OCR Text |
Show Wednesday, July 27, 2005 3 ™ SUMMER UTAH CHRONICLE FILMMAKING CLASSES FOR KIDS TAUGHT OUTSIDE THEBOX Fireworks highlight Utah's diversity As I sat in ray kitchen Monday night listening to the highpitch squeals, the rapid popping and then the resounding BOOM of fireworks exploding into the wee hours of the morning ail around my neighborhood, I tried to think of something that attracted and entertained the diverse masses as much as fireworks do—and Cara Wieser I could think of nothing. I agree that we could do The tents and booths set up without some of the more around Liberty Park were innegative aspects of fire- dication enough of that. The works—Monday's Salt Lake "Navajo Tacos" tent cozied up Tribune suggested that there to one advertising "Churros," could be possible health and "Baby frogs for cancer" neighenvironmental impacts from bored the climbing wall, and firework smoke and par- in one tent, a woman sat quietticles—but I wonder if some ly with her silver jewelry and critics' suggestions of doing smiled as the teenager across away with them completely is from her shouted Chick-fil-A's one battle we should concede. specials to anyone who would Fireworks were the one thing listen. And they all continuthat brought together almost ally paused to glance up at the every cultural group, every fireworks. age group, every denominaAs I walked around, I realtion and every orientation in ized that these people who Utah, and unlilte the parade, it were perusing the booths did not feel staged. were as eclectic a bunch as the Whereas the parade was goods being offered and were merely divisive—groups ad- representative of more than hered to the single-file parade just one slice of Utah's hisstandard and spaced them- tory. If fireworks could bring selves out like little isolated them together in such a way, islands, succumbing to the so be it. Unlike the parade, the perverse, "Who got the most fireworks did not focus on one applause?" competitive atmo- theme or one celebration, and sphere—fireworks allowed everyone applauded together. people to mingle, to gather, to The grand finale was my fatalk and to just exist together vorite part. Everyone stopped without boundaries or barri- moving for a short time and ers. let themselves be overtaken continued from Page I by the brilliance—and the sensory overload—in the sky. The noise was close to deafening, the fireworks were so plentiful that if I blinked I missed dozens, and people's cheering and applause were so contagious that I could not help but join in. For a moment we all stood together and nothing else mattered—not groups, not histories, and not affiliations. In my opinion, we could compromise and allow a little bit more of our air to be polluted even if it only meant a few seconds of this kind of unified community. We can be smarter about fireworks in the future, however. More effort should be put toward constructing them with safer components. Fewer fireworks—just stick with the grand finale—would also decrease the amount of pollutants in the air. Enforcing personal firework use will continue to help decrease the risk of fires. Also, people should be better educated as to how the noise and the smoke may affect their pets and Utah's wildlife. And finally, there was one more benefit to having the fireworks. At least when one exploded overhead, people could see where to aim inside the dark, smelly, dirty portable toilets that lined the sidewalks and posed perhaps the greatest health hazard of all. cwieser@ch ronicle.u tah.edu U. Kansas-area program works to feed hungry Kristen Jarboe University Daily Kansan (U. Kansas) LAWRENCE, Kan.—Pizza Hut and the Salvation Army usually aren't two companies one would hear in the same sentence. But the two businesses have been working together for about seven years. The partnership is part of Harvester's, a national program based in Kansas City, Mo. Pizza Hut gives the Salvation Army unclaimed or incorrectly made pizzas for free, as part of the Food Rescue Program that is part of Harvester's. The Salvation Army usually goes there twice a week and then brings the food to the homeless. "We like this program because it provides us with a lot of food," said Mathew Faulk, shelter case manager for the Salvation Army. Nicole Becker, a Pizza Hut shift manager, said she liked the fact that they didn't have to waste a lot of food. U-Wire the technical skills are important, the most important skills that children can gain from the class is to become media literate. Wray and his business partner Erik Dodd founded Spy Hop Productions in 1999 because they felt that children were getting too much exposure to the wrong kinds of digital mediums. "A lot of kids today spend way too much time sitting in front of digital media," Wray said. "We wanted to teach them how to use digital mediums to share their voice." He went on to say that today it is critical for kids to gain an understanding of how the media influences their lives and how to use digital media as a source of empowerment. Wray added that a key part of the class is the socialization of the kids' experience. "The end product is important but we focus more on the process. We want them to become good storytellers," Wray said. This summer, the students of Reich's class put together a humorous film titled "Ted PI." The film is about a Ukrainian dad (Ted) and his daughter who wins the Miss Universe contest. After the contest they decide to return home to Ukraine but they must find a shed to store their things in. The rest of the film is about their search for a decent shed. The humorous nature of the film, while deviating significantly from the kind of serious, award-winning documentaries commonly associated with Spy Hop, was successful in getting many of the young students hooked on filmmaking. "The experience of being able to do all the behind the scenes work is fun," class member Chris Carpenter, 12, said. "This is the first time I've done it, and now I want to do it again." dgardiner@chronicle.utah.edu Use of Adderall rising among college students Steven Wright Daily Mississippian (U. Mississippi) OXFORD, Miss.—Adderall, a stimulant drug that if misused can cause death, is becoming easy to obtain on college campuses, according to Christen Menzel, coordinator in the Center for Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention at the Southern Methodist University Memorial Health Center. The drug is often prescribed to treat Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. But with final exams approaching, more students seeking an edge to combat fatigue are turning to the drug that is illegal without a prescription. Adderall stimulates the central nervous system. Adderall causes people who have ADD and ADHD, who normally have trouble keeping their attention fixed, to be much more focused. The drug is extremely addictive and can have many negative side-effects, such as insomnia, anxiety, headaches, high blood pressure and sexual impotence. It is labeled as a Class II drug, under the same category as opium and codeine. Adderall has also been known to lead to eating disorders because it greatly suppresses the appetite. When Ole Miss student Kevin Donahue came to the university in 2002, his first semester grades left him with a 1.5 grade point average, he said. Donahue said he would try to study constantly, but he found it very difficult to keep his attention on studying. When he visited his doctor, he complaining of lack of attention span and he was diagnosed with ADHD, he said. Donahue was prescribed Adderall, and since taking the medication, his GPA has shot up to 3.6. "Adderall is a very helpful medication for the people that need it, those who have trouble with keeping their focus on studying," Donahue said. "I'm personally against people taking the drug when they're drinking or snorting it for energy. Adderall is a medication that shouldn't be used unless you have been checked by your doctor and you have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD." Although the drug helps those who are given a prescription, it can be dangerous—and lethal—if taken without a prescription. According to The Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, it was shown that usage of the group of drugs to which Adderall belongs could lead to future drug abuse. "The stimulant class of prescription drugs does not directly predispose users to other substance abuse, but they showed a casual link between Adderall abuse and later drug and alcohol abuse. Prescription stimulants are a gateway to other illegal stimulants, like cocaine and methamphetamine." U-Wire The space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Tuesday. Shuttle Discovery finally blasts into orbit CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—America's manned space program roared back to life Tuesday with the launch of Discovery, and engineers immediately began analyzing video of debris falling from the shuttle, hoping to rule out a problem like the one that doomed the last flight two-and-a-half years ago. National pride and the future of space exploration itself hung in the balance as Discovery and its crew of seven rose from the launch pad at 10:39 a - m - m t 0 a hazy blue sky and headed out over the ocean in the most scrutinized launch in NASA history and the first shuttle flight since the Columbia disaster. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin urged everyone "to take note of what you saw here today: the power and the majesty of the launch, of course, but also the competence and the professionalism, the sheer gall, the pluckiness, the grittiness of this team that pulled this program out of the depths of despair two-and-a-half years ago and made it fly." Nevertheless, Griffin and other NASA officials said they will not celebrate until Discovery comes home safely. Columbia, after all, seemed to be home free until it fell to pieces on its return to Earth. Two chase planes and more than 100 cameras documented Discov- ery's ascent from every possible angle to capture any sign of flying debris, and hours after the shuttle had settled into orbit, NASA officials said an object that may have been a 11/2inch piece of thermal tile appeared to break off from the Discovery's belly during liftoff. It came off from around a particularly vulnerable spot, near the doors to the compartment containing the nose landing gear. Also, a large object—perhaps a piece of foam insulation—seemed to fly off from the giant external fuel tank but did not hit the shuttle itself, NASA flight operations manager John Shannon said. "The big question is, what is that?" Shannon said. He said it is too early to say whether the two incidents pose any danger to the shuttle. Among other things, it is not yet known how deep the gouge in the tile is. Shannon said the cameras have provided the space agency with more detailed images than it has ever seen before, and it is not clear whether the debris represents anything out of the ordinary. Also, the tiles on NASA's shuttle fleet have sustained thousands of dings over the years. Shannon disclosed that the nose cone of the fuel tank hit a bird just seconds after liftoff. NASA promptly notified Discovery commander Eileen Collins of the debris sightings and said the agency's image-analysis experts were looking at the pictures frame by frame and would have more information Wednesday morning. In addition, the astronauts will use a new 50-foot boom to inspect their ship on Wednesday, and the crew of the international space station will photograph all sides of Discovery before Thursday's linkup between the two. The baffling fuel gauge problem that thwarted a launch attempt two weeks ago did not recur this time, and the countdown was remarkably smooth. If the sensor had acted up during the countdown, NASA had been prepared to bend its safety rules to get the shuttle flying. Space program employees and relatives of both the Discovery and Columbia crews looked on nervously as the shuttle lifted off. "On behalf of the many millions of people who believe so deeply in what we do, good luck, Godspeed— and have a little fun up there," launch director Mike Leinbach told Collins and her crew just before liftoff. Across the country, Americans watched the liftoff, cheering and applauding in New York's Times S quare as the Discovery roared away from the launch pad. In the hometown of Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, the pop of firecrackers and congratulatory cheers of "Banzai!" rang out. At the Kennedy Space Center, nearly 2,500 guests of NASA, including first lady Laura Bush and brother-in-law Gov. Jeb Bush, cheered, whistled and clapped as the shuttle lifted off, watching through sunglasses as it soared out over the Atlantic. The spectators included members of Congress, as well as relatives of the 14 fallen Columbia and Challenger astronauts. From Washington, the president wished the crew a safe and successful mission. "Our space program is a source of great national pride," he said in a statement, "and this flight is an essential step toward our goal of continuing to lead the world in space science, human spaceflight and space exploration." Hours after Discovery had settled into orbit, Collins saluted "the great ship Columbia and her inspiring crew" and said of the fallen astronauts: "We miss them and we are continuing their mission. God bless them tonight and God bless their families." During the 12-day mission, Collins and her crew will deliver supplies to the space station and test new techniques for inspecting and patching the shuttle in orbit. The 114th shuttle liftoff came after a humbling self-examination on NASA's part, extensive safety modifications to the spacecraft and many months of hurdles and setbacks. Columbia was brought down by a suitcase-size piece of foam insulation that broke off the big external fuel tank during liftoff and caused a gash that allowed hot gases into the wing during the return to Earth 16 days later on Feb. 1, 2003. But NASA could barely make out the blow in the photographs of the launch because the few available images were poor. This time, the space agency added more and better surveillance cameras for Discovery's launch and sent up a pair of camera-equipped planes to chase the flight. As soon as the shuttle reached orbit, the astronauts took digital pictures of the tank falling away. Spy satellites will also photograph the shuttle in coming days. If any serious damage is found, NASA will have to choose between attempting repairs or, more likely, moving the shuttle crew into the space station for at least a month to await rescue by the shuttle Atlantis, which is already being readied for liftoff. Both scenarios are extremely risky. The Associated Press |