State Press Magazine Volume 18 Issue 3

state press magazine VOLUME 18 | ISSUE 3

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

T HE I S S UE S I S S UE

CONSEQUENCES OF CONCUSSIONS PG. 16

from the editor

the staff

Welcome to issue three! I know finals are only about a month away, but I’m hoping I can fill your brains with a bit more information. In the third issue of the fall semester SPM focuses on issues impacting student life so I wanted to turn SPM’s attention to something that matters a lot to me: health. Whether it’s mental, physical or sexual, I think we should all be informed about what’s healthy, and what’s not.

Our cover story is something I’m really excited about, though. I’ll be the first to admit I know very, very little about the sports world. However, I’m intrigued

by CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and how this brain disease impacts college athletes. I personally learned a lot and think it’s an important story to tell.

Additionally, I wrote a personal narrative about my and my family’s experiences with OCD. It’s something I’ve very rarely spoken about, but I’m glad I finally feel comfortable enough to share my story with all of you.

EXECUTIVE E DITOR

With Love, Savanah Yaghsezian

SYDN EY MAKI E DITOR-I N-CH I E F SAVANAH YAG HSE Z IAN MANAG I NG E DITOR OWE N BALDN E R DIG ITAL PRODUCE R N ICOLE G I M PL PHOTO E DITORS CE LISSE JON ES DE LIA JOH NSON LEAD DE S IG N E R ALEX CZAJA LEAD R E PORTE R MADISON STATE N R E PORTE RS KAITLI N KOLLASCH E M I LY TAYLOR LAU R E N HART ASH LE E THOMASON THALIA M. ESPAÑA RANJANI VENKATAKRISHNAN ALYSSA R U I Z DOM I N IQU E Z I EG LE R PHOTOG RAPH E RS COTTE R EWANS AN DR EW PALLA M ITCH E LL ATE NCIO JACK WI N N I MAN I RAN DLE G RAPH ICS JOEY COALTE R ANG E LI NA B E H LE R STE LLA ATZ E NWE I LE R

FROM LE FT TO R IG HT: OWE N BALDN E R, N ICOLE G I M PL, SAVANAH YAG HSE Z IAN, SYDN EY MAKI, ALEX CZAJA PHOTO BY ALEX CZAJA ON TH E COV E R: FORM E R STATE PRESS RE PORTE R AN D J U N IOR JOU RNALISM MAJOR KE EGAN KE LLY POSES FOR PHOTO I LLUSTRATION. PHOTO BY M ITCH E LL ATE NCIO. G RAPH IC I LLUSTRATION BY JOEY COALTE R.

join the conversation & follow @statepressmag

COVE R MODE L KE EGAN KE LLY

SP M ED I TOR S ’ P ICKS FOR A BE TTER DAY OWE N B ALDNE R : MANAGING EDIT OR

SAVA N A H YA G HS E Z I A N : ED I T O R - I N - C H I E F Whenever I have a bad day music is usually the thing that drags me out of my emotional slump. I made a perfectly curated playlist that I’ve been listening to for four years that always does the trick. It starts out super sad and ends with fist-pumping jams that never fail to lift my spirits. It’s the perfect way for me to get all my tears out and end the day dancing around my room. This playlist has gotten me over failed relationships, encouraged sing-a-longs and has genuinely made me a better person.

If you’re curious the playlist is aptly called “Feel Better” and is available on Spotify. If you’re a fan of everything from tearjerkers by Daughter to power anthems like Beyonce’s “Best Thing I Never Had” you’re sure to snap out of your funk ASAP.

Disney movies have always been my go-to way of relaxing since the age of two. Yes, that’s correct, I was self-soothing to the vibrancy and soothing tones of the "The Lion King" since my terrible twos and have never grown out of it. If you’re looking for proof, look no further than the bowels of my Instagram, where you will find a photo demonstrating my Bluray copies of "The Lion King," "Frozen," "Beauty and the Beast" and more. Since then, my collection has grown and so has my appreciation.

A senior in college and at the ripe age of 21, there is nothing I find more empowering than hearing that my old pal Hercules can go the distance. There’s nothing as soothing as listening to Pocahontas educate me on “The Colors of the Wind.”

There’s nothing as inspiring as watching Mulan take on an entire empire and giving the metaphorical finger to the patriarchy.

I love Disney and Disney has given me

nothing but love in return.

I remember quite vividly having a horrible day in high school, where I went home and just watched "Pocahontas" (my favorite Disney movie despite its historical inaccuracy) to feel better. Since then, I’ve had approximately a hundred more just like it and Disney has been there every step of the way. Nothing has given me the instant relief that a little over an hour of Disney has and I anticipate after 19 years, nothing will.

NICOLE GIMPL: DIGITAL PR ODUCER

I pride myself on being a fan of almost every music genre, but it would probably still surprise some people that I’m a big fan of angry, loud music that you can scream along to more than sing along to.

One of my favorite albums is "That’s the Spirit" by Bring Me the Horizon.

There’s something very cathartic about screaming angry lyrics at nothing and no one in particular. It doesn’t sound particularly relaxing but I’ve always found that it’s a great way to clear my head.

Depending on my mood or the situation I find myself in though, I also really love listening to major throwbacks. Hannah Montana, Hilary Duff and Aly and AJ are just a few artists that can change my mood completely. Whenever I hear “Best of Both Worlds,” the lyrics come rushing up from the back of my memory and I sing them loud and proud until I can’t remember what it was I was upset about and I get to clear my head. It’s almost like pushing a mental reset button.

CONTE NTS volume 18 | issue 3 08

06 student life 10

06

EATI NG B ETWE E N TH E LI N ES

08

UTE R USES, OVAR I ES, TESTES - OH MY!

10

ASU R UG BY TACKLES R E FOR M

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U N DE RSTAN DI NG EATI NG DISOR DE RS

16 from the cover 16

CONSEQU E NCES OF CONCUSSIONS

22 16

culture 22

TH E U NCEASI NG COLLEG E COLD

24

G ROWI NG U P WITH OCD

26 last look

22

26

EVE N I NGS I N TH E LAN D OF G U N CONTROL

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STAFF POE M: M E TOO

6

STU DE NT LI FE

eating BETWEEN

the lines b y M a d i s o n S t a te n

p h o to b y M i tch e l l A te n ci o

WHEN IT COMES TO eating on a college campus, a diet restriction can sometimes feel like a death sentence. With fast food restaurants located all around campus and entire sections of the dining hall dedicated to dessert, it might seem as if students who live with dietary restrictions are forced to carry the burden alone.

Arizona State University is attempting to bridge that gap with dedicated gluten free and dietary restriction-conscious menus.

“Nowadays, luckily, campuses have started to address groups with dietary restrictions or patterns that weren't taken into consideration before, and there are plenty of good and healthy options," Victoria Alanis, vice president of the Student Nutrition Council and sophomore nutrition dietetics major says."There's no reason to not enjoy our dietary patterns and it's always important to achieve an overall state of wellness."

Students like lifestyle vlogger Kaylin Harding, a sophomore communications major, understand the struggles of eating healthy in college. Harding decided to document these struggles in a vlog series.

She chronicled her fitness and nutrition journey on her YouTube channel and says she used it as a tool to keep accountable.

“I think it’s totally possible to have a healthy diet even when eating from the dining hall,” Harding says. “They offer things like salads and veggies and chicken breasts. ASU actually makes it pretty easy to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

Harding was inspired by the many healthy choices available to all students within the dining hall and started using her daily lifestyle vlogs to focus on both her personal fitness and eating greener in the dining hall.

“At the time, that was what was working the best for me, accountability wise,” Harding says. “And people were just so supportive of me.”

Not only was Harding supported by students, the University supported her choices to live a greener lifestyle with its many healthy options.

ASU offers gluten-free foods to students, such as pizza crust upon request and gluten-free bread. The school also maintains sections of vegan foods for students in need, with a rotating menu that includes Mediterranean stir fry, tofu potato hash, Moroccan vegetable stew and vegan Belgian waffles, depending on the day and dining hall location.

Still, some argue the dining hall could do a better job of promoting healthy options. For students like Martha Ryan, a freshman microbiology major, the University could be doing more to expand and market dining choices.

“Based on what I’ve seen, it’s actually quite difficult to eat healthy at ASU,” Ryan says. “They do have the salad bar, but you hit a point where you have the same salad five days in a row and ask yourself what you are going to do now.”

Freshman medical studies major and vegitarian Bailey Bauer wants the ASU community to understand having to implement dietary restrictions aren't always the choice of the individual.

"I'm only a vegetarian because I'm allergic to meat," Bauer says. "It's not by choice at all. I'm really restricted almost every day. ... I think they should provide just as many options for those who have dietary restrictions than for those that don't, just to make it even."

In an attempt to help students find nutritional success, the University has an on-campus nutritionist team, employed by Aramark, to showcase healthy options. Students can seek help with any questions or concerns about dining hall foods they might have, as well as get advice on how to navigate college with a food allergy.

The ASU dining hall director was contacted and referred the reporter to the on-campus nutrition team.

"Students can maintain a gluten friendly and dairy-free diet on campus by utilizing nutrition labels and signage that is posted at each dining hall," a member of the nutritionist team Satiria Clatyon writes in an email. "Nutrition labels include ingredients of the prepared entree and the signage includes a list of food items at each station that are 'Made without Gluten.' Students are able to view the ingredient list and decide if an item is free from dairy or gluten. An onsite nutrition team is available for further questions or concerns. The nutrition team can be reached at: SunDevilDining@asu.edu."

ASU also offers nutrition self-evaluations for those in need. The mobile app, My Fitness Pal, is also accessible to students looking to find nutritional information on all of the foods offered in the dining hall, simply by searching "Aramark on campus" within the app.

From a student perspective, Alanis recommends that students struggling with their diet restrictions vary the types of foods in their daily diets, which can be done with the help of the on campus nutritionist.

“I advise students to not fall into the same routine of their dietary patterns because that can ultimately become tedious." Alanis says. "It's always good to be open to new and varied foods that we've never tried before, but that still fall into the acceptable range of our acceptable eating patterns.”

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STU DE NT LI FE

UTERUSES, OVARIES, TESTES – OH MY!

by Laure n H ar t and D o m i ni qu e Z i eg l er | p h o t o s b y S a v a n a h Ya g h s e z i a n

WHEN

COMMUNICATIONS

SENIOR

and president of VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood Catherine Corbett first arrived at Arizona State University, she decided she wanted to start birth control. However, she also knew she did not want to have a conversation with her father about it.

In order to obtain her birth control, Corbett did what millions of women each year do and went to the local Planned Parenthood.

"I reached out because I wanted to know how it works and what I can do to be safe," Corbett says. "It was affordable and easy."

Corbett had a sexual education class in high school, but says she had to do a lot of research on her own.

“There were things that I researched on my own time, but not everyone has the access to that or the resources for that,” Corbett says.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, only 24 states and the District of Columbia mandate sex education in high schools as of Oct. 1. Only 13 states require HIV information taught be medically accurate.

In Arizona only 36 percent of high schools that taught sexual health education discussed how HIV and other STIs are spread, according to a report done in 2014 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This lack of education can be detrimental for students who lack the resources to seek outside information.

Eva Elizondo, physical education teacher at Pinnacle High School says she knows the importance of a comprehensive sexual health education.

“Appropriate and evidence-based sexual health education helps adolescents create and recognize healthy interpersonal relationships,” Elizondo says.

Sexual health education has improved dramatically over the last few decades she says. Educators are now much more aware of how young minds work and how they retain information.

“In my day, it was a health class filled with fear-based lessons and a lot of sitting quietly,” Elizondo says.

Groups at ASU are stepping up to make sure students are able to obtain the resources and education they need to make informed decisions about their sexual health.

Devils in the Bedroom is a club on the Tempe campus that is dedicated to providing comprehensive sexual health education so students can feel empowered to make decisions about their sexual health.

Sexual health education taught in high schools can be very vague. Rachel Kuntz, director of programming for Devils in the Bedroom, remembers her

high school experience with sex education.

"We didn't receive sexual health education from my school until I was literally a senior in high school and the course was only two to three hours total," Kuntz says. “It was pretty accurate and sex positive, but it certainly wasn’t enough, and it was well after many of us had become sexually active."

Kuntz says it’s never too late to become educated and that is why clubs like Devils in the Bedroom, which discuss current sexual health education topics, are so important.

“We cover everything from STIs and birth control to BDSM, gender and sexual orientation to self-care and healthy relationships,” Kuntz says.

Kuntz also says she turned to the internet when the information taught in class was not adequate.

"Luckily, I was able to find a number of accurate and reputable sources, but it was mostly because I was willing to seek them out," Kuntz says. "A lot of students aren't willing and/or able to find good sources of information."

She says she believes that accurate education is important.

"Without accurate education from their schools or from parents, they're left in the dark," Kuntz says.

Another club on campus trying to promote a healthy sexual education is VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood.

Corbett says, “We are an activist group for women’s reproductive rights, sexual health awareness, health care and other topics.”

Corbett says she also researched on her own to find out more information when she could.

“There were things that I researched on my own time, but not everyone has the access to that or the resources for that,” Corbett says.

Another source of information Corbett says student can use is students' parents, but sometimes even this isn't helpful when parents are not willing to address the topic.

Many states require that abstinence be stressed in sexual health education. Corbett says she thinks this can have the opposite effect on students that teachers want it to have.

“I feel like the whole abstinence policy makes kids want to do it more when you have that strictness with it. They lack the education and they experiment with it,” she says.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION Taryn Porter, a business junior says she wishes there was more awareness around sexual assault in sexual education classes.

“I think that harassment is something that a lot of girls in high school face and don’t even necessarily know they are facing it,” Porter says.

According to a report by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), about half of all students in grades seven through 12 experienced some form of sexual harassment at school.

“When I was in middle school, I remember boys being really inappropriate and feeling guilty like I had done something wrong, like I was dressed the wrong way," Porter says.

VOX is doing their part to raise awareness for the issue.

“Last semester we did a sexual assault awareness rally,” Corbett says. “We protested all around campus.”

Elizondo believes that learning how to set boundaries is an important part of a comprehensive sexual health education.

“Learning the of value setting healthy, personal boundaries impacts adolescents are they emerge into adulthood,” Elizondo says. “It takes a lifetime to master advocating for yourself.”

As the issue of sexual assault becomes something more people are aware of, educators and parents may begin to address this issue in the future.

RESOURCES ON CAMPUS ASU has sexual health resources available on campus. Students are able to get free condoms and STI testing at ASU Health Services from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. However, condoms are limited to three per student.

According to their Facebook page, Devils in the Bedroom is the No. 1 provider of free condoms and other barriers on campus.

They recently held an event on campus where students could receive free STI testing by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.

“We are trying to create an environment where students can not only seek their own education, but learn to educate other people,” Kuntz says in an email interview.

10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SEX (AT ASU AND BEYOND)

ASU students 1. 51% ofhave had sex

in the last 12 months

3. 27%

of students have not had sex

in the last 12 months

5.

Depending on what type of

hormonal birth control you use, they are between

2. 44% of ASU students said they had been

tested for STIs at least once

4.

Male and female condoms are available at ASU

Health Centers, but you can only take

three at a time For 6. every 100

91 – 99% effective against

women who use the

preventing pregnancy

pull-out method imperfectly,

22

7. 58% ofwomen

use the pill for more than just pregnancy prevention

9.

In Arizona,

health care providers can also treat a patient's partner

for all or most STIs,

without the partner having to see that health care provider

will get pregnant

8. Arizona

does not require sex ed classes to provide medically accurate

HIV information

10. 99%

of sexually active

American women ages 15-44 have used a

contraceptive method

Sources: The National College Health Assessment, 2015 (1-3), ASU (4), Planned Parenthood (5-6), Guttmacher Institute (7-10) Infographic by Alex Czaja

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THE STATE PRESS INVESTIGATES:

ASU RUGBY TACKLES REFORM b y Ke l l y Bro d e r i ck g r a p h i c b y S te l l a A tz e n w e i l e r

DURING A GAME on Feb. 25, Arizona State University rugby player Christopher Crawford made his way over to a University of Arizona opponent who was tying his shoe and kicked him in the face with his cleat.

The kick knocked the UA player, Doug Neary, unconscious.

It fractured bones in his face and concussed him.

He was transported to the hospital for facial reconstruction, where doctors inserted a metal plate and six screws into his face.

Meanwhile, Crawford ran off the field, changed into street clothes and evaded police for three days until ultimately turning himself in. He was then taken into custody and booked on suspicion of aggravated assault, according to court documents.

Crawford was not available for an interview in time for publication, but at the time

of his arrest, he told police that the kick was in “self-defense” because Neary punched him during a tackle earlier in the game, according to court documents.

Neary and UA head coach Sean Duffy declined to comment due to the pending trial. Neary’s attorney, John Shorb of Manolio & Firestone, says he has no comment on the case.

Following the incident, Crawford was kicked off the team and is now on trial for aggravated assault in Maricopa County Superior Court.

The incident had lasting impacts on the team itself and ASU club sports as a whole.

In the eight months since the incident, USA Rugby brought sanctions against the team, and ASU fired its coaches. The incident also led the University to change who is allowed to play and how coaches are hired.

A SYSTEM OF CHANGES The rugby team is under the category of a “sport club” at ASU. Unlike football or baseball, which are full-fledged D-1 sports and are overseen by the athletics department, teams like rugby or lacrosse are overseen by Educational Outreach and Student Services.

Several rules governing how those sport clubs operate were changed following the incident, according to Tara Yesenski, assistant director for sports programs at ASU. At the time of the incident in February, Crawford wasn't a student at ASU – he had last been enrolled in Fall 2014. But the sport club rules at the time allowed non-students to join ASU teams.

That changed starting this school year.

“That rule was implemented this year as well because of the situation with rugby," Yesenski says. "... We felt that we really needed to protect our students and have our programs just for ASU students. That's why we changed that just to make sure that our liability and risk is solely on our ASU students."

Yesenski says there are other places where non-students can play in the community.

“There are lots of other opportunities in the community for non-ASU students to participate in clubs that are like our sports clubs, and so we have found that it is very valuable for us to only have ASU students,” Yesenski says.

But newly added programs like the ASU Quidditch team have had difficulties with this rule. Co-captain Kasandra Rascon, a biological sciences junior, says at least two players this year have had to make sacrifices to play.

“A lot of times if we had players that would graduate a semester early, they would

be able to continue playing for us and finish the season even though they’re no longer students,” Rascon says.

Rascon says that the two players that were on her roster who had planned on graduating early instead had to rearrange their entire schedules to stay on the team.

“They made that sacrifice of spending more money because they love the sport,” Rascon says. “For the most part, we just figured out that our players had to sacrifice money to be able to play again.”

While rule changes affected the Quidditch team, ASU men’s lacrosse president

responsible for roster oversight and registration, such as making sure every player is eligible to compete.

"They're responsible for the same things as previous years but we’re doing a lot more training with them and holding them accountable for their role on the team," Yesenski says.

Madison DiLuccia, the sport clubs student coordinator and a business communication sophomore, says the changes were necessary because ASU’s teams are set up to let students lead.

“We’re making sure the clubs know that the power is in the students rather than the coaches,” DiLuccia says. “We’re showing the students that they are running this club.”

This year ASU also started performing background checks on all head coaches of sport club teams, Yesenski says.

"Background checks for coaches , came after I did some research on other institutions from -Bailey Stringer across the country – a lot of them were doing background checks," Yesenski says.

"We were not (doing background checks), and junior exercise and wellness major Zac and we really want to make sure that we’re Mathien says the rule changes did not affect protecting the students here and making the lacrosse club as it already had policies sure that we’re hiring the right people so that where only ASU students were allowed on was just in general one of the aspects that we the roster. started this year."

“We're required by the (Men’s ColleThe University now mandates all players giate Lacrosse Association) for all players on watch the "Community of Care" video series, the team to be taking 12 credits unless they're which gives students information about the in their senior year where they can take nine,” student code of conduct.

Mathien says. “They haven't really affected us “We were already talking about (requirtoo much. I just didn't realize that they had ing players to watch it) before this incident players on their team that weren't students – happened, but we wanted to just add that," that was the surprise to me.”

Yesenski says. "It was already slated to be done The University has also elevated enthis school year and we just held true to our forcement of its safety officer program, promise I guess.” requiring every team to have at least two All of the policies are now located in a safety officers. Yesenski says the officers are handbook on the website. The handbook de-

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tails club sports rules on membership, funding, travel and registration.

DiLuccia says the Sun Devil Fitness Complex did not have a rulebook before this year, but had a frequently asked questions page on its webpage.

Bailey Stringer, the rugby team president and a senior civil engineering major, says he saw most of these changes happen as a direct result of the incident. “(There were) lots of policy changes made in club sports – they recognized I think that they had gaps as well in their organization,” Stringer says. “They revamped their entire program on how players get cleared and they instituted new policies on enrollment and eligibility. ... I think a lot of it has to do with our incident – it kind of woke them up.

Unfortunately we were the spark that did that.”

A TEAM EVOLVES As the University was adapting its rules following the incident, the rugby team grappled with a series of sanctions from ASU and USA Rugby.

The team, which had only competed in a handful of games when the incident occurred, saw its season end immediately following the incident when USA Rugby forbade players from attending the rest of the season's games.

“It brought us down a lot,” Stringer says.

“I remember the first week – it was weird not seeing some of my friends. It started to get tense. People wanted to play rugby, and they knew it was just this one stupid incident that ruined everything.”

The full effects of the team’s sanctions weren't felt until late July, Alex Walsh, the team vice president and a public service and public policy senior says.

USA Rugby, which did not reply to requests for comment, told the team it would have to complete 500 hours of community service. The team has already completed over 200 hours through volunteering with organizations like Feed My Starving Children as well as helping with triathlon events, Stringer says.

One member of the team, sophomore chemical engineering major Ben Cohen,

says he felt as though the events bettered the program.

“I think we really needed this,” Cohen says. “We really needed to give back to the community and it gave us a community base.”

The team was also required to certify at least 12 of their players as referees. Stringer says over 30 people showed up to their certification day in Tempe. For some players, the certification allowed them to see a different side of the game.

“It makes you a better student of the game if you have it from the referee's point of view, the coach's point of view and player's point of view,” Cohen says. “If you can get it from multiple sides, you can learn to play the game.”

Because of the sanctions, ASU rugby was excluded from playoffs for the 2017-18 season.

This marks the second consecutive season that the program was banned from postseason competition since the incident occurred at the beginning of the 2016-17 season.

But the team's preseason schedule is now underway, and it will be allowed to play regular-season games, which begin in January.

The team was allowed to begin the preseason series in September after Stringer and the leadership board sent a letter to USA Rugby explaining the incident and how the program would ensure events like this never happened again, he says.

In a copy of the letter obtained by The State Press, Stringer addressed the issue and

p h o to b y Ce l i s s e J o n e s

detailed how the event impacted the club.

“Firstly, we do not condone this kind of on-field violence. It is not in our team culture today, or part of 42-year history as a club.

This is not something we have experienced before,” Stringer says in the letter. “While we cannot be held responsible for the act of one individual, who has done more to harm our club than anyone in our history, we accept that there are factors that we are responsible for and can look internally to improve.”

Stringer emphasized the change in leadership ensures incidents like that will not occur again.

“Moving forward, we will make sure that our players are compliant with all league, union, and school rules,” Stringer says in the letter. “We have new student leadership for the 2017-2018 school year. A new president, vice president and treasurer. As the new leadership of the club, we are committed to making sure our club runs better and without incident in the future.”

Yesenski says she believes the team has made significant progress since the incident.

“The team has handled the sanctions rather well,” Yesenski says. “They’ve taken responsibility for their actions. They've made some very good changes to their program, where I think in a year or two from now, will be a highly competitive team from a USA Rugby standpoint and very organized on the backend.”

Stringer says one of largest challenges

p hot o by Cotte r Ewan s

over the summer was working with the University to hire new coaches.

“I was handed basically no coaching staff, no administration and we were supposed to be on probation until January 1 of 2018,” Stringer says. “Basically I was dealing with the litigation between ourselves and USA Rugby which is our disciplinary committee. I had to find new coaches (and) a manager and negotiate with our governing board."

ership side of the rugby team, were able to sit down over the summer and ask an important question.

“Do we want to be the team that recovered from this incident or do we want to drop down a division and sees what happens,”

A CHANGE OF CULTURE In many ways, Stringer says he believes the club has grown since February.

“Initially, everyone's reaction was very lethargic, but since the month after everyone's felt the need to grow,” Stringer says. “We're not getting anywhere being sad or anything like that.”

Like Stringer, Yesenski also believes that the program is growing from this.

“This club is really moving in a positive direction; they've taken responsibility and ownership for what has happened and really love the sport of rugby and really want it to be successful and a proud name that people talk about,” Yesenski says. “I think for them they're moving in a great direction – they've put a lot of things in place that make me feel comforted and that we won't be in this situation again.”

With a new roster and coaching staff aboard, Stringer, as well as others on the lead-

p h o t o s b y Co tte r E w a n s

Stringer says. “Every single person I spoke to said let's take this to the next level, this is the perfect opportunity to reorganize and reshape our club and take it where we want to go because even though we had no coaching staff, that gave us the freedom to say ‘Who do we want? Who do we think can lead us to be even better?’”

Stringer wanted the team to be treated as a professional program now, and with that comes taking responsibility for what had happened and moving forward, he says.

“We can be that team that sits down and says, 'Alright we’re on probation,' but it says a lot about the guys on our club that are going to these leadership things and volunteering and even though they know it's not for a whole lot,” Stringer says. “We want to set the tone for the people that come after us.”

Stringer believes that the program has changed for the better.

“I think we took two steps back with the incident, but I think we took three steps forward over the summer in the way we recovered,” Stringer says.

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UNDERSTANDING EATING DISORDERS b y Kai t l i n Ko l l a s ch | g r a p h i c b y J o e y Co a l te r TWO YEARS AGO, sophomore journal-

ism student Lauren Marshall says she never would have imagined she’d be struggling with an eating disorder as a college student.

Marshall says an increase in free time gave her more time to focus on herself in a negative way. Eventually, this led to an unhealthy focus on her body in order to avoid problems in her life.

“It was sort of a maladaptive coping skill from my family dynamics and the situation that was going on,” Marshall says.

Eating disorders include extreme emotions and behaviors surrounding weight and food issues, according to Mental Health America, but they are not just about obsessing over the way your body looks. There may be several factors that can contribute to an eating disorder.

Amy Wasserbauer, clinical lead at the downtown Phoenix office of Counseling Services, has worked with patients with eating disorders for over 15 years.

“An eating disorder can be described

as an iceberg," Wasserbauer says. "So, the tip are the behaviors, that’s what you see. What’s under the waterline are their thoughts, their feelings and their story that’s taken them to use (an) eating disorder as a coping mechanism to deal with their life."

WHAT IS AN EATING DISORDER? Although it's more common for women to have eating disorders, the disorders are prevalent in both genders.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), surveys estimate that 20 million women and 10 million men in America will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives.

Marshall has struggled with anorexia since January 2016.

Marshall says she had to start attending counseling and group therapy as treatment.

However, beginning treatment was not easy for her.

“I thought I didn’t have a problem. I was like, 'Treatment is for crazy people,'” Marshall says. “Once I went, I was really just so taken aback about how everyone was almost just like me.”

Marshall says she just wants to have a normal life and feel happy, but people with eating disorders internally struggle at all points of the day.

“It’s sad because it’s like I want to be a regular college student, I want to be a regular teenager and it’s a daily, hourly ... struggle to fight against what the compulsions are and what the negative thoughts are telling you,” Marshall says.

THE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD Eating disorders are classified as mental illnesses, but they are not due to a chemical imbalance like depression would be.

“An eating disorder from a diagnostic criterion is considered a thought disorder which is why it’s deemed a mental illness, but

GETTING HELP Marshall uses social media to share her journey with anorexia in a positive way. She

posts about her struggles, organizations she is a part of and anything that raises awareness on this issue.

“I am trying to show people that it’s okay to have negative thoughts, and it’s OK to go to the counselor because that is where you really start to do the self-discovery,” Marshall says.

Additional support can be found at ASU Counseling Services, who work to get students the help they need. They assess for eating disorders, partner with health services and diagnose, but cannot fully treat diagnosed eating disorders on their own.

“It takes a team to help that person,” Wasserbauer says.

Once a person is diagnosed with an eating disorder, they need dieticians, psychologists, counselors and peers for group therapy to really take in the full treatment, Wasserbauer says.

body confidence and healthy self-esteem is Proud2Bme. This is a nationwide organization started by NEDA, and ASU’s chapter is based on the Downtown Phoenix campus.

Senior nutrition major Madison DeHaven is the president of Proud2Bme at ASU. “This organization is a safe space for people to talk about these issues primarily and then for us to practice leading by example by being body positive in our everyday lives,” DeHaven says.

Junior criminal justice major and vice president of Proud2Bme Maddison Fitzsimmons says she feels like she has struggled with body image for a long time.

“I was really fit in high school and I still didn’t think that I was the perfect girl or the standard size,” Fitzsimmons says.

Now, Fitzsimmons promotes body positivity on her Instagram by posting pictures of herself that she wouldn't usually.

“I think social media really played a big TARGETING BODY NEGATIVITY role for me," Fitzsimmons says. "I was doing Aside from personal reasons, negative photoshoots for myself which really helped body images portrayed in forms of mass my body image. I posted all them on Instamedia can lead to gram and just got poor self-esteem, really good feedwhich can lead to back. My number an eating disorder, one compliment I th o u g h t according to dois, ‘I love how I d id n ’t h ave a something.org. confident you are’ p ro b le m. I w as like , Ad cambecause it’s not paigns often porco m p l i m en t i n g 'Tre atme n t is f o r tray an unrealistic your body, it’s c razy p e o p le .'

On c e body type. The co m p l i m en t i n g I w e n t, I w as re ally average size of a who you are, and model is 5 feet 11 I think that’s more ju st so take n ab ac k inches and 117 important.” ab o u t h o w e ve ryo n e pounds, according Fitzsimmons w as almo st ju st like to the "Girl Modsays that once she me . el" PBS documenfound happiness tary. However, the in loving her body average size of an the way it was, she – Lau re n Marsh all American woman wanted others to is 5 feet 4 inches feel like that too. and 140 pounds, according to the same docShe promotes Proud2Bme as something she umentary.. is passionate about and encourages people to As a response to the negative body imcome find themselves and their own happiages portrayed in the media, several groups ness. on campus are striving to raise awareness “I think once you find this true joy inabout eating disorders and start sharing body side loving yourself, it really affects your life positivity. and how happy you are," Fitzsimmons says.

One organization that promotes "Good vibes are everything.”

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it’s also an emotional dysregulation disorder,” Wasserbauer says. “It’s not schizophrenia, but it literally gives messages.”

Marshall says there's a voice in her head saying negative things about her body, which leads to compulsive eating behaviors.

“Whether it’s bulimia, a binge-eating disorder or anorexia, it’s all the same voice that you’re hearing,” Marshall says.

When people with eating disorders hear this voice telling them to stop eating, they act on it.

“Starvation is painful, and the brain kicks in neurotransmitters and endorphins, so there’s a high," Wasserbauer says. "The more a person starves, the more it can potentially become addictive to starve and they feel stronger and better. It numbs emotion, so it works almost like a drug high."

For people with bulimia, they can become addicted to the action of binging and purging.

“Sometimes people will just get addicted to the behavior so it can hook them and the person becomes very unconscious to even sometimes why they’re doing it," Wasserbauer says. "They don’t understand it’s numbing emotion or that the trauma they had as a child made them feel not OK in their skin."

These behaviors can start because parents unknowingly taught their children to suppress emotions at a young age, Wasserbauer says.

“Most people with an eating disorder have a gifted sensitive personality that sees things and takes things in in a way that often others don’t, but unfortunately the family may say, ‘stop being so sensitive’ and they’ll shut it down. Intent might be pure, but we look at the effect on the person and they may have gotten a message that it’s not okay to feel,” Wasserbauer says.

If people continue on this path of eating disorders and starvation, they have a higher risk of dying, Wasserbauer says.

“Anorexia has the highest deaths of any mental illness,” Wasserbauer says.

According to NEDA, heart failure and suicide are the most common causes of death in people with eating disorders.

THE HARD HITTING CONSEQUENCES OF CONCUSSIONS

by Thalia M . Esp aña

18

FROM TH E COVE R

THE

HARD HITTING CONSEQUENCES OF CONCUSSIONS

W

ithin the past five years, college student-athletes across the nation have suffered an average of about 10,500 concussions, according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Worldwide, it is estimated that between 1.6 million and 3.8 million concussions occur annually from “recreation-related” activities.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, known as CTE, is a disease caused by repeated head traumas — sometimes found in athletes who play contact sports such as football, soccer, basketball, wrestling and hockey — and can eventually cause brain degeneration. Among the type of head traumas are concussions, caused by powerful blows to the head.

Research by the Concussion Legacy Foundation displays a “widespread reach” of CTE, addressing its impact on college students. In the research study conducted in October 2016, among all football Power 5 conferences - Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and Southeastern Conference (SEC) - at least one of their schools has three or more cases of CTE. "Only players whose families have given permission for their names to be released are listed (in the study),” says a disclaimer from the Concussion Legacy Foundation.

WHAT CAUSES CTE? Though multiple concussions have been speculated to be the cause of CTE, in reality CTE happens because of many factors.

According to Sun Devil Athletics Team Physician Shanyn Lancaster, there are several factors that can cause CTE such as the number of concussions, how bad the symptoms are, the severity of the hit, level of the damage from concussion, type of head trauma, potential substance abuse and potential mental health issues.

“We’re learning more about that,” Lancaster says. “Things are changing and it’s important to stay on top of that research.”

As for a direct correlation between CTE and concussion, Lancaster says it has not become completely apparent.

“CTE is a really scary thing. It’s a big thing,” Lancaster says. “It’s still a bit premature to say there is a direct correlation (between concussions and CTE) because we don’t know. A question that comes to me a lot is, ‘How many concussions are too many?’ It’s a really personal answer.

For some athletes, one concussion may be enough to have them change their activity. Others, depending on how they recover and everything else, they might be able to tolerate three concussions or more. It’s an individualized answer.”

However, Lancaster emphasized the importance of taking the appropriate steps to avoid ever getting student-athletes to the point of CTE or any other potentially fatal injuries.

PREVENTING AND UNDERSTANDING CTE At Arizona State University, the Concussion Program as overseen by the NCAA serves “to improve the safety of ASU students while participating in sports activities that are identified as having a high risk of mild traumatic brain injury and to comply with state law” as stated in its purpose.

Run by Health Services, the program addresses policy in preven-

tion, identification, evaluation and management of concussions within ASU student-athletes.

The program’s protocol includes the following as it guides students step-by-step to the concussion response process: education, reducing exposure to head trauma, pre-participation assessment, recognition and diagnosis of concussion, sideline concussion assessment, post-concussion management for diagnosed concussions, nutritional aspects of concussion recovery, Return-To-Learn, stepwise progression, return to play and final determination of full clearance.

Lancaster says the ultimate goal of the program comes down to one thing: protecting the student-athletes.

Additionally, the program also provides an educational aspect for student-athletes, their coaches and trainers to be aware of the importance of appropriately handling a concussion.

“I think the culture here is really accepting of concussion reporting,” Lancaster says. “Student-athletes, in my experience, are much more likely to report than other institutions I have been at. People are much more aware of it than even 10 years ago.”

When a student is diagnosed with a concussion at ASU, Lancaster says the team physicians such as herself have the final authority in what a student should do next. For 24 hours following the concussion impact, athletes must refrain from attending practice or even going to class to minimize movement as much as possible.

“We’re here to take care of them, and we’re not going to make a medical decision that isn’t medically based,” Lancaster says.

Lancaster says that above all, it is important for students to rest, sleep, hydrate and refuel following the concussion impact.

“The thing that is great is that we’re learning more about concussions every day,” Lancaster says. “One of the things we know about concussion right now is that it’s a really complex cascade of neurological signals that are changing. There’s this microscopic injury and the brain needs fuel, essentially, to heal.”

After the first 24 hours are over, follow-ups are important in determining a student-athlete’s healing process which can take up to seven to 10 days to completely heal, according to Lancaster.

Lancaster also mentioned that sometimes student-athletes are not happy with the restrictions, but eventually come to an understanding of why it is important.

Not all concussions are the same, Lancaster says. There are different aspects or subtypes leading to research in determining that all treatment should not be the same either.

"THINGS ARE CHANGING AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO STAY ON TOP OF THAT RESEARCH" – SHANYN LANCASTER

20

FROM TH E COVE R

As a physician with Sun Devil Athletics, Lancaster says ASU has says. "You get your head dinged and your teamed up with TGen, a Translational Genomics Research Institute ears are ringing. Your vision might be a litbased in Phoenix, and Riddell, a helmet design company, for a research tle blurry. But you decide you’re going to go study. The study uses biomarkers from ASU student-athletes' biofluids ahead and play because you want to have this along with data from helmet sensors recording number, intensity and opportunity with the scout. It’s easier to do that direction of head impacts from the 2013-16 football teams. when you view concussion as a low-immediacy In this study, Lancaster and her colleagues also gathered data from problem. At individual attitude levels, we think that ASU athletes for TGen to analyze. Overall, the research goal is to find is a big part of the problem. Athletes don’t realize that new ways of diagnosing or creating a more developed test to provide there are more immediate consequences to concussions.” more personal care for student-athlete injuries.

Men and women’s basketball and women’s soccer In a statement to TGen, University Athletics Vice President Ray were among the sports the ASU research team looked at Anderson says, “Concussion safety, protocol and diagnostics are key in the first year. Corman says although students report they components of Sun Devil Athletics' student-athlete welfare program. receive the required concussion training and education, it's not Our partnership with TGen and the research conducted with these bio“memorable.” He says it is challenging for it to stick with them. markers will ideally provide doctors, trainers and administrators with a In the third year of the research project, Corman says part mechanism to proactively safeguard the health of our student-athletes. of the project will be to develop an intervention for better, more We are proud and excited to be a part of this effective education. The plan is to test it groundbreaking study that will significantly in the same year. expand research in this important area of “It’s a big issue for the NCAA,” CorIt’s imp o rtan t scientific discovery." man says. “Most of these college athletes t h a t ath le te s kn o w Lancaster says this information could are going to have professional careers. It’s also help contrast and address a traditional important that athletes know what the w h at th e c o n c u ssio n attitude stemming from various team culconcussion symptoms are and that they’re s ymp to ms are an d tures of choosing not to address a problem willing to report when they have had t h a t th e y’re w illin g or injury from a set “deal with it” mentality. them so they don’t do permanent damage t o re p o rt w h e n In 2016, the Center for Strategic to themselves.”

Communication was awarded a $400,000 Corman says a separate part of the t h e y h ave h ad th e m grant by the NCAA to study how interests NCAA’s concern is also looking into clins o th e y d o n ’t d o and team culture can influence concussion ical and medical components. He emphap e r man e n t d amag e to self-reporting. sized why this type of research is important for evolution in policy making. th e mse lve s.

The study is currently halfway done THE SELF-REPORTING with its second year in which they are ex– S te ve n Co rman PROBLEM amining football, wrestling, field hockey, lacrosse and men’s soccer.

Steven Corman, professor at the Hugh State Press Magazine reached out Downs School for Human Communication and director of the ASU to ASU football and soccer, but they declined to comment on Center for Strategic Communication says self-reporting is often a strugconcussions. gle student-athletes face.

In the study, principal investigator Corman says they are taking a socioecological approach throughout three, one-year phases that began FACING CONCUSSIONS HEAD-ON in 2016. The approach consists of looking beyond individuals but rather surrounding influences including individual attitudes, team culture and Biomedical sophomore Corey Wittenwyler says cultural narratives within all Pac 12 Division I teams. he remembers his experience with reporting and not In the first year of the study, now completed and under review, a self-reporting several concussions during the four survey of about 500 of the teams' members was conducted in an effort years he was a student-athlete in high school. to look into individual attitudes toward concussion reporting. Corman Wittenwyler says how when he got his first says one finding from the first year is that on average, student-athletes concussion, he was about to tackle someone view concussions as a low-immediacy problem as they expect more during a football game. He says he experilong-term effects. enced fuzziness, dizziness, stumbling and “If you’re a football player and you know there is a pro-scout in the headaches. stands, you want to have time playing in front of that scout," Corman The next week, regular academ-

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ic concentration became a challenge as he says it felt like his mind would wander. He says he would also suffer headaches throughout the week.

Of the four concussions he experienced, Wittenwyler says two were reported and diagnosed while the other two were not.

From his home experience having his dad as his football coach, Wittenwyler also recalls a “get up, go on” mentality, a prominent attitude within a close team setting in “football culture.”

“There were definitely a few of my teammates that would come to the sidelines and say, ‘I have a concussion.’ They would tell me, but they wouldn’t go to the coach,” Wittenwyler says. “They just wanted to keep playing.”

They felt like they absolutely needed to stay in the game, Wittenwyler says. Some of his teammates did not want to lose their chance at being spotted for scholarships, feeling the pressure to

make sure everything was perfect in their plays.

Now, he plays sports only for fun with his friends and at times with intramurals at ASU. Wittenwyler says his knowledge and education about concussions has expanded, stating that some of his old teammates also feel the same way.

“I definitely knew the risks of playing that sport and what could happen if I got hurt,” Wittenwyler says. “Looking back at it now, I’ve educated myself more on the issue now, too.”

For professionals, scholars, student-athletes and coaches, the concussion conversation continues as new research comes up often. For the world of college sports, policy making is ever evolving along with the evolution of research.

“I hope we’ll come up with a good, at least part, of the explanation for why athletes don’t report these symptoms, why they decide not to and how to get them to behave differently,” Corman says.

S oc c e r photos by C el i sse Jo nes, f o o t b al l and h o ck e y p h o to s b y A n d re w P a l l a

22

CU LTU R E

THE UNCEASING COLLEGE COLD

by Emily Taylor photos by Jack Wi nn and Im ani Rand l e

SHE FEELS a pain in her chest grow heavier and heavier. Unable

to catch her breath, she has a sense that something is wrong.

Scared and living on her own for the first time, she takes herself to the doctor to ensure she's alright. Luckily, her diagnosis is not life-threatening and she is able to go home.

Just when she begins to feel better, she is hit with a case of strep throat. A cold makes its way through her system one week after that, too.

Chloe Gibbons is a victim of the unceasing college cold.

“I’m just a mess this year,” she jokingly says.

Gibbons, a junior communications major, is not experiencing anything out of the norm, according to Stefanie Schroeder, the medical director of Arizona State University Health Services.

With finals just around the corner, it is peak season for colds and flus at the University, Schroeder says.

Schroeder says there are many factors responsible exam season inviting germs into students’ systems.

Besides the stress caused by midterms and finals, Schroeder says the proximity students have to one another plays a large role as well.

“When students are stressed and studying, that means they’re not really paying attention to their diets and sleep habits,” Schroeder says. “They are more prone to infection that way. They are also close together with other people, so viruses get spread more easily.”

College is the first time many students have to deal with recovering from a health issue on their own, Gibbons says. Without homemade soup to soothe their throat or a loved one’s words of encouragement, getting over a sickness can leave one feeling a bit lost.

Immune systems suffer when one is overwhelmed because the body shuts or slows down certain functions to fight off stress, according to Livestrong. This makes the body “vulnerable” to various infections and viruses, according to the article.

Many college students recover independently as they now live on their own, Gibbons says. Although she is an in-state student, she expresses she wanted to figure things out for herself rather than go home.

“I wanted to get better on my own since this is the first real problem I’ve had since moving out,” Gibbons says. “I had to force myself to take care of myself. My mom wasn’t there to say, ‘take this’ or ‘calm down.’”

Although her chest pain turned out to be strain, she says she believes having strep throat and a cold were byproducts of feeling overwhelmed.

Kacey Cavanagh, a sophomore nursing student, says she

thinks getting sick at school poses challenges getting sick living at home does not.

“It’s definitely more stressful, which can make your sickness worse,” Cavanagh says. “It is harder to recover because you can’t miss classes as much.”

She says she has been sick plenty of times throughout her college career. Shortly after recovering from getting her wisdom teeth taken out last year, she says she caught a cold.

Although Cavanagh says she does not think being a nursing student has prepared her for preventing colds or getting better faster just yet, she has taken an interest in holistic recovery methods rather than medicinal ones.

“My mom has always taught me: lots of sleep, lots of orange juice, lots of soup,” Cavanagh says. “That’s always what I have lived on.”

Schroeder says ASU has many resources available to those students who are having health concerns. Health Services offers direct patient care at clinics on all four campuses. Schroeder says that these clinics saw 63,000 students in total last year in which upper respiratory infections were the most common case.

All students also have an education tab under their patient por-

tal on MyASU, in which self-help tips and information about colds and flus are listed, she says.

Schroeder says three of the four campuses offer “wellness areas” to help students relieve stress as well. The Sun Devil Fitness Complexes at the Polytechnic and Tempe campuses offer services such as acupuncture, while the West campus has a massage area.

Although the Downtown Phoenix campus does not offer these services, Schroeder says the idea to bring them there has been conceptualized and is a matter of funding.

She says the health clinics accept various insurance carriers as well as offer a student plan for those who are financially independent.

“Student insurance is administered through Aetna,” Schroeder says. “It is a product that is negotiated with all three universities in Arizona: ASU, Northern Arizona University and University of Arizona. It’s a full-service plan that offers care here, at specialists and hospitals.”

Health Services also has the Bridge Plan for students who are not insured or are under-insured. It is a discount plan that costs $129 per semester with $15 co-pays at each visit and $20 co-pays for any lab work, Schroeder says.

Feeling under the weather while managing to keep up with school work and responsibilities sometimes leaves students feeling lonely, Gibbons says.

“You want to be with people, but at the same time you don’t because you don’t want to get them sick,” she says. “You don’t want to feel sad for yourself, but at the same time, you’re like, ‘Hmm ... what do I do?'”

Schroeder says it is normal for college students to be emotional while they are sick because they want someone to tell them everything will be OK, but many live far away from their families. She says if students just ask for help, they can find many resources through counseling, groups, clubs and the Dean of Students Office.

Prevention is the best medicine, I f a stu d e n t c an she says. a v o i d g e ttin g sic k, “If a student can avoid getting sick, that is going to help them succeed acat h at is g o in g to demically,” Schroeder says. “Getting the h e l p th e m su c c e e d flu vaccine, getting plenty of rest and a c a d e mic ally. Ge ttin g plenty of fluids — that’s the hallmark of t h e f lu vac c in e , all of that.”

Gibbons and Cavanagh say the img e t t i ng p le n ty o f re st portance of not being so hard on one’s a n d ple n ty o f f lu id s – self and making health a priority. t h a t ' s th e h allmark o f “Try not to stress too much over evall o f th at. erything you could be doing,” Gibbons says. “Take a rest day.”

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– S t e f an ie S c h ro e d e r

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CU LTU R E

b y S a v a n a h Ya g h s e z i a n g r a p h i c b y A n g e l i n a Be h l e r

IF YOU WANT TO go to sleep, you have to play that song every night or you won’t have a good week.

Make sure you pick the right apple out of the pile or you’ll get in a fight with your best friend the day you eat it.

Go wash your hands again or you’ll get sick the next day.

-----One in 40 adults and one in 100 children have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, according to Beyond OCD, an organization working to solve the vagueness of primary care physician treatment for OCD sufferers.

In my household, 50 percent of the occupants have OCD. One of them is my mom, the other is me.

My mom has been officially diagnosed.

She sees a therapist a few times a year to refill the medications that keep her from scrubbing her hands until they bleed or endlessly roaming the house trying to find the right spot to put a book.

Unlike my mom, I’ve never been officially diagnosed. I've been lucky enough to control my compulsions on my own, but I know that if I ever decided to seek professional help there are treatment plans and medications available.

OCD affects every person differently, but for me, it's infected my brain in the most illogical ways. I know the things I'm doing don’t make any sense, but I do them because I have to. If I don’t do a certain thing, something I’ve been dreading will happen.

-----I remember the exact moment I knew something wasn’t quite right with me.

During the summer after third grade, my parents enrolled me in a summer arts program at my elementary school. It was supposed to be a fun way to get me out of the

house for a few hours, but it ended up being the first place my OCD Brain showed up.

Just outside of the gates to the school, there was an oleander plant that I was warned never to put in my mouth because its flowers were poisonous.

"Don't look at that plant. Don't even breathe near it. If you do you'll get sick and die," OCD Brain said to me. It was an unfamiliar sensation, but I knew I had to obey.

When I got home, I spent the better part of the evening scrubbing my hands until they transitioned from a healthy pink into an irritated bright red. My parents saw me dart in and out of the bathroom several times, and finally stopped me.

“If you don’t stop, we’ll have to send you to your mom’s doctor,” my dad said to me after the eighth or ninth trip to the sink.

I didn’t want anything to be “wrong” with me. I wanted to be like other kids who could go about their day without worrying.

I stopped scrubbing and did my best to push down my compulsions.

-----For a while, it worked and I was a normal kid. I was lucky and able to push my compulsions down. Then I started the fifth grade and it began barraging my brain with wild hypotheticals and crazed compulsions.

If I didn’t eat breakfast, I’d panic because I thought I would pass out from starvation. If I touched an unclean surface, I was going to die from a bacterial infection. I was wracked with guilt over trivial things, convinced it would result in something horrible happening.

During that school year, it was almost impossible to shut out OCD Brain.

My teacher and parents decided I should attend an informal therapy group that met after lunch. I told my classmates I was getting

called out of class because I needed to “fill out paperwork.” What paperwork a 10-year-old needed to sign is beyond me, but no one ever questioned me.

(It’s interesting what people will do to avoid admitting they have a mental illness, even as a kid.)

Once in the group, I felt much more “normal” in comparison to the handful of other participants. Who, through no fault of their own, could barely speak out over their social anxieties.

So, I knew I wasn’t normal, but I also knew I wasn’t dangling by a thread.

-----By the time I reached middle school, OCD Brain had become a vampire. It leeched off my thoughts at night, but left me otherwise unharmed during the day.

As soon as the lights went out in my bedroom, OCD Brain would pick up my iPod Nano and curate a very specific playlist for the evening. Otherwise, the guy I liked wouldn’t like me back, my friends would hate me, I’d get grounded, etc.

-----I think many people believe OCD Brain makes you extremely clean and organized.

While it can manifest this way, it's not always the case. The floor of my room is constantly covered with dirty clothes, and I have trouble keeping up with a planner for more than a month.

Sometimes, OCD Brain just wants you to do its weird bidding.

-----I know OCD Brain will always be a part of me. It’ll be there on every birthday. It’ll be there when I graduate college. It’ll be there when I start my career. It’ll be there on the happiest and saddest days of my life. I guess in a way, OCD Brain might just be the one thing that’s always there with me, no matter what.

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LONDON:

SEMESTER IN

26

LAST LOOK

EVENINGS IN THE LAND OF GUN CONTROL

by David Marino g r a p h i c b y S h a l a n n d r a Be n a l l y

Follow SPM blogger David Marino’s adventures in London as he spends a semester across the pond. ( Editor’s Note: The opinions presented in this blog are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.)

I was trying to enjoy London, but I had a lot on my mind.

I trudged through the bustling streets of Camden to my flat, with only a newly created Spotify playlist keeping me company.

Volume increases – I stop to get Falafel.

But stuck on my mind is one number: 58 That was the total number of people killed when the gunman unleashed an unprecedented and unimaginable flurry of bullets on innocent people Oct. 1. Right now, it’s considered the worst mass shooting in America. I fear it won’t hold the title for long.

According to University of Sydney’s Gunpolicy.org project, 10,945 people were killed by guns in the United States in 2014. A huge, almost unimaginable number (Are thirty people seriously dying every day!?), but how does this compare to the U.K. statistic?

According to recent statistics from the House of Commons, from March 2015 to March 2016, the number of gun homicides in England and Wales was 26.

Twenty-six. In a population of nearly 60 million people.

Getting a firearm in the United Kingdom is very difficult. In fact, you need to get a certificate and it’s a pretty long process. You need references of good character, seriously. Unlike in the United States, you also need to demonstrate you have a legitimate use for the gun, such as in your line of work or as a hunter.

But still, we had double what they had in a year in just one horrific incident? Even given that the U.S. has a far larger population, those numbers are hard to swallow.

But one thing I have noticed about London is how safe it always feels; it’s easily one of the best qualities of this lovely city. I could be walking around at two in the morning, and I’ll still feel safer than I ever do in Boston or Phoenix.

While in Phoenix you could see a man brandishing a firearm if you ride the light rail from downtown to Tempe enough times, here the police don’t even have guns. In fact, during the period I mentioned earlier, police only fired a gun on seven occasions.

Often times in the U.S., the type of gun reform that many want is immediately torpedoed with help by the National Rifle Association (NRA), most notably the Assault Weapon Ban of 2013, which would have heavily regulated the sale of a number of firearms in the United States. I remembered the NRA and what they had done and I wondered: Was there an equivalent in the U.K? How could there ever be with such stringent guns laws?

Turns out, there is a U.K. equivalent. In fact, they are called the National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom. But the similarities stop at the acronym and the mutual love of firearms, as I can tell as I speak to NRA U.K. CEO Andrew Mercer.

Mercer tells me about the NRA’s range in Bisley, boasting that it’s the largest gun range in Europe, and that ages of members ranged from 14 all the way to 94.

Mercer says the U.K.’s NRA advocates for legislative actions that benefit gun users and clubs, such as making owning guns a simpler process with less paperwork and keeping .50 caliber weapons legal, among other issues.

Mercer loves and advocates for shooting for sport, but what about an individual right to bear arms in a country where it is far more of a privilege?

His ambivalent answer surprised me, even in a far more restrained gun culture.

“I don’t know much about the pros and cons,” Mercer said.

Mercer said even if his organization did want to advocate for an individual right to bear arms, it would be impossible to create meaningful change given the feelings of the U.K.’s population.

“We recognize this is a small, congested island, and the culture here isn’t to use guns (for non-sporting purposes),” Mercer said.

“That’s not recognized by the U.K. government.

They’re for sporting.”

There are a lot of similarities I’ve found between the U.S. and the U.K.: the cold brew, Tinder dates, Chipotle, the high-priced fidget spinners ravaging the corners of our cities, etc.

But the way they handle guns here may be the biggest culture shock I’ve seen yet.

Almost nobody has guns, whether political militants, police officers, or strange men on public transportation.

It makes sense for authorities to have a monopoly of force over the population, otherwise, they wouldn’t even really be authorities.

But every time I see a cop here with nothing but a nightstick I think: What if the cop who shot Philando Castile only had a nightstick?

What about Tamir Rice’s assailant? Daniel Shaver? What if these confrontations caused bruises instead of funerals?

I think it might be time in the U.S. to look at different options when it comes to the weaponization of our police forces. I think the U.S. would be a whole lot safer with everyone having less guns. Maybe I could hear a loud noise in public and not fear that it’s some maniac with an AK. And if you don’t believe me, fly to London and experience the difference.

ME TOO

by K

I was a few weeks past 15, You were two years past graduation.

My words were slurred, Your hands were cold.

I woke up the next day Sans clothing, but with a sock With very unfamiliar physical pain And an emptiness I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.

And then … nothing.

Evidence that there had been an intruder.

A purple bruise under my eye made it clear That I had “been somewhere I shouldn’t have been.”

I desperately grasped at flashes of memory Falling from your arms To the bathroom floor you left me on Is the most vivid.

And for five years I’ve fixated On a night I cannot really remember.

In some versions, It was my fault.

In others, it never happened.

That’s the funny thing about trauma You can wish it away, Every night.

But no matter how good you are At painting the pretty picture, You cannot undo What someone has already done.

That October night wasn’t the first time Someone had claimed ownership of the body I thought was mine.

It wasn’t the last time, either.

Me too.

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