the other press >»>OPINIONS Tanya Howe Opinions Editor Graduation time is almost here and so ends my Douglas College experience and my rein as the Opinions Editor at the Other Press. It was nice to have a year to rant and rave to you, dear readers. For the most part, you were a passive bunch that didn’t send me any hate mail (or love mail, for that matter!). So either no one read my column, or you did, and didn’t care what | had to say. Either way, | got to say what | wanted and publish a hell of a lot of swear words. There are not too many places you can publish graphic rants and raves. For my final column, | have decided to drain my rants and raves archives with the things | meant to write about but never got around too. | present my top five: #5 People who take forever at a bank machine. Once you are done, move along and let the rest of us go about our business. You can walk away from the machine and look at your bank statement. You don’t have to make me stand there and watch you try to figure it out. | have things to do and one of them is banking, so move it! #4 Line budgers. | hate these people. In fact, I’ve been known on occasion to trip a person or two who have budged in front of me. After waiting forever in line, | tend to get a little irritable when someone thinks they can bypass the wait by stepping in front of me. #3 Perfume and colognes are outdated. They served a purpose in the day of barn dances but now a days we have deodorant so why spray on the extra scents? There is nothing worse than getting on the SkyTrain and having my eyes start watering because the chick beside me dumped a bottle of au du crap on herself. And by the way, many people have allergies to unnatural scents, so do us all a favour and Science Matters Diseases of the poor need attention David Suzuki Disease research is always a hot news topic. That's only natural--we're all scared of getting sick. Cancer and heart disease are the devel- oped world’s biggest killers, so they receive the most air time. But the developing world faces a host of different diseases that don’t get the public attention or the research dollars they desperately need. Consider three of the biggest killers in the developing world - malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 40 per cent of the world’s continued on page 9 population is at risk from malaria and in some areas of Africa, 80 per cent of the children are infected with malaria parasites. Only 20 per cent of those who suffer from tuberculosis receive high-quality treatment. And 30 per cent of sexually active young people surveyed in 22 developing countries had never even heard of AIDS or how it is transmitted. These statistics underlie a grim death toll. Every year, more than 800,000 young children die from malaria, two million people die from tuberculosis and three million die from AIDS. The United Nations has developed a global fund to fight these diseases, but it falls short of its needs. Right now, it is receiving just 11 per The Final Rant and Rave throw out the smelly shit. #2 Cheaters suck. Guys who cheat on their girlfriends are cowards and the women they cheat with are idiots. If you really want to screw a bunch of people then why carry on a steady relationship? Is it a comfort zone or are you just wanting the best of all worlds? Why cheat and hurt the one you claim to love? And my biggest question is, how do women get sucked in by a cheater? You know he has a girlfriend and all he wants from you is to con- quer and fuck you—what do you get out of it? If you ask me, the guy is dirty and damaged goods. (| mean dirty as in repulsive.) Cheaters are like heavy-duty alcoholics, they never change and they are a mess to deal with. #1 And my biggest annoyance is? Students who don’t take advantage of their college newspaper. For crying out loud, when are you ever going to get a chance to rant and rave and swear about the things that annoy you? There are three cam- puses for Douglas College and not many of you submitted anything. Seriously, everybody has issues, so why not write about them. Go under a pseudonym if you are scared of what your friends will think of your lunacy. It is not hard to write 500 words of what you want to say, when you write thousands of words for instructors on what they don’t want you to say. You have this outlet to publish your thoughts, so use it. You pay for it with your student fees, so get your moneys worth. Well, | guess this concludes my time and rants at the OP. | hope some of you will consider writing for the paper in the future and be kind to the new Opinions Editor, Erin Culhane. She is a great writer and will take the section in a whole new direction. | wish her the best and hopefully more people will contribute in future issues. Take care, it has been a slice.