Suicide Awareness Week

This week is Suicide Awareness Week (in addition to it being Hunger & Homelessness Week and what seems like 5 million other things). As I'm sure all of us know, college can be one of the most stressful periods in our life. Even though we've got all the great things going for us, there's plenty of difficulties mixed in as well. It's great to find classes that open up new worlds and concepts for us, but piles of work and pressure are always part of the package. It's the same with friends and activities. I've made the best friends of my life in college, but it's the times when things aren't going well that are really draining--even if they end up strengthening my friendships in the end. 

With these difficulties, it's no wonder that depression and thoughts of suicide are common amongst college students. Because of that, I thought it was important to let you all know about Suicide Awareness Week, and what's going on for that. Most of the week's events are already over, but there are two left:

11/19 10a-2p: National Depression Screening Day @ Stamp Food Court 'B'

11/21 1p-2:30p: National Survivors of Suicide Day @ Stamp Edgar Allan Poe Room

I highly encourage you to stop by one of these events tomorrow or Saturday. Check out the facebook event for them here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151203189024&ref=mf, and the Health Center's website which lists info for S.A.H.E.T: Suicide Awareness Health Education and Training at http://www.health.umd.edu/programs/peereducation.html. 

And as always, if you need someone to talk to, call the Help Center at 301-314-HELP. 

-Nehama

5th Annual Native American Indian Powwow

The Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education (OMSE) will be holding their 5th Annual Native American Indian Powwow this Saturday November 21, 2009 at 10:00am in the Nymburu Cultural Center!

I have personally never been to a powwow and am excited to experience and learn something new.  In our history classes we never hear the voices and perspectives of the indigenous people who were here long before European colonizers.  We should learn about all of our history and the people that make up America today. How do we live in harmony without taking the time to understand one another?  America is rich with culture and we should take hold of it.

 I feel that there is a lot to learn from indigenous peoples.  There are events going on all month as part of American Indian Heritage Month.

Check it out!

(This week is also Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.. lots of things going on campus.. take advantage of it :)

 Peace,

Sasha

Hunger Banquet--Tomorrow night!

Hey all,

Tomorrow night, do something slightly different when it's dinner time. Rather than going to the diner or making something in your apartment, head over to the Charles Carroll Room in Stamp for the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet that's part of Hunger & Homelessness Week. It runs from 6 pm to 7:30 pm and is free and open to all. Food will be provided. (Kosher food will as well.)

Organized by Alpha Phi Omega, Oxfam, and the Office of Community Service Learning (www.csl.umd.edu), and sponsored by the American Red Cross, Maryland Co-Op, and Hillel, this event teaches participants about world hunger. 

By showing the disparities between those in the developed and developing world, participants will learn what it means not to be able to feed one's self or one's family with healthy, nutritious food--or any food at all. 

The following facts are reworded from Bread for the World (bread.org):

-There are an estimated 1.02 billion hungry people in the world. 

-Around 3 million children under five die each year from being undernourished. Many, many, many more are undernourished, even though they haven't died from it. The effects from chronic malnutrition in children are terrifyingly scary, and affect children for the rest of their lives, since most are irreversible. 

-In the US, there are 11.7 million children living in households where people are forced to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. 

-One in ten households in the US are living with hunger or are at risk of it.

-The UN Development Program estimates that $13 billion a year could meet the basic health and nutrition needs of the world's poorest people. Americans and Europeans spend more than that on pet food each year.

Show up to the Hunger Banquet tomorrow night and learn about how hunger affects people in the United States and around the world! I'm going to try to make it so hopefully I will see you there!

-Nehama

Apply to be on the Stamp Advisory Board!

As some of you may know, each department on campus that raises revenue by student fees is required to have a Student Advisory Board to help oversee the implementation and spending of said student fees.  The past few years I've had the very distinct pleasure of serving on the Stamp Advisory Board (SAB).

SAB is just like it sounds - it's a group of undergraduate, graduate, faculty, staff and alumni that advises the Stamp on just about anything you can think of.  From what restaurant should fill the vacant Steak Escape spot in the Food Court to the late night social policy to the bookstore to student group offices in the Student Involvement Suite, the SAB does it all.  And let's not forget the fundamental task of reviewing the allocation of student fees.

SAB is looking for new members for the Spring semester.  We've got multiple positions open!  For more info and to apply, check it out here:

http://www.thestamp.umd.edu/uab

Applications are due November 20th (the end of the week!) so don't delay!

Flu vaccines!

Hey all,

I stumbled across this announcement on the UMD homepage today: "H1N1 Vaccine Clinics at the University Health Center." Here's all the specifics: The Health Center will be offering free (for students) H1N1 vaccines tomorrow and Wednesday, from 5-7 pm. Staff and faculty must pay $12. Everyone must bring their UMD ID card.

There will also be a seasonal flu clinic tomorrow from 8:30-11:30 am and from 1:30-4 pm for the FluMist nasal vaccines. There's not many left, so it's first come, first served, at a cost of $20 for students, $25 for faculty/staff, and $30 for visitors. The Health Center is hoping to get more injectable flu vaccines in soon--check out their website at http://www.health.umd.edu/ for any updates. 

So what does the flu vaccine have to do with civic engagement? Why am I bothering to write about this here? I could argue that vaccines are important because we have a duty not to harm others. If we stay healthy, we're not infecting others. But that's kind of a lame argument for why the flu vaccine and civic engagement are related.

For those of us who have been receiving vaccines our entire lives without much thought, we may not have realized that there is a swarm of controversy over vaccines. Some people believe that vaccines are incredibly dangerous and unnatural. They believe that there are serious illnesses that can result from the chemicals and organisms present in vaccine formulations, such as autism. 

However, imagine a world in which people were not vaccinated. That world existed until the 1770s, when Edward Jenner developed a vaccine of cowpox to prevent the smallpox disease. We would live much shorter lives, and diseases like measles, mumps, smallpox, and others would be rampant. 

This controversy is largely contained between the medical community and the community of people who have somehow been affected or harmed by vaccines. However, it is still important for us to understand what the issues are when it comes to vaccines. Do some googling (make sure your sites are reputable!), and see what you find! And then, let me know what you think!

-Nehama