OPINION
7A
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COMMENTARY
DJ practice not something to be studied in library
I'm sitting in Anschutz, frustrated,
trying to complete the day's Sudoku when Flo Rida's hit song "Get Low"
pushes its way through the jumbled mess of numbers in my brain.
No, the song is not stuck in my head. It's pulling out of my neighbor's ear drums from the dime-size headphones wedged in her ears.
Headphones have lost their purpose.
No longer do they keep the listener's music from disturbing others when the music can still be heard blaring through the barrier of the headphones. Now it seems that sometimes the only reason headphones are even worn is because iPods won't work without them.
Often in the library, I hear more muffled music playing than cell phones going off. If you can manage to click your cell phone on silent, you can manage to turn the volume down on your iPod, unless your thumb isn't capable of counter-clockwise motion.
The library is not the only problem, though. When I'm sitting in a classroom, five minutes before the start of class, frantically trying to finish the 30 pages of reading that I procrastinated on the night before, nothing distracts me more than someone's ears acting as a set of speakers.
Maybe this is because of ignorance. You're just so into Sara Bareilles' "Love Song" that you don't realize how loud your music really is. Yet, when your head is literally vibrating to the lyrics of your music, it's hard for me to believe that you don't know
that your music is too loud.
Or maybe you know your music is loud and just don't care.
You may be relishing in fantasies of being a DJ, but no one else cares about your new playlist. It's courtesy people. Just turn the volume down.
Not only is turning the volume down considerate, but maxed-out volume really is bad for your ears.
When shopping at Target, I noticed that both Nike and Sony warn on their packages that continued use of their headphones at full volume can damage hearing.
Even if you're willing to damage your ear drums by listening to music at full volume, at least keep it to yourself.
your music may be because of the type of headphones. One feature of Sony's clip-on headphones, with a cuff that surrounds the ear, is that it has a stable fit on the ears that minimizes sound leakage.
Part of the reason others can hear
While certain headphones may contribute to the problem, I feel that the real problem lies simply in that volume bar. Headphones don't have
to be meaningless if you turn down the volume.
Until then, I give up on my Sudoku. Somehow I just can't concentrate with Flo Rida shouting at me to get low.
Hudson is a Wichita junior in journalism and business.
COMMENTARY
Traditional image of anorexic female appears strikingly male
Anorexia.
It is a word that flashes the image of a half-naked girl weakly hunching over a body-length mirror observing her anatomy. Her spine looks as though it may poke through her skin, and her arms are sharply bent to settle her frail hands upon her hips that are no longer there. This person is sick, and this person is always a female.
But if we open our eyes just a little wider we will come to find that this person could actually be a male.
As if anorexia wasn't already a serious illness in America, it actually has an embedded problem that is often overlooked. Although many women are known to have this disorder, society's influence has convinced us that anorexia is exclusively a woman's problem.
According to a study by the Harvard University of Medicine in 2007, 25 percent of Americans who were diagnosed with an eating disorder were male.
The males I've known rarely confess feelings of illness or pain. They bear their discomforts without complaint and go through the day feeling ill because they would rather suffer than look weak.
This is exactly how some men with eating disorders act when they possess this "womanly problem." They will not confess to having an eating disorder for the fear of becoming emasculated.
If men are overweight, they may be compared to women because they are not muscular and slender like the men in health magazines. They actually possess "womanly" qualities such as curves or a bust similar to a woman's.
Because they are compared to a woman's shape, they may strive to avoid becoming emasculated by developing an eating disorder to lose the extra weight. By having this disorder they may conceal their "feminine illness" because they fear the comparison to women will make them look weak as well. In other words, by trying to look more like a man by developing a woman's disorder, they will automatically be considered weak because women signify weakness.
It is also said that homosexual men make up a large sum of anorexic/bulimic males.
According to the Psychiatric
Times, 20 percent of males with eating disorders are gay, one of the reasons being that there is a high demand in the gay community for men to look a certain way. Even in places that are very accepting of homosexuality, more discrimination may lie within the gay community.
Expectations of looking healthy, lean and muscular lead to low self-esteem and promising chances of eating disorders. Although we have come a long way, we still live in homophobic times. Therefore, some gay males may not admit to their disorder for the fear of being a gay man who also has an eating disorder.
Men and women both develop these disorders in very similar ways. Just like women who become ill, men have similar psychological or self-esteem issues that could trigger anorexia or bulimia. The only difference is that many men are not coming forward with their problems.
or they are not aware that they have one.
I find it very disturbing that a disease as serious as anorexia or bulimia is gendered.
Because eating disorders are considered women's issues, it is difficult for men to seek help. But eating disorders can happen to anyone, and if we are all aware of this, men could start receiving the help they thought they could or should not have. This illness in men is simply overlooked, and I am certain that male anorexia will continue to increase because of the growing demands of media and society.
Although it is very hard to pinpoint exactly how important this issue is in male lives, it should not go unnoticed, and it should not be ignored.
Osterhaus is a Seneca sopho more in journalism.
Still working on that novel? Take a break @KANSAN.COM
weeks ago. My first is just older than three.
For years I'd been working construction before coming back to school with the intention of actually finishing. Bundled with my new goal — along with a few
I turned 29 this year. My second child was born a little less than two
others I'm not going to tell you about (and that I don't call my "bucket list") — is the goal to finish the novel I've been working on by the time I am 30.
Joshua Anderson
If somebody told me that I'd be gathering infoberries instead of hunting meaty stories, I would have stopped sharpening my arrowhead
(pencil) years ago.
Such is the new journalism trend: newspapers are merely supplemental information providers. People go to the source's blog for information.
Brian Lewis-Jones
Want more? Read all the Kansan blogs online.
To contribute to Free For All, visit Kansan.com and add the Facebook application, or call 785-864-0500. Free For All callers have 20 seconds to talk about anything they choose.
Why is everyone in the Free for All hatin" on sorostitutes? They're people, too.
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The ROTC guys on campus are so damn hot!
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I want to get the hell out of Kansas!
Man, do people that stupid really attend KU?
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Evidentially.
Why do they call it the Xbox 360? When you see it, you turn 360 degrees and walk away.
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If you turn 360 degrees,you are facing the XBox, dude.
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The Xbox 360 joke made my day. Way to prove your point, dumbass
OK, dumbass. You said that last week. And I responded with something like 360 degrees is a full turn. Thus, you're turning back to it. Jackass.
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Wait. Wouldn't that be a 180?
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I love that Rodrick Stewart's twin brother is named Lodrick. That had to make for a very confusing childhood.
I can't wait until it's so warm outside that the sorostitutes won't be able to use the excuse "Uggs are so warm!"
I think McCarthy needs to conduct a witch hunt where we burn all the Ugg boots in Lawrence and wait, the world!
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I am absolutely in love with Sasha Kaun's accent! It's just so
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Brett Favre. Goodbye, overrated.
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