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NSTATE Erie, PA 16563 September 17, 1998 Volume XLVII No. 4 :,r - ^7 _ . ,•,i. :.,
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Editor in chief of SWING magazine visits Behrend
By Ayodele Jones
managing editor
"I wanted to read about 'kick ass'
people, amazing people out there who
do the coolest things," said founder,
publisher and editor-in-chief of
SWING magazine, David Lauren.
This was the main reason why Lauren
started SWING magazine while a
sophomore at Duke University.
Lauren, who admitted that he was
nervous, was the first installment of
the Speaker Series on September 15
in the Reed Lecture Hall.
Tired of reading articles about noth
ing from the school newspaper "The
Chronicle," Lauren and a few other
students decided to create an alterna
tive medium to voice the concerns and
issues that twenty-somethings would
want to read about. Equipped with
no money, Lauren and fellow Duke
students went around campus and the
community asking for donations to
further their cause, finally receiving
a four thousand dollar grant from the
University. The first issue covered
stories about young people on cant
pus, the way students decorated their
dormitory rooms and the funky cloth
ing worn by students on campus.
Despite its courageous start,
SWING received unfavorable reviews
from The Chronicle, calling the maga
zine a "Swing and a miss and a waste
Michael Kern, new SGA senator
Stressed out students
can get help at Behrend
By Amanda Rush
staff writer
"Stress is that thinking-feeling that
I am out there by myself and have to
go on when all by myself I am prob
ably not up to the task." This quote,
from The Voice of Shame, by Robert
G. Lee and Gordon Wheeler, sure ex
plains how some of us sometimes feel.
In everyday life, everyone experi
ences stress.
Stress can now be considered a
major health hazard that contributes
to the five leading adult killers in the
country: heart attacks, cancer, lung
ailment, accidents, and suicides. Most
people turn to psychiatrists for help
in dealing with stress. More than 80%
into the SWING
of paper." Undaunted by these re
views Lauren continued to "sell" his
paper to prospective distributors and
stores, determined that his ideas
would fly. "Drive and curiosity cre
ated this magazine, SWING is a col
lection of ideas from young people, it
We are a generation that has everything ahead of us,
while empowering ourselves, we are more alive,
more media savvy and more educated.
includes articles you want to read and
write about, such as coming of age"
said Lauren
Now celebrating its fourth anniver
sary as a nationally distributed maga
zine, SWING continues to draw read
ers from the 18-34 demographic, its
main target audience. SWING maga
zine started with a staff of six students
and has now expanded to a complete
staff of twenty people, creating sto
ries which wduld captivate the inter
est of the SWING generation. The
magazine's unusual moniker origi
nates from the idea that the 18-34 year
olds' lives are in full swing and up
beat.
"We are a generation that has ev
erything ahead of us, while empow-
of psychiatrists' patients suffer from
stress related symptoms.
When stressed the body gears itself
into a 'fight or flight' reaction by
speeding up the heart rate, raising
blood pressure. All draw on maximum
energy to deal with the crisis. Al
though adrenaline helps you survive
in 'fight or flight' it does have nega
tive effects. Some short term effects
are; it interferes with clear judgement,
reduces enjoyment of things you once
enjoyed, damages positive frame of
mind, negative thinking, difficulty in
coping with distraction, and damag
ing self-confidence. When one is
under long-term stress you may find
that they are less able to think ratio
nally and clearly about problems. If
ering ourselves, we are more alive,
more media savvy and more educated.
We influence the songs on the radio,
the movies produced and practically
the entire culture" said Lauren. The
articles in SWING are geared to ad
dress issues that many "twenty-some
things" face, such as buying a car,
obtaining credit, and even personal
health. Other magazines are not writ
ten for or by twenty-somethings,
SWING was created to address these
Twenty-six year old Lauren em
phatically claims that "I am very
much like you guys, the cleansing of
my soul turns into stories, what I'm
nervous about becomes a story. We're
getting screwed by the government in
regards to Social Security and we in
clude these stories that relate to you,
your life and your job." There are
sixty-two million people between the
ages of 18 and 34 years of age, and
according to Lauren "We are the most
entrepreneurial generation. Sixty-two
photo by Andrea Zalfino
stress is recurrent, it can damage the
body's ability to cope with the con
straints of daily life.
While certain levels of stress ben
efit the bloodstream, too much stress
causes distress. Having an excessive
amount of stress, not knowing how
to deal with it, or experiencing a dif
ficult situation causes negative stress.
Eustress, known as positive stress, can
help someone achieve his or her goals.
A certain level of stress is necessary
to avoid boredom. Allison Parr-
Plasha, Behrend Personal Counselor,
stated that stress can be beneficial
because, "it can keep you alert and
continued on page 2
of things
percent of people between the ages of
18-34 think they're gonna be more
successful than their parents, 77% are
happy with their jobs and 87% ex
pected to be happy with their jobs in
the near future."
The SWING generation has many
issues confronting them including: the
environment, job security, relation
ships and world at large. "Magazines
are an exploration into other peoples
souls, and the stories in SWING are
outlets of ourselves," said Lauren.
SWING started with a staff of six col
lege students and now is a magazine
that is nationally distributed and ad
dresses the issues of twenty-some
things. Passion and determination
were the driving factors behind
Lauren's first entrepreneurial move,
and now Lauren is giving a call to
action, declaring it a "time to become
passionate about something and a
time to create you own instinct."
David Lauren
Beth Hiryak, 03, HPA, thought
"Lauren gave a very inspirational
speech, and he had a lot of good ideas,
it makes you feel like you have the
ability to do anything you want."
Trist Rupp, 07, English noted "Gen
eration X has redefined success and
even though David Lauren makes it
seem so attainable, when you take a
look around, reality hits you."
SGA chooses new Senator
By Ayodele Jones
managing editor
Election time has rolled around
again, well at least it has for Behrend's
student government. The Student
Government Association last night
elected it new Senator for an available
seat vacated by former SGA Senator
Stacey Erzen. On September 16, three
student applicants running for the va
cant position -- Ron Slomski, Charles
Testrake and Michael Kern -- spoke
in front of the entire SGA, express
ing why they felt they were worthy
of being a Senator.
Ron Slomski, 05 Political Science/
History, is a resident assistant at Be
hrend who wants more of a chance to
work with students. "It would be an
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Allison Parr-Plasha, new personal counselor at Behrend
David Lauren, editor in chief of SWING magazine
honor to represent the opinion of stu
dents. I would enthusiastically work
on behalf of students." said Slomski.
Charles Testrake, 05 Political Sci
ence, is a former SGA senator whose
term spanned two years. He has also
been on the Budget Committee and
the Traffic Appeals Committee. " I
have experience dealing with students .
and I hope I obtain the opportunity to
do so again."
Michael Kern, 07 MIS, is a self-de
clared hard worker who says "Since
I've been here, I've really leeched off
the campus, and now I am enthusias
tic to give something back and I want
to make a difference."
Despite the effort put forth by all
three candidates, only one was able
to fill this vacant seat. Michael Kern
zza
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courtesy of Public Relations
was voted in by SGA members and is
now an SGA Senator who is,looking
forward to fulfilling his duties as a
representative of the students. "I
would like to see the parking situa
tion resolved and I would like to see
SGA events more publicized and at
tended by students. I would also like
to increase the quality of life on cam
pus for commuters and residents."
Elections for freshmen Senators are
upcoming and three candidates --
Michael Ames, Christopher Buchan
and Yolayone Merced -- are vying for
the two open seats. In the interim,
the Computer Advising Committee
and the Parking Fee Committee have
been created to address student con
cerns about parking fees and space
availability and also the computer fee.
photo by Andrea Zaffino