Science journalism: a job for translators
Health and science reporting provides timely opportunities for young journalists to research critical subjects. By Tyler Dukes
There was a time when science scared Tom Linden, who is now the Glaxo Wellcome distinguished professor of medical journalism in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 16 • Communication: Journalism Education Today Summer 2008
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“I went into psychiatry to go back to my roots,” ent brain A A THE GRANITE BAY injury Linden said. But Linden wanted GRANITE BAY HIGH SCHOOL 1 GRIZZLY WAY GRANITE BAY, CA 95746 more. Twelve years after he left Athletic code results in “ suspensions Varsity soccer his journalism career behind, players removed for drug use he began appearing on a local news station to discuss ” and report on health issues Concussions pose while he ran a private practice. threat to athletes By then, Linden said he was FEHRENBACHER hooked again. The power of protest “Next thing I knew, it was C 1989, I had closed my practice and gotten a full-time job at HASTY: ‘He’s re CNBC,” he said. He was the first latable,’ McGuir e said o health and science reporter the netf Hasty’s persona lity, exp F work ever hired. erience s Linden now heads the mediGroup seeks cal journalism program, one of the Hasty to depart in June healthy focus for newest high school first in the nation, at UNC, where CASHY wants to support Assistant principal will fill same role at Antelope substance-free teenagers he teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. As Linden and other science journalists can attest, science writing is not any harder than any Homecoming INSIDE other kind of journalism — it is simply Looks ar en’t ever ything– a little different. but m Green Continu
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Som gist Dia ” Massachus means loss of con FA yea them var mp sca cus Che ST r THE AWARD-WINNING sity uted n and sion etts neu ne Rob to che etimes the t Dic def In FACTS suffered tim . erts Sto ropsychol - up the blee amnesia, CAT sca ck forOF bleed- playes parents wanensive line coach.kson, the other the past, Coo ler STUDENT ding NEWSPAPER per Concu n doe con ta “Somebrain inju too, then you said. “If ther o- misdiag a game ssion nosed) for days (so the sn’t pick Or (wh curred at cussions – the has suffered thre e is because student to be have a ry.” Classi asBAY able GRANITE latt a soccer it is Jus a conHIGH traumatic injury is en) The deg fication tin Mild cus SCHOOL camp she er of which oc-e they wil they want them their last cha to years ago. rees VOLUME 11, ISSUE 2 who playSutter, a Granite sion.” Stoler, nce attended l can be of severity, acc Charact Bay Hig “I had play aga say ‘He’s OK, to be able to play . several clas for the vars as a flyback and sev a real h jun he can go OCTOBER 26, 2007 in.’ and ere. Tho sified as mil ording to confus erized by tran ahead and, said, “and I was ly bad headac Accord ” ing in his sity football team a running bacior d, se sion typ ion; no sient ing to Sto he,” Coo hours (tha ically exp who suffer a mil moderate los lyin bra k nes , suff s has in g of con s; sym dow because er ler, sciousn per had blee Rec ent ess; mo erience little or d concuswas hur t night) moanin n for about of d- enoughconcussions do many athletes ly, resolve ptoms of abn sciousfour derate con ting.” up to an g becaus no uncon- concussion Sut ter suf concussions. not who tim orm in allo e to full alities w them e my hea that cou For the less than 15 consequen , which resu fere d his fou of severe hour of uncons cussions resu selves penCooper didn’t d ld result y recuperate min lt in rth lted in ciousne tell any ces typical ed – in “A it is rec first mild concus utes injury. hours of concussions exp ss; victims ly associat long-term sion football play dire consequena mistake to play because she said one what had om sion, er ces. . I wasn’t haped with s or possiblunconsciousne erience up to remove mended tha she “rea A the GBHSand basically had too many t ath ss, 24 you concussion can themselv y concus- down,” she said at (the soccer lly wanted had to test; the A com a coma. r muscle athletic es from letes “(affect camp) to . “I cou and qui y describ s, your ) ld either conscio a is a state of ing the trainer Jenny t football,” I get look like an idio clear with may return in the conthoughts, your moods, unusn go half sit wor Ma nessed. sympto your spe from a few ess that can “He had st head injury nn said, it last a concussion, t or go full-on -out For the in 15 minutes ms ech for last day Th at pos she and if ed.” least I had ere is a a long tim s to rall t-concu and you years. Mo it is rec second mild con ssion syn ’s wite.” fine fun whi y said “it (smelled) r der medlite the maid likeline smoke few students woresigh om How T-shirts protesting what rarelyonable drome playGBHS sophom cussion, le the Illinois tournament, was rocked their n that eve t,” said be en aand termina mended tha e is con to inetheicin by oth of r, serious ore var that thesio ice bucket had twe er Col cus they thought was Sto theler, unequal treatment t ath te the con in a com return home by the news that eight players wak patibathroom, ents the on tho ers often don concussions suff concussion leen Stafford sity volley return a test; the letes a strange smell.” n and bleed the soccer players ball Macompared eve to ’t hav suffered sethan y eith ersmoke-like ered the manager had smoked marijuana in their hotel room– the ssachu- to more ntually whe who’ve sympto play after 1 we y may a second in football players awa headago in. If that maid told the bra she “also ing experie e much impact the back of the n a volleyball a dozen who setts exptwo years ownschool inju you ms do and were then suspended from for kenThe on thei ek , or they ries nce stru if hea pa ert . d r not retu ck her in Sta less-ser d. Sutter,using found a plastic baggie a pillow onsse thed ou we went at team all. for sixnever ious bec fford said she rn do under awaken five days and from the soccer for exa t, to a partyonbutconnever cus- admitted CAT (Co aus e “af bed with some kind ofaremains in it.” *** Moderat earlier mple, returned weeks. mp its d drugs or alcohol.sio ns. “It ofteam ter you tries to be car con this sea to Tom Information ofog therap incident made ute ’ve restPlayers” efu AxThe GB Soccer son afte the football any cussion, you Charact e . Alth not like ialshirts readis“Free Since the suspensions went into ougeffect, hy) scanparents ’re not had you r thir l, r four wee BY STEVEN SANKARAN h Simonsway to the administration more.” a b r u also wore“(T som stickers he coaon supposed d confus erized by tran to che on the front. Students , a Folsome have wondered whether theHig Roseville ks bleedingMikethrough i s e as soo che senior writer h junior, and To pre ion sie to play e-mail. Principal for were printed o n ythe member athletic which . McGuire said ck n as I cous) wanted me Joint Union High School District’s conscio ; no loss of no nt ’t reo u words: stays awavent another con most of can to r –Don usness began the pened whe whaadministrators “Football +kne drugs = one game ld,” Sutter said come back HS jun re of her cussion Miller,interviewing e.” + alcoholGB On the last weekend of September, the code is too severe. t hap; sympto loss of abnorm ior , San “W n . surr Sta Mo def he hen involved soccer players when they returned ffor ta alit rse also ms of oundings. ensive line tackled = six Rosa em – soccer + drugs Sut ies last d anyone derput Granite Bay High School varsity boys’ The GBHS athletes Pon were minute osa under terweeks?” hea the from Illinois. All eight suspended came longer backer ergenc week afte player, home s Iny2005, lost almost 20 football players, Matt “(H d back so I can is serving, I’ll than 15 soccer team traveled to Quincy, Ill., and memsuspicion when a hotel and maidfam reported r his minback to play foo nds ily toldto frie For the turn “footballattended owe see physici that he r y a ncheerleaders, plus created a controversy. players or concussion tball a tions ver), there aren the ball,” she my the manager that she smelled smoke in thehim players later admitted smoking marijuana, anseveral ovarsity was “as d Gazette photo /BECCA SCHMIDT sion, it first moderate (I) can , becaus said e,”eve McGuire said. ked ’t real a Tuesday als night party ontim the Mo of the get use is o suf concus The team, which was ranked No. 7 in the room. In an e-mail sent of byque thestio manager to a bun ch ns” by eme - used to rse said. “It’ d to being hit all e it’s going take in volleyb ly any precau . letes termrecommende GBHS freshman Kendall Modiste ferethdnon-student s second to workday. The all. If it (the hea d ical tech noted rge In the initial days after the suspensions, a RJUHSD 184 nation and No. 1 in the region going into from I wen a GBHS soccer parent, med the manager Footbal happen.” happens, nature. the daches nicians ncy may retu inate the con that athplays at a game against Woodcreek. depress t bacpage When on the side test; the k in read rn to pla ion SOCCER, See A6 y ). After the wee I got their hea l players can *** sympto fol low a neck braSimons didn’t avo lines. y ds to k 1 off, play whe id week afte y leading ms ing she reco .” resp n tackling “After wit r if his bra stretcher ce on him and ond, EMTs For the stop Als you COMMENTARY in footbammends that all , Mann said, h put wee o, Sutter had and loa he was and injury. in really bad mooget a concus which a headac cussion, second moder laid on ks afte drove him ded into an sion, you wrestlin ll, soccer, bas players involv ate con d swings would get it is rec ambula a feels his r his concussionhe that lasted fou g, softball Center. ket ed hav ath to UC om ,” bal e ang lete Sim mende l, pol mem , s termina Davis Me nce, Memory ory slipping . He said he stillr ally sad 10 minry really easily ons said. “I Heae vaulting and cheerleading, baseball, At the they ma te the con d that dical volleyb water pol and awa loss is a utes then I’d dMind y concussion sponding hospital, Simons all, test; get really later. I’d be I was recommo y at times. week of return to play Comput er program at o take part in the to tests stay n side effe hap ang after 1 rest “I was perform still was not reGabby injuries. ct of viou in a happy moo ry again. I cou py and keep trac er programs GBHS. suc midfielder Speck, a jun ld d. sly, and whole necin a lot of pain,” ed on him. ior I would I had headachesnever brain fun k of an athlete’ h as HeadMind wander Severe had a con for the varsity at GBHS and rememb k was hurting Simons said. “M ction get really s nor er , ob- and ing aro er girl if they hav with an initial mal level of I had (to having the worreally badly and y last spring cussion during s’ soccer teama my grades dro und school like tired. I was Charact “baseline” e esta an hav ppe a st , eriz I a inju My tha zom blis hea d, soccer t resu ry late hos test hes minor bra e) a CAT sca dac of conscio ed by any game just English teacher but I’m pulling bie. All Concus what might hav r, the progra , n (becau he ever. of pital. Speck reca lted in a visi JULIANA in loss usness them told me and che m her inju se) I had t to Simons bleeding.” (secon e change lls little , either I should mistry teac up. too many sions seem to ds) d. about the the *** concussion’ parents wer be n’t play “I’ll rem ry. For the or prolonged brief day football.” her even doc students, coa taken lightly (mi At GB every onc ember bits and just a mon . It was his e told he’d had it is rec first severe con nutes) third con accordingtors – a huge ches, parents by pieces of e in a whi th and a coache HS, Dickson om and misund cussion a the Am to Stoler, half. termina mended tha cussion, rected. in Spe nesia wasn’t le,” Speck said game concus s take precau said the progra that nee erstanding, t ath te tion . sion Though ak dea m’s *** the onl ds to be to the hos the contest and letes The com tackling s, including s to help avo y repercu sion. She lt with as a resu cor were fair Simons’ firs mo special and blo report id sion n miscon ssio neurolo pital if there ckin equ is as How cep aches, non also suffered lt of her con n before hisly mild, the factt two concussion is gic cus- sure ever, accord g techniques. ipment and dan mild as an ord tion that a con from stop s that he For the al abnormalit sign of cus ing to inar s play ger when fact most recent had two during her firs dizziness and severe heady inju Stoler said ous to the live y bruise is risk cused on ers experience Stoler, the pre a fainting sion, it second severe t-pe pact syn oring in the effe ry is worriso s of man y . the best is saren’t alw spell dro me tooThere were psy riod class. y players, cts of sec Although Coache interest athlete recommende concusays cho . Second me. ond-im olorful flags, s anda sprinkling s termina d that - her Speck feared the logical ramific parents s of the athlete.fo- mild concusit is unknown dou s impact concussion-impact syndro they ma te self aga can hav ations, whether of trash, dirty possibility sio damage onragged y return the contest; whether e a trem or not , Miller ns cause any more sev after the firs me causes eve of injuring they needa afte “I’ve bee in. min to enathl clothes, temporarily pla imu t etes effe said to y after ere than ry unt m of 1 n r a con playing cts. , there are permanent get a month the one be exponentia cus Althou il this last really timid for too and bright homeless activist signs sion or the rest and all Concussions often last a lon month are a “I see bot soon. return to head inju can hav gh they’re com preceding it. lly started) ing reading “Save theh Oaks.” to get my ,” Speck said g time up fully. e ries sho serious problem ends of ext rem . “I’v future of serious effects mon, concussion uld be trea Acc con it whe SOURCE , ely car among theefu twisting, : Journ those who on the hea s mo ording to Sto fidence back.” e (just Sitting ted care “In no becaus al of Athle l (ab out re coaches are Accord e maybeof a grove st - senior. ler, lth experie tic Train winding bruise,” way (is a con ing encesbranches they hav of con cus sio ns) nce them and countrymisdiagnosed concussions He is con at least ing to the New Stoler in the cussion are Berkeley medical e had Oak trees, a group of vinced tha , today. 50 high York Tim . ) a littl issue in the Rosa emerg past,” said Mil bad experi- your shoulder said. “It is not players sch t someth e resulted from or bruisin sit peacefully protesting. ler, the like the people it have died ool or younge es study, edu“The biggest enc ing affe his bru see He y goo cts so mu frightenin isin n) physici g has lea tions aris (pro Santa r re the 2006, Since whe December this an. ch more.” your knee bec g hea g experied has ing from as a result of football studcation and und blem) is the Typ ause ch is a sup “(I’ve also d inju rned about A (person coa nce erst lack of group ehas ents and concussion complicato, and The Fol everyth resorted on gettingries can be, andhow danger . alit *** parents anding by y to who er-aggressive s in the inga.”Tarzan-like another. he doesn’t ous still has som High var last at According to the ,” Stoler said coaches, maintained, m) win The “I nin a few wee sity re are pre their point . the Uni won’t hit plan g is whe existence versity Sports Medici caution ks left in football team said. avoid conto prove n Sim with my of Washin ne s that Continu Gazette photo illustration/BECCA SCHMIDT its season head,” nor,mattercus thesion elements, was told ons had his gton, mo Clinic –eve ed from s in certthecan be taken Simons wha page B1 re than destruction to footba by doctors thathird concussion, but to He admits this ain spo oak trees hundreds who exp t isofmo st imp rts. How break. will be ll for t he , he realm of ortant high school sport that involves of years erie old nce is an resp that a play - the season six weeks – theshould not pla “not som But Simons said a difficult hab s aunbearable concussionisprice “I’ll pre onsibil ity. what a concussion is, or what “Antelocontact with another player or an er eth equivalen y it con to pay for the development of sho a uld Simons ’s end. tty muknow pe High “If you ing to be mes cussions are BY LAUREN GRUBAUGH volved t of tell a he through object chsymptoms atte like a ool ball. Sch have my are. over on the sidelines, took myin helmet its sports facility. its commu hopes to nds practices, “stay out have one,” sed with.” wil and PAIGE XU “You nam just aboutStatistics fing l defi the ers A concussion is an injury that Sim nity eve as pla ne itself same on concussions though black.” in- among long as Yet although their seemingly the Ponderosa High opposition. off and everything went rything y again and will e it, I get h stanwhen onl senior writers ,” he said you can ons warned, hold itseforce achieve hig next yea , and back now, becaus dard of a strong Bec it bec high school are. alarming. *** y AP.” feeble kerattempt Head down, eyes to the ground, he lf to menoccurs ausestudents increasenough r as a the bench) has eighto prevent the e I’m tire . I want to go t, just the I’ll It is exptrees hiting thestud sides likebrain highRJU school erience HSD,” causes years of might d of sitt Concussions are one ofpro the most About a fifth ofbeallthe fromand beingt destroyed othertosch entof I could , but I know tha olsom High School outside is focused and unwavering. Johnskull. ing (on years as jected that adminis assi sch ool di Mo has the Concussions can have e.” in t stan ool s football players will experience ntg I trat in misunderstood medical issues in the wo can appear pale in comparison Five steps, four steps, three, two, omery, t superin andtoelem the ive extr rked in to ’t becaus linebacker Mikey Simons seniors, the school ope next couple He outspoken tendsymptoms aor bot entaryfigures tieddist torict them, e ent of cur the America, and also, one of mo the most a concussion, ns to jun according of insttoructhe tion serious his strepolitical schoolsuch h high imp dinarily cau ’s comsaid tenses up, waiting for the one, TACKLE. ngths and iors Design re AP posmedical tious and capare Hasty has, said etuous. itio the .most dangerousricu oflum which acities. plim journal NJand Medicine. as Cindy Sheehan, their And Simons and his opponent common. andare ent one extraordin Hasvoices signal that tells him to move. been wor Oakmo ed to relieve ns will be add at exactly And general ty’s stre pal likely ano Thabeing John Bec amnesia ed. are nt and arily they kinand t’s notheard. ly, ngths In a study ofcate football players overcro are down. the sam g witunconsciousness, “Hut, hut, HIKE!” Woodcreek Although ker to say thatther. h wding McGui e time. he is doing bot r toYork l be offe the new underreported, in red to ensure that AHS princi- hurdlesAnd at wiloccur New Times, High Sch concussions thermatters. all that h sistant principa “I hit him and then stumbled off the conducted by thecam thatthat Simons snaps to attention in an e aren’t Becis for five re, who has wor It works.” homes bein AH the reso institut ker, pus, AHdid not applica l; it wil s andvirtually inheren huge numbersool across every Has See CONCUSSION, years, ion urces of S studpage of players ents A7have to We ked bes take a ty lesson from cleashould nts l ope t instant. His body strains toward field,” Simons remembered. “I fell a large numbersop and the r. a high-c homore S will be open g built near the “We bot . Accthe district and passion for said Hasty’s “ex ide Hasty initial can if no one is sele n to all other ord lass city that grew the Free s to h in ing fres sha did 2008. relatabl to Montg hmen and provid learning” re the visi The sch cted from ube challenge McGuire ate pool. e. e om the city Speech Movement, make him rance the students ool is unique Hasty was Antelop a world-class on that we nee occupied is to build a full ery, “the big very cipal is a tricsaid hiring a new in that it high sch d e where a foundation to the First ges specific opportunities will offe assistan familie community ool for to through school in three y staffed and full t school- and appointed to But the ky task. to t printhe pos the years the city the growin is rooted, district-wi y reveale recent add medical programs like enroll in care r long s in this com ,” Becker said ition afte to offer Amendment adm gprotections de . munity d tim t going pains of witofhou science erengineerin eve from which our ryth have wai “The the job. him to be a suit recommendatio r how inistrator Brent ition of GBHS not bein and hea and it’s e for a school ing from g, bio Has right lth and g able Mattix able can ns employ rookie protest stemmed. opening expto fitness. - cationa our job to deliin their commuted a make ty’s erie didate for He adm day.” nces asof expression “Granit ees can rise , he said, reveals him Our nity, l itted it’s ver a qua freedom an to e an Bay the adm “I’m ide values of experience that adm a challen High Sch lenging bittersw inistrator al add going to ge. Antelop itio for granted. matche lity edu- Mc inistrat should taken eet departu sch ion not be the staf miss s the cor e.” well esta ool in that ool is a very cha Guire said team, GBHS n to the its it isS “Ob f I’ve develop the relationship re. e blished principaof AH “(Hasty And. since every exercise viously ed (at GB CONC ,” McGui culture is real ls with mitment l Mike the kid protected, HS to ly re me. It’s USSION s peoplegenerally every exercise McGuire ) like a magical s here are ver ),” he said. curriculum the rigor and said. “Its comand is valid. said relevan y special . “He is people like him Hasty’s place to ce of its Bringi really tires folk to pos par But it’s easy for young ado xical.high ,” and the dist ition at GBHSwork.” pecially ng a new emp s out.” rict is wor loyee on school students, devoid of He’ a s adminis will be one in tion fille an Rob Hasty kin staf trat –tak d, adm g to find f–esHasty will be taking the sole assistant principal position or. Cur BY AMY HOLIDAY es driver’s license or even the BY JULIANA FEHRENBACHER reserve another “We hav training, McGuiinistrative pos d for any rently the at the Roseville Joint Union High School District’s senior writer senior writer backbone needed to face one of e ipositio to re Assistant get interest said. them use n is the commu ed RJU Antelope High School, scheduled to open in the fall According to Granite Bay High School mom their teachers or peers, to question d to nity HSD as- “and principal is excited the school ’s expectationworking with Joanna Jullien, there is a silent majority in the their own credibility. Maybe it’s because he’s passionately invested in the of 2008. s,” ’s expecta about the oppurtu“It was an opportunity at opening a school which is community, a quiet but large percentage of students institution of Granite Bay High School. Maybe it’s tions.” he said, This is when we look around for nity to help open and parents that lacks a voice. because he attends every single Friday night home a position that doesn’t come along in education very reassurance that actions do not go a new high school, Jullien is doing what she can to change that. football game. Or maybe it’s because he’s an active often,” Hasty said. “I have the opportunity to help lay unnoticed. but he will miss the the foundation for the culture of what that school will She’s become a member of the newly formed member of the school community. We have driven to school “magical” enviornbe like for years and years.” forum known as CASHY – Citizens Advocating and seen the neo-con Christian Perhaps it’s a combination of all three. ment of GBHS. He Hasty has worked at GBHS for five years and currently Safety and Health for Youth. And the silent majority protesters with their revolting But it’s undeniable that GBHS assistant principal Rob she refers to are the students at GBHS who have not abortion ads. And although they Hasty is an integral element of curriculum, campus and oversees all curriculum and instruction. At will be the only AP AHS, his task spectrum will widen–master schedules, school spirit. at the new Antelope had a voice in the community about the dangers of undoubtedly go about spreading doing drugs and underage drinking. Which is why his departure at the end of this school staffing, athletics and academics will all be in his their message the wrong way, it’s High School in year will undeniably cause a ripple in the culture of 2008-09. See CASHY, page A6 See HASTY, page A7 See FEHRENBACHER, page A6 GBHS.
GAZETTE
ries may
lead to
perman
news
Head Games
News A2
Features B1-B8
VoicesA8-11 Sports
Forum A11
Green Screen
C1-C6
Frightening Films
TCID:BW
Gazette Granite Bay (Calif.) High School Karl Grubaugh, adviser
Summer 2008
by Richard Preston (editor), Tim Folger (series editor) Houghton Mifflin $14
Lightning speed
Entertainment reviews and raves about the best scary movies available.
A collection of photographs documenting annual Homecoming festivities.
Screen
Page A12
G1-G20
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2007
GBHS freshman Brooke Holt finished 13th in the national Junior Olymics and ranked as the varsity league champion.
an, are w Page C1 e good lo oking.
Read the
Gazette.
In high school, he was more interested in social studies and sports than in biology and chemistry. He became the editor of his student newspaper and a columnist for the local paper. As much as he could, he stayed away from science. “To tell the truth, I was intimidated by science early on,” Linden said. But his viewpoint changed as he continued along the journalism route by working as an undergraduate for the Yale Daily News and eventually picking up a job as a writer for the Los Angeles Times. At 21, he became discouraged with journalism after a book deal soured. He decided to leave journalism and learn a new skill, one that had never intrigued him before: medicine. “For me, my appreciation for science was a long time coming,” Linden said. Then, he pointed out, he had to take two additional years of science coursework to get into medical school. He described it as a “huge uphill struggle and not a lot of fun.” The problem, he said, was that medical school did not give him enough opportunities for writing and for communicating so after finishing his degree, he went into the field of psychiatry.
KNOWING and WRITING
Some reporters see science journalism as a daunting beat, said Jeremy Ashton, a reporter for Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers in Florida. Although the 2005 graduate of the medical journalism program primarily covers city government stories, he jumps at the chance to take health stories — a proficiency that “makes him a little more valuable” to his editors. “For a lot of reporters, you can talk about anything dealing with science or math and they just kind of cringe,” Ashton said. That is why Linden said he believes it is important for journalism educators to expose students to great examples of science writing in multiple forms of media. The exposure can show students not only how science stories are told but also how important they can be to audiences. Linden said it is also important that students take science courses in high school to expand their basic knowledge. Students trying their hand at science journalism do not have to jump into articles on particle physics and nuclear fusion. Basic, Linden said, is the key. “Just start with areas of personal interest,” Linden said. “Write what you know about. It’s very hard to write about things you have no continued on page 19 Communication: Journalism Education Today • 17
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Admittedly, talking to doctors and scientists can sometimes be difficult, especially for younger reporters who lack experience with the “language” of science. Linden thinks that is the gap separating science journalism from other forms of writing. “The storytelling is the same. What is more complicated is translating the jargon into common language,” Linden said. “You’re actually both a storyteller and a translator.” Remembering the audience, however, can be reassuring. Journalists are typically writing for individuals who do not understand science but want to comprehend the basic concepts, Linden said. They are the reason reporters must break complicated topics into pieces that are easy to absorb. Ashton said the task of translating is not something journalists have to do alone. Asking sources for clarification is usually the easiest way to “break down” complicated terms and concepts. But the most important accomplishment for any science story is what Linden calls the “science lesson.” “Every science story needs to have a science lesson,” he said. “Explaining the ‘How does it work?’ is the integral part.” Translating can often mean something more than unraveling complex jargon. Ashton pointed out that many science articles, especially
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experience in.” But that does not mean science journalists do not learn as they go. That is where scientists and medical experts come in. Linden suggests science writers, after grasping the basic knowledge of the story, should look for a deeper understanding by interviewing their sources. “That’s the great thing about journalism,” Linden said. “It gives you a ticket to ask experts questions.” That is what Rachele Kanigel did during her work as a science and health reporter for The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) and The Oakland Tribune (Calif.). Now a journalism professor at San Francisco State University, she says journalism students should not be intimidated by unfamiliar science topics, from medical research to environmental challenges. “There were times when I felt like a complete idiot,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to look stupid.” “You can’t write about what you don’t understand,” Ashton said. “If you’re not getting it, you have to keep talking to professionals.”
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Play newsmagazine Maize (Kan.) High School Phyllis Wipf, adviser
Communication: Journalism Education Today • 19
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Health & Science Indiana Daily Student
Health & Science Editor: Katie O’Keefe science@idsnews.com TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2005
PAGE 17
PARTICLES
$1,176
QUITTING AIDS
Savings based on $3.50 per pack of cigarettes Source: Indiana Prevention and Cessation
NICOTINE GUM (NICORETTE)
• Nicotine replacement • Over-the-counter • Delivers nicotine quicker than the patch • Cannot eat or drink while chewing and gum has a very unpleasant taste • $50 to $60 for first two weeks of use
NICOTINE PATCH (NICODERM CQ, NICOTROL)
NICOTINE INHALER (NICOTROL INHALER)
New fossils link humans to ancestors
• Nicotine replacement • Prescription only • Delivers nicotine as quickly as a gum; addresses “comfort” of hand-to-mouth; few side effects • Might cause mouth or throat irritation • $80+ for first two weeks of use
Breaking the habit Experts dissect the science of cigarette addiction and the most effective methods to kick the habit
BUPROPION HYDROCHLORIDE (ZYBAN)
• Mood stimulant • Prescription only • Easy to use, few side effects. Might be more helpful when used with patch or gum • Do not use if you have seizure/eating disorders, are taking Wellbutrin or MAO inhibitors, or are pregnant • $45 to $55 for first two weeks of use
By Katie O’Keefe
CESSATION CLASSES
• Support and education • Provides support and education from other smokers and instructors. Some classes offer free patches and gum for dedicated attendees • Requires dedication and regular attendance; must fit into schedule • Free
LOGIC OF ADDICTION “I thought a cigarette would be nice. Then, it just snowballed.” Bobby Knapp Bloomington resident see SMOKE, page 24
CHEMICAL MAKE-UP
Arsenic is in RAT POISON Methanol is in ROCKET FUEL Naphalene is in MOTH BALLS Benzene is in CRUDE OIL Ammonia is in TOILET BOWL CLEANER
TURN BACK THE CLOCK
As soon as you quit smoking, your body begins to heal itself from the damage cigarettes caused. This chart demonstrates the changes that occur from the first 20 minutes to the 10-year mark.
20 MINUTES
EIGHT HOURS
48 HOURS
• Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal. • Oxygen levels in your blood return to normal. • Temperature of hands and feet return to normal.
• Blood pressure drops to a level close to that before the last cigarette.
• Sense of smell and taste are enhanced.
TWO WEEKS TO THREE MONTHS
ONE TO NINE MONTHS
• Circulation improves. • Lung function increases up to 30 percent.
• Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath decrease.
ONE YEAR
FIVE YEARS
15 YEARS
10 YEARS
• Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half than that of a smoker.
• Risk of a stroke is reduced to that of a nonsmoker five to 15 years after quitting.
• Risk of coronary heart disease and death is that of a nonsmoker.
• Lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing smoker. • Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decrease.
Dieters beware! Hardee’s ‘Monster’ packs on the fat
Health & Science
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2005
PAGE 11
S PHOTOS BY CHRIS JESSE • IDS
Gatorade Calories: 50 Calories from fat: 0 Total fat: 0g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 110mg Potassium: 30mg Carbohydrates: 14g Protein: 0g
* Not a significant source of Vitamin A, D or Calcium
see MILK, page 15
Medical condition can devastate males
Hershey’s Chocolate Milk (14 FL OZ bottle) per serving:
American Association for the Advancement of Science selected two IU scientists to add to the elite list of fellows in its Washington, D.C.based society. Of the 308 selected this year, organic chemist David R. Williams and evolutionary biologist Curtis Lively bring Bloomington’s total number of living AAAS fellows to 42 – a number greater than that of any other Indiana institution. Fellows are selected because of their efforts to advance science or its applications, particularly in areas deemed socially or scientifically significant. Lively’s work in host-parasite co-evolution suggests new theories about parasite reproduction patterns, while William’s synthesis of complex antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor agents have led to the development of new pharmaceuticals. The new fellows will be honored at the AAAS’s annual meeting on Feb. 19 in Washington, D.C.
‘Lazy eyes’ targeted by new research
Calories: 200 Calories from fat: 45 Total fat: 5g Cholesterol: 20mg Sodium: 135mg Potassium: 0mg Carbohydrates: 31g Protein: 8g
* Includes 10 percent of the recommended amount of Vitamin A, 25 percent of Vitamin D and 50 percent of Calcium
MORLEY’S MAMMOGRAM
Gynecomastia, which causes male breasts, can be tough on self-esteem
Staff writer Brandon Morley shares his experience of getting a mammogram
Justin’s* idea of fun never involved going swimming with anyone else. Summer days were never spent shirtless in the sun. Instead, he wore double layers of clothing as camouflage for the medical condition haunting him. He’s lived with the condition since puberty: gynecomastia, or the abnormal development of breasts in men. The condition affects a wide variety of men with virtually no restrictions on age. Newborns might develop it from the surge of estrogen entering through the placenta. In preteens and teens, it can result from a temporary hormonal imbalance, or puberty. And in older men, it occurs as age affects the production of testosterone, letting the estrogen catch up. “Living in a society where perfection and beauty is celebrated, having breasts is tough to deal with and extremely damaging to one’s self-esteem,” said Justin, a 23-year-old from Portsmouth, N.H., who has struggled with gynecomastia ever since his teenage years, when his breasts were formed as a result of puberty. Like many men, Justin felt gynecomastia was an extremely tough subject to talk about and has spent his life living in silence about it. He said
“It’s funny to think that the machine known as a godsend to women for the early detection of breast cancer was designed by a man. But despite my physical masculinity, Brandon S it wasn’t any more comfortable for me Morley either. I had to conis a senior majoring in tort myself against journalism a radial edge of the machine so we could get a decent picture. The contraption exerted enough pressure to compress my breast flatter than a two-day old Coca-Cola. But with the temporary discomfort came the longterm (relief) of knowing the difference between becoming a cancer statistic, and an over-production of estrogen.”
By Brandon S Morley
MICHAEL MALIK • IDS
A Bloomington Breast Center nurse examines IDS staff writer Brandon S Morley during a mammogram. Though rare, male breast cancer is on the rise.
he always knew there was something wrong but didn’t know what. His parents were out of the loop because he said they wouldn’t understand.
And his doctor said the symptoms were part of see BREAST, page 15
continued from page 19
those dealing with health, make abundant use of statistical data. He explained that though the information is incredibly important, stories often need a “healthy mix” of something more to connect to readers. “You want to put a human touch on the story,” Ashton said. That can mean patients, doctors and researchers, Kanigel said. In the case of patients, she thinks it sometimes takes digging as doctors are not allowed to discuss confidential medical information. She goes the extra mile to encourage people to share their stories by asking the doctor to obtain the patient’s permission or by visiting online support groups. “Most health stories need those real people,” Kanigel said. “They bring those stories home. They add color.” SOURCES: DISCOVERING and REPORTING
Some sources take a lot away from the credibility of a science story. As for other forms of writing, journalists should be wary of information obtained from the Internet. “There are tons and tons of crap on the Web,” Kanigel said. “It’s a fantastic source of information and a fantastic source of misin-
Man discovers 4inch nail embedded deep inside skull
planetary
meltdown
Global warming has scientists – including two at IU – scrambling to discover if a new “carbon sequestration” process could save the world
see MELTDOWN, page 20
Legal digital media revolution comes to IU ARE YOU LEGAL?
The Recording Industry Association of America defines online piracy as the “unauthorized uploading of a copyrighted sound recording and making it available to the public, or downloading a sound recording from an Internet site, even if the recording isn’t resold.”
Report shows legal digital media providers gaining popularity
By Maurina Paradise and Katie O’Keefe
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2004
PARTICLES
Story by Brittany Hite he just finished her daily workout routine. After a 30-mile cycling trek across the county’s winding roads, sophomore Kristen Holmes returns home satisfied, but exhausted. She unlaces her shoes and heads to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and retrieving a bottle of – chocolate milk? No, she didn’t grab the wrong bottle. And she’s not trying to make herself sick. What she is doing might actually be good for her, says IU Physiology Professor Joel Stager. In a recent study, Stager and his team of researchers found that drinking chocolate milk between tough workouts can actually be good for the body. Chocolate milk has high amounts of carbohydrates and proteins, and enough water content to replace fluids lost from sweat during a workout, explained Jason Karp, a doctoral candidate at IU who led Stager’s team of researchers conducting the study. Like water, chocolate milk can be used to make up for the loss of fluids after a workout, but the carbohydrates and proteins present in the chocolate milk make it better for the body than water because it replenishes nutrients and rehydrates an athlete, Stager said. “(Comparing water to chocolate milk) is not a fair comparison,” he said. “Chocolate milk is better on the substrate side. It’s water plus a whole lot of other things.” Stager first informally tested his theory on Bloomington South High School swimmers practicing twice daily under his coaching. “Some of the swimmers were using (energy) products you can purchase online or at supplement stores,” he said. “I had them bring them in, and I looked at the labels and went to the grocery store to see what was comparable. And
Health & Science Editor: Kelly Phillips science@idsnews.com
Two IU scientists ranked among top U.S. AAAS fellows
Craig Brater Dean of the IU School of Medicine
Chocolate milk might be the energy drink of the future for high-endurance athletes
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, IMU Alumni Hall. For more information, visit http://digi talkarma.iu.edu. see DIGITAL, page 16
Life Sciences Week honors IU scientists, research EVENTS IN BLOOMINGTON For a complete list of events, see page 16 see WEEK, page 16
By Jeff Alstott
Health & Science Indiana Daily Student
Today’s Science Happening:
WHAT: “Grandiose Opinions and Free Advice about Success in Graduate School” with Butch Brodie WHERE: Jordan Hall, Room 248 WHEN: 11:30 a.m. MORE INFORMATION: www.bio.indiana.edu
PARTICLES
The Indiana Daily Student of Indiana University (Bloomington, Ind.) regularly publishes a Health & Science page that covers everything from the dangers of smoking to global warming. The Health & Science pages use student-
Summer 2008
Health & Science Editor: Katie O’Keefe science@idsnews.com
Dean of IU School of Medicine appointed to Olympic Committee
good
(32 FL OZ bottle) per serving:
ST. LOUIS – At 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat, Hardee’s Monster Thickburger couldn’t escape notice in these diet-conscious times. Media outlets from Japan, Spain, England, France and Australia have reported about the Monster. “I don’t think any of us anticipated anything like the media uproar we’ve seen,” says Andy Puzder, the real president and CEO of California-based CKE. But the word-of mouth advertising, coming on top of a new ad campaign, has had just the impact the company wanted. People have just had to try the Monster. All of it. The fuss is all about a supersupersized burger – two 1/3-pound slabs of all-Angus beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame seed bun. The sandwich alone sells for $5.49, or $7.09 with fries and a soda. The combo packs more calories and fat than most people should get in a day. Hardee’s timing is interesting; McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other rival fast-food giants are offering salads and other lower-calorie fare. But Hardee’s appears comfortable staking its future – at least nearterm – on gargantuan burgers.
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Any class project that utilizes or advances technology can be showcased at the “Making IT Happen,” a Spring 2005 technology resources fair. This fair is held annually for students, faculty and staff, and bolsters learning about IT resources available. This year, MITH will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Indiana Memorial Union Frangipangi Room, as well as at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Feb. 24. Showcased projects receive plaques and certificates for each teammember, as well as can be valuable additions to a resume. Project submissions are due by Dec. 23. To apply, or for more information, see: IUB: www.indiana. edu/~mith/iub/ IUPUI: www.indiana. edu/~mith/iupui/
There are more than 4,000 chemical compounds in one cigarette. Many are found in objects you probably would not put into your body.
Today’s Science Happening:
WHAT: Bloomington Hospital’s “State of the Hospital” address WHERE: Bloomington Hospital’s Wegmiller Auditorium WHEN: 12:15 p.m. MORE INFORMATION: 353-9543
It does a
Spring technology fair to showcase student work
Trends, advances and challenges data system security are the topics for the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research’s final series speaker of the semester. Gene Spafford of Purdue University’s Center for Education & Research in Information Assurance and Security will be speaking on “Exploring Grand Challenges In Trustworthy Computing” at noon Thursday in room 335 at the School of Law. A reception will follow outside the Lilly Auditorium. Spring topics include computer immunology with Stephanie Forrest, making security usable with Alma Whitten, aligning security and usability with Simson Garfinkel and wireless security with Susanne Wetzel. For more information on the program and speaker series, visit www.cacr.iu.edu.
• Nicotine replacement • Prescription only • Delivers nicotine the fastest and is good at reducing sudden cravings • Nose and sinus irritation common at first • $70+ for first two weeks of use
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2004
Speaker to address computer security issues .Thursday
• Nicotine replacement • Over-the-counter • Easy to use with few side effects • Releases nicotine more slowly than other systems; can cause skin irritation and vivid dreams • $45 to $60 for first two weeks of use
NICOTINE SPRAY (NICOTROL NS)
Scientists rethink evolutionary theory after fossil find
Health &Science
PARTICLES
one
After smoke-free year, a former pack-a-day smoker will save more than
IU astronomer’s find lends insight to formation of stars
Health&Science Editor: Kelly Phillips science@idsnews.com
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Indiana Daily Student
Indiana Daily Student
This Week’s Science Happening:
WHAT: SPEA environmental science seminar with Jennifer Powers WHERE: SPEA, Room 278 WHEN: 4 p.m. Thursday MORE INFORMATION: www.bio.indiana.edu
Treatment for children with amblyopia, a condition more commonly called “lazy eye,” might become easier because research conducted in part by optometrists at IU’s School of Optometry. The study, conducted by the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group, found that children with moderate amblyopia benefit as much from receiving atropine eye drops twice a week as they do with standard treatments of receiving daily atropine drops. The School of Optometry was one of 30 PEDIG sites throughout North America that participated in the study. This finding is expected to lead to higher levels of compliance with treatment, less expensive treatment and an overall improved quality of life for children with this visual condition. Amblyopia is the most common cause of monocular vision, an impairment where one eye does the work of both, among children and young and middle-aged adults. The condition exists because the brain learns to favor the dominant eye. Complete, detailed results appear in the November issue of Ophthalmology.
Georgia girl cannot feel pain – literally PATTERSON, Ga. – Ashlyn Blocker’s parents and kindergarten teachers all describe her the same way: fearless. So they nervously watch her plunge full-tilt into a childhood deprived of natural alarms. In the school cafeteria, teachers put ice in 5-year-old Ashlyn’s chili. If her lunch is scalding hot, she’ll gulp it down anyway. Ashlyn is among a tiny number of people in the world known to have congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis, or CIPA – a rare genetic disorder that makes her unable to feel physical pain. The untreatable disease also makes Ashlyn incapable of sensing extreme temperatures disabling her body’s ability to cool itself by sweating. Otherwise, her senses are normal. Ashlyn can feel the texture of nickels and dimes she sorts into piles on her bedroom floor, the heft of the pink backpack she totes to school and the embrace of a hug. She feels hunger cravings for her favorite after-school snack, pickles and strawberry milk. That’s because the genetic mutation that causes CIPA only disrupts the development of the small nerve fibers that carry sensations of pain, heat and cold to the brain. In Patterson, a rural town of 800 people in southeast Georgia, John and Tara Blocker had no idea the disorder existed before they took Ashlyn to the doctor for a bloodshot, swollen left eye when she was 8 months old. The doctor put drops in Ashlyn’s eye to stain any particles that might be irritating it. The infant smiled and bounced in her mother’s lap while the dye revealed a massive scratch across her cornea. “They put the dye in her eye and I remember the look of puzzlement on all their faces,” Ashlyn’s mother says. “She was not fazed by it by any means.”
WARFARE Process
By Katie O’Keefe
It is a dream that scientists have been trying to plant in the minds of the Americans for years. It is the hope of one day finding a cure for dozens of diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. Many scientists believe the answer to these dreams and hopes lies within human embryonic stem cells. To study these ES cells, scientists must break open human embryos, or as some people view it, destroy potential human beings. Today, the ethical battle concerning ES cell research has divided society, causing many to question its future potential and wonder how close scientists are to making that vision a reality.
Fertilized egg
The process begins with a fertilized human embryo.
1 Blastocyst stage 5-7 days old
Embryonic stem cells are removed from early human embryo.
IU’S EMBRYONIC STEM CELL ETHICS CLASS
2 Inner stem cell mass
Stem cells are harvested from the Blastocyst.
Cultured undifferentiated stem cells
3
Cells are cultured in a petri dish.
4 Culture conditions
Cells are developed into specific cells.
4
5
Blood cells
Muscle cells Neural cells The future?
Organ generation
Failing organs could theoretically be strengthened by injecting healthy cells to replace damaged or diseased cells. JOE COLLINS • IDS
George Malacinski is well aware of these questions. During his 35 years as a professor of biology and embryology at IU, Malacinski has taught students of animal ES cell research countless times. However, the first successful human embryonic stem cell experiment in 1998 created a venue for a new wave of arguments about the ethics of ES cell research. Today, Malacinski teaches the Intensive Freshmen Seminar course “Human Cloning and Embryonal Stem Cells: Yes or No?” in which he allows students to deliberate over the ethics of human ES cell research and learn how scientists turn a human embryo into potential cures for diseases. Human ES cell research begins with a human at its earliest stage of development – an embryo. Malacinski describes a human embryo as a spherical cluster of cells. The outside of an embryo consists of cells that protect it as it grows inside a woman’s uterus. However, those cells are not what interest most scientists. “It is the cells on the inside that are important,” Malacinski said. Inside the embryo are embryonic stem cells, he said. If an embryo was to develop into a human being, these cells would form the more than 200 specialized cells in the human body, some of which include heart-muscle cells and skin cells. But in order to collect these ES cells, scientists must first break into the embryo. “That’s when you end up killing (the embryo),” Malacinski said. “You have to bust it open.” After collecting the ES cells and giving them time to multiply, Malacinski said scientists add hormones and protein growth factors under specific conditions to coax the cells into programming themselves to form specialized cells, such as nerve cells and bone-marrow cells. This ability for ES cells to grow into specialized cells is what gives many scientists hope to one day find treatments for debilitating and incurable diseases. “That is the magic of embryonal stem cells,” Malacinski said. “We might be able to inject the (ES cells) that look like nerves into the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and Parkinson’s patients. (Embryonic stem cells) will grow themselves. That is the dream, and that is what all these biotech companies are trying to sell.” After years of research, Malacinski said scientists still have not been able to create the “replacement parts” for which they hoped. The apparent lack of results has many Americans skeptical as to whether this research is really worth destroying embryos. For Malacinski’s former student senior Robin Meleski, the issue of ES cell research is more
WHAT: “Learning to Sing: How Juvenile Songbirds Master Adult Vocal Motor Skills” with Rod Suthers WHERE: Jordan Hall 248 WHEN: 11:30 a.m. MORE INFORMATION: www.bio.indiana.edu PAGE 9
Uranium pollution in Iraq damaging
STEM CELL RESEARCH
cellular
Today’s Science Happening:
The ethics and practicalities of stem cell research are hot topics, nationally and locally
Depleted uranium in Iraqi soil, air may cause health issues By Hina Alam
As a result of this controversy, many people are beginning to support research of another cell type: adult stem cells. Since AS cells are found in the human body in places like bone-marrow, muscle-tissue and the placenta, the “killing” of an embryo is not required. Malacinski said these cells act “somewhat” like ES cells in that AS cells seem to have some capacity to grow into specialized cells. However, with so few AS cells in the human body, Mala-
If you thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, then consider this: the ongoing conflict in Iraq will leave behind a legacy of depleted uranium, which will affect not just the U.S. troops, but also the Iraqi people, maybe over generations, said Diane Henshel, associate professor of public and environmental affairs. “Isn’t that paradoxical? We went there to ‘free’ those people and we ended up imprisoning them in a lifetime of ill health. And for generations to come,” said sophomore Lauren Lindsay, as she examined the evidence of pollution that Henshel put together. Iraq’s pollution levels are beginning to be examined, and Henshel, who studies environmental pollutants, added her expertise to the study in an article published in September’s issue of Nature. Examining the overall pollution damage will be the first step on a long road to cleaning up the contaminated country, the article said. The damage to the environment, and therefore human beings, began in the 1970s, according to the article. This was when the country underwent rapid industrialization with little attention paid to toxic wastes and fumes. The conflict in Iraq has only compounded the problem and one of the most pressing issues is that of depleted uranium. It is a dense material used to blow holes in heavily armored vehicles. And depleted uranium was used in Iraq most extensively by the United States. “If you go on the Internet and look at depleted uranium and who generates it, we are by far the largest generators of depleted uranium in the world,” Henshel said. “Nobody is even close to us. We are close to 90 percent of the depleted uranium that’s generated in the world ... United States activity or U.S. companies, I guess. Maybe it is not 90 percent, but we are at, like, 800 tons and the next country down is below a 100. We are ten-fold of the next country down.” Depleted uranium is mainly in two places, she said. “There are some Abrams tanks which use depleted uranium, and depleted uranium is in the penetrators (the warheads of missiles), which are some of the weapons used out there – a number of them actually,” Henshel explained. As penetrators, depleted uranium is the lead point. The whole purpose of these weapons, she said, was to be harder and denser than other metals so they penetrate through other metals. “As they penetrate through the other metals, the description is that they get sharpened,” she said. Think of what happens when sharpening a pencil,” she said. “You lose all the fragments that are being pulled away to sharpen it. It’s not just that it is being pushed into a sharper point.” The pencil-like shape of the penetrator causes the depleted uranium to scatter, Henshel said.
see STEM CELLS, BACK PAGE
see IRAQ, BACK PAGE
THE VIEWS
“I strongly oppose human cloning, as do most Americans. We recoil at the idea of growing human beings for spare body parts or creating life for our convenience. And while we must devote enorGeorge W. Bush mous energy to conquerRepublican presidental ing disease, it is equally important that we pay candidate attention to the moral concerns raised by the new frontier of human embryo stem cell research. Even the most noble ends do not justify any means.” Remarks from the Bush ranch; Aug. 9, 2001 source: www.thewhitehouse.gov
“The hard truth is that when it comes to stem-cell research, our president is stifling science for ideology and playing politics with people who need cures. Right now, some of the most pioneering John Kerry Democratic presidential treatments could be right at our fingertips, candidate but because of the stem-cell ban, they remain beyond our reach.” Town Hall Meeting, Hampton, N.H.; Oct. 4, 2004 source: www.thenewyorktimes.com
personal. She has struggled with diabetes for eight years, just one of the many diseases scientists hope to one day cure with ES cell research. “I have seen people’s lives destroyed by the diseases that could be cured if scientists had the money for research,” she said. “If the stem cells would be destroyed anyway, why not use them for a good cause and potential cures?” Most of the embryos scientists use for research are frozen in fertility clinics, Malacinski explained. Eventually, thousands of these embryos will die from the cold. However, to many people around the world, this is just a mere technicality. “Some say, it doesn’t make sense to start killing embryos, even if they are destined to rot in a freezer,” Malacinski said. “It is the principle of the dignity of respect of human life.”
ADULT STEM CELLS: AN ALTERNATIVE
This man eats worms and viruses for breakfast
Fred Cate, director of IU’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, keeps students’ computers safe By Daniel Desloover In a world of hacks, scams, worms and viruses, keeping your personal computer secure is only as good as the programs and the people that protect it. And consider: have you updated your computer’s virus protection recently? Do you let supposed friends know your account passwords? These are just two important questions law professor Fred Cate wants students to ponder for safer and more efficient internet usage. Cate is the director of IU’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research, which seeks to advance more secure Internet practices. This multi-faceted operation includes members of University Information Technology Ser-
vices, local industries, the Bloomington Police Department, federal and state government, as well other universities in order to improve the quality of information assurances, teaching and practices. The center was created April 17, 2003, and has since responded to the day-to-day needs of the cyber world, as well as co-sponsoring the Indiana Higher Education Cybersecurity Summit with former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke as last year’s keynote speaker. While the Internet was still a theory when Cate graduated from college, he attributes his involvement with cybersecurity to practicing First Amendment law. see CYBERSECURITY, BACK PAGE
DAVID BRACHO • IDS
Fred Cate, IU’s cybersecurity director, navigates the Web at the law school lounge. Cate’s job is to keep IU’s computers safe and secure.
researched editorial copy, artwork and a variety of alternative copy blocks to inform readers as well as to break up the design.
formation.” She said a lot of information online is out of date, irresponsible or biased, and it can lead reporters in the wrong direction. But not all information on the Web is bad. Students can use medical journals as well as information obtained from government and respected health organizations. Examples such as these can add much-needed variety to a reporter’s list of sources and can help round out a story. Linden said reporters must also be careful not to forget fairness. The caution does not always require seeking out someone who disagrees with the scientific conclusions. However, when covering a new health study, reporters can seek out an impartial third party to provide an added perspective. With every scientific discovery, he said, there is always something about the information that people do not know. It is important to include this element in the story as well. Ultimately, science journalism will always have at least one essential in common with all other forms of journalism. “You’re not prescribing actions. You’re sharing information,” Linden said. “It’s up to the reader to decide what to do with it.” n
Communication: Journalism Education Today • 21
Award recognizes coverage of an informed and healthy student community It is not simply about sex and STDs. Health issues include the danger of high heels, the benefits of exercise and nutrition, highschool sports injuries and the diversity of mental health services provided by your school system. The importance of conveying a spectrum of health information that is accurate within the school community is at the heart of the Ryan White Excellence in Journalism Award. JEA, the Health Information Network at NEA and the Radio and Television New Directors Foundation co-sponsor this print and broadcast initiative. Visit www.jea.org (Awards, Ryan White) to acquire more information about the contest and to read the comments of USA Today’s Dennis Kelly, the 2007 judge of print entries. To see last year’s broadcast feature winner, “Field of Dreams,” go to the RTNDF high-school broadcast journalism Web site www.hsbj.org. Entries must arrive at JEA Headquarters by July 1.
From the Pros
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and is a major cause of disability. Almost 700,000 people die of heart disease in the U.S. each year. That is about 29 percent of all U.S. deaths. The most common heart disease in the United States is coronary heart disease, which can lead to heart attack.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cdc.gov
VIDEO
Science on The Newshour This multi-DVD set is available free from PBS and contains a compilation of science segments on “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.” The science reports span several different categories of science reporting ranging from the environment to technology. Where to get it:
Chris Hunt • “Juiced Up Nation” Westlake High School (Austin, Texas; Deanne Brown, adviser) John L. Shi • “Sex Education Policies Slow to Adapt to Reality” Carmel High School (Carmel, Ind.; Jim Streisel, adviser)
Visit http://www.pbs.org/newshour/science, which itself is a great resource for science writing available in a few different formats. Under “Additional Resources” at the bottom, click the “Contact Us” option. There you can enter your information to receive the free DVD set. AUDIO
NPR’s Health and Science podcast Editors of National Public Radio compile a weekly podcast with the best science reports from shows such as “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” Available as a free subscription, the show is typically about 30 minutes long and features six stories. Where to get it:
You can subscribe to the podcast using a few different programs, such as iTunes, by visiting http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail. php?siteId=4819381. There, you can also download the latest episode as an mp3.
Summer 2008
Communication: Journalism Education Today • 23
Story Ideas
A16 Features
THE CHRONICLE CHRONICLE.HW.COM WEDNESDAY, OCT. 3 2007
A16 Features
Health
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008
Watch what you eat Half of 200 upper school students polled said they have allergies
Allergies restrict students Boggan eats gluten, his immune By DANIELLE KOLIN system responds by damaging the Classical musicians linger outside small intestine, harming his ability their concert venue, digging into a to absorb nutrients from food. large cheese pizza for dinner. Having Boggan brings lunch to school eaten his fill, a cellist marches into every day and usually brings food to St. Michael’s church and readies friend’s houses as well. himself to play. “I can eat all sorts of meat, Seated with the orchestra, he feels chicken, vegetables, fruits,” Boggan hives breaking out on his skin and said. “My favorite food has got to begins to have difficulty breathing be a protein burger at In-N-Out.” as his tongue and throat swell. He Protein burgers are served wrapped throws up and passes out in his seat, in lettuce instead of the bun, which cello in hand, entering anaphylactic contains gluten. shock. For the The cellist, cafeteria to Jonathan Lee ’08, accommodate woke up on his own these students without medical with allergies, treatment and they should take suffered no serious precautions to side effects, but was cook all their food unable to play in separately, said the Major Works Santa Monica concert that night. pediatrician Dr. —Jonathan Lee ‘08 Richard He scheduled an Levy, appointment with an who handles allergist for that weekend, but was numerous childhood allergy cases. unable to go. “They can certainly make sure A few months later, Lee again they don’t mix ingredients that could entered anaphylactic shock after be reacted to in people who have eating pizza, and after receiving an allergies,” Levy said. “Some schools allergy test, the allergist informed go so far as to be nut-free or peanuthim of his allergy to gluten, a protein free.” found in some grass-related grains, Students with less extreme notably wheat, rye, barley and some allergies or allergies to less common oats. foods can eat at the cafeteria without “I stay away from foods with any problems. gluten as much as possible,” Lee said. Eight foods account for 90 percent “Unfortunately, there are things that of all allergic reactions, according to have wheat that I just can’t avoid.” the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Allergic reactions to foods can Network. These include peanuts, sometimes cause serious illness or milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, soy, wheat death, meaning many students with and tree nuts, such as walnuts or food allergies must take precautions cashews. to avoid allergens at all costs. Carter Chang ’08, for example, Lee, for example, almost never is allergic to shellfish. If he eats eats unpackaged food from the shellfish, such as shrimp, crab or school cafeteria. He either brings lobster, he breaks out into a fulllunch from home or eats packaged body rash for a few days. snacks. The allergy is weak enough that Michael Boggan ’09 also avoids Chang can eat a few pieces of shellfish unpackaged cafeteria food because without noticeable symptoms. he has celiac disease. The disease, “I have one or two bites usually,” which is technically an auto immune Chang said. “I’ve taught myself not disorder rather than an allergy, makes to like shellfish. I don’t like shrimp Boggan intolerant to gluten. When anymore, but I still like lobster and
“UNFORTUNATELY, THERE ARE THINGS THAT HAVE WHEAT THAT I JUST CAN’T AVOID.”
The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses (shown here). It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccination each year. Every year in the United States, on average: • 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; • more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications; and • about 36,000 people die from flu. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cdc.gov
Science and technology reporting does not have to be complicated. Like any form of journalism, the topics should be appropriate for the audience. Have students brainstorm about ideas their readers may find interesting. The topics below may be helpful starters. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Facts about diet fads Health impact of diabetes Health impact of obesity How alcohol affects the body How caffeine affects the body Lunchroom nutrition Plastic surgery cost vs. benefit Science of drought, earthquakes, hurricanes or tornadoes Side effects of performance-enhancing drugs Slouching and a healthy back Spread of flu in classrooms Students who design and build their own computers The health impact of skipping meals The science of tanning and health risks Why tobacco causes cancer
crab.” Few people get tested for allergies as a preventative measure, Levy said, because it isn’t usually necessary, so most people discover their allergies by eating an allergen and reacting to it. Lee discovered his gluten allergy at an older age because he most likely acquired the allergy over time, Lee said. Students who are born sensitized to certain foods usually discover their allergies at a younger age. Chang discovered his allergy to shellfish at the age of 6 or 7 when he ate a shrimp dish and broke out in a rash that lingered for a few days. Taylor Lasley ’08 discovered her allergy to strawberries when she was in first grade. The night before a piano competition, Lasley ate strawberries and broke out in hives. Worried she wouldn’t be able to play piano the next day, Lasley soaked in an oatmeal bath to soothe the hives and took Benadryl. The remedy worked well enough to allow Lasley to play in the piano competition the next day. Boggan was diagnosed with celiac disease at the age of two after he fell very sick. Ever since, he has stayed away from gluten products. Students with extreme allergies to food substances should carry EpiPens with them to school, Levy said. EpiPens are used to self-inject epinephrine, a medicine that treats anaphylactic shock. The athletic trainers keep EpiPens in Taper Gym. Boggan doesn’t carry one because he doesn’t risk anaphylactic shock if he accidentally ingests gluten. His body instead responds by attacking his small intestine. Neither Chang nor Lasley carry EpiPens because their allergies aren’t extreme enough to cause anaphylaxis. Lee didn’t have an EpiPen at the time of his anaphylactic shock in St. Michael’s because he didn’t yet know about his allergy. Now, he keeps one in his backpack, just in case. “I hope I never have to be in a position where I use it,” Lee said.
REGULATED INSULIN A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY: Corinne Loder ’09 was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 11. Loder must prick herself to test her blood sugar levels and then her insulin pump reads her blood sugar levels to administer the appropriate amount of insulin. If Loder’s blood
sugar level is low, she must raise it with something like fruit juice; if she is hungry, but her blood sugar level is high, she could eat carrots, and to maintain her blood sugar levels he could eat peanut butter. To maintain cleanliness, Loder must replace the insulin injection pumps every three days.
Diabetes: when sugar isn’t so sweet By ANNIE DREYER
T
ucked into the snug back pocket of her dark-denim Seven jeans lies what looks like a retro pager. But in actuality it is a small miracle for Corinne Loder ’09. It is her insulin pump, connected to her lower back via a wire that runs under her jeans. After she pricks herself to test her blood sugar level, the insulin pump calculates the exact amount of insulin she needs. Loder must constantly regulate and pay attention to her blood sugar levels because she has diabetes — a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. “Diabetes makes a huge difference in daily life,” she said. “You have to question pretty much everything you do. If I ever forget to give insulin for a meal, I end up feeling really sick. Same if I give too much insulin. Even the small things that you wouldn’t normally think about, like having some of your friend’s chips, can affect your blood sugar and how you feel.” Loder was diagnosed at age 11 and has type 1 or juvenile diabetes, as do Katie MacDonald ’08 and Tessa Wick ’09. Type 1 diabetes refers to the body’s inability to produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert food into energy. An autoimmune attack, with an unknown cause, destroys the insulinproducing cells in the pancreas of someone with type 1 diabetes. “Diabetes is a constant presence in my life,” she said. “I must test my blood sugar between five and 10 times a day, before every meal or snack, often in the middle of the night and sometimes even during classes. I must also count every carbohydrate I eat and give myself shots of insulin every time I eat to compensate for the food. I must keep my blood sugar tester, insulin and some kind of food with sugar with me at all times.”
Look out for these signs of Diabetes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Frequent urination Excessive thirst Extreme hunger Unusual weight loss Increased fatigue Irritability Blurry vision
“THIS FIGHT HAS MADE ME FEEL FRUSTRATED, HOPEFUL AND NERVOUS ABOUT MY FUTURE.”
— Tessa Wick ‘09
Like Wick, MacDonald also takes injections and uses an insulin pump. “Taking insulin when I eat and counting carbohydrates can be vexing, but it’s become part of my routine,” MacDonald said. “Blood sugar levels are more difficult to control under conditions of heavy physical stress, which makes consistent management even more crucial during intensive exercise and sports.” MacDonald was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 6 years old, what she refers to as her “honeymoon phase” because her pancreas was still supplying some insulin. Because MacDonald was diagnosed at such a young age, she never needed to be hospitalized. Loder and Wick, on the other hand, were hospitalized when they were diagnosed with diabetes. Since Wick’s diabetes was caught relatively early, she was only in the hospital for the day, to get insulin in her system. Nonetheless, her stay in the hospital made quite an impact. “You go to the hospital and suddenly from that day on every day of the rest of your life is different and revolves around this uninvited disease,” Wick said. “Going to the hospital concretes the idea in your mind that maybe it’s not just a bad dream.” When Loder was first hospitalized, she had to spend several days in the hospital learning about what diabetes is, how to test her blood sugar and how to alter her diet. Loder was hospitalized again when she was in the seventh grade because she wasn’t changing her sets (what is in her insulin pump to inject insulin into her system) and wasn’t checking her blood sugar levels enough. Eventually, her insulin pump stopped working, causing her to feel very ill and need to go to the emergency room. Loder went on an Intravenous fluids for hydration and for insulin during her two day hospital stay and continued to learn more about diabetes. “Certain things just didn’t seem like that big of a deal, but when you’re dealing with such a fragile, important thing, it obviously was,” Loder said. “It was a huge
wake-up call. I always knew that having diabetes changed a lot, but when I went into the hospital for the second time for a mistake I didn’t even know I’d been making, I realized how important it is to take care of myself.” Foreign Language and Visual Arts teacher Allan Sasaki also has diabetes. However he has type 2 diabetes, a disease that is usually diagnosed in adulthood and causes the body to not produce enough insulin or the cells to ignore the insulin. Sasaki was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2001, and like Loder, Wick and MacDonald he must watch his sugar intake. Sasaki tests his blood with a meter once or twice a day and takes pills to control his glucose everyday, but he doesn’t need to take insulin. Sasaki, Loder and MacDonald all find that the school cafeteria does not cause any dietary hardships, and MacDonald even notes that “diabetics can’t eat sugar adage is a myth.” Though a diabetic’s diet is not restricted, if a diabetic’s blood sugar level gets too low, the cafeteria supplies high carbohydrate foods and fruit juices to raise blood sugar levels. “The school cafeteria has pretty much everything I need,” Loder said. “Going into the cafeteria thinking about my diabetes is never a problem.” Though diabetes is currently a chronic disease, there is hope for possible cures, and new technology is developing rapidly, including stem cell research for type 1 diabetes. “Looking ahead, in my lifetime, I expect new developments allowing better management of diabetes or even a cure — perhaps via emerging stem cell technology,” MacDonald said. “I am very supportive of that and urge others to support it.” A youth ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Wick has testified in front of the United States Senate to ask for help in curing the disease and promoting stem cell research. She has met with various congressmen and senators and worked as a page for the House of Representatives last summer. Since the federal government did nothing to respond to her efforts, the Wick family co-chaired Proposition 71, which passed in 2004 and is now granting $3 billion to stem cell research in California over the next 10 years, making California the largest center for stem cell research in the world. On a regional level, Wick also started a walking team nine years ago named “Tessa’s Troopers” for the annual JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes. “Tessa’s Troopers” has been the number-one fund raising team in the world for the past seven years and has raised over $2 million. “This fight has made me feel frustrated, hopeful and nervous about my future,” Wick said. “Most of all this experience has shown me the power of when people work together, and it has made me unbelievably grateful for the miles and miles my friends, family and classmates have walked on behalf of this disease.”
EARTHQUAKE: Upset the routine and inject science into student reading By Kathleen Neumeyer
You don’t have to be good at something yourself to be able to write about it. Journalists tend to be verbal people. Not to stereotype, but we are more likely to be good writers and interested in reading than to be science or math geniuses. While writing about math and science may seem daunting, it is really no different from writing about any subject. It simply requires careful reporting from knowledgeable sources. 4
24 • Communication: Journalism Education Today Summer 2008
A18 Features
Health & Style
Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007
A22 Features
THE CHRONICLE CHRONICLE.HW.COM
In case of
Where to run
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008
Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007
In an emergency, students would camp out on the field. Staff and faculty would organize students into these designated locations:
Backup personnel Traffic directors
To improve health problems and to pursue their image of perfection, more teens seem to be going under the knife
For teens 18 and under?
By SONYA MITCHELL In just the last two weeks, Encino facial plastic surgeon Michael Persky (Emily ’13) has operated on three teenagers. “It is an increasing trend,” he said. “A big part of it is the media,” Westwood psychologist Julie Greines said. “It is because of the increasing attention on young starlets in the media who are famous because of the way they look rather than for a skill or craft. Teens are being bombarded by this quest for perfection because they believe these people in the magazines are born this way.” Persky believes it is also due to the culture in which this generation’s parents grew up. “I think the baby boom parents have grown up in kind of a world of acceptance of plastic surgery,” Persky said. This is so much the case that it is often the parents who suggest their children have plastic surgery. “They often bring their children in and have already planted the seeds of desire for plastic surgery,” Persky said. Amy*, a Harvard-Westlake student, who has had rhinoplasty, is dealing with pressure from her mother. “My mom is not content with it,” Amy said. “She wants me to get it fixed again, but I’m happy with it.” Although now Amy’s mother wants her to undergo rhinoplasty strictly to tweak the results of the first surgery, originally Amy got a nose job for health reasons. Growing up with constant allergies and a twisted deviated septum was uncomfortable for Amy, and at the age of 8, the decision was made: when Amy grew up, she would get a nose job. “I couldn’t really breathe out of my nose, and my doctor told me that even after having braces, my teeth would continue to move because of being a ‘mouth breather,’” Amy said. “So I would either have to get braces again or fix my nose, so I decided to see an Ear Nose and Throat doctor when I was 14.” Although Amy could have rectified her health issues without cosmetically altering her nose, she decided to change the exterior shape of it. “I had never really liked my nose,” Amy said. “When I was younger, my mom had promised me that when I was 18 I could get a nose job, so I just decided that I might as well do it while I was already going to be in surgery.” “I really wanted to change something,” Amy said. “I wanted to make a permanent change that would make me feel less self-conscious and less insecure.” “Teens get plastic surgery because in some way their self-esteem is not where they want it to be,” Greines said. “They are getting some message from society, family, and or friends, that what they have isn’t good enough, and so they want to fix that.” Amy underwent the surgery during the summer before her sophomore year, giving her time to heal before school started; however, returning to school was difficult just as she had expected. “When I came to school on the first day back, people came up to me and said ‘oh it looks so good,’” Amy said. “I didn’t love how people felt the need to acknowledge it even if they did notice I had gotten a nose job.” “If someone came to school and I noticed they had gotten surgery, I wouldn’t judge them,” Caity Croft ’10 said. Many students specifically choose to wait to have plastic surgery until the summer before they leave for college. “I think it’s nice for these teens to get the surgery right before they are about to enter a new environment, especially if they are self-conscious,” Persky said.
Found at a surgeon NEAR YOU!
“TEENS GET SURGERY A LOT OF TIMES BECAUSE THEY ARE STRIVING FOR PERFECTION AND BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE ACCEPTED AND ADMIRED.”
—Julie Greines Westwood psychologist
This is why Nancy* ’07 waited until the summer after she graduated to get a breast augmentation. “I thought it would be an easier transition because people wouldn’t notice as much,” Nancy said. Although Amy underwent plastic surgery for
health and cosmetic purposes, Nancy had surgery specifically for cosmetic reasons. “My body stopped developing about two years ago and I felt disproportional,” Nancy said. “I didn’t like that part of my body and I knew if I fixed it I would be happier with my body.” “Teens get surgery a lot of times because they are striving for perfection and because they want to be accepted and admired,” Greines said. Nancy not only had full support from her parents, but they originally suggested plastic surgery. “They were the ones who brought it up and they were totally fine with it because it was something that I really wanted,” she said. Nancy realizes that she was very young to undergo the surgery and that doing it at such a young age is not the right choice for everyone. “Almost all teenagers have insecurities, but as we become older we become surer of ourselves, so I don’t think it’s best to do it so young,” Nadia Dan ’08 said. “Each case is very individual,” Greines said. “But, overall, I think self-esteem is so underdeveloped in your teen years that you don’t have a mature mind set yet and then to make a permanent change in your body, there could be long term consequences. You could grow up and wish you hadn’t done it and long for something you used to have but can’t get back.” “Age does make a difference,” Nancy said. “It is at the discretion of the doctor and they usually make the decision of whether or not to perform surgery on you based on how your body is developed.” Although Nancy decided to have the surgery because she thought it would improve her physical appearance, the results also improved her mental stability because she “was self-conscious about it,” she said. While some students undergo surgery to increase their breast size, others have a breast reduction. Linda* ’06 got a reduction the summer before her sophomore year. “It had always been an option for me because my mom had the surgery and it was a genetic thing,” she said. “My mom had always told me that whenever I wanted to do it, I could.” Although Linda was excited for how her augmentation would look, she was more eager for the improvement it would make in her health. “It was really causing back issues for me,” Linda said. Linda is certain her surgery significantly altered her life. “I am one hundred percent satisfied and truly believe it is one of the best things I have ever done for myself,” she said. “One of the most satisfying operations from a patient’s perspective is a breast reduction,” Persky said. “It often times corrects both physiological and physical problems. A lot of time there is no risk or disadvantage of having surgery at a young age.” “However, I do turn people away. For example, I make sure it is the teen who truly wants it, and that they are not doing it because of their parents, that the teen’s bones have gone through their major growth spurts and that the student has gone through puberty.” Getting a nose job as a teen rather than as an adult has its disadvantages. “You cannot be as aggressive because places inside the nose can still grow,” Persky said. “I’ve heard of cases where someone who had their nose done as a teenager is not happy with it when they grow older because of how their face and nose change.” “Any alternation done to one’s body at such a young age can be regretted later in life,” Greines said. “That person who had the surgery could have grown into their nose or their breasts could have gotten bigger if they hadn’t had the surgery.” Many students have differing opinions on their peers undergoing plastic surgery in or right out of high school. “Although I understand that people want to help get rid of their insecurities, I just feel like we’re not totally developed,” Kerry Kuwata ’08 said. Lauren Gaba ’08 thinks it is okay “if it is really going to help one’s self esteem and they’ve thought a lot about it.” *Names withheld upon request
By ALI PECHMAN
10th grade
A history of damages The 6.8 1994 earthquake struck at 4:31 a.m. the morning of Jan. 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No one was on campus at the time and it was not a school day. However, as the Chronicle reported exactly 14 years ago, approximately 50 students lost their homes along with a dozen faculty members. Damages were sustained on campus that, had people been present, could have been lethal. Bookshelves and ceiling tiles fell down in the Library and Chalmers. In Seaver, bookshelves and computers fell. Outdoor staircases cracked and sagged. In Hamilton Gym, foundations moved one inch causing
Emotional resources: entertainment and relaxing area
Nutrition and sanitation
Coldwater Canyon cracks at the base and the gym also suffered broken windows. The Chronicle even reported that St. Saviour’s would have to be rebuilt as a result of major structural damages sustained in the earthquake. The chapel’s harpsichord was crushed by fallen wall fragments; there were cracks in the outer walls and floors buckled and shifted. The school sustained half a million dollars in damages, though Director of Campus Operations Jim DeMatte said most of the costs were for cleanup. He recalls that many lighting fixtures came down as well. The Oak Ridge fault is not even the closest fault to the campus. For this reason, the school has plans in place for an earthquake and after 1994 retrofitted all buildings that do not meet up to the current safety codes. After the 1994 earthquake, over one million dollars was spent removing all roof tiles on the upper and middle school campuses. Traditional Spanish tile, which weighs 1,100 pounds per 100 square feet, was replaced with composite material that can be sculpted to look like Spanish tile and weighs only 380 pounds per 100 square feet. Older buildings, such as St. Saviour’s, which was built in 1914 and moved to its current location in 1938, were retrofitted to higher standards. Ceiling reinforcing “X-bars” can be seen overhead now in the chapel. Munger was built after the earthquake and was built to 130 percent of the standard at the time, as a precaution. “When an earthquake hits, if I am in a building, I hope to be in Munger,” Van Norden said. “The only building that I would seriously worry about is St. Saviours Chapel,” Van Norden said. “It has both a slope behind it and old landslide below it.” She also cited the Business Office as a building that could sustain damages. Besides structural precautions, DeMatte said
maintenance also sweats the small stuff too, and that both campus maintenance teams are religious about checking that shelf units are bolted to walls. Be prepared In case of accidents large and small, there are large steel bunkers, implemented eight years ago, next to Taper Gym that are stocked with water, food and search and rescue supplies. If students could not travel the roads to get home, food and water could be distributed to students on Slavin Field from the nearby bunkers, which are also stocked with games and a movie projector. When asked what the specific, written plan for an earthquake situation was, DeMatte said it was “vague” and referenced the school’s 800-900 page Illness, Injury, Prevention Plan book. But some accidents cannot be prevented. There are certain aspects of the campus’ terrain which may prove dangerous in an earthquake, such as the fact that the school is built into a hill. “The rock, Modelo Shale, is pretty soft, but at least the local angle of the bedding planes does not make the shale as prone to landslides as it would in other areas of the Santa Monica Mountains,” Van Norden said. Since the earth under the school is rock, it is more stable than if over airspace, DeMatte said. However, we could “definitely” get a 8.0M earthquake from the San Andreas Fault, Van Norden said, which even well made buildings and freeways cannot withstand. With almost 15 years behind the city since the last major disaster, it seems likely that the next major earthquake is not a long way off. “Our section of [the San Andreas Fault] has been locked since 1857, so it is likely to move any time in the next 50 years to give us an 8.0 or greater magnitude earthquake,” Van Norden said. “Don’t lose any sleep — there’s not much more we can do. We live in L.A. We will experience more earthquakes.”
Facebookers worship odd gods By BILLY GOULSTON Lauren Gaba ’08 was raised Jewish. She received a Bat Mitzvah and infrequently attends temple. Despite her Jewish heritage, she has adopted a different religion to display on her Facebook profile: “Planet Earth.” No, she’s not a tree-hugger who worships the ground we walk on. Instead, Gaba has fallen in love with her favorite television show, “Planet Earth.” Like many other students, she has taken up the habit of swapping her actual religion for another, made-up religion. Among HarvardWestlake students, this practice is particularly prevalent. Facebook — where almost 60 million people are engaged in online social interaction — displays a profile for every member consisting of interests, activities and random information. Among the various tidbits shown on a person’s profile, several classifications are displayed at the top. Students can post their relationship statuses, their political views, whether they’re looking for “random play,” “friendship” or “networking” and, of course, their religious views. Some students simply write one of their favorite quotations, which often pertain to religion holistically to display as their religious views. Leland Cox ’09, who isn’t very religious, has written a Karl Marx quote as his religious view because he doesn’t “subscribe to a single religion,” he said. While his Facebook religion is “religion is the opiate of the masses,” he doesn’t follow or
12th grade
First Aid
“The land is restless here, restless and sliding,” screenwriter Gavin Lambert once wrote of Los Angeles, a city that lies nestled between fault lines at the edge of the continent, fearing of “crumbling slowly into the ocean.” The Harvard-Westlake campus is alive at almost all hours of the day and week, from early-morning swim practices to tech-rehearsals for plays at night and on weekends, so the probability of an earthquake occurring while students are on campus is high. The school has experienced major earthquakes before and has taken precautions, but ultimately there are factors beyond control: one cannot even predict when an earthquake will strike. The San Andreas Fault is likely to do the most damage. While 32 miles away, the fault has a high rate of movemement, geology teacher Wendy Van Norden said. There are over 100 faults in the Los Angeles area because the is city is located within a bend of the San Andreas, compressing the area and creating a great mumber of faults, Van Norden said. The closest known fault to the school is the Hollywood Fault, which affects Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Glendale according to the Southern California Earthquake Data Center. Its probable magnitudes are between 5.8-6.5M, but it could produce a more powerful earthquake if it moved simultaneously with the adjacent Santa Monica Fault. To the north of the campus lie the Verdugo Fault and the Northridge Hills Fault, not to be confused with the Oak Ridge Fault which caused the infamous 1994 Northridge Earthquake.
believe in Marxian doctrine, instead feeling that, in general terms, “religion was used to pull a blanket over a lot of people’s heads.” Rather than using their “Religious Views” to make a personal statement or quote their favorite thinker or writer, many students who change their Facebook religion just do it to be funny. Elliot Rosenberg ’08, always quick to make a joke, has turned his religious views and the rest of his profile into his personalized comedy routine. In the past, Rosenberg had “Jewish,” the true response, filled in as his religion; however, according to his Facebook profile, he has recently joined “The Church of Gary Antonian Sheffield.” Rosenberg is quick to elucidate his offbeat religious views, explaining that he “chose ‘The Church of Gary Antonian Sheffield’ as the response to the ‘Religious Views’ field on Facebook because it shows my idolization of him as a steroid-free baseball player and superhuman entity.” The senior admits that he doesn’t take religion seriously in general, only attending temple services occasionally. Though students like Rosenberg use their “Religious Views” in jest, the act of publicly discarding one’s religion for a false one “could have to do with ambivalent feelings about religion, theirs or religion in general,” upper school psychologist Sheila Siegel said. While many religion-swappers are distinctly unserious in their motives, “we often joke about things that are issues with us,” Siegel said.
The Chronicle, the student newspaper I advise at Harvard-Westlake School, a private school in Los Angeles, covers stories that pertain to Harvard-Westlake students and that are of interest to Harvard-Westlake students. During the past year, the newspaper has published a feature story on a topic involving health in every issue and sometimes more than one long story about health. Topics have included tattoos, diabetes, food allergies, the Epstein-Barr virus, healthful eating when students have to skip lunch and how bad posture can affect students’ health. We also had an investigative feature about what might happen on campus if a big earthquake hit while students were at school, not an unlikely scenario. During the past two years, the newspaper has written about the school’s sports medicine program; 29 percent of the top high-school linemen in Los Angeles weighing more than 300 pounds and the health implications; hacking attempts on the school’s server; the athletic department urging students to make better food choices to fuel their bodies; the trend to take yoga classes at school; how a choking game led to death for a student at a neighboring school; biology research that resulted in two seniors becoming Siemens-Westinghouse finalists; a yellow jacket infestation on campus; drug rehabilitation; colorblindness complete with a chart that showed readers if they were colorblind. The staff also profiled a student who Summer 2008
11th grade
Sit up
Emergency operations center: information and decision-making
Administration and communications
Food, tents, flashlights and walkie talkies are stored in case of a natural disaster.
religions
Sarah Tither Kaplan ’09 Vegetarian
Lauren Gaba ’08 Planet Earth
Bryan Kurtz ’08 Jew-Ish
Eli Woods ’09 Pastafarian
Sean Kesluk ’09 Let’s just say I’m circumsized [sic]
Elliot Rosenberg ’08 Raeye Daniel ’09 The Church of Gary “Eh” Antonian Sheffield
Leland Cox ’09 Religion is the opiate of the masses
Alex Haynes ’09 Atheist. Try and convert me and I’ll shoot.
Features A17
Health
A20 Features
THE CHRONICLE CHRONICLE.HW.COM
Wednesday, No
STRAIGHT
Bleachers
By SONYA MITCHELL
H
ead of Foreign Language Javier Zaragoza doesn’t want to seem “annoying and picky” when he tells his students to sit up straight. “I am constantly correcting bad posture,” he said. It is hard to call what he does nagging because he has his reasons. “Thinking and circulation of the blood is better when you are sitting up straight,” he said. In fact, many students find this to be true. “Zaragoza always corrects my posture in class,” Vanessa Zackler ’08 said. “But in all honesty, when I am sitting up straight I probably concentrate more because I am not lounging.” “I think a lot of people do it because it is a comfort thing,” Zaragoza said. “It is an automatic habit compared to a controlled reaction.” Although Zaragoza wants his students to feel comfortable around him, he ultimately believes slouching and bad posture is “a sign of disrespect.” Overshadowing these underlying reasons for why he corrects bad posture are the health aspects. Beverly Hills chiropractor Dr. Theodoros Kousoulis makes a living correcting and helping people with their back problems. He says 80 percent of people suffer from back problems during at least one part of their life. “Slouching over makes it so you have lower oxygen content in your body, which causes higher pH levels, and thus higher acidity levels in your body,” he said. “This ends up causing many more diseases down the road. Fundamentally, it is easy to see that rounding over your shoulders and leaning your head forward would cause a decrease in your ability to take a nice breath and the diaphragm will end up having less power. “It is easy to see why teenagers slouch,” he said. “The main contributors are emotional and physical trauma, accidents and repetitive stress disorders,” Kousoulis said. “Obviously teens are susceptible because of their high emotional and stress levels.” In fact, not only are teens very vulnerable to developing bad posture, but Kousoulis and Zaragoza have both seen an increase in bad posture among teens over the years. “It has a lot to do with what teens do recreationally nowadays,” Kousoulis said. “Students are constantly hunching over at their computers, at their desks or even while playing video games.” “Over the years it seems to have gotten worse,” Zaragoza said. The cliché phrase “what one will do for fashion” is another component of bad posture. “The model pose used to be of a model merely standing perfectly straight,” Kousoulis said. “Now, you often see the slight hunch of the back with the arm on the waist. It’s not that people are saying ‘oh, I want to slouch like them’ but when you see beautiful women looking cool doing something, you subconsciously want to emulate it.” “Sometimes I notice that the models in magazine ads are slouching,” Jenna Marine ’08 said. High heels also contribute to poor posture. “If someone wears high heels for more than three hours a week they are in serious risk of back problems,” Kousoulis said. Kousoulis also believes that posture is a result of one’s overall mood. “If someone is always being put down, their whole posture will reflect the way they feel,” he said. Whether it is a sacrifice for style, a result of the stress of being a teenager, or an emotional response
Teachers have been telling slouching students to sit up straight because of potential health problems. Teenagers are prone to this habit because of physical and emotional stress.
EYES WIDE SHUT: Kerry Kuwata ’08 (left) sits with Erin Kristovich ’08 (right), back at school, after taking a four month
Watch your back
By SONYA MITCHELL
K
Bad posture means bad health Knotting arms can pull the upper body down.
Placing a phone in between shoulder and neck can cause stiff neck pains.
Stiff posture and clenched muscles will cause uncomfortable pain. Crossing your legs can lead to lower back pain.
Majority of weight focused on tailbone can trigger lower back pain.
Slouching causes more stress on lungs, making it harder to breathe. Bending at knees will cause unbalanced weight throughout the body.
Good posture: Avoiding health problems The neck has a slight curve and head weight should be comfortably balanced.
Aligning the chin parallel to floor releases extra pressure on neck and back. Take advantage of the chair’s design. Use the back rest to line up spine vertically to distribute weight.
Standing up straight makes one’s diaphragm open and it is thus easier to breathe.
Straight ankles allow body to have complete balance.
to one’s overall attitude, a perceptible increase in bad posture among teens has been noticed. “We all do it, but being aware and reminded of it by the people around you really makes a difference,” Zaragoza said. In fact, Havi Mirell ’08 didn’t notice her posture was getting progressively worse until she was told. “The trainer, Milo [Sini] tells me to stop slouching,” Mirell said. “But it doesn’t take him just telling me once, I need to hear it all the time, but now I am actually working on it because my back was actually starting to hurt.”
was active in the robotics club and who wanted to be an astronaut; student tutors teaching math and science to elementary school students; a team of students working on improving the technology of hydrogen fuel cells; and wrestlers fasting to make weight. Other reporters wrote about a flu epidemic; how much alcohol is too much; learning disorders; an experiment the Human Anatomy and Physiology class did about response time while driving and talking on a cell phone; the health implications of smoking marijuana; near-sightedness; birth control pills; effects of sleep deprivation on learning; health effects of energy drinks; bird watching; and knee injuries. All of the stories directly affected our readers. Stories were not selected because the topics appeared in other school papers or in teenage magazines. Even the story about a teenager at another school who died playing the choking game, the only story that did not include the personal experience of a Harvard-Westlake student, was a cautionary tale. Sources include students at the school who have had personal experience with the issue. A story on diabetes would include interviews with students who have diabetes. A story on what wrestlers do to make weight would include interviews with wrestlers. Whenever possible, the stories would include the name of the student interviewed. On occasion, in stories that deserve to be told but could not be
leave due to contracting Epstein-Barr Syndrome. Kuwata had to quit playing varsity and club soccer after she was diagnosed.
When exhaustion becomes an illne
Shoulders level and balanced.
Keep your weight down — excess weight, especially around the middle, pulls on the back, weakening stomach muscles.
Noticing one’s body and when it is in pain is the first step, Kousoulis said, although the best step to avoiding back problems in one’s future is preventing it before it happens. “Especially in stressful environments, people are moving so fast and don’t have time to stop and notice and react to their body,” Kousoulis said. And even if teens don’t think it’s a problem yet and put off dealing and rectifying their posture, “it only becomes worse with age,” Kousoulis said. And, as Mirell has realized, no teenager “wants to start looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame.”
erry Kuwata ’08 thought her junior year was no more stressful than that of her classmates. She was taking one AP and one honors course, and playing center mid-field on a varsity and club soccer team. She came to school worn out and exhausted but her friends all seemed to be going through the same thing. She just drank more coffee in effort to fuel up. But when she found herself falling asleep in class even on days after she had gotten a good night’s sleep, she knew something was wrong. At the time, she did not realize that she would end up missing four months of her junior year. At first Kuwata missed school only a few days a week but tried to attend as often as she could. When she would attend, she would get home and go straight to bed, and so she still ended up falling behind. She consulted her doctor, who sent her to an infectious disease specialist. The specialist diagnosed her with the EpsteinBarr virus that can result from untreated mononucleosis. Her levels of this virus were so extreme that she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue, severe chronic mental and physical exhaustion. This disease is one that plagues a person throughout their life, yet it can be active or inactive. “A lot of people with the same disease would not have to miss as much school as I did,” she said. She was granted official medical leave. To get this, she had to have a meeting with Head of Upper School
Harry Salamandra and her dean Jason Honsel. Her doctor was not present, but had written up numerous forms. “I originally wanted to go to school part-time,” Kuwata said. “But if I was going to be missing school they said that I would have to miss all of it.” During this time, the school supported her leave. Kuwata hoped to return to school in the fall as a senior, so she would not have to repeat junior year, which the school tried to help her achieve by adjusting the workload. “The school let my teachers know of my leave and they then decided how they would handle it,” Kuwata said. For most classes, her finals were the only tests she had to take and counted for her entire junior grade for each class. The exceptions were for Honors English, where she had to complete all of the essays and AP Environmental Science, for which she only received half credit. Keeping up with the work was difficult as teachers do not make house calls. “For English, I would read the books on my own and my teacher would send me the essay prompts,” Kuwata said. “For history, my whole grade rested on one research paper, and for the rest of my classes I had a tutor so I could do well on the finals.” Although taking one test for the entire year might sound like a dream to many students, Kuwata felt added pressure. “I had to keep up with the work and teach myself in order to do well on the finals since they counted for even more than they usually do,” Kuwata said. “Although I was thankful that I was excused from
some of the class work, this put a lot of pr me to do well on the final because one t determine my junior year grade for each Doing work was especially difficult fo because of how sick she felt. Kuwata d could to improve her conditions. “During those months at home, I slep the day,” she said. Her days became routine. She would g at 7 p.m. and wake up at noon or 1 p.m days, it would be her parents who had to so she could get some work done. She change out of her pajamas because “the point.” “I wouldn’t really let myself watch TV I knew I would get into a bad habit and couch potato,” Kuwata said. Kuwata had to make another drastic ch had to quit both club and school soccer. “I had to give up my spot on an amaz she said. “I still don’t think it has really h Soccer has been such a big part of my l can remember. I mean, it was my life.” Before her sickness, Kuwata spent hours a week playing soccer. Additionally, she had already been ed by universities who were recruiti During her sickness, Kuwata went out of only twice, including to attend prom. “I really missed my friends,” she sa would come to visit me and were very su “It was one of the hardest things I’ve e do,” she said. “But I fought through it an so much stronger, both physically and me
H IGH STAKES : EPISODE 3
The Chronicle tracks seniors through the college application process By ALI PECHMAN Last Wednesday, thousands of students ditched Halloween to click the “submit” button on their online Common Applications, backing up the server for hours. Lindsey was one of these students, finally letting her application to Yale join some 3,500 others, estimated from last year’s figures, though this year’s number will likely be higher since Princeton and Harvard nixed early decision. Lindsey is now tired and apologizes for being in somewhat of a haze. One application was taxing enough: “Every time you are thinking to yourself ‘Who am I?” she said. “By the end of one application I was exhausted.” She still has six or seven more to go: Washington University St. Louis, New York University, Kenyon, Tufts, Oberlin, Sarah Lawrence, and possibly Brown. Even if she is accepted to Yale, she is pretty sure she will still apply to her other top schools, NYU, Washington University, St. Louis, and Kenyon. She notes “I’d be nervous if I were
to get into Yale,” feeling she would not consider other options that may not have names with so much a buzz but which may be a better fit for her. Lindsey isn’t quite sure what that specific fit is yet. Two of her top choices, Kenyon and NYU, could be considered polar opposites: Kenyon is located in rural Gambier, Ohio and has an undergraduate enrollment of 1,640, whereas NYU is smack in the middle of Greenwich Village and enrolls 18,239 undergraduates. But while Lindsey is not set on her preferences concerning these factors, she does see a common denominator. “I want to be able to be individual,” she said. “I know that at a smaller school I can do that, and I know at a school like NYU I can also do that.” She felt Yale was a fit right away. On a visit, she came upon a magazine dedicated to blackand-white photography, a passion of hers. Yale also has darkrooms below some of the residence houses, which had her sold. Strong academics and the
breadth of opportunities offered are also appealing to Lindsey, who is taking four AP courses this year and sees college as a time to find her focus. “I have no agenda,” she said. “My agenda is that I want to be happy and learn a little more about myself.” She is apprehensive about setting her sights on only one professional goal as some peers have, feeling this would perhaps lead her down the wrong path. Being one of many applying from the same high school, she has run up against some awkward situations. “I don’t mention where I am applying to school because it creates an unnecessary tension,” she said. “But it’s important to be open
IN THIS ISSUE
told if the paper printed the names, the reporter might use the information and the quotes attributed to an alias. Still, the stories are more credible when the reader knows who the source is. Sources also include experts in the field. While reporters can gather background information by researching the topic on the Internet, it is always better to have firsthand information from a live source. Reporters talk to pediatricians, to nutritionists and to psychologists to gather expert information for stories. Sometimes it is possible to find parents who are experts and can be interviewed. Sometimes reporters need to call other specialists. If Internet sources are used, reporters have to verify their credibility. A Web site of the American Cancer Society, for example, is a credible source of information as are most .gov sites. Student reporters who do not understand the information they are being told, should ask the source or the expert to explain. Reporters certainly cannot write a story that the reader can understand when they do not understand it themselves. When researching a technical subject, using a tape recorder to supplement written notes helps ensure that the information is accurate. Stories with misinformation can be harmful. The information must be correct for the publication to have a positive and helpful impact — and that need requires an ongoing responsibility. Anything less can be dangerous. n
Communication: Journalism Education Today • 25
with your friends and ackn fact that we’re competing, what is best for each other Her biggest insecurity i feel she has “a laundry list and has not excelled in However, she feels her gra scores “open the door.” After surviving junior eager to offer suggestion approaching the process. important advice? “College is a place you live and study for four yea define you as a person,” sh
UPDATE: Raquel had her interview and will know the decision by the end of November.
NE ISS Raq Lin out get
understanding the disease
continuing to teach
Brantman’s whole family could be referred to as artists; Susie is an art director for by danielle rodriguez :: executive editor who has known Brantman for 24 years. Hallmark, Tom majored in industrial design Jones, He rolls the clay with his fingers and helps a student “He’s amazing in his ability to put everyone in the with her piece, “B,” a student yells from across the world ahead of himself,” Jones said. “He cares so deeply and his daughter, room. Heather major in about what he does. He’s my hero.” “I’ll be there in awill second,” he responds. Students work diligently on their projects as he begins to help Jones keeps a watchful eye on Brantman and is graphic design this spring. a different student. He then goes on to share a story constantly making sure he is okay. Recently, Brantman about back in the ’70s, with his then existing long hair. asked the Fine Arts teachers, during their daily “We all respect each other’s ability,” SM North art teachervisual Greg Brantman teaches five lunches, for any observations they had seen recently classes: three Ceramics classes, a Sculpture and an Art with his Parkinson’s. Jones was quick to respond that Susie said. “We learn a lotclass. from each other.” Foundations she was worried about him that past week. She said “B is like a friend with many years of wisdom,” that his shaking had gotten pretty bad. Brantman will The Brantman family said talking said senior Stacey Johnson. “He teachesabout you without occasionally ask his colleagues what they see, allowing actually teaching you. He’s always really friendly and him to inform his doctor. keeps things personalminimize. with people.” “They see me day in-and day-out,” Brantman said. the disease is something they They Although Brantman is living with Parkinson’s “They are more objective than I am.” disease,but he is still able to to work with his students According to Jones, Brantman chokes down barely keep everything open, try live for theand warm the potter’s wheel as well. macaroni and cheese because other people need “He shakes a lot,” said senior Shannon Ryan. “It gets the microwave. His kindness is expressed in all that he day, not the disease. a tiny bit worse every year. I don’t now how he does it. I does and she has not once heard anything bad about respect him so he’s working on the wheel, him, through all the years she has taught. “Once you accepthe what itmuch. is,When it just becomes still does it so well.” “As a teacher, he absolutely lives and dies for his Brantman says that many people haveknow helped him kids,” Jones said. “He doesn’t know the first thing part of every day,” Susie said. “You just in his life, especially his colleagues. One of which is about how to say I’m tired and I want to go home. He’s Photo, AP Studio Art and Art Seminar teacher, Sally a proud teacher of his babies.” it’s there.” According to Susie, Brantman’s personality adds a light touch to the disease, even though most of the time he doesn’t show much emotion. “When he first got Parkinson’s he lost quite a bit of weight,” Susie said. “He said he was shaking it off. Greg’s humor helps, we don’t take it as serious.” :: photos by kerry herndon Brantman was diagnosed at age 51, which is not rare, but earlier than most people. by lacey rickert :: features editor may be prone to falling.” Parkinson’s is a chronic degenerative The long-term effects are continuing problems “The mean age of (the) disease onset ofdisease Parkinson that usually progresses slowly. While the with walking, moving, swallowing and other actions. disease affects everyone differently over time, it is “Methods of treatment for Parkinson’s involve disease is age 60,” said Stephanie Thomas, commonly thought of as the disease that causes replacing the chemicals in the brain,” Thomas tremor, a small and constant shaking of the limbs said. “One main chemical is dopamine, which can National Parkinson’s Foundation Coordinator. while a person is at rest. diminish slowly over a number of years.” The symptoms of Parkinson’s are caused by a loss “It is true that tremor can be one of the symptoms, “It usually occurs in patients over the age of however, it affects more than just that,” said National of dopamine producing cells, which is what normal Parkinson’s Foundation Coordinator Stephanie movement is dependent on, in the part of the brain 50. It is considered uncommon occur in to be mobile called the substantia nigra. Thomas. “Theirto balance, speech, ability and even to concentrate may be affected. ” Currently there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, ages under 25.” Other symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include but it can be controlled by medication and other movement, rigidity (a condition that makes treatments. The long-term effectsslowed are continuing the limbs feel very heavy and stiff), and sometimes “The medications used to treat this disease can even posture disorders. have problematic side effects and can often be just as problems with walking, moving, swallowing “In the advanced stages of the disease, speech debilitating as the disease itself,” Thomas said. may be indistinct and slurred,” Thomas said. “The The only other treatment after medication is and other movements. patient is apt to walk with short, stumbling steps and DECEMBER Thomas said that the symptoms continue to progress over time and the amount of the progression is variable from person to person. She said that it might not affect Brantman’s work until the disease begins causing stiffness, slowness or tremor. “You fear the unexpected,” Susie said. “You don’t know how fast it happens.” Although Brantman does have a debilitating disease, he is still able to look to the bright side, continue working with his passion—clay, and live a full life. “When I look at Muhammad Ali and the Pope, I see that they are still getting it done,” Brantman said. Brantman looks to Ali and the Pope because they were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease many years ago. He also looks at those with Lou Gehrig’s disease and explains that people with that disease have a much harder life. “It’s just a horrible disease and lethal disease,” Brantman said. “It makes my Parkinson’s look like nothing. I’m a lucky guy compared to them.”
:: continued from page 11 ::
[
how to help
[ [ [ surgery. “There are three main types of surgeries for Parkinson’s disease. The first is to create a lesion in the brain,” Thomas said. This method involves putting a needle in a certain area of the brain, with a lot of electricity running through it, to burn out the area so it no longer exists. “The second type is DBS (deep brain stimulation),” Thomas said, “ in which they implant electrodes that stimulate a target area in the brain.” This method is temporary and can be turned on and off according to the patients’ needs. “The third type is implantation which involves delivery of tissue or other materials into a certain area of the brain that will hopefully regenerate or replace the lost cells,” Thomas said. “Usually medications are utilized first to treat the disease before surgical intervention.” Thomas says she values her work with Parkinson’s disease patients. “I enjoy working with this group of patients very much,” Thomas said. “I hope we find a cure soon so that they do not have to suffer with this disease and their loved oncs will not have to worry about them anymore.”
The number of people affected with Parkinson’s disease in Greater Kansas City is 24, 000. The Parkinson’s Foundation of the Heartland provides services, educational progress and continued research toward a cure. In order to do that, the PFH is beginning its fundraising campaign, beginning with a basketball gala, Final Four at Bartle Hall on April 5. Other events will include a 5K race to Planet Cure, the Town Center Art Show and a classic car show and parade. If you are interested in community service hours, there are numerous opportunities to fulfil those needs. Contact Judy Ireland, Program Director, at (913) 341-8828.
[ [
FOCUS
Two years ago, Brantman began feeling the shaking in one of his fingers on his left hand. He made numerous doctor appointments and his local pharmacist knew him by name. After trial and error with various medications, he knew that it was something more. Brantman said that his doctor would not tell him what they thought it was until they knew for sure. He distinctly remembered her saying ‘we don’t make guesses’. Brantman, however, made a guess of his own and decided to talk to a friend, Barry Hartman, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s eight years ago. “He’s the one I talked to after I thought I had it,” Brantman said. “I called Barry and said, ‘How’d you know you had it?’ We talked and he said, ‘You got it.’ He diagnosed me. It wasn’t out of pity or anything, we are adults, we just had to face up to it.” Parkinson’s occurs when there is a loss of dopamine-producing brain cells, which are responsible for transmitting signals within the brain. Slowly, certain nerve cells die or become impaired. A lack of dopamine causes nerve cells to fire out of control, leaving patients unable to direct or control their movements in a normal manner. The disease itself differs day to day with Brantman. He says that on some days he gets very tired and on others his shaking is excessive. “It affects everything,” Brantman said. “It’s unrelenting. It’s there constantly.” Finding out that Brantman had Parkinson’s was hard for the whole family, but, according to him he is not alone with his disease. His son Tom, who is a recent graduate from the University of Kansas, was diagnosed with type-one diabetes at age 18. “(We’re) used to dealing with someone with a disease,” Brantman said. “(It) kind of hardens you into the challenges ahead that you have to live with.” Brantman’s wife, Susie, and Tom said that the disease was hard to understand at first but after overcoming the initial shock they realized they have to live as normally as they can. “It’s definitely hard,” Tom said. “You think your parents will be there forever. (Having a disease) makes them very real. A couple days before (I found out) my friend’s dad passed away from cancer, so it made it harder.” According to Brantman and Tom, the fact that they both have a serious disease allows them to bond and work on projects together. “When you create things you put a lot into them,” Brantman’s son said. “It makes things really work.”
FOCUS
[
Y K C U L guy uy
>>>
Teache r live wit Greg Brantm an h the pa ralyzing and others le lle rod riguez ar Parkin :: exec utive ed son’s di n to itor sease
by danie
a
by lacey rickert :: features editor Imagine being unable to do something as simple as walk and swing your arms at the same time because of an incurable disease, a disease that affects every move you make, even your body at rest: Parkinson’s disease. Common treatments for Parkinson’s disease include medication and surgery, but physical therapy can also play a big role in reducing the effects of the disease. Studies have shown exercise to be a very helpful method of slowing the advancement of the disease and keeping patients mobile. “At this point in time there does not seem to be any way to prevent this disease,” said Professor Emerita SFSU Marsha Melnick PT PHD. “However, exercise can keep the disease to a minimum.” Because of the effects of the chemicals released during exercise, the brain is able to keep dopamine longer and somewhat recover from the loss of dopamine producing cells, slowing the progression of the disease. “The longer the person [with Parkinson’s] stays active, and the more mobile they can be, the longer their life expectancy,” Melnick said. As a physical therapist and a professor of neurology (the study of the brain), Melnick not only works with patients, she is also involved with study and research. She says her patients are usually bright and talented individuals with high goals, people with brilliant minds that you would not expect to be diagnosed with a brain disease. Fortunately, Parkinson’s is not usually physically painful. “Towards the end, [patients] can’t get out of
bed,” Melnick said, “so they usually die of pneumonia from lack of movement.” In the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease, patients can experience loss of balance and coordination and sometimes lose the ability to multitask. Patients may also lose the ability to change facial expressions, causing a permanent scowl or dimwitted look on the patient’s face because of the affects of the tremor. While intention tremor only affects the limbs at rest, it also makes simple tasks like walking very difficult without a visual or auditory cue to overcome stiffness. “I had a patient who threw pennies in front of him and stepped over the pennies,” Melnick said, “and that’s how he was able to walk.” Melnick says her patients seem to maintain a sense of humor regardless of their condition. “The patients that I work with that have Parkinson’s disease are really nice,” Melnick said, “They tend to be just incredible people.”
[ [[
s the door opened, the bright red tomato colored walls overpowered Greg Brantman, SM North ceramics and sculpture teacher. He clutched his shaking hands and slowly moved them to the inside of his pockets.
what is parkinson’s?
how to treat it
DECEMBER
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“
It affects
everything.
It’s
unrelenting.
It’s there
constantly.
[ pg 10
Danielle Rodriguez • “Lucky Guy” Shawnee Mission North High School (Overland Park, Kan.; Becky Tate, adviser)
‘‘ Five simple tips
-Greg Brantman
:: MISSION
:: MISSION
1
12/16/03, 9:12 AM
for reporters of science writing
from Lennart Kiil, owner, zenSCI; online media consultant
1. Make sure results and conclusions presented to you have already been published in serious scientific peer-reviewed journals. It has become popular for public relations departments to send out press releases before publication has taken place in the journals. 2. Remember correlation does not necessarily imply causation. There are plenty of examples showing that even some professional writers are not keenly aware of this principle. Simply because two observations are related does not make a determination about which one caused the other. 3. Be aware of evaluative and normative language where such cannot be defended. Science, on definition, cannot talk about how things ought to be. When you see expressions like “too much” or “too little,” you are looking at the prejudices of the author. 4. Look beyond sensational results or provocative angles. Check sources and sponsors. There is a lot of high-quality, sponsored research, but it never hurts to know who is behind the research. 5. Determine whether the conclusions can safely be drawn from the results. Are other and simpler conclusions possible on the same set of data? Conclusions drawn on a specific data set often have a lot to do with the assumptions made in the study. Frequently communicators of science fail to tell that part of the story. from Christopher Brodie, associate editor of American Scientist
If I had to tell people one simple thing about reading science articles, it might be “wait and see.” The first announcement of some breakthrough is seldom the final word. Wait and see how it plays out in the days and months ahead. If you begin hearing the same thing from independent sources, then you can have a little more confidence that it is real. The antidote to credulous reading is more reading. Summer 2008
Bad science writing There is so much bad science writing published, it is almost unbelievable. Bad protocols, bad commentary, bad interpretations, bad understanding. We need people who can think. We need them to look at these issues: • bad methods • non sequiturs • naive reductionism • subjective language • circular reasoning • conflating reason with cause • serious neglect of obvious under-determination For more information, visit Lennart Kiil’s Web site www.zensci.com
Communication: Journalism Education Today • 27
The best science writing delights by instructing. A good science essay … must be written with structure and style, but the best science essays are something else. They give readers the blissful click, the satisfying aha!, of seeing a puzzling phenomenon explained. Stephen Pinker, editor The Best American Science and Nature Writing
Classroom activities reinforce basics of science writing Journalism classes provide an opportunity to nurture future science writers. To reinforce the basic elements of science writing, teachers may find it helpful to take advantage of ideas offered by ScienceWriters, the NASW quarterly newsletter. Advisers may want to cooperate with NASW members who have access to an online archive with a wealth of material addressing many of the topics below: 1. Invite local public information officers — individuals or a panel — to discuss a career in science writing for a university, agency, institution or foundation. 2. Appoint students to review articles written by a science writer. The leaders should encourage discussion of the articles. Later invite that writer for a classroom visit. 3. Assign a science news or feature article each week, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the article with the class. 4. Teach students to cope with deadline pressure. Give students a scientific article and an hour to find five sources for additional comment. Critique choices. Web access is necessary for student participation in this exercise. 5. Plan an hour-long press conference with a researcher. For homework or the next day in class, students should write a 300- to 500-word article based on the press conference. 6. Assign students, individuals or groups, to develop a source list for the area of science they have been assigned to cover. 7. Collect articles from three news outlets, in print and on the Web, that cover the same science story. Analyze how each organization presented the story differently. 8. Have students critique and discuss the weekly science section of a local and/or national newspaper or magazine. 9. Select two or three media outlets. To encourage careful reading, give weekly science news quizzes on articles published there. 10. Invite a local “celebrity” scientist to discuss his or her interactions with media. 11. Assign students to cover a science lecture at a local university or institute. 12. Assign students to cover a scientific meeting. Require them to select a newsworthy topic and to report on it. 13. Have the students follow a scientist all semester/quarter and write an article about his/her work for a final assignment. 14. Schedule weekly “reading workshops,” during which students critique a magazine article about science that you or student leaders bring in the week before. Based on ideas from the National Association of Science Writers.
Summer 2008
National Association of Science Writers In 1934, a dozen pioneering science reporters established the National Association of Science Writers at a meeting in New York. They wanted a forum in which to join forces to improve their craft and to encourage conditions that promote good science writing. The association was formally incorporated in 1955 with a charter to “foster the dissemination of accurate information regarding science through all media normally devoted to informing the public.” Above all, NASW fights for the free flow of science news. Benefits of NASW membership
ScienceWriters, NASW’s quarterly newsletter, reports on news of regional events and on trends, issues and controversies. Also, the newsletter includes practical advice on freelancing, on teaching, on public affairs and on other professional specialties: • Annual workshops that provide opportunities for both entry-level and advanced training as well as networking. • Job leads. The jobs mailing list offers more than 250 announcements per year. • Educational resources and mentoring programs. More than 300 people have spent a day with a veteran science writer covering a conference. • Annual “Science and Society” awards for hardhitting analyses of how science and technology affect people’s lives. The awards are the only such honors given to science writers by their peers. P.O. Box 890, Hedgesville, WV 25427 nasw.org
Council for the advancement of Science Writers The CASW is interested solely in improving the quality of science news coverage. Programs
• The New Horizons in Science briefing meeting that is held each year at a leading research university. • Traveling fellowships that enable reporters from small newspapers, magazines and television stations to cover the New Horizons briefing. • Scholarships for students studying science writing at the graduate level at accredited journalism schools. • Visits by experienced science writers to smaller publications and scientific institutions and laboratories to describe the nature and the needs of science writing. • Sponsorship and administration of the annual Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting. P.O. Box 910, Hedgesville, WV 25427 casw.org Communication: Journalism Education Today • 29