Newspaper Page Text
12
Perspectives
The Maroon Tiger
Sunday, May 19, 2002
ALL I REALLY
NEED TO
KNOW, I
LEARNED AT
MOREHOUSE
By
Geoffrey R. Bennett
Editor in Chief
1. The aggressive person is never in control. 2. Only fools wait in line. 3. If she stays on the first
floor of LLC, leave her alone. 4. "No" means "ask somebody else." 5. "Ask somebody else"
means "no." 6. Federal work-study checks are a gift from God. 7. Nothing beats a Spelmanite in
a Morehouse T-shirt. 8. "When you acknowledge a man, you honor him." 9. The true danger
lies in believing you are what you portray yourself to be. 10. Brevity is a virtue. 11. In Gloster
Hall, money talks but parents talk louder. 12. Student introductions at the Candle in the Dark
Gala are nothing more than "DuBoisian" double-consciousness personified. 13. It is better to
practice strolling and twirling at home. 14. It is imperative that Anderson knows you by name
before he issues your grade.15. After labor day, stay off of the strip. 16. Do not pay Woodruff
Library fines; wait for the amnesty period. 17. Don't be disappointed if you don't meet your
wife at Spelman; the wedding photos in Jet magazine can be misleading. 18. The BAP Handbook
will come in handy one day. Buy it. Support a sister. 19. Never be afraid to pronounce "ask"
properly. 20. Win by your actions rather than argument; no one is offended, and you will prove
your point. 21. Morehouse "preacher speak" doesn't translate to mainstream audiences. 22. Do-
rags and Morehouse NSO key chains are not clothing accessories. 23. Morehouse is a short
man's campus; Napoleon would have been proud. 24. "Keeping it real" is not an employable
j skill. 25. Most present-day "Black leaders" (except for Julian Bond, of course) are nothing more
than outdated, reactionary protest strategists who have yet to find other viable sources of in
come. 26. Bean pies taste better than they look. 27. Even with a 3.8 GPA and 120 credits, a
Morehouse graduation is still not a guarantee. 28. Bright-colored, super-sized logo, designer
fashions should never be worn in public (unless you are from Detroit). 29. Your suit should
never have more buttons than fingers on your hands (unless you're from Detroit). 30. It takes
courage to achieve. 31. Be bold in all things. 32. Introspection is good; isolation is dangerous. 33.
Success is relative. 34. You make money by saving it. 35. Brilliantly exploit your talents. 36. A
fraternity line jacket can open up a world of opportunity. 37. Even when you know your profes
sor is an ignorant racist, remember that your "A" is more important than the satisfaction you
might get from making him see things your way. 38. You shouldn't wear any Morehouse para
phernalia if you've got less than a 2.0 GPA. 39. If you don't have a car, do not rent an apartment
in Austell. 40. Campus Hair World's Mr. Cortez is the best professor in the AUC. 41. Tuesday/
Thursday 75-minute classes should be avoided at all costs. 42. An extra "sir" or "ma'am" can go
a long way. 43. The true task lies in being your best perceived self. 44. Lean not on your own
understanding. 45. Be nice to everyone you meet; you will see them again. 46. Guard your
reputation at all costs. 47. Do not mix friends with business. 48. The further you see, the more
powerful you become. 49. You are the company you keep. 50. Plan for the long-term goal in
stead of the quick victory. 51. Learn to use the knowledge of the past. 52. The irreparable dam
age that the crass commercialization of Black culture (read: hip-hop and rap music) has done to
our community has yet to be realized. 53. Being older does not necessarily make one worthy of
respect. 54. "Act as if..." 55. Give more than you take. 56. Those who claim to be humble really
aren't. 57. The illusion of choice is more powerful than the real thing. 58. Dr. Clark White is your
GPA's best friend. 59. Good leaders follow. 60. It is not the person who has little, but the person
who always craves more, who is poor.
And finally, my last words ...
To The Maroon Tiger: There is always more news to be reported.
The intellectual discourse on the yard is insipid and uninspiring;
be a catalyst for change. Remember the charge!
To Apex: What started as a lofty idea is now yours. Do with it
what you will, just keep it bourgeois!
To the Nupes: You have taught me the meaning of altruistic
sacrifice. It's only been a year, and we've got plenty of war stories.
(It was definitely hard but fair.) I am a better person for having
known each of you.
To Graves Hall: Have fun and don't get caught.
To Gary: Thanks for showing me how it's done. I wouldn't
even be at Morehouse if it weren't for you.
Geoffrey Bennett is a graduating senior English major from Voorhees,
New Jersey. He is editor in chief of The Maroon Tiger, founder and editor in
chief of Apex Magazine, polemarch (president) of Kappa Alpha Psi, Pi Chap
ter, and lead resident assistant of Graves Hall. Upon graduation, he will
pursue a career in broadcast journalism with ABC News in New York.
When one drink
is enough
Doc Simmons reports on the dangers
of consuming too much alcohol
Deroyce Simmons
Senior Health Editor
dsimmons@maroontiger.com
The time is now 3:15 a.m.,
and you find yourself slowly
making your way out of the Mar
tini Club after several escapades
to the bar. Driving is not an op
tion; you can not even walk while
keeping your composure.
At that very point in time
you realize you have a test the
next day, and suddenly someone
volunteers to drive you back to
campus. The next morning you
remember nothing, and you find
your self waking up in your car
and you proceed to class in those
same clothes
you wore the
night before
in the club. At
what point
during the
night do you
realize you
might need to
stop drinking
or that you
might have
had one drink
to many?
For
some people,
one drink
might be
enough for
their basic
modalities to
be impaired, for others, it may be
3-5 cups of that great punch
served at the most popular beer-
bashes on Friday afternoons.
Certain driving skills - such
as steering a car while, at the same
time, responding to changes in
traffic - can be impaired by blood
alcohol concentrations (BAC) as
low as 0.02 percent. It has been
stated that men handle alcohol
better than women? Of course
that can not be true after observ
ing the festivities of Atlantas' dub
atmosphere in Buckhead.
According to the National
Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, a 160-pound man
will have a BAC of about 0.04 per
cent 1 hour after consuming two
12-ounce beers or two other stan
dard drinks on an empty stom
ach.
The first lesson is that one
should never drink on an empty
stomach. Furthermore, the more
alcohol you consume, the more
impaired your driving skills will
be, every Morehouse Man should
know that.
A standard drink is re
ported to be a 12-0nce bottle of
beer or wine cooler, one 5 once?-
glass of wine or 1.5 once of 80-
proof "distilled spirits". Al
though most States set the BAC
limit for adults who drive after
drinking at 0.08 to 0.10 percent, im
pairment of driving skills begins at
much lower levels.
In many cases alcohol im
pairs your speech, coordination, as
well as decision making.
More than 2 million Ameri
cans suffer from alcohol-related
liver disease as stated by the De
partment of Public Health. Some
drinkers develop alcoholic hepati
tis, or inflammation of the liver, as
a result of long-term heavy drink
ing. Its symptoms include fever,
jaundice (abnormal yellowing of
the skin, eyeballs, and urine), and
abdominal pain.
A 1 c o -
holic hepati
tis can cause
death if
drinking con
tinues. If
drinking
stops, this
condition of
ten is revers
ible. About 10
to 20 percent
of heavy
drinkers de
velop alco
holic cirrho
sis, or scar
ring of the
liver.
A1 c o -
holic cirrhosis
can cause death if drinking contin
ues. Once the status of cirrhosis is
obtained, this particular disease is
not reversible, however if one stops
conditions do improve. Those with
cirrhosis often feel better, and the
functioning of their liver may im
prove, if they stop drinking.
Although a liver transplant
may be needed as a last resort,
many people with cirrhosis who
abstain from alcohol may never
need liver transplantation. In ad
dition, treatment for the complica
tions of cirrhosis is available.
For African Americans, the
biggest defect of long-term drink
ing is heart disease. Moderate
drinking can have beneficial effects
on the heart, especially among
those at greatest risk for heart at
tacks, such as men over the age of
45 and women after menopause.
But long-term heavy drinking in
creases the risk for high blood pres
sure, heart disease, and some kinds
of stroke.
For many years the African-
American community has been
plagued with various diseases that
hinder our basic daily living, how
ever some of our very disorders
and acquired disease can in fact be
prevented. So be safe during Senior
Week and the events following
graduation.