University of North Alabama - Diorama Yearbook (Florence, AL)

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:VERY AFTERNOON at two, the television room n the Commuters ' Lounge becomes the gathering lace for a group of soap fans. Here. Mary Gist. Van $askins. and some fellow Guiding Light addicts ean back in their seats to enjoy their favorite show. U three, they turn the room over to some Edge of •light groupies. (Photo by Tim Rowland) MOST PEOPLE cat lunch at twelve o ' clock, but not Angela Echos. She goes to her room, cuddles up with a stuffed animal, and gives her undivided at- tention to Days of Our Lives. Many students on campus schedule their classes around their favorite soap operas. (Photo by Sheila Hines) Essay A soap fiend confesses... I have a very serious personal problem. The most serious aspect of this problem is that no one can help me. I went to my doctor, but he didn ' t know what to do. My family ' s attorney laughed when I turned to him for advice. My own priest didn ' t take me seriously, and neither did Retreat Hospital. However, I have not lost hope, because I know I am not alone; my burden is shared by many. I am a soap opera addict. Many people laugh when I confess my addiction, but to me and my fellow soap fiends, it is not a joking matter. Every morning, I have to force myself to leave home and come to school; each day, it becomes more and more difficult for me to do so. Registration was a harrowing experience for me this time, but with a little persistence I managed to schedule my classes so that I can get home in time to see my favorite show, General Hospital. Unfortunately, I can only see One Life to Live three days a week: I may never find out what happened to Larry at that medical convention in San Carlos. I am seriously thinking of dropping my French literature class, which coincides with two of my soaps. How can I concentrate on Voltaire and Descartes when I know that Laurie is on trial for a murder she didn ' t commit on The Young and the Restless and Jessica is about to marry a man she doesn ' t really love on Days of Our Lives? I am not proud of my obsession. Because of it, I have lost friends, cut classes, and let cookies burn in the oven. My family is threatening to disown me. My grades are suffering, and so is my health. After an entire day of watching soaps, I am left pale and weak; I frequently suffer convulsive seizures. My sleep is disturbed every night by terrifying nightmares. I dream that the Salem Strangler is stalking me with his red silk scarf or that Heather Weber is coming towards me with the same gun she used on poor Diana Taylor. My obsession has also wreaked havoc on my social life. I haven ' t accepted a luncheon date in two years for fear of missing a single episode of one of my soaps. Now, with the advent of nighttime soaps like Dallas and Falcon Crest, I don ' t know what I ' m going to do. Obviously, I can ' t go on like this. I must learn to live without my beloved soaps before they completely destroy my life. Since it has been made apparent to me that no one else can help me with this terrible problem, I must help myself. After considerable thought, I have devised a few plans; surely one of them will work. First, I will try to overcome my addiction to soaps through the tapering off method. This week, I will watch only four episodes of each of my soaps; in a few weeks, I will cut down to three, and so on. If this method doesn ' t work, I will try the substitution plan. Whenever I feel the urge to watch a soap opera, I will don my sneakers and run several laps around the block. If both of these self-helpers fail, I shall go to a hypnotist and beg to be hypnotized and given this suggestion — You detest soap operas! You loathe them! You hate them! If you ever watch another soap opera, you will turn into a bottle of Lemon Fresh Joy! Perhaps the easiest way for me to overcome my addiction would be to help others who share it. For instance, I could establish a Soap Opera Encounter Group. We soap fiends could meet once or twice a week and discuss our obsession and the problems it causes. We could enlist the aid of a psychoanalyst in an attempt to discover why we are so dependent on soap operas; by dissecting our problem in this way, maybe we can solve it. I could also found a Soap Opera Hot Line to serve as a back-up system to our encounter group. Whenever one of us feels the need to watch All My Children or Texas, he or she could call the Hot Line to serve as a back-up system to our encounter group. A team of sympathetic listeners would be standing by around the clock to give moral support to any soap fiend who needs it. Perhaps with team work and professional help, we can be cured. Fellow soap fiends, unite! We have but one life to live, all my children, and we can ' t spend it all in another world from the rest of humanity. We have a terrible problem to overcome, but we are young and restless enough to do it. With hope as our guiding light, we shall cross the edge of night in triumph and be normal for the rest of the days of our lives. — MIchele Savage Sludenl Life 27

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, Love in the afternoon is not just for housewives anymore. Everyday, people all over campus ' Turning On Can Luke really face life without Lau- ra? Has Tracy become anorexic in her eager- ness to lose weight and capture Danny ' s heart? Will Marco and Jenny find happiness together, or will Edwina and Brad come be- tween them? And what about J.R.? Students all over campus tune in to soap operas every day to find out the answers to these and other burning questions. According to a survey conducted on campus during the summer semester, 62 percent of the students polled watch soap operas four to five days a week. Eighty-seven percent of the females surveyed watch soaps, and 46 percent of the males who participated in the poll watch soaps. What is the reason for such wide- spread appeal? Most fans report a favorite character as their primary reason for watch- ing soaps. Because Roman Brady is such a hunk! to Soaps. says Lisa Harris, a faithful Days Of Our Lives viewer. One day, I was changing channels, says Yancy Mitchell, when suddenly, there Because Roman Brady is such a hunkl —Liaa Harris was the girl of my dreams — Jenny Gardner on ' All My Children. ' Now, I ' m a member of her fan club. Some students ' , watch soaps to get away from it all. It ' s my escape from reality, claims Jerry Collins, who has been hooked on soap operas since he was two years old. It ' s just a fantasy-world, and it makes me realize that other people have problems, too. Most soap opera fans seem to be addict- ed to more than one show. The most popular of these tragedy-prone daytime dramas is General Hospital, watched by 54 percent of the students polled. All My Children, with a 48 percent following, is the second most watched. Placing neck-in-neck at third and fourth most popular are One Life to Live, watched by 36 percent of those sur- veyed, and The Guiding Light, watched by 34 percent. — Michele Savage DISPUTES OFTEN OCCUR in the SUB when fans of two different soaps turn up to watch their shows at the same time. Pam Glass. Amy Henson. Beverly Curtis, and Bridget Sherrod decide to compromise by watching 30 minutes of General Hospital and 30 minutes of The Guiding Light. (Photo by Tim Rowland) (( ' y, V X m t d;: • [jS «« '

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