Thursday, May 29, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu Thursday, May 29, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com It's time for action IAN DILLINGHAM EDITOR IN CHIEF AARICA MARSH EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR STEPHANIE SHENOUDA MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect theofocial position of the Daily's editorialboard. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solelythe views of their authors. Amending allocations Ann Arbor had both gains and lossses in its 2015 fiscal budget Last Monday, the Ann Arbor City Council reviewed 17 amendments to the $334 million fiscal year 2015 city budget. The council voted to reallocate funds to numerous areas in need of assistance such as transportation, animal management, clean energy and affordable housing. Unfortunately, efforts to redirect funds from the police force to drug rehabilitation assistance were thwarted with only two councilmembers voting in favor of the amendment. While the city council acted commendably by distributing much needed funds to road management, road repair and clean energy, failing to provide further provide resources to those suffering from substance abuse is a misstep on the council's behalf. 'll say it up front: I do To be honest, I'm sentiment was one existed, or if it rose up after various moments in my life. The first time I noticed it was when my high school went under lockdown for over four hours due to aH gun on the prem- ises that was never K found. My body seized with fear as a SWAT team patrolled our police barged throughc warning. The time I re vividlythough, of course, Nazi man entered my ch of worship, the Oak Cree Wisconsin, and killed si the community. Since then, the sound even if in a show, mov makes my heart stop. TI moments, walking hom Ann Arbor, where I drov convincing myself that any car that was driving by might try to shoot me. My fear was absolutely irrational and borderline insane. Yet, there were times when I couldn't find the logic to convince on't like guns. chooses to prostitute the coverage of not sure if the certain shootings while completely that always ignoring others? Is it the assumptions that are made about a shooter based on the color of his skin? White man, men- tally ill; brown man, terrorist. Is it the way that we use mental illness as an excuse for killing and suffering, as if all mental illnesses lead to deadly ram- pages? Or, most recently, why a man felt that a gun and the deaths of many indi- - viduals was the appropriate solution for LARLEEN his feelings of rejection? AUR All these conversations have happened, and yet, they're still not the right one. Somehow, the mass shootings roof and state keep happening and we've yet to do doors without anything to prevent another one. Our member most reality has become one of violence, iswhen a neo- death and excuses, even though our ildhood house Constitution calls for "life, liberty, and k Gurdwara in the pursuit of happiness." Without any x members of real action or call for justice, this may just become the new "normal." of a gunshot, Richard Martinez, the father of ie or musical, University of California, Santa Barbara here had been shooting victim Chris Martinez, e at night in summed up the impatience of most of e myself crazy Americans as mass shootings become more and more common: "Don't call me and tell me you're Stop pretending sorry about my son's ,t death. I don't want We can't prevent to hear it from you! these murders. I don't want to hear that you're sorry about my son's death, I don't care if you're istic, quiescent thingamajigness. Before writing this column, I made a rookie mistake, doing the first and only thing that should be avoided while preparing to word-vomit about any particu- lar film, let alone what I already considered Singer's masterpiece. I read Scott's review. At the time, it seemed like a carefully reasoned decision - even that crotchety old shit had to have liked this 130-minute dedica- tion to every, single. thing that made comic-book adaptations great. The heavy-hearted per- formances. The explosions; That sexy retroactive continuity (ret- con for the geeks). And the '70s, baby, *softer voice* the '70s. This film had it all - there was no possible way whatsoever that his review could be anything less than fawning. All I wanted was to check what kind of Wolverine jokes the highbrows at The New York Times thought would work. 'Was the word "bub" used at all?' But my boy Scott and his fore- head never fail to disappoint. It was like beinglowered head- first into a chilling tub of lique- fied Macklemore albums, every desperate gasp for breath a dis- appointing confirmation of my willingness to overlook simplic- ity just so I could buy into this superficial, bandwagon mental- ity. Was I really too stupid to pick apart the obvious plot-holes? All the ham-fisted imagery - anchored around Magneto's diz- zying display of power in lifting the entirety of RFK Stadium and dumping it at President Nixon's feet, thus setting the stage for our climax - was I wrong in reacting by silently mouthing "symbol- ism, bitches" at the theater? Being a film critic, however fledgling, should I have seen it as the "gratuitous, imagination- deficient grandstanding" that Scott described? I stayed up half the night thinking about it, tossing and turning in a boiling vat of existential doubt thicker than Toad's adhesive spit. But then something occurred to me. I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep and haven't thought about Scott since. Forehead never grew up watching these films. To him, feeling Spidey slow down time just to avoid a bully's punches will never register on the same, personal level it would for some- one of our generation because, plainly put, he wasn't nine years old when he saw it happen. He wasn't being bullied when he saw it ha Parker so on his1 than jus a thrillin way for: one day, strengths ter. And lo traveling breathin intertwin a blip of tion that is groun human co how unb This f 14 years ning sequ kind tha where it S St tho up Avengers of 120-mi to specifi suits beh bring th together Pulling i forced m of PapalJ product, best ent has or wi in this ge film han admitted work to mentality road for£ was secur "X-Me It's a th our socie the unkn I'm talkin comic-bo presented throught the min coat lies This is a many ot understan long, I'v terms wi jected, fu vinyl scre a man wh appen. Witnessing Peter dium - means I'm not alone or forcibly turn the tables helpless, that others understand. tormentors was more The series derives its inspira- t cathartic escapism or tions from The Holocaust - its ng experience: It was a main antagonist is a survivor, me to hope that maybe, molded into rage-stricken mon- if I played to my own strosity by the merciless bru- s, things could get bet- tality he faced as a child at the hands of his Nazi captors. Yet, :oking past all the time- the jargon he uses to justifyhis super soldiers, fire- calls for a mutant rebellion is g robots and imposing, lifted directly from Hitler's own ned plotlines, there's. philosophy of a single, excep- silence in the realiza- tional race, destined to inherit t "Days of Future Past" Earth from its less-evolved ded on this same basic, oppressors. The crucial differ- oncept - pain, no matter ence, of course, is that Mag- earable, compels hope. neto is right. Mutants, with ranchise is unique. It's their abundance of superhuman old, the longest run- abilities, and a knack for so poi- uential film series of its gnantly influencing history, can it hasn't diverged from be construed as the homo sapi- took originated. "The ens to the humans' homo nean- derthalensis. But should that truth vindicate violence, even if it is in the name of retribution, even though its justification il matter to shares roots with the thinking of a madman? If not intriguing, se who grew it's an essential question, and ultimately, the reason why this with them . particular series continues to remain so timeless - words not typically thrown around when discussing comic book charac- had an added benefit ters. inute lead-ins dedicated The cynicism that so often ic characters before the meets these films is presented :ind the curtains dared in sentences such as "So much ose stand-alone heroes has already been done, so much under a single banner. is supposedly demanded by fans, t off required a lot of that any given installment in a anufacturing on the part multi-sequel enterprise can feel oss. So despite the final like the hysterical pursuit of featuring some of the diminishing returns. In the case ertainment Hollywood of 'Days of Future Past,' the plot ill ever produce, at least is as overelaborate and muddled nre, we spent the entire as some of the effects." mmering away at an An unbiased perspective ly mundane "if we don't might confirm a lot of truth in gether, we're fucked" these words. And above all, it's in order to make sure a worth noting that this cynicism future sequels/prequels is cyclic in nature, incubating re. inside each of us until we too n" raises the stakes. reach a point in our lives where inly coated critique of we can't or are unwilling to ty's inability to accept emotionally relate, from a first- own, but for once (and person perspective, to some of ng about more than just the art we examine. Until that ok adaptations here), time comes, I'm not budging. I'll d almost exclusively lie here, pancaked in this dream- the eyes of the victims, world of Quicksilvers and Mag- ority. Underneath that netos. So I can stay naive. So I a deep, roiling anger. can hope. Innop nlr with The city council passed two separate road amendments that are slated to enhance the Ann Arbor community for both students and local residents. The first amendment places $75,000 into services for managing deer and other animals. Michigan drivers experience 40,000-50,000 deer-vehicle collisions each year. These populations must be managed in order to promote the safety of residents. The second amendment proposes that city administrators outline a plan for alternative street repair funding. Given the consistent dissatisfaction with Ann Arbor roads coupled with the University's bus services and commuting students, this amendment proves vital to enhancing an impactful facet of student life. The council voted against an amendment that would invest $100,000 from the Affordable Housing Fund into a warming center for the homeless. Recently, University students have worked to increase accessibility to affordable housing for students with lower socioeconomic backgrounds. With the campus climate in support of cheaper housing, choosing to maintain the affordable housing budget could helpprovide studentswithmore leverage in the conversation. Furthermore, the council intends to expand warming shelters this winter with intent to discuss suggestions with community partners deterring negative impacts to the city's homeless populations. Unfortunately, the city council voted against an amendment to reallocate $95,000 from police staffing toward programs that help prevent and treat addiction. The amendment would have decreased the number of new police officers being added from three to two. Nine council members opposed the amendment, believing funds were better used towards. a proactive police force and court-ordered treatment. These beliefs, however, are seriously flawed. Crime rates in Ann Arbor are at historic lows while drug and alcohol use are higher than average for Washtenaw County adolescents. Instead of focusing on patrollingcitizens, Ann Arbor should help further fund addiction prevention for young residents and addiction treatment in order to the enhance the mental wellness of its citizens. myself otherwise. I, in part due to the media and inaction on the part of United States politicians, had allowed gun violence to become normal, an expected part of daily life. However, I've been able to reflect and realize the difference between a gun and the person behind it. I've seen that ignorance can lead to hate-driven violence, that our society accepts anger as a reaction to rejection, that some individuals are not given the proper care and facilities they need. However, most of all, I've seen and learned that there is not one blanket solution to mass shootings. Each shooter has had their own reasons for their actions, and although taking the lives of others is never justified, I think we have learned that simply limiting access to guns won't be enough. So, what's the conversation we really needtohave?Isitthewaythatthemedia sorry about my son's death. You go back to Congress and you do something, and you come back to me and tell me you've done something, then I'll be interested in talking to you." It's time to stop accepting mass shootings as an everyday reality and question how our. nation even got to this place to begin with. Allowing a person to carelessly end the lives of others should never be allowed, nor should it be a consideration for anyone. And mostly, it's time to stop pretending that we have no way to prevent these senseless murders. It was unbelievable after Columbine, it was heartbreaking after Sandy Hook and now, after the UCSB shooting, it's absolutely absurd. We've been waiting for action long enough, and it's time that Congress finally answers the call. - Harleen Kaur can be reached at harleen@umich.edu. HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SOCIAL LIFE WHATSOEVER? Come to the Michigan Daily's summer editorial board every Monday night at 7:30 (unless noted otherwise). Discuss local leg- islation, the University administration, state affairs, the superiority of certain dog breeds over others and various other issues! an anger 1, along wit her people of color, nd: One which, for so e struggled to come to th. But watching it pro- illy realized on a giant een - used to puppeteer io can lift an entire sta- Seth is still thinkng about A.O Scott's forehead. To chat, e-mail akse@umich.edu.