Page 4A - Thursday, December 4, 2014, The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Page 4A - Thursday, December 4, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom IT h ffl~tpan DAM[ Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MEGAN MCDONALD PETER SHAHIN and DANIEL WANG KATIE BURKE EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR 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. The stuffing story H appy belated Thanksgiving. glucose (the main building block of dietary car- Question: did you ever wonder what bohydrates) levels in the blood are through the stuffing actually is? Well, not only roof. Insulin then inserts glucose channels into what it is, but also how it got the cells, which act like microscopic vacuum there? And what happens as cleaners and suck up glucose from the blood. you consume it? And what it Glucose, when inside the cell, is either stored does after you eat it? or used to produce energy. Since we've been Let me tell you a smidge sitting on our butts for the past three hours of the story of the most watching the Lions win their Turkey Day game, neglected ingredient of your our cells store the glucose by converting it to Thanksgiving feast. Oh, and glycogen. This glycogen, in excess, is further I'll apologize in advance for transformed into triglyceride (a form of fat), making you feel even more which is stored in adipose tissue. Adipose guilty than you probably ELI tissue, in turn, is what belly fat and love handles already do for so enthusias- C AN are made of. tically commemorating the As an aside here: gluten, the archnemesis of most fabulously gluttonous yogis, juicers, soccer moms and hypochondriac holiday on the calendar. dads everywhere, is actually a protein, and Prologue doesn't contribute significantly to your adipose Let's start from the beginning. The primary tissue load (read: polar bear syndrome).Michael ingredient in stuffing is generally bleached Specter of The New Yorker wrote a brilliant white bread. Bleached white bread flour comes piece on this. The punch line? Gluten (to most) from a combination of wheat, yeast, supple- is as dangerous as monosodium glutamate, mental gluten, enzymes and chemical additives better known as MSG, or in other words, (typically preservatives). Some of the white not at all. The real enemies are the copiously wheat that constitutes the flour is produced by added sugars, salts and preservatives in mass- the $12.5-billion U.S. wheat industry. The mas- produced bread. sive mono-cultured (onlywheat) fieldsrequired Epilogue to fill international demand are quickly deplet- So now that we've sufficiently harmed the ing soil nutrients. Wheat, thus, like other com- environment and plumped ourselves, what's mon non-legume field crops, requires fertilizer next? Well, from a population health stand- to nurture growth in nutrient-poor soils. point, obesity is the obvious chronic concern Excessive use of fertilizers has been a nota- associated with excess consumption. Some 35 ble ecological issue, particularly due to what percent of U.S. adults are obese and 17 percent is called runoff. Runoff relates to the flow of U.S. children are obese. A seminal 2009 of fertilizers into irrigative bodies of water, paper showed that medical costs per obese which subsequently leads to unregulated algal person are about $1,500 per year higher than growth. These algae, which under normal con- those of a healthy individual, with total excess ditions are constrained by a lack of nutrients, costs in the United States derived from obesity proliferate when fed by fertilizers. While living, close to $150 billion. These costs are due to a some algae produce toxins; upon dying, these vast variety of co-morbidities - or symptoms algae remove oxygen from the water, lead- associated with obesity - ranging in severity ing to hypoxic conditions ominously deemed from high blood pressure to heart disease. As "dead zones." Fishand other oxygen-dependent for our stuffing story, correlations between aquatic species cannot survive under these refined, mass-produced -white bread and the conditions, and die off rapidly. Since the Mis- development of obesity pervade the medical sissippi River runs through some of the largest literature. The End. wheat-producing states in the country down to At least I apologized in advance, right? But the Gulf of Mexico, it is literally the case that on a serious note: these are important issues to to some degree, the Wonder Bread produced be aware of, and they reach far beyond stuff- in Kansas is killing fish in Mexico. It's possible ing. At the same time, the sky is NOT falling, there was Wonder Bread in your stuffing. yet. The moral of the story is not to swear off Anyways, for the sake of brevity let's mediocre-tasting slop. Rather, I just hope to ignore all the other inputs (converting, show that it is the obligation of each of us to be mixing, packaging, transporting, storing and educated on even the seemingly most mundane so on) that got the mushy brown glob onto things that we come in contact with every day. our plates. Oh, and also that science can be interesting. Inner Pages In any case, the holiday season is a time for Now to think about how the stuffing story food, stories and resolutions for a new year. develops when we come in touch with it. So, Now you know one more story. How will you down the hatch goes the stuffing. Undoubtedly, change next year? since we've already eaten a full meal's worth of cheese and crackers, our bodies release the - Eli Cahan can be reached at "full" signal: insulin. Insulin tells our cells that emcahan@umich.edu. FOLLOW THE DAILY ON TWITTER Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michigandaily to get updates on Daily content throughout the day. EMILY PAIK White people love me Accessibility in snow As a dusting of crystalline flakes morphs into anoth- er potential polar vortex, students will likely experience a myriad of emo- tions. My initial wonderment, for example, often dissipates into a slight annoy- ance and eventu- ally transforms into a panicky concern to main- tain my balance AH USA while dashing SCHOLKE across campus. The University's student body will soon be reintro- duced to ever-too-familiar winter perils as they walk to class. Lay- ers of ice will glaze sidewalks as we trudge through snow piles, and bitter winds will strike faces await- ing the arrival of delayed buses. Rather than endure the seasonal hazards, some students will choose encampment in the warm safety of dorms. For others, indoor con- finement might seem like the only viable option. While winter poses safety risks to the student community, seasonal hazards illustrate an issue on campus. Wintertime proves a hindrance for able-bodied students, but for students with mobility impairments, the external conditions greatly diminish accessibility and aggravate existing issues. Able-bodied students and faculty - as they go through their routines - unintentionally overlook challenges students with physical disabilities encounter daily. We often move effortlessly through our personal spheres and never consider the tremendous capability of our limbs to do so. Rather, we automatically acceptthis particular physical status as "normal." After a few minutes, a bus - which able-bodied individuals enter with ease - will come whisk them out of the cold. Students can strategically plan a walking route to minimize exposure to frigid temperatures by seeking out the nearest entrances, utilizing stair- wells and elevators and traversing across corridors. -If students still feel frozen, they can warm up with food from a dining hall. In certain areas of campus, these options aren't necessarily available to stu- dents with mobility impairments. Hindrances to mobility may be a seasonal affliction for able-bodied students, but for students with physical disabilities, they're life- long concerns. Numerous buildings currently pose challenges to students. According to Public Policy senior Ryan Bartholomew, chair of the Campus Accessibility and Disability Affairs Commission, "a lot of the buildings, even if they are accessible, sometimes are hard for people to access." The commission works to address complaints and concerns about mobility on campus. Even recently updated dormitories, such as East Quad Residence Hall, pose problems to a segment of the student body. The handicapped- accessible door at East Quad is located far away from the building's main entrance, and the door is locked throughout the day, which prevents students from entering the building for class or for a meal unless they live there. Although I previously lived on North Campus, I was surprised to learn of the multiple difficul- ties mobility-impaired students encounter there. Parents and hun- gry students are supposed to be reassured by the promise of con- venient, healthy meals at the Uni- versity's various dining halls. Yet, Bursley Residence Hall lacks an elevator or any means that would allow its dining hall to be accessible to students with physical disabili- ties. Likewise, the Duderstadt Cen- ter doesn't possess a "continuous elevator" to the facility's third floor, which hinders students who need to access resources at the Dude or to simply meet with a study group. However, the most striking example of inefficiency is located at the Bob & Betty Beyster Building. Although the BBB possesses a fully functional elevator, it currently doesn't operate after 8 p.m. - ford- ing mobility-impaired students fin- ishing a late evening of studying to walk outside to a parking lot at the top of the hill to await Paratransit's arrival. During a video shoot to raise awareness about inaccessibil- ity, I accompanied a student as he ascended the steep slope. The side- walk nearly encircles the building - as well as a surrounding cluster of trees - and the route is signifi- cantly longer than the distance one would take up the stairwell within the BBB. This extended exposure to the elements has drastic effects. As Bartholomew noted, "People with mobility impairments are not mov- ing their body as much as someone who is able-bodied ... so when they get cold, they typically stay cold for a long period of time." Working in cooperation with University Housing and other Uni- versity departments, the Campus Affairs and Disability Commis- sion implemented measures such as snow removal procedures and protocols for removing bikes from ramps. The University has respond- ed to requests and complaints in the past, but many issues persist. The University's resources for stu- dents with mobility impairments areeither non-existent, difficult to find, inefficient or unnecessarily distant. Mobility status is a social identity that far too often escapes consideration in our minds. Form- ing a diverse community requires acknowledging the need for a wide variety of resources for all students in order to aid them in achieving an education and personal growth. While the University must ensure resources for all students are consis- tently accessible and accommodat- ing, we, as students, should work to raise personal awareness and reform our perceptions of a truly diverse student body. - Melissa Scholke can be reached at melikaye@umich.edu. 0 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Edvinas Berzansk s, Devin Eggert, David Harris, Rachel John, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Michael Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe VAMIKA BAJA I Econ Have you ever thought about how your education might be shaping the way you see your life? I had never acknowledged that my studying of economics might be influencing, and perhaps even limiting the way I think ... until Nov. 14. Itwas acloudySaturdaymorning. I was tired, it was freezing cold, and I was bikingto the UGLi. I only had five minutes to make it to my Econ meeting. That's when I realized, in just a few weeks it would be too cold to bike and I would have to walk everywhere. What a bloody waste of time ... But that thought required me to pause and think. What exactly makes something a waste of time? To me, walking or sitting in a car is a waste of time, but writing my paper is not. Watching the snow fall is a waste of time, but making it to lecture half-awake is not. Just like in economics where a country's GDP is defined in terms of its output of goods and services, I have begun to define my life in terms of value added. A successful omics of happiness day is a productive day. Where there is no tangible output, I've wasted my time. But I ask the economists, what about the cumulative happiness of the people? Is that not a measure of a country's success? And I ask myself, what about those great conversations I've had in those long car rides or people I've met waiting in line. Are those moments not worthwhile? Where economists go wrong is that they attempt to quantitatively model that which cannot even be measured. The entire subject lies on the outrageous assumption that human beings are rational. But what kind of assumption is that? We do the right things at the wrong time, we say the wrongthings to the right people. We make war, we fall in love. We are crazy, impulsive and irrational creatures, yet that's what makes us human. And where we go wrong (or at least I do) is when we attempt to quantitatively define ourselves. As students, ahuge amount of our daily lives revolves around academics. And once you're an upperclassman, that pressure is only exacerbated by the stress associated with recruitment. Suddenly our grades, our GPA or the job we've lined up begin to define who we are. We can't deny that as students, our lives are disproportionally influenced by academic pressure. There are days when we are happy and excited. There are days when we are simply overwhelmed and distressed. Regardless of our mental, physical or emotional state, what is expected of us does not change. Sometimes we need to step out of that stress bubble and remind ourselves of what it is we truly value. Don't get me wrong; I'm still just as passionate of an economics student. But sometimes, we all need to turn off autopilot and see where we're actually flying. So next time I ask you about yourself, don't tell me what you study, tell me who you are. Vamika Baja is an LSAjunior. My friend Maya and I lock our bikes simultaneously on State Street, stationed at a pole in front of Espresso Royale. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a man standing and facing us a few feet away. After pushing mylock closed, I look up and make eye contact with him. It seems he was waiting for the prompt to profess: "White people love you." I perceive this middle-aged white man say it to me like it's scripture. Half of me is sure of the sentiment, the other half suspended in disbelief; maybe I've heard him wrong. "White people love me?" I ask, and as soon as the words are out of my mouth, my uncertainty dissipates. "White people love you," he repeats, looking me inthe eyes urgently. I feel my insides deflate as I take in his words. He walks away before I can shape a response, and Maya and I go into Espresso. She whispers, "That was so strange." If Maya hadn't been present, I probably would have shared this event with a spare few. I would have brushed it off while being aware I was brushing it off. I still took it lightly; it was a declaration about something of which I was already aware. White people, particularly white men, do love Asian women, for the simple fact that we are Asian women. No great revelations made. However, this interaction solidified knowledge: Not only do fetishization, sexualization, tokenization of Asian women exist, but this man (onfirmed they're also as prevalent as I suspected. That he formulated this thought and felt it strongly enough to share it with me reveals how this is an established sentiment. His declaration makes me feel like a walking, talking opportunity for men, particularly white men (because unfortunately, the man on State Street spoke accurately), to ogle at, to freely superimpose images of sexualized East Asian women. It made me realize that this is why I avoid sexuality. This is why I try not to attract men by the way I dress, the way I behave. This is why I question every romantic relationship I've had, wondering if they're seeing past the surface of my race. As a generation, we are realizing there are subconscious choices we make, tugging us in certain directions, guided by media and historical discriminations. However, I feel very little power to combat them. The majority of the people I have dated are straight white men. They are who is available, but also whom I deem attractive. I despise knowing that some, if not all, of this attraction is derived from constant images of white men as the leading protagonists in a majority of romantic narratives. I seethe, knowing how much I have tailored my behaviors to this consciousness. How much I attempt to dissuade sexualized, racialized attention. How much this defines my interactions. This symptom stays with me, measuringthe sincerity of every act in an exhausting stream of analysis. Michigan in Color is the Daily's opinion section designated as a space for and by students of color at the University of Michigan. To contribute your voice or find out more about MiC -mail michiganincolor@umich.edu. f When anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that's a problem" - President Barack Obama's statement in response to a New York grand jury's decision to not indict New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, a Staten Island, New York resident who died after he was put in a chokehold by Pantaleo during an arrest in July. 0 6