 JULY 30 • 2020 | 5

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for openers
Unexpected Consequences of the Pandemic
L

ast year, we were fortunate 
to be the proud own-
ers of a new car. (Well, 
new for us.) My kids promptly 
named our new set of wheels 
“Marshmallow” 
— which wasn’
t 
nearly as creative 
as the family who 
named their big 
red van “
Clifford,
” 
but not bad.
Anyhow … Life 
was good. Life was 
GRAND. All car doors open. 
The wheels fairly glide over 
potholes, unlike my previous 
car, which was known to induce 
labor. The windows are not (yet) 
decorated in stickers from the 
doctor’
s office. And most impor-
tantly, it drove like a dream.
Until suddenly it didn’
t. 
A few weeks ago, I stuck the 
key in and, oh no, déjà vu. It 

wouldn’
t start. 
Marshmallow was duly towed 
to the mechanic who did some 
digging — and surprise— turned 
out a critter had made its home 
underneath the engine and spent 
happy hours chewing on the 
wires, which shorted out my car.
A few weeks ago, the Detroit 
Free Press ran an article that 
warned about this very issue. 
Apparently, it’
s become extreme-
ly common because when cars 
sit in driveways for months at a 
time, not going anywhere at all, 
animals tend to think, Hmm, that 
would be the perfect place to park 
my fancy tail after a hard day of 
foraging for nuts and racing around 
tree trunks.
Who knew the “
staying home/
staying safe” guidelines would 
have such unexpected conse-
quences? 
The article also said some 

car brands like Toyota use a 
soy-coated wiring for the cars. 
Another fun fact I discovered 
from this fascinating article 
by Jamie L. LaReus was this: 
Critters who move in under 
car hoods tend to have excep-
tionally good teeth! He quoted 
University of Michigan psychol-
ogy professor Ben Dantzer, who 

said, “
All rodents have these 
ever-growing teeth and they 
need to chew on things to keep 
them from getting long … Never 
once do you find a wild squirrel 
that has teeth that are screwed 
up … But rats used in biomedi-
cal research, their teeth are long 
and out of control because they 
haven’
t had anything hard to 

Rochel 
Burstyn

essay
Three Cheers for Detroit Lions’ Romeo Okwara
S

ocial media has made 
it simple to make one’
s 
thoughts known. With a 
digital platform and a few key-
strokes, anyone can disseminate 
their viewpoint, 
regardless of tone, 
facts or accuracy. 
The truth is, on 
social media, 
there are very few 
arbiters of truth. 
But we must 
insist on veracity 
and we must call out hate — 
even when the sheer number 
of social media posts makes it 
seem like we are fighting a los-
ing battle.

One local sports 
figure has gotten 
it right, and we 
should applaud his 
stance. On July 13, 
Detroit Lions defen-
sive end Romeo 
Okwara took on a 
fellow football play-
er and Nation of 
Islam (NOI) leader 
Louis Farrakhan at the same 
time.
In case you missed it:
Over the past few weeks, 
a flurry of commentary and 
social media posts have sur-
faced regarding Farrakhan’
s 
July 4 address marking the 90th 

anniversary of NOI. In 
the speech, Farrakhan 
referred to Jews collec-
tively as “Satan” and the 
“
enemy of God” and 
repeated the false claim 
that Jews are enjoined 
by their religion to “poi-
son prophets” and that 
Jews had “broken their 
covenant relationship 
with God.” This rhetoric is sadly 
not unusual for Farrakhan. But 
that was just the beginning.
A number of Black celebri-
ties and influencers — from 
Philadelphia Eagles wide 
receiver DeSean Jackson to TV 
host Nick Cannon — lauded 

Farrakhan’
s speech and even 
doubled down when their com-
ments were depicted as antise-
mitic. Jackson was fined by his 
team and Cannon was fired by 
Viacom CBS. 
But Romeo Okwara showed 
he’
s not afraid to take on fellow 
NFL players. His Instagram cap-
tion on the subject said:
“
Antisemitic comments 
towards the Jewish commu-
nity are and will always be 
completely unacceptable. As a 
fellow member of the NFL, I am 
incredibly embarrassed for the 
huge mistake DeSean Jackson 
made. We must all continue 
to educate ourselves and fight 

Carolyn 
Normandin

Romeo 
Okwara

TOM HANNY, WIKIPEDIA

