Hello Sunshine!

As I ran to the photography lab this morning at 9:00, I couldn't help but notice how warm it was already! Unfortunately my time spent enjoying the sunshine and warmth of the day was short lived as I had to hole up in the Library and finish my Journalism assignment. Sigh...

SO anyhow, here it is. Enjoy!

Fighting for a Cleaner Tomorrow

By Kirstin Le Grice

Upon entering the University of Colorado’s Environmental Center, one is immediately overcome with a sense of tranquility. Dimly lit lights line the ceiling, and plants inhabit not only the windowsills, but the desks and the floor as well.

On a window sill near the entrance sits a Dieffenbachia plant. Upon the information desk rests an orchid that Sarah Dawn, Programs Assistant at the center “rescued from the trash.” Adventure further into the center and one will stumble across at least one Aloe Vera plant, an Umbrella tree, and countless other plants.

Above the entrance leading to the desks of the employees and the student lounge area hangs a beautiful, multicolored painting which reads, “RETHINK, please love your Earth.”

Sarah Dawn might be soft spoken, but her passion for the environment and the center shine through her peaceful demeanor. “I get kind of nerdy about it,” she says with a grin.

Sarah sees great potential in the future of the Center’s online and digital activity. “We haven’t gotten into the vibe of Twitter, but we’re on Facebook,” she says. “Your generation is so talented in using technology,” she adds.

Aside from having a Facebook page, the Environmental Center boasts a very informative website which includes links to a plethora of environmental sites, and information about CU’s current as well as upcoming Green initiatives.

The center’s homepage currently displays a short video as well as a brief overview of CU’s plan to install Solar Panels on the roofs at Coors Event Center along with the roofs of the dorms on campus.

The video found on the website covers Scrape Your Plate Day and sends one simple message: take less food, waste less food.

Along with its multimedia approach, the Environmental Center’s website also contains the Facebook link, and the option to sign up for an online newsletter. Upcoming events are displayed at the top of the home page, with links allowing online readers to access further information pertaining to each event.

One such event advertised at the top of their website is the Live Green Pledge. According to the website, the pledge is asking people to lessen their impact on the Environment “by choosing 3 actions from the Live Green Pledge.” Actions include biking more and driving less, recycling more, turning down the thermostat, and using reusable products.

Each desk proudly displays a large, white Mac. The walls are covered with recycling posters. Above the computer where a CU student diligently types away hangs a poster whose message reads, “Jump into the mainstream, RECYCLE.”

There is a strong Boulder hippie-chic presence within CU’s Environmental Center. At the computers sit longhaired boys wearing Birkenstocks and knitted caps. Sarah Dawn herself wears chunky bangles, colorful rings, and on this particular day, bright lavender colored pants.

The Environmental Center has come a long way since its first primitive days. “Forty years ago it was students collecting recycling in an old bus…I mean it was Grassroots,” says Dawn.

Since then, the Environmental Center has accomplished many feats, including the organization of a bus that shuttles students to and from the ski resorts on the weekends. “Our role on campus has been an advocacy role,” says Dawn.

The Environmental Center is also responsible for the bus passes issued to students at the start of each school year. Sarah Dawn believes in listening to the student’s requests, “that’s where we find out initiatives,” she says. Regarding the bus passes, it all began with a simple request of “hey Trans, what if we had a bus pass? Lets do that,” says Dawn.

Everything in the Environmental Center screams sustainability, right down the to carpeting. “The chairs in the office are made out of recycled components, and the carpet is made from recycled plastic,” says Dawn.

One of the main goals for the Environmental Center is working towards making CU’s campus a zero-waste campus. And, it’s getting there. Solar panels on the roofs of dormitories and Coors Event Center “will produce 140,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year—enough to power 20 medium-sized houses,” according to the center’s website.

Monday

Monday.

A new day.

Grey skies greet me.

Come on sun,

fight on through.

On Sundays I

dream of Mondays

full of cancelled

classes and sunshine.

Warm weather on a

Monday

Lets turn it into a

Fun-Day at the

Creek. Beer and

Bikinis and ice-cold

water daring us to

jump on in.

But today is Monday and,

it is not a Fun-Day.

It is a school day and

off to class I go...

Oh the weather outside is frightful....

While tomorrow I'm sure will look like a winter wonderland, today has been a grey, sleet filled day. Warning signs began to appear around noon as grey clouds began to edge their way into my bedroom view. Later, as I hurried to Willard Hall to retrieve my wallet which had been handed in to the Campus Lost and Found, the first sleety drops began to fall.

My wallet, which had fallen from my lab as I left my cab thursday night, contained incredibly valuable shiat, such as my Green Card, license, and credit card. If only I had been able to subdue my desire for Taco Bell at 3 in the morning...if only. Anywho, a mister Michael McCabe is now my biggest hero. Happier than hell, I immediately set out to purchase a new wallet, as mine had been tragically disfigured during its disappearance.

As I entered highway 36, the sleet changed into a think wet snowfall, making it impossible to see farther than 2 car lengths ahead. I arrived safely at good old TJMAXX, and emerged 20 minutes later with a sweet new wallet and a pack of socks. In the short 20 minutes while I had been inside pondering over the smaller than hoped wallet selection, the weather had worsened. I drove, hands gripping the wheel, back in an awkward, upright, about to freak out, for a record 30 minutes; the drive should have taken ten. Since arriving back at my apartment, the snow has continued to fall without so much as a slight pause. Hopefully tomorrow will be welcomed by a blue sky!

Blogging 101

So, I'm a total newb to the whole online blogging thing. But I was reading through my Google Alerts (for those of you who have not yet discovered this wonderful tool you are missing out!) and found a link to this guide titled "Ten 'Journalism Rules' You Can Break On Your Blog," written by Gina Chen on her very own blog. Naturally, as a journalism major I found it quite enticing. Enjoy!

An Essay Written for my Reporting Class (names have been changed)

Adderoll: The Study Drug

By Kirstin Le Grice

For the students attending CU-Boulder, December comes as both a blessing and a curse. While the fresh snow layering the foothills signals the start of “shred season,” it also marks the beginning of the end: finals.

Enter Norlin library on any given day in December, and you will hear the faint hum of headphones, rustling of notebook paper, and the all too common question, “Hey, do you know where I can get some Adderoll?”

According to the Food and Drug Administration, Adderall, which is a combination of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, “is indicated for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).”

Adderoll is likely the most sought after drug on campuses during the school year, and especially during final exams. Matthew Hart, a junior at CU says he uses Adderoll during the school year to help him focus and get organized. “I don’t have the ability to sit down and do stuff on my own without it,” he says.

Adderoll, which is ingested orally in either pill or capsule form, is prescribed in doses ranging from five milligrams to 30 milligrams, depending on the aggressiveness of the patient’s ADHD.

The FDA has created an extensive list of symptoms characteristic of ADHD, a few of which are, “lack of attention to details, careless mistakes, lack of sustained attention, poor listening, poor organization, fidgeting, and squirming. Children are prescribed Adderoll if these symptoms cause “significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning,” according to the FDA.

Many children are prescribed Adderoll at young ages, and continue to use it throughout their adolescence, and into their college years. With Adderoll in such high demand around college campuses, those prescribed Adderoll often sell off any pills that they end up not taking themselves.

Hart, who until recently was prescribed Adderoll, used to sell his Adderoll to his friends during his freshman year. Hart sold his 20 mg pills for $5 each, and his 10 mg pills for $3 each. “During finals week I easily made around $200,” says Hart.

Brad Cummings, a CU junior sells off his prescription Adderoll on a regular basis. “I currently sell to only about 10 people, all of whom I know personally.” Cummings, who is prescribed 20 mg pills, usually sells them at $5 for two pills, which is a “very good price,” he says.

Students who sell off their Adderoll can make quite a satisfying profit. As pills are prescribed monthly, bottles usually contains around 30 pills. Selling the pills for $3, like Hart did, can earn the dealer an extra $90 per month. During finals, profits can increase up to $150, if dealers raise their prices to $5 per pill.

Adderoll “helps me get into a rhythm when I know I have stuff to do,” says Hart. Hart justifies his use of Adderoll with the fact that he was prescribed it until the end of his freshman year at CU. Hart, who only uses Adderoll when he has exams or paper deadlines approaching, feels that “the people that don’t need it are the ones that are constantly asking for it.”

While he was dealing his Adderoll, Hart says he would feel bad about selling it to people whom he knew did not need it. “I knew they were abusing it,” he says.

As reported by the Associated Press and Bloomberg in 2005, Adderoll “was pulled off the market in Canada after regulators linked the drug to 20 sudden deaths and 12 strokes.” Since then, the FDA has required a “black-box warning” to be placed “on all amphetamines, including Adderall.”

AP and Bloomberg note such a warning “means that medical studies indicate these drugs carry a significant risk of serious, or even life-threatening adverse effects.” Adverse reactions to Adderoll include elevated blood pressure, sudden death, weight loss, diarrhea, rashes, impotence and changes in libido.

The FDA states that abuse of Adderoll can cause “tremors, rapid respiration, confusion, nausea, and vomiting.” Adderoll should always be administered in the lowest possible dosage, which is why students who are not prescribed it are at a higher risk of abusing, and overdosing.

For many students, those risks are worth taking. Jennifer Williams, a sophomore at CU, though not prescribed Adderoll, feels that she needs it to keep up with her schoolwork. “Without Adderoll I think my grades would drop,” Williams says.

During finals, when students are under enormous pressure to get papers written and study for exams, Adderoll’s ability to get students focused allows it to become one of the most desired substances on campus.

“It’s like I’m so stressed I can’t seam to manage it all,” says Williams. Williams, who prefers 20 mg pills because of their heavier dosage, admits that she “definitely abuses” Adderoll.

For many college students like Jennifer and Matt, the pressure is on to get the best grades. The pressure to excel has driven students to use, and abuse prescription drugs such as Adderoll and caffeine pills.

Hart and Williams both plan on ending their use of Adderoll once they are out of college, and admit that their use of it is a bad habit.

Introductions...

I once wrote:

"The feeling that holding a pen gives me, I imagine, is the same feeling a football player feels when he holds a football, it’s magic. I love knowing that I have the power to create anything, right from nothing. I can take a blank piece of paper, and with my pen, tattoo a beautiful piece of poetry upon it. I also love the freedom that writing gives me. No one but myself can predict what I will write. Professors may give me prompts, but the imagination, the words, and the power are all mine."

I was born on January 21st, 1989 in Basel, Switzerland. After moving to the United States when I was one, I spent the first half of my life in Cleveland, Ohio. In fourth grade my parents and I moved to Strasbourg, France for six months. After living in a cozy little apartment in the city for six unforgettable months, my family moved once again, this time to a small town named Poolesville. Poolesville Maryland has a population of roughly 6,000. On our lunch breaks in high school, my friend Hayley and I would hop in her car and see how fast we could get to the nearest traffic light, about 5 miles away. Either that or we would race to Harris Teeter 15 minutes away and treat ourselves to the free samples. I once came close to hitting my boyfriends cow with my car. As you can probably guess, it was a pretty small town.

After eight years in Poolesville, I ventured west to Boulder Colorado, to attend the University of Colorado. It was hard to leave my amazing friends behind, but what I've gained from my time at CU I wouldn't trade for the world. My entire outlook on life, and the kind of person I want to be has been shaped by my experiences at CU and the knowledge I have gained. I love it here, I love the person I have turned into. After I graduate next May, I plan on pursuing my journalism career here in Colorado, I just can't seam to stay away!

Anyhow, I'm not quite certain what I plan on doing with this blog, but for all who come across it, I hope you're entertained!

This photo was captured at 6 a.m after my very first camping experience in the Flatirons of beautiful Colorado. Numb from cold, and groggy from not having slept, Katie and I ran for the car as soon as the sun began to rise. See, two eager girls from the East Coast thought it would be a great idea to jump into a camping trip at the last minute, without realizing that not having proper attire or equipment would severely take away from the experience. Both experiences were definitely memorable. Coming across this view solidified forever my love for Colorado.