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2 - Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
MONDAY: TUESDAY: WEDNESDAY:
In Other Ivory Towers Campus Characters Explained
THURSDAY: FRIDAY:
Before You Were Here Photos of the Week
1ASPRIT SINGH, YOGA ExibElReNEUR
A professor gets f'lexible
On State Street, above a flight
of creaky stairs over Mr. Greek's
Coney Island, is a room covered
entirely in brightly colored mats.
Rows of ropes are suspended on
bars along the ceiling, and exotic
music thrums in the background.
A man in a cherry red bandana
and black stirrup leggings chants
instructions to a young woman
who is stretching her legs at an
almost impossible angle.
The instructor, Jasprit Singh, is
a professor of electrical engineer-
ing and computer science at the
University - and happens to be a
fiercely devout yoga enthusiast.
Singh said that his yoga sessions
relieve stress from his life in aca-
demia.
"This keeps me centered," he
said.
Singh's long history with yoga
can be traced back 50 years to his
father, a yogi who instructed his
son to practice yoga at least one to
one-and-a-half hours every day.
Singh took his father's instructions
to heart and continued to study
yoga after leaving India to study at
the University of Chicago in 1975.
Singh started teaching at the
University in 1985. Throughout his
professional career, he has contin-
ued to study yoga on a daily basis.
Five years ago, Singh formed a
yoga studio of his own. He devel-
oped the concept of RussaYog,
which is unique from other yoga
practices because it uses ropes in
the stretches.
Singh's yoga studio draws a wide
variety of students.
During one session last week,
two 14-year-old twin boys accom-
panied their mother to a session,
while several female college stu-
dents stood together in a cluster.
A couple of middle-aged men were
also in attendance.
Singh attributes the diverse crowd
to the studio's accessible style.
"It's an easy style to learn,"
Singh said. "The rope becomes
your partner. It's like doing a duet
with the rope."
During the yoga session, Singh
demonstrates every stretch in
the front of the class. His voice is
soothing as he repeats the mantra,
"Look inward. Draw your mind
inward," throughout the duration
of the class.
The class staggered out after
the session. Many of the partici-
pants were regulars, who will be
back in the following weeks. Some
were newcomers, intrigued by the
notion of yoga with ropes.
"We get newcomers all the
time," Singh said. "Ann Arbor is a
mobile city. Students come in and
out. Over 1,000 people have tried
(it)." said.
JASMINE ZHU
lasprit Singh, an instructor at the Ann Arbor Russa Yoga Studio
on State Street, performs poses using his unique rope technique.
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TheMichiganDaily(ISSN0745-967)ispublishedMondaythroughFridayduringthefallandwinter
termsby studentsat theUniversityofMichigan.one opy isavailablefreeof charge toalreaders
AdditionalcopiesmaybepickedupattheDaly'soffiefor$2.Subscriptionsforfallterm,startingin
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CRIME NOTES CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Apple keyboard Man refuses to Free ballroom. Psychology film
stolen provide ID to dancing class on screening
WHERE: Cyber Lounge, Mich- hospital staff North Campus WHAT: A documentary on.
the "bi d-s bsyoa,'nsn deyn"a
igan League
WHEN: Sundayat about 1:00
p.m.
WHAT: An Apple iMac
keyboard was stolen, Uni-
versity Police reported. The
keyboard was valued at $50.
Police have no suspects.
Man walks into
parked car
WHERE: Shapiro Undergradu-
ate Library
WHEN: Sunday at about 3:45
p.m.
WHAT: A male subject
walked into a parked Univer-
sity van, University Police
reported. The incident caused
the side-view mirror to break.
The pedestrian said that he
was not injured and left the
scene.
WHERE: University Hospital
emergency room
WHEN: Sunday at about 9:30
a.m.
WHAT: An unidentified man
refused to provide identifica-
tion to hospital security, Uni-
versity Police reported. The
subject leftthedhospital before
officers arrived.
iPod transmitter
stolen from car
WHERE: 1311 Beal
WHEN: Between 4:00 p.m.
Sundayand 10:30 a.m. Monday
WHAT: An AM/FM tras-
mitter for an iPod Nano was
stolen from a car, University
Police reported. There were no
signs of entry. Police have no
suspects
WHAT: A free lesson on ball-
room dancingtaught by the
University's ballroom dancing
club
WHO: University Unions Arts
and programs_
WHEN: Tonight from 7 p.m.
to 9 p.m.
WHERE: Leonardo's, Pier-
pont Commons
Arts Break in
the Union
WHAT: An arts and crafts
session with all materials
and supplies provided at no
charge
WHO: University Unions
Arts and Programs
WHEN: Tonight from 8p.m.
to 11 p.m.
WHERE: Ground floor,
Michigan Union
the nue eyea/ orown eyea
diversity experiment.
WHO: University Libraries
WHEN:Tomorrowfrom noon
to 1:45 p.m.
WHERE: The gallery in room
100, Hatcher Graduate Library
Today is the drop/add
deadline for regular term
classes. This is the last day
to withdraw from the term
with the assessment of regis-
tration and disenrollment fees
only. Access to web registra-
tion for the winter terms ends
at midnight.
The Ann Arbor City
Cousnclpassed an ordi-
4
CORRECTIONS . nance that gives property
. An article in Monday's owners a maximum of nine
edition of the Daily (Ex-'U' days to remove graffiti from
atudent caught in sex sting) their property.
misidentified which agency FOR MORE, SEE OPINION, PAGE 4
handled a prostitution inves-
tigation. The Department of
Public Safety led the sting.
" A photo in Monday's edi- AwomaninDenmarkcon-
tion of the Daily (A Brewing vinced abank o exchange
Education) misidentified the Monopoly money for
photographer. She works for 1,400 Danish kroner valued
the Associated Press at $240 last week. The woman
" Please report any error was arrested when she made
in the Daily to corrections@ a second attempt to exchange
michigandaily.com. 8,000 kroner.
4
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
4
WHAT DO
IHODES/MARSHALL/MITCHE1LL
SCHOLARS
DO AFTER THEIR STUDIES
Well, this guy became
president.
What will you do?
Anything you want.
You've written your own game
plan so far in life. Why not take
it one step further and become
a Rhodes, Marshall, or Mitchell
Scholar?
Palestinians clean up debris from a destroyed house in eastern Jebaliya, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, yesterday. Israel
launched its 22-day offensive to try to halt Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel.
UN increases role in Gaza
-2000
nne united States on America,1
Come to a Rhodes/Marshall/Mitchell Orientation Session:
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 . 5:00-6:00pm
Koessler Room, Michigan League
Thursday, January 29, 2009 . 5:00-6:00pm
Pierpont Commons Center Room
Thursday, February 5, 2009 . 5:00-6:00pm
Kuenzel Room, Michigan Union
To learn more, please contact the Provost's Council on Student Honors at
734-763-8123 or visit the website at
www.provost.umich.edu/scholars/
Repairs to 21,000
homes in Gaza
expected to top $2B '
JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP,
Gaza Strip (AP) - Crouching
against piled mattresses in a room
crammed with refugees, Bissan
Abu al-Eish focused on her home-
work, blocking out the relentless
shrieks of dozens of toddlers and
the stench of overflowing latrines.
"I'm so happy to be studying,"
said the 9-year-old girl, bent over
the new textbook she received this
weekend when classes resumed for
200,000 Gaza children at United
Nations facilities.
Beyond being schooled by the
U.N., Abu al-Eish and her seven
siblings eat the igency's food, wear
its clothing and now live in one of
its buildings after their own house
was leveled during Israeli bom-
bardments on Gaza.
Hamas may be politically in
charge of the Gaza Strip, but it's
to the U.N.'s relief agency that the
majority of the 1.4 million Gazans
turn for health care, garbage col-
lection, food assistance and just
about every other service usually
provided by a state.
With much of the territory dev-
astated by Israel's latest military
offensive, the agency's job is bound
to get even bigger.
Many expect the U.N.'s agency
for Palestinians to take the lead in
reconstruction, though its role is
currently limited to the refugee
camps that house more than 1 mil-
lion of Gaza's population. The U.N.
spearheadingefforts to rebuild Gaza
could open a door to international
donors, many of whom don't want
to give Hamas money because the
group doesn't recognize Israel and
is considered a terror organization
by the U.S. and European Union.
It is estimated that $2 billion is
needed to repair the 21,000 homes
damaged or destroyed, along with
factories and government build-
ings, in the three-week Israeli
attack to end Hamas' rocket-firing.
Fundraising has hardly begun, and
the question of how the money will
be funneled remains unanswered.
"We're delivering the services
of a state, until the state is estab-
lished," John Ging, the head of
Gaza operations for the U.N. Relief
and Works Agency, UNRWA, told
The Associated Press this week-
end.
At the same time, it must exist
side-by-side with Hamas' govern-
ment - and take care to maintain
its neutrality, which some Israelis
question.
In one classroom Saturday,
when UNRWA schools reopened,
a Palestinian teacher was filmed
asking children about their trauma
during the war. The unidentified
teacher then told the children that
Palestinians have to "wage war
against them (Israelis) until they
leave their land," and asked her
students, aged about 8, how they
should react.
Two children in the class sug-
gested hurling stones or rockets
back at Israel. "Okay," the teacher
said, apparently summing up her
class' position. "We throw rockets
at them, we throw stones at them,"
she said.
Ging said such behavior is "com-
pletely unacceptable," and will be
"dealt with in the most severest
of fashions." He said the teacher
would likely be removed once
identified. Teachers have been
fired from UNRWA in the past for
incitement.
Ging said that following the
latest war, which ended Jan. 17,
UNRWA briefed teachers - them-
selves often victims of the fighting
- on how to channel the children's
grief away from revenge and vio-
lence. In schools across the territo-
ry, teachers led students in games
to ease their trauma and encour-
aged them to talk about lost class-
mates to deal with their deaths.
"We're in a battle with extrem-
ismhereinGaza," saidGing, adding
that UNRWA schools aim to "guide
(children) to a civilized place."
Robert Blecher, the senior Mid-
dle-East analyst for the Wash-
ington-based International Crisis
Group think-tank, says UNRWA's
staff comes from a cross-section
of society and it's "logical that this
staff reflects the political spectrum
of Gaza, of which Hamas is obvi-
ously an important component."
P