21 shots, not so smart

E ach time I watch McElwain’s story on television or read it in the paper it brings a smile to my face. I never get sick of hearing about McElwain’s success when he hit the court. His actions on the court were rightfully plastered all over the news, and it was the topic of conversation for everyone. McElwain serves as a constant reminder that anything is possible with his positive attitude and determination. I don’t think McElwain thought that he would have such an impact on people all across America.

It’s just amazing to think that McElwain had one opportunity on the basketball court after standing on the sidelines for so long, and he nailed his opportu- nity. I could watch McElwain’s performance a thousand times before I become tired of it. McElwain’s story is a story that Hollywood can only dream about creating.

Sometimes I almost wish that McElwain’s experience was a movie, so I could just pop it in whenever I wanted to watch it. The great part about McElwain’s basketball experience is that it isn’t a movie; it’s an event that won’t occur often and will be cherished by everyone.

McElwain’s story will always make me smile and warm my heart. This is one story I cannot, and will not, get enough of.

Censorship ensues

The type of interviewing that reporters use is not the issue. I feel that people just realize how powerful the media is, and they are scared of it. However, some people disagree.

DAINA HAVENS ASST PERSPECTIVES EDITOR DMH724@CABRINI EDU

Imagine what would happen if you ingested 32 ounces of alcohol in the matter of a few hours. The new college campus trend of drinking your age in shots to celebrate your 21st birthday is basically promoting young adults to down the equivalent of an entire large McDonald’s soft drink, filled to the brim with toxic liquid.

An blood alcohol content conversion chart that I filled out at www.onlineconversion.com/bac. htm, showed that an average person weighing 150 pounds who drinks 32 ounces of liquor at the lowest alcohol percentage will maintain a BAC of .46 within one hour At this stage of the game, it is very common for an individual to lose all of their common reflexes, such as gagging, and could quite possibly choke on their own vomit and asphyxiate or just stop breathing and die.

At 12:01 a.m., on March 5, I celebrated my 21st birthday My five closest friends and I gathered around my birthday cake and raised our shot glsses in the air, as the disc jockey at my family-owned bar counted down to that magical moment of becoming legal. When time was up, we all threw back the shot, and I made my birthday wish and blew out the candles.

This would be one of the most memorable nights of my life, and my wish was to remember it. I spent the rest of the evening enjoying the excitement of being a part of a new social realm, and managed to consume only two shots, along with my many Coronas with lime and Miller Lights.

By the end of the evening, I had successfully spent quality time with my friends and family, taken what seems like millions of stupid, but hilarious, drunken pictures, and reached that border line between comfortably drunk and hopelessly wasted, without crossing over

This was my choice. I chose to be a responsible adult when I was handed an adult privilege. So much tragedy comes from irresponsible drinking, and this new trend is basically suicide in my opinion.

Even when you pass out, your BAC level continues to rise to toxic levels, as the alcohol remaining in your stomach continues to enter your blood stream. This is real. Alcohol is toxic to the human body, and people have died because of this trend.

Brad, a junior at Michigan State University, died on the morning of his 21st birthday on Nov. 4, 1998 due to ethanol poisoning, according to brad21.org, a site which tells Brad’s story He had taken 24 shots in one-and-ahalf hours to out-do his friend’s latest record. When they all left the bar, his buddies wrote 24 on his forehead and put him to bed. His BAC continued to climb to .44 g/100ml after he had passed out, and he stopped breathing at 4:30 a.m., on the morning of his birthday.

I imagine how my mother would feel discovering my lifeless body on the very same day she gave me life just a short 21 years ago. I imagine how my roommate would feel having to finish out the semester sleeping with my empty bed above her every night.

This trend that is sweeping across college campuses has serious consequences. The point of becoming of legal age is to act as an adult while still enjoying your youth.

Forcing your body to accept 21 shots does not support either of my points on becoming an adult. It’s time to grow up.

TUNOMUKWATHIASINO ASST EVENTSEDITOR TA725@CABRINI EDU

If there is one thing that politicians around the world have in common, then that is that they all want to control the media.

Media censorship is a world-wide problem.

Journalists are being jailed for not revealing their sources. Politicians are not the only ones trying to control the media. In fact, most people are afraid of the media. College newspapers are being censored as well.

Apart from getting furious when e-mailing people to set up appointments and not receiving a reply, my worst moment is having someone ask me to send them the quotes before the article is published. Then again, I was advised that I shouldn’t be scared to send quotes because I have to establish credibility So, with time, sending quotes “to be checked” did not bother me anymore.

However, I just feel that it’s not right to send people quotes before articles are published. If someone really wants to check quotes, he or she should meet with the editors during copy editing.

Despite feeling strongly on the matter, I always end up sending quotes anyway. Beggars can’t be choosers.

One can argue that the best way to do interviews is through e-mails. That way a reporter can just copy and paste. This method is somewhat effective. I know someone that prefers this method because she always gets misquoted.

I recently read an article by Ricardo Pimentel, on poynter.org, who wrote that “journalism should be worth nothing in coin because it is already one of the most priceless items in existence.”

I must admit that I agree. I am a communications major, but I feel that people fear the media too much. I just can’t understand why people tend to censor newspapers, especially college newspapers, while most do not read past the front page.

Of course the media and reporters sometimes act irresponsibly.

Sometimes reporters fake sources, plagiarize or write about events that they have not been to. Reporters misquote people too or are inaccurate when taking notes.

However, the media has advantages too. One of the many advantages is that it keeps people informed.

I strongly feel that the media should be independent. There are worse issues to worry about, such as human trafficking and why capital punishment is still legal.

I feel that government leaders who feel like treating the media as their puppets should rather worry about issues like human trafficking and capital punishment.

Also, college administrators should not be so focused on censoring college newspapers, but perhaps focus more on issues that affect students, such as creating more opportunities to teach students the connection between freedom of speech and responsibility, or ugly things, such as racism and ethnic intimidations on college campuses.