency this program can't be wrong. You voted for Obama less than a year ago, a suave champion of social liberalism and universal healthcare running against every Republican's second choice. Barack is your guy. There's no way he would let the NSA do this without putting adequate safeguards in place - it's not like it took four years for him to publicly acknowledge that four U.S. citizens have been killed by drones. And even putting that aside, aren't his critics on this issue just a bunch of dumb Republicans looking to score some political points? You could also ignore it because it's so sensational. Right now the NSA itself admits it only gives close scrutiny to fewer than 300 phone numbers, and that it has nowhere near enough staff members to look at each and every piece of data PRISM makes available to them. So there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Further, the notion that some government agent has the ability to watch these words form as they're being typed - as Snowden has suggested - is ridiculous and should invalidate everything else he has said. The man is a sociopath who has hit the jackpot thanks to some guy named Glenn Greenwald, who is obviously playing this whole situation for attention. Besides, it's not like he's a reputable journalist working for a respected newspaper. Even better, ignore it because this leaker is a traitor in the eyes of so many government officials, members of Con- gress and at least one neoconservative, shotgun-wielding former vice presi- dent. The NSA says that over 50 ter- ror plots were stopped thanks to these programs, and let's face it - the only conceivable way these plots could have been stopped was through monitoring virtually every American with a cell phone or Internet presence. And that's only half of the story - he also fled to Hong Kong right after the leak went public. That can only mean he's a Chi- nese spy. He deserves whatever our government throws at him over there. Perhaps a drone strike is in order? Your innocence justifies your ignorance. Best of all, ignore that NSA officials have your call records tucked away and the ability to seize your online data without your knowledge because you have "nothingto hide." Your life is going so well. You're working at a place that will bring you one step closer to that career you've been dreaming of, and you don't have time to worry about all this junk. You're a good person - you keep yourself in shape, follow the Golden Rule and have no prejudices based on race or sexual orientation. Your browser history is just an endless scroll through social networks, Bleacher Report and CNN, with nothing but memes and other material irrelevant to the NSA in between. The rest ofyour computer is cleanofpirated media, videos of extremists preaching their gospel, flag-burning pictures, child pornography, et cetera. You just don't fit the profile for government surveillance. To hell with civil responsibility - your innocence justifies your ignorance. We students can all carry on with our lives just as if Snowden never existed. Not only are the NSA's pro- grams completely warranted because they're supposed to catch terrorists, but their privacy-eroding methods are also nothing to worry about because we're such good people. We can worry about our privacy when the NSA has somehow inferred guilt out of a life- time of innocence - and that's some- thing our children or grandchildren are more likely to have to worry about than us. When that happens, all it will take is the accused person's word to make those NSA agents see the error of their ways. Life is fair like that. Come to think of it, the NSA could probably catch even more terrorists if they had more people. Wait - they're hiring? Where do I sign up? -Eric Ferguson can be reached at ericff@umich.edu. Ignore it all n the middle of several voter identification laws passed in 2012, the non- partisan Brennan Center for Justice estimated that about 11 percent of Americans had no form JAMES of photo BRENNAN ID, and that these Americans faced obstacles in obtaining these documents even when they tried. Federal courts have ruled both for and against individual state laws regarding voter ID, meaning that in the future the Supreme Court will likely be forced to issue the final judgment on the legality of such laws. However, no one seems to be discussing the plethora of difficulties faced by people without IDs. For a huge number of Americans, their chances of improvingtheir station in life are largely dependent on whether or not they are able to obtain documents like state IDs and birth certificates. One's ability to prove their identity with a photo ID is a major requirement for a number of government benefits, as well as for employment, low- cost housing and purchasing a car. Obviously the need to prove one's identity is important, but requiring a state-issued photo ID in order to do so presents a massive barrier to millions of people. In the debate over voter ID laws, the consistent reply to lib- eral concerns over people with- out IDs is "Why don't they just get one?" or "How hard is it to get an ID?" In the bubble of privilege that some of us live in, having a driver's license is something we easily take for granted. If you have ever lost your license, you may begin to understand the dif- ficulty some people face in try- ing to obtain their ID - we have our parents shuffle through their papers for our birth certificate and scrounge for a few pieces of mail to prove our residency, make the drive out to the Secretary of State office, then wait in line and pay $20 for a replacement. Having spent every Friday over the last five months assisting poor and homeless Detroiters obtain IDs, I've quickly learned that for people living in poverty, the process is usually far more arduous. Starting out, a huge number of people have almost none of the documentation needed to get an ID. A birth certificate is usu- ally required - and going about obtaining it is a task within itself, since at least three other pieces of documentation are needed to confirm it. Once the birth cer- tificate is acquired, an ID may require even more documenta- tion, such as proof of residency in the form of school transcripts, bills or bank accounts - some- thingpoor and homeless individ- uals don't always have, especially those who are older. After getting past all of the hurdles necessary to prove one's identity, a person then must find their way to a Secretary of State office - which many researchers have pointed out is especially far from the homes of the poorest people. Finally, these documents usually cost between $10 and $25. This might not sound like a whole lot of money, but this is the poorest of the poor we're talking about - people who can barely afford their bus fare just to get to the office; people who have no income and no one to ask for a loan. Twenty dollars is a huge sum of money for many people trying to obtain an ID, and it's often the biggest barrier between an individual moving forward or staying stuck in their station. Comprehensive ID reform is a no-brainer. After a voter ID law was passed in South Carolina, pro- grams were arranged to trans- port people for free to offices to obtain their IDs so they could vote. Michigan - regardless of any voter ID laws - should follow South Carolina's lead and develop comprehensive ID reform. People should not only be transported to the Secretary of State office, but they also should have clear directions on what documentation to bring, people who can help them obtain these documents and the costs of their ID covered. Both Republicans and Demo- crats are constantly looking for ways to stimulate growth and help people find work, but tak- ing down a barrier as simple as photo ID costs never seems to come out as a priority. Cities like Detroit are filled with residents hungry to get to work, to build something for themselves and to take control of their lives. They don't want anything handed to them on a platter - they only want to be given a chance to suc- ceed. Comprehensive ID reform is a liberal idea with conserva- tive values, and, frankly, it's a no-brainer for both social justice and economic development in Michigan. -James Brennan can be reached at jmbthree@umich.edu. Thursday, June 20, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com -t he Figuring Out Flint: Harsha Nahata outlines why Congressional discussion of immigration reform nod ium might be a key part of revitalizing the city of Flint. Go to michigandaily.com/blogs/The Podium for more. Give them theirpapers Classic Tennessee festival offers delights, surprises By JACKSON HOWARD DailyArts Writer There's something really, well, special, about going to a farm in the middle of Tennessee with nearly 100,000 other people for a four-day music festival. There are the incredibly revolting Port- A-Potties, the erratic weather that can bring 100-degree heat followed by an apocalyptic thun- derstorm, and the inevitability that you will be forced up against someone that a) has not showered -in days, b) has hair in really weird places and/orc) is doing whatever drug is in their possession (weed, mushrooms, ecstasy, unrecog- nizable powders that scare me) in front of you and your mother, making both of you unspeakably 'uncomfortable. All that aside, in a world of seemingly impending doom, destruction and despair, Bonna- roo is an anomaly, a paradoxical utopia that on paper looks impos- sible but in practice is one of 21st century society's greatest accom- plishments. Think about it. Somehow, tens of thousands of people from all over this God-forsaken country and planet - people from Cali- fornia and Brazil, Jews and Bud- dhists, straights and gays, and everything in between - come together once a year at a 700-acre farm in no-man's-land, Tennes- see in the name of music, art and an intangible feeling that can only be called Bonnaroo. This past weekend was my fifth trip down to Manchester, and despite my swollen feet, sun-burnt shoulders and the exhaustion of having my never-aging mother Sofie, who inexplicably has the energy to see nine concerts back-to-back, as my companion, I had maybe the greatest weekend of my 19-year- old life. Yes, I got to see some of my favorite musicians play music non-stop for four days. But what really makes Bonnaroo so special are my fellow Bonnaroovians - a family of dedicated, relentless, costume-wearing, tattoo-flaunt- ing, borderline-psychotic music lovers. Three-hundred and six- ty-one days of the year, we trod along as students, office manag- ers, secretaries, advertising con- sultants and garbage men, but for four glorious days, our inner 'Roo is allowed to emerge, and what a sight to see: Superman capes, an obese man with pasties on his nipples, a woman in a full banana costume and lots and lots of boobs. It's hot, it's overpriced and it's a hell-of-a schlep, but year after year, people come back to the farm because it's Bonnaroo. And once the Roo is in your sys- tem, you're never getting rid of it. DAY 1 Being Year 5, Sofie and I had a near-perfect sense of how to navigate the pit of chaos that is DAY 2 My mother and I flew through nine concerts on Friday, and I had to drink more than a few Red Bulls to stay alive. First off was Local Natives, one of my favorite bands, who did their usual blend of hipster, somewhat-depress- ing, drum-heavy rock. Midway through their set, though, I began to get bored, as did my mother. We decided then to go explore something new, which ended up being the African singer Fatou- mata Diawara or, as my iPhone corrected, "Fat Pinata Diorama." Over the years, Bonnaroo has provid- ed us with a vast goodie bag of spur-of-the-moment surprises, and Fatoumata Diawara did not disappoint. I watched happily as Diawara - an elegant and strik- ingly beautiful African woman clad in bright yellow and red - danced, preached, chirped and dread-whipped for an enthusias- tic audience. We moved from Diawara to a smaller stage to watch Allen FOLLOW DAILY OPINION ON TWITTER Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michdailyoped to get updates on Daily opinion content throughout the day.