Stacy Nadeau was one of the six real beauty models chosen to support the dove mission: to make more women feel beautiful every day by widening stereotypical views of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves. Nadeau spoke of her life changing experience as a Dove model, on Feb. 16 in the SMC multipurpose room. The lecture was presented by the Power Peer Educators of the Women’s and Wellness Center as part of Body Image Awareness Week.

Nadeau began her lecture sharing her journey of how she became a model for the campaign. Nadeau was a sophomore at DePaul University when she first was confronted with her opportunity. It started as an ordinary day, walking to work with a friend. While walking, she turned around and saw a woman walking very close to her, but thought nothing of it. “I Live in a big city, I see weird people all the time,” she joked.

When she got to work, that same woman walking behind her, asked to hang a model audition flyer at her work, and told Nadeau that she should come audition. “Maim, what about me says model to you?” she exclaimed. Nadeau thought nothing of the request, and shook the thought from her mind, being a model was nothing she had ever planned to do.

When Nadeau came home from work that day, her friend confronter her saying “You are going to be really mad at me,” her friend had pretended to be her and made an appointment to attend the photo shoot the next Tuesday at 3p.m. After talking to her mother, she decided to go to the audition.

“You are going to be really mad at me Stacy, you have to go to the audition in your underwear,” her friend confessed. Reluctently, Nadeau showed up, was there for 30 seconds, only four pictures were taken. “We will never speak of this again,” Nadeau warned her friend.

The rest was history, the next thing she knew, she was in New York for two 12 ½ hour photo shoots. These photo-shoots marked the first time anyone has ever taken real women sizes 2-12 and put them out in an ad campaign. The idea for the ad campaign was inspired by the major study, The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report, which validated the hypothesis that the definition of beauty and become obscured and unrealistic. The study showed that 98% of girls did not feel confident enough to call themselves beautiful, and that 81% of women in the U.S. strongly agree that the media has created an idealistic and unobtainable standard of beauty.

Nadeau showed pictures of women in magazines, who are meant to represent “real beauty”, these women were sickly thin, flawless and genetically impossible to look that way. She also showed pictures of men as well, these men all had six packs, and ripped muscles. Nadeau shared that a friend had once photoshopped an 18 pack onto a model. “For some people it is not in the cards for them [to have abs]” she said.

After the campaign launched, the dove real women billboard landed right next to a Victoria’s Secret billboard in Las Angelis, where it could catch the most attention. Attention they received, in extraordinary amounts.

“The first to call was the today show,” Nadeau said. She even had an appearance on Oprah, Despite the fear of her “jiggle” being noticed, her and the five other models walked on stage and were interviewed in their underwear. “We knew with Oprah it would make a really big splash,” Nadeau said.

After that day, the Dove girls realized how inspirational and life changing their campaign was to the men and women of the U.S. After the show, they were to do a meet a greet and pass out gift bags with Dove products, they had 15 bags, hundreds came to see the girls.

Many of the people came to say thank you, it is about time, but there was a woman who stood out inparticular. A woman, hysterically crying hung to the grirls and repeaditly said thank you to them. “No problem,” was Nadeau’s response. “You do not understand, you girls have single handily saved my daughter’s life,” was the woman’s response.

The woman’s daughter was batteling severe anorexia and could not have any media. Her mother saw the ad, and zerozed copies her her daughter and the entire hospital was covered with the ad. The daughter was inspired, “I am sick of this,” she said, “If these women can show their bodies fat and all, I can beat this.” The girl did beat her anorexia, she gained over ten pounds after hearing about the campaign. “We changed her, we made her better,” Nadeau said.

Nadeau’s experiences were not all positive however. There were many critics of the campaign that were disgusted by the campaign. The Chicago Sun Times called the models fat, ugly, that if he saw us at a bar he would run the other way. He added, “To my favorite Scatcy Nadeau the next time I see thught that big, the better be in my KFC Bucket.”

This article sent hundreds of women and men to retaliate against the writer, and a public apology was given. One commented saying “She looks like me, my sister, my mother my grandmother, we’re beautiful.” Another said, “I live in the building next to you, I see you come and go all the time, P.S. You are no God’s gift to women.”

Nadeau concluded her lecture by offering advice on how men and women can find their best self, most fit self, and most mentally healthy self. Her advice was to be a friend to yourself and stop fat talk. She wants people to do what makes them feel beautiful, and to have a productive day.

She also wants women to stop the, “Girlfriend Poker,” or the, “I’ll take your arms and legs and raise you a butt,” as she put it. This does not help self-esteem, it lowers it. “What you think and what you say affects you, “ she said.

She also wants women to think about their relationships, “surround yourself with people who build you up.”

After the lecture, an active discussion began between her and the audience. She had truly touched student’s lives. Nadeau offers advice for all men and women that would like to learn about body image, you can contact her at nadeau@campuspeak.com or become a facebook fan of Embracing Real Beauty.

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Dr. Frank Duba, Assistant Professor of English, was one of these rare professors who so greatly impacted his students and friends lives that even the simplest of lessons he taught will forever stay in their minds.

After a long struggle with cancer, Dr. Duba passed away on Monday night, Feb. 15. His passing is a great loss to the English department, and he will sorely be missed. He was an understanding and approachable person, and a fair and enthusiastic professor.

In reminiscence of Dr. Duba as a professor, friend and colleague, faculty and students have shared their memories:

“Dr. Duba was a thoughtful, expert, and engaging teacher who cared deeply about students. His scholarship was original and important to his teaching and to the profession. His service to the department, university, and larger community was generous and unfailing. I will miss his positive outlook, compassionate patience, good-natured humor, and boundless energy to do good. It is hard to believe that one so much alive can now be gone. He will survive in his friends, colleagues, and students,” Dr. Steve Miller, Professor of English said.

“It may sound corny, but I learned almost everything I know from Dr. Duba. I only had once class with him, but I learned more from him in one semester than other professors I’ve had for two or three semesters. Everything I do when it comes to being an English major or looking at anything even remotely related to literature, I got from Dr. Duba. I can’t even imagine not knowing what I learned from him. Some of my friends never had class with him, and I just can’t believe that they’ll never get a chance to,” Michelle Topper, a senior, said.

“Frank was a remarkable man. Besides being insightful and funny—usually at the same time, he was so conscientious and generous. When I would do something as small as watch his cat for a weekend, he would give me a bottle of wine. He put people at ease about his illness because he was always upfront about what he was going through. Many in the department were surprised by his passing because of the matter-of-fact way he presented his situation. It was hard to tell how close he was to the end hearing him joke about the crazy stuff he was going through. I really admire how he led his life, right to the end,” said Dr. Caleb Corkery, Assistant Professor of English.

“Well for me, Dr. Duba was my professor and my advisor. I remember the one time I had no idea what to put into my schedule and he took the time to sit down with me for a good half hour to look at all the classes that were available and he gave me tips on which classes would be better to take. He always got back to my emails with whatever questions I had and no matter how long it took to answer a question; he would keep trying to explain the subject as best he could in different ways until I understood what the topic was about,” Cait Fitzpatric, a senior said.

“For me, Dr. Duba was simply a kind, caring person who always wanted to help his students find new ways to think about and enjoy literature. He was always on the same level as his students – there were times when he even admitted that he didn’t like or understand a certain philosophical or theoretical framework – and that connection he developed with all his students was loved and appreciated by everybody. He never had a bad word to say about anybody and was always helpful if you needed something clarified or further explained. He was also funny – his one-liners, sometimes about a phallic symbol or poking fun at an author, always kept his classes light and interesting.

Let’s also not forget how smart and insightful he was. He opened up new ways of thinking for me about not only literature, but life, whether it was through Freudian analysis or introducing the “Death of the Author” concept, in which it is argued that the author’s intended meaning in a piece is much less important than the interpreted meaning by the reader.

Needless to say, the Millersville English department has lost one of its best and Dr. Duba will be sorely missed” Wesley Schmidt, a senior, said.

To share your memories of Dr. Frank Duba, a memorial will be held Feb. 25 at 4:30 p.m. in the Ford Atrium. A memory book will be created in his honor, to be given to his family.

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Continuing to support the Haiti relief was the main focus of the “Rally 4 Haiti Relief Project,” which was held in the SMC-MPR on Feb. 16. Although the turnout was small, it did not lessen the impact of the event. The rally humanized the disaster by showing the Haitian culture.

The event welcomed Candy Hozza, the community development coordinator who presented the video “Frank McKinney’s Extreme Birthday Experience,” which was of her visit to Haiti in 2008, when she participated in the Caring House Foundation Project, building houses with her friend Frank McKinney. “It costs $500 American dollars for a house,” she said.

The video shed a glimpse of the spirited Haitian culture. Men and women were playing music, dancing, and celebrating. To thank the volunteers, the Haitians found instruments and learned the American National Anthem, and performed it.

“One of the things that everyone should know, is that the Haitians are unbelievable people, even when they are in need they tried to give,” Hozza said. She was able to experience the Hispanic tradition of blessing during her visit to a home for orphans and the elderly. Whenever the children left their home, their grandmothers would bless them; the children blessed Hozza and the rest of the volunteers to show their appreciation, “We have a lot in this country, but they have the spirit,” Hozza said.

A panel was held during the event with two faculty members: Audrey Lilley from Volunteer Central, and Hozza, as well as two students, Immanuel Jean Phillipe, and Mackenzie Vernat. Sepideh Yalda, Professor of Meteorology and Interim Director Center of Disaster Relief Research and Education, moderated the discussion.

Each person took turns sharing their story of how they are participating in the Haiti Relief Project. Vernat, only moved from Haiti to America six years ago, shared his story of how the earthquake has affected him, and how he is trying to help his family and native country from the U.S.

“After this happened my mom was crying, and we didn’t know what to do,” he said. His cousin, sister, nieces and nephew were in his Haitian home when the earthquake hit and the house collapsed, which left them with a few injuries and without a home.

“There are so many diseases spreading around Haiti right now because there are dead bodies everywhere,” Vernat said. Continuing to send medical supplies, he believed should be a long term form of support. He also would like to do his part in continuing to raise money.
“I am here doing the best I can to help…we need it right now,” he said. Vernat and Phillipe as well as their brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first black fraternity, have worked together to raise roughly $1600 for the cause.

Phillipe was also born in Haiti, but left when he was three years old. It was difficult for him to talk about the earthquake, because he had lost family members. Phillipe’s family is from Port-au-Prince, located a few blocks from the President’s Palace, which is now destroyed. His grandmother was injured during the earthquake, and his aunt lost her parents.

Phillipe showed his gratitude for all who have helped support the Haiti relief, “Things are changing slowly, people are putting their heads together to help us out, and I appreciate it,” he said. Phillipe would like to see the support continue, “We can collect money, clothes and donations and try to partner with trusted organizations to collect money,” he advised.

Millersville University is working hard to aid the victims; Lilley mentioned during the panel that there is a long list of volunteers wanting to help, “I am really encouraging of students who want to get involved with this program,” Lilley said.

Special acknowledgements went out to The Slip and Score Society, who attended the event, as well as The Visual Communication and Graphic Design II class, instructed by James Pannafino, and Diane Fleishman, Director for the Office of Internships and Civic Engagement Service. Slip and Score sold donated ceramic pots made by current students and alumni during the event. All of the profits went to the Haiti Relief Project. The club raised $425 for the fund.

The students of the Graphic Design II Class designed a 10×10 composition as part of a service learning class. The posters were meant to create awareness for Haiti earthquake relief. The students picked a charity or nonprofit organization a communicated their message through the use of type and image.

Fleishman and the Office of Internships and Civic Engagement have been acting as a central coordinating site, working with student affairs and faculty to coordinate the relief effort. “The need for the Haiti relief was needed before…it is a decade long effort. We do not want students and faculty to forget about it when it is off the news,” Fleishman said.

Donations for the Haiti Relief fund are still being accepted. Visit “Haiti Response” at www.millersville.edu or e-mail Volunteer.Central@millersville.edu for a complete list of items needed. Be on the lookout for donation boxes, which will be shipped directly to Haiti through the United Nations.

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 Adam Shickling, a junior, studied abroad in London his sophomore year from September 2008 to December 2008. “It was an amazing experience. Studying abroad is the best decision I’ve ever made,” Shickling said.

     Shickling was introduced to the Study Abroad program from family who had previously gone through the experience, and he knew that this was something he would want to do. “I knew Millersville had a great studying abroad program, and that is a major reason why I chose to come here,” he said.

     Not wanting to deal with a language barrier, Shickling juggled between studying in either Australia or London, finally settling on London because of its close proximity to other countries, “which increased my traveling options,” he said. Also, Shickling had visited London in high school and he wanted to experience more of the city.

     Before leaving for London Shicklin was “anxious to see the living quarters and see how my classes would be structured.” 

     However, his anxieties were eased when he met other Millersville students, and got settled into his daily routine. “The flight over was a great chance for us to get know each other and we were all very good friends from there on,” he said.

     Shickling stayed in an apartment complex built for international students, and shared a room with a Millersville student. He was able to make friends with students from Colorado, Minnesota, and Texas. Schickling still remains in touch with the Millersville students he studied with, as well as the friends he made from other parts of the U.S.    

     Studying abroad is a great opportunity to gain experience outside of your culture, and delve into a lifestyle completely unlike one’s own. For Shickling, he realized how similar our country is to other European nations. “In London, I cannot recall any serious cultural barriers I had to overcome,” he said. “Politically, European countries are much more liberal than the U.S. so you need to keep that in mind when talking politics with Europeans, and trust me this will be one of their favorite conversations.”

     Shickling had a good experience in Europe, and found that most people love talking to Americans, and were willing to help them overcome any language barriers. “As soon as they discover you are American they want to talk about politics and at that time, Barack Obama,” he said.

      Classes continue just as they would in the states, and they are much like a regular semester of college. Shickling only took 12 credits to help lighten his workload: A history class, a film class, a government and an economics class. “Education in the U.K. is a lot different than in the U.S.” Shickling said. “There’s more of a focus on personal responsibility and few professors grade attendance. U.K. classes also tend to be more writing-oriented than exam-oriented. For example, I didn’t have a single exam while studying abroad but had seven papers to write.”

     Studying abroad also provided an education outside of the classroom. “Traveling puts intense pressure on expanding your independence, sometimes you’re going to be walking around a foreign city alone and you need to know how to protect yourself and get around safely.     

     Shickling’s study abroad experience is one that he will never forget; there were many sites that he was able to see, such as the Tower Bridge in London, Heidelberg Castle in Germany, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. One of his favorite memories happened in the Netherlands, “A bunch of us rented bicycles on day in the Netherlands. It was amazing riding past windmills and over canals,” he said.

     Shickling still misses the history and the nightlife of London. “It was really something to walk past castles and bridges older than the United States on Your way to class,” he said.

     All of the excitement, schoolwork, and traveling kept him busy, so he never had time to get homesick or think about home. However, he was able to stay connected to his friends and family by buying a prepaid cellphone.

“It only cost a couple cents a minute to call the U.S.,” he said. “A lot of my friends used Skype to keep in contact with their families.”

     One problem that he did run into was the five-hour time difference between London and the East Coast.

     Returning to the states was a strange experience for Shickling, but it only took him a few weeks to get back into his old routine. His experience was a great one, and he would advise students to “absolutely do it.”

     For more information about the Study Abroad program, contact Stacey Bainbridge at globaledga@millersville.edu, or stop by the Cumberland House. Applications to study abroad for summer 2010, or fall 2010 are due by February 19 at 4:30 p.m.

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Several changes were made over the break. “The construction crews finished the footers and brought the area in front of the RMPR up to grade,” said Geoff Beers, Chief Operating Officer. The crew also continued to work on the footers and walls for the new open recreational area, as well as complete the concrete walls of the mechanical room.

This week, the steel skeleton of the addition will begin to go up. This is the reason the crane is in front of the SMC. It is used to place the steel framework.

Students should not worry about any disruptions in the SMC, other than occasional construction noise. The Student Memorial Center will operate normally through the spring semester.

On May 10, 2010, the SMC will close with the exception of the University Store, textbook room, and copy shop. “The fitness center will close for the summer to do overhead work in the ground floor areas,” Beers said. The fitness center will re-open for the fall 2010 semester.

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In an effort to connect with alumni using social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, the Millersville University Alumni Association (MUAA) will be holding a photo contest on their Facebook fan page until May 15, 2010.

Alumni and current students are asked to participate by sending photos of themselves wearing an eye patch.

There are several categories within the competition, including cutest baby marauder, best school pride, most creative, best family of marauders, oldest marauder, most marauders in photo, and marauder wedding photo. Photos can be submitted by simply posting a photo on the fan page wall with the category attached to the photo, the MUAA will then move your photo to the appropriate category.

Once submitted, fans of the alumni page can vote on the best photo. The photo with the most votes wins a $100 gift certificate to the school store.

The winner for each category, as well as the grand prize winner, will have their photo appear in an issue of the Review.

“This contest is an effort to gain more awareness of our Facebook fan page and stir up some marauder pride,” said Marah Harbe, the Assistant to the Director of Alumni Service. “We also want to get more current students involved with the Alumni Association.”

This year, the Alumni Association has created the Technology Committee. This committee is responsible for finding new technologies that can be used to engage alumni with their university.

John Held, the committee chair of the Technology Committee came up with the contest idea while traveling to a wedding with his fellow marauders.

“Weddings are always an opportunity to take some group alumni photos, why not spice it up with an eye patch to show that marauder pride?” Harbe said.

The contest is open to anyone for voting. To vote, comment on the photo that you like. Only one vote per person will count. You can find the alumni fan page by typing Official Millersville University Alumni Page in your Facebook search. “If you don’t submit a photo, at least come and check out the page or become a fan, students are future alumni,” Harbe said.

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On Wednesday, October 21, the Biology Colloquium series presented by Millersville Alumni John Baker, from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture at Penn State University, to discuss The Pennsylvania Native Bee Survey. Baker provided awareness of the bee population and answered the question, “Why should we study bees?”

The reason to study bees is clear: it is a profitable and safe way to manage crops. It is estimated that there is a three billion dollar profit in the U.S. attributed to pollination of non-managed bees. They are important pollinators of native plants, especially the honey bee, which are five times more efficient at pollination than native bees. Bees also make a good source of food. Most importantly, bee diversity is a measure of environmental health. “If you don’t have bees pollinating plants, some of these plants are going to go away,” said Baker.

According to the 2006 National Academy of Sciences report, the status of pollinators in North America is declining. Little is known about unmanaged pollinators, which include moths, butterflies, bees, and beetles, but the diseases found in managed bees are starting to spill over to the native bee populations.

The Native Bee Survey at Penn State created a list of goals to find a set of bee species, develop baseline diversity and abundance data, and adopt or establish a maintainance procedure.

The 2005 Native Bee Survey discovered 342 species of bee recorded with a potential 525 species, more than two-thirds of these species have not been seen in over 60 years.

They have collected more than 7500 specimens in the survey. They do this by using paper cups of white, blue, and yellow colors that are filled with soapy water. They then leave the cups out for 24 hours.

Baker also informed the audience about the Citizens Scientists Monitoring Projects, supported by Haagan-Daz ice cream. The goal of these projects is to educate people on the native pollinators. There are two groups that help support these projects; the Department of Agriculture, and the Penn State Master Gardeners. These groups create gardens that house native plants to attract native pollinators, without the use of pesticides. Two-thirds of the U.S. is covered with these gardens.

The Department of Agriculture put together a monitoring guide to help others classify the bees. They go to the gardens once a month and observe the bees in the morning and afternoon. They record weather patterns such as wind and sunlight. Bees do not usually come out on windy days or overcast weather. Their goal is to provide information so anyone can plug their information into an algorithm to determine the health of a garden.

Baker concluded his lecture with information on the Lithurgus Chrysurus, a bee that was found in Lehigh, Northhamptin, and Monroe Counties Pa. These bees pose a severe problem to humans because they nest in soft wood, such as porches, in large groups. They even “…chew through vinyl siding to get to wood,” said Baker. These bees are everywhere because they pollinate on the knapweed, a common weed, allowing the bees to spread.

For more information on this topic, you can contact John Baker at jbaker67@rocketmail.com.

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Alice Yoder gave her presentation on the obesity epidemic on September 30 in Caputo 210, offering advice on how to reerse the current trend by spreading awareness.

More than 30 percent of the U.S. population is overweight. In Pennsylvania alone, 36 percent of adults are diagnosed as obese, a 12 percent increase from only seven years ago. In Lancaster City, 26 percent of adults are obese, and it is not only adults who are being affected. More than 15 percent of children, grades ranging from kindergarten through sixth grade are obese, and if Americans do not change their lifestyles, the numbers will continue to rise.

On September 30, students and faculty met in Caputo 210 for the third Colloquium series of the semester to hear Alice Yoder, the Director of Community Health at Lancaster General, give a lecture on, “The Obesity Epidemic: Understanding and reversing this trend.”

The lecture both shocked and educated the audience, presenting overwhelming statistical facts about the increase in obesity in America, and the problems that result from the disease.

Yoder emphasized the importance of understanding obesity, because future generations will be at a great risk of many health problems if the trend continues.
Being overweight and obese are two separate diagnoses, and differ for adults and children. For adults, being overweight is having a body mass index (BMI) of 25-30, and over 30 is considered obese. A person’s BMI is a number calculated from his or her weight and height that indicates body fat content. The formula for children and adults are the same, however, for children, overweight is being in the 85th to less than 95th weight percentile for their gender and age. Obese is equal to or greater than the 95th percentile.

Yoder’s lecture emphasized reversing the trend to prevent children from the physical and mental affects of obesity. “Any children born in 2000 on, if we keep trending the way we trend their life expectancy will be less than we are expecting,” Yoder said. Today, life expectancy is 78, a number that until now was increasing.

A statistical analysis, presented as a power point presentation, emphasized the large increase of overweight children. The percentage of overweight children aged 12- 19 has more than tripled between 1980 and 2002, going from five percent to 16 percent. For children aged 6-11 the prevalence of overweight has more than doubled, increasing from seven percent to 16 percent and among two to five year olds, the percentage has risen from seven percent to over 10 percent.

According to http://www.prevent.org, adolescents who are overweight have a 70 percent chance of being overweight as adults. The answer to this epidemic, Yoder believes, is to identify the disease early, and prevent obesity.

If obesity is not prevented, children and adults have an increase chance of developing many health problems, including: type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and some cancers. “We are finding more and more children with diabetes,” Yoder said.

Obesity also puts people at risk for developing arthritis; for every two-pound increase in body weight, the risk increases by nine to 13 percent. Women who are obese have nearly four times the risk of knee osteoarthritis and men have nearly five times the risk compared to women and men of an average weight. “More people need knee replacements, and hip replacements,” Yoder said.

Breathing problems such as sleep apnea, are also increasingly prevalent in adults and children. “This was always an adult issue. Now we are finding it in the pediatric unit,” Yoder said. Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person cannot get air when they are sleeping. This disorder is common, but can be very serious and fatal.
Reproductive complications are also increased with obesity. Women who are obese during pregnancy have an increased risk for preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and cesarean deliveries. Obesity is also harmful for the infant, increasing the risk of birth defects such as spina bifida.

Yoder also discussed the psychosocial consequences of obesity, saying that studies have shown a correlation between high BMI and depression symptoms.

Gail Altieri, a senior Meteorology major, related to this part of the discussion. Altieri came to the lecture because she is, “Interested in obesity because I used to be 300 pounds in high school,” she began, “[My classmates] used to always make fun of the fat people; I got made fun of from elementary school to high school. They called me Gail the whale.”

Altieri now weighs a healthy 140 pounds, a weight that she was able to achieve in just a year by taking junk food out of her diet, avoiding sugary drinks, and exercising regularly.

Gail eats, “Three small meals a day, and [I] run an average of 3.0 to 3.5 miles a day except on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I do stomach crunches, but I do a lot of them though, like 300,” Altieri said. She also lifts weights, plays girls softball, coed softball, basketball, and soccer.

Her story can also be an example of how people are treated differently with weight loss. “It was funny, people treated me a lot better. The kid that used to make fun of me got fat and I got thinner, and asked me out.”
Eating right and maintaining an active lifestyle are the key ingredients to being healthy. However, the current trends in America are the primary causes of the rise in obesity. Yoder explained that almost 80 percent of children do not eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, and young people spend more time watching television than they spend on exercise or other physical activities. Jobs also are not as physical as they were in the past, “we have pushed physical activities out of our lives,” Yoder said.

Phuong Tien, a sophomore, believes that it is the parent’s responsibility to keep their children active, “Parents should make play time with the kid, even though they work. Five to ten minutes will add up, then you will build a better relationship.”

The eating habits of Americans have also drastically changed in the last 20 years, especially with the increase in fast food chains and larger meals. This can be seen especially in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods.

Fast food companies market towards poorer areas, which is why, “rates of obesity increase where there is a higher rate of poverty,” Yoder explained.

Yoder showed examples of how proportions have increased in the last two decades, comparing a cup of coffee that has 45 calories, to a mocha coffee that has 305 calories, and comparing an average cheeseburger, which has increased from 333 calories to 590 calories. “In our society, we have really decreased the amount of physical exercise and increased the amount of calories in our day,” Yoder said.

Yoder concluded her lecture with solutions to the obesity problem, stating that it is a systematic solution. In order to fight the epidemic, people must think about, “how we build our communities,” Yoder said.

The way communities are built are not physically friendly, Yoder explained, “we have really built our community around the automobile.”

She believes that people must, “Increase their everyday activities through the design of the built environment and transport system.”

People must also, “shift the drives of the food chain and consumer purchasing patterns to favor health options,” Yoder explained.

Schools play a big part in promoting healthy lifestyles for children.

“It always gets laid on the schools because students are there six hours a day,” Yoder said.

More schools are cutting recess at a younger age, and making gym optional instead of mandatory. Yoder believes that the schools need to make goals that focus on exercise and a balanced diet.

It is up to not only the individual, but also the entire public to help make these lifestyle changes, and fight the obesity epidemic.

The individual should have increased knowledge of the risks of obesity, the community should work together to promote change, and public policy should develop and enforce state and local policies that can increase healthy behaviors by developing media campaigns that promote awareness.

There is, “No single magic pill solution,” Yoder said.

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There might be a decline in the economy, but that does not have to keep you from looking great during the fall months. This year it is all about affordability, as well as color and texture.

The classic cardigan is making a comeback this year, but in a new, edgy way. Mustard yellows, deep teals, and various purple colors can be found in any department store.

These cardigans should be matched with brightly colored tank tops that play off of a duller shade, such as a mustard yellow cardigan with a deep orange shirt, or a purple cardigan with a teal shirt. These styles can be complimented with a dark skinny jean and a knee-high boot.

Accessorizing is a must this season, and no one should leave his or her house without a bright scarf or long necklace. Gold is the new silver this year, and the simple set of pearls should be left for your grandmother to wear.

This year’s styles are mixed; pearls, silver, and gold chains are tangled together. It is all about funky charms like sparrows and bows. These small accents will liven up the simple sweaters that are “in”.

The ever-popular legging continues to haunt the runway and all the stores. This year, substitute your pants for gray leggings underneath a bulky striped sweater. Bright leggings underneath a soft brown sweater.

Black is out. This year it is all about the browns and the oranges. This includes purses; which can range in any size, from the bulky dog-carrying bag, to the slim over the shoulder purse that only fits a cell phone and credit card (perfect for going out). Purses should be an expressive color, matching is not as important as before.

Shoes are ever changing, and this year throw those ballerina flats out and try an over-the-knee high-heeled boot over your leggings or skinny jeans. Or try a funky colored ankle boot, or for a going out look, try a cage heel with your jeans. Also try some moccasins, which never go out of style.

These fashion trends do not have to put a hole in your pocket. All of these items can be found at your local Target, which sells fashionable clothing at an affordable price.

Do not forget the most important accessory as the months grow colder is yourself, your attitude, and your smile. Remember that you wear the clothes, they do not wear you.

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