News Notes

            Picture yourself walking across campus on the way to class, trying to enjoy the clear air and bright sunshine—that is until you get stuck behind a smoker. Then you choke on the air, trying to avoid breathing in the cancer-causing smoke. Ending up stuck behind a smoker on the way to class is one of my biggest pet peeves. I don’t care if someone wants to smoke, that’s their own choice, but it shouldn’t be in a place that affects non-smokers. I don’t want to chance getting cancer just because I’m breathing in someone else’s smoke.

            The first four-year public university in Minnesota, and also the first Fargo-Moorhead campus to ban smoking is Minnesota State University Moorhead. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, this smoking ban will take effect on Jan. 1 of next year. Another campus in the area that has banned smoking is University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, and that smoking ban will take place starting in October 2007.

            MSUM has managed to ban smoking, so I think North Dakota State University needs to be the next campus. There is a committee that is reviewing the smoke-free campus idea before they will take it to President Joseph Chapman. A smoke-free campus may be more difficult to implement on NDSU’s campus because NDSU has a bigger campus and more students than MSUM. I believe it is still worth a shot.

            People who don’t smoke shouldn’t have to deal with trying to avoid the second-hand smoke. If smokers want to endanger their health, then that is their own choice. Those of us who want to be healthy should be able to walk to class and out of buildings without having to walk through a cloud of smoke.

            The NDSU campus is beautiful, and each year its look continues to improve and become more beautiful. However, one big thing holding the look of campus back is the cigarette butts on the ground. Cigarette butts are unattractive to see all over the ground. If smokers would use the receptacles for them, it wouldn’t be so bad, but many people don’t seem to take the time to throw them away. Instead the butts just end up thrown on the ground.

            The time has come for changes to be made on the NDSU campus. A smoking ban would be a great way to clean up the atmosphere of campus. It would be an amazing change to walk across campus without breathing in a cloud of smoke or stepping all over cigarette butts.     

This week’s point: NDSU needs to try to implement a campus-wide smoking ban for the health of the college’s non-smokers and also to improve the way the campus looks.

            Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, is one of the candidates vying for the Republican Party nomination for the 2008 election. There has been much discussion already in the race about how sincere Giuliani is when it comes to many social issues. Giuliani has very moderate stances on a few social issues such as gun control, gay rights and abortion that are not going to sit well with more conservative Republicans.

Giuliani believes strongly in gun control, mainly because gun control is what helped him be able to lower crime rates during the time he was Mayor of New York City. Gun control is always a hot issue with Republicans and his moderate views on gun control could be difficult for Giuliani to overcome.

Gay rights is an issue which Giuliani find to be very important. He believes that gay couples should have the same rights as the rest of us. These feelings have a lot to do with the fact that he reportedly has quite a few gay friends and also lived with two gay men at during time in his life. The more conservative republicans are not likely to be comfortable with him supporting rights for gay couples.

Abortion is one topic that never really moves out of the spotlight, and with Giuliani things are no different. Even though Giuliani has stated that he wishes there was no such thing as an abortion, he still supports abortion in the cases where an abortion could save a mother’s life or a rape were involved. Giuliani does support the recent passing in the U.S. Supreme Court of the ban on partial-birth abortion. The fact that he does support abortion, even if he only supports it in some cases, could be a point of concern for conservative Republicans.

With Giuliani running as a Republican candidate a very important question to consider is whether he is going against what he truly believes in order to get the Republican nomination. It is important to have a candidate who truly believes in the issues their platform is based on so voters know what they are actually voting for. A genuine candidate may be hard to find, but would definitely be the best option.

If Giuliani is changing his views in order to get himself more conservative votes it is hard to be sure he will stick with those views if he were to win the nomination and then in turn, if he were to win the presidency. He needs to stick with the views of his platform, and voters need to know they are guaranteed a candidate who will stand by what they voted for.

It’s the third and final week of the reviews and this week it’s time for our concert review. Once again I’ll be giving you the girl’s view and Brad will give you the guy’s view. Here is where you can find Brad’s column:  http://www.areavoices.com/sportsguy2.  Brad and I chose to stay on campus and take advantage of free entertainment NDSU provides at their Live at Lunch programs. Live at Lunches take place a few times during the year on Wednesday’s from 11:30 to 1:30 in the food court on the lower level of the Memorial Union.

The April 11 Live at Lunch featured Edie Carey, an acoustic singer/songwriter from Boston who attended college in New York City. Carey is currently on tour around the country and we were lucky enough to have her make a stop in Fargo. Turns out we will be lucky enough to have her make another stop in here in Fargo, as she will be back at NDSU on June 13.

In our other two reviews I did my best to make as much fun as possible of Brad—and guys in general. It turns out Carey was such a good singer Brad and I both enjoyed her music very much. The only real gripe I have of Brad that day is he never stopped people watching. Sometimes I wondered how much attention he was paying to the music or if all his attention was focused on watching the people around him.

Carey has a unique sounding voice that was hard to compare. Brad and I spent a long time trying to figure out a comparable artist. It’s tough to say, but she had a little bit of the country twang, but sounded a bit like Alanis Morissette at the end of phrases at times. I could sit and listen to Carey sing and play her guitar for hours, and actually we did stay for her entire show.

Carey sang a few different sets of songs that she had written. I was very impressed with the uniqueness of her music as she was able to make each song sound different from the rest of her songs. Often she told a little background before she began a song, which I found to be interesting. One song toward the end of her performance, called “What love looks like” had a fun story behind it. Carey said a man got in touch with her and asked her to write a love song for his wife, because as Carey said, he was “stupid amounts in love with his wife.” I thought that was a sweet story, and actually that song was very good. A few other song titles of hers are “Lonely”, “Another kind of fire”, and “Violently”.

Overall I thought Carey was an awesome performer. She engaged well with the audience and told stories that made us laugh. Her songs were well-written and definitely something I could listen to anytime. Carey’s music is the kind to listen to if you’re in a mellow mood and looking to relax. If anyone gets the chance to see Edie Carey perform I would definitely recommend her.

Week two of the three-part reviews is here and it’s time for the girl’s/guy’s restaurant review. The restaurant we visited was Grazie’s Italian Grill. Here is where you can find Brad’s column: http://www.areavoices.com/sportsguy2

            Going to a restaurant of Grazie’s quality with Brad ended up being quite an adventure. Grazie’s is located at the Multiband Tower right off 45th St. S and is very easy to find—that is if you pay attention to the signs. If not, you may take a slightly longer route as Brad and I did. He was the one driving—not me. I’m still not sure how Brad missed the sign as it was a fairly large sign.

            When we arrived at Grazie’s Brad and I were quickly seated at a cozy booth next to one of many big windows. The atmosphere at Grazie’s was wonderful, with calming music playing softly in the background. The first song we heard happened to be one of my favorites, “Your Song” by Elton John and then moving into Sinatra and then Italian opera songs.

            Each table held a vase with one rose and a candle. The lighting was down low which would have made for a romantic meal if we had gone after dark. Daylight shone in on our table, making the candlelight ineffective. The walls were painted in a few different colors ranging from a deep purple to green to a dark tan. My favorite part of the décor was a very large pillar right in the middle of the restaurant. The pillar was huge and painted to look as if it was old and brick was starting to show.

            Our server, Brittany, came and took our drink orders right away. We may have been in a restaurant fancy enough to offer a nice wine list but that didn’t matter to Brad. He ordered a root beer. I just ordered water which I was pleased to see came with lemon—that’s always a nice touch. Along with the beverages we were brought bread and oil to dip it in. There were plates for us to use, but Brad apparently decided it would be a better idea to crumb all over the table instead. When I called him on the massive crumbing problem he was having he replied with “Plates? What are plates?” I just shook my head and gave him a plate.

After a few minutes Brittany was back and took our orders, and Brad ordered a four cheese fettuccini that had a long name he couldn’t pronounce so he ended up pointing at the menu. I decided to order something easy and went with lasagna. The service at Grazie’s was amazingly fast and we had our food in ten minutes. Brad dug right in on his fettuccini and sent sauce flying off the noodles all over the table. At least he somehow managed to miss his shirt. My lasagna was wonderful, definitely the biggest piece I had ever seen. It was eight layers tall and almost as big as my head. I managed to finish about half of my giant piece of lasagna, and even Brad had trouble finishing his pasta, referring to it as, “The Energizer Bunny of pasta” as he tried to shove the last few bites in and the pasta just kept on going.

I would definitely suggest Grazie’s as a great place to eat. The food was awesome, the service was fast and the atmosphere was relaxing. Grazie’s food wasn’t priced too high, our meals were about $10 each, and the quality of food and service you’ll receive is totally worth it.

Next week Brad and I will be back with the girl’s/guy’s concert review.

Finally the week has arrived for the first part of Brad Jones’ and my reviews. I’ll be giving the girl’s view and he’ll give the guy’s. This week is our review of the film “Music and Lyrics”.

In “Music and Lyrics” Hugh Grant plays Alex Fletcher, a has-been 80’s pop star attempting a comeback by writing a song to perform with pop superstar, Cora Corman played by new actress Haley Bennett. Fletcher has a complete inability to write lyrics, but a knack for melodies. Enter Sophie Fisher, played by Drew Barrymore, the plant-girl who talks incessantly. Surprise—the plant-girl has a talent for writing lyrics. Together they write a pop song for Cora and through the process fall for each other. Like most romantic comedies Music and Lyrics follows the basic recipe. Girl and boy meet, fall in love, have an argument and then somehow find their way back to each other.

I know my partner in this review, Brad Jones, will say the cheese factor was high, but, Grant and Barrymore create a light-hearted story that’ll leave you smiling. Often I caught myself laughing out loud at the goofiness of the dialogue between the two. Lines like when Sophie tells Alex he said something sensitive “especially from a man who wears such tight pants”. Alex quickly responds with the witty, “It forces all the blood to my heart”. If you could have heard the groan that came out of Brad’s mouth at that line you probably would have punched his arm much like I did—or at least you’d want to. It was funny, though it could have been possible Brad was much too distracted by something (or someone) to laugh at any of the dialogue.

Cora. A Shakira-esque young pop star with abs I’d kill for and long blond hair. Most of the time Cora was dressed in hardly more than one yard of fabric and usually dancing was around shaking her hips. Bennett did a wonderful job spoofing the pop world and the lavish lifestyle of young, hot pop sensations. Brad’s eyes never left the screen when the scenes involved Cora and he managed to completely miss the parody of pop stars.

For those who remember VH1’s Pop-Up Video’s you will appreciate the movie’s end. To tie up any loose ends of the story there was a pop-up video for Fletcher’s ‘80’s group Pop’s song “Pop goes my heart”. The video was filled with tidbits about Pop’s members and Sophie and Alex’s relationship, and I thought it was hilarious. It’s possible I only thought it was so funny because I loved VH1’s Pop-Up videos, but it was the perfect way to end the story.

            For anyone looking for a funny, heart-warming film, “Music and Lyrics” is the perfect way to go. Be prepared to walk out of the theater with a smile on your face and the catchy songs in your head. If you’re not careful the songs will stick with you the next day too and you’ll find yourself humming a strangely familiar tune. “I’ve been living with a shadow overhead…"

In two weeks Brad and I will be back with part two of the girl/guy reviews. You can find Brad’s column at http://www.areavoices.com/sportsguy2/

            The recent buzz in the news has been about college students and binge drinking. The stories made me roll my eyes. I do realize that binge drinking is a big issue. The news stories are right. Binge drinking does happen all the time. I was annoyed with how surprising the news broadcasts made the story seem. It’s possible I wasn’t surprised just because of the simple fact that I am a college student and I am surrounded by talk of drinking many times throughout the day. It seems to me that most adults, at least parents of teens and college students, should have at least some idea that there is binge drinking is going on in college and even high school settings.

            Many teen and college kids do have a problem with drinking, don’t get me wrong. There are about 11 million underage drinkers in the United States according to a 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The study also found that 7.2 million of those are binge drinkers, which means they have more than five drinks on occasion. College officials have also begun to notice a change in the drinking habits of students. Victor Hazard, the administrator at the University of Kentucky noticed in recent years more students are drinking just to get drunk. Hazard said now students are “drinking to become intoxicated as fast as they can.”

            The percent of kids who drink and binge drink has stayed almost the same since 1993. The intensity of drinking kids are engaging in has risen dramatically, according to Joseph Califano, president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbian University. I will never understand why people find it fun to drink so much they are completely wasted and end up with a nasty hangover the next day. Just as ridiculous is when people can’t remember what they did the night before because they drank so much. This might make me boring in some people’s eyes, but I like to remember the things I do and have control over my actions. Another thing—I really don’t like to throw up.

            There is absolutely nothing wrong with going out with friends to have a few drinks. Its fun and relaxing, and everyone needs time to just have fun with friends. The important thing is to remember to stop when you’ve had enough to drink. It is possible to have a good time with friends without ending up completely drunk by the end of the night. I say go out and have fun, but don’t drink just to get drunk. Remembering what you did the night before is a good thing. Try it—you might even like it.

This week’s point: Going out and having a few drinks with friends is fine. It’s when students get drunk as fast as possible that there’s a problem.

Next week be ready for part one of Brad Jones and my reviews. Brad’s going to give you the guy’s view. If you want the true reviews, you’ll want to read the girl’s view. We all know guys don’t always pay attention to details…

            The human papillomavirus (HPV) has about 100 different strains, some of which cause cervical cancer. The four strains that seem to be the ones linked to cervical cancer are strains 6, 11, 16 and 18. The two strains that are suspected to cause the cancer are both 16 and 18. Gardisil, the newly released vaccine that immunizes against HPV has been recommended for girls aged 11 and 12 to help prevent the sexually transmitted infection, according to The National Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Gardisil is available for girls ages 9-26, depending on what each physician decides.

            HPV is a very common sexually transmitted infection in young women, so young women need to pay attention to the opportunity they have for their health with Gardisil. About 7.5 million young women in America are infected with some form of HPV. College age women beware—HPV is much more prevalent in women 20-24 years old. In a study of 2,000 women ages 14-59, the college age women had a 44.8 percent rate of infection, according to Dr. Eileen Dunne, a medical epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control.

            Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women. In the U.S. around 4,000 women will die because of cervical cancer this year, according to the National Cancer Institute. It is important for young women to be taking precautions against HPV now, because cervical cancer usually doesn’t occur until midlife. A precaution taken when still young, such as Gardisil, is important to increases the chances of being healthy, at least as far as cervical cancer, later in life.

            A major argument against Gardisil is that giving the vaccination to young girls will encourage premarital sexual activity. This is ridiculous. There is no reason think girls will think that since they have the vaccine they should just go have sex. I like to think most girls will just treat the vaccine as just another vaccination and will be relieved to know they do have protection for some day in the future when they decide to have sex.

Dr. Jennifer Wu, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said, “We’re certainly not saying, ‘Go out and have sex now that you have the vaccine’, we’re just thinking that, “Ok, these women may or may not have more than one sexual partner, and this might help protect them.’”. It is important for girls to keep in mind that if they do engage in sexual activity, they still need to be careful and practice safe sex. Another argument by Wu is that the U.S. already vaccinates girls against Hepatitis B, which is a sexually transmitted disease. So really, I don’t see why it has to be a big deal to vaccinate against HPV.

The medical world is amazing. This new vaccine has wonderful possibilities for women’s health. According to Wu, if widespread immunizations occur, it is very possible to almost eliminate cervical cancer.

This week’s point: Young women need to pay attention to Gardisil and seriously consider this vaccine. Why wouldn’t women want to protect themselves from cervical cancer?

Keep watching for my local restaurant and movie reviews. Brad Jones and I will be giving a Girls/Guys perspective. Considering most guys will eat anything that’s put in front of them and probably miss the real meaning of the movie—you’ll want to read the girl’s view.

Cancer. One of the scariest words in the English language. Cervical cancer. Two of the scariest words. For women, cervical cancer is a huge concern as it is now the second most common cancer in women worldwide, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. An amazing development in the medical world is the vaccine called Gardasil, which was developed to prevent cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is the most common sexually-transmitted infection in the U.S. with about 6.2 million people becoming infected each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Out of sexually active Americans it is estimated that 70% will contract HPV sometime throughout their lives, according to the American Social Health Association.

There are around 100 types of HPV. Some kinds do cause mild changes in cervical cells but don’t cause cancer, and some kinds of HPV cause changes that may after many years develop into cervical cancer. It’s scary to think about how many different kinds of just one sexually-transmitted infection there are.

Most of the time the body’s defenses will heal the infection and women don’t come down with any of the health problems related to HPV. Though sometimes certain HPV types do cause abnormal cells and years later these cells can turn into cervical cancer.

According to Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, “This vaccine is a significant advance in the protection of women’s health in that it strikes at the infections that are the root cause of many cervical cancers.” Gardasil is a vaccine given in three injections over six months and has only been approved for females who are in the 9-26 age range. The only real downside is that Gardasil costs $360 for the three shots, but most insurance companies do cover the vaccine, according to the Associated Press.

In clinical trials Gardasil was almost 100% effective in stopping persistent infection and disease with the HPV types that are responsible for 70% of cervical cancers, according to the U.S. FDA. With results as effective as Gardasil has, I think eligible women would be letting an important opportunity for their health slip by if they don’t get the immunization.

One important controversy surrounding Gardasil is whether the vaccine should be made mandatory for school-age girls. Rick Perry, the governor of Texas signed an executive order that beginning in 2008 girls who are entering sixth grade will have to get the vaccine, according to the Associated Press. Even though I think this vaccine is important for women’s health there’s no reason the Gardasil vaccine should be mandatory. If a mother doesn’t want her daughter to have the vaccine, that’s fine. If a woman doesn’t feel as if she should get it that’s her choice.

This week’s point: Gardasil is an amazing medical achievement, but it should remain optional for women to decide whether to get the vaccine or choose not to.

Keep looking for my and Brad Jones’ Girl’s/Guy’s reviews of a local restaurant and a movie. He’s a guy. There’s not much of a chance of us agreeing and I’ll let you know the details you’ll want to read.  

After the amount of time Anna Nicole Smith has spent in the tabloids and in the news it would practically be a miracle for an American citizen to not know all about her. For anyone who somehow doesn’t know, Smith was a Playboy Playmate, reality TV star, model and she was involved in a lengthy, much talked about legal battle for her late husband’s fortune. In addition to all of that publicity, Smith’s son recently died while he was in the Bahamas.

Smith died February 8 in a Florida casino hotel of so far unknown causes. Since Smith’s death there have been two different legal cases occurring. One is a paternity case to find out the identity of the father of her baby daughter, Dannielynn. The other case dealt with the location of where Smith’s body should be buried.

Two men claim they could be Dannielynn’s father, which is my first annoyance. Anytime a woman doesn’t know who the father of her baby is I tend to think not very nice things about her. Now there’s this poor little baby girl out there and no one knows who her father is because Smith had too many partners.

I think it is completely ridiculous how much the battle over where Smith will be buried has been in the news. Smith’s boyfriend wants her to be buried in the Bahamas and her mother wants her buried in Texas. Does it really matter to anyone other than the people who were close to her? As far as this girl living in North Dakota is concerned, I really don’t care if Smith is buried in the Bahamas or in Texas because it doesn’t affect me.

Larry Seidlin, the circuit Judge presiding over the case said “I want her buried with her son in the Bahamas. I want them to be together,” according to the Associated Press. Seidlin eventually gave the court-appointed lawyer for Dannielynn, Richard Milstein, control over where Smith will be laid to rest.

Milstein decided to have Smith buried in the Bahamas to be with her son, according to the Associated Press. I’m glad they’ve all finally managed to figure out what to do with her remains. Not only will it be a relief for Smith’s family to be able to move on, it will be a relief to be able to turn on the TV and not see a story about Smith every time. If it makes me cold-hearted to think of myself and hope to once again being able to watch TV or read the newspaper without seeing a story about Smith—that’s fine with me.

This week’s point: It’s way past time to be through with the constant attention on Anna Nicole Smith. She passed away, now let’s let her rest in peace.

In the next few weeks watch for my movie and restaurant reviews. Fellow columnist Brad Jones and I will give a girl’s and guy’s opinion on a movie and a local restaurant.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the first nonprescription diet pill Wednesday. The new pill will be called “alli” and is a reduced strength version of orlistat, which is the prescription version weight-loss pill. Orlistat blocks the absorption of fat consumed which turns out to be about one-quarter of any fat that is consumed, or around 150 to 200 calories worth.

The drug is only intended for use along with diet and exercise and only for people who are over 18. Using the drug alone without a low-fat diet and exercise is not likely to be beneficial, according to Dr. Charles Ganley, the FDA’s director of nonprescription products. 

By making this product available to anyone I believe many people who truly do not need to be on any kind of weight loss plan will decide to buy the pill. One group I think will misuse the pill is young women who believe they are too heavy when in reality they are not overweight. Young women do not need to have a weight-loss pill so easily obtainable when there is already such a societal problem with eating disorders. I believe this new pill will help to increase eating disorders within the young women demographic of consumers.

The concern about young women taking this pill when they are not overweight should be something the FDA and GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the company selling “alli” have to consider. The company may have to require cashiers to card people who are purchasing the pill to make sure they are actually 18 years old. Something will have to be done in stores to ensure younger teenagers aren’t taking the pill.

Unless there is a case of someone being extremely overweight and they have been trying to lose weight with no results I don’t think there is any reason to take a pill to help with weight-loss. People just need to be determined and driven enough to change their diets and add an exercise plan to their schedules. I’ve read magazine articles about people who have lost 100 pounds on their own through a healthy diet and exercise. I’ve seen people I know turn their lifestyles around and lose thirty or forty pounds. Losing weight can be done the old-fashioned way and many people still choose that route.

Putting anything in my body that changes how my body works makes me nervous. What if there are side effects still unknown to scientists and doctors because the drug hasn’t been around long enough? Obviously the choice is up to each person whether or not they want to risk dealing with the potential side effects. Half of the patients in trials of orlistat ended up experiencing gastrointestinal side effects, according to Ganley. A 50 percent chance of gastrointestinal side effects is enough to make me say no way.

This week’s point: Try old-fashioned diet and exercise. Please think carefully about what you decide to put into your body.