CityVoice
October 6, 2009
9
Urbanalities By Michele Suthers
The 411 on H1N1 shot The fall months will bring on another flu season, where both students and administrators might find themselves suffering from flu symptoms and asking, “could I have the swine flu?” In a recent edition of the New York Times, an editorial cartoon commented on the current swine flu, or H1N1 strain, by illustrating two different sized-pigs. The smaller pig was to represent the swine flu itself, while the other much larger pig represented the actual size of the hysteria caused by the pandemic. The debate has been resurrected closer to our City College as we learn that Health Services will be offering the H1N1 vaccine for students starting in Oct. Although some of us try not to fall for the hype, how seriously will City students be affected, and how afraid should we really be? With CNN and MSNBC bombarding us with numerous reports of H1N1 deaths, many Americans were canceling vacations to Mexico this past April. The pork industry reported a sharp decline in sales due to fear of dying from your breakfast bacon. We started to see the masked pedestrians and Purell stations popping up on campus. How can we as students protect ourselves? And what about this shot? Who is eligible for it? There’s also talk of quantity and how many vaccines will be available, especially after the Health Services’ supply of flu shots ran out in two days. And how safe is the shot? How effective can the shot really be? All these concerns could
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leave students wondering if the vaccine is right for them. Educating yourselves about the vaccine is the only way to make the best decision. Remember that health fee you paid during registration? Why not cash in and pay City College Health Services a
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visit? According to Health Services, the most important step towards fighting H1N1 is to be informed about the disease. Health Services aim to communicate with City professors to try and encourage a compromise between students and teachers if students miss class due to illness. While it should always be the student’s responsibility to keep their professors informed on absences, maybe providing a doctor’s note will keep them from getting dropped and prevent infection among students. Common sense with basic hygiene is a must, like washing hands frequently and being respectful of others by covering your mouth and using tissues. Your personal physician or health care providers are great sources of information. Clinics around San Diego County, offering low-cost health care for students without insurance, are posted on www. sdcounty.ca.gov. The CDC has set up a dedicated page about swine flu on its site. Going directly to the source of information, at www. cdc.gov, can help you avoid the fear-inducing broadcasts on TV.
I’ll take my dinner to go, thanks I rarely cook. To me, the action is just another four-letter word. Once, I used vanilla soy milk in my macaroni and cheese because I didn’t have regular. It was a soupy-sweet macaroni stew. Another time, I tried making cookies from scratch. The result: one giant cookie meld of burnt nastiness. It took nearly an hour to scrape the pan clean. Now, I might have a homecooked meal once every two weeks. Dining usually consists of bean and cheese burritos, pizza, or a scone, and that’s only if I can get them quick. If not, a cigarette stands in as my afternoon snack. Average dollar spent per week on greasy grab and go meals plus cigarettes: $40. That’s $160 per month, evaporated into cancerous air (and that doesn’t include weekend fun). For a gal who makes a lessthan impressive hourly wage, I’d say I’m spending somewhat frivolously. It’s easy to say “I’m going to
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eat in more,” or “I need to save money,” but how many of us actually do? For those of you with enough patience and time to cook every night, I am envious. And honestly, patience is more of the issue than time. Taking an extra twenty minutes out of my day to cook food that could last me two or three more days will ultimately be worth it. I realize that I’m a victim of “gimme-now-itis.” The symptoms: impatience, laziness, spoiled
nature, elevated anxiety when something isn’t readily available when I’m used to it being there when I want it and honking at other cars for little reason. The cause: convenience, malls, cellular phones, the Internet, Alberto’s or anything else that can be offered cheap and easily. We live in a fast-paced society where technology functions as a crutch. Remember leaving hand-written notes if you were going out? You wouldn’t have to worry about answering a text message or an incoming call on a nature hike. My mother gets angry when I don’t call or text her back immediately. Now, I see people Facebooking on their Blackberries. It’s a weird to watch folks chat via cellular phone when they could just as easily call. My aunt orders groceries from her Blackberry while she’s at work so she can conveniently
See DINNER, page 10
Romantic comedies make dating look fun ... Not in my case I have a friend that somehow always manages to have some sort of romance related drama. I found myself up until 1 a.m. in the morning one night discussing her latest romantic drama with a cigarette in hand and an empathetic ear. I usually don’t smoke, but she does, and I was having my own personal tough times with the wonderful world of dating, so it seemed appropriate to join in. Her woes: The guy that she started dating starting being a little flaky. Then, he put her on edge when he told her over the phone that they “need to talk,” but wouldn’t say what about. My friend likes to know where things are going. She likes no surprises and tends to put things on the table. I’ve warned her in the past of putting things on the table
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too soon, so I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this was moving too fast and he was breaking up with her. Well, he said he was going to call her back. And guess what… He didn’t! So there we were, 1:30 a.m., outside in my patio, smoking a cig and venting on sucky
romances and bad dating experiences. I had my share of bad dates towards the beginning of the year. I usually prefer not to date. There’s a lot of time and emotions that go into dating that I usually just steer clear. But I told myself that I would give dating a shot this year just to try something new. I went into the dating game with an open mind and an eagerness to meet some interesting characters. And yeah, I met some interesting people alright. It was as if every single date I went on came with its negatives. Either one date was too available (U-Haul anyone?) or emotionally unavailable. Then we had the one that kept on talking about their ex, then the flakes, and the too serious ones. It was never the perfect package.
Don’t get me wrong, I know there’s no perfect package, but give me a flaw that I can work with. Somehow, every single date I went with just made me realize that I would much rather stay single. The other reason why I wanted to date was because I wanted to get over the certain crush. Ah yes, we all have crushes, and I am as guilty as they come. I heard somewhere that the best way to get over one addiction is to replace it with another. Yeah, that doesn’t really sound healthy, but if the new addiction is a good one, why not. Well, dating didn’t work, but it did get my mind off my old crush, so things were good. But as life would have it, I recently met up with my crush in passing at a bar. Got to love bars
sometimes, you’ll never know who you’ll run into. But yes, we chatted on this and that, and updated each other on what’s been going on with each other’s lives. It was good, reminiscent of the old times, and I unfortunately found myself falling again in the same ditch. So there I was, talking about my woes with my friend, cigarette in hand, and even though I don’t smoke it felt right. It was a very melancholic mood. But as good friends do, we lifted our spirits and went on our way. I’m not sure what my friend is going to do about her romantic woes, but I know I do not want to fall into the same pattern. Lucky for me, I have work and school to distract me and keep me busy.
See DATING, page 10
Vox Populi Question by Kierah Ford Photos by Imani Gentry-Faust
What do you think about the H1N1 vaccine available here at City College?
CityTimes Volume 64, Number 4 October 6, 2009 www.sdcitytimes.com
Alana Moore, 20 Aviation Science “I think that it is good because it is right here on campus, I really don’t want to catch the flu so I think that it is good that the school is providing it for free.”
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Eric Estrada, 22 Military Engineer “I think it’s a good thing that the schools are giving this vaccine. I don’t know much about it but I heard that people are dying from (H1N1).”
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Rosa Jijon, 20 Graphic Design “The vaccine is very beneficial because (it’s) free and any student can get it, so I think that it is a really good thing.”
Paul Maschka, 48 Urban Farmer “I am not a big believer in vaccinations, I have heard a lot of bad things about it. If they were informed of the side effects and if they knew what the consequences were they wouldn’t get it.”
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