Professor undergoes treatment after diagnosed with cancer
Fellow faculty donate to the cause.

By Jessica Wortley
Ferris State Torch

"People have been so wonderful and generous. It's been a humbling experience."

This is how Fae Stuart described the ordeal she has gone through with her husband Ed, a Ferris faculty member in the Industrial Electronics Technology/Electrical Electronics Technology department, who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in August.

Fae went on to say that they feel very blessed with the support they have received from friends, family and strangers. She added that Ed's situation has opened their eyes to see the suffering that so many families go through in life.

Ed has been a faculty member since 1988, winning the Distinguished Teacher of the Year award in 1994 and being instrumental in the Gateway Program, which introduces technology to high school students.

Ed's battle with cancer began last fall when he began to "smell funny things that weren't really there" and have mild headaches.

By spring the headaches had worsened, and after going to the doctor for a physical, he was diagnosed with having migraines.

However, soon after this, Ed started to be a bit clumsy on his left side, especially in his foot and mouth.

"Our children didn't really notice anything wrong at first, but I did," Fae said.

She stated that they have five children, ages 6 to 22. One is a current nursing student here at Ferris. She said the children are home schooled, so they are able to help with chores around the house.

In July, a CAT scan revealed the brain tumor, and on Aug. 5 the Stuarts learned Ed had glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM, the most aggressive and deadly form of brain tumors.

On Aug. 14, Ed went into surgery, where doctors removed most of the tumor.

It was at this time that they gave Ed his prognosis: an average of 14 months to live with traditional treatment such as chemotherapy and radiation, both of which would only prolong life a few months, not cure the disease. "We then had to make the agonizing decisions of what to do next," Fae said. "We kept requesting prayers and hoping for an answer."

Through research, the Stuarts learned about the Burzynski Clinic in Houston, Texas.

It is an experimental clinic that, according to the clinic's web site, was founded in 1977 and has "treated over 5,000 patients for devastating diseases."

Its goal is to provide individualized treatment for patients with malignancies who have exhausted the conventional approaches to cancer (chemo and radiation) or have chosen to avoid them altogether.

Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski identified in 1967 that naturally occurring peptides in the human body control cancer growth.

Cancer patients have a low number of peptides, but when patients are injected with them, the cancer seems to go away.

After many struggles with traditional medical establishments, his clinic is now taking part in an FDA-approved trial to see how effective this treatment is.

"We kept hearing about this clinic," Fae said. "We heard more and more about patients' successes and decided it was the best shot at medical care for Ed."

She explained that with Ed's diagnosis, they decided they might as well try the experimental therapies, which will cause fewer side effects than radiation or chemotherapy. If all works well, his chances for survival will hopefully improve.

The Stuarts spent one and a half weeks at the clinic, where Ed was fitted with a catheter in his chest that pumps the peptides into his body every four hours.

Fae stated that the doses each take about an hour and a half, leaving a few hours in between each dose for Ed to do chores or take a nap.

The pump is portable and is in a shoulder bag, which Fae said looks like a six-pack, that allows Ed to leave the house.

"Learning how to work it was a bit daunting and frustrating," Fae said. "But the only side effects have been tiredness and a small loss of hearing." She compared this to the sickness or loss of hair than can result from traditional cancer treatments.

"The staff at the Burzynski clinic has been very professional," she stated. "The nurse calls every day and the doctor calls once a week to check on Ed."

The good news so far is that Ed's last MRI, on Oct. 23, revealed no evidence of the tumor, meaning the treatment is working and he is showing improvement.

According to the doctors, Fae said that if Ed continues to show no signs of the cancer, he will continue the treatment for eight months to make sure the cancer cells don't return.

"This is what we are expecting at this point," she said.

The downside to this treatment is the cost. Since it is considered experimental, no insurance company will pay for it, leaving the Stuarts to pay the entire medical bill.

Fae noted that the daily cost of the medicine, delivered from Houston to their house via FedEx, is $240, or $7,200 a month.

This does not include Ed getting his blood drawn three times a week or the MRI's every four to six weeks.

These procedures bring the cost to around $7,500 a month.

Fellow faculty member James Vandenberghe and others in the EET/CNS program have decided to help the Stuarts defray this cost by pledging a monthly amount for the next three months.

They are hoping that others will join them to "help Ed and his family deal with this terrible situation they find themselves in."

"It would be ideal if we could get a couple hundred people to donate some money," said Vandenberghe. "It would really help them out. I've known Ed for 13 years and I know he is well liked in the department, and he really cares about his students."

He mentioned that anyone who would like to contribute with either a direct payroll deposit or a straight donation may contact him at either 591-2365 or 231-652-1993 and he will help with the paperwork.

According to Fae and the clinic's web site, with this experimental treatment the new prognosis for Ed is uplifting. Similar treatments showed that 80 percent of patients with malignancies had positive results with the cancer stabilizing, decreasing or being eliminated completely.

"We are relying on people's prayers and cards are appreciated," Fae said. "God is good and we feel blessed to have met so many people who are going or have gone through similar situations."

Jeffrey Wigand tells his story
Ferris community audience hears the importance of ethics.

By Adam Wiese
Assistant News Editor

Jeffrey Wigand, a former pharmaceutical/tobacco employee who revealed secrets of the tobacco industry to the FDA, visited Ferris on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at the Williams Auditorium to tell his story to the audience of approximately 200 people.

Wigand worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 25 years, but left in the late 80's.

"I chose to leave this industry for primarily a few reasons," Wigand admitted. "I gained a substantial increase in pay to about $300,000. I also moved to the tobacco industry to try and help people by creating a safer cigarette."

Upon starting his job at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation in 1988, he worked his way up the corporate ladder and became Vice President of Research.

"While working on the Safer Cigarette Project, I had a budget of $30 million and 165 employees," Wigand stated. "The main concept that I came up with was to remove some of the unnecessary components in cigarettes like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide."

The problems for Wigand started in January 1990, when he created a 14-page document of the minutes of a tobacco executives' meeting.

In this document, Wigand stated how nicotine was intentionally being made more addictive through chemical alteration.

He also noted how the executives spoke of targeting children in their tobacco ad campaigns.

"When I submitted this paper to the President of B & W (Brown & Williamson), for the first time in my life, lawyers told me how to interpret 'science,'" Wigand said.

Immediately after turning in this potentially incriminating document, the Safer Cigarette Project was canceled and moved to another location overseas. Ultimately, B & W fired Wigand in March 1993 for constantly questioning the morals of the company's business.

Once fired, Wigand started working as a teacher at a high school in Louisville, Kentucky for a meager $30,000, a tenth of the salary he received at B & W. Even after being fired, however, he still felt a need to tell the truth.

"I started to contact the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and told them of the need to regulate the tobacco industry," Wigand admonished. "I went back and forth between my home and the FDA offices secretly for about a year."

The news media became aware of Wigand's knowledge in August 1995 when he went to CBS and the reporters of "60 Minutes." The facts that he told "60 Minutes" were so incriminating that B&W threatened to sue CBS for $15 billion.

Initially, CBS did shelf the story but eventually broadcasted the interview with Wigand all over America. Once this occurred, a chain reaction of shock took place in America, resulting in 36 states suing the tobacco industry, and the final verdict called for retribution damages of $246 billion.

After finishing his lifes story, Wigand told all those in attendance of the importance of ethics.

"I see myself as an ordinary guy who saw something wrong being done and wanted to set the record straight," Wigand stated. "I think what I did saved my integrity and many lives."

To the community of Ferris State, Jeffrey Wigand left these words: "Each and every one of you has the power to make a difference."

Younger generations have to stay fully aware
Students should stay aware of world events, Powell says.

By Robert Lopez
Knight Ridder/Tribune News

WASHINGTON - Staying out of other people's business may have been an attractive foreign policy option before Sept. 11, especially to young people, but when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center last year they were forced to care whether they wanted to or not, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday.

"We don't live in an island anymore," he said. "(The United States) may have two oceans, but it is not disconnected from any other place in the world. And our security rests on the overall security situation in the world."

As the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, many Americans, especially college students, lost interest in world events. Powell spoke about the apathy during an exclusive interview in his State Department office as the Bush administration was trying to draft a resolution on weapons inspectors in Iraq.

"I had seen in my first 17 years of life eight years of war," Powell said. "We read a lot in those days, followed current events. But again, that was in the old days when everyone was worried about getting drafted."

Student apathy, not only about foreign affairs but also about domestic issues, has been an issue almost since 18-year-olds were granted the right to vote in 1971.

A recent poll conducted by the Center for Democracy and Citizenship found that less than 21 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 24 cast ballots in the 1998 elections.

Less than 50 percent voted in the 2000 presidential elections.

Though such numbers persist, Powell believes that Sept. 11 and the recent debate on a possible war with Iraq have had a profound effect.

"Along comes Sept. 11 and they realize, 'My heavens, there is an enemy,' " he said. "There is something out there. It isn't called communism, it isn't called fascism, it's called terrorism. For the first time since 1812, the United States was attacked on its own shores by a foreign enemy. This was sobering and it was visual. Everyone could see those towers fall and the Pentagon get hit and the plane crash in Pennsylvania, over and over and over.

"Suddenly we saw there was an enemy, who had a name, a face and was determined. How do you go after this enemy? Do you build a coalition? And for the past 14 months it has come back into our consciousness."

Instead of focusing on one geographic area, Powell said students should keep an eye on the world as a whole.

"You can't turn your back on the rest of the world," he said. "It's hard to separate out and say watch this or watch that. College students, regardless of where they're headed in life, have an obligation to keep themselves informed on all major issues. They should read broadly and read deeply. But they shouldn't become so concerned with one area that they don't see how it connects to other countries or other issues."

The secretary believes that students who have any doubt about the repercussions of taking an isolationist stance should see the implications of terrorism, whether they're in a Moscow theatre or a Bali nightclub.

"Suddenly those things are real," he said. "It makes people say if it happens there, it can happen here."

Though he is often seen as a moderate in the conservative Bush administration, Powell said the clash of ideas and beliefs is the path to building a consensus.

"Out of that clash of ideas and personalities and egos and people comes compromise," he said. "We had an election yesterday (last Tuesday) with strongly held views from all parts of the country. Negative ads, positive ads, screaming, shouting, noise, the polls, when do they announce them. It goes on and it's suddenly an election. People speak and they're conveying the American consensus."

Recent campus protests against a war in Iraq underscore the fear many students have that American foreign policy, and the war on terrorism in particular, are being used as little more than devices to flex the nation's military might.

But America can't detach itself from the world, Powell said.

"It is in our interests to help nations of the world move toward a democratic path and put in place a solid economic system, so they can be our friends and not our adversaries," he said. "We have no designs on anyone's people. We have no designs on anyone's country. We don't want to steal resources. We don't want to occupy. People trust us to solve their problems. They all come to the U.S. to help solve their problems."

Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants, also cites a moral obligation in America's status as a nation of nations.

"What is the American majority these days?" he said. "In 20 or 30 years it might not be white males or white males and females. It's going to be people of color, and of color, I mean Asians and African Americans and Hispanic Americans. And what does the majority mean? It's beautiful. It's wonderful. There's no place on Earth like this. You can understand how what happens in the world effects us in every imaginable way. You can have Miami be a Hispanic city or find Laotian communities in the Midwest or go to Providence, R.I., and find more Cape Verdeans living there than in Cape Verde. And somehow we don't fight each other. We have our problems, but there is no place in the world like this."






Coffee shop in Rankin Center
Delay in coffee shop should be worth the wait.

By Adam Wiese
Assistant News Editor

Cup of java
The new coffee shop is located in the Rankin Center above Barnes & Noble.
Photo By: Alicia LaFrance, Assistant Photo Editor

Over the course of this semester, nearly everyone on campus has seen the progress of the new coffee shop in the Student Rankin Center.

The coffee shop is tentatively slated to be opened at the beginning of the winter semester 2003.

The coffee shop is being created through a partnership among Seattle's Best, Barnes & Noble Bookstores and Ferris Dining Services.

Dining Services will retain control of the business aspects of the coffee shop.

Upon opening, the coffee shop will sell a wide variety of beverages including espresso, freshly brewed "upscale" coffee, and frozen coffee.

The shop will sell some food products, including various bakery items such as bagels, donuts and pastries.

"The company from whom we will get our food and beverage products for the shop is Seattle's Best, which is the second most popular name for coffee nationwide," Lori Helmer, director of Dining Services, stated.

"All of our food and beverages at the coffee shop will be given on a 'to go' basis," Helmer said. "We are also going to place a few tables and chairs in front of the bookstore for people to sit down and enjoy their purchases."

"The hours of operation for the shop have yet to be stated," Helmer asserted. "We are still studying the people traffic flow in the Rankin Center to determine the proper times to be open."

The forms of payment that the coffee shop will accept to pay for purchases include cash, credit cards and dining dollars.

Dishwalla and Nine Days cranked up the rock at Williams Auditorium

Nine days makes its second trip to Big Rapids.

By Aaron Carriere
Copy Editor

Scot Alexander
Dishwalla bassist Scot Alexander helped the band play a few cover songs for the FSU crowd.
Photo By: Alicia LaFrance
Assistant Photo Editor

Dishwalla and Nine Days rocked Williams Auditorium for the Autumn aLive concert last Thursday night at Ferris State University.

Dishwalla released its new album in April and has been touring the country in support of the band's third release. Dishwalla opened the concert, and brought over half the crowd on its feet and towards the stage during the performance of "Opaline," the title track of the band's new album.

"They did a good job of getting the crowd up," Travis Reed, a freshman in the HVACR program, said. "I liked the bass guitarist and drummers the best," Reed added.

The band gained national success in 1995 with the release of the album, "Pet Your Friends." The song "Counting Blue Cars" was the Rock Song of the Year in 1996. Even in 2002, the song was still fresh in people's minds.

"Counting Blue Cars" was received with excitement and the band surprised the crowd with an improv jam session in the middle of the song. Dishwalla drummer Pete Mahoney teamed up with Nine Days drummer Vince Tattanelli for an impressive drum duet.

After the concert, Mahoney described the improv jam. "We usually do it every night, but tonight was especially different because Vince from Nine Days was with us. It's our last night on the tour together, so we had to goof off a little," Mahoney said.

Dishwalla guitarist Rodney Browning Cravens electrified the crowd with a guitar jam after the drum duet.

The lead singer, J.R. Richards, then took his turn and sang without a mic until the crowd joined in to finish off the song.

The band traveled back in time for the last song, starting with a creeping hard rock version of "Tainted Love." They jumped briefly into the song "Where Did Our Love Go?" by Diana Ross and the Supremes before finishing their performance with a couple more lines of "Tainted Love."

"I enjoyed the Dishwalla show. I think the crowd was really into them," Tom Dekorne, a senior in music industry management and the external secretary of MIMA, the group that put on the concert, said.

Nine Days took the stage after a brief intermission. The band was hoping to release its new album, "So Happily Unsatisfied," yesterday, but decided to break away from their current record label, Epic Records.

Lead singer and guitar player John Hampson encouraged people to download Nine Days' new music on the web. "I've been encouraging everyone to download the record. It's on Kazaa. There are a lot of places you can get it."

The Nine Days concert featured music from the new album as well as tracks from the previous album, "The Madding Crowd," which has gained national success.

Nine Days played a total of 13 songs for the crowd. For the song "257 Weeks," Hampson left the audience with encouragement. "No matter how screwed up it is…you're always gonna be where you belong." Hampson also advised the crowd to "be positive, and try to make the best of it."

A crowd surfer managed to get on stage during "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)," the group's former number one single.

After a few minutes of the song, Hampson got the audience involved with cover songs.

The crowd started clapping, and the band played a cover of Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Kind of Life."

Nine Days then traveled south with a few lines of Lynard Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama." The last song was a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."

During the song, both Hampson and Brian Desveaux (guitar, vocals) played a double guitar solo with licks similar to Jimi Hendrix's version of the song.

The group then briefly wandered into "Riders On the Storm," a popular Doors tune, before going into the chorus of "All Along the Watchtower."

"Nine Days was awesome, they really got the crowd going," said Matt Turner, the president of MIMA.

Overall, the concert was a success. According to the Williams Auditorium ticket sales, over 600 people were at the event.

"Originally, we were hoping for a sellout, but the crowd was definitely entertained. We were not disappointed in the least. We had people who were enthusiastic about the show and really got into it," Dekorne added.

"Both bands were just wonderful to work with; it was no problem working with either crew. The Williams crew and DPS all participated and did their parts and did it well," Dekorne said.

"I love it. We had a great time. The crowd was having a blast and that's all we can ask for. We're going to try and do this again next year," Turner added.

Tell me all your thoughts on...
The Torch sits down with Dishwalla after the show.

By Aaron Carriere
Copy Editor

J. R. Richards
Dishwalla's lead singer J. R. Richards discussed life on
the road with the Torch after the band's concert.
Photo By: Alicia LaFrance
Assistant Photo Editor

The Torch had a chance to talk to Dishwalla drummer Pete Mahoney and lead singer J.R. Richards backstage after the concert.

Q: You've got a new record out with a new producer. What was it like working on the new album?

J.R. Richards: You know, it was cool. It's been awhile since we've done a record so it was good to be in the studio to start recording again. It was the first time we had someone else produce our records. We had always co-produced up to that point. It was kind of hard to hand over the reins. It worked out great.

Q: With "Opaline," there's a lot of acoustic quitar and a mellower feel. Are you going for something different with the new album?

Pete Mahoney: No, we don't really have an agenda. We want to write the best music we can write for our careers. So that's what we focused on and that's pretty much it, just writing the best songs we can come up with.

Q: I think this record will have a lot of success. Are you looking for that or expecting it? Or is it whatever happens, happens?

Richards: Whatever happens, happens. I hope that it does well but I don't expect it to, you know. But I don't even expect to deserve this.

Q: What's life like on tour?

Mahoney: Fun, sometimes nightmarish, sometimes long and boring, it's kind of all of the above, you know. It's either playing the show, which is the highlight, or traveling.

Q: Do you guys ever get sick of each other?

Mahoney: Oh yeah. It's like…a year-long camp. Sleeping together, working together, we do everything together.

Q: Any crazy tour stories?

Richards: Well, I got mugged last week. We were playing a show in Tampa, and I rented a car to go visit some family and friends for the day. I left my cell phone at the rental place and I stopped at a gas station to make a phone call and let them know I was on my way. It was like three in the morning or something. I was counting some change in the backpack by my car and two guys came out of nowhere and were like "gimme your wallet" and I was like "[explicit] you, I'm not giving you anything." So there was this brawl rolling around on the ground. Two guys in a pink tow truck pulled up and scared the guys off. They didn't get anything. I didn't get hurt, but it was pretty crazy. Watch your back in Florida. (laughs)

Q: What bands today are you into?

Mahoney: Travis, Coldplay, Stereophonics, bands like that mostly, just songwriting bands.

Q: I loved the jam during the concert during "Counting Blue Cars."

Mahoney: You know what it is? We're all about being able to play our music; some bands today can't even play their music. And the other thing is Rodney is a guitar player, he knows how to play. He's not like most guitar players in bands now. He not only can play, but he can play. Long gone are the days of Eddie Van Halen. But he's one of those cats that's just like 'play, let's do it.' Kids now, they want that again. If you can do it musically, like back in the day, the audience loves it. At the end of the day, you're an entertainer.

Q: How have you dealt with success and managing your personal life?

Mahoney: It's just like any business. You just kind of learn the pitch and rolls of the business itself. You try to make sure that you maintain a personal life while maintaining your company or business while on the road. We're basically traveling salesmen.

Q: How was playing a show Tokyo?

Richards: It was crazy. It was very much like back in the day, Beatle-mania over there. Screaming fans chasing after you. You get off the plane and people know you're coming and they come out with gifts, it's crazy. They're very into the gift giving thing. Truly fanatical about music, they have no problem freaking out.

Q: What does "Dishwalla" mean?

Mahoney: It means "cable satellite pirate." In India, they call cable pirates "dishwalla's."

Echoing back with a new sound
Exit 139 takes on a new name and members, while producing a harder sound.

By Mary Gurnee
A&E Editor

Exit 139 no more
Five Year Echo's lead singer Jerrad Reickard (right)
and guitarist Tom Steimal (left) are two of the original
Exit 139 group.
Torch File Photo

Last year, the Torch's Editor-in-Chief Chris Miller wrote a profile and follow-up article on a band called Exit 139.

Exit 139 was comprised of five members and had a sound that was a mix of Tantric, Staind and Pearl Jam. From Exit 139, a new band was developed: Five Year Echo.

The name Exit 139 came from a local land mark Drivers traveling north on U.S. 131 have to take exit 139 to come to Big Rapids. But what's behind the name of Five Year Echo.

The members carrying over from Exit 139 to Five Year Echo are Tom Steimel (guitar and back-up vocals), Jerrad Reickard (vocals) and Eric Bovac (bass). The new drummer is Don Schweihofer.

"With Don as our drummer, our sound is a little harder and a little different," Reickard, vocals and Biology major, said.

Schweihofer has many goals and expectations for Five Year Echo. As a music industry management major, Schweihofer understands the seriousness of having realistic goals and expectations for a band to become successful.

According to Schweihofer, the main goal of the band is to play some shows to build a fan base and to record a demo.

"We expect to be playing shows regularly, very soon and to be recording in six months," Schweihofer said.

Before the band ventures out with numerous gigs, the band wants to polish and improve upon already good material. Currently, the band feels that they have a good base, yet they feel that more time and practice is needed to put together an amazing, unforgettable performance.

Not to say that Five Year Echo has not performed, yet.

The young band has performed a few gigs already this semester, one of which was a powerful show done on Halloween night.

The stellar performance was greatly enjoyed by viewers. By the end of the performance, many of the viewers were sweaty from rocking out to the tunes pumped out by Five Year Echo. In addition to getting their music out, the members of Five Year Echo are out to have as much fun as they can with this new band.

"Our number one goal is to have fun," Steimel, a Rockford, Mich. native, said. "It's a blast."

Viewers at a Five Year Echo show find it easy to enjoy themselves, because the band is right there performing enthusiastically.

During the Halloween performance, Reickard was jumping right into the crowd with such contagious energy. He got even the most shy of viewers to smile with approval, nod their heads to the pounding beats pumped out from the drums and bass, and rock out to the guitar and vocal melodies.

The music created by Five Year Echo is different from that of Exit 139. The sound is a bit harder, comparable to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

"We are doing something different now and don't want to be compared to Exit 139," Steimel said.

Five Year Echo has learned many music techniques and tricks of the trade with the music business. Exit 139 was a stepping stone for most of the members, one which allowed them to learn and expand their horizon.

"As a whole our music is maturing," Reickard said. "The music is tighter now."

The band has learned many aspects of the music industry and has in turn grown from it.

While watching a Five Year Echo performance, it is plain to see that the members of the band have a passion for what they do and work well with each other.

Going video game old school
"Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1&2" gives gamers a reason to buy the Gamecube.

By Matt Cherry
Opinions Editor

Last year when I reviewed the Microsoft Xbox, Sony Playstation 2 and the Nintendo Gamcube, one of the major problems I had with the Gamecube was its lack of good games.

After some of this fall's releases, I admit that I was wrong.

I now have my foot firmly planted in mouth.

There are basically three games that changed my mind about this system: "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," "Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee" and "Phantasy Star Online: Episodes 1 & 2."

This week, I'm going to talk about "Phantasy Star Online," or as I'll refer to it from here on out, "PSO."

I was first introduced to this game when it was released for the Sega Dreamcast. Being a fan of the series already, I thought I'd give it a try.

PSO was one of the sparkling gems of that system.

So when I first heard that PSO was going to be released for the Gamecube, I thought of two things: "It's going to be a direct port, and so-so," and "It's going to be a port with new features, and it's going to be great!"

And in case you didn't know, a "direct port" is when one game is transferred to another system without any changes present.

Basically, same game, way later than the original release, on a different system.

I'm happy to report that this game is new and improved.

I first noticed the visuals. Sega Sonic Team took an absolutely beautiful game and made it even better.

The characters are a lot less pixilated, and the backgrounds have really been flushed out in the smallest places.

The camera is both a blessing and a curse.

At any time, you can place the camera behind your back.

Of course, if there's a wall or something behind you, the camera is either blocked or scrunched behind the player.

Unfortunately, they added few new effects.

If you played the original for the Dreamcast, there is little here that you haven't seen before.

The addition of the second episode adds a whole new plethora of weapons and levels, though, and that'll keep gamers coming back for more.

The sound and music is also rather disappointing. The game sounds absolutely wonderful, but if you only look at the first episode, there's just nothing new.

For example, if you're playing as an android ranger, your footsteps get old after, say, the third or fourth step.

They tweaked with the sound system to allow Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound, but if you don't have that kind of a system it's nothing to write home about.

Of course, for nostalgia's sake, the inclusion of the first episode is great. Well, that and the fact that it gives first-time players a chance to learn the plot, and as is important in any RPG, a place for everyone to level up.

Gameplay is wonderful, but it's not perfect. With any weapon, players can make a three-hit combo to help take out foes. However, it's really hard to pull off until you get the timing of each weapon down. Plus, the combo is limited to only three hits-never more, often less.

One factor that I was happy to see is the addition of three new player character classes, adding for more gameplay.

PSO is designed to be played online, but don't fret; you can play offline as well.

You can also play this game single player or multiplayer, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Playing single player, you really get a good idea of the plot, and you get to keep all of the money and items you find.

However, the levels are repetitive and can get boring after a while.

As for multiplayer, you can also play this mode online or off.

There are also three different offline modes you can play, via a split screen, with three of your closest friends: normal, battle and challenge.

Normal just goes through the story, while battle is a series of different duels. Challenge is also exactly what it sounds like.

I haven't played this online yet, due to the fees. It's $8.95 per month just for game access; that's not even including local ISP costs or the Gamecube's broadband/56K modem adapter (sold separately).

However, multiplayer of any sort is where this game really shines.

Even if you only play with friends, multiplayer is the way to go.

However, PSO has more than enough to keep any gamer coming back for more, and with good reason. This game, to paraphrase Dan Rather, is "so hot that it crackles like a hickory fire."

The good parts of "Phantasy Star Online: Episode 1 & 2" outnumber the bad in every way. I gladly give this game a 9.5 out of ten.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to try beating that last boss one more time.

Gaining a few extra pounds at college?
Many college freshman find themselves with extra pounds.

By Karen Shideler
Knight Ridder Newspapers

It's not always the "Freshman 15."

Sometimes, it's only five. Sometimes, heaven forbid, it's 40.

No matter the exact number, many college freshmen are discovering that they'll have a little extra baggage to take home for Thanksgiving: unwanted pounds that creep up with as much inevitability as final exams.

"It's a real issue," Marilyn Yourdon, director of student health at Wichita State University, says.

At Kansas State University, "I know that it's a huge concern, especially for the girls," Dianna Schalles, nutritionist and health educator at Lafene Health Center, says.

Researchers at Tufts University, known for its work in nutrition, studied the eating and nutritional habits of college students for four years and found that weight gain during the freshman year is common.

They said the average gain was about six pounds for men and 4.5 for women.

Yourdon and Schalles say the extra pounds can be blamed on a number of factors:

-Meals become irregular as students try to juggle classes, jobs, social lives and studying. Missed meals may be replaced by binge eating later in the day.

-Late-night snacking seems to go with late-night studying. "To stay awake, you had to snack. Or if you didn't drink coffee, then you snacked. And even if you did drink coffee, you snacked," Yourdon says.

-Exercise levels decrease. Students who were high school football players-and eating like them-suddenly aren't even participating in pickup games but haven't changed their eating patterns.

-The way dorm cafeterias are set up leads some students to take an all-you-can-eat approach to meals.

-Eating with groups of people encourages eating more, sort of like the effect of a big family Thanksgiving dinner.

To break the cycle, Schalles as a nutritionist and Yourdon as a nurse try to encourage small changes and moderation.

Rather than talking about weight gain or weight loss, Yourdon talks about nutrition basics and learning to read and pay attention to nutrition labels.

Schalles often has students keep a food journal. "The food journals really help them to become aware."

Often, she says, the journals will show that a student is consuming 1,000 to 1,500 calories a day from pop, or not thinking about the calories that come from a quick stop at a fast-food restaurant.

Alcohol also can add weight. It has 7 calories per gram, almost as many as fat. A student may skip a meal to "bank" calories, Schalles says, then have several beers, followed by binge snacking to deal with a case of the munchies.

Schalles recommends that students carry "smart" snacks in their backpacks and plan ahead to make healthy choices at meals.

Yourdon and Schalles encourage students to exercise in whatever way they can.

But students don't have to go to a gym, the experts say. "Even small things, like parking farther away, can add up," Schalles says. So can walking to classes at a brisker pace.

Regular exercise can make up for many eating mistakes, Yourdon says. Her son learned that lesson: He'd been a runner in high school, and he ran during his first two years of college.

For him, the Freshman 15 became the Junior 15.

Microsoft: one step back, two forward
The free-trade markets and a "guerilla advertising war."

By Mircea-Ioan Cotosman
Ferris State Torch

Over the last weekend in October, Microsoft blanketed New York public property with hundreds of butterfly decals promoting the new MSN version 8.0.

"We really wanted to grab the attention of the Internet consumer," Bob Visse, director of MSN marketing, told reporters.

What started as an idea that seemed to revolutionize advertising and marketing, a $300 million project, ended that weekend with a sorrow-filled apology from Microsoft.

Faced with tough competition from AOL and their internet software program, MSN is trying to convince internet users that their version is better: easier access to e-mail, enhanced protection from viruses, better use of digital photos and faster web browsing.

According to CNN, MSN has about 9 million subscribers, while AOL has 35 million customers. AOL also recently released their version 8.0. In order to fight the AOL giant, MSN teamed with Walt Disney Co. and will provide additional features like Disney's Blast, a site for children.

The piece de resistance of the marketing plan was a frenzy of MSN ads in the Manhattan downtown. According to Microsoft spokesperson, the company "had secured city permits to post the ads."

All that can be said is that Microsoft's advertising campaign didn't get the welcome they expected.

Just one day later, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's corporate vice-president, apologized to the City of New York for the mess their decals had created. The incident was dubbed an "illegal guerrilla advertising war."

The City did accept the apology and Microsoft covered the cost of the clean up, as they should have.

Regardless of the cost right now, Microsoft's risky attempt at advertising will probably pay off in the long run.

The incident is nothing but a minor PR problem for the software giant. Just a few days later, the five-year long anti-trust trial came to an end with a favorable verdict for Microsoft.

Personally, I am very pleased with the trial's outcome, and I do not even have stock with Microsoft. The guy (big Bill) had the idea, so now he is controlling a major portion of the market. Why kill it?

If their offerings and product are not good, not to mention that it has to be followed by being cheaper, better competition will "kill" them, business wise. This is the simple concept of free markets. Capitalism thrives under this kind of competition; it's what our economy is based on.

With the Internet being so vast and quickly expanding, there is always competition showing its clothes: Linux is already preferred by servers as opposed to Microsoft, for example.

Also, this doesn't include other internet providers like Earthlink or even SBC Yahoo. And let us not forget the many local providers all around us.

Microsoft has been able to keeps its foothold so far, and the company probably will for some time.

Not to mention that there are many other different platforms for software and computer parts. There are many different companies, but only the strong will be able to survive. The free-trade market is still wide open.

This is the way it should be: allow competition to decide who stays in the market and who doesn't!

That is what capitalism is all about, and we should encourage this! It is the backbone of our economy.

One story-Two men-Two sides: Republicans
Ben Affleck has J.Lo, Michgan has J.Go. It's a happy week for America and a sad one for Michigan-we've got a Dem. for Governor.

By Mircea-Ioan Cotosman
Ferris State Torch

The mid-term elections are over now and it's time to look back and ponder what the results mean. Is it good, is it bad? What did the people mean by voting the way they did?

I spent my last Tuesday going late into the night watching TV. I was very interested in the elections. For an alien-that would be me, in the eyes of the U.S. government- it's exciting to watch how others do elections and compare them with those in my country.

For most of the evening, I was happy watching the U.S. map become more and more red for all three races: senate, house and governors, as Republicans were wining most of the races. I had tears in my eyes around 10 p.m. or so when we had the results for Michigan governor's race. My favorite lost the race and was giving his concession speech.

Well, you cannot have it all in life! I went to bed around 2 a.m. knowing that the Republicans were victorious and that they will most likely secure control of the Congress in D.C.

When I woke up the next day, I knew all was right. Senator-elect Talent from Missouri had tipped the balance in the Senate for the Republican Party. Moreover, the Republicans even picked up some seats in the House, a very unusual thing to do in mid-term elections.

I was particularly excited about Georgia, where it took them some 130 years to figure it out that they do not want Democrats to run the state and finally elected a Republican governor. What more could one ask from the smart citizens of Georgia?

Another fun race was in Massachusetts, a Democrat stronghold, where the citizens elected a Republican Governor - Gov. Romney happens to be the son of the former Michigan Governor and the former CEO of the Salt Lake City Olympics.

All week long I had a blast watching Democrats whine about how the Republicans spent more money, and that's why they lost. Specifically, they were saying how pharmaceutical companies invested at least $60 million for Republicans all over the U.S.

I would like to remind the Democrats, wherever they are, that the Democrat Senate candidate in Texas, Tony Sanchez, spent $70 million on his race alone and lost. Not to mention that in one of New England's races, the Republican candidate was outspent by the Democrat six to one.

I wonder, when are the Democrats going to stop whine about how little money they have and how the represent the poor and working people? Just check the stats - they raised a similar amount of money, just like the Republicans.

I guess the funniest moment of all, in a ridiculous and embarrassing way, was when Democrat Tom Daschle was on CNN blaming them and the rest of the media for not covering the Democrats enough. Pathetic! The liberal media, led by CNN, did their share in advocating for the Democratic candidates. There is no doubt about that!

So how can we explain Michigan in the context of the rest of the elections? Personally I think it was nothing more than a personality contest. Granholm (J.Go) won because she is more glamorous, and because many of those voting ignored the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates and gave their vote to J.Go just because she is a woman.

CNN was gloating how she has a real chance of running for the President's office: she is young, charismatic, smart and all that; usually candidates for the presidency come from governors' seats. Not to ruin CNN's fantasy, but J.Go will never become the U.S. President as she was not born a U.S. citizen. What a pity.

I guess one thing that democracy teaches us is that once the majority chooses someone, the minority has to comply and unite behind the leader for the better of the whole, in this case Michigan.

These next four years will be tough, and Granholm will need all the support she can get to take Michigan in the second half of this decade. Luckily she has a Republican House and a Republican Senate to heavily rely upon. Only if she has a bipartisan approach to politics in Lansing will she succeed as a governor.

The message sent by voters in Michigan is rather confusing, as they elected Republicans in the most important positions: the Secretary of State and the Attorney General (a first in 50 years) are Republican. And so are the House and the Senate.

It seems to me that Michiganders wanted a change for Governor and thought they should give J.Go a try, but on the other hand, they almost had second thoughts and decided to work those checks and balances by putting Republicans in charge everywhere else.

That was not the case nationally. The US voters have trusted the destiny of the U.S. to the hands of the Republican Party. President Bush's popularity helped tremendously in this historical victory. Because voters trusted Bush, they did not want a split government - the whole government is in the hands of Republicans, and according to recent polls, the people expect that more things will get done in D.C.

Some are concerned that the Republican rule will be too conservative. I am not worried. Yes, I tend to agree it's not going to be a liberal rule, but I do not think it will be puritan either. The Bush administration is a smart and balanced administration: on one hand you have more conservative people like Rumsfeld and Ashcroft, but they work together with moderate people like Colin Powell and Condi Rice.

The U.S. is in good hands now. These are hard times, and the President will continue to have a bipartisan approach in Congress. Only if they work together for the welfare of the American people will either Republicans or Democrats have a chance to get elected or re-elected in 2004.

One of the most important lessons of the Michigan elections is the defeat of Proposal 4. The students in Michigan played a great role in defeating this idiotic proposal. Here at Ferris State, Student Government has fought relentlessly against the proposal, and President Sederburg was a key factor in getting the Board of Trustees and the entire administration working to defeat the proposal.

In defeating the proposal, we ensured that some 1,000 current students at Ferris will continue to receive various scholarships that they were promised in high school.

This is an important victory and we should all be proud of the great work we have done! I felt enormously proud that, although I am a foreign national, I was able to oppose this proposal and be a part of the mechanisms of democracy in defeating it.

On Thursday, I took off my bumper sticker that said "Posthumus for Governor." It was time. We have a new governor in Michigan and I wish her well. I hope she will be generous to Ferris State and protective of us just as Governor Engler was for eight years.

One story-Two men-Two sides: Democrats
The Republicans control Congress, but we Michiganders are free from Republican rule!

By Matt Cherry
Opinions Editor

It is a sad day for Americans, and also for the world.

The worst-case scenario for our populace has come to fruition: the Republicans control Washington, D.C.

In a coup that can only be called an absolute debacle to democracy or the ideals of the republic, this past Nov. 5th, Election Day, the unthinkable happened.

And now the aftershocks begin to set in with me. What does it mean to have two-thirds of the American government under Republican rule? How will President George Bush abuse his new-found strength? And most of all, how are we citizens going to survive this grave ordeal?

Of course, every gray cloud has a silver lining, and in this case it's all about numbers. Yes, the Republicans have the majority whip in both the House of Representatives and the Senate