Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
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Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, December 4,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMBMBVRY
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Editors:
Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne
Steve Baggs Emerald
Let your conscience be your shopping guide
i he day after Thanksgiving, I was
wondering what to do with my day. I
had a lot of homework, but I couldn’t
bring myself to crack a book with my
Deny in snocK
from eating
home-cooked
mashed pota
toes and pump
kin pie. Like
any self-respect
ing American
on Nov. 29, I -*
decided to head
out to the mall.
The Friday af
ter Thanksgiv
ing is supposed
to be one of the
biggest shopping days of the year,
when droves of frenzied shoppers con
Julie
Lauderbaugh
Judge Julie
verge on malls to buy, buy, buy! I was
n’t at the mall at 5 a.m. with the thrifty
soccer moms pressing their noses on
Nordstrom’s display windows—early
hours don’t agree with me. But by 1
p.m., it was obvious to me that most of
the soccer moms wanted to bring
minivan-loads of children into the fray.
After parking what seemed to be a
mile away, I pushed my way through
crying babies, angry parents and
hordes of teenage boys and girls
smacking their Bubble Yum with
holiday glee. The capitalist world
was my oyster — then I saw a leaflet
on the floor: “Nov. 29, 2002 — Buy
Nothing Day!”
Amidst all the joyous con
sumerism, someone had planted a
seed of doubt into my conscience. But
is one day of shopping abstinence re
ally effective or even worthwhile in
our struggling economy?
Buy Nothing Day started in 1993 by
the founders of Adbusters, a magazine
that proclaims to be “concerned about
the erosion of our physical and cultural
environments by commercial forces.”
More precisely, Adbusters is devoted to
showing Americans how stupid we are.
For this year’s Buy Nothing Day, the
organization mentions two main rea
sons why people should have refrained
from consuming on Nov. 29: the envi
ronment and poverty. The Adbusters
Web site says only 20 percent of the
world population (dubbed “the rich
western countries”) are consuming
more than 80 percent of Earth’s natu
ral resources, which causes an uneven
level of environmental damage as well
as a uneven distribution of wealth.
The organization got it right on the
first count, at least; Americans’ over
consumption and preoccupation with
packaging is what has metropolitan
cities and rural areas alike struggling
with overflowing landfills.
Adbusters thinks our gross con
sumerism is also attributed to poverty,
which the magazine links to terrorism,
albeit unsuccessfully. The magazine
has an idea about sharing the wealth,
which might be noble, but in this day
and age, it just isn’t safe. If incidents in
Kenya and Bali are any indication, ter
rorists don’t want the “rich western
countries” to share the wealth through
foreign tourists funneling money into
local economies. They want us eradi
cated from the face of the planet.
I’d hate to think that all of the Bub
ble Yum consumption going on in the
mall last week is going to be the cause
of another suicide bombing.? • i j
Buy Nothing Day is a great idea in
theory, but I believe shopping helps
drive our economy and keeps Ameri
cans employed. And all of the worth
while environmental and poverty
causes in the world aren’t going to
make any difference to me if I gradu
ate and can’t get a job to make ends
meet—especially a job at the mall.
I applaud those who let their con
science be their guides last week and
stayed at home. But for this bargain
hunting capitalist, putting my pennies
in a lock box the day after Thanksgiv
ing would be simply un-American.
Contact the columnist
atjulielauderbaugh@dailyemerald.com.
Her views do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
Exercise reigns over diet fads
I’ve tried it all, from Metabolife to Slim
Fast, and still it seems those few extra
pounds are adamant on staying stuck to all
the wrong places. It’s not a new quest —
many women are unhappy with the way
they look and are trying to find the easy way
to lose unwanted pounds.
So, after much research, I have found a few
ways to lose weight that work, and a few ways
that don t work so well.
This is in no way to be in
tended to be 100 percent
fact, but rather it’s just
some helpful hints from
my own experiences —
those that have worked
tVi rvon fVi/if
reaching for the German
chocolate cake.
Salena
DeLaCruz
Say it loud
The old adage that
hard work, exercise and
diet works, yes, but it is
necessary to actually
have the time and the motivation to “feel the
bum.” Being a college student, working at the
campus paper, working another job and still
trying to get homework done is difficult. I used
to dance, from when I was 4 years old until I
was 18 years old, not to mention playing soft
ball, volleyball and the football game that my
friends and I planned every fall.
It was easier than working out and keeping
myself “pumped up.” Now, it seems there’s
barely time to crunch it up. Last year at Clacka
mas Community College, I took a Health and
Fitness for Life class and lost six pounds in three
months, along with seven inches off my waist
and three off my chest. If you have the time and
the energy, this is definitely worth it. Don’t for
get to drink lots of water.
And Metabolife, a dietary supplement,
worked wonders for me. After high school, I
gained more weight than I was, or am, willing
to admit. My mom was usingMetabolife, and so
I started taking one before breakfast, lunch and
dinner. I felt revitalized, rejuvenated, ready to
take on the world. I lost 24 pounds in six
months. The down side — I felt like I drank a
full case of Mountain Dew. My heart would beat
very fast, and I’d have hot flashes and get nau
seous if I did too much while taking them. Who
needs methamphetamines? I had Metabolife.
Just last week, I tried Slim-Fast. My aunt had
been on it for nearly two months and had lost
about 40 pounds. Of course, to have any real
effect, one must be on the program for at least
one month. Here’s the basic plan. A shake for
breakfast, a snack of fruit or a Slim-Fast bar, a
shake for lunch, another snack of fruit or a
Slim-Fast bar and a sensible dinner
Hmmm... Sensible to me may not be sensi
ble to someone else because, you see, 1 don’t
like vegetables. And again, living as a college
student and buying sensibly is difficult when
it’s just easier to pick up a Big Mac and french
fries. Mmmm... I’m already getting hungry.
I did the Slim-Fast program for a little
more than a week, and the shakes actually
tasted pretty good — kind of like the milk
left at the bottom of your bowl after eating
Fruity Pebbles or Fruit Loops. Sweet yet
satisfying, it could also be compared to
canned milk. However, a couple of hours
after drinking the shakes, I was looking for
a little sustenance to make me feel full. So
basically, I seemed to want to eat more on
this program, but maybe being on it longer
would do more for me.
I got the most results with watching what I
eat, and no matter what, finding the time to
dance, exercise or play football — anything
but sitting around and watching television.
All that does is add more junk to the trunk,
and I have enough.
So get up and do something — don’t just
sit there.
Contact the editorial editor
atsalenadelacruz@dailyemerald.com.
Her views do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
Letter to the editor
Debating a resolution
On Wednesday at 3 p.m. in the EMU Fir Room, the
University Senate (the main legislative body of the Uni
versity) will consider whether or not it should concern it
self with the impending invasion of Iraq. If senate mem
bers decide that it is appropriate to do so, they will then
debate a resolution that would ask our government and
other United Nations member states to seek a peaceful
resolution to any disagreements with Iraq. Full text is on
the University Senate Web site.
This matter is of great interest to your readership,
who should be made aware that senate meetings are
open to all and that “all members of the University As
sembly shall have the right to introduce legislation and
to take the floor on any matter under discussion...”
“The University Assembly is composed of all... officers
of instruction, librarians, officers of administration; 18
members of the Student Senate; 25 members of the
ASUO Executive; and five members of the ASUO Con
stitution Court.” (Sections 6.1 - 6.2 of the University
Senate, Enabling Legislation).
Franklin W. Stahl
professor
molecular biology
Tuesday's article about January's income tax
measure ("ASUO shifts voting focus to Measure 28,"
ODE, Dec. 3) should have said that the measure would
increase the tax rate for personal and jointfilings by 0,5
percent, and for corporate filings by 0.33 percent.