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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 10, 1998)
The Battalion E sdnesday • June 10,1998 PINION 'S don't think; therefore, I tan students take pleasure soaking up cancerous rays of summer sun or go-; 'ext /. 'shipfer the thr.i tional d Is of 7(1 lub fond pit | detemvl I qua ■ pyerMI )grin-' I also lichbel L 9& > f I Vi 0 ter / r± Meredith Might columnist O n any given Saturday af ternoon in Bryan-College Station this summer, le gions of col lege students will be lay ing by the pool, soak ing up every bit of the sun's warm, cancer caus ing rays. Sunscreen is hard to come by among this group. In fact, any semblance of sun protection is probably nonexistent. More likely to be found are tanning oils, intended to magni fy the sun's rays. Nothing could be worse for a person's skin. Nothing else so obviously leads to skin cancer and premature ag ing. But nothing is better than basking in the hot sun with a good book and a cold glass of lemonade. It is not just the golden-brown tan that comes after a good two hours of laying out that is satis fying. In this case, the means justify the end. It could be a lounge chair strategically locat ed directly underneath the sun or a floating raft in the center of a swimming pool. Either way, the enjoyment of being able to just lay and feel the sun pound ing down is one of the best things about summer. That is why self-tanning lotions are not nearly as appealing, and why tanning beds do not cut it, either. The problem is, we do not heed warnings of the American Cancer Society and the Ameri can Academy of Dermatology. Typically, their warnings be come our tanning tips. The sun is strongest between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., so it is advised that peo ple stay out of the sun during those hours. Those are prime laying-out hours for many col lege students. The experts also advise peo ple to always wear sunscreen with a sun protection factor of at least 15 that shields both ultra violet alpha and ultra-violet beta rays. Although some try to at least protect their faces with sun screen, knowing that neglecting to do so will lead to a lifetime dependency on wrinkle cream, most slather tanning oil with a Sun Protection Factor of 4 on every inch of bare skin. Indeed, their warnings are worth listening to. Approxi mately one million new skin cancers are diagnosed every year. Half of all new cancers di agnosed are skin cancers. This is alarming not only because of the large number of cases, but be cause of the apathy, especially among young people, toward the potential for developing this disease. In the United States, someone dies from skin cancer every hour. These numbers aren't like ly to decrease considering how flagrantly tanners expose them selves to the sun without consid ering the potentially cancerous effects. This is all despite of the fact that skin cancer is one of the most preventable forms of can cer. The solution is fairly simple: Stay out of the sun, and skin cancer probably will not be a concern. It is not as if we are not aware how damaging the sun can be. We have been adequately educated on the dangers of skin cancer. So why is it that we continue to worship the sun? It is merely symptomatic of college students' tendency to live for today. College students have never been known for their good health habits, or re alizing how their choices today can affect their futures. Three square meals a day is nearly unheard of. Studies con tinue to come out screaming about how binge drinking among 18-to-24-year olds is practically an epidemic. The ma jority of smokers begin when they are young. Tanning is just another bad habit we know we should give up. It is truly a hallmark of college students' lack of foresight, rather than being indicative of our igno rance. We simply do not think of tomorrow, much less 20 years from now. Perhaps the remedy for this lack of foresight is not con tinued education on any of these issues but actual recognition of the long-term consequences of choices made in youth. Meredith Might is a junior journalism major. Airope suffers from American invasion Steven Gyeszly columnist A mericans have traditionally looked abroad for the latest trends to follow. However, after I JLover 200 years of living nth a culture largely bor- | — j Bed, the United States is fi- IIIy getting its revenge. Visit ny foreign locale nowadays Bit is painfully obvious the rorst of America is every where, and I am not merely re- irring to the teeming hordes I the "Let's Go Travel Guide"- 'o|shiping backpackers. Each year, various maga- ties devote multi-page breads to the latest designs iginating from the famed shion houses of Europe. This gives Americans, any of whom read these articles while wearing jog- ng pants, the mistaken view that the streets of Eu- peare filled with people wearing Versace's line of ■ling designed for the masses, jlnstead, locals from Ireland to Italy uniformly jear jeans and Nikes, topped off by cheap, counter- it Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts. Luckily, the world has tplunged to the ultimate depths of American hion, as the wit of "Big Johnson" T-shirts have yet e translated into other cultures. While foreign restaurants and fusion cooking are Hherage here, back in Europe continental cuisine rapidly being buried under a mountain of Whop- jrs and Frostees. It was one thing to pity those liv- in former Communist countries as they lined up )r hours to taste capitalism at a newly-opened Mc- Tiald's. It is quite another to watch as a bakery in ue is razed to make way for a Dunkin' Donuts, he problem is so widespread that even Dairy Queen is making in-roads across the globe. Regret tably, this means the phrase "Three-Piece chicken finger basket with Texas toast" will soon be uttered worldwide. The field of music is no different. America has consistently imported noteworthy music and musi cians from abroad. And what do we give back in re turn? David Hasselhoff's Greatest Hits Album. Con cert venues throughout the world are filled with American singing has-beens and never-will-bes who should not be allowed to play at the local V.F.W. hall. The ultimate indignity is there is rumor of a fall European road show consisting of some of the musi cal stars currently performing in Branson, Mo. And the saddest part? The Roy Clark-Kenny Rogers duet shows will sell out. As Americans, we know that our pop culture is equal parts treasure and trash. But we can appreciate both because we are aware of the distinction. Grant ed, as my encyclopedic knowledge of "Saved by the Bell" can attest, it is the trashier parts that make our culture so entertaining. However, we can enjoy the lows of our own culture, in the privacy of our own country, without having to share them with the rest of the world. Sadly, foreign emulation of American culture has become a low-brow parody of the worst we have to offer. After all, as a nation, we are more than just the home of professional wrestling and the $1.99 Grand Slam Breakfast at Denny's. We should certainly be proud that our culture is emulated around the world. The tragedy is realizing exactly what they are trying to imitate. EXI M IE IW the mp in m twaMs THE PRB1DEMT .BELIEVES THE Tllffc K SIGHT. WERE WQtMNS IT fWIJIt BT NMtVJTU.- c THETINVE, Steven Gyeszly is a junior finance major. freaking down the barrier ryan-College Station should not worry about unification, but matters of inner-development ‘ow would you describe Bryan-Col lege Station? What kind of a place is .it? ... Like the ne itself, it is a hyphenated istruction." — Steven lore, Cite Magazine iVhen people hear the name ['an, they think of a residen- community, filled with nu- |ar families who have no d to deal with the rowdi es of students. When Col- ;eStation is mentioned, Ivever, phrases such as e t's go to Northgate" or pnight is 99-cent pitchers ht" or "Give me my keys. I'm fine to drive James Francis editor in chief al- IJs seem to come to mind. Could this be the rea- 1 these separate entities have never come to per in unison? Many people believe this is the Fling answer. All one has to do to take a look at the difference in locales is visit. In College Station there is North- gate, almost the alter ego to Alcoholics' Anony mous. It is a place where stu dents can go to unwind after a long day of classes and work. For some, it is a place where they can go and get more alcohol in their systems than an 18-wheel- er's full tank of diesel fuel. In comparison, however, Bryan is a place where an actual downtown exists. Granted, it may not seem like much to some, but with developments in the works, the city has great potential for becoming a rejuvenated area. Bryan also displays more of an alternative feel than College Station. Where else would you find shops, such as Earthart and ... hearing the words ‘Bryan’ and ‘College Station’ mentioned without their hyphenated assimilation would seem to separate matters more. nightlife venues such as The Club for the areas gay and lesbian community (as well as straight)? College Station is not at a cultural loss or any thing like that, but some of its area businesses and places to hang out in are not exactly di verse — The Dixie Chicken, Duddley's Draw and Shadow Canyon should illustrate this point by only mentioning their names. All pros and cons aside, Bryan-College Station, as a unified compilation of college students, Texas A&M faculty and staff and simple members of both communities, makes a pretty good combination. So what makes the two lo cations such a big rivalry, oth er than the aforementioned differences? The only people who can answer such a question are the members of the communi ties themselves. But from a college student's point of view, hearing the words "Bryan" and "College Station" mentioned without their hyphenated assimilation would seem to separate matters more. Some people claim Bryan is an old-fashioned area, holding on to the past and pushing the fu ture of its development far away, while College Station seemed to arise out of nowhere and take over its area. If this is the case, make a point to bring Bryan to the forefront of small-town Texas living. Develop its downtown areas and make it a "great place to live." For College Station, let the symbolic "home of Texas A&M University" keep its traditions while the surrounding campus community develops a personality of its own. fames Francis is a junior English major.