4A - Monday, March 16, 2009 4 MdaMrU20The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com l e 4frIC4Igan aily Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard Sc. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu ROBERT SOAVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR 0 GARY GRACA EDITOR IN CHIEF Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All othersigned articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. A box office hit New 'U' film office will bring benefits to students, economy onsidering the quality of Rob Schneider's past movies, the fact that he's filming his latest in Ann Arbor probably won't add anything to campus's cultural prestige. Thankfully, better quality movies may be coming to campus. That's because the University just recently announced the creation of a film office to assist studios interested in making movies on campus. With the state economy floundering, the Ann Arbor bubble can only remain intact for so long. Encouraging filmmakers to choose Ann Arbor is a great way to stimulate the local economy. In addition to this, the film office should also work with studios to create more opportuni- ties for students who want to be involved with these films. I suspect that the Republican party would love to see me travel through the Amazon ... and maybe get lost. - President Barack Obama, commenting on a suggestion that he begin a tour of Brazil with a trip to the rainforest, as reported on Saturday by Reuters. CHRIS KOSLOWSKI IOUT T PA STURE E-MAIL CHRIS AT CSKOSLOW@UMICH.EDU * **8 wouldliste to u if w wereDon't took at e eifethat. Sland flashbare (?raw i ft Scf Z 0E*Sr impt inenda '.nenedia re d0 MITII 1;111 , HIT I e Rewriting the books The University has been swamped with requests for filming on campus following the passage of the Michigan Motion Picture Incentive Program last spring. This pro- gram offers a 40 percent tax credit to large filmmaking projects in Michigan, allowing studios to cut back on cast, crew and other production costs. Since this incentive went into effect, there has been a spike in filming around the state, including in Ann Arbor, and plans for Michigan-based studios have already been proposed. The University's new office, while not a profitable endeavor, hopes to streamline the process for film- makers to shoot on campus. The most beneficial part of encourag- ing film 'production in Ann Arbor is the economic boon a large movie production would bring to the community. The local support system that comes with the arrival of a large film crew stimulates local busi- nesses. Unless these crews plan on living in tents and eating canned food, increased patronage at local bars, restaurants and hotels will result from the arrival of film crews in the city. But the University's new film office should make an effort not only to help filmmakers obtain access to University locations for shooting, but also to encour- age the hiring of arts majors seeking a career in the film industry. Not only does this help retain Michigan students in need of.jobs, but it also keeps breathing life into Ann Arbor's cultural identity - one that already includes the Ann Arbor Film Festi- val - by keeping young, talented artists of various kinds in the city despite economic woes statewide. Motivated filmmakers, artists and performers have the chance to take advantage of the opportunities at their doorstep. The effort to bring in filmmakers should also be considered an investment in the University's exposure. Film crews find out how great the University community is and audiences across the country get a glimpse of what it means to go to school here. University officials are making the right move to help establish Ann Arbor as a hot spot for movie material. While not every movie made in Ann Arbor will be an award-winning masterpiece, the increased presence of the film industry in the city is an encouraging bright spot for those who wish to use the creative talents they learned at the University without leaving the area. W hen I saw a small, unfa- modern trends, the straight-up phat miliar textbook lying on publisher rocked the illest research, and, the coffee table at home like, kicked it with some student inter- a couple of weeks views and what not. ago, I didn't think How very dope. too much of it. My The publisher's research indicat- mother is a sociol- ed that students feel textbooks are ogy professor and "boring," "outdated" and "irrelevant honestly, I've seen to me." But throw in some Beyonce, too many editions "Juno" and Kanye, and boom - rele- of too many soci- vance city. The publisher is just trying ology texts lying to understand its consumers and give around the house. them whatthey want. What could ever But this book was IMRAN be wrongwith that? different. SYED Well, plenty - not the least of which I can describe it is that a college education simply must to you, but to really not devolve to the studied consum- know what I'm talk- erization of cable news or designer ing about, go to amazon.com and look handbags. Dictating what you already it up: "SOC" by Jon Witt. With a flashy understand kind of defeats the pur- cover that's more "Teen Vogue" than pose of an education, no? Simply put, any textbook in your school bag, the as a college student, I felt insulted by book even had those little blurbs that the assumptions at work in the cre- magazine covers have about the sto- ation of "SOC." ries inside. Sure, instead of "20 bright I don't need gimmicks to read my beauty ideas to try" or "Spring fash- textbooks, and I definitely don't need ion at every price!" this cover had bits Diddy or iPhone references every like "Sociology is a verb," but exciting other page to stay engaged. I know nonetheless. Right? publishing is a business and selling is Falling for the gimmick, I began the game, but we'd all be better off if flipping thropgh the book. Introduc- education didn't go the way of a Mr. ing the author was a fill-in-the-blanks Alan's "$29-or-two-for-$50" sale. questionnaire with scribbly answers, The central question is simple. Is similar to the American Express mag- education something we bring down azine ads featuring celebs like Jerry to our level, or should we work up to Seinfeld. Every so often, features like its level? If education is about the bet- "Pop Soc" and "At the Movies" crop terment of individuals, then surely the up, just in case you can't understand, latter is the smarter choice. The phi- for example, the concept of "The Indi- losophy at work in "SOC," however, is vidual and Society" without a Harry clearly the former, because publish- Potter reference. Capping it all off was ers have incentives to advertise their a back cover inviting students to check products as responsive to students' out the author's blog. needs. Professors and students must Dude's got a blog! not falter in our duty to decide which Why would a publisher feel the need products improve the educational to make a textbook that resembles a experience and which ones are simply magazine? Luckily, the book's inside ploys to feign responsiveness for the flap had the answer, which I'll relay sake of better book sales. by Iaraphrasing it in the language the There's an old book in my basement publisher clearly supposes students'. that I took from my elementary school are always using: Being totally hip to years ago when the book was about to be thrown out. Printed in 1937, "Where Our Ways of Living 'Come From" is a sociology text of sorts. In the introduction, it says it provides a new approach to grade school social studies that eliminates older materi- als that' students found meaningless. Sound familiar? Why textbooks shouldn't need to be 'pimped out'. Flipping through the old book, I found that the thinking that went into it isn't so different from "SOC." The authors of "Our Ways of Living" also tried to target their audience better by making the book more appealing and interesting. The difference is that they did it by rewriting the material, by broadening the perspectives presented and by sug- gesting and tying in classroom activi- ties. "SOC" doesn't seem to do any of those: It's simply a repackaging of the same textual material with snazzy celeb photos and multiple uses of the word "blog". Nevertheless, "SOC" may still be as competently written a textbook as any that I've recycled for my mother. It's simply that I worry about the philoso- phy behind its creation. While we ben- efit from the personalization of many things, I'm not sure Twitterizing edu- cation is going to work out so well for any of us. And, in case you're interested, I too am still trying to figure out how sociol- ogy is a verb. - Imran Syed was the Daily's editorial page editor in 2007. He can be reached at galad@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari;Emily Barton, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh, Brian Flaherty, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke, Sutha K Kanagasingam, Shannon Kellman, Jeremy Levy, Edward McPhee, Matthew Shutler, Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder E IT R SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU Diesel -not the answer to turbocharging, downsizing and homogeneous charge compression ignition, gasoline engines promise to approach diesel efficiency while Detroitsproblems emitting less nitrogen oxides and being light- er-weight, which in turn allows for lighter car TO THE DAILY: structures. Ben Caleca makes several strong points in Caleca's other comparisons with Europe are his column (Detroit, go Diesel, 03/13/09). The absolutely on target. We should focus on active one in the title, however, is not one of them. safety - that is, preventing cars from crashing. Five years ago, I would have agreed to "go The answer is largely technological (intelligent diesel." But now it is clear that diesel is at the sensors and control systems), but mainly social end of its lifeline for light-duty vehicles. The (comprehensive driver training). fact is that innovation in diesel is going toward In addition to on-the-road skills, main- improving emissions instead of making for- tenance and eco-driving, driver's educa- ward leaps in fuel efficiency. Diesel efficiency tion should educate new drivers about the is peaking, so to speak. true cost to the environment in producing Gasoline engines are also on their way vehicles and in burning fossil fuels, and then out - we are on to the electrified car, hope- demonstrate practical, local ways to avoid fully without the diversion of a hydrogen the use of cars in most everyday situations. "scam" economy. But gasoline engines are fast improving' in fuel efficiency by implementing Eric Sauck diesel-like technology. With direct injection, Engineeringsenior LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be less than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. Letters are edited for style, length, clarity and accuracy. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedoily@umich.edu. As the Michigan Student Assembly examines its own future on campus, the Daily would like students to voice their opinions on what should be a part of its agenda. E-MAIL YOUR IDEAS TO ROBERT SOAVE AT RSOAVE@UMICH.EDU ALLIE WILLS iV ngWP o l tNT Finding toler ance through faith 0 JASON MAHAKIAN E-MAIL JASON AT MAHAKIAJ@UMICH.EDU De to the current economic criss I wtsasaininstateshould55 t ay ocut dieon sm'etings? Got any ideas n so muc w HA HA HA drink less?hNaha Good one, man! but no seriously d efieytxt book lyru- "6 / ' I have always been Christian and religious. I can't remember a time when I'didn't believe in God. I grew up in a conservative Presbyterian church that had a "love the sinner, hate the sin" attitude toward homosexuality, so when I came out to myself as queer at 16, 1 was devastated. At first, I considered celibacy, which was my church's only answer to homosexuality. I would have done it if I had been sure it was what God wanted, but something nagged at my brain. How could it be a sin? Who was I hurting? Why would God have made me queer if I was supposed to spend my whole life fighting it? I considered fighting it for a while and then started looking for other options. I found out that a lot of denominations, my own includ- ed, have groups of churches that accept lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people without asking us to change. I visited all different kinds of churches: Methodist, Lutheran, United Church of Christ and Pres- byterian. I began to believe that homosexuality was not a sin - that God loves and accepts people regardless of their sexuality. Jesus, after all, said nothing about homo- sexuality and spenthis time with all sorts of people on the fringes of society. Still, I had considered getting ordained for a long time, and if that was what God was asking of me, I wanted a church in which I could get ordained without having to be celibate. This narrowed my search down to the Epis- copal, Unitarian Universalist and Metropolitan Commu- nity Churches. I tried a local Episcopal Church and fell in love almost instantly. Sexuality was talked about openly, I was allowed to be a Sunday school teacher and the priest herself wss in a committed, same-sex relationship. I was confirmed into the Episcopal Church in June of 2009 and it felt like coming home. Coming to college, I was afraid I wouldn't find a reli- gious community that accepted me the way my first church had. By the grace of God, I found two: Canterbury House and St. Clare of Assisi Episcopal Church. The first time I met St. Clare's parishioners was at an Oasis Even- song, a service held once a month by and for LGBT people and our allies. They encouraged me to visita service at St. Clare's, and sure enough, it me feel at home the moment I walked through the door. At Canterbury House, the Episcopal student ministry, I found another terrific community. The music is wild, the preaching is radical and you will be welcomed into the community no matter where you are in life. In it I have found a Christian community of LGBT people and our allies. I've gained countless Christian friends, some LGBT and others straight. Robin Williams once joked that the best thing about the Episcopal Church is that, whatever you believe, you are sure to find someone there who will agree with you. In some ways, he's right - certainly not everyone in the Episcopal Church believes LGBT people should be accept- ed into the life of the-church, and we are still struggling over whether LGBT people should be bishops. I love the fact that we can disagree civilly (most of the time), but I wish everyone could see what I see - LGBT Christians pray, laugh, cry, worship, work and raise families in the church just like everyone else. LGBT people are an integral part of the church. We have a powerful presence in the life of the church and we belong in its sacred space as much as anyone else. Cer- tainly, we have come a long way, but there's still much more to do. Although it won't be easy, I truly believe that LGBT people in all faiths have the responsibility of work- ing to advance our cause in organized religion. We too are faithful people, and we too deserve the chance to be wel- comed into our religions the way we are. It's bound to be an uphill battle, but I know we'll get there. Allie Wills is an LSA sophomore. ' - lit,/ . , ,& 4