4A - Wednesday, April 3, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4A - Wednesday, April 3, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com ~J~ie 1Mid1igan &4 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com ANDREW WEINER EDITOR IN CHIEF MELANIE KRUVELIS and ADRIENNE ROBERTS EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MATT SLOVIN MANAGING EDITOR After what feels like a very long winter, this has been a fabulous new spring for Michigan basketball. And don't be shocked if it gets better." -Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom said in his on April 2 column. Fact or fiction? Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. Funding mental health The University and CSG need to make sure CAPS is well-funded With rising student debt and a shaky job market, stressors for college students are taking their toll. In the last 10 years, the number of psychological disorders found in college students has increased: One study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness shows that 40 percent feel overwhelmed by stress on a daily basis. Like many colleges and universities, the University has its own mental health service, Counseling and Psychological Services to combat these issues. Because of its proven benefits, CAPS has been flooded with students seeking counseling. It has become increas- ingly obvious that it does not have the resources to help everyone who needs it. To ensure that these programs are continued and made more accessible to students, the responsibility lies in the support of CSG and additional funding from the University. The current wait time for a CAPS appoint- ment is an estimated eight days; however, students sometimes have had to wait two or three weeks for an opening. This delay could be quite damaging to the students who need help. For urgent cases, CAPS offers imme- diate appointments as well as a 24/7 crisis phone line, but the wording on their website judges an "emergency" with arbitrary time frames. This wording may make students question whether their problem is urgent enough and may discourage them from mak- ing an appointment. CAPS would also ben- efit by implementing late-night and weekend hours so students can get help as soon as they need it. The necessity of CAPS for students on campus is growing, and making these chang- es now is critical to the continued success of the program. The fact that CAPS is struggling to keep up with the demand for its services points to a problem with University mental health ser- vices. This issue was brought to light in the CSG election by independent candidate Scott, Christopher, who campaigned to expand the mental health services program in order to promote campus safety. Though he did not win the election, it's still crucial that his promise to work on improving CAPS is car- ried out by the new CSG president. Although the University has had budget cuts, a pro- gram as effective as CAPS should not have to feel these effects. If anything, CAPS should receive more funding to expand services. For example, CAPS offers group counseling, a form of counseling some students prefer in order to learn from others. Yet, CAPS only offers a handful of group counseling sessions that only apply to a small percentage of stu- dents. With increased funding, CAPS could offer more diverse group sessions that appeal to more students. With its capable counseling staff, health- education seminars and stress-reducing events like Puppy Day, CAPS is an important and appreciated student resource. Because of its direct connection to students' well-being and campus safety, continuing and strength- ening the success of CAPS is not something that Qan be casually thrown on the back burn er. An improvement in the mental health ser- vices benefits the entire student body. ately, I've been watching the popular YouTube web series "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries." The show, which offers a tart spin on the Jane Aus- ten classic Pride and Prejudice, reincarnates the heroine, Eliza- beth "Lizzie" Bennet, as a E JENNIFER modern-day XU 24-year-old graduate stu- dent who starts a video blog for a school project. I want to put it out there that this show is brilliant. Each of the 100 episodes is six minutes long at most, running every Monday and Thurs- day as a continuous vlog series. And though the program was designed to be consumed in short, digestible diary segments, I've ingested 30 or 40 of them in a few breathless gulps. There's somethingto be said about the staying power of the romance between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, which has endured so many reformulations over the years yet isn't stale. One might presume that "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me" would get old after its umpteenth utterance by Darcy doppelgangers in an assort- ment of coiffures and colloquialisms. But if you are of this camp, prepareto be surprised, because "LBD" bursts with freshness and ingenuity. Take Mr. Bingley, the adorably clueless object of Jane Bennet's affections, who's reinvented as a rich Chinese medical student from Los Angeles called "Bing Lee," or Mr. Darcy, re-imagined in the 21st century as a taciturn hipster. What's more, the five Bennet sisters have become three, with angsty Mary Bennet relegated to the role of the forgotten emo cousin and Kitty Bennet reincarnated as, quite literally, a kitty cat. But I think the show's greatest appeal is the expansiveness of its fictional cosmos. By that I mean the characters are dealt with as if they were real people operating in real time. Most of the characters have their own Twitter accounts, where they flirt, scheme and occasion- ally reply to real-world followers. They reblog fan Gifs on their tum- blrs. Jane Bennet even has a Look- book, on which she posts links to the painfully adorable outfits she is spotted donning in her sister's vid- eos. For all intents and purposes, this show is an exercise in voyeur- ism, perfect for a generation raised on a healthy diet of Google-search- ing and Facebook-stalking. It struck me one day how potent- ly the show might act as a commen- tary on the fictionality of real-life YouTube video bloggers, a large number of whom have become brands and characters of their own. It's not insignificant to men- tion that "LBD" was co-created by Hank Green, who together with his brother John has revolution- ized the YouTube community with his own special brand of vlog style. Part storytelling, part chatty con- fessional - this style straddles the line between fiction and nonfiction, private and public. Take this guy, who made a name for himself after reading the entire "Twilight" series on camera and endured a very messy (and very pub- lic) break-up with his girlfriend, who just so happens to also be aYouTube star. or this guy, who embarked on a yearlong project that ordained his viewers to decide what he ate, when he shaved and where he moved. Out- side of the conceit that they've made the decision to throw their lives onto the screen for the world to see, these YouTube "celebrities" aren't distin- guishable from anybody else you'd encounter walking down the street. They're college students with aver- age faces and average body weights - they're people who would otherwise meld in with a crowd full of strang- ers. Real people. Reality television has long occupied a curious space in popular culture. Yet, in many ways, they're not. Because there's an invisible compo- nent at play here: money. The You- Tube Partner Program, a business venture which awards dollars for view counts, has imposed a tightly regulated economic system on what is and isn't broadcasted online. Everyone you see onscreen, osten- sibly engaged in his or her everyday * lives, is working. They compete for Twitter followers; they return real- life events into fodder for video narratives. They have fans, but fans of what? Of their characters, their acting? No, of their lives. Reality television has long occu- pied a curious space in popular culture, with scholars and viewers alike contending on it's grouping as art or anthropology. A more accu- rate genre categorization might be somethinglike anthropology as art. When people simultaneously juggle their lives with their livelihoods, what makes a pedestrian vlog about the deliciousness of a Chipotle bur- rito any different from a television episode from "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries?" When does a life cross the line from fact into fiction? Is there a difference anymore? - Jennifer Xu can be reached at jennifxu@umich.edu. 6 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, Eli Cahan, Eric Ferguson, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Jasmine McNenny, Harsha Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul Sherman, Sarah Skaluba, Michael Spaeth, Daniel Wang, Luchen Wang, Derek Wolfe CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550-850 words. Send full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com. AARICA MARCH I A powerful partnership The hunt is on The state of Michigan is ranked 33rd in the nation for highest teen birth rates. Last year alone,- 10,947 children were born to girls between the ages of 15 and 19. Though teen birth rates have been declining for decades now, teen pregnancy continues to be a problematic issue in the United States, especially for individuals more susceptible to poverty and unaccommodating circum- stances. In order to combat the negative effects of young motherhood - such as pre- mature birth, delayed education for infants and financial troubles - the state of Michi- gan has looked to the Colorado-based Nurse- Family Partnership program, which helps young women, particularly from low-income backgrounds, smoothly transition from preg- nancy to motherhood. On March 28, a Michi- gan law went into effect mandating the use of evidence-based or promising practices if the Nurse-Family Partnership receives state funding. The state should further support the Nurse-Family Partnership Program by imple- menting program standards that educate young mothers and improve the health and development of their children. In the early 1970s, David Olds, a professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, created the initial idea for the Nurse-Family Partner- ship program after witnessingthe difficulties lower-income children face at urban day- cares. Olds developed a program to help first time, low-income mothers and their children, which eventuallytransformed into the Nurse- Family Partnership Program. As of July 2012, '41 states across the nation have adopted some -form of Nurse-Family Partnership. Basically, the program assigns nurses to "visit struggling mothers around their 28th week of pregnancy. The at-home visits last ,approximately 90 minutes and cover a variety of topics. The nurse will work with the moth- er to counsel her on maternity health and give her advice on child development, health and education. These visits last until the infant reaches the age of two. Many of the nurses also help the teen mothers start a career. In 2010, it was estimated that the program cost $12,500 per woman for three years of vis- its. On average, states that have adopted the program will prevent 78 premature births, 73 second-births to teen mothers and 3.4 infant deaths per 1,000 low-income families enrolled. Currently, Michigan has programs in every county, but they vary in funding and services. The state government should imple- ment clearer standards and help finance the non-profit organization in order to help Michigan's teen mothers raise their children to meet developmental milestones. Instead of independent operations, each county should collaborate to potentially increase the posi- tive effects of the program throughout the state. Some counties are struggling with long waitlists while other counties are actively searching for families to fit its models of ser- vice. "There's not a shortage of people who need services; we just need to do a better job of connecting people to programs," said Amy Zaagman, executive director of the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health. In the long run, Nurse-Family Partner- ship programs will save the state money by preventing children from entering Child Protective Services and juvenile homes, and preparing them for their future education. Michigan - and states throughout the nation - should implement a Nurse-Family Partner- ship program standard across the board. It's a first step to creating healthier and better edu- cated mothers and children. Aarica Marsh is an LSA sophomore. t's that dreaded time of the year again: internship season. The hunt is on, and it's a fierce one. Resembling something very close to The Hunger Games, internship sea- son is a battle. Findingthe perfect summer internship to SARAH complete your SKALUBA resume, pro- vide you with much needed experience and pos- sibly - just possibly - help you snag that coveted dream job is invalu- able. Regardless of school, class or concentration, University students across campus are putting on their bestgame face and compiling resumes that make even the bright- est of us envious. As if midterms weren't reason enough to worry, add to this the immense pressure of finding an A-list internship -innowhere else but New York, Chicago or Washington D.C., of course - and it's easy to understand why so many of us are feeling rather anxious. It's a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog world out there, and when it comes to landing the ideal summer internship, the competition only heightens. I mean, there's no shame in call- ing it quits and spending a fifth consecutive summer lifeguarding at home, right? Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with life- guarding, waitressing or babysit- ting for the millionth summer in a row. That's exactly what I did my first summer back home, and my measly salary almost managed to cover the six weeks I spent "study- ing" in Spain. But this summer is different. I'm no longer the hope- less, confused freshman I was three years ago. As much as I'd love to roll aimlessly around my hometown all summer or travel the world with the money I don't have, it's no longer a viable option. Somewhere along the way I grew up. I declared a double major, discovered my niche and decided it's time to plunge into this season's Hunger Games. So here I am: still internship-less, anxious and ready to politely smack the next person who brags about his or her killer salary and summer bonus to me - if you're a friend or person I actually care about, I'll glad- ly make an exception. Nevertheless, I'm on a serious prowl to lock some- thing down for the summer before I'm stuck back home living on the streets, considering my mother will most definitely be barricading the doors if I can't find some useful way to spend my four-months of freedom. But when I accidentally overhear my fellow peers bragging about the multitude of internships they've already applied for, or learn about the casual $25-an-hour my friends in the Business School will be making, I can't help but feel a touch disheart- ened. Just last week one of my room- mates in the College of Engineering received a gift basket from a compa- ny before even accepting their offer. Were we ecstatic for her? Yes. Were we wondering where our presents werePOf course. At this point, I'm praying my LSA expertise will land me a job sort- ing paperclips or counting ballpoint pens somewhere on the East Coast. Rather melodramatic, I know, but I truly wish this whole process wasn't so damn cutthroat. I have friends who legitimately avoid B-Schoolers during recruitment so that they don't have to listen to the constant rant- ing and stressing which just adds to everyone's anxiety, fueling the manic nature of the hunt. The tears and sobs following a rejection letter, the excited Face- book status following an offer - I've witnessed both. Hell, I've even received those much-dreaded rejection letters myself and man- aged to survive. I think at times we become so wrapped up in this hunt that we fail to recognize that regardless of what happens, we'll be alright. In the grand scheme of things, landing the ideal summer internship may seem like the end- all be-all of our college careers, but there's so much more to it than that. 6 And it resembles something very close to The Hunger Games. 0 When one door closes for us, new ones open. We gain the opportunity to explore different interests, try something new and push ourselves out of our comfort zone. Maybe we didn't land that incredible intern- ship in the heart of New York City with a fabulous wage and bonus. But on the plus side, we did gain the opportunity to seize a new experi- ence and explore the boatload of other options out there. No one likes being rejected from anything whether it's an intern- ship, job or coveted leadership posi- tion. However, we need to step back for a moment and realize that the internship quest is not the earth- shattering situation we make it out to be. There will always be more opportunities that lie ahead, and, in the meantime, whoever said Ann Arbor isn't a classy place to spend the summer? - Sarah Skaluba can be reached at sskaluba@umich.edu.