Home for the Summer
If you are going home for the summer,
you’re probably approaching the return to fam
ily and friends with mixed feelings. On the one
hand, you look forward to seeing everyone from
home, enjoying some long awaited and well-de
served rest & recuperation, eating home-cooked
meals, and just hanging out. The flip-side of
summer approaching is that your new friends •
(and maybe your new love interest) will all be
going in different directions and will probably
be geographically distant from you. Your new
found sense of independence and self-reliance
after being away from home for the past nine
months may be challenged. Relationships at
home may be different, and some adjustments
will need to be made as you transition into life
at home. Fortunately, there are some things
you can do now to help make your transition to
summer at home a better experience for both
you and for your family.
One thing you can do is to prepare your
self now to expect changes in your relation
ships at home. You know that you’ve changed
over the past months, but your family may not
realize how much until you return home. Many
times, parents welcome your new found inde
pendence, but have difficulty “switching gears”
and lapse back into relating to you in the way
they did before you left. Accept that there will
be a learning curve for everyone You can help
by talking with your parents. Help them to get
to know the new you by discussing your new
interests, telling them about your new friends.
By: Carmen Lentz
and your school experiences over the past year.
Communicating helps your parents to better
understand how you’ve changed and v«Il also
make them feel more a part of your world now.
Accept that things at home may have
changed too. Sometimes, students return home
and want things to be just like they were when
they left. Realize that your family and friends
have all changed since you went away, and
try not to be overly critical of the changes you
find
It will also be helpful if you and your
parents can have a discussion early on about
setting appropriate expectations around po
tential sources of conflict while you are home.
You want to be treated like an adult, so you
need to act like one too. Discuss hot button
issues like curfew times up front, and try to
come to a decision everyone can be ok with.
Discuss what you’ll do if something unexpect
ed happens and your plans change.
Plan to discuss household chores and
what will be expected of you. Home is prob
ably going to start feeling more and more like
“my parent’s house” as opposed to “my house”
the more you are away. If the old rules don’t
apply anymore, suggest a compromise that you
feel is fair to everyone. Some things will likely
stay the same, but now may also be a good
time to re-negotiate some things. For example,
maybe your Mom did your laundry while you
were living at home, but you’ve taken on that
responsibility now. Clear communication will
help avoid future misunderstandings.
Stay in touch with new friends and old
friends over the summer. Keep in touch with
college friends and nurture your new relation
ships while you are away. Just as everyone
else sees changes in you, you’ll also see
changes in your old high school friends. You
may find you still connect with many of them,
but some friendships may not hold the same
interest for you that they did in high school.
Accept that you may not connect with the same
people in the same way as before, and some
friendships will fade. Happily though, you may
also find new shared interests with other old
high school friends that will form the basis for
a new relationship with them.
Most importantly, enjoy your summer!
Take advantage of the free time you have to do
the things that you couldn’t do during the past
two semesters at school. Get back into your ex
ercise routine, read for pleasure, and do what
ever those things are that make you happy!
Botox or Bo-not
By; Melody Kirkpat^clc
Cosmetic procedures are widely used
to enhance and beautify some features of a
persons appearance. Most cosmetic procedures
come at a big cost both financially and some
times emotionally. There have been cases in
which cosmetic procedures have gone horribly
wrong and other cases in which satisfaction was
granted. The price people pay for beauty can be
dangerous and sometimes deadly.
Botox is known as a toxin that is pro
duced by a bacterium . The name of the bacte
rium is called Clostridium Botulinum. 1 don’t
mean to alarm any body but this means that
if large amounts of Botox enters your body it
can lead to food poisoning. The FDA (food and
drug administration) has approved small dos
ages of Botox to be used to help relax certain
muscles in the face. As we know Botox is used
to erase or smooth wrinkles and lines on the
face. It takes three to seven days to see results.
It is also used to stop uncontrollable blinking
and it helps treat an ailment known as lazy eye.
A fine needle is used to inject Botox
directly into the muscle and it stops the muscle
from contracting. This causes the wrinkles or
lines to relax and soften. A headache which
can last a day or drooping eyelids can be a side
affect of Botox injections. These side affects
don’t last very long they usually go away in
under three weeks.
Terri Hatcher who is one of the stars
from “Desperate Housewives”, was recently in
the press for allegedly receiving Botox injec
tions. As usual the media hounds stars like
Hatcher and it was stated that Botox has made
her face so stiff that she was unable to make
any expressions. In fact when we are viewing
some actors/actresses on high definition we can
see all their flaws clearer than on regular televi
sion. Terri Hatcher denies these accusations and
claims she has never had any cosmetic proce
dures.
There are other celebrities that have
been rumored to have Botox treatments like
Sylvester Stallone, Madonna and Joan Rivers.
It doesn’t surprise me that Joan Rivers gets a
regular dosage of Botox treatments because in
my opinion she is a cosmetic surgery junkie. I
remember watching her on TV a few years ago
and she admitted to having plenty of different
cosmetic surgeries and encouraged others to do
the same.
If you are considering any type of cos
metic procedure always consult a licensed Der
matologist or make sure your doctor is board
certified. It is also important that you admit all
medications that you are taking at that time and
if you are having any health concerns also tell
the doctor.
What isAMF?
From; StafiFReports
Many college students experience the
death of a friend or family member while away
at school, yet frequently little is available on
campuses to provide support beyond psycho
logical counseling. Loss is especially difficult
during college because of academic pressures,
distance from family, and peers who feel un
comfortable discussing death. Therefore, thou
sands of grieving college students feel alone,
which creates social problems, declines in
academic performance, and sometimes, psycho
logical issues.
Fortunately, the National Students of
Ailing Mothers and Fathers (AMF) Support
Network (http://www.studentsofamf.org/) has
been created by students for students coping
with the illness or loss of a loved one. Stu
dents can get help to start chapters on their own
campuses, which can offer peer-support groups.
provide service opportunities to fight back
against terminal illness, and also provide sup
port and information on their website.
Please take a moment to learn more at
www.StudentsofAMF.oix, share this informa
tion with others, and let me know if you’d like
to connect with other students interested in
bringing StudentsofAMF to St. Andrews.