S T A T E M E N T
Wednesday, January 25, 2023— 6
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
More details about
inauguration events and tickets will
be available soon!
myumi.ch/inauguration
President Ono’s Inauguration
Poster Session Award
Students Can Receive Up to $5,000 to Pursue a Project
During President Ono’s inauguration on March 7, a poster session at Stamps Auditorium will give
U-M students the opportunity to present and discuss projects exploring the following topics:
At least five posters per theme will be awarded funding to carry our their idea.
The University and its Community:
Past, Present and Future
How can we examine the intersection of race
and the identity of the University of Michigan
incorporating aspects of the past, present
and future?
Working Together to Tackle the
Climate Crisis
How can we get all societal sectors — government,
higher education, the private sector, communities
and individuals — to work together to align goals
and priorities to tackle the climate crisis?
ELIGIBILITY: Open to all U-M students (as
individuals or as a team). If applying as a team,
please designate a lead contact.
SUBMISSIONS DUE: Friday, February 3, 2023
For application questions, contact:
Inauguration-Poster-Session@umich.edu
See details and apply at: myumi.ch/2m5Mr
The world was hushed and
dark.
Shadows
softened
the
edges of my room and the sun
creeped closer to the horizon.
I imagine that before my alarm
jolted me from deep sleep one
early Wednesday morning, some
manner of a perplexed look rested
upon my face. I’ve been told that
when I sleep, it appears as if I’m
thinking. But when the chimes of
my alarm sound, I’m completely
lost in brain fog. And as those
ever-faithful chimes did sound
at 6:30 that Wednesday morning,
an ungodly hour for my circadian
rhythm, it was no different. I
leapt out of bed, grabbed my
phone and tapped that button to
turn that damn sound off. ‘And
there’s my bed, just one small
footstep away’ … I laid back
down, neither returning to sleep
nor fully awaking. I knew I had
about an hour’s car ride ahead of
me. More rest felt like a good way
to start my day.
I attended the Kennedy Center
American
College
Theater
Festival this past weekend in
Flint, Mich. I won’t bore you with
a lengthy explanation of what
that is or what that means. It’s
less important than it sounds.
It’s also, more than likely, exactly
what you think it is. Theatre nerds
amassed together for a weekend
of competitions, workshops and
free performances. I originally
planned to compete for the
Student
Dramaturgy
Award,
but dropped out last minute.
The
turnaround
between
the production I planned to
submit for and the 15-page
application deadline coincided
with fall semester’s finals week
— the timing meant it wasn’t
manageable to apply. Still, I felt
obligated to attend. The School of
Music, Theatre & Dance already
dished out the $100 fee to the
Kennedy Center for me to at least
go to a few workshops.
And
so,
with
little
consideration for my future self,
I signed up for the festival’s odd
little side competition called
Design Storm, an event in which
students from different schools
collaborate
on
a
production
concept from an assigned play. I
had too much to do the week of
the competition. For starters, the
deadline of this article fell right
after the festival wrapped. With
a busy week of my first string of
deadlines ahead, I forgot about
the festival entirely until a few
days before, when a professor
reached out to me about the
driving schedule. It snuck up on
me in a way that, in the moment,
felt unfair.
At 7:15 a.m., I found myself still
laying in bed. I didn’t want to
go. I couldn’t go. How could I? I
was a fraud, attending a festival
as an appetizer, not talented
enough for its main course.
Anxieties swirled through my
head accompanied by a numbness
weighing down on my body.
Ten minutes later, I was out the
door. I put my earbuds in but left
them silent. Instead, I listened
to the rest of the sleepy world. A
little later, I pondered the guide I
told my editors I’d write over the
next few days.
Step 1: Ego and Self-Esteem
First, I’d like to detail who this
guide is for. It’s for those who
have found themselves with one
too many commitments and are
goddamn tired. It’s for those who
struggle to venture outside of their
comfort zone for fear of rejection.
It’s for those who catch themselves
overselling
and
underselling
themselves out of insecurity. It’s
for those who feel they don’t have
a choice over how they spend their
time or they’ll be a failure to every
expectation placed upon them.
And
it’s
for
those
who
legitimately have little wiggle
room over how to spend their
time, otherwise their essential
needs — or the needs of those that
depend on them — won’t be met.
We are in an era of quiet
quitting, a workplace trend that
suggests applying the minimum
effort required into one’s work is
an acceptable avenue for achieving
a
better
work-life
balance.
NATE SHEEHAN
Statement Correspondant
How to underachieve and feel
okay about it
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Design by Evelyn Mousigian
When I walk along the newly
renovated State Street in Ann
Arbor,
I
feel
contradictory
emotions. Sometimes I see the
curbless road, the string lights
and benches, and think: how
nice. When I’m driving, however,
it feels like the worst idea ever
conceived. It’s irritating, sitting
there stalling. I hear honking. I
witness, invariably, the stress of
drivers going nowhere. I can’t help
but wonder: was that $9 million
dollars, the trouble for businesses
and the line of cars stretching
down to South University, really
worth it?
Prior
to
the
renovation,
State Street had three lanes
along East William Street and
North University Avenue — one
designated
turning
lane,
and
another lane for non-turning cars.
The sidewalks were narrower, and
had a curb.
LSA
senior
James
Utley
remembers driving down the
street without an issue. “The
difference
between
then
and
now,” Utley said, “is that now I
try to avoid State Street whenever
possible.”
According to Maura Thomson,
Communications
Manager
for
the
Downtown
Development
Authority,
the
goal
was
to
prioritize
pedestrians’
comfort
and safety. “And also to maintain
an acceptable level of service for
vehicles,” Thomson said.
“The State Street project has
been on the DDA’s radar as a project
that needed to be done for years,”
Thomson said. “That corridor is
a critical, iconic corridor in our
downtown. It’s sort of the nexus of
our downtown and campus, where
they meet.”
According to a presentation by
the Transportation Commission,
there are approximately 8,000
pedestrians and 6,600 vehicles
traveling these two intersections
during peak hours (between 8:00 -
9:00 a.m. and 4:45 - 5:45 p.m.).
With State Street’s rebranding
as a pedestrian zone, however,
it struggles to function as, well,
a street — for the thousands of
vehicles that use it. When I look at
pictures of the old State Street, my
mind goes: this almost looks like a
highway. That’s not nearly the case
anymore. Perhaps the traffic is the
shock of that transformation.
***
For walkers, State Street’s new
design bears two changes. First,
and most noticeably, is the addition
of a pedestrian-exclusive signal,
whereby all the walk signs are
turned on, and all drivers receive
the red light.
“It took me some time to figure
out what was happening when no
one was moving,” Utley said.
When
it
switches
to
this
pedestrian-exclusive mode, I enjoy
walking across the intersection
diagonally. It’s a blast. The new
signal’s fun-factor is undeniable, as
is the added safety. The aesthetic
appeal is especially welcomed
among myself and others.
“I do like it a lot more. I
appreciate the wider streets,” LSA
sophomore Riha Hagalwadi said.
“It looks a lot better,” chimed
her friend, LSA sophomore Riya
Chakravarty.
Both
Hagalwadi
and
Chakravarty
use
State
Street
primarily for walking, as they don’t
own a car on campus.
I spoke with Taubman sophomore
Matthew Daines, who drives in Ann
Arbor, along with Utley.
“With the trees and benches, it
looks more inviting and functional.
Especially now with the 15-minute
parking,” Daines said. As for his
thoughts on driving, he pointed to
the cars behind us.
“It’s very stop and start. We
could follow a car from here
and see it stop two times. It’s
frustrating,” Daines said.
I talked to Ann Arbor resident
Amelia
Barnard
and
LSA
sophomore Josh Moss, who each
drew attention to the obstacles
that already exist for cars around
Ann Arbor.
“The bike lanes I appreciate. But
what I think might be unnecessary
are the pylons,” Barnard said.
“In the case of an emergency
there’s no place to pull over. Cars
are already limited.”
Moss has been driving on State
Street since high school. When I
spoke with him, he had been riding
his bike.
“They started making the lights
super short, then having it stop,
and having all the pedestrian
sidewalks going at the same time,”
Moss said. “There’s traffic from
Nakamura (co-op) all the way here,
just a straight line of cars, and you
have to turn around and drive up
Division. It’s horrible.”
“I have a friend that lives just up
there,” Moss continued, motioning
up the street to Kerrytown. “Before
it would take probably a six, seven
minute drive. Now it’s like 40.”
Maybe the ability to turn left at
the intersection will be removed.
Maybe the signals will go back to
normal. Or it could be that State
Street is simply not a place meant
for cars anymore.
***
There are new intervals when
pedestrians are not supposed to
cross, period. This is the second big
change for walkers. Pedestrians
can still walk when the light turns
green, but only for a few seconds.
When the walk sign displays a red
hand, the flow of traffic depends
on pedestrians not crossing.
But pedestrians cross anyway.
While
researching
this
piece (standing around at the
intersection, basically) I saw a lot
of people walk when they weren’t
supposed to, blocking traffic as a
result. Some would look both ways
first and then jaywalk. Some just
ignored the red hand altogether.
As a pedestrian, I feel pressure
when crossing a street that wasn’t
there before — perhaps the anxiety
of
my
unnecessary
privilege
over cars. The renovation was
clearly successful at prioritizing
pedestrians. But did that have to
come at the expense of the driver’s
ability to get down the street?
STEVE LIU
Statement Correspondant
Reckoning with State Street’s
changes
Gabby Ceritano/DAILY
Read more at MichiganDaily.com