The Advice Column

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: You are Hava Solution, an advice editor for your local newspaper. The following letters have been passed on to you by your private secretary. For your column in tomorrow's news, you are to select one or more letters and reply in 200-250 words altogether. Prepare a rough draft of your reply or replies. Be sure to indicate by name the correspondent you are replying to so that the editor of the newspaper can include the original letter in the column.

FORM OF THE ROUGH DRAFT:

On Paper: By the time you're through with it, the rough draft will be very messy-looking. This is normal. Expect to make lots of changes as you revise. Leave room for them by writing on alternate lines of the page. Write on one side only, so that you can cut the draft apart and rearrange parts if necessary.

Word-Processed: Double- or triple-space the text, using a large font and one-inch margins. Computers, unlike paper, provide infinite space for revision, and much less actual drafting has to be done, since anything written the first time can last until the end of the process without being retyped, unless it needs changing. On the other hand, any changes you do make may involve deleting material that you might later want to have back. Therefore, it is wise to save your work periodically with a new name. Thus, when you finish your "column for the paper" as Ms Hava Solution, you could save it as "HAVA" and then if you revise it a bit, you might save it again as "HAVA-2," then again as “HAVA-3,” and so on. If you do this routinely, little will be permanently lost.

TURNING IN THE ROUGH DRAFT: Because the rough draft is for your eyes only, you must read it aloud to me. You may do this in person in my office or electronically in the lab if you prefer. Enclose the rough draft in the pocketed folder, and turn this in at the next class meeting.

The Mail Bag

Reminders about Rough Drafts:

1. Be sure to indicate by name the correspondent you are answering. It's best to answer only one letter, but you must write enough to fill a column in the newspaper, about 200-250 words, so if you must answer more than one letter, so be it.

2. Double- or triple-space the text. In longhand, write on every second or third line and leave spacious margins.

3. Write on only one side of the page.

Dear Hava Solution,

I just recently discovered that we have a friend that lives with us in out apartment. Our friend does not hurt us, but it surely does scare us at times. We always felt that someone else was in there with us, but just recently our little friend has wanted us to know that it is (or they are) there. When the TV is on at night, there are times when the channels will go on and off or the TV will just shut off. Sometimes, too, while we are sitting at home the water in the bathroom will start running. It starts off slow, but then we hear it gush.

We have not seen our friend yet, but we know that it's there, and we don't know what to do. We have two problems. One is that we don't want to endanger our baby by living in a house with an unknown tenant. The other is that we can't move till our lease expires four months after the baby is due, in August of this year. So what should we do?

Haunted

Dear Hava Solution,

I'm writing you because I'm concerned about my health. These days health is a big issue, one that's very important to me. It's hard for me to maintain good health since I'm not insured. Of course, I can watch my eating habits, but I could still get sick, and then my medical expenses could easily eat up my savings and plunge me into a financial crisis.

Health-Conscious

Dear Hava Solution,

My dad is turning into a drug addict, and I don't know what to do. I don't like bringing friends over to the house. This has become a serious problem for me because I belong to a group at school who all gather at one member's house every weekend, trading the role of host week by week, and I don't know how to tell them why I don't want them there.

If I do tell them they might not allow me to be in the group anymore, or they might even tell the whole school about the problem I'm dealing with. I need help, and I need it now. Please give me some advice before Saturday, when it's my turn.

Ashamed of Dad

Dear Hava Solution,

I just learned that a good friend of mine is a recovering drug addict. He has been sober for two months, but he's more trouble to his family now that he's sober than he was when he was using. You see, when he found out that his younger brother has been trying drugs, he beat him till he couldn't stand.

Their mother doesn't know what to think of how to handle this problem, which also affects the youngest child, an eleven-year-old girl who witnessed the beating. What help or advice can you give to the family?

Scared of Sobriety

Dear Hava Solution,

Last night a friend I was talking to on the phone told me that she didn't feel that I liked her as much as she liked me. It's not that I don't like her. It's just that I recently ended a relationship when my ex-girlfriend moved back to her home town. I just couldn't bear not seeing her, so rather than have that stress on my heart, I told her that I'd rather just be friends. So we didn't break up on bad terms but just because of the situation. Since I still have a lot of feeling for her, I want to take things slow with my new friend, who thinks I don't care about her whereas really I'm just being cautious.

The problem I need help with, though, is that when she accused me of being lukewarm towards her, I lost my temper, and before hanging up on me she told me she was going to kill herself. What should I do?

Caring

Dear Hava Solution,

I want to know what would be the best way to get an A in a course without having to study outside the classroom.

Just kidding. But really, it is very hard for me to stay motivated when I have a task at hand that I have no interest in doing, not even a little bit. What is the best way to handle boredom that amounts almost to loathing?

Stalled

Dear Hava Solution,

My father is a sex addict. That's all he talks to me about. He's never satisfied, always on the prowl. He excuses his promiscuity by saying that the really desirable women don't live around here but are all down south (as if he knows when he's never been down there himself). How can I help him?

Full of Pity

Dear Hava Solution,

I am a forty-four-year-old mother of one child, and I have decided to start attending college. I am currently employed part-time, and I am looking for some advice on how I can manage my time better to get the most out of my day and also to have "me" time. It is extremely important to be the very best I can be, so any advice you can share with me would be much appreciated.

Non-Traditional Student

Dear Hava Solution,

This morning on my way to school I sat in my car on Wick Avenue for about twenty minutes waiting for traffic to ease. When I finally parked and reached my building, I was five minutes away from being late on my first day of class. This experience made me think that having a police officer direct traffic at the entrance to the parking garage, the center of the traffic problem, might be a good idea. Students would have to worry less about being late and would be less likely to have fender-benders, which add to the problem. I don't know, though, how to make my suggestion known to someone who might implement it. Should I approach someone in the university, or should I start at the police department? What should be my first step?

Tired of Traffic

Dear Hava Solution,

I have a three-year-old son, Kyle, that I am trying to discipline, but I have a mother-in-law that undermines my efforts. Every time she comes over she always babies him. I know she loves him, but it's to the point where I dread her coming over. For instance, the other day Kyle was playing in the living room with his toys, and the next thing I knew, my new flat-screen TV

was covered in marker. I scolded him, slapped his behind, and told him to go to his room, but my mother-in-law interfered, picking him up and babying him, telling him he didn't know any better and that it was Mommy's fault because she should have been paying closer attention. It hurts me when she behaves like that, and I feel that she is driving a wedge between me and my husband as well. What should I do?

Distraught Mother

Dear Hava Solution,

My New Year's resolution is to lose fifty pounds. I have failed to reach this goal every other time in the past that I've made the attempt. The reason is that even though I exercise, I don't lose weight because it gets hard for me to stay on a healthy diet. I'm pretty much addicted to fast food. What do you think I should do?

Love Those Burgers

Dear Hava Solution,

All my younger brother seems to want to do is play video games all day. He never wants to work and stays up long past his bedtime. What can I do to help him?

Big Brother

Dear Hava Solution,

I am currently attending YSU, and I am very serious about paying attention and getting good grades, but even though I go to sleep early and am well rested, it seems that as soon as I get into class I get tired and have trouble concentrating. What do you think I should do?

Sleepy