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Editorial
Holiday Blues?
The holidays are just around the comer and for many
that means parties, food, singing and generally having a
good time. However, not everyone enjoys this time of
year. For many, the holidays are a time of stress,
depression and even suicide.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics,
about 5,000 young people commit suicide each year and
between 300,000 and 500,000 other people attempt to
take their lives. Suicide is listed as the third leading cause
of death among teenagers.
So, what can we do about it? What if we think a friend
is suicidal? Perhaps the single most important thing we
can do, is listen. Listen intently and try to understand
what the person is going through. However, you must
always remember that you can offer your support, but
you may not be able to save your friend's life. That
choice is ultimately theirs.
A suicide fact sheet put out by Saint Vincent's Health
Center, suggests that you immediately encourage the
person to seek help from either parents, counselors,
social workers or someone they may be especially close
to. If this doesn't work, the fact sheet suggests you call a
crisis line to find out what to do next.
At Behrend, a counselor is to give advice and
listen. Her name is Sue Daley at. • she can be reached at
898-6164.
Let's make the best of the season by opening our
hearts and ears. Watching out for each other and giving
each other hope is the best possible gift we could give
this holiday season.
The Collegian
Published weekly by the students of
The Pennsylvania State University at Erie, The Behrend Collei
Editor
Vicky Snyder
Business Manager
Karen Major
The Collegian's editorial
opinion is determined by the
editorial staff, with the editor
holding final responsibility.
Opinions expressed in The
Collegian are not necessarily those
of The C ollegian or The
Pennsylvania State University.
News Editor
Loretta Russ
Entertainment Editor
Craig Campbell
Asst. Entertainment Editor
Rick Kastan
Sports Editor
Matt Cissne
Copy Editor
Keith McFall
Advertising Manager
David M. Mahoney
Collegian StafT: April
Bogdanski, Hal Coffey, Julie
Coughenour, Abby Greenberg,
Amy Herb, Gary Johnson, Sue
Kass, Rick Kastan, Calandra
Matthews, Sue Moreno, Joe
Mottillo, Liam O’Mahony, Danette
Parrctt, Melissa Sabo, Tim
Schweitzer, Jen Toubakaris, Teresa
Turley
Typists: Pamela Baccus, Dylan
Sousa, Iris Spinier
Photographers: Amel Balcita,
Tim Barr, Steve Binder, Craig
Breter, Andrew Festa, Kristie
Guldner, Dan Jaecks, Darren
Schilberg
Advisor: Cathy Mester
Columnists: Andrew Festa,
Alicia Hartman, George Hiegel
Letter Policy: The Collegian
encourages letters on news
coverage, editorial content and
university affairs. Letters should be
typewritten, double-spaced and
signed by no more than two
persons. Letters should be no
longer than 400 words. Letters
should include the semester
standing and major of the writer.
All letters should provide the
address and phone number of the
writer for verification of the letter.
The Collegian reserves the right to
edit letters for length and to reject
letters. Letters should be submitted
to The Collegian office no later
than noon on the Tuesday prior to
the desired publication date. Letters
submitted to The Collegian become
property of the newspaper. The
Collegian is published every
Thursday during the academic year
on recycled paper.
Postal Information: The
Collegian is published weekly by
the students of The Pennsylvania
State University at Erie, The
Behrend College; First Floor, The
J. Elmer Reed Union Building,
Station Road, Erie, PA 16563. 814-
898-6488 or 814-898-6019 fax.
Opinion
Letters to the Editor
Compliments of
Housing and Food
Services
Lunchtime - lunch. My food,
once ingested as a prescribed
dosage - a constant torture - is
now consumed in a social,
robotic reflex. Some days the
ritual is more tolerable. Today a
full table of us sat chattering
about last night’s adventures and
weekend plans. Tolerable - until
its small voice seized me. I
couldn’t help but read it - a guide
“Compliments of Housing and
Food Services” dictating the
caloric contents of our meals
AND the amount of exercise
needed to purge the ingested en
ergy from each digested particle.
Thank you, I needed to know
this. Within five seconds the
impact of five years of anorexia
hit me: pain, paranoia, anger,
aggression, lies, fears 1 cannot
explain to you. I closed my eyes
and felt icy cold hands franticly
counting each protruding rib,
arm, and leg bone, heard the ly
ing scale and the vicious mirror
screaming, “this thinness is not
yet enough.” I saw the hospital
rooms, the I.V.’s, the N.G. tubes
and the two summers - last
summer- that I spent there. I
saw the tall, gaunt young woman
from class, the girl who “cannot
cat in the Gorge because it is too
fattening,” and the girl who al
ways “MUST go to the gym.” 1
say the smirk on his face as he
said “belter too skinny than too
fat.”
Do you realize, DO YOU
REALIZE what kind of hell it is
to live like this: to be frantic,
obsessed, afraid to trust anyone
or anything, too hungry to eat,
to be consumed by n o t
consuming? Do you know that
Interested in taking over The Collegian ?
Applications are now being accepted for the position of editor of The CoJJegian
beginning in the Spring of 1993 /
/
If you are a registered student in good standing with the College,
you are eligible to apply.
If you are interested in applying, you must submit a statement of your journalistic
qualifications, your editorial philosophy, and assessments of the current strengths
and weaknesses of The Collegian, and your plans for the organization of the staff.
Your application must be submitted to The Collegian office no later than Friday,
December 4,1992. If you have any questions about applying, call The Collegian
office at 898-6488 or Cathy Mester at 898-6207.
Thursday, November 19, 1992
one in every five college persons
has an “eating disorder.” Granted
a cheerful packet of information
from Housing and Food Services
won’t induce such illnesses, but
it can exacerbate the diseases and
serves to support society’s de
structive “health” obsessions. It
is difficult to escape an entire so
ciety’s comments and criticisms.
There are MANY people on this
campus who are experiencing ci
ther the illnesses (anorexia,
bulimia, obesity) or the seem
ingly insurmountable task of re
covery. Leave the calorie packets
on the tables. Enjoy your lunch.
Tamalynn Press
3rd. Semester
Elementary Education Major
Errors Not
SGA's Fault
Mr. Greg Kristen expressed
some concerns in his recent letter
to the editor, and I hope that I am
able to ease his mind. Kristen
expressed discontent with the
Student Phone Directories pub
lished by the Student
Government Association, imply
ing the directories were late and
inaccurate.
Well Mr. Kristen, I too would
have liked our directories pub
lished earlier, and I would also
prefer them error free. Again this
year, Student Government was
faced with creating a phone book
from scratch, with absolutely no
records of how previous adminis
trations handled the task. In an
effort to improve on the system,
our staff researched various
methods of assembling the phone
directory instead of just haphaz
ardly slapping together a list of
numbers. We are still document
ing all of the steps necessary in
producing the directory, but by
(30-IJJT
doing so next year’s Student
Government will have a flying
start on the process.
Their would be no point in
leaving any sort of records if we
were not confident that we had
developed the best workable
system for routinely creating
phone directories. For the first
time, this year’s directory is
partially funded with outside
advertising dollars, saving our
money for other activities. We
also set up tables in the Reed
Building inviting students to
stop and confirm the accuracy of
their information. Finally,
reminders for students to update
their addresses in the registrar’s
office were posted around
campus.
See, in order to correct the out
dated information listed, we need
your help. If you move I am cer
tain that you would notify the
publishers of any magazines you
subscribe to so they would send
your new issues to your new
home. Well similarly, we can
not call in excess of 3000
students to confirm their
numbers arc correct (imagine
how long the directories would
take then!), so we get all of our
housing information from the
most recent updates available in
the registrar’s office. If you have
not updated your official address
with the registrar after moving,
there is simply no way we can
have 100% accurate information.
If you have any suggestions
for further improvements to the
directories, or anything on
campus, please let us know. We
have meetings every Wednesday
at 5:15 in the Reed Seminar
Room, and encourage voices like
yours to attend.
Gregory P. Farrell
Student Government
Association, Vice President