MSU ‘Nintendo-haulics’
confess their addictions
By Richard G. Epps
■ The Suite News
Michigan State U.
Ehren Gonzales is addicted.
But mind-altering substances are not I
his downfall. The business freshman is
addicted to his Nintendo video game set |
Tired of borrowing his friend’s set, !
Gonzales invested in his own. Life in his
dorm room hasn’t been the same since
“I’ve definitely gotten my money's
worth so far,’ he said. Tve been playing
it all the time.’
Gonzales, who plays Nintendo four
hours a day, said he does not believe his
grades have slipped since buying the set.
Conversely, he thinks Nintendo helps
him with his academic game plan.
“You need a stress reliever sometimes.
It’s good to play a lot in between study
ing,* he said. ‘I think it actually helps
me get my homework done earlier,
because I know when I’m done, I can play
Nintendo.’
A popular Nintendo game is Punch
Out!, a boxing game in which players
work up to fight the champ Mike Tyson.
“I might add that Buster Douglas isn’t
the only one who's beaten Mike Tyson,’
Gonzales said.
In addition, the game's fanatics are
prone to friendly disagreements about i
who reigns as the Nintendo champion
“I have conquered every game,”
Gonzales said “(My roommate) and I
just got into a big argument last night
about who won and who’s the best.’
Freshman Dave Carrier also stakes
his claim as the top Nintendo player.
They think they’re the best, but you
all know I’m the best,’ Gamer said, as
he introduced rookie Nintendo player
Brian Dickinson to a new football game
for the system.
*1 just started. I guess you could call
me an addict,’ Dickinson admitted. “This
is only the third day I’ve been playing it.
“What tune is it now? Three? I thought
it was one,’ he said, discoveri ng his after
noon dwindling away. Time flies when
you play Nintendo. It’sjust like watching
TV, and since you're sitting around doing
nothing already, you might as well play
Nintendo.’
“It’s the computer age. As computers
have gotten really hot, Nintendo is
looked at as a type of computer as well,’
said Rob Yuergens, manager at Circus
World toy store in East Lansing, Mich.
“It’s a toy in the sense that it is fun to do,
but people can get away with playing
with it’
But toy or not, Gonzales will continue
playing his Nintendo.
“You can get emotional with the game.
It's very easy to get addicted to,’ he said.
“It can make you start to lose your mind.’
I 1 Editorial
■|Fellowships
THE NATIONAL COLLEGE NEWSPAPER
Li. The National College Newspaper seeks applicants for its
1991-92 editorial fellowship program, scheduled for July
1991 to March 1992.
Li. editors select news, features and opinion articles, plus
photos and art from more than 350 college newspapers
in the American Collegiate Network. They edit, write
headlines and design pages, and write and edit special
reports about significant student issues.
The editors work at Li.'s headquarters in Santa Monica,
California. The paper provides a $200 weekly stipend,
free housing near the beach and round-trip transporta
tion.
Fellows are selected for their reporting, writing, editing
and design skills. They must have a minimum of two
years student newspaper experience, including one year
as an editor or section editor; and senior status or a bach
elor's degree as of July 1991.
Applications are available from newspaper advisers, or
from Jacki Hampton, managing editor, U. The National
College Newspaper, 3110 Main St., Suite 104, Santa Monica,
Calif. 90405 (213) 450-2921.
The deadline for applications is Feb. 11,1991.
Their other car
is an ambulance
■MM W MATH*. KANSAS STATS COLLEGIAN. KANSAS STATE U
Kansas State U. students Terry Broadbent (left) and Jim Hart, both emergency medical
technicians, inventory equipment in one of their ambulances.
Kansas students supplement classes
by working as emergency technicians
By Monica Marcotte
■ Kansas State Collegian
Kansas State U.
Jim Hart and Terry Broadbent
spend their Friday and Saturday
nights trying to get people out of
trouble.
Hart and Broadbent are Kansas
State U. students who work part time
as Emergency Medical Services tech
nicians. They work between 15 and
60 hours a week, in addition to being
on call.
Hart, a senior in pre-medicine, com
pleted a six-month EMS course. He
said he believes his work with EMS
is giving him valuable hands-on
training dealing with patients.
Broadbent, a junior in pre-nursing,
has been a part-time EMS technician
for the past six years but decided he
needed to look more to the future.
“I would like to put my emergency
training to use in a hospital emergen
cy roont, and there is more money in
it,* Broadbent said.
Both men have seen their share of
gruesome sights, including a head-on
collision near Wamego, Kan., in which
three people were killed.
“You have to get a little calloused to
be able to handle the situations all the
time,* Broadbent said.
Not all of the job involves tending
to gruesome accidents; EMS techni
cians also stand by at sporting events.
"We pretty much get to stand by and
watch football games," Broadbent
said. "It can get boring at times."
Two people are assigned to each
ambulance, with five people remain
ing at the station at one time, they
said. Both men said it was hard to pin
point any particular time when there
was a higher incidence of calls, but
they said people tend to be more active
when the weather gets warmer. The
average number of calls is seven per
day, but Hart said he has seen as
many as 18 in a day.
When the technicians are not out on
a call, they are constantly practicing
with their equipment, which includes
splints, cervical collars, spine boards,
and the "jaws of life," a device used to
safely extract victims from wrecked
vehicles.
Campus radio station sponsors
‘world’s largest trivia contest’
By Molly Bernas
■ The Pointer
U. of Wisconsin, Stevens Point
Question: Who recently hosted the
world’s largest trivia contest? Answer:
90FM, the student-run radio station at
the U. of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.
According to Jim Oliva, a coordinator
of the annual event, 370 teams and more
than 9,000 people from coast to coast par
ticipated in “Earth Games Are Easy," the
theme of the 1990 tnvia showdown.
The competition, in its 21st year, ran
for 54 straight hours late in April, begin
ning on a Friday at 6 p.m. and ending at
midnight on Sunday. The contest con
tained more than 400 questions asked on
the air in between the station’s “golden
oldies" music.
“Trivia is an enlightening experience,"
said station volunteer Jennifer Bugni.
“Anyone who stays up for 54 hours to
play trivia, or to work the contest itself,
definitely has to be dedicated or simply
crazy."
The team calling themselves
“Network* won the contest for the sev
enth year straight. “Network" is led by
Don Chesboro, a legal researcher at
Harvard U. and Thom Aylesworth, a
high school English teacher.