What An Opportunity

Archive for 2012|Yearly archive page

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Beauty.

In Life on December 28, 2012 at 4:18 pm

 

Winsome array of pigment on leaves

She holds her hand on her first day of school

Laughter in the activities that bring us together

 

Beginning snow, through the glass, close to the flame

Satiated hunger…a place of warmth for him before walking the streets again

Anticipation pulling the child towards the chimney on the twenty-fourth day

 

Paths taken in light rain

Swallow’s song that gently lands in the ear and accompanies the heavy clouds

Flashes of the aureate and flavescent

 

The most wonderful shade of blue

The mess of ice cream before her mother takes notice

Walking through those fields of flowers in full bloom

 

That which persuades your heart

That which captures your wonder

That which makes you consider how you ever got along without…

 

That, which tugs at the strength of eternity, is beauty.

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2 Chainz: the non-sequitur king of the world

In Culture on December 20, 2012 at 3:53 pm
2 Chainz is tearing up the mainstream hip-hop game right now, but I'm onto his method.

2 Chainz is tearing up the mainstream hip-hop game right now, but I’m onto his method.

I have a confession: while I’m working out, I enjoy “ratchet rap” – the in-your-face, ignorant hip-hop that is in no way intelligent or even moderately thought-provoking. Hip-hop gets me going in the morning and puts me to sleep at night. The genre is a major component of my life, and I consider it a true form of expression and a pivotal outlet for many kids who need the positive distraction. Some of hip-hop’s deepest modern artists – like Lupe Fiasco and Macklemore – send my head spinning and leave it in motion for days.

But some of the stuff just doesn’t make sense, and 2 Chainz is the leader of the tomfoolery. 2 Chainz is one of the hottest mainstream hip-hop artists right now. He even has a new Champs Sports commercial. Lately, as I’ve been running around my neighborhood or lifting weights in the gym, his illogical music has pierced through my headphones and left me thinking, wait … what in the world did he just say?

I may be the color of mayonnaise, but I’m onto you, 2 Chainz, and it’s time to inform the world.

The phrase “non sequitur” is Latin for “it does not follow.” As Wikipedia states: “In a non sequitur, the conclusion could be either true or false, but the argument is fallacious because there is a disconnection between the premise and the conclusion.”

When 2 Chainz is featured in songs – notably hits “Mercy” by Pusha T and “Bands A Make Her Dance” by Juicy J – he sticks to making obscure food references (such as ketchup, cheese, and bread) while discussing women in extreme detail, referring to alcohol and drugs, and displaying extreme affection for his coupe. But his most popular individual songs follow the formula below.

Step One: Come up with a really catchy beat

Step Two: Propose some deep, reflective question

Step Three: Respond to the question with a completely irrelevant, shallow line – videlicet, a non sequitur

For analysis, let’s look at his two biggest songs of late.

1. “I’m Different”

True difference is respectable and, quite frankly, it’s rare among stars in modern society. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it: “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” So for acknowledging your difference, 2 Chainz, I salute you.

However, it’s unclear just how you are different. “I’m different, yeah, I’m different,” he raps in the chorus. Good! I’m glad to see that. Now tell us how you’re different.

“Pull up to the scene with my ceiling missing,” ummm, “Pull up to the scene with my ceiling missing.”

Question: what is so different about driving around in a convertible? Plenty of people do that. You just leave me wondering and never answer the question of how, in fact, you are different, 2 Chainz.

2. “Birthday Song”

Once every month at the student publication I run, The Spectrum, a few of the arts editors put together a Mixtape Monthly in which they review the hottest hip-hop set to release. In October, they described 2 Chainz’s “Birthday Song” as follows: “That song alone will have you ready to flip glass tables and throw diamonds into the crowd. If you have subwoofers in your car, we highly recommend playing this song as ride up music for anywhere you go.”

I agree! It’s amazing pump-up music, and it’ll probably get you more hype than anything from Lupe or Macklemore. But it’s from 2 Chainz, so does it make sense? Of course not. Look at the chorus.

“They ask me what I do and who I do it for.” I’m sure a lot of people have wondered this, 2 Chainz. Who do you rap for? Who was your influence, your role model to get caught up in this high-octane rap game?

“And how I come up with this sh** up in the studio.” You do think of some absurd lines. So what’s your answer? Who IS your inspiration? And how DO you come up with “this sh**?”

“All I want for my birthday is a big booty hoe.” Come on. You can’t be serious, man. “All I want for my birthday is a big booty hoe.”

I mean, if that’s what you really want, enjoy your birthday, but you still didn’t answer any of the questions you posed.

If that sequence doesn’t prove it, I don’t know if anything will: 2 Chainz is one of the all-time masters of the non sequitur.

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Twitter’s Indelible Impact on Sports

In Culture, Life, Sports on December 14, 2012 at 11:59 am

Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has become nothing less than a societal phenomenon. Everyone, it seems, from famous athletes and celebrities to your corner grocer is tweeting and following others, trying to share their thoughts on the state of the world, stay up-to-date on their particular flavor of news or gossip, or just trying to rub virtual elbows with the rich, famous, and influential. The sheer number of people using Twitter today inherently provides the service with a tremendous amount of power; with a great reach to a vast audience comes immense opportunity. Social media  is a profoundly effective tool when utilized correctly, and what arena could be better-suited to take full advantage of these resources than sports? No entity’s success is more dependent on its engagement of the population than a sports organization, and no entity provokes the same kind of loyalty and passion within its affiliates. Indeed, a sports organization’s very existence is predicated on a mutually gratifying relationship with the fans. As a result, any athletic brand with some semblance of forward thinking is working hard on improving its social media profile today. It is critical to winning over the fans.

Consider Notre Dame Football’s Twitter profile as an example of social media’s evolution. One of the newest practices in college sports is to essentially tweet the play-by-play of an athletic contest.  @NDFootball tweets frequent updates during Irish football games, often maintaining a furious pace. ND Football tweeted 102 times on October 13, 2012, the date of Notre Dame’s overtime victory over Stanford; this was a vital date for Notre Dame because that win catapulted the Irish into true legitimacy on their way to an undefeated regular season, #1 BCS ranking and a berth in the National Championship game. These kinds of play-by-play tweets are such a cool way for fans to connect with the team, because unlike following on GameCast or another reporting service, a team’s official Twitter account has the element of being explicitly connected to the team itself, and the game updates are presented from this perspective. All this is very important to a shared fan experience. ND Football also live tweets from Brian Kelly’s press conferences on Tuesdays and his radio show on Thursdays, sharing information directly from the source with fans who hang on every word but could have never gotten into a private press conference. These kinds of things accentuate the strength of social media by emphasizing the immediate availability of inside information for fans.

If I could define Twitter in one word from a sports fan’s perspective, that word would be “access.” Access to this inside information, access to contact with athletes, access to places that were never navigable before. The thought of interacting with one’s favorite football team is incredibly exciting for any die-hard fan; yet via Twitter, this is a very distinct possibility. In a revolutionary turn of events, anyone has the ability to interact with any other person who has a Twitter account, including famous athletes and celebrities. I just imagine if someone would have told me ten years ago that I could have insight into the day to day thoughts of my favorite NFL players, and that I could tell them exactly how much I admire or revile them, I would have said that was crazy. How wrong I would have been. Twitter has brought fan, team, and player closer together, and this is truly a great thing for both parties.

Twitter has also revolutionized the sports world and its media outlets because of the nature of news. In the journalism business, arriving first to a story is a significant victory, but social media has taken breaking news to the point of near immediacy. As a result, the watchful eye of national/local media outlets can catch what insiders on these Twitter sites are divulging, and must be quick to immediately jump on the story. The staggering impact that social media has had on the reporting of information cannot be overstated. With Twitter, you do not have to wait a day for the local newspaper to digest the game and spit out a form article covering its events; you can follow it in real time, through the lens of an official affiliate of your favorite team. It is now rare to not have access to a blow-by-blow Twitter account of any major sporting event. That is a radically different and awesome opportunity that has not been around for very long, but it is spreading like wildfire.

Indeed, the impact that social media has had on the sporting world as a whole cannot be overstated. For fans, sponsors, and media outlets alike, through its immediacy and intimacy of information, Twitter has revolutionized athletics in an astonishingly short time. Twitter feeds share a common importance to fans; inside information. Sports fans rabidly consume information that they perceive as exclusive or special, and firsthand accounts from a source closely affiliated with an athletic organization definitely qualify. News has become nearly instantaneous. We can have virtual conversations with our favorite athletes. As a fervent sports fan, this is an exquisitely beautiful world to live in. Thank you, Twitter.

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Drop-backs and tattoos: an inked sports writer’s response to David Whitley

In Culture, Life, Sports on November 30, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Kaepernick

Sparked by a Sporting News column, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s tattoos have been the source of heated discussion across national sports media the past two days.

Tattoos are the hot topic and columnist David Whitley is under fire. The reason? On Wednesday, Whitley published a column entitled “Colin Kaepernick ushers in an inked-up NFL quarterbacking era.”

Here’s the gist: Whitley doesn’t like tattoos, new 49ers QB Kaepernick (a good-character 25-year-old from Milwaukee who is thriving as the new guy under center in San Francisco) has a myriad of permanent markings on his body, and Whitley thinks Kaepernick is setting a bad example for kids.

I am in a unique position to respond. I am a young man who is: a white guy, a sports journalist, a former athlete who considered playing college basketball and probably would have won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest one day if that had happened, an avid NFL fan since birth, a business professional, someone who has pondered if athletes should be considered role models, and a canvas of two tattoos.

Hear me out.

First, I am the editor in chief of a college newspaper. I worked in the sports department at a local television station for a year, I often write sports articles for two local daily newspapers, and I’ve also done freelance reporting for The New York Times. While I am young (21 years old) and Whitley calls himself a “dinosaur,” I am a sports writer just like him. And while I may not have the clout he has as a writer for AOL and Sporting News and I don’t want to cause a ruckus by publishing this column in a publication, the Internet gives me the same ability to express my thoughts through a small blog I share with two of my closest friends.

I gave Mr. Whitley my eyes and undivided attention. Now I am asking for his.

I promise it won’t take too long, but I have a whole bunch of thoughts.

While my two (yes, just two) tattoos don’t show up in a business setting, they’re both large and noticeable. Additionally, my newspaper (The Spectrum) published a point/counterpoint section debating tattoos last year and my co-worker Lisa Khoury’s anti-tattoo column went viral. I know Lisa and I know she’s a good person. I’m sure Whitley is, too.

I’m not here to debate if Whitley is racist, as some writers have asserted. I suppose the criticism is warranted because he compared Kaepernick to a prisoner and commended white quarterbacks, such as Peyton Manning, while demeaning black quarterbacks, namely Michael Vick. However, I trust it was an oversight and his response is genuine. I ask you to do the same, as readers tend to assume the worst in writers and fail to grant the benefit of the doubt. I am a white male like Whitley, but I grew up in the inner city of Buffalo and I’m not your typical “wealthy suburban prep” (in fact, as you can read via that link, the stereotype bothers me to no end). I think Whitley’s two adopted black daughters are enough evidence that he is far from a bigot.

Instead, I’m here to talk about his assertion that “a person’s body is a temple, and you don’t cover temples in graffiti.” I saw the overwhelmingly negative response to Lisa Khoury’s column firsthand, and I don’t wish to degrade Mr. Whitley or label him as closed-minded, as other blogs have done. This is simply the frank opinion of a developing journalist — who is probably similar to the person Whitley was when he was 21 — who has tattoos, doesn’t see them as an issue whatsoever, and has no problem telling the world.

Young? Absolutely. Naive? Hardly.

I got my first tattoo when I was 19 years old. It is scripted: “he conquers who conquers himself,” a translation of the Latin saying “vincit qui se vincit.”

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“he conquers who conquers himself”

Mr. Whitley, this tattoo is not a way “to pay homage to [my] religion, children and motorcycle gang.” It is rather a constant reminder that life is not about me. Society preaches arrogance to college students, and it’s easy to buy in. It’s easy to be a selfish young person. Sometimes, that’s a huge problem for me. The phrase “he conquers who conquers himself” is a reminder that I will not accomplish anything in life when I just set out to serve myself. I won’t leave anything behind.

As Winston Churchill said, “You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.” That’s a concept I often struggle with. Believe it or not, every time I see my tattoo, I go out aiming to make someone’s day. I aim to do something bigger than serve myself.

The tattoo is also a metaphoric bridge. When people happen to see it and ask what it says, I’m able to tell them the philosophy behind it. Would not the world be a better place if everyone were to “conquer him/herself” and start serving others? I think it would. I tend to think you would agree. That’s why I have the message permanently etched into my chest.

But my back, well, that’s the tattoo that means the most to me. Here’s a photo:

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

As I said, I was an athlete growing up, so everyone who sees this tattoo and doesn’t know me well assumes it was my high school number. But this number belongs to someone much more talented and generally much better than I. This number belongs to life-long friend Zack McLeod, who suffered a serious head injury during a football game in 2008 and has not had an easy recovery. Here is a basic synopsis.

Inside the number 16 is Zack’s favorite Bible verse, II Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Zack epitomizes the perfect kid — the “little Dutch boy” Whitley so admires. He was one of the best athletes I’ve ever met and yet he was the nicest kid — the kind of young man you can only wish your kid will grow up to be. He was humble. He had conquered himself.

And then the injury happened.

It didn’t — and still doesn’t — make sense to me. Why do such bad things happen to such good people? The tattoo is my outlet for telling others about Zack. If I were to tell you the full story, I can guarantee it would change the way you see the world. The back tattoo is also my permanent reminder that anyone’s life could come crashing down at any given moment — no matter how kind, talented, or good you are. Appreciate what you have. Show love. For more on this “pay-it-forward, carpe-diem” philosophy, check out a column I wrote at the beginning of this semester.

Maybe you, Mr. Whitley, don’t need reminders to be a good, selfless person. Maybe you think my tattoos would make “Jerry Richardson clutch his chest in horror,” like you assert Kaepernick’s will if he ever hoists the Lombardi Trophy.

You may very well have not made it this far, but I applaud you if you have. Stick with me. I’m almost done.

Am I not justified in being a professional with these two constant reminders on my skin? Does that discredit me and make me look like a prisoner, sir? Do I resemble the “98.7 percent of the inmates at California’s state prison [who] have tattoos?” I’ve never had any trouble with the law, I’m a Dean’s List student, and I excel in my work — but I do have two tattoos.

Mr. Whitley, I know you think I’ve missed your point and I also know you think “tattoo removal is going to be huge industry in the coming years,” but that industry won’t be getting any of my money. Not a dollar.

I was grappling with this column in class today when my Spanish teacher started talking about tattoos. A student sitting next to me asked if I had any, and I answered in the affirmative.

He scoffed. “You really want something permanently on your skin?” His judgment was clear, as if he was saying: “You’ll regret that in five years and never land a job.”

Then he took a big gulp of lemon-lime Gatorade and sighed, “I drank way too much last night.”

I spent last night producing a newspaper that would be read by over 10,000 people and working on a documentary for class until 4 a.m. But, again, I have two tattoos (which, though I’m adamant they deeply affect me, are about as meaningful to many — including the young man in class — as barbed wire on someone’s bicep), so I’m probably not on pace to land a successful job.

You ended your column with: “If you can’t draw the tattoo line at NFL quarterback, you can’t draw them anywhere.”

Consider this: Maybe an inked-up NFL quarterbacking era isn’t the worst thing in the world. Maybe, in fact, it can be a positive thing. Maybe painting the walls of our “temples” with impactful, uplifting messages that mean a lot to each individual isn’t a sign of the Apocalypse.

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What makes a leader great?

In Sports on November 15, 2012 at 10:26 am

What makes a leader great? Are the qualities of dynamic leaders tangible, or is their presence more intangibly but still keenly felt? Do personal traits carry the greatest weight, or is it simply a leader’s actions that have the most profound impact? I contend that each of these questions must be answered, “Yes.” Leadership is an all-encompassing, comprehensive state of being, which radically transforms the circumstances in which a leader lives. I know this because I had the privilege of experiencing powerful, transformational leadership on an extremely personal basis during my sophomore year of high school.

In the most impressionable time of a young man’s life, his high school authority figures often have a profound impact. Administrators, guidance counselors, and teachers all play an integral role in shaping him into the adult he is becoming. But for a high school athlete, I believe it is clear that the coach is the most influential. Consider this: in high school, while each of my teachers had me in class for fewer than forty minutes a day, varsity basketball coach Seth Edwards had my rapt attention for well over two hours. And he took full advantage of that time. Though he unfortunately left for a different coaching position after my first season of varsity basketball, his impact was profoundly felt on our entire team for the remainder of our careers. Seth was an extremely effective leader because of his competitive fire, dedication, passion, and loyalty, and I was privileged to experience his leadership as my coach.

These characteristics became apparent immediately; in our first meeting as a team, I was struck by the powerful presence that Coach Seth brought to the team. He had led the school to two conference championships in three years, including a 23-4 record the season before, and even sitting in that cafeteria, you could feel the tangible sense of just how badly he wanted to win each and every game. That competitive fire rubbed off on all of us immediately, and I know we left that meeting energized and fired up to get after it the next day. It’s a good thing, too, because that desire to win was the only thing that would help us save face at all that year. Eight of our eleven players had never played high school basketball, and that kind of inexperience often makes for an extremely long season. But Coach Seth’s competitive fire was contagious, and soon we would hate losing as much as he did. Still… that didn’t change the fact that we simply had no skill.

I’m sure that fact became apparent the first day of practice. After the stacked teams Coach Edwards had put on the court in previous seasons, I can’t imagine how we must have looked to him. But he took our severe lack of skill in stride, gulped, and started at the very beginning. From the opening tip-off of the season to the final buzzer, I was amazed at the constancy and quality of his instruction. We literally began at the very foundations of basketball skill – learning what to do with your feet on defense and how to make a proper layup – and our bunch of misfits learned a whole lot about basketball in four months. He showed up fifteen minutes early every single day for practice. Did I mention that he was twenty-six years old? He had started coaching straight out of college. Chasing awful basketball players around a gym seems like a rough way to spend your evenings as an athletic, charismatic twenty-something, but he never even blinked. In fact, I think he became more dedicated as the losses piled up… and that dedication sustained us more than anything else could have.

We started 0-9. Then we stemmed the tide of losing by beating the only team in our league worse than ours… and followed this massive step in the right direction by losing seven more games in a row. So we were 1-16 at that point, but after being laughed out of more than a few gyms early in the season, we had gradually begun to make some games close until the end. Coach Seth’s passion had more than a little to do with that. I remember we were playing a particularly poor game against a conference rival that he particularly disliked; I believe we were down 22 points at the half. As we sat in the locker room, we began to discuss what we were doing wrong until Coach entered, enraged at our lack of effort. He screamed until his face turned purple and the veins burst out of his neck, then grabbed a Powerade water bottle holder and shattered it against the wall. Plastic shrapnel flew everywhere. We played the second half as if our behinds were on fire… and almost came back. He nearly scared us to victory. But we lost, and I will never forget practice the next day. We literally wrote out our living wills beforehand in anticipation of our collective death via exercise. I could have sworn we were going to run until we collapsed. But instead of taking out his frustration at our poor effort out on us, his passion for success led him to change up our practices to create competition within the team, so each of us could make the others better in scrimmages and drills. That practice was the most fundamental, most intense, and most passionate I have ever been a part of, in any sport. His passion was rubbing off on us, and from that point on, we would be no easy out.

Make no mistake about it… we were terrified of Seth. He had a temper and he was not afraid to lose it. His competitive fury threatened to boil over at any point. He was extremely hard on us and had incredibly high expectations for our performance in every area. He expected us to dress well, arrive early, perform well academically, and hold each other accountable for these things; but if we held up our end of the bargain, we knew he would do anything for us. His fierce loyalty transformed our attitudes. You could see that he put his heart and soul into the season; everything he had was on the line for us. So we responded. He created a brotherhood out of eleven guys that had never even gotten along outside of the gym. He created an us vs. them mentality that gave us an edge and brought us more closely together. By the end of the season, we were playing some really good basketball. Our defense was fearless. We played our last regular season game on the road against the #2 team in our conference, who had wiped the floor with us in the season opener. We played our best game to that point in the season and beat them by seven points. That win eked us into the playoffs as the last seed, and as Coach Seth so aptly put it as he romped around the locker room with us, “Cinderella’s going to the dance!”

Our playoff game vs. the #1 seed in the conference was one of the most fiercely competitive games I have ever been a part of. We had not played them within shouting distance in either of our first two contests, but the playoffs were a different story. We came within a missed last-second 3-pointer of winning the game, as we played the most gutsy, hard-fought game you can imagine. Coach Seth had taken our team of nobodies, a team that had started from ground zero, and through his competitive fire, dedication, passion, and loyalty, we had come one shot away from shocking the world and taking out the #1 seed, who went on to become conference champions. Seth got a new job the next year and moved to Florida to teach and coach at a high school down there. But he had laid a foundation, and three seasons later, three freshmen members of that 2-17 team cut down the nets as senior captains in Binghamton, NY, as not only conference champs, but state champions. Though I only played one season for him, I know that I will never forget the impact that Coach Seth had on me and on my basketball career. And as I sit here six years later, still remembering so keenly how he affected my life, I think that is the unmistakable mark of a truly dynamic leader.

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Fall.

In Life on November 5, 2012 at 4:38 pm

These leaves of gold scatter the earth

Priceless in their simplicity. Kissed by the sun.

Reflecting the nurturing consistency of nature.

Seasons rise and fall with varying intensity and grace.

 

Let the sun peek through, leaving remnants of iridescence

Let those hands slip into pockets as the air breathes through

Let the clear sky and the foliole be lost on the display spectrum

How does one measure that which cannot be explained?

 

Walk with me across this road not taken,

And recount those many fears.

Then let it go for,

There is no better feeling than knowing you belong.

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A track and a train.

In Life on October 28, 2012 at 7:26 pm

 

Howl howl gaff gaff

It’s always easier to say after the moment has passed

Easier to do after the instant is through,

For it was you, always you.

 

Howl howl gaff gaff

The jostle of the mechanical beast on its path

The irreversible triumph of technology’s wrath

Taking on all the wishes of that child as he holds close to his mother’s waist

 

Howl howl gaff gaff

Staring out the window as these memories fly by,

Monumental events blur into a single image that is the reflection

What? How? Why?

 

Howl howl gaff gaff

Can’t tell you where the train is going

Yet the destination seems as familiar as it is arcane

That place beyond the light where there are no tracks

 

And my heart beats faster than safe, faster than the train in my mind.

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Burn.

In Life on October 18, 2012 at 5:42 pm

*buzz*

The pager goes off again.

He rolls out of bed and rubs his eyes in disbelief at the time.

The subtle hint of gasoline disseminates around the small apartment as he climbs into the shower.

His body operates on auto-pilot as his mind tries to wake.

 

“You look dead”, remarks Johnson as he gets out of his car at the station.

“You getting any sleep?”

He continues on in auto-pilot.

“Suit yourself. Coff…oh wait, you don’t drink coffee, right?”

He shakes his head as his mind comes to.

 

“Hey everyone, gather ’round,” the captain calls as the other firefighters file in.

“Everyone’s here? Ok. Here we go. Got a house fire downtown. 5th one in the past six months. Same M.O. Been empty for years and then up in flames.  Good luck and Godspeed. Move out”

He sits inside the truck as the vehicle whines and weaves through the city streets. The streets lights blur and spin as his head catches up to the moment. The rush of adrenaline hits his bloodstream. So alive. Ready.

 

That’s when he feels the heat.

The house is consumed in flame. The incandescence is felt all the way down the street.

“Let’s move fast. Contain this thing.” Johnson yells as everyone moves.

Everything is a blur as the moment envelopes him.

 

His body moves while he sees everything in slow-motion.

His hands grab a hose and point it towards the fire. His feet shuffle to gain the right trajectory. Eyes peeling left to right to keep people at bay and see the family of fighters working together.

But his mind…his mind hearkens back to earlier that evening. Before the new day had begun in which he found himself.

 

He knew no one in this area wanted to report a stranger in an empty house.

This was the last time. Absolutely the last time. And as he walked out of the structure, an orange flame held to a corner of the 1st floor bedroom.

It didn’t take to long after that. He stood a little ways down the street and watched it in admiration. A small grin found its way to his face as the flames danced. The wood would cave under the immense burden. Such beauty.

 

He snaps back to the present and everything is under control.

A win for the family.

And as they all venture back to the station, a supposed truth is buried deep in his tired mind. Under the stress, fear, loneliness, and regret is one beautiful lie:

I am doing the right thing.

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Three subtle ways to fight the beginning-of-the-semester health battle

In Life on October 18, 2012 at 2:52 pm

I worked hard to make this progress this summer, but with the fall comes fall semester, and that poses a whole new challenge.

The beginning of a new semester is the devil for college students in the eternal battle to live a healthy lifestyle. It’s easy to gain 10 or 15 pounds and lose the six-pack you worked for all summer. I’ve been there, and I was on my way again in September until I caught myself.

You’re busy getting back into the swing of things – teachers are already assigning ridiculous amounts of homework, you may have a new, stressful job, and your friends want to go out and drink almost every night of the week. Just one week off – one week of ‘I can skip this workout and order a pizza because I have a Spanish test, NBD’ – could lead to a semester of apathy. When you look in the mirror in December, you might be disgusted by how you got so out of shape so quickly. Picture the rolls! If that doesn’t get you motivated, nothing will.

I’m a realist; I know your workouts and eating habits during the semester will probably never be as strong as they are over the summer, when you have a lot more free time. Everyone knows the two pillars (diet and exercise) of staying in shape, but here are some less noticeable ways you can keep your body looking sharp:

1. Pack a lunch – It might look lame to brown bag it, but your eating habits are going to suffer if you’re heading off to class or work for the day and you don’t plan ahead. Trust me: You’ll look lamer if you come home from Christmas break looking like a blimp. Try packing a bunch of fruit (plums and peaches are great this time of year, and bananas and clementines are awesome year-round), a water bottle and a couple sandwiches (my go-to lately has been almond butter and sliced banana on wheat bread).

2. Walk for 10 minutes after your workout – Of course this one is contingent on you actually exercising beforehand, but if you find time for a workout, be sure to walk around your block (or on the treadmill) afterward. You can burn 33 percent more calories during a workout if you walk (or ride a bike, just do light cardio) immediately after you finish the exercise regimen, according to 6weeksixpack.com.

I don’t recommend doing more than 10-15 minutes because then it starts to feel like a second workout. I think dreading one workout a day is enough.

3. Sleep! – College students are known to have crazy sleeping habits, but getting eight hours a night is essential if you want to stay in shape. According to health.com: “Researchers at the University of Chicago found that dieters who were well rested lost more fat – 56 percent of their weight loss – than those who were sleep deprived, who lost more muscle mass.”

Sleep can make you a better athlete, too. According to the same website: “A Stanford University study found that college football players who tried to sleep at least 10 hours a night for seven to eight weeks improved their average sprint time and had less daytime fatigue and more stamina.” If you’re tired every day, you’re not going to have motivation to work out. It’s as simple as that.

Don’t be apathetic this fall! You’ll regret it in the summer.

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