Quaker Campus Article: A Designated Driver

As college students many of us like to celebrate the end of the week by partying, and at these parties it is no secret that there may be some drinking. For those who drink, it is important to do so responsibly. Not only is it important to monitor your drinking, but if you know that you are going to need someone to drive you back home after a party it is important that you look for someone you know you can trust. Maybe find a friend who does not drink or take turns being the designated driver among your group of friends.

A designated driver plays an important role by assuring that everyone makes it back home from a party safe and sound. If you take on the role of a designated driver, it is crucial that you stick to your promise and avoid drinking.

Once you agree to take on the role of being the designated driver, you should not go back on your word. If you go back on your word, the consequences can be dire. I myself lost my cousin because his friend did not live up to his part and drank more than enough which impaired his driving. 

In 2012, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated that in that year alone 10,000 people died in alcohol-impaired car accidents. They also estimated that approximately every 51 minutes a person lost their lives in a car accident due to drunk driving.

Now depending on who you are, you may think that something like this can never happen to you or that you can handle driving impaired. The truth of the matter is you never know what will happen to you, and if you take the risk, then you are not just putting yourself in danger but also the people around you.   

My suggestion to all of you is to assign the role to someone ahead of time. Do not do it the night of the party because by then nobody may want to take on such responsibility. Talk it over at least two days before a party. Also find a back up, preferably someone that does not drink and will not be at the party. Notify a friend that can come to the rescue if your designated driver cannot pull through for you. I always tell my friends that if they are going to a party and I am not there that they can call me to pick them up if things go wrong. Of course I tell them to tell me they are going to a party beforehand so I can be sure my phone is on in case I get a call.

If you cannot find a person who can drive you home after a party there are several taxi services you can contact. Some of the taxi services you can contact within the Los Angeles County are the Yellow Taxi Cab, 1-800-Taxicab of Los Angeles County, and The Happy Cab of Downey.          This all may seem like a lot, but realistically it is better to think these things through. When you go out to party you do not want to end up at the end of a night looking for a way to get home or doing something that you might regret. The only way you can truly party without a care in the world is if you know that somebody will be there to have your back. 

LUSH Against Animal Testing

LUSH is a cosmetic company that is well known for heavily emphasizing the importance of being environmentally friendly. All of their products are organic and have labels explaining what ingredients were used and gives a brief description of the person who made the product themselves. On the products’ labels LUSH also points out to their customers that their products are strictly made without any sort of animal testing. So if animals are not being used to assure these products are safe to be used on living beings then how are these products tested? Well, there are alternatives to testing products and either people do not know of these alternatives or they do not care to switch their testing methods for the sake of animals.

Seeing that most of their customers do not understand the significance of using alternative methods instead of conducting animal testing LUSH took on the challenge of showing what animal testing would look like if done on humans. In London, LUSH set up a “Live Human Testing” demonstration in their shop on Regent Street. Jacqueline Traide, a performance artist, volunteered to spend ten hours enduring the “testing” to help LUSH get their point across.

All that was done to Traide in the demonstration was not real and did not cause her pain whatsoever, but seeing what kinds of things mankind does to animals had a crucial impact on the audience. The overall response of the audience was positive though some protested against the fact that a woman was used for the demonstrations claiming that she looked as if she was overly sexual.

LUSH responded to the negative feedback concerning the woman by explaining that they felt using a woman would create more of an impact since most of their customers are women.

The company has been fighting against animal cruelty for 30 years and plans to continue to encourage people to stand with them in the fight against animal testing. LUSH found that many people think that animal testing is something that is legally required for cosmetic products, but the truth is that there are many different ways to go about testing these products that do not include animal testing.

Three-dimensional human skin models can be used to replace rabbits for skin irritation, genetic mutations, and other harmful effects. By educating people on the alternatives that can be used to take the place of animal testing LUSH hopes other companies will follow in their footsteps and fight against animal testing.

Zack Hummel

Over the summer Zack Hummel, a sophomore at Whittier College decided to spend his free time raising awareness for cancer research, and he did so by participating in the 4k for Cancer’s 2014 Run Across America. Now to clarify this run was not 2.49 miles, which is the length of an actual 4k. The length of this run was actually 4,000 miles exactly with the starting point in San Francisco, California and the end in Baltimore, Maryland. It took a total of 42 days for Hummel to complete the run.

Hummel explained that the main reason he took on the challenge of running across the country was his mother. As a child, Hummel watched as his mother battled skin cancer, uterine cancer, Leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma a cancer that begins in the cells of the immune system.

Aside from his mother Hummel explained how several other members of his family have had or currently have cancer. His maternal grandmother had skin cancer, his paternal grandmother had breast cancer and his maternal grandfather currently has kidney cancer that has spread to his lungs.

“After seeing what they have gone through, I became involved with events that raise cancer awareness and have been a very active member in Relay for Life,” Hummel said. “I am currently looking to find an internship for a cancer research foundation and hope to one day be a cancer researcher myself and find a cure.”

Since many members of his family have had cancer, Hummel admitted that he is concerned for his own health and well-being. “It does scare me because cancer is so hereditary,” Hummel said. “Knowing that so many members of my family have had cancer and that I may one day have it as well is just nerve-wracking. If I never get cancer then I will be so lucky, nobody deserves to go through that.”

As a cross country runner Hummel had the endurance to handle long distance running, though at times it was exhausting he said what motivated him was all of those who have had or currently have cancer. He advises the students of Whittier College to educate themselves on how to check for signs of cancer. “Learn the ways of self examination,” Hummel said. “Learn how to look for breast cancer, testicular cancer, and skin cancer. And if you notice something wrong don’t assume it will go away, go and have it checked out by a doctor.”

For Hummel, the most important thing people should do is to be aware of their bodies and take care of themselves. By doing so he believes people will have a better chance of fighting the disease if they ever are to encounter it.