4
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, January 30,1992
OPINION
Cardboard boxes guard childhood memories
When I pulled up in front of my parents' house in DeSoto last weekend, the first thing that caught my attention was not the house itself, but the forsale sign at the edge of the sidewalk.
The sign had been there for months, but I knew it soon would 'have a sold sign attached to it. The deal was almost final, and I had to spend my Friday sorting through 13 years of memories.
When I came back to school in August, my dad had just gotten a job in Hutchinson. Because I knew this day was inevitable, I had taken as many of my things out of our home as I could cram into my Lawrence apartment. I wanted this last cleaning to be short and painless.
It was time to decide which possessions I would take with me, which I would leave behind and which I would throw away.
Being the pack rat that I am, there were a lot of things to throw out. There were high school mementos that had lost their meanings. There was the backpack from my freshman year in college whose zipper had burst under a package of a 17-hour course loot. And of course, of the stuff we just plain junk.
My sentimental side made deciding what to take fairly simple. A blanket Grandma Murphy made for me was placed in the pile of things to keep along with a 100-year-old Mitchell family Bible. There were other books that made the final cut, The Hobbit,
David Mitchell Staff columnist
The Onion Field and several sports biographies.
When I was done, the only thing left in the closet was a 22-year-old teddy bear, the last remnant of one once densely populated stuffed-animal collection. The rest had been handed over to my nieces years ago. Though I obviously didn't need it anymore, I didn't want to put it in a box either, so I left it there, standing guard over my empty room as it did when I was young.
The rest of the things I wanted to keep, but not badly enough to take them with me, were packed in the back bedroom with the other belongings we didn't need every day.
My sister's old room was stacked to the ceiling with boxes. Nearly every inch of floor was covered. Here sat my life, stored away in boxes marked with computer and canned-vegetable logos.
As crowded as that room was, the rest of the house seemed empty. Mom was in Hutchinson house-hunting with all its things had been gone for months.
While packing up my little Ford, I looked around and realized how much
the neighborhood had changed. Two other houses were on the market. Another was already sold. Many of the names and faces were unfamiliar. A few families wanted to move out to the golf course. Others, like us, just wanted out.
Old Highway 10 was no longer visible from our front yard. A convenience store, car wash and liquor store had gone up at the end of the block. The old pizza place was still there, but its parking lot was empty now that the little town had its own McDonald's.
Our house was bran 1-new when we moved in 1978. The trees we planted after we moved in were now fighting phone lines. The once barren lot is surrounded by the rock garden Dad had built and filled with flowers.
The vacant lot next to ours was empty that day. It always had been crowded with children playing the sport of the season. But there are no more children now. When I graduated from high school, there were still plenty of kids in the neighborhood, but they seem all grown up now. And though I didn't feel any more mature, I suddenly felt a lot older.
Pulling away from my old neighborhood was kind of sad, but I won't miss DeSoto because the little town is not much to miss. I will miss some of the people, but as my overloaded hatchback reminded me, I can take my memories with me.
David Mitchell is a DeSoto senior majoring in journalism.
Letters to the editor
Stereotyping has to stop
Last Thursday, rumors were rampant that gang members were to have their initiation ceremony in Lawrence, a ceremony that involved raping a sorority woman. The response to this rumor was immediate. The Panhellenic Association rallied to promote general awareness of the threat of rape; police were mobilized and dark areas were extensively patrolled; Rape Victim Support Services was notified to be on the ready-in other words, general safety precautions were taken to ensure the safety of all Greek women. Living on Tennessee Street, all these precautions and safety measures directly affected me and for once, I felt safe. I was impressed with the concern expressed and the actions taken by everyone concerned.
But upon deeper reflection, there is something really troubling about this event. Why. I asked myself, did it take the threat of gangs raping sorority women to get this more-than-adequate response? Women are raped throughout the year at frighteningly high rates. The answer, I feel, lies in the popular perception of gangs. Immediately, the image of African-American and Hispanic lawless women is called to mind, youths who white society thinks of as the "other."
The white woman, from the days of slavery, has been given the responsibility of being the "repository" of white civilization. By giving birth to the white man's legitimate
heirs, she became actually and symbolically his greatest treasure. The fear of her rape by the African-American man threatens white supremacy, for it is the rape of his birthright and legacy. This threat of men of color in gangs thus not only promotes stereotypes of these men as super-masculine menials but it allows white men to rescue white feminine purity for exclusive white male pleasure, thereby allowing them to protect their sexual territorialism and bloodline purity.
Most rapes on campus, however, are committed by white men. There simply are not enough African-American students at KU to account for the very high number of rapes that occur each month. Yet the popular conception of a rapist still remains that of the African-American or Hispanic, for onto the "other" are projected all those behaviors and attitudes that whites are not supposed to have. When fraternities have their notorious parties, for example, not a word is heard from the Panhellenic Association about taking precautions against rape.
It may appear that I am making a mountain out of a mole hill, but these apparently innocuous actions spurred by the threat of gangs are underpinned by centuries of racist attitudes that need to be exposed and changed. The kind of mobilization seen Thursday needs to be seen everyday, not just when there is an imagination invaded of the "other."
Hershini Bhana, Lawrence senior, is majoring in humanities and African-American studies.
THE UNIVERSITYDAILY KANSAN
Abortion should remain legal
A woman's right to an abortion is fundamental and should be protected by the Supreme Court
Aruling by the Supreme Court is expected during the next few months on the Pennsylvania abortion law that requires a 24-hour waiting period, anti-abortion counseling to the pregnant woman and proof of the husband's consent or consent of parents in the case of a minor. Activists on both sides of the abortion issue as well as presidential candidates anxiously anticipate the decision. If the Court holds the Pennsylvania law constitutional, it would severely threaten Roe vs. Wade.
Although the court is expected to agree with the Pennsylvania law, it should not do so.
The central issue in the case is consent of the husband. In Roe vs. Wade, the court ruled that a woman's right to an abortion is fundamental and may not be infringed except in the case of a "compelling state interest" to do so.
It is hard to see what compelling interest the state has in requiring consent from anyone other than the woman herself. Although it would be good for a husband to have an input, this is not a compelling reason for the state to infringe on a fundamental right to privacy.
Presidential candidates would do well to remember this idea of compelling interest in their campaigns. The Republican Party's "Big Tent" that was supposed to accommodate both pro-choice and anti-abortion members of the party now appears to be of the pup variety rather than big top. Abortion is a potentially divisive issue in the Democratic Party as well, with the Democratic candidates holding a wide spectrum of views.
The late Lee Atwater once told President Bush that it was better to choose a position on abortion and stick to it rather than flip-flop. The right of a woman to control her own body is indeed fundamental. Roe vs. Wade should stand.
Mark Coatney for the editorial board
Condoms needed in schools
Los Angeles and five other cities wisely implement plans for high school students
The Los Angeles school district recently took a controversial stand that other school districts should follow. The nation's second-largest school district joined at least five U.S. cities in a plan to distribute condoms to high school students who receive consent.
Members of the Los Angeles school board should be commended for their pro-active approach to combating teen-age pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS.
The numbers speak for themselves.
National statistics show that one in 10 girls will experience a pregnancy before leaving high school. The Lawrence situation is not much better. The Douglas County Health Center reported 178 teenage pregnancies for 1989 and 90 births for 1990. The earliest age for pregnancy was 10.
The health center also recorded 85 visits from adolescent males aged 10 to 19 in 1991. The majority of these visits concerned STDs.
Cindy Murray, Lawrence High School nurse, recorded 22 visits from pregnant girls before October. 1991 and 29 by January.
Many who oppose high school condom-distribution argue that the plan would encourage promiscuity among adolescents. But teen-agers frequently have sex, regardless of whether their high schools distribute condoms.
Fred Daniels, a prominent Chicago practitioner of internal medicine, said in a February Ebony magazine interview, "The reality is that now we [physicians] see that 60 percent of the nation's high school kids have had sexual intercourse before graduation."
Society should not have to rely on condom distribution plans and promotional campaigns by people like Magic Johnson, who is infected with the HIV virus, to make the results of unprotected sex and promiscuity hit home. But teen-age pregnancy is still a reality.
With proper education, programs such as the one in Los Angeles will make teens more aware of the choices of abstinence, protected sex and the risks and responsibilities that go with them.
J. R. Clairborne for the editorial board
'JFK' demands opening of files
Iwaslucky Iwasn't there.
Jarrett
Steele
Guest
columnist
I didn't 'see the CBS News Bulletin on that afternoon in late November of 1963. I missed Walter Cronkite's stunning announcement that seized the attention of an entire nation with the horrifying news, "President Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, Texas, today." I couldn't watch the black-and-white telecast of Americans quietly filing past the flag-draped coffin in the capitol rotunda, and I was unable to hear the cadence of the snare drum accompany the funeral procession through Washington streets to a final destination in Arlington National Cemetery. I wasn't even born yet, but I suspect these images aren't forgotten by those who endured them nearly 30 years ago.
I'm curious though — how did it feel to be an American on that day and the days that followed? I can't imagine enduring the national tragedy, the slaying of John F. Kennedy. I think he be saddened, but also asheamed that this could happen in America. Our teachers, parents and elders all witnessed an atrocity that should never be repeated. But now a younger generation has been given a window into the past to examine what has become a national enigma; the possibility of a conspiracy, a plot to kill JFK.
Despite reports to the contrary from a presidential commission and a Special House Committee on Assassinations, Oliver Stone's film suggests what more than half of respondents in a Washington Post survey believe: Oswald didn't act alone. The Zapurader film, the shots heard from the grassy knoll, the "pristine bullet," and other discrepancies with the official version have made a strong argument to question the findings of the Warren Commission. Nearly 30 years later, a movie seeker to open minds over a subject many of us have either lived or wondered about. Did we
The public has been denied access to certain files on the assassination, classified by the Warren Commission and the House Committee on Assassinations. The information will remain classified until 2029. A number of critics have descended upon Oliver Stone's "JFK," criticizing the director for spreading misinformation and other falsehoods. I don't know who to believe, but I am curious; I want the truth about what happened. Perhaps someday — I hope well before 2029 — the American public will find out the whole story. If you have any doubts about the truth regarding John Kennedy's murder, I suggest you drop your congressman a line or get on the phone with him or her to show your concern and curiosity. A House resolution can release classified information to a nation still wondering what really may have happened on that late November day.
Give Americans the solution to the enigma - free the files.
Jarrett Steele is a Prairie Village junior majoring in journalism.
KANSANSTAFF
get the truth, or were we duped?
TIFFANYHARNESS Editor
VANESSA FUHRMANS Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
Editors
Editors
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Editorial ... Beth Randolph
Planning ... Lara Gold
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Sponsors ... Eric Nelson
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JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager
JAYSTEINER Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
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Lee Keeler
Marketing director...Kim Claxton
Creative director...Leen Ryder
Classified mgr...Kp Chin
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Loco Locals
SO. YOU'RE RUNNIN' FOR
PRESIDENT.
Chapter 3:
THE NOTION IS SIMPLE:
GET NATIONAL EXPOSURE...
BUT. BE CAREFUL. SINCE
THE MEDIA HAS SOME SHARP
PEOPLE . AT LEAST THAT'S
A RUMOR GOING AROUND.
by Tom Michaud