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Our Perspective...
Bubble gone, athletic plan in own world
As much as The Appalachian hates to burst our
readers’ bubble, the athletic facilities enhancement plan developed
by the university has been changed yet again.
The plans to put a bubble over Kidd Brewer Stadium, covering
80 yards of the field, have been scrapped.
Instead, Varsity Gym will implement an indoor field with
the same FieldTurf currently featured at the stadium.
The indoor field in Varsity Gym was the original idea before
the bubble was ever thought of this summer.
The bubble project is no longer a consideration because
it was hastily thrown together and poorly researched.
Although it appeared to be a good idea, the university
did not realize the plan’s flaws until later in the planning process.
For starters, implanting a bubble would involve digging
up the FieldTurf at the stadium, which violates the warranty Appalachian
State signed.
The Appalachian questions why prominent university
officials did not realize the turf would have to be dug up to anchor
a bubble in place.
Surely, had enough proper research been done, it would
have been obvious that putting a gigantic bubble over the entire football
field was not feasible.
In another part of the athletic plan, construction on Owens
Field House will begin as soon as the football season ends and will likely
take at least 18 months.
Owens Field House is a host to numerous head and assistant
coaches: the coaching staffs from football, field hockey, men’s
and women’s soccer, softball and men’s and women’s
tennis all have offices in the Field House.
“It’s quite likely we’re going to have to have some temporary
places rented for [those staff members],”Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs
Jane P. Helm told The Appalachian.
The Appalachian has to ask where all of this rented
space is going to come from.
Regardless of where all these coaches are temporarily moved
to, there is no question to the negative impact such a change will have
on their ability to do their jobs.
Not only will moving offices across campus to Varsity Gym
have a negative affect, it begs this question: where will all of the
exercise equipment be moved?
There is a state of the art weight room in Owens Field
House that cannot be moved to just anywhere, not to mention all the lockers
that will no longer be available to athletic performers.
Like the gigantic bubble that used to be in the plans,
parts of the athletic enhancement plan seem to be filled with nothing
more than hot air.
Hopefully the next aspect of the athletic plan will
have something of substance.
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Billy Fowler | Editorial Cartoonist |
New, improved 'Star Wars' not next
best thing
The original Star Wars trilogy is coming out on DVD today.
This is a milestone, people. This is a big deal. Unfortunately, the great
event is marred by a tragedy of sorts.
Since the beginning of the DVD format, the original Star
Wars trilogy has been a holy grail for hardcore and casual fans alike.
Who can declare that they hate those films with a straight face? If you
can, your inner child is dead.
For my part, I think the original “Star Wars” and “The
Empire Strikes Back” are two great movies, even after removing
the rose-colored glasses of youthful nostalgia. The less said about “The
Return of the Jedi” the better, but it can be fun at times.
I think most people know what happened around 1997, but
I’ll recap: creator George Lucas, after almost 15 years, decided
it was high time to “fix” his films. The siren call of technology
lulled him into lowering his defenses, I think.
Lucas used computers to enhance the sound and picture quality
of his films, which is a worthy idea. He also used those same computers
to change the actual content of his films, which is not a worthy idea.
Hence, the Star Wars: Special Editions were born and re-released
into theatres.
Sure, it was fun for people my age to see the films on
the big screen, but every rose has its thorn. We had to endure bizarre,
out-of-place material and new effects that obviously stuck out.
So what does this have to do with today’s DVD release?
You see, the films being released on DVD are not the original films Lucas
made 27 years ago. In fact, they are the special edition versions with,
wait for it, even newer changes.
Releasing on DVD these “special editions” and
not the original versions is a big mistake, in my opinion. I’m
not a crazed fan who holds the original films up to a gold standard,
but rather a film buff with an historical conscience.
In movie circles, this issue has been discussed ad nauseum
since 1997, and many film fans are tired of talking about it. Well, with
this DVD release, Lucas is re-opening the wound.
Cleaning up a film is one thing, and I support that. However,
baldly distorting history is quite another, and that is what Lucas is
doing. Did you know that he has, for all intents and purposes, disavowed
these Star Wars films in their original states?
George Lucas will never allow the original films (in their
original forms) to be sold in any medium. He believes that these “special
editions” are the true forms of his films. Start scouring yard
sales immediately.
Now, these are his films, really, and I believe he should
be allowed to change them if he truly thought it was for the best. However,
prohibiting the rest of the world from ever seeing the original versions
is historically narrow-minded.
I can’t imagine anyone else doing this and getting
away with it. The man’s name happens to be George Lucas and that
gives him a lot of leeway to do what he pleases. Thankfully, that hasn’t
stopped people from crying out against him.
I won’t be buying this trilogy set because I disagree
with Mr. Lucas’s ideas on the preservation of film history. I might
encourage others to do the same, but I’m also a realist. This DVD
set will make millions.
Right about now, I might sound borderline-fanatical. I’m
okay with that. Everyone has passions. Whether people obsess about sports,
music or Anne Geddes photography, at least they have an outlet.
My outlet is cinema/history, hence my agitation here. The
Star Wars DVD release is nothing if not symbolic because the DVD format
is psychologically considered permanent. I hope that this particular
instance is simply an aberration instead of a harbinger of things to
come.
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Having a healthy cafeteria diet is
an oxymoron
My Mom: the health nut. Embedded in me since birth has
been the concept of low-fat everything. I promised her one thing before
I went away to college: to not fall victim to the horrible “freshman
fifteen.”
“How in the world are we going to gain weight?” my
roommate asked me. “We have to walk up a mountain just to get back
to our dorms from class.”
Still, I took my mom’s advice to heart and tried to eat healthy. Breakfast
was usually something to drink in the room. I typically ate a sandwich for
lunch and meat accompanied by vegetables and fruit for dinner. All of my meals
were on campus.
What else is a freshman to do without a car?
Despite my attempts at a healthy diet, at the end of the
year my scores were in; I had gained 13 pounds. I believe my story is
prime evidence of just how unhealthy cafeteria food is.
Living on the west side of campus I ate dinner most evenings
at Park Place Cafe in Trivette Dining Hall. My favorite food there was
green beans. Then I looked very closely one night and realized why they
were so good. There, floating amongst my beloved green beans were tons
of butter and grease.
How am I expected to maintain my weight when even the green
beans are bad for me?
On many occasions the only meal choices I had were things
that were fried. Students can’t help that they have no say about
the fashion in which their food is prepared.
Now that I’ve become a sophomore, I’m experiencing
the freedom of living in my own apartment. Besides a sandwich at lunch
or an occasional coffee for a caffeine boost, I’m not eating on
campus anymore. I have eaten dinner in the cafeteria just once this semester.
After not having eaten a cafeteria meal in months, that
one dinner on campus made me sick to my stomach later that night, much
like when I ate cafeteria food for the first time during orientation.
It was as though my body went through cafeteria detox over the summer.
There has to be something wrong with food that your body is forced to
get used to.
The sad part is that now that I’m not dining on campus
as frequently, I have lost nearly all the weight I gained as a freshman … I’m
not even trying. Just the absence of cafeteria food has been enough to
rid me of all those extra pounds.
According to the movie “Supersize Me,” obesity
is the second leading cause of preventable deaths, and if things keep
going at their current rate obesity will overtake smoking and become
number one. I’m not just talking about looking good in your jeans,
here. Being overweight is a serious health concern.
Thus, I believe that food services should provide students
with easily accessible nutrition information for all food served on campus.
Food services’ Web site offers links to other sites that have weight
loss tips, food journals and more, but there is nothing regarding their own
foods’ nutrition. Such information should be easily accessible.
My suggestion is that since the same foods are served over
and over, the food services’ Web site could include a database
of nutrition information for all their foods and a menu for what will
be served on that particular day.
The most successful weight-loss diet is one that includes
both exercise and a healthy diet. So, if I go on a run at the Quinn Center
then head back to the cafeteria for dinner what good am I really doing
myself by eating those buttery, greasy green beans?
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