With thousands of classes in the LSA course guide alone, picking
out a fulfilling class schedule can be daunting. Here are a few
classes you may not have considered taking, re-approved by the
Michigan Daily sounding board.
2B
Magazine Editor:
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Deputy Editor:
Natalie Gadbois
Design Editor:
Jake Wellins
Photo Editor:
Luna Anna Archey
Illustrator:
Megan Mulholland
Maggie Miller
Managing Editor:
Lev Facher
Editor in Chief:
Jennifer Calfas
Copy Editors:
Hannah Bates
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Emma Sutherland
THE statement
THE LIST
PSYCH 488 - “Sexual Deviance”
The class is as intriguing as the name, clinically examining
behaviors usually considered perverse. Kinky...
AMCULT 209 - “History of American
Popular Music”
One of the most popular classes at the University, Bruce
Conforth’s class is enjoyable and engaging.
ENGLISH 425 - “Immersive Writing:
Truth, Fact, and Art”
Jeremiah Chamberlin’s class is a favorite at the Daily,
combining immersive writing with reflective class dialogue.
BUZZFEED, BUT BETTER
YOUR SCHEDULE, FALL 2015
WOMENSTD 270 - “Gender and the Law”
Dive deep into the societal implications of gender-based
laws, from slavery to voting rights to equal pay.
PSYCH 122 - “Intergroup Dialogues”
These student-led dialogues foster conversations about a
multitude of identities from sexual orientation to race.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2015 // The Statement
I
t’s easy to spot students
from the University at any
airport. Our flights to dif-
ferent locations awaken a need to
let everyone know where exactly
we go to school and where we
belong.
So there I was, on the Wednes-
day evening of Spring Break,
camped out at gate 42B tugging at
my University sweatshirt, which
students are wont to do, and grip-
ping my passport so tightly that
my nails were beginning to make
indents into the scratchy black
cover.
The flight to India had been
booked that day: my great-grand-
mother was sick. Really sick. I’ll
spare you the details, but it had
reached the point where if I didn’t
see her soon, I might never see her
again.
Listen, she is 92. Her passing,
should it occur, wouldn’t be trag-
ic. The woman had lived through
colonialism, a world war and
three generations of her family —
she’d seen more things and lived
more life than anyone I’ve yet to
know.
The problem — really, the rea-
son for my constant foot tapping
and overall discomfort — was that
this was my first time flying to
India in four years and it would be
my shortest trip yet.
Two days of flying to stay for
three days, I remember thinking
on both the flights there and back.
I would be spending 40 percent
of the rest of my Spring Break
30,000 feet above the ground —
both nowhere and everywhere.
The
last time
I
was
there
I
hated
it. I was
young
and
bored
and
igno-
rant,
unwill-
ing
to
under-
stand
why
things
and
people
were so
different and extremely stubborn
about changing my perspective
on the issue. As far as I was con-
cerned, I didn’t fit in there, which
was ironic, really, considering I
was born in India.
I’d been making excuses for
years to make sure I wouldn’t go
back: “I have summer school.”
“I can’t take time off of work.” “I
have to make sure I’m ready for
college.” But this trip was differ-
ent, mainly because I was differ-
ent.
I’m in a perpetual limbo, and
the
spontaneity
of my trip back
to India came at
exactly the right
time. A large chunk
of my life right now
is unplanned. I have
no major, no dead-
set career plan, no
clue what I’ll be
doing
tomorrow,
today, or even five
minutes from now.
Many
people
have a tunnel vision
on where they want
to go and what they
want to do, but … I
have nothing.
While I didn’t have any sort
of bullshit spiritual awakening
Hollywood movies will try to
convince you you’ll have when
you travel to a new country, I
thought more about the conjunc-
tion between identification and
options.
Stephen Hawking has stated
time and time again, in basically
every interview I’ve watched, that
there exists the concept of an infi-
nite number of parallel universes.
There exists a universe where I
know what I want, what my major
would be, and where my life would
be headed.
On the Friday of Spring Break,
I remember driving through a
roadway near a college district. I
was looking out the car window
at packs of girls huddled around
flower stalls and sitting in coffee
shops and I wondered if I would
be the same person I am right now
if my parents had decided to stay
in India.
I’d see a group of college girls
headed home, walking home and
joking with each other, and get
nostalgic about a life I’ve never
led.
Would I still prefer strawber-
ries sliced over my cereal? Would
my caffeine dependency still
exist? Would I still love writing as
much as I do right now?
Would I have the same doubts
and fears I do now?
I’d like to think that only frag-
ments of my personality would be
different and that I, at my core,
would remain the same no matter
what country I grew up in. Maybe
I would still be as lost and inse-
cure as I am right now.
Or maybe I’d have it all figured
out.
My Cultural Currency: Upon Arrival
B Y TA N YA M A D H A N I
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MEGAN MULHOLLAND
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4
COVER BY LUNA ANNA ARCHEY
READ ONLINE: GENETIC RESEARCH
Scientists at the forefront
of biomedical research have
requested a moratorium on the
use of a contentious genetic
technology to allow time for greater
public discourse on its ethical
considerations.
More of the story at michigandaily.com