University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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THE DEEP FREEZE ey there, Jack! Is that you? Whoops.. ...sorry. I couldn ' t tell with all those clothes you ' re wearing. Almost every- one on campus could sympathize with such confusion during the third week of 1994. With temperatures drop- ping to -20 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest day ever recorded in Detroit history, many people metamorphosized into Nanuks of the North. Even an occasional dog sled team could be seen around campus, replacing the multi- tudes of automobiles which refused to start. I didn ' t start my car at all because I didn ' t think it would start, said LSA senior Tomek Obertynski. But, the cold didn ' t stop him. It ' s kind of refreshing, like a reset button to the New Year. At least we all know why the Russians wear those hats now, he laughed. Dean Bachmann, also an LSA senior, shared a similar ethnic sentiment about the skin-biting temps: I felt like I was in Stalingrad since everyone was running around with babushkas on their heads. However, a little bone-chilling cold weather isn ' t enough to stop a determined person. Those who did brave it even stuck to their daily routines. I ride my bike everyday approximately three miles, said pharmaceutics graduate student Dave Miller. I think I calculated the average wind chill to be about -60 degrees Fahrenheit when I was riding. Now that ' s cold. Not everyone was as jovial as Miller about going out into the arctic tundra of southeast Michigan. After eight years of living on the west coast, I ' m convinced my blood has thinned and I naturally rejected the cold weather, said Matthew Aberbach, director of Camping Services of the Ann Arbor YMCA. The worst part was the stages of the cold weather when every single day got colder and colder. I kept saying, ' It doesn ' t get any colder than this, or does it? ' Aberbach, like most U-M students, had no choice but to walk everywhere, since he did not own a car. Although walking was great, walking in the bitter cold was not. The only time I went into the cold was to go skiing. That was a conscious choice. When you live here, whether you work or you ' re a student, you have no choice, he added. Unfortunately, this was also true of Ann Arbor ' s home- less and those below the poverty level. Aberbach said the YMCA received several calls regarding provisions for food and temporary emergency shelter. Because the YMCA was not a crisis center, the calls had to be for- warded to local area shelters. Andre Randall of Catholic Social Services testified to a definite increase of people seeking help, especially families often with five or more members. They ' re not your typical families. They ' re just having a hard time; usually, they ' re in a transitional period in their lives. Randall offered advice and helped advocate fo r people with problems. I feel we ' ve been pretty successful thus far, he said. Diane Cromwell of the Ann Arbor Shelter held to the open door policy, although families were a rarity because of a lack of facilities. We do see about 100 people a day. This is an increase of about thirty. We see many of the same people every day, she said. Maybe a stalled car or frozen pipes or walking a few minutes a day to class or to work wasn ' t worth complain- ing about in the great scheme of life. After all, students knew to expect a real Michigan winter every year when they decided to enroll as official U-M students; whether they looked forward to it or not was a matter of personal preference. By Etyse M. 54 Michigan Life

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D YOU GO? When students needed a breaf from academics, they found ng up and having town was the. sure-fire way to reia . AMPA BAY The high- light of our trip was the Hall of Fame Bowl, which was the sole reason we went to Tampa Bay. It took us around twenty hours to drive there, but it was well worth the time to see the Wol- verines fare victorious. To start off the excitement, we went to the pre-game pep rally the night before the game. The cheerleaders called me down out of the stands to sound the cow bell for the Go Blue! cheer. It was a great feeling to see all those fans before me. But nothing tops an actual bowl game. We ' re the type of fans who never sit during a game, and the alumni behind us kept tell- ing us to sit down. I hate it when people go to games and then sit on their hands and don ' t cheer; but, anyway, we left those seats in search of some where we could stand without blocking the view of those behind us. As it turned out, we found better seats than our original ones. There was no one around us so we could jump, cheer, and dance as much as we wanted without upsetting anyone. And, if you can believe it, we were right behind the girls from Hooters Bar! But, that ' s another story all together ... did I say the game was the highlight of our trip? By Jejj ' Jiotzfiausen Michigan Life 53

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Michigan Life 55