Safe Spring Break Success

It is sad to say that Spring Break has come and gone—now it’s time to crack open those dusty textbooks once more, and make it through the final stretch of classes. But the tan lines and bikini pics will be a lasting memory of your Spring Break 2013, a time of fun, sun, and safety! Did you party smart, buckle up, and lather up that SPF? At SPARKS, we like everyone to enjoy Spring Break to the fullest by making healthy, low-risk decisions. Moseley tables complete with Safe Spring Break kits, tips, and tanks helped to kick of Spring Break, SPARKS style.

Safe Spring Break Kits: We hope you stopped by our Moseley table to make your own Safe Spring Break kit complete with sunscreen, condoms, Chap Stick, temporary tattoos, and more. Let’s not forget free tank tops! No sweat if you missed out, come back next year for more SSB goodies. (Stop by early, these hot commodities go fast!)

AND THE WINNER IS… Hope y’all uploaded your photos for the Safe Spring Break Photo Contest! We asked students to send in a picture of themselves sporting the Safe Spring Break tank while making low-risk choices. Congratulations to Maritza Dee, the new owner of free tickets to the Spring Show! With runner ups, Leandra Nikont and Kimberly Gersh receiving Dunkin Donuts gift cards.  (hurry and go check your campus mailbox!)

Free STI Testing: SPARKS offered free STI (sexually transmitted infection) testing at the Ellington Health Center in order for students to “know before you go.” This non-invasive test screens for gonorrhea and chlamydia, both common and curable STIs, as a great way to stay healthy and prevent the further spread of STIs.

Thank you all for making Safe Spring Break such a success. But don’t let those safety tips go to waste! Wearing sunscreen, driving safely, staying hydrated, and knowing your limits are just a few ways to keep everyday safe.

Can I Kiss You? – April 11

Navigate Your Way Through a “Safe Spring Break”

It is almost spring, a time where we shrug off our thick winter coats in favor of light t-shirts, enjoy the fresh air, and regain the freedom and energy that we just couldn’t find during the winter. The arrival of spring also entails another great event: Spring Break! This means a week of freedom, relaxation, and potential for new experiences, and fun. In order to enjoy your Spring Break to the fullest, it is important to remember to make healthy, low risk decisions. Spring Break is an opportunity to create great memories, but there are many risks that could easily turn great memories sour. To help you to have a safe and memorable Spring Break, SPARKS offers a variety of resources.

Visit our Mosley tables March 18^th through March 20^th, from 11am- 2pm; we’ll be giving out free tank tops (featuring helpful Safe Spring Break tips) and “Safe Spring Break” kits. As you put together your kit or claim your tank top, SPARKS peer educators would also love to talk to you about your plans to stay safe and have a fantastic spring break. SPARKS will also be offering free STI (sexually transmitted infection) testing March 18^ththrough March 20^th from 9am to 5pm at Ellington Health Center by the Greek courts. Pick up a voucher for free STI testing at either our Mosley tables, the SPARKS office, or at the health center. No appointment needed – just walk in and hand the receptionist your voucher. You’ll be tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia, both common and curable STIs. All you have to do is pee in a cup and speak briefly with a peer counselor about the testing process. You’ll receive the results of your test by email within three days.

Have a great Spring Break! Safe travels everyone!

Going Vegan, Cold Turkey #nopunintended

47 days. No meat. No eggs. No dairy.  Since January 1^st of 2013, I’ve been a vegan. This gig was only supposed to last for the 3 weeks of winter term but has stuck.  People often ask why I decided to make this huge leap from eating anything and everything to going meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free.  Veganism was a foreign, strange concept to me, so naturally I wanted to try it.  Although I didn’t understand why anyone would subject them selves to what I thought to be a form of torture, I wanted to pour my time and energy into something over winter term.

Being the Netflix addict that I am I began my research with a documentary called “Vegucated.” (Why does everything always start with a documentary??)  “Vegucated” follows the journey of three meat and cheese loving New York City residents who decide to go vegan for six weeks.  (a.k.a I was watching my future)  Next I turned to Ellen DeGeneres for guidance.   Her blog called “going vegan with Ellen” is filled with reasons to go vegan, tips, recipes, and celebrity vegans. (fun fact: Ellen Degeneres, Bill Clinton, Brad Pitt, and Steve-O are all vegan.  If Steve-O could go vegan, then so could I!) I began compiling my own recipe book, studying what I could eat on campus, and was excited to put my planning into action.

Over the past month I’ve noticed a few things about myself change.  I now crave vegetables, strange huh? I never thought those words would come out of my mouth.  Over time your taste buds can change.  For example, if you try vegan pizza (I recommend the Tofutti brand sold at Lowes and Harris Teeter) your first day as a vegan you’ll most likely gag.  (just kidding but am I?)  But after living a vegan friendly lifestyle and finding replacements to the foods you love, your taste buds will develop and you’ll one day genuinely enjoy that vegan pizza for what it is.

Winter term has come and gone and who knows what the future holds but for now I’m going to be vegan “friendly.”  Am I going to pass up a cake made with eggs and milk on my birthday?  Heck no!  Is the foodie grilled cheese still my favorite thing on the menu at The Root?  Absolutely, but I’m going to continue with the small changes like putting soy creamer in my coffee, daiya cheese (dairy free) on my pizza, and tofu in my pad thai.  Whatever you decide to eat, whether it’s a cheeseburger or a veggie burger, give thought to how it’s made, the effect it will have on your health, and the effect it will have on our planet.

Reasons to go Vegan:

• Global Warming – Raising animals for food causes more environmental damage than driving a car.  Who knew? I sure didn’t!  Al Gore says that being vegetarian is the “single most effective thing you can do” to reduce your carbon footprint.
• Health – Reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes.  Bill Clinton went vegan after his quadruple bypass surgery.  Not to mention, vegans tend to live longer.  YOLO
• Cruelty Free – Modern day agriculture keeps animals in overcrowded cages their entire lives, not to mention the poor working conditions in slaughterhouses. Awareness is the first step to change!!

Catch ya later Elon,

Julia

1 week left for “In The Moment”

 

Hey hey! Well, it’s been 2 weeks since we started the 21 day In The Moment Challenge! It seems strange that there is only 1 week left… Doing the daily activities have become pretty habitual for me! Have you noticed any changes in the way you think about happiness, success, or maybe your outlook on life in general? I, personally struggled during the first few days. Sounds pathetic that it would be hard to find just 3 things I was grateful for that day, but it was! It was even difficult to pick out a positive experience to journal about if I was having a bad day.

Well, two weeks later, the daily challenges aren’t easy, but they come much easier than when we first started! I notice little things and have become thankful for small details versus big picture events or news. Let’s see what else we can notice after this next week! And remember, you can start your In The Moment Challenge whenever you want! Happiness is in your hands Happy Sunday Elon!

In The Moment

I would like to invite you to join in on a 21-day journey to becoming a happier person. After watching a video of Shawn Achor speak at one of the TED Conferences titled: The Happy Secret to Better Work, I was moved to challenge myself to doing what he said. Achor is the CEO of Good Think Inc., where researchers study people who fall above the average, attempting to understand “where human potential, success and happiness intersect.” He helps organizations increase happiness, which in turn increases success and productivity. Well, we don’t have Shawn Achor himself coming to speak to us, but I have watched the video and done some research (and hopefully you’ve watched the video by now too?). What I am proposing is a 21-day challenge, based off of Achor’s research, to be happy In The Moment. Are you in!? If you are, then continue reading about what the next 21 days have in store for you!

Achor recites that we can reverse the formula for happiness and success. In our society, we tend to believe “If I am more successful, I’ll be happier” and so on. If we keep expecting too much out of life, will we ever appreciate what we have in the moment? Life should not be spent harping on the disappointments or fears of the future. Even research states that being happier in the moment is better for you; you are 31% MORE productive at happy then when at negative, neutral, or stressed. If we can learn to be positive in the moment, we can harp on the advantages happiness brings. Below is what needs to be done EVERY DAY for 21 days straight!

 In The Moment:

-Write down 3 gratitude’s each day (things you are grateful for!) This teaches our brain to scan for the positive rather than the negative first!

-Journal ONE positive thing that has happened to you within the last 24 hours. Who doesn’t want to relive something awesome?

- Exercise, which teaches your brain that activity matters. I’ll be lenient on this one… we can count walking to class!

-Meditation: this is done to get “over the cultural ADHD of doing multiple tasks at once” so that we can focus on just the task at hand. Don’t know how to meditate? Honestly, I haven’t done it seriously either, but google helps! I like this site  for meditation instructions but I encourage you to find something you like if this doesn’t work for you!

- Random acts of kindness: Praise or thank someone for what they have done for you, hold the door open for a stranger, do something each day that is a conscious act of kindness!

Can you do it? We are young and have so much life ahead of us, why rush it!? If you’d like to join me on the In The Moment challenge, we are starting this Sunday, October 7^th. Check the blog every Sunday for updates and leave comments along the way about how you are feeling! GOOD LUCK! Let’s create lasting positive change!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Word on the Street

Word on the street: Butt Chugging 

Sounds funny, right? Wrong, because it’s actually real! I have spent the past few days reading articles about the controversy that has taken place at the University of Tennessee. A 20-year-old student was hospitalized with a BAC of 0.40 (fatal level) a couple of weeks ago. How did this student get so drunk!? It was concluded by police that it was consumed RECTALLY: an alcohol enema. Yes, that means a tube of sorts is placed in the anus of a person and alcohol enters the body in this way.

*NEWS ALERT: The student hospitalized wasn’t the only person who got in trouble. The fraternity chapter the student is a member of has been suspended for 30 days and 12 other students were cited for underage drinking. Fun weekend, right!?

Is it just me or are you wondering what would make a person want to consume alcohol this way? I mean OW… (yeah, you know what I’m referring to). So, let’s talk about this. Yes, this is a way to get highly intoxicated QUICKLY, but do you know all of the facts and all of the dangers? If hearing this student’s story isn’t enough, here are the real facts:

• “The abundance of capillaries and blood vessels [in the rectum] greatly heightens the level and speed of the alcohol entering the blood stream as it bypasses the filtering by the liver” Police Spokesperson Darrell DeBusk
• Our stomachs and livers have enzymes that break down alcohol and make it less toxic. When alcohol directly enters through the rectum, it immediately reaches the bloodstream completely unfiltered.
• About 1,825 college students die annually from alcohol related injuries, according the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
• Inserting alcohol into another orifice is more dangerous because your body has no way of rejecting the toxin, once it is in, it’s in.

Maybe you have heard of butt chugging before, maybe you haven’t; either way these are extremely dangerous ways to drink alcohol. Luckily for the UT student, he survived. Alcohol poisoning is no joke. Do you know the signs? If you’ve forgotten, here’s what to look for: shallow breathing, bluish/pale skin, cold, clammy skin, and unconsciousness. Never leave someone you think has alcohol poisoning alone and always call 911!

Be smart Elon! 

Want to learn more!? Here are some links!

http://jezebel.com/5946946/attention-butt+chuggers-please-do-not-put-alcohol-up-your-butt

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/29/butt-chugging-students-ex_n_1925386.html

Click here for a little pick-me-up!