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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 2000)
Wine and song Yiayia’s and Club 1427 are neigh bors and bars with a distinctive touch. A&E, PAGE 7 Bradford’s cube StefFon Bradford and the Nebraska men’s basketball team take on Friday, February 18,2000 dailyneb. com Vol 99, Issue 105 Oklahoma state this weekend SPORTS, PAGE 12 UNL student fights eating disorders By Cara Pesek Staff writer With her warm eyes, sunny smile and athletic build, it is hard to believe that Rochelle Larson has ever been anything but a picture of health. But Larson, a senior nursing major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has battled anorexia and bulimia for as long as she can remember. Now, at 22, Larson is finally on her way to recovery from a problem she has struggled with for most of her life. // Larson said As the the troubles began when her parents weight came divorced when ° she was about 4 back on ... / years old. As a way of punishing just felt really 5erself i°r ,he J J J failure of her par crappy about e"ts' marr‘age’ myselfT d^ndied herself _ - „ . As the stress Rochelk Larson 0f the divorce senior nursing major subsided, Larson said, the urge to starve herself also waned. Then, in junior high, it returned. “I think in junior high, a lot of us girls just wanted to lose some weight,” Larson said. The girls experimented with various weight loss methods, and one day, one of Larson’s classmates dared her to make herself throw up. Larson accepted the dare but said bulimia didn’t take right away for her. Instead, Larson became anorexic and slowly began to cut certain foods she deemed too fattening out of her diet. At first she ate no red meat. Then she ate no meat at all. And then she wouldn’t eat cheese or milk. Finally, Larson said, all foods with any fat content at all were off limits. Larson said the desire to have a per fect body was further fueled by her per fectionist attitude. When she was 14, Larson was 5 foot, 7 inches tall and weighed only 80 pounds. “It got to the point where the only thing I could do was lie in bed and wish that I would just die,” Larson said. Larson, with the help of her friends, realized the seriousness of her illness and began to eat again. Then she faced another problem. “As the weight came back on, the thought processes came back where I just felt really crappy about myself,” Larson said. To cope with the negative feelings, she said she became bulimic. When the eating disorder was at its worst, Larson said, she threw up as often as 15 times a day. In addition, she often exercised for four hours a day or more. But because she was not as thin as she had been when she was anorexic, few realized she had a problem. “Bulimia is so horrible because you just hide everything,” Larson said. By the time Larson was a sophomore in college, she realized she needed to get help. Before that, Larson said, she never sought help because she thought she could overcome her eating disorder on her own. But getting help also proved to be dif ficult, Larson said. Although she went to various support groups, she said she never found a coun selor she felt comfortable with. Larson said her concern about her problem grew. “I thought I’d never get rid of it,” Larson said. Please see DISORDER on 6 Photo Illustration by Heather Glenboski/DN All ESTIMATED 2,500 women at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln struggle with eating disorders. Some people with eating disorders believe they are overweight, even if they are thin. Kerrey awards medal of hope Lydia S. Gonzales/DN SECOND-GRADER JOSE MOORE and San. Bab Kerrey than a laugh befere ha praaaata her with the Napa Medal af Honor at Maxey Elementary Cnhikwl Vwwmi lllranait ilnmwlii Mm a# BBguMAr vCnOula MlVVy tIKOIIOQ IVVUDro S wwvwHpillMNwl 10 IVO 00091 or Honor* ByGwenTletgen Staff writer Inspiration. Webster’s defines it as any stimulus to creative thought or action. Maxey Elementary School and Heroes of Hope defines it with second-grader Josie Moore. With more than 488 ele mentary school children and teachers sitting on die auditori um floor, Sen. Bob Kerrey pre sented Josie with the Children Is Hope Medal of Honor. After being presented with the medal, Josie was given a chance to speak. Sitting in her wheelchair, with Minnie and Mickey Mouse lying (Hi her lap, with a quiet voice and a big smile, Josie said: “I want to thank all my teachers for teaching me stuff, and I want to thank my mommy and daddy for giving me die life to go (to school). “I got a medal because of all my obstacles and all my cares.” John Berge, special assis tant to Kerrey, said the Children’s Hope Medal of Honor is one of die first of its kind. “It’s a nationwide award recognizing kids who are phys ically or mentally handicapped and continue to march on,” Berge said. Josie suffers from quadri plegia as a result of birth injury. She relies on a ventilator to breathe, a tube for food and a special suit to sit upright. J Berge has been helping Josie and her parents, Rodney and Holly Moore, since they came to Kerrey’s office in 1998. Please see HOPE on 6 Researchers investigate cataract cause ByJohnHejkal Staff writer All people today who live past the age of 60 will develop cataracts - unless the work of people like Jean and David Smith changes that probability. ; ♦Jean Smith and her husband David, both profes sors of chemistry at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, are researching the changes in the protein ' structure of eye lenses to determine what causes cataracts. A cataract is a yellowing or coloring of the lens that can severely inhibit or totally block vision. Cataracts are generally associated with old age. The Smiths are using various methods of mass spectrometry to determine the mass of proteins in die lens. Mass spectrometry makes it possible to weigh Please see CATARACTS on 6