PcnnSlalE It’s I By: Nancy Costa Many people think that they should be put on a deserted island somewhere and left there to infect each other, resulting in the extinction of their kind. Others think it is God’s way of punishing them for being gay. But the rest, the educated few, face the problem for what it is, and concentrate more on a way to solve it instead of where to put the blame. Though homosexuality is a moral sin to some, it is a part of life that is to be accepted or at least tolerated if the AIDS pandemic is to be solved. This is where the real problem lies. With three quarters of all adults acquiring their infection he terosexually, the truth of the matter is, that AIDS is out there for anyone and everyone and IT holds no prejudice. From Bermuda to Zimbabwe, AIDS is now considered a pandemic reaching proportions of eight to ten mil lion infected per sons. With five thousand people being infected each day, worldwide, a predict ed thirty to forty million will test HIV positive by the year 2000, leaving approx imately two million newborns orphaned and infected. Ignorance of the facts, and simple minded logic says, "I’m not gay and I don’t do drugs intra venously, so I can’t get it." This type of thinking is what has led 84% of all women ages thirteen and up, and 34% of men trteen and One Ml ion at Dance Marathon -By: Lisa Homberger Penn State made history at the dance marathon. The event once again topped itself with an enormous pledge of $1,141,145.38. This year’s total was about a 46 percent increase upon last year’s total of 785,835.35. The group of 540 dancers raised the money for Hershey Medical Center’s Four Diamonds Fund, which gives financial assistance to kids with cancer. Not i who have AIDS to acquire it. This killer has no con science, and has no sympathy for the ignorant. So, here are the facts. One out of every five hundred college students is HIV positive. Mandatory HIV testing on Job Corps applicants shows that, "among sixteen to seventeen year old applicants, females were slightly more likely than males to be infected," suggesting an increase in heterosexual HIV transmission. This is the easiest disease to avoid con tracting, (by means of consistent condom use with nonoxynol-9, cdmplete monogamy with an uninfected partner, or simple abstinence), and the teenage-college group cannot seem to stay away from it. A recent study done on four-hundred college students at a Mid- West university, found that the only change made toward protecting themselves was a greater selectivity in choice of partners, with little or no decrease in sexual contact. This age group then tends to forget that when a person sleeps with someone, that person, in a sense, sleeps with everyone else that person slept with and every person those people slept with, etc... There is no way of telling who slept with who-unless of course a resume of past lovers is kept on hand and up to date—but this just does not happen. What this boils down to is this, if someone you slept with ever slept with anyone who slept with anyone who was HIV positive—chances are you ist m; be dancers Commonwealth campuses joined the other 524 University Park dancers for their million-dollar raising, 48-hour party. Energies were high in the gym Friday night. Sorority and fraternity members and the dancers’ friends filled the stands. By Saturday morning, the dancers were still awake and grooving to the tunes. They Just two days earlier 16 from the Just Between Us... pg. 3 Creative Corner... pg. 4 March 20, 1992 recipient of the HTV virus too. And hardly does anyone know he/she is positive as it can take as long as ten years for one to show symptoms for AIDS--yes, you may just be a silent carrier right now and not even know it. And AIDS does not stop for husband and wife, lovers for years, or couples who have been together for months. Monogamy does not make everything perfectly safe either. Your partner of five months, maybe mono gamous with you, but who was there before you? There is absolutely no exact way of telling. This, bed of security, (no pun intended), is one humongous misconcep tion concerning the contractions of AIDS. With the muse of increased infection among heterosexuals looming over the shoulders of medical experts all over the world, the race for a cure is still on. With the discovery of AZT and DDI, two anti-viral medications, in 1987 and 1991, respectively, there is hope for a cure, but unfortun nately not in the near future. Dr. Paul Volderbing of University of Cali fomia, San Francis co, shows scientific hope. "We know now this is a disease that can be fought and a realistic goal today is to convert the infecton to a truly chronic disease disease. One where people can live for decades, and start thinking about retirement funds." But until that cure is found, AIDS will spread rampantly, unless the sexually active take control and protect themselves. As much as it may take the night, played with yo yo’s, and took bathroom breaks. Every eight hours, the dancers were allowed' a precious bathroom break. After using the bathroom, the dancers ran down a hallway, falling onto a mat covered with baby powder. Then, for a few cherished seconds, the dancers were allowed to lay on their stomaches as morale boosters gave them full body massages. r During the dance marathon Features. Sports Issue HI T T i . Hazleton DjSP~ >9 romance out of things or put a damper on the mood-if you must—arm yourself— because this is not just a "gay disease"- -NO ONE is safe. Who's in the Navy and Khaki Uniforms? By: Erin Ann Keane Just who are those students in the navy and khaki uniforms? They are Penn State’s own Lion Ambassadors! The Lion Ambassadors, defined by current president John C.D. Anderson 111, "are responsible for the promotion of PSU pride and tradition." Members strive to pass traditions on to current students and continue them in Alumni. The club has been in existence only a few years on the Hazleton Campus, and just this semester acquired an office in the Lower Commons. Since establishment, the Lion Ambassadors have managed to expand their purpose beyond the role of tour guides and historians by reaching out to the Hazleton community. Aside from assisting admissions with open houses, the Lion Ambassadors have helped university relations by attending local engagements on and off the campus. Members have become involved in charity work in the Hazleton community and try to recruit future Penn State students from surrounding high schools. The Lion Ambassadors is the only club on campus that not everyone can join. Students must fill out a lengthy application and be interviewed by all eight lion ambassadors. Approximately twenty- five applications were received for next semester of which only eight can be selected. These eight new Lion Ambassadors are: Scot Finch, Eric Bush, Jason Vachinski, Derek White, Nicole Menherd, Kelly Clarke, Jenn DeNigris, and Erin Bauersachs. , Pofflh.gg2; pg- 7 • Pg- 8 .‘.jUN^fcr spa 4£9|
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers