“I had the opportunity to
spend last summer interning
at
the
U.S.
Embassy
in
Mexico City,” Nandkumar
said. “Learning about other
cultures, other people and
the politics of other countries
has always been something
that’s
really
interesting
to me. I’m focusing in the
Ford School in diplomacy
and international security
issues, and I hope to go into
that field.”
When asked for advice on
how students interested in
international affairs can best
prepare themselves for such
careers, Former ambassador
to Qatar Patrick Theros had
a
simple
yet
meaningful
answer.
“Succeed at what you’re
doing right now,” Theros
said.
This
resolution
was
rejected
6-5,
with
Councilmembers
Jeff
Hayner, D-Ward 1; Anne
Bannister, D-Ward 1; Jane
Lumm, I-Ward 2; Jack
Eaton,
D-Ward
4;
and
Nelson supporting it.
LSA senior Dim Mang is
involved with the Climate
Action
Movement
and
said she worries the city
council is not supporting
the climate neutrality plan
with concrete actions.
“I think that you can
support it in theory and
then
talk
as
much
as
you’d like … but if you’re
not actually going to go
through on, you know,
housing plans for things
like that, their activism
and their advocacy is not
enough,” Mang said.
The
lecture
began
with a 15-minute film
that detailed Rodriguez’s
immigration to the United
States,
his
upbringing
in
the
United
States,
his Cuban heritage and
how these factors have
informed and inspired his
art over the years.
At the age of nine,
Rodriguez
immigrated
to the United States as a
part of the Mariel boatlift
— a mass immigration
in 1980 of Cubans who
departed
from
Mariel
Harbor for the United
States — and grew up in
Miami, Florida. He then
attended Pratt Institute
in Brooklyn,
New
York.
Rodriguez
said
his
struggles
earlier
on
in
his
life
defined what
kind of artist
he was, and
that he has
overcome
those
struggles.
“When
I
was
in
college, I was
always
told
you have to
pick a focus,”
Rodriguez
said.
“What
are you? Are
you a painter?
Are
you
a
designer?
Are
you
an
illustrator?
What
are
you? … And
you’re always pressured
to choose a decision about
who you are … and for the
past 25 years, I’ve done
everything.”
In
recent
years,
Rodriguez
has
gained
fame and notoriety for
his
politically
charged
magazine
covers,
specifically the covers for
TIME and Der Spiegel.
Covers depicting Donald
Trump’s face melting, or
Donald Trump holding
the head of the Statue
of Liberty in one hand
and a knife in another
have drawn widespread
media
coverage
and
international
attention.
He
spoke
about
the
influence he has seen
his covers have on the
general public.
“I’ve
done
probably
about
150
magazine
covers,” Rodriguez said.
“The first time I noticed
a magazine cover could
have a lot of impact was
when I did this cover for
Communication Arts. … It
became a very big cover
worldwide
and
started
a lot of discussions. …
People in Cuba used to
put it in a paper bag and
pass it around because
they could not show it in
public.”
He then talked about
his controversial covers
portraying Donald Trump
and
why
he
decided
to take such a strong
political stance in 2016.
“What I saw in Trump
as a candidate was, from
what I had experienced
in Cuba and the type of
language
Fidel
Castro
had used … these were the
same things that Trump
was saying as a candidate,
and it freaked me out,”
Rodriguez
said.
“Both
of these covers ended up
everywhere.”
The
depictions
of
Trump
that
Rodriguez
created have been seen
at political rallies and
protests
all
over
the
United States,
from
New
York City to
Denver to San
Francisco.
He has been
covered
by
CNN,
MSNBC,
and
was
even
dubbed
“Trump’s
most
hated
artist.” While
these
covers
have
given
Rodriguez
attention, not
all of it has
been positive.
He
showed
the audience
pictures
of
hate messages
he
had
received
on
Instagram
“This
guy
asked me if I was illegal,
and
I’ve
been
here
for
almost
40
years,”
Rodriguez said. “And
I’ve never been asked this
question … I get direct
emails, threats, all sorts
of things.”
Throughout
the
lecture, Rodriguez was
interrupted by laughter,
cheering or a mixture of
both despite the grave
nature of many of his
subjects. As it ended, the
auditorium broke out into
raucous applause.
Art & Design junior
Gwen McCartney related
to
Rodriguez’s
relaxed
approach to his artistic
endeavors,
even
when
dealing with heavy topics.
“In my art, I don’t
like to take myself too
seriously,”
McCartney
said. “I think with his
work, I found that he had
very serious subjects, but
I felt like he was kind
of nonchalant about the
stuff he did … which I
really appreciate.”
LSA
senior
Ethan
Szlezinger told The Daily
Roberts’
book
and
her
perspective
really
drew
him in.
“I
was
surprised
by
the specific details that
somebody who’s in that
situation could only know,”
Szlezinger
said.
“For
example, when she was
talking about the carpools
and
the
transportation
to
get
to
the
prisons
(for
visitations),
that’s
something that somebody
outside of the prison system
doesn’t know about and
would just never consider.”
Lucas
noted
the
perspective that Roberts’s
memoir
adds
to
the
rhetoric
around
fighting
back against the prison
industrial complex.
“You can get a sense
from reading about her
that she is a woman of
remarkable fortitude, and
resourcefulness — that she
has strong principles and
is brave enough to take a
stand against the prison
industrial complex, which
severely diminishes all of
our lives, whether we know
it or not,” Lucas said.
While
Roberts
accompanied Senghor on
his tour promoting his book
“Writing My Wrongs: Life,
Death, and Redemption in
an American Prison,” she
said people kept asking her
for her side of the story and
were urging her to write
about her experience as
his partner. She said she
was nervous to write a
memoir because it was an
unfamiliar format, as it was
one that asked for a lot of
emotional transparency.
“At that point, it was
almost as if, you know, the
universe was pushing me
to tell the story because it
needed to be told, that there
were people who needed
to hear my story and who
could get something out of
it,” Roberts said.
Senghor
and
Roberts
began a deeply committed
relationship that involved
hundreds
of
letters,
expensive phone calls and
visitations that required a
sometimes eight- to 10-hour
drive.
Roberts
said
she
found support from online
forums, and she spoke to
how this allowed her to
feel less isolated during
these years. In terms of
the letters they exchanged,
Roberts
explained
how
detailed and eloquent the
two made their letters and
how this contributed to
the way their relationship
functioned.
“Our
letters
were
extremely long in detail,
and tight, most of them
— and I mean eight to 10
pages, sometimes longer.
And so, we got to know each
other in ways that we don’t
typically get to know each
other because — especially
now with social media,
email,
text
messaging,
really
anything
quick,”
Roberts said. “We’re not
even on the phone as much
as we used to be, so the
letters were an integral
part of getting to know
each other and our intimate
thoughts and being able to
really share.”
Roberts said one year
their calls cost $3,000.
Lucas shared her personal
involvement in the carceral
system, discussing how her
father
was
incarcerated
during her childhood and
how engaging with loved
ones through the carceral
system can put a strain on
families.
Lucas
asked
Roberts
about her own experiences
in this realm, and Roberts
admitted not taking very
good care of herself during
the years in which she
focused only on Senghor.
Within
this
dynamic,
Roberts
said
she
often
found
herself
spending
all of her time on Sengor’s
work, which led to a decline
in her own wellbeing.
“Any relationship, and
that
relationship,
with
power
dynamics,
aren’t
bound
because
he
was
solely dependent on me for a
lot of things,” Roberts said.
“I took that responsibility
seriously, and I spent a lot
of days not taking care of
myself as well as I needed
to, but it was because I felt
like he needed me, needed
the support to do the things
that he wants to do. And
there were times when I
was so depressed that I
didn’t leave the house… I
just kind of built a little
cocoon around myself.”
Roberts said she knows
that he is her soulmate,
though the two are no
longer
in
a
romantic
relationship.
“I do believe that we are
soulmates, and soulmates
come into our lives to shake
things up, right?” Roberts
said. “You think of the
soulmate story as the fairy
tale, and you’re going to
ride off into the sunset,
and you’re going to have
all this bliss, but in fact, it’s
the opposite, because your
soulmate is usually your
mirror, and in many ways,
Shaka was my mirror, and
a lot of his trauma mirrored
my trauma but in different
ways.”
Engineering
junior
Shimonti Sengupta, event
coordinator of the Prison
Birth Project, attended the
talk. She said she really
enjoyed hearing about what
it was like having a loved
one
return
home,
from
Roberts’ perspective.
“Listening to her talk
about what it was like for
her to prepare, and for
families to prepare, for
incarcerated individuals to
come back, I think is really
interesting,” Sengupta said.
Roberts said she works
to combat the stereotype
of
being
the
“insecure
woman” that is the perfect
candidate to fall in love
with
a
person
who
is
incarcerated. Lucas asked
her to share how she did
so, and Roberts responded
that she hopes that readers
enter the book with an open
mind.
“There are some people
who feel like, ‘She had all
these insecurities, and he
fed her all these beautiful
words, and she fell for it,
hook, line and sinker,’”
Roberts said. “People are
going to walk away from
the book with different
opinions.
Sometimes
people
walk
into
any
situation already with their
mind made, so they read
it, and it only confirms
what they already believe.
But then sometimes you
can read something with
an open mind, and it can
actually change your mind
and makes you think about
things differently.”
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Friday, November 22, 2019 — 3
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
MEMOIR
From Page 1
ARTIST
From Page 2
IULIA DOBRIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Meeting at Ann Arbor District Library seeks to make urban hubs more accessible
DownTown Hall examines issues
facing pedestrians across city
Ann
Arbor
resident
Jessica A.S. Letaw, a board
member of the Downtown
Development
Authority,
hosted a “DownTown Hall” at
the Ann Arbor District Library
Wednesday night. Letaw said
she took it upon herself to host
DownTown
Hall
meetings
to try to make the DDA’s
technical work in downtown
Ann Arbor more accessible to
the general public.
Letaw hosts this event twice a
month to provide an opportunity
for city residents to have a
conversation
about
current
events and changes going on in
downtown Ann Arbor.
“A
healthy
downtown
informs a healthy city,” Letaw
said. “I wanted to make sure
that anybody who wanted to
have access to be able to ask
questions of somebody who is
doing this work.”
The Ann Arbor DDA, created
in 1982, strives to “undertake
public
improvements
that
have the greatest impact in
strengthening the downtown
area and attracting new private
investments.” Letaw kept to
this theme during the meeting
by covering the DDA’s 2018
State of the Downtown report,
which covered statistics about
different aspects of downtown
Ann Arbor such as people-
friendly streets, employment,
investment and growth.
“A lot of times, when we think
about downtown, especially as
a parking authority, we think
of it as a place for cars,” Letaw
said. “But in reality, a city is a
place for people.”
Letaw explained the division
between responsibilities that
the city of Ann Arbor and the
DDA share. While the city of
Ann Arbor is in charge of road
right-of-way, such as street
maintenance
and
signals,
the DDA is responsible for
pedestrian right-of-way, Letaw
said.
In
maintaining
this,
the DDA uses tax-increment
financing (TIF) to create a
right-of-way for people that
is welcoming and easy to use.
Currently, the DDA is working
on improving safety in the city
for bicyclists.
“Nobody is going to take
their kid on Plymouth (Road),”
Letaw said. “Nobody is going to
take their kid on Washtenaw.
Nobody is going to take their
kid on Jackson, they’d be
insane if they did. But what if
they weren’t?”
One of the DDA’s most
recent
developments
was
implementing
the
first
protected two-way bike lane
installed on William Street.
Their decision to place it here
was based on an accident
review of all collisions and
conflicts in downtown over the
last five years, which labeled
this street as an area of high
vulnerability.
City Councilmember Kathy
Griswold, D-Ward 2, who has
been a longtime advocate of
pedestrian safety, was also in
attendance. She stated Ann
Arbor could begin improving
pedestrian safety with three
distinct steps.
“We need to hire a senior
engineer with ‘Vision Zero’
expertise. Vision Zero is a
proven process for reducing
roadway fatalities and serious
injuries,”
Griswold
said.
Number two, would be the need
to cap all of our crosswalks
lit
with
positive,
contrast
lighting. We’re working on
that. That’s quite expensive,
but we’re not there yet. And
number three, we need a state
crosswalk law so that everyone
knows what that law is.”
Ann Arbor resident Rich
Chang,
who
attended
the
meeting,
is
the
CEO
of
Ann
Arbor
tech
company
NewFoundry. Chang is also
a part of seven committees
around town, including the
board of directors for United
Way of Washtenaw County
and the chair of the executive
committee for the Ann Arbor/
Ypsilanti Regional Chamber.
As
someone
involved
in
multiple committees around
town, Chang said he hopes
more residents will take the
initiative to become informed
about their city.
“I feel like more and more
people are not willing to take
the time to become more
informed and ask questions,”
Chang said. “Critical thinking,
to me, is one of the biggest
challenges. I think if we all
did better at critical thinking
and having dialogue … I think
people will not have as much of
a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction.”
Letaw
also
spoke
about
her hopes for DDA’s future
expansion, including taking
on solid waste management
problems and implementing
art projects similar to those
in downtown Detroit. One
example she spoke of was The
Belt, an art alley unveiled in
Detroit in 2014. She also talked
about the DDA’s goals for their
charter renewal in 2033. At
that time, they hope to become
leaders in making downtown
Ann Arbor more equitably
accessible and available for
people using all modes of
transportation.
“It’s hard to know when it
comes to politics, or even any
kind of public work. It’s hard
to know if your work makes a
difference,” Letaw said. “But
when work that you do builds
up to a protected bike lane or
more bike parking or whatever
it is, it feels really gratifying.”
Julia Fanzeres contributed
reporting.
YPSILANTI
From Page 1
DIPLOMACY
From Page 1
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
Any relationship, and that
relationship, with power
dynamics, aren’t bound
because he was solely
dependent on me for a
lot of things. I took that
responsibility seriously,
and I spent a lot of days
not taking care of myself
as well as I needed to, but
it was because I felt like
he needed me, needed the
support to do the things
that he wants to do. And
there were times when I
was so depressed that I
didn’t leave the house…
I just kind of built a little
cocoon around myself.
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
“When I was
in college, I
was always
told you have
to pick a focus,”
Rodriguez
said. “What are
you? Are you
a painter? Are
you a designer?
Are you an
illustrator?”