The University’s search for the founding dean of the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy is progressing as the search committee narrows down candidates to a group of finalists who will be invited to Grounds next month.
The finalists, whom University Provost Arthur Garson referred to in an e-mail as a “group of incredibly distinguished finalists,” were selected after a series of off-Grounds interviews, Batten School Director David Breneman said.
The search committee, chaired by Garson, consists of a Board of Visitors member, a member of the Miller Center of Public Affairs’ Board of Directors, as well as various faculty members, Garson stated in an e-mail. He noted that the committee hopes to have a final candidate selected by early July.
According to the University’s online invitation to apply for the position, the University has hired a national executive search firm called Isaacson, Miller to collaborate with the committee throughout the search process.
The online invitation also states that “the Search Committee seeks a visionary Dean … with a grip on the history of the field and a passion for its future,” as well as “a dean who will found and lead a nationally distinguished school, charting a new direction for the field of public policy and leadership education.”
Todd Eley, a fifth-year student in the school’s Masters in Public Policy program, agreed that because the new dean will be the school’s founding dean, he or she will have a great deal of influence on the school’s future direction.
Breneman noted that the new dean particularly will affect how the school infuses leadership into all of its courses.
Breneman added that he believes the new dean should be a first-class academic who also has extensive experience outside of the academic world. Eley echoed Breneman’s thoughts, adding that the new dean needs to have knowledge of multiple areas within the political realm.
“We obviously want someone who has experience in all levels of government, someone who has enough contacts with those areas to branch out beyond what [the master’s in public policy program has] been getting so far, which is largely a national focus,” Eley said.

Last night Student Council debated and ultimately did not pass a resolution that would endorse the Tees Overseas campaign, a student group, whose goal is to collect unwanted orange T-shirts and send them to overseas areas in need.
The resolution asked for Council’s formal support and appreciation for the efforts of the group, which is currently funded by Council’s Athletic Affairs Committee.
Some Council members first expressed concern with the language of the endorsement resolution, which stated, “recent marketing efforts and policies threaten to strip Scott Stadium of its unique identity that existed during the era of the football program’s greatest success.” Council members took the language to mean that if Council passed the resolution, it may appear as though Council endorses dressing up for football games instead of wearing a T-shirt.
“If Tees Overseas is taking a certain side that’s fine, but Student Council is not in a position to take a side,” Vice President for Administration John Nelson said. “It’s not in our best interest as a student representative body to take a position on this issue.”
After Council members discussed the problematic language of the resolution, Graduate Arts & Sciences Rep. David Hondula motioned to remove any language that might suggest Council’s support of wearing traditional attire instead of “Sea of Orange” T-shirts. As a result, portions of the resolution that could be seen as controversial were removed.
After the language was removed from the bill, however, some Council members were still hesitant to endorse one student organization.
“Student Council doesn’t endorse too many causes or organizations,” Nelson said. “We really can’t support every cause and organization out there. We should leave resolutions endorsing specific causes to cases where either Student Council can really help the broad student body or where we think our role is necessary in endorsing a cause.”
During this debate, however, Hondula said he did not believe the bill to be problematic for Council, adding that, if passed, the resolution would simply illustrate Council’s support of the group’s philanthropic efforts.
“The resolution is just saying ‘Here are some T-shirts and Council appreciates the charitable aspects of the campaign.’” Hondula said. “The resolution is principally about getting shirts to those in need and not so much about picking one side or the other.”
Council voted on the resolution, which failed to pass with one in favor, two abstentions and the remainder against.
“I have to trust the people that have been on Council longer than I,” Hondula said. “If it truly is rare for Council to endorse causes, I’ll have to trust their opinion on that.”
Also last night, Council voted in favor of a resolution it discussed last week which would work to allow part-time graduate students access to ticked sporting events, proportional to the athletics fee they currently pay.

The University Medical Center announced Monday that it saved nearly 1.8 tons of plastic this summer that had previously never been considered recyclable.
The conservation was achieved through a demonstration project in June and July for recycling in clinical use. The Medical Center tested the project in one operating unit, two adult acute-care units and one intensive care unit, said Registered Nurse Kathleen Rea, president-elect of the University’s Professional Nursing Staff Organization.
“Nurses across the health system are very invested in [ensuring] that our clinical outcomes and work environment continue to meet … standards of excellence,” Rea explained. “This year, they felt strongly that a healing environment starts with a healthy planet.”
University nurses, along with outside supporters, collaborated with the University recycling team, the University Health System and others in the University community to save 1.8 tons of plastic. This material came from products used while caring for patients, such as plastic pouches for IVs, Rea said.
The program, which is among the most recent of the center’s green initiatives, is currently in the evaluation stage to determine how it could be regularly implemented, Rea noted.
The University’s Facilities Management Department “worked with us to handle the increased volume during that time period without additional infrastructure,” Rea said. “They did a great job.”
In addition to its summer efforts, the Medical Center is pursuing other green initiatives. Rea noted the Medical Center has made a “big effort to use green cleaning products that meet hospital standards for disinfectants and infection control that are better for those who are cleaning and those indoors.”
The center also has implemented the NightWatchman program for reducing energy use among non-clinical computers. This program “automatically shuts down and wakes up PCs at predetermined times between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m,” Rea said, noting that this program can reduce emissions by over 800 metric tons per year.
While the new Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center will be LEED certified — meaning it will be constructed according to federal environmental standards — the University has also increased its emphasis on retro-comissioning buildings.
“You go through a building and make sure systems are running as efficiently as possible,” said Lindsey Daniels, sustainability outreach coordinator in Facilities Management, of the process.
Medical research building number 4 is one retro-commissioned building that has recently saved 23 percent of its energy output, Daniels said.
All new buildings are also making effort to be environmentally friendly; each must have “dedicated floor space for recycling for each floor” as a part of official University policy, said Bruce Frazer, University recycling department operations supervisor.
“There must be space for a recycling shelf and bottle and can containers in the contract,” Frazer said.
Efforts to improve environmental awareness in buildings both old and new have helped the University financially, Daniels said, noting that during the last two years, the University has saved $47 per ton on average by recycling instead of trashing material, which has resulted in $415,000 in cost avoidance.
As a whole, the University has made great strides towards becoming green, Daniels said.
“In the last four years there has been a complete turnover,” she said. “It’s amazing how much sustainability awareness has increased at U.Va. since 2004.”

Boeing, a global aerospace company, has begun research on an engineering school ranking process with the hopes of improving university engineering departments across the country.
Boeing spokesperson Cindy Wall said by evaluating how students perform in the workforce, Boeing will be able to critique various engineering departments. The data collected will supply universities with information about the effectiveness of their programs in preparing engineering students for future careers.
The company is currently in the process of deciding how to best evaluate students in order to develop the ranking system, Wall said, noting that although the ranking process has yet to begin, many schools have voiced their interest in the program.
“Many are in favor [of it] because it will give them information on how their program is affecting business needs,” she said.
Boeing’s current research includes close work with various universities’ engineering department faculty members to inform colleges about the process of creating the ranking system, as well as working with the College Board to facilitate relationships with various schools, Wall said.
Boeing is researching 88 schools with former students now working for the company to determine the rankings, Wall said.
Wall also noted that because the ranking system is a “new approach,” Boeing “may need to change the processes down the road.”
While the University’s role in the research is still undecided, Lloyd Barrett, University of Virginia mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, said he believes the Engineering School’s good relationship with Boeing could encourage the company to include the University in its efforts, noting that several students from the University have gone to work for the company in the past.
Barrett added that the Engineering School tries to prepare students for the working world through design courses in which students work in teams and also through courses that incorporate technical writing.
Along with classroom efforts, Barrett noted that the University “talks to employers and gets their input about what they think students should be prepared for.”

Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, will speak at a rally on Grounds today, accompanied by vice presidential candidate Joe Biden’s wife, Jill Biden.
The rally will take place in Newcomb Plaza starting at 4:15 p.m. this afternoon, said Hoos for Obama President Sam Shirazi, a former Cavalier Daily Opinion columnist.
The event is first-come, first-serve, said Katherine Young, spokesperson for the National Advance Team from America for Obama. Young added that audience members will be seated starting at 3 p.m.
Shirazi said that although the rally is geared towards undecided female voters, all University students are welcome to attend.
—compiled by Christina Brown

Student Council must feel a bit like students’ parents sometimes — it only seems to hear from them when they want money. Beyond appropriations requests, Council mostly hears from only the most vocal student groups, as well as those who have developed close connections with Council. In order to reach a wider base, Council shouldn’t wait for students to come to it — those who know how already have. It should instead meet students where they are.
In that respect, the plan announced yesterday to foster communication between Council’s Executive Board and typical students is a good idea that should make Council more accessible.
Council President Matt Schrimper’s plan to sit near dining halls with Dean of Students Allen Groves, ready to listen to students’ thoughts, will go a long way toward “putting a face on Student Council,” as Schrimper put it. We’re not sure why students are to be given a candy bar after sharing their thoughts — they’re not puppies who need treats for being good — but allowing students to voice their needs directly to their leaders will not only yield good information; it will encourage students to come to Council more often with their thoughts.
The Executive Board’s program of having brunch every other week with the leaders of other student groups will also foster ties between Council and people it normally does not hear from — so long as Board members choose to dine with students they do not already know. The Honor Committee and the Minority Rights Coalition, for example, already know how to contact Council and do so on a regular basis. Council should instead meet with marginalized groups who have trouble attracting its attention.
The change in policy regarding Council representatives and committee chairs is also an improvement. Rather than requiring these students to hold office hours, they will now attend CIOs’ meetings to ask for input and explain how Council can help the group. The reason is obvious: No one goes to those office hours. “I had one person come to my office hours in two years” as a representative, Schrimper said. Having CIOs meet the chairs of relevant committees will help them feel confident asking those people for help.
Council’s new Web site has already proven far more popular than its old one, Schrimper said. The detailed information about Council happenings and contacts has led to 10 times as many hits and many more e-mails than last year. Council’s new “change@virginia.edu” e-mail seems less likely to be useful — those who go to Council’s Web site already have ample access to contact information. Adding a new e-mail address probably will not increase student input, though the trendy name might be popular should Schrimper announce a run for the White House next week.
Next week’s event offering free Rita’s Italian Ice to students who fill out a survey is perhaps the least useful for Council. The information Council receives from this event will be skewed — it will only include responses from students who have free time Monday afternoon and enjoy free Italian ice, and most people will fill out the surveys in a hurry rather than giving them sincere thought. Council should not be surprised if the most popular request is “More free dessert!” The event may be good publicity, in the model of the Honor Barbeque Schrimper cited as inspiration, but the information gleaned from it should not be put to serious use.

THINK back to the agonizing months you spent as a high school senior anxiously awaiting those college acceptance letters, constantly evaluating in your head whether your grade point average was high enough, whether your extracurricular activities were versatile enough, whether your admissions essay was interesting enough. Remember how much of a crapshoot applying to college seemed to be?
For a select group of high school students today, the gamble of college admissions has become much less about chance and much more about money. In other words, wealth has once again come to the rescue. According to The New York Times, an increasing number of high school students and their parents are soliciting the help of educational consultants, individuals hired for the sole purpose of helping high school students successfully apply to college
These consultants, Times reporter Julie Bick writes, “take up where overburdened high school guidance counselors leave off,” helping students with everything from determining the right colleges to apply for to reviewing their admissions essays and preparing them for interviews. They either charge by the hour or work for a fixed fee, and many begin working with students when they enter tenth grade.
Though private educational consultants may provide a valid and valuable service to children who truly need specialized attention, such as those with learning disabilities and behavioral disorders, they are often hired by wealthy parents in affluent areas to aid children who neither need nor warrant such specialized attention.
This is yet another example of how large a role wealth plays in the education sector. It is the key that opens the doors of the nation’s most prestigious universities, it is the guarantor of academic opportunities that would likely never become available were it not for the financial power of one’s parents. Money may not buy happiness, but it will certainly buy a one-way ticket to Harvard.
This relatively recent trend in private education consulting suggests that the achievement gap between students from wealthy backgrounds and those from low-income backgrounds will remain and will perhaps become even more pronounced. According to the Brookings Institution, in 2005, only 11 percent of children with parents in the lowest family income quintile had a college degree, versus 53 percent of students with parents in the top quintile. It is much easier to conquer the often overwhelming admissions process when aided by professionals who are paid to guide students along the way. Guidance counselors can only be of so much help at overcrowded public schools, where a student is lucky if a counselor even knows her name.
Colleges and universities around the country should do more to recognize the inequalities educational consulting inevitably brings to the academic arena. As long as schools take no interest in whether or not a student has been given an advantage over others because he or she could afford a personal consultant, they are complicit in the maintenance of this unequal system.
Because these consulting programs have been so successful of late, the number of people in the profession “has doubled in the last five years … and is expected to double again in the next three to five years,” according to Bick’s article. More and more people are drawn to this lucrative profession instead of working in the public school system, where all students theoretically have access to a counselor. Therefore, instead of improving an existing and much more open system of academic support for students, many in the education profession and private sector are aiding in its demise.
Education consulting does have a place in the academic arena, but it does not involve wealthy families and students who do not warrant extra help meeting their admissions requirements. Consulting can be extremely beneficial to students with learning disabilities such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or dyslexia. The Independent Educational Consultants Association, among other private consultant associations, already recognizes the benefits they offer to such students. Additionally, programs for students from high-crime areas or from abusive families can also benefit tremendously from such a strong system of support. Yet in both of these situations, student need — and not student wealth — should justify the use of a private consultant.
Worrying about getting into college is a rite of passage for many students whether they like it or not. It is a difficult and painful process that money should not, but unfortunately does, alleviate. Any guidance available should become available to all, not simply to the wealthy few. Yet once again, money, not merit, has given select students an undeserved advantage.
Amelia Meyer’s column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at a.meyer@cavalierdaily.com.

IN THE years since the towers fell in New York City, a new villain has emerged in the story of America. These bearded, belligerent monsters, or what our presidential candidates call “Islamic Extremists” now haunt the political scene. For the two men who wish to lead our country, terrorism constitutes the greatest threat to our way of life. But like all the other anniversaries of September 11th, this year’s remembrance largely ignores an enduring problem: the way we think and speak about Muslims.
Two Muslim Congressman now act for the American people in the House of Representatives. During the summer I was able to interview Representatives Keith Ellison, (D-Minn.), and Andre Carson, (D-Ind.), and the conversation helped to illuminate the problem we face. As the only two Muslims ever to be elected to Congress they maintain a rare perspective.
As the more reserved of the two, Carson was not quick to point fingers. Citing “President Bush’s distinction,” Carson referred to the initial solidarity Bush tried to preserve with the Muslim world immediately following 9/11. Extremists on the fringe should not represent Islam, and for Carson, Bush was brave and noble to maintain this distinction. The issue, according to Carson, is that the line between violent action and peaceful faith has been blurred. For the representative from Indiana, the fact that we now associate a religion with terror is not an explicit political construction, but a misfortunate media issue. He believes that years of reporting and political debate has tainted the way the public views Islam.
Ellison was much more accusatory. Referring to specific congressmen by name, he connected the way we think about Islam with the way certain people speak about it. Although he implicitly agreed with Carson — that the media is partly responsible — Congressman Ellison wanted, passionately, to affix the faces of politicians to political rhetoric. Speaking about these Congressmen, Ellison said, “They let vile people represent the faith … and the public assumes certain ideas if you say them long enough.” For Ellison, the negative connotation of Islam is attributed less to thematic media coverage and more to the Republican political agenda. The prejudice we have against Islam, he believes, has a specific agency.
Although the congressmen did not share the same views on who or what is responsible for this problem, both representatives agreed that it does exist. If we consider that notorious New Yorker cartoon — the one that could have been called “Stephen Colbert’s Portrait of the Obamas” — we can sense the uncomfortable relationship this country has with Islam. Think how that word is almost always uttered with certain other words, like extremism, terror and violence. And consider also how precious little Senators Obama and McCain have said to defend the faith.   
Carson was concerned less with identifying troublemakers and more with how to implement reform. Supported by research done by Georgetown University and the Muslim American Society, he argued for more American Muslims to become politically active — in order to strengthen our political dialogue.
According to Zahid H. Bukhari, director of Georgetown University’s Project MAPS, a long-term research project on American Muslims, there are between one and a half and two million registered Muslim voters in America. Bukhari says “more Muslims are running for office,” and “Islamic centers are becoming more of community centers.” This mirrors the way American churches are used for political mobilization.
But even with Bukhari’s optimistic data, Ellison’s worry still goes unchallenged. For how can an increase in Muslim civic participation combat an entire party’s political apparatus? If you agree with Ellison — that the Republican Party is largely responsible for our distaste for Islam — than it must be the Democratic Party, the party of opposition, that shifts the national narrative.
Muslims standing up and speaking for themselves is the first step, but it will have to be the millions more non-Muslims, the other 433 Representatives who must defend against ignorance. Unless the tiny population of American Muslims can galvanize the rest of us, the effort to distinguish Islam and terror must extend beyond the Mosque.
Instead of asking ourselves certain dead ended questions like “Is Islam compatible with the West?” we should ask instead, “How can we better integrate 21st century Muslims into the global economy?” And rather than just asking “How can we design weaponry to destroy all terrorists?” we should ask also, “What political conditions foster such hopelessness in men and women of the modern Middle East?”
Because if we allow Islam and its followers to be trampled, if we become afraid of a religion we are not quite familiar with, we dishonor the fallen of September. It is like we are agreeing with those extremists — the ones who say “All can be persuaded with fear.”
Hamza Shaban’s column usually appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at h.shaban@cavalierdaily.com.

For many, the taste of cough syrup is less than desirable, even in the midst of flu season. Some young people, however, have acquired more than just a taste for it in recent years. In fact, over-the-counter drugs such as cough syrup and cold medications have become the drugs of choice in many homes of today’s youth.
“If someone is looking to get high, he or she will look in their home first,” said Sue Kell, education director at the Blue Ridge Poison Center.
Furthermore, Kell mentioned, cough syrup is “cheap, legal, accessible, and parents don’t suspect it.”
This act of taking more than the suggested dose of cough syrup in search of a “high” feeling has become known as “robotripping.” The term “robo” derives from the name of a well-known (and often abused) cough medicine, Robitussin, while “tripping” is the desired “high” that occurs as a result of abusing this over-the-counter drug.
Rick Heisterman, University Counseling and Psychological Services substance use clinician, said young people fail to consider the behavioral, physiological and emotional long-term effects of substance abuse as they reach for a bottle of cough syrup in hopes of an “out-of-body” experience.
What causes this experience? According to the Blue Ridge Poison Center, most of these medicines include Dextromethorphan, otherwise known as DXM, derived from opium.
Heisterman explained that Robitussin is a central nervous system depressant, large doses of which can cause hallucinatory experiences.
“These drugs can have lethal effects,” Heisterman said. “Too much can stop the abuser’s respiratory system and heart.” Even if not lethal, Heisterman noted, the substances “can cause an extreme loss of control and judgment.”
Aside from possible unintentional injuries that can result from DXM inebriation, Kell and toxicology fellow Nathan Charlton of the Blue Ridge Poison Center mentioned the health risks associated with combining DXM with alcohol and other drugs, especially those containing acetaminophen. Heisterman defined this effect as a “synergistic effect” in which the drugs become more powerful when mixed together, resulting in a more intense experience and dangerously amplified effects.
Heisterman said short-term use of DXM causes a person to feel less inhibited; however, long term use affects one’s behavior, emotions, brain and body. DXM can cause psychological stress, ruin relationships and have destructive effects on one’s organs and brain.
Heisterman described what can happen to one’s brain as a result of DXM abuse: High levels of DXM use can cause damage to neural transmitters in the brain. As a person grows older, he loses neural transmitters. The more damage one does to neural transmitters during his youth, the more neural transmitters will die off in old age. In general, the impact drugs have on the brain and body carries over into later life.
The American Academy of Family Physicians reported that cough medicines have become more common drugs of abuse since the 1990s. In fact, “one in 10 report abusing cough medicine to get high,” according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
Some abusers claim to have “good trips” in which they have strange yet enjoyable adventures, but others report “bad trips” that end in nausea and lethargy for several days afterward.
An anonymous University student was willing to share the details of her robotripping experience and explain why she will never robotrip again.
“The kind that we took was in syrup form, and it only had one active ingredient [Dextromethorphan],” she said, adding, “it was pretty fast to kick in because of the fact that I accidentally mixed it with high doses of acetaminophen.
“It didn’t make anything appear out of thin air, but it made it very easy for people with overactive imaginations, such as myself, to create things out of things that you see every day,” she explained.
Some of the sights the student saw include lanterns with trapped fairies inside, in place of light bulbs; patterns in the pavement turned into ants rushing out of anthills; and imagined obstacles blocked her way in the stairwell.
“It was just generally hard to move,” she said, noting, “Your muscles felt all weird.”
The experience continued to affect the student even as she sought to go to sleep for the evening.
“Then when I closed my eyes to try to go to sleep, it was as though what I was trying to dream was playing out as a movie on the inside of my eyelids like I was actually seeing what I was dreaming. It made it a lot harder to go to sleep because you were physically involved in what you were thinking,” she explained.
The student noted that the consequences of robotripping lasted for several days; the experience left her with several days of nausea, a body that wanted to do nothing but sleep and no desire to ever robotrip again.
“If you think about it, you are essentially poisoning yourself,” she said, adding, “I think at one point I remarked that ‘We wouldn’t even know if we overdosed until we were dead.’” As a result of DXM overdoses, thousands of people are sent to hospital emergency rooms every year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The American Association of Poison Control Centers estimated 43,243 human exposures to DXM in 2007; however, Kell and senior toxicology fellow Nathan Charlton of the Blue Ridge Poison Center mentioned that this number only reflects the number of reported exposures. They estimated the true number of exposures in 2007 to be at least 10 times more than 43,243.
At any rate, the number of human exposures has increased significantly among adolescents in the past few years, according to the AAFP, which also reports that most DXM abusers are 12  to 17 years old, with 15- and 16-year-olds being the most involved in DXM abuse. Although many abusers are not college-aged, “use of Robitussin occasionally shows up in college populations,” said University Psychology Lecturer Kevin Doyle, a licensed professional counselor and the instructor for EDHS 224, “Substance Abuse in Society.”
“You see it less in college populations than in high school, possibly because college students have access to other things as well,” Doyle said. “They will have moved on to other things.”
Doyle suggested that people in search of non-emergency help consult a qualified professional for a confidential assessment and recommendation of treatment.
“A common misconception of all substances is that people say ‘Oh, just stop using,’ but it’s not that easy,” he said. “CAPS is a good place to start for students.”
Sarah Puckett contributed to this article.

We all remember it. That super-awkward conversation with the parents — you know the one. It was the sex talk. The specifics are different for everyone; some conversations were pretty tame, and others were rather traumatic. Some parents just handed their child a book, and others avoided the topic entirely. Whatever the situation in your family, I’ll bet you have two competing story lines in your head: The way your parents actually talked to you about sex and the way you wish they had. The bad news is that there’s no time machine to go back and change the way it was done. So what is the good news? You can continue educating yourself, starting today, even though you may believe that you already know everything there is to know.
Think back: Maybe you thought you were ready to face the world after the talk with the parents. On the other hand, maybe you were so scared that you vowed never to participate in any form of sexual activity until at least the age of 40. In any case, at some point you experienced that first kiss and probably a first boyfriend or girlfriend too. From those I’ve talked to about their first kisses, the experiences are generally classifiable as pretty awkward and ridiculous. If anything, they are useful in illustrating the fact that we don’t know everything about relationships, including both the emotional part and the sexual part.
Kissing, for its part, usually leads to other things. Often we continue on, step-by-step, through the whole gamut of potentially enjoyable sexual activities. At this point, many of us have taken what is commonly considered to be “the ultimate step” and participated in sexual intercourse, while others of us have not. For those on the “have had intercourse” side of the spectrum, hopefully it was a decision with which you were comfortable (although the younger you were, the less likely it is that you were completely happy with the idea). Again, “the first time” is often not the most enjoyable of experiences, even if you felt completely ready for it. That’s just because it takes practice, learning and communication to get something right and, at that point in the game, there’s not a knowledge base upon which you can rely.
As counter-intuitive as it sounds, we usually don’t know what sort of sensations we enjoy until we experiment a bit, much less how to create sensations that our partners will enjoy. That is why talking is so important. While I’m not sure of the exact statistics involved, I’m going to go ahead and assume that a lot of us take our sexual cues from the movies — how to make out, how to look sexy while taking off our clothes and so forth. But overall, most of the movies we watch are pretty sexually tame (I’m excluding pornography here, and sticking with major motion pictures). The make-outs all look the same, and the sex is mostly missionary position.
There are more opportunities out there and better sensations to be had. If you follow a movie script, your sex life will probably end up pretty bland. Maybe it seems awkward to vocalize such concerns with a sexual partner (maybe you should leave this column face-up on their desk), but trust me, you will thank yourself later, when you just had the best orgasm of your life — or, when you stopped at your previously agreed-upon stopping point, rather than yet again having gone further than you would have otherwise preferred. Seriously, it’s worth talking about. You will laugh about the awkwardness later, while cherishing the great things that resulted.
You can also take the initiative to do a little reading on your own. We’ve all gotten the abstinence/condoms/birth control spiel, but again, that’s a rather limited snapshot of the wider world of safe sex and birth control. There are books, Web sites, and peer health educators out there who would love to tell you more about safer sex and how to ensure that your sex life is exactly what you want it to be. Sexuality is a process that we begin learning about at a tender age, but it doesn’t stop once we become grown-ups. It’s an ongoing process, and it’s a pretty sure bet that the more you know about sex (especially safer sex) and the more you talk to your partner about what you want, the better your sex life will be.
Andrenne is a fourth-year College student. She can be reached at a.alsum@cavalierdaily.com.