Crawl for the Coast by Christie Bradley With nine hours of musical entertainment, Auburn locals Walter Ager and Albert Fernandez are bringing coastal cleanup efforts to Auburn with a bar crawl this Thursday, Sept. 2. “Crawl for the Coast” will kick off at 5 p.m. and go until 2 a.m. It will include seven bars and 11 bands. There will also be discounts offered at Little Italy, Mellow Mushroom, Pita Pit, Calypso‟s and Big Blue Bagel. Tickets are on sale now for $25 at Da Gallery, Little Italy and Bourbon Street. Participating bars include SkyBar, 17-16, The Vault, Big Blue Bagel, Speakeasy, Ale House and Bourbon Street.
Big Blue Bagel General Manager John Mark Davis said they decided to participate because they thought it was a worthy cause. “Being from the south, we have spent numerous memorable times on the gulf coast with family and friends, and we felt doing anything we could to help would be a worthy cause,” Davis said. Bands that will be participating and playing for free are Ernest goes to Jazz, Mr. Jr, Katie Martin, The Vegabonds, Miles Yarbrough, Jason McMillan, Chronic Blues, Senate Horse, The Good Doctor, Noise Organization and Big Gigantic. Fernandez, a New Orleans and Mobile native, came up with the idea of “Crawl for the Coast” over the summer. He and Ager started planning the event in June. “I am from the coast, and that fact alone is the main reason of my involvement with the event,” Fernandez said. “I have very strong feelings towards the devastation the oil spill has caused right in my backyard. It‟s affecting everyone, and this is a fun and easy way for college students to get involved in helping out with the relief.” Community Foundation of South Alabama, Greater New Orleans Foundation, Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Greater Escambia Community Foundation are four organizations that have been involved with relief funds for the Gulf Coast. Money raised from the bar crawl will be given to these organizations. “The proceeds from „Crawl for the Coast‟ will provide food, shelter and mental health services to
the thousands of distressed individuals and families,” Ager said.
The original idea that Ager and Fernandez came up with was to have a bar crawl in all of the Southeastern Conference school‟s towns to generate friendly competition among students and a way for them to become involved with the relief fund. “We challenge all the SEC schools to do their own bar crawl and show these families we care,” Ager said. All bars downtown will still be open for regular business Thursday night. Those with a $25 bracelet will have access to all bars participating in the “crawl,” food discounts and the grand finale, Big Gigantic, at Bourbon Street from 12 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Post Graduation: Stay Local or Big City? by Christie Bradley Audrey Pannell, a 2009 Auburn graduate, went from intern to Public Relations and Social Media Coordinator at Wilbanks Agency in Birmingham, Alabama. Wilbanks Agency, Alabama‟s leading public relations and marketing agency, is a 7-year-old company. The agency has a team of four full time employees and two interns. Pannell, a Birmingham native, feels she had an advantage by working at a smaller public relations firm as an intern instead of moving to a larger city. “I helped with a multitude of tasks such as writing press releases and creating proposals. I was told responsibilities that needed to be performed, yet I was also asked for my opinion,” Pannell said. Along with local success in public relations, Pannell is also the public relations and social media chair for Catalyst of Birmingham, junior board member for the Autism Society of Alabama, a member of the Rotoract Club of Birmingham and many others. She also recently won Ms. Young Hot Birmingham Professional by raising $5,360 for the Autism Society of Alabama and writes for The Pillars, LLC, an online business magazine. Pannell attributes her internship and field success to skills learned in public relations course work at Auburn, specifically, Robert French‟s Style and Design in Public Relations class. “After working in the public relations industry for more than a year now, I am extremely grateful for my education at Auburn. Auburn is the college pioneer of social media. I‟m really not sure where I‟d be without Robert French‟s class,” Pannell said. Pannell feels that working at a smaller firm right out of college has given her more exposure to the business world with more hands on opportunities most interns don‟t get to experience. “During my time at Wilbanks Agency, the company name changed from WilbanksElam to Wilbanks Agency. Implementations now had to be made for the company logo, website and all other company materials. Since we did such a fantastic job with the logo, we then applied the new logo by designing and creating new business cards for three of our employees,” Pannell said.
The internship program for public relations students at Auburn puts the cherry on top of the resume. The department goal for students is that the internship will end with a job offer. “There are some things that just cannot be taught inside the classroom. Sometimes you just need to be able to learn them on your own. This internship proved to be one of my favorite „classes‟ I took at Auburn,” Pannell said.
Liquid Cleanse Diet Gives Fasting a Whole New Meaning by Christie Bradley Lemon juice, water, cayenne pepper and syrup are not normal drink concoctions, but for Peter Glickman, author of "The Master Cleanse," this spicy drink is the key to weight loss, detoxification and youthful vigor. The Master Cleanse is a diet that was developed in the 1940's by Stanley Burroughs and Glickman revamped the original book in 2004. Since then, celebrities such as BeyoncĂŠ Knowles and Robin Quivers have participated in the diet. The "lemonade diet" helps to cleanse the body of toxins, which helps remove cravings associated with drugs, tobacco and junk food, according to Glickman. The challenge of the diet comes in when those participating can only drink six to 12 glasses of this lemonade concoction for 10 days and a laxative tea at night. With football season here, winter shopping season around the corner and the dreaded "freshman 15" coming in, many college students will try different types of dieting. Dr. Fred Kam, M.D., medical director of Auburn University's Medical Clinic, encourages students to know why they are doing a fasting diet in the first place. "Can the average college student go on a 10 day diet like this and do fine? The answer is yes," Dr. Kam said. "The concern would be people who have certain underlying issues, such as someone who may have an eating disorder already. That is someone that I would be concerned about." Dr. Kam said that the first thing a person needs to ask themselves is why they are dieting in the first place. He added that he has yet to find a diet for weight loss that doesn't work if you follow it. "Every weight loss diet restricts calories and changes your eating habits for the time that you are on it, but the vast majority of people regain that weight when they come off the diet if they go back to the same eating habits," he said. Christy Hinchman, a senior in pre-medicine, said she believes the Master Cleanse is an extreme diet that many people would take too far. "If you follow the guidelines and only do it for the 10 days, then I think it could be ok," she said.
"There are other diets that are way more enjoyable than this, so I would say doing this is a physical challenge more than a weight loss diet." There are many religions that come with similar philosophical thinking with the process of detoxing and fasting. Catholics and Christians have Lent and Buddhists have their own fasting, Dr. Kam said. "If you're not on any medication and a relatively normal healthy individual, then there shouldn't be any restrictions on why you shouldn't do this, other than asking yourself 'Why do I want to do it in the first place,'" Dr. Kam said.
Run for Preservation by Christie Bradley Auburn local, Nick Holler, will be directing Auburn‟s 10th annual Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve Trail Run, Saturday at 8 a.m. at the Forest Ecology Preserve. The 5k trail run takes place on the trails that run though forests on the preserve, 120 acres that were donated in 1993 to Auburn University‟s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. Holler, a 32-year runner, and his wife Margaret came up with the idea for a trail run 10 years ago as a way to introduce people to the preserve and give runners a new experience, as there were no other trail runs at that time, Holler said. “The race is held in support of the preserve, which is extremely important to both Margaret and me. It is one place in Auburn where families can go to experience nature relatively undisturbed with a degree of solitude,” Holler said. “It provides for the education of children and adults through interpretive and hands on experiences, thereby fostering an appreciation and understanding of our natural world,” he said. Former Professor Emeritus in Biological Sciences, Holler is now retired. He is also the former 13-year leader of the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit in the Department of Zoology and Entomology, later Zoology and Wildlife Science. “It serves as an outdoor classroom available for schools and other groups to use for educational field trips or meetings," Holler said. "Each year a number of local elementary school classes come to the Preserve for programs. Most important to Margaret and me, the preserve offers opportunities for children to experience the wonder of nature,” he said. All proceeds go to programs that support the preserve. Auburn Running and Track Association provide support for the race each year, along with local sponsors. Nick and Margaret Holler, J & M Bookstore, East Alabama Medical Center, Auburn Bank, Creative Habits Landscaping, Franklin Tire and Auto, East Alabama Ear Nose and Throat, The Orthopedic Clinic Crown Trophy, Master Graphics and Kinnucans are this year‟s local sponsors. Holler says other upcoming races to get involved in around Auburn include the Toys for Tots 10K on December 4th, the Auburn Classic Half Marathon on January 22, 2011, and the Love Your Heart Run 10K on February 19th. The race will be held at the Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve, located on U.S. Highway
147, North College Street, north of Shug Jordan Parkway. The entrance is before Farmville Baptist Church. For those wanting to run the race, registration is Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 7:45 a.m.