4A - Thursday, April 11, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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MELANIE KRUVELIS
and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR
ANDREW WEINER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
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.
Don't block the vote
Legislation limiting the college vote is misguided
This week, Republican lawmakers from North Carolina
threatened college students' right to vote with the intro-
duction of Senate Bill 667. The bill, which was introduced
by State Rep. Bill Cook, targets the parents of college students by
imposing a tax increase on the families of students who choose to
register to vote in the state where they attend school. If the bill pass-
es, college students who register in a district other than that of their
parents can't be claimed as dependent for state income tax purpos-
es. While state income-tax fraud may need an overhaul, restricting
college students' access to voting is the wrong route to take.
I've got to tell you, candidly, I don't
consider criminal background
checks gun control."
- Senator Patrick J. Toomey (R-Penn.) said in response to the Senate's passage of
a bill that expands background checks on gun buyers on Wednesday.
Treatyourself
Also known as "Equalize voter Rights," this
bill attempts to bypass Symm v. United States,
the Supreme court decision that ruled states
cannot place unique burdens on college stu-
dents' access to the polls. In addition to requir-
ing that students register under their parents
address, the bill would also require they have
their vehicles registered at the same address
as their voter registration. Along with parents
takinga financial hit, perhaps more important-
ly, students' political efficacy would be dimin-
ished. Though tax fraud and evasion are serious
issues, restricting voting rights is neither ethi-
cal nor practical. As seen in the last decade of
elections, the voting system is already flawed.
Forcing students to send an absentee ballot or
returnto their parent's hometown further com-
plicates the process.
The bill defines a college student who reg-
isters at a separate address -who may still be
financially dependent on their parents - as
an independent. While not explicitly stated,
this would be an attempt to ensure that non-
permanent residents cannot unfairly influ-
ence the lawmaking in cities other than their
hometown. But with many students living on
campus for four or more years, it's clear that
students do have a stake in their college com-
munity. Even if college students are finan-
cially dependent, they still contribute to the
city where they attend school, and shouldn't
be denied influence in their current home.
For instance, students at the University could
be impacted by the proposed expansion of the
Ann Arbor Public Library - a ballot proposal
rejected in November's election.
This attempt of Republican lawmakers to
rectify fraudulent tax exemptions reflects a
larger trend of stifling certain group's voting
abilities to advance their own political agen-
da. Accordingto Think Progress, Indiana Rep.
Peggy Mayfield filed a bill that would prohibit
college students who pay out-of-state tuition
from voting in the state at all. This attack on
access to the ballot box is unfortunately more
than an isolated incident: according to Pro-
Publica, in 2012, more than 30 states enacted
voter ID laws that have disproportionately
impacted young minority voters.
The unconstitutional lengths to depress
the college vote are flawed, to say the least.
Fixing tax fraud issues can be done without
disenfranchising college voters, and taking
this path suggests legislators were motivated
by political gains, not a true desire for over-
hauling the system.
So, here it is - the almost
obligatory end of the semes-
ter, keep-your-chin-up
public service
announcement.
At this point,
we college stu-
dents are liv-
ing through an
archetypal story.
We're cranking
out papers on EMILY
Foucault and PITTINOS
geothermal heat-
ing systems like
those factory machines that can spit
out a thousand naked Twix bars in a
minute. Possible exam questions are
nagging us like clots of mosquitoes
buzzing just out ofswatting range.
Semester-long projects we've so far
only half-assed have animorphed
into pet chimpanzees turned feral
from neglect, and they're coming in
fast to maul our faces.
Meanwhile, the championship
has gone up in smoke with a pile
of extinguished couches, and cold
fronts of exam stress are meeting
warm fronts of imminent summer
departure to induce deluges of
romantic drama.
Basically, we feel screwed like ...
well ... a screw. But, enough simi-
les and metaphors; let's get to the
hearty dark meat of this message.
I find that in overwhelming times
like these, when responsibility
pressures me to make drastic and
uncharacteristic decisions - like
putting off the season premiere of
Mad Men in order to write a School
of Art & Design paper on how drop
spindles act as tools for meditation
and community building - I have to
do all Ican to remember myself.
In other words, it's actually easy
to cower in a sarcophagus of stress.
If I think, I'm powerless to the larger
forces of duty and expectation, then
spending my evenings in a rotation
between perusing Etsy shops, staring
at a blank Word document and pick-
ing at my cuticles becomes a pattern
that seems somehow necessary to
the process of polishing off winter
term. But in actuality I get nothing
done and end up feeling worse about
myself with each wasted hour.
My first mistake in this situation is
trading my binoculars in for a micro-
scope. I become so hyper-focused on
the immediate future and its associ-
ated stress that I paralyze my brain
and creative energies. I forget that
the tasks Ihave to complete are actu-
ally infinitesimallytiny steps toward
a greater and unknown future, and
it's not hard to lose sight of who Iam
outside of all this pressure.
Of course, I know that reducing
myself to a rubber-band ball of self-
doubt and aggravation isn't good
for anyone. It can make me lash out
at my housemates for little things,
like leaving bacon grease at the bot-
tom of our frying pan. It can keep
me from seeingthat my friends
are experiencing similar states of
mind and that my predicament is no
worse than theirs. Most of all, it's
unhealthy and unproductive. But
how do I shake the cycle?
Well, I've made a pact with myself
to screw the system and choose my
mental health above all else.
I know. It sounds too simple, yet
borders on blasphemous.
Let me explain.
By now, I've known myself for 20
years. I'm familiar with my limita-
tions. I know that when I get that
white-hot feeling of anxiety in my
chest or my lungs feel cramped
and airless after too much time in
the bowels of Hatcher Graduate
Library, it's time to back off. I've
learned that strategic procrastina-
tion can actually be an asset. Setting
aside a week's worth of evenings
to write a term paper can result in
heaps of wasted time that would've
been better spent blowing off steam
at the Blind Pig or going out for
Bibimbap with my friends.
It all comes down to trust. When I
look at my track record, I've rarely let
myself down. If there's an important
task to complete, I'll get it done, even
if that means concluding an essay
only minutes before class or stay-
ingup all night to sand a sculpture
for critique the next morning. And I
know Ican do this without sacrific-
ing the activities that keep me buoy-
ant, like napping, gossiping, giggling,
dancing, weaving, writing, whatever.
My biggest
mistake is trading
my binoculars for
a microscope.
Sure, this tactic may not be for
everyone. Maybe you're one of
those people who get a kick out
of squinting at organic chemistry
slides until your brain feels like
a bloated peanut. That's fine; you
do you.
But, if you're feeling like Sisy-
phus and are searching for relief, I
recommend taking a step back. Do a
naked lap around your house. Take
a make out break in the Stacks. Eat
an unholy amount of sushi. Treat
yourself. This is only a few weeks
in the scheme of your entire life,
and if happiness isn't making itself
readily available to you then you
have to create your own oasis.
- Emily Pittinos can be reached
at pittinos@umich.edu.
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
JILL MAILING I
When privilege blinds us
Activate the qulet generation
Dear Suzy Lee Weiss,
When I initially read your op-ed in The
Wall Street Journal and watched your sub-
sequent appearance on the Today Show, I
was disgusted. Your sense of entitlement and
privilege was outrageous. However, it didn't
take long for me to realize that I couldn't hold
it against you. Four years ago, I was you.
You and 17-year-old me have a lot in com-
mon. We both come from white, upper-mid-
dle-class families. According to Wikipedia,
the racial demographics of our respective
high schools are quite similar. We're both
hard-working students, boasting high GPAs,
admirable test scores and a palatable smor-
gasbord of extracurricular activities. We're
both formidable writers. And we both poured
our hearts into our college applications.
We also both got rejected from name-
brand colleges. For you, it was Yale, Princ-
eton and University of Pennsylvania. For me,
it was Harvard and Cornell.
I remember feeling frustrated. I did every-
thing right. I worked tirelessly for perfect
grades, barely slept due to my packed sched-
ule of extracurricular activities and fulfilled
the appropriate amount of community ser-
vice and leadership opportunities to round
out my resume and essays. What more could
those schools possibly want?
Like you, I was riddled with unearned
privilege and completely unaware of it.
I was accepted to other schools that appealed
to me, including the University of Michigan.
After a few months of deliberation and a cam-
pus visit, I eventually decided to attend college
here. I have a million reasons to be thankful
for the fact that I chose the University; reading
your article gives me yet another.
I'm thankful that my University educa-
tion has made me aware. I now know how
my words and actions impact others beyond
the obvious; it made me aware of how aspects
of my identity beyond my control - my skin
color, my gender - are active forces in sys-
tems of power and oppression. It made me
aware of others' experiences, many of which
I couldn't previously even fathom. My Uni-
versity education made me smarter, more
articulate, more compassionate and more
understanding, but I'm most proud of the fact
it made me a better human being.
While I'd love to credit the University
as the only school capable of such a trans-
formation, it's likely not true. Not everyone
who graduates from here leaves with social
awareness, and plenty of other universities
(and experiences outside college) instill it as
well. Nonetheless, I'm grateful that I chose a
school that turned my world upside down in
the way I most needed it.
I hope you choose to attend the University,
and I hope it'll change you like it changed me.
I hope you participate in Intergroup Relations,
where you might get the chance to dialogue
with someone who's a lesbian, has two moms
or wears a hijab, and learn to respect that the
unique life challenges he or she experiences
are just that and didn't fodder for their college
application. I hope you take the community-
based classes I did, like the one where I taught
an inner-city seven-year-old to sound out the
word "the." She'll be fortunate if she graduates
high school, let alone gains acceptance to an Ivy
League school. I hope you'll read the research
I did about drug abuse and violence in low-
income communities, about unending racial
and cultural stereotyping, and most of all, about
the enormous chasm in bducational opportuni-
ties afforded to students from backgrounds like
you and me versus students living in poverty all
around our country and the world.
I hope that you'll feel as disheartened by
these realities as I did. Then, I hope you'll
feel as empowered to quit whining and do
something.
Jill Mailing is an University alum.
Ann Arbor is a city that's con-
sidered to be fairly activist-
oriented, yet at times the
lack of awareness
surprises me. It's
not thatwe don't
have causes we're
passionate about,
but the stress of
goingthrough
college, getting
into graduate HARSHA
school or finding NAHATA
a job makes it dif-
ficult to focus on
much else. We defer activism to the
social-justice organizations, or the
human-rights clubs or the Communi-
ty Action and Social Change minors.
We leave it up to those who are on
the career path of "activism."
In a 2007 New York Times col-
umn, Thomas Friedman coined us
Generation "Q" - Q for quiet. He
wrote, "I can report that the more
I am around this generation of col-
lege students, the more I am both
baffled and impressed ... I am baf-
fled because they are so much less
radical and politically engaged than
they need to be."
He's right. While it may be inevi-
table for us to be cautious, it's not
sustainable. Whether it's climate
change, the national debt or some-
thing as local as homelessness in Ann
Arbor, we're facing many serious
issues and apathy isn't an option.
This column has been a longtime
coming. I just needed the right cata-
lyst. That catalyst came April 6 at the
Midwest Asian American Student
Union conference.
StudioAPA founders Steve Nguyen
and Choz Belen put on a workshop
screeningtheir documentary, Hiba-
kusha - a film tellingthe story of
Kaz, one of the survivors of Hiro-
shima. That documentary has stuck
with me ever since.
Now in her 80s, Kaz was 18 years
old when the bombing took place.
Through the medium of animation,
we hear the story of her experience.
It's devastatingto see how one event
can destroy an entire city. The film's
closing was perhaps the most pow-
erful scene. Years after the attacks
on Hiroshima, Kaz is invited to be a
guest on Channel Four news. She's
on air alongside one of the pilots
that dropped a bomb - juxtaposing
two drastically opposite sides of this
debate. The pilot is asked if he would
go back and do anything differently.
The answer: No - militarily, this was
needed to end the war, and to "save
more lives in the long run."
In every issue, for every cause,
there's the politically strategic aspect
and the human aspect. When politi-
cians, the media or pundits discuss
an issue, most often the latter is the
least of their priorities. In all the
rhetoric, it's the voices of the weak
and disempowered that get lost first.
It's a luxury for us tobe removed
enough from a situation to debate the
pros and cons of dropping an atomic
bomb. Ask someone who lived it,
whose life was forever transformed.
And yet, they're the ones we've rarely
heard from. Activism is a way to give
these voices a platform to spread
awareness about the angles of a
debate that aren't heard.
Activism is misunderstood as
just for those directly affected by
an issue. Policy caters to public
opinion. It's not enough for one
person to raise their voice - we all
need to. A quote from Elie Wiesel
comes to mind: "Neutrality helps the
oppressor, never the victim. Silence
encourages the tormentor, never the
tormented."
Standing by and letting injustices
occur is as bad as committing injus-
tice yourself. Whether it's as big
as overseas attacks or as small as a
discriminatory comment, there's no
such thing as an innocent bystander.
I was able to sit down and talk
with Nguyen. His hope was for
people to learn from Kaz's story.
He said, "If there's anything I've
learned through this production,
it's that history generally tends
to repeat itself. If we can take
something from the lessons from
the past, we should utilize what
we've learned in a positive way and
continue to spread the awareness
to others that aren't familiar with
what's going on."
It's common to hear the term
social justice and get intimidated.
But social justice is just another way
of saying you care about something
bigger than yourself. It's a way of
making an impact in your commu-
nity and doing more than just what's
expected. Becoming aware doesn't
mean having to change the whole
world. It's as simple as takingsmall
steps to change your world - raising
awareness among your friends, orga-
nizations and community. It' even
just reading the news.
We leave change I
up to those on
the activism
career path.
I'll close with a quote by Dante
Alighieri: "The hottestplaces in hell
are reserved for those who, intimes
of great moral crisis, maintain their
neutrality."
We're living in a time of not one,
but many, great moral crises. From
drone strikes overseas to economic
inequality at home, there are count-
less injustices demanding our atten-
tion. Neutrality is the safe option,
but keeping quiet doesn't bring about
change. So step out of your comfort
zone and find that cause that makes
your blood boil. Think about what
you want your community to look
like and embodythat change.
-Harsha Nahata can be reached
at hnahata@umich.edu.
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