Opinion The University Daily Kansan 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. WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8,2010 Follow Opinion on Twitter. @kansanopinion --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? To contribute to Free For All, visit Kansan.com or call (785) 864-0500. Editor's Note: Let's make Thursday's FFA — the last one of the semester — amazing. Please use our application (search "University Daily Kansan" on Facebook) to post your most epic entries. --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? The worst part about being a foreign language major is that when you get sick you have to write e-mails to your professors in three different languages. --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? 5 Hour Energy may have just saved my grade, but it might put me in the hospital for sleep deprivation. At least I'll be remembered as the girl who didn't fail the class. --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? Let's just say I'm a wild child and leave it at that. --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? I made it from one end of Massachusetts to the other with all green lights. I raised my arms in victory when I got to Sixth --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? What the hell, the FFA has turned into Dr. Phil. The new Facebook profile is terrible ... must not be any KU graduates on Facebook's development team. How do you get into KU without knowing where the state of Iowa is? --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? Chocolate chip waffles and wine for dinner. Oh how I love college life. --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? Stupid is as stupid does. --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? My roommate can do Morse code with her boobs. If you put "the" and "IRS together it spells "theirs." --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? Do we have class Friday? --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? Dear Professor, I'm sorry for falling asleep in class with you staring at me the entire time. You weren't boring, my eyes just didn't want to stay Pun o' the day: Swiffer just released a new type of broom.It's sweeping the nation --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? I love going to the library to "study" when I know I'm going to run into the same guy every Monday and Wednesday. EYE CANDY! --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? If I were Rapunzel you know what I would do? I'd whip my hair back and forth! --eating disorder." I love brownies and I don't have a problem with the idea of "holiday food." But I do have a problem with a way of eating that turns food into the enemy and inspires self-loathing. What if we could eat a doughnut on Hanukkah or a gingerbread cookie on Christmas, stop before we made ourselves sick and then, come Jan. 1, continue to eat food we enjoy, including the occasional dessert? Wouldn't that be a more sane way to celebrate? HUMOR Power outage tests nerves only to suddenly disappear On Monday afternoon parts of Lawrence lost power for about an hour. Here's one columnist's take on the power outage as it happened. The power is out. Again, I have no idea why. As far as I know, this happens a lot in East Lawrence. It's already happened twice this year – and only once during an actual storm. I decided I would chronicle how I spent my power outage. 1:30 p.m. Realize the power is out. There's some red box in my apartment building's lobby (I live in an old house) that beeps incessantly to, I don't know, let us know the power is out, or something? It's kind of like when your girl friends complains to you about boys ("Oh my god, guys are sooooo dumb! Why are guys sooooo dumb? I wish someone make guys not sooooo dumb! BEEP BEEP BEEP!"). I realize this time, at least, my laptop has battery power. I try the Internet. Internet is down. 1:40 p.m. I turn on my Zune music library. I turn it to shuffle. Kimya Dawson's "Tire Swing" plays. I skip it. My Chemical Romance plays. I skip it. Some instrumental crap from The Corpse Bride plays. I skip it. I wonder why I haven't deleted a bunch of this stuff. 1:50 p.m. I begin watching the intersection of Mississippi and 11th streets. Pray for a fender bender.I miss you, television. 1:52 p.m. My sister tells me her power is out. I begin to wonder if this is an alien conspiracy. Suddenly that episode of Twilight Zone, "The Monsters of Maple Street" — I don't think I've ever seen it, but we were assigned to read the teleplay for it in seventh grade for some odd reason — seems too real. I mean, she lives only like two blocks away, but still. 1:57 p.m. I watch a squirrel climbing a tree for five minutes. I feel very Thoreau right now. Or, you know, booooored out of my skull. 2:02 p.m. Without any distractions, and despite having listened to this song a billion times, I discover verse in Gogol Bordellos" Start Wearing Purple" that is sung in a different language. I'm like Columbus, except waaaay stupid, not racist, and on a much smaller scale. 2:05 p.m. My roommate arrives! He comes from the world of electricity. He instantly begins crying and clutching his Xbox 360 when he enters. 2:10 p.m. I turn off my music. I don't need you, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I can listen to rhythmic footsteps, weird bowling ball dropping sounds and doorslams of my neighbors. 2:15 p.m. I make a list of Christmas present ideas for family and friends. All of the gift ideas involve electricity. I get nostalgic and cry a little bit too. 2:17 p.m. I lose all hope. What is life? But a series of disappointing moments. I DON'T CARE IF SOMEBODY ALREADY SAID THAT. 2:20 p.m. Power returns. Thank God, I don't have to be alone with my perverted thoughts anymore. Now, where was I in that that Dan Aykroyd Saturday Night Live rerun from 2003? Boy, Chris Parnell and Will Forte were funny! And so, normalcy returns for The Jolly Jayhawk! Happy Holidays, folks. I'll see you next semester (hopefully). Carmichael is a junior from Mulvane in creative writing. NICK SAMBULAK GUEST COLUMN Enjoy your holiday food It starts with Thanksgiving. Eating until you are comfortably full is not an option on Thanksgiving — if you don't eat yourself into a Then, for college students, comes the last week of school and finals. And when that last test is finally over and it's time to relax, the holiday parties begin. Every night is a celebration, so we go out and eat cake, cookies, brownies and chocolate mints, and wash them down with champagne. — if you don't eat yourself into a coma, you're a spoil-sport. On New Year's Eve, this season of excess goes out with a bang. Grown-ups have permission to drink like college students, so most of us take things a few steps further. It's a holiday and it's fun And the next morning, it's over. We feel hungover, sick to our stomachs and guilty. So, we make resolutions. The nation goes on a collective diet. We give up sugar, fat and carbs and promise to stay under 1,500 calories a day. We go to the gym. And oh yeah, we promise to quit smoking and stop procrastinating on our homework. This year will be different. It's a nationally sanctioned binge-and-purge ritual, and it's a symptom of what food journalist Michael Pollan calls "our national Don't worry. This is not an article on how to survive the holiday season without gaining weight. They tell you to "set ground rules" or "use a small plate" or simply "limit sweets." Unfortunately, this advice often feeds into the unhealthy relationship that most of us have with food. We feel guiltier, we restrict ourselves more when we're not celebrating, and then the temptation to go too far is that much stronger. So I'm only going to offer one piece of advice: Enjoy your food. Think about how good it's going to taste before you put it into your mouth. Then chew, taste and savor every bite. Whether it's braised broccoli or peppermint fudge, if it's going into your body, it better satisfy your taste buds first. If you're eating something and you can't enjoy it because you feel too guilty about eating it, you have two choices: Either stop eating or make the decision to go ahead and eat without guilt. In my experience, the worst over-eating comes from mindless eating. As it turns out, demanding enjoyment out of your food is not such a novel idea. In fact, it's a practice embraced by most of the world. Take the French: Yes, they eat cheese and croissants and chocolate and cream puffs. But they always eat together. They eat almost painfully slowly. They don't go back for seconds. And they enjoy every last bite. The French have a culture that supports a healthy way of thinking about food. We don't. Simply pledging to enjoy your food isn't going to change that, but it's a start, and it might influence others positively, too. And if, come Jan. 1, you make your resolutions with a little bit less guilt, I think that's a good thing. -From UWIRE. Kate Clabby for The Daily Texan at the University of Texas. LIFE LESSONS Valvano provides moral encouragement today In recognition of ESPN's Jimmy V week, I'm urging anyone looking for some sort of moral direction or sense of hope to take 11 minutes and 15 seconds out of their busy lives and watch Jimmy Valvano's famous 1993 ESPY speech. For those who haven't seen it, in his last few months of life Jimmy Valvano used his acceptance speech time to encourage the world to stop, look around and enjoy life, something the modern media continuously fail to do. For those who have seen it, watch it again. I've probably seen it over 50 times, and each time different words of inspiration hit me harder and each time I get something different out of it. And this week, Jimmy V week and also the week of the 13th anniversary of my brother's death, I received a different message of importance from the speech. In his speech, Valvano gives the world three things to do every day to make each person's life more enthusiastic, enjoyable and fulfilled: Laugh, Think, Cry. In today's world, society does a decent job of encouraging us to think and laugh. School makes us think. Media make us laugh. But we fail to recognize the importance of tears and are seldom encouraged to cry. Now I've mentioned my brother's death in a column a few months ago, but to clarify my brother died of brain complications suddenly when I was seven and he was nine. We were abnormally close for siblings and his death sent me into an emotional whirlwind. Years after his death, my youthful brain was in a constant emotional self-battle. From what I understood, even as a little girl, tears represented weakness and holding it in represented strength. So for a very long time, I battled to resist all thoughts of him, mentally defending his memory from draining my psyche. But as I got older, I realized his memory was inescapable. It became like a painful beating in the back of my brain, numbing my entire emotions and restricting me from happiness. And finally about a year ago, I swallowed my pride and admitted to my mom that I had never dealt with my brother's death and I needed to talk to someone. The psychologist I saw didn't help much, but she did allow me to open up his BY MANDY MATNEY memories and start getting more comfortable talking, laughing and crying about the life and death of my brother. Ironically, at the same time, a friend of mine told me to read "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom. And in all honesty, that book alone helped me cope with the emotions of my brother's death far more than the psychologist did. In the book, Morrie Schwartz, a professor months away from his death, shares life's most crucial lessons with the author. Like Valvano, Morrie encourages people to let all emotions, negative and positive, penetrate them fully. In my favorite passage, Morrie proudly mourns the loss of his mother who died when he was eight years old and explains that it is natural to still mourn a tragedy of that type, even 70 years later. After reading that, something clicked. I learned that it was OK to set the emotions of a loved one free, and I engulfed myself with thoughts of my brother. When I would think of him I would speak of him to my friends or write to him, sharing any memories I thought of with friends and family who knew him and those who didn't. I spent a good portion of last December recalling the memories that I had blocked out for so long. And it felt damn good. I made a fool of myself crying or laughing in strange places where people probably mistook me for a freak, but for the first time. I didn't care After diving into dark memories and thoughts so emotionally soaked, I finally felt free to really laugh, smile, and enjoy life. Sure, it was temporarily painful, but now knowing that I can still keep him alive is continuously satisfying. With that said, listen to Jimmy Valvano and don't hesitate to get your emotions going through laughter, thought and even tears. Matney is a junior from Shawnee in journalism. "I support public smoking bans. I didn't buy the arguments that it would force bars to close. However, there may be a link between smoking in bars and money spent on booze. When there is a toxic amount of fumes in the air, one needs more libation to provide relief to a throat which is being ripped up. All that hacking and coughing means the body needs more liquid to quench an artificially induced thirst. Maybe bars should clean carpets (you know with a beating stick) to foul the air. Oh wait, dust is toxic according to the EPA. Point retracted. Sorry to waste your time." Chatterbox — "metacognition in response to "Local bars adjust sales tactics" on Dec.6. 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