IT IS UNDERSTOOD that not everyone is going to be on the same page about certain issues; that is the joy of being a student of the University. We are given the freedom and the voice that we are not always allowed to express elsewhere, but as college students we are given that right. Most importantly, we are given the right to have opposing opinions from others while still being able to maintain our composure — or so we should. We could at least be understanding, compassionate and sympathetic on issues that we may just not understand. Of course, as University students, we think we know everything, which gives us the right to walk with arrogance into subjects that we have no knowledge.

After doing my bi-monthly contributions, I have gotten a number of positive reviews from black students who understood where I come from. They enjoy my personal stories and share some of their own about how they could relate it to themselves in a way to be reminded that they are not alone in the struggle of finding and defining themselves. Sometimes they forget that they have a voice, or sometimes it’s just not heard and have nowhere to go. It’s something that we as black students have to remember: There will always be some number of issues that are our responsibility to manage. If we don’t, how can the struggle, even with ourselves, ever cease?

However, I understand that not everyone is aware of where I am coming from. If they cannot fully relate, then they cannot really understand. I am not attempting to address so-called minor issues in order to complain. I address these issues to let everyone know what is going on within the black community; not to create a sob story in order to gain sympathy or just to create an issue to have a battle within the University to obtain respect and recognition. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the privilege of having an equal voice and equal opportunities.

Sadly, many blacks at the University have accepted that things may be a little harder for them. It is just a tad bit difficult to understand if someone cannot relate, but they do have the opportunity to listen and try to show some concern. Not to be understanding as a non-black student — or for any culture, for that matter — or not to even care only shows a sign of ignorance. How can someone judge and assume facts merely on what they believe without relying on first-hand sources?

Of course, this is something that has been asked over and over, and we think that we got the idea that it’s not right to hate what you don’t understand. Well, we aren’t experiencing any hate, but hate is a close relation to ignorance, which we allow so easily. Some blacks may say that as long as nothing is said or directly done to anyone, then everything is okay, but how can we let the tension sit and brew? This is not a battle between minorities and those who are not; this is a battle for all of us to accept one another without allowing pre-conceived notions to get in the way.

I can openly say that I will never fully understand someone whose background, culture or interests are not similar to my own. That is not my own ignorance, but also my lack of relation, which I cannot control. Unless I look, talk, think and act like them, I can never get the full effect and the consequences of life that come along with it. Then again, if it is my choice to refuse to listen, neglect to show a sign of empathy, or even an amount of concern, then I am to blame for my own misguidance.

Putting it in black and white, there is no battle that black students face alone. Every culture has a way of defining themselves, but some do tend to struggle more so than others. Whether it’s struggling getting into a football game for having our bags checked, rejection getting into parties that are not our own, or our parties being shut down too early because of the over-abundance of security, many minorities are frustrated with the shortcomings and irritations entailed. Of course, we don’t have exactly the same problems, but we have some amount of knowledge as to where the other is coming from, especially when dealing with the same frustration. We can only ask ourselves how willing we are to accept other people for their differences, especially if we want them to accept our own.

Brooke Howard is the political action chair of the Black Student Alliance. She can be reached at blh7b@virginia.edu.

SEX. Everyone has an interest in that, right? I mean, if it weren’t for sex, none of us would be here — test tube babies excepted.

So it’s no surprise that a ranking of colleges and universities according to their sexual health would appear in college newspapers all across the country, including The Cavalier Daily. And it’s not terribly surprising that another survey declaring that college students like Wi-Fi even more than they like beer would get attention.

Not surprising, but a little disappointing.

Newsrooms are constantly deluged with press releases touting wondrous products, miraculous cures and sagacious insight. Not all of it is all it’s advertised to be. Journalists need to separate information from advertising; news from propaganda.

When it comes to surveys, studies and rankings, among the first questions that ought to be asked are these: Who conducted the research? Who paid for the research? What interest, beyond a selfless search for truth and knowledge, do they have in the subject?

The sexual health survey was underwritten by Trojan, the folks who sell condoms. The Wi-Fi survey came from the Wi-Fi Alliance, described in The Cavalier Daily story as “a global non-profit organization representing the wireless Internet industry.”

The sponsors’ obvious interest in the outcome ought to raise some questions. But even if they didn’t, anyone reporting on studies and polls should gain a clear understanding of the methodology used, and they should share that knowledge with their readers.

According to The Cavalier Daily, Wakefield Research, the company that conducted the Wi-Fi study, “interviewed 501 students in September from a variety of schools.” My majors were English and history, so I’m not an expert in polling, but I’m suspicious about the ability of such a small and vaguely defined sampling to speak for all university students. There’s no mention of a margin of error in the story, so it’s hard to make any judgment beyond my initial skepticism. But I have a lot of skepticism, and the story doesn’t do much to alleviate that.

I did a little research of my own about the sexual health study. First I read some other college newspapers’ reports on the rankings. I learned that Harvard was 15 places lower this year than last. Dartmouth fell 44 places. The University of Wisconsin fell from 15th to 35th. Cornell went from 63rd to third. Stanford rose from 41st to first. I couldn’t find anything that happened on those campuses that explained such wild swings among the 139 schools on the list.

But this is only the third time this ranking has been done, and there was a major change in the data collected. Sperling’s BestPlaces, the company that did the ranking, added a survey of students this year. According to The Cavalier Daily, 9,000 students responded to a survey. For a moment, I thought that meant 9,000 University of Virginia students had responded. But that was nationwide. There were 103 responses from the University. The survey was a Facebook invitation to answer some questions and get a chance to win a Wii. Not a particularly scientific way to select participants. But that was only part of the process.

According to Bert Sperling, his company looked at Web sites to see what information they could find about universities’ sexual health services. The rankers also sent surveys to the college health centers. About a third of them responded, Sperling said.

Saying that every survey is going to have drawbacks, Sperling made it clear that his company’s rankings weren’t intended to be the definitive word on this issue.

“I don’t think it’s gospel,” Sperling said. “I think it’s a good indicator. Hopefully it will spur some discussion and further thinking about sexual health and how that information gets to the students.”

Maybe it’s a good indicator. Maybe not. But there wasn’t much allowance for ambiguity in the coverage Trojan got in the campus newspapers I (unscientifically) sampled. This isn’t a shortcoming peculiar to student newspapers. The professional press is often guilty of the same thing in its reporting of polls, surveys and scientific reports. Context and background and important, and their absence keeps readers from making informed decisions about what they’re reading.

Attentive readers may have gleaned one great truth about rankings from The Cavalier Daily two weeks ago, however.

When the Trojan survey ranked the University behind Virginia Tech, James Turner, executive director of student health, was quick to explain what was wrong with the rankings. When the Princeton Review declared, for the second year in a row, that Darden professors are the best business school professors in the country, Dean Robert Bruner and others talked about how perceptive the reviewers must have been.

Tim Thornton is the Cavalier Daily ombudsman. He can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.

“She doesn’t let me hang out with my friends. She says she should be enough.”

This is one of six messages written on posters around Grounds for the Red Flag Campaign, an awareness campaign launched through the Women’s Center. The campaign attempts to draw attention to the problem of intimate partner violence, as October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

According to the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, one partner is being abused in one out of every five college dating relationships. Many people associate domestic violence with physical abuse, but the Red Flag Campaign is trying to demonstrate that violence is not always physical — it can be emotional, too. The posters place an emphasis on identifying the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships as well as signs of abusive behavior, including coercion, sexual assault, isolation, jealousy, emotional abuse and victim-blaming.

Many young people find it hard to identify violence in their relationships because serious relationships can be a new experience.
“It’s hard for some students to distinguish how you should be treated, especially in college relationships, because they’ve never done it before,” said third-year College student Katie Gorman, the sexual and domestic violence services outreach intern at the Women’s Center. National statistics support this idea: According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 16- to 24-year-old women experience the highest per capita rates of intimate violence, at a rate almost triple the national average.

In light of these facts, the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance decided to embark on the Red Flag Campaign to raise awareness about these issues where they are widespread: on college campuses.

Claire Kaplan, director of sexual and domestic violence services at the Women’s Center and who also helped shape the Red Flag Campaign as part of the initial development committee, said planning for the campus awareness program started three years ago with a grant from the Verizon Foundation. A campus task force comprised of students, personnel and community-victim advocates developed the materials and vetted them past student groups. Last year the University hosted a focus group in which students provided feedback about the stalking content of the campaign.

A variety of campuses across Virginia participate in this campaign, and the program is slowly spreading to become a national initiative.
Campaign advocates are hanging up posters around Grounds, distributing flag pens that list qualities of healthy relationships and planting red flags around Grounds to remind students of the intimate-partner violence problem. What distinguishes this campaign from other awareness campaigns, Kaplan said, is its ability to speak to third parties.

Both Kaplan and Gorman said friends and family of a victim are often the first ones to come forward about intimate violence, which is one of the reasons why the posters have not just examples of red flag behavior, but “talk boxes” that respond to those behaviors. “It empowers people to act,” Kaplan said. The campaign is “not just speaking to victims, it tells a third party, ‘You can do something, too,’”
Warrenetta Mann, multicultural coordinator at Counseling and Psychological Services, praised these sorts of awareness campaigns.
“Campaigns [like this] give individuals things they can do and actions they can take in everyday life to have a specific impact,” she said, noting domestic violence is “something growing amongst younger people and couples that lots of college counseling centers are worried about. I think it’s good that students are addressing it within their own community.”

While the campaign is focused primarily on raising awareness, Kaplan reiterated the importance of peer education groups in the process and how they are expected to educate the student body. University students developed a forum to discuss these issues yesterday in the Kaleidoscope Room in Newcomb Hall.

Fourth-year College student Evelyn Hall, co-chair of the Sexual Assault Leadership Council, said a representative from the Shelter for Help in Emergency gave a broad overview of domestic violence by defining it and giving signs and instructions about how to help a friend. The second half of the forum was a panel in which survivors of domestic violence shared their personal stories. The variety of panelists, Hall said, highlighted non-traditional forms of domestic violence and allowed attendees to understand the effects abuse can have on students’ broader experiences at the University.

“The panel is an opportunity to gain very private insight on intimate partner violence experience of peers; it provides key insights about issues that are often swept under the rug,” she said. “Hearing personal stories is one of the most influential ways to change perspectives.”
The work done by student education groups and the awareness campaigns attempts to bring light to a situation that Kaplan said students “may not even recognize because of a normalized environment.”

Gorman agreed that people think intimate partner abuse “is a private issue,” she said. “But you need to speak up. You need to say ‘I don’t think he’s treating you right, you deserve better than this.’”

Kaplan said for an aggressor to hear someone else speak about intimate partner abuse “is amazing — way more than I can do. This [campaign] makes people feel good that there is something they can do.”

As balmy summer days give way to crisp autumn nights, carefree summer attitudes often dwindle as the shorter days creep in. Although it is natural to feel nostalgia for bygone afternoon barbecues and lazy days by the pool, the change in weather can seriously affect your mood and your life. Seasonal affective disorder (with its all-too-appropriate acronym, SAD) is a mood disorder that affects about 4 to 6 percent of the general American population during the winter months.

Spotting SAD can be deceptively difficult. Cold weather and less daylight can make all of us feel like sleeping more and eating carbohydrate-rich foods, as well as making us feel a little more temperamental than usual. Even the healthiest of people can feel bummed when the seasons change. If you (or a friend), however, have had disturbances in mood or motivation that interfere with health or livelihood, you could be dealing with SAD. Usually SAD refers to depressive symptoms that occur exclusively during the fall or winter, but occasionally may refer to symptoms of unusually elevated mood or agitation that occur during the summer.

The science behind SAD is still not totally clear, but it is most likely related to the effect of light on transmitters in the brain that regulate mood and sleep. Serotonin, made well-known by its link to major depression, is responsible for regulating mood. New research suggests that people who are susceptible to SAD may have lower levels of serotonin than everyone else during the winter months, but surprisingly normal levels during the summer months. Scientists believe light may actually aid in serotonin production, so when light levels are low during winter, people may produce less serotonin than during the sunny months of summer.

A second player in the theory behind SAD is melotonin, a hormone produced in the brain that regulates our sleep-wake cycle. When light hits your retina, it keeps the production of melatonin at bay. Thus, during the summer, you’ll have plenty of energy to run around during the long daylight hours; however, when winter rolls in and daylight is hard to come by, melatonin production gears up, and this can make you feel lethargic and down. In addition, your circadian rhythm (i.e., internal clock) can be thrown off by the change in seasons, which can also leave you feeling groggy and depressed.

What to do if you suspect SAD might be making you sad? One key to feeling better is maximizing your exposure to sunlight. Get outside, open the blinds and roll back the sunroof. Even better, take a walk, since exercise itself has beneficial effects on mood and self-esteem (and you can soak up the sun at the same time). Spend time with people you care about and do your best to keep doing the things you normally do, even though it may be cold outside. Eating healthily and keeping a regular sleep schedule may also help temper mood changes.

It may also be time to get help from a professional who knows how to treat SAD. The mainstays of therapy these days are behavioral (as described above), medication and light exposure therapy. For the latter, you can use either full-spectrum light bulbs or light boxes to increase your total light exposure and perhaps realign your sleep-wake cycles.

With the impending holiday season, exam schedule and political pandemonium, winter will be stressful enough as it is. If you think you might be struggling with SAD, seek out lifelines and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Talk to someone — a friend or professional counselor or doctor — so you don’t have to go at it alone. If you’re worried about a friend, try to talk to him or her, or at least point him or her in the right direction. You might just be the light at the end of a cold, dark tunnel.

Emily is a University Medical student. She can be reached at e.graham@cavalierdaily.com.

“Iron Man” is one of the best movies I have seen this year. The basic premise is that man makes robot body armor to give him superhuman strength and flight capabilities. The comic book that inspired the movie has been around for decades, which makes me think businesses should have already created a body suit with all the capabilities of the original Iron Man. In the past, I have read about little devices placed here and there around the body that could help someone with weak muscles to walk. It was only recently that I chanced upon a robotic exoskeleton that actually looks like something you would see in the movies.

One example of a smaller device looks like a leg brace with a boot at the end. Its functional capacities, however, are not to be mocked. After a person slips his or her feet into the boots, that person can carry up to 150 pounds on his or her back with minimal effort. The 80 watt-hour battery allows the wearer 21 hours of walking time at an average speed of 2.5 mph, and a small solar panel could potentially power it indefinitely. The user’s agility is preserved while running or even when kicking (karate style). The entire device — including the computer, power unit and battery — weighs about 31 pounds. Berkely Bionics, the company that manufactures these machines, currently has three generations of products — the ExoHiker, the ExoClimber and the HULC. They have been built for military use, but the chief scientist, Homayoon Kazerooni said in an interview with Softpedia he believes it may also be used to help patients learn to walk again after a serious injury.

An amputee, however, would not be able to put these devices to good use. Instead of hobbling around on an uncomfortable pirate peg leg or prosthetic limb, the Rheo Knee® adapts to the way the wearer moves. It was developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media’s Lab Biomechatronic’s Group. One of the principal investigators of the device, Hugh Herr, had a vested interest to create a robotically enhanced prosthetic limb: He lost both of his legs in a mountaineering accident. The Rheo Knee works by collecting information about how the implant recipient walks and uses this data to sync with the person’s normal gait. Thus, as time passes, the device functions more as a real leg than just as a prop and makes it much easier for the person to achieve previously difficult tasks like walking upstairs. The aesthetic qualities of the Rheo Knee could use a little help since it resembles the leg of General Grievous in “Star Wars” or one of the many robots in the movie “I, Robot” (yes, I do watch too many movies).

The award for the coolest looking exoskeleton goes to Cyberdyne, Inc. for creating HAL, or Hybrid Assistive Limb. The white strap-on suit, which looks more like armor from Japanese anime, sleekly covers the sides of the arms and legs and the tops of the shoulders. The faint glow of large, blue halos can be seen at certain joints like the elbows, knees, hips and shoulders. Aside from being a pretty piece of machinery, the exoskeleton enhances the wearer’s strength by a factor of 2 to 10, according to the company’s Web site. If this is accurate, if I could bench-press 200 pounds now, I would be able to lift a one-ton car while wearing HAL. This seems a little dubious. Three video demos I saw on YouTube showed a really thin guy (like Mary-Kate Olsen skinny) doing squats with four 10-kilogram sacks of rice. The suit’s functional operating time would allow him to do this for two hours and 40 minutes with a 100-volt AC battery.

I must admit the mechanism of action behind this technology remains somewhat confusing even to me. Just before the action of moving an arm, electrical impulses are sent from the brain down to the arm’s muscle. According to the Cyberdyne Web site, “very weak biosignals can be detected on the surface of this skin.” Sensors in the exoskeleton can pick up and transmit this information to its internal computer. In response, the computer understands the direction and force of movement intended by the user.

Currently, HAL can only be rented by Japanese residents at a cost of about $2,200 per month. University of Tsukuba Prof. Yoshiyuki Sankai (the creator) has turned down offers from military organizations. Instead, he rents the technology on a case-by-case basis to the elderly and individuals who are disabled. Why the elderly would need this amount of power is beyond me. But it could be helpful in advancing the idea “respect thy elders.”

Ashok is a University Medical student. He can be reached at a.tholpady@cavalierdaily.com.

South of the Mason-Dixon Line, one expects glorious fried chicken and creamy mashed potatoes on every corner. Grits and barbecue should be an option at every meal. Here in Charlottesville, Wayside Takeout & Catering, featuring Ole Virginia Fried Chicken, best appears to fit this bill.

Located next to a gas station on the corner of Fontaine Avenue and Jefferson Park Avenue Extended, the small white and blue building is easy to miss. Given that it is also near restaurants like Thai ‘99 and Arirang, which offer less traditional fare, Wayside Chicken often may be overlooked.

Once inside, however, I was immediately taken in by the homey and comfortable atmosphere. The restaurant is decorated with posters of University athletic teams and has flower vases filled with orange and blue stones on every windowsill. Furthermore, it seemed like most of the customers (of which there was quite a few, especially for a Friday afternoon) were townspeople there to enjoy a meal or take some home to their families.

It’s hard not to appreciate the menu, too. My friend and I ordered four pieces of chicken (two fried, two baked), a side of french fries, green beans, macaroni and cheese, a hamburger, a BLT sandwich, a chocolate Oreo pudding and a slice of cookies ‘n’ cream pie – all for less than $20.

Unfortunately, in the few minutes it took to decide what to order, the cashier began to look incredibly impatient, despite the fact that no one was waiting. Honestly, with the amount that my friend and I were ordering, I thought she would have looked more pleased, especially since the bottom of the receipt states, “Large orders are welcome.”

Luckily the order did not take long, and we were soon digging into our feast. I was looking forward most to the fried chicken but was sadly disappointed. It was slightly on the salty side and wasn’t crispy enough for my tastes. The juiciness of the chicken, however, halfway made up for it. The two-piece box came with a breast and a wing, a side of our choice and a roll for less than $4.

The baked chicken was much better than its fried counterpart. The spices and flavor of the chicken itself were incredible. For a girl who adored anything fried during her childhood, I hadn’t expected myself to be such a fan of the baked chicken.

The sides we chose (macaroni and cheese and green beans) were both unsatisfactory, however; the macaroni tasted of processed cheese and was close to solidifying because we didn’t eat it immediately. The green beans also had an air of preservatives about them. But the restaurant did attempt a twist: sweetener. The beans were sickeningly sweet, as if they had been mixed with about a cup of sugar. When we ordered them, the cashier had a bit of a double-take. “You want the what?” Perhaps that should have been a hint. As for the rolls, they tasted disappointingly store-bought.

Our other source of starch, the french fries, looked more promising – until we saw the clear layer of grease pooling underneath. As I ate one, I could see the reflection of the light overhead. To distract myself, I tried dipping the fries in some of the sauces that were at the counter. The ketchup and honey mustard were standard enough, but the barbecue sauce was rather unorthodox in that it tasted nothing like barbecue sauce. There was a strange tang to it that caused us to wonder if they had accidentally filled it with hot sauce.

We then turned to the BLT and hamburger, hoping for better luck. Tragically, the hamburger failed us, although the patty was definitely homemade. The meat was not seasoned, and condiments, including basic ingredients like tomato, cost extra. They also used shredded lettuce instead of whole leaves, which was eerily reminiscent of the sandwich line at Newcomb Dining Hall. The burger, however, was only $1.89. It’s hard to complain.

The BLT was much more to our satisfaction. While I dislike mayonnaise, I didn’t mind it on the sandwich, which was constructed with simple white bread. But the sandwich was only good, not great. The bacon wasn’t crispy enough, which I could have done on my own at home. I understand it’s difficult to make a BLT original, but using regular white bread simply contributed to an overall feeling that it wasn’t anything special.

Perhaps what took away the most from the sandwich was the price. At face value, paying only $1.75 is fantastic – if you think you’re only paying $1.75. According to the receipt, however, we paid an extra 25 cents for the tomato on the bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwich. The mayonnaise, which was not listed on the menu as part of the sandwich, was free. I think I would have preferred the tomato to be included in the price and the mayonnaise to be optional.

But for all of its disappointments, Wayside Chicken redeemed itself with its desserts. Various puddings, cakes and pies are placed in a refrigerator close to the door, so they were the first things that caught my eye. Consequently, my friend and I indulged in a chocolate Oreo pudding for $1.30 and a slice of cookies ‘n’ cream pie for $1.42. The pudding was of an interesting consistency – more like thin cake batter than pudding – and topped off with a layer of whipped cream and mini Oreos. It took a few moments to adjust to the texture, but it was delicious. The pie, however, took the cake. The cookie crust was wonderfully done, and the filling was not overwhelmingly sweet — I would go so far as to say that the green beans were far sweeter than the pie, and I assure you that the pie was sweet enough.

By the end of our smorgasbord, we found ourselves full with pie and pudding – not at all what we expected to enjoy at a restaurant that specializes in chicken. I might just go back next week for another slice of that pie — but in my mind, everything else has fallen by the wayside.

For as long as I can remember, fall has been my favorite season. I love how the humidity of summer gives way to crisp, invigorating air. I love the smell of dried leaves, wood smoke and hot apple cider. I love the feeling of waking up in a warm bed in a cold house, the kind of feeling that makes me want to stay curled up in bed all day napping in a sunbeam. But mostly, I love fall food.

I’m definitely a seasonal eater. In the summer I crave fresh fruit, vegetables, salad and fish. They’re foods that to me taste clean and light, and are refreshing in the hot summer months. But as soon as the air starts to cool down and dry out, I start craving soups, stews, sweet potatoes, squash, pies, muffins and casseroles — comfort foods that are warm and hearty.

Part of what makes those foods so comforting is how they tie me to my childhood and my family. Nothing makes me feel quite as old as when I’m making a casserole that my mom made when I was growing up. I never have a recipe — whenever my mom was in the kitchen cooking, my sister and I were always close at hand, so I learned by observation and degustation. The nice thing about soups and casseroles is that they’re forgiving: You can use what you have at hand, in whatever quantities you feel are best, and usually the meal turns out pretty well. Occasionally I miss a step over the years, like the mayonnaise in my mom’s chicken and broccoli casserole, but for the most part I picked up in the kitchen whatever I needed to cook the same things she did.

Cooking has long been a communal act on both sides of my family. My grandfather learned how to make prize-winning sweet milk biscuits in the kitchen with his mother, and I learned from him. My mother learned how to make my father’s family recipes while in the kitchen with his grandmother, as well as how to make her own family recipes while in the kitchen with her aunt. It’d be hard for me to tell you how to make things like those sweet milk biscuits, or my Aunt Hotie’s potato salad, because they’re made from experience rather than a recipe. Over the years we’ve developed a hunch for how the dough is supposed to feel, smell and look, or how the dressing is supposed to taste. It’s hardly an exact science, but it binds the generations of my family together in ways that few other things could.

So as the months get colder, I get cooking. The smells of fall food warm my house and make it feel cozy, while the taste brings back fond memories. A good start, then, is my mom’s pumpkin bread, which I often make into muffins as something easy to grab as I’m running out the door. The base of the recipe is one she got from a friend back when she was around my age, and then she changed the spices to make the taste closer to her mom’s pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Bread & Muffins
Start with 5 eggs, beaten.
Add 2 cups sugar, 2 cups canned pumpkin and 1 1/2 cups canola oil and blend until smooth.
Sift together (separate from the wet mixture): 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon allspice and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves.
Add the dry mixture to the wet one and blend until smooth.
Add 2 packages coconut cream pie filling (dry), and 1 cup chopped pecans (optional).
Divide the batter evenly among three small, greased loaf pans, or two large loaf pans, or two dozen regular muffin cups (either lined or greased).
Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes for bread, less for muffins. When done, you should be able to insert a toothpick into the center of a loaf or muffin and pull it out clean, but be sure not to over-bake them — the color of the bread should not be significantly different from the batter. Allow to cool for a bit and then enjoy!

Sarah’s column runs biweekly Wednesdays. She can be reached at s.brummett@cavalierdaily.com.

We have all been there, en route to a dinner party to meet the family of a significant other or to see loved ones for the holidays. You want to be classy and thoughtful for the occasion, so you decide to pick up a bottle of wine. But what sort of bottle should you get? Do various occasions require different sorts of wine? In this column, I will provide some popular scenarios and suggestions for the type of wine you should buy.

You want to get a special bottle of wine for your boyfriend or girlfriend. Whether it is Christmas, a birthday or an anniversary, my advice is the same. If he or she regularly drinks wine, get your special someone the wine he or she loves. Remember, gift-giving is really about showing people that you know them well and that you put thought into a present. Even if your boyfriend loves Yellow Tail or your girlfriend likes Arbor Mist, still get him or her the bottle he or she will enjoy. Some wine regulars even have expensive bottles that they buy when they want to spoil themselves. Try and find that information out. I, for example, spoil myself with Gevrey-Chambertin from Burgundy, France. Listen intently for clues — that is the real gift. If your partner does not usually drink wine but you still want to get him or her something, I recommend dessert wine, which almost everyone usually likes.

Buying wine for a dinner party or get-together is difficult because there are two competing interests at play. On the one hand, you have to get a wine that is somewhat impressive. Although some value wines represent a good mix of price and quality, you usually cannot walk into a dinner party with Yellow Tail or Three Buck Chuck. On the other hand, you do not want to buy a $50 bottle that no one at the party will appreciate. Moreover, there is a slight chance that an expensive bottle you bring will not even be uncorked! Bummer for you, windfall for the host. To solve this dilemma, I suggest buying a mid-priced wine ($15 to $25) with an interesting story behind it. Get a wine that other guests have probably never had before and tell a story about it. By reading this column and perhaps through some online searching, you should be able to spin yarns about Port, Cava, Torrontes, Bull’s Blood, Tokay or other obscure wines from around the globe. Your interesting stories will increase the value of the wine, which in turn ensures it will be opened and enjoyed. Wine is also a great gift for family, especially around the holidays. It gives you the chance to get loved ones a quality bottle of wine that they would be too modest to buy themselves, or even better, to introduce them to something they never have had before. If your father never tried a Cabernet Franc from Virginia, give him a bottle. If your mom only likes dessert wines, try and find her a more exotic varietal. Get her a bottle of Port or Sauternes. If you seek a quality bottle that people usually refuse to buy themselves, treat your family to an expensive bottle of French or Italian wine that they could take to a restaurant for a special occasion. For French wines, go with a pricey Bordeaux or Châteauneuf-du-Pape. For Italian wines, a Barolo is the way to go. Still, there is always the classic choice: champagne. Although people usually do not buy it for themselves, it is always good to have champagne on hand.

In the end, the choice of what wine to purchase depends not only on circumstances but also what you hope to accomplish. If you want to get a symbolic gift for a cheating boyfriend or girlfriend, get a bottle of Woodbridge that has a vinegar taste more foul than his or her dishonest actions. If you love someone, think about the intended fruits of your labor — should you treat them to an expensive bottle with a different tasting experience or should you show them that you listen and buy them their favorite? The realm of possibility is as wide as the world of wine itself.

Jeff’s column runs biweekly Wednesdays. He can be reached at j.katra@cavalierdaily.com.