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The Sweet Facts
About
Juvenile Diabetes
Taylor Wade
Staff Writer
r Ihe misconception of one of the most rapidly
growing diseases in America can come from
numerous factors including advertisements
on television, friends and family, or false
myths. Diabetes is quickly becoming a disease
that is spreading all over America and is now
affecting our youth. When one thinks of a
diabetic, the image of either a senior citizen
or an obese person comes to mind. Although
this may be true in some cases where eating
unhealthy and being obese can lead to diabe
tes, many people do not know about the 5% of
diabetics who suffer from Type 1 diabetes or
Juvenile Diabetes. Juvenile Diabetes is usually
diagnosed in children or young adults and is
caused when the body does not produce any
insulin at all. The Beta cells in our body that
produce insulin are attacked for unknown
reasons in Type 1 diabetics, which causes the
glucose to stay in the blood stream, which
can lead to serious damage of all the bodies’
organs if not treated accordingly. These dia
betics depend solely on the insulin they give
themselves in the form of shots, insulin pens,
or insulin pumps. This means that young kids
have to endure multiple shots a day and prick
their fingers up to ten times a day to treat
their disease.
Many people generally know about the ob
jects that are associated with diabetes such
as insulin, shots, and glucose meters, but the
most common misconception about diabetes
is sugar. As a Type 1 Diabetic myself, I do not
know how many times I have been told that
I could not eat something because it has too
much sugar in it. Yes, it is good to watch what
you eat when you are a Juvenile Diabetic, but
you are free to eat what you want. In order
to give the right dosage of insulin, Juvenile
Diabetics have to count the carbs they are go
ing to consume and match it up the amount
of insulin they will give themselves. This is
called an insulin-to-carb ratio. Every Juvenile
Diabetic has its own insulin-to-carb ratio and
it may take up to months after being diag
nosed to find a ratio that fits. This method
of counting carbs can be extremely difficult
when there is no nutritional menu given and
you have to basically guess the amount of
carbs in your food. It is important that people
know there is a method to taking insulin and
being able to eat without constraint.
An organization such as JDRF (Juvenile Dia
betes Research Foundation) is in the forefront
of helping fund medical research to find a
cure for the disease. JDRF hosts many events
throughout the year, including the most pub
licized one, “Walk to Cure Diabetes”. Public
figures like Brett Michaels and Nick Jonas
have brought immense attention and public
ity to Juvenile Diabetes and through their
efforts, have spread more awareness to others
that wouldn’t have known about the disease
otherwise. Even though the Juvenile Dia
betic community is small, it is passionate and
dedicated about finding different treatments
and ultimately a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
Through awareness, support, and education
to others, I am confident that a cure can be
found in the future.
Five Financial
Mistakes of College
Graduates
Chelsea Williams
Golden Purse Group
Let’s be honest. Being financially savvy in
college is hard. On top of taking the steps
necessary to plan for loan repayment, pay
ing bills, and spending money on trips,
clothes, organizations, and health and
beauty, financial fitness takes a lot of dis
cipline. In a recent article in the Christian
Science Monitor ‘College Grads: Top 5 fi
nancial mistakes - and how to avoid them’,
Justine Rivero lays out the top 5 mistakes
A Lethal Mantra
Kamron Taylor Staff Writer
The embrace of full-figured bodies has
become a significant trademark among the
African-American culture. Black media
personalities use film, television, music, and
print to endorse a positive image of the Af
rican-American race. As the “Black is Beau
tiful” campaign can lay testament to, these
efforts possess good intentions of reassuring
the masses that the black image will never
again be considered inferior. Black society
has been the primary supporter of thick,
curvy bodies. However, recent commentary
from mass communicators leads people to
believe that these endorsements have taken
their message to an extreme end.
Hip-hop culture in particular has been the
main facilitator for this misleading mes
sage of “the bigger the better” in regards to
black body image. Rap artists such as Rick
Ross, who recently suffered health complica
tions due to obesity, can almost always be
seen with his shirt off showing off his mas
sive belly and tattoos. This “Boss” status he
possesses has become a goal for many black
people, with his weight being one of the
main reasons he maintains such a powerful
image. With the primary viewers of hip-hop
videos being African-American, it raises
the question of whether African-American
acceptance of this image has gone too far
in promoting what could be considered a
dangerous ideal. It seems as if black society
has become exceedingly comfortable with
thick and voluptuous physiques to the point
where one’s health and obesity are no longer
of concern.
Celebrities can be seen promoting obesity
to an increasingly drastic degree. Comedian
and actress Monique, one of the ‘Phat Girls’,
has been seen on the cover of Essence flaunt
ing her size 20-figure body. Notorious B.I.G.,
Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, Missy
fine line between being full figured and being
dangerously overweight. The fact that these
people are proud to be in their skin is beauti
ful. But when their image is exposed to their
impressionable fan base, a problem arises.
These fans and supporters run the risk of
empowering an unhealthy message. Support
ers of this mantra indirectly influence and
contribute to the unhealthy obesity levels.
With the primary supporters of Hip-Hop
being African-American, children in their
most impressionable stages can easily con
sider Rick Ross’s body standard and an ac
ceptable one to emulate. This is exceedingly
dangerous, as African Americans exhibit
some of the most staggering weight statis
tics compared to any other cultural group.
In fact, according to the Office of Minority
Health, “African American women have the
highest rates of being overweight or obese
compared to other groups in the U.S. About
four out of five African American women are
overweight or obese.” The research goes on
to say, “In 2009, African Americans were 1.5
times as likely to be obese as Non- Hispanic
Whites.” Ross, while a considerable example
of how African-American media has played
a significant part in promoting large body
types, is not the only celebrity who bordered
the line between curvaceous and obese.
Black women have come to glorify big
behinds and breasts in light of the attention
such physiques receive from men and music.
This can be seen when Monique said that she
“doesn’t care if you call her 200 plus pounds
as long as you include fabulous,” in an NPR
interview facilitated by Farai Chideya. Mo
nique goes on to explain that “Our society
has put this message out there that fat is bad,
fat is wrong.. .Everywhere people are dying
and I promise you all of them are not fat.”
While not all deaths concern obesity, her
message is relaying the idea that obesity is
not only problematic in African-American
society but should serve as a source of pride
for all women to embrace. For the African-
American society in particular, these state
ments can be considered as granting latitude
to overweight individuals because it down
plays the severity of the problem at hand.
Her words undermine a cultural epidemic
present in African-American society, there
fore trivializing the issue to those who are at
the highest risk for health complications.
While in some ways the promotion of vo
luptuous bodies can greatly contribute to
African-American self-esteem, overweight
celebrities are encouraging large bodies to
the point where health is a concern. With Af
rican-American health statistics being where
they are, messages that are put out in the
media can easily be misconstrued and pose
as an enabler of African-American obesity.
V A
Elliot, among others, have all straddled the
college graduates make. greater return in the future. Rivero
These mistakes are real and really
should be addressed to current college
students so they can keep these issues
in mind BEFORE graduating. It is easy
to tell someone they’ve done something
wrong after the fact, but addressing
circumstances early are critical in de
veloping more financially literate young
people.
The top 5 Financial Mistakes include:
1. Living for today not tomorrow
2. Skipping the fine print
3. Ignoring due dates
4. Neglecting saving
5. Being blase about your credit
Focusing on two of the five key mis
takes, ‘living for today and not tomor
row’ and ‘neglecting saving’ are critical
foundations of financial literacy Let’s
face it, we’ve all had those Saturday
afternoons hanging out with a group of
girlfriends shopping and heading out
for a fancy dinner. Often times we end
up splurging what we really don’t have
and acting like we’ve got it made. This
is a major issue for young women who
are often emotional buyers and tend
to purchase on impulse. “College life
tells you to “live in the moment” but in
money, that attitude lands you in debt,
bad credit, and limited financial oppor
tunities”, says Rivero. College students
must begin evaluating their budgets
and understanding what it means to
live within their means and take their
financial futures seriously. One tip
Rivero shares when shopping is to go
through your shopping cart and take
out impulse buys that aren’t on your
pre-written shopping list and those you
can’t afford.
Another major topic in financial man
agement is the time value of money
where a dollar saved today yields
recommends setting up a monthly au
tomatic transfer from your checking to
your savings to move you towards your
goal. It is critical to decide between
short-term and long-term savings goal.
While saving for the holidays or spring
break may be a short-term goal, saving
for a car or your first condo post gradu
ation may be long-term. Additionally,
an important factor that young people
often ignore is the importance of emer
gency saving. Emergencies will come
and there is nothing worst than having
an emergency coming up and having
to revert to credit cards to make pay
ments. If you can set a goal of saving
x dollars or x percentage of your sum
mer internship payments or biweekly
paychecks towards emergencies, many
students would find themselves in more
positive financial situations.
With high unemployment and
an average debt load of more than
$29,000, students need to begin taking
steps towards building financial free
dom and exploring rewarding careers
through meaningful internships and
networking opportunities. Our finan
cial futures matter and affect how we
live our lives and our ability to obtain
jobs, buy homes, and even date as many
people are beginning to put credit his
tory and financial stability as a major
factor on the compatibility test. Will
you make the cut?
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spelman.edu
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