Burning glutton’s holiday bulge
I like turkey.
I even like turkey casserole,
turkey sandwiches, turkey pasta and
turkey noodle soup.
But I am thankful (fittingly) that
Thanksgiving comes only once a
year and that leftover turkey
eventually disappears, goes bad or is
destroyed in the fridge during a
territorial dispute with the dressing/
cranberry sauce alliance.
‘Cause if it’s there, I’ll probably
eat it.
Thanksgiving is a truly American
holiday. We celebrate our heritage
by partaking in an orgy of gluttony
and watching football.
When the games are over and the
leftovers are gone ... only then do
we see the damage that has been
done.
The last week added millions of
inches to America’s collective
waistline and hundreds of millions
of pounds to the burden borne by
the continental landmass.
People flocked to the malls,
giving Christmas shopping as an
excuse. What many really wanted, I
imagine, was simply to buy some
clothes that fit.
I’ll get to the point.
The holidays can really add some
poundage, but those 17 helpings of
candied yams don’t have to establish a
permanent residence in your midsec
tion. There is a wide variety of
practical, fun holiday-season fitness
tips and exercises that can help bum
off that extra plate of white meat and
make room for the Christmas goose or
ham or whatever.
Now remember, this is not an
exhaustive list, but rather a small
sampling of the many super holiday
health hints and special exercises
just waiting to help take off those
extra pounds and inches.
• Make a Thanksgiving resolution.
M^ ^.-.
Doug Peters
% for example, resolved
to stop using recipes
from fellow columnist
Steve Willey's Mucho
Mayo' mayonnaise
cookbook."
There’s no need to wait until
New Year’s Eve to start telling
yourself lies. And who knows, your
resolution might even stick.
I, for example, resolved to stop
using recipes from fellow columnist
Steve Willey’s “Mucho Mayo”
mayonnaise cookbook. You, of
course, can resolve to do whatever
you wish.
• Watch the wondrous workings
of our federal government on C
SPAN. Of course, watching our
elected leaders on TV won’t
magically melt away the signs of
excess holiday exuberance, but it
will keep you from doing any more
damage by nauseating you to the
point that you’ll be unable to eat.
• Try to squeeze into the jeans
that fit you last summer. First, it’s a
great workout. Second, the embar
rassing futility of it will shame you
into exercising seriously. -
When you’re ready to start the
serious exercise, take a walk.
• Walking is a time-tested, low
impact workout. A nice walk around
- the block is a start, but for you
Husker fans, there’s an even better
alternative.
Start walking to Tempe, cause
you sure as hell won’t be able to
book a flight there. You’ll probably
get there just in time for the Fiesta
Bowl, where you can spend that
airfare money on a $275 ticket. That
oughta get your heart rate up there,
even if die walk doesn’t.
• To get the maximum bum from
your shopping experience, head
over to a toy store and fight with
frenzied parents over the last
Teenage Mutant Morphin Goober
Ranger doll or whatever it is that the
kiddies are begging for this year.
The action is intense, and the
workout strenuous. But be warned,
you’d better be sure your health
insurance is paid up, because it’s a
jungle in there.
• If you’re more comfortable
staying on campus, head over to
Memorial Stadium. Don’t run stairs,
though —just climb around on the
goal posts for awhile. And bring
some friends. There’s plenty of
room on the goal posts, and they’re
one piece of exercise equipment
guaranteed not to break.
There are scores of other fitness
opportunities out there this holiday
season, as well. You can do the
Christmas tree drag, the snow scoop
(eventually) or the ever-popular keg
roll and 12-ounce bicep curl. You
are only limited by your imagination
and stamina.
On the other hand, you could just
buy a bigger pair of pants.
Peters is a graduate student of Journal
ism and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
Isolationism an ignorant option
All too often our generation
irresponsibly asserts opinions on
issues spanning the spectrum —
without knowledge, reason or
substance to justify those views.
In the Nov. 9 Daily Nebraskan, a
letter to the editor by Scott Knutson
alarmingly exemplified this point.
Responding to Paula Lavigne’s
piece on the Rabin assassination,
Knutson comments on her “Kelly
Bundy” approach to foreign policy
and then proceeds to “spell out nice
and clear what would happen if
America chose to become isolation
ist.”
First he says, “America would be
just fine.”
Any American should be
downright offended that some
ostensibly educated fellow citizen is
so ignorant when it comes to such
an elementary concept.
Isolationism — simply meaning a
lack of association with the interna
tional community—would suppress
America’s hegemony and allow
China, Germany and Japan to
markedly expand their already
significant influence over the world,
which would be unfavorable
because of:
• China’s disgraceful human
rights record
• Germany’s ardent position that
they must have at least continental
control over currency issues
• Japan’s mercantilism
Let’s pretend for a moment that
Scott Knutson is our Secretary of
State as the Gulf crisis heats up.
Knutson opts not to invade, and
not even to work with the United
Nations on a multinational effort.
Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein
marches into Kuwait, takes vast oil
fields and overthrows the Kuwaiti
government.
Now Hussein has about one-third
of the Middle East’s oil and can
manipulate the price per barrel.
What’s in it for us?
Prices for unleaded fuel at the
Amoco station double.
Airfares skyrocket, dissuading
business travel and causing layoffs
at corporations throughout the
country.
And even the price of things like
paper rise sharply, as the transporta
Neil Feldman
“Let’s pretend for a
moment that Scott
Knutson is our Secretary
of State as the Gulf crisis
heats up. ”
tion industry now bears a heavier
burden of overhead.
This would also impact interest
rates, the value of Treasury bonds
and inflation. It would send markets
tumbling.
The second point Knutson makes
is that, “The rest of the world would
experience complete economic ruin.”
If the Iraqi scenario wasn’t
enough to convey that the strong
would dominate the weak — and
would undermine not only weak but
isolationist countries too—here is
another:
The Balkan quagmire is a kind of
Cold War remnant, in that the
Americans blame the Serbs while
supporting the Bosnians, and the
Russians blame the Bosnians while
supporting the Serbs.
If we were an isolationist
country, the Russians would have
nothing to worry about in aggres
sively assisting Slobodan
Milosevic’s effort to create a
Greater Serbia.
The Serbs are unquestionably more
powerful than the Bosnians and, if
assisted by the Russians, would be
able to trample not only Bosnia
Herzegovina but also Croatia.
With increased power and
strategic territory under their
command, the Serbs would then
march southward into Kosovo,
Macedonia, Montenegro and
Albania.
By this time, they would have
established a dangerous sphere of
Influence and would control certain
mineral resources in the Balkans
vital to particular sectors of Ameri
can industry.
The third point made is, “Little
countries like Kuwait and Israel that
rely on our protection would be
destroyed, bringing peace to regions
through elimination of opposition.”
Remember the Gulf War sce
nario? Instability now reigns
supreme because of the shift in
petroleum control.
Moreover, Israel has a larger
military than all the other Middle
Eastern countries combined.
And they have friends throughout
the world. The American/Israeli
relationship is very stable and
mutually beneficial, but Israel’s
security does not entirely depend
upon the United States.
The letter concludes, “Yitzhak
Rabin was a fool fighting for a lost
cause,” and “the Middle East has
problems, but they are not
America’s problems.”
Such a comment is absolutely
vacuous.
It’s common sense that the peace
process will be long and arduous.
But Rabin triumphed notably,
persuading PLO Chairman Yassir
Arafat to work — however slowly
— at reducing the power of terrorist
groups like Hamas.
Direct Palestinian attacks on
Jews have also largely been nullified
since the September 1993 signing of
the Declaration of Principles.
Lastly, as illustrated by the Gulf
War scenario, Middle East problems
are indeed our problems.
Expression of opinion is one of
the wonderful freedoms of living in
a democracy.
Irresponsibly denigrating
someone and then challenging that
person’s intellectualism with
assertions that make no sense will
undermine anyone’s legitimacy in a
heartbeat.
Feldman Is a senior International af
fairs major and a Dally Nebraskan colum
nist.
4 iett&i... from the
Teen self-mutilation
cuts U.S. like knife
Adria Chllcote
As the knife digs into her
flesh, a weight is lifted from her.
It’s not the first time she’s done
this. She has many scars to tell
the tale of past times when she
felt the only way to stop the pain
was to mutilate her body.
Her world is one in which
many standards are raised for her
— of which she meets few.
But she doesn’t do it just to get
attention. She does it because she
feels she is worthless.
When I’m around her, she’s an
energetic, funny, intelligent,
caring person. She seems like she
should be happy with life.
But she doesn’t see all of these
things in herself. When she looks
at herself she finds nothing of
worth.
Her brain tells her that there
must be something of value in
herself, but she can’t feel that
way.
Whenever she feels like she is
alone, like no one will ever love
her, she needs a way to release
the pain. She doesn’t want to
inconvenience or hurt anyone
else, so she reaches for her knife.
It’s called self-mutilation.
Many people do it, but it’s not
something that gets talked about
much. I don’t think that many
people see it as a widespread
problem.
But it most definitely is.
It’s not just about a few
isolated cases of people who
can’t deal with their problems in a
way that won’t hurt themselves.
It’s more than that. Because it
happens mostly in teen-age girls,
and is happening more often, that
says something. It says a lot.
It says to me that there is
something very wrong with the
world in which these girls are
living.
If it were a healthy world,
there wouldn’t be large numbers
of girls mutilating their bodies.
It’s quite a hostile place we live
in.
When I found out that a girl I
knew was doing this to herself, it
made me feel something that’s
hard to explain.
First I was baffled at why she
would want to do this to herself.
Then I felt that I wanted to save
her, but I wasn’t sure from what.
It seems like she needs to be
saved from herself, which is a
hard thing to do.
The thing is, I can’t save
everyone, and knowing that is
very frustrating.
It’s hard to know exactly what
to do. It’s hard when you know
someone you care about is doing
it, and it’s hard to know where to
l
“First I was baffled at
why she would want to
do this to herself Then
I felt that I wanted to
save her, but I wasn’t
sure from what. It
seems like she needs to
be saved from herself,
which is a hard thing
to do. ”
go for help when you know that
you have a problem like self
mutilation.
It’s harder to deal with than
other problems. If you drink too
much, you know that you can go
to Alcoholics Anonymous. There H
isn’t a Self-Mutilator’s Anony
mous.
I don’t think that we, as a
society, are doing a good enough
job making sure girls have a
healthy sense of self-worth.
I think that this society expects
too much and expects the wrong
things of teen-age girls.
They are expected to strive for
the figure of Kate Moss, to
achieve a certain standard of 1
fashion in their clothes, to excel
academically, toJiave a boy
friend, to be a social butterfly and
to retain a pleasant disposition
and a smile through it all.
When things go wrong or
when the standards can’t be met,
they cease to be what is expected
and they need a way to deal with
knowing that.
I think the way so many girls
choose to deal with it reveals that
there is a problem.
The problem is these girls
don’t think enough of themselves.
It shows me that the only person
they see fit to hurt is themselves.
They think no one will care.
It’s a way of taking all of the
problems in their lives and
turning them inward.
I’ve heard one girl say that at
least she’s not hurting anyone
else, she’s just hurting herself.
I don’t think it’s right to put
everyone else before yourself to
such an extent. To think that
without other people, you don’t
matter.
Self-mutilation is a symptom. I
think our society is sick. We need
to diagnose the disease and start
looking for a cure.
It will take a lot of work to
solve the problem, and I’m not
sure how to go about finding the
solution, but I think that the
adolescent girls of this country
are worth it.
They need to know that they
are worth it.
Chile ote is a freshman women’s stud
ies major and a Dally Nebraskan colum
nist
-i
BE OUR GUEST
The Daily Nebraskan will present a guest columnist each Monday.
Writers from the university and community are welcome.
Must have strong writing skills and something to say.
Contact Mark Baldridge c/o the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska
Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588.
Or by phone at (402)-472-1782.
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