Oct. 9, 1975
A Message From
A Friend
By Jamie Marie Whitty
Guilt, self-pity, inadequacies seem to be the reoccurii
themes in the daily routine of my school life.
It is hard to leave an active three-year-old son evei
Tuesday and Thursday in the early hours of the morni'
knowing I will be away from him for a ten hour period. T 1
other days are interrupted many times by visits to the librai
meetings or necessary school reading.
Logically and intellectually, I know what I’m doing is be:
for him and his future. But reality does not always stay wi
a person-emotions enter in. I perceive myself as a vei
complex individual. I am sensible, of average intelligent
and quite liberated. But then I am sometimes withdraw
sensitive, compassionate and emotional. So I find mysel
with books in arms, driving off to school with tears in m
eyes looking at him standing there waving goodbye ar
calling “hurry home”.
I have started to notice his dislike for “text” books, and
is vehement in stating his feelings that school is not for hir
He will ask why I don’t stay home like Karen’s mommy ai
bake cookies and ride a bike all day. I hate to cook and bal
cookies, and my legs are too out of tune to go bike riding
day.
The psychologist said the quality of the time I spend w>
him is more important than the quantity of time, th
independence at a young age is’healthier for a child and w
help the child to adapt more quickly to society. He explain,
am having far more time now than when I become a workini
mother.
But there are other statistics to prove how children can
turn out without the mother or father in the home during the
day. And, by God's help, I don’t want my son to be a bad
statistic.
So what do I do? I spend an extra ten dollars a term on
little surprises to ease my conscience--if that be possible!
I try to have an intelligent conversation with myself-that
what lam doing, I am doing for him. I spend half of my free
time with my son trying to make absences easier for him.
The other half of the time I spend in self pity and in being
angry with myself for being so immature.
I have always been taught that books are your best friends
(they never talk back, need a bruise kissed, have to be told
that school is fun and he will love it or have a dog that barks
to go out at 3:00 a.m.) but you can’t cuddle a book, snuggle
under the covers with one or even laugh or cry with one.
When ttiaY mood hits, \ wonder it \ perhaps need a good
thend that ta\ks“bad”; skip considering that school is good,
buy a cookbook, get my legs in shape and just stay home.
But cou/d this result in the perfect mother-or frustration.
I am sure there must be other parents who are
experiencing these or similar feelings. There are many other
related subjects to be dealt with concerning today’s world,
women, men and their changing roles. You can have the
chance to explore these areas and many others. ’ You will
have the opportunity to open up and talk with others freely.
Give NOW a chance. Attend the first NOW meeting on
Monday, October 13th.
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Repayment Of
Med Grants Possible
(CPS)-Students graduating from professional health
schools may be hit with bills totaling as much as $40,000 if
Congress passes controversial legislation.
The proposed legislation would require health science
students to work for a given period in parts of the country
that are short of medical personnel or else pay back federal
grants used to subsidize their education.
The “pay-back or serve” requirement has unleashed a
barrage of opposition from many professional health
groups. “It’s involuntary servitude,” said a spokesperson for
the American Medical Association. “We don’t believe in
drafting students,” echoed Marlyn Aycock, an official of the
Association of American Medical Colleges. “It would
introduce a degree of federal control heretofore unmatched
in the annals of American medicine,” said Rep. Phillip M.
Crane (R-IL).
“Where I want to live and work is less important than the
state of the nation’s health care,” said Laurie Cappa,
president of the American Medical Student Association and
a medical student at Case Western Reserve University in
Ohio.
Yet proponents of th.e legislation argue that some measure
is needed to alleviate the shortage of doctors and health
personnel in rural and inner city areas. The problem could
be solved, they say, by encouraging national service from
the country’s most heavily subsidized students-a group that
can also expect to earn some of the highest salaries of any
profession.
The proposed requirements are part of a health-manpower
act that authorizes funds for educating students at schools
of medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, public health, veterinary,
medicine, podiatry, optometry and pharmacy.
During the summer, the House of Representatives passed
a bill which would require health science students enrolling
in freshman classes after June 30, 1976 to either repay
grants which the federal government gives to health science
schools on the basis of their enrollments, or serve in areas
needing doctors for a period starting two years after
graduating.
The price tag on each student’s debt-about $BOOO for
medical, dental and osteopathic students--would go beyond
the costs of their tuition and personal expenses.
Although the Senate health subcommittee has yet to
decide on a counterpart to the House-passed bill,
indications are that the Senate bill may put even more
demands on students. One of the six bills introduced in
subcommittee, for instance, would grant all medical
students a full scholarship and then require them to pay
back as much as $40,000~0r twice their tuition costs plus
interest-unless they agreed to serve for six months for every
school year they received aid.
| No one is making bets about the bill’s outcome, however,
iLast year the Senate subcommittee passed a stringent
i provision that Would have required all medical students to
{serve in . under—staffed areas, if needed. Under intense
i lobbying efforts from the American Medical Association, the
j Senate defeated the bill.
By Diane Auerbach
Marijuana
Penalties
Reduced
In most parts of the
country, a person caught
with as little marijuana as
one joint is still officially a
“criminal”, and will have a
life-long criminal record to
prove it. But efforts to
decriminalize marijuana
gained momentum this past
summer with five states
making major reforms in
their marijuana laws.
Another state gave
constitutional protection to
persons who possess mari
juana only in their homes
and two major federal
marijuana reform bills are
awaiting action in congress.
Five states--Alaska, Cali
fornia, Colorado, Ohio and
Maine—will now consider
possession of small amount
of pot a civil offense,
dropping criminal records
and jail sentences for
possession. Instead, a
maximum fine of $lOO
(except in Maine, where the
fine for possession of any
amount of marijuana for
personal use is $200) will be
imposed. The laws are
patterned after the
legislation of Oregon, which
in 1973 became the first
state to decriminalize pot.
In Alaska, laws against pot
were weakened still further
when the state Supreme
Court ruled that possession
of marijuana by adults in the
home fell under the con
stitutionally protected right
of privacy. The 5-0 landmark
decision, based on the
Alaska constitution and not
the Federal Constitution,
cannot be appealed to the
US Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, two measures
dealing with marijuana
reform are awaiting action in
the US Senate. One bill,
sponsored by Jacob Javits
(R-NY), Alan Cranston
(D-CA) and others in a
bi-partisan coalition, calls
for the reduction of mari
juana penalties to a civil
offense punishable by a fine
not to exceed $lOO.
Speeding
coni, from pg. 1
But it still leaves unanswer
ed the question of how to
curb the speeders driving the
streets of Meade Heights.
Chief Paul sees half of the
solution as “intense en
forcement and education.”
The other half seems to boil
down to common sense
driving and having the
meade Heights community
enforce their own rules.
Women Choose
Engineering
(CPS)--More college wo
men are choosing the
lucrative and accessible
career of engineering as
students of both sexes turo
away from the less promis
ing humanities and social
sciences, according to a
survey conducted by the
Stanford University Aca
demic Information Center.
The survey, based on the
preliminary academic inter
ests of this fall’s freshman
class, also showed that the
boom fields of law and
medicine were declining in
popularity this year while
natural sciences, math and
technology were attracting
‘more-fntdreV.”