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Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FOLMSBEE:'ALL-NATURAL' NOT NECESSARILY HEALTHY
COMING FRIDAY
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2009
United States First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
WWW.KANSAN.COM
FREE FOR ALL
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call (785) 864-0500.
Did I honestly just realize Cold Stone was closed? Really? I'm way behind
--came to collect
I need to go to the gym, but instead I'm going to nap and eat junk food. Fair trade?
I want money.
Why in the dickens was Ben Roethlisberger wearing a "there's gotta be something wrong with that guy" hat?
Is it acceptable for a fat guy to watch porn on his iPod in the rec center? It's like rewarding good behavior, right?
The only reason I get the paper every day is to see what made it into the Free for All.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
--came to collect
Dear boy on the Legends bus who is gorgeous. You're gorgeous.
骆 骐 摆
--came to collect
Yummy!
It's almost baseball season!
--came to collect
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The only thing my roommate is good for is eat bacon every day. If he died I would not attend his funeral, and I would take all his stuff to the thrift store before anyone came to collect.
My gods, why is it still this cold out?
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I want to be like you!
Georgia State Senator John Bulloch, R-Ochlocknee, holds up a jar of peanut butter while proposing food processors be required to share internal reports with state inspectors; during a legislative session in the senate chamber Thursday in Atlanta. Recent salmonella cases have been tracked back to a processing facility in Georgia.
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I hate the parking department!
Like I want to spend $20 that I don't have on a ticket. Thanks,
KIL. real cure.
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Tyshawn "The Toolman" Taylor
I love my roommate because he's the only person who would text me to tell me that his T.A. is nippin.
To the guy in my film class with a goatee wearing pajama pants, flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt; You're cute.
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PAGE 7A
I wish my last name was Manqino.
Dear roomie, I love you. I hope you won't ignore this and that you'll read this when I tell you I got in Free for All. P.S. I hope we can push our beds back together.
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I'm jealous of sexy people.
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For students with allergies peanuts scare all year long
FOOD
W When the news broke that peanut butter was linked to salmonella.
ews broke ut butter was linked to salmonella, I felt a sick sense of glee. Not because, according to Scientific American, hundreds of people were sick with the vomiting and diarrhea that comes with poisoned food, or because I think a handful of deaths is funny. It's because for the first time, people were beginning to see peanuts the way I see them every day; as the enemy
According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 2 percent of the population is allergic to peanuts. In most cases, it's a lifelong allergy that only worsens with each exposure.
And by exposure, I don't mean eating a Snickers bar, or even a whole peanut, although that'll definitely do it. I mean eating something that was "processed on the same equipment as peanuts," or a dish that came in contact with the same spoon used to stir something with peanuts. I mean being kissed on the cheek by someone who ate a handful of mixed nuts and having a rash break out in the shape of puckered lips.
Perhaps part of the reason I became so interested in food and nutrition is because I was trained at an early age to read label after label of every product I ate. My allergy is the reason I own so many Asian cookbooks. I haven't ordered Chinese takeout for more than 10 years because it's too high of a risk.
In the last few years, there have been quite a few stories about elementary schools banning peanuts from lunchrooms or establishing allergen-free tables where kids are sequestered to eat in safety.
The last time I got sick was a few years ago on vacation, when I asked a waiter three times if there were any peanuts in any of the dishes I had ordered. The second time I asked was when I took one bite of my salad. I don't really know what peanuts taste like exactly, I just know their presence by the terror that accompanies that smell, that taste. I laid my fork down, turned to my mom, and said, "Get the waister — I know something's up."
But tactics such as these do more harm than good. Sure, it educates parents that it's not okay
to tell a kid to "pick the peanuts out" of a snack, and it's probably prevented quite a few accidental allergy attacks. But it also takes the pressure to be careful off the kid with the allergy. This kind of training is dangerous because in the real world the only allergy-free zones are a couple of shelves in a health supermarket stocked with special cookies and energy bars.
By the third time I asked, I could feel my mouth swelling
up, my throat itching, and my stomach tense with the fear of what might be to come. It was only then that the embarrassed but rather nonchalant wafter reported that occasionally they substituted peanut vinaigrette on the salad.
An hour later, I was in the hospital with an IV in my arm, luckily more scared than sick. But even then, I knew my reaction had gotten worse, and that I was edging towards anaphylactic shock, the symptom that makes peanut allergies the most common cause of food-related death.
Eventually the salmonella recall will be lifted, and peanuts will once again be safe to spread between two slices of bread or to munch between classes. But right now, I'll relish each bite knowing there are fewer peanuts contaminating my world.
McConnell is a Dallas junior in journalism.
EDITORIAL CARTOON
NICHOLAS SAMBALUN
In Rome: Football but not futbol
BLOGS
mdent@kansan.com
ROME — Scholar's Pub was packed. Moving from a table to the bar meant a couple of minutes, a few bumped elbows and a stain from someone's spilled beer on the way there. Drink prices were nearly doubled. Every TV featured football, not the usual futbol.
BY MARK DENT
They wore black and gold, waved Terrible Towels and worshiped the No. 7, the digit of their quarterback and their team's trip to the Super Bowl. They were Pittsburgh transplants, mostly Duquesne students in Italy for the semester abroad. They took up nearly one side of the bar, save for about five loud men.
This was Europe — Rome — but the crowd was more Mississippi River than Mediterranean Sea. These were Americans, all of them staying up for a midnight kickoff for a game that's celebrated as a holiday back in the States.
In the left corner, a group shouted "Let's go. Steelers" every few minutes.
Americans too, these young men sang a harmonic chant for the Cardinals, something you might hear at a soccer match. Perhaps they were at the bar earlier to see the last minutes of the Lazio-Milan game.
Midnight. Kickoff inched closer.
This was the big night. This was the
Super Bowl. Everyone knew it.
away from the Steeler fanatics, two Britons on the middle two stools in front of the bar, soaking in an atmosphere they'd never experienced and enjoying the first half of a game that the mother had no idea about until she started asking questions.
They sat in the action, a few feet
Except for a mother and a son.
"So," she asked, "how do you score a goal in football?"
Read the rest of this blog and follow Mark's travels during his last semester of college in Rome at www.
kansan.com/blogs/
notorious_blog/
STUDENT LIFE
Mount Oread, we have a (column) problem
Pope: Hey, Ryan. I've got a problem.
Snyder: What's on?
Pope: Well, not me personally, but some friends of mine. As columnists for their university's newspaper, the Collegiate Nightly Nasnak, they had this really great idea to spice up their section. All they asked in return was for a little help from their loyal fans, but in a cruel twist of fate they were betrayed and ignored.
Snyder: Wow, that's terrible. Judging from your description, these guys seem like they're both extremely talented and devilishly handsome. Who could be so cold and callous?
Pope: The worst part is that it would only take their readers a few minutes out of the day to help these guys out, and they would be rewarded with quality entertainment.
Snyder: To be fair, they could be doing so many other things with those few minutes, such as making a delicious Hot Pocket and then throwing it up, that are equally rewarding. Besides, if I wanted to spend that much time in thought I would actually go to class. I'm not surprised that they haven't received any help.
Pope: That's not entirely true.
I've been told that a few tremendously bored individuals have made attempts to contribute, though their suggestions weren't that great. I mean, does anyone really want to read a debate about the winner of a fight between a shark and a tiger in zero-gravity?
Snyder: Of course not. It's obvious that the shark would win.
so that the shark would win.
Pope: Are you kidding? A shark has just its mouth to attack with, while the tiger has that and four claws! That's a 5-to-1 attack ratio. The only way the
REACH MICHAEL AND RYAN AT:
yourewelcomeku@gmail. com
(Yes, this is the little box we meant)
tiger could lose is if it were from Missouri. They can't win anything.
Snyder: Don't throw your fancy education at me. That has no business in this argument. In fact, this argument has no business here to begin with! It's no wonder those guys feel betrayed; who could work with that?
Pope: The thing I can't understand is why people would be hesitant to have a say in what they read in their daily paper. Isn't that the reason Facebook and iGoogle are so popular? Because they tailor information to suit specific interests? If I ever had the opportunity to get my name put in print, by golly, I'd do everything I could to make that happen — rob a bank, punk a puppy, write a subpar opinion column. Nothing would stand in my way.
Snyder: Plus, there's the chance that by writing in, some of the columnists' greatness could rub off on the reader. And maybe, just maybe, they would want to rub off on the columnists, too. Ladies.
Pope: You know, this whole situation has taught me a valuable lesson. You shouldn't be afraid to voice your own opinions and become an active consumer of media, especially when it's easy to do so.
Snyder: Besides, if you don't, we will unleash a gravity-defying tiger and shark to destroy you. Be thankful for such generosity.
Pope: You're welcome.
P.S. - Please, for the love of everything holy, read the little box and send us ideas. We're dying here!
Pope is a Kansas City, Kan. senior in English. Snyder is a Leawood senior in English.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Faith and evolution don't have to clash
Wednesday's article on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin showcased several points of view, but neglected a major one shared by many cutting edge scientists and theologians — namely, that there is no conflict between faith and science.
This point of view, known as theistic evolution, contends that God created the universe and used evolution as a means of creating life. As a Christian who was raised to be skeptical of biological evolution, I have come to recognize that the evidence for biological evolution is overwhelming, but that it does not provide answers for other major questions such as: Why are we here? Is there a such thing as objective morality? What is the purpose of life? I see no conflict between modern
science and Biblical passages that were written poetically to convey the wonder of nature and God's power to an ancient audience, not to convey specific scientific facts.
Francis Collins, former head of the Human Genome Project and a devout Christian, wrote a wonderful book called "The Language of God" defending theistic evolution. He fits evolution within a Biblical framework and encourages Christians to consider it as an alternative to creationism. But he also reminds scientists that science and faith can coexist. I would recommend the book to anybody who finds the notion of an either-or proposition of science versus faith ultimately unsatisfying, and who is open to the idea that the two can be harmonized.
Dan Halmes is a senior from Olathe.
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