A much anticipated Thanksgiving break is only days away, and like the majority of the students on campus, I am making my holiday plans. However, I am faced with a certain inconvenience — Wednesday classes.
As usual with the day before a holiday, several teachers take it upon themselves to cancel class or label that day’s class as a “work day.” Regardless if class is canceled or not, several students will decide to skip class anyway. I, as the avid class-goer that I am, will be attending every class scheduled for Wednesday with utter despair.
The classes on Wednesday make it very difficult for those students who do not live within the realm of Baton Rouge to go home. This proves to be even more problematic for those out-of-state students.
While I am quite aware of the “give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile” mentality, it would be in the best interests of the administration to dismiss school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Perhaps students would be less likely to skip classes the day before a holiday if there were less of them.
Matthew Reher
Sophomore — Mass Communication
Most organizations have a motto that serves as standard to which that organization can compare themselves to in order to assure that they remain true to their original ideals. The beloved Baton Rouge Police Department should take a moment to review the motto to which law enforcement agencies adhere.
This Saturday night after the football game versus Ole Miss, the Baton Rouge Police Force did nothing to either protect or serve the public. Understandably, the police have a difficult task of alleviating and diverting the traffic to off of campus; but the police at the corner of Highland and Dalrymple were overbearing and dogmatic.
As a senior member of the Golden Band from Tigerland, on game days my truck and my services as its driver are needed to transport equipment and drummers across campus. After seven consecutive home games, I have departed from the band room and traveled down Dalrymple, across Highland, and to my East Campus Apartment. However, my experience after this weekend’s game was somewhat different. Upon reaching the Highland/Dalrymple corner, I was waved to take a left onto Highland. I attempted to explain to the officers at the corner that I lived on campus and that I needed to go straight in order to get to my home. Blind and deaf to my complaints they simply waved me on again. After re-voicing my complaint, I was actually given the following choice: pull to the side and receive a ticket or turn left onto Highland. I, of course, chose the latter; and the result of my escapade to return to campus was an hour lost to frustration and the barrage of post-game traffic. One more truck (headed in the only direction to get me home) down Dalrymple would not have caused the slightest disturbance in traffic because I would have been able to take the Law School loop and return home within two minutes.
Anyone can see that the results of the conglomerate of officers’ bad decision were fruitless. A blind following of directions without a simple, logical review of the situation proved ignorant and foolish. Perhaps the law enforcement of the city would care to serve me after next year’s football games.
Peter Perez, Jr.
Senior — English
I’m writing in response to a column written by Kristen Meyer on Nov. 15. Being an employee of the Governor’s Program on Abstinence, I feel the need to answer some of Kristen’s questions. The reason this program exists is to help lower the out-of-wedlock birth rate and to help lower the STD rate in Louisiana and NOT to promote religion.
Sexually transmitted diseases are at an all-time high. Approximately 70 million Americans have an incurable viral STD (or 1 in 4 people), and with condoms not being 100 percent effective in preventing STDs or pregnancy, the only effective tool we have in combating the spread of STDs is abstinence. If condoms were as effective as everybody assumes then the STD rate in America would not be rising. How can we lower the STD and pregnancy rate by teaching a method that can fail (the use of condoms)?
Some teens and students are not going to listen to the abstinence message, but many teens do listen and practice an abstinence lifestyle. So should we remove an effective program for preventing the spread of STDs from our schools because a few students do not listen? You can put a condom in the hand of every teen in America, and not every teen is going to use that condom, and every condom is NOT going to work, which is why we as Americans should promote the only 100 percent effective method in preventing STDs and out-of-wedlock babies: Abstinence. How difficult is it to practice self- control?
All I know is that from my abstinent lifestyle, my wife will not have to worry if I have an STD before we get married, and when I propose to her, I will NOT have to say, “Will you marry me? By the way I have genital warts.”
If you want more info visit www.abstinencedu.com.
Paul Catalanotto
Senior — Secondary Education
I would like to set the record straight. A lot of people think that organic foods are healthier and safer than foods grown by conventional methods. This is not true. Along with my professors in the nutrition department, I have researched this topic and have found no evidence saying organic foods are better for human health over conventional ones. Moreover, the United States Department of Agriculture states that they make no claim that organic foods are more nutritious or safer than conventional foods.
Another misconception is that conventional foods are thought to be grown in nutrient-depleted soils. This opens interpretation for the use of dietary supplements. To date there is no widespread nutrient-depleted soil in the United States. There are nutrient-depleted patches of soil throughout the country, but a balanced and varied diet will make up for any deficiencies that may exist. Besides taking one multivitamin a day for nutritional insurance, regular healthy people who are free from sickness should not take self-prescribed doses of single vitamin/mineral supplements for fear of nutrient depletion.
As for pesticides, the pesticides that are used in conventional farming have not been associated with or caused any health problems. They are constantly monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that they do not cause harm. The benefits of eating conventionally grown produce far outweigh any risk. When eating raw foods grown from any food production method it is always a good idea to wash the food and use a vegetable scrubber to remove pesticide residues. By simply rinsing produce you can remove most if not all of the residues.
Organic foods provide an alternative for some individuals, for example, individuals who don’t want to eat genetically engineered or biotechnologically produced food. They may want to support their local communities by buying organic at fruit and vegetable stands, or they may want to protect farm workers and wildlife from pesticide exposure. Organically grown foods should not be purchased because people think they are healthier or safer.
Stephen J. Roch, Jr.
Senior — Dietetics