mm" 4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 4, 2003 OE OP/ED U~ftz idjign4baU 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 LOUIE MEIZLISH Editor in Chief AUBREY HENRETTY ZAC PESKOWITZ Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE "((Dean) knows about as much about the South as a hog knows about Sunday." - US. Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.), on Sunday's "Meet the Press, "on Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. SAM BUTLER CLASSIC SOAPBOX \ 4 -Ve V You are responsible for your parents' apathy JESS PISKOR JOIN TIHE PISKOR riving through Agitators for having children argue that parents' selfish interest in what is suppos- suburbia one kids teach selflessness and give parents a edly harmful to their kids. "Think of what day with my sense of responsibility for others on a level this does to our children" is the argument family I began railing that is unattainable any other way. Non- used in conservative opposition to violent against the waste asso- sense. Nothing is perhaps more selfish video games, movies, music, pornography, ciated with all the big, than having children. gay marriage, abortion, inheritance taxes, green, well-watered, An immediate consequence of pregnan- limits to suburban growth and decriminal- well-fertilized lawns cy is a turn toward selfish, irrational per- izing drugs, to name a few. wrapped, moat-like, sonal decisions. People who hate the I'm not advocating that our generation around every home. To suburbs and would never move out there not enter into parenthood. But we should me, it was pretty clear that the harms of on their own, suddenly feel the need to not rush. Wait until we are in our thirties huge green private lawns outweigh any move out to a gated community where the at least. And then we need to raise our kids possible benefits. kids have access to supposedly better right by example. Parents who work in However, I was told very succinctly by schools and where kids will be "safe," corporate jobs for the money, who stay in my parents that, "When you have kids of leaving cities to rot as places not kid- marriages for the kids and plant lawns for your own, you will understand that a nice friendly enough. T-ball aren't succeeding in raising their grass-covered play area for your children So many parents justify their selfish- kids right. makes a lot of sense." It's a line parents ness and absence from political move- As the next generation of parents, we use a lot to justify selfish and destructive ments by arguing that, "As long as I raise cannot model ourselves on the apathetic personal decisions and to defend a lack of my kids right, then I've done good in the boomers who gave up their activism to political involvement. "Sure I'm against world." This logic, followed to its conclu- keep their kids safe. We should set real the war, but I can't go to the protest sion, amounts to nothing: Kids raised right examples for changing the world through- because Jimmy has a soccer game." who raise their kids right to raise their kids out our parenthood. Frankly, I'm sick of all this "when you right adds up to three generations where Political involvement and a willingness have kids" crap. Sure, having kids will nothing got done. Parents should not lull to stand up against a system of oppression change my opinions and make me discover themselves into apathy with the "teach are the best ways to each our children new truths, but it won't change the reali- your children well" mantra. well. ties of the problems of the United States. With a myopic view of the needs of In his "Letter from Birmingham City All it will change is that by having kids I their own children, parents may take to Jail," Martin Luther King Jr. stated that it will become more selfish and less rational. politics but only when it immediately and wasn't the Ku Klux Klan or George Wal- Yeah, kids change peoples' outlooks - directly effects their children. So parent lace that were the barriers to change, but for the worse. teacher associations are home to bitter the everyday Americans who simply didn't Why do twentysomethings abandon feuds over little Kaytlyn's social studies care or didn't get involved. Today, the their anti-materialist outlooks and buy test while bigger issues are ignored. Moth- majority of parents who gave up their pro- Christmas presents or not run the organic ers and fathers may have opposed the war gressive views are worse than those who farm they have always wanted to operate? in Iraq, but were too busy "raising their never held progressive views and it is they Why do parents work at corporate jobs kids right" to find time to protest or write who are the greatest barrier to change in they hate and support a system that they a letter. the world. used to believe was wrong? Because they And where parenthood doesn't create think it will better to provide for their apathy it breeds conservative Republicans. Piskor can be reached kids, making for happier boys and girls. Many conservative appeals are aimed at atjpiskor@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR University students privileged as Schuh not as believes TO THE DAILY: In rebuttal to Department of Public Safety Officer Troy Schuh's response (A2 built to attract homeless, student naive about situation, 10/31/03) to my initial letter to the editor All in a days work (10/21/03), I meant no personal offense to his hardworking coworkers. I have no doubt that Schuh is devoted to the less fortu- nate in our community, despite their apparent lack of gratitude or expulsion of bodily fluids. I, too, made my convictions to improve the lives of those less fortunate. This provided the main impetus for my criticism of the picture. In my disclaimer, it may have been an inappropriately overlooked journalistic faux pas. The original picture prompted me to question the intent of the photographer in the context of emergency health care. Disparities exist and I implore the Daily's readers to consider how publications perpetuate or promote these factors. As for the "lesson (my) parents don't have to pay for," please don't make the brash assumption that every student at this fine uni- versity is funded by their parents! I took out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to return to academia after a seven year absence. I honor the privilege of attending school again. In my employment days, I worked to serve'marginalized and low- income populations. I learned to criticize and reflect upon this demographic's portrayal in the media. I would hate to think I am as "young and impressionable" as you perceive the vast majority of 17 to 21-year- olds here. There are indeed older students here with "real life" experience. I doubt many university students, or lay people alike, honestly believe that any alms we give to the homeless yields food instead of alcohol. Coping mechanisms take many forms. Unfortunately, maturation breeds cynicism. If I strike up a conversation with a transient person and it appears like they need sustenance, I offer them any food I have on my person or to offer to take them to get a sandwich. Please don't assume naivete! I appreciate the work Schuh does for such an esteemed medical care system at the Uni- versity. As a future public health practitioner, I hope to bridge any existing chasms. Also, this was important to correct his "oversight" and set the record straight on homelessness in Ann Arbor (A2 built to attract homeless, student naive about situation, 10/31/03), I too feel that I must set the record straight on the situation. Alternatively, I work at the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County in both the men and women's shelters. I am flabbergasted to note that someone would purport that people flock to Ann Arbor because being homeless is so lucra- tive. There are a multitude of factors that play into why Ann Arbor has homelessness as well as why people from other cities arrive here homeless. Ann Arbor has virtu- ally no affordable housing. Due to Univer- sity students, Ann Arbor has created an insanely expensive housing bubble that rich students can afford but the majority of peo- ple that work at living wage cannot afford. Studies have proven that the living wage in Ann Arbor is about $10 an hour in order to make rent, food, and so forth. People come to Ann Arbor not for these amazing home- less programs, because they aren't that amazing, they could really stand to improve. People come for jobs, anyone slightly familiar with Michigan can clearly understand why people from Flint or Detroit or Jackson move here. We must realize that there are people that are struggling with alcoholism and addictions in our community. The only treatment facilities that we have in the county are that of Dawn Farm and Home of New Vision (for women only). Two facili- ties with a maybe a few dozen beds are not sufficient for the whole community. Nor do we have a strong support system of housing for people who are just getting out of a pro- gram and are starting a new sober life. There are not several free food pro- grams; there is one, the Ann Arbor Hunger Coalition. It has a breakfast program (seven days), lunch (five days) and dinner (seven days) a week. There are times when the meal program runs out of food due to unex- pected numbers of people. It is not just the homeless community that eats at these meals; the working poor also come to these meals just so that they can get by. By no means is this food terribly appetizing, think of hot lunches at public school, not the pizza or the tater tots but the really awful "Danny" and multitudes of other people that are dealing with issues of homeless- ness and so many other social issues. I sug- gest that if people are interested in these issues that they volunteer at the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County. There they can actually have a "real" education with the situation to understand the com- plexities of homelessness as well as realize that they are people just like you and me, and they deserve the respect every single human deserves and that is to be acknowl- edged as one. HEATHER MOONEY Shelter Association of Washtenaw County Daily misinformed, should have endorsed Lax over Haug To THE DAILY: As a student, I was very pleased to read your articles about students running for Ann Arbor City Council. However, I was dismayed by the misinformation and misrepresentation they con- tained. In the article, A2 City Council hopefuls discuss urban sprawl (10/30/03), the author stated that "all University residence halls are located in the 4th Ward." In actuality, the majority (9 out of 14) of the residence halls are located in the First Ward. These residence halls are West Quad, Betsy Barbour, Helen Newberry, Alice Lloyd, Couzens, Mosher-Jordan, Stockwell, Bursley and Baits. This means that most stu- dents living in the residence halls will be focused on the First Ward elections, in which two students are running for Ann Arbor City Council. Of these two students, the Daily decid- ed to endorse Robert Haug of the Green Party over Rick Lax, running as an Independent. In the Daily's editorial entitled Ward war I and IV (10/30/03), the Daily cited "lack of experience and concrete initiatives" as reasons for not endorsing Lax, while describing Haug's lack of experience as "freshness." This seems inconsistent to me. Also, the Daily failed to mention that, of Haug and Lax, only Lax is running a full-fledged campaign. This cam- paign is based on initiatives that are more "con- crete" than Haug's goals of "forging a sound agreement between the University and the city" and "retaining many of the city's beloved t: - .. - ~. 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