Tag Archives: CSUN

All You Need

Our movies and literature characterize love as being one of life’s greatest achievements.

But although millions have tried, true love is notoriously hard to define.

“I think that love can not have a real good definition because it means so many different things to so many different people,” psychologist and author Dr. Andrew Yellen said.

“I think it’s just a feeling between two people that is indescribable,” said Yellen. “When you’re in love, you know it.”

Experts say it’s important to have realistic expectations about a healthy and happy relationship, and marriage.

“Emotions change, they intensify, they weaken, and they come and go,” Bishop Cecil Richardson said, of the Lighthouse Light of the World Christian Ministries. “I think in order to truly come into a love relationship, we have other things and other components in play.”

Richardson says learning to love oneself, and knowing what one wants in a long-term partner, will help find someone compatible.

“A lot of [the] time, singles confuse sex with love,” radio personality and author Erin Tillman said. Tillman writes a blog as ‘The Dating Advice Girl’.

“There’s intense feelings that happen [when people have] any sort of intimacy,” she said. “I do encourage people to try not to get too intimate too early on because those feeling can be interpreted as love.”

Understanding the difference between lust and love can influence the decisions individuals make, Tillman said. There’s a big difference between infatuation and falling in love, and it’s important to recognize that.

“Often times your emotions over-rule your reasoning and you make poor choices,” Richardson said. “[When] you’re following emotion, you’re not following your reasoning.”

“Sometimes we’re so on a path [with] the end goal of marriage, or a ring, [that] we over look the person,” Tillman said.

According to a 2015 Pew Research study, nearly nine-in-ten Americans are online and almost half know someone who uses online dating, or who has met a spouse or partner via online dating.

“There’s not one right way, or wrong way to meet somebody,” Tillman said. “Online dating and dating apps are not going away, so it’s a very realistic thing that should not be ignored because people of all ages are using them.”

Social networking sites are now playing a integral role when it comes to relationships in a digital era. Attitudes towards online dating have become more positive and widely accepted. More and more people are choosing to be matched up based on what makes them compatible with other people.

“Our app, called the ‘Love Shopping List,’ does exactly that,” Yellen said. “One of the things I emphasize with couples and singles is that [you] need to understand what you’re looking for.”

But experts agree that although meeting someone compatible can be difficult, it’s the challenges faced after a relationship begins that tests its strength the most.

“When you have individuals as a couple who can grow together, you have a energy that continues to grow, and both [will] benefit from it,” Yellen said.

“Love is work, and if you’re not willing to work, you’re not going to have love,” Richardson said. “People [say] they want love, but they’re not willing to put in the work.”

“Whether it’s transgender, or LGBT, or whatever it [might be], it’s a relationship,” Yellen said. “And the thing we do most as human beings is have relationships.”

Moderator: Sarina Sandoval

Anchor: Daisy Lightfoot

Producer: Sarina Sandoval

Reporters: Jon Gripe, Ashley Horton, Andrew Pitters and Sarina Sandoval

Social Media Editor: Ashley Horton

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The Sound of Music

Streaming music services like Spotify and Pandora are rapidly changing the music industry. Physical formats like CDs are becoming obsolete, and radio is becoming digital.

Listeners use platforms like iTunes, Pandora and Spotify to listen to music more than ever, but they get a different form of interaction with the music as a result.

“We’re in a new age now,” DASH radio DJ Dean Perez said, “where streaming is more accessible, it’s easier, and you no longer have to depend on traditional AM [radio], where people are providing a playlist for you. [Before streaming], you had no choice but to turn on the radio and listen to whatever they gave you…Now everyone is starting to become their own DJ.”

“The idea that music can always be available — any song we want, whenever we want it — [that] kind of changes the equation,” CSUN Journalism Professor Scott Brown said. “You used to wait for a physical CD to come out, and [you knew] that would be your only opportunity to partake of an artist.”

The ready availability of music provided by streaming services changes consumers’ relationship with music.

“Now everything is available all the time,” Brown said. “And it makes us perhaps a little more passive. Back then you had to search it out, and when you found it, it became so much more important to you, whereas now everything is available. It makes our relationship with the songs in our lives really different.”

“I remember being eight years old and listening to Power 106,” Perez said. “And they’d drop a new song and the only time they’d drop it would be at 4 pm, and after the song was over the only way to hear it again was to tune in tomorrow, so you had to wait. And that made it exciting. It made you appreciate the song a lot more, whereas now everything is [available] on demand.”

The new streaming services also have an impact on music artists.

“It’s so difficult for artists now, “Perez said,  “and that’s why most of their income is coming from touring. There are so many independent artists who are making it nowadays without being attached to a label, which amazes me… All you need is good marketing and streaming services, and you can get discovered.”

The three ways artists used to make money were through record sales, live performances and merchandising. Now it’s through live performances, third-party sponsorships, merchandising, publishing, and then through record sales, which are the smallest revenue source, Brown said.

Perez said radio stations have had to make adjustments to give their audience more diverse music, but some listeners still want to hear the personal choices of a radio personality. “There is a certain feeling that you get from radio, because you can put a playlist on [with a streaming service], but just the action, the timing, the emotion you feel when someone is energetic, and delivering something for you …. that experience affects you.”

As CD sales drop, Brown said consumers are looking at purchasing CDs differently. “Instead of saying, ‘I am buying music’, it ought to be, ‘I am supporting the artist’.”

Furthermore, old-fashioned vinyl records are making a bit of a comeback among collectors.

“So much of streamed music is intangible,” Brown said. “When you buy a physical object, there is a tangibility, and also sound and quality.”

 

Moderator: James Lindsay

Anchor: Teresa Barrientos

Producers: Stephanie Lopez and Sara Vong

Reporters: Teresa Barrientos, James Lindsay, Stephanie Lopez, Veronica Perez and Sara Vong

Social Media Editors: Stephanie Lopez and Sara Vong

 

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Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter is a movement which began two years ago, after George Zimmerman was acquitted of the charges against him during the Trayvon Martin murder trial. CSUN was the site of a Black Lives Matters event recently, organized to bring awareness to students about the issues surrounding the cause.

One of the goals of the event was to teach students about what they can do to make a difference. Workshops were held so that students could learn how to become involved in the movement.

“The beautiful thing is, when we teach these things to students, then [they] get a foundation and they can use that foundation to move forward and help Black Lives Matter,” said Dr. Aimee Glocke said, a professor in CSUN’s Department of Africana Studies.

Some have questioned whether BLM’s decision to forego a traditional hierarchy and go without an appointed leader might limit the group’s ability to spread its message and accomplish its goals.

“I feel like that’s a phenomenal way to go,” Glocke said, “because then the idea is that there is a collective voice. There are different perspectives in it, and that includes same gender loving lives [and] black [transgender] individuals who have been murdered by the police…This is a leader-full movement, [and] this gives [it] an advantage, because it includes so many different black people in different walks of life.”

Another response has been to the name of the movement, and expression of the opinion that BLM should be focused on ‘all lives matter’, so it encompasses all ethnic backgrounds, but supporters of the BLM movement say this change would take away from the real problem.

Wesley Williams, the president of CSUN’s Black Male Initiative Organization, explained why the name Black Lives Matter is so important.

“It’s like there are two houses,” Williams said. “A perfectly standing [home] and a burning home….Because all houses matter, we’re going to water down this perfectly fine house while the other one burns. Even though one needs [the water] more than the other.”

“We’re getting murdered; we’re having the trouble with the police,” Williams said. “And other races aren’t being affected by it this dramatically.”

Another problem Black Lives Matter addresses is the media’s often unfair and selective view of Black America.

“The media embraces white supremacy and racism, so how can we ever expect them to give [this movement] a fair portrayal?” Glocke asked.

Glocke said the news media can manipulate the audience by showing only black violence, and almost none of the progressive work that is being done.

“How many news stations showed [the recent Million Man March]?” Glocke asked. “ The idea is here [was] a peaceful, wonderful, community-oriented movement, that revolved around Black Lives Matter, and that doesn’t get shown.”

Police brutality towards the black community is nothing new, but many Americans have become more aware of the issue because of the Internet. The internet’s accessibility makes it easy for people to share any videos documenting these incidents.

BLM has been successful using social media to spread its message. Even the name started out as a hashtag on twitter, and then the movement took off using social media.

“[The police] have control over media as a mass,” Williams said. “They own those. But they don’t own what I post on my Instagram, my Twitter, my Snapchat. Those go around and touch millions of people.”

Social media also make it easy for celebrity figures to get involved and bring these issues into the forefront.

“The people who [are] in a position of power and have the influence, [aren’t always using] it for good,” Williams said. “[These] are the people who the black people really need, and because they don’t care, is why white America [doesn’t] care.”

 

Moderator: Daisy Lightfoot

Anchor: Sarina Sandoval

Reporters: Jon Gripe, Ashley Horton, Daisy Lightfoot, Andrew Pitters, Sarina Sandoval

Social Media Editors: Jon Gripe, Daisy Lightfoot, Andrew Pitters

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The Outsiders

Common sense would suggest that candidates for powerful elective office be knowledgeable and experienced, but some of this year’s presidential candidates seem to be using their lack of experience in government as a selling point.

The United States is one year away from electing its next president, and the leading candidates — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Ben Carson — are all trying, in one way or another, to sell themselves to voters as ‘outsiders.’

“There are no outsiders really,” Pierce College Political Science Professor Denise Robb said. “We always end up with the person experienced in government. An outsider would be someone with no experience. Trump, for example, is an outsider.”

Trump is a billionaire real estate mogul and TV personality on NBC’s ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’.

Carson, Trump’s closest competitor, is an author, philanthropist and retired neurosurgeon, who became famous for separating conjoined twins.“I am never going to be politically correct since I am not a politician,” he said during an appearance on CNN.

On the Democratic side, Clinton and Sanders have both been spent decades working in government and politics, yet both are trying to adopt this ‘outsider’ label.

Article II, Section I of the Constitution says that in order to run for the office of president, a candidate must be a natural born citizen of the U.S.; he or she must be thirty-five years of age or older, and have at least a fourteen year residency in the country. Even though these basic qualifications to run for office aren’t much, some experts say voters consider more than that.

“American politics is determined by money,” Los Angeles Valley College History Professor Michael Powelson said. “The reason why Trump is leading is because he’s a multimillionaire. With money you can do what you want despite the [lack of an] education.”

Powelson said he thinks that no matter which candidate wins, there will be only one true victor: “Wall Street.”

Still, Powelson said he doesn’t believe these ‘outsider’ candidates have a chance of making it to the national elections.

“Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee, especially now that [Vice-President Joseph] Biden has said he’s not going to run, and Bernie’s numbers are starting to fizzle,” CSUN Political Science Professor Tyler Hughes said.

Moderator: Nick Popham

Anchor: Ashton Smith

Producer: Mirna Duron

Reporter: Anna Akopyan

Social Media Editor: Ericka Sims

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Yes Means Yes

The Association of American Universities’ new Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct reports that approximately 23 percent of college students have reported instances of sexual assault.  It should be noted that this percentage does not include students who didn’t report instances of sexual assault.

Susan Hua is the Title IX Coordinator in the CSUN Equity & Diversity Office. Title IX is a federal statute stating that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Because CSUN receives Federal financial assistance, this statute applies to the whole university.

A recent incident of sexual assault during CSUN’s Big Show on October 3rd, has led to growing concerns over the safety of students on and off campus, as well as what should be done to prevent future attacks.

“I think these last couple of years we’ve felt that we really need to take a collective stance and position that these types of behaviors are not tolerated and not acceptable,” Hua said.

Measures are being taken to ensure that CSUN employees and students are informed of the issue at hand.

“CSUN employees are also required, just as our students, to take a training course,” Hua said.  “[The course includes] sexual assault prevention, what consent means, what the laws are that apply, how to speak about rape culture, and recognizing that [students and employees] play an integral part in sustaining a safer campus community.”

As far as dealing with sexual assault when it does happen, there are also resources available on campus to students who need assistance.

“I think our role in that is to help find ways to process that and [allow survivors of sexual assault to] heal on their own timeline,” Hua said. “We have hired, in the university, a campus care advocate, who is housed in our student health center.  She functions and acts as an advocate and confidential resource for survivors who need advice and want to talk to someone who can keep what they talk about confidential.”

Melissa Realegeno is a former member of Project D.A.T.E. and the current coordinator of the Peer Education programs in the University Counseling Services.

Realegeno advised students to “download safety apps, be aware of your surroundings, know your limits of alcohol, walk with confidence, know where you’re going, have your keys ready to go, and walk with someone you know.”

“[Sexual assault] can happen to anyone,” Relegeno said. “People assume that it’s just a women problem, but no, it’s everyone’s issue.  It’s about educating people and trying to understand the situation more, instead of assuming what happened or assuming it’s what they’re thinking, when sometimes it’s really hard to understand the psychological point of it all.”

Hua and Relegeno recommended that discussions of sexual assault should begin within families, before students head off to college, where many experience independence for the first time and struggle to figure out their own identity.

“It would be great to have pipelines in between high schools and higher institutions to have that kind of dialogue,” Hua said, “and those kind of efforts be comprehensive, instead of reactive if something happens.”

Moderator: Sara Vong

Anchor: Stephanie Lopez
Producer: Teresa Barrientos
Reporter: James Lindsay
Social Media Editor: Veronica Perez
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The Future of Space

The search for life in the Universe has taken a leap forward with the National Aeronautics Space Administration’s announcement of the presence of water in liquid form on the surface of Mars. NASA’s discovery came as a scientific breakthrough in both the search for life beyond Earth, and the anticipation that humans may one day be able to travel to Mars.

CSUN is helping NASA search for signs of life on other planets through the research being done by Biology Professor Dr. Rachel Mackelprang. Mackelprang and her primary collaborators at the U.S. Geological Survey  have just been awarded a 1.3 million dollar grant from NASA to investigate the possible connections between life surviving in Earth’s frozen soil, and life surviving on Mars and on other frozen planets.

“Mars has permafrost, the ground has been permanently frozen for a very long time, and so we study how microbial life survives over geologic time in Earth’s permafrost,” Mackelprang said. “The hope is that [this will] give us some clues as to how life might survive in similar environments on Mars and other extraterrestrial bodies.”

Mackelprang and her group study samples taken from Alaska, where temperatures are extremely cold and there is very little water or oxygen. The harsh conditions found in these environments on Earth are similar to those found on our neighboring Red Planet.

“[From my perspective] as a biologist, it should provide some extremely interesting information about the origins of life,” Mackelprang said, “how it evolves, what types of things are common between [Earth life] and life else where, [and] what types are different.”

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center located in Pasadena, California. JPL’s primary function is the construction and operation of planetary robotic spacecraft.

“The lab I work in specifically deals with gripping technologies,” said Vladimir Arutyunov, a mechanical engineering intern at JPL and a CSUN engineering student. “There are all sorts of places on Mars and on other bodies that [we would] like to explore, but one of the main problems is mobility. [The lab I work in focuses on] gripping onto rock surfaces for planetary exploration [and] asteroid exploration.”

NASA’s Mars Exploration Program studies Mars potential capability as a habitat for past or present life. Through spacecraft and rover missions, scientists can gain a better understanding of the biological conditions on Mars, and how it has evolved.

“A way to think of it that helps me, is [that] the rover is our presence [on Mars] right now,” said Arutyunov. “[It’s] kind of our flagship Mars mission, and they’re gaining a lot of data for us that will help us for these human missions.”

The Mars 2020 mission will be based on the design of the successful Curiosity rover. Additionally, JPL’s 2016 InSight mission plans to place a lander on Mars, designed to drill below the surface of the Red Planet to examine its deeper interior.

According to JPL, these future missions will assess the natural resources and hazards of Mars. Investigating these key questions about the habitability of Mars may help prepare for future human expeditions to the Red Planet.

The Pew Research Center reported almost two-thirds of Americans expect astronauts to land on Mars some time in the future, and more than half expect ordinary people to be able to travel in space by the middle of this century.

More than 45,000 space fans showed up for JPL’s annual open house in October, and director Ridley Scott’s latest sci-fi film “The Martian,” starring Matt Damon, attracted 18 million movie-goers on opening day.

“Last year I was on a zero gravity test flight and that was my first taste of what that might be like,” said Arutyunov, “and [ever since then] I have definitely been fascinated and [fantasized] about going to space.”

Moderator: Andrew Pitters

Anchor: Jon Gripe

Producer: Andrew Pitters

Reporters: Jon Gripe, Ashley Horton, Andrew Pitters and Sarina Sandoval

Social Media Editor: Daisy Lightfoot

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The Power of a Picture

The image of a toddler’s body washed up on a Turkish beach was published and shared across the world.  The powerful image caused an international outcry over the refugee crisis in Syria, but it also raised some questions about ethics in photojournalism.

“Photos with children are always difficult,”CSUN Journalism Professor Stephanie Bluestein said.  “Any dead body is a touchy subject, but certainly when it’s a child. Having said that though, this photo really made a difference and it put this crisis on everyone’s radar, and people are starting to pay attention.”

In the early days of photojournalism, photographs of 19th century battlefields in Crimea and in the United States had great impact on people.  Mathew Brady and his crew of photographers took pictures of dead Confederate soldiers which portrayed the horror of war in ways people hadn’t seen before.

Images of dead American soldiers are not acceptable to most readers today, and many images of death remain controversial.

“I think the people need to see what’s going on,” Los Angeles Daily News photographer David Crane said. “It’s important.  Whether it’s horrible or beautiful, it’s important.”

“My only concern is that running too many dead body photos could desensitize, and perhaps has desensitized, the public,” Bluestein said. “But then on the other side, if you don’t run it, then you’re not really telling the truth, [or] letting the public know what’s going on.”

The 1930 image of a lynching in Indiana shocked people with its graphic and disturbing nature, and with the fact that it was also sold as a postcard.

“The impact of this photo is not just what’s happening there,” Crane said.  “It’s very surreal if you look at the faces of the crowd; it’s as if they’re there on a picnic.”

Dorothea Lange’s photographs of families affected by the Great Depression left a lasting impression in the minds of viewers.  The image of a migrant mother shows a family in despair, and opens the eyes of today’s viewers to how bad it was during that time.

“Any time you can take a concept like the Depression and humanize it, then it’s going to touch people’s hearts,” Bluestein said.

The humanization of the refugee crisis in Syria, achieved by the photograph showing young Aylan Kurdi lying face down on the shores of Turkey, touched hearts across the world, ultimately showing that there is power in a picture.

Moderator: Ericka Sims

Anchor: Mirna Duron

Producer: Nick Popham

Reporters: Anna Akopyan and Ashton Smith

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The Adventures of Jack Kirby

Comic book writer and artist, Jack Kirby, is the subject of an art exhibition at the California State University, Northridge Art Galleries.

Jack Kirby is the creator of comic book superheroes such as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk , Thor, and Captain America.

The exhibition, titled “Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby”, is one of the largest exhibits of Kirby’s work ever, and the first to be held at a university. It documents his entire career, but focuses on the second half.

“You just couldn’t keep up with Kirby,” said CSUN English Professor Charles Hatfield, curator of the exhibition, and author of Hand of Fire: The Comics Art of Jack Kirby. “He was always two steps ahead of everybody.”

“Jack Kirby was amazingly prolific,” said comic book illustrator and collector Scott Fresina. “You could fill the studio with pages of his art work, and still have enough for more, so what we have right there in the galleries is some really great stuff, but really it is the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg.”

“We know he did 20,000 pages,” Hatfield said, “ of which we have 100 pages of art on the wall.”

The art pieces came from about 16 collectors. Earth 2 Comics bookstore owner Carr D’Angelo is one who loaned some of the comic books from his collection.

Hatfield said one of the goals of the exhibition is for the public to see the production process.

“We built a part of the exhibition where you can compare the kind of before-and-after,” he said, “where you could see a copy of the page before it was inked, and then see what was done afterwards.”

“Jack would start at the middle or the corner, and he would draw the whole thing out as if he was tracing it,” Fresina said.

Hatfield said three pieces in the show were drawn and inked by Kirby.

“Jack can ink and he can finish it,” Hatfield said, “but he usually doesn’t, either because of his own choice, or because the people he was working for wanted him to generate more stories. So most of the things you’ll see in the exhibition are inked by other hands.”

One new large audience for comic book super heroes is women.

“It’s one of the fastest growing audiences, and partially it’s because it isn’t just the male power fantasies any more,” D’Angelo said. “There are a lot of other companies, like Image Comics, and even Marvel with Ms. Marvel, and DC Comics like Bat Girl.”

Besides being known for his superhero creations, Jack Kirby is also known for being the creator, with Joe Simon, of many romance comics, which were always popular with female audiences.

“Jack Kirby drew more pages of romance between about 1947 and 1957 than he did of any other genre he worked in combined,” Hatfield said.

“The career of Kirby is basically the history of comics,” Fresina said.

 

Moderator: Teresa Barrientos

Anchor: James Lindsay

Producers: Stephanie Lopez and Sara Vong

Social Media Editors: Stephanie Lopez and Sara Vong

Reporters: James Lindsay and Veronica Perez

 

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Marijuana U

Habitual marijuana use seems to be becoming the norm on many college campuses, as our society’s perceptions regarding the cannabis culture continue to change.

According to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study, marijuana use among college students is at its highest in more than three decades.

Marijuana’s rising acceptance in the media has had an impact on the way many college students view this drug.

“I think that the media has influences on all aspects of our lives,” said Shannon Franklin, a CSUN University Counseling Services therapist. “I think having that system that is surrounding us, telling us what is good and what is bad can definitely influence what a student thinks is appropriate for them.”

The last few years have seen a dramatic shift in the public’s attitude towards legalizing marijuana, and marijuana has become an alternative treatment for individuals with physical ailments such as cancer and other illnesses.

Marijuana’s popularity among college students is also due to its potential psychological benefits. When the pressure of college becomes too much to handle, some student may turn to marijuana as a way of dealing with feelings of anxiety or stress.

“I do see students who come in [for counseling], who are stressed, anxious, depressed,” Franklin said. “They might have tried marijuana to manage those symptoms, [but] the thing I’m really concerned about is why [they turned] to marijuana. Why was it interesting to them and how were they trying to reduce their symptoms? Were they trying to feel more calm? Were they trying to get away from their problems?”

Many college students may be unaware that smoking weed is potentially harmful for them. It can affect the brain’s development if it has not yet fully matured.

“Our pre-frontal cortex develops until we’re the age of 26,” Franklin said. “What that regulates, is your ability to make decisions and decide whether something is good for you.”

Marijuana can also have a negative impact on a college student’s academic performance, if it’s used inappropriately, such as in class or while studying.

“I think that being under the influence of anything will definitely alter your focus,” said Margaret Spryzynski, a Registered Nurse.

“If you smoke right before class, you’re not going to be able to concentrate as well,” Franklin said. “You might experience some symptoms of paranoia, [and when you’re] focused on what other people are thinking, [you are not] able to retain the memories that you need.”

A rise in daily marijuana use among college students could also be due to its accessibility, and that accessibility may be making it as popular as prescription drugs. But medical experts warn there are risks involved with replacing prescription medication with weed.

“From a medical perspective, I don’t think that marijuana is a good alternative for prescription medications because you have to look at why they need it,” Spryzynski said. “There are so many medications that we have, that marijuana should never be your first line of treatment.”

“Weed definitely has side effects such as withdrawals,” Franklin said. “You can be diagnosed with a cannabis addiction, and those are the things I keep my eyes open for.”

The American College Health Association conducts a survey every year to determine students’ habits and behaviors. The 2014 study reported that 37 percent of CSUN students said that they have tried marijuana at least once. It also found that only 15 percent of CSUN students said they smoked marijuana on a more regular basis or within the last 30 days.

“This is part of human nature and social norms,” Franklin said. “What we think everybody is doing isn’t necessarily what they’re actually doing.”

“Marijuana can be a quick fix for some people, but I want to work on skills you can take into your adulthood,” Franklin said. “[That way] you can figure out what to do when you’re stressed, and what to do when you’re anxious. Students can come over to the University Counseling Services, and meet with one of us, and have that conversation and that attention, and get the knowledge that they need.”

Moderator: Jon Gripe

Anchor: Daisy Lightfoot

Producer: Andrew Pitters

Reporters: Jon Gripe and Ashley Horton

Social Media Editor: Sarina Sandoval

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Catching Zzz’s

How can sleep improve your quality of life?

Experts say getting the right amount of sleep contributes to energy, productivity, memory, concentration, and overall physical health, and growing evidence suggests college students are particularly likely to skimp on sleep, not realizing the dangerous effects.

“It is very important to get sleep,” said Dr. Saimir Thano, a CSUN University Counseling Services psychologist. “It plays a repetitive role, psychologically as well as physiologically. It helps the brain create hormones that help new pathways for concentration and memory, and it sort of plays the role of a battery re-energizing our body. At times, it has been found that sleep produces certain hormones to fight common illness and help organs rest.”

A study published in the current issue of The Sleep Journal said people who sleep fewer than six hours per night are more likely to catch colds than those who sleep seven hours per night, and reach what experts call full rest.

“The goal is every night to get into REM sleep,” said REM Sleep Labs’ Angie Simon. “There are different sleep cycles, but if your body does reach REM sleep, then you’re getting that good quality sleep that you want. However if you have a sleep disorder, the sleep disorder will stop you from getting to that REM sleep.”

The first part of REM sleep lasts about ten minutes and the final part may last up to an hour, according to The Better Sleep Council. People don’t feel well rested if they don’t get REM sleep.

“The best route is to weigh out all your options and figure out what exactly is hindering your sleep and why you need assistance to sleep better,” Simon said. “The best way to figure that out is by getting properly diagnosed by getting the test done in a sleep lab.”

According to the National Sleep Foundation, untreated sleep disorders can cause heart disease, stroke, depression and diabetes.

“Depending on the person, some individuals may need more — some less — but on average research recommends seven to eight hours — nine at the most — but different individuals may need different amount of sleep,” Thano said.

‘Early to bed’ actually is good advice: experts say every hour of sleep between the hours of 9 p.m. and 12 midnight is equal to two hours of sleep after midnight.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says the best way to increase performance on final exams is to study the day before, and then get a good night’s sleep.

“Studies have shown that those individual students that do overnighters, their GPA tends to be lower in general, and that’s because the brain needs to rest, and when it does, there are new pathways for memory and attention,” Thano said. “When you cram and do everything in one night, your brain is not able to create those new memories…It is best for students to study during the day versus the night before.”

The National Sleep Foundation has found that while asleep, people have the ability to combine different experiences in the parts of their brain that generate problem-solving skills.

“When you are getting good sleep your overall well-being is better,” Simon said. “[Sleep] makes you want to exercise, it makes you want to eat healthier, you feel better about yourself, and you are not as sluggish.”

“Everyone should use the bed only for sleep and sex, and nothing else,” Thano said. “If you’re studying in bed, or lying and just watching Netflix, then your body gets used to it, [and you say to yourself] ‘this is what I do in bed; I watch and read and do other things.’ Taking that away really makes a difference.”

 

Moderator: Anna Akopyan

Anchor: Nick Popham

Producer: Ericka Sims

Guest Booker: Ashton Smith

Reporters: Mirna Duron and Nick Popham

Social Media Editors: Nick Popham and Ericka Sims

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