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Show OPINION BRANDONSCHRAND ; COMMENTARY ~,(ll,l l ~W.A$ ... ~l",i Sick1 Don't call Dr. They I've been exercising. I've been eating right. Both my PE 101 and Food & Nutrition professors would be proud of me. But, no matter how many sit-ups I do or how many yogurt cups I eat, I can't seem to keep myself immune from the wandering viruses on our campus. About a week ago I woke up only to discover the glands in my throat were swollen so large it looked as though I was smuggling coconuts in my neck. Thera-Flu became my best friend, Ny-Quil, my confidant. Ibuprofen was more cheery than a Mentos commercial on Prozac. A few years ago, during my fourth sophomore year, I was sick and in financial dire straits. The only substance I had that contained medicinal propenies was a fifth of Southern Comfort. Every night before I would tum in, I took several large gulps of this tell-tale Janis Joplin cough syrup in order to insure sleep through the night. The funny thing is, even then I received a multitude of quack medicinal treatments for m y ailment. When you are sick, everyone around you is a practicing doctor. Roommates and friends alike bring you the damnedest treatments that have no logical prescription whatsoever. Your parents call and tell you to whip up a batch of that foamy family secret that's ,been used since 1883. It includes but is not limited to, horseradish, rock salt, bourbon and a cheeseburger (whipped). I remember when I was young, I was undergoing a nuclear allergy attack and approached my grandfather on how to unclog my nasal passage. Without hesitation, he rifled through the kitchen cupboard and exhumed a nasal-spray bottle. "Here, give this a whirl," be assured me. Having full confidence in my grandfather's unlicensed medical experiments, I gave my nose two large injections of the spray . My hair caught fire and my cranium exploded like a detonated melon. I ran through the house screaming, kicking and whaling. After I was adequately sedated, I asked my grandfather exactly what in the hell I had sprayed into my head. "Oh, nothing but a mixture of vinegar and cayenne pepper," he reported casually. In my hometown we don't have the convenience of "The Local Source" or l-900-Ask-A-Nurse. This is largely due to the fact we don't have phones. Therefore, we rely on "Or. They." You've heard of Dr. They. All prescriptions for your particular ailment begin with the ritualistic words, "You know, they say... " And this past week or so, I have tried everything that Dr. They recommends. "You know, they say if you smear eucalyptus and egg-plant extract on your buttocks, it will cure your sore throat." Other prescriptions follow along these same lines: "They say if you cram a dead trout into a tube sock and drape it around your neck for seven days, your nose will clear up." Or my favorite is, "They say if you pack your pillow case chock full of sauerkraut and go on a strict onion and creamed cabbage diet, you'll suppress your cough." However, I recommend avoiding Dr. They and finding a real doctor who is licensed. Brandon R. Scbrand is a senior English major from Soda Springs, Idaho. PROFESSIONAL STAFF ANO O£S1C PHONE NUMBERS: Editor L;my Baker 586-775 1 Campu.• Editor Jim Robinson 586, l 997 Con•uhing Sports 'Editori Neil Ga,dner 586-7753 llrett Jewkes 586-7752 STUDENT STA.FF AND DESK PHONE NUMBERS: A.ssocbte Editor D.W. Ande!SOD 865·8225, 586-7750 AP Win, Editor K2m1 Egan 581\-7759 Sports Editor Chad L=>b 865-8443 Copy Editor Tiana Tew 586.5488 Arts Edito r Amu Turpin 586-5488 Photo Editor John Guenler 586-7759 Advertising Manager Maggie Neisen 586-7758 Opinion Director Brandon Rhode$ 586·1992 Advrrtlung D«igntr Adam Moore 586-7758 REPORTERS' DESK 586, 7757 The Umvers-Jrr /c,urna/ IS puhl1sh1..'LI every MonJ.ay, Wcdnc,Jay aml Fr~~ay .o( the:' ac.1di::rnic year .as a ruhhcau un u Suuthcrn Utah Univcuity, 1u dcpirtmc.n t ur commun1c~t1?R_ and th~-SUO Student J\stuciauun. The vi\!w S a nJ or inlons cxpn:sscJ ln the /(1urnal arc those of 1m.hv1du:aJ wntcn and do not ncce1.s:.1nly rdlcxt the urmmn uf the Journal or any entit y of the university. Lc.t u,"B to the ediux mun be i yr,<:J anJ mcludc t he name anJ rhone: nu.mhcr. Only th~ ~amc, w1II be pnnu:d.. Nam.:$ w UI. not he wuhhdJ undcT .1ny c1tt:wnst ancc.s iind the <.-dltor rcscrv1.:1 .;.xhttng r,twilcJCSJ l.c1tcrJ must be su™'!'tttl-d hy noun Frhbys for Monday c:Jit ions. Tu(...'1CJ-ays fot Wt:Jncsday (.°\Jitioni.anJ ThursJays for ft-lday cd111ons.. Crievanta: Any 1nJiv1.JW;I ·w uh a irie.vancc a~mst the Journal shouJJ Jircct s.uch r rublc,n first t.o the cJ,tur. U unn.$t>lv1,..'U, that ,t:ncv1ncc shuulJ then he dircctcJ to the Joornal Su:a1ng Committee:, which 1s chainxl ~r Dr Fmn G. Pc•nun, S~6,797 I, Univ,n iry /oumol; Office• in SUU Tcchnuloxy BuilJ in~ 00.l, Mail at SUU Box 9.\84, O,wir City, Utih ~4nO fAX 14,15) SM,54~7 £-m •il aJJr<:Ss: ~,urn•l@!uu.,oJu O PRINTEl1 UN RECYCLED PAPER. !'LEASE RECYCLE THIS COPY. ~l):J()l;T - •-' ... , _. ,,_• •..;,, s-.w,-.n;"' ~•• ,,.. • ~--' • , , v ~ , ... . Wl"{',V-.WNA " ,,_ , ' '. .~ . . . •••• <•~•• • v., - .-.,~. ~-•- SEAN GONSALVES COMMENTARY t- ,-.. . . . ... .......... " •..•••, . ~,...... , " • '•·.,., ~ - ' " ' ••• - - --• OM!: -ollC Of ~I! • • • -,-.. . • ,- • l : • ..... ..... , ...,.,.""'··· - Now that's what I call racial progress Rem e mber Pres ide nt Clinton's call for a national dialogue on race? Last week I visited Nauset Regional High School in Eastham, Mass., to talk to students about race matters in their 90minute "Unlearning Racism" class. I left the school with my spirits lifted, realizing many of thos.e who understandably complain about being sick and tired of talking about racism are actually just giving in to the spirit of cynicism and hopelessness that pervades our nation. Those 'students remi nded me: Progress is possible. We talked about everything from 0 .J. Simpson to affirmative action. One of the discussion highlights was when we talked about race and intelligence. H ere's what I shared with them about this explosive issue. According to the National Opinion Research Center in Chicago,53.6 percent of white .brothers and sisters in the U.S. believe that blacks are, on average, less intelligent than Euro-Americans. Although I haven 't seen any numbers, I'd be willing to bet there's more than a few AfricanAmet icans who agree: Black folks just ain't as smart as white peoples. The "scientific" investigation of race and intelligence isn't new . ft goes back at least as far as Francis Galton's 1869 book, Hereditary Genius. Years before Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein published The Bell Curve in 1994, biologist Steven-Rose said something that, sadly, is still relevant today: "Whal is interesting is how, despite the distance in time and the advances in human genetics, we are no w asked to return t o the intellectual preoccupations of the eugenicists and mental testers of a past age .... When 100 years after Hereditary Genius, we are asked to reconsider the Nature/Nurture debate, it must surely be clear that we are not dealing with a scientific question at all, capable of scient ific resolution; the issues seem Iather to be ideological." So how do you explain why there are so many people who hold on to the white supremacist fantasy that race plays a significant role in determining individ ual intelligence? What concerns me is th is foo lishness, wrapped in sophisticated language, is used to justify the lack of education given to so many people of color. As common sense should tell us, to say that genes have something to do with an individuals mental ability is different from saying scientists understand the nature of that relationship. Ari Berkowitz, a neurologist at the California Institute of Technology, explains the obvious: Genes work in very complicated ways, and rarely is there any one-to-one correlation between a specific behavior and a gene. " Even if a correlation between a stretch of DNA and a well-defined, complex human characteristic can be firmly established, what does this correlation tell us?" Newsweek. contributing editor Ellis Cose, in his excellent book- Color-Blind: Seeing Beyond Race in a Race-Obsessed World, discusses an interesting study conducted two years ago. "Investigators had given black and whit e students at the State University of New York at Buffalo a series of tests," Cose writes. "When black students were told the test was 'culture free,' they gener.ally did as well as did whites. When they were told nothing about cultural correlation, they did worse." Conventional wisdom says white folks are tired of talking about race, sick of hearing black folks crying victim. I've got hundreds of letters to support that. When I engaged these sharp white high school students, it was totally different. After the classes, one of the session facilitators gave me the evaluations the students were asked to fill out at the end of class. One s tudent wrote: " I really enjoyed the discussion, especially talking about historical events. Sometimes my takes on certain subjects are altered by them." Another student wrote: "We needed more time! You can request we stay longer .... 1 learned people in this class can handle being challenged and arguing- I love that! " Me too. Progress is possible. Sean Gonsalves is a nationally syndicated columnist. |