T
he end of the semester
is a hectic time. If
there’s
anything
indicative of this, it’s the fact
that I’m writing this
column in the notes
app on my phone as
I walk to my next
class.
Whether
April
is
plagued
with exams, papers,
projects, internship
searches
or
good
old-fashioned
showers,
this
month is incredibly
stressful. I myself
have been struggling
with balancing my finals and
pre-final exams — don’t ask
— so I asked myself what I
would want to read if I were
procrastinating
studying,
on the verge of tears or
both. I decided I wanted to
read something interesting,
unrelated
to
school
and
something happy or funny.
So, in this column, I’ll be
discussing some good news.
Researchers
from
the
University of California at
Berkeley have discovered the
mystery as to why shoelaces
come untied. Apparently “the
force of your foot striking
the ground and the motion
of your leg combine to help
loosen and ultimately untie
the knot,” colloquially known
as “walking,” unties shoes.
Even more insightful, the
orientation of the bow itself
is important — horizontal and
even bows are better than
uneven bows. I personally
never learned how to tie my
own shoes correctly, so I’m
using this incredibly scientific
information to aid me in
my quest to loop the bunny
around the tree.
In
the
age
of
internet
phenomena,
wholesome
content can be hard to find.
Fear not! If you have access to
the internet, it’s likely you’ve
heard of April the giraffe and
her drawn-out, livestreamed
pregnancy.
Though
some
questioned the morality of
livestreaming a giraffe’s birth,
hundreds of thousands were
fascinated, and a few delved
into the ethics of animal
privacy. Day after day, people
waited impatiently in front
of their computers to watch a
giraffe give birth live on the
internet. Well, the wait is over.
After an absurdly
long period of time,
April
gave
birth
to an infant male
giraffe on April 15
at
approximately
9:55 a.m.
I’m not a huge
sports
fan,
but
I
do
like
social
justice. If you like
either
of
these
things you might
be pleased to hear
that
the
commissioner
of
Major
League
Baseball,
Rob Manfred, has recently
expressed sentiments for the
Cleveland Indians to move
away from its team logo. The
current logo, which features
a stereotypical depiction of
what is meant to be a Native
American, has been the subject
of significant controversy. The
Cleveland team ironically calls
Progressive Field its home, so
perhaps its field’s name will
inspire it to distance itself
from the logo.
Feeling hopeless about the
political scene? Feeling sad
that no one is offering you an
unpaid
political
internship
in Washington, D.C.? Fond of
astronomy? If you answered
yes to any of the previous
questions,
you’re
in
luck!
Scientists at NASA are saying
that Jupiter’s moon Europa or
Saturn’s moon Enceladus may
be our best bets for nearby
habitable locations. Enceladus
in particular has potential, as
signs are suggesting that the
key ingredients necessary for
inhabitation might be found
there. The recent discovery of
hydrogen inside Enceladus has
caused much excitement within
the scientific community, and
there’s nothing purer than
joyous scientists.
The Huffington Post has
a
section
of
their
website
dedicated to cute dog videos.
This epitomizes good journalism
in my humble opinion.
Good things are happening
in
our
own
backyard!
University
of
Michigan
undergraduate students have
created
an
affordable
and
time-saving
alternative
to
measuring hemostasis — or
natural blood clotting abilities
— in patients before they
receive treatment. Timeliness
is essential in medicine, and
results
must
be
accurate,
understandable and quick so
that medical professionals can
make good decisions swiftly.
Margaret
Atwood
is
a
mystical,
palm-reading
spider enthusiast. She is also
the author of more than 60
published
works,
including
“The
Handmaid’s
Tale,”
which has recently regained
popularity as a result of the
current political climate. If
you’re
fond
of
mysterious
old women and you haven’t
run out of free articles from
the New Yorker, I highly
encourage you to read their
profile on Atwood.
It’s easy to get caught up in
finals, and even easier to get
caught up in the hype that
surrounds negative political,
economic
or
environmental
news. These stories are handed
to us, appear often on our
Facebook newsfeeds and are
shared quickly — often with
commentary on Twitter. When
I started my search for pieces of
news to include in this column,
I had to look far and wide to
find good news, not because
there isn’t any, but because the
striking taglines and clickbait
get more attention, pushing
positive stories to the bottom
of the heap.
I don’t want to encourage
people to avoid bad news.
Being aware of the state of our
nation and of the international
plights occurring each day is
vastly more important than
protecting
your
feelings.
Simultaneously,
though,
it can be easy to read only
disheartening
stories,
tales
of
lying,
cheating,
murder
or fraud. It’s imperative that
we pay attention, but it’s
equally important to see that
virtues of kindness, respect
and honesty are not entirely
missing from the world.
M
y lack of flexibility,
intense personality
and
acute
alcoholism all contribute to
my
consistently
pathetic
performance in the
yoga classes I have
been taking. Every
other day my body
is subjected to a
constant torment as
I scream internally
through
the
pretzel-like
poses
my
all-too-calm
instructor asks me
to perform.
Surrounded by the healthy,
flexible,
barefoot
individuals
all breathing rhythmically to
the
tranquil
nature
sounds
that substitute music, I often
find myself wondering what in
the name of good god did I do
to my myself. I feel individual
tendons being ripped apart to
the soundtrack of wind chimes
blowing in the Pacific Northwest.
For years I have subjected
my body to athletic and aerobic
punishments with no thought
about the later ramifications.
I never stretched. I lifted too
many weights. I ran too many
miles in a pair of shoes from
President Obama’s first term.
So, at the young and pathetic
age of 21, I was already paying
this minor physical price. Yet
yoga, even as terrible as I am
at it, has already made me
feel somewhat better, more
flexible and recharged when
I start my day.
If only there were a way
we could stretch and heal the
mind, the same way we do
with our bodies.
I am reminded every year
with the arrival of Easter
of
my
annual
“sit-alone-
in-church-pew-and-think-
about-yourself” tradition. As
a pseudo-Catholic, I venture
home on this holiday to join
my family for the most holy
and central day of my religion.
During this brief time, I
force myself into a moment
of pure mental reflection —
and recently, I have not been
content with what I find.
For here at this university,
and in life in general, I often
allow for the darker shades of
my psyche to wage war upon
the
rational
and
calm
elements
of
my mind. Jealousy,
insecurity and envy
can often consume
me as I blindly and
abusively
pursue
temporary goals in
the hope of satisfying
desires. Essentially,
I don’t stretch, I
do too much and,
worse,
I
often
lock myself away with these
thoughts, never moving as I act
as the audience to the ongoing
war inside my mind between
pessimism and optimism.
And I submit myself to
this pathetic mental torment
through multiple methods. I
am jealous over the seemingly
incredible lives of specific
people, with their overbooked
social scene and the constant
attention
directed
toward
them. I see what others have
and then I just want. And
these are all common emotions
felt
among
every
human
being, yet I will amplify the
severity of such desires with
senseless quick fixes with
lack of any true character
building. I never take the time
to understand my desires, I
simply throw artificial things
at them hoping they’ll work.
Life cannot be sustained
through
knee-jerk
satisfactions.
Instead
of
actual character building and
understanding one’s identity,
I
have
lived
before
with
makeshift qualities and traits
pretending to be happy for a
night. And yet each time that
fails, I seem to never understand
the lesson. Many times I have
woken up unsatisfied with
my life and have yet again
submitted myself to blending
into the anonymous crowd of
the “haves” instead of the “have
nots,” and I pretended that with
the next bar, the next drink, the
next hook up, I’ll satisfy that
desire. I’ll feel complete.
These
are
the
knee-
jerk
mental
reactions
to
our overall human desires.
Life
is
distracting
with
money,
sex
and
others’
perceived happiness, so it is
understandable that we jump
into these temporary artificial
solutions to experience some
capacity of joy.
With yoga, one lesson I
have
come
to
understand
is that actually engaging in
the stretches properly, one
must totally relax into a state
that is uniquely natural, free
from outside distractions and
worldly desires.
Though
I
am
actually
horrible at the physical aspects
of yoga, I have succeeded in
applying the mental aspects to
my life in some respects. The
time away from the seemingly
endless
social
competition
clears my head. The outside
distractions, the artificiality,
the
temporary
solutions
are removed for a clearer
perspective of what I want to
get from life.
Life cannot be sustained
on just temporary knee-jerk
reactions to real goals in
life. Cheap movements for
easy, temporary results — not
results that matter and last.
Popularity, alcohol, drugs —
nothing like this will sustain a
person forever.
Yoga is hard.
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Monday, April 17, 2017
REBECCA LERNER
Managing Editor
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
EMMA KINERY
Editor in Chief
ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY
and REBECCA TARNOPOL
Editorial Page Editors
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.
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
On yoga and Easter
MICHAEL MORDASKI | COLUMN
Finding the good news
MEGAN BURNS | COLUMN
Megan Burns can be reached at
megburns@umich.edu.
Michael Mordarski can be reached
at mmordars@umich.edu.
MEGAN
BURNS
NIA LEE | CONTACT NIA AT LEENIA@UMICH.EDU
O
n June 12, 2016, a
gunman
opened
fire in Pulse, a gay
nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
50 people were killed and
53
others
were
wounded,
marking
the
shooting
as
the greatest act of violence
against LGBTQ individuals and
the largest mass shooting by
a single shooter in the history
of the United States. While
dozens of victims lay in need of
blood, the LGBTQ community
mobilized to help support them.
Despite their best efforts, queer
men were left helpless in their
attempt to save the survivors
of this tragedy — barred from
donating blood.
Why? Because they are gay.
In the 1980s, as a reaction
to the HIV epidemic and its
portrayal as a “gay man’s”
disease, the Food and Drug
Administration
banned
men
who have had sex with men
from donating blood. When the
policy was first put into place,
there was a lack of concrete
medical
information
about
HIV and AIDS, which led the
medical community to believe
HIV almost solely affected the
gay community. Thus, it was
deemed
more
important
to
ensure the safety of transfusion
recipients
than
ensuring
equality
in
donations.
For
this reason, a ban on gay men
from donating blood seemed
reasonable at the time.
However,
with
modern
medical science and a greater
understanding of how HIV
is spread, an updated policy
is necessary. Though a 2010
study found there is a higher
prevalence of HIV within the
gay community, heterosexual
relationships account for 25
percent of new HIV infections
annually in the United States.
Alternative
risk
assessment
policies, rather than a ban on
an entire group of individuals
from blood donations, will allow
more people to donate blood and
also decrease the likelihood of
transmitted infections.
Though this ban has been
altered recently going from a
lifetime deferral to the current
one-year abstinence policy for
gay men, the current policy is
still rooted in discrimination.
While changing the policy to
a
12-month
deferral
allows
gay men to donate blood, it
effectively
functions
as
a
lifetime ban for most of these
men. It poses the underlying
assumption that homosexual
men
are
promiscuous
and
dirty, therefore increasing their
likelihood of contracting HIV,
regardless of the details of their
respective sexual experiences.
Because
of
this
discrimination, we propose a
change in the FDA’s rules on
how it determines eligibility for
blood donation. Italy, since 2001,
has utilized a system where
blood donor eligibility is based
on an individual risk assessment
of sexual behaviors. With this
policy change, deferment of
donation could not be based
upon sexual orientation, but
was determined, in detailed
interviews
from
medical
professionals,
by
exposure
to risk. In cases where risk is
identified, donors are barred
from donating for four months
following the exposing event.
Following this change, there
was no increase in the amount
of HIV-positive blood donors
when comparing homosexual
to
heterosexual
donors.
As
heterosexuals
accounted
for
40 percent of HIV antibody-
positive cases in donors, this
form of assessment not only
eliminated the discriminatory
policies
toward
homosexual
men,
but
also
prevented
numerous
heterosexual
HIV-positive
donors
from
contaminating the blood supply.
A study conducted by the
Williams
Institute
at
the
University
of
California
at
Los Angeles School of Law
calculated
that
lifting
the
ban would result in 360,600
additional
donors
providing
nearly 615,300 pints of blood
each
year.
A
2014
article
described how the Red Cross
needs 80,000 units of blood a
day, but only receives 36,000.
Allowing donations from gay
men who do not engage in
risky behavior would help to
minimize this shortage.
Luckily, there are ways each
and every one of us can help. In
February, a group of students
put on a blood drive where
straight allies donated blood
in the name of gay people who
were banned from donating.
With the University of Michigan
wrapping up its 200th year,
there are many things to keep
in mind. In those 200 years,
the University of Michigan has
been a constant hotbed of social
change, and Michigan Medicine
has been a pioneer within the
medical field. If we truly are
the Leaders and the Best, it
is time for our community to
take action to change the FDA’s
discriminatory policy.
Just blood?
KIERAN BAACK AND RISHI SHAH | OP-ED
Kieran Baack is an Engineering
sophomore and Rishi Shah is an
Engineering senior. Both are members
of the Just Blood team.
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Carolyn Ayaub
Megan Burns
Samantha Goldstein
Caitlin Heenan
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Anurima Kumar
Ibrahim Ijaz
Max Lubell
Alexis Megdanoff
Madeline Nowicki
Anna Polumbo-Levy
Jason Rowland
Ali Safawi
Sarah Salman
Kevin Sweitzer
Rebecca Tarnopol
Stephanie Trierweiler
MICHAEL
MORDASKI
If only there was
a way we could
stretch and heal
the mind, the
same way we do
with our bodies.
While changing
the policy to a
12-month deferral
allows gay
men to donate,
it effectively
functions as a
lifetime ban.