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Show ft C4 THE DULY HERALD, Proo. I tah. Tuesday. October 15. 1W6 Course designed to help you cope with math By LORI ARATANI ' if I s f ... V x r .14 C '"own. - v x-- A Knight-Ridd- i-- 3' W Daily Herald PhotoMatthew R. Smith donating to the Orem library. Sparks, aninternationally known author, is encour- Dick Beeson, left, Beatrice Sparks and Gaye Beeson carry books that Sparks is aging others to donate books to Orem or any other library. Author hopes others will donate books By JANET HART Daily Herald Lifestyle Editor Those five, which can now be found in Orem's young adult section, include: "What Jamie Saw." by Carolyn Coman. The story describes the effects of domestic violence on an impoverished New Hampshire boy and his family. "A Girl Named Disaster." by Nancy Farmer's. The novel is about an year-old girl who undertakes a journey to Zimbabwe to escape her impending marriage to a cruel man with three wives. "The Long Season of Rain," by Helen Kim. The book tells the story of a young Korean girl w ho realizes that the demands placed on women can destroy their lives. "Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida." by Victor Martinez. This is the story of a Mexican-America- n boy determined to discover An known internationally author living in Provo hopes oth- ers will follow her example and . donate txxks to a local library. Beatrice Sparks, author of "Go Ask Alice." donated almost 250 young adult books to the Orem Library lust week and is encouraging others to do the same thing on a smaller scale. "I encourage people to buy one book for a child and then buy another for the library. The Orem Library is new so they have lots of blank space," said Sparks. The books Sparks donated were all contestants for the 19 National Book Award in the Young People's Literature Category. Sparks and four other authors have been in charge of picking the five finalists. , 1 1 -- for himself what it means to be a vate firma. a guy to respect. "Send Me Down a Miracle," by Han Nolan. The story is about a girl in Alabama torn between her preacher father and a New York artist who claims to have see Jesus sitting on a chair. The winner of this year's National Book Award for Young People's Literature will be announced in New York City in early November. "They're some wonderful books. We've all been delighted at the caliber of books being w ritten for young people," said Sparks, who is married to LaVorn G. Sparks, a land developer. The author said her desire to become an author really came from the love cf reading she developed as a child. She started developing her writing talents as a correspondent for several California newspapers as well as working on plays and scripts with Joseph Barbera of Because she also holds a doctorate degree in human behavior. Sparks tends to write about difficult issues facing young people. "Go Ask Alice," which was written nearly 25 years ago, initiated the young adult genre. Sparks said she's gotten countless letters of thanks from young people who indicate they were headed in the wrong direction until they read one of her novels. "Quite often kids talk about things with their peers and their peers are no more knowledgeable than they are. Books are more real and can apply to them," Sparks said. Hanna-Barber- a. Diabetics must protect against vision loss ' ". ophthalmologist will look for signs of damage such as changes in the blood vessels of the edema, aneurysms, growth of new blood vessels. Generally, eye drops are used to give the physician a better view of the retina. Sometimes photographs will be taken to help in the assessment. What happens then depends on the specific condition of an individual. Some diabetics will be told By DR. CAROL M. LEE For AP Special Features "Too many of America's 12 mil-- '. lion diabetics are neglecting the precautions needed to protect ; g condagainst the ition called diabetic retinopathy. ; These precautions are especially- urgent for persons with juvenile-onsdiabetes. They are at greatest risk of retinopathy. But the precautions are also important for those diabetes. with adult-ons; Undetected and untreated diabetic retinopathy can cause severe loss of vision, even blindness. Fortunately, ophthalmologists have a ;joumber of tools that help preserve vision for diabetics. ', I The first step tow ard vision preservation is to see an ophthal-'- . mWogist as soon as diabetes is cases, and diagnosed in adult-ons' within five years of diagnosis in I juenile-onse- t cases. Diabetes-- ; caused eye damage can be well advanced without any obvious visual symptoms. At the first eve examination, the retina-hemorrha- ges, ', vision-robbin- et et '. that they can w ait a year before the next eye examination. Others will be told to return in a few months. Diabetic women who become pregnant should have their eyes checked by an ophthalmologist every trimester. All diabetics w ill be advised that tight blood sugar control is essential to help preserve vision. Good control of blood pressure and of blood levels of fats and cholesterol are also important, but blood sugar control is the cornerstone of diabetic retinopathy control. Treatments for advanced diabetic retinopathy can include laser therapy to seal leaky retinal blood vessels or prevent development of new vessels. A number of studies have shown that laser therapy can prevent loss of vision. In severe cases, surgery called vit- rectomy may be performed to remove overgrow n blood vessels and scar tissue caused by retinopathy. cathy V FOR OF SICK by Cathy Guisewite N HOC Ai.t A,ir Cunre niso uuw nivu 3nuc;j MD EUERV PIECE WOmEN WHO fiRl TEETERlNfr IROUND LITTLE IN GHOPTV AND OTHER, CHUNKS SUITS PlifflPS, FALL FASHION IS ALL GOOD NEWS OF CLOTHING- LEAN '' 1 WORDS HAS BEEN Nicole SAN JOSE, Calif. Carter likes her English class. She excels at science and doesn't mind physical education. But she just dreads math. think I understand everything," said Carter, a senior at San Jose's Piedmont High School. "But when the test comes around I just go blank. I'm just not good at math at all." Valerie Burke, a free-lanwriter, knows the feeling. She shudders at the thought of doing a word problem and hasn't balanced her checkbook in three years. Even in Silicon Valley, home to untold numbers of engineers who can carry Pi out to a thousand places and MBA's who can crank out the most detailed business prothere are many whose jections distaste for mathematics is so intense they would rather catch the plague than do long division. Sweaty palms? Knotty stomach? Pounding heart? It's a condition known as math anxiety. Joni Johnson, a counselor at Mission College in Santa Clara. Calif., has heard the stories. After years of dealing with students traumatized by math, she saw that things didn't add up. So she designed a course to help people cope with the subject. "I don't know what it is about math," she said. "Ycu just don't see the same reaction to history or other subjects. But people have a bad experience with math and it just stays with them." For some, it was a horrible experience at a very young age. A parent who told them they were stupid because they couldn't do fractions. Others remember being math whizzes and suddenly hitting a wall. It was like that for Corinne Rangel. who breezed through high school trigonometry and calculus. Then came college. Suddenly, when test time rolled around she froze. She took three math courses. She withdrew from each one. The are no exact figures for the number of people who may be math phobic, but the problem is widespread enough that it has forced educators to rethink the way the subject is taught. Reforms, sometimes controversial, are being tried across the country with the goal of showing people that math is understandable and relevant. Universities across the country offer classes designed to ease math anxiety, such as San Francisco State's Math Without Fear. There are also several books available on the topic. It's possible to loathe math and not have math anxiety, said Johnson, the college counselor. But most researchers and educators think one builds on the other. Society also has played a part. In the past, it was often acceptable for people especially women not to be good at math. "How many times have you gone to a cocktail party and heard someone say they just can't do math?" said Margaret DeArmond, president of the California Mathe- - i r x mm, Newspapers B(M matics Council. "Everyone laughs? and nods their head. But you neverj hear about someone going to a par-- j ty and saying 'I'm illiterate.'" Diane Resek, a professor o mathematics at San Francisc State University, who has dona extensive research on the topic, thinks that anyone regardless sex or ethnicity can do mathj They've just been conditioned trf'1 think they can t. Nicole Carter, who's enrolled in; Johnson's class, can still rememberj the contests her third-grad- e teacher held. Students who finished their5 multiplication tables first could leave early for recess. Carter, ! almost always was left behind. Johnson theorizes that, unlike other disciplines, such as history and literature, in math there is only, one right answer. The rest is wrong, wrong, wrong. Often, she added, those w ho are good at math' have difficulty understanding why others don't get it. "If you're learning it from people who know it really well, and if you have a problem with it, you feel really stupid." said Johnson, a for- -, mer math and science consultant. In the late 1970s educators and; researchers realized that for many,) mathematics represented a giant puzzle. Math anxiety became a popular topic for research. That continues today, as educators and students realize it will become increasingly difficult to get along in the 21st century without knowing math. The National Research, Council has estimated that 75 per-- ! cent of all jobs require algebra and . '' geometry. A recent study by the College; Board, which administers the SAI college entrance exam, found that, math ability is an important monitor, of success in college and that knowing mathematics can be the "great e equalizer" between students and those who are poorer. Another surprising fact: according to the Institute of Education's those who research report majored in mathematics ranked the highest in test performance on the Law School Admissions Test and( Graduate Management Admissions Test. Counselors also point, out that mastery of mathematics also opens the door for careers in engineering and science. That's part of what brought Rangel to Johnson's math anxiety course. She knew she'd need to master mathematics to pursue a career in microbiology research. "When the course was first offered I saw it, but didn't believe it," she said. But after withdrawing from a third math course she was desperate. Johnson uses a variety of strate-- . course. Stugies in her dents are required to submit a math autobiography to help them understand the roots of their anxiety. She also focuses on study skills, stress management techniques and encourages her students to think' positively about math. So if train A leaves Chicagd at 6 p.m. and Train B leaves Los Angeles at noon, how fast would; each have to travel before Rangef and Carter are in a complete panic? There won't be any panic, if Johnson has anything to do with it. high-incom- E'JEN IfiAilbfa llvSg rCT" Utah BETTER FOR A L0N&, SLEEK, SINEU!V LOOK .' Vatfey ChoraC SocietyY et ME jMnapaniwcaNiiRimF ( i The Scaredy-Ca- t ( Special Dipping Chocolate Sale! ... 1 sfW - 1 1 1 W mm MM I Purtraih arc additional " tiM MJ ' Talented, sensitive staff ft' V SUOOTIM STABS CONTEMPORARY MAKEOVER PHOTOGRAPHY Call Today! University Mail Mervyn's Court 225-887- 8 - v r. . 1 "x. 1 i r m Magnificat, Fancies, Five Childhood Lyrics, 1 HALLOWEEN CHOCOLATE DEMO W I Provo Store 0ny (Provo WlTTfcN CAKE 11A.M. WEDNESDAY. NOV. P.M. Pim Mara On gf I3 ' VOW I Hl'ilir tarty Li SHEPHERD'S ca!y Provo 1700 N. State 373-554- 2 c Larry Johnson October 18, 1996 Lum lh banc. Idling and trotting lha cak. tar. ttell boaters rom. figura ppng tnrj more l and others Cfiord Society conducted Sy Lois Johnson OCT. 19,26 Immediate viewing of video proofs ( ;vtlM tsf featuring er Professionally directed photo sessions Satisfaction obsolule'y guorooteed! Wf fi, r7YI v j Learn to make peanut clusters, cherry cordials, peanut-buttcups, and a variety of Halloween suckers. FREE candy samples. FREE candy molds for adults. (No children please due to limited space.) Shooting Stars caters to the timid by providing: Before X) A, $ i ' No pressure sales, see before you buy Affordable packages starting at $34.95 v I aSernacCe 7:30 p.m. generatAd'missioti: $6.00 Students Senior Citizens: $4.00 Informal chat wth the directors at 7:00p.m. rfmai ft ivu |