Thursday, August 1, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
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Thursday, August 1, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
LETTR T O THE EDITOR
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KATIE BURKE
EDITOR IN CHIEF
ERIC FERGUSON
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
ELLIOT ALPERN
MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflecttheofficial positionofthe Daily's editorial board.
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F RO M T HE DA ILY
Vote Kunselman, Higgins
The Daily's endorsements for City Council primary elections
With the Democratic primary for the Ann Arbor City Coun-
cil occurring Aug. 6, it's election season once again in Ann
Arbor. Though the fact that this election is occurring almost
a month prior to when most students arrive for fall classes is extreme-
ly regrettable, that shouldn't make students any less important in the
eyes of the candidates. Students are a large segment of the city's popu-
lation and inhabit every ward in the city, and our interests - such as
affordable housing, public safety and a quality transportation system
- deserve the council's attention. The Michigan Daily's endorsement
has been granted to those candidates who we feel will best represent
students' concerns on city council and who possess the skills necessary
to make their goals a reality.
Lack of student on
Presidential Search
Advisory Committee
a mistake
TO THE DAILY:
I was serving as student body
president in late 2001 when Presi-
dent Lee C. Bollinger announced
his departure for the presidency
of Columbia University, and was
proud to be appointed as a mem-
ber of the Presidential Search
Advisory Committee that recom-
mended the hiring of President
Mary Sue Coleman in 2002.
As a junior on campus, that
experience was very personally
fulfilling and contributed to my
future success. To be in a room
with approximately 15 other fac-
ulty, alumni and staff - and to
be treated as an equal member of
that conversation both by them
and the candidates we consid-
ered - was an experience that
has prepared me for counsel-
ing and interacting with those
much more senior than me, both
during my time as M&A counsel
with a law firm and now as Senior
Counsel to Dow Corning Cor-
poration. That experience and
lesson is what the University of
Michigan - in a nutshell - is all
about to me.
I was surprised to learn that
the PSAC recently announced
and charged with recommend-
ing a replacement for President
Coleman does not include a stu-
dent similarly situated. What
has changed between 2001 and
today to make the students' voice
less important in the process
this time? In an era when rising
tuition, increasing revenue-gen-
erating pressure and decreasing
state funds are conspiring to make
public universities about many
more things than "just" student
education, reminding the can-
didates who will interview for
the presidency of the University
of Michigan that students are at
least one of their stakeholders
seems more important than ever.
This decision, unfortunately,
sends the opposite message. I
urge the Board of Regents (three
of whom were on the board in
2001) to reconsider this decision
and appoint a current student to
the PSAC.
Matt Nolan
2003 LSA, 2006 Law School alum
too. Even cooler, the rapport
between all of us "press people"
finally started to incline. The
quiet-keep-to-yourself attitude
on Friday transformed into small
talk in line for the pit, which-led
to some truly amazing conversa-
tions and even some jokes in the
pit. We started looking out for each
other even when we were all tech-
nically competing to get the best
spot -for photographs in the pit.
And yet the only competition that
existed was between us photog-
raphers and those nasty security
guards hounding us to get out of
their space. We were all there for
the same reason, and it felt like we
were in it together. -
My day began with White Lung,
a hardcore punk rock band that
fueled a mosh pit full of angst-
fueled teens, followed by Julia
Holter, who offered pretty much
the polar opposite. Holter's sooth-
ing, experimental and ambient pop
music left the crowd in a pleasant
daze, especially being accompa-
nied by a saxophonist that I found
particularly intriguing -mean-
ing I took a LOT of photos. Phos-
phorescent came next, becoming
a personal favorite of mine for its
vibrant personalities and feel-
good, deeply emotive tunes that
made the band visually and audibly
rich. While I was photographing
during "Song for Zula," my heart
throbbed throughout the whole
song.
Ryan Hemsworth, Solange,
Belle & Sebastian and Rustie took
up the rest of the day, which had
honestly become a blur with the
madness of rushing from show
to show, and the completer-state
of awe I was in as a result of see-
ing these people literally inches
away from me. While I would have
loved the opportunity to actually
see these performances like the
thousands of people watchingwith
their plastic wine glasses in hand,
I realized that I wouldn't trade my
three minutes of glory for any of it.
Day Three
Before I knew it, Sunday was
already here. The big day. The day
jam packed with back-to-back huge
acts. Well, huge to us Pitchforksi-
ans, I suppose - you Lollapalooz-
ers wouldn't understand. From
Foxygen to Lil B, Blood Orange to
Glass Candy, Yo La Tengo to Sky
Ferreira; from Toro Y Moi to M.I.A.
and R. Kelly and finally TNGHT
(deep breath) my mind was already
blown before any of it even hap-
pened. It was, however, also day
three. The last day of Pitchfork for
an entire year. I didn't even want to
think about it.
Luckily, I immediately spotted
quite the distraction as I walked
in. It was the beautiful Sky Fer-
reira, standing outside the press
tent getting interviewed. I. Needed.
To. Take. Her. Picture. This was one
opportunity that I could not pass
up - so I waited anxiously for that
damn interview to be done. After
what seemed to be forever, Sky was
finally free and I was quick to go
over and introduce myself. As we
started to talk, she was so down to
earth that I almost forgot whom I
was really talking to. She was just
a normal person. She even sported
a skirt that I own. Woah. Sky Per-
reira was just another person, like
you and me. A person who also buys
clothes from American Apparel -
like me. I most definitely still had
to take her picture. I didn'twant to
be that annoying photographer/fan
girl so I let her go after some time,
but I couldn't deny that she totally
had made my day.
And then, my day was somehow
made even better when Sam France
and Jonathan Rado of Foxygen
killed it on the Red Stage. France,
with his zany expressiveness, had
without a doubt the greatest stage
presence I had seen at the festival
yet. He climbed up the stage pillars,
whipped his straggly hair around
and danced until his pants nearly
fell down. He was all over the place
in the best way possible, and the
band put on a show that was quite
the workout to photograph, but
incredibly fun nevertheless. As we
left the pit, another photographer
appropriately remarked, "Well that
was something."
With some time to spare before
Blood Orange, I returned to the
Press Tent to charge some of my
electronics when I noticed France
and Rado just casually hanging
out. Even though I was definitely
over being starstruck, I couldn't
help but to go up and talk to them
(and also take their picture). Sam's
crazy onstage energy was com-
pletely switched off - he was just a
laid back, chilled out dude. He, too,
proved to me the ridiculousness of
the word "famous" as we started
talking about all the other cool
acts occurring the rest of the day.
Before leaving, I did get to snag
some quirky photos of them doing
the quirky things that they do. My
smile couldn't get any bigger at that
point.
Next, Blood Orange at the Blue
Stage was so groovy that, with all
the happiness surgingthrough my
body at that moment, all I wanted
to do was groove with them. The
saxophonist from Julia Holter all
of a sudden made a guest appear-
ance, and we make immediately
eye contact. He appeared again
at Chairlift later in the day, fol-
lowed by more eye contact. What
was going on? This day was get-
ting more bizarre by the minute.
Seeing Sky Ferreira passion-
ately play next led me to gain
even more respect for her. Later,
standing next to the speakers,
I'm pretty sure my eardrums
ruptured during Lil B's perfor-
mance. The crowd was absolutely
nuts, wilder than I had ever seen.
People were getting thrown out
left and right. It was definitely a
sight to see, and definitely one to
laugh at after we photographers
were all out of the pit. Man, would
I miss this
Time flew faster and faster.
Toro Y Moi: Done. M.I.A.: Done.
R. Kelly: Done. R. Kelly's balloon
birds released during "I Believe
I Can Fly" flew away. Finally,
the closing act of the night and
weekend was here. TNGHT was
finally here tonight. And we only
got to photograph one single
song before we were kicked out.
So TNGHT was quickly checked
off the list as well. Done. Along
with the few photographers that
were left during this final act,
I walked out of that pit for the
last time, put my stuff down and
just danced away all of the emo-
tions I had at that moment. I was
now done, too. Done with one
of the most difficult weekends
of my life. Done with one of the
most inspiring weekends of my
life. Done working side-by-side,
minute-after-minute for the past
three days. Done being inches
away from the talented artists we
got to photograph each day. Done
with the music. Done with the
heat. Done with the crowds. Done
with the pit. Done with the smiles
and laughter at things that only
we photographers would under-
stand. Done with the camaraderie.
Done with the job. Done with this
weekend. There were too many
dones happening too fast. I was
overwhelmed with feelings. I was
already experiencing withdrawals
before I had even left Union Park.
I just didn't want this all to end.
As I was walking out of TNGHT
in a daze, I ran into - who else? -
the saxophonist that surfaced all
weekend long, for whatever rea-
son. He stopped me and we started
talking. First, about the fact that
he kept noticing me taking pic-
tures of him. Oops. But it evolved
into something much deeper -
about life, and what we were doing
with it, and why ... etc. He told me
something that summed up the
entire weekend for me: We can do
great things if we do them together.
We can do great things if we
do them together. This weekend
was so meaningful to me because
it was about just that: Collaborat-
ing with others to create great-
ness. Whether it was with the
other photographers or the artists
that we photographed or just any-
one that I met. We were working
together to create something tarf -
gible or intangible, a photograph,
a feeling, a memory, a laugh, a
song, a lesson - anything. All that
matters is that we did it together.
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tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
Only the races in Wards 3 and
4 are contested Tuesday. In Ward
3, Julie Grand is running against
incumbent Stephen Kunselman
(D-Ward 3). Grand currently
chairs the city's Park Advisory
Commission and is a lecturer at
the University's Dearborn cam-
pus, havingearned both a master's
degree and a PhD from the Uni-
versity's School of Public Health.
In an interview with The Michi-
gan Daily, Grand emphasized a
communicative and procedural
process for addressing challenges
the city faces, as well as public
service in her current capacity as
the Park Commission chair. She
also identified downtown devel-
opment with an eye toward the
long term as being important to
students, envisioning that empty
spaces will soon be developed.
While she mentioned core city
services as one of her priorities,
her knowledge of city issues per-
taining to students - such as the
provision requiring landlords to
wait 70 days before showing their
properties to people seeking a
place to live next year - left some-
thing to be desired.
Kunselman has served three
terms on the council in Ward 3 and
holds a master's degree in urban
planning from the University.
When asked about what he per-
ceived to be the most important
issues for students, his immediate
response was safety. Though he
supported many of the student-
focused apartment complexes and
opposed height caps on the build-
ings he does not support large
developments, such as the 413 E.
Huron development. He placed lit-
tle emphasis on engaging the com-
munity when making decisions.
* While Grand clearly has a strong
desire to serve the public and her
communicative style is promis-
ing, The Michigan Daily endorses
STEPHEN KUNSELMAN for
Ward 3 because of his extensive
experience in city government and
grasp of student priorities - but
strongly encourages him to reach
out to his constituents for their
input on city matters.
In Ward 4, incumbent Marcia
Higgins (D- Ward 4) faces chal-
lenger Jack Eaton. Higgins has
served on the council for 14 years
and has played a key role in the
Ann Arbor Developing Down-
town initiative. She wants to con-
tinue developing the downtown
area and sees increasing density
there as a way to reduce housing
prices citywide. While talking
with The Daily, she placed much
importance on building a public
transit station linking Ann Arbor
to surrounding cities on Fuller
Road - despite the setbacks over
the project in 2012 - stressing
the availability of federal match-
ing funds as a great opportunity
for the city. Such a
project would greatly
benefit students - as
many don't have access
to cars - and her pro-
fessed desire to con-
nectAnn Arbor to both
Detroit and Chicago
deserves consider-
able praise. She also
acknowledged existing
flaws in the city's storm
drain system - which
has recently flooded
streets in a significant
portion of the city -
and expressed her
support for a careful
overview of the system.
Eaton is a labor
attorney who repre-
sents many transit
workers across the
state and has been
quite active in the
Ann Arbor communi-
ty, starting the Neigh-
borhood Alliance and
helping other neigh-
borhoods organize.
While talking to The
Daily he repeatedly
lamented students'
lack of engagement
in city politics and
encouraged them to
bring their concerns
to him, rather than
emphasizing a more
proactive approach on .
his part. He displayed
a strong grasp of pub-
lic safety issues, and
though supportive of
improved public tran-
sit he believes that
expanding the exist-
ing train station on
Depot Street would
be a better idea than
building a new sta-
tion on Fuller Road.
However, his idea for
the scale of this proj-
ect was mostly limited
to linking suburbs to
the city.
While Eaton's
desire for the student
body to connect with
him is admirable.
The Michigan Daily
endorses MARCIA
HIGGINS for Ward
4 because of her
attentiveness to the
needs of students and
young professionals is
Ann Arbor.
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