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June 27, 2013 - Image 4

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Thursday, June 27, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
4r
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily umich.edu

CHECK US OUT ONLINE
Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials and join in the debate.
Check out @michdailyoped and Facebook.com/MichiganDaily to
get updates on Daily opinion content.
MEGAN MCDONALD
Plugged in

Thursday, June 27, 2013 ART
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com J
rUN IN A FOREST
Fireflygrows in is secoear

KATIE BURKE
EDITOR IN CHIEF

ERIC FERGUSON
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

ELLIOT ALPERN
MANAGING EDITOR

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely theviewsoftheir authors.
SR OM T HE D A'.V
increase is anincrease
'U' needs more state funding to make education affordable
Last Thursday, the University's Board of Regents voted for a tuition increase
of 1.1 percent for in-state students and 3.2 percent for out of state students.
This was the lowest tuition increase by the University in almost 30 years,
but is nonetheless an increase. The Board of Regents and University administra-
tion certainly deserve credit for crafting a budget that will only modestly increase
tuition, as they were also able to keep net tuition payments frozen for lowest income
students. However, the real problem with the ever-rising cost of tuition lies with
a lack of money from the state. Michigan's legislature and Republican Gov. Rick
Snyder must increase funding for higher education in order to keep tuition down.

Over the last 50 years, the
percentage of the University's general
fund that comes from state funding
has steadily shrunk, falling from
nearly8o percentin 1960tolessthan 17
percentin2013.Thisisdueinlargepart
to shifts in the state's fiscal priorities,
and under Snyder this trend has
continued. University funding from
the state fell by 15 percent just two
years ago, and the funding increases
for this and next year are a paltry
two percent.
Although the state may not 'see
higher education as a priority when
the unemployment level is still over
eight percent, government officials
must realize that making tuition
more affordable is a solid investment
in the future of the state's economy.
According to The New York Times,only
26 percent of high achieving students
in low-income families are able to

attend and graduate from college. High
tuition rates make many students who
want a college education unable to
attend, hurtingthe economy asawhole
in both the long and short run. A college
education is the key to allowing
people to move forward and to
defeat economic stagnation. Thus, if
economic development is a priority, so
too must be making college affordable.
There are certainly areas of the
University's budget that haven't
experienced many cuts - particularly
faculty and administrative pay - but
cuts to these areas are no remedy for
the current situation. If the University
were to cut pay for professors or
hold back on remodeling buildings
and providing services to students,
it would only hurt the University's
prestige and ability to attract top
faculty and students.
Demanding heavier spending on

higher education from Snyder and
state legislators may, for the time
being, seem like a lost cause, as both
haveshownatendencynottoprioritize
increased funding for education at
either the K-12 or college level. Until
the make-up of the legislature changes
or current officials have a change of
heart, the University must continue
to aggressively fundraise and craft
creative ways to improve financial aid
and freeze tuition prices. Ideas like
Regent Mark Bernstein's "Go Blue
Bonds" and reserving a percentage
of all donations for financial aid - an
idea the Daily has suggested before -
are excellent examples.
The University should be commend-
ed for its work to keep tuition as low as
possible. But the state under Snyder
cannot continue to mask decades of
higher education funding decreases
with periodic, minuscule increases.

Think about your last
30 minutes. What did you
do? Did you scroll through
your newsfeed, gaping at
photos of friends with chil-
dren? Maybe you refreshed
your Twitter feed several
hundred times and retweet-
ed Relatable Facts. Or maybe
you took a selfie or Snapchat-
ted your BFF. Whatever you
did, it probably involved
connecting without contact.
But who could resist with
so many options? I could like
coffee on Facebook, tweet
that I'm currently drinking
coffee, update my LinkedIn
that I'm good at drinking
coffee, post a video of me
drinking coffee on YouTube
(as well as a few "vintage"
photos of my coffee cup
and a Vine of me sipping my
coffee for three seconds), pin
a couple of recipes for coffee
on Pinterest and check in
tq my favorite coffee shop
on FourSquare. I have the
tools to let others know I'm
having such a fabulous time
sitting here drinking coffee,
and you're not.
I'm a social media addict
- I'll admit it. I have a Twit-
ter, Facebook and Instagram,
I actively browse Imgur and
Reddit and also text. But I
have also reached the point
where I have become sick and
tired of staring at my phone
when I have nothing else to
do. I mean does it really mat-
ter Jane Doe wore that? But
most importantly, why do
Ihave that initial impulse?
It's a scary feeling that I have
become so accustomed to
scrolling my Facebook news-
feed that I'll just do it with-
out a thought. If my phone is
dead or I left my room with-
out it, suddenly I feel as if I'm
missing a chunk of my life -
what am I supposed to do in
order to avoid real world con-
tact? Make conversation, or
the worst, make eye contact?
Uh, awkward.

This constant need to be
connected via the Internet
has absolutely broken down
simple forms of communi-
cation, causing problems in
conversations as important
as interviews. It might be
comical to think that you
would reply to a text in an
interview or that you would
not know the difference
between a casual conversa-
tion and an interview, but
our generation has come into
conflict with virtual and real
life. We may not know it, but
our constant communication
has seeped into our manner-
isms, and even our psychol-
ogy. The instant gratification
from the Internet has made
us impatient, shortening our
attention span and making us
scream TL;DR when prompt-
ed to read a long - or heaven
forbid, complex - writing
piece. Our brains have also
been programmed to Face-
book and the like - we actu-
ally get a rush of dopamine
from social media notifica-
tions, which is ultimately the
reason why it's so addicting.
Yes, the Internet is an
amazing feat of technology.
I can Skype relatives I have
never met in the Philippines,
keep in touch with friends
and family back home and
sharewhat mattersto me.The
Internet has become a vital
part of our lives. But at the
same time, it's all superficial.
While we update or post, we
go further into the Internet's
abyss - so far that it's coun-
ter-productive and instead of
becoming closer to friends,
we become detached and
lonely, hiding behind a screen
and some text. It's great that
I can have an ongoing text
conversation throughout the
day, but I'd really rather actu-
ally "LOL" with a friend over
a cup ofcoffee.
Megan McDonald is
an LSA sophomore.

Delaware music
festival shines in
sophomore outing
By ELLIOT ALPERN
ManagingEditor
It doesn't really matter how
far you've driven, how many
hours you've spent packed in your
friend's car wondering if the ride
will ever end; it doesn't even mat-
ter if you've gone a day (or, more
likely, days) without a shower.
Once that brilliant green "Fire-
fly" sign passes overhead, and you
feel the grass on your soles and
smell the forest on the air, the rest
of that stuff falls away. For a few
fleeting days, you're home again.
Carved out of the woods next
to the Dover Downs Speedway
(which provides the strangest
contrast: this hulking concrete
behemoth in view as you walk to
your immersion into nature), Fire-
fly is slowly gaining legs as one of
the major festivals of the summer.
Even with a less pulse-quickening
set of headliners this year (Red
Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty and
Foster the People, vs. last year's
Jack White, the Killers and the
Black Keys), the festival's atten-
dance only blossomed. There's
finally the sense that Firefly won't
be playing catch-up to Bonnaroo
and Lollapalooza much longer.
Not bad for its second year.
Oh, and for the record, partying
in the middle of the forest is pretty
damn fuii.
I kicked off my Firefly experi-
ence on Friday by getting as close
as possible to California natives
The Neighbourhood, who satis-
fied my expectations (but didn't
exceed them - chalk it up to the
inexperience of being a new band).
Luckily, unlike the mega-festivals
that dominate the summer land-
scape, Firefly puts on a max of two
shows at any given time, and head-
liners (usually, though not always)
play alone. Which meant that, in
addition to seeing some of the big-
ger draws, I was able to catch acts
like The Neighbourhood and Rob-
ert DeLong.
Speaking of which - if you
haven't heard of that last name,
do yourself a favor and look him
up now. The young DJ, who played
midday on Sunday, completely

outdueled all of the dance acts
that came before him - includ-
ing Calvin Harris, who, while fun,
quickly felt like he was playing a
familiar recipe. Noticeable build-
up to drop. Drop. Smoke columns
shoot up, rinse, dry, repeat.
But DeLong was something
else. For one, there's no canned
beats - Robert uses a looping
playback to build his own beats,
and then employs no shortage of
tools to mix and sample (contrast-
ing the usual "twist this knob, flip
that switch" with hardcore com-
puter gaming joysticks, live drum-
set solos and, at one point, waving
a wii-mote frantically for different
effects). It was easily the most fun
show of the festival.
Which is no small accolade in a
weekend packed with fun shows.
On Friday, Django Django brought
a kind of Euro-geek rhythm met
with enthusiastic dancing, and
Ellie Goulding was surprisingly
enjoyable, with soaring vocals
and thumping dance tracks. And
then, after a performance by The
Avett Brothers (who were also
surprisingly skillful and enter-
taining given the crowd), the Red
Hot Chili Peppers played the first
headliner set of the weekend. I've
seen RHCP before, and while both
shows were awesome (especially
for someone who knows the rep-
ertoire well), I'm beginning to
see a professional, albeit repeti-
tive approach by the band. Open
with an energetic hit (in this case,
"Can't Stop"), and then play the
many hits and singles they've put
out over the years, punctuated
by a jam or a deep track here and
there.
Saturday's lineup was likely the
weakest of the three days, includ-
ing the headliner Tom Petty (no
offense to Petty fans, but I just
prefer the other two more). How-
ever, Jim James, the My Morning
Jacket frontman (originally fill-
ing in for an early cancellation by
Imagine Dragons) put on another
unexpectedly quality act, includ-
ing pulling out a saxophone early
on for some afternoon serenading.
And following that, Kendrick
Lamar put on perhaps the best
performance of the day. I saw
Kendrick a few months ago in
Michigan and - if anyone else Was
there, you probably agree - he
wasn't at his peak as a performer.
But the festival atmosphere com-

bined with a dense crowd likely
inspired what turned out to be a
thumping, edgy show, complete
with a true "freestyle verse" at the
end of a song (though -I'm always
dubious of the claim - how do
we know he doesn't use the same
freestyle verse for every show?).
Otherwise, Saturday was a day
for meeting expectations - except
for one point, where I, watched a
shirtless man booking it through
the crowd with a security guard
hot on his heels. After a moment,
the guard dove for a tackle, knock-
ing over bystanders in the process
- but at least it was more excit-
ing than the MGMT show, which,
while fun, was just the same old
stuff, and the (sorry to say) bor-
ing new stuff. Tom Petty was
Tom Petty - he played his hits,
grooved through his slower songs
and actually rocked at some of the
faster ones. He was classic Ton
Petty - if you're a fan, you prob-
ably already knew what to expect.
And then, before we all knew
it, Sunday had come, and we only
had the day's activities to look
forward to - no more, "I'll get it/
go there tomorrow, don't worry."
Which is a reasonable concern;
Firefly boasts an incredible
amount of other stuff to do out-
side music. Want to relax? Head
to the Hammock Hangouts, if you
think you're lucky enough to grab
one. Want to dance? Visit Firefly's
silent disco, a staple at other festi-
vals, which employs two DJs, and
headsets that can tune to either at
any time (making it all the more
awesome when half the crowd
shouts, "Ey, must be the money!"
and the other half shouts a second
later, "I don't care!I love it!").
But for me, I'm dialed into the
music, so I spent the day hopping
concerts like the previous two.
Matt & Kim was also surpris-
ingly fun, with crisp execution
and hilarious antics (seriously, go
see them - Kim talked about her
boobs repeatedly throughout the
set). Robert DeLong also abso-
lutely killed it, as I mentioned
above, which led into Dispatch
(classic jam band, but more palat-
able for non-fans) and Passion Pit.
I had been incredibly excited for
the latter, but unfortunately lead
singer Michael Angelakos had a
bad case of allergies. I gotta give
them credit - after cancelling on
Firefly last year, they were deter-

mined to get through a whole set early on if she could crowd-surf, to
this year. But Angelakos blew out which he emphatically denied -
his vocal cords on "Constant Con- and she then pulled out her phone,
versations" (a favorite of mine) no doubt furiously texting about
and couldn't hit anything falsetto how unfair her dad was.
after that, which is especially But then something miraculous
rough for a singer whose reputa- happened: During "Miss You"
tion is essentially built on falsetto. (which, by the way, was probably
By the time "Sleepyhead" rolled the most fun song of the entire
around, Angelakos was resigned set), the dad softened his stance,
to asking the crowd to sing for and helped the girl up on top of
him as he walked into the crowd, the crowd, and eventually sent
- he did the absolute best he could her away. And while the beats
to make it a show, but it was still pumped, I watched the dad, who
disappointing to both him and the watched his daughter with tense
audience. - diligence until she safely made it
However, Passion Pit was fol- to the front, and was helped down,
lowed by perhaps the best one- never really in danger of falling.
two punch of the festival. I wasn't At that point, the father softened,
huge on Vampire Weekend's latest and even elbowed a nearby crowd-
album, but their sound was crisp goer about the experience - but
and vibrant, and the hits were I had seen, and to me, it was the
thoroughly enjoyable. perfect way to end the festival.
Firefly finally closed out on Fos- Love for music doesn't die in a
ter the People, about an hour and generation, especially when that
15 minutes of pure dance delight parent and the child is close - and
(especially with hits like "Helena here, I witnessed one generation
Beat" and "Houdini"). And too, at sending off the other, to finally
Foster the Peoplec was something wait and watch, helpless, as their
I witnessed in the crowd that I'll offspring became their own kind
cherish for a long time. of music-lover.
In front of me, a teenager - These are the kinds of experi-
likely a sophomore in high school ences you can't get anywhere else
- was accompanied by her dad, a outside of a festival. Seriously, if
large guy who wasn't necessarily Firefly is one of your options next
out of place, but didn't seem to be year, don't hesitate - join the new
the usual fan. The girl asked him generation.

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