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April 21, 2005 In the Hall-. wavs: What are your plans after you leaveACC? "I'm going to MSU to get my bachelor 's in nursing." - Rebekah Ross "I'm going into the Air Force." - Rory Sherwood "I'm going to CMU to major in psychology." - Melanie Hent- kowski "I'm going to Ferris." - Alicia Estlack "I'm going to Central to study accounting." - Rachel Brege "I'm going to Se- attle to be closer to my family." - Mary Ulrich (J Page3 Yo-u never know h w easv it is to be a hero By Amy LeMieux Staff Writer In the past few years, we 've all seen supposed heroes everywhere. Take Spiderman, swinging from skyscraper to skyscraper on the big screen, or a fireman tunneling his way through the remains of a collapsed building, pulling out I.one survivors. Many of us wish that we too might possess su·ch selfless, altruistic-like mannerisms. In a small way you can: become a blood donor. It seems like such an insignificant comparison, placing blood donation m the same heroic category as Spiderman. Yet unlike a fictionional character, you can save an actual living, breathing person. AccordingtotheAmerican Red Cross, every two seconds someone in the U.S . needs a blood transfusion, and 38,000 blood donations total are needed throughout the entire day. With a going rate of three gallons per day used for transfusions, sadly that number is never met. The desired donated blopd would go towards cancer patients, accident victims, or a person struck with a blood disorder, and that's only naming a few. The process of donating blood is an easy one and barely takes up an hour of your day. Blood drives are ·usually sponsored at a public building, like a church or school. A volunteer will sit you down to briefly skim over a list of notices that include information about the donation process. After which, you will be seated with a nurse !O clarify your· personal mformation such as name, address and phone number. Very privately you'll note your personal sexual and medical history, w ith the sole purpose o f ensuring you have no r isk of spreading any sort of infectious disease or sickness such as H IV. Regardless o f the confidential answers you may reply to , it is impossible to spread or contract any d isease through Red Cross-sponsored blood drives, as each sample is carefully tested arid sorted through. A short number of tests will be taken , such as blood pressure, temperature, and iron levels. With this done, you're good to go save up to three lives, one pint at a time. Be fore you even Remembering when the world was good, and Saturdav cartoons ha a message By Shane Eiseler Staff Writer • Remember when you were a kid? Actually, this will all make more sense if you remember when I was a kid, back in that turbulent decade of the eighties. When I think . back to my Saturday mornings it always brings to mind fond memories of Cap'n Crunch and several solid hour.s of cartoons. Nowadays, however, it seems that the Saturday morning ritual is in danger of becoming extinct. Kids today have channels devoted entirely to cartoons that run all day, 365 days a year. Even more appalling, the cartoons of today are not the same as I remember. Back in the day, most cartoons had a lesson to teach about morals such as sharing, friendship, lying, stealing, whatever. Usually, these instructions in good living came at the end of the cartoon further emphasizing the lesson to be learned by not trying to weave it into some insane story. G.I. Joe, The Smurfs, Thundercats, He-Man, almost every cartoon had a lesson to teach. I'm sure without these invaluable lessons I would have been writing this article from my prison cell while I sharpened my toothbrush/shank in preparation for "recess." Today, while occasionally observing some of my nephew's cartoons, I can actually hear some of my brain cells scream out in agony as they try to comprehend what my eyes are seeing. People say music d video games cause violenc ? Have thes(; same people see the cartoons the industry pump out like atomic waste? Almost every newer cartoon is a half hour dedicated to violence and insanity. At one point, Ren- N-Stimpy used to stand out as such a crazy cartoon to the point where Nickelodeon had to tone it down a notch to avoid complaints from parents. Now, almost all cartoons make Ren-N-Stimpy look like the Care Bears. Even scarier yet is the fact that children watch much more television now than they did ten years ago due to an economy that in most cases demands both parents work to support a family. Unfortunately, this situation leads to children being babysat by television more often than not. Watchin,g these cartoons, I can almost understand why my nephew runs around like he has a small fire in his pants. Experts love to claim that all kids have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). How about pointing out the fact that in "Get In The Game!" CHALLENG order to watch these cartoons you have -to have the attention span of a junkie detoxing from smack. Now let me just state for the record that all cartoons are not evil, albeit weird, some still have lessons cl values to teach in a way that kids might actually learn from them. Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder, even the simplistic Blue's Clues teach proper behavior but are geared towards a younger audience. The cartoon networks need to come up with some shows for older children to watch and learn from in order to fill a void that contains mostly some Japanese card game turned into a half hour of kill or be killed stories fueled by a Megadeth soundtrack (Not that that's a bad thing). So it's up to us to take · a stand and help restore . order to the chaos that cartoons have become. One suggestion would be to wait till 5 A.M. when the cartoon network plays older cartoons and tape them so you can play them back to your kids on Saturday morning as you lovingly pour them a bowl of Cheerios. There's my rant, I've ·said two cents, and now you know ... and knowing is half the battle! www. aserTeamChalle i:e.com 464-4937 Natio ;ti Guard Armory consider blood donation, you must ·be in good health with no headaches accompanied by a fever. Your weight must be 110 pounds or more, and it's a very good idea to eat and drink plenty of fluids prior to the donation . Giving blood will not decrease your strength, but you are not to work out for twenty-four hours, allowing_ you a genuine reason for laziness. The act of donating the blood usually won't take more than ten minutes. Naturally you'll feel a prick as the IV enters your arm, but it's a small price to pay for the great deed you're performing . In fact, you'll actually weigh less when you leave, as each pint of blood weighs one pound, and that's all they' 11 take from your body. If the loss of a pound depresses you, you can always make it up at the refreshment table with guaranteed homemade cookies and juice. The recent blood drive at the First United Methodist Church in Alpena on March 13 th expected between ninety and one hundred donors to give biood. Only fifty-six people actually showed up. The look of disappointment from the turnout was evident upon the faces of the Red Cross nurses, but all remained pleasant and optimistic in future blood drives. When the next ambulance swiftly drives past you on the road , remember that every one in five people entering the hospital needs blood. An average adult carries ten pints of blood; surely y.ou can spare one. To locate a blood drive in your area, call 1-800-582-2240 ex. 102 or connect to www. redcross.org to save a live today. Jatchet1s. G:iunt«r Tops Fiira,I~ B11ths "YOU'Ll. 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