Newspaper Page Text
Editor's Notes
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.
Those of you reading through your
bifocals will remember when a cardinal
and inassailable health rule was that you
couldn't go swimming until an hour af
ter lunch. To hop in 30 minutes after
eating would with swift certainty bring
on stomach cramps, and then you would
surely drown.
All those tediously wasted hours
spent waiting in the heat of summer to
go swimming! But somewhere along the
way between my puberty and that of my
daughter, the New England Journal of
Medicine apparently reported that re
searchers at Harvard have discovered
that you could hop from table to pool
with complete insouciance, and stom
ach cramps were never heard from again.
1 accepted that change, just like 1 ad
justed to the fact that we couldn’t have
any water to drink while we practiced
football in August Georgia heat (those
stomach cramps again), but now they
even get Gatorade.
It was the margarine that made me a
skeptic. I retrofitted myself yean ago to
prefer margarine over butter. After all, it
was easy to understand what dangerous
fatty substances lurk in butter, because it
tastes so much better than margarine.
Last week, of course, “researchers” at
Harvard reported that the fatty acids in
margarine are worse than the dreaded
saturated fat. Come to find out that gov
ernment “researchers” had already
pointed out last year that margarine could
double your chance of a heart attack.
Usually this kind of stuff is reported
in the New England Journal of Medicine
and announced on NPR: aimed right at
the thinking people of America, who are
most likely to change their living hab
its based on the latest bulletin.
Let me ask you this question: Have you
personally ever seen a copy of the New
England Journal of Median*? Have you ever
seen one on a newsstand or even seen one
advertised in the back of a magazine?
To tell you the truth, I don’t believe
the New England Journal of Medicine ex
its at all. In bet, 1 think all these health
bulletins are made up by the insurance
industry, and heret why.
Remember saccharine ? It was devel
oped as a sugar substitute after Harvard
researchers catalogued sugar's evils.
Then, of course, those same researchers
got around to finding out that saccha
rine caused cancer in laboratory rats, and
the New England Journal of Mediant got
out a special issue.
Eggs, buttered toast and bacon: 1 had
them every single school day morning of
my life until the N.EJ.O.M. vetoed the
whole menu and suggested milk and ce
real instead. Then they reversed them
selves and pointed out that milk was so
full of fat there was a heart attack in ev
ery half gallon. The last 1 heard, dry toast
and grapefruit have still made the cut.
And, hey, remember herpes? Remem
ber when the New England Journal of
Mediant discovered genital herpes? Tone
Magazine grabbed that one and an
nounced the end of sex as we knew it.
But herpes is so far behind what’s in first
place now that you would think Harvard
researchers just went on and cured it and
forgot to write it up in the Journal
Is it possible that the New England
Journal of Medicine is just a hoax perpe
trated by the insurance industry? Is it pos
sible that the industry simply uses this
device to keep us from sinking into any
kind of smug satisfaction with the state
of our health? Is all this a ploy to keep us
from slacking off on insurance purchases
or thinking that we need President
Clinton's health reforms?
It makes perfectly good sense. If we’re
continually bombarded with the infor
mation that everything we thought
healthful is not, then we’d damn well
better buy more insurance. If the bright
people who listen to NPR get that mes
sage, then it trickles down to doctors and
lawyers and then to ordinary people and
finally to editorial writers.
But it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
1 mean, we all know people who lived to
vigorous old ages smoking cigarettes,
drinking Jim Beam and chasing herpes,
just like we know some broken down by
all three: just like with insurance.
Moderation will, perhaps, continue
to be the only safe standard for us, just as
it was for the ancient Greeks: modera
tion in food and drink and sex, modera
tion in what we read and in what we
believe... and in laboratory rats.
Pete McCommons
Editor, Flagpole Magazine
Tfta numhars ftaahal
Births to Hiwed Mothers bf Race*.
1992 Athens-aarke county
SITUATION: In 1992. there was a total of 1,176 Bye
births in Athens-Oarke County, and 497 were to unwed
women. Thus. 423 percent of al of the births in Athens-
Oarke County were to unwed mothers It is important to
note that birth records are mamtaned by a mother's county
of residence For example, when a woman from
Watkinsvie (Oconee County) has a baby in one of the hos
pitals In Athens-Oarke County, the birth is recorded as an
Oconee County birth
Vast differences exist between blacks and whites with
regard to unwed births An examination of unwed births
by race reveals that births to unwed black women num
bered 394 and births to unwed white women numbered
96 Five unwed births to women of other roces were re
corded In 1992 Thus. 793 percent of the unwed births in
Clarke County were to black women. 19 7 percent of the
unwed births were to white women, and one percent were
to unwed women of other races
Examination of the births to unwed mothers wtthin race
reveals that there was a total of 532 births to black women;
of those births 394 were to unwed mothers Thus. 74.1 per
cent of the births to block women; of those births. 394 were
to unwed mothers In 1992. there was a total of 592 births
to wh»e women; of those 9 6 were to unwed mothers Thus,
16 .6 percent of aN of the births to white women were to
unwed mothers.
PERCENT OF BIRTHS TO UNWED MOTHERS BY RACE
FOR ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY: 1992
BUi-k
Tout Number AW Birth, 1,176
Tout Number Unwed Birth, 497
Tout Number of While Birth, 592
Tout Numhri at Unwed While Birth, 9*
Taui Number ot Black Birth, 5)2
Tctai Number of l!nw*d Black Bwth,
While 19 7*
IMPLICATIONS: Births to unwed mothers is a societal problem with
long-term consequences Although nationaly. within Georgia, and within
Darke County, the birth rate has been dedining for both black and white
women, births to unwed mothers hove been increasing Unwed mothers
tend to be young, uneducated. Mng in substandard or overcrowded con
ditions. and hewe difficulty obtaining odequate health care. In addttton,
children of unwed mothers are prone to become unwed parents them
selves, thereby perpetuating the problem This is where the cyde of pov
erty often starts
Time-tested research indkates that chldren from unwed households
tend to hove more hedth. educational and behariord problems that other
chidren. In oddWon. indMduab In these households have grertty reAiced
earning power because of the absence of one wage earner. This trend
also impedes educational efforts, impacts the labor force, and contrib
utes to high crime and prison incarceration rates Stopping this increasing
trend is one of the key steps toward improving the quaMy of Me for both
women and chldren
DougBachtei
Wednesday, June 1 st
Wednesday, June 15th
lonely White Boys
featuring X-Barbock Dreui UJorsham
€very Afternoon from 3:30 - 8:00
TREY BOYER
&.
The waring Blenders
featuring Ms. Lori Morris Better
re-creattng their ciasric hits
‘Charing a Lay Again In Margarttavlie'
*1 Lite Pina Coiadas and Getting Sick In the Drain*
and the ever-popular
‘StTawPerry Daquarl. How Did l Get Home Last Night?*
Plus Several NEW and ORIGINAL Treats!
Don't miss our regular house bond
TB6 POOL SHARKS
playing nightly on 6 different stages
COMING SOON
AFTERNOON DART & FOOL
TOURNAMENTS
Got The
No $$ Blues?
Well,
Opportunity is
Knocking!!
WE OFFER:
• $6 per hour
guaranteed
plus groat bonusos
• Flexible Schedule
(rr**TKFn schedLie receAecD
• Great Benefits
Qndudea pt*d tresmg
pcid vacation A tmQja
Most importantly, we offer you a job
you con be proud of. working on behalf
of non-profit organizations you can believe In.
Call 613-0040
(ask for Ms Nuccio after 10 a m )
reesebrothers |
<r>