Let the Star work for you

The edit you’re reading now wouldn’t be here without the First Amendment.

In fact, neither would the Northern Star. A simple 45-word statement guarantees freedom of speech and the press, among other rights, and allows newspapers like this to exist.

Those of us here at the Star work hard every day to bring the campus and the DeKalb community in-depth news and commentary on issues we feel are important. That second part can’t be complete without your help.

The Star has many outlets for community participation, with everything from story ideas to letters to the editor. While the newspaper employs more than 140 students, we also ask for your input to make sure we really cover what we should be covering.

Just look around the pages you see in front of you right now. This edit is the opinion of the Star and appears on a daily basis. It is written by students, a group of five editors selected to represent the opinion of the whole newspaper. Topics range from campus groups to the NIU administration to who we think you should vote for as mayor or Student Association president.

Let’s just say we agree to disagree.

Next is the “Your Opinion” section. This includes letters to the editor written by you, the reader. It is the best way for people to get their written opinions in the paper. The Star has the say-so when it comes to printing these letters, but we try and print everything that comes across our desks.

If the written word isn’t your specialty, give “NIU Speaks” a call at 753-9642. You can leave a message voicing your opinion about a certain subject and it will be printed in the paper along with your name.

You can also vote for one of four options on our daily Web poll, located at www.star.niu.edu. The new version of our Web site also includes message boards and convenient ways to send us story ideas and letters through e-mail at [email protected].

In the meantime, e-mail one of our columnists when you read something that is effective. The Star needs feedback from its readers. We really are here for you.

Freshmen: Stride with NIU pride

Annie Glidden Road can be a disillusioning experience. Not only does it take careful maneuvering to avoid getting hit by automobiles travelling faster than the speed of light, it takes a thick skin and a loud mouth — at least for freshmen.

The first couple of weeks are difficult. Especially on a Saturday night around 2:30 a.m. After spending hours socializing in and around Greek Row, hoards of freshmen take the walk of shame down Annie Glidden Road back to the dorms only to be teased and taunted by drivers-by. “Dorm rat!” is one term of endearment I recall hearing on my way back to Lincoln Hall a few years ago. My first reaction was anger, but just before I mustered up the perfect four-letter word to share with the mobilized heckler, the car quickly sped into the rising sun and I was left cursing the day I ever decided to go to college.

Instead of being the one walking from the bookstore back to the residence halls with 500 pounds worth of books and a Northern Illinois T-shirt courtesy of TCF in hand, I drive by and observe droves of freshmen and remember the transition into college as a timorous yet bittersweet experience.

Some look at college as an opportunity to get a degree, get away from home, gain a greater sense of independence and to party until the fuzz come-a-knockin.’ Others look at college as two tickets to yuppie paradise.

There are ways to achieve some if not all of these commonly shared goals and it all depends on the first year — the most crucial year — in one’s college career.

The first and foremost thing an incoming freshman must do is burn his or her suitcase. Well, burning may be a little extreme and may call for disciplinary action, so store it under your bed or put a padlock on the zipper and throw away the keys.

The first weekend is always the hardest, especially if you’re freaked out by your roommate and his insatiable desire for sucking the air out of empty cans of whipped cream or her lifesize poster of Justin Timberlake hanging above her desk. Although you may not share the same interests or lifestyles, you do share a room the size of an armpit so it’s best to be open-minded and willing to compromise.

Whereas other state universities carry reputations as being party schools, NIU is notorious for being a “suitcase school,” evidenced by a mass exodus in the form of a line of traffic at any given toll booth on a Friday afternoon. If students actually stuck around, they’d experience a thriving social scene, an opportunity to embrace a new circle of friends and maybe even a chance to spot a T.A. hugging porcelain at a local drinking establishment.

Speaking of hugging porcelain, if this past weekend was the first time you’ve gotten home past midnight, try your darndest not to get too excited and spend every waking, breathing moment passed out in a drunken stupor. Having your very own crash pad can be a liberating experience, but moving back home after you’ve failed all of your courses is not.

Being in college also brings about a gratifying sensation upon the utterance of one tiny little syllable — “free.” It’s easy to appreciate hearing it, except when it’s coming out of the mouths of people with plastic smiles who desperately hang on to clipboards and credit card applications. Free slinkies, free candy bars and free T-shirts donned with respective credit card logos may be difficult to appease.

What’s even harder is trying to avoid relentless creditors tracking you down to confiscate your first newborn son 10 years from now.

The best way to ensure a well-rounded college experience is to become involved with one of the nearly 200 student organizations at NIU. Whether you’re deeply concerned with the welfare of the environment, looking to flex your philanthropic muscle or to become an active voice in the student government, there’s an organization specifically designed to cater to your interests. It’s a great way to network with people who share your ideals and goals, as well as a chance to change a common misconception that NIU students are lethargic and have no desire to part from their remote controls.

In a few years, you’ll be observing fresh new faces walking around campus while you look back at your year of being a dorm rat as being what you made of it.

It’s all fun and games until someone tells a fat joke

If ever there was a time when beer guts and love handles were comedy standards, we sadly have reached it.

Maybe you’ve seen the latest television promo for NBC’s upcoming comedy “Emeril” — a show with such terrible buzz that Paula Poundstone would be a viable guest star at this point.

The show’s star, the real-life cook Emeril Lagasse, talks a little about the show in one of those pseudo “insider looks” behind the scenes. The commercial, though, intersperses feeble attempts at humor that make the commercial memorable for all the wrong reasons.

You see, all the people on the cast are fat, because the food Lagasse cooks is so good. And … um, well, that’s basically the gist of the show.

The focus on weight always has been a part of the comedy climate. Silent movie fallen star Fatty Arbuckle didn’t get his name for nothing, and his work took full advantage of his girth. But any comic with half a conscience will tell you that there must be guidelines to the guffaws. “What’s the deal with cancer?” won’t fly in any sensitive locale.

The entertainment industry’s near future offers better glimpses than the ill-fated television show. The Farrelly brothers’ “Shallow Hal” is supposed to take up the cause of inner beauty underneath the fat suits. And Kevin Smith’s “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” offers the fat jokes, but that is acceptable because Smith is making jokes about himself. There is a difference.

But that distasteful commercial, a few seconds demeaning a whole culture of overweight Americans, isn’t as simple as “funny” or “not funny.”

Although the wording can change, we should look at what makes us laugh with one simple thought: We make fun of what others can change, and keep sacred (or whisper behind the back) what can’t be helped.

“But food and weight is a choice, right?” you say. “Put down the Twinkies and lift some weights, bub!”

A simple glance at the true melting pots of America doesn’t help matters. That’s right, I’m talking about waterparks.

A visit to the Wisconsin Dells-based Noah’s Ark in early August didn’t help matters. For every singular instance of bellies spilling over waistlines, there was a whole family that strained the scales. And that should make us contemplate rather than snicker.

Can it be helped? For goodness sake, I hope so. Those images were quite disheartening, and those folks aren’t just forever banned from Abercrombie catalogues. These folks forever know the pain of bad jokes and unsightly double-takes.

I used to think in my skinny glory that weight problems fell into that “other” category and deserved all the creative and demeaning wordwork. But just as weight is added calorie by calorie, an opinion can change comment by comment.

My breaking point came when all the comments about potential girlfriends I heard first focused on weight, proceeded by looks and then personality. One comment from one person, I could understand. But there were many comments from many people, and the fat jokes I could stand no more.

Certainly, we have reached just the tip of a whole iceberg in what we know about the human body. Genetics or bad habits? A lack of exercise or a chemical lack of motivation? The reasons why America is fattening up are more varied than even the best buffet line.

So I offer up this challenge to all the readers, because NBC and most of the entertainment industry is just out of earshot. Remember that those jokes seek and destroy the morale of every person you target. So what if you’re skinny and can’t understand the fat culture? Swallow that witty one-liner and be a better person for it.

Good taste is good taste, after all.