A lot of us take for granted the ability to look how we want to look, dress how we want to dress and be who we want to be.

What if being who you wanted to be was a political issue?

This is the ever-present challenge that the 1.3 million transgender adults and 300,000 transgender youth in the United States face on a daily basis.

As of April 30, 27 states in the U.S. banned various forms of gender-affirming care for trans youth, outlawing anything from surgery to medications. These bans keep up to 40% of trans youth between the ages of 13 and 17 from getting the care they need.

Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors was upheld recently by the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision along party lines, opening the door for further bans across the country.

Many of these bans are based on the idea that gender-affirming care for trans people is exclusively surgical and irreversible, something that could not be further from the truth.

Elizabeth Panetta, a clinical social worker and adjunct assistant professor with the University of Minnesota Medical School, said gender-affirming care involves various forms of medical, therapeutic and cosmetic care used by both trans and cisgender people alike.

“How I view GAC is as care that is for anybody, both transgender and cisgender,” Panetta said. “It’s care that recognizes people’s gender identities coming in and ways that we can make sure their gender identities are validated, accepted and also given support.”

Fin Walling, a third-year student at the University and member of the Queer Student Cultural Center’s board, said while many people who oppose gender-affirming care think of it as dramatic surgeries, the label applies to far more than just surgery, which is not always necessary for trans people to achieve their ideal gender presentation.

“In short, it’s anything done to alleviate gender dysphoria,” Walling said. “Styling one’s hair, changing one’s clothes, voice training, altering a passport and taking hormones.”

Access to gender-affirming care is critical for the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ youth. Research suggests access to puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones dramatically decreases rates of depression and suicidal thoughts, even after only one year of use.

Unfortunately for many, this care is often restricted, a hassle to receive or even unobtainable.

Panetta said many standard healthcare procedures are already difficult to access, making more specialized gender-affirming care even harder to receive due to a limited pool of providers and variations in healthcare coverage.

“A lot of people really assume that being able to get a medical intervention under a gender dysphoria diagnosis is something that you can get like that,” Panetta said. “I have to do a lot of reminding people that a lot of our care, regardless of mental health diagnosis, is hard to access.”

No matter what firebrand politicians and people on the internet say, no child is walking into a hospital and immediately getting a gender-affirming surgery. 

Similarly, regretting steps taken to transition is also quite rare, with a review of 27 studies finding an average of just 1% of trans people who had any type of surgery regretted the procedure.

Derek Waller, an adjunct professor who teaches a course on LGBTQ+ law at the University’s law school, said a lot of the political rhetoric around gender-affirming care and trans people parallels historical rhetoric against gay rights.

“There has been a concerted, what I would call moral panic or a disinformation campaign about gender-affirming care for the last 10 years or so,” Waller said. “A lot of the information that is being shared is just not accurate.”

The current political environment in the U.S. is growing increasingly hostile toward trans people. Earlier this year, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace drew backlash for interrupting a House committee hearing by repeatedly shouting a transphobic slur.

Walling said even though Minnesota is a blue state, the normalization of discrimination against trans people at the federal level, which is potentially causing increased stress among genderqueer individuals, is worrisome.

“For example, passports saying ‘M’ being issued to very feminine presenting trans women who now have to deal with that every time they present ID is just obnoxious,” Walling said. “It’s dangerous and discriminatory.”

Waller said while the Supreme Court ruling on Tennessee’s ban won’t affect Minnesota due to our statutory protection of gender-affirming care and our status as a trans refuge state, the ruling potentially leaves the door open for more restrictive bans to be implemented in states with bans already in place.

“The Court’s decision doesn’t necessarily mean that a ban on gender-affirming care for adults would be similarly upheld,” Waller said. “I think that’s a lot more of a risk now than before this opinion came out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some states try to ban gender-affirming care for adults as well.”

Placing limitations on gender-affirming care not only misunderstands what gender-affirming care is and who uses it, but also denies thousands of teens and adults the ability to improve their quality of life.

“Gender-affirming care as a term is very new, but it has existed for centuries, similar to how trans people have existed as long as humanity has,” Panetta said. “Gender-affirming care is not just for trans people, it’s for all people, and many people access this type of care.”

Letting people be who they truly are is essential for a healthy society, so it’s time to rethink how we think about gender-affirming care.

Music is a fascinating mirror of both society and our minds.

Few other forms of media allow for such deep exploration of human nature in a format easily consumable by the masses.

Music reveals not only what aesthetics are popular at any given time, but also what themes and topics are relevant to the lived experiences of its audience. Music can show us what we care about at the deepest level.

Reflecting the experiences of young people today, neurodivergence and mental health are increasingly prevalent on the music scene.

I recently attended a concert by Will Wood, an artist who directly confronts themes of mental health and neurodivergence in songs like “Love, Me Normally” and “Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave.” 

This being my first Will Wood concert, I was shocked when I saw the crowd waiting outside the venue.

Not only was the crowd much bigger than I expected for an artist with such a niche style, but the vast majority of the audience appeared to be under the age of 30. It was like a magnet pulled members of Generation Z to the venue like moths to a musical flame.

The musical artists talking about mental health and neurodivergence are not all members of Gen Z, but listeners from our generation made the market for music addressing these themes grow exponentially. 

This growth is evident in the popularity of songs like Doechii’s “Anxiety,” which saw frequent use as a TikTok audio and received 35 million views on YouTube in two months.

Aster Gallus, an occupational therapist who frequently works with neurodivergent youth, said members of Gen Z are typically far more self-aware about signs of neurodivergence and are more proactive about their own mental health than older generations.

“A lot of the proactivity is another form of control,” Gallus said. “Each generation has its unique take on control.”

Jenzi Silverman, an instructor with the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing who teaches classes on music and wellness, said music depicting themes of neurodivergence and mental health plays an important role in combating historical stigma around these issues. 

“I am so happy that so many musicians are doing this just in recent years,” Silverman said. “There has long been real stigma against people who have mental health issues or people who are neurodivergent.”

Note by note, the music scene is becoming more sympathetic to those struggling with neurodivergence and mental health issues. Rap music, for example, saw a notable increase in the use of mental health metaphors and mentions of depression and suicide from 1998 to 2018.

“Another much more recent example is Ariana Grande’s song ‘Breathin,’ which she wrote and recorded when she was having struggles with panic attacks herself,” Silverman said. 

Gallus said music referencing mental well-being provides an opportunity for many to explore themselves in a world where a variety of stressors make it increasingly difficult to mask their struggles.

“There are very honest takes on what it’s actually like to experience the mental health effects of being in the society that we’re in,” Gallus said. “I think music’s a really interesting expression of that.”

Part of the benefit of music that depicts mental health struggles is its ability to make listeners feel like the artist truly understands them and wrote the song for their individual situations, according to Silverman.

“If you’re in a bad headspace and you’re listening to music that matches that, you feel less alone,” Silverman said. “You feel like the songwriters and performers have understood the way that you’re feeling.”

For a group as in-tune with their mental health as Gen Z is, music provides a way to digest how our minds work without being overwhelmed by existing stigma or shame, making it a useful form of validation.

Silverman said she appreciates how Generation Z and Generation Alpha are willing to approach mental health and neurodivergence in far healthier ways than older generations.

“I’d encourage people to reflect on and explore how music helps them feel better when they might be in a bad headspace or just feel better about themselves and their relationship to the rest of the world,” Silverman said.

Music that references mental health and neurodivergence not only spreads awareness and allows listeners to work through their own problems, but also improves how we address these issues in our society.

A 2020 study of college students found that pop music that discussed various themes related to mental health improved mental health empathy, reduced stigma and increased participants’ willingness to help others improve their mental well-being.

In a chaotic and unforgiving world, music provides the opportunity to explore new themes, concepts and feelings in a healthy and productive way.

It’s important to recognize that mental illness and neurodivergence are serious conditions that should be discussed carefully and respectfully, not used for a joke at someone’s expense. However, not addressing these subjects keeps us from having conversations that we need to have as a society.

When made with good intentions, music that includes themes of mental health and neurodivergence goes beyond this exploration to allow for deep introspection and self-acceptance, especially among younger groups that are already more aware of their mental state.

As our awareness of our minds increases, this new musical market will only continue to grow, giving more and more people the chance for self-reflection.

Music is a fascinating mirror of both society and our minds.

Few other forms of media allow for such deep exploration of human nature in a format easily consumable by the masses.

Music reveals not only what aesthetics are popular at any given time, but also what themes and topics are relevant to the lived experiences of its audience. Music can show us what we care about at the deepest level.

Reflecting the experiences of young people today, neurodivergence and mental health are increasingly prevalent on the music scene.

I recently attended a concert by Will Wood, an artist who directly confronts themes of mental health and neurodivergence in songs like “Love, Me Normally” and “Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave.” 

This being my first Will Wood concert, I was shocked when I saw the crowd waiting outside the venue.

Not only was the crowd much bigger than I expected for an artist with such a niche style, but the vast majority of the audience appeared to be under the age of 30. It was like a magnet pulled members of Generation Z to the venue like moths to a musical flame.

The musical artists talking about mental health and neurodivergence are not all members of Gen Z, but listeners from our generation made the market for music addressing these themes grow exponentially. 

This growth is evident in the popularity of songs like Doechii’s “Anxiety,” which saw frequent use as a TikTok audio and received 35 million views on YouTube in two months.

Aster Gallus, an occupational therapist who frequently works with neurodivergent youth, said members of Gen Z are typically far more self-aware about signs of neurodivergence and are more proactive about their own mental health than older generations.

“A lot of the proactivity is another form of control,” Gallus said. “Each generation has its unique take on control.”

Jenzi Silverman, an instructor with the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing who teaches classes on music and wellness, said music depicting themes of neurodivergence and mental health plays an important role in combating historical stigma around these issues. 

“I am so happy that so many musicians are doing this just in recent years,” Silverman said. “There has long been real stigma against people who have mental health issues or people who are neurodivergent.”

Note by note, the music scene is becoming more sympathetic to those struggling with neurodivergence and mental health issues. Rap music, for example, saw a notable increase in the use of mental health metaphors and mentions of depression and suicide from 1998 to 2018.

“Another much more recent example is Ariana Grande’s song ‘Breathin,’ which she wrote and recorded when she was having struggles with panic attacks herself,” Silverman said. 

Gallus said music referencing mental well-being provides an opportunity for many to explore themselves in a world where a variety of stressors make it increasingly difficult to mask their struggles.

“There are very honest takes on what it’s actually like to experience the mental health effects of being in the society that we’re in,” Gallus said. “I think music’s a really interesting expression of that.”

Part of the benefit of music that depicts mental health struggles is its ability to make listeners feel like the artist truly understands them and wrote the song for their individual situations, according to Silverman.

“If you’re in a bad headspace and you’re listening to music that matches that, you feel less alone,” Silverman said. “You feel like the songwriters and performers have understood the way that you’re feeling.”

For a group as in-tune with their mental health as Gen Z is, music provides a way to digest how our minds work without being overwhelmed by existing stigma or shame, making it a useful form of validation.

Silverman said she appreciates how Generation Z and Generation Alpha are willing to approach mental health and neurodivergence in far healthier ways than older generations.

“I’d encourage people to reflect on and explore how music helps them feel better when they might be in a bad headspace or just feel better about themselves and their relationship to the rest of the world,” Silverman said.

Music that references mental health and neurodivergence not only spreads awareness and allows listeners to work through their own problems, but also improves how we address these issues in our society.

A 2020 study of college students found that pop music that discussed various themes related to mental health improved mental health empathy, reduced stigma and increased participants’ willingness to help others improve their mental well-being.

In a chaotic and unforgiving world, music provides the opportunity to explore new themes, concepts and feelings in a healthy and productive way.

It’s important to recognize that mental illness and neurodivergence are serious conditions that should be discussed carefully and respectfully, not used for a joke at someone’s expense. However, not addressing these subjects keeps us from having conversations that we need to have as a society.

When made with good intentions, music that includes themes of mental health and neurodivergence goes beyond this exploration to allow for deep introspection and self-acceptance, especially among younger groups that are already more aware of their mental state.

As our awareness of our minds increases, this new musical market will only continue to grow, giving more and more people the chance for self-reflection.

Music is a fascinating mirror of both society and our minds.

Few other forms of media allow for such deep exploration of human nature in a format easily consumable by the masses.

Music reveals not only what aesthetics are popular at any given time, but also what themes and topics are relevant to the lived experiences of its audience. Music can show us what we care about at the deepest level.

Reflecting the experiences of young people today, neurodivergence and mental health are increasingly prevalent on the music scene.

I recently attended a concert by Will Wood, an artist who directly confronts themes of mental health and neurodivergence in songs like “Love, Me Normally” and “Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave.” 

This being my first Will Wood concert, I was shocked when I saw the crowd waiting outside the venue.

Not only was the crowd much bigger than I expected for an artist with such a niche style, but the vast majority of the audience appeared to be under the age of 30. It was like a magnet pulled members of Generation Z to the venue like moths to a musical flame.

The musical artists talking about mental health and neurodivergence are not all members of Gen Z, but listeners from our generation made the market for music addressing these themes grow exponentially. 

This growth is evident in the popularity of songs like Doechii’s “Anxiety,” which saw frequent use as a TikTok audio and received 35 million views on YouTube in two months.

Aster Gallus, an occupational therapist who frequently works with neurodivergent youth, said members of Gen Z are typically far more self-aware about signs of neurodivergence and are more proactive about their own mental health than older generations.

“A lot of the proactivity is another form of control,” Gallus said. “Each generation has its unique take on control.”

Jenzi Silverman, an instructor with the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing who teaches classes on music and wellness, said music depicting themes of neurodivergence and mental health plays an important role in combating historical stigma around these issues. 

“I am so happy that so many musicians are doing this just in recent years,” Silverman said. “There has long been real stigma against people who have mental health issues or people who are neurodivergent.”

Note by note, the music scene is becoming more sympathetic to those struggling with neurodivergence and mental health issues. Rap music, for example, saw a notable increase in the use of mental health metaphors and mentions of depression and suicide from 1998 to 2018.

“Another much more recent example is Ariana Grande’s song ‘Breathin,’ which she wrote and recorded when she was having struggles with panic attacks herself,” Silverman said. 

Gallus said music referencing mental well-being provides an opportunity for many to explore themselves in a world where a variety of stressors make it increasingly difficult to mask their struggles.

“There are very honest takes on what it’s actually like to experience the mental health effects of being in the society that we’re in,” Gallus said. “I think music’s a really interesting expression of that.”

Part of the benefit of music that depicts mental health struggles is its ability to make listeners feel like the artist truly understands them and wrote the song for their individual situations, according to Silverman.

“If you’re in a bad headspace and you’re listening to music that matches that, you feel less alone,” Silverman said. “You feel like the songwriters and performers have understood the way that you’re feeling.”

For a group as in-tune with their mental health as Gen Z is, music provides a way to digest how our minds work without being overwhelmed by existing stigma or shame, making it a useful form of validation.

Silverman said she appreciates how Generation Z and Generation Alpha are willing to approach mental health and neurodivergence in far healthier ways than older generations.

“I’d encourage people to reflect on and explore how music helps them feel better when they might be in a bad headspace or just feel better about themselves and their relationship to the rest of the world,” Silverman said.

Music that references mental health and neurodivergence not only spreads awareness and allows listeners to work through their own problems, but also improves how we address these issues in our society.

A 2020 study of college students found that pop music that discussed various themes related to mental health improved mental health empathy, reduced stigma and increased participants’ willingness to help others improve their mental well-being.

In a chaotic and unforgiving world, music provides the opportunity to explore new themes, concepts and feelings in a healthy and productive way.

It’s important to recognize that mental illness and neurodivergence are serious conditions that should be discussed carefully and respectfully, not used for a joke at someone’s expense. However, not addressing these subjects keeps us from having conversations that we need to have as a society.

When made with good intentions, music that includes themes of mental health and neurodivergence goes beyond this exploration to allow for deep introspection and self-acceptance, especially among younger groups that are already more aware of their mental state.

As our awareness of our minds increases, this new musical market will only continue to grow, giving more and more people the chance for self-reflection.

Music is a fascinating mirror of both society and our minds.

Few other forms of media allow for such deep exploration of human nature in a format easily consumable by the masses.

Music reveals not only what aesthetics are popular at any given time, but also what themes and topics are relevant to the lived experiences of its audience. Music can show us what we care about at the deepest level.

Reflecting the experiences of young people today, neurodivergence and mental health are increasingly prevalent on the music scene.

I recently attended a concert by Will Wood, an artist who directly confronts themes of mental health and neurodivergence in songs like “Love, Me Normally” and “Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave.” 

This being my first Will Wood concert, I was shocked when I saw the crowd waiting outside the venue.

Not only was the crowd much bigger than I expected for an artist with such a niche style, but the vast majority of the audience appeared to be under the age of 30. It was like a magnet pulled members of Generation Z to the venue like moths to a musical flame.

The musical artists talking about mental health and neurodivergence are not all members of Gen Z, but listeners from our generation made the market for music addressing these themes grow exponentially. 

This growth is evident in the popularity of songs like Doechii’s “Anxiety,” which saw frequent use as a TikTok audio and received 35 million views on YouTube in two months.

Aster Gallus, an occupational therapist who frequently works with neurodivergent youth, said members of Gen Z are typically far more self-aware about signs of neurodivergence and are more proactive about their own mental health than older generations.

“A lot of the proactivity is another form of control,” Gallus said. “Each generation has its unique take on control.”

Jenzi Silverman, an instructor with the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing who teaches classes on music and wellness, said music depicting themes of neurodivergence and mental health plays an important role in combating historical stigma around these issues. 

“I am so happy that so many musicians are doing this just in recent years,” Silverman said. “There has long been real stigma against people who have mental health issues or people who are neurodivergent.”

Note by note, the music scene is becoming more sympathetic to those struggling with neurodivergence and mental health issues. Rap music, for example, saw a notable increase in the use of mental health metaphors and mentions of depression and suicide from 1998 to 2018.

“Another much more recent example is Ariana Grande’s song ‘Breathin,’ which she wrote and recorded when she was having struggles with panic attacks herself,” Silverman said. 

Gallus said music referencing mental well-being provides an opportunity for many to explore themselves in a world where a variety of stressors make it increasingly difficult to mask their struggles.

“There are very honest takes on what it’s actually like to experience the mental health effects of being in the society that we’re in,” Gallus said. “I think music’s a really interesting expression of that.”

Part of the benefit of music that depicts mental health struggles is its ability to make listeners feel like the artist truly understands them and wrote the song for their individual situations, according to Silverman.

“If you’re in a bad headspace and you’re listening to music that matches that, you feel less alone,” Silverman said. “You feel like the songwriters and performers have understood the way that you’re feeling.”

For a group as in-tune with their mental health as Gen Z is, music provides a way to digest how our minds work without being overwhelmed by existing stigma or shame, making it a useful form of validation.

Silverman said she appreciates how Generation Z and Generation Alpha are willing to approach mental health and neurodivergence in far healthier ways than older generations.

“I’d encourage people to reflect on and explore how music helps them feel better when they might be in a bad headspace or just feel better about themselves and their relationship to the rest of the world,” Silverman said.

Music that references mental health and neurodivergence not only spreads awareness and allows listeners to work through their own problems, but also improves how we address these issues in our society.

A 2020 study of college students found that pop music that discussed various themes related to mental health improved mental health empathy, reduced stigma and increased participants’ willingness to help others improve their mental well-being.

In a chaotic and unforgiving world, music provides the opportunity to explore new themes, concepts and feelings in a healthy and productive way.

It’s important to recognize that mental illness and neurodivergence are serious conditions that should be discussed carefully and respectfully, not used for a joke at someone’s expense. However, not addressing these subjects keeps us from having conversations that we need to have as a society.

When made with good intentions, music that includes themes of mental health and neurodivergence goes beyond this exploration to allow for deep introspection and self-acceptance, especially among younger groups that are already more aware of their mental state.

As our awareness of our minds increases, this new musical market will only continue to grow, giving more and more people the chance for self-reflection.

Music is a fascinating mirror of both society and our minds.

Few other forms of media allow for such deep exploration of human nature in a format easily consumable by the masses.

Music reveals not only what aesthetics are popular at any given time, but also what themes and topics are relevant to the lived experiences of its audience. Music can show us what we care about at the deepest level.

Reflecting the experiences of young people today, neurodivergence and mental health are increasingly prevalent on the music scene.

I recently attended a concert by Will Wood, an artist who directly confronts themes of mental health and neurodivergence in songs like “Love, Me Normally” and “Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave.” 

This being my first Will Wood concert, I was shocked when I saw the crowd waiting outside the venue.

Not only was the crowd much bigger than I expected for an artist with such a niche style, but the vast majority of the audience appeared to be under the age of 30. It was like a magnet pulled members of Generation Z to the venue like moths to a musical flame.

The musical artists talking about mental health and neurodivergence are not all members of Gen Z, but listeners from our generation made the market for music addressing these themes grow exponentially. 

This growth is evident in the popularity of songs like Doechii’s “Anxiety,” which saw frequent use as a TikTok audio and received 35 million views on YouTube in two months.

Aster Gallus, an occupational therapist who frequently works with neurodivergent youth, said members of Gen Z are typically far more self-aware about signs of neurodivergence and are more proactive about their own mental health than older generations.

“A lot of the proactivity is another form of control,” Gallus said. “Each generation has its unique take on control.”

Jenzi Silverman, an instructor with the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing who teaches classes on music and wellness, said music depicting themes of neurodivergence and mental health plays an important role in combating historical stigma around these issues. 

“I am so happy that so many musicians are doing this just in recent years,” Silverman said. “There has long been real stigma against people who have mental health issues or people who are neurodivergent.”

Note by note, the music scene is becoming more sympathetic to those struggling with neurodivergence and mental health issues. Rap music, for example, saw a notable increase in the use of mental health metaphors and mentions of depression and suicide from 1998 to 2018.

“Another much more recent example is Ariana Grande’s song ‘Breathin,’ which she wrote and recorded when she was having struggles with panic attacks herself,” Silverman said. 

Gallus said music referencing mental well-being provides an opportunity for many to explore themselves in a world where a variety of stressors make it increasingly difficult to mask their struggles.

“There are very honest takes on what it’s actually like to experience the mental health effects of being in the society that we’re in,” Gallus said. “I think music’s a really interesting expression of that.”

Part of the benefit of music that depicts mental health struggles is its ability to make listeners feel like the artist truly understands them and wrote the song for their individual situations, according to Silverman.

“If you’re in a bad headspace and you’re listening to music that matches that, you feel less alone,” Silverman said. “You feel like the songwriters and performers have understood the way that you’re feeling.”

For a group as in-tune with their mental health as Gen Z is, music provides a way to digest how our minds work without being overwhelmed by existing stigma or shame, making it a useful form of validation.

Silverman said she appreciates how Generation Z and Generation Alpha are willing to approach mental health and neurodivergence in far healthier ways than older generations.

“I’d encourage people to reflect on and explore how music helps them feel better when they might be in a bad headspace or just feel better about themselves and their relationship to the rest of the world,” Silverman said.

Music that references mental health and neurodivergence not only spreads awareness and allows listeners to work through their own problems, but also improves how we address these issues in our society.

A 2020 study of college students found that pop music that discussed various themes related to mental health improved mental health empathy, reduced stigma and increased participants’ willingness to help others improve their mental well-being.

In a chaotic and unforgiving world, music provides the opportunity to explore new themes, concepts and feelings in a healthy and productive way.

It’s important to recognize that mental illness and neurodivergence are serious conditions that should be discussed carefully and respectfully, not used for a joke at someone’s expense. However, not addressing these subjects keeps us from having conversations that we need to have as a society.

When made with good intentions, music that includes themes of mental health and neurodivergence goes beyond this exploration to allow for deep introspection and self-acceptance, especially among younger groups that are already more aware of their mental state.

As our awareness of our minds increases, this new musical market will only continue to grow, giving more and more people the chance for self-reflection.

Few things in life are as important as staying healthy. No matter if you are a college student or a retiree, staying in good physical and mental shape is the only way we can make sure we all live long and happy lives.

However, in the United States, staying healthy comes at a cost. 

Between the government and private citizens, the U.S. spent $4.9 trillion on healthcare in 2023. In the same year, healthcare expenses made up 8% of the average family’s annual expenses, which can amount to thousands of dollars spent per household.

Healthcare’s large price tag is why both state and federal governments have programs like Medicaid that are designed to cover the healthcare costs of those who can’t afford them. 

Yet, these programs are under the scrutiny of lawmakers. As part of negotiations around the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, both U.S. House and Senate Republicans released versions of a budget plan that would cut funding from and impose new restrictions on Medicaid recipients.

According to an early estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, these cuts would redirect $625 billion away from the Medicaid program and lead to 7.6 million Americans becoming uninsured over the next ten years. 

These federal cuts are compounded by recent cuts to Minnesota state programs, including the repealing of a 2023 law that provided healthcare coverage to adults living in the country illegally.

These cuts don’t just impact those losing their healthcare coverage. The ripple effects will be felt across the healthcare system, especially in emergency rooms.

Lynn Blewett, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota and the director of the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, said cuts to medical coverage force patients to skip important preventative care steps such as vaccines, causing them to end up in the emergency room with more serious conditions.

“If you wait until it’s the worst case scenario and go to an ED, the hospital has to provide you treatment,” Blewett said. “They get no reimbursement from any program to cover the cost.”

Kim Tjaden, a St. Cloud-based family medicine physician and chair of the Minnesota Medical Association’s Board of Trustees, said emergency rooms, which are already strained, will feel the effects of healthcare cuts due to their obligation to treat everyone.

“ERs cannot and will not turn people away, it’s an ethical as well as a legal obligation,” Tjaden said. “So if you are there and you are sick, I have to take care of you.”

Tjaden added that life-saving medical care in emergency situations is much more expensive than long-term preventative care, increasing the economic burden on both patients and hospitals.

“The cost of me seeing you and managing your blood pressure for ten years is cheaper than you coming in with heart failure in ten years,” Tjaden said.

Cutting healthcare coverage for patients does not mean their health needs magically disappear. The 7.6 million Americans who may lose out on Medicaid coverage will still have emergencies, and those emergencies need to be paid for.

Blewett said the additional cost of paying for emergency healthcare for people without insurance will be distributed to all patients by the hospital, making healthcare more expensive for everyone in the long run.

“What happens is they build those costs into the overall cost structure and expenditures, and it’s spread across the entire system,” Blewett said. “Those who have insurance pay more because we all continue to pay for that care, and we pay it in more inefficient and low-quality ways.”

Outside of the increased strain on hospitals, certain groups will also feel the effects of these cuts more strongly than others.

Blewett said University students from low-income households would be among those targeted by many of the proposed restrictions on Medicaid, including new work or volunteering requirements to qualify for coverage.

“If any student is already on Medicaid, these cuts are targeted to you,” Blewett said. “You’re going to have to tell how you’re working, where you’re working, all the paperwork, we don’t really know what it’s going to be, but it’s going to be onerous.”

Tjaden said people without legal status in the U.S., who are already less inclined to get medical care, will be further driven away by state-level cuts to their insurance coverage.

“They’re already nervous about coming in,” Tjaden said. “If we take away their health insurance, again, we’re gonna lose all of that prevention, and then we’re gonna have much higher costs and much sicker folks down the road.”

Medicaid cuts would also hit rural Minnesotans particularly hard, as rural counties have significantly higher percentages of people on Medicaid than urban counties.

Tjaden said people in rural areas, particularly farmers, depend on Medicaid for health coverage due to a lack of other options.

“They don’t work for big companies that offer health insurance, and they don’t have the finances to buy their own health insurance,” Tjaden said. “So, they really need systems like Medicaid.”

Cuts to government-provided healthcare increase the burden on our healthcare system and threaten the health of all Minnesotans. These burdens only increase healthcare prices in the long run, worsening the problem.

While healthcare is expensive and budget deficits are an important problem, cutting healthcare coverage for the most vulnerable among us is not the solution.

Few things in life are as important as staying healthy. No matter if you are a college student or a retiree, staying in good physical and mental shape is the only way we can make sure we all live long and happy lives.

However, in the United States, staying healthy comes at a cost. 

Between the government and private citizens, the U.S. spent $4.9 trillion on healthcare in 2023. In the same year, healthcare expenses made up 8% of the average family’s annual expenses, which can amount to thousands of dollars spent per household.

Healthcare’s large price tag is why both state and federal governments have programs like Medicaid that are designed to cover the healthcare costs of those who can’t afford them. 

Yet, these programs are under the scrutiny of lawmakers. As part of negotiations around the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, both U.S. House and Senate Republicans released versions of a budget plan that would cut funding from and impose new restrictions on Medicaid recipients.

According to an early estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, these cuts would redirect $625 billion away from the Medicaid program and lead to 7.6 million Americans becoming uninsured over the next ten years. 

These federal cuts are compounded by recent cuts to Minnesota state programs, including the repealing of a 2023 law that provided healthcare coverage to adults living in the country illegally.

These cuts don’t just impact those losing their healthcare coverage. The ripple effects will be felt across the healthcare system, especially in emergency rooms.

Lynn Blewett, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota and the director of the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, said cuts to medical coverage force patients to skip important preventative care steps such as vaccines, causing them to end up in the emergency room with more serious conditions.

“If you wait until it’s the worst case scenario and go to an ED, the hospital has to provide you treatment,” Blewett said. “They get no reimbursement from any program to cover the cost.”

Kim Tjaden, a St. Cloud-based family medicine physician and chair of the Minnesota Medical Association’s Board of Trustees, said emergency rooms, which are already strained, will feel the effects of healthcare cuts due to their obligation to treat everyone.

“ERs cannot and will not turn people away, it’s an ethical as well as a legal obligation,” Tjaden said. “So if you are there and you are sick, I have to take care of you.”

Tjaden added that life-saving medical care in emergency situations is much more expensive than long-term preventative care, increasing the economic burden on both patients and hospitals.

“The cost of me seeing you and managing your blood pressure for ten years is cheaper than you coming in with heart failure in ten years,” Tjaden said.

Cutting healthcare coverage for patients does not mean their health needs magically disappear. The 7.6 million Americans who may lose out on Medicaid coverage will still have emergencies, and those emergencies need to be paid for.

Blewett said the additional cost of paying for emergency healthcare for people without insurance will be distributed to all patients by the hospital, making healthcare more expensive for everyone in the long run.

“What happens is they build those costs into the overall cost structure and expenditures, and it’s spread across the entire system,” Blewett said. “Those who have insurance pay more because we all continue to pay for that care, and we pay it in more inefficient and low-quality ways.”

Outside of the increased strain on hospitals, certain groups will also feel the effects of these cuts more strongly than others.

Blewett said University students from low-income households would be among those targeted by many of the proposed restrictions on Medicaid, including new work or volunteering requirements to qualify for coverage.

“If any student is already on Medicaid, these cuts are targeted to you,” Blewett said. “You’re going to have to tell how you’re working, where you’re working, all the paperwork, we don’t really know what it’s going to be, but it’s going to be onerous.”

Tjaden said people without legal status in the U.S., who are already less inclined to get medical care, will be further driven away by state-level cuts to their insurance coverage.

“They’re already nervous about coming in,” Tjaden said. “If we take away their health insurance, again, we’re gonna lose all of that prevention, and then we’re gonna have much higher costs and much sicker folks down the road.”

Medicaid cuts would also hit rural Minnesotans particularly hard, as rural counties have significantly higher percentages of people on Medicaid than urban counties.

Tjaden said people in rural areas, particularly farmers, depend on Medicaid for health coverage due to a lack of other options.

“They don’t work for big companies that offer health insurance, and they don’t have the finances to buy their own health insurance,” Tjaden said. “So, they really need systems like Medicaid.”

Cuts to government-provided healthcare increase the burden on our healthcare system and threaten the health of all Minnesotans. These burdens only increase healthcare prices in the long run, worsening the problem.

While healthcare is expensive and budget deficits are an important problem, cutting healthcare coverage for the most vulnerable among us is not the solution.

Do you ever envision yourself in a world you saw in a movie, book or show?

In our vibrant and accessible media landscape, it feels only natural to picture yourself in a “Star Wars” space battle or walking in the halls of Hogwarts. Imagination knows no limits when we have a wide range of media to choose from.

Whether it be through fan art on Pinterest or fanfiction on sites like FanFiction or Archive of Our Own, creating their own media inspired by existing stories allows fans to engage with media more deeply.

Although fan-created media sometimes faces unfair criticism, this artistry goes beyond idle creativity, allowing people to explore facets of themselves through existing media.

Nou-Chee Chang, a communications graduate student at the University of Minnesota who previously studied fandom media, said people tend to draw what they want from media. 

“All media texts speak to various social, political and cultural aspects that people gravitate toward and find resonating,” Chang said. “Audiences then pull parts from these texts that they find align with them to create avenues in developing their own identities.”

Ruth DeFoster, an assistant professor in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said that while the concepts of fandoms and fan media date back centuries, the accessibility of online platforms and our increasingly consolidated media landscape encouraged members of Generation Z to grow fandoms and engage with fan-created content.

“There are two elements,” DeFoster said. “One, it’s accessibility, and we all have tiny computers in our hands, so we can access the internet whenever we want. Two, going back to my pop culture class, it’s political economy, the consolidation of media, and the fact that four or five companies own every single type of text that we consume.”

DeFoster said these societal factors also led to the increased popularity of fandom culture among young people. In turn, Gen Z moved away from older stereotypes like “jock” or “nerd,” instead using fandom labels as self-descriptors.

Alexa Mayerhofer, a communications graduate student who studies East Asian media and fandom culture at the University, said the dynamic and positive nature of fandom labels appeals to young people.

“The younger generation is tired of having an identity prescribed to them by society based on how they look, or their ethnicity or their gender,” Mayerhofer said. “Being part of a fandom, none of those typical labels apply, and anyone can take part and participate.”

This attraction to fandom labels and fan-created media is paralleled by the rise of fandom media sites like Archive of Our Own, which saw a record of over 40 million new comments in 2024. The site reached over 8 million registered users in January, with an estimated two accounts being added to the site every minute.

Despite this boom in fan-created media consumption and the crucial role it plays in identity exploration and creative expression, the stigma that it is a lesser form of art remains. Fanfiction, for example, is often derided for not being original or a legitimate form of expression.

Chang said part of this stigma comes from the idea that fans do not have the right to control characters or worlds in media, as many major franchises have strict protections for intellectual property.

“It’s a radical act of play, performance and imagination,” Chang said. “Creating these fan-texts pushes against copyright and ownership, which may deem these activities as illegitimate or illegal.” 

DeFoster said another major component of the stigma around fan-created media is the dismissal of women’s interests. The criticism of female-dominated fandoms is similar to the negative perception of romance novels, another major media source read primarily by women.

“Especially if you think about musical fandoms like BTS or girl and boy bands, those are often trivialized as being the domain of especially young women,” DeFoster said. “But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t interrogate them.”If we want younger generations to be able to further explore their identities in a healthy way, we must address the stigma surrounding fan-created media.

If art and literature were strictly graded on originality, even non-fandom media would face scrutiny. Creative acts are inherently derived from the artist’s experiences, and it’s natural for these stories to overlap and contain similarities. Pure originality is an impossible standard. 

Likewise, if we dismissed everything women like, we wouldn’t have classic pieces of media like the “Star Trek” series, which had a loyal female fanbase that helped convince NBC to keep the show on the air. Women play key roles in our cultural landscape, and they do not deserve to see their interests, fandoms or fan-created media looked down on because of their gender.

Media should be reviewed and graded on its own merits, not on its perceived originality or its fanbase. 

Don’t be ashamed of reading or writing fanfiction, creating fanart, or otherwise engaging with fan-created content. 

Our media helps us find ourselves, and if you find yourself through fandom media, then that media is no less important than any other creative work.

As a college student, I don’t believe we appreciate just how fascinating universities are as a concept. 

We as a society built centers of learning where the most innovative researchers, the most qualified teachers and the brightest students can work together to discover more about our world. Oftentimes, the diversity on these campuses reflects both their local area and the world as a whole.

In few other places will you find people with so many different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, all gathered together for a singular purpose — to learn.

This variety of students and educators is one of the main reasons why universities in the United States consistently retain a majority of the top 10 positions in ranking lists like those by the U.S. News and World Report and Times Higher Education, despite falling to 31st place in the overall education ranking from the World Population Review.

The sheer academic firepower of these universities attracts students and educators from around the world, further boosting the educational prestige and educational potential of the U.S. According to a report by the global nonprofit Institute of International Education, the U.S. hosted over 1.1 million international students in the 2023-24 academic year, a record for the nation.

However, not everyone is excited about this educational tourism.

The Trump administration recently signaled it would begin to crack down on international students studying in the U.S., including attempts to stop Harvard from enrolling international students and threats to revoke Chinese students’ visas. Many of these attacks parallel nativist rhetoric about international students taking spots at prestigious universities from U.S. citizens, despite accounting for just 6% of the U.S. university population, according to the IIE report.

Tim Collins, a political science lecturer at the University of Minnesota, said the targeting of international students is meant to appease some of President Donald Trump’s base by targeting two groups that are distrusted by many on the political right — universities and immigrants.

“I think a lot of the administration feels like they are empowered right now to do whatever they want with regards to anyone who is not a native-born American,” Collins said.

Much like how many Americans do not acknowledge the tremendous positive impact that immigrant workers have on our country, many are similarly in the dark about how beneficial international students are to the U.S.

According to a report from the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers, international students contributed over $43.8 billion to the U.S. economy through tuition and living expenses and supported over 378,000 jobs during the 2023-24 academic year. In Minnesota alone, each international student contributed an average of over $32,500 to the economy, for a total of $488 million in a single academic year. 

The benefits of having international students last beyond their graduation. According to an article from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think tank, international students are at the forefront of innovation in STEM fields, with almost half of STEM graduate students hailing from outside the U.S. 

However, the article also notes that more and more of these students are leaving the U.S. due to factors like the lack of available visas, intense global competition for skilled workers and recent research funding cuts. This brain drain reflects a deeper problem — the U.S. is either unable to retain its talent or is actively driving it away.

Collins said most university professors, even those who may identify with the political right, cannot deny the tremendous benefits international students bring to the campuses where they study.

“Every professor likes international students because they are usually very conscientious and very committed,” Collins said. “To single them out when they make things better on every level is so strange.”

Collins said the advice of Stephen Miller — a longtime Trump advisor and immigration hardliner – explains most of the recent crackdown on international students and asylum seekers who aren’t white South Africans.

“He’s on FOX News all the time, he sees Trump every day,” Collins said. “He’s extremely powerful, and I think his empowerment explains most of this.”

Miller’s extremely strict immigration agenda and his proposed methods, which promised at least 3,000 ICE arrests per day, remain controversial. Miller is even divisive within the administration, allegedly berating officials in an emergency meeting of Department of Homeland Security staff.

If Miller gets his way and international students are either deported or lose their legal status, the effects across college campuses could be catastrophic. The University system taught over 5,700 international students as of fall 2024, granting the system both a variety of talented students and a critical source of income.

The University said in a statement emailed to the Minnesota Daily that teams are working to navigate recent developments, including the recent pause on student visa interviews at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.

“International students and scholars have been and will always be an essential part of the University of Minnesota,” the statement said. “The knowledge and skills they develop on campus and contribute to the broader community prepare all our students to become the next generation of world leaders who can work across languages, cultures and borders to solve shared global challenges.”

In the meantime, international students must deal with the impending perils of visa revocation, detainment and deportation, even for things as simple as expressing their opinions. A number of students, including Columbia University student Yunseo Chung and Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, were arrested after speaking out or publishing articles criticizing Israeli policy in Gaza.

Collins said while many international students are understandably scared to speak out against the Trump administration’s policy, he hopes they are able to use the resources available to them to continue their studies in the U.S.

“I hope international students know that they are welcome and loved,” Collins said. “And I hope they make use of the legal services available to them.”

In a time when American educational dominance is waning, American universities’ ability to attract the brightest minds from across the world has helped to keep U.S. industry and innovation afloat. The diversity on college campuses is not a weakness, but a strength, and deporting the very students holding entire industries up is economic suicide.

So, to all international students out there, I just want to say you are not alone. You are strong, you are intelligent and you should be praised for all that you do to improve our nation, not demonized and cast aside.

For a nation largely built by immigrants, the U.S. is quick to forget the faces behind many of its greatest innovations, and that is something we all must work to change.