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Drunk driving assembly conveys wrong message
u L auren P ak _____________
Staff Reporter
Free key-chains, T-
shirts and CDs fell like
hail on students on April
24 at an outdoor assembly.
People were laughing,
talking, music blaring...
BOOM! The sound of
an enormous firework
exploded and pounding
echoed throughout the
stadium. The bright mood
plunged, interrupted by the
reenactment of a severe car
accident.
I think that this scene
was brought even closer to
reality by using students
who attend West Linn.
Reading out loud the
casualties' real life stories
really captured stunning
images of their lives and
painted clear pictures of
their daily actions. That
day over 1,400 students
took home thoughts of not
drinking and driving. But,
how many analyzed what
was really being said?
Overall, I thought that
the assembly was well
thought out and really
captured the students'
attention. However, even if
you had only tuned in for
five minutes, you would
have left the stadium with
one message. You can drive.
You can drink. But you
cannot drink and drive.
This message of not
w '•inking and driving was
^Yiphasized so clearly
that the main issue of
not drinking in the first
place seemed cloudy. As
of May 7, 2007 there was
a study conducted by the
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services that
concluded," Young people
who start drinking before
the age of 15 are five times
more likely to have alcohol
problems later in life than
those who begin drinking at
age 21 or older."
The article says that in
the U.S. there are 11 million
underage drinkers and by
the age of 18 more than 70
percent of all teens have
had a drink. Over 11 percent
of all twelve year-olds say
that they have used alcohol
at least once. One year
later, at age 13, the percent
doubled to 22. In the last
year of a middle-schooler’s
life, 41 percent have had
at least one drink, but 20
percent said that they have
been drunk.
The Teen Help; Schools
for Troubled Teens,
conducted a survey on the
illegal use of alcohol from
three different grade levels
in the U.S. in 2003. They
reported that 30.3 percent of
eighth graders have used/
are using alcohol, in tenth
grade, 44.9 percent and in
twelfth, 52.8 percent.
As terrifying as
these facts might seem,
these should have been
mentioned. By raising the
awareness of what alcohol
is capable of doing would
make a person think again
before chugging down a
shot.
In the future, any
assembly should go into
more depth on both the
short and long term results
of gulping down a glass
an en<
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make
demean others. |
What vocabulary are teens
using? What if the words we
used now followed us to our
adult years and others knew
the w ay we had treated
others— for effect, to gain
power, or just to be cruel?
Some say we are what
we eat, but we are what we
are also what we say Slang
and inappropriate English
affects how Sifts
we are seen;
appearance
ju st m
A person s vocabulary can
bring negative or positive
attention. Even one word
On the football field, WLHS students with the help of the Tualatin
Valley Fire and Rescue, re-enact a car accident caused by a drunk
driver.
Photo by Colton Reyes
Metamucil targets young women
m K aitlyn R agan ___________
Staff Reporter
"Drop-dead gorgeous guts"
and "Help your not-so-glam
insides reach supermodel
status." This is what the
new Metamucil ads read.
The ads picture attractive,
fit women who look to be in
their mid-twenties. For those
unaware, Metamucil is a fiber
supplement used mainly as
a laxative for older people,
but the makers of Metamucil,
Proctor and Gamble, have
launched a new campaign
which markets to young
women.
Why would women in
their twenties take a laxative?
According to Proctor and
Gamble, the supplement will
help users lower cholesterol
and improve heart health,
using the slogan "Beautify
your insides" in their
commercial. From the looks
of it, this is not a health
campaign, it is a beauty
campaign.
Nowhere in the ads or
commercials does the product
advertise the supplement as
a way to lose weight, but that
is not stopping experts in
the field of eating disorders
from anticipating problems
with abuse; especially when
the company implies that
the use of Metamucil can be
part of a ’healthy’ lifestyle.
If that was the only way to
get enough fiber into one’s
diet than maybe it wouldn't
cause so much controversy,
but whatever happened to
simply eating healthy foods
like whole grains, fruits
and vegetables? The ads are
trying to tell women they
need something that they
really don't.
Women who struggle with
eating disorders have for
years abused laxatives, and
with Proctor and Gamble
implying that a woman's
insides are unclean and need
to be beautified, women
prone to these kinds of
problems are sure to be lured.
If people's insides are so dirty
and in need of cleaning, what
about men? Why would this
product be advertised solely
to women? Because they are
more likely to fall for the
campaign, that's why.
Metamucil is not a drug
and is made of all-natural
ingredients, and as Dick
Podiak, Metamucil's brand
manager, said, "There's no
long-term negative effect"
from taking it. However,
it is recommended by the
company that it be used only
as a treatment for occasional
constipation, and that a
doctor should be consulted
regarding daily use. How
many women looking for an
easy and 'healthy' way to lose
weight will do that? Probably
not many. The makers of
Metamucil need to stop
preying on vulnerable young
women and sell their product
to people that actually need
it.
Stupid entertainers produce stupid news
s ä
Stick s anc
break your bones,
words can bum yc
H u rtfu l, m ap]
words are
e v e ry d a y by
around school. A hundred
years ago no one w ould
have thought a p erson 's
disability would now be
used as a way to in su lt
som eone; that a person s
sexuality would be used
as a way to denigrate and
of alcohol. I think that the
information would have
been more helpful and
made teens more aware.
Also, the parents of the
students who were in the
reenactment could have
read their own child's story.
This would have created
an even stronger impact
and emphasized how much
pain you would cause to not
only yourself, but to also
those who loved you. In the
end, instead of taking away
the thought of not drinking
and driving students should
have been left with the
message that drinking isn't
okay.
m S imon K irsch ____________
Business Manager
towards j
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extreme,
words
to anyone
say it.
are overused and useless,
There are so mi
bring each other down, but
is that really what you want
to do and how you want to
| be seen?
So what
time to really think about
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suggest
offend. L et’s
other, one word at a time.
______
Richard Gere kissed an
Indian Movie Star, and
receives warrant for arrest.
Alec Baldwin leaves angry
rant on his daughter phone.
Media scandal! Don Imus
said what?!
Paris Hilton: Headed for
prison.
Sanjaya Malakar's
ridiculous hair destroys Idol!
I admit it; there are times
when I do enjoy reading
the occasional article about
some celebrity. TIME usually
has great features about
good celebrity news, as do
some tabloid shows. But at
some point, one must ask
why? With celebrity news
dominating the 7:00-8:00
p.m. time slot, (its only
competition is "Jeopardy" and
"Seinfeld" reruns on the WB)
I wonder how tabloid news
is so profitable. Something is
wrong with our society when
the top story on local news
is Sanjaya Malakar. There is
no real solution to this crazed
obsession, but perhaps
the truth can be a strong
inhibitor.
As I said before, there
is nothing wrong with the
occasional celebrity news
story. Where would the
entertainment section of the
newspaper be without them?
I just am really sick of the
media hyping up stories that
they really shouldn't. Most
recently Imus, long time
shock jock and radio host
was fired for being a shock
jock and radio host.
But everyone with a TV,
computer or friend already
knows and has strong
opinions about the issue.
Therein lies the problem:
there is no issue with a
loudmouth radio host being
a loudmouth radio host. He
offended some people, get
over it!
I personally believe that
Imus should have held
his job. Is this situation
any worse than his other
homo-phobic, bigoted,
racist remarks? If not for
A1 Sharpton, Jesse Jackson
and their Black Crusaders,
not a single left-coaster
would even know about the
comment (the I-man is not
popular in Oregon).
The problem of media
circus is not unique to this
situation either. Remember
the non-stop cable news
storm surrounding the death
(and the way they covered
it, resurrection) of Anna
Nicole-Smith. She is not an
important member of society,
and though her death was
(slightly) sad...No One Cares!
Everyone from Bill
O'Reilly down to lowly local
news anchors were covering
the story. Why does America
so desperately want to read
about people's personal lives?
At some point our society
needs to get over itself
and realize there are more
important issues.
Slipil le»s________________ m
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