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Show 5 Wednesday, April 12,2006 Take Note: Watch guys stumble around in high heels for a good cause from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the TSC patio. 797-1769 features@statesman.usu.edu The perfect social life is just a click away I'm afraid that I misrepresented myself in last week's column. As the typical bar•rage of feedback came to me, I realized too late that I'd made myself seem like a TV junkie. My life doesn't completely revolve around TV, and I'd hate for the whole campus to see me as a one- —i^^^^—i— d i men- Zach Pendleton SMOKELESS SIGNALS Former baseball player gives students something to chew on BY MOLLY FARMER Staff Writer After 13 years of chewing tobacco resulted in cancer that severely scarred his face, Rick Bender said he wants to help people from making the same harmful decisions he did. Bender, 43, spoke to students and faculty Monday in the TSC Ballroom about his experience while growing up in San Diego, Calif. Bender said tobacco advertisements, peer pressure and baseball all influenced s i o n a I, couchbound mollusk. I want to make v e r y clear that i don't Not Quite spend my Nietzsche whole day in front of the television. Whenever I'm feeling like the imprint I've left on the couch is a little too deep, I take comfort in knowing that I can stand up, walk to my computer and begin the imprinting process all over again with a new chair. Hats on to Al Gore for inventing something so amazing as the Internet. And this week, I'd like to send my personal thanks to a man known simply as "Tom" for his work in creating MySpace. Thanks to all of the negative press it's been receiving on Dateline and other respected media outlets, MySpace has lost some of its innocent charm. When considered, I suppose that posting your whole life story on the Internet in the hopes of creating a virtual life full of virtual fun, friends and social interaction really isn't as harmless as it may have first seemed. But, for all of its inherent dangers and parenting problems, I stand by MySpace as the only respectable place left in the world where someone can proudly waste his or her day away. Unlike most day wasters — books come to mind — MySpace fascination translates into real-world benefit. While science has yet to prove it, the day is fast approaching when it will come out in support of my long-held suspicion that the soft glow of the computer monitor is the safest, most cost-effective way in the world to get a tan. And while everybody may know your name at Cheers, MySpace is the only place in the universe where everyone has at least one friend — even if that friend is less the result of human interaction and more the result of some clever self-aggrandizing software development via Tom. Since joining MySpace, I've seen my social network blossom. I've found lost friends from high school, ex-girlfriends and been rediscovered by every person I'd ever hoped to lose. But even MySpace's worst isn't as bad as the real-life scenario it mimics. Clicking "Deny" on a form is much, much easier than waiting until you see the whites of someone's eyes to tell them what you really think about them. MySpace friend denial is a win-win situation. That is, it's a win-win unless you happen to be the person who is denied. Then there's a loss in • MYSPACE IS YOUR SPACE see page 6 Scott Erickson/smerkk@ccusu.edu RICK BENDER SPEAKS OUT against smokeless tobacco. Bender started chewing when he was 12 years old and developed cancer when he was 26. him in his decision to start high school and into his chewing tobacco at age 12. 20s, he said, when he "Take a pinch instead of noticed a white sore on the a puff,"— a phrase coined side of his tongue that hurt by tobacco advertisers, when it would rub against hooked Bender when his his teeth. friends were pressuring He said he had had simihim to smoke cigarettes as lar white spots which he he thought chewing tobacfigured were calluses from co was a safe alternative. "packing" chew throughout his teens. He said His parents weren't happy about his This one, however, worchew habit, but they were ried him and he considered glad he wasn't smoking. it "extra inspiration" and "They were basically as stopped chewing his usual ignorant as I was," he said. 1.2 ounce-can a day in the One can of chew tobacco spring of 1988. is estimated to have the About eight months nicotine content of 30-40 later, at the age of 26, cigarettes, Bender said. Bender said he was diagnosed with a very aggres- . More than $9 billion is spent on tobacco advertise- sive form of oral cancer and underwent what was ments each year, he said, supposed to be a two and a and much of that is tarhalf hour surgery to remove geted at 12-13 year olds in the dime-sized bump. hopes they'll use for many years. Twelve and a half hours "They're pretty gullible later that bump proved to at that age," Bender said. be just the tip of an iceberg Bender speaks primaras surgeons had to remove ily to middle school audia third of his tongue and ences since tobacco use is "chase" the tumor down increasing among young his neck, damaging some people, he said, though col- nerves in the process. lege campuses are his secBender said he lost about ond largest target. 25 percent of the use of his "The day you start is the right arm due to the damage and a later infection day you put your body at from radiation resulted in risk," Bender said. doctors removing half of Tobacco has over 28 his jawbone. known carcinogens, he said, which is why people "I can't even lick my who use tobacco in any lips," Bender said, "I just form have a 50 percent got to live with it." higher risk of developing Despite the scars and cancer. over $100,000 worth of In addition to cancer medical bills, Bender said heart disease, gum separa- the worst part about his tion, and high blood prescancer was what he put his sure are other potential ail- family through. ments people risk developAt the time of his first ing when they use tobacco, surgery he had a son and he said. Bender chewed > CHEWING TOBACCO his tobacco of choice, see page 7 Copenhagen, all through 8.10 dips or chews a day have the same amount of nicotine^ '30A0 cigarettes Chewing tobacco contains 3,000 different chemicals 28 There are carcinogens in smokeless tobacco Student checks one thing off her to-do list, still looking to become a True Aggie Kristi Madsen senior, psychology Hometown: Kaysville Age: 20 Caught: On the grass by the TSC Utah Stateman: Why did you choose USU? Kristi Madsen: Because I wanted to eat Aggie ice cream. US: Had you ever had Aggie ice cream before you came here? Madsen: Yes and the Oreo Fudge just drew me in. I visited other colleges and sampled of their ice cream and BYU was clearly inferior. US: What are your plans after college? Modsem. I have really big plans: they involve sitting at my parent's house and eating their food. I feel like I should be a big kid, but I'm not. Or I've been thinking about joining one of those polygamist communities down South — I hear some of the husbands offer 401K and dental plans. US\ So, where do you see yourself in 10 years? Madsen: In 10 years, I'll be 30 and that means hopefully I'll not be living in my parents basement. I'm actually going to graduate school, so hopefully by then I'll have a career in something. US: If you hadfivehours of free time and money wasn't an issue, what would you do? Madsen: I would go to Baby Animal Day. Baby Animal Day happens yearly at the American Heritage Center and there are lots of baby little animals and you hold them in your hand and they are cute and fluffy. US: Do you have any baby animals? Madsen: We used to have a kitten and then he became a cat and it's sad. • MADSEN see page 6 US: what is your least favorite about USU? Madsen: What's there not to like? I think my least favorite thing is that I have yet to become a True Aggie. It's on my to-do list. It's countdown; I have three weeks to goUS: How do you intend on getting that done? Madsen: That depends on how scandalous I want to become. Hopefully this article will inspire someone to come and kiss me on A-Day. US: Would you like us to include your phone number or e-mail address? Madsen: If anyone is interested, they can look for me in the library on most hours of the day. They can look for me there to avoid any stalking. MichealSharp/michaelsharp@(c.usu.edu KRISTI MADSEN, A SENIOR in psychology, talks about Oreo Fudge Aggie ice cream and the cruial role it played in convincing her to attend USU. |