Our next well-being day better not be 

disguised by the administration in the form 
of a break and exposed for what it actually is: a 
poor attempt by the University of Michigan to 
supposedly address the mental health needs of 
students and failing, miserably. 

Students 
receive 
email 
after 
email 

from University President Mark Schlissel, 
professors and Graduate Student Instructors, 
acknowledging that students are facing a 
stressful time. Each message sounds nearly 
verbatim to, “This has been a challenging time 
for everyone in our community. We’ve been 
affected personally — and tragically — by the 
spread of the virus. We’ve been asked to think 
and work differently, under considerable 

time pressures and growing stress.” But the 
current leniency –– or rather, lack thereof 
–– given by professors does not reflect this 
attitude of empathy at all; simply giving 
students two “well-being breaks” is not the 
appropriate answer. While President Schlissel 
acknowledges the breaks will not solve all of 
our problems, and that they are supposed to be 
“just a day to give time,” the break has not even 
been able to do that: my personal experience 
aside, observing other students around me has 
been the perfect testament to how the break has 
failed in accomplishing what it was set out to do.

On our first well-being day, I was sitting 

at Sweetwaters in the Michigan Union 
at 8 a.m. — the rest of the seating options 
became full in the next half-hour. If that isn’t 
a testament to how “relaxed” students were 
during the first “break,” then what is? I had 
homework specifically assigned on the day 

before the break that was due the day after. 
The only way I could have possibly enjoyed 
my day off was if I had pulled an all-nighter 
on Tuesday and woke up early on Thursday 
to finish my assignments. The sheer quantity 
of unnecessary homework that classes have 
been assigning gives the impression that 
the University is ignorant of the fact that 
the pandemic continues to impact students’ 
mental health and personal lives.

If we remove all personal experiences and 

tragedies related to COVID-19 and solely 
consider what classes are like via Zoom, that 
should be enough reason to prove just how 
frustrated students are. I have back-to-back 
classes from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays. 
That’s six hours of me rooted to the same spot, 
staring at my computer screen and skipping 
lunch only to make sure I don’t fall behind. 
On Thursdays and Fridays, I have calculus 

from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., giving me less than one 
day to address my webwork and prepwork 
assignments and textbook problems, not to 
mention having to rewatch the same lecture 
at least twice to grasp all the material. All this 
just to make sure I don’t fall behind — which 
excludes the time I need to put into studying 
for exams, team homework projects and 
quizzes. And this is one class. 

Unfortunately, I am not alone in having 

to drudge through such a monotonous, 
overwhelming schedule. I cannot even imagine 
how many other students are swamped with 
an endless to-do list, only to be rewarded with 
two days of no class — and already one of them 
being a complete failure. Yes, winter break 
was longer than it was in previous years, and 
yes, eliminating spring break altogether is 
an attempt to mitigate the spread of COVID-
19 around campus. But instead of giving a 

ridiculously long winter break, why weren’t 
we given five individual days, one every other 
week, of no class and no extra assignments, 
spaced out appropriately through the semester? 
Students are expected to maintain themselves 
physically, mentally and academically while 
being overworked to the point of exhaustion. 
And all this is enforced without considering the 
personal tragedies related to COVID-19. 

Instructors are at fault here too and need 

to give students the appropriate workload 
so that on a well-being break, students can 
actually relax and not have a tremendous list 
brimming with assignments. It should be 
obvious enough to realize that group projects 
should be completely eliminated unless there 
is no possible alternative. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan in Color
6 — Wednesday, March 17, 2021 

puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com

By Enrique Henestroza Anguiano
©2021 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/17/21

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

03/17/21

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

Release Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2021

ACROSS

1 Slim advantage
5 Embraces

11 Intel seeker
14 Many a character 

on HBO’s 
“Euphoria”

15 Warhol’s 

“Campbell’s Soup 
Cans,” e.g.

16 Vientiane people
17 *Generous 

reward

19 __ al-Fitr: end-of-

Ramadan feast

20 Skater Midori
21 Author’s 

representative

22 Northeast 

Corridor express 
train

24 Gliding ballet step
26 Cut loose
27 *“I sussed that 

out a while ago”

33 One-named 

“Body Party” 
singer

36 Sicilian peak
37 Cut off
38 Chewy Hershey 

candy

39 Like some 

serious flaws

40 Christmas candle 

scent

41 “__ cost you!”
42 Old Roman road
43 Put in a 

bibliography

44 *Family dinner 

reservation 
request, perhaps

47 Designer 

Saarinen

48 Like Camembert
52 Back in style
54 Quickness
57 Romance
58 Dept. phone 

number

59 Retreated on 

the same trail ... 
and what each 
answer to a 
starred clue has?

62 Grow older
63 Aerie newborn
64 Tennis icon 

Arthur

65 Former space 

station

66 Renaissance fair 

rides

67 “Watch __ space”

DOWN

1 Work __: moral 

belief

2 “Murder by __”: 

1976 Neil Simon 
spoof film

3 Salami choice
4 Pierre’s “fin,” to 

Peter

5 Highest point in 

an orbit

6 Taj Mahal feature
7 Receptive
8 “What’s __ is 

prologue”: “The 
Tempest”

9 __TV: reality 

channel

10 Namesake of a 

Venice basilica

11 “You can give 

me an answer 
tomorrow”

12 Sand transporter
13 Jedi Grand 

Master

18 Obama 

daughter

23 Plot
25 Park carriage, or 

one pushing it

26 Agreement
28 “I like it”
29 Mammal at an 

aquarium

30 Eat (up)
31 Bistro pour
32 Didn’t dillydally
33 Lit __
34 Scintilla
35 Assurance 

after putting a 
Band-Aid on a 
boo-boo

39 Inventory 

tracking method 
for a CPA

43 Like corned beef
45 Wears down

46 Large jazz 

combos

49 Knee-deep (in)
50 Sweet Japanese 

rice cake

51 Farm fittings
52 Paper package
53 VFW member
54 Bigger than big
55 Qualified
56 Winter coaster
60 Breakfast grain
61 Club that may be 

flipped with joy

SUDOKU

3
8

6

1

1
9

4
2
8

5

1
3

6

5

8
6
1

1
8

4

2
1
9

3
6

7

3

5
7

6
1
2
9


“I thought you 
were vegan?”

“I was... worst 
week of my 
life.”

03/10/21

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

way

e 

WHISPER

Our next well-being break better be a break

“When I think of home, I think of a place 

where there’s love overflowing.” 

Around this time last year, I had the 

great fortune of taking part in MUSKET’s 
“The Wiz,” before the production was 
canceled due to COVID-19. As a member 
of the ensemble, I got to work with an 
amazing group of insanely talented artists, 
performing alongside an all-Black cast in 
a show that celebrates African-American 
culture in all its glory. And while the 
experience was cut short, I have long 
since remembered the sense of belonging, 
communion 
and 
intimacy 
fostered 

during the rehearsal process, all of which 
was epitomized in the finale, Dorothy’s 
final number (sung by the phenomenal 
University of Michigan alum Lauryn 
Hobbs) “Home.” 

Famously performed by Stephanie Mills 

on Broadway and by Diana Ross in the film 
adaptation, this R&B soul ballad, in all its 
lyrical genius, is a powerful expression of 
the all-encompassing love that being home 
engenders. 

As I traveled back home to Kalamazoo, 

Mich. this weekend to visit family and 
friends and to celebrate my upcoming 20th 
birthday, I reflected on this sentiment in 
the best way I knew how: driving.

In the midst of running errands, finishing 

tasks and visiting friends, I ended up driving 
in my hometown for a short but considerable 
part of my visit. And while I drove past the 
places and spaces that I had literally known 
all my life, I thought about how many 
times I had traversed these same roads in 
Kalamazoo –– day after day, week after 
week, month after month, year after year.

I thought about the hundreds of early 

morning commutes to school — talk radio 
radiating to where I was sitting in the 
backseat of my dad’s car on the way to 
elementary school, headphones hampering 
the loud chatter of the school bus on the 
way to middle school, car speakers spewing 
my favorite musical theatre songs on the 
aux of my 2006 Toyota Scion on the way to 
high school. 

I thought about the many, many miles 

made on my way to club meetings and 
class trips, football games and food runs, 
soccer practices and Sunday school lessons, 
hair appointments and hook-ups, musical 
rehearsals and movie outings.

I thought about the times I traveled 

down the freeway to friends who would be 

strangers further along the road, to sites I 
swear I’ll never see again and to scenes I 
still seek to see once more. 

I thought about the summer sunsets 

at the land preserve, the autumn outings 
to the Art Hop, the winter rides watching 
holiday lights and the spring sprints down 
the infinite fields. 

I thought about the good times — the 

windows rolled down and the sun soaked 
up. The small talk on the long rides.

I thought about the bad times — the 

breakdowns in the backseat and the tears 
wiped in front of the wheel. 

I thought about the persisting poverty, 

the rampant racism and the continued class 
divides. The streets that make the headlines 
and the lines of homeless encampments 
along the streets. 

I thought about the revolutionary 

resilience of those resisting tyranny in my 
community, the divine camaraderie of those 
combatting capitalism in its late stages and 
the liberating love keeping Kalamazoo 
afloat. I thought about how so much around 
me had changed, yet how so much has 
stayed the same. How much I’ve changed 
and how much I’ve stayed the same.

I thought a lot about how having lived 

so long in one town has yielded within 
me a cacophony of contradictions and an 
assortment of antithetical attitudes.

But most of all, while driving in my 

hometown, I thought about how after 
years and years of yearning for something 
more, vowing to venture out into the 
great unknown, how grateful I am to not 
only be able to call this place home, but to 
have a home, and for it to serve as a real 
life reminder of the miles and miles of 
memories I’ve made throughout my time 
on this Earth. 

Because just like Dorothy’s final line in 

the finale goes, “I’ve learned that we must 
look inside our hearts to find a world so full 
of love like yours, like mine, like home.”

Driving in my hometown

KARIS CLARK

MiC Columnist

Design by Emily Gordon

SYEDA RIZVI
MiC Columnist

The Southern states froze over, and to no 

one’s surprise, their state governments have 
only made the situation significantly worse. 
They have been hit with one of America’s 
worst weaponized duos –– climate change 
and environmental racism.

During a time of great panic and 

uncertainty, when the changing climate 
created an uncharacteristic winter storm in 
Texas, the Texas state government decided to 
abandon their Black and Latinx working class 
communities. The power went out for over 
4 million Texans during the storm. Power 
companies were worried about not being 
able to support their consumers’ drastically 
increasing demand for heat and gas sources, 
so in order to meet demand, utility companies 
orchestrated controlled power outages in 
order to prevent long-term damage to the 
natural gas industry and power grids. Families 
were already struggling financially with the 
COVID-19 pandemic, and were now missing 
paychecks because the snow and ice left them 
trapped in their homes. This added cost while 
sitting in houses with no utilities was brutal 
for those already struggling to make ends 
meet. Many people did not survive through 
the power outages, lack of clean water and cold 
temperatures of this unprecedented event.

Those who lived in rural areas which lack 

hospitals, commercial businesses, commercial 
living complexes and other facilities essential 
to the Texas economy had a higher likelihood 

of being impacted by the man-made problems 
exacerbated by the storm, including the 
rise in gas prices and the controlled power 
outages. Black and Latinx communities 
who greatly inhabit these areas suffered the 
worst consequences, affirming the inherent 
correlation between climate change and 
systemic racism. These communities suffered 
through this climate and government-fueled 
disaster, while still living through the raging 
COVID-19 pandemic that is harshly impacting 
them. The government has shown that when 
worse comes to worse, they are willing to 
sacrifice Black and Latinx communities in 
order to protect an oppressive and racist 
capitalist order.

Though this storm took place in the middle 

of February, lots of people are still lacking 
access to safe water in Texas, as are some 
communities in Mississippi. Even though 
these states initially experienced a climate 
disaster, it is the government’s abandonment 
of its marginalized populations that allowed 
the storm to become so deadly. Instead 
of providing these communities with the 
adequate resources and solutions to cope 
with and manage the conditions in question, 
politicians left their constituents to fend for 
themselves. This is environmental racism, and 
it is nothing new to America. 

Over 15 years before this year’s winter 

storm, the South experienced a humanitarian 
crisis, Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, this 
hurricane 
devastated 
states 
including 

Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. The 
deadly storm destroyed businesses, houses 
and lives throughout these states. It had an 

especially negative impact on New Orleans, 
La. –– a majority Black city. Though this was a 
natural disaster, the insurmountable damage 
was caused by the federal government 
neglecting to prepare prior to the disaster 
and in the hurricane’s aftermath, abandoning 
these communities after the storm. While 
former President George W. Bush took his 
time relaxing on his vacation, the American 
people were drowning in the 
damage of this vicious storm. 

The poor construction 

of levees that protect the 
land in New Orleans 
from 
hurricanes 

dramatized 
the 
damage 

of 
Hurricane 

Katrina. Had the 
government 
taken 

the time to implement 
protective 
measures 

and provide resources, 
like more funding and better 
quality levee construction, the 
city would have been better prepared. Tens 
of thousands of people had to permanently 
leave their Louisiana residences because of the 
damage done to their homes and businesses. 
Louisiana received large surges of aid when 
Katrina first hit, but it wasn’t enough. Despite 
the fact that the community is still suffering 
over 15 years later, conversation regarding the 
storm has greatly diminished. 

Similar to New Orleans, Puerto Rico went 

through significant trauma and destruction 
with Hurricane Maria in 2017. But when 

comparing the amount of aid that went 
to Puerto Rico with other hurricanes like 
Irma and Harvey that destroyed rich white 
continental cities, Puerto Rico received a 
lot less aid, despite having the most amount 
of destruction. New Orleans and Puerto 
Rico, still living with the damage from their 
hurricanes so many years later, while rich 
white communities are able to thrive because 

of the government’s swift aid 

after the storms, emphasizes 

America’s 
persistent 

problem of environmental 

racism.

Almost seven years 

ago, 
Flint’s 
water 

supply was found to 
be contaminated with 
lead 
and 
bacteria. 

This 
was 
another 

case of environmental 
racism in which the 

Michigan 
government 

cut down on water costs by 

changing Flint’s water supply. It’s 

notable that the government chose Flint 

for this abhorrent decision –– Flint has the 
second-largest population of Black Americans 
in Michigan. As of 2019, its population was 
54.1% Black, and 38.8% of its citizens were 
considered under the poverty line. The new 
water system was filled with bacteria and 
lead that caused many diseases, deaths and 
developmental issues in Flint residents.

When the country originally learned about 

this problem, almost a year after Flint’s water 
was first contaminated, pledges of monetary 

donations and safe water flooded into the 
city. National news channels would report all 
the latest updates, and there was persistence 
in informing the country on what was 
happening in this city. People wanted answers 
and wanted to help as much as possible, 
but as soon as the news stopped deeming 
the situation as newsworthy, conversations 
around the country stopped. Years later, Flint 
is still struggling to get clean water. A 13-year-
old Flint resident, Mari Copeny, has been 
instrumental in keeping the conversation 
going around the country since she was 8 years 
old. Government officials responsible for this 
crime are now being charged and some pipes 
have started to be replaced. But as a whole, 
national concern has lessened tremendously 
despite the persisting urgency of this problem. 
Poisoned water is still a reality for this city. 

Texas was fortunate to receive donations 

and aid from non-profit organizations in 
order to help out some of its communities who 
are struggling right now. This philanthropy 
is a testament to humanity and is effective, 
but the remedy marginalized communities 
really need is environmental justice. This 
situation is a repeated humanitarian crisis 
that will only start to heal once honest 
accountability is pursued, rather than false 
perceptions of accountability that only serve 
as a publicity stunt to distract from cries for 
help. The problems in Mississippi and Texas 
are recent, but I’m worried about what will 
happen once these events aren’t breaking 
news. Will people start to forget about 
Texas, like they have Flint, Mississippi and 
New Orleans?

America’s most wanted: environmental racism and climate change

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

MARIA PATTON

MiC Columnist

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