Newspaper Page Text
The Red and Black / Finals • Monday, June 11, 1990 • 9
DEMOCRAT
From page 1
— evidence of adoring grandpa
rents.
“My parents give him so many
things,” Shanon said. They give
him more toys than they ever
thought of giving me.”
The couple has mastered the art
of registration in a way that makes
sure one of them is always there for
J.P., a bright, blue-eyed little boy
with endless energy.
Tricia, a senior early childhood
education major, works part-time
at Kids’ Campus, a daycare center
in Athens. This is convenient for
the couple since J.P. can go to work
with her.
“I always wanted to have chil
dren,” she said, with a constant eve
on her son who bounds around the
room, “when I found out I was pre
gnant, we thought about our op
tions, but I didn’t want to risk the
chance that I might not have a
child again.”
Shanon said his parents were
supportive of the pair’s decision,
but his wife’s parents were “less
than supportive.”
The couple planned to break the
news to their parents together, but
Tricia became sick with a sore
throat about three months into her
pregnancy and told her mother on
the way to the doctor for fear the
doctor would be the informer.
“She called me when she got
home from the doctor,” Shanon
said. “She was absolutely hyster
ical — crying really hard and
trying to whisper. I can’t explain
how I felt then.”
Her father, a special education
teacher at Gilmer Countv High
School where Shanon and Tricia
attended school, and her mother, a
homemaker, said marriage at such
a young age was impossible.
‘They still think that,” Tricia
said. Trie three still visit Tricia’s
parents when they visit Elijay.
“I don’t mind going back to see
them, but I’d rather stay at his par
ents’ house when we do.”
Shanon describes his mother
and father, a real estate agent and
a certified public accountant, re
spective! v, as being more liberal.
“I can r t say I was thrilled with
the situation," said Hilda Mayfield,
Shanon’s mother. “But I wasn’t
really upset either. I didn’t think it
would keep him from accom
plishing anything.
“As a matter of fact, I think it
may have been good for him.”
Mrs. Mayfield said her son
“goofed off" in high school and his
early marriage and fatherhood
forced him to develop a sense of di
rection and purpose.
“Shanon doesn’t like to do any
thing that’s not a challenge,” she
said. There were those who said
his gang to school couldn’t be done
and so he set out to prove them
wrong.”
Shanon and Tricia married in
March of 1987, after Tricia finished
out the season as a Gilmer County
High School basketball player.
“She refused to marry me before
basketball season was over,” he
said. T used to go watch her play.
SYSTEM
From page 3
versity earned about $600 in recy
cling aluminum cans, paper,
newspaper, bottles and cardboard
collected at 15 campus locations.
That’s useful but co-generation
Shanon, Tricia and J.P. Mayfield: Shanon and Tricia have
learned to deal with an unconventional college lifestyle
It scared me to death because she
was out there four months preg
nant, but she was determined to
finish.”
After taking their vows, the
couple lived in a trailer in Elijay
and worked endless houre to sup
port themselves and to accumulate
money needed for both to come to
the University.
The place was a hideous little
shoebox,” Shanon said. “And the
roaches were about as big as the
kitten we had.”
Shanon worked 70 hours a week
at a local pizza restaurant, and
Tricia worked full-time at McDon
ald’s.
“I suppose that time could’ve
been even more stressful on our
marriage than it was,” he said.
“But we seldon saw each other be
cause of the hours we were
keeping.”
The trailer, which Shanon and
Tricia laugh about now, was a
source of inspiration for the new
lyweds.
“I remember coming home really
late one night, smelling of pizza
and sitting alone in the den
watching the roaches,” Shanon
said. “I said to myself then; This
can be my life or I can put myself
up to turning everything around.’ ”
And turn it around they did, but
life is hardly simple at this point in
their relationship.
Shanon said he wants to go to
law school after he graduates next
year, which means a few more
years of struggle.
Tricia will begin work as soon as
she graduates next spring.
“At least I hope I can start
working right away,” she said. “So
I can help him pay for law school."
“I know we have tough times
ahead, especially if I do go to law
school,” Shanon said, “and it’ll be a
real test of our marriage.
“But if we make it I think our
relationship will be completely
stable.”
In the meantime, the Mayfields
take things one day at a time.
Living in Family Housing has been
beneficial in many ways, Shanon
said.
Many of the residents there
don’t speak English fluently, but
the Mayfields said everyone is
“very nice.”
“It’s cute to watch J.P. try to talk
to these kids who don’t speak En
glish,” Tricia said.
Shanon said he thinks the atmo
sphere will be good for his son.
‘With all the nationalities that
are represented here, I think J.P.
will grow up free of prejudices,” he
said.
Shanon said he’d like to be a
lawyer one day and aspires to an
eventual career in politics.
“I look forward to the day when
we can stop eating so many peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches,” he
said, “But I wouldn’t trade my life
for anything.
“I have a constant incentive to
keep working when I look at J.P.
and I have a base of people who
love me that I can come home to
every day.”
Shanon admits there are times
when he thinks of what a more tra
ditional college career would be
like.
“Of course there’s a college stu
dent in me that would just like to
jump right out of me and go to a
party,” he said. “I do have an iden
tity crisis every once an a while.”
Tricia, characteristically soft-
spoken, adamantly nods her head
in agreement.
But with school and work, Tricia
at the day-care school and Shanon
putting 30 hours a week in with
the Pierre Howard for Lt. Governor
campaign, the couple has little en
ergy to spare.
Shanon said his friends go
fishing with him and J.P. and love
to play with the toddler.
“It’s good for everyone,” Shanon
said. “It gives me a chance to be a
college student and hang around
with my friends and J.P. loves it
too.”
As for the people “back home" in
Elijay, Shanon said his success
thus far may be “a source of
amazement”
“At best I think they expected
me to go work in a carpet mill,” he
said.
Tm sure it surprises them that
I’m in school and staying in, but
even more than that is the fact that
Tricia is in school...and staying
there.”
represents recycling in a grand
way in that we’re really recycling
steam,” TenBrook said.
“In comparison, co-generation
could do so much more and yet it
does not seem to have the popular
backing.”
In a campus environmental
audit performed for the most part
in February, Students for Environ
mental Awareness stressed the
need for a switch to co-generation.
The University’s Office of Business
and Finance recently responded to
the audit
Allan Barber, vice president for
Business and Finance, said the co
generation proposal is being acti
vely supported by the University’s
administration.
Feminist
Women's
Health
Center
191 E. Broad Street
Free Pregnancy Testing
Tuesday. Thursday 1-4 p m
(or other services & info call FWHC in Atlanta
1-800-877-6013
r
o FAST SERVICE! '»
AUTO LOANS
REASONABLE RATES ^ 00%*
* APR based on a 36 month term
m l rmcrtily Employee* federal Creel
542-5517 • 1240S.Lum
( rmer»ily Employees federal Credit l nion
lpkin
9 1 1 ' «>
‘There's 9fo ‘Better ‘Way ‘To Say
Congratulations than zoith a
card and baiCoon from
HAWTHORNE DRUG COMPANY
and don't forget (Dad. ‘We've got
cards & batCoons for him too!
|
.
48-5227 J
on this ad and get a
5
June 12, 1990
220 College Ave.
Athens, Ga.
DEAR UGA STUDENTS,
On Tuesday, June 12, the CITY BAR
will host its first annual
"REJECTION LETTER NIGHT"
Bring a valid 1990 Rejection letter
and receive a FREE SHOOTER*
Misery enjoys company ... So bring a
friend and join us at the CITY BAR
where we accept ALL REJECTS.
Downtown * One Shooter Per Customer 546-7612