0 a U U V U U U v a a U i f Personal Statement My thrice broken heart ByElyanaTwiggs am awakened by a green nurse. Her features are blurry and her voice is dis- tant. She has four eyes. She makes me repeat my name. I fail the first test. I can talk now that the breathing tube has been pulled from my windpipe, but my voice is harsh and barely audible. I think I just swallowed sand coupled with a handful of nails. I am sweating. I am freezing. I am lifeless. The sound of the machine next to me is familiar and I hate the sound. I see four dazzlingbags hanging quietly on a metal pole beside me. I can't read the long words printed on them. I realize where I am - the busiest place on earth. The ICU buzzes around my mechanicalbed;beepingmachines conduct the orchestra of stressed nurses and diligent physicians. A diluted panic starts to spread over me. Numb tears stream down my colorless' cheeks. I don't deserve this. You would- think after the first two they would stop this tor- ture. My first open-heart surgery was at five months old. The second was at two years old. This agonizing pain was because I was born with a tiny defect: a hole in my heart, which required that a hard, carbon heart valve be inserted into my tiny body. I underwent my third MARTHA COOK From Page 6B in Oxford with every single door closed, accounts of Martha Cook made me realize that my resi- dence hall experience is nowhere near as enriching. "It's just a really strong com- munity," Humphrey said. "I have made so many good friends. It happens a lot that girls will live here all four years, so it just really adds to the community aspect." Although Martha Cook has been fulfilling for both Hahn and Humphrey, they both stressed that the lifestyle isn't for every- one. "We'll get a lot of freshmen who will move out because they want to join a sorority or decide the lifestyle isn't for them," Hum- phrey said. "But we also get a lot of girls who really love it." -EMMA JESZKE heart surgery at 15 years old - the day I recount here - to get my heart valve replaced and a defibril- lator to match. After this day, I will have two new beautiful scars, both of which you would probably stare at unabashedly if you saw. Huge scars that are mementos of three heart surgeries before my 18th birthday and a lifetime of medical examination. You'd think living with a congenital heart defect, I'd get used to it. But you never really get used to it. The effects of the morphine being pumped into my veins won't allow me to comprehend my sur- roundings. I feel groggy and slow. I notice two thick tubes protrud- ing from my stomach while a brown liquid seeps into a bag at the foot of my bed. I want to vomit. I can't imagine what the liquid is, since I haven't eaten anything in 30 hours. I still want to vomit. I command my wrists to twist around so I can see what is pinch- ing me. The reaction is delayed; moving my hands takes about two minutes. Three IVs sprout from my bruised wrists, and one of them doesn't even lead to anything. The thickest IVneedle springs from my neck. I can't move my head to the left because of it. My chest throbs and my mouth hangs open. My arms are being pulled in opposite TOWN-GOWN From Page 5B city between the promise of new jobs and tax revenue. The property is probably in more stable hands being owned by the University than ifa private company had purchased the site, Bernstein said. But because the University doesn't pay property taxes, the city won't gain any tax revenue in the deal. Bernstein said he is hopeful the city will eventually regain the lost opportunity for tax revenue through the new jobs and spin-off projects that life science research will bring to the city. SHORING UP THE FUTURE Ann Arbor seems to have all the right ingredients for building a knowledge economy based in science and technology research, but the catch is getting the hyper- direct My ba contor tion dt I lo runnir button my bo them a ragge hapha ask th just s Her s before place. fact m vinced one el but th smiles hear ions by an invisible force. and constant. I must accept that ck burns from having been this will never be over. My eyelids ted into an unnatural posi- won't open all the way. uring a 12-hour surgery. The only thing I want is water. ok down at the stitched skin I would sleep on the street for the ng down my chest to my belly rest of my life just for a puny glass . Steri-strips seem to hold of water. I beg the nurse - she dy together. I want to rip gives me ice chips instead. I don't off. I look like a monster or a want to die anymore. The last one slides down my throat, drop- ping into an empty stomach. My parched esophagus thanks me. w aking up My glazed over eyes can't read fter my third the time. I assume it's the after- noon since every light is shin- open-heart ing directly at my eyes. It's 3 a.m. - medication time. A syringe is surgery in inserted into the I.V. through my neck. I can feel the thin liquid 15 years seeping into my bloodstream. It's cold and wet. I hope it will dull the pain burning in my shoulder blades so I can sleep. I can taste the medicine. My eyelids droop dy doll that has been stitched and I fall into a dreamless sleep. I zardly after too much use. I thank God for this false escape. e nurse some questions. She I wake up again abruptly. My miles and tells me to sleep. nightmare is reality. It's been mile is the same one I saw around six hours. I shouldn't have I went to sleep in the first woken up. I look around and see. I don't make sense. This something I have been missing. akes me cry again. I am con- I recognize the shiny pupils and d that I am trapped in some- white teeth of my mother, father lse's body. I am screaming and sister. My beaten-up heart he nurse just automatically swells. Everything in the room , then walks by. No one can vanishes. My manipulated insides me. My pain becomes dull and stretched open chest stop throbbing. The tubes from my stomach and catheter disappear. The beeping machine stops beep- ing. The blurry clock stops ticking. I forget that I have a congenital heart disease in the first place. They are all I can see. They are all I want to see. If it weren't for the morphine, I would smile. Tears are the only reaction I could mus- ter. Tears of joy, tears of happiness, tears of fear and tears of love. My mom is crying, too. I don't understand why. I don't care that for the next two weeks, I would be fighting to walk, and it would be painful for me to sit up straight for a month. I can't feel the bottom half of my body butI can't care less. I don't care how many times in the future someone will ask me what the long, pink line down my chest is. I don't care about how if I don't take my medicine regularly after this day, I could be at high risk for a stroke or heart attack. All I know is that the people I love the most are holding my limp hand and sit- ting right next to me. I know that life is truly beautiful. After this point, I will know that my battle is conquerable. At this moment, I have never felt luckier. I am the luckiest girl in the world. - Elyana Twiggs is a reporter for The Michigan Daily's News section. turn to for a model in cultivating an appealing environment for the 24-35 demographic. In recent years, Ann Arbor offi- cials have begun to warm to the idea of high-density development and developing the city's urban core in hopes of luring in new busi- nesses and investors. Phrases like "walkability," "sus- tainable growth" and "high-densi- ty development" are buzzwords at recent City Council and Downtown Development Authority meetings. But Glazer said there is room for improvement on the city's part. "It's still not at the right scale," he said. Ann Arbor is uniquely posi- tioned to become an example for other cities on how to successfully transfer to a knowledge economy, said Hailu with the Land Policy Institute. "The only thing that might be missing is the right investment," he said. educated young professionals the University turns out to stay in the state and in the city. The "brain drain" question is one that Michigan researchers and policy makers have struggled with for years. How important to the city's eco- nomic future is it that this year, Ann Arbor was named the third- best "Walking City" by Prevention Magazine? Or the top "College Sports Town" by Forbes Maga- zine? Or the "Best Place to Raise Your Kids" by Business Week Mag- azine? More important than you might think. According to the report released March 3 by the Land Policy Insti- tute about attracting "knowledge workers" - highly educated pro- fessionals between 24 and 35 - urban environments and cultural attractions are crucial to new eco- nomic growth. Bernstein agreed, saying that research increasingly shows that the "knowledge workers" demo- graphic first chooses where to live based on quality of life and then finds a job in that city. Quality of life factors could include everything from a city's parks, schools, nightlife, art scene or even the number of gyms per capita. Glazer cautioned that improving quality of life as an economic strat- egy is a relatively new approach to city planning, so more research needs to be done to understand which factors weigh heaviest on the minds of the coveted young professional demographic. To him, though, one thing is clear.. "It sure ain't the weather," he said. The current top destination for graduates from Michigan's public universities is Chicago. And it is large urban centers like Chicago that city planners now THE A.NN ARBOR BUIBBLE The city might seem isolated from Michigan's economic troubles. But how secure is it, really? 4B