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UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ASHEVILLE The Blue Banner Thursday, February 21, 2008 \v\v\v.tlu‘l)luel)anner.net Vol. 48, Issue 5 Flu virus strikes ill-prepared campus Rachel Letcher Staff Writer RELETCHER@UNCA.EDU Student health services ran out of flu tests after forty-five students Ested positive for influenza type A last month. i started feeling sick and I didn’t think it was the flu, so I didn’t jet medicine or go to the doctor at jrst. However, it ended up being jje flu,” said Justin Hold, senior Spanish and jazz studies student, •it made me feel pretty bad for about a week. I couldn’t really do anything unless I was taking a lot of Tylenol and Ibuprofen.” For sick students, flu test kits cost $22 and take up to three days to arrive to UNCA. Nurse Linda Pyeritz said health services managed to diagnose many students without kits. “We ran out of flu kits, but a batch of students would come in with the same exact symptoms. It is pretty cut and dry because of the certain criteria that designate the flu from other viruses,” Pyeritz said. Since the UNCA health services ran out of flu test kits, they diagnose some cases according to symptoms. The influenza symptoms include fever above 100, dry cough, body aches and general head congestion, according to Pyeritz. Students like Brandon Hamilton, senior atmospheric science student, went to UNCA's health services for a flu test to treat his symptoms, but there were no flu tests available the day he went in. Hamilton said health services did get him an appointment quickly and were concerned with his health. In addition to the $22 test, students then have the option to purchase the prescribed influenza symptom reducer, Tamiflu, which runs from $88 to $109, depending on the students insurance plan, according to Pyeritz. "The flu is rampant in the bigger community around UNCA. We are a micro-community within a larger community and it spread from person to person with close contact,” Pyeritz said. Health services otTered the Influenza vaccine in October for $15; however, this vaccine did not protect students from getting a strain of the flu. “1 went to my doctor to get the flu shot, and 1 got the new strain of flu that catne out and I was disappointed in it, having to pay money for the shot and ended up getting the flu,” said Anna Mathewes, senior political science student. “It is a prediction game and this year what (influenza vaccine researchers) predicted was not what quite got to us. Type A was one that they did not predict to be the heavy hitter; They thought it was going to be type B,” Pyeritz said. Spending more money on the flu was not something Mathewes wanted to do. Since Tamiflu is so expensive and is only effective within the first 48 hours of flu-like symptoms, according to Pyeritz, students did not want to pay out of pocket. “I just ended up waiting it out. I took vitamins and drank orange juice. 1 figured if 1 gof Si-F. Flu Pagi- 2 I Homecoming lets entire campus cut loose Caroline Fry Staff Writer CMFRY@UNCA.EDU In addition to the men and women’s basketball games. Homecoming events this year include a parade, an alumni art show and pre-game tailgating. “Homecoming is an opportunity for students, alumni, faculty and staff to celebrate UNC Asheville,” said Kevan Frazier, associate vice chancellor for alumni. “While traditionally it is centered around our great men’s and women’s hasketball teams, the weekend also highlights a number of other UNCA programs. It also celebrates new and old friendships and relationships through a number of social events such as the pre-game tailgate, the alumni reception and annual homeeoming dance.” The 12th annual homecoming parade scheduled to take place Thursday at 12;30 p.m. will feature floats from UNCA student organizations and departments. A pep rally follows the parade.This year’s parade will be different than in previous years, according to Tiffany Hamilton, the main organizer of the homecoming events at the Student Activities and Integrative Learning Center. “The Homecoming Committee includes several staff and students who wanted to enhance this year’s events as much as possible. This year, we added the option for students to do a 30-second skit during the parade, much like the Macy’s Day Parade. This is a perfect time for our students to show off their school spirit toward the basketball teams and coaches who will be participating in the parade,” Hamilton said. On Friday, the opening reception for the Alumni Art Exhibit will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Highsmith University Union Gallery. The gallery will feature Works of art from alumni and will he on display until Feb. 28. The Langston Hughes Project will also present “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz” Friday night 8 p.m. in Lipinsky Auditorium. Hughes’s poetry will be read aloud accompanied by live jazz, played hy the Ron McCurdy Trio. “I am really looking forward to checking out the Langston Hughes jazz concert on Friday utght because it looks like it will he really interesting and different than a lot of events that happen -jEE Homecoming Page 2 I Photo Courtesy of- Student Environmi;ntai. Ci-N'niR Clockwise from left: UNC Asheville students Lena Eastes, freshman; Will Franchot, junior; Kyle Hunter, senior; Camm.e .Fensen, Sir and Be";; Wii.iams, sophomore, spent part of their weekend volunteering for a cleanup at Hommy Creek. UNCA Outdoors and Student Environmental Center sponsored the event in association with River Link in West Asheville on Saturday. For more formation on upcoming outdoor evLts or volunteer opportunities, visit the UNCA Outdoors Web site www.unca.com/reereation. Sports — Bulldogs stuck in three- game rut Nora Stoney Staff Writer NLSTONEY@UNCA.EDU The UNC Asheville men’s basketball team lost two Big South games last week to High Point and VMl, leaving the once unbeaten team now 7-3 in conference play. “We battled hard, but we just didn’t do enough to win,” said Head Coach Eddie Biedenbach of last Wednesday’s 80-71 loss at High Point. The Bulldogs were lead by junior forward Reid Augst who scored a career-high 21 points. “1 felt like we lost because our effort wasn’t there on defense,” Augst said. “We let them penetrate our defense and we didn’t have very good help defense.” The Panthers controlled the first half of the game thanks to strong shooting from the field. High Point guard Arizona Reid scored 32 points against the Bulldogs and the Panthers shot 66 percent overall. See Basketball Page 2 I Medical student thumbs ride from Chapel Hill to UNCA Jon Waiczak Assistant News Editor JMWALCZA@UNCA.EDU High in the Blue Ridge Mountains one frigid January evening, a hitchhiker poked his way around the foundation of a house that burned down almost a century ago, using his iPod for light as he searched for firewood. The forecast called for snow, and the sun was setting fast. He knew he’d better be quick, or he would be in for a long, unpleasant night. With a small pile of kindling situated close by, Aram Harijan, the hitchhiker, pulled out a lighter lent to him by a friend, and reached down to spark a fire. Nothing happened. He cursed the broken lighter, and chided himself for not being better prepared. Violently shivering, Harijan climbed into his one-person tent, and again turned on his iPod, falling asleep to a podcast of a medical lecture. “An iPod is a great survival tool,” he said. “It provides light and mental solace.” The previous day, Harijan, a third-year medical student at UNC Chapel Hill, parked his car a mile from 1-40 in Chapel Hill. He jokingly wrote “California” on a crumpled piece of cardboard and walked to a highway on- ramp, his backpack filled with basic camping supplies, food, a book and his iPod. The first person to pick him up, 30 minutes later, was a woman who used to work for his medical school. She dropped him off at a gas station near her home in Mebane. “I didn’t have to wait but five minutes when a dude that looked like Jesus drove up in an old Toyota Camry,” Harijan said. That “dude” was Wray Bowling, a sophomore interactive media student returning to UNC Asheville from winter break. “He was very clean cut, and his backpack was obviously expensive,” Bowling said. “He wasn’t a bum obviously.” I larijan is far from a bum. He is a successful medical student from a well-to-do South Korean family that immigrated to the United States in 1993. “I was wondering why he would walk onto a highway on- ramp in the dead of winter with only a backpack filled with basic supplies and hitchhike hundreds of miles to Asheville,” Bowling said. Harijan said he was motivated by reading books written by Jack Kerouac, including his seminal work On the Road. He describes himself as having a See Hitcher Page 2 | C0URTE.SY OF AraM HaRIJAN UNC Chapel Hill student Aram Harijan poses on the Blue Ridge Parkway as he hitchhiked 221 miles from Chapel Hill to UNCA. Arts Etc. Black Student Associa tion hosts second-annual Step it Out show, page 8. Features Arts program fosters social skills among the disabled, page 6. Weather
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Feb. 21, 2008, edition 1
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