MANUAL
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essential life skills // SAFER DRINKING ON in case of emergency, read quickly. YOUR 21ST
Hannah Stanley didn't plan to get so drunk on her 21st birthday. She planned to have a few shots and a couple beers, and call it a night. Her real party, when she planned to conquer 21 shots, was the following night.
But almost everything after her 4 p.m. arrival at the bar is a blur for Stanley, Olathe junior. She knows her roommate drove her home and that she vomited, but she only knows this through stories from friends.
Needless to say, her second party did not occur the following day. Stanley was too hungover. She thought she had avoided all the pitfalls of novice binge drinking, but as it turns out, conventional wisdom is dead wrong about the properties of alcohol.
The worst drink choices for your 21st birthday, when you are still what Tama Sawyer, director of KU Medical Center's Poison Control Center, calls a "naive" drinker, are water, carbonated cocktails and diluted shots. Your body does not absorb hard alcohol as easily as other types of beverages.
The average 120-pound female could be lethally drunk after three hours and eight shots, and the average 170-pound male could die after 10, Sawyer says. At 21 shots, the blood alcohol
content level for either sex would be in a zone Sawyer labels as "incompatible with life."
"This has to be the craziest thing anyone would want to do," she says.
If you still plan to drink 21 shots, make sure you eat a lot of sugary foods, allow yourself to vomit if you need to and above all, do not let yourself pass out, she says. Alcohol makes it more difficult for oxygen to reach our brain, and we naturally breathe less deeply when asleep. The two combined can result in death.
// FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
Photo illustration by Francesca Chambers Too much: 21 shots on your 21st birthday is "the craziest thing anyone would want to do." says Tama Sawyer, director of KU Med's Poison Control Center.
in the life of ... // A WRITING CENTER ADVISER living vicariously through others is ok with us.
It's hard enough to write papers required for class, but try reading and offering suggestions to 10 papers per week.
Rachel McMurray, Tulsa, Okla., graduate student, works at the KU Writing Center almost every day, helping students get through writing projects.
McMurray works with students who come to the center, helping them do everything from brainstorming ideas to proofreading assignments. The first thing she does is look for the thesis statement, which she says is the first hurdle in writing a paper. Her goal is to point people in the right direction, and make them better writers for the future.
Writing advice may be the main part of the job description, but learning how to deal with people is just as important. Patience is crucial when working at the writing center. McMurray must gauge the students' reactions, deciding how familiar she should act with them. It's also hard to know when to talk and when to listen, depending on the individual student's needs.
McMurray says the job is fun and rewarding, but dealing with stressed and emotional students can be mentally draining. While some students are confident and just want a few
suggestions, others aren't quite as prepared.
And the most frustrating thing is when students put off a paper until the last minute, McMurray says. She suggests giving yourself a few days to work.
"Don't come in 30 minutes before the paper is due," McMurray says. "We can't wave a magic wand and finish it for you."
// ANDREA OLSEN
Photo by Andrea Olsen
The write stuff. KU Writing Center advisers such as Rachel McMurray, Tulsa, Okla., graduate student, use their writing skills (and patience) to help students.
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