Opinion
JENNIFER CALFAS
EDITOR IN CHIEF
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and DEREK WOLFE
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4A — Monday, November 2, 2015
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Supporting a sanctuary campus
JOSE ALVARENGA AND LAMIN MANNEH | VIEWPOINT
I
was blessed with the chance to live the
typical overscheduled suburban kid
lifestyle. I say “blessed” because having
the means to keep busy by
over-scheduling my life
was an absolute privilege.
Every year, I begged my
mother to sign me up for a
new after-school activity,
never quitting the previ-
ous one. By sixth grade, I
committed each week to
nine hours of gymnastics
practices, four hours of
music lessons, two hours
of all-city choir and at least
an hour of drama practice.
I regularly ate dinner in a thermos, as some-
one’s parent in an elaborate three-way carpool
shuttled me to my next activity. I often fell
asleep doing homework and woke up early to
practice violin. I remember collapsing onto a
mat one night at gymnastics practice and ask-
ing my teammates if it was Friday yet. It was
Monday. I was 12.
In a recent New York Times piece, Bruce
Feiler explored where the
true costs of busy, over-
scheduled
childhoods
lie. According to Feiler’s
research, structure can be
good for children. It helps
them perfect new skills
and keeps them out of
trouble. The costs occur
when children feel pres-
sured to succeed at these
activities. Luckily for me,
my parents never pres-
sured me to aim higher
with my activities. If anything, in high school
they frequently asked me if I would like to quit
certain obligations so that I could get more than
four hours of sleep per night.
The pressure I felt came from my peers rath-
er than my parents. Seeing everyone around me
overbook themselves and do well in everything
influenced me to keep going, even though I was
starting to lose enjoyment and burn out doing
my favorite activities.
As I entered college, I felt pressured to be
busy doing less of what I loved and more of
what I thought might look impressive on future
applications. Initially I signed up for uninter-
esting academic clubs and tedious classes, hop-
ing their prestige might set me apart from the
crowd. Since I cared so little for these obliga-
tions, I quickly became overwhelmed and had
no sense of fulfillment to push me through the
toughest days.
Being busy became more manageable when I
started pursuing things I actually enjoyed. This
year I’m the busiest I have ever been in col-
lege, but I’m also the happiest. No matter how
little sleep I get, each morning I jump out of bed
because there are so many exciting things to do
throughout my day. I get to write, sing, teach,
work, study and interact with amazing people
along the way. Because I practiced being busy
as a child, I finally know how to manage my
time and prioritize my most important respon-
sibilities. Friends tell me that I exude a sense of
joy and optimism that I never did before.
On the rare occasions when I still feel
stressed out and overwhelmed, I try my best
not to complain about how busy I am. For one
thing, I would choose being busy over idleness
any day. Last year, I had the rare experience
of accidentally under-scheduling my life. A
research opportunity fell through and classes
turned out to be easier than expected, so I had
several extra hours of empty time in my week
that I hadn’t anticipated. Rather than using this
time to study more or find a new hobby, I spent
most of it sleeping and watching TV.
While those who oppose a busy lifestyle
might applaud me for indulging in some valu-
able “me time,” I felt completely empty. Per-
haps my structured childhood influenced me
to unhealthily crave it, but I truly felt that by
sitting around doing nothing I was wasting my
chance to explore all of the opportunities that
the University offers.
Another reason I avoid
complaining about being
busy is because I don’t
want to promote a sense
of
competition
among
my peers. As Tim Kre-
ider wrote in a New York
Times opinion piece, pro-
claiming our busyness is
often a “boast disguised
as a complaint” because
it lets others know that
we’re going above and
beyond to achieve our goals. Kreider then goes
on to speak about larger themes surrounding
the importance of idleness.
Though some University students are busy
working full-time jobs out of financial neces-
sity, others choose being busy as a way to set
themselves apart from the crowd. By discuss-
ing how busy our impressive-sounding respon-
sibilities leave us, we inadvertently make others
feel inadequate or guilty for choosing a more
relaxed schedule.
I’m glad I grew up in a time when being busy
was encouraged. This culture has allowed me
to push myself past the limits of what I thought
was possible to achieve in a single day, and it
has given me the chance to learn a multitude of
new skills. Even though our society can some-
times have an unhealthy, competitive obsession
regarding busyness, I know that as long as my
desire to fill my time is internally motivated
I will always have the drive to explore new
opportunities and carry out each of my respon-
sibilities with diligence and enthusiasm.
— Annie Humphrey can be
reached at annieah@umich.edu.
ANNIE
HUMPHREY
Happily over-scheduled
T
he Internet has become
littered
with
marketing
gimmicks. It’s bad enough
that
sidebar
banners clutter
the
periphery
of websites; just
when
you’ve
trained yourself
to ignore them,
native
adver-
tising
ensures
that you’ll find a
few promotions
embedded
in
your news arti-
cle as well that
often match the format of other
articles. But there’s a certain type
of junk that’s more common than
the rest — diet and weight-loss ads.
These ads pervade magazine
shelves
and
commercials,
too,
and there’s no surprise why: it’s
an extremely rewarding market.
About one in seven Americans have
used a non-prescription weight-
loss supplement at some point in
their lives. This statistic is less sur-
prising when you consider that 38
percent of individuals who make
New Years resolutions make losing
weight their first priority.
Besides that, anyone who has had
as much as a passing thought about
fitness has probably wondered
what simple trick could be “mak-
ing nutritionists furious.” And for
people who are serious about get-
ting fit (through whatever means),
this passing curiosity can quickly
become an intense obsession.
My fixation on being fit came to
me during my senior year of high
school. Having been out of shape
for a majority of my life, I decided
to finally make whatever changes
were necessary. With college just
around the corner, I was deter-
mined to reach my goals as quickly
and efficiently as possible.
I can’t count how many nights
I spent browsing not-so-reputable
sources online trying to turn my
fitness dreams into reality. Worse
yet, I would usually pick up a diet
or exercise routine for a few weeks,
only to replace it with another one
I thought to be more convincing. I
spent Halloween on the Atkins diet;
by Thanksgiving, I was no-carb.
I alternated between lifting and
jogging as my ideas about which
one would allow me to get fit more
quickly shifted.
All this was motivated by my
self-imposed time constraint. I
wanted to look as good as possible
going into college. And eventually,
stumbling through a host of diet
and exercise regimens actually paid
off. But at what cost?
I had paid
hundreds
of
dollars
for
supplements
I
thought
would
hasten
my
progress.
Countless
hours
were
wasted
“researching”
(read:
obsess-
ing) over what
routine
was
best. Worst of all, I didn’t really
learn anything. Which type of diet
was most effective? What exercise
is most important for losing weight?
The answers to these questions
were lost in my mess of a year.
Looking back, it seems the effi-
cacy of those fads stemmed from
the fact that they’re advertised to
be uniquely fast. Rarely do you see a
diet ad that doesn’t promise results
in a matter of weeks. As consumers,
we’re naturally inclined to desire
the product immediately. So how
can we make ourselves immune to
this damning temptation?
I think we need to change how
we view diets and nutrition at a
fundamental level. There’s a mis-
leading conception that the answer
to “how do I lose weight” is some-
thing to be discovered, on the
Internet or otherwise. But the third
word of that question is I, and your
experiences might differ dramati-
cally from someone else’s.
In truth, the “secret to losing
weight” is a knowledge that comes
from self-experimentation. We are
nothing more than complicated,
walking
biochemical
processes.
Try changing one variable at a time
and see how your body responds.
Does eating carbs before hitting the
gym help you lift more? Try it for a
few weeks and find out. Would 30
minutes of walking be sufficient to
burn off that
dessert you ate?
Do it and see
whether
the
effect on your
weight appears
or not, keeping
everything else
constant. When
it comes to our
own
bodies,
these personal
experiments
(when
done
correctly) can be more valuable
than even scientific literature on
the subject.
If I had been so structured with
my progress, I may have delayed my
goals by about a year. But the knowl-
edge I’d gain would have been well
worth the wait. Next time you come
across a fitness ad, see if its appeal
comes from your own eagerness or
impatience. Then exit out and know
that the alternate course will be far
more rewarding.
— Farid Alsabeh can be reached
at falsabeh@umich.edu.
Resisting the fads
In truth, the “secret
to losing weight” is
a knowledge that
comes from self-
experimentation.
FARID
ALSABEH
China’s one-child policy
TO THE DAILY:
China just announced that it’s ending its one-
child policy. This is a monumental moment for
me and many others who were directly affected
by the one-child policy. When I was 6 months
old, I was adopted from China and brought to
the United States. For many years, I resented
this policy. I blamed it for the lack of knowledge
of my origins and the people I had come from.
But today, I see the policy was a blessing in
disguise. For without it, I would not be able
to call the wonderful woman and man who
raised me Mom and Dad. I would not have my
beautiful little sister, who also was adopted
from China. The one-child policy gave me a
wonderful life, full of loving people and great
opportunities. But with its end, I am look-
ing forward to seeing China’s families grow
and prosper.
Sophie Sproul
Engineering Sophomore
Send letterS to: tothedaily@michigandaily.com
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
E-mail in Chan at tokg@umiCh.Edu
IN CHAN LEE
For the University to be the
diverse,
inclusive,
representa-
tive and great campus it claims to
be, it must stand with immigrant
communities by opening access to
education for immigrant students,
defending sanctuary cities and
declaring itself a sanctuary cam-
pus. The state of Michigan is a his-
toric place of refuge for immigrants
from all over the world, including
the world’s second-largest Arab
and Muslim population outside of
the Middle East (after Paris) and a
growing Latino community. Refu-
gee children from Central America
and more recently from war-torn
countries like Syria are already
residing in cities like Detroit, Grand
Rapids and Dearborn with more on
their way.
Immigration is the question of
the day everywhere in the world.
The globalized economy, free trade
measures, global warming and the
foreign policies of stronger pow-
ers exploiting poorer nations: these
factors have combined to create one
of the most massive relocations of
humanity across national borders
in all of world history. The United
Nations reported in June that cur-
rently, one in every 122 people are
refugees displaced by war, violence
and persecution, the highest num-
ber of refugees since World War II.
In 2015, 700,000 immigrants
are estimated to have arrived in
Europe by sea, and 3,138 refugees
are reported to have died this year
in the Mediterranean. Last year, at
least 68,541 unaccompanied children
crossed the southern border into the
United States from various Central
American countries — El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras — seeking
to escape the gang violence, death
squads and poverty. This worldwide
mass migration is ongoing, and is
profoundly
transforming
many
nations.
Yet as we become a majority-
minority nation, there hasn’t been
a corresponding increase in the
rights of racial and ethnic minori-
ties. However, there has been a
corresponding struggle and polar-
ization
over
immigrant
rights.
Under some of the most vicious
attacks against immigrants in the
United States, including a record
high of more than two million
deportations, the immigrant rights
movement — led by undocumented
youth with actions in the streets,
college campuses, detention centers
and Congress chambers — has won
important victories. These include
in-state tuition in more than 16
states, state-sponsored financial
aid like the California Dream Act,
work permits for some undocu-
mented youth with Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals and a work
permit for immigrant parents with
Deferred Action for Parents of
Americans and Lawful Permanent
Residents, which has been stalled
by a right-wing legal challenge.
The immigrant rights movement
increases in strength with each vic-
tory, over and against each attack.
The student movement at the
University has won recently impor-
tant victories for immigrant stu-
dents — in-state tuition and a small
scholarship pilot program that
allotted $450,000 for undocument-
ed undergraduate students for the
2014-2015 year. But the conditions
for undocumented immigrant and
international students are still far
from equal. The University must
increase the number of undocu-
mented students.
The University of California,
Berkeley has taken important steps
to open access and support for
undocumented students by creating
an undocumented student center to
provide financial aid, free legal aid
and cover the legal filing fees to apply
for DACA. Since the creation of the
program, the numbers of undocu-
mented students at UC Berkeley has
doubled. The University should fol-
low Berkeley’s example. The schol-
arship for undocumented students
must be increased, expanded to
include graduate students, and publi-
cized to prospective students. Over-
all, the University must guarantee
the continuation of the program.
Both educational access and the
safety of immigrant students must
be a priority for the University. This
means the University must publicly
declare itself a sanctuary campus for
immigrants. Currently, Ann Arbor
and Detroit are sanctuary cities,
meaning that local authorities aren’t
supposed to turn over undocument-
ed immigrants to U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement.
A recent proposal in the Michi-
gan Legislature is threatening these
sanctuary cities, forcing city offi-
cials to publicly defend the impor-
tance of these sanctuaries against
a dangerous precedent of open
anti-immigrant bigotry from gov-
ernment officials, institutions and
racists, most clearly expressed in
the xenophobic rhetoric of Repub-
lican presidential candidate Donald
Trump’s campaign. The scapegoat-
ing of immigrants in Europe and
the United States for the economic
and environmental crisis on the
part of politicians and national
leaders is already creating a dan-
gerous situation similar to that of
the 1930s, which led to World War
II and the Holocaust.
These recent attacks necessitate
the leadership of public figures and
institutions like the University to
defend the rights of immigrants in
this country and prevent the anti-
immigrant bigotry on campus from
becoming a real physical threat to
immigrant students and commu-
nity members.
Central
Student
Government
will be considering a resolution to
support making the University a
sanctuary campus this Tuesday.
We encourage immigrant rights
supporters to join us in support of
the resolution.
Jose Alvarenga is an organizer
with By Any Means Necessary. Lamin
Manneh is a Rackham student and
a Rackham representative on CSG.
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Letters should be fewer than 300 words, while viewpoints should be 550-850 words.
Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
Being busy became
more manageable
when I started
pursuing things I
actually enjoyed.