By Kora O’Han

What a rollercoaster ride this semester has been for me! As much as I’m glad that it is over, I am also pretty blue because so many wonderful people are leaving SMCC for greener pastures and brighter futures. Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy for every one of you, lovely, beautiful people. Your presence will be sorely missed by me. I wish you guys all the luck and all the love of my entire being! Do come back and visit sometime or hit me up at kora.o.h@gmail.com for old times’ sake okay? As for the rest of you, you’ll be seeing me next fall so fret not I’m still here for you! So without further ado, here’s the last pro-active advice for spring!

Dear Kora,

I’m a social smoker but lately I realized that I’ve been smoking more often and even without the presence of friends. I’ve been stressed out because of the incessant tests and assignments that the instructors have been forcing down our throats. I feel like a zombie without brains if I don’t smoke after class. I know I should quit before it’s too late but I think maybe it’s too late.

Smoking Zombie

Dearest Zombie,

It is never too late to start breaking a bad habit. You did the right thing by asking for help and I applaud you for your courage. First and foremost, you need to have a strong conviction to keep you on track and prevent you from buying another pack of cigarettes or bumming them from friends. That conviction could be a goal that you want to pursue, like a goal to remain healthy, or a concern that smoking might put a hole in your pocket, or a combination of both. I know of two ways that may help you quit.

The first is to cut back on the amount of cigarettes you consume daily by decreasing the cigarettes you smoke each day, for example from 10 sticks to perhaps 4-6 and keep on decreasing the number till you’re not reliant on them to get through the day. You can set your own goals and adjust them as you improve.

The second way is to go cold turkey, meaning staying off cigarettes entirely. This is the harder of the two as one can develop withdrawal symptoms like excessive coughing or even substituting nicotine with another substance entirely which can be counter-productive. I hope these suggestions help, dear Zombie. Always know that I’ll be here cheering you on while you kick that habit in the butt!

Dear Kora,

I know that this might be a tad too late but I’ve been contemplating whether or not I should take summer classes. I’ll be going on vacation with my family for a couple of weeks in June too and I’m afraid that it might affect my attendance record for classes if I miss any. I could spend my summer working but that would be so boring. What should I do?

Summer Woes

Hey SW,

It’s not too late at all to think about it, especially if you’ll be here in Maine for most it! Have you ever thought about trying an online class or “Distance Learning” for an elective modules such as history, philosophy, photography, business etc.?  There are many online classes available on the SMCC Summer 2014 catalog that there’s bound to be one that you might be interested in.

There are also hybrid classes (Online + Actual class time) available that you can look into which might fit around your vacation time or part-time work schedule. For further clarification, why don’t you approach a staff at the Office of Student Successes for options on summer classes? I’m sure that there’ll be someone there who might be able to help you pick classes. Remember to also have fun this, SW. It’s summer after all! (:

Dear Kora,

I was taking a walk near Willard beach one day and I saw a boy being shouted at by a girl, presumably his significant other. I never thought twice about it until the next day when I saw the same couple with the girl doing the very same thing to him again. I did not want to disturb them or come to any conclusions but I think that what she is doing is wrong to be constantly shouting at her boyfriend all the time. Do you think I should intervene the next time?

The Perplexed Bystander

Hey PB(&J),

There’s a fine line between a lovers’ spat and verbal abuse and all it takes for you to discern between the two is body language and the language used. If it is the former, then it will eventually be settled with make-up… ice cream. If it is the latter, it might be a good thing to intervene if you are sure that she is indeed hurting him.

Some people take arguments a little too far than they ought to, not caring how it might affect the person whom they are hurting, and might need an external party to bring them back to earth. Verbal abuse, like other forms of abuse, should not be tolerated and should be stopped. That’s my two cents on this issue. I hope that this helps. Hopefully, it was just a lovers’ spat and not the other unfortunate situation.