Zina Bhaia relates her ‘rebirth’ in the U.S.

News-Gazette, The (Champaign-Urbana, IL)

Sunday, April 26, 2009

By ZINA BHAIA
 

So many lights!

I knew that America would be big, but as I looked out my Royal Jordanian Airline window at the sprawling nightscape of Chicago and the towering cityscape of its downtown, I thought, “Oh, my God, it is huge. And Lake Michigan, why do they call it a lake? It is like an ocean.” I had flown into Baghdad at night many times, and Baghdad was but a speck of light compared to this glaring city below me.

“What am I getting myself into?” I thought. “I will never find my way around.”

Betsy uses quotes to show, not tell

Betsy Drazner

Zina Bhaia was born a healthy baby in Baghdad, Iraq. Forty-five days later doctors discovered she had polio, which left her with scoliosis and paralyzed her left leg. Despite this disability, her parents, who are both teachers themselves, pushed her to go to school as she grew up. Bhaia admitted she is a shy person and said of her parents, “I owe them for who I am today.”

Bhaia’s family includes her parents, two older brothers and a younger sister. Born in 1979, she led what she thought was a normal life until 2003, when Iraq was invaded and, “things turned upside down.” Iraq was up for grabs and in 2006, her 16-year-old brother, Mohammad, was kidnapped in the dangerous neighborhood the Bhaia family lived in. The perpetrator told the family to leave their home and everything in it behind in order for Mohammad to be safely returned. However, the promise was unfulfilled and they never found him.

Ros’s story tells story of Zina’s life journey

From disability to ability, Iraqi women finds solid ground on U.S. to stand on

By Ros Dumlao

The two things that have literally been by Zina Bhaia’s side throughout most of her life are her crutches.

Bhaia, born in Baghdad, Iraq, was struck with polio when she was only 45 days old, which soon developed into scoliosis, a spinal disease. And growing up in Iraq as a woman with a disability is like having two disabilities.

“It’s a hard life for women in Iraq,” Bhaia said. “But it’s harder for a woman with a disability.”

Although Bhaia didn’t plan to come to America, the Iraqi native landed an offer that lifted her out of a war-torn country and into one where the only image she had of the U.S. was what she watched on “Desperate Housewives” and “Remington Steele” back in Iraq.

Description, scene setting rich in Kristy’s story on orchard

Local farm provides escape for students

By Kristy Shaulis

As the crisp, fall air sets in, children, teenagers and adults alike walk down the yellow brick road, laughing and skipping as the Tin Man looks on. They seem to have almost been transported back to a simpler, happier time when video games, cell phones and technology took a back seat to quality time outdoors with friends. But this isn’t Oz. This is Curtis Orchard.

            Located on Duncan Road in Champaign, Curtis Orchard and Pumpkin Patch is a local farm providing apples, pumpkins and various activities. Produce is sold both in the store and as a ‘u-pick’ option where customers pick their own apples or pumpkins straight from the orchard or patch.

            But the farm clearly goes beyond the basic definition of orchard.

“We’re essentially an entertainment farm,” said Paul Curtis, one of the owners of Curtis Orchard.  “We have face-painting and entertainment on the weekends. We’ve got wagon rides and pony rides. We have a pretty complete package here.”

Hong’s story shows action, description

Tibetan Monks Create Sand Mandala at UIUC

By Hong Shen

Last week, the Illini Union’s Pine Lounge changed its form from a traditional colonial room to a Tibetan monastery, where six monks wearing red flowing robes worked together on an art piece and smiled silently.
Tibetan monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery in Mundgod, South India, spent five days at the Illini Union’s Pine Lounge, Sept. 21-25, painstakingly placing millions of grains of sand in a colorful pattern to form a sand painting, known as a mandala. This weeklong interactive live exhibit was part of the annual celebration of I-Unite Week.
As planned, it took the monks 31 hours to finish the mandala. On Friday, despite all the effort, they destroyed it.

Anecdotal lead, stories of real people breathe life into science reporting

Allison Copenbarger

CHAMPAIGN – Eleven-year-old Elena Vinton would love to twirl around a
dance studio while singing her favorite song. She longs to have the
energy it takes to perform, but having myotonic dystrophy (MD) limits
both her capabilities and her future.
But there is new hope for people like Elena. Steven Zimmerman and
Anne Baranger, both chemistry professors at the University, have
recently designed a small molecule that may eventually lead to a cure
of MD.
Myotonic dystrophy is caused when proteins that are important to the
function of a cell bind with flawed RNA. The researchers are
developing a molecule that will bind with those same RNA and allow the
protein to fulfill its purpose.

Emily uses quotes to tell stories of student athletes

Big 10 competition a big change for freshmen athletes

By Emily Bayci

 

At the end of her first week at Illinois, freshman Jackie Guerra was exhausted. The Texas native had been busy running around campus but barely knew her roommate, the school or her surroundings. Instead of getting used to campus life, she had been playing soccer — around 50 hours in one short week. Guerra realized that by playing soccer in college, she had made it her life.

 

Transitioning into college is not usually an easy task for any college freshman, particularly student-athletes who enter an entire new level of competition and intensity.

 

“I was a little overwhelmed coming here because I didn’t know how stressful it would be trying to balance college and golf,” freshman golfer Crystal Smith from Florida said. “College is a lot different and is a lot more competitive.”

 

Student athletes have a different experience than most regular students because so much of their time is focused on their sport, while other freshman are off meeting new people in their classes and dorms.

 

“My closest friends are on the soccer team and I’ve met like four other people,” freshman soccer player Jackie Guerra from Texas said. “I’m super friendly; I  try to talk to people. But, I’ve only been to my Friday class once (because of soccer). When I walk in, I’m the new girl all over again.”

Kristy uses action in story about local restaurant

Cafe’s local fare draws loyal crowd

By Kristy Shaulis

As students and professors shuffle through the cafeteria-style line during the lunch hour at Bevier Café, one thing is obvious: this isn’t just any restaurant.

Bevier Café, located in Bevier Hall on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, is not only run by students as part of a food-science class, but also has another unique attribute to boast: the café uses locally grown food and organic produce from Central Illinois farmers.

“Every day, we’ve got a dish on the menu where the main ingredient is from local farmers and suppliers,” said Jean-Louis Ledent, the executive chef of Bevier Café, as he sifts through orders, catering requests and menu options in his office. “It’s impossible to have a 100 percent local dish, but we get the main ingredient of the dish from one of our local suppliers.”

Here’s a great lead by Allison

Professor works to build plane that flies like a bat

BY ALLISON COPENBARGER

CHAMPAIGN – Soon-Jo Chung could be described as the Batman of Aerospace Engineering. Though he does not usually don a black, Spandex
suit or drive a tricked-out car, he is developing a new technology that draws from bats and may help save lives.
    Chung, a new aerospace engineering professor at the University, is
working toward building a plane that can mimic the natural flight of
bats.
    “Bats are one of nature’s best natural flyers,” Chung said. “They can
turn 180 degrees and fly with broken wings. The objective of the
research is to mimic the ‘flapping-flying’ motion.”

Would you like cheese on that lead?

These are some pretty good cheese leads. But let’s see if we can make them even better.

Cheese distributed by Olympus Wholesalers was served at the Valley Elementary School cafeteria on January 14, though it was condemned by the state health department. After exposure to fire on December 15, this particular cheese was declared contaminated and ordered to be sent to the dump. Despite this call for action, the cheese was distributed to fourteen children who ended up in hospitalization for symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and chills.

—

 

An internal investigation is under way at Olympus Wholesalers after a driver admitted the company distributed toxic cheese to Valley Elementary School resulting in the hospitalization of 14 children on January 14.

The cheese was determined to be toxic by state regulators and ordered to be condemned after a fire broke out at the warehouse where the cheese was stored on December 15.  

Olympus Wholesalers, who distributes the cheese for Scofield Farms, hired Hercules Salvage to remove the toxic cheese from the warehouse. However public records indicate that the work order to remove the cheese was changed and routed to Valley Elementary School by the general manager of Olympus Wholesalers, Ken Becker.

Beckner could not be reached for comment, but his secretary, Dominique Deneau, issued the following statement when asked why the cheese was delivered to Valley Elementary School instead of being destroyed:

“We are investigating one individual at this time,” Deneau said.

—

 

Olympus Wholesalers is conducting an internal investigation after its company delivered contaminated cheese to Valley Elementary School in Medina.  Fourteen children at the school were hospitalized after eating the toxic cheese on January 8. 

Olympus Wholesalers delivered the cheese on January 14, after it had been condemned by the state due to a warehouse fire that infused the cheese with toxic chemicals.  A truck driver tipped the paper about the event after his son became sickened by the cheese, which he knew to be toxic.  Allegations were confirmed by the Olympus Wholesalers change order form.